Organizations In Germany Research Articles

Mosques as Spaces of Everyday Geopolitical Tensions

ABSTRACT Mosques in Europe have long been and are still at the centre of political debates, despite the decades-long presence of migrant Muslim communities in Europe. Scholars within geography and other disciplines have studied mosques extensively with a focus on urban space politics, and examined tensions and conflicts between migrant mosque communities and the broader segments of the local people. In this paper, I focus on DITIB, a Turkish umbrella mosque organization in Germany, and I carry these debates into a transnational terrain, re-theorizing mosques not only as political sites, but also everyday geopolitical spaces where national imaginaries and territorial struggles take place in the daily lives of mosque communities. Through this approach, I draw on the studies of feminist geographers who have provided a renewed perspective to classical geopolitics discussions by revealing how geopolitical relations, struggles, and interactions also operate in everyday spaces, relations, and bodies of ordinary people by reproducing the deep-seated exclusions, discriminations and contestations. This paper contributes to critical geopolitics and geographies of religion literatures as well as to broader discussions on the geopolitics of religion by analysing how a mosque organization is situated at the centre of geopolitical tensions, and how transnational and transregional controversies operate on the walls and properties of mosques and in everyday social/cultural activities of mosque communities.

Dealing with Personal Identity Threats: The Case of Negative Media Coverage

Despite its theoretical and practical importance, empirical research on how employees deal with threats to their personal identity is surprisingly scarce. Using negative media coverage as an example, this study seeks to fill this void by shedding light on how employees make sense of and decide how to respond to such threats. To address this question, we conducted an in-depth case study in the context of professional football organizations in Germany. Our key contribution lies in developing a grounded process model and propositions that clarify employees’ responses to media-induced identity threats. We identify strategies that employees use for dealing with the media, ranging from disregard to active attempts to influence the coverage. We also show when employees respond with which of these strategies. Our findings have important implications for the growing body of research on personal identity threats and organizational identity research more broadly.

The Transition Value of Business Models for a Sustainable Energy System: The Case of Virtual Peer-to-Peer Energy Communities

Peer-to-peer energy (p2p) communities connect electricity consumers and producers on platforms allowing them to trade energy with each other. By synchronizing local production and consumption, connecting decentral actors, and creating new markets, they can promote a more sustainable energy system. A multicase study and expert interviews were conducted to investigate how the business models of these organizations operate and what value they may provide to stakeholders and the energy system. It was found that, due to current legislation, organizations in Germany mostly facilitate virtual, supraregional p2p energy communities. While these do not offer all the benefits of local p2p energy communities, they do facilitate a range of advantages to stakeholders and the overall energy system. Finally, it is concluded how sustainable business models can offer “system transition value,” driving the dissemination of new technologies, the redesign of markets, and the education of customers to foster a more sustainable energy system.

Work-to-family and family-to-work conflicts among employed single parents in Germany

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine whether and how employed single-parents differ from parents in two-parent families in their experience of work-to-family conflict (WFC) and family-to-work conflict (FWC). Looking at job-related as well as family-related demands and resources, this research investigated to what degree these demands and resources contribute to differences in WFC and FWC, how their relevance in predicting conflicts varies between single parents and other parents and the role of compositional differences in work and family demands and resources.Design/methodology/approachCross-sectional linear regression analyses were applied to analyze a random sample of employees in large work organizations in Germany. The sample included 3,581 parents with children up to the age of 25, of whom 346 were single parents.FindingsThe results indicated that single parents face more FWC, but not more WFC, than other parents. For all parents, job demands such as overtime, supervising responsibilities and availability expectations were associated with higher levels of WFC, whereas job resources such as job autonomy, support from supervisors and flexible working hours were associated with lower levels of WFC. In predicting FWC, family demands and resources played only a minor role. However, results provide only scant evidence of differences between single parents and other parents in terms of the effects of job and family demands and resources.Originality/valueThis study offers interesting insights into the diversity of WFC and FWC experiences in Germany. It provides first evidence of the impact of job and family demands and resources on both directions of work–family conflicts among employed single parents as a specific social group.

