Installing management by objectives: A new perspective on organization change

The successful installation of MBO requires the development of results-oriented, responsibility-sharing, and non-zero-sum attitudes in all managers. And the creation of those attitudes may require a mini-cultural revolution.     

Income distribution and inequality measurement: The problem of extreme values

We examine the statistical performance of inequality indices in the presence of extreme values in the data and show that these indices are very sensitive to the properties of the income distribution. Estimation and inference can be dramatically affected, especially when the tail of the income distribution is heavy, even when standard bootstrap methods are employed. However, use of appropriate semiparametric methods for modelling the upper tail can greatly improve the performance of even those inequality indices that are normally considered particularly sensitive to extreme values.     

People management: developing and testing a measurement scale

Abstract

The central concept in this study is people management, referring to line managers’ implementation of HR practices and their leadership behaviour oriented at supporting the employees they supervise at work. In this study we conceptualize people management and develop a multidimensional scale to measure it from the perspectives of both employees and line managers. Using a Study 1/Study 2 design, including two-wave multilevel data from employees and line managers of a financial service provider, and cross-sectional data from teachers, educational support staff, and supervisors, we demonstrate the scale’s reliability and multidimensionality across samples and over time. We provide evidence of the convergent validity by showing that employees’ and line managers’ perceptions of people management are significantly related, and that people management is significantly related to transformational and transactional leadership. Also, we demonstrate that people management adds explained variance above and beyond transformational and transactional leadership in predicting team performance. We demonstrate criterion-related validity through people management’s relationship with job satisfaction, commitment, and work engagement. We discuss the implications of our measure for theory and research on people management, its antecedents, and its effects.     

Towards an open innovation ecosystem in the cultural industry: The bright side of trust and the dark side of measurement

The concept of open innovation ecosystems is receiving increasing attention in academic literature, but its application to the cultural industries and, more specifically, to philanthropically-funded cultural initiatives, remains a largely unexplored domain. This study, leveraging on in-depth interviews with stakeholders, observation and immersion in the field, employs primary qualitative data from a philanthropically-funded cultural initiative and applies the ecosystem-as-structure conceptual framework to study the factors that have enabled a nascent open innovation ecosystem in the cultural industries to emerge. Findings point to a number of essential components and characteristics of the emergent ecosystem that are crucial elements of success in the view of key stakeholders. The findings consequently shed light on the managerial practices and strategy that facilitate the success of a philanthropically-funded artistic initiative which fosters the creation of a new open innovation arts ecosystem.     

Green human resource management: Development of a valid measurement scale

The objective of the study was to develop a valid measurement scale for green human resource management (HRM). Even though the common practices of green HRM have been presented in much of the literature, the previous studies focused only on a small number of functions in integrating environmental management with HRM. Additionally, the measurement of green HRM practices still calls for empirical validation. The two‐stage methodology of structural equation modeling in AMOS was employed for data analysis. Exploratory factor analysis revealed seven dimensions of the construct measured by 28 items. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the factor structure. The measuring instruments revealed convergent and discriminant validity. Several model fit indices indicated the model fitness. The study provided supplementary evidence on the underlying structure of the construct that can be valuable to researchers and practitioners in this area.     

The expert problem: a survey

The survey is focused on the typical problems in information transmission from experts to non-experts. Attention is paid to the factors that can affect information disclosure in models that apply a game-theoretic approach to the use of professional advice. In the economic literature expertise is mainly analyzed as a special case of asymmetric information between expert and non-expert. The contributions are reviewed according to a double criterion, that takes into account both the preferences of the experts and the properties of communication. On one side, either the non-expert plays the role of a decision-maker, who chooses an action that is payoff-relevant for the expert, or the preferences of the expert directly depend on some measure of his reputation as a high-ability forecaster. On the other side, communication can range from pure cheap talk to completely verifiable messages.     

