Accountability Standards for Nonprofit Organizations: Do Organizations Benefit from Certification Programs?

Stakeholders are demanding nonprofit organizations (NPOs) continually improve and work effectively in an ever-changing environment. While there are many ways to approach this operational challenge, this paper examines the impact of acquiring an accountability certification, specifically the Standards for Excellence® Certification. Using a sample of 102 NPOs that have received the Standards for Excellence certification, we find that the certification is associated with increases in public support relative to a control group that did not receive the certification. These results suggest that some stakeholders favorably respond to the certification process, and NPOs can realize tangible benefits from becoming certified.     

Whistleblowing in ?sterreich - Gefahren, Probleme und L?sungsm?glichkeiten

Der vorliegende Artikel er?rtert die derzeitige Rechtslage betreffend Whistleblowing in ?sterreich und zeigt ua unter Zuhilfenahme ausl?ndischer und internationaler Vorbilder und Rechtsquellen m?gliche L?sungen für bestehende Probleme de lege ferenda auf. Ausgehend von verschiedenen Fallkonstellationen, die das jeweils ver?nderliche Schutzbedürfnis des Whistleblowers einerseits und der von dessen Enthüllungen betroffenen Person andererseits aufzeigen, sowie der Analyse schon derzeit bestehender Pflichten zum Hinweisgeben, wird zun?chst versucht, dem Gesetzgeber einen Definitionsvorschlag zu unterbreiten, um Whistleblower schon begrifflich von nicht schutzwürdigen Personen abzugrenzen. Im Anschluss wird versucht, dem Gesetzgeber eine L?sung aufzuzeigen, die die arbeits-, dienst-, straf-, verwaltungsstraf-, zivil- und standesrechtlichen sowie faktischen Gefahren für Whistleblower beseitigt bzw minimiert. Zudem werden Geldleistungen als m?gliche positive Anreize zum Whistleblowing er?rtert.     

Women's ministerial careers in cabinet, 1921–2010: A look at socio‐demographic traits and career experiences

This article probes two aspects of women's ministerial careers in federal, provincial, and territorial cabinets from 1921 to December 2010. First, we examine whether the socio‐demographic profile of women ministers differ from female legislators of the governing party. Logistic regression analysis shows that women holding cabinet portfolios differ from female legislators with no ministerial responsibilities with respect to education, parliamentary experience, and age when first elected. Women legislators elected in Quebec, and more so at the federal level, were less likely to become ministers than women legislators nominated in other provinces. Second, we consider what portfolios women had over time, and how many different portfolios they were assigned to. The results are sobering: women ministers are still largely concentrated in socio‐cultural and socio‐economic portfolios, and most only occupy one or two of these portfolios. We conclude by identifying avenues for further research.     

Departures in Negotiation: Extensions and New Directions

The conception of turning points advanced in this essay emphasizes events that occur in a chronological sequence which the author, in his previous work, has incorporated into a framework for case analysis. The framework covers three stages: precipitants that trigger change; departures which are the reaction to the precipitant; and consequences, which refer to the direction the negotiation takes as a result of the departure. Building on his earlier work, the author uses examples of a less-bounded international negotiation and cases culled from the headlines to demonstrate the framework's generality. He then considers the concept at the individual, relational, and collective levels in an attempt to probe the psychological and social processes that occur before, during, and after departures (turning points); and may be in fact, the underlying impetus for departures.