The development of Irish HRD professionals in comparison with European professionals: roles,outputs and competencies

A study of Irish HRD professionals shows an excessive focus on the individual with an emphasis on instruction and facilitation. A study of four European countries shows their HRD professionals to be more organisationally focussed. The lack of consideration by the Irish HRD professionals of organisational competencies such as cost benefit analysis and industry understanding will inhibit their move from a transactional to strategic role. A modification to the ASTD model of a role in strategic HRD is suggested in addition to other uses of the Irish results.     

Human resource development roles in the People's Republic of China: investigation from seven provinces

As Human Resource Development (HRD) is still emerging in China, this paper discusses HRD roles, required competencies, and outcomes. Role analysis is crucial to the professionalization and education of HRD. Using ASTD's HRD model as a reference, this study examines HRD roles across China. Results support the ASTD HRD roles model, and offer a useful profile of HRD roles in China.     

人力资源的结构与开发机制

物质资源、自然资源和人力资源,这三大资源的构成约为16:20:64,也就是说,人力资源是全球国民财富中最大的财富.     

Human resource development in the Sultanate of Oman

This study explores the scenario of human resource development (HRD) in the Sultanate of Oman. The investigation was conducted with the help of a questionnaire survey in stateowned enterprises (SOEs). The research findings highlight an increased emphasis on HRD initiatives at a national level in Omani firms. There is a significant degree of awareness among the top managers regarding the benefits of a strategic approach to HRD. Despite all this, the implementation of HRD programmes has not been particularly successful. This is because the state has not been able to develop the skills and competencies of the Omani workforce to the levels required under the sixth national five–year plan. The article makes a number of recommendations in this regard. It also highlights key research areas for further examination.     

试论人力资源开发与管理在高校教师中的创新

高校在对教师人力资源的开发与管理上存在着一些问题比如人才引进机制缺乏科学化和规范化,缺乏有效的绩效评价和激励制度等,必须改革管理模式,创造良好的环境,完善激励和绩效评价体系,充分体现高校的以教师为本的管理理念,才能最大限度地焕发教师工作的积极性与创造性,担负起历史赋予的使命与责任.     

试论人力资源开发与管理在高校教师中的创新

高校在对教师人力资源的开发与管理上存在着一些问题比如人才引进机制缺乏科学化和规范化,缺乏有效的绩效评价和激励制度等,必须改革管理模式,创造良好的环境,完善激励和绩效评价体系,充分体现高校的以教师为本的管理理念,才能最大限度地焕发教师工作的积极性与创造性,担负起历史赋予的使命与责任.     

Customer satisfaction and consumer expenditure in selected European countries

The relationship between customer satisfaction and company performance has been extensively researched at both the consumer and firm levels. However, little is known about the impact of customer satisfaction at the economy-wide level, especially in Europe. This study aims to link customer satisfaction to personal consumption expenditure using panel data collected from 1999 to 2011 and covering nine European countries. Our findings suggest a significant relationship between customer satisfaction and consumer expenditure in these countries. In addition, economic structure, culture, political economy and socio-economic factors have been examined to understand the impact of cross-country differences on this relationship. The results reflect the importance of satisfied consumers on the economy as a whole; thus, efforts at boosting customer satisfaction should become a national agenda.     

Nonlinear Taylor rules in Central Eastern European countries

This study applies sequential panel selection method (SPSM), proposed by Chortareas and Kapetanios (2009) Chortareas, G., and G. Kapetanios. 2009. “Getting PPP Right: Identifying Mean-Reverting Real Exchange Rates in Panels.” Journal of Banking and Finance 33: 390–404.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], to investigate to test the validity of Taylor rules to assess the nonstationary properties of the convergence of the real exchange rates for 10 Central Eastern European countries. The SPSM can be used to decompose a panel of real exchange rate series into two groups: a group of stationary series and a group of nonstationary series. We identify the stationary processes in the panel and demonstrate that Taylor rules holds for 7 of the 10 countries studied. These results imply that the choices and effectiveness of the monetary policies in Central Eastern European economies are highly influenced by external factors originating from the United States. Additionally, our findings highlight that their real exchange rate convergence is a mean reversion toward equilibrium values of Taylor rules in a nonlinear manner.     

Trade with developing countries and employment in the European Community

The opposition to a liberal stance on imports of manufactures from developing countries is growing as certain specific groups of products made in these countries prove increasingly competitive and the industrialized countries suffer from persistent high unemployment. Model computations for the six most important EC countries reveal however that the imports from developing countries have only a small impact on employment in these economies seen as a whole.     

