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Full-Text Articles in Business

Salvaging The Marriage Between A Distrusting Boss And His Fearful Employee, Knowledge@Smu Nov 2010

Salvaging The Marriage Between A Distrusting Boss And His Fearful Employee, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

Will empowering employees to manage their own careers bring about better job performance or will a more permissive environment lead to abuses? Dale Simpson, managing director of a human resources consultancy, leans towards the former, but he knows that most employers would rather hold on to the reins. After all, most employer-employee relationships today are premised on distrust – starting with the signing of a contractual agreement that holds each party legally liable for non-compliance. He believes, however, that employers can reap great benefits when they think of their relationship with employees as a 'marriage', bound not only by law, …


A Challenge To Smes: Creating Creative Ways To Attract Talent, Knowledge@Smu Oct 2010

A Challenge To Smes: Creating Creative Ways To Attract Talent, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

For many small and medium enterprises, finding, attracting and retaining the right talent is a perpetual challenge. Save for perception issues that are unlikely to go away anytime soon – that the smaller businesses don't pay as well or offer as many opportunities as their large multinational counterparts – these enterprises have much to learn about attracting talent with limited resources. Helen Lim, a social entrepreneur and human resources consultant, believes that the smaller companies may not be able to compete on price and prestige, but they can certainly afford to raise their game. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Bridging Cultural Differences In The Global Corporate Environment, Knowledge@Smu Oct 2010

Bridging Cultural Differences In The Global Corporate Environment, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

People form cultural biases from a young age, and this is something that we carry into our adult lives, as members of society, parents, employers and employees. Globalisation has, however, connected familiar and unfamiliar cultures – and people may be ill-prepared to manage their biases. It is not unusual today, for instance, to expect that many jobs will involve some form of interaction with a non-local. So, according to Natalie Turner, the CEO and founder of a multinational consultancy, organisations that give greater attention to bridging cultural gaps will reap greater efficiencies.


Tackling 'Grey Hairs': How Companies Can Turn An Ageing Workforce To Their Advantage, Knowledge@Smu Sep 2010

Tackling 'Grey Hairs': How Companies Can Turn An Ageing Workforce To Their Advantage, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

The greying working population in developed economies will be widening intergenerational fissures in today’s companies and organisations. Young managers find it difficult to handle the 'grey hairs' under their charge, while older workers are not always happy taking orders from their younger supervisors. Yet, without talent, businesses run the risk of losing their competitiveness. How should companies bridge the gap and turn the skills and experience of their older workers into their advantage? Drawing examples and cases not just from America but also Singapore, Peter Cappelli and Bill Novelli, professors at Wharton and Georgetown respectively, share some ideas in the …


Response Rates In Organizational Science, 1995-2008: A Meta-Analytic Review And Guidelines For Survey Researchers, Frederik Anseel, Filip Lievens, Eveline Schollaert, Beata Choragwicka Sep 2010

Response Rates In Organizational Science, 1995-2008: A Meta-Analytic Review And Guidelines For Survey Researchers, Frederik Anseel, Filip Lievens, Eveline Schollaert, Beata Choragwicka

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study expands upon existing knowledge of response rates by conducting a large-scale quantitative review of published response rates. This allowed a fine-grained comparison of response rates across respondent groups. Other unique features of this study are the analysis of response enhancing techniques across respondent groups and response rate trends over time. In order to aid researchers in designing surveys, we provide expected response rate percentiles for different survey modalities.We analyzed 2,037 surveys, covering 1,251,651 individual respondents, published in 12 journals in I/O Psychology, Management, and Marketing during the period 1995-2008. Expected response rate levels were summarized for different types …


A New Perspective On Role-Player Training In Assessment Centres, Eveline Schollaert, Filip Lievens Sep 2010

A New Perspective On Role-Player Training In Assessment Centres, Eveline Schollaert, Filip Lievens

