Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Ssrn As An Initial Revolution In Academic Knowledge Aggregation And Dissemination, David Bray, Sascha Vitzthum, Benn Konsynski

Sascha Vitzthum

Within this paper we consider our results of using the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) over a period of 18 months to distribute our working papers to the research community. Our experiences have been quite positive, with SSRN serving as a platform both to inform our colleagues about our research as well as inform us about related research (through email and telephoned conversations of colleagues who discovered our paper on SSRN). We then discuss potential future directions for SSRN to consider, and how SSRN might well represent an initial revolution in 21st century academic knowledge aggregation and dissemination. Our paper …

It Takes More Than House Calls: Organizing To Win With A Comprehensive Union-Building Strategy, Kate Bronfenbrenner, Tom Juravich

Kate Bronfenbrenner

[Excerpt] Until recently, some national and local union leaders still argued that labor should circle the wagons and take care of existing members rather than spend scarce resources on organizing nonunion workers. Today those voices have largely been silenced by the hard numbers of labor's dramatic decline. As expressed in the platform of the new AFL-CIO leadership slate, the American labor movement must "organize at an unprecedented pace and scale." The question unions face today is no longer whether to make organizing a priority but how that can best be achieved.

Final Report : The Effects Of Plant Closing Or Threat Of Plant Closing On The Right Of Workers To Organize, Kate Bronfenbrenner

Kate Bronfenbrenner

No abstract provided.

The Evolution Of Strategic And Coordinated Bargaining Campaigns In The 1990s: The Steelworkers’ Experience, Kate Bronfenbrenner, Tom Juravich

Kate Bronfenbrenner

"With the refocusing of attention of the labor movement on organizing, an increasing number of scholars have been directing their research toward the nature and practice of current union organizing efforts. These scholars have begun updating a literature that had grown sorely out of touch with the organizing experience of America’s unions and have provided the foundation for a more sophisticated understanding of the organizing process. While we applaud this resurgence in organizing research, there has not been a comparable resurgence in research on collective bargaining…"

Worker Turnover And Part-Time Employment At Ups, Kate Bronfenbrenner

Kate Bronfenbrenner

Over the last ten years we have seen a dramatic increase in the utilization of part-time workers by the United Parcel Service (UPS). This increase has been coupled with a stunningly high turnover rate of 150 percent among these workers. This study documents the deteriorating work environment for part-time workers at UPS and finds that a lack of full-time opportunities, a pervasive pattern of management mistreatment, and an alarmingly high injury rate are the primary determinants of the high turnover rate.

Towards Self-Organizing, Smart Business Networks: Let’S Create ‘Life’ From Inert Information, David Bray, Benn Konsynski

David A. Bray

We review three different theories that can inform how researchers can determine the performance of smart business networks, to include: (1) the Theory of Evolution, (2) the Knowledge-Based Theory of the Firm, and (3) research insights into computers and cognition. We suggest that each of these theories demonstrate that to be generally perceived as smart, an organism needs to be self-organizing, communicative, and tool-making. Consequentially, to determine the performance of a smart business network, we suggest that researchers need to determine the degree to which it is self-organizing, communicative, and tool-making. We then relate these findings to the Internet and …

The Italian Chamber Of Lords Sits On Listed Company Boards. An Empirical Analysis Of Italian Listed Company Boards From 1998 To 2006 - Presentation (Powerpoint Format), Paolo Santella, Carlo Drago, Andrea Polo

Paolo Santella

No abstract provided.

Alleviating Global Poverty Through Profitable Partnerships: Moral Imagination & Economic Well-Being, Laura Hartman, P. Werhane, D. Moberg, S. Kelley

Laura Hartman

While at least one out of six in the global human population cannot meet the basic demands of survival and they have little ability to buy goods and services, this situation also presents potential new markets for multinational enterprises seeking long-term sustainability. If economic growth is a continuing and positive goal for the planet and for global companies, then, as markets in developed economies become saturated, these new markets provide fresh opportunities to satisfy this objective.

Community Partnerships: Creating Tangible Benefits From Community Engagement, David Cooke Dr

David Cooke

A deeper understanding of the complimentary skills sets of corporations and the not-for-profit sector reveals that they have much to offer each other and that returns on investmnent for corporations and a greater flow of funds to charitable organisations can be achieved through the study of effective partnerships.

