A multiple group analysis of the training transfer model: exploring the differences between high and low performers in a Korean insurance company

This study suggests an integrative transfer of training model and examines the influence of pre-training performance on the relationship between work environment variables and transfer-related variables. Structural equation modeling was conducted with data collected from 365 Korean employees of a large general insurance firm. They were all participants in a leadership development program. The results of multi-group analyses revealed that the influence of work environment variables on transfer-related variables was moderated by employees' pre-training performance. The findings of the study imply that a more elaborate training transfer model that considers performance not just as an outcome variable, but also as an antecedent variable is required. Also, it is proposed that different strategies should be applied to promote transfer of training based on the employee's level of pre-training performance.     

Motivations for enterprise system adoption in transition economies: insights from Poland

Enterprise system (ES) adoption can bring many benefits, but may also put tremendous strain on an organisation or business, sometimes with disastrous outcomes. The specific motivations and expectations that lead to ES adoption may impact the success or failure of these endeavours, and understanding these motivations may be useful in predicting the success of ES projects. Most of the published research on ES adoption motivation has been in the context of highly developed countries. The social, cultural, economic and political conditions in developing, emerging and transition economies make for a different business environment, and insights obtained from developed countries may not always transfer to these settings. This study seeks to identify and help understand the motivations for ES adoption specifically in transition economies, as these economies play a significant role in the global market, but have not been receiving adequate research attention. Drawing on the experience of 129 ES adopters in Poland, a transition economy, this study categorises motivations into coherent groups of issues and evaluates the influence of discovered motivations on ES adoption success. Further, motivations revealed by this study are compared with motivations reported by prior research conducted in developed countries.     

Developing key human resources in China: an assessment of University Management Schools in Beijing,Shanghai and Tianjin in the decade 1979–88

This article focuses on differences and dynamics with respect to the organization of learning at work. It starts with a reflection on actual research perspectives on the subject of training in organizations. Four perspectives, which are currently dominant in the educational and social sciences, will be discussed: the structure-oriented approach, the system-oriented approach, the actor-oriented approach and the network approach. The network approach is a particularly promising new development in training research. We will elaborate this approach here and illustrate its potential by applying it to the analysis of training systems in two different types of organizations: bureaucratic and professional organizations. Data from recent case studies demonstrate that these types of organizations show remarkable differences with respect to the basic processes of their training systems: the shaping of training policies, the development of training programmes and the execution of training activities. In practice, training systems are much more organization-specific than training literature usually suggests. A network approach to training can provide a better understanding of the backgrounds of this organizational variety.     

An analysis of recruitment,training and retention practices in domestic and multinational enterprises in the country of Brunei Darussalam

This paper studies the behavioural differences in the recruitment, training and retention practices of domestic enterprises (DEs) versus multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the country of Brunei Darussalam. Hypotheses from literature survey predict MNEs to be more stringent in their recruitment and training and rigourous with promotion practices. Results show this is to be largely true. MNEs are found to be more rigourous in recruitment and place more emphasis on such traits as candidates' ‘devotion to task’, ‘self-motivation’ and ‘independent judgement’. MNEs were found to rely more on internal appointments. MNEs place more emphasis on training; they also emphasise a stronger work culture by relying on ‘induction by socialisation’ and ‘buddy system for mentoring’. When analysed by age, older firms were found to place more importance on language and commitment. They also rely on training via the buddy system and on external appointments for senior posts. Large firms place emphasis on employees' willingness to travel and on work experience in other countries as the main recruitment criteria. Large firms also believe in external appointments for senior positions. The study, which is one of few of its kind conducted in non-Western environment, and the only one in the context of Brunei, adds to our understanding of human resource practices in the context of two different genres of enterprises and has implications for future research.     

Enterprise systems’ life cycle in pursuit of resilient smart factory for emerging aircraft industry: a synthesis of Critical Success Factors’(CSFs), theory,knowledge gaps,and implications

The research aims to investigate business value critical success factors (CSFs) of enterprise systems (ES) through their life cycle in pursuit of resilient smart factory for emerging aircraft industry. This article provides an extensive literature analysis of past 22 years based on conscientious criteria of authors: (i) who have published strategic content relevant to CSFs, (ii) received more than 300 citations and (iii) concurrently published two or more papers relevant to ES CSFs. The most cited strategic CSFs were termed as classical CSFs. The 22 CSFs were identified, validated and synthesised for better understanding of success across life cycle by aircraft industry experts. The top 10 empirically verified CSFs have numerous differences with past generic classical CSFs. This article canvases real insights of two distinct views: process and variance approaches of the ES CSFs. The process approach, which is a neglected research area, facilitates the researchers for identification of ES life cycle process coupled with a view of resource deployment when it is needed the most. While the variance approach facilitates practitioners and researchers in finding out which resource (CSF) is relatively more important. The significant findings for ES life cycle can help the practitioners and researchers to make rational decisions throughout the ES life cycle.     

