‘A Case for Including Business Ethics and the Humanities in Management Programs’

The idea underlying this article was that the humanities in general and business ethics in particular should be more firmly embedded in business management programs. A number of areas have been identified for students to use as topics for research projects in management ethics. These ranged from Biblical and classical times to the present day. Some were drawn from sources that were less well known e.g. the De consolatione philosphiae ‘The Consolation of Philosophy’ by Boethius 524 AD. This was chosen partly for its ethical content, but also because Boethius was magister officiorum i.e. head of the civil service. Aelfred the Great (849–899) King of Wessex (he who burnt those cakes) was chosen because he promoted the intellectual, moral and spiritual qualities that were to serve as guidelines for his executives. Nineteenth century literature (Dickens, Thackeray, Trollope and Galsworthy) was also chosen as a source of topics for research projects in business ethics. The writer acknowledges the work of earlier writers in the fields of management, organisation theory, and business ethics.     

传统文化观和员工沉默关系的实证研究

已有研究仅从理论上概括性地分析传统文化观和员工沉默之间的关系,鲜有研究采用数据证实两者关系,更少有研究关注两者之间关系的方向和强度。文章基于341份员工样本的层次回归分析表明:并不是所有传统文化观都对员工沉默有正向影响,仅情面意识和权力距离倾向对员工沉默有正向影响,而集体主义倾向、儒家文化观则对员工沉默有负向影响;同一传统文化观对员工沉默各个维度的影响也不同,权力距离倾向对漠视沉默的正向影响显著大于对防御沉默的正向影响,情面意识对防御沉默的正向影响显著大于对漠视沉默和默许沉默的正向影响。     

对中国企业推行项目管理的文化思考

项目管理是一系列的工作价值观和独特的管理哲学。在我国企业中推行项目管理,要以进行相应的文化变革为切入点,把项目管理所要求的价值观内在化,使企业文化在潜移默化中朝着适应项目管理的方向发展,形成新的文化氛围,使员工形成“对事不对人”的价值观,把时间和精力用在开创性的工作上。     

How does the theory of consumption values contribute to place identity and sustainable consumption?

The importance of consumers’ role in sustainable consumption is reflected in the vision of the Sustainable Development Education Panel: To educate consumers to make informed consumption decisions, to take responsibility for their actions and to realize the impact of consumption decisions on future generations. However, educating and informing consumers alone is unlikely to change deeply entrenched unsustainable consumption behaviour. A multi‐faceted approach is required – enforcing sustainable development initiatives through legislation, promoting corporate social responsibility programs on the part of business, and (most importantly), supporting communities that engage in sustainable consumption. This study examines the proposition that individuals who identify with their community (i.e. the residential suburb or a locality where identity is understood geographically) are more likely to engage in sustainable consumption. Specifically, it examines how consumption value (i.e. the perceived value of living in a particular residential suburb) contributes to place identity and to environmental attitudes and sustainable consumption behaviour. Structural equation modelling is used to verify the conceptual model using data from a telephone survey of 561 residents from two inner city suburbs in Auckland, New Zealand. The results support the proposition that environmental attitude and sustainable consumption behaviour is enhanced by consumption values through place identity. Residents who enjoy living in their community, value a clean and healthy environment and believe their suburbs are unique tend to develop a stronger identity with their residential suburb, and are more positive towards sustainable consumption. The results have important implications for social marketers, property marketers and city councils who strive to encourage sustainable consumption among its citizens.     

An Ethical Work Climate and its Consequences among Food-service Franchise Employees

This study was conducted to examine the effect of ethical values and an ethical work climate (EWC) (responsibility, unethical peer behaviors, and selling orientation) on organizational trust, and organizational commitment (affective and continuance commitment), which in turn influence turnover intentions to acquire a competitive edge in a competitive world. Data were obtained from 276 employees of food-service franchised companies in Korea. The results suggest that an EWC mediates the relationship between ethical values and organizational trust, which in turn has a positive influence on organizational commitment and turnover intention. Contributions and directions for future study are discussed.     