Book Review 18 Make Room For Happiness By Steven Melemis, William C. Mcpeck

William C. McPeck

This is my review of Make Room for Happiness: 12 Ways to Improve Your Life By Letting Go of Tension. Better Health, Self-Esteem and Relationships by Steven Melemis, published by Modern Therapies in 2008.

Quashing The Financial Firestorm, Aaron S. Edlin

Aaron Edlin

Start the financial rescue with containment, establish unlimited deposit insurance and continuous access to funds, then move to a well thought-out plan to quash the financial flames.

Why Don't They Learn?, Cynthia D. Fisher

Cynthia D. Fisher

Extract: Highhouse (2008) suggests that managers’ ‘‘stubborn’’ preferences for suboptimal selection practices are based on two beliefs: (1) that selection decisions can be near 100% correct and (2) that the expertise and intuition needed to make perfect decisions are developed by experience. I will suggest mechanisms by which these beliefs persist in the face of what should be contradictory feedback.

Industrialization Strategy And Industrial Relations Policy In Malaysia, Sarosh C. Kuruvilla

Sarosh Kuruvilla

[Excerpt] In this chapter, a different view is taken of the relationship between industrialization strategies and industrial relations policy and practice. I argue that it is not the logic of industrialism or the levels of industrialization per se but the choice of an industrialization strategy and the shifts between such strategies that influence changes in industrial relations policies.

Linkages Between Industrialization Strategies And Industrial Relations/Human Resource Policies: Singapore, Malaysia, The Philippines, And India, Sarosh Kuruvilla

Sarosh Kuruvilla

The case studies of Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, and India presented in this paper support the author's contention that a country's industrialization strategy for economic development profoundly influences its industrial relations (IR) and human resources (HR) policy goals. The author finds that import substitution industrialization was associated with IR/HR policy goals of pluralism and stability, while a low-cost export-oriented industrialization strategy was associated with IR/HR policy goals of cost containment and union suppression. In countries that moved from a low-cost export-oriented strategy to a higher value added export-oriented strategy, the focus of IR/HR policy goals shifted from cost containment to …

Bosses’ Perceptions Of Work-Family Conflict And Women’S Upward Mobility: The Glass Ceiling Reexamined, Grace Lemmon

Grace Lemmon

No abstract provided.

The Interactive Effect Of Political Skill And Growth-Need On Outcomes: Boundaries On The Utility Of Workplace Political Behavior, Grace Lemmon

Grace Lemmon

No abstract provided.

Information Literacy In The New Curriculum, Michiel Moll

Michiel E Moll

South Africa has undergone major changes in the school curriculum. At the same time, international emphasis on the importance of Information Literacy has found reflections locally in many calls for the development of school libraries (e.g. Arnold, 2002: 178), but has remained a problem in the actual implementation. This is also reflected in initial teacher training which has moved Information Literacy to a skill of the teacher, rather than an essential part of the curriculum that they have to teach.

This paper first looks briefly at the changes in national curricula in South Africa, and then at the current curriculum, …

Person-Team Fit And Team Performance As Moderators Of The Relationship Between Lmx And Work Outcomes, Grace Lemmon

Grace Lemmon

No abstract provided.

Information Literacy In The New Curriculum, Michiel E. Moll

Michiel E Moll

South Africa has undergone major changes in the school curriculum. At the same time, international emphasis on the importance of Information Literacy has found reflections locally in many calls for the development of school libraries (e.g. Arnold, 2002: 178), but has remained a problem in the actual implementation. This is also reflected in initial teacher training which has moved Information Literacy to a skill of the teacher, rather than an essential part of the curriculum that they have to teach.