An international comparison of human resource management objectives and activities

The paper reports on mailed surveys of human resource professionals in Canada, South Africa and Zimbabwe who were asked for their views on the priorities they set in terms of human resource objectives and activities. Respondents were also asked to indicate the challenges facing the field and the resulting changes that may be required in each country. The results indicate considerable agreement between the three countries on the need for flexibility and cost effectiveness, but disagreement on priorities among some other activities. There are major differences between perceptions of immediate and long-term priorities to be set. There is a concern that short-term efficiency may be accorded a priority which prevents due consideration being given to future development and societal issues.     

Crowd counting: a behavioural economics perspective

Quality & Quantity - Developments in technology have facilitated the emergence of new crowd counting organisations. Some of the organisations have established platforms to disseminate their...     

The measurement of human capital: a multivariate macro-approach

We examine the human capital status of 123 countries by employing factor analysis on various national human capital indicators for the period 2000–2008 to construct two new measures. The first measure is based on advanced human capital, while the second is based on basic human capital. Our measures differ substantially from indicators used in previous studies on human capital and also lead to different rankings of countries. As rankings are not that informative without further information, we analyzed the distance between each country and the sample mean. Differences between countries are much more pronounced for our measure on advanced human capital than for our measure on basic human capital. Using cluster analysis, we classified the countries in four homogenous groups.     

The bright side and dark side of trust: The mediating effect of franchisor trust on performance

Previous literature has not examined the dual role of trust in franchise relationships. We extend the franchise and relational governance literature by showing that trust has both a “bright side” and a “dark side” in franchisor–franchisee relationships. Based on transaction cost and knowledge-based reasoning, we argue that intangible knowledge assets and environmental uncertainty have an indirect effect on performance via trust, due to its relational risk and knowledge exchange effect. Using data from the franchise sector in Germany, we show that trust positively mediates the impact of intangible knowledge assets and negatively mediates the impact of environmental uncertainty on franchisor performance. The first effect refers to the “bright side” of trust showing that intangible brand name assets increase trust which, in turn, has a positive effect on performance. Conversely, the second effect refers to the “dark side” of trust highlighting that environmental uncertainty diminishes trust resulting in a negative effect on performance.     

我国城市社区管理中的权力协调问题

对社区管理主体权力的协调研究实质是在城市社区空间中对执政党权力、行政权力和社会权力之间的协调,实现国家和社会的权力的互强,推动三者的良性互动.     

The measurement and management of intellectual capital in the public sector

This article compares and contrasts the stage of development reached by the public and private sectors with regard to intellectual capital. Whereas the private sector in many parts of the developed world has still not fully embraced the importance of measuring intangible assets, the public sector, with its different objectives, has always had to focus on non-financial results. This has become more critical in recent years due to successive government initiatives that have required the use of a number of prescribed performance indicators. Having briefly outlined the history of both intellectual capital and the culture of performance measurement this article analyses the results of a survey of public sector organizations in Northern Ireland to assess how they are dealing with both the measurement and management of intellectual capital assets.     

The social profitability of business incubators: a measurement proposal

Abstract

Public business incubators are services placed at the disposal of original, generally newly-created projects, to which physical accompaniment, supervision and location are offered at prices below market value. They have as their aim to help set in motion and consolidate these firms during the stages in which they are weaker. The ultimate goal consists in favouring the generation of innovative firms, inducers of high-quality jobs, which can diversify the local business fabric, thus becoming a key tool in local development. The present paper provides a methodology to study the economic – but above all social – impact of business incubators, based on the examination of 40 from the 42 incubators existing in the Valencian Community (a Spanish autonomous region with five million inhabitants). Data analysis allows us to state that, although business incubators are not economically profitable since they need financial aids and public investment to start operating, they do have social profitability, insofar as the activity developed by entrepreneurs permits to provide public administrations – via taxes – with returns exceeding what was invested in these incubators. It has been determined that 2.8 euros (which can be applied to a variety of social areas) are collected via taxes for each euro spent to start them up.     

“责任文化”：求解管理难题

国华太仓发电有限公司成立于2005年1月.两年来,太电公司根据本企业的实际,积极开展责任文化建设,促进了公司全面、协调、可持续发展.