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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to illustrate and problematize how the expansion of project and temporary work challenges the traditional industrial work organization and its internal and supportive institutions. It highlights the transformation dilemma, which occurs when traditional industrial institutions are confronted by project organizations. It also discusses how one may prepare to meet these challenges. Design/methodology/approach: The long-run incremental changes in organizational structures of the economy are described in an economic historical context, focusing on the organizational form of work and the employment regimes. Challenges, at the societal, organizational and individual levels, related to the "projectification" process are illustrated in considering the case of Sweden. Findings: Project dense industries, like media, entertainment and consultancy, are growing faster than the rest of the economy. The share of project work in permanent organizations is increasing. More than a third of all working hours in industrialized countries, like Germany, was labeled as project work in 2013. This transformation challenges basic conditions for how work is designed and regulated, like the stipulated and uniform work time or the permanent and stable work place. Central institutions of today, like the labor law and the educational system, are challenged. Social implications: "Projectification" challenges traditional conditions of work and work life institutions and organizations, like the social partners, the educational and law systems. Originality/value: The paper brings together and problematizes several aspects of "projectification" of work life. It highlights what kind of challenges work and work-related institutions meet and discusses how to handle some of them, like education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes the development of the tourism management and organizational structure in the Sudetenland. At first, the development is briefly outlined from the beginning of the Habsburg monarchy, when locally operating so-called foreign associations (Fremdenverkehrsverein) began to arise, then through the period of interwar Czechoslovakia, which retained the current federal structure, until the Sudetenland joined Nazi Germany. The main core of the article is the transformation in tourism management after the annexation of the Sudetenland by Germany. Paper describes dissettlement of the existing associations as well as the introduction of the tourism management structure based on the German model. Also, particular specifics of individual areas are pointed out. The Sudetenland was to some extent exceptional in its interconnectedness with the Czech lands, but at the same time it was oriented towards Reich tourists. The paper is based mainly on archive sources stored in the Czech, Moravian, Austrian and German archives additionally supported by periodical literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we address the question of lethal school violence and suggest some preventive strategies. Previous studies in the field have been dominated of cases from the U.S. or Germany, but in this paper we instead focus on lethal violence which has occurred in Scandinavia. Previous research of lethal violence and prevention against it often stresses the complexity and limitations in research. Mainly since the impossibility to profile perpetrators or make lists of warnings signs. In addition, since lethal violence are rare events, there are methodologic challenges related to studies of the phenomena. In the study, the included cases are different acts of lethal violence, occurred 1961–2016 (n = 12). In the first analysis, the aim is to construct a typology, and in the second analysis the typology is used for analysing suitable prevention strategies. The study emphasizes the relation between perpetrator, victim, school and traceable motive in the typology, and the result concludes three different types of lethal violence. The first is based on interpersonal revenge, the second institutional revenge and the third societal revenge. Two prevention strategies seem suitable: one aiming at schools organizational structure and the second to architectural decisions in the design process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper claims that the organizational character of the (German) university can be comprehended best with the aid of the concept "multiple hybrid organization." To corroborate this claim, I reconstruct two lines of argument that have dominated the discourse on the organizational nature of the German university so far. This discourse has only started in the late 1980s and early 1990s in the wake of new public management emphasizing that the reform of higher education governance has turned German universities into corporate actors (Meier 2009; Krücken and Meier 2006). At the same time, voices have risen advocating the singularity of the university and contrasting it to bureaucratic and corporate forms of organization. The paper starts by outlining these two strands of argumentation: the first highlights the organizational normality of the German university, the next its singularity. Against this background, I shall argue that both positions can be integrated if we rely on the term "multiple hybrid organization." This concept is integrated into the systems theory concept of formal organization which serves as a theoretical means for analyzing organizations at large. The new concept of multiple organizational hybridity demonstrates its usefulness in showing that the structural particularity of the German university is rooted in numerous frictions pertaining to all its organizational structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- This paper seeks to analyse to what extent absolute wage levels, relative wages compared with colleagues, and the position in a firm's hierarchy affect workers' absenteeism behaviour. Design/methodology/approach -- The paper uses personnel data of a large German company from January 1999 to December 2005. The data set contains 62,774 monthly observations of 1,187 full-time white-collar workers. Probit and Tobit models for individual monthly absenteeism are estimated. Findings -- Absenteeism is negatively correlated with absolute wages, relative wages, and hierarchical