Multinational corporations as institutional entrepreneurs: the dynamic interplay between automobile firms and the Turkish vocational education and training system

This article analyses the two-way relationship between multinational companies (MNCs) and Turkey's vocational education and training system through case studies of Japanese and German MNCs in the automotive industry. Drawing on semistructured interviews, it addresses the initiatives the MNCs have taken to guarantee skilled employees and their interaction with the Turkish vocational education and training system. The analysis shows how the MNCs have been ‘institutional entrepreneurs’ by introducing new practices. This was possible as the host environment has been open to change but also a requirement where strong industrial relations systems constituted an essential but missing home country institution.     

Expert systems in production management: An assessment

Over the last several years expert systems (ES) have gained almost sensational interest. Within business administration, production management might be one of the most fruitful application areas for ES. There already exist a number of interesting pilot systems, and reports of research projects are beginning to appear in the literature.The main goal of this study is to identify systematically those areas in production management where an ES approach might be most promising. This is important to both researchers and practitioners because it helps pinpoint where research and development resources would be best allocated.In this article the authors provide a taxonomy for production management activities. They then combine this taxonomy with a well-known list of eight “expert tasks” to provide what they call an “applications map” to guide the discussion.After discussing existing research efforts and potential production management applications of expert systems, the authors employ a Likert scoring procedure to quantify their subjective ratings as to problem importance, potential for improved solution, and ease of development, for expert systems development efforts in a given production management decision situation.One conclusion here is that the applicability of expert systems to production management appears to be broadly based. This is particularly true for what the authors have labeled as “technological” activities. An interesting finding is the apparent lack of applicability of expert systems to inventory management. The authors found no existing system or research proposals applying expert systems to inventory management. Finally, systems that combine technological with logistical knowledge seem to be a fertile (but difficult) application area for ES.     

An investigation of training activities and transfer of training in organizations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which organizations implement training activities for facilitating the transfer of training before, during, and after training and the relationship between these activities and the transfer of training across organizations.Training professionals from 150 organizations reported that 62%, 44%, and 34% of employees apply training material on the job immediately, six months, and one year after training. In addition, their organizations were significantly more likely to use training activities to facilitate transfer during training than either before or after training. Further, training activities before, during, and after training were significantly related to the transfer of training; however, activities in the work environment before and after training were more strongly related to transfer than activities during training. The practical and research implications of these findings are discussed for improving the transfer of training in organizations. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Applications of decision support and expert systems in flexible manufacturing systems

Flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) increase the efficiency of operations by improving cost, quality, and lead time while decision support and expert systems (DSS&ES) improve the effectiveness of manufacturing by assisting the decision maker in coordinating all the elements and increasing the overall utilization of the factory, particularly in managing a complex system of flexible manufacturing. This article surveys a number of available decision support and expert systems applications in flexible manufacturing after reviewing the features of each one and then proposes additional potential applications.It appears that what is holding back the widespread use of FMS is not the technology, but is some management issues. Application of DSS&ES enables a manager to obtain a full flexibility of equipment in terms of machine flexibility, product flexibility, process flexibility, operation flexibility, routing flexibility, volume flexibility, expansion flexibility, and production flexibility. Many decisions are made in planning and operating FMS that can be categorized into three classes of strategic, tactical, and operational decisions. Each class can be further categorized into structured, semistructured, and unstructured decisions. The article provides examples of FMS decision in each of nine groups and show that use of DSS&ES can be productive.Illustrative cases are categorized into (1) DSS in FMS, (2) DSS in related manufacturing operations, (3) ES in FMS, and (4) ES in related manufacturing operations. The cases described include ICAM, REACT, KEE, PADMS, IMS, FADES, GARI, TOM, ISIS, and GENPLAN.The article finally provides hints for successful DSS and ES implementation. Subjects include getting management involved, choosing a key application, manage vendor involvement, paying attention to maintenance, assigning qualified personnel, paying attention to training, and always reviewing the results.FMS is basically a computer-based system and so are DSS and ES. There is an increased trend of integrating independent computer-based systems to take advantage of the possible synergy of such integration. At present, there is only a little evidence of DSS and/or ES applications in FMS. However, there is increasing evidence of applications in related manufacturing areas. Furthermore, the planning and operations of FMS require considerable expertise; DSS and ES techniques are aimed at supporting or even replacing such expertise. Therefore, it seems that there is a considerable potential for further application of DSS and ES in FMS.     

