Differences in Organizational Factors by Lean Duration

The aim of this paper is to explore whether employees’ perceptions towards perceived organisational support and participative decision-making vary by lean duration (i.e., the duration of lean production in operation), and whether managers’ perceptions towards propensity for participative decision-making vary by the lean duration. For the study, quantitative research methodology was used and data was collected from 616 shop-floor employees and 129 middle level managers engaged full-time in export-apparel manufacturing firms that have implemented lean production systems in Sri Lanka. It was found that participative decision-making and propensity for participative decision-making significantly differ by the duration of lean production in operation.     

Training objectives,transfer, validation and evaluation: a Sri Lankan study

Using a stratified random sample, this paper examines the training practices of setting objectives, transfer, validation and evaluation in Sri Lanka. The paper further sets out to compare those practices across local, foreign and joint‐venture companies based on the assumption that there may be significant differences across companies of different ownership. The findings reveal evidence of the awareness and practice of setting objectives, transfer, validation and evaluation. Overall, the results of the analysis of variance do not confirm the hypotheses that foreign‐owned companies exhibit more training practices of setting objectives, transfer, validation and evaluation than local and joint‐venture companies. The paper addresses existing practice and implications.     

New development: Integrating risk management in management control systems—lessons for public sector managers

Exploring multiple dimensions of management control systems (MCS), this article proposes a new framework to integrate risk management with strategy, MCS and performance measurement systems (PMS). Considering the public sector as a focal point, the article points to some enterprise risk management (ERM) issues and argues that ERM-enabled MCS has potential to improve PMS and strategic decision-making, leading to a more proactive risk management framework and a culture that promotes performance driven accountability. Consequently, the article calls for further research towards solving the public sector’s risk management problems, motivating its managers to adopt best practices, and stimulating suitable policy developments.     

Employee perceptions towards web-based human resource management systems in Sri Lanka

Despite the great volume of theoretical foundations on technological influence on human resource management (HRM), there has been little empirical evidence in the area of web-based electronic HRM systems. Further, all such empirical research attempts have been taken in the Western world. In the context of globalization of business operations and interlocking supply chains, research on web-based HRM systems in Sri Lanka is interesting, relevant and timely since there is an increasing interest in understanding technological influence on workers in non-Western cultures, especially in an emerging economy that has a reputation for information technology outsourcing. The purpose of the study was to investigate employee perceptions towards web-based electronic HRM systems in Sri Lanka. For the research, 30 firms with web-based HRM systems as a stand-alone automation serving employees' HRM needs belong to service and manufacturing sectors operating in Sri Lanka were surveyed. The findings suggested that system usage is high and user satisfaction is moderate. The level of complexity of the system is moderate and it significantly correlates with system usage. When the age of the system in operation is younger, it is more likely that the users were to be satisfied with it. Further, users did not perceive web-based electronic HRM system as a method of shifting administrative responsibilities of HRM activities to them.     

Effects of HRM practices,lean production practices and lean duration on performance

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to investigate the structural relationships between HRM practices, lean production practices, operational performance and firm performance of manufacturing firms that have implemented lean production. The data were collected from the firms operating in Sri Lanka, which fulfilled the selection criteria set for the study. Statistical techniques were used to test the hypothesized relationships. It was found that lean production practices and operational performance mediate the relationship between HRM practices and firm performance; lean duration moderates the relationship between HRM practices and lean production practices in such a way that the longer the duration, the greater would be the adoption of lean production practices. The essential contribution of the findings lie in presenting empirical data valuable for the advancement of research in HRM as well as for making decisions on people management when implementing advanced manufacturing technologies.     

Effects of social demographic attributes,knowledge about credit cards and perceived lifestyle outcomes on credit card usage

The aim of this paper is to identify and assess the effects of credit card users' demographic and socio‐economic characteristics, knowledge about credit cards, and perceived lifestyle outcomes of the credit card usage on credit card usage practices. A sample of 177 individuals in Sri Lanka who possess Visa, MasterCard or American Express credit cards responded to the survey. The hypothesized relationships were examined by means of path analysis. The findings offer implications for research and practice.     

Consumer credit card ownership and usage practices: empirical evidence from Sri Lanka

Knowledge that has been accumulated through research efforts concerning credit card ownership and usage behaviour has been confined to Western societies. Given the importance of cross‐national application of consumer marketing concepts and propositions for academic and practical reasons, investigations are needed to test whether consumer credit card usage patterns that are assumed to exist in the West also exist in non‐Western parts of the world, especially in Asia. Therefore, objectives of this research were to explore credit card ownership and usage practices in Sri Lanka, and to explore the relationship between credit card ownership and usage practices, and demographic and socio‐economic characteristics of credit card users. The findings offer implications for researchers and practitioners.     

Getting management accounting off the ground: post-colonial neoliberalism in healthcare budgets

Taking Modell's [(2014) The societal relevance of management accounting: an introduction to the special issue. Accounting and Business Research, 44 (2), 83–103] ‘societal relevance of management accounting’ agenda forward, and based on a cost accounting initiative in a Sri Lankan hospital, this paper examines how management accounting is implicated in societal relevance. It reports on a post-colonial neoliberal state's use of cost-saving experiments and the resultant emancipation of the individuals involved. It conducts a bottom-up analysis, from micro events in the hospital to policymaking at the level of the Provincial Council. This analysis suggests that cost accounting acts as a mediating instrument: it begins to loosen the old Keynesian post-colonial bureaucratic budget confinements, creates a social space for individuals to consider cost-saving experiments, and addresses wider policy concerns about hospital resource management. The story is illuminated by Gilles Deleuze's and Zigmund Bauman's ideas on post-panoptic societies: old confinements are being problematised and new flexible, ‘liquid’ spaces created, in which individuals are emancipated in terms of their ability to influence resource management within and beyond the organisational constituency.