Human Dimensions of the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries: An Overview of Context, Concepts, Tools and Methods

This document aims to provide a better understanding of the role of the economic, institutional and sociocultural components within the ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) process and to examine some potential methods and approaches that may facilitate the adoption of EAF management. It explores both the human context for the ecosystem approach to fisheries and the human dimensions involved in implementing the EAF. For the former, the report provides background material essential to understand prior to embarking on EAF initiatives, including an understanding of key concepts and issues, of the valuation of aquatic ecosystems socially, culturally and economically, and of the many policy, legal, institutional, social and economic considerations relevant to the EAF. With respect to facilitating EAF implementation, the report deals with a series of specific aspects: (1) determining the boundaries, scale and scope of the EAF; (2) assessing the various benefits and costs involved, seen from social, economic, ecological and management perspectives; (3) utilizing appropriate decision-making tools in EAF; (4) creating and/or adopting internal incentives and institutional arrangements to promote, facilitate and fund the adoption of EAF management; and (5) finding suitable external (non-fisheries) approaches for financing EAF implementation

Peeling Back the Onion Competitive Advantage Through People: Test of a Causal Model

Proponents of the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm have identified human resource management (HRM) and human capital as organizational resources that can contribute to sustainable competitive success. A number of empirical studies have documented the relationship between systems of human resource policies and practices and firm performance. The mechanisms by which HRM leads to firm performance, however, remain largely unexplored. In this study, we explore the pathways leading from HRM to firm performance. Specifically, we use structural equation modeling to test a model positing a set of causal relationships between high performance work systems (HPWS), employee retention, workforce productivity and firm market value. Within a set of manufacturing firms, results indicate the primary impact of HPWS on productivity and market value is through its influence on employee retention

Ocean governance: the New Zealand dimension

  The Oceans Governance project was funded by the Emerging Issues Programme, overseen by the Institute of Policy Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. Its primary goal is to provide interested members of the public and policymakers with a general overview and a description of the types of principles, planning tools and policy instruments that can be used to strengthen and improve marine governance in New Zealand. The major findings of this study are that the existing marine governance framework in New Zealand emphasises a traditional sector-by-sector approach to management and planning and that this fragmented governance framework contributes to a number of institutional challenges. In addition, the study identifies a number of factors that influence marine planning and decision-making in the country, including but not limited to; the relationships between economic use of marine resources and the maintenance of marine ecosystem services and goods; Māori interests, perspectives and treaty obligations; the role of international treaties and conventions; the synergistic and cumulative impacts of multiple use and climate disturbance on marine ecosystems, and the role of scientists and science in marine planning and decision-making.The report makes two general recommendations.  First, with respect to the territorial sea (which includes the marine area out to 12 nautical miles) the report recommends that regional councils develop integrative marine plans where conflict between users and users-ecosystems is likely to develop in the future.  Second, the report recommends the adoption of new role for central government to support an ecosystem-based approach to integrative marine planning and decision-making

Crafting A Human Resource Strategy To Foster Organizational Agility: A Case Study

A decade ago, the CEO of Albert Einstein Healthcare Network (AEHN), anticipating a tumultuous and largely unpredictable period in its industry, undertook to convert this organization from one that was basically stable and complacent to one that was agile, “nimble, and change-hardy”. This case study briefly addresses AEHN’s approaches to business strategy and organization design, but focuses primarily on the human resource strategy that emerged over time to foster the successful attainment of organizational agility. Although exploratory, the study suggests a number of lessons for those who are, or will be, studying or trying to create and sustain this promising new organizational paradigm

Choosing how to choose : Institutional pressures affecting the adoption of personnel selection procedures

The gap between science and practice in personnel selection is an ongoing concern of human resource management. This paper takes Oliver´s framework of organizations´ strategic responses to institutional pressures as a basis for outlining the diverse economic and social demands that facilitate or inhibit the application of scientifically recommended selection procedures. Faced with a complex network of multiple requirements, practitioners make more diverse choices in response to any of these pressures than has previously been acknowledged in the scientific literature. Implications for the science-practitioner gap are discussed

Measuring Organizational Performance in Strategic Human Resource Management: Looking Beyond the Lamppost

A major challenge for Strategic Human Resource Management research in the next decade will be to establish a clear, coherent and consistent construct for organizational performance. This paper describes the variety of measures used in current empirical research linking human resource management and organizational performance. Implications for future research are discussed amidst the challenges of construct definition, divergent stakeholder criteria and the temporal dynamics of performance. A model for performance information markets to address these challenges is introduced. The model uses a multi-dimensional weighted performance measurement system and a free information flow exchange mechanism for determining performance achievement criteria

Strategies for sustainable socio-economic development and mechanisms their implementation in the global dimension

The authors of the book have come to the conclusion that it is necessary to effectively use modern approaches to developing and implementation strategies of sustainable socio-economic development in order to increase efficiency and competitiveness of economic entities. Basic research focuses on economic diagnostics of socio-economic potential and financial results of economic entities, transition period in the economy of individual countries and ensuring their competitiveness, assessment of educational processes and knowledge management. The research results have been implemented in the different models and strategies of supply and logistics management, development of non-profit organizations, competitiveness of tourism and transport, financing strategies for small and medium-sized enterprises, cross-border cooperation. The results of the study can be used in decision-making at the level the economic entities in different areas of activity and organizational-legal forms of ownership, ministries and departments that promote of development the economic entities on the basis of models and strategies for sustainable socio-economic development. The results can also be used by students and young scientists in modern concepts and mechanisms for management of sustainable socio-economic development of economic entities in the condition of global economic transformations and challenges

Measuring Organizational Performance in Strategic Human Resource Management: Problems and Prospects

A major challenge for Strategic Human Resource Management research in the next decade will be to establish a clear, coherent and consistent construct for organizational performance. This paper describes the variety of measures used in current empirical research linking human resource management and organizational performance. Implications for future research are discussed amidst the challenges of construct definition, divergent stakeholder criteria and the temporal dynamics of performance. The concept of performance information markets that addresses these challenges is proposed as a framework for the application of multi-dimensional weighted performance measurement systems

Examining Collegiality and Social Justice in Academia and the Private Sector: an Exploratory SYMLOG Analysis

This research compares the perceptions of the private sector, high-technology employees to the perceptions of university faculty members regarding organizational culture, social justice and collegiality concepts. The SYMLOG assessment technique was used to record the perceptions of respondents to four different concepts of organizational culture, two different aspects of social justice and two measures of collegiality. Comparative findings of gender differences across the eight concepts raise key organizational culture, legal, measurement, governance, and social policy issues for academia and high tech organizations. The development of a conceptual framework to guide future research and a blueprint to discuss desired organizational change are highlighted