Towards high performing hospital enterprise systems: an empirical and literature based design framework

Our understanding of enterprise systems (ES) is gradually evolving towards a sense of design which leverages multidisciplinary bodies of knowledge that may bolster hybrid research designs and together further the characterisation of ES operation and performance. This article aims to contribute towards ES design theory with its hospital enterprise systems design (HESD) framework, which reflects a rich multidisciplinary literature and two in-depth hospital empirical cases from the US and UK. In doing so it leverages systems thinking principles and traditionally disparate bodies of knowledge to bolster the theoretical evolution and foundation of ES. A total of seven core ES design elements are identified and characterised with 24 main categories and 53 subcategories. In addition, it builds on recent work which suggests that hospital enterprises are comprised of multiple internal ES configurations which may generate different levels of performance. Multiple sources of evidence were collected including electronic medical records, 54 recorded interviews, observation, and internal documents. Both in-depth cases compare and contrast higher and lower performing ES configurations. Following literal replication across in-depth cases, this article concludes that hospital performance can be improved through an enriched understanding of hospital ES design.     

基于多Agent的现代制造企业培训系统研究

针对传统制造企业培训系统中出现的问题,提出了一个基于多Agent的企业培训系统。本文从制造企业培训的要求出发,利用Asp.net技术与多Agent技术相结合原理,实现了员工管理,在线培训、智能推荐、网上考试等功能,满足了企业和员工的需求。系统通过多Agent技术的运用,较好的解决了学习内容推荐的智能化,个性化以及员工职业生涯规划等问题,使网络学习者能在一种交互式的学习环境中得到更人性化的学习推荐服务,从而改善培训效果。     

Expectations and performance: assessment of public service training in Hong Kong

There are different ways in which training providers and recipients assess the value and outcome of training programmes. Generally, evaluations by clients of training services in the public sector do not receive serious attention as one cohort of officials succeeds another. Such an approach restricts the prospect of improvement, particularly since the providers are not subjected to undergo self-assessment of their programmes. This article seeks to achieve a better understanding of the assessment by soliciting opinions of both clients and providers of training programmes offered by the Civil Service Training and Development Institute in Hong Kong. The views of both the trainers and recipients were collected through a number of surveys and interviews. The response from trainees and trainers reveal significant differences about the expectations and actual content of the training programmes. Interestingly, there were similarities as well in their assessment in some areas. A common position declared by the trainees is that training keeps them informed about the latest developments but does not help them to adjust to changing circumstances. The other complaint was that adequate training was not provided for performing on the job. Trainers expressed different views, but agreed on the fact that the institute is unable to cope with the task and responsibility of training the entire public service and conceded that it is difficult to anticipate the future training needs in the rapidly changing environment in which public administration takes place.     

Does training facilitate SME's performance?

This study explores relationships between small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) foreign direct investment (FDI), FDI-related training programs and organizational performance. To determine if the implementation of training programs mediate the relationship between FDI and SME performance, and if the alignment between training needs and training implementation leads to higher SME performance, we collected large-scale company-level data (N = 816) from within Taiwan.

Research results suggest that FDI leads to higher SME performance. This relationship was partially mediated by the implementation of FDI-related training programs. Unexpectedly, the results also suggest that higher levels of training need attenuate the positive relationship between FDI-related training implementations and SME performance. This implies that the alignment between SME training needs and training implementation may be of a more complicated nature than was previously thought. Practical implications and suggestions for future research are also identified.     

Perceived training benefits and training bundles: a Canadian study

The purpose of this study is to examine the link between training and the perceived contribution of training to enhanced productivity or cost reduction. Using data from 92 Canadian organizations, the results show that organizations with higher percentage of trained employees are likely to perceive training to be beneficial. In addition, the results indicate that perceived benefits of training are further enhanced by the presence of human resources management practices that either encourages employees to undertake training (the motivation bundle) and/or provides a systematic assessment of post-training effectiveness (the assessment bundle). The evidence however also shows that open climate as measured by autonomous work systems nullifies the benefits of training, suggesting that under such a structure, employees are unlikely to put in practice the skills they acquired during training.     