Construcción de un instrumento para medir el clima organizacional en función del modelo de los valores en competencia

The purpose of this study was to explore a model in the Mexican labor field that contextualizes organizational climate and links it with organizational culture. The Competing Values Framework (CVF), by K. S. Cameron & R. E. Quinn, was chosen due to its importance as the framework with more empirical evidence regarding corporate culture. The CVF proposes a four-quadrant structure for organizations: 1) internal focus, flexibility (clan), 2) internal focus, stability and control (hierarchy), 3) external focus, flexibility (adhocracy), and 4) external focus, stability and control (market). Likewise, it states that organizations present a mix of values from all quadrants. Overall, the findings of the study founded the model on a heterogeneous sample of 12 organizations (n = 1424) in the central region of Mexico. In addition to the model, a primer version of an instrument was designed with the intention to measure organizational climate according to the CVF. The instrument proved its capability to discriminate amongst organizations and, in general, its reliability and validity.     

Optimality versus practicality in market design: A comparison of two double auctions

We consider a market for indivisible items with m buyers and m sellers. Traders privately know their values/costs, which are statistically dependent. Two mechanisms are considered. The buyer's bid double auction collects bids and asks from traders and determines the allocation by selecting a market-clearing price. It fails to achieve all possible gains from trade because of strategic bidding. The designed mechanism is a revelation mechanism in which honest reporting of values/costs is incentive compatible and all gains from trade are achieved. This optimality, however, comes at the expense of plausibility: (i) the monetary transfers among the traders are defined in terms of the traders' beliefs about each other's value/cost; (ii) a trader may suffer a loss ex post; (iii) the mechanism may run a surplus/deficit ex post. We compare the virtues of the simple yet mildly inefficient buyer's bid double auction to the flawed yet perfectly efficient designed mechanism.     

Deconstructing distressed-property spillovers: The effects of vacant,tax-delinquent,and foreclosed properties in housing submarkets

In this empirical analysis, we estimate the impacts of property-tax delinquency, vacancy, and foreclosures on the value of neighboring homes. We demonstrate that these externalities differ in high- and low-poverty submarkets. Numerous studies have estimated the externality of foreclosures. These papers theorize that the foreclosure impact works partially through creating vacant and neglected homes. To our knowledge, this is only the second attempt to estimate the impact of vacancy itself and the first to use tax-delinquency as a measure of property neglect. We link vacancy observations from Postal Service data with property-tax delinquency and sales data from Cuyahoga County, Ohio. We find that an additional property within 500 ft that is vacant or delinquent reduces a home’s selling price by 1 to 2%. In low-poverty submarkets, the negative impact of a home that is both vacant and delinquent is ?4.6%. Low-poverty submarkets penalize a sale near a tax-current recent foreclosure by 4 to 8%. In high-poverty submarkets, we observe positive correlations of sale prices with vacant foreclosures. This may reflect lenders selectively foreclosing only on relatively well-maintained properties.     

论体育院校图书馆教育职能的核心价值

文章首先从加强体育院校图书馆教育职能的重要性展开论述,阐述了当代图书馆特别是体育院校图书馆教育职能的核心价值,得出了体育院校图书馆的核心价值是素质教育,对目前体育院校如何利用图书馆提高大学生综合素质有较强的现实指导意义。     

An exploration of the HRM values of Chinese managers working in Western multinational enterprises in China: implications for HR practice

This paper qualitatively explores the nature of human resource management (HRM) values of local Chinese managers working in Western-based multinational enterprises in China and also considers how these values are associated with preferences for HR practices. The study involves the use of repertory grid interviews with 36 local Chinese managers. The study shows that interviewees reflected a high level of assimilation and internalization of many Western HRM values. Interviewees also retained many traditional Chinese values, thus highlighting the role of institutional and cultural forces on HRM. However, among these local managers, there was clear decline in some traditional Chinese values, such as ‘harmony’ and ‘virtue’. A further interesting finding was the co-existence of paradoxical values of collectivism and individualism among the managers. Analyses of repertory grid data and interview comments also highlight that preferences for HR practices is associated with these underlying HRM values.