Business Commons^™

Should The U.S. Federal Government Mandate Family Medical Leave Policy For Companies With 25-49 Employees?, Sonja A. Irlbeck, Susan R. Madsen, Susan Nash

Marketing and Strategy Faculty Publications

Employees and employers struggle with balancing work/family responsibilities. While the U.S. Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) has been effective for some companies, it created burdens for others. The current debate whether to extend the FMLA to employees in companies with 25-49 employees has spawned U.S. studies and hearings to understand better both sides of the issue. This article reviews both sides of this critical issue, providing a history of the current act and references to international documentation and experts on the topic. The authors discuss possible amendments to the FMLA, as well as expansion of the legislation that will benefit …

Walking The Walk --- The Reality Of Ethics In The University Presidency, Elson Floyd

Center for the Study of Ethics in Society Papers

Papers presented for the Center of the Study of Ethics in Society Western Michigan University.

Ethics In Academia, Diether Haenicke

Center for the Study of Ethics in Society Papers

Papers presented for the Center of the Study of Ethics in Society Western Michigan University.

The Quality Of Mercy, The Public Trust, And Ethical Issues In Higher Education, Elise Bickford Jorgens

Center for the Study of Ethics in Society Papers

Papers presented for the Center of the Study of Ethics in Society Western Michigan University.

The Ethics Center At Fifteen Years, Michael Pritchard

Center for the Study of Ethics in Society Papers

Papers presented for the Center of the Study of Ethics in Society Western Michigan University.

Preventing Fraudulent Financial Reporting, Mark S. Beasley, Joseph V. Carcello, Dana R. Hermanson

Faculty Articles

Provides information on a study conducted by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations regarding the detection and prevention of financial fraud. Discussion on the nature of financial frauds; Characteristics of unreliable financial reporting; Views on the role of auditing firms in the prevention of fraud.

An Analysis Of Financial Issues Faced By Microenterprises In Mexico, Heikki Heino

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The economic and social role of microenterprises in developing countries is well recognized. Research has shown that the importance of microenterprises in economic development derives from the fact that small firms use labor intensively rather than capital. In the case of Mexico, microenterprises employ over 20 percent of the working age population. Moreover, from 1991 to 1995 the number of microenterprises operating in Mexico increased from 5.7 to 6.1 million firms.

Given the role that microenterprises play in employment creation, a natural research question that arises is then, “how microenterprises are created and survive under credit market imperfections.” A general …

The Etic/Emic Dimensions Of Organizational Citizenship Behavior In Mexico: A Cross -Cultural Research Study, Luis Ortiz

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The purpose of this dissertation is to use field research data gathered from Mexican maquiladora administrative professionals in order to develop a new scale of Mexican Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (MOCB—“going beyond the norm”). A major tenet from the literature states that to correctly capture an entire phenomenon such as MOCBs in a different culture, researchers must use both the emic/etic dyad, triangulation, and should use employee samples.

The methodology in this dissertation utilizes a preliminary study and a main study. The first study uses two large multinational enterprises (MNEs) to empirically test six propositions. The preliminary study determined that organizational …

Principles Of Internet Marketing By Ward Hanson, Ohio: South Western College Publishing, 2000., Prashant Mishra

IIMB Management Review

Principles of Internet Marketing attempts to provide a framework to understand the forces driving the Internet revolution in marketing and business; to describe the new tools and techniques of Internet marketing and to build an understanding of how these fit the existing paradigms. An attempt has also been made to look at the emerging challenges such as distribution channel conflicts, legal problems from marketing decisions and new skills for an Internet age.

The Indian Software Industry: What Makes For Commitment, Abhoy K Ojha

IIMB Management Review

The impact of the demographic characteristics of people on their work attitudes and organisational behaviour has been of interest to organisational theorists for a long time. While some studies have examined the impact of demographic characteristics on attitudes and behaviour, others have investigated the impact of the composition of these demographic characteristics on individual attitudes and behaviour, and organisational outcomes. Against the background of these studies, a study was conducted to examine the impact of demographic characteristics of software professionals on their organisational commitment

Ownership Patterns And Corporate Performance, Jinesh Panchali

IIMB Management Review

Corporates have emerged as vital economic institutions for growth, commanding a large proportion of social resources. Hence, they are, like the State, answerable to society for the efficient use of resources. Corporate governance is the social, legal, and economic process through which companies function and are held accountable1 . The structure of corporate ownership has a major impact on the way companies are managed and controlled. An attempt has been made here to explore ownership structure in India and abroad and to empirically analyse corporate performance in the Indian context, at various levels of ownership across ownership categories.

