Managing change in South Africa: developing people and organizations

The interaction of Western and non-Western management practices is a growing issue in transitional and emerging economies through the world, not least within the multicultural context of South Africa. This is characterized in this article as an antithesis between instrumental and humanistic views of people in organizations, which is fundamental to the way change is being managed. In order to better understand how the management of people and change may be related to this antithesis, the results of an exploratory study, involving focus-group methods with thirty managers, and of a survey of some 200 employees in participating organizations are presented. Indicative results suggest that, despite best efforts from organizations which may represent best management and development practice, issues concerning the value attached to people in these organizations are still not being properly addressed. It may be only through understanding and reconciling this antithesis that change concerning the development of people, in South Africa as well as in other emerging economies, may be successfully achieved.     

简述外企人力资源管理的关键地位

人力资源管理在任何企业中都非常重要，特别是在中国近年来蓬勃发展的外商投资企业中，其关键地位更加引人注目。本首先阐述了什么是人力资源管理；其次详细地论述了人力资源管理的职能和人力资源管理的重要作用，从而说明了人力资源管理在企业，特别晨中国外资企业中的关键地位。     

Examining Rival Models of Leisure Coping Mechanisms

The present study examined the role of leisure in coping with stress and promoting good health. Using police and emergency response service workers (n = 132), this study tested a number of theoretically grounded leisure coping models to discover mechanisms by which leisure coping influences the relationship between stressors and adaptational outcomes (i.e., immediate adaptational outcomes such as coping effectiveness and stress reduction, and physical and mental health). Ensel and Lin's (1991) life stress paradigm was adopted to conceptualize these rival models (eight in total), and structural equation modeling was used to compare goodness of fit among the models to identify the best model. The findings suggest that stressors and leisure coping appear to independently influence adaptational outcomes. Leisure coping facilitated positive immediate adaptational outcomes that subsequently had a positive impact on health, irrespective of the level of stress experienced. The potential contribution of leisure to coping with stress and health is highlighted. Results suggest that the development of enduring beliefs about the role of leisure as ways of coping (i.e., leisure coping beliefs) seems essential for the actual and effective use of leisure as a means to manage stress (i.e., leisure coping strategies). Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Exploring servant leadership across cultures: comparative study in Australia and Indonesia

Several problematic aspects of women's paid employment - e.g. low pay and lack of promotional opportunities - are exacerbated by the segregation of women and men into different occupations. In this article, the potential of in-store equal opportunities policies to break down such gender segregation will be explored, through consideration of the existence and implementation of these policies in twenty-two multinational retail companies in Dublin and Paris. It will be argued that, with one notable exception, the instore equal opportunities policies are effectively neutralized, and furthermore are neutralized in nationally specific ways which can be related to differences between France and Ireland in the organization of labour-market regulation and in women's labour-force participation (LFP). The case-study findings also suggest that the 'country' variable has a stronger effect on the existence and implementation of these policies than the extent of a shop's links to an overseas headquarters. The findings of this study have implications for both the equity of women's incorporation into the paid labour force and understanding of aspects of HRM in branches of multinational companies.     

Teams in Australia's automotive industry: Characteristics and future challenges

Australia's automotive industry has throughout the 1990s embarked on a sustained programme to improve product quality, productivity and quality of work life through the development of a more flexible and team-based work-force. This paper examines the results of these efforts through a study of Australia's four car makers and their largest component suppliers. The paper examines the role of union-management cooperation in implementing work teams, identifies the forms of work teams that have been developed as well as evidence for the alignment of organization capabilities to support team-based work. The effects of work teams on organizational performance and quality of work life are also examined. Implications are discussed.     

Forms of talk in policy dialogue: distinguishing between adversarial and collaborative discourse

Uncertainty, the precautionary principle and scenario are three important concepts in current regulatory debates concerned with risk management. In this paper, each concept is described in relation to its regulatory context and a linkage between the three concepts is established. Three scenarios relating to increasing scientific and technical uncertainty are presented. The most obvious regulatory approach to uncertainty is to ban a product, process or substance under the aegis of the precautionary principle. However, this may not be appropriate in all cases and a range of other possible policy responses to uncertainty are discussed and avenues for further research suggested.     

A multi-agent-based model for a negotiation support system in electronic commerce

This study proposes a multi-agent-based model for bilateral multi-objective negotiation in electronic commerce trading. The function and behaviour of several types of agents are discussed. These agents interact with each other in our negotiation support system model to create the most appropriate solution for both negotiating parties. In particular, we are concerned with a win-win negotiation approach in which agents seek to strike a fair deal that also maximizes the payoff for everyone involved. That is, if the opponent cannot accept an offer then the proponent should endeavour to find an alternative to make a trade-off. Against this background, a utility model based on fuzzy constraint satisfaction problems is proposed to ensure that these agents reach a solution that is fair for both negotiating parties if such a solution exists. The model uses prioritized fuzzy constraints to indicate how concessions should be made when necessary. In addition, by incorporating the notion of a negotiation argument into our evaluation model, the agents can sometimes reach agreements that would otherwise be impossible. Finally, a numerical example is given to display the applicability of the proposed approach for electronic trading assistance.     

The adoption of innovative work practices in service establishments

Using data from the 1994 US National Establishment Survey, the author investigates differences between manufacturing and service establishments in the use of five innovative work practices: total quality management, self-managed teams, job rotation, job sharing and flextime. Service establishments are more likely to use job sharing and flextime. Manufacturing establishments are more likely to use total quality management and self-managed teams. These results hold when controlling for establishments’ business strategies, worker demographics, institutional connections and use of technology. Determinants of adoption of total quality management, self-managed teams and flextime also varied by sector.     

Performance appraisal and culture: practice and attitudes in Hong Kong and Great Britain

This article compares the practice of and attitudes towards performance appraisal for managerial and professional staff in Hong Kong and Britain, and considers the extent to which actual practice and employee preferences are in alignment. Findings suggest that appraisal may be more widespread in Hong Kong than in Britain. However, British appraisal tends to be more participative and to place greater emphasis on discussing objectives, development and career plans. Hong Kong appraisals appear to be more directive and Hong Kong respondents perceive a higher level of 'negative' appraiser behaviour. In spite of this, Hong Kong respondents show if anything slightly more confidence in the utility of appraisal than do British respondents. They show stronger support for appraisal's use for reward and punishment and less support for the objectives-setting and training and development uses than do the British sample. Hong Kong respondents are more likely than their British counterparts to favour involving a more senior manager in appraisal, and they are less likely to prefer more frequent appraisals. There was little evidence that Hong Kong respondents had a stronger preference for group-based appraisal criteria, although they did show more support than the British sample for the use of personality as a basis for appraisal. Overall, the suggestion is that appraisal has been adopted in Hong Kong organizations but that the practice of appraisal has been adapted to suit the cultural characteristics of the society.