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The most recent assessment centre guidelines emphasize that exercises should be designed to evoke a substantial amount of relevant behaviour (International Task Force on Assessment Center Guidelines, 2009). However, no empirical evidence exists of how one can manage this This study aims to fill this gap by suggesting that role-player training should be extended via the use of 'prompts' to evoke behaviour. Prompts are standardized cues that a role-player consistently mentions in an AC exercise across candidates to elicit behaviours related to specific job-related dimensions In the present study, role players and candidates were randomly assigned to two experimental conditions …


Uob's Sustainable Approach To Talent Management For The Private Banking Industry, Knowledge@Smu Jul 2010

Uob's Sustainable Approach To Talent Management For The Private Banking Industry, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

After a hiatus during the financial crisis, the poaching of private banking relationship managers is back. For the players, incumbent and new, local and international, poaching is probably the quickest and most straightforward means of a headcount-led expansion. No need to nurture and develop new recruits when they come nicely packaged with all the right credentials to hit the ground running. But what happens as more and more companies adopt this attitude to recruitment? Wilson Aw, head of private banking at United Overseas Bank, says the industry knows that it cannot grow from within such a vicious cycle. He shares …


Research Methods And Issues, Laura R. Weingart, Kenneth T. Goh Jul 2010

Research Methods And Issues, Laura R. Weingart, Kenneth T. Goh

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Group processes can be conceptualized as the mechanisms or intervening factors that connect properties of groups (e.g., group size, average skill level, diversity, or identity) to outcomes. Examples include the actions or communication that groups engage in while making decisions, negotiating, or coordinating their activities. These behaviors are driven by the group's task and associated performance goals, creating interdependencies among group members that lead to coordinated and actively integrated behavior. It is this set of behaviors that researchers investigating group processes attempt to capture and analyze.


Learn Versus Earn: A Case For The Small Business Employers And Those Fresh Graduates Who Join Them, Knowledge@Smu Jun 2010

Learn Versus Earn: A Case For The Small Business Employers And Those Fresh Graduates Who Join Them, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

Go to university. Collect scroll. Join a multinational corporation. Prosper. Advance to Go. Collect $200. Newly minted graduates, venturing beyond the comforts of the ivory towers for the very first time, can often hold strong views on what 'the outside world' has to offer, and how that might subsequently colour their future. Join a big international conglomerate and earn bragging rights. Join a 'boutique' outfit (read: sweatshop) and, well, blame the economy. Such sentiments present employers of small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) with the short end of the stick. One successful SME employee-turned-employer would argue, however, that it is the fresh graduate …


Do Attractive Organisations Fare Better On The Job Market?, Knowledge@Smu Jun 2010

Do Attractive Organisations Fare Better On The Job Market?, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

Some employers can come across as more alluring than others. Few job seekers, for instance, would ignore openings at Apple, Google, Nike or Goldman Sachs. And if they do, it may have more to do with their own self-esteem than a lack of wanting to work at some of these 'World's Most Admired Companies' (according to Fortune magazine's yearly list). However, why do some organisations seem more attractive than others, and does it factor into our own career decisions? Also, while it may seem as if attractive organisations will get their pick of the most desirable 'suitors', a new study …


Spirituality At Work And Organizational Citizenship Behavior: A Replication Study In Taiwan, Gilbert Tan, Christine Kuo, Eugene Zhen Yao Geh Jun 2010

Spirituality At Work And Organizational Citizenship Behavior: A Replication Study In Taiwan, Gilbert Tan, Christine Kuo, Eugene Zhen Yao Geh

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Interest in Management, Spirituality and Religion (MSR) research has surged over the last decade. However, most of the studies are done in the Western context. Tan and Geh’s (2009) is an exception. In Tan and Geh’s study, they provided a theoretical model linking spirituality at work with organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) through organizational commitment as the mediator and tested it empirically. The findings of the study, though exploratory, were interesting. They affirmed the effectiveness of affective commitment as a mediator between spirituality at work and OCB. Normative commitment, however, was not as effective. Their findings also show that continuance commitment …


