Best Practices in Diversity Management

[Excerpt] The International Personnel Management Association (IPMA) has undertaken a human resource benchmarking project with the National Association of State Personnel Executives (NASPE). IPMA is an organization representing over 1,700 organizations and 2,500 individuals involved in public sector human resource management. The Association’s mission is to optimize organizational and individual performance in the public service by providing human resource leadership, professional development, information and services. IPMA has established an International Human Resource Advisory Board to facilitate the exchange of information on international human resource developments. The International Human Resource Advisory Board has 37 members from 35 countries and international organizations. Additional information about IPMA can be obtained at http://www.ipma-hr.org

From "best practice" to "best fit": a framework for designing and analyzing pluralistic agricultural advisory services worldwide

"The paper develops a framework for the design and analysis of pluralistic agricultural advisory services and reviews research methods from different disciplines that can be used when applying the framework. Agricultural advisory services are defined in the paper as the entire set of organizations that support and facilitate people engaged in agricultural production to solve problems and to obtain information, skills and technologies to improve their livelihoods and well-being... To classify pluralistic agricultural advisory services, the paper distinguishes between organizations from the public, the private and the third sector that can be involved in (a) providing and (b) financing of agricultural advisory services. The framework for analyzing pluralistic agricultural advisory services presented in the paper addresses the need for analytical approaches that help policy-makers to identify those reform options that best fit country-specific frame conditions. Thus, the paper supports a shift from a “one-size-fits-all” to a “best fit” approach in the reform of public services... Based on a review of the literature, the paper presents a variety of quantitative and qualitative methodological approaches derived from different disciplines that can be applied when using the framework in empirical research projects. The disciplines include agricultural and institutional economics, communication theory, adult education, and public administration and management. The paper intends to inform researchers as well as practitioners, policy-makers and development partners who are interested in supporting evidence-based reform of agricultural advisory services. from Authors' AbstractAgricultural extension work, Pro-poor growth, Capacity strengthening,

Conference on Proposed Amendments: Experts, the Rules of Completeness, and Sequestration of Witnesses

This conference was held on October 19, 2018, at University of Denver Sturm College of Law under the sponsorship of the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Evidence Rules. The transcript has been lightly edited. It represents the panelists’ individual views only and in no way reflects those of their affiliated firms, organizations, law schools, or the judiciary

The Establishment of Effective Advisory Boards for Promoting Social Justice in the Arts on College Campuses

This paper focuses on some of the important aspects of establishing an advisory board on college campuses for governing arts organizations with social justice missions. In contrast to Boards of Directors of for-profit corporations, the nonprofit advisory board services the needs of organizations by performing services aimed at assisting the activities of the organization. Most boards are made up of people who like the same things and who support the same causes. This is especially true for arts organizations which tend to have a homogeneous board make-up. This paper makes the argument that advisory boards are an important component of arts organizations with a social justice mission and purporting the board members are unique volunteers with a social consciousness which supports efforts to advance the cause of underrepresented and disenfranchised populations. Board members are responsible for some strategic administrative functions which are outlined in this paper. Furthermore, this paper attempts to capture the essence of why advisory boards are necessary for successful arts organizations working on social justice activities

How to make agricultural extension demand-driven?: The case of India's agricultural extension policy

"Many countries have recognized the need to revive agricultural advisory or extension services (the terms are used interchangeably here) as a means of using agriculture as an engine of pro-poor growth; reaching marginalized, poor, and female farmers; and addressing new challenges, such as environmental degradation and climate change. In spite of ample experience with extension reform worldwide, identifying the reform options most likely to make extension more demand-driven remains a major challenge. The concept of demand-driven services implies making extension more responsive to the needs of all farmers, including women and those who are poor and marginalized. It also implies making extension more accountable to farmers and, as a consequence, more effective. This essay discusses various options for providing and financing agricultural advisory services, which involve the public and private sectors as well as a third sector comprising nongovernmental organizations and farmer-based organizations. We review the market and state failures, and the “community” failures (failures of non-governmental and farmer-based organizations) inherent in existing models of providing and financing agricultural extension services and then outline strategies to address those failures and make extension demand-driven. Then we examine India's Policy Framework for Agricultural Extension, which has demand-driven extension as one of its major objectives, and review available survey information on the state of extension in India. We conclude that although the framework proposes a wide range of strategies to make agricultural extension demand-driven, it is less specific in addressing the challenges inherent in those strategies. Moreover, it remains unclear whether the strategies proposed in the framework will be able to address one of the major problems identified by farm household surveys: access to agricultural extension." from Authors' AbstractDemand-driven agricultural advisory services, Extension reform, Agricultural extension work, Agricultural policy, Pro-poor growth, Farmers, Environmental degradation, Climate change, Public-private sector cooperation, Non-governmental organizations,

