Improving university argumentative writing through online training

Writing an argumentation about a controversial issue from contradictory sources is a challenging task. It involves understanding, managing, and generating arguments and counterarguments from different sources to support a final position, conveyed in a formal structure. Despite its difficulty, argumentative writing is not often taught in higher education in Spain. Furthermore, online interventions regarding this type of task are scarce. For this reason, we designed and evaluated virtual training aimed at writing integrative and wellstructured arguments in a distance learning university. Sixty-eight undergraduates participated in this pre-post with a control group design. The training included explicit instruction through video lectures and practice exercises with immediate feedback using open online resources (e.g., Moodle). The results show that after the instruction the participants' written products improved both in their structure, the number of arguments for the against-position, and the degree of integration of the two perspectives. However, those products that presented medium or maximum integration were still limited. These results illustrate how online instruction of argumentative writing can be implemented in higher education with positive results. However, students still need more support to expand their skills for generating integrative synthesis. Considering these results, we propose further improvements in the designed training. : Earli | This article is published under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported license

Disentangling discrimination on spanish boards of directors

Manuscript Type: Empirical Research Question/Issue: This study seeks to find evidence of discrimination behind the scarce presence women on Spanish boards of directors through factors within firms linked with different theories of discrimination. Research findings/Insights: Using data on the boards of directors from the top 1000 Spanish companies in 2005 and 2008, we identify some signals of discrimination. We find that women directors are scarcer in those sectors where there are less female managers or where the directors are mainly draw on the firm’s executive staff. There is also evidence of the dynamics of Becker’s theory of discrimination, since time and competition are determinants of the women’s presence on Spanish boards. We also find a positive relationship between the number of women already on the board and the likelihood of adding a woman. This could signal some kind of underestimation of women’s skills and preconceptions about their attitudes (such as risk-aversion). Theoretical/Academic Implications: This study provides empirical support for the prediction of Becker’s theory of discrimination. The study also furnishes evidence of false preconceptions concerning the skills and risk attitudes of female managers. Practitioner/Policy Implications: Education and mentoring initiatives to improve the training of the female candidates helps to reduce discrimination before reaching the board, as well as better work- and family-life balance. Once they are in the pool of candidates, transparency and objectivity in selection procedures and/or even the establishment of a women’s quota on boards may contribute to dismiss employers’ negative beliefs about their capabilities in the long run. Key words: Corporate Governance; Board of Directors; Gender Discrimination; Glass Ceiling. Classification JEL: G34, J16, M14, C35

Convergencia y Estabilidad de los Tipos de Cambio Europeos: Una Aplicación de Exponentes de Lyapunov

In this paper we applied the dynamic system theory to the measurement of the stability of the European process of convergence. In particular, Lyapunov’s exponents are used to verify the influence of political and economic decisions made during the creatioEstabilidad, sistemas dinámicos, convergencia europea, euro, exponente de lyapunov, redes neuronales

Women and corporate leadership: exploring the gender gap at the top

La persistencia de una brecha de género en los puestos de liderazgo empresarial supone un importante reto socioeconómico, ya que las desigualdades de género en el mercado laboral en general, y en los altos puestos de decisión en particular, no solo sofocan el desarrollo social sino que perjudican el crecimiento económico. Aunque la literatura existente ha ayudado a colocar el problema del reducido número de mujeres líderes en las agendas profesionales y políticas, el conocimiento sobre el tema todavía se encuentra fragmentado y no aborda sistemáticamente las posibles causas de esta en los altos niveles jerárquicos empresariales. Además, los estudios que analizan los instrumentos para promocionar el liderazgo femenino a menudo asumen barreras particulares para las mujeres y no asocian las distintas causas con instrumentos y políticas diferenciadas para luchar contra cada obstáculo. Por ello, el objetivo de esta investigación es arrojar luz de manera sistemática sobre las razones por las cuales existen trabas que impiden la equidad en estos puestos de una manera sistemática, estudiando políticas específicas para promover la carrera profesional de las mujeres. El trabajo concluye analizando la aceleración del progreso en presencia femenina en los consejos en Europa impulsada por la presión política y reguladora en algunos estados miembros de los 28 países de la UE y ofreciendo una serie de propuestas para apoyar la participación de las mujeres en los órganos de administración de las empresas.The persistence of a gender gap in corporate leadership positions is a major socio-economic challenge, as gender inequalities in the labor market in general, and in high decision-making positions in particular, not only suffocate the social development but hurts economic growth. Although previous research has helped to place the issue of the small number of women in leadership on the agenda for both practitioners and policy makers, knowledge is still fragmented without systematically addressing possible causes of inequality in the highest corporate positions. In addition, the studies examining instruments to promote women’s leadership often assume particular barriers that women face and do not link the different causes of inequality with nuanced policy tools and policies to fight them. Therefore, this research goal is to shed light on the reasons why barriers preventing gender equality at the top corporate levels exists, studying and proposing specific policy measures to promote women careers. The paper concludes analyzing the accelerated progress on women representation on corporate leadership positions driven by political and regulatory pressure in a few Member States of the 28 EU countries and offering a series of suggestions to progress women presence on corporate boards

De la linealidad a la complejidad: hacia un nuevo paradigma

La Teoría del Caos y la Complejidad proponen un nuevo enfoque que reconcilia características propias de las organizaciones empresariales en un principio contrapuestas como el orden y la impredecibilidad. La Teoría de la Complejidad surge estrechamente vinculada a conceptos como incertidumbre, contradicción y totalidad, la Teoría del Caos, por su parte, podría entenderse como la ciencia de los sistemas complejos. Dado que las organizaciones empresariales se configuran como sistemas dinámicos, complejos y no lineales, el Enfoque de la Complejidad resulta especialmente adecuado para su estudio. Por ello, en el presente trabajo se abordan las posibles implicaciones de dicho enfoque sobre la gestión, la estrategia y la dinámica de las organizaciones empresariales, basadas en la importancia de conceptos tales como comportamiento cualitativo, retroalimentación, desorden, globalidad, adaptabilidad, flexibilidad, inestabilidad, endogeneidad, creatividad, aprendizaje, integración y frac talidad.Chaos and Complexity Theory propose a new approach that reconciles business organizations characteristics that are apparently opposed such as order and unpredictability. Complexity Theory is linked to concepts such as uncertainty, contradiction and totality, meanwhile Chaos Theory, can be considered as the complex systems science. Provided that business organizations are defined as dynamical,complex and nonlinear systems, the Complexity Paradigm turns out to be specially useful for its study. Therefore, in the present work the implications of this paradigm in management, strategy and business dynamics are shown. These implications are based on concepts such as qualitative behavior, feedback, globality, disorder, adaptability, flexibility, instability, endogenously, creativity, learning, integration and fractality