Applying Knowledge Management In University Research, Benjamin Loh, Ai-Chee Tang, Thomas Menkhoff, Hans-Dieter Evers May 2010

Applying Knowledge Management In University Research, Benjamin Loh, Ai-Chee Tang, Thomas Menkhoff, Hans-Dieter Evers

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In the knowledge-based economy, universities are encountering dramatic changes. Their missions and functions are ‘pragmatized’ because of emerging new players and competing markets for knowledge production, the availability of higher education to a wider range of social classes and age groups, as well as the assimilation of information technology into the university environment. The dynamics and conduct of university research, in particular, has correspondingly become more sensitive to industry collaboration opportunities, commercial exploitation, and is increasingly transdisciplinary. This paper argues that knowledge management (KM) practices and tools can support universities in addressing these demands. Institutions of higher education can benefit …


With The Financial Crisis Over, Banks Are Hiring Again – But With A Different Job Description, Knowledge@Smu Feb 2010

With The Financial Crisis Over, Banks Are Hiring Again – But With A Different Job Description, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

The massive blood-letting that was supposed to happen with the recent financial crisis went by, without much of hoopla – at least in this part of the world – and many financial institutions are hiring again. However, with new market reforms, human resource managers are mulling over job descriptions. The mindset to maximise profits may be important, but according to the experts, professionals in the industry will be expected to bring more onto the table – to be accountable to a wider circle of stakeholders and to demonstrate a different set of values.


Future Directions Of Crisis Communication Research: Emotions In Crisis – The Next Frontier, Jin, A. Pang Feb 2010

Future Directions Of Crisis Communication Research: Emotions In Crisis – The Next Frontier, Jin, A. Pang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

No abstract provided.


Understanding Performance Ratings: Dynamic Performance, Attributions, And Rating Purpose, Jochen Reb, Gary J. Greguras Jan 2010

Understanding Performance Ratings: Dynamic Performance, Attributions, And Rating Purpose, Jochen Reb, Gary J. Greguras

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The present two studies integrate and extend the literatures on dynamic performance, performance attributions, and rating purpose, making several important contributions. First, examining attributions of dynamic performance, Study 1 predicted that performance mean and trend would affect judged ratee ability and effort and that performance variation would affect locus of causality; both predictions were supported by the results. Second, investigating the interaction between dynamic performance and rating purpose. Study 2 predicted that performance mean would have a stronger impact on administrative than on developmental ratings, whereas performance trend and variation would have a stranger impact on developmental than on administrative …


The Employment Relationship, John W. Budd, Devasheesh P. Bhave Jan 2010

The Employment Relationship, John W. Budd, Devasheesh P. Bhave

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The employment relationship is the connection between employees and employers through which individuals sell their labor. This might consist of an immigrant day laborer paid by the bushel to pick fruit in the hot sun, a salaried manager who has been working in an air-conditioned office for the same company for 40 years, or innumerable other situations. Irrespective of situation, all employees and employers have fundamental interests they pursue through the employment relationship, all forms of this relationship are mediated by labor markets and states, and each instance of this relationship is governed by some form of a contract, ranging …


Exploring The Antecedents Of New Knowledge Creation In Organizational Settings: An Empirical Study, Thomas Menkhoff, Yue Wah Chay, Benjamin Loh, Hans-Dieter Evers Jan 2010

Exploring The Antecedents Of New Knowledge Creation In Organizational Settings: An Empirical Study, Thomas Menkhoff, Yue Wah Chay, Benjamin Loh, Hans-Dieter Evers

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study aims to understand the antecedents of new knowledge creation in knowledge-intensive organizations. A model of knowledge management and new knowledge creation inspired by the works of Nonaka, Nahapiet and Ghoshal and others was used to develop a questionnaire. 213 individuals responded from a knowledge-based organization in Singapore. The results of the study indicated that knowledge tools and technologies interact with the modus of knowledge combination to influence knowledge outcomes in terms of worker skills, competencies, market knowledge and client relationships. The key ingredients for creating new knowledge as well as synergistic collaborations between various knowledge players are also …