Inge Bongers, Hans van Oers, Henk Garretsen, Ien van de Goor and André Wierdsma
Background: The central issue of this paper is whether the intuitive relation between problematic drinking and seeking professional help holds. To shed light on this issue an…
Abstract
Background: The central issue of this paper is whether the intuitive relation between problematic drinking and seeking professional help holds. To shed light on this issue an ecological study is done in which the relation between different drinking patterns, alcohol‐related harm, and help‐seeking behaviour at the neighbourhood level of Rotterdam, The Netherlands is examined. Two questions are posed:1. Are there geographical differences in drinking patterns, alcohol problems, problem drinking, and number of alcohol clients within the city of Rotterdam?2. Is there a relation between drinking patterns, alcohol‐related harm, and help‐seeking behaviour at the neighbourhood level?Methods: Ecological analyses are conducted based on individual data originating from a survey and person‐based registers. Respondents to the survey were classified as abstainers, light, moderate or excessive drinkers, and were classified as having alcohol‐related problems and/or being a problem drinker. Person‐based registers were used to obtain data on the number of ambulatory and clinical alcohol clients in Rotterdam. The number of ambulatory and clinical clients measured help‐seeking behaviour.Results: The intuitive reasoning that the more problematic drinkers, the more professional help is sought does not stand. No association was found between the number of alcohol clients and the percentage of excessive drinkers and problem drinkers at the neighbourhood level. Large differences between neighbourhoods in prevalence of excessive drinking, alcohol‐related problems and problem drinking were found. The number of alcohol clients, however, varied much less between neighbourhoods. A notable result is that the higher the percentage of abstainers, the lower the number of alcohol clients in a neighbourhood.Discussion: It was concluded that in all neighbourhoods the number of problem drinkers outnumbers those seeking professional help, indicating a friction between need and supply of help with respect to problematic drinking. It is hypothesised that besides drinking behaviour and drinking‐related problems individual, as well as social and cultural factors, play a role in the process of help‐seeking behaviour.
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André Wierdsma and Herman van Hemsbergen
The purpose of this paper is to describe how VVAA's decision to work with the Nyenrode Business University (EMDC) to develop and change the culture of its organization and improve…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe how VVAA's decision to work with the Nyenrode Business University (EMDC) to develop and change the culture of its organization and improve the business proposition they offered to their members.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper details the consequences for VVAA decision to strengthen the existing management and key professionals. By offering the top 80 key people (managers and professionals) a developmental program which would raise the awareness of their own competences and the need for more cross boundary cooperation.
Findings
The paper reports that an organizational transformation program can only be successful if it is part of a set of interventions to really change the company. Consistency in behavior at the top is crucial because everybody watches the behavior of top management and becomes extremely aware of discrepancies and inconsistencies.
Practical implications
Provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced the organizational transformation of VVAA culture.
Originality/value
The paper provides a structured approach to the process of building effective learning interventions based on a clear understanding of the need to change.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore what “critical” could mean in “critical management studies” (CMS) in the current (Dutch) regime of re‐commodification.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore what “critical” could mean in “critical management studies” (CMS) in the current (Dutch) regime of re‐commodification.
Design/methodology/approach
Conflicts that typify the context, within which “criticalness” does or does not emerge, are examined. The specific circumstance of “criticalness” in organizational studies within the Dutch political and intellectual circumstance is appraised.
Findings
The critical management studies of experimentation (“essai”) can respond to de‐solidarization and the need for ethical democratic governance; but it can also lead to philosophizing without contextual engagement.
Practical implications
CMS has to be judged for what it tries and how it engages with its context and not the cleverness of its ideas.
Originality/value
CMS is examined not idealistically but in terms of current social and intellectual conditions