levels, which is in line with the paper's hypotheses. Moreover, the results indicate that a positive relative wage has a stronger impact than a negative relative wage, which gives rise to the issue of unequal wage structures. Research limitations/implications -- The findings point to the relevance of interdependent preferences and status in utility functions. From the non-linear relationship between relative wages and absenteeism it follows that an unequal wage structure has the benefit that relatively better paid workers are absent less frequenty, while the costs of higher absenteeism of workers at the lower tail of the wage distribution are rather low. Practical implications -- The results show that not only the absolute wage level but also status-related factors (e.g. relative wage, hierarchical level) affect employees' work effort and that unequal wage structures can be efficient to some degree. Originality/value -- The paper provides "real world" evidence from scarce personnel data for the importance of interdependent preferences and status. Furthermore, the non-linear relationship between relative wages and absenteeism is examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Hessische Blätter für Volksbildung is the property of wbv Media GmbH & Co. KG and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Qualitative Forschung (ZQF) is the property of Verlag Barbara Budrich GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Getting a new government together in Germany requires building a coalition. The process for doing so has evolved, becoming more institutionalized but remaining part of informal politics. Looking closely at the coalition building in 2021 shows that its organizational structure was vertically slimmer and horizontally more differentiated than in previous years. The role of parliamentary actors was more pronounced than before, and parliamentary organization was mirrored throughout it. Yet the strong inclusion of the Länder (party) perspectives prevailed, making coalition building a multi-level task. While the process in 2021 had more procedural transparency than before, its content remained largely out of public sight. At defined steps, party approval was gathered through formal votes. Whether the established account of better personal trust among the involved partners is more than a nice narrative remains to be seen in the analysis of the coalition's governing practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transdisciplinary processes deal with transdisciplinary problems that are (i) complex, (ii) societally relevant, (iii) ill-defined, and (iv) real-world problems which often show a high degree of ambiguity resulting in contested perceptions and evaluations among and between scientists and practitioners. Therefore, they are susceptible to multiple trade-offs. Transdisciplinary processes construct socially robust orientations (SoROs) particularly for sustainable transitioning. The integration of science and practice knowledge on equal footing (1) is considered the core of transdisciplinary processes. Yet other forms of knowledge integration contribute essentially to construct SoROs. Individuals may (2) use different modes of thought; (3) refer to various cultures with diverse value and belief systems; and (4) problems are perceived and prioritized based on roles and interests. Coping with transdisciplinary problems, (5) purposeful differentiation and integration and (6) an integration of evolutionary evolving codes of representing knowledge are necessary. Finally, (7) what systems to integrate requires consensus-building among participating scientists and practitioners. This paper is Part I of a two-part publication. It provides a conceptualization of the different types of knowledge integration. Part II analyzes tasks, challenges, and barriers related to different types of knowledge integration in five transdisciplinary processes which developed SoROs for sensitive subsystems of Germany affected by the irresponsible use of digital data. • Systemic, epistemic, and normative feature characterize transdisciplinary problems. • Science and practice use different drivers, rationales, and reward systems. • Seven types of knowledge integration build the core of transdisciplinary processes. • Understanding knowledge integration requires history and theory of science analyses. • The types of knowledge integration improve the practice of transdisciplinarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Leviathan: Zeitschrift für Sozialwissenschaft (Springer Science & Business Media B.V.) is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Equity-based pay in the form of executive shareoptions (ESOs) is a controversial part of thetypical, US-style governance package, and ESOsin Germany are the focus of this paper. Aconventional view would see ESOs as a US-styleorganizational innovationdiffusingglobally in general, and to Germany inparticular.As an alternative to innovation diffusion,however, atranslationperspective wouldsuggest that the diffusion of apparentlysimilar governance devices around the worldhides the actual adoption of differentpractices.US/German comparative case studies arepresented as an empirical contribution thatgenerally shows a pattern so far consistentwith this translation view. In addition,intriguing and contrasting results are shownfor UK/German comparisons in the sense thatactual UK ESO plans are discovered to be moredistant from the US standard than German ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the relationship between investment in information and communication technologies (ICT), non-ICT investment, labor productivity, and workplace reorganization. Firms are assumed to reorganize workplaces if the productivity gains arising from workplace reorganization exceed the associated reorganization costs. Two different types of organizational change are considered: enhancement group work and flattening of hierarchies. Empirical evidence is provided for a sample of 411 firms from the German business-related services sector. We develop and estimate a model for labor productivity and firms' decision to reorganize workplaces that allows workplace reorganization to affect any parameter of the labor productivity equation. Our general and flexible methodology allows us to properly take account of strategic complementarities between the input factors and workplace