HR practices from the perspective of managers and employees in multinational enterprises in China: Alignment issues and implications

China's significance as a destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) is a major factor in Asia-Pacific economic growth. This paper identifies important yet unexplored matters of human resource management (HRM) in multinational enterprise (MNE) subsidiaries in China. Specifically, the study explores the alignment issues between managers and employees with respect to their knowledge of HR practices, their experience of HR practices, and their perceived effectiveness of HR practices. Both interviews and a survey covering seven MNE subsidiaries operating in China finds a lack of alignment between managers and employees in each instance, for example, in their views of intended and actual HR practices and perceived effectiveness of these practices in the areas of performance assessment, recruitment and selection and career development. The implications of the differences for managers of MNEs operating in China are identified and discussed. The limitations of the study are acknowledged and areas for further study are also suggested.     

Cross‐cultural differences on work‐to‐family conflict and role satisfaction: A Taiwanese‐British comparison

The aim of this research was to explore relations between work and family demands and resources, work‐to‐family conflict (WFC), and work and family outcomes in a cross‐cultural comparative context involving Taiwanese and British employees. Two‐hundred and sixty‐four Taiwanese employees and 137 British employees were surveyed using structured questionnaires. For both Taiwanese and British employees, work and family demands were positively related to WFC, whereas work resources were negatively related to WFC. Furthermore, WFC was negatively related to family satisfaction. More importantly, we found that nation moderated relationships between work resources and WFC, WFC and work, and family satisfaction. Specifically, work resources had a stronger protective effect for Taiwanese than British in reducing WFC, whereas WFC had a stronger detrimental effect on role satisfaction for British than Taiwanese. It is recommended that both culture‐general and culture‐specific effects should be taken into consideration in designing future WFC research and familyfriendly managerial practices. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The cost of labor adjustment: Inferences from the gap

This paper studies the aggregate implications of micro-level labor adjustment costs. Caballero and Engel [Caballero, R., Engel, E., 1993. Microeconomic adjustment hazards and aggregate dynamics. Quarterly Journal of Economics 108, 313–358] find a dependence of aggregate employment growth on the cross sectional distribution of “employment gaps.” This paper uses those results as moments in an indirect inference procedure to infer the underlying labor adjustment costs. We specify a dynamic optimization problem at the plant level, allowing for both convex and non-convex adjustment costs. Consistent with evidence at the micro level, our findings indicate that non-convex adjustment costs are necessary to match these aggregate moments.     

Pieces of the shortage puzzle: aging and shift work

Addressing issues important to the aging nurse and night-shift worker is imperative for retention success. It is important for nurse leaders to create an environment that will keep older nurses and night-shift workers working. The good news is that health care leaders are talking. Research is being done and will hopefully continue. Now it is time for health care leaders to welcome nurses, educators, and policymakers into their circle of discussion to preserve quality health care and retain our nurses at the bedside.     

An introduction to the symposium on behavioral game theory

This article introduces the articles contained in the symposium on behavioral game theory. I break economic experiments studying game theory into three broad classes: (1) experiments studying and possibly modifying the assumptions that serve as foundations for game theory; (2) experiments that perform economic engineering, testing existing institutions with the aim of designing better ones; and (3) experiments designed to test theories which apply game theory to fields such as industrial organization.      

An Investigation into the New Product Process: Steps, Deficiencies, and Impact

In a comprehensive study of 252 new product histories at 123 firms, Robert Cooper and Elko Kleinschmidt looked critically at the new products management process. Each company was shown a set of 13 activities which formed a general "skeleton" of a new product process. This article examines how this structure was modified by the companies and how well various stages of the process were reportedly executed. The results show a variety of practices among the surveyed companies. While the presence of activities cannot guarantee successful new products, certain activities were singled out as particularly weak. Firms should consider placing more emphasis on market studies, initial screening activities, and preliminary market assessment. The article provides a thoughtful assessment of the level of implementation of current practices in new products management.