Do conflict management systems matter?

The most influential current idea in the theory of conflict management concerns the design features and supposed superior outcomes of conflict management systems combining interest-based and rights-based practices for resolving conflict in organizations. Yet much of the literature in the area is highly prescriptive and draws heavily either on exemplary case studies or descriptive data. Using focus groups of HR practitioners and experts in conflict resolution to develop a questionnaire covering the main conflict management practices associated with the theory of conflict management systems, the study analyzes data from a survey of firms in the Republic of Ireland to examine quantitatively the effects of conflict management systems on organizational outcomes. While proactive line management and supervisory engagement in conflict resolution as a key dimension of conflict management systems is found to be positively associated with a range of organizational outcomes, no evidence is found for the kind of system effects proposed in the theoretical and prescriptive literature. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Why multiples matter: Reconceptualising the population referred to child and family social workers

Building on a body of previous research by the author and colleagues in relation to multiple adverse childhood experiences (MACE), this paper addresses the question of ‘why multiples matter’ in relation to issues of cumulative adversity. Illustrative evidence is drawn from three research domains, epidemiology, multiple services use and child maltreatment to demonstrate the collective weight of evidence to suggest a targeting of those children and families experiencing multiple adversities to diminish the effects of such adversities realised across the life-course. Whilst the history of previous largely unsuccessful attempts to widen the range of children prioritised for intervention by child and family social workers might lead to pessimism in relation to their ability to respond to a MACE informed public health agenda, there are clear possibilities for developing agency structures, assessment tools and social work practices directed toward meeting the needs of those sub populations already prioritised by social workers: namely Children in Need, Children in need of Protection and Looked after Children.

Long hours in paid and domestic work and subsequent sickness absence: does control over daily working hours matter?

Objectives: To explore the associations of working hours ( paid, domestic, commuting, and total) with sickness absence, and to examine whether these associations vary according to the level of employee control over daily working hours.

Site choices in recreational demand: a matter of utility maximization or regret minimization?

This paper compares the Random Regret Minimization and the Random Utility Maximization models for determining recreational choice. The Random Regret approach is based on the idea that, when choosing, individuals aim to minimize their regret – regret being defined as what one experiences when a non-chosen alternative in a choice set performs better than a chosen one in relation to one or more attributes. The Random Regret paradigm, recently developed in transport economics, presents a tractable, regret-based alternative to the dominant choice paradigm based on Random Utility. Using data from a travel cost study exploring factors that influence kayakers’ site-choice decisions in the Republic of Ireland, we estimate both the traditional Random Utility multinomial logit model (RU-MNL) and the Random Regret multinomial logit model (RR-MNL) to gain more insights into site choice decisions. We further explore whether choices are driven by a utility maximization or a regret minimization paradigm by running a binary logit model to examine the likelihood of the two decision choice paradigms using site visits and respondents characteristics as explanatory variables. In addition to being one of the first studies to apply the RR-MNL to an environmental good, this paper also represents the first application of the RR-MNL to compute the Logsum to test and strengthen conclusions on welfare impacts of potential alternative policy scenarios.

Effect of relativistic plasma on extreme-ultraviolet harmonic emission from intense laser-matter interactions

Experiments were performed in which intense laser pulses (up to 9x10(19) W/cm(2)) were used to irradiate very thin (submicron) mass-limited aluminum foil targets. Such interactions generated high-order harmonic radiation (greater than the 25th order) which was detected at the rear of the target and which was significantly broadened, modulated, and depolarized because of passage through the dense relativistic plasma. The spectral modifications are shown to be due to the laser absorption into hot electrons and the subsequent sharply increasing relativistic electron component within the dense plasma.