What managers need to know about knowledge-based pay

KBP is an innovative compensation approach wiyh some important advantages for both workers and management. It is growing in use, but there is still not much information available to guide managers who want to use it. Our research suggests that each KBP implementation is idiosyncratic. At CARCO, each of the several plants using KBP designed its own KBP plan. They had very little information upon which they could draw. Likewise, at CONCO the plant manager and other key executives set out the philosophy and structure of KBP with very little guidance, except some discussion with one manager who had some experience with it. At this time, each application of KBP must be individually worked out with respect to such issues as the method of evaluation for pay advancement, the levels at which pay increases ought to be granted, and ways to provide opportunities for skill advancement. There are other areas that we need to know more about:

• •⊎ Under what conditions should an organizationwide or job-circle KBP approach be implemented?
• •⊎ How does the relationship between the range of skills and the range of pay affect performance and satisfaction?
• •⊎ When job circles are used, what guides should be used for grouping jobs into KBP classes?
• •⊎ How does the size of an organization and the range of task variety relate to KBP plans?
• •⊎ How do organizational and pay system differences affect practices such as rotation and participation?

KBP is an interesting and potentially useful approach to compensation. We have suggested some approaches to these issues in this article, but we all need to know more about it.     

What materiel people need to know about quality

W. Edwards Deming has said that "Price without a measure of quality has no meaning." Materiel people must become intimate with the quality needs of their organization and ask their suppliers for that quality and insist on appropriate measures to ensure that quality. The burden of proof of goodness must be on the supplier.     

Measurement Bias in the HICP: What do we know and What do we need to know?

Abstract. The Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) is the primary measure of inflation in the euro area, and plays a central role in the policy deliberations of the European Central Bank (ECB). The ECB defines its Treaty mandate of price stability as '… a year‐on‐year increase in the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) for the euro area of below 2%[…] to be maintained over the medium term.' Among the rationales given for defining price stability as prevailing at some positive measured inflation rate is the possibility that the HICP as published incorporates measurement errors of one sort or another that may cause it to systematically overstate the true rate of inflation in the euro area. This paper reviews what currently is known about the scope of measurement error in the HICP. We conclude that given the vague conceptual framework of the HICP, the scant research on price measurement issues in the EU and the ongoing improvements in the HICP, there is very little scientific basis at this time for a point (or even an interval) estimate of a positive bias in the HICP.     

浅谈如何做好一名总监

通过对公路工程建设中监理工作岗位的分析,对总监工程师应具备的基本条件和素质进行详细的剖析,分析如何才能做好一名总监并提出了一些看法与同行交流。     

应急物流 亟待完善

缺少法律法规依仗，机制尚待健全，专业队伍和装备稀少，应急物资储备布局研究不足，50年难遇一次的冰雪灾害将我国应急物流的缺陷生生暴露于社会面前。     

The art of defining computer system requirements: say what you need and need what you say

The task of defining computer system requirements often involves the consideration of an overwhelming number of complexly related factors. Therefore, before getting started, a project team assigned this task needs to get an overview and develop a clear understanding of the main objectives and the alternative methods it can use in carrying out its responsibilities. This article presents tips and techniques for achieving success in the requirements definition phase of a software selection process.     

Essential data for fund raising executives: what you don't know can hurt you

The collecting, maintaining and dispensing of data is not a topic for the timid. Data collection can be a fundamental tool or an insidious fifth column within an organization. Fund-raising execs and CEOs will inevitably meet this issue, either head on through foresight and planning, or unexpectedly by means of a distressed donor or angry prospect.     

Equity-premium prediction: Attention is all you need

Predictions of stock returns are greatly improved relative to low-dimensional forecasting regressions when the forecasts are based on the estimated factor of large data sets, also known as the diffusion index (DI) model. However, when applied to text data, DI models do not perform well. This paper shows that by simply using text data in a DI model does not improve equity-premium forecasts over the naive historical-average model, but substantial gains are obtained when one selects the most predictive words before computing the factors and allows the dictionary to be updated over time.     

What do we really know about EAPs?

The time has come to make a comprehensive, critical assessment of the increasingly popular EAPs. To date, with very few exceptions, only glowing reports in the literature are available. This EAP literature is reinterpreted and methodological flaws are identified in analyzing usage patterns, legal issues, success rates, and cost-benefit calculations. The real and potential weaknesses and limitations need to be recognized in order to make EAPs more effective for the 1990s.     

Due process before discipline: What public employers need to provide

This paper examines content and procedural due process requirements that must be met before an employee is disciplined by a public sector employer. The paper begins by analzying the circumstances and significance of the United States Supreme Court's historicLoudermill decision in 1985. Three key issues in predetermination hearing; are treated: (1) the procedural requirements to be met in a predetermination hearing; (2) the scope ofLoudermill; (3) the due process requirements of a predetermination hearing.     

Productivity – your countries need you!

• Increased global productivity could boost real wages, consumption, fiscal positions and alleviate fears of secular stagnation. But will it? Puzzles relate to the longer term global slowdown and to some countries' recent productivity‐less recoveries in jobs. We assess various explanations including mismeasurement, secular stagnation, financial sector malfunction and increased labour market flexibility. Our baseline forecast is for a moderate pro‐cyclical recovery in productivity but we show how downside risks imply it could be anaemic.
• Sustained weak productivity is a secular issue. Eight years after 2007, median productivity growth in OECD economies is less than Japan's was eight years into its lost decade. Aspects of secular stagnation and balance sheet adjustment have contributed. Measurement error may have played a role over the longer term.
• Recent experience divides recoveries into “haves” and “have nots” in terms of productivity and employment. The UK may finally be emerging from a “productivity‐less” recovery in employment after 2011; Spain and the Netherlands have experienced jobless recoveries in productivity; others, such as Canada and Sweden, have experienced pro‐cyclical (typically weak) recoveries in productivity; Italy hardly got going in either direction.
• Most theories provide, at best, a limited explanation for recent weak productivity performance. These include data mis‐measurement, increased labour market flexibility, financial sector malfunction and supply side secular stagnation.
• On balance, we think that a modest productivity bounce‐back could be imminent, caused by some demand recovery, tighter labour markets in major economies, higher real wages and firms deciding to invest more in capital, which enhances productivity and points the global economy towards normality.
• We also illustrate how global risk scenarios could dampen recovery. Negative skews imply mean G7 productivity growth across the scenarios would be an anaemic 1.1% in 2016, 0.5 percentage points (pp) lower than the baseline.