Discrepant Values and Measures of Negotiator Performance

The thesis of the paper is that measuring negotiator performance correctly is difficult because the values that those of us who measure negotiator performance think negotiators are maximizing may differ from the values negotiators are actually maximizing. When such discrepant values exist, using performance measures that do not account for them can lead easily to incorrect conclusions about negotiator performance. Indeed, good performance may be judged poor, and vice-versa. This paper explores several related literatures, including the experimental-bargaining, behavioral-decision-making, and procedural-justice literatures, to demonstrate that discrepant values exist. It then demonstrates that whenever performance measures are used as dependent variables in negotiation experiments, the existence of discrepant values can lead to both Type I and Type II construct-validity errors.     

Small Firms in Regional Clusters: Local Networks and Internationalization in the Southern Hemisphere

This paper reports on a three‐country comparative study examining the internationalization of family winemakers in distinct regional wine clusters of Argentina, Chile, and New Zealand. In‐depth interviews were conducted with owner–operators, to understand the drivers and barriers to internationalization of their businesses. Key findings reveal that while size and age are not determinants of the ability or propensity to export wine, the existence of an independent industry body has a positive impact and greatly speeds up the internationalization process, providing an effective route for small firms to establish their very often, relatively unknown brand(s) in lucrative foreign markets.     

An industry test for ethnic discrimination in major league soccer

This paper tests for salary discrimination based on player ethnicity in Major League Soccer (MLS) by making innovative use of player movements in a unique setting. The discriminating team investigated is Club Deportivo Chivas USA, which had a preference for employing Hispanic players. Evidence of discrimination is found by analyzing how other teams valued the former players of Chivas USA differently across ethnicity after the team was disbanded by the league. The nature of MLS player contracts and drafting rules allow for a simple and unique test for salary discrimination that has not previously been possible to implement.     

The way we live: understanding the acquisition of living skills to facilitate the consumer empowerment of young people in the 21st century

This research seeks to understand the perceived sources of acquisition of living skills by young people and to examine the formal and informal channels of acquisition. The study focuses particularly on the concept of living skills. These are the skills of transition, of growing up, and independence. For the purpose of the research the skills investigated are those associated (or formerly associated) with the school subject of Home Economics and were distilled from past curricula and documentation (DES, 1985; SCP, 1971). They cover three types of skill: social/interpersonal, cognitive and manual. Social skills include awareness of others, and a sense of responsibility, which is the basis of child‐care and showing tolerance of and concern and consideration for others. Cognitive skills are those associated with decision‐making and management, they involve thinking, reasoning and the use of knowledge. Manual skills are concerned with the use of the hands, with dexterity and with the achievement of specific goals, for example the ability to use tools and appliances with emphasis on the safe handling of them. They can also be linked to knowledge in terms of, for example aspects of food safety and hygiene. Research to date has failed to tackle the concept of acquisition of the skills of transition from home to independent living. Most research is focused on skills pertaining to a particular occupation role (Newman and Newman, 1988; Blustein et al., 1989; Nurmi et al., 1994) rather than those of living skills. Respondents were asked where they had learnt most about manual, cognitive and social skills. To facilitate analysis the channels were condensed to family (mother, father, other family members), community (friends, voluntary organisations), self (trial and error, television, books and magazines), taught (at school, university and work), with a final category of ‘never learnt’ (categories adapted from Macbeth, 1989). The findings revealed that the perceived acquisition of these living skills was through informal channels. From this research it can be argued that the family, being the main perceived source of acquisition of living skills creates the right time, the right place and facilitates exchange efficiencies. However, in this over‐dependence on an informal framework it is unlikely that discrepancies of skill provision can be alleviated. Additionally, standardisation may be difficult if not impossible to achieve. Compounding this is the tendency of young people to have to resort to self‐learning, which it could be argued is acceptable for some skills but not for those reliant on correct information input (such as food hygiene and nutrition).     

Is the doctor in? A relational approach to job design and the coordination of work

When designing jobs, the degree of specialization is a key consideration. Though functional specialization allows workers to develop deep areas of expertise, it also increases the challenge of coordinating their work. In this article, we propose the concepts of stage‐ and site‐based specialization and posit that together they can counteract the divisive effects of functional specialization. Taking advantage of a natural experiment in physician job design at a Massachusetts hospital, we explore the impact of stage‐ and site‐based specialization on coordination and performance outcomes. Building on recent interest in relational approaches to job design, this study is the first to link relational job design to relational outcomes such as coordination. Our findings have practical implications for job design in professional service settings such as education, consulting, and health care. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Third among Equals: An Analysis of the 1989 Ambulance Dispute

This article traces the course of the 1989–90 ambulance dispute, reviews the unions' industrial, parliamentary and media strategies and evaluates the outcome. The decision by the ambulance unions to maintain an accident and emergency service throughout the dispute, to try to win public support and to use a single spokesperson were critical factors in determining the outcome.     

Global talent management: Shaping the careers of internationally educated talents in developing markets

In the context of globalization, country‐level actions to manage global talent (e.g., development of immigrant‐friendly policies, policies to attract back skilled diaspora, or investment in the international education of youth) have been underresearched. The aim of this article is to analyze the impact of a country‐level global talent management practice on the careers and career success of its talents in the Republic of Kazakhstan, a developing country in Central Asia. Using qualitative methods, this study introduces new dimensions of career success evaluation for internationally educated talents in developing markets: use of knowledge acquired abroad and international aspect of the job. Based on these dimensions, it develops a model of career types. The career types predict the varying degrees of talents' career success and their involvement in sharing and capitalizing on knowledge, ideas, and international experience, which may have an impact on society. The study contributes to the field of global talent management and career success by providing empirical evidence on an underresearched topic in the underresearched context of developing markets.     

The Hierarchical Erosion Effect: A New Perspective on Perceptual Differences and Business Performance

Organizations are coalitions of individuals with heterogeneous interests and perceptions (March and Simon, 1958/1993). We examine an important source of heterogeneity, namely the different perceptions individuals hold across hierarchical levels. We introduce the notion of a hierarchical erosion effect whereby individual perceptions about specific practices become less favourable the lower one goes in the hierarchy. Using data from 4,243 employees across four levels in 38 business units, we provide evidence that this effect exists, controlling for other factors, including the overall favourability of the business unit culture across eight practices. We show how the size of this hierarchical erosion effect varies depending on the nature of the organizational practice being evaluated and the extent to which executives share strategic information widely, and we also show that a lower hierarchical erosion effect is correlated with higher business unit growth. In doing so, we enrich understanding of two aspects of March and Simon's work, their notion of intra‐organizational heterogeneity and their distinctive view of the nature of hierarchy.