The “Guest” Who Refuses to Work, the “Terrorist” Who Contemplates Global Hunger: Minorities in Fatih Akin Films

In her book that explores Turkish migrant organizations in Germany, sociologist Gökçe Yurdakul detects a historical transformation in the political representation of migrants and minorities from the 1970s through the 2000s. She marks six historical events that lead to this transformation: labor migration (1961–1972), the introduction of family reunification law (1973–1979), post-1980 military coup asylum seekers from Turkey (1980–1988), the fall of the Berlin Wall and its aftermath of exacerbating xenophobia against non-German minorities (1989–1998), the introduction of the new citizenship law (1999), and finally the terrorist attacks on September 11 (2001–present). According to Yurdakul, these events mark a gradual shift in the minority rights debate. While the first minority organizations were formed around labor rights, gradually, due to these landmark events and laws, their demands shifted toward political and social rights of citizenship, and identitarian rights, such as the right “to exist as Muslims and as Europeans.”

Assessing Identity and Access Management Process Maturity: First Insights from the German Financial Sector

ABSTRACT We develop an Identity and Access Management (IAM) process maturity model and provide a first assessment of four organizations in Germany’s financial industry. We find that the assessed organizations show merely average IAM maturity levels, and especially lack maturity and compliance in user registration and logging and tracking. Information technology (IT) managers, consultants, and auditors can use the model to (self)-audit, compare, or benchmark IAM process maturity, or identify weaknesses in organizations’ IAM processes.

Charm and risk of self historization – the contemporary history of medical associations and the present boom of commissioned research in Germany

For more than ten years, “coming to terms with the past” became a kind of leitmotif for public and private institutions and organizations in Germany. More and more ministries of the federal government, branches of public administration and private associations are keen to shed light on their respective past between 1933 and 1945. Even the continuities of personnel and organizational structures between the Nazi era and the early Federal Republic are no longer a taboo. Suppression and ignorance seem to have been replaced by critical self-historicization - this also applies to professions and professional organizations such as medical associations. This essay sheds light on the historical context of these recent developments and offers some critical considerations regarding the manifestation, causes and consequences of the current boom of commissioned research.

Russian humanitarian organization on the German job market as a factor of adaptation of Russian refugees in the 1919-1920’s

The subject of this research is the job market and legal situation in Germany in the 1920’s in the context of arrival of a large number of Russian refugees and former World War I prisoners; activity of the Russian social and professional organizations on overcoming humanitarian crisis faced by the compatriots in exile; process of reproduction of organizational structures of the Russian humanitarian activity in Europe; legal and economic framework of their activity abroad; role of humanitarian organizations in Germany in the process of employment of Russian refugees. Methodology is based on the principles of historicism and systematicity. The latter implies examination of the articulated problem in inseparable connection with the ongoing social processes and events during a specific historical period. For the first time, the history of Russian first-wave émigré is viewed through the prism of processes taking place in the area of labor relations of Russian refugees and German society; as a story of people who faced a severe humanitarian crisis. Sociocultural stress incurred by millions of compatriots caused such phenomena as marginalization and denationalization on a massive scale. The article reflects the role of humanitarian activity in counteracting the aforementioned crisis processes of the examined period.

The «Duales Studium» Adaptation as an Innovation in Ukrainian Tertiary Education: Management Aspects and Results

The fourth industrial revolution and integration of the human capital concept into policymaking attract more attention to the ways of shortening the gap between the demands of the laboгr market and the «supply» of educational establishments. One of the ways to approach ensuring the efficient response is to export and adapt the «made in Germany» dual education/studies models, especially in tertiary education. Ukraine had had no similar systemic approach before the launch of a project on the importing of the dual higher education or dual studies («Duales Studium», DS) by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Office in Ukraine in 2013 (FES-Ukraine). The article aims to present state of the art with the «import» of the Duales Studium as of 2020 and main findings of the author’s questionnaire survey on the results of the first year of the national experiment in Ukrainian higher educational establishments (HEEs) under the supervision of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (MES). The author’s questionnaire survey was carried out from February to August 2020. The respondents included 27 higher educational establishments listed in the ministerial Order №1296 on the launch of the national wide dual studies experiment to be conducted in 2019-2023. The answers were obtained from the 23 HEEs, though not all of the answers were valid. The data obtained allowed to do both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The findings show that principles of the dual studies may be successfully adapted and implemented in the Ukrainian tertiary education, despite the lack of many components of German dual system, as well as some misinterpretations or purposeful misuse of the suggested mechanisms on the ground. Ukrainian dual studies may not be called a «dual system» yet, as many elements are still lacking and some cannot be re-created in the national context, but it is a form of studies that may already now be chosen by a student, as is demonstrated by 60 cases implemented by 17 HEEs on the examples of 31 majors and 441 students, out of which 123 are female and 318 male. Therefore, the obtained experience is a source of valuable information for recommendations to the stakeholders (educational institutions, employers and their associations, students, ministries, the Government and local self-government bodies etc.) aimed at boosting their further cooperation. Thus, it creates favourable conditions for training a capable workforce, which is one of the factors of compatibility and growth of both individual economic actors and the national economy as a whole. The authors’ contributions are as follows: elaboration of the draft questionnaire, description of the methodology, data analysis of the first year of the dual studies introduction by Ukrainian HEEs, conclusions and recommendations (Olena Davlikanova); input on experience of Dual Studies organization in Germany from the perspective of companies and HEEs (Prof. Helmut Hofstetter). Keywords dual higher education, dual form of education, dual studies, dual study models, dual tertiary education, Duales Studium, employers, higher educational institutions, human capital, Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, pilot project, students, tertiary education.

