SELF-ESTEEM, INTERNAL-CONTROL AND EXPECTANCY BELIEFS OF WHITE AND BLACK MANAGERS IN SOUTH AFRICA

The relationship between internal-control, self-esteem and self-respect measures of the effort-performance and performance-outcome beliefs – the two major beliefs of the expectancy model of work motivation – were examined in a sample of forty-two white and thirty-eight black managers in South Africa. The correlations between self-esteem and the effort-performance belief and between internal-control and the performance-outcome belief were both significant in the white group but not in the black group. The white managers were significantly more internally oriented and had significantly higher levels of self-esteem than the black mangers. The white-black differences are explained in terms of features of the current socio-political systems in South Africa. The fact that in both groups the two beliefs correlated significantly together and equally with the self-esteem and internal-control suggests that the two beliefs may not be as independent as is implied by expectancy theory.     

企业培训 现代与传统之辨

作为为社会提供财富的企业,不仅要生产优质产品,更要生产优秀人才;不仅要经营产品,更要经营顾客、经营好员工。因此,建立学习型组织,强化对员工的培训,提高员工的素质,已经逐步形成企业共识,成为当今一大亮点和发展趋势。但在具体运作中,因观念不同,现代企业与传统企业、先进地区与发展较慢的地区在学习教育特别是在服务的培训上表现出明显的差异。笔者在多年的传播服务文化实践中颇有一番感触。■培训内容要创新■传统企业注重操作技能、专业技巧和业务技术的培训,做到了内容充实、形式规范、体系严密、考核到位。重点在解决教会员工“如何…     

THE REMUNERATION OF NON-OWNER MANAGERS IN SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED UK ENTERPRISES

Virtually all prior research on small and medium sized enterprise (SME) management has focused on owner managers. This article, however, empirically examines the determinants of managerial remuneration for a sample of 97 UK SME non-owning managerial employees. the empirical analysis, based upon data obtained from interviews with middle (i.e. non-director level) managers and the published financial records of their employing firms lodged at Companies House, first examines the influence of firm size and performance and then augments the empirical model to include pay composition, industrial sector, external labour market and human capital variables. The empirical results indicate that the average profitability of the employing firms is not a significant determinant of managerial remuneration. However, composition of pay appears to have a significant effect upon total remuneration since, even after controlling for other influences, managers in receipt of annual bonuses and/or profit-sharing bonuses are estimated to earn an additional £6,600. the managers’age and qualifications, and the asset size, industry and location of their employing firms are also significant factors and collectively are able to explain a large proportion of the cross-sectional variance in remuneration. Though there is a lack of previous empirical research on SME managerial pay.     

FROM APATHY TO ALACRITY: MANAGERS AND NEW TECHNOLOGY IN PROVINCIAL NEWSPAPERS

The article explores why provincial newspaper managers have shifted from a position of reluctance and uncertainty about new technology to enthusiasm and zeal for the process and product development opportunities it offers. the transformation is assessed in terms of changes in the industrial relations context, market conditions and technological developments between the late 1970s and early 1990s. This can be characterized as moving from reactive management to proactive management, and the article examines how the latter reflects the development of new business opportunities through application of new technology to the information-gathering process, the pre-press production process and the product. Data are drawn from case study interviews and trade/professional publications. The analysis suggests that there is evidence of three prime managerial objectives/motives for introducing new technology: cost, control and market. Each of these were of varying importance for managers at different times, and were affected by technological uncertainty and ignorance. Attitudes transformed because of the changing context and the pursuit of functional interest, with the result that newspaper managers are now in a better position to exploit new technology for competitive advantage.     

不务正业，盲目扩张——软件企业败于“自信”

案例：A公司曾经是国内一家比较知名的软件公司，该公司创立于l995年，小到两年就成功地走出了创业阶段，步入了快速成长期。公司l997、l998年分别实现收入800万元和3000万元。     

HOW BELIEFS ABOUT HIV STATUS AFFECT RISKY BEHAVIORS: EVIDENCE FROM MALAWI

This paper examines how beliefs about own HIV status affect decisions to engage in risky sexual behavior, as measured by having extramarital sex and/or multiple sex partners. The empirical analysis is based on a panel survey of males from the 2006 and 2008 rounds of the Malawi Diffusion and Ideational Change Project (MDICP). The paper develops a behavioral model of the belief‐risky behavior relationship and estimates the causal effect of beliefs on risky behavior using the Arellano and Carrasco (2003) semiparametric panel data estimator, which accommodates both unobserved heterogeneity and belief endogeneity arising from a possible dependence of current beliefs on past risky behavior. Results show that downward revisions in the belief assigned to being HIV positive increase risky behavior and upward revisions decrease it. For example, based on a linear specification, a decrease in the perceived probability of being HIV positive from 10 to 0 percentage points increases the probability of engaging in risky behavior (extramarital affairs) from 8.3 to 14.1 percentage points. We also develop and implement a modified version of the Arellano and Carrasco (2003) estimator to allow for misreporting of risky behavior and find estimates to be robust to a range of plausible misreporting levels. © 2013 The Authors. Journal of Applied Econometrics published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