reorganization. The estimation results show that changes in human resources practices do not significantly affect firms' output elasticities with respect to ICT, non-ICT capital, and labor, although most of the point estimates of the individual output elasticities and of the control variables for observable firm heterogeneity are larger if workplace reorganization is realized. We therefore apply the Kernel density-estimation technique and demonstrate that for firms with organizational change, the entire labor productivity distribution shifts significantly out to the right if workplace reorganization takes place, indicating that workplace reorganization induces an increase in labor productivity that is attributable to complementarities between the various input factors and workplace reorganization. By contrast, firms without organizational change would not have realized significant productivity gains if they had reorganized workplaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to benchmark the municipal solid waste (MSW) management performance of the NUTS 2-regions in the EU by constructing a composite indicator. In order to account for commensurability, weighting and aggregation issues of the performance indicators in regional waste and materials' management, this paper advocates a conditional directional distance version of the Benefit-of-the-Doubt weighting technique. In addition, the waste management hierarchy defined by the EU is strongly embedded in the construction of our composite indicator. The results reveal considerable differences in the aggregate performance of the regions, even within Member States. In general, waste sectors of the NUTS 2-regions in Austria, Belgium, and Germany generally do well in terms of MSW management. Our results also reveal that some differences in the operating environment of the regions, such as the number of tourist overnight stays, are related to the aggregate performance of the regions. However, the observation that other conditions are not significantly related to the performance on a regional level is interesting as many policy makers frequently argue that the level of performance in their regions cannot be compared to that in other regions precisely due to this difference in operating conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transparenz der Gesellschafterstrukturen und Verkehrsschutz bei der Übertragung von GmbH-Geschäftsanteilen sind ausdrückliche Anliegen des Gesetzgebers, welche zuletzt in der Aufwertung der Gesellschafterliste als Annex der Handelsregistereintragung sowie der daran geknüpften Erwerbsmöglichkeit vom Nichtberechtigten gemäß § 16 Abs. 3 GmbHG beredten Ausdruck gefunden haben. Der Beitrag benennt rechtssystematische, institutionenökonomische und technisch-praktische Schwächen dieser Lösung und leitet daraus einen dringenden gesetzgeberischen Reformbedarf ab. Dabei präzisiert er insbesondere die ökonomische Rechtfertigung des Erwerbs kraft Rechtsscheins überhaupt sowie einzelner Rechtsscheinsträger wie Sachbesitz, Briefbesitz und Register. Sein Reformvorschlag besteht darin, die Gesellschafterliste unter Pflichteinbeziehung des Notars zu einem mit öffentlichem Glauben ausgestatteten Rechtsscheinsträger fortzuentwickeln. Transparency of corporate structures and legal certainty for the assignability of limited liability corporate shares are express objectives of German corporate law. Recently, the list of shareholders has been promoted to become an appendix of corporate registration, allowing for the possibility of acquiring corporate shares bona fides. This paper questions the doctrinal, economic and practical validity of the German solution, calling for legislative reform. In order to do so, it investigates the economic case for bona fides acquisition in general as well as its various factual bases such as possession of chattel, possession of security certificates and public registers. As a way forward, the paper argues for using the German notary system in order to vest the list of shareholders with public validity. This should permit bona fides acquisition of limited liability corporate shares on a much more principled and effective basis than today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of local evidence ecosystems in which academia and practice in the Public Health Service (PHS) are interconnected. However, appropriate organizational structures and well-trained staff are lacking and evidence use in local public health decision-making has to be integrated into training programs in Germany. To address this issue, we developed a framework incorporating a toolbox to conceptualize training programs designed to qualify public health professionals for working at the interface between academia and practice. We conducted a scoping review of training programs, key-informant interviews with public health experts, and a multi-professional stakeholder workshop and triangulated their output. The resulting toolbox consists of four core elements, encompassing 15 parameters: (1) content-related aspects, (2) context-related aspects, (3) aspects relevant for determining the training format, and (4) aspects relevant for consolidation and further development. Guiding questions with examples supports the application of the toolbox. Additionally, we introduced a how-to-use guidance to streamline the creation of new training programs, fostering knowledge transfer at the academia-practice interface, equipping public health researchers and practitioners with relevant skills for needs-based PHS research. By promoting collaborative training development across institutions, our approach encourages cross-institutional cooperation, enhances evidence utilization, and enables efficient resource allocation. This collaborative effort in developing training programs within local evidence ecosystems not only strengthens the scientific and practical impact but also lays a foundation for implementing complex public health measures effectively at the local level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there have been several studies on overt forms of marginalization, few have examined benevolent marginalization, where peoplemay unquestioningly participate in their own paternalistic subjugation by following a prescribed identity. How might such individuals end up achieving emancipation from an infantilizing identity? To address this puzzle, we