Data configurations in railway signalling engineering - an application of enterprise systems techniques

Railway signalling system is a safety-critical system to ensure railway safety and its development cost is huge. It is of great economic value to apply the generic signalling systems in different environments through configuration of different application data. In this paper, a new method to configure the application data completely and accurately is illustrated; in particular, a technique called automatic generation technology is introduced to automatically configure the functional logic of safety-critical systems, i.e. computer-based interlocking (CBI) system and automatic train protection (ATP) system. All of the application data are collected from the workflow among various departments through the enterprise system (ES). Some application data are represented by models employing automatic generation technology, and the functional logic is then obtained through analysis using these models. A configuration platform based on the ES is developed in which both the efficiency and accuracy of the application data configuration are significantly improved. In addition, it is capable of reducing human errors to a maximal extent.     

独立学院人才培养模式探讨——兼谈南京航空航天大学金城学院的探索与实践

独立学院能否在激烈的高校竞争中站稳脚跟,关键在于能否培养出高素质的受社会欢迎的人才,因此,独立学院的人才培养模式受到高等教育者越来越多的关注。文章通过对独立学院的生源特点、发展定位、培养方案、教学实施等问题的研究,以南航金城学院为例提出了构建独立学院人才培养模式的见解。     

Engaging Employees in Sustainable Development – a Case Study of Environmental Education and Awareness Training in Hong Kong

Environmental education and awareness training can help to develop and encourage a transition to a greener corporate culture. A series of environmental education and awareness training programmes of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC) (Hong Kong) was used as a case study to assess how learning transfers through nature‐based environmental education and awareness training and to investigate the possible outcomes of providing nature‐based training to employees. Evaluation of the training outcomes, in terms of changes in employees’ environmental knowledge, attitudes and behaviour, was surveyed by using retrospective post‐ and then‐test questionnaires. Results showed that employees who joined these programmes gained knowledge and changed their values and behaviour towards the environment significantly. The study also indicated the establishment of trust in and satisfaction with the organization among employees through the training, which in turn promoted employees’ organizational commitment towards corporate sustainability. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Enterprise system implementation issues: learning from field study in Poland

This study examines enterprise system (ES) implementation issues on the basis of research conducted among practitioners dealing with ES projects in Poland. The particular topics investigated include mechanisms determining the success of ES implementations, project conditions and implementation effects. Using a success factors model and a synthetic measure of implementation success, this paper recognises the factors that have the greatest influence on implementation success. While researching project conditions, this study discusses how the ES projects researched were linked with enterprise strategy, how their efficiency was measured and to what extent they defined implementation goals. This paper analyses also the positive and negative effects of ES implementations. The effects investigated were divided into technical, economic, organisational and social results. During the analysis, the implementations examined were divided into groups of projects on the basis of their duration, scope and company size. The findings recognise the leading roles of certain factors among specific project groups and suggest that participants from the most complicated projects are most aware of the overwhelming implementation challenge. The analysis reveals some differences in perceptions and attitudes between stakeholders involved in an implementation project. Managerial and research issues are discussed, together with country-specific aspects.     

智能楼宇系统集成师体系研究

随着人类生活质量的逐步提升,人们对于自己的居住环境的要求也日益增加。智能楼宇系统集成师体系便是针对这一现象而研究出来的,该体系是对于智能楼宇系统集成师的培养体系,通过一整套完整的项目流程以及作为一个合格的智能楼宇系统集成师所需要具备的基本素质来培养出一个优秀的智能楼宇系统集成师。     

Exploring the central characteristics of HR shared services: evidence from a critical case study in the Netherlands

Human resource shared service centers (HR SSCs) are foreseen as improving HR service delivery for their end-users: employees, line managers and decentralized HR professionals. Although the concept expects the benefits of HR SSCs to come from centralizing knowledge and decentralizing the control exercised over an HR SSC, research into these two fundamental shared service characteristics is scarce. The purpose of this research is therefore to explore whether resource bundling, combined with business unit control over an HR SSC, is sufficient to improve HR service delivery to its end-users. Using concepts from intellectual capital and agency theory, we find that the combination of these two characteristics of shared services is not sufficient to improve HR service delivery. Rather, we suggest that (1) HR SSCs have to update the knowledge and skills of their staff; (2) end-users have to effectively maintain the codified knowledge centralized in the HR SSC; and (3) business units and the HR SSC need to collaborate in order for the benefits of an HR shared service to be realized.