ORGANIZATIONAL AND OCCUPATIONAL COMMITMENT: KNOWLEDGE WORKERS IN LARGE CORPORATIONS*

Previous discussion of knowledge work and workers tends to overlook the importance of contextual knowledge in shaping the organizational form of knowledge workers who are employees in large corporations. This paper proposes a model to understand the way knowledge base and organizational form are related to the work commitment, effort and job satisfaction of knowledge workers. The model is derived from (1) a critical examination of the market model of knowledge work organization, and (2) the results of empirical research conducted in two large corporations. We argue that contextual knowledge is important in the relationships between the corporation and knowledge workers. A dualistic model and an enclave organizational form are suggested to examine the relationships between the commitment, work effort and job satisfaction of knowledge workers. We noted from our empirical cases that enclave‐like work teams enhanced the expertise and job autonomy of knowledge workers vis‐à‐vis management. These work teams together with the performance‐based pay system, however, led to unmet job expectations including limited employee influence over decision‐making and careers, and communication gaps with senior management. Under these circumstances, and in contrast to the impact of occupational commitment, organizational commitment did not contribute to work effort. The study highlights the importance of management’s strategy in shaping the organizational form of knowledge work. The paper concludes by noting general implications of our study for the management of expertise and for further research.     

AN EXAMINATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF MIDDLE-LEVEL MANAGERS IN FORMULATING AND IMPLEMENTING STRATEGIC DECISIONS

The upward influence of middle-level managers (MLMs) on strategic planning and decision-making is examined. It was found that: (1) upward influence activity was more prevalent in low risk/return types of strategic decisions than in high risk/return decisions; (2) upward influence activity was more prevalent during the implementation of strategic decisions than during the formulation of such decisions; (3) managers most often used rational arguments in their influence attempts; (4) managers were more likely to be successful than unsuccessful in influencing their superiors in strategic decisions; (5) managers most often attributed their success in influencing their superiors to internal causes and their failures to external causes; (6) managers from private sector organizations exerted influence in both high risk and low risk strategic decisions more frequently than did managers from public sector organizations; and (7) the number of years working with the superior was the best predictor of successful interactions and of risky decisions. Some insight into the development of widespread strategic thinking in an organization is provided.     

EMPLOYMENT OF OLDER WORKERS IN POLAND: ISSUES AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS1

The aim of this paper is to discuss barriers to the employment of older workers in Poland, where, due to various structural weaknesses and institutional arrangements, this problem has taken on a particularly acute seriousness. After analysing the causes of inactivity amongst older workers, the paper concludes by making policy recommendations.     

谁在“挟市场以令厂家”——企业通路管理浅识

得渠道者得天下,这对许多企业来讲仍是一条颠扑不破的真理.因为做企业、做市场谁也离不开一支分销能力强、终端运营扎实的经销商队伍.拥有一个好的经销商队伍,就是企业的出路,出路即销路,销路即财路,正如民间广泛流传的那句"要想富,先修路"的俗语概括的道理一样.也如同其他的路一样,企业的"路"更需要精心的养护和管理--抓好通路经销商的管理工作.然而,"路"的养护并不那么容易,诸多的企业常常走入误区.     

ENGINEERS,MANAGEMENT AND WORK ORGANIZATION: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ENGINEERS' WORK ROLES IN BRITISH AND JAPANESE ELECTRONICS FIRMS*

Many commentators have attributed the poor performance of British manufacturing to the ‘under-representation’ of engineers in management, and have proposed policies for bringing more engineers into management so as to develop a technologically oriented management culture. This paper argues that the under-representation of engineers in management is a symptom not the root cause of the problem, which lies in the split between technical and managerial expertise at the enterprise level. Based on a comparative analysis of engineers’ work roles and the relationship between technical and managerial functions in British and Japanese electronics firms, the paper argues that the mechanistically structured organization systems in the British firms generate a vertical polarization between technical and managerial roles, inhibit knowledge sharing and lead to the gross under-utilization of engineers in product development. A technologically oriented management cannot simply be achieved by getting more engineers into management. It requires, instead, organizational restructuring and changes in work practices to enable a better integration between technical and managerial expertise.     

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE, MANAGERIAL ROLE EXPECTATIONS AND MANAGERS' WORK ACTIVITIES

Having demonstrated the absence in the literature of an adequate conceptual treatment or empirical examination of the substantive relationship between managerial work, managers' role expectations and forms of organizational structure, the paper reports the findings of a multimethod comparative case study of this relationship in four organizations from the hotel and retail sectors in Zimbabwe. Focusing on the differences between centralized organizations where unit operations are tightly regulated and decentralized organizations where unit operating autonomy is coupled with performance controls, the findings indicate that organizational structure impinges primarily upon the formal management division of labour, more weakly upon the role expectations surrounding unit managers and in only limited ways upon their work activities, with the effect of organizational differences co-existing with and refracted by common work characteristics and inter-industry differences. Although decentralization gave rise to unit manager jobs with more formal autonomy, broader responsibilities, greater pressure to attend to unit performance rather than monitoring work processes, and an obligation to operate in more complex networks, managers were no more free of constraints than were those in more centralized organizations and operated in similar ways, with an emphasis on day-to-day administration and routine staffing matters.