Business Commons^™

Smes “Growing Smart”: The Complementarity Of Intangible And Digital Investment In Small Firms And Their Contribution To Firm Performance, Eva Erjavec, Tjaša Redek, Črt Kostevc

Economic and Business Review

Like large companies, small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) are turning to new digital technologies and knowledge-based capital to bolster their productivity and growth. However, data show that smaller companies lag significantly in implementing new Industry 4.0 technologies and in the intensity of their use. Lack of skills and human capital is often cited as one of the biggest barriers. This paper examines the benefits of digital technologies, intangible capital, and in particular the role of complementary investments in new technologies and intangible capital to maximize the impact on productivity growth. The analysis draws on extensive firm-level datasets combining business and …

Effectiveness Of A Four-Days/Eight Hour Work Week, Mayer Sng, Wei Jian Khor, Toshiaki Oide, Shaen Chatrawit Suchar, Brian Chin Kiat Tan

Introduction to Research Methods RSCH 202

This research paper explores the benefits of a four-day workweek that may affect productivity, self-satisfaction, and life expectancy. We will be using data on a country-wide scale from 25 first world countries over four continents. We will perform regression analysis to investigate the impact of a four-day workweek. The data will be collected using free and public sources published online like Our World In Data and Statista, which include GDP per capita, life satisfaction rate, human development index, and annual working hours. The results of our research and analysis will show how each independent variable will affect the dependent variable …

Judicious Vulnerability: How Humility, Teachability, And Awareness Impact Teams In Organizational Settings, Mac Strachan

Intuition: The BYU Undergraduate Journal of Psychology

In some professions, such as medicine, law enforcement, athletics, and education, maintaining high performance standards while being emotionally stoic often leads to work fatigue and burnout. This state of being can be detrimental to the health of both the professionals and the organization that employs them, bringing into question the necessity of a culture driven by competition and ego. As such, this paper explores the concept of vulnerability as a means to explain cognitive and emotional processes that positively affect relational behavior and organizational culture. Judicious vulnerability sits at the intersection of humility, teachability, and awareness and has the capacity …

The Benefits Of A More Physically Active Workforce In The Corporate World, Dillon M. Billingham-Hemminger, Jacob D. Locke

Senior Theses

With the ever-expanding knowledge of the benefits of physical activity and good general health for all aspects of our lives, it should be quite surprising that activity levels are declining at accelerating rates. After taking a deeper look into the probable cause for this phenomenon, it becomes clearer that the increasing pressures of workplace culture are leading to more sedentary lifestyles.

This paper looks at the benefits of physical activity on people and on corporations, specifically workplace disease prevention and wellness programs, to see if there exists a mutualistic relationship between the two. For people, physical activity was consistently found …

Presenteeism, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is presenteeism? Presenteeism is not simply a matter of attending, or being physically present, at work. Rather, it refers to going to work while ill and, in some cases, also includes the concept of lost productivity as a result (Johns, 2010; McGregor, Sharma, Magee, Caputi, & Iverson, 2017). Unlike absenteeism, which can be measured through personnel records, presenteeism is measured by employee self-report via surveys or interviews. For the more limited definition (going to work ill), employees are asked whether or how often in the past they showed up to work when they were sick and should have taken …

Integrity Tests, Michael Cunningham, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What are integrity tests? Employee integrity tests are attitude self-report hiring tools that measure candidates’ disposition to productively perform their work, while refraining from counterproductive actions. Counterproductive actions include behaviors such as theft; safety and procedure violations; revealing confidential information or falsifying records; arguing with customers, clients and staff; and tardiness, absenteeism and job abandonment (Gruys, as cited in Sackett, 2002). There are many commercially available integrity tests, and they are often classified as either overt or personality based (Sackett, Burris, & Callahan, 1989). Overt integrity tests (also known as clear-purpose tests) are designed to directly assess attitudes regarding dishonest …

Understanding Employee Engagement: A Mixed-Methods Study, Joren M. Scharn

Theses & Dissertations

For over 4 decades businesses around the world have been conducting employee satisfaction surveys at regular intervals and this surfaced a strong positive relationship between employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and overall company performance. In recent years however, academics and researchers have reopened the debate on whether employee or job satisfaction metrics are in fact reliable indicators of productivity, suggesting that employee engagement has a far stronger correlation to productivity. This study addresses two interrelated problems that are associated with a practice that is common in working environments all over the world. According to literature, it is generally accepted that (a) …

Determinantes Macroeconómicos En El Incremento Del Salario Mínimo En Colombia Entre Los Años 2001-2017, Tatiana Catherine Vega Ramírez

Economía

El incremento del salario mínimo en las compañías aseguradoras es importante ya que mediante el aumento anual del salario mínimo, se estima el cálculo del pago de las rentas vitalicias que las aseguradoras deben realizar a sus clientes.