conducted a longitudinal study of a German sheltered workshop, an organization providing employment for disabled people. We observed that workers with disability initially maintained a regulating organizational identity based on paternalistic segregation. However, over time, they constructed their own self-determining identity and coproduced a change in the workshop's identity from "shelter" to "inclusion." First, we show that in order to coconstruct their preferred self-concept, benevolently marginalized individuals need to gain the support of those in power, who change their role from a guardian to an ally. Second, while achieving liberation from overt marginalization is likely to involve confrontation with one's oppressors, we suggest that achieving emancipation from benevolent marginalization is a collaborative process of mutual consciousness raising and sensitization. Third, while changes of identity may occur after exposure to alternative discourses, often involving the contentious performances of external activists, we show how insider activists mobilize collective action for change within a protectionist organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the goals, the organizational structures and processes, and the investment criteria that underlie venture strategies in Germany today, using a sample of 20 corporate venture capital organizations (CVCs). The performance of these CVCs is examined and the data are compared with those generated by studies on German independent venture capital organizations (VCs) as well as with European and US CVCs. The study concludes that German CVCs that focus either on financial or on strategic objectives are more successful than those with a mixed approach. Further, CVCs with a strong financial focus seem to be financially--and sometimes also strategically--more successful than CVCs with a strong strategic focus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses economic, political and national institutional explanations for continued resistance to the multidivisional form in France, Germany and the United Kingdom during the 1980s and 1990s. It finds that the economics of different diversification strategies play a significant but changing role in the structural choices of large corporations. The political interests of personal, banking and government owners are exercised variably. There remain strong national influences on structural choices, with resistance to the multidivisional form particularly pronounced in Germany. Overall, our results call for an increased contextual sensitivity in management research while acknowledging the possibility of convergent processes in business organization, represented here by the slow progress of the multidivisional firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Protestant and Catholic churches in Germany embodied continuity in a country marked by discontinuity. During the forty years of division, they were the only organizations in East Germany to retain strong ties and organizational structures with their West German counterparts. Yet, the continuity that characterized the churches as organizations does not corroborate the stability of their values and self-definitions. Drawing on conceptual tools such as guiding metaphors and organizing principles, this paper looks at the debates that accompanied the re-establishment of the churches' unity after radical political change in order to delineate the conflicting conceptions of the churches' public role. The focus is on the work carried out by religious agents in either maintaining or changing these conceptions, a process we refer to as the 'politics of institutionalization'. Hirschman's framework on rhetoric enables us to reconstruct the debates to identify and compare the strategies and patterns of argumentation advanced by the actors in this process. Special attention is paid to the 'East German metaphors', or what is generally termed the 'positive experiences of the GDR and the 'Wende', and their defenders following the remarkable events that paved the way for the collapse of the German Democratic Republic and for German unification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main discussions in higher education is whether universities have appropriately adapted their structures and processes in response to the New Public Management (NPM) reforms and the Bologna Process. There are no profound empirical investigations on the extent to which faculties take elements of the reforms into account in terms of administrative processes and organizational structure dimensions according to the bureaucracy approach. This article examines how German faculty managers perceive bureaucratization processes by evaluating organizational structure dimensions. For this, we interpret interviews with 16 experts of German faculties through qualitative content analysis to extract in-depth manifestations of these dimensions. Our results show that the dimensions formalization, standardization, specialization, configuration, internal support functions, team self-coordination, and (de)centralization reflect elements of the NPM and Bologna reforms in the perception of faculty staff. These dimensions are complemented by decoupling mechanisms, i.e., discrepancies between formal structure and common practice, which hinder reform implementation. Besides, we identify elements of post-NPM approaches like network governance and neo-Weberianism supplementing reform implementation. We highlight (dys)functional effects of the dimensions by assessing them with criteria of effectiveness. Our results foster a deeper understanding of faculty organization by demonstrating levels of bureaucratization using profound examples of the interviewed persons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SMEs are perceived as more exposed to the consequences of external shocks. The purpose of our work is to examine whether the ERM sophistication or corporate governance mechanisms could be relevant in resistance to COVID-19 shock in the SMEs. In particular, we hypothesize that the SMEs with greater degree of ERM sophistication and stronger CG mechanisms will have a clearer understanding about the severity of the impacts from COVID-19. Our empirical evidence is based on the results of a survey conducted within a large sample of SMEs operating in Poland and in Germany within different experimental