Paying the piper: choice and constraint in changing HR functional roles

HR directors are often exhorted to play a more ‘strategic’ role in their organisations. However, it is not necessarily clear what is meant by this, or whether it is possible for departments to change their role at a whim. In this article we examine the changing role of the HR function within two contrasting organisations – an NHS trust and a bank – over a period of seven years. Drawing on role‐set theory and concepts of negotiated order, we illustrate how HR functional roles are located within a complex and dynamic social setting, and present a model that seeks to map these interrelationships.     

Determinants of human resource investment in internal controls

Using the unique reporting environment in Korea, this study investigates the determinants of human resource investment in internal controls for 1352 listed firms disclosing the number of personnel who are in charge of internal control-related tasks (IC personnel) from 2005 to 2008. We find that the number of IC personnel within a firm and several key departments increase with firm size, number of employees, complexity and for Chaebols, and decrease in rapidly growing firms. Additional analysis reveals that the factors influencing internal control systems have an accentuated effect on firms with relatively larger firm size.     

Managing the HR dimension of international project operations

While much is known about the role of HRM in achieving positive outcomes in foreign subsidiary and international joint venture contexts, there has been a paucity of research into HRM issues in international project operations. In this paper, we develop an analytical framework to demonstrate the HR activities of each stage of the international project lifecycle, drawing upon supporting data from a study of Australian firms in international development projects. The discontinuous, complex and unique characteristics of international projects produce distinct IHRM challenges: for the supplying firm, particularly staff deployment and HR planning; and for project workers, in terms of career trajectory and job security.     

A longitudinal study of applicable decision aids for detailed tasks in a financial audit

This paper reports on changes in the extent to which decision aids are perceived to be useful for performing detailed financial audit tasks. The decision aids investigated were automation (AU), decision support systems (DSS), and knowledge-based expert systems (KES). Data were collected from highly experienced mangers and partners from various international accounting firms in 1988 and 1996. The participants were asked to select the decision aid they viewed as applicable for each task in a comprehensive inventory of audit tasks. While the data indicate an increase in the choice of tasks for decision aids use between the two years, the fact remains that a majority of the responses (79% in 1988 and 69% in 1996) indicated human processing (HP) only. We present a list of detailed tasks for which at least 50% of the responses indicated some form of an applicable decision aid in 1996. We also discuss implications for practice and research. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How Varying Levels of Knowledge and Motivation Affect Search and Confidence during Consideration and Choice

Using a pull-down menu search technique, we study how ability (knowledge level) and motivation (accountability) interact with decision phase (consideration vs. choice) to affect consumers' search costs (amount of search), benefit (confidence) and efficiency (benefit for a given amount of search). We find that consumers adapt their search strategies across phases and that these adaptations occur in different ways and at different rates for consumers with different levels of knowledge and accountability.     

Comparing EthicalIdeologies AcrossCultures

Using measures developed by Singhapakdi et al. (1996, Journal of Business ethics 15, 1131–1140) the perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility (PRESOR) is measured among MBA students in the United States, Malaysia and Ukraine revealing a stockholder view and two stakeholder views. Relativism and Idealism are also measured. The scores of MBA students are compared among each other and with those of the U.S. managers who were part of the original study. Managers' scores tend to be significantly higher on the Stockholder and Stakeholder II views, and much lower on Relativism than the MBA students. The Malaysian MBA students scored higher than did the American MBA students on Relativism, Idealism and the Stockholder view. The Ukrainian MBA students' scores on the three PRESOR factors are generally similar to those of the American MBAs, while they had the highest scores of any group on the Relativism scale. Overall, the patterns of responses, as much as the significant differences on specific scales, support the notion that culture, however defined, affects both values and ethics. Several directions for future research are identified.'     

Collecting "Sensitive" Data in Business Ethics Research: A Case for the Unmatched Count Technique (UCT)

Some would argue that the more promising areas of business ethics research are "sensitive." In such areas, it would be expected that subjects, if inclined to respond at all, would be guarded in their responses, or respond inaccurately. We provide an introduction to an empirical approach -- the unmatched block count (UCT) -- for collecting these potentially sensitive data which provides absolute anonymity and confidentiality to subjects and "legal immunity" to the researcher. Interestingly, under UCT protocol researchers could not divulge subjects' responses even if they were inclined to do so. Beyond that, UCTs provide complete disclosure to subjects and there is no deception.     

Fijación del salario mínimo en los países en desarrollo. Deficiencias y soluciones

Es bien sabido que una minoría considerable de países en desarrollo tiene unos salarios mínimos demasiado altos o demasiado bajos. La autora se vale de varios métodos de medición para comparar los niveles reales que alcanzan en unos países y otros. Por otra parte, averigua si el salario mínimo es efectivo, es decir, si cumple su función de umbral salarial del mercado de trabajo. Después estudia los factores institucionales que dan lugar a dichos valores extremos y las soluciones que permitirían fijar el salario mínimo en un nivel más idóneo y eficaz.     

The differential effects of work- and family-oriented women-friendly HRM on OC and OCB: the case for single female employees in Hong Kong

Research on women-friendly HRM often presumes working women are homogeneous in their wants and needs of organizational support. Few such studies have examined how female employees of different marital and parental statuses might perceive women-friendly HRM differently. This study categorizes organizational womenfriendliness into two aspects, namely work- and family-oriented, and explores if the two types of organizational support are equally important to single working women who do not have children. The effects of work- and family-oriented women-friendly policies on their job attitudes and organizational behaviours were examined. It was found that workoriented policies had a positive impact on single female employees' level of affective commitment and altruistic behaviours. In contrast, family-oriented policies were positively related to continuance commitment. Neither of the two sets of policies had any effect on compliant behaviours. The results highlight the importance of a careful examination of the demography of the workforce in trying to devise effective women-friendly organizational strategies and HR policies.     

何谓庞氏骗局?

何为庞氏骗局 庞氏骗局的名称源于波士顿巨骗查尔斯·庞兹,他编造的一个投资骗局于1920年崩盘。庞氏骗局是一种投资欺诈,其支付给投资者的回报不是来自真正的投资或实业产生的利润，而是来自后续投资者投入的钱。