Tools for state support of research institutions at the regional level: the German experience and Russia's approach

In the paper, the author studies the cases of the German regions (the Lander) in supporting research institutions. The best practices of the Lander are revealed through the benchmarking of the key indicators related to the development of R&D sector at the regional level in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). A comparative analysis of measures taken to support research institutions in the FRG and Russia is carried out. The paper concluded that the peculiarities of the system of state support for scientific organisations in Germany and Russia are mainly explained by models of the federalism in Germany and Russia.

Identifying barriers to organizational health literacy in public health departments in Germany

Abstract Background To master challenges to their environmental health, people have to have health literacy (HL). At a national and communal level, focus is shifting from individual HL to health care organizations. They have to raise their organizational health literacy (OHL) to help their users to access information and services. In Germany, public health departments are responsible for environmental health at a population level while the environmental administration is responsible for health-related environmental protection. To date, there is no research on the OHL of public health departments in Germany. Which are the barriers that keep public health organizations from raising their OHL as well as from making better use of possible synergies with the environmental administration? Methods The study consisted of interviews with experts from public health (n = 7) and environmental departments (n = 5) at communal (n = 8) up to federal state level (n = 4). Experts were asked for their insight on barriers for OHL as well as for cross-sector collaboration. They were selected for a wide range in socioeconomic factors and administrative levels. The interviews were recorded between 10/2018-04/2019. After transcription the anonymized interviews underwent qualitative content analysis. Results In twelve interviews 10.4 h of audio were recorded. Content analysis revealed 13 barriers for OHL. Several of those had been described for hospitals before while others, like low responsiveness to the needs of the public, were unknown so far. Preliminary results also indicated several barriers for cross-sectoral cooperation as well as recommendations to overcome said barriers. Conclusions Interviews with public health and environmental administrative organizations turned up 13 barriers that keep them from raising their OHL. Implementing preliminary recommendations could result in better cooperation, in higher OHL, higher environmental health and therefore contribute to public health in the general population. Key messages Interviews with experts from public health and environmental administrative organizations in Germany turned up barriers that keep them from raising both their OHL and cross-sectoral cooperation. Implementing preliminary recommendations could result in higher OHL of public health departments and higher environmental health of the general public and thus contribute greatly to public health.

International actors of democracy assistance in Egypt post 2011: German political foundations

Purpose This paper aims at a qualitative investigation and analysis of the complicated situation of the four German Political Foundations (GPFs) – Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Friedrich Naumann Foundation and Hanns Seidel Foundation – as actors of democracy assistance in Egypt post 25 January 2011 revolution. It explores the relation between the restrictive political circumstances and the weakness and potential failure of the GPFs while considering their internal structural and operative misconducts as intervening variables. Design/methodology/approach The researcher uses the qualitative research method and its interpretive practices of data collection. The backbone of this study are the field visits and extensive interviews with the resident representatives of the GPFs in Egypt, and the representatives of the international departments of their headquarters in Germany. These interviews were complemented by further interviews with members of related organizations in Germany, as well as Egyptian professors, diplomats and experts on Egypt and the broader Middle East. The interviewing method is semi-structured in nature and audio-recorded. In Germany, interviews and information were gathered throughout a four-month field-research stay in Germany. Findings The paper concludes that the restrictive regime and political limitations were determining variables undermining the success of the GPFs in the area of democracy assistance in Egypt post 2011 revolution, while the GPFs’ own operative malfunctions and lack of adaptation to the political reality post 2011 were contributing factors in the process. Research limitations/implications Owing to security concerns and trust issues, many interviewees were reluctant to give information openly and freely; also requesting complete anonymity in the study. Some information and documents were denied to the researcher out of security concerns. Originality/value The added value of this paper lies in the qualitative research, investigations and personalized views on the functions and situation of the GPFs as international actors of democracy assistance in Egypt post 25 January 2011 revolution, considering the restrictive political landscape in which they exist. The study can assist scholars and researchers who explore the processes of democratization during transitional periods and the harsh grip of restrictive regime.

