Work-Related Stress: An Ethical Perspective

Work-related stress is too often neglected by employers and rarely seen as an ethical issue by them. Its moral implications are explored here by the Senior Corporate Policy Manager at City and Inner London North Training and Enterprise Council, 80 Great Eastern Street, London EC2A 3DP. Sue Bryan, M.A., A.M.I.P.D., is also completing an Executive MBA degree at London Business School.     

农村商业全新的组织形式──连锁经营

商业连锁经营在我国发展迅速,成为商业发展新的增长点。在广大农村商品流通领域,这 一先进的商业组织形式还远未全面涉入。面对当前开拓农村市场这一课题,大力发展农村商业连 锁经营,搞活农村市场,越发显得意义重大。目前连锁经营在农村市场的发展,已经具备了充分 的客观条件,只要充分鼓励,引导好连锁经营,必然会促进农村市场的发展,繁荣农村经济。     

An Assessment of Experiential Learning of Global Poverty Issues Through International Service Projects

Service learning has been used to supplement a standard business curriculum, but not typically in an international business context. We report the results of two short-term study abroad programs in which we incorporated service learning projects, one in Cambodia and the other in Vietnam. Our objective is to assess how we organized and delivered effective service learning projects in short-term study tours, and to assess students’ learning outcomes on global poverty issues in a business curriculum. We used both quantitative and qualitative assessment measures. The findings suggest that several types of learning outcomes did occur through the service learning projects, as the literature suggested. Seeing poverty firsthand and doing something about it through service learning may be a first experience for many students, but it seems to be a transformational one for many. We conclude that students may approach business and even political decisions with a greater understanding of their impact on poverty in the developing world.     

Immediacy: A Remark on the Vitalism of Aesthetic Organising

Mostly aesthetics are treated as a quality among others, characterising an object whether it is seen as an essential object-feature or a dimension in the observation and construction of "the object". In this article, we elaborate on a more radical conceptualisation, where aesthetics are seen as desire and force, as an essential feature of expressivity, and as the actual it is born in the motion between language and visibility, between speaking and seeing, but as the substantive, it is always already dissolved by the absolute horizon, that which never actualises, always outside the general, abstract and inaccurate conceptualisation of difference, as difference between the actual and the possible, withhold in the inescapable remnants of virtualitity, its own deferment, as always becoming-other . In this sense, it is an aesthetic which comes into being though the voices of Maurice Blanchot and Gilles Deleuze.     

Organising Shopping Services: Trends in Canadian Retailing, 1972–87

This article argues that innovations in organisational form are the driving force behind changes in retailing. After describing the decline in the value added component of retail sales that has occurred in Canada since the early 1970s, it then argues that an analysis of this trend should situate retailing within the more encompassing framework of shopping and recognise the response of organisations to externalities arising in shopping activities. Organisational change economises on the costs of coordination by reassigning activities and changing the incentives that face interacting agents. The argument is illustrated with examples from shopping centres and franchising.     

The Impact of Work-Related Values on the Readiness to Change in Estonian Organizations

This study contributes to our understanding of how work-related values, including ethics, are connected with the readiness to change in Estonian organizations. Research in Estonian companies involved 747 respondents. The author examined the influence of work-related values on attitude towards change and organizational learning. Empirical research in Estonian organizations indicates that work-related values predict attitude towards change and organizational learning. This study indicates the need for ethical conduct to achieve a competitive advantage in Estonia. Guidelines for managers and a model of value-based change management are subsequently developed.     

Investigating Socialization,Work-Related Norms,and the Ethical Perceptions of Marketing Practitioners

This study examines the influence of socialization on work-related norms (WORKNORM). We tested the hypothesis that organizational (ORGSOC) and professional socialization (PROFSOC) are antecedent influences on WORKNORM, employing a sample of 339 marketing practitioners. The results of covariance structural analysis indicate that ORGSOC and PROFSOC and WORKNORM are discriminant constructs within the tested model. The study also reveals that the influence of ORGSOC on WORKNORM is stronger than the influence of PROFSOC on these same norms. Because this social learning occurs in work-related activities, in organizations, and in professional life, it is important that managers appreciate that these three separate domains influence decision making under ethical conditions. The limitations of the study and future research directions are discussed.     

