Knowledge work: its evaluation and reward

Abstract . Much conflict arises in Indian research institutions as a consequence of unsatisfactory systems of evaluating and rewarding individual performance. The paper reviews existing systems critically and lays down guidelines for the development of an open consensus system designed to remove objections to current predominantly closed and secret practices. The basis for an evaluation proforma suitable for Indian conditions is put forward; this would include information on current achievement, future potential and personal characteristics with respect to each of the functions (research, teaching, consultancy, etc.) that a knowledge worker might perform. An example of how the various elements could be weighted and combined is also provided. The paper contains advice on the administration of the system to ensure the eventual emergence of a consensus. It concludes with a discussion of the factors to take into account and the problems likely to be met in translating the evaluation results into monetary and non-monetary rewards, based on Maslow's hierarchy of needs.     

Australian Labor Relations Through American Eyes

This article describes how Australia's conciliation and arbitration system emerged in the eighteen nineties and the key role it still plays in that county's labor relations. The respective roles of unions, management, and conciliation and arbitration are discussed, as are dispute resolution procedures at the national, industry-occupational, company, and plant levels. The functions of strikes and other forms of "industrial action" are examined.     

The meaning of work: American and Japanese paradigms

In this article it is argued that a fundamental difference exists between the Japanese view of the meaning of work and the American view of this construct. It is suggested that the American orientation is primarily environment-centered, and is based on a traditional stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model. In contrast, the Japanese orientation seems to be primarily person-centered, and is based on what might be called an organism-response (O-R) model. The reasons for this difference are explored and both the practical and theoretical implications are examined.In conclusion the author projects a revision of research methodology in the behavioural sciences leading to a more realistic appraisal of the transferability of Japanese management practices to the American environment.Portions of this paper were presented at the Pan Pacific Conference on Business and Technology, Honolulu, March, 1984. It was selected as the Best Paper in the Organizational Behaviour track. The author is indebted to Chuck Behling of Bowling Green State University and Ken Kim of The University of Toledo for their helpful suggestions and comments on an earlier version of this paper.     

Gendered patterns in computing work in the late 1990s

Computing is one of the most growing industries offering many opportunities for employment and advancement. Furthermore it is one of the newest industries which comprises of mainly young firms and relatively freshly constituted forms of working practices. Using empirical work in the UK, this paper presents and asesses gendered patterns of work and employment in the computing sector whilst comparing it to other traditionally male-dominated sectors.     

The Survival of Apprenticeship Training: A British, American, Australian Comparison

This paper examines the development of apprenticeship training in three English-speaking countries where apprenticeship has fared very differently. It declined at an early date in the USA in most sectors of the economy; it survived intact in Britain well into the post-Second World War period; and it has survived relatively strongly in Australia up to the present day. The reasons for decline and survival are examined and an explanation is proferred in terms of the interaction between the institutional supports and the ability and need felt by employers to sustain the system.     

Grain demand and consumer preference in Senegal

Nearly 30% of Senegal's grain consumption is met by commercial imports, mainly for the urban Dakar population. Official Senegalese policy is to promote food self-sufficiency by increased domestic rice, millet and maize production. The author addresses two central issues: first, will the domestically produced rice be acceptable to the urban population?; and seond, will the urban population consume more millet and maize as a result? Using survey data collected in Dakar in 1977–1978, the author describes the grain purchasing and consumption patterns of the sample, and focuses on the implications for national food self-sufficiency.     

Structural and relational influences on the role of reward interdependence in product innovation

This study examines the relationship between reward interdependence, or the extent to which managers' rewards are tied to the performance of colleagues in other functions, and product innovation. It also considers how structural and relational features of the organizational context might moderate this relationship. Our analysis of a sample of Canadian‐based firms reveals a positive relationship between reward interdependence and product innovation that is invigorated at higher levels of job rotation, social interaction, and interactional fairness, but we find no evidence of a moderating effect of decision autonomy. Consistent with a systems approach to organizational contingencies, we also find that the reward interdependence–product innovation relationship is stronger when the organization's context comes closer to an ‘ideal’ holistic configuration that is most conducive to knowledge exchange within the organization, with a more prominent role played by the relational sub‐context (social interaction and interactional fairness) than the structural sub‐context (job rotation and decision autonomy). The findings have important implications for innovation research as they shed light on how the extent to which individual rewards are tied to collective performance can be channeled to enhance innovation pursuits.     

义乌玩协：服务企业 助力行业 回报社会

2009年,全球金融危机的背景下,中国玩具出口遭遇重大挑战,如何帮助玩具企业从容应对挑战,成为义乌玩具协会一年来的工作重心。义乌市作为全球著名的小商品集散地,该地的玩具出口指数对玩具行业来说具有极大的指向作用。义乌玩具协会在积极发挥行业协会作用的同时,以行业发展为己任,积极配合国家有关部门对行业的调研,在为政府调整3C及出口政策的过程中发挥了巨大的促进作用,为义乌玩具行业乃至整个中国玩具行业应对挑战推波助澜。     

Australian Residential Telecommunications Consumption and Substitution Patterns

Better telecommunications pricing decisions are able to be made when more complete information concerning relationships among services is available. This study analyses residential fixed-line and mobile telephony, and Internet access and usage demands in an encompassing framework. The discrete-continuous framework allows for service interaction within and between service portfolios. Model estimation is based on the examination of data collected from a country-wide survey of Australian households. In particular, observed service portfolios (household consumption patterns at prevailing access prices and estimated average service usage prices), income and demographic characteristic data are collected. These data also allow the modelling to potentially identify market segments based on income and other household characteristics.JEL Classifications: D12, L11, L69     

