Ethical issues in human resources systems

Currently, the topic of ethics is enjoying a surge in popularity among the media and corporate America. It is unclear if the reason for all the attention is “just for show” or if companies truly believe in the substantive benefits, which can be gained by facilitating an ethical context. However, by examining the negative consequences of unethical corporate cultures, as well as the benefits of ethical ones, we demonstrate that perhaps, in this case, the action is what is important, not the motivation. Human resource systems may be a means to promulgating an ethical culture in that ethics pervade selection and staffing, performance appraisal, compensation, and retention decisions. Thus, human resource systems and ethical corporate cultures should be considered partners in the process of creating competitive advantage for organizations.     

Entrepreneurship research in service industries: a literature classification and trend analysis

In this paper, the influence of entrepreneurship on service management research is examined. Entrepreneurship research occupies a central place in organizational theory and strategic thinking, but its theories and models have little influence on business management. Entrepreneurship research can have a better integration with other areas of management, but there is still certain isolation. This article reviews the emerging areas in entrepreneurship research that provides complementary theoretical framework to service business models. In order to determine the areas in service management research in which entrepreneurship theories can be useful, a classification of the papers published in the last 2 years in the JCR service management journals is carried out. The study concludes that innovation is the most outstanding priority in service management research that can be enriched by entrepreneurial theories. The entrepreneurial approach to networks and institutional environment are the theoretical frameworks that better suit to introduce entrepreneurship variables as antecedents in business innovation models.     

Donor advised funds: Ethical issues on the new frontier of philanthropy

This paper analyzes critical ethical and legal issues related to the administration and use of Donor Advised Funds for charitable fundraising in American philanthropy. With the swift and profound reshaping of the philanthropic landscape caused by Donor Advised Funds, the mainstream charitable world continues to both digest how these changes affect their work and address the myriad of legal, ethical and donor/public relations issues that arise in connection with gifts to and distributions from them. This paper discusses the most relevant legal and ethical principles governing the sponsorship of, receipt from and contribution to Donor Advised Funds, sets forth the significant legal and ethical issues faced by each of these parties, and finally, puts forth recommendation for them to follow.     

The Delphi technique as a forecasting tool: issues and analysis

This paper systematically reviews empirical studies looking at the effectiveness of the Delphi technique, and provides a critique of this research. Findings suggest that Delphi groups outperform statistical groups (by 12 studies to two with two ‘ties’) and standard interacting groups (by five studies to one with two ‘ties’), although there is no consistent evidence that the technique outperforms other structured group procedures. However, important differences exist between the typical laboratory version of the technique and the original concept of Delphi, which make generalisations about ‘Delphi’ per se difficult. These differences derive from a lack of control of important group, task, and technique characteristics (such as the relative level of panellist expertise and the nature of feedback used). Indeed, there are theoretical and empirical reasons to believe that a Delphi conducted according to ‘ideal’ specifications might perform better than the standard laboratory interpretations. It is concluded that a different focus of research is required to answer questions on Delphi effectiveness, focusing on an analysis of the process of judgment change within nominal groups.     

Robustness issues in multilevel regression analysis

A multilevel problem concerns a population with a hierarchical structure. A sample from such a population can be described as a multistage sample. First, a sample of higher level units is drawn (e.g. schools or organizations), and next a sample of the sub‐units from the available units (e.g. pupils in schools or employees in organizations). In such samples, the individual observations are in general not completely independent. Multilevel analysis software accounts for this dependence and in recent years these programs have been widely accepted. Two problems that occur in the practice of multilevel modeling will be discussed. The first problem is the choice of the sample sizes at the different levels. What are sufficient sample sizes for accurate estimation? The second problem is the normality assumption of the level‐2 error distribution. When one wants to conduct tests of significance, the errors need to be normally distributed. What happens when this is not the case? In this paper, simulation studies are used to answer both questions. With respect to the first question, the results show that a small sample size at level two (meaning a sample of 50 or less) leads to biased estimates of the second‐level standard errors. The answer to the second question is that only the standard errors for the random effects at the second level are highly inaccurate if the distributional assumptions concerning the level‐2 errors are not fulfilled. Robust standard errors turn out to be more reliable than the asymptotic standard errors based on maximum likelihood.     

Self-defamation: Is a trend emerging?

The common law theory of defamation of character involves the invasion of one's interest in protecting his or her reputation. An actionable claim for defamation generally arises when false and defamatory facts about someone are communicated by the originator of the defamatory material to someone other than the person defamed. Under certain circumstances, however, the originator may be liable if the defamatory material is communicated to a third party by the defamed person himself or herself. This article examines what appears to be an emerging trend among the courts to recognize and apply the doctrine of self-defamation to the employment context. State and federal court decisions are summarized in order to identify and illustrate the relevant legal principles.     