settings. We have found that the ERM and CG sophistication influence the perception of COVID-19 interruptions and will alert companies to adjust their business strategy and organizational structure to better cope with effects of the current crisis. The proposed framework can also be a valuable tool for consultants to use to enhance the ERM systems in SMEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background A significant proportion of acute care neurosurgical patients present to hospital outside regular working hours. The objective of our study was to evaluate the structure of neurosurgical on-call services in Germany, the use of modern communication devices and teleradiology services, and the personal acceptance of modern technologies by neurosurgeons. Materials and Methods A nationwide survey of all 141 neurosurgical departments in Germany was performed. The questionnaire consisted of two parts: one for neurosurgical departments and one for individual neurosurgeons. The questionnaire, available online and mailed in paper form, included 21 questions about on-call service structure; the availability and use of communication devices, teleradiology services, and other information services; and neurosurgeons' personal acceptance ofmodern technologies. Results The questionnaire return rate from departments was 63.1% (89/141), whereas 187 individual neurosurgeons responded. For 57.3% of departments, teleradiology services were available and were frequently used by 62.2% of neurosurgeons. A further 23.6% of departments described using smartphone screenshots of computed tomography (CT) images transmitted by multimedia messaging service (MMS), and 8.6% of images were described as sent by unencrypted email. Although 47.0% of neurosurgeons reported owning a smartphone, only 1.1% used their phone for on-call image communication. Conclusion Teleradiology services were observed to be widely used by on-call neurosurgeons in Germany. Nevertheless, a significant number of departments appear to use outdated techniques or techniques that leave patient data unprotected. On-call neurosurgeons in Germany report a willingness to adopt more modern approaches, utilizing readily available smartphones or tablet technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on knowledge strategies argues that the configuration of activities used by companies to acquire new and leverage existing knowledge is an important influencing factor of company performance. However, we do not know very much about how companies actually structure knowledge acquisition. In addition, we do not know which configurations of knowledge acquisition are conducive to company performance. Furthermore, knowledge strategies have largely been neglected in the context of young and entrepreneurial companies. Drawing on an explorative analysis of quantitative and qualitative data, we investigate strategies and activities for knowledge acquisition in the context of young biotechnology companies in Germany. The study reveals four distinct knowledge acquisition strategies (low key, mid range, focus and explorer) and shows that these strategies differ in their relation to company performance as a result of their configuration of knowledge acquisition activities and the type of knowledge acquired. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The recent debate in public health about the “inequality paradox” mirrors a long-standing dispute between proponents of structuralist approaches and advocates of action theory. Both views are genuine perspectives of health promotion, but so far they have not been adequately linked by health promotion theory. Using Anthony Giddens''s concepts of structure and agency seems promising, but his theory has a number of shortcomings that need to be amended if it is to be applied successfully to health promotion. After briefly assessing Giddens’s theory of structuration, this paper proposes to add to it both the concept of structural change as proposed by William Sewell and the policy dimension as described by Elinor Ostrom in her distinction between “operational” and “collective choice” level. On this basis, a multi-level model of the interaction of structure and agency in health promotion is proposed. This model is then connected to central claims of the Ottawa Charter, i.e. “build healthy public policy”, “create supportive environments”, “strengthen community actions”, and “develop personal skills”. A case study from a local-level health promotion project in Germany is used to illustrate the explanatory power of the model, showing how interaction between structure and agency on the operational and on the collective choice level led to the establishment of women-only hours at the municipal indoor swimming pool as well as to increased physical activity levels and improved general self-efficacy among members of the target group. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We demonstrate the importance of graph theory for understanding boards of directors. Specifically, we focus on the "small world" phenomenon. Our empirical results show that a random graph model is remarkably good at explaining board structure and connectedness in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. Although there are small-world traits such as "clustering" and "short-paths" in the corporate world, they are no more pronounced than would be expected by chance in a statistically similar, but randomly assembled corporate universe. In short, boards of directors, especially in the United States, are no more "clubby" than expected. Finally, our results show the existence of positive degree correlation: directors who sit on many boards do so in the company of other directors who sit on many boards. Board members whose services are in high demand, serve on boards with similar directors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper reports two studies investigating the use of reward allocation principles based on equity, equality, need and seniority by work organizations in Germany and the UK. The study sampled participants from various organizations to replicate some findings from laboratory studies involving students. Consistent with predictions, equity was more important in the UK than Germany. Contrary to previous laboratory studies, need was more important in the UK than Germany. Large differences between private and public sector organizations were found. More research focusing on real-life allocations is needed to develop a better understanding of cross-cultural differences. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: The project "ARMIHN" (Adaptive Resiliency Management in Port) focuses on strengthening the capability to act in a mass casualty incident (MCI) due to an outbreak of infectious diseases (MCI-ID). In addition to the current threat from the COVID-19 pandemic and associated outbreaks on cruise ships, previous MCI-ID were especially caused by pathogens such as Influenza virus or Norovirus. The first step was, to get an overview of processes and resources using the example of the Port of Hamburg, and to show the associated interaction of involved parties. This will serve as a basis for developing an operational strategy and offers the opportunity to optimize current work processes. Methods: A selective literature research using specified key words was performed and existing MCI concepts were received from local authorities. Identified structures and processes were analyzed in a multiple step process and also brought together through discussions in workshops with involved organizations and other experts. Additionally, the distances between the nearest rescue stations and selected hospitals from the Port of Hamburg were analyzed. Results: The current available concepts are proven, but an adaptation to an MCI-ID shows opportunities for a further cross-organizational development. The organizational structure of an MCI-ID in the Port of Hamburg was described, including a large number of involved organizations (n = 18). There are 17 involved fire and rescue stations and the port can be reached from these locations within 6 to 35 min. Based on their specialist expertise, 14 of the 31 listed clinics were selected. Conclusion: The purpose of the study was to provide an analysis of the current situation and show how involved parties would cope an MCI. A description of processes and resources at the Port of Hamburg will be used when designing a management plan for responding to an MCI-ID. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With this article we contribute to the inclusion of employees with disabilities in the workplace. Based on Stone and Colella's (1996) model of factors affecting the treatment of employees with disabilities in organizations, we concentrate on the investigation of job satisfaction as a focal affective response. Besides examining job satisfaction differences between employees with and without disabilities, we focus on perceived flexibility as an organizational boundary condition, arguing for its influence on the job satisfaction of employees with disabilities. We introduce perceived centralization and formalization, representing different indicators of flexibility, as moderators of the disability-job satisfaction relationship. Regression analysis using data from 110 small and medium-sized companies with 4,141 employees reveals that employees with disabilities are less satisfied than their colleagues without disabilities in highly centralized environments. As predicted, a decentralized organizational context relates to higher job satisfaction levels for all employees, but especially for those having a disability. Contrary to our hypothesis, perceived formalization does not significantly influence the relationship between having a disability and job satisfaction. However, our results clearly indicate the need for companies and especially human resource departments to better adapt to the needs of people with disabilities by creating flexible working environments. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the organizational and legal structure of religious communities in Germany. The institutional forming of religious pluralism was particularly marked in the 19th century when smaller Christian communities, free churches or sects, were officially permitted. Within the realm of Protestantism, an active evangelicalism has emerged which attempts to push its positions in the church's internal political decisions. Religious instruction in state schools is widely tolerated because of the possibility of opting out of it. This limited pluralism is facilitated by the depoliticization of debates about religion. In Germany, biconfessionality contributed very early to the churches' development from social institutions without any need of defining the status of membership into organizations of which the status of membership was rigidly defined. Because of their extensive organization the Christian churches become relatively independent from the motivation of their members. The predominant feature of organization of the church has so far been the parish and its categorization within a diocese/territorial church. Such an identification with the church as a form of lived religion is not culturally predetermined but has become an extremely subjective life decision.

Although real estate resources represent a high percentage of the corporate assets of non-property companies, their future role is unclear. Longevity and difficulty in revising property-related decisions clash under dynamically changing environmental conditions. This makes it necessary to consider the ownership strategy and its altering role in order to avoid inefficiencies and not to hinder companies in mastering structural change successfully. In a first step, data from a telephone company survey (CATI) among 69 corporate real estate managers of German companies are grouped by per- forming a two-step cluster analysis according to the degree to which they are affected by structural change. The resulting clusters are then tested regarding differences in their ownership strategy. The empirical analysis shows that firms highly affected by structural change exhibit a higher willingness to decrease the proportion of ownership. The decline in real estate assets is particularly evident in the office segment and in increased acceptance of sale-and-rent-back solutions. First hints show that structural change and associated new business requirements change the relevance of CRE ownership. To avoid competitive disadvantages, especially European firms should scrutinize their high ownership ratios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Practice assistants represent a highly relevant occupational group in Germany and one of the most popular training professions