Las rentas vitalicias son una forma de pensión vida-ahorro donde el individuo o beneficiario (Pensionado) acuerda con su aseguradora el pago de una renta periódica hasta su fallecimiento a cambio de una prima única.

El salario se define como todo lo que involucre alguna retribución de servicios, es entonces, no sólo la remuneración ordinaria, fija o variable, sino además todo lo que …

A Cross-Cultural Examination Of The Effect Of Employer Support On Employee Productivity, Shawn Tuman, Haley Lipton

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The purpose of this creative, collaborative, capstone project is to conduct a cross-cultural examination of the effect of employer support on employee productivity by compiling, examining, and synthesizing conclusions from existing research. In a world of growing globalization and technological innovation, the speed of productivity is often the cornerstone that differentiates successful businesses from unsuccessful businesses, providing a competitive advantage to the quick while the others fall behind. Often this increased level of efficiency comes at a cost beyond the price of the product and the salary of employees, a deeper, psychological cost. By reviewing research focused in the United …

Impact Of Motivation On Project Teams’ Performance In Information Technology, Ramu Karanam

Dissertations and Theses

Sufficient motivation is a critical ingredient for any organization to derive optimal performances from their workforce. Project teams are an integral part of the efficient conduction of an information and communication technology company’s core operations. This study is dictated towards the evaluation of the main factors that influence the level of motivation portrayed by team members of information technology project teams. Through a comprehensive literature review, the research was able to uncover insightful trends in motivation patterns among project team members that might be useful to project managers. The findings of this research conclude that a project team manager can …

From Play To Performance: Building An Effective Organization, Jessica N. Selee, Jade Johnson, Jocelyn N. Murray, Anna Samuelson, Jasmine Li, Andrew Lacanienta, Mat D. Duerden, Mark Widmer

Marriott Student Review

Under the Mentored Experience Grant, six students studies the impact that non-work activities (recreation or leisure) have on individual contributors or organization. Some employees refrain from participating in Leisure-at-Work (LAW) due to lack of time or skill, to cliques, to differing preferences, or fear of negative connotations. Employees report that LAW increases productivity, establishes and enriches social interactions, improves communication, attracts and retains employees in a company, and facilitates a culture of engagement, trust, and camaraderie. At the conclusion of our analysis, we identified areas of future research and recommendations for best practice.

Effective Employee Engagement In The Workplace, Schrita Osborne, Mohamad S. Hammoud

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

Disengaged employees typically cost U.S. corporations $350 billion annually. The purpose of this case study was to explore strategies that some communication business leaders use to engage their employees. The target population consisted of four communication business leaders in Jackson, Mississippi, who possessed at least 1 year of successful employee engagement experience. The self-determination theory served as the study’s conceptual framework. Semistructured interviews were conducted, and the participating company’s archived documents were gathered. Patterns were identified through a rigorous process of data familiarization, data coding, and theme development and revision. Interpretations from the data were subjected to member-checking to ensure …

Human Resource Management Practices And Performance: A General Systems Perspective, Duckjung Shin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis consists of three essays on strategic human resource management (SHRM) based on general systems theory. The first essay introduces a systems perspective on SHRM, the second essay applies the feedback concept, and the third essay considers implementing human resource management (HRM) practices as adaptive systems. The three essays suggest that general systems theory extends the SHRM literature by considering antecedents, processes, and consequences of HRM in modern organizations.

