Barriers to Managing Diversity in a UK Constabulary: The Role of Discourse

The literature on diversity management has tended to obfuscate some of the theoretical and methodological shortcomings associated with research in this area. Specifically, the literature tends to make a number of rather naïve assumptions about the experiences and aspirations of disadvantaged groups. This paper seeks to problematize the universalist and partisan tendencies that typify much of the diversity literature by focusing on the issue of 'resistance'. Using a form of discourse analysis informed by Foucauldian principles, the paper explores how 'resistance' to diversity initiatives is expressed by both 'dominant' and 'subordinated' groups in a UK police force. It is argued that 'resistance' is better thought of as a discursive resource that can be drawn upon to justify or account for one's own organizational experiences and, in turn, the need to both justify and account for one's experiences is located in broader discursive fields that reproduce dominant ideologies of liberal democracies. The theoretical implications of this position are discussed and a case is presented for more critical and theoretical approaches in the diversity management literature.     

Continuity and Change in Mergers and Acquisitions: A Social Identity Case Study of a German Industrial Merger*

abstract It is crucial from an employee's point of view to perceive some degree of stability even in times of major organizational change. This paper examines the role of a sense of continuity for organizational identification after an organizational merger. We argue that mergers and acquisitions so often end in failures partly because the change is designed in discontinuous ways and employees do not feel they are doing the same job after the merger as before. Such discontinuous change engenders a critical tension between positive and negative effects of identification that has not yet been fully understood. To deepen the understanding of this tension, in‐depth interviews were conducted in a recently merged German industrial company. Based on these qualitative data we demonstrate how features of the post‐merger company structure and the way it was implemented may have eroded organizational identification. Finally, we propose a parsimonious model to be tested by future research, in which the sense of continuity is consisting of both observable as well as projected continuity.     

Employee attitudes,customer satisfaction,and sales performance: assessing the linkages in US grocery stores

Using store‐level panel data for a major supermarket company, we investigate the linkages between employee attitudes, customer satisfaction, and sales performance, while controlling for observed and unobserved differences across stores. We find that employee attitudes positively affect customer satisfaction with service but do not affect customer satisfaction with quality or value. Additionally, we find that customer satisfaction with service positively affects sales performance. Our results suggest that employee attitudes affect sales performance through their impact on customer service. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Three types of salesmen to understand and motivate

This article analyzes factors that influence motivation of sales representatives. Findings of two research studies identify motivational characteristics of salesmen in sales agencies. The authors classify salesmen as High Actualizer, High Security, and High Love-Belonging types, based on their research findings. The research points out conditions which enhance sales performance and contribute to a highly motivated sales force. Specific guidelines are suggested to improve motivation of salesmen.     

Combining self-explicated priors with conjoint data using Bayesian regression

A Bayesian regression procedure (RBAYES) is proposed for the optimal combination of self-explicated data (priors) and conjoint judgments. The procedure does not require the design matrix for the conjoint judgments to be of full rank. The Bayesian regression procedure is similar to weighted least square in that it uses an information ratio to weight the priors. We provide empirical comparisons for the proposed method against (1) a Stein-type estimator (SBAYES) using one data set and (2) OLS applied to the data from an adaptive conjoint analysis using a second data set. In the second application we also use an alternating least squares procedure by itself and in combination with Bayesian regression (RBAYES+) to accommodate scale incompatibility as well as heteroscedasticity. In both applications we obtain superior results for the Bayesian regression procedure.     

Socio-economic evaluation of mental health as a basis for financing health care in Sweden

The objective of this paper is to examine hypotheses about the relationships between socio-economic factors, risk factors in working life, and the occurrence of mental illness, together with the degree of quality of life and consumption of health care, costs for health care, and costs for social insurance. This is a prospective and longitudinal study of 1,347 individuals of an active working age, 18–64 years, who have been on sick leave for more than 30 days. The group is characterized by the prevalence of risk factors in their work environment and welfare losses, such as multiple health problems, poor quality of life, inability to work, and dependency on society's support from health care and social insurance. The costs for health care were just over 2.8 million SEK, or 30 percent higher for those with psychological distress as compared to the group without. The payments from social insurance also increased by approximately 15 percent. The relatively greater weighting of health care costs and sickness cash benefits were motivating factors to study whether this group had an optimal amount and quality of health care, or if the resources available for health care should be distributed in another way that better satisfies the needs of the group.     

Vacation decisions,activities, and satisfactions

Vacations are a major consumer expense category. People devote considerable attention to deciding whether to take one or not (generic decision), to making joint decisions as husband, wife, and children, and to acquiring information from different sources and media. Information functions to sensitize, persuade, heighten appreciation, and legitimize choices. Several vacation types can be distinguished. Life-style, as a broader concept, may server as a good basis of explanation for vacation behavior. Equity and attribution are important concepts in understanding vacationer (dis)satisfaction and complaint behavior.     

Optimal portfolios with minimum capital requirements

We propose a novel approach to active risk management based on the recent Basel II regulations to obtain optimal portfolios with minimum capital requirements. In order to avoid regulatory penalties due to an excessive number of Value-at-Risk (VaR) violations, capital requirements are minimized subject to a given number of violations over the previous trading year. Capital requirements are based on the recent Basel II amendments to account for the ‘stressed’ VaR, that is, the downside risk of the portfolio under extreme adverse market conditions. An empirical application for two portfolios involving different types of assets and alternative stress scenarios demonstrates that the proposed approach delivers an improved balance between capital requirement levels and the number of VaR exceedances. Furthermore, the risk-adjusted performance of the proposed approach is superior to that of minimum-VaR and minimum-stressed VaR portfolios.