Reinventing Indian Hospitality, S Seshadri

IIMB Management Review

The hotel industry is hopefully just emerging from a threeyear period of recession. The heyday of the industry was in the years immediately following the opening up of the economy, from 1993-94 onwards. However, we had a couple of unfortunate events at that time, Babri Masjid and then the plague scare. Despite the economic environment turning positive, these other elements are very good examples of the ‘non economic factors’ that can have a serious impact on the hotel industry. So it was really in 94-97 that the industry reached its peak. Foreign investors came in significantly large numbers compared to …

Vehicle Routing For Milk Procurement, Janat Shah

IIMB Management Review

In a typical co-operative dairy, one of the significant operating costsunder the control of the management is the cost of milk collectionand transportation. (Exhibit 1 shows the typical cost structure of adairy) The dairy under study picked up milk from 500-800 pick uppoints (nodes) twice a day. The vehicle routes were decided manu-ally keeping in mind the peak load expected at the nodes during thecoming year. The dairy had about 50 odd routes, each route cover-ing an average of 15 nodes. Usually dairies do not own the ve-hicles but use transport contractors who enter into an annual con tract with …

Stress And Job Performance: Theory, Research, And Implications For Managerial Practice By Steve M Jex, New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1998., Prabha Srinivas

IIMB Management Review

This book is a comprehensive study of stress and the effect it has on work life. The style of presentation is simple and therefore even a person not familiar with stress and its related theories can follow the text easily. The topic is extremely relevant and important in the context of the current style of living. Competitiveness in the work place has reached an all time high and has left its mark. To managers, this book offers suggestions on how to recognise stress inducing factors and deal with them. But, as Jex himself says, the study of occupational stress is …

Rural Credit And Self-Help Groups: Micro-Finance Needs And Concepts In India By K G Karmakar, New Delhi: Sage Publications,1999., M S Sriram

IIMB Management Review

Microfinance is the latest buzzword in developmental circles. Inspired by the success of the Grameen Bank experience of Bangladesh and its extensive documentation, there are several experiments being carried out in India as well. Naturally, literature about these experiments follows. Rural Credit and Savings is one sector which has been damaged almost beyond repair by the excessive intervention of the state and therefore people are trying to look at unconventional solutions. In the light of immense action happening in the microfinance sector, Karmakar’s book is not only timely but also an important addition to the existing literature.

A Scientist’S Tools For Business: Metaphors And Modes Of Thought By Robert L Sproull, London: Universities Press, 1999., Swaminathan Subramaniam

IIMB Management Review

The purpose of this book as stated on the back cover is to ‘illustrate and explain the connection between everyday business problems and the tools and modes of thought of the scientist’. While enough has been written about how business principles can (and must) be applied for successful commercial R&D, there is very little written about how an understanding of common scientific principles can help business-persons.

The Quality Movement And Organisation Theory By Robert E Cole And W. Richard Scott, New Delhi: Sage, 2000., Vijay G Vancheswar

IIMB Management Review

The Quality Movement and Organisation Theory is different from most books on quality on two main counts. Firstly, it successfully addresses the issues of organisational change and emerging management practices, and their impact on Total Quality Management (TQM). Secondly, the concepts and findings detailed in the book combine the strengths of academic research studies on TQM and the vast experience of executives from leading organisations. Though focused primarily on the practices of TQM in the US, the book is exhaustive in its treatment of the subject. Starting with a lucid introduction to the quality movement and its linkages with issues …

Yield Management In The Airline Industry, B Venkateshwara Rao

IIMB Management Review

The Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 changed the competitive landscape for air travel. The CAB allowed low-cost (nonunionised and no-frill chartered service) carriers to compete in the scheduled air travel markets. Scheduled air carriers were at a disadvantage due to their high-cost structure. For example, during the winter of 1976, passengers could travel from New York to Florida on a charter for as little as $99. This fare was less than the average cost for a scheduled carrier to fly that market.

Preventing Workplace Violence By Mark Braverman, New Delhi: Sage, 2000., T Ananthachari

IIMB Management Review

The workplace is in many ways the meeting ground for the employer and the employees. It can lead to mutual understanding, trust and a lasting fruitful collaboration to achieve the objectives of the company. On the other hand, it can result in confrontation with all the consequent negative outcomes to follow. It is obvious that one of the basic policies of every organisation should be to forge maximum possible understanding between the two. Even a minor incident, misunderstanding or communication gap between the managerial hierarchy and the individual employee can spark off a situation which could ultimately vitiate the atmosphere …

Product-Mix Optimiser For An Integrated Steel Plant, Goutam Dutta, Gopal P Singh, P N Roy

IIMB Management Review

Optimal utilisation of constrained resources is one of the most important problems in the area of operations management. The determination of optimal productmix is an extremely difficult task for an organisation producing multiple products in multiple stages, sharing a set of common plant resources and experiencing a fluctuating market over time. In the absence of a quick method to determine optimality under changing conditions, plant managers have to make decisions based on their experience and intuition. 

Application Of Or To Management Practice: An Introduction, H K Lakshman Rao

IIMB Management Review

Customer dissatisfaction with products and services, long queues at hospitals and railway stations, stock out/excess stock situations, overflowing solid waste bins at street corners, delayed deliveries and time lag in new product development, steeply increasing project costs, high rates of wastage in the manufacturing process these are among the numerous instances indicating the lack of systems approach and inadequate appreciation of Operations Research (OR) methods in the Indian management and administrative network scenario.