In the first essay, I review the SHRM literature and identify four traditions in SHRM studies (economic, psychological, sociological, and critical perspectives). I propose a systems perspective on SHRM as …

Emotional Intelligence: A Leader's Impact On Productivity In A Distribution Environment, Herbert Callahan

Dissertations

ABSTRACT Emotional Intelligence: A Leader’s Impact on Productivity in a Distribution Environment by Herbert Callahan Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore and describe the impact of a supervisor’s Emotional Intelligence on the performance of the associates that work for them within a distribution environment. The research design will include assessing a supervisor’s levels of emotional intelligence through the administration of the Emotional Intelligence Appraisal®–Me Edition and will include the gathering of data through semi-structured interviews from identified associates that work with them. Methodology: Convenience purposeful sampling was used to identify supervisors within a distribution environment. A …

Symptomatic Leadership: The Impact Of Changing Demographics On Global Business, Linda L. Ridley

Publications and Research

The past several decades have displayed a focus on diversity in the workplace throughout the corporate environment. Questions remain: has the effort been at all impactful – or, due to its symbolic nature, has it only been a distraction? What behaviors would have been better emphasized to achieve full participation and opportunity by all actors in a firm?

Considerable research has revealed that attempts at diversity are clumsy at best; and spurious at worst. [i] The challenge for firms has been to develop a “business case” for why those contributing groups represented by women and people of color should be …

Street Cred For Hr - The Journey To Evaluating Hr Through Auditing, Chris Andrews

Dr Chris Andrews

Extract: When I first started looking at Human Resource Auditing the prevailing view was that it was good for ensuring that all of the components of a human resources program were in place and operating correctly. The problem was that it was not seen to provide a direct link between the audit results and the organisation’s overall effectiveness.

Exploring The Benefits Of Attracting, Recruiting And Retaining Mature Age Employees Up To And Beyond The Traditional Age Of Retirement: Perspectives From Western Australia, Jonathan Georgiou

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

There has been a recent upsurge in media attention surrounding Australia’s ageing workforce. A review of academic, media and grey literature highlighted inadequacies in existing workplace polices, as well as flaws in financial and social security schemes. Of particular concern were persistent negative attitudes and counterproductive policies regarding mature age employees (MAEs). Poor retention rates among this cohort of workers aged 45 years and over are leading to skilled labour shortages and losses in corporate knowledge. This expected mass exodus of mature cohorts into retirement has been predicted to negatively impact the socio-economic sustainability of ageing societies world-wide and is …

Identifying The Factors That Influence Conflict Management Behavior Of Human Resource Professionals In The Workplace: An Analysis Of The Relationship Between Personality And Conflict Management Behavior, Gail Joyce Shapiro

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

Effective conflict management in the workplace can reduce the negative consequences of conflict. These negative outcomes can include low productivity, health-related stress, increased employee turnover, or litigation. A Human Resource (HR) professional can help mitigate these negative outcomes in the workplace when using effective conflict management behavior with employees. However, there is a void in research pertaining to HR professionals’ use of conflict management behavior.

This quantitative, correlational research study examined whether personality has an impact on assertive or cooperative conflict management behavior of HR professionals in the workplace. Statistical testing found a significant relationship between the harmonious, people-person (a …

Adverse Selection And Incentives In An Early Retirement Program, Kenneth T. Whelan, Ronald G. Ehrenberg, Kevin F. Hallock, Ronald L. Seeber

Ronald G. Ehrenberg

We evaluate potential determinants of enrollment in an early retirement incentive program for non-tenure-track employees of a large university. Using administrative record on the eligible population of employees not covered by collective bargaining agreements, historical employee count and layoff data by budget units, and public information on unit budgets, we find dips in per-employee finance in a budget unit during the application year and higher recent per employee layoffs were associated with increased probabilities of eligible employee program enrollment. Our results also suggest, on average, that employees whose salaries are lower than we would predict given their personal characteristics and …

Performance Management: Chapter 7 In Human Resource Management, Gerard Mcmahon

Books/Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Three Plants, Three Futures, Lowell Turner

Lowell Turner

To spread teamwork and cooperation, managers need to reform themselves—especially their attitudes about workers. At NUMMI, management has provided a system of work and rewards that has earned the loyalty of most employees and local union leaders.

