Pflegeberatung ist Vertrauenssache

M?ngeln in der h?uslichen Pflege pr?ventiv begegnen – Vertrauen ohne Kontrolle, Routine, überforderung oder das Nichtbeachten des Beziehungsgeflechtes zwischen Pflegenden und Gepflegten führt oft zu Problemen. Der Gesetzgeber verpflichtete deshalb die Pflegekassen und Tr?gerverb?nde von ambulanten Pflegeeinrichtungen zur Erarbeitung von Richtlinien und standardisierten Verfahren für die Pflegefachberatung. Leider gibt es bislang keine verbindliche Umsetzung.     

The perceived fairness of performance evaluation: The role of uncertainty

This paper investigates the relationship between performance evaluation procedures and managerial perceptions of procedural justice. We examine two metric and two process characteristics. Metric characteristics are the diversity of metrics used by superiors and their reliance on outcome vs. effort metrics. Regarding process characteristics, we analyse the amount of subordinate's voice in the performance evaluation process, and the extent of formalization of the process. Using uncertainty management theory, we argue that justice effects of performance evaluation procedures may not be direct but are instead conditional on the amount of task uncertainty managers face in the their job context as well as on managers’ tolerance for ambiguity. Using a sample of 178 managers from the banking industry, we find that all four performance evaluation characteristics are related to justice perceptions, yet their effect depends on the level of task uncertainty and tolerance for ambiguity. These findings explain some inconsistencies in extant studies on fairness of performance evaluation procedures.     

Car ownership as a mediating variable in car travel behaviour research using a structural equation modelling approach to identify its dual relationship

Car ownership is generally considered an important variable in car travel behaviour research, but its specific role is often not well understood. Certain empirical studies consider car ownership as the dependent variable explained by the built environment, whereas other studies deem it to be one of the independent variables explaining car travel behaviour. This paper takes note of the dual influence car ownership has in explaining car travel behaviour by assuming that car ownership mediates the relationship between the built environment and car use. The relationship is estimated using a structural equation model since it accounts for mediating variables. This approach confirms the intermediary nature of car ownership.     

Communication Quality in Business Negotiations

The quality of a business negotiation process is usually assessed by its economic outcome, e.g. in terms of Pareto efficiency or distance to Nash equilibrium. We argue that this assessment method is insufficient in that it fails to provide a comprehensive analysis of business negotiations. Negotiators engage in highly complex communication tasks, and these communication processes should be analysed along with the outcome in the overall evaluation of a business negotiation. To this end, we will introduce Communication Quality as a new construct for analyzing the negotiation process. Furthermore, it will be argued that Communication Quality itself can affect economic negotiation outcomes both short- and long-term. We will present relevant aspects of Communication Quality, outline a scheme for its operationalisation and measurement, and discuss its probable impacts on business negotiations.     

Operating performance of European bank mergers

With very few exceptions the accepted viewpoint established by (predominantly) US research is that bank operating performance is not improved after merger. In this article we concentrate on European banks and investigate post-merger operating performance for 35 publicly listed bank mergers that were completed between 1992 and 1997. We find that industry-adjusted mean cash flow return did not significantly change after merger but stayed positive. We also find that the merger led to a significant decrease in profitability and capitalisation. Our key finding, in contrast to the US evidence, is that cost-efficiency ratios improved, although the improvement was not large enough to offset the profitability decrease. We also find that low profitability levels, conservative credit policies and good cost-efficiency status before merger are the main determinants of industry-adjusted cash flow returns and provide the source for improving these returns after merger.     

Supply Chain Management Competency and Firm Financial Success

Supply chain management (SCM) plays a major role in creating (or destroying) shareholder value by influencing the three major drivers of firm financial performance: revenue, operating costs, and working capital. Yet, the relationship between SCM competency and firm financial performance is not well‐established. Drawing on the resource‐based view of the firm, this study assesses this relationship using Delphi‐style opinion data from AMR Research’s Supply Chain Top 25 rankings to assess SCM competency and Altman’s (1968) Z‐score statistic as the measure of financial success. The study findings show that firms recognized by industry experts for SCM competency have significantly higher Z‐scores than their close competitors and industry averages.     

Should the Good and the Selfish be Taxed Differently?*

In this paper, we consider an environment where individual actions have externalities and two types of agents exist: agents with social preferences (the good) and selfish agents. Selfish agents have pay‐off functions that do not take into account social welfare. The pay‐off of an agent is a linear combination of social welfare and the pay‐off of a selfish agent. We demonstrate that the corrective tax rates that maximize social welfare do not depend on the degree of social preferences. Hence, the good and the selfish should not be taxed differently.