The Labor Market for Bankers and Regulators

We propose a labor market model in which agents with heterogenous ability levels choose to work as bankers or as financial regulators. When workers extract intrinsic benefits from working in regulation (such as public-sector motivation or human capital accumulation), our model jointly predicts that bankers are, on average, more skilled than regulators and their compensation is more sensitive to performance. During financial booms, banks draw the best workers away from the regulatory sector and misbehavior increases. In a dynamic extension of our model, young regulators accumulate human capital and the best ones switch to banking in mid-career

Master\u27s Thesis and Field Study Abstracts, July 1998-June 2000

This publication, the fifteenth in a series which began in 1957, contains the abstracts of Master\u27s Theses and Field Studies completed by graduate students of St. Cloud State University. The bulletin contains those theses and field studies completed during the period from July of 1998 through June of 2000. A bound copy of each thesis or field study is on file in the James W. Miller Learning Resources Center, which houses the library on this campus. The library copy of each thesis and field study is available for use on an interlibrary loan basis. Copies of this bulletin may be obtained from the Office of Graduate Studies, 121 Administrative Services, St. Cloud State University, 720 S. Fourth Avenue, St. Cloud, Minnesota, 56301-4498

High Performance Work Systems and Firm Performance: The Moderator Role of Industry and Organizational Characteristics

This thesis examines the impact of High Performance Works Systems (HPWS) on firm labour productivity and innovation. Considerable studies have proved that investment in HPWS is associated with superior organizational performance (Huselid, 1995; Authur, 1994; Delery and Doty, 1996; Guthrie, 2001). However, there is still no agreement on whether High Performance Work Systems are universally applicable or contingent on certain circumstances. This thesis contributes to the universal versus contingency debate by testing the moderating effect of contextual factors on these relationships. Following a theoretical review of HPWS literature, a conceptual framework was developed which introduced moderator variables to explain the HPWS-performance link. This was guided by contingency theory and empirical work related to environmental fit (Burns & Stalker, 1994; Youndt et al., 1996). Industry growth and industry dynamism were chosen as industry level moderators while labour investment represents a firm level moderator. The data used in this study was collected from a national general manager and HR manager survey which was conducted in 2006. A sample of 132 matched responses from both GM and HR managers were used in the analysis. The results show that the implementation of HPWS is associated with an increase in both labour productivity and innovation. Further analysis was conducted to test the moderating effect between HPWS and a number of contextual factors including industry characteristics and organisational characteristics on firms‟ labour productivity and innovation. Regression results show that industry level characteristics have a moderating effect on the HRM-performance link: industry growth moderates the relationship between HPWS and innovation but has no significant moderating effect on HPWS-labour productivity relationship. Industry dynamism was found to have a moderating effect on the relationship between HPWS and labour productivity but no significant interaction effect was found on innovation. At the firm level, results show that firms‟ labour investment moderates the relationship between HPWS and labour productivity. Similarly an effect was found on the relationship between HPWS and workforce innovation. This study provides some indications for further research in the fields of HRM and contextual factors and their interaction effect on performance

Reacting in time to qualification needs - towards a cooperative implementation? Proceedings of a conference organised by the WZB on the 27-28 September 2001, within the research network FreQuenz supported by the Federal Ministry for Training and Research (BMBF)

"Upgrading the qualification level of the workforce has become a central issue among the governments of the European Union: in the race towards global economic competitiveness, human capital development should play a key role. Taking this statement as point of departure, the contributions gathered here explore how the qualification needs of firms and workers - once identified - are answered. The common focus lies in analysing the co-ordination schemes established among labour market actors the national, regional and supranational levels to implement and institutionalize new labour market arrangements for a more effective qualification matching. These contributions were made to an international workshop organised by the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung on the 27-28th September 2001, in the framework of a research network for the early recognition of qualification needs - FreQueNz - launched by the German Federal Ministry for Training and Research (BMBF) in 1999." (author's abstract). Contents: Sophie Rouault: Qualification need and multi-level coordination: introducing a research question (1-5); Heidi Oschminasky, Sophie Rouault, Isabelle Schömann: Three research fields and a summary of results (6-14). Part I - The role of networks in the implementation process of jobrotation: Heidi Oschmiansky: Implementing jobrotation in Germany: labour market actors' contribution to meet skill needs (15-38); John Houman Sorensen: Job-rotation schemes in Denmark - an active labour market policy instrument and its dependence on qualification strategies and economic situation of firms (39-56); Jouko Nätti: Job rotation in Finland - national and local experiments (57-91); Lizzi Feiler: Co-operative approaches to identify and meet qualification needs. The implementation systems of jobrotation and programmes in Austria (92-115). Part II - Answering territorial qualification needs through new corporate and employment forms: Sophie Rouault: Answering qualification needs through multiple jobholding arrangements - multi-level coordination in France and Sweden (116-132); Ton Wilthagen, Harm van Lieshout, Martijn van Velzen: Employment and training pools in the Netherlands - analytical remarks and examples (133-149); Bengt Lorendahl: Neo-cooperatives to support self-employment? The Swedish case (150-167); Claudia Weinkopf: Service pools as qualifying alternative in services to private households (168-185). Part III - The