In recent decades Japan has changed from a strongly growing, economically successful nation regarded as prime example of social equality and inclusion, to a nation with a stagnating economy, a shrinking population and a very high proportion of elderly people. Within this, new forms of inequality are emerging and deepening, and a new model of Japan as 'gap society' (kakusa shakai) has become common-sense. These new forms of inequality are complex, are caused in different ways by a variety of factors, and require deep-seated reforms in order to remedy them. This book provides a comprehensive overview of inequality in contemporary Japan. It examines inequality in labour and employment, in welfare and family, in education and social mobility, in the urban-rural divide, and concerning immigration, ethnic minorities and gender. The book also considers the widespread anxiety effect of the fear of inequality; and discusses how far these developments in Japan represent a new form of social problem for the wider world.
A Powerful Look at Corporate Change and Why Mergers, Reorganizations, and Transformations Succeed or Fail “[One of the] best business books of 2001 . . . [a] useful and intelligent tool for coping with the inevitable metamorphoses of business (and life).” —Miami Herald “Provocative imagery . . . useful questions for managers to ask themselves.” —Harvard Business Review “The Change Monster not only talks intelligently about the social dynamics and emotions of people [in change efforts], it does so with wisdom, insight, and practicality.”—Daniel Leemon, executive vice president and chief strategy officer, Charles Schwab Corporation “A practitioner’s primer on revitalization that puts you in the shoes of some who have failed and others who have succeeded. In doing so, Jeanie Daniel Duck graphically delivers her main message to management: Learn to master the emotions and obsessions of those who stand in the way of change, including your own, and once you do, you have your hands on a miraculous engine for change.” —Michael Useem, professor of management and director of the Center for Leadership and Change at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and author of The Leadership Moment and Leading Up “Duck is an acute and empathetic observer of the changes erupting in the workplace from the convulsive nature of corporate evolution. . . . Jeanie Duck’s terrific book is a . . . useful and intelligent tool for coping with the inevitable metamorphoses of business (and life). Sensitive but tough, Duck’s compassionate wisdom is street smart without a trace of glibness.” —Miami Herald
The thesis analyses the role of Muslim voluntary welfare associations in Jordan from the perspective of their religious discourse and the related social activities, to assess whether they contribute to empowerment or reinforce dependency
The inflation of the 1970s represented the greatest peacetime disruption of the Western economies since the Depression. Even as inflation receded, the recession in its wake brought more joblessness than at any time since the 1930s. The governments of industrialized nations found that the economic policies they had developed since World War II no longer assured price stability or high employment. What are the lessons of over a decade of economic difficulty? In this conference volume, which focuses on aspects of the crisis that economists often presuppose to be beyond control, the authors analyze the political and social underpinning of inflation and recession. Part 1 places the economic problems of the 1970s in the historical context of postwar development and then compares economic and political science analyses of inflation. Part 2 examines how rivalries between social groups affect inflationary processes. One chapter draws on the history of Latin American inflation to suggest the conflicts in play. Two others weigh the role of labor and industry in the formation of economic policy. And another shows how rivalry between countries, like rivalry between classes at home, permitted inflation to rise. The chapters in part 3 contest the claim that big government or big labor causes inflation. Two studies emphasize that a high degree of public expenditure does not itself lead to inflation. Further contributions explore the role of central banks and subject such concepts as the political business cycle to critical analysis. Part 4 comprises case studies about macroeconomic policymaking in four nations: Italy, Germany, Japan, and Sweden. The studies reveal what institutional attributes rendered those countries resistant to inflation or vulnerable to economic setback. In the last part, the editors pull together the findings and lay out the contemporary political feasibility of alternative approaches to macroeconomic management.
The primary objective of this book is to advance the state of the art in specifying and ?tting to data structural multi-sector dynamic macroeconomic models, and empirically implementing them. The fundamental construct upon which we build is the Ramsey model. A most attractive feature of this model is the insights it provides into the dynamics of an economy in tr- sition to long-run equilibrium. With some exceptions, Ramsey models are highly aggregated – typically single sector models. However, interest often lies in understanding the forces of e- nomic growth across multiple sectors of an economy and on how policy impacts likely play out over time. Such analyses call for moredisaggregatedmodelsthatcanbe?ttocountryorregional data.Thisbookshowshowto:(i)extendthebasicmodeltom- tiple sectors, (ii) how to adapt the basic model to account for policy instruments, and (iii) ?t the model to data, and obtain equilibrium values both forward and backward in time from the data points to which the model is initially ?t.
Organizational Change is a complex yet essential process for growth and development in business. The second edition of this insightful book examines the nature of this critical process in the light of the rapid changes in the business environment and intense global competition.The author revisits fundamental concepts, as well as presents new ideas, activities, and processes associated with how to plan, implement and manage effective transformational change. The book highlights:- The nature and process of transformational change and the paradigms basic to the change process- The basic concepts and strategic leverages of change- The need for and ways of aligning current tasks, systems, processes, and culture with organizational goals- The support systems required for change and the need to develop and maintain these systems- Ways of tuning organizations for change- Managing change through people by optimizing individual and group effortsSupported by numerous case studies and written in a lucid and reader-friendly style, this book will be a definitive guide for students, scholars, and practitioners.
