Allocating additional resources to public universities. A DEA bargaining approach

This paper deals with the problem of allocating additional resources in a public university system. Instead of a solution imposed from above, the proposed bargaining approach lets the universities voluntarily agree on a solution that benefits them all. To be realistic the allocation assumes that the universities will keep their current technical efficiency. A bargaining problem is formulated, defining the corresponding feasible set and disagreement point. Four different bargaining solutions, namely Nash, Kalai-Smorodinsky, Egalitarian and Utilitarian, are considered and discussed. The proposed approach is applied to a real-world dataset involving the nine public universities of the Andalusian region. The results of the different bargaining solutions are very consistent as regards the output and utility improvements to be achieved by each university.     

Constrained ratio approach to allocating instructional resources

Principal budgetary approaches underlying the allocation of instructional resources to an institution of higher education to maintain its continuing programs are briefly considered from several standpoints, including their effect upon the opportunity and incentive for faculty members to innovate in their instructional practices. An alternative approach is developed—the constrained ratio approach—which is conducive to innovation while maintaining responsible overall control of resources. The effective use of resources is encouraged in that the allocative procedure is structured so as to increase the likelihood of awareness of and consideration of the cost of alternative options at the instructional level in terms of foregone opportunities.     

Making sense of different perspectives on career transitions: A review and agenda for future research

Although scholars across numerous disciplines have studied specific types of career transitions, there has been no examination of the career transitions literature as a general phenomenon since Louis' seminal article was published four decades ago. Much has changed in the career landscape in the last forty years, including the number and types of career transitions being made by individuals. Using an inductive approach, the five major theoretical perspectives of career stage, decision-making, adjustment, relational, and identity emerged from our analysis of 242 publications. In this paper, we summarize research on each of these major perspectives on career transitions, recognizing emerging trends and research gaps. Based upon an analysis across these perspectives, we recommend seven major avenues for future research on career transitions.     

The new-breed approach to 21st century human resources

When the CEO for one of the country's large telecommunications companies selected Bonnie C. Hathcock as chief human resources officer almost six years ago, she had not spent day one in a personnel or human resources assignment. At that time, her career spanned 15 years and included a decade in sales and marketing with a Fortune 50 corporation and two training and development assignments with large multinationals. Now after 20 years of corporate life, Bonnie says, “I love this dynamic profession and have discovered my perfect fit in corporate America.” Bonnie and her team of human resource professionals at Siemens Rolm Communications Inc. in California's Silicon Valley, have launched a progressive human resource strategy and a creative organizational design. In this article, Bonnie shares her approach to 21st century human resources that is newbreed, strategic, and refreshingly unconventional. © 1996 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Exploring the interpersonal determinants of job embeddedness and voluntary turnover: A conservation of resources perspective

This paper draws on a conservation of resources perspective to understand employee voluntary turnover. We conceptualise voluntary turnover as an outcome of resource loss, and we view job embeddedness as an indication of resource levels. On the basis of this conceptualisation, we propose that workplace ostracism and leader–member exchange (LMX) affect voluntary turnover via job embeddedness. We also propose an interaction effect of workplace ostracism and LMX: Workplace ostracism increases voluntary turnover by depleting job embeddedness only when people experience high‐quality LMX. Data from 352 employees in a Chinese software company obtained through a three‐wave survey support our model. Our findings illuminate the resource consequences of interpersonal interactions on job embeddedness and voluntary turnover, and we offer practical implications for employee retention.     

The human resources approach to manpower,education and income distribution planning

This paper first presents the hypothesis relating the education of the labor force to production, along with some observations about its statistical verification. The conceptual basis for the manpower approach to educational planning appears next, followed by a discussion of its use with and without the assumption of constant labor productivity. Finally, the human resources approach to manpower and educational planning is extended to include income distribution planning. The method developed is applied to Mexico.     

The relationship of mentoring and network resources with career success in the Chinese organizational environment

The relationship of mentoring and network resources, the two components of social capital, with career success was investigated in a sample of 113 Chinese white-collar workers. The findings suggested that the prevalence of mentoring in the Chinese workplace is substantially higher than in the Anglo-Saxon workplace, and that Chinese employees do not distinguish their network ties or Guanxi into expressive and instrumental. These results were in line with the presumption that mentoring is an integral part of the Chinese culture and with the view that network ties or Guanxi in the Chinese society cannot exist in a purely instrumental form. In contrast to hypotheses, however, the findings suggest a limited relationship between social capital and career success. In particular, the amount of mentoring, participants reported they had received, was related to their intrinsic career success but not to their extrinsic career success; and the amount of network resources or Guanxi was related neither to extrinsic nor to intrinsic career success. These results were largely at odds with the accumulated knowledge on the benefits of social capital for career success. The findings are discussed with respect to the changing nature of the Chinese business and organizational environment, and their implications for human resource practices.     