This paper first looks briefly at the changes in national curricula in South Africa, and then at the current curriculum, …

Determinants Of Undergraduate Level Business School Choice In The Uk: The Role Of Research Reputation, Ibrahim Sirkeci, Richard Mannix

Ibrahim Sirkeci

This study investigates the role of research reputation in student choice of business school in the UK. Within the growing student demand globally along with increasing competition it is important to understand the value the service receivers (i.e. students) attach to the research reputation which often is a key determinant in university rankings. A review of the literature in this area revealed that little had been done on defining what was meant by research reputation and the specific role that this had on student choices in business schools. This gap in the literature formed the rationale for this study. We …

Distinguishing Owner Compensation From Profit In Closely Held Companies: In Search Of A Responsibility Premium, Michael Sack Elmaleh

Michael Sack Elmaleh

The application of the income method of valuation requires that owner compensation be distinguished from free cash flow. The “proper” parsing of compensation and free cash flow can be the largest point of contention in contested valuation disputes. The preferred method of parsing is the substitution method which says that the proper allocation should be based on the wage that would have to be paid to a non owner employee. In this article I argue that owner employees carry additional responsibilities that are not normally borne by non owner employees. These additional responsibilities require that a premium be paid the …

Islamic Finance Unit Takes Bank Beyond Michigan Roots, Karen Hunt Ahmed

Karen Hunt Ahmed

No abstract provided.

The Italian Chamber Of Lords Sits On Listed Company Boards. An Empirical Analysis Of Italian Listed Company Boards From 1998 To 2006 - Presentation (Powerpoint Format), Paolo Santella, Carlo Drago, Andrea Polo

Paolo Santella

No abstract provided.

Book Review 12 Happy For No Reason: 7 Steps To Being Happy From The Inside Out By Marci Shimoff, William C. Mcpeck

William C. McPeck

This is my personal review of Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out by Marci Shimoff and published by Free Press in 2008.

Exposure To Intermediaries And The Meanings Managers Hold: Evidence From Manufacturing Best Practices Programs, Peter Cebon, E. Geoffrey Love

Peter Cebon

No abstract provided.

Pre-Test Assessment, Thomas D. Berry

Thomas D Berry

Corporate Creep: An Institutional View Of Consultancies In A Non-Profit Organisation, H. J. Irvine

Helen Irvine

Professional consultants play a role in mobilising the “creep” of corporate practices from the for-profit sector, through the public sector and into the nonprofit sector. As well as legitimising these practices, consultancies illustrate the power of professional groups to institute change across sectors. In spite of this, the proliferation of consultancies is under-researched, particularly in the increasingly sophisticated nonprofit sector. In one year, one religious/charitable organisation (RCO) commissioned no fewer than five consultancies. This study provides insights about the process by which the consultancies were commissioned, conducted and adopted as RCO grappled with the applicability of corporate practices and its …

Mimetic Marketing In Environmental Volunteering Organisations, Sara Dolnicar, H. J. Irvine, K. Lazarevski, Melanie J. Randle

Helen Irvine

The last decade has seen increased competition amongst voluntary organisations. This has resulted in a number of changes to the nonprofit sector, such as increased levels of scrutiny and accountability. Voluntary organisations compete not only for limited numbers of volunteers but also for limited grant funding made available at local, state and federal government levels. Increased competition has placed pressure on organisations to take a more commercial approach to the management of their organisations and to adopt what have been previously considered ‘for profit’ business practices such as marketing. This empirical study uses neo-institutional theory to investigate the marketing of …

The Globalization Of Accounting Standards: The Case Of The United Arab Emirates, H. J. Irvine, N. Lucas

Helen Irvine

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are a manifestation of globalization, with financial reports prepared under IFRS presenting an image consistent with that of multinational corporations and developed countries. Developing countries and emerging economies, in pursuing the global economic benefits offered by the adoption of IFRS, face challenges in adapting their regulatory infrastructure and culture to western-oriented accounting standards. Based on data gathered primarily from archival sources, this paper suggests that the UAE, in embracing globalization and adopting IFRS, will need to develop appropriate regulatory systems to overcome cultural issues relating to secrecy and fraud.

Taking A Closer Look: The Why And How Of New Accounting Practices In An Australian Religious/Charitable Organisation, H. J. Irvine

Helen Irvine

Neo-institutional sociology proposes that organisations in a particular field behave in essentially the same way. In taking for granted the prevalence of institutionalised activities, such as accounting, however, it offers little in the way of penetrating insights into how, and to what extent, those activities are actually introduced and embedded into individual organisations. Changes in the nonprofit environment in Australia in recent years have catapulted organisations in that sector into a new corporate mode of operation, providing a unique opportunity not only to observe the introduction of new accounting practices, but also to critique the usefulness of neo-institutionalism as a …