in Germany. Despite this, most research in the health care sector has focused on secondary care settings, but has not addressed practice assistants in primary care. Knowledge about practice assistants' workplace-related stressors and resources is particularly scarce. This cross-sectional study addresses the mental workload of practice assistants working in primary care practices. Methods: Practice assistants from a network of 185 German primary care practices were invited to participate in this cross-sectional study. The standardized 'Short Questionnaire for Workplace Analysis' (German: Kurzfragebogen zur Arbeitsanalyse) was used to assess practice assistants´ mental workload. It addresses eleven workplace factors in 26 items: versatility, completeness of task, scope of action, social support, cooperation, qualitative work demands, quantitative work demands, work disruptions, workplace environment, information and participation, and benefits. Sociodemographic and work characteristics were also obtained. A descriptive analysis was performed for sociodemographic data and "Short Questionnaire for Workplace Analysis" factors. The one-sided t-test and Cohen´s d were calculated for a comparison with data from 23 professional groups (n = 8,121). Results: A total of 550 practice assistants from 130 practices participated. The majority of practice assistants was female (99.3%) and worked full-time (66.5%) in group practices (50.6%). Compared to the other professional groups, practice assistants reported higher values for the factor social support (4.0 versus 3.7 [d 0.44; p<0.001]), information and participation (3.6 versus 3.3 [d 0.38; p<0.001] as well as work disruptions (2.7 vs. 2.4 [d 0.42; p<0.001]), while practice assistants showed lower values regarding scope of action (3.4 versus 3.8 [d 0.43; p<0.001]). Conclusions: Our study identified social support and participation within primary care practices as protective factors for mental workload, while work disruptions and scope of action were perceived as stressors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The implementation of clearly structured dementia-specific case conferences could be an important tool to enable nursing staff to properly analyse and manage challenging behaviour in nursing home residents with dementia. A process evaluation of the responses of nursing homes to the implementation of WELCOME-IdA (Wittener model of case conferences for people with dementia – the Innovative dementia-oriented Assessment tool) was carried out to gain insight into which key elements of the intervention were adopted by the nursing homes and which elements were adapted. Methods: This study was part of a larger process evaluation using a qualitative design. Thirty-four semi-structured telephone interviews and 15 focus group interviews were conducted in four nursing homes. The interviews were analysed using deductive content analysis, although inductive categories have been developed. Results: Nursing home staff adopted the roles of moderator, case reporter, keeper of the minutes and reflection partner in WELCOME-IdA, but the selection of the staff members who filled these roles differed across nursing homes. The recommended group size of 5–8 participants per case conference was sometimes adopted. The key element of having core nursing teams who participated continuously in all case conferences was not adopted at all. Instead, there was a high level of rotation among staff members. The pre-defined process structure of WELCOME-IdA was adapted in such a way that the assessment of the residents' behaviour and the selection of the relevant domain for the behaviour analysis were conducted in advance of the case conference. The evaluation of the interventions was also organized differently. Conclusion: The scope of the response implies that WELCOME-IdA requires further adaptation to the requirements of nursing processes in nursing homes. The results provide important information on the selection of role keepers and offer insights into a) how knowledge of the structured training was circulated and transformed into self-organized case conferences and b) how knowledge was circulated throughout the entire processing of one case. Thus, these results can be used to optimize intervention and implementation. Overall, the intervention should allow more possibilities for tailored adaptation than it currently does. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As more and more diagnostic and interventional options are becoming available for use in pediatric patients, techniques of procedural sedation analgesia (PSA) are being administered in considerably growing numbers as well. Aims: The objective of this research effort was to conduct the first countrywide survey on the status quo of sedation analgesia as delivered to children and adolescents in Germany. Methods: We dispatched letters to all pediatric hospital settings in Germany (n = 305), including a questionnaire that had been developed with existing guidelines taken into account. Its items were designed to elucidate the current practice of PSA throughout these pediatric centers regarding (a) organizational structures and (b) standards of medication and staffing. Results: A total of 138 centers returned the questionnaire, hence the response rate was 45.2%. Numerous centers had implemented adequate structures and staffing standards. Deficits were nevertheless identified, most notably in terms of on-location equipment and staff provided to deliver sedations. Essential items of equipment were not provided in up to 26.8% of centers. Adequate staffing was not provided in up to 44.2% of centers, depending on the diagnostic or interventional procedures for which the PSA was delivered. The most widely used sedative agents were midazolam, ketamine/esketamine, and propofol. Conclusions: Adequate care structures for the management of procedural sedation analgesia have been implemented by many pediatric centers in Germany. On the downside, these findings also reveal deficits that will take efforts to be eliminated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholarship on contemporary organizations has dealt with institutional complexity and conflicting demands, stressing the capacity of organizations to find constructive responses to such complexity. However, in human service sectors exhibiting strong ambiguity and logic