Auswirkungen von Ermessensspielräumen in Vergütungssystemen auf das Verhalten von Mitarbeitern

The design of compensation systems and performance evaluation are subject to subjective influences by the compensation authority. The ex-post adjustment of performance measures is one way of adjusting compensation if an uncontrollable event has affected the achievement targeted. Clawback clauses are intended to reduce manipulation in reporting by allowing compensation that has already been paid out or promised to be reclaimed. Whether ex-post adjustments or clawback clauses are exercised is at the discretion of the compensation authority. This dissertation therefore uses experiments to investigate the effect of the relationships between the design and exercise of discretion on employee behaviour.

Syntactic verb-verb compounds in Japanese

This chapter discusses the syntactic behavior and some notable properties of syntactic V-V compounds in Japanese (Type 3 in the classification of Chapter 2), providing some fresh empirical data. In this chapter, syntactic V-V compounds are seen to be divided into raising and control types. Syntactic V-V compound verbs take distinct embedded structures, depending on whether V2 is classified as a raising or a control verb. V-V compounds allow some, but not all, V2s to undergo long-distance passivization. It is suggested that the difference in applicability of long-distance passivization between raising and control V-V compounds is determined according to whether V2 has an accusative-case feature to license an object, and also that control V-V compounds are not passivizable if they denote an uncontrollable event (even if V2 has an accusative-case feature). Furthermore, syntactic V-V compounds taking sugiru ‘exceed’ as V2 are shown to display a number of unique properties that are not shared with other syntactic compound verbs.

End of Life: A New Life Course Stage for Older Adults and Their Families?

Over the past two centuries, death has transitioned from an unexpected and uncontrollable event to a protracted process that requires individuals and families to make difficult decisions regarding where and under what conditions one will die. This new life course stage, spanning the period from diagnosis to death, provides older adults and their families an opportunity to prepare for difficult medical decisions, yet also may be a time marked by suffering and conflict. In this paper, I provide an overview of the technological, demographic, and legal context of end-of-life in the 21st century, and its implications for the quality of life for dying patients and their families. I underscore that historical shifts have created a context in which the quality of one’s end-of-life experiences and autonomy are stratified by race and socioeconomic status, creating challenges for older adults and their loved ones. I highlight implications for research, policy, and practice.

The Impact of Superior-Subordinate Identity and ex post Discretionary Goal Adjustment on Subordinate Expectancy of Reward and Performance

ABSTRACT Firms often evaluate subordinate performance relative to a difficult but attainable goal set at the beginning of the evaluation period. For many, a mechanism exists by which these goals may be adjusted downward at the end of the period to account for an uncontrollable negative event. We examine, experimentally, how the knowledge that a downward ex post discretionary goal adjustment is possible affects subordinates' expectancy of reward and performance in periods where a negative uncontrollable event occurs, and whether high identity, defined as high perceived social connectedness between the superior and subordinate, moderates this effect. We find that high superior-subordinate identity can offset the otherwise negative impact of the potential for downward ex post discretionary goal adjustment on subordinates' expectancy of reward and performance. Thus, creating an organizational culture that promotes identity between superiors and subordinates can complement incentive-based controls in motivating subordinate performance. JEL Classifications: C91; J33; M41; M52. Data Availability: Please contact the authors.

Optimal enforcement of (timed) properties with uncontrollable events

This paper deals with runtime enforcement of untimed and timed properties with uncontrollable events. Runtime enforcement consists in defining and using mechanisms that modify the executions of a running system to ensure their correctness with respect to a desired property. We introduce a framework that takes as input any regular (timed) property described by a deterministic automaton over an alphabet of events, with some of these events being uncontrollable. An uncontrollable event cannot be delayed nor intercepted by an enforcement mechanism. Enforcement mechanisms should satisfy important properties, namely soundness, compliance and optimality – meaning that enforcement mechanisms should output as soon as possible correct executions that are as close as possible to the input execution. We define the conditions for a property to be enforceable with uncontrollable events. Moreover, we synthesise sound, compliant and optimal descriptions of runtime enforcement mechanisms at two levels of abstraction to facilitate their design and implementation.

Exposure to Non-Contingent Light Change in Separate Sessions Prior to Light-Contingent Bar Pressing

The reported experiment investigated the effects of prior exposure to non-contigent light change over five sessions on subsequent light-contingent bar pressing (LCBP) behaviour. Prior exposure reduced the frequency of LCBP over the initial sessions, but responding then increased so that the effect was no longer evident in the middle and terminal LCBP sessions. That is, prior exposure to non-contingent light change affected LCBP by retarding its acquisition. It was argued that this overall result is consistent with previous research on the effects of prior experience of reinforcement being non-contingent on subsequent response-contingent behaviour, where the effect has sometimes been characterized as “learned helplessness”. This previous research, however, has concentrated on the strong conventional reinforcers such as shock avoidance and food. The present findings show that intrinsically motivated behaviour with a weak reinforcer is also affected by prior experience of the reinforcer as an uncontrollable event.