Composition and performance of research training groups

This chapter analyzes how one particular governance mechanism affects the performance of research teams. We look at an external requirement for interdisciplinarity and internationality of Research Training Groups (RTGs) and study how their performance is affected. We expect to observe two countervailing effects with changes in interdisciplinarity and/or internatio-nality: first, increased performance due to an increase in productive resources and a second, decreased performance due to increased team problems (communication, conflicts etc). Since both effects are expected to vary with the disciplinary field of research, we separate our analysis for the Humanities & Social Sciences in comparison to the Natural & Life Sciences and indeed find different effects in the different disciplinary fields. Furthermore, we separately analyze the effects of interdisciplinarity on the one hand and internationality on the other hand. We conclude that the effectiveness of a particular governance mechanism varies substantially between the disciplinary fields and for the type of heterogeneity under consideration. Therefore governance of research should be either precisely engineered to a particular disciplinary field and a given type of heterogeneity or it should offer a menu of options that allows research teams to choose from according to their specific needs

Psychosocial Risks in the Workplace: An Increasing Challenge for German and International Health Protection

Occupational health in a changing world has to face up to psychosocial risks to protect the health of employees now and in the future. Faster production, service and communication processes, a service- and knowledge-based society, an increasing proportion of intellectual work, growing complexity of work-related demands, new technologies and constant availability, mobility demands, and job insecurity contribute to the problem of psychosocial risks in the workplace. Psychosocial risks affect both physical and psychosocial health. There is scientifi c evidence of the link between psychosocial work-related stress and cardiovascular diseases, affective disorders or musculoskeletal disorders, especially chronic back pain. The Framework Directive on Safety and Health makes it very clear that employers are obliged “to ensure the safety and health of workers in every aspect relating to work”. In spite of these far reaching obligations, a kind of taboo sometimes makes it hard to focus on topics that have psychosocial implications. A large number of models, instruments and methods are now available to gauge psychosocial risks in the workplace. Given the clear contrast between knowledge and application, there is not a lack of knowledge in this regard, but rather a lack of application. In Germany, statutory accident insurance institutions are guided by two key principles: putting prevention before rehabilitation and rehabilitation before compensation. To prevent work-related health risks the BG RCI has developed several prevention tools to help employers and employees deal with psychosocial risks in the workplace.Moderna medicina rada mora se suočiti s psihosocijalnim rizicima kako bi se sada i ubuduće zaštitilo zdravlje radnika. Brža proizvodnja, uslužni i komunikacijski procesi, društvo koje se temelji na uslugama i znanju, veći intelektualni napor, rastuća složenost zahtjeva povezanih s radom, novi tehnološki postupci, stalna raspoloživost, zahtjevi mobilnosti i nesigurnost posla doprinose psihosocijalnim opasnostima na radnom mjestu. Postoje znanstveni dokazi koji idu u prilog povezanosti radnoga psihosocijalnog stresa i afektivnih ili mišićno-koštanih poremećaja, a naročito kroničnih bolova u leđima. U okvirnoj Direktivi o sigurnosti i zdravlju izrijekom se navodi da poslodavci imaju obvezu “zajamčiti sigurnost i zdravlje radnika u svim radnim aspektima”. Unatoč takvim dalekosežnim obvezama postoje određeni tabui zbog kojih se ponekad teško usredotočiti na teme koje imaju psihosocijalne implikacije. Postoji veliki broj modela, instrumenata i metoda kojima se u današnje vrijeme mogu mjeriti radni psihosocijalni rizici. S obzirom na to da postoji jasna razlika između samog znanja i njegove primjene, možemo reći da u ovom smislu ne nedostaje znanje, već primjena postojećega znanja. Njemačke državne osiguravajuće kuće slijede dva ključna načela: stavljaju sprječavanje ispred rehabilitacije, a rehabilitaciju ispred kompenzacije. Kako bi se spriječili radni zdravstveni rizici, njemačka državna osiguravajuća ustanova za sirovine i kemijsku industriju (BG RCI) osmislila je nekoliko preventivnih mjera kojima nastoji pomoći poslodavcima i zaposlenicima u suočavanju s psihosocijalnim rizicima na radnom mjestu