Plan to win your career battle

It is ironic that the central focus of our profession is predicated on our ability to plan; however, when the subject of career planning is discussed, we often leave it to change. Our career should be a series of planned events. The notion of doing a good job is no longer the key to a career. We must be proactive and develop a personal marketing strategy.     

A self-balancing CUSUM approach for the efficient allocation of resources during post-disaster debris disposal operations

Hurricane Katrina and other recent disasters have underscored the challenges related to disaster-generated debris disposal. During Katrina, extraordinary amounts of debris, far exceeding typical annual amounts of solid waste, were almost instantaneously deposited across a three-state area. Collection and disposal of disaster debris is an enormous task. Although the locations and amounts of debris can be easily summarized after recovery activities have been completed, they are uncertain and difficult to estimate in real time. Inaccurate estimates can result in inequitable allocation of disposal resources, increased costs, prolonged recovery, and increased social, political, and economic unrest. This paper uses prospective statistical process control methods to achieve equity in allocating debris disposal resources. These methods enable the detection of emerging debris collection patterns in real time as debris information becomes available during disposal operations. Using the self-starting CUSUM method proposed by Hawkins (Statistician 36:299?C315, 1987) as a foundation, we develop a self-balancing approach for debris cleanup operations and evaluate its performance using data from a 2003 Atlantic hurricane.     

Organizational career management practices and objective career success: A systematic review and framework

The theorization of the relationship between organizational investments in career development and individual success remains underdeveloped, and empirical tests of this relationship, which have been dispersed among several disciplinary areas, have produced inconsistent results. Addressing these issues, the purpose of this article is to propose a theoretical framework that illustrates why and how organizational career management practices translate into career success and under what circumstances the relationship is effective. Using a systematic review of empirical studies on career management practices and objective success, we identify three theoretical mechanisms - developmental, informational, and relational - and two groups of contingency factors that explain this relationship. Our framework advances the extant literature on organizational career management and provides suggestions to companies for designing effective career management systems.     

A geometric approach to temptation

We provide a simple geometric proof of the Gul and Pesendorfer’s (Gul and Pesendorfer, 2001) utility representation theorem about choice under temptation without self-control. We extract two incomplete orders from preferences: temptation relation and resistance relation. We characterize those relations geometrically and obtain temptation utility using a separation method à la Aumann (Aumann, 1962).     

A quantitative approach to stakeholder interests

In an age when the role, behaviour and performance of the firm are under greater scrutiny than ever before, it is important to pursue quantitative empirical research in the area of social auditing. Using data relating to one particular company, the various inputs and outputs attributable to the firm's different stakeholders, (shareholders, employees, consumers and the community) are examined and corresponding rates of return calculated. Considerable methodological and data problems arise and consequently the results need careful interpretation.     

A network approach to work-family conflict

Most human behaviours, including those instrumental for reducing Work–Family Conflict (WFC), take place in the context of social relationships. However, the role of social networks in an individual's WFC goal pursuit process has not received sufficient attention, as most current research is dominated by an agentic perspective that argues that individuals possess the capabilities to change the demands and resources associated with their roles freely. We believe that the reality faced by many workers is more composite, as the various work and family stakeholders present in an individual's network can create significant constraints and opportunities that are capable of inhibiting or enhancing their agency. In this paper, we aim to examine how the ecosystem of network relationships in an individual’ social network can influence his or her overall capability to minimise WFC. Building on insights from dynamic network theory, a recently introduced framework in the social network literature, we propose a conceptual model that explains the specific roles that work and family stakeholders (i.e., supporters, preventers, resistors, reactors, negators, interactants, or observers) can assume with respect to goal strivers' attempts to manage WFC. Building on prior work-family and social network research, we illustrate how two characteristics of the network in which an individual is embedded (i.e., centrality and density) can shape the magnitude of social network influence on WFC. Implications for theory and practice are also discussed.