Real wages,quantity constraints and equilibrium unemployment: Belgium, 1955–1988

This paper examines the determinants of equilibrium wage and unemployment rates in Belgium within the framework of a quantity rationing, right-to-manage model with decentralised wage-setting. Empirical results are obtained by first using the Johansen maximum-likelihood procedure for the analysis of cointegration among the variables of interest. The information from this stage is then used to estimate a three equation econometric model explaining the wage share, the unemployment rate and the capital gap. The slowdown in world trade is depicted as the most important factor explaining the rise in unemployment in Belgium, with dampening effects due to wage control policies imposed in the eighties. Because we obtain only two cointegrating relations, for three endogenous variables, our results are compatible with the hypothesis of path dependency and multiple equilibria.     

Educational innovation: nursing's leadership challenge

Hospitals are increasingly looking for the best graduates, but as this competitive environment increases, little focus is on collaboration and innovation in changing the education system so there will be more "best nurses." In universities today we find numerous barriers to investment in innovation and risk, which hampers the ability to address national workforce needs and compete in a global marketplace. Academic institutions need to become more creative, and begin to look at nursing as a partnership between those who essentially purchase our product and those who develop the product. Nursing leadership needs to collaborate quickly with integration and innovation in developing, improving, and maintaining the skill set of the nursing workforce and assuring competent practitioners from our educational system going forward. We need to share our valuable resources and move out of our silos and begin to look at the big picture, and we need to reach inside and find that creative child that works within us.     

Disaster relief routing: Integrating research and practice

Disaster relief presents many unique logistics challenges, with problems including damaged transportation infrastructure, limited communication, and coordination of multiple agents. Central to disaster relief logistics is the distribution of life-saving commodities to beneficiaries. Operations research models have potential to help relief agencies save lives and money, maintain standards of humanitarianism and fairness and maximize the use of limited resources amid post-disaster chaos. Through interviews with aid organizations, reviews of their publications, and a literature review of operations research models in transportation of relief goods, this paper provides an analysis of the use of such models from the perspective of both practitioners and academics. With the complexity of disaster relief distribution and the relatively small number of journal articles written on it, this is an area with potential for helping relief organizations and for tremendous growth in operations research.     

What is a strategic acquisition? Decision modeling in support of foreclosed housing redevelopment

This paper describes and develops a model for calculating location-based strategic values of foreclosed properties considered for acquisition and redevelopment by community development corporations (CDCs). A property’s strategic value refers to its proximity to site-specific neighborhood amenities and disamenities (e.g. schools, public transit, distressed properties), given the relative importance of that proximity to CDC organizational and community objectives. We operationalize the concept of strategic value, and apply this concept to a salient public sector decision problem. Using data and value assessments from a CDC engaged in foreclosed housing redevelopment, we compute measures of strategic value for a set of acquisition candidates. We show that strategic values can differ in systematic ways depending on the types of amenities and disamenities identified as relevant for CDC acquisition decisions, the relative importance assigned to those amenities and disamenities, and the utility maximization objectives of the CDC. We conclude by proposing a multi-criteria decision model for foreclosed housing acquisition and redevelopment which incorporates a theory of residential housing impacts for which strategic value measures are a special case.     

Understanding Russian regions’ economic performance during periods of decline and growth—An extreme bound analysis approach

This article uses “extreme-bound”-type analysis to revisit the determinants behind the widely differing economic growth in Russian regions prior to the recent global financial crisis. Using data of regional growth in 1995–2006 for 77 Russian regions, it examines the growth drivers for the phase of economic decline up to 1998 and for the period of strong growth afterwards separately. Looking at forty variables considered to be potentially related to growth, it determines, for each of the two periods, the ones robustly associated with Russian economic performance. Among the variables considered are proxies of politico-institutional features, indicators of economic reform, and measurements of both economic and non-economic initial conditions. The main findings are as follows: during the period of economic decline up to 1998, differences in Russian regional growth were almost entirely driven by initial conditions, with resource and human capital endowments, industrial structure, and geographical location playing the dominant roles. However, after the 1998 crisis, the importance of initial conditions declined and was basically reduced to fuel production, advantageous geographical location, and population structure. There is also some evidence that more reform-oriented policies and better regional leadership made a difference. These results could be seen as pointing to determinants of economic performance in periods of actual economic decline being different from those in normal times of economic growth.     

Too close for comfort? Distinguishing between team intimacy and team cohesion

The authors examine theory and research on team intimacy and team cohesion, and argue that the two have often been confused, merged, and used interchangeably in recent theoretical, empirical, and applied work on team effectiveness. The authors propose distinct definitions to clarify and distinguish between team intimacy and team cohesion, and suggest areas that will aid research and application. Their examination provides a framework for understanding the inconsistent findings in team effectiveness and team building research and thus helps to improve human resource management (HRM) interventions.     

A comparison of adverse impact levels based on top‐down,multisource, and assessment center data: Promoting diversity and reducing legal challenges

We compared levels of adverse impact (AI) against minorities and women based on three promotional decision methods for 428 associate store managers of a Fortune 500 retailer: top‐down appraisal (TDA), multisource appraisal (MSA), and an assessment center (AC). We found significant effects for race and minority status (favoring whites) but no significant effects for gender across all three methods. Comparisons were analyzed using two definitions of AI (four‐fifths rule and the Fisher Exact Test) with a selection ratio (SR) of .25. No evidence of AI was found against blacks for any of the methods. For Hispanics, AI was found under the four‐fifths rule for the AC. For women, the four‐fifths rule was violated using TDA. Results provide some partial support for the argument that diversity goals are more likely to be met using assessment centers compared to TDA when the preponderance of raters are white men. Our data also suggest that carefully crafted, job‐related, top‐down appraisal, combined with rater training, may be effective in facilitating the promotion of more women and minorities and reducing the probability of legal problems. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.