Relationship of Supervisors' Sex-Role Stereotypes to Performance Evaluation of Male and Female Subordinates in Non-traditional Jobs

A survey of 488 supervisors classified them as traditional, moderate, and egalitarian in their attitudes towards women using the Spence, Helmreich and Stapp (1973) Attitudes Toward Women Scale. These results were analyzed in relation to the performance evaluations given to their 235 male and 25 3 female subordinates who were matched for position level and type of occupation in a large coast-to-coast Canadian public sector organization, whose mandate is not one traditionally associated with women. All supervisors were directly acquainted with the work of their subordinates over a minimum three-month to three-year time frame. Traditional supervisors of women (Spence, Helmreich and Stapp, 19 73), compared to traditional supervisors of men, evaluated the women supervised, even in the face of substantial direct contact, as less able to: (1) autonomously direct their subordinates; (2) assist in the career development of their subordinates; and (3) effectively monitor the day-to-day results of their subordinates. No differences were found between evaluations received by men and women working for egalitarian supervisors. Compared to egalitarian supervisors, traditional supervisors were reluctant to assign technical, vital high-profile projects to female subordinates. The results were interpreted in terms of mores from the greater macro-culture which were reflected inside the organization via gender-related barriers to equity such as absence of effective role models, difficulty gaining access to informal networks, tokenism, and the belief found here that women as supervisors in non-traditional areas are dysfunctional for the organization and for the upward mobility of their subordinates. Résumé Quatre cent quatre-vingt-huit superviseurs one été catégorisés comme traditionnels, modérés et égalitaircs dans leurs attitudes vis-à-vis des femmes selon l'Echelle d'attitudes vis-à-vis des femmes développée par Spence, Helmrich, Stapp (1973). Ces résultats ont été analysés en relation avec les évaluations de rendement de leurs 235 subalternes masculins et 253 subalternes féminins correspondant quant à leur niveau et type d'occupation au sein d'un organisme du secteur public présent dans tout le Canada et dont le mandat n'est pas traditionellement associé avec le travail de leurs subalternes et ce sur une période allant d'au moins trois mois à trois ans. Les superviseurs traditionnels de personnel féminin (Spence, Helmrich & Stapp, 1973) comparés à des superviseurs traditionnels de personnel masculin, ont évalué les femmes qu'ils supervisaient, maigre un contact direct important, comme étant moins capable de: 1) diriger leurs subalternes de façon autonome; 2) fournir à leurs subalternes l'assistance requise dans l'avancement de leur carrière; 3) contrǒler efficacement le rendement quotidien de leurs subalternes. Aucune différence n'est apparue dans les évaluations des hommes et des femmes qui travaillaient pour des superviseurs égalitaires. Par comparaison à ces derniers, les superviseurs traditionnels démontraient une certaine réticence à confier à leurs subalternes féminins des projets techniques vitaux a visibilité élevée. Ces résultats ont été interprétés en termes des moeurs de la macro-culture plus globale qui sont reflétées au sein de l'organisme à travers des obstacles à l'égalité reliés aux sexe tels que l'absence de modèles positifs, la difficulté d'accès à des réseaux officieux, une présence féminine uniquement symbolique et la perception selon laquelle les femmes superviseurs dans les domaines non traditionnels empěchent le bon fonctionnement de l'organisme et l'avancement de leurs subalternes.     

Taxing Super

Australia's taxation arrangements for retirement saving are among the most complicated in the world. It is almost unique in applying taxat all three possible points in the retirement saving cycle: contributions, earnings and benefits. Starting from the proposition that the 'best' pension tax is to tax benefits under the personal income tax, this paper proposes a 'withholding tax' arrangement which would have impacts on individual contributors equivalent to a benefit tax, while altering the time profile of tax collections to address cash-flow concerns on the part of the revenue authorities. Simulations are presented to show that individual contributors benefit from the proposed reform, and that equity across contributors in different wage bands is broadly maintained.     

Entering Eastern European markets : Lessons from Kmart

Kmart completed its purchase of 13 stores in the Czech Republic and Slovakia in May/June 1992. Using interviews conducted in June 1993 with directors of Kmart-Czech Republic and Slovakia and a vice director of its major Prague competitor, Kotva, this paper analyzes the strategies Kmart is using to position itself in Eastern Europe for both retail sales and product acquisition and distribution. Four lessons to be learned from Kmart were identified: (1) internationalize what you do well; (2) know your customers by listening to them and adapting to their needs; (3) be flexible and change if a strategy does not work; and (4) balance short-and long-term gains.     

An empirical investigation of the cross sectional determinants of lease use

This paper examines the determinants of cross-sectional variation in lease ratios. Results indicate that leases substitute for debt and that relative lease use is negatively related to the size of the lessee. Leased assets, as a fraction of total assets, are negatively related to the financial strength of the lessee. Relative lease use is positively related to the lessee's level of non-debt tax shields, and some support is found for a negative relationship between leasing and the tax rate. Additionally, asset factors, as proxied by industry, provide most of the explanatory power of the model.     

Human resource utilization: A model based on east—west research

The transition from centralized command economies to market orientation requires many adaptations of thinking and practice. The question raised by this article is whether social science can make a useful contribution to the adjustment between two incompatible systems of organizing economic life. The first issue is how to handle the propensity to resist change which is based on a natural system preference for predictability and equilibrium. Second, if resistance can be overcome, can social science contribute to the establishment of a new and superior equilibrium? The Motivated Competence Model is outlined as a contribution toward a better utilization of competence. The model is supported by evidence from research on sociotechnical issues and democratic decision-making procedures. It is argued that while the evidence in support of these practices comes mainly from Western organizations, it includes research in Yugoslavia, and may be especially relevant to the rehabilitation of countries having to make radical changes.     

The Political Economy of Intellectual Property Treaties

Intellectual property treaties create two types of obligations:for national treatment of foreign inventors and for certainharmonized protections. I investigate both the incentive tojoin such treaties and the incentive to harmonize. As comparedto an equilibrium in which the countries' policy makers makeindependent choices, harmonization will generally strengthenprotections. This analysis recognizes that public sponsorshipis sometimes an efficient alternative to intellectual property.However, there are no institutions to harmonize public spending,and there are no international mechanisms to repatriate thespillovers it generates. As a consequence, there may be toolittle public sponsorship and too much intellectual property.A country's inclination to strengthen harmonized protectionswill depend both on its innovativeness (positively) and on thesize of its domestic market (negatively).     

The Environmental Commitment of Consumer Organizations in Denmark, the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, and Belgium

Consumer organizations have traditionally been concerned with protecting, informing, and educating the "weak" consumers. These policies were deemed necessary because of the unequal power balance and conflicts of interests between consumers and producers. Since there are also conflicts between the interests of nature on the one hand, and consumers and producers on the other, this article discusses the rationale of consumer organizations' involvement in environmental issues while considering their original objectives. More specifically, it is aimed at identifying the commitment of several European consumer organizations with respect to environmental issues during the past two decades in order to assess whether and how environmental issues are internalized in consumer policy across time.