Strategies and Instruments for Organising CSR by Small and Large Businesses in the Netherlands

This paper analyses the use of strategies and instruments for organising ethics by small and large business in the Netherlands. We find that large firms mostly prefer an integrity strategy to foster ethical behaviour in the organisation, whereas small enterprises prefer a dialogue strategy. Both large and small firms make least use of a compliance strategy that focuses on controlling and sanctioning the ethical behaviour of workers. The size of the business is found to have a positive impact on the use of several instruments, like code of conduct, ISO certification, social reporting, social handbook and confidential person. Also being a subsidiary of a larger firm has a significant positive influence on the use of instruments. The most popular instrument used by small firms is to let one member of the board be answerable for ethical questions, which fits the informal culture of most small firms. With respect to sectorial differences, we find that firms in the metal manufacturing and construction sectors are more actively using formal instruments than firms in the financial service sector and retail sector. The distinction between family and non-family firms hardly affects the use of instruments.     

The Interplay of Project Control and Interorganizational Learning: Mitigating Effects on Cultural Differences in Global,Multisource ISD Outsourcing Projects

Research into global, multisource, information systems development outsourcing projects has uncovered management challenges, including cultural differences on multiple levels. While control mechanisms and interorganizational learning have been shown to contribute to the mitigation of cultural differences in such projects, a gap persists regarding the effect of the interplay between these mechanisms. This study employs an exploratory single-case study design to analyze how formal and informal control mechanisms and interorganizational learning interact and thus contribute to the mitigation of cultural differences in global, multisource, information systems development outsourcing projects. With the key finding that the influence of informal controls and interorganizational learning on formal controls changes over time, this research helps expand the domain of control dynamics in global IS projects. This study also contributes to literature on ways to handle cultural differences in global, multisource, IS outsourcing projects.     

Organising Corporate Responsibility Communication Through Filtration: A Study of Web Communication Patterns in Swedish Retail

Corporate responsibility (CR) communication has risen dramatically in recent years, following increased demands for transparency. One tendency noted in the literature is that CR communication is organised and structured. Corporations tend to professionalise CR communication in the sense that they provide information that corresponds to demands for transparency that are voiced by certain stakeholders. This also means that experts within the firm tend to communicate with professional stakeholders outside the firm. In this article, a particular aspect of the organisation of CR communication is examined, a phenomenon that we refer to as the ‘filtration effect’. By comparing CR communication in parent companies and their subsidiaries, we show empirically that there is considerably less CR communication on the subsidiary level compared to the parent level. We see filtration as a sign of conscious organising of CR communication that implies particular attention to certain stakeholder groups with clearly defined demands and expectations on companies. The strong filtration effect noted in the study suggests that CR communication does not seem to be very much adapted to customers, which may be problematic both from a communicative and ethical perspective. The study covers Sweden’s 206 largest retail firms.     

Sichuan Post-Disaster Reconstruction Projects Promotion

May 12,2008,an 8.0 magnitude earthquake had stuck Sichuan Province of China.Across 100,000 square kilometers' land,more than 45 mil- lion people became victims.     

Investment Projects in Northeastern China

Name of project： 1,800,000t/y Methanol and 600,000t/y Olefin Project in City Content and scale of project： The project covers a land area of 74.16 hectares. A whole set of 1,800,000t/y Methanol and 60...     

Investment Projects in Northeastern China

Name of project： Duobaoshan Cement Clinker Production Base Project in Nenjiang County Content and scale of project： 20,000t/y cement clinker production line will be built. 620 tons of cement clinker ca...     

Investment Projects in Western CHINA

1. Project Name
Heavy-duty Steel Structure Production Line Construction Project     

Investment Projects in Henan Province

Project Name The investment promotion project for the standard workshops construction in Luoshan industrial zone Project Implementation Institution Luoshan investment promotion bureau Total Investment USD 8.4 million     

Investment Projects in Western China

L Project Name LED Lighting Industry Project II. Project Implementation Agency Xi＇an Zhihai Power Technology Co., Ltd. is a hi-tech enterprise engaging in the R＆D, production, sales and services of new energy （solar energy）, new light source （semiconductor WLED lighting）, and electric and electronic technology. It has passed ＂EWC＂ international ISO9001 management system＇s authentification, and acquired the U.S.A. recognized RAB qualification.