Managing the Contingent Workforce—Gaining the Advantages, Avoiding the Pitfalls

Part-time employment arrangements constitute a rapidly growing segment of the U.S. labor force. Such employment arrangements offer advantages to both employers and employees. Part-time employees offer employers reduced wage and benefit costs, workforce flexibility, aid for special projects, replacement fill-ins and a chance to preview candidates for full-time employment. Part-time work enables employees to supplement family income, enjoy flexible hours as well as a change in job environment and a chance to substitute for full-time employment when there is no choice. The advantages of contingent employment come at a cost. Employers must comply with laws and give up control over much of the employment relationship in order to avoid co-employment status and to gain the benefits of contingent employment. Employees in contingent work arrangements frequently do not qualify for many of the benefits available to full time employees. Suggestions made for managing contingent workers may reduce some of the problems, but they would also remove some of the advantages.     

浅论高校图书馆功能大众化的改进研究

高校图书馆大多馆藏丰富,有很多有价值且公立图书馆所没有的资源,为高校师生教学科研提供有力的帮助,但是假期中高校图书馆的图书却闲置起来,而公立图书馆却人满为患。在检索中查到高校图书馆的书籍却无法查阅,这对于高校图书馆来说实则是一种资源浪费,高校图书馆如何应对,本文就此问题提出建议。     

On the impact of the tests for serial correlation upon the test of significance for the regression coefficient

Monte Carlo methods are used to investigate the relationship between the power of different pretests for autocorrelation, and the Type I error and power of the significance test for a resulting two-stage estimate of the slope parameter in a simple regression. Our results suggest it may be preferable to always transform without pretesting. Moreover we find little room for improvement in the Type I errors and power of two-stage estimators using existing pretests for autocorrelation, compared with the results obtained given perfect knowledge about when to transform (i.e., given a perfect pretest). Rather, researchers should seek better estimators of the transformation parameter itself.     

利用机器翻译技术消弱少数民族语言障碍

我国多民族聚居的局面有利有弊,语言障碍一直是少数民族地区发展的巨大阻力。针对少数民族语言的机器翻译有助于推进文化交流、带动经济发展、建立和谐社会。目前该领域的研究已取得了一定进展,但要达到实际应用效果仍有较长的路要走。大力推进针对少数民族的机器翻译工作意义重大。     

冬奥会背景下京津冀地区企业绿色发展研究

奥运会是一项全球性质的大型体育竞技活动,奥运会的举办对于一个国家来讲,并不是组织一项简单的体育赛事,冬奥会能为我国所带来的经济影响远远超过其他国家。2022年冬奥会的举办,必然为京津冀经济一体化发展带来一个新的机遇,但同时,对于企业管理来说是一个新的挑战。论文从冬奥会对地区经济发展的影响入手,分析了冬奥会与绿色可持续发展的关系,结合京津冀地区企业的绿色发展现状提出了一定的建议,给出了相应的保障措施。     

On the cost-benefit of the regionalisation of the National Health Service

In this paper we analyse in formal terms the desirability of the regionalisation of a National Health Service. The policy consists of a devolution process, i.e. the increase in the health services provision to be decided by a region and financed by an increase in its revenues. The change is a marginal one, as it regards the part of supply of the health services exceeding a minimum standard, which for purposes of equity is maintained uniform in the national territory. As the central government is responsible for this component of the provision of health care (a federal “mandate”), the level of the said component is chosen by this authority and financed by federal taxation. Moreover, the government also applies an equalisation scheme based on the difference between a standard level of tax revenues and the revenues which the region is deemed able to raise for this purpose. Within the theoretical context of welfare improving reforms with distortionary taxation, we derive two conditions which focus on the regional, as well as the social, convenience of regionalisation. Received: May 5, 1999 / Accepted: January 21, 2000     

Modelling the spatiotemporal distribution of the incidence of resident foreign population

Many European countries have recently experienced a substantial increase in the proportion of immigrants in their populations. The incidence of resident foreigners calculated at a national level does not provide information on the local spatial and temporal distribution of the phenomenon. This information may be of crucial importance for planning local policies. In this article, we suggest a tool for practitioners to provide spatiotemporal maps representing the local distribution of the incidence of resident foreigners in the territory, and changes in spatial trends over time. We illustrate this with Italian data at a municipal level, for the period 2003–2008. To account for spatiotemporal interactions in the data, we propose using a generalized additive model incorporating a smoother of the time and space dimensions. Specifically, we set up a tensor product smoother combining a cubic regression spline basis for time and a soap film spline basis for space. This approach provides a consistent framework to produce spatiotemporal maps which could be effectively used by policy makers to decide the allocation of economic resources at a local level.     