三式簿记发展的趋势分析

簿记是人类经济社会发展的产物,它经历了从无到有、从单式到复式的发展变化过程。正像复式簿记取代单式簿记一样,三式簿记终将取代复式簿记。本人认为,现代簿记对象可以抽象为资金运动,任何资金运动都具有:资金来龙、资金去脉、资金动因三维性,资金运动的三维性是建立三式簿记的客观基础。     

Seizing the Ethical High Ground: Ethical Reputation Building in Corrupt Environments

We study how ethical behaviour by firms leads to ethical reputation building. Based on our in‐depth studies of two firms in India and Zimbabwe that resisted corruption and survived for extended time periods, we propose that in addition to behaving ethically, firms need to elicit favourable responses from a critical mass of stakeholders from both strong and weak tie networks in order for their ethical reputations to diffuse quickly and widely. We find that the strength of stakeholder responses to ethical behaviour is moderated by firm level and contextual factors: high status affiliations, industry characteristics, the nature of corruption resisted, the presence of a plural press, the potential for collective action, and the presence of an independent judiciary. These antecedents also influence the pattern of stakeholder resource commitments that firms are able to enjoy as a result of having built ethical reputations.     

Art for the masses or art for the few? Ethical issues in film marketing in the UK

This paper explores ethical issues in film marketing in the UK in terms of access to film. Based on an examination of film marketing theory, practice and policy, the paper identifies three main ethical issues pertaining to marketing in the film industry. These are the discrepancy between national policy and commercial practice in terms of social access, sustainability and diversity of choice. The paper proposes structural changes supported by government policy which promotes an integrated supply chain model as a method for redressing commercial as well as ethical challenges facing the industry. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications     

电网调度自动化系统发展趋势分析

文章简要阐述了电网调度自动化系统的基本构成与功能,适时引出当前对于电网调度自动化系统提出的要求,重点分析了该系统的后续发展趋势。     

Approaches to multiplicity issues in complex research in microarray analysis

The multiplicity problem is evident in the simplest form of statistical analysis of gene expression data – the identification of differentially expressed genes. In more complex analysis, the problem is compounded by the multiplicity of hypotheses per gene. Thus, in some cases, it may be necessary to consider testing millions of hypotheses. We present three general approaches for addressing multiplicity in large research problems. (a) Use the scalability of false discovery rate (FDR) controlling procedures; (b) apply FDR-controlling procedures to a selected subset of hypotheses; (c) apply hierarchical FDR-controlling procedures. We also offer a general framework for ensuring reproducible results in complex research, where a researcher faces more than just one large research problem. We demonstrate these approaches by analyzing the results of a complex experiment involving the study of gene expression levels in different brain regions across multiple mouse strains.     

Extracting a common stochastic trend: Theory with some applications

This paper investigates the statistical properties of estimators of the parameters and unobserved series for state space models with integrated time series. In particular, we derive the full asymptotic results for maximum likelihood estimation using the Kalman filter for a prototypical class of such models—those with a single latent common stochastic trend. Indeed, we establish the consistency and asymptotic mixed normality of the maximum likelihood estimator and show that the conventional method of inference is valid for this class of models. The models we explicitly consider comprise a special–yet useful–class of models that may be employed to extract the common stochastic trend from multiple integrated time series. Such models can be very useful to obtain indices that represent fluctuations of various markets or common latent factors that affect a set of economic and financial variables simultaneously. Moreover, our derivation of the asymptotics of this class makes it clear that the asymptotic Gaussianity and the validity of the conventional inference for the maximum likelihood procedure extends to a larger class of more general state space models involving integrated time series. Finally, we demonstrate the utility of this class of models extracting a common stochastic trend from three sets of time series involving short- and long-term interest rates, stock return volatility and trading volume, and Dow Jones stock prices.     

湖南省酸雨特征及变化趋势研究

文章简要介绍了我省酸雨形成及发展概况,分析探讨了我省酸雨的主要特征,并通过近5年来的监测资料分析,总结了酸雨的发展变化趋势.     

湖南省酸雨特征及变化趋势研究

文章简要介绍了我省酸雨形成及发展概况,分析探讨了我省酸雨的主要特征,并通过近5年来的监测资料分析,总结了酸雨的发展变化趋势。     

当前中国经济热点问题分析

中国的“三农”问题 解决“三农”问题关键就是要增加农民收入。长期以来,党和政府一直都非常重视农民增收,但迄今为止,农民增收问题还是没能真正解决好。 最初解决“三农”问题的思路是实行农业产业化,就是将农业生产的链条拉长,实现生产、加工、销售的一体化。农业产业化确实可     

Calvo vs. Rotemberg in a trend inflation world: An empirical investigation

This paper estimates and compares New-Keynesian DSGE monetary models of the business cycle derived under two different pricing schemes—Calvo (1983) and Rotemberg (1982)—under a positive trend inflation rate. Our empirical findings (i) support trend inflation as an empirically relevant feature of the U.S. great moderation; (ii) provide evidence in favor of the statistical superiority of the Calvo setting; (iii) point to a substantially lower degree of price indexation under Calvo. We show that the superiority of the Calvo model is due to the restrictions imposed by such a pricing scheme on the aggregate demand equation.