Bernadette Mazurek Melnyk and Ellen Fineout-Overholt are creators of the ARCC (Advancing Research and Clinical practice through close Collaboration) Model, an innovative strategy for implementing and sustaining evidence-based practice in healthcare systems. The ARCC Model is cited as an exemplar of education in evidence-based practice in the Board on Health Care Services and the Institute of Medicine's book, Health Professions Education: A Bridge to Quality. "McInyk and Fineout-Overholt's book should be required reading in all graduate programs. Their text has provided a blueprint for the future of nursing practice and a rigorously substantiated and clearly described means for clinicians, educators, and administrators to participate in improving quality of care." Janet D. Allan, PhD, RN, FAAN Dean and Professor University of Maryland School of Nursing "Evidence-based Practice in Nursing & Healthcare: A Guide to Best Practice has been instrumental in developing a culture of evidence-based practice at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. It is fundamental to our curriculum provided to all levels of staff, from new graduate nurses to the highest levels of hospital leadership." Dr. Patricia Potter, RN, PhD, FAAN, Dr. Gail Rea, RN, PhD, CNE, Dr. Karen Balakas, RN, PhD, CNE, Jennifer Williams, MSN, RN, ACNS-BC, Elizabeth Pratt, MSN, RN, ACNS-BC Evidence Equals Excellence group at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Barnes-Jewish School of Nursing at Goldfarb Evidence-based Practice in Nursing & Healthcare: A Guide to Best Practice is an exemplary text that spans the continuum of nursing evidence to support best practice. Utilizing this text with undergraduate, RN to BSN, and graduate nursing students, it is the ONLY text that demonstrates how to retrieve, read, and analyze evidence whether it is published as an individual study, systematic review, meta-analysis, best practice guideline, or outcomes management report. Students learn how to utilize multiple complex databases and websites as they move through each chapter. And, they experience dissemination of evidence through the development of presentations, publications, posters, and grants. This is truly a remarkable book that embraces evidence as the basis for nursing practice and patient-centered care and safety. Having used this text with more than 1000 students over the past five years, I can honestly say that I have found no other text that facilitates learning and development of clinical judgment that is grounded in valid, reliable, and applicable evidence. This is a keeper! Alice E. Dupler, JD, APRN-BC Clinical Associate Professor Washington State University College of Nursing "I have used the book since I developed the Evidence-based Practice course for our College of Nursing in Fall 2007. It was the first course of its kind at Indiana State University. It has been well received and the preferred course for all nursing graduate students for completion of their final scholarly projects. The text was essential in developing the course and provides the foundation and guidance that the students need to develop their Evidence Based Practice projects...the students love the text!" Susan Eley PhD, RN, FNP-BC Assistant Professor Director FNP Program Indiana State University
Historical analysis of the German Democratic Republic has tended to adopt a top-down model of the transmission of authority. However, developments were more complicated than the standard state/society dichotomy that has dominated the debate among GDR historians. Drawing on a broad range of archival material from state and SED party sources as well as Stasi files and individual farm records along with some oral history interviews, this book provides a thorough investigation of the transformation of the rural sector from a range of perspectives. Focusing on the region of Bezirk Erfurt, the author examines on the one hand how East Germans responded to the end of private farming by resisting, manipulating but also participating in the new system of rural organization. However, he also shows how the regime sought via its representatives to implement its aims with a combination of compromise and material incentive as well as administrative pressure and other more draconian measures. The reader thus gains valuable insight into the processes by which the SED regime attained stability in the 1970s and yet was increasingly vulnerable to growing popular dissatisfaction and economic stagnation and decline in the 1980s, leading to its eventual collapse.
Political, social, and economic transformation is a complex historical phenomenon. It can adequately be analysed only by a multidisciplinary approach. The Handbook brings together an international team of scholars who are specialists in their respective research fields. It introduces the most important areas, theories, and methods in transformation research, with particular attention placed on the historical and comparative dimension. Although focussing on post-communist and other democratic transformations in our epoch, the Handbook therefore presents and discusses not only their problems, paths, and developments, but also deals with the antecedent 'waves', beginning with the Meiji Restoration in Japan in 1868 and its aftermath. The book is structured into six parts. Starting with basic concepts as systems, actors, and institutions (Section I), it gives an overview over major theoretical approaches and research methods (Sections II and III). The connection of theory and method with their application is essential, allowing special insights into the past and opens analytical avenues for transformation research in the future. Section (IV) provides a historically oriented description or interpretation of particular 'waves' or types of societal transformation. With a clear focus on present transformations, the contributions to Section V provide a description and discussion of the problems, structures, actors, and courses of the transformations within different spheres of (civil) society, politics, law, and economics. Finally, brief lexicographic entries in Section VI delineate research perspectives and facts about relevant issues of societal transformation. Each of the 79 contributions contains a concise list of the most important research literature.
Japan’s dramatic transformation from economic success to economic stagnation offers important policy lessons to advanced countries everywhere that are struggling with stagnation. The term ‘Japanization’ is often used by economists to describe long-term stagnation and deflation. Symptoms include high unemployment, weak economic activity, interest rates near zero, quantitative easing, and population aging. In the global context, what can governments do to mitigate the downward trends experienced by Japan? This judiciously timed book investigates in depth the causes of Japan’s ‘lost decades’ versus the real recovery achieved by the United States, and the lessons that can be learned.