incompatibility, solutions may be scarce. But what happens instead? Exploring the German child protection industry, its regulatory framework, and organizational dynamics, we argue that, given a permanent clash of the entrenched welfare logic with managerialist prescriptions, major reactions rest upon 'schizophrenic sensemaking' that prompts clueless organizational improvisation. Understanding such collective 'non-response' may help human service managers avoid unjustified accusations regarding professional malpractice and motivate political advocacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on control mechanisms used by multinational corporations (MNCs) to manage their extra-national R&D units. Drawing on both the literature on organizational power and contingency theory, this study develops and empirically tests a set of hypotheses aimed at explaining how headquarters control their overseas R&D units. Data collected from 134 R&D units of German MNCs serve to test the hypotheses. Results highlight the importance of the units' R&D mandate and its interdependence in explaining control mechanisms. Moreover, they indicate a relatively weak predictive power of political approaches compared to contingency approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizing is widely discussed as a remedy for continued union decline. Originating in the liberal market industrial relations systems of the Anglo-Saxon world, the 'organizing' strategy is increasingly discussed in countries like Germany, traditionally known for consensual industrial relations and multi-employer collective bargaining. To study whether and how 'organizing' is translated in union organizations operating in a different institutional context, we study the link between organizational transformation and institutions in IG Metall in Germany, which was been influenced by the American Service Employees International Union (SEIU). We find a German variety of organizing rather than a mere copying of 'best practice': the union's approach is based on institutional and organizational structures as a resource and constraint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's analysis of the impact and success of codetermination and industrial adjustment within the German steel industry while comparing this industry with rivalling countries. The three aspects of this particular industry that the author praises include its ability to produce better results than comparable markets, adjustment has been noticeably more concensual, and codetermination has allowed for economic adaptation. The author suggests that it is through the cohesion of technically effective and politically smooth adjustment that the German steel industry has been successful.

Here, I attempt to formulate some thoughts about the past, present, and future of psychoanalysis and its institutions in Germany. To do this, I have employed my varied experience as a supervisor and consultant to many such psychoanalytic institutes over the past several years. Themes discussed include the history of psychoanalysis in postwar Germany, the organizational structure of German psychoanalytic institutes, and their cultures in regard to group and organizational dynamics, and political and economic aspects. Finally, I add brief thoughts about the future, taking into account recent developments relating to planned changes in laws governing psychotherapy in Germany. Further, I attempt to analyze and comment on: coming to terms with the past; how to begin after the “Zero Hour”; the form of organization of psychoanalytic institutes in Germany; missing patients and missing candidates; constructive debate and hurting people’s feelings; the lack of “detoxification” and “recycling” of the poisonous remains of psychoanalytic processes; and the future of psychoanalytic institutions in Germany. I end with an example of a typical primary task used in conducting large groups in the institutes in which I worked, and include an anonymized table listing individual interventions, their duration, and frequency. These should provide an idea of my way of working, and an overview of the dimensions of the task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By investigating two German inter-departmental committees, this article shows that the policy output of these coordination bodies depends on the specific institutional logic evoked throughout the coordination process. While in one of the groups a policy logic prevailed and a joint coordination output was achieved, the other was dominated by a political logic and proved unable to achieve agreement. The article contributes to research on government coordination by showing that actor orientations are crucial for explaining inter-organizational coordination. The results direct attention to the behavioural implications of coordination structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the basic concept of insulation. This commonly reduces sound travel through partition walls. However, new research has shown that the reverberation of sound from adjoining walls has not been sufficiently taken into account, even though it considerably affects the sound absorption capability of some walls. The work is presented by Christoph King, of Germany's Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt.

This article presents a case study of the use of digital tools by campaign organizations in Germany’s 2013 federal election. Based on observations and in-depth interviews with key personnel in the campaigns of six of the parties running for Parliament, I examine whether German campaigns’ use of digital tools follows the usage practices that have been identified in studies of campaigns in the United States. I group how campaigns use digital tools into four categories: organizational structures and work routines, presence in information spaces online, support in resource collection and allocation, and symbolic uses. I show that these categories capture how German parties use digital tools. U.S.-based studies can thus provide helpful interpretive frameworks for studying digital campaigning in other countries. However, I also reveal that there are important differences between German and U.S.-based online campaigning. These differences stem from the different levels of intensity with which digital tools are deployed in each country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]