The role of communication competencies in international business relationship development

Effective communication between international business partners is critical for global success. Underlying national and organizational cultural differences in international business relationships creates hurdles to effective communication, hindering performance. To assist managers in understanding this issue, a model of communication effectiveness for international relationship development, derived from industry examples, theory, and a dataset consisting of 123 qualitative interviews conducted with American, Canadian, Chinese, and Japanese managers is presented. Further, in order to assist managers in the task of developing more effective communications, a six-step process aimed in directing managerial action is presented. By proactively managing its communications, a firm can develop stronger international business relationships facilitating the rapid response to market opportunities and challenges.     

Human resource development to facilitate experiential learning: the case of Yahoo Japan

Although work experiences are recognized as important mechanisms for developing leaders in organizations, existing research has focused primarily on work assignments rather than on human resource development (HRD) systems that promote experiential learning of managers. The primary goal of this study was to develop an HRD model for facilitating experiential learning by examining the case of Yahoo Japan, which has transformed its HRD system based on experiential learning theory. The results indicate that Yahoo Japan has promoted experiential learning at the individual level by introducing new HRD systems consisting of four elements: reflection support (one‐on‐one meeting and coaching training), assignment support (HRD meeting and job rotation), assessment support (360‐degree appraisal and one‐on‐one meeting assessment) and visionary support (a vision and values). Although these elements are closely associated with each other, reflection support plays a key role in the HRD system. The proposed model is discussed from theoretical and practical viewpoints.     

Human resource management standardisation and adaptation in franchises

Franchising is synonymous with standardisation and control, to achieve system-wide efficiencies and consistency in the brand image. Scholarly literature on human resource management (HRM) in this context has, to date, been relatively one-dimensional, discussing standardisation of HRM from the franchisor’s perspective with insufficient consideration of the role and experiences of franchisees. This article seeks to extend the concept of core and peripheral franchising components to HRM activities, presenting findings from a three-case study of Australian coffee franchises. The findings suggest reframing HRM in franchises as two separate but potentially overlapping systems managed by franchisor and franchisee, with core and peripheral elements that may or may not align. Subsequent outcomes of misalignment for the franchise relationship are considered, and resulting franchisee HRM behaviours are illustrated in a Franchisee HRM Response Matrix.     

Similarities and differences in human resource management in the European Union

This study explores similarities and differences in human resource management (HRM) in the European Union (EU). Common factors in the development of European HRM are the importance of consultation, the emergence of flexible work patterns, the role of work and the employer in the life of employees, and the introduction of the Euro. National, company, and regional factors create divergence in European HRM. National factors include societal hierarchy, different cultures and mental models, societal structure, and language. Company factors include size of companies, public versus private, and multinational or local. Regional factors differentiate along north‐south and east‐west axes. The EU had relatively little impact on HRM in terms of harmonization of labor and tax laws but had major impact on the opening up of markets to foreign competition and privatization of public sector companies. While cultural diversity remains strong, the influence of large multinational companies may lead to more regional integration in the practice of HRM. European HRM is much more comfortable operating in a polycentric mode than U.S. HRM, which seeks universality and standardization. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Borrowing in Western financial markets by Eastern European countries

What are the borrowing strategies and practices of European members of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA)? The authors had extensive discussions with bankers in the leading financial centres in Europe. Some of their findings are presented in the following article.     

The employment of foreigners in Western European industrial countries

Not least due to the change in overall economic conditions, the employment of foreign workers in Western Europe has in recent years become increasingly controversial. The following two articles deal with different aspects of labour migration. Heinz Werner presents a survey of policies towards foreign workers and their families in the various countries of Western Europe and discusses possible future developments. Thomas Straubhaar examines the significance of northward migration for the economies of the Southern European countries of origin.     

Real and nominal convergence in the central and east European accession countries

Following their accession to the EU, which is planned for May 2004, eight central and east European countries will subsequently strive for integration into the Eurosystem. The Eurosystem underlines the need for simultaneous real and nominal convergence as a prerequisite for integration into the euro area. But some of the acceding countries argue that, at least in the short to medium term, a strengthening of nominal convergence makes real economic convergence more difficult. The following paper investigates this issue by means of an empirical study and attempts to establish to what extent real and nominal convergence are compatible.