耕耘五十载桃李满天下--记东华大学博士生导师严灏景教授

东华大学建校五十年来，学生 毕业了一届又一届，教工也退休了一批又一批，然而有一位老教授、老学者在东华大学这块育人的园地中，孜孜不倦地耕耘了一辈子，至今虽已到耄耋之年，但他依然不管寒冬酷暑，也不管风风雨雨，始终一如既往，用他的智慧和学识，在神圣的教坛上，鞠躬尽瘁，耕耘不息，为我国科教兴国，继续地无私奉献。 他就是东华大学学术委员会主任、博士生导师、香港理工大学特聘的中国杰出学人严灏景教授。 荣获英国“瓦纳”纪念奖章 严灏景教授1920年生于江苏省丹阳县吕城镇严家村。1939年，他考入西南联合大学机…     

Autonomy at work in the gig economy: analysing work status,work content and working conditions of independent professionals

This paper offers a critical perspective on the debate surrounding autonomy at work for a specific category of non‐standard workers: independent professionals. The increasing numbers now working this way as well as their spread into all sectors, industries and occupations, mean that their work arrangements can no longer be dismissed as non‐standard or atypical. Defining them by what they are not is quite simply no longer an option. Our paper examines the various components intertwined behind the taken‐for‐granted concept of autonomy. Drawing on debates from the legal through to the sociological and HR literatures, we identify three underlying dimensions to autonomy. When combined, they provide the basis for an analytical matrix that may assist policy makers, practitioners and individual workers to understand the challenges and opportunities linked to new ways of working.     

Strategic planning and strategic management in Australian organisations

Many planning and organisational aspects of 48 Australian organisations were examined. The empirical information tends to suggest that the process of adopting the strategic management concept is well advanced in some Australian organisations. Irrespective of size and ownership status, some organisations have already adopted strategic planning, and the process of evolution is continuing towards the final stage of strategic management. The increasing environmental volatility and growing international exposure of organisations in Australia and elsewhere in the Asia Pacific region will increase the pressure to implement international management systems, including strategic management.     

Economies of Scale and Scope in Australian Telecommunications

This paper employs a composite cost function toexamine the cost structure of Australian telephoneservices. The composite cost model combines thelog-quadratic input price structure of the translogmodel with a quadratic structure for multiple outputs. Quadratic output structures permit the measurement ofeconomies of scale, economies of scope, andsubadditivity without prejudging their presence. Model estimates, on Telstra system data from 1926 to1991, show that the production of Australian telephoneservices exhibits economies of scope but no rayeconomies of scale.     

Employee Voice in Union and Non-union Australian Workplaces

The fall in unionism and the rise in the non-union workplace over the past two decades raises the question as to whether workers now have a reduced capacity to initiate issues and articulate grievances. For some commentators independent unions are the only source of genuine voice. Others have argued that the adoption of the HRM paradigm within an enterprise will provide workers with adequate voice mechanisms. This paper addresses the issue by comparing employee voice in non-union and unionized Australian workplaces.     

Designing flexible work practices for job satisfaction: the relation between job characteristics and work disaggregation in different types of work arrangements

The literature on flexible work practices has not yet evaluated in detail how the characteristics of a job affect job satisfaction. This study makes a distinction between two types of flexible work practices according to their aims: the accommodation of employees’ personal lives (employment practice) and the operational reasons of a firm (work practice). Based on this distinction, we studied how the characteristics of a job, which reflect the use of ICT to support the spatial disaggregation of business processes, influence the relationship between the two types of flexible work practices and job satisfaction. We show, through a survey conducted on 987 workers, that the characteristics of a job that favour work disaggregation positively moderate the influence of flexible work as a work practice on job satisfaction, but they do not moderate the influence of flexible work as an employment practice. The implications for managers, workers and scholars are discussed.     

Trade Union Mergers in British and Australian Television Broadcasting

A complex set of forces facing trade union organizations has meant that union restructuring vis-à-vis merger activity has been a prominent feature of many Western labour movements in the 1980s and 1990s. This paper is located in these structural developments, and its main contribution lies in the insights provided by an in-depth examination of recent union merger activity in commercial television in the UK and Australia. In contrast to the work of Undy et al . (1981), the results suggest that union mergers are influenced by more than changes in membership patterns, and that the delineation of merger categories may be far more complex than what has previously been identified by their model. It is argued, too, that the nature of the forces and the processes that led to the broadcasting union mergers in the UK and Australia were significantly influenced by the different institutional contexts of both countries. Finally, and related to this, it would appear that union merger outcomes (at least in the short term) are linked to the preceding processes by which merger is brought about. One policy implication of this is that anything other than a case-by-case evaluation of union mergers may be misleading.     

The Australian Wage System and Its Labor Market Effects

In Australia, quasi-judicial conciliation and arbitration tribunals set the terms and conditions under which the majority of employees work. Many commentators maintain that the activities of these tribunals have significantly affected the county's labor market and the operation of the economy. This paper outlines the distinguishing characteristics of Australia's wage determination system and reviews the research concerning its labor market consequences. Recent evidence suggests that critics of the system may have overstated their case.