Revolution or Evolution: The Transformation of Japanese Personnel Practices

[Excerpt] Ever since Japan reemerged as an economic power from the ruins of the World War II, it is striking how the pace and magnitude of economic and social changes facing the country continue to increase. The rapid growth of the late 1960s, the successive of oil shocks, the revaluation of the yen, the changes in global competitive position in many industries, the spread of information technology, the aging of the society, the enlargement of the middle class and consequent increase in discretionary consumption, all these factors have had a major impact on the organizational culture and climate in Japanese firms

Using the balanced scorecard as a performance management tool in higher education

This paper presents a critical review of the relevant literature on managerialism and performance management in higher education. Afterwards, it features an inductive research that involved semi-structured interview sessions with academic members of staff. The interpretative study relied on the balanced scorecard’s (BSC) approach as it appraised the participants' opinions and perceptions on their higher education institution’s (HEI) customer, internal, organizational capacity and financial perspectives. The findings have revealed the strengths and weaknesses of using the BSC’s financial and non-financial measures to assess the institutional performance and the productivity of individual employees. In sum, this research reported that ongoing performance conversations with academic employees will help HEI leaders to identify their institutions’ value creating activities. This contribution implies that HEI leaders can utilize the BSC’s comprehensive framework as a plausible, performance management tool to regularly evaluate whether their institution is: (i) delivering inclusive, student-centered, quality education; (ii) publishing high impact research; (iii) engaging with internal and external stakeholders; and (iv) improving its financial results, among other positive outcomes.peer-reviewe

Rewarding Carrots & Crippling Sticks: Eliciting Employee Preferences for the Optimal Incentive Mix in Europe

A ranking of a variety of incentive devices used by firms according to their perceived effectiveness by employees is identified. The determinants of employee incentive preferences are also investigated, suggesting a ‘menu’ of conditions under which an organization’s personnel policies will have maximum motivational impact on its workforce. Based on the beliefs of a unique sample of workers from seven European countries, the results suggest that (a) the primary determinant of the level of employee effort is the amount of discretion offered at work; (b) pay incentives and ‘gift exchanges’ are the most important motivators; (c) the use of monitoring and Taylor-type assembly lines are the least effective incentives; and (d) the optimal design of incentive strategies by firms is strongly shaped by a host of contextual factors. The expressed desire for autonomy, and distaste for control, by employees gives credibility to the “participative” management approach.Incentives, effectiveness, effort, attitudes, employees

Performance appraisal systems in private Universities in Nigeria: A Study of Crawford University, Igbesa- Nigeria

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of performance appraisal system at private universities in Nigeria. The focus of the study was on the administrative staff of Crawford University. The study evaluated the purpose of performance appraisal in private universities and identifies relevant factors for achieving an effective performance appraisal. A cross- sectional survey was selected for this study because it was easy to undertake compared to longitudinal survey and the results from the same can be inferred to the larger population. The study population was for all the administrative staff of Crawford University. The whole populations of staff were selected as respondents. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data for analysis. The analysis of collected data was done by the help of SPSS and presented using descriptive statistics, frequency tables and percentages. The findings from the study have established that performance appraisal system is the only tangible metric way by which an organization can know the level of performance of its diverse members of staff. The effectiveness of performance appraisal systems in private universities are only based on training the members of staff involved in the rating/ appraising process and are multi- rating systems. Conclusively because the performance appraisal systems used in private universities are not effective and that they exist just as a matter of formalities, the private universities cannot measure members of staff performance, hence making it difficult to achieve the intended human resource management objective

Application of participatory rural appraisal methods for action research on water management

Irrigation managementWater managementParticipatory rural appraisalWater usersSalinitySodic soilsWatershed managementFarmers' associationsWater users' associationsDeveloping countries

Simulation-based analysis and optimization of the United States Army performance appraisal system.

In this dissertation, a discrete event simulation framework is considered to replicate the dynamics, structure, and regulatory constraints placed on the officers in the U.S. Army. Using performance appraisal data provided by the United States Army Human Resources Command, we create a multi-objective response function that quantifies the human behavior associated with evaluating subordinates. Utilizing simulation-optimization techniques for model validation enables estimating unknown input parameters, such as human behavior, based on historical data. Furthermore, the model allows users to analyze the effects of current constraints on the evaluation system and the effects of proposed personnel policy changes.The effectiveness of the performance appraisal system is based on its ability to accurately evaluate the officers\u27 performance levels. An initial analysis showed that 20.07\% of the officers in the system do not receive as many above average evaluations as their performance level warrants. Additionally, structural changes such as decreasing the average number of a rater\u27s subordinates from fifteen to five increases the number of misidentified personnel by 59.86\%. Ranking and selection statistical procedures assist in determining the optimal combination of input parameters such as forced distribution constraints placed on raters, frequency of moves, number of subordinates assigned to each rater, and rater behavior. The simulation will serve as a tool for policy analysis to recommend policies and behavior that maximizes the extent to which the performance appraisal system accurately identifies the most qualified employees. Consequently, the results demonstrate broad applicability of simulation-optimization in the field of manpower modeling and human resource management

Improving irrigation project planning and implementation processes in Sub-Saharan Africa: Diagnosis and recommendations

Irrigation programs / Planning / Financing / Financial institutions / Irrigation management / Operations / Maintenance / Privatization / Cost recovery