Behavioral Effects of Sustainability‐Oriented Incentive Systems

Companies increasingly extend their existing incentive systems by integrating several sustainable performance indicators. Although these ‘sustainability‐oriented’ incentive systems clearly highlight which business objectives should be attained, little is known about the effects that these incentive systems have on employee behavior. Based on signaling theory, social identity theory and a person–organization fit (PO‐fit) perspective, we assume positive relations between sustainability‐oriented incentive systems and employee attraction, motivation and cooperation. Furthermore, we examine whether these relations are moderated by personal attitudes toward corporate sustainability activities as well as the underlying mechanisms at the moderation (mediated moderation). Our experimental results (with students as future employees) do not give support for a general positive relation between sustainability‐oriented incentive systems and employee behavior. However, our data show that a person's attitude toward corporate sustainability activities moderates the link between sustainability‐oriented incentive systems and employee behavior. Additionally, we find PO‐fit perceptions to mediate the interaction effects. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Die Mittelfristplanung als verknüpfendes Element zwischen Strategieformulierung und operativer Umsetzung von Zielen

Zusammenfassung Die Mittelfristplanung ist in der betrieblichen Praxis weit verbreitet, wird in der Literatur dagegen wenig diskutiert. Dieser Beitrag stellt die Ergebnisse aus Fallstudien bei sechs marktführenden deutschen Konzernen vor und identifiziert typische Charakteristika der Mittelfristplanung. Die Mittelfristplanung ist in der Regel auf drei Jahre ausgelegt und stellt eine Schnittstelle zwischen der Strategieformulierung und der operativen Umsetzung von Ma?nahmen dar.

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Mid term planning as a link between strategy formulation and goal achievement

Summary Mid-term planning is often used in German companies but not widely discussed in the literature. This paper shows the results of a case study project with six leading German companies and identifies typical characteristics of mid term planning. Mid term planning is typically covering a planning horizon of three years and can link the strategic goal setting process with the operative implementation of activities.

     

Argument-based decision support for risk analysis

The calculation of statistical expectation values is a most useful tool in risk analysis, but it is not a panacea. Valuable additional decision support can be obtained from argument-based tools, i.e. rigorous tools based on conceptual distinctions and logical reasoning. If the decision problem is not well defined, then argument-based tools can be used to analyse the uncertainties involved and provide a more well-reasoned presentation of the problem. If the available information is insufficient for a reliable quantitative analysis, then argument-based tools can partly replace it as guidance for the decision-making process. Argument-based tools can be grouped into three main categories: (1) tools used to determine the impact of alternative structurings of decisions and to make an informed choice among them, (2) tools used for the evaluation of decision options, and (3) tools used for the choice among such options in terms of the relative strengths of the arguments that speak for and against each of the options.