Paradoxical leadership in public sector organisations: Its role in fostering employee resilience

Government organisations, and their employees, need to be resilient to manage challenges such as resource constraints, rising demands, and the tensions and contradictions that underlie much public sector work, often stemming from the need to balance different stakeholder interests. Employee resilience, defined as the capacity to continuously adapt and flourish, even in the face of challenge, is an individual level construct that also benefits organisations. Despite its benefits, little is known about how to foster it. This paper explores whether paradoxical leadership (PL) can contribute to employee resilience. PL – the ability to balance competing structural and relational demands over time – may be one means of supporting employee resilience, as it corresponds to the tensions and paradoxes that exist in public sector work. This correspondence between PL and tensions in public administration work means that PL may also help employees behave resiliently. Findings from a quantitative survey (n = 233) in a large New Zealand public sector organisation indicate that PL antecedes resilience. The effect of PL facets on employee resilience is partially mediated by perceptions of organisational support.     

Liberalisation and Seigniorage revenue in Kenya,Ghana and Tanzania

To inform policy, our study identifies which populations of AIDS-affected children are in need of educational assistance. Using the 2004–2005 Malawi Integrated Household Survey, multilevel models examine the association between AIDS-related impacts and educational outcomes. Double and maternal orphans are more likely to be out of school and behind in grade level; living with an adult suffering from a potential AIDS-related illness is also associated with disadvantage. These disparities are not explained by poverty status. Where both poverty and AIDS are endemic, both traditional development aid and orphan-specific programming are essential for equitable access to education.     

A Game of the Half: The Manageress and the Sex Discrimination Act

As the football industry continues in its struggle to balance its traditional regulations and practices with the demands of domestic and European law it is evident that entrenched attitudes within the game will have to be changed if the industry is to avoid further damaging litigation. One such area is in the appointment of football managers (or head coaches), where the practices of selection seem to contravene the most basic principles of employment law with regard to the Sex Discrimination Acts. This article argues that the appointment of ex professional players as Managers violates the prohibition on indirect sex discrimination, and asserts that being male is not a ``genuine occupational qualification' for the post. The article analyses case studies of football managers to substantiate its claims, and uses interviews carried out with coaches and players in the women's Premier League in order to discuss sex discrimination and the non-appointment of women to one of the most important posts in the football industry in more general terms. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Clinical supervision and forensic work

Abstract

This paper reviews the literature on supervision in relation to forensic work and examines the need for such supervision in work with offenders. Three types of problematic countertransference are identified, which can be characterised as repulsive, helpless and voyeuristic in nature. Current research emphasising the role of attachment styles in sexual offending is seen as having implications for the treatment process and therefore for clinical supervision. Similarly, research emphasising the importance of group leadership skills in treatment is presented as indicating a need for supervision. Some problems with the provision of supervision are examined and it is concluded that it should be an integral part of any work with offenders.