Optimisation: Maximising Roi Within The Supply Chain, Irvin Lustig

IIMB Management Review

Optimisation is the technology employed within a supply chain management system that can have the single greatest impact on reducing costs, improving product margins, lowering inventories, and increasing manufacturing throughput. In short, optimisation is the key to achieving maximum return on investment (ROI). According to John Bermudez of the Boston- based AMR Research, the planning and scheduling modules that depend on optimisation technology have generated 30 to 300% ROI within companies that have already used them1. And the returns should continue to rise. Bermudez called the technology a means to unlock the potential from all of the data residing in …

Justice In Health Care Access Measuring Attitudes Of Health Care Professionals, Sandra Blanton

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

To measure attitudes toward justice in access to health care services in managed care plans in a convenience sample of medical professionals at Clark Memorial Hospital in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Methods. A sixteen item, self-administered instrument based on Morreim's four concepts of justice in health care access was administered to 147 health care professionals, representing physicians, allied health, and hospital administration. SPSS was used to analyze the results. Results. The attitudes of the respondents were negative toward managed care. They did not feel that managed care had been a positive development in the United States or that managed care had improved …

Ethics In Academia, 2000, Wmu Center Of The Study Of Ethics In Society

Center for the Study of Ethics in Society Papers

Papers presented for the Center of the Study of Ethics in Society Western Michigan University.

An Exploratory Study Of Michigan Grantmaker Attributes And Competencies, Lisa R. Wyatt Knowlton

Dissertations

Foundation trustees and professional staff are giving greater attention to issues of accountability and return on investment, while voices of those with significant experience in the private sector inquire with increasing frequency and vigor about the organizational performance of foundations. For these reasons there must be renewed attention on the competencies and attributes of grantmaking practitioners. This study is a self-assessment by grantmakers based on the construct of Emotional Intelligence (Goleman, 1995) as well as competency studies in organizational management and leadership.

In association with the Council of Michigan Foundations, grantmakers associated with foundations holding in excess of $1 million …

Crafting The Strategy: Concepts And Cases In Sategic Management By Ranjan Das, New Delhi: Tata Mcgraw Hill, 2000., S D Kshirsagar

IIMB Management Review

This quotation summarises aptly the dichotomy of approaches to strategy as an encompassing concept and to its implementation in a business. If strategy is a science in all its facets, its descriptive or normative theories could be applied to a business situation. Seminal contributions in this respect made by H Igor Ansoff, Kenneth R Andrews and others, established that ‘sustained performance’ is determined by a firm’s ability to find a fit among its intrinsic capabilities, the environmental factors, and the strategy it adopts. In this sense, strategy is not only contextual but also resource specific. It is, therefore, dynamic and …

Quality Of Earnings: An Accounting Model For Analysing Corporate Performance, M S Narasimhan, G Balasubramanian

IIMB Management Review

Strategic planning is the  process of deciding how to commit the firm’s resources across its business activities to create value. It i - cludes decisions on committig resources to new projects as well as improving existing activities The success of strategic planning depends on the extent to which the firm understands itself and the enviro - ment, particularly the industry and the market in which it operates. In the context of selfassessment and the firm’s relative position in the environme t, the ratios of key financial variables help firms gain an insight into their operating performance and financial health. However, …

The Merchant Power Plant: The Future Of Power Generation, Hari Natarajan

IIMB Management Review

 In most countries, till recently, the electrical supply industry (ESI) was either state owned and operated or was heavily regulated. However, with the recognition in the late 70s that this leads to severe misallocation of labour, capital and natural resources, many countries looked to restructure their ESI to introduce competition and allow the entry of the private sector. A typical restructuring exercise involved unbundling of generation, a potentially competitive sector, from transmission and distribution, which are considered to be natural monopolies. An outcome of the restructuring was the evolution of a new entity.

The Pilgrim's Progress: Operations Research In Queuing, G Raghuram

IIMB Management Review

Good management practice is synonymous with applying operations research (OR). Both imply a systematic approach beginning with clarity in problem definition, understanding the objectives and constraints, characterising the alternatives (these three steps constitute  model building), evaluating (analysing) them and finally selecting an alternative for implementation. In addition to this basic methodology, there is also an implication of a quantitative basis to the extent possible. It is this quantitative basis which lends to the common perception that good management practice is much larger than OR

Applications Of Or In The Indian Context, R Sankar, Muthulingam Suresh

IIMB Management Review

Operations Research (OR) originated in England during World War II. The first applications aimed at improving the operational efficiency of the radar defence systems deployed by the Royal Air Force. Very soon thereafter, OR methods and techniques were applied successfully to the resolution of complex industrial and commercial problems in areas such as scheduling, inventory management, strategic planning, resource allocation and transportation.