Expatriate adjustment from the inside out: an autoethnographic account

This paper identifies some of the dynamics of expatriate adjustment using an autoethnographic account of situations experienced by the first author during her first year of work at a financial services company in Hong Kong. Success in this cross-cultural assignment is dependent on the expatriate's ability to adjust to and master the new culture. Our theoretical analysis of the autoethnographic account suggests that culture shock may be a discontinuous process. Further, the analysis suggests that cultural acceptance can play a critical role in expatriate adjustment.     

Monetary Policy in Australia: The Conflict between Short-Term and Medium-Term Objectives

This article argues that the recent implementation of monetary policy in Australia has been dominated by the response to a large range of unanticipated shocks. In the process of trying to minimise the adverse effects of such shocks, considerable uncertainty has been created about likely outcomes in the medium term. This makes medium-term objectives harder to achieve. Taking the reduction of inflation as an example of an appropriate medium-term objective, simulations are presented using the Murphy model of the Australian economy. The simulations demonstrate that a tightening of monetary policy will reduce inflation more slowly if private agents believe that the tightening is unlikely to be sustained for long. Under uncertainty, monetary policy will have to be tighter and real GDP significantly lower to achieve a given reduction in inflation. A confingency rule of medium complexity is suggested as one way in which appropriate medium-term objectives might be achieved while allowing some flexibility to react to unexpected outcomes in the short run.     

An analysis of efficiency in the delivery of financial services: The case of life insurance agencies

Scale and scope economies are examined for life insurance agencies that distribute multiple financial products. The results of this study suggest that there are significant administrative returns to scale for firms that sell a mix of financial products. The findings for scope estimates are inconsistent, suggesting that there are positive and negative cost complementaries for pairs of products. Subadditivity can be rejected, suggesting that joint distribution of financial products is not necessarily more efficient than specialization and that different-sized agencies are not necessarily at a cost disadvantage.     

Realising the Potential – and Lost Opportunities – for Peer Collaboration in D&T Setting

This paper follows up our theoretical discussion of the potential for collaborative problem solving in Design and Technology (Hennessy and Murphy, 1999). In this paper we report our empirical investigation of peer collaboration in a setting where we identified the presence of significant pre-conditions for productive collaboration. The study investigated the participation of two boys aged 13 who worked together with their teacher over 8 weeks in designing and making an aid for a child with a disability. We analysed their participation using a framework of key features derived from the research literature. Our analyses yielded evidence of effective collaboration in the early design stage, but the students' collaboration and their progress were subsequently undermined. The reasons related to the students' ability to collaborate and the tension for the teacher between students' learning needs and client needs within an authentic activity. The outcome was a successful product but a wealth of lost opportunities – and lack of support – for the students' collaborative problem solving and Design and Technology (D&T) learning. Our observations confirm that despite little evidence of collaboration in D&T, this setting offers extensive resources for supporting collaboration in joint design, planning and problem-solving activities. We also identify impediments to collaboration as a learning mechanism. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A Theory of Trade Union Membership Retention

The retention rate of unemployed members can vary substantially between trade unions and may not particularly reflect the structure of the labour market within which a union operates. This raises the issue of whether retention of these members is due to supply-side factors characterised by individuals or to the policy of trade unions towards their unemployed members.     

GP PRACTICE BUDGETS: AN EVALUATION OF THE FINANCIAL RISKS AND REWARDS

This paper considers the progress to date of those GP practices which have decided to become fundholding practices. We note that already, within the first year of operation, both GP fundholders and District Health Authorities have developed a number of budget ploys. As part of our work we report on the findings of a pilot survey of GP budget holders in the Kent Family Health Service. We conclude that if budget holding becomes the normal pattern of general practice, there will need to be a considerable development of the financial skills and managerial capabilities of the practices and it may be time for the new GP practice manager to come of age.     

The deep roots of economic development in the U.S. states: an application of Putterman and Weil (2010)

The “Deep Roots” literature investigates the effects of ancient cultural variables on economic outcomes. We extend Putterman and Weil’s (Q J Econ 125(4):1627–1682, 2010) inquiry into the effects of State History and Agricultural History to the economic output in ethnically and racially diverse fifty U.S. States. The ethnic and racial differences across the populations of the fifty U.S. states vary considerably due to historical immigration and slave flows that, as a result, produced radically different State History and Agricultural History scores across the states. Results derived from Putterman and Weil’s methodology do not robustly predict per capita levels of economic output across U.S. States. We also investigate the institutions channel, and find that they impact some measures of institutions, but they do not impact the quality of economic institutions which may be essential for promoting economic growth and development.     

The Relevance of Responsibility to Ethical Business Decisions

This paper addresses researchers’ call for integrating workplace spirituality with organizational literature. This paper points out that self-interest transcendence is a common aspect in the workplace spirituality concept that emerged in the last decade and also in four OB concepts – transformational leadership, organizational citizenship behavior, organizational support, and procedural justice – that emerged in OB about two decades ago. Based on this common aspect of self-interest transcendence and the temporal precedence of these four OB concepts’ emergence, it indicates that these four OB concepts constitute a precursor of workplace spirituality. It places workplace spirituality in the larger context of OB␣and outlines the associated research and practice implications. The author also holds a lien on the position of professor at XLRI School of Business and Human Resources, India.