The Presentation of Self as Good and Right: How Value Propositions and Business Model Features are Linked in the Sharing Economy

The sharing economy as an emerging field is characterized by unsettled debates about its shared purpose and defining characteristics of the organizations within this field. This study draws on neo-institutional theory to explore how sharing organizations position themselves vis-à-vis such debates with regard to (1) the values these organizations publicly promote to present themselves as “good” sharing organizations and (2) the business model features they make visible to appear as having the “right” organizational model. This study examines the online self-representations of 62 prototypical sharing organizations in Germany with regard to value propositions and business model features. A semantic network analysis of the features reveals two distinct categories of sharing organizations: grassroots initiatives and platform-based organizations. By showing how value propositions and business model features are linked in the sharing economy, the findings indicate the different legitimation strategies of grassroots initiatives and platform-based organizations, which we term “sustainability by model” and “sustainability by feature.” These findings broaden our understanding of the strategies that organizations apply to cope with societal expectations in the emerging sharing economy.

Learning from near-miss events: An organizational learning perspective on supply chain disruption response

Studying near-miss events – occasions when a company comes close to being negatively impacted – can help identify systemic issues and thereby enhance organizational resilience. However, what is not known is how firms learn from near-miss events, and how their learning is translated into response strategies in the face of supply chain disruptions. In this study, we address the following research questions - How does exposure to near-misses reflect in organizational response strategies to supply chain disruptions? Using single and double-loop learning from organizational learning theory, we examine how firms implement response strategies based on near-miss events. In addition, we examine the moderating effects of institutional pressures (from regulatory bodies and industry associations) into the model. We test the hypotheses using responses from 448 organizations in Germany, Switzerland and Sweden. Our results indicate that exposure to near-miss events leads firms to strengthen their focus on procedural response strategies and to lower their focus on flexible response strategies. Industry pressure furthers the effects of near-miss exposure in applying procedural strategies and limiting the application of flexible strategies. Regulatory pressure furthers the effects of near-miss exposure in limiting the application of flexible strategies. This study extends the body of supply chain disruption management to the concept of near-misses and explains how institutional context play a major role in learning of supply chain disruption responses.

Relational Mechanisms

Abstract This article challenges the view that sociological explanation is based on methodological individualism and suggests using relational concepts for constructing explanations of social phenomena. It develops a relational concept of social mechanisms based on sociological systems theory and illustrates its explanatory power by drawing on research on changes in educational organizations in Germany.

Do Companies Benefit from Public Research Organizations? The Impact of the Fraunhofer Society in Germany

Among available policy levers to boost innovation, investment in applied research organisations has received little empirical attention. In this paper, we analyse the case of the Fraunhofer Society, the largest public applied research organization in Germany. We analyse whether project interaction with Fraunhofer affects the performance and strategic orientation of firms. To that end, we assemble a unique dataset based on the confidential Fraunhofer-internal project management system and merge it with the German contribution to the Community Innovation Survey (CIS), which contains panel information on firm performance. Using instrumental variables that exploit the scale heteroscedasticity of the independent variable (Lewbel, 2012), we identify the causal effects of Fraunhofer interactions on firm performance and strategies. We find a strong, positive effect of project interaction on growth in turnover and productivity. In particular, we find that a one percent increase in the size of the contracts with FhG leads to an increase in growth rate of sales by 1.3 percentage points, and to an increase in the growth rate of productivity by 0.8 percentage points in the short-run. We also provide evidence of considerable long-run effects accumulating to 18% growth in sales and 12% growth in productivity over the course of 15 years. More detailed analyses reveal, amongst others, that the performance effects become stronger the more often firms interact with Fraunhofer and that interactions aiming at generation of technology have a stronger effect than interactions aiming merely at the implementation of existing technologies. Finally, we provide evidence on the macroeconomic productivity effects of Fraunhofer interactions on the German economy. Our results indicate that doubling Fraunhofer revenues from industry (+€ 0.68 bn.) would increase overall productivity in the German economy by 0.55%.

Relational Interactions Between Immigrant and Native-Born Volunteers: Trust-Building and Integration or Suspicion and Conflict?