Hunger Report

In August 2008, as part of The Chicago Community Trust's and the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning's (CMAP) joint effort to develop a long-range plan for the Chicago region, a "hunger advisory committee" comprised of 20 individuals representing an array of community-based nonprofit organizations, government agencies and private corporations came together for the first of six meetings. The purpose of the advisory committee was to produce a planning document that would provide an overview of hunger in our region, identify the challenges and opportunities in responding to hunger, and identify strategies that would lead to the elimination of hunger and, in turn, create a stronger and healthier community. Over the course of nine months, the Hunger Advisory Committee defined a vision of equitable access to quality food, along with supporting principles that laid the groundwork for a set of recommendations that will redefine the way families and individuals access emergency and supplemental food within our region.While the Hunger Advisory Committee recognizes hunger as a symptom of poverty and, thus, is unlikely to be entirely eradicated in three decades, we also believe that an enhanced, streamlined system can ensure that all individuals in our region -- regardless of age, gender, race, economic circumstances, or citizenship status -- should and can have access to quality, nutritious food delivered in a dignified manner

Preliminary Results in a Multi-site Empirical Study on Cross-organizational ERP Size and Effort Estimation

This paper reports on initial findings in an empirical study carried out with representatives of two ERP vendors, six ERP adopting organizations, four ERP implementation consulting companies, and two ERP research and advisory services firms. Our study’s goal was to gain understanding of the state-of-the practice in size and effort estimation of cross-organizational ERP projects. Based on key size and effort estimation challenges identified in a previously published literature survey, we explored some difficulties, fallacies and pitfalls these organizations face. We focused on collecting empirical evidence from the participating ERP market players to assess specific facts about the state-of-the-art ERP size and effort estimation practices. Our study adopted a qualitative research method based on an asynchronous online focus group

Establishing Cognitive Legitimacy in Emerging Organizations: The Role of Prestige

Entrepreneurs with venture ideas must establish cognitive legitimacy so they can acquire essential resources needed for survival. We extend the concept of cognitive legitimacy by developing a model through which entrepreneurs in emerging high growth organizations attempt to establish and build cognitive legitimacy. This is based on the composition of their new venture team and advisory board. Novice entrepreneurs can draw on the prestige of their new venture team and advisory board to enhance perceptions of their emerging organization's cognitive legitimacy. Novelty of the venture idea moderates relationships between both new venture team prestige and advisory board prestige and cognitive legitimacy; thus entrepreneurs whose emerging organizations rely on highly novel products or services will likely need to establish higher levels of prestige to create cognitive legitimacy

Establishing Cognitive Legitimacy in Emerging Organizations: The Role of Prestige

Entrepreneurs with venture ideas must establish cognitive legitimacy so they can acquire essential resources needed for survival. We extend the concept of cognitive legitimacy by developing a model through which entrepreneurs in emerging high growth organizations attempt to establish and build cognitive legitimacy. This is based on the composition of their new venture team and advisory board. Novice entrepreneurs can draw on the prestige of their new venture team and advisory board to enhance perceptions of their emerging organization\u27s cognitive legitimacy. Novelty of the venture idea moderates relationships between both new venture team prestige and advisory board prestige and cognitive legitimacy; thus entrepreneurs whose emerging organizations rely on highly novel products or services will likely need to establish higher levels of prestige to create cognitive legitimacy