Work, Economy and Organizations | Open Access Articles

Working Together, Celebrating Uniqueness, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Gender and professionalism make up a person’s uniqueness. How can managers get everyone on accomplishing the same goal despite their different approaches to the task at hand?

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Mattering Matters: Agency, Empowerment, And Mobile Phone Use By Female Microentrepreneurs, Han Ei Chew, Vigneswara P. Ilavarasan, Mark R. Levy

Research Collection Office of Impact

This article attempts to enrich our understanding of the role that mobile phones play in the empowerment of women in the developing world. We adapt and explicate an innovative social psychological concept, “mattering,” embed it in the literature that examines the impact of mobile phones on social development outcomes, and consider the utility of mattering for the ICT4D community. Mattering is the perception that others are aware of, interested in, and depend on us. Based on a sample of 335 female microentrepreneurs in Chennai, India, we created a valid and reliable measure of mattering and its three dimensions. Mattering was …

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A Tale Of Two Bosses: Why Strong Female Leaders Are Seen As Inauthentic, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

New analysis of media portrayal reveals the gender bias in leadership perceptions

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Working Inclusiveness Into Society, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Treating the disabled as no different from able-bodied folks and holding them to the same standards are key

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Keeping It In The Family, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Passion for the family business is crucial for second-generation leaders

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What Women Want: Work-Life Balance, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Madhabi Puri-Buch offers advice on how women can strike a balance between family responsibility and career development.

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Innovating Without A Brief: Tackling Urban Poverty Through Anthropology, Data, Design And Lean Methods, Bernise Ang

Social Space

Social innovation labs are witnessing a new entrant in an unexpected form: civic initiatives reflecting the rigour of social sciences, the analytical power of data, the innovation frameworks from design, and the agility to span the innovation of Silicon Valley to grassrootsdriven change. Bernise Ang deconstructs a composite methodology blended with a complexity that matches the issues the method seeks to tackle.

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Are We Really Making A Difference?: Lessons From Nesta's Innovation Lab, Philip Colligan

Social Space

Are public and social innovation labs achieving impact? Philip Colligan from Nesta's Innovation Lab looks at how we can answer the most important question of whether labs are indeed making a difference to societies.

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Working It Out: Migrants’ Perspectives Of Social Inclusion In The Workplace, George Major, Agnes Terraschke, Emily Major, Charlotte Setijadi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper explores the concept of social inclusion from the perspective of recent migrants, from language backgrounds other than English, at work in Australia. We adopt an understanding of social inclusion that acknowledges the importance of economic independence, while also considering migrants’ feelings of connectedness at work and their sense of belonging. Based on qualitative interviews with migrants collected two years apart, we explore the ways language and language practices can lead to feelings of inclusion or exclusion at work. The data suggests that migrants who felt included at work often had colleagues and/or bosses who actively supported and encouraged …

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Winning The Global Contest For Talent, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Knowing what workers want help keep them at your company. But don’t forget about your managers.

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When I'M 64: The Aging Of Southeast Asia, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Family structures in Southeast Asia are changing, presaging a need for sound policies to cover its rapidly aging citizenry.

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Future Of Jobs, Li Peng, Ning Wang, Phei Sunn Sim

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article highlights three trends that are disruptingthe job market’s ability to link education, jobs andincomes, examining the implications of these trendsand identifying possible early signposts.

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Adaptability In Socio-Political Contexts: Moving Beyond Ability And Intelligence, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

The ability to adapt in an ever-changing environment is critical for success, if not, survival. Most people would acknowledge that change management can sometimes be a discomforting and bumpy process. This applies not just with individuals and organisations, but also with governments. While the former two may adapt privately, governments, represented by politicians and public officers, often have the unenviable task of demonstrating adaptability under the watchful eyes of their public. Slip-ups, trips and falls thus come at greater costs, which go well beyond mere embarrassment.

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An Inside Job: To Get On The Right Career Track, Look Within, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Many people may dream about becoming a doctor, but only a few can join the profession. Candidates to the job must not only possess exceptional academic ability, but also, the physical and psychological stamina for typically long, intense shifts that involve giving comfort to the unwell.

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Part Of The Job: The Positive Side Of Office Politics, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Backstabbing, gossiping, and the dangerously, flirtatious dance of the corporate moth around the office fire – also known as workplace politics – can be a costly affair. A 2002 British survey found that managers spent an hour a day engaged in politics. Such actions and more cost the UK an estimated 7.8b GBP in productivity loss a year.

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Large Mutual Fund Families: Bigger May Not Always Be Better, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Size is not everything but it may be intuitive for the novice investor to place his money in a mutual fund from large fund families thinking that it will outperform the smaller ones.