We investigate the bridging interactions between migrant-background and native-born volunteers. Bridging interactions are the connections that occur across social lines between dissimilar groups. Bridging interactions are a core topic in civil society research that is concerned with questions of trust-building through volunteering and civic engagement. Such interactions between native-born and immigrants in voluntary settings are important for both the immigrants and policymakers occupied with the challenge of immigration and integration. While past studies have addressed the topic of immigrant volunteering from a quantitative approach, we offer a qualitative analysis of the micro-interactions of immigrant and native-born volunteers within nonprofit organizations in Germany. Using 22 in-depth interviews, we explore the interaction experiences and the relations of trust and conflict among volunteers of migrant and native origins. We find that volunteering interactions bridge differences between immigrant and native-born populations by reducing exclusionary effects among differing groups. Immigrant volunteering acts as an accelerator to integration due to two characteristics the volunteers have in common: the willingness to adapt to each other’s cultures and the prioritization of the recipients’ needs.

Editorial

Dear Readers, Dear Authors, Dear Reviewers, It is the time of the year again where we reflect upon the highlights that impacted us most last year and to find out where we go from here. Thinking about last year, there are many things that come to mind that have enraged us, excited us, or even inspired us. Most of them are not even closely related to our journal and the work we do here. But some events are suggesting major changes in the way we do business. One such example is Open Access. Over the last few decades voices have been becoming increasingly louder, requesting free access to all research articles and related information. Without further complications such as blocking paywalls or not accessible subscriptions, scientists (or other interested people for that matter) are able to read available studies in their field and beyond, inform themselves about what is going on elsewhere, and maybe even grab some ideas to further their own research. It also supports researchers with a lower budget that do not have access to wide-spread subscriptions, thereby reducing the inherent advantage posed by higher funding. Open Access comes in many variants: Gold Open Access is the publication in fully Open Access Journals. They generally follow the same standardized peer review process as conventional journals. Green Open Access, on the other hand, means the simultaneous self-archival on private servers, institutional repositories, or other archives. In contrast to the preprints, only the post-prints have actually been reviewed by experts in the field. And then there is the hybrid way, meaning publication in journals that follow the subscription model, but also allow Open Access publication of articles. However, as often in life, nothing is for free. Although Open Access does not cost the reader, someone has to cover the expenses incurring until then. Open Access articles are also reviewed, corrected and polished by editors, journals have to be compiled, and typesetting has to be performed. All this adds a further value to the article that cannot be provided by self-archival or preprints. Currently, the Open Access landscape is very heterogeneous, and each publisher/journal handles it differently. However, since the movement is growing and Open Access is becoming a major player, different initiatives have assembled. In Europe, for example, there is the Coalition S, a consortium of major European research agencies from twelve European countries. In September 2018, they published Plan S, which requires Open Access publication for all research funded by the participating organizations by 2020. And in January 2019, Wiley and the DEAL consortium, representing over 700 research organizations in Germany, struck a deal. This new partnership will enable wider dissemination of scientific information by allowing the participating researchers to publish their work Open Access. And all this research is then also available to the rest of the scientific community, here in Germany as well as elsewhere. Open Access deals are also in place with Austrian and Dutch organizations. In light of these pioneering deals, other publishers and probably also research organizations around the world will rethink their publishing models. It is a major step towards a currently unknown future that will change the publishing landscape as we know it but will at the same time be beneficial for all participants. If you want to be part of this new landscape and wish to make your research publicly available, then we are happy to offer you Open Access publication in ChemBioEng Reviews as well. Please check our website for detailed information (ChemBioEngRev.com). With that, we would like to loop back to the current issue and hope you enjoy the read. All the Best for a successful year 2019! Yours sincerely, Cordula Buse (Deputy Editor) and Barbara Boeck (Editor-in-Chief) Cordula Buse Barbara Boeck

Living in two cultures – Transnational identities of Indian migrants in Germany

The question of migrant identities is a leitmotif of the research on transnationalism. This paper explores how Indian migrants in Germany describe their identities. Differing views will be portrayed: on the one hand positive self-perceptions, which are nurtured by living in two cultures; on the other hand the self-perceptions of transnational migrants, who perceive living transnationally as a burden. Further, it will be discussed how the relationship to the sending society develops with an increasing duration of stay in Germany. Also the cultural identity of different Indian migrant organisations in Germany will be described. Special interest is given to the analysis of transnational identities of second generation migrants. For this group the embedding in transnational familial and social networks poses a special challenge. The paper aims at substantiating the concept of “hybrid identities” by applying a differentiated analysis of the concrete case study.

Perception of Drivers and Barriers in the Adoption of Cargo Cycles by Private and Public Organizations in Germany

Perception of Drivers and Barriers in the Adoption of Cargo Cycles by Private and Public Organizations in Germany