Helping Hands, Gary Pan

Gary PAN

With economic uncertainty prevailing in recent years, Singapore is being confronted with the challenges of managing growing aging population, acute land and labour constraints and rising business operating costs. If left unchecked, these challenges may threaten Singapore’s economic well-being and consequently its status as a global and financial hub. To address these challenges, many believe productivity-driven growth can deliver sustainable and inclusive economic development and improve Singapore’s standard of living over time. The National Productivity and Continuing Education Council (NPCEC), set up to spur Singapore to step up its efforts to boost skills and enterprise productivity, has identified the accountancy …

Change Management: The People Dimension, Gary Pan

Gary PAN

Many accounting professionals believe it is important to raise productivity in the accounting sector. A recent survey conducted by the Institute of Management Accountants (2011), however, highlighted that raising productivity, while a very important topic, can be a daunting challenge. Therefore, the urgent issue facing the accounting sector is to address the critical concern of how accounting professionals can be more productive?

Productivity, Return-On-Capital And Stock Price Performance, Andrew Lee, Tracey Zhang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Productivity improvements in businesses are invariably championed as value-enhancing propositions. Whether the improvements are labour-related or asset-related, the value of a business is arguably enhanced when its employees are more productive, its assets are utilised more productively, and its operations are conducted more efficiently.

Banking On Productivity, Chu Yeong Lim

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Streamlining processes and improving productivity in the accounting function has been identified as the single most important challenge in a survey of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) members conducted in 2011. This is despite the majority of members indicating that they have achieved significant long term productivity improvements. Some of the other challenges identified by the interviewees include managing change in a global environment, implementing an enterprise resource planning system and connecting finance to front office. Automation and investing in data analysis/ business intelligence tools are some of the tools used by the interviewees to improve productivity (IMA, 2011). …

Productivity Measurements For Accounting Functions, Themin Suwardy

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

The finance department is under pressure to enhance its own value contribution to the business, deliver high quality information and maintain effective controls. It is subject to the same continuing internal demands to reduce the cost of its own operations. To be more effi cient, be more productive. But many finance departments are in a quandary. They are unsure how to demonstrate whether they are delivering real value to the business and to what extent they meet best practice standards for world-class finance departments.

Change Management: The People Dimension, Gary Pan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Many accounting professionals believe it is important to raise productivity in the accounting sector. A recent survey conducted by the Institute of Management Accountants (2011), however, highlighted that raising productivity, while a very important topic, can be a daunting challenge. Therefore, the urgent issue facing the accounting sector is to address the critical concern of how accounting professionals can be more productive?

Helping Hands, Gary Pan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

With economic uncertainty prevailing in recent years, Singapore is being confronted with the challenges of managing growing aging population, acute land and labour constraints and rising business operating costs. If left unchecked, these challenges may threaten Singapore’s economic well-being and consequently its status as a global and financial hub. To address these challenges, many believe productivity-driven growth can deliver sustainable and inclusive economic development and improve Singapore’s standard of living over time. The National Productivity and Continuing Education Council (NPCEC), set up to spur Singapore to step up its efforts to boost skills and enterprise productivity, has identified the accountancy …

Adaptive Guidance: Effects On Self-Regulated Learning In Technology-Based Training, Bradford S. Bell, Adam Kanar, Xiangmin Liu, Jane Forman, Mila Singh

Bradford S Bell

Guidance provides trainees with the information necessary to make effective use of the learner control inherent in technology-based training, but also allows them to retain a sense of control over their learning (Bell & Kozlowski, 2002). One challenge, however, is determining how much learner control, or autonomy, to build into the guidance strategy. We examined the effects of alternative forms of guidance (autonomy supportive vs. controlling) on trainees’ learning and performance, and examined trainees’ cognitive ability and motivation to learn as potential moderators of these effects. Consistent with our hypotheses, trainees receiving adaptive guidance had higher levels of knowledge and …

Generational Perceptions Of Productive/Unproductive Information Received From Management Through Different Communication Channels, Eva Lynn Cowell

Doctoral Dissertations

This exploratory study identified generational preferences for receiving information from management through different communication channels and determined if age predicted productivity for productive and unproductive information received through different communication channels. This is the first study to empirically examine the relationship between age cohorts, communication channel preferences, information categories, and productivity. Sample participants worked as Extension agents at a major land-grant university. The four generations represented in the sample utilized multiple communication channels and were geographically dispersed throughout the state. The survey was administered electronically and completed by 204 (74%) of the eligible 275 employees in the organization. Independent Samples …