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Social Renaissance: When Governments, Businesses And Society Collaborate, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

The world has been great at inventing high-tech “stuff” but it hasn’t been so good “at things to do with humanity and people” said Geoff Mulgan, chief executive of NESTA, the UK’s National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts. He was speaking at Social iCon 2011, a conference jointly organised by the Lien Centre for Social Innovation, the Young Foundationand Ashoka. Held at Singapore Management University (SMU), the conference saw a gathering of veteran social innovators eager to share their experiences with participants.

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Evolving With The Times: The Changing Landscape Of Work Life Integration In Singapore, Paulin Tay Straughan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This year, we celebrate 10 years of our journey and look toward a new chapter in our history as we communicate the relevance and increasing importance of Work-Life strategies for developing human capital today. We consolidated research studies on Work-Life Integration to date so as to understand what has been accomplished in this field and set directions and trends for future research. We commissioned A/P Paulin Tay Straughan, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences and Deputy Head of the Department of Sociology at the National University of Singapore, to conduct this research. The study unearthed several interesting …

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The Political Mobilization Of Corporate Directors: Socio-Economic Correlates Of Affiliation To European Pressure Groups, Matthew Bond, Siana Glouharova, Nicholas Harrigan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Business has played a central role in the debate over Britain's place in the European Union. This paper examines the socio-economic characteristics of directors of Britain's largest corporations who affiliated either to Business for Sterling or Britain in Europe. It reports associations between directors' social backgrounds and their probabilities of affiliation. Elite university education, club membership, wealth and multiple directorships were all associated with higher propensities to affiliate. The associations are consistent with the idea that directors' social resources allow them to overcome collective action problems as well as supplying them with the motivations to affiliate. They also indicated that …

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Chinese Loyalty To Supervisor Questionnaire Development, Ding-Yu Jiang, Bor-Shuian Cheng, Chi-Ying Cheng, Li-Fang Chou

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Loyalty to supervisor is a prevalent but under-investigated phenomenon in Chinese organizations. One plausible reason for this is the lack of a reliable and valid measure of loyalty in the Chinese context. This study aims to develop a valid measure of Chinese loyalty to supervisor. In Study 1, we identify a four-dimension construct of loyalty to supervisor that consists of 11 sub-dimensions (factors) on the basis of loyalty literature. The four dimensions are: identification with supervisor, task assistance, obedience, and sacrifice for supervisor. In Study 2, a 40-item Chinese loyalty to supervisor scale was developed and examined by three independent …

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Connected Lives And Embeddedness: Reading Zelizer With Granovetter – A Review And Critique, Deirdre Caputo-Levine, Alwyn Lim, Celine. Wills

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Our concern is to read Viviana Zelizer’s Purchase of Intimacy inrelation to Mark Granovetter’s embeddedness framework. We compare Zelizer’s connected-lives approach to the embeddedness literature in orderto tease out the similarities, differences, and improvements in the wayseconomic sociologists examine the intertwining of economic and socialbehavior. We argue that although Zelizer and Granovetter both focus onthis intermeshing of socioeconomic action, their perspectives reflect theirdiffering starting points: economic transactions or intimate relationships.We believe Zelizer’s connected-lives approach gives fresh insight to thenew economic sociology but we have some reservations regarding hertreatment of reciprocity and power in intimate relationships.

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Dynamic Resource Allocation And Adaptability In Teamwork, Steve W. J. Kozlowski, Richard P. Deshon, Grace Park, Paul Curran, Goran Kuljanin, Brady Firth

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Team performance and adaptability. A team is a set of two or more people who interact, dynamically, interdependently, and adaptively toward a common and valued goal, each having specific roles or functions to perform, and a limited life-span of membership (Salas, Dickinson, Converse, & Tannenbaum, 1992). We assume that all cognition originates within the individual. Therefore, to understand adaptive team processes it is important to understand the ways in which being a team member affects individual cognitive processes. We also assume that unique collective constructs and processes emerge at the team level from the dynamic interaction of team members that …

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Relationships, Layoffs, And Organizational Resilience: Airline Industry Responses To September 11, Jody H. Gittell, Kim Cameron, Sandy Lim, Victor Rivas

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, affected the U.S. airline industry more than almost any other industry. Certain airlines emerged successful and demonstrated remarkable resilience while others languished. This investigation identifies reasons why some airline companies recovered successfully after the attacks while others struggled. Evidence is provided that layoffs after the crisis, although intended to foster recovery, instead inhibited recovery throughout the 4 years after the crisis. But, layoffs after the crisis were strongly correlated with lack of financial reserves and lack of a viable business model prior to the crisis. Digging deeper, the authors find that having a …

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Review Of Theory Of Regular Economies, Zhenlin Yang

Research Collection School Of Economics

This book provides a systematic treatment of the theory of regular economies, one of themost advanced topics in modern general equilibrium theory, emphasizing on the basiceconomic ideas, mathematical tools and important economic applications. By introducingthe necessary mathematical tools, in particular the Differential Topology, graduallywhen needed, Professor Nagata has made this highly mathematical subject understandableto many readers including graduate students in economics. Through the study of variousimportant theoretical problems such as the existence of equilibria, local uniqueness andfiniteness of the set of equilibria, inefficiency of equilibria, etc., Professor Nagata has demonstratedhow successful it is to use mathematics to study important theoretical …

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Rhythms Of Life: Antecedents And Outcomes Of Work-Family Balance In Employed Parents, Samuel Aryee, E. S. Srinivas, Hwee Hoon Tan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study examined antecedents and outcomes of a fourfold taxonomy of work-family balance in terms of the direction of influence (work-family vs. family-work) and type of effect (conflict vs. facilitation). Respondents were full-time employed parents in India. Confirmatory factor analysis results provided evidence for the discriminant validity of M. R. Frone' s (2003) fourfold taxonomy of work-family balance. Results of moderated regression analysis revealed that different processes underlie the conflict and facilitation components. Furthermore, gender had only a limited moderating influence on the relationships between the antecedents and the components of work-family balance. Last, work-family facilitation was related to the …

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Sources Of Work-Family Conflict: A Sino-U.S. Comparison Of The Effects Of Work And Family Demands, Nini Yang, Chao C. Chen, Jaepil Choi, Yimin Zou

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Given differences in values about work and family time, it is hypothesized that Americans will experience greater family demand, which will have greater impact on work-family conflict, whereas the Chinese will experience greater work demand, which will have the greater impact on work-family conflict. The results of a survey of working men and women in the 2 countries generally support the hypotheses; however, work demand did not differ significantly between the 2 countries and did not have a greater effect than family demand on work-family conflict in China.

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Full-Text Articles in Work, Economy and Organizations

Working Together, Celebrating Uniqueness, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Mattering Matters: Agency, Empowerment, And Mobile Phone Use By Female Microentrepreneurs, Han Ei Chew, Vigneswara P. Ilavarasan, Mark R. Levy

Research Collection Office of Impact

A Tale Of Two Bosses: Why Strong Female Leaders Are Seen As Inauthentic, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Working Inclusiveness Into Society, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Keeping It In The Family, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

What Women Want: Work-Life Balance, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Innovating Without A Brief: Tackling Urban Poverty Through Anthropology, Data, Design And Lean Methods, Bernise Ang

Social Space

Are We Really Making A Difference?: Lessons From Nesta's Innovation Lab, Philip Colligan

Social Space

Working It Out: Migrants’ Perspectives Of Social Inclusion In The Workplace, George Major, Agnes Terraschke, Emily Major, Charlotte Setijadi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Winning The Global Contest For Talent, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

When I'M 64: The Aging Of Southeast Asia, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Future Of Jobs, Li Peng, Ning Wang, Phei Sunn Sim

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Adaptability In Socio-Political Contexts: Moving Beyond Ability And Intelligence, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

An Inside Job: To Get On The Right Career Track, Look Within, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Part Of The Job: The Positive Side Of Office Politics, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Large Mutual Fund Families: Bigger May Not Always Be Better, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Social Renaissance: When Governments, Businesses And Society Collaborate, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Evolving With The Times: The Changing Landscape Of Work Life Integration In Singapore, Paulin Tay Straughan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The Political Mobilization Of Corporate Directors: Socio-Economic Correlates Of Affiliation To European Pressure Groups, Matthew Bond, Siana Glouharova, Nicholas Harrigan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Chinese Loyalty To Supervisor Questionnaire Development, Ding-Yu Jiang, Bor-Shuian Cheng, Chi-Ying Cheng, Li-Fang Chou

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Connected Lives And Embeddedness: Reading Zelizer With Granovetter – A Review And Critique, Deirdre Caputo-Levine, Alwyn Lim, Celine. Wills

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Dynamic Resource Allocation And Adaptability In Teamwork, Steve W. J. Kozlowski, Richard P. Deshon, Grace Park, Paul Curran, Goran Kuljanin, Brady Firth

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Relationships, Layoffs, And Organizational Resilience: Airline Industry Responses To September 11, Jody H. Gittell, Kim Cameron, Sandy Lim, Victor Rivas

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Review Of Theory Of Regular Economies, Zhenlin Yang

Research Collection School Of Economics

Rhythms Of Life: Antecedents And Outcomes Of Work-Family Balance In Employed Parents, Samuel Aryee, E. S. Srinivas, Hwee Hoon Tan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Sources Of Work-Family Conflict: A Sino-U.S. Comparison Of The Effects Of Work And Family Demands, Nini Yang, Chao C. Chen, Jaepil Choi, Yimin Zou

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business