浅谈海船船员的违法行为

海船船员是海上运输活动的直接参与者,他们的行为的合法性直接关系着海上运输安全,对我国海运事业的有序发展起着至关重要的作用。船员的违法行为会对船舶的安全航行造成直接的影响,对船员违法行为进行分析和研究具有重要的理论和实践意义。文中通过对海船船员违法行为概念、种类以及成因的进行分析,并在这个基础上提出相关的对策和建议。     

从商业银行角度浅析我国中小企业融资难问题

中小企业是我国国民经济和社会发展的重要力量,但长期以来,中小企业所获得的金融资源却十分匾乏,特别是通过银行融资难的问题己经成为严重制约我国中小企业进一步发展的最大瓶颈。本文首先分析了中小企业融资难的原因,然后论述了发展中小企业融资业务对我国商业银行的重要意义,最后对商业银行如何发展中小企业业务提出几点建议。     

Valuing the donor more than the donation

The "valuing the donor more than the donation" approach is based on a respect for each individual donor and their needs. In order for the long-term value of the donor/charity partnership to be realized, there must first be an appreciation of the need for a carefully cultivated relationship.     

Augmenting the use of the Rasch model under time constraints

This paper proposes a method for estimating national standardizations of partially speeded tests composed of items from a previously standardized item bank. The model combines two submodels, one for whether the examinee reaches the item, and the second for whether she is successful if she does reach it. The former model is comparable to that for survival analysis using item position in test as a quasi-time parameter (Hutchison 1988). The latter is a straightforward Rasch Model. Combining the two submodels allows for the possibility that ability and drop-out were correlated. The model proposed here is superior that of Bolt et al. (2002), which divides the population into a speeded and a non-speeded group, in that it allows for a range of speededness effects. The model is tested using three UK national standardizations on one outcome and comparing the actual and predicted distributions. It is suggested that the observed discrepancies may be due to differences in the samples drawn, and that in some circumstances the model may actually produce a better estimate than an actual standardization exercise.     

Further evidence on the validity of the theoretical models underlying the Baldrige criteria

The Baldrige framework has emerged as both a guide for quality management and the model upon which numerous state and international quality awards are based. It was introduced in 1988 as the foundation for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The framework was significantly revised in 1992 and 1997. In order to test the validity of the theoretical model underlying the Baldrige framework as it has evolved over the years, we take the approach of analyzing the constructs upon which the Baldrige categories are based. Path analysis is used to test the fit of each of the three major frameworks, and the sums of direct effects are used to estimate the category weights implied by each of the path models. We found that all three frameworks were a good fit with the Baldrige frameworks for those years, and that both the 1992 and 1997 frameworks improved upon the foundation established by the 1988 framework. Thus, we conclude that appropriate adaptations to the Baldrige framework have been made over the years. We describe the implications for practitioners, in terms of critical success factors, and make recommendations for further minor modifications to the Baldrige framework.     

Creating the Accessible City

A bstract . Programs and proposals for socially integrating disabled and elderly people have, traditionally, not received a great deal of support. To a limited extent this is changing. A number of social and political factors produced a unique task force in the Houston area which sought to capitalize on the depressed state of real estate and develop independent living situations for disabled people. A study detailed the extent to which large urban areas like Houston become "invisible jails" for the handicapped. The elders and the disabled are often trapped in restrictive living units and are unable to gain access to a city's resources by transportation systems not adapted for them. Several opportunities for creating a barrier free environment were found in an over built residential sector. The responsibilities of urban areas for providing opportunities for all residents are considered.     

Re-Engineering the Sense of Self: the Manager and the Management Guru*

Conventional explanations of the enormous popularity of management gurus have centred on the need for managers to find relatively quick and simple solutions to their organizations' complex problems and the gurus' adeptness with marketing technology to promote these solutions. A few writers have also recognized the role that management gurus play in responding to managers' needs to make sense of themselves. Management gurus appeal to the manager's social or externally directed esteem needs by legitimating and celebrating the manager's role in society. the spiritual and charismatic quality of the gurus' work resonates with the manager's personal or internally driven needs by providing a sense of hope and purpose. The relationship between the management guru and manager is further explored with an analysis of the rhetorical techniques employed by the two leaders of the re-engineering movement, Michael Hammer and James Champy. Adopting a dramatistic or dramaturgical perspective, I describe how these writers skilfully manipulate the managers'sense of themselves to provide a compelling rationale for launching or supporting a re-engineering initiative within their organizations. the inherent dramatic appeal of the re-engineering process is an important reason for the movement's phenomenal popularity and, paradoxically, its lack of universal success.     

Recasting the “middle man:” the role of charities in the age of disintermediation

The number of people donating to charities is declining at a time when technology is enabling a proliferation of new ways of offering support—from crowdfunding to hacking commercial platforms like AirBnB for novel purposes. There is a risk that charities could lose their traditional position as a trusted intermediary between individuals who want to help and people who need their support. This paper offers some suggestions as to why disintermediated giving may, in some situations, offer a more attractive donor experience than traditional charitable giving and suggests some possible areas for further study.     

汽车美容养护中心选址评估研究

本文借助零售业选址研究中的相关理论,结合汽车美容养护中心实际情况,建立了汽车美容养护中心的选址指标及评价模型。并选用上海市松江区九亭地区的案例及相关数据对模型检验,从而给出了汽车美容养护行业选址评估的新方法。     

Management Accounting Research in the Wake of the Crisis: Some Reflections

This article offers some reflections on opportunities and challenges for management accounting research in the wake of the recent financial crisis, and especially the regulatory reforms and augmented disclosures the crisis has spawned. While challenging for the organizations facing them, I argue that especially the enhanced disclosures are likely to turn management accounting ‘inside out’ to a greater extent than has been the case before, which could be a boon for researchers studying hitherto mostly internal management accounting practices. As an undercurrent to the opportunities for research, however, I emphasize the importance of considering organizational design, comprised of both structure and culture, in understanding the inevitably intertwined effects of distorted incentives and information failings, among other problems that seem to all have contributed in some way to the crisis. In respect of the opportunities for management accounting research, I mainly discuss a continuing need to study incentives; a motivation to study risk management; an opportunity to reinvigorate budgeting research; and an invitation to study financial companies and the challenges of disclosures.     

The Entrepreneurial Theory of the Firm and the Theory of the Entrepreneurial Firm*

abstract The entrepreneurial theory of the firm argues that entrepreneurship, properly understood, is a crucial but neglected element in explaining the nature and boundaries of the firm. By contrast, the theory of the entrepreneurial firm presumably seeks not to understand the nature and boundaries of ‘the firm’ in general but rather to understand a particular type of firm: one that is entrepreneurial. This paper is an attempt to reconcile the two. After briefly delving for the concept of entrepreneurship in the work of Schumpeter, Kirzner, and (especially) Knight, the paper makes the case for the entrepreneurial theory of the firm. In such a theory, the firm exists as the solution to a coordination problem in a world of change and uncertainty, including Knightian or structural uncertainty.     

论人体工程学在高职室内设计教学中的应用

人体工程学是近数十年发展起来的新兴综合性学科。现代室内环境设计日益重视人与物和环境间,以人为主体的具有科学依据的协调。因此,室内设计除了依然十分重视视觉环境的设计外,对人体心理环境的研究和设计也已予以高度重视,并开始运用到设计高职实践教学中去,且已取得一定的成效。     

谈创意在桥梁设计中的作用

进入21世纪后,人们开始认识到在桥梁的设计中不仅仅要＂为自己着想＂,同时还要＂为别人着想＂,即关心桥梁对城市、大地的影响,以及桥梁的地标意义。当代景观生态学更将桥梁上升到解决被道路切割的大地之物种的生存与繁衍问题的高度,就是说桥梁设计还要＂关心＂生态环境等。文章认为,创意作为一个国家文化发展战略软实力的组成部分,在桥梁设计中的作用越来越大,它是设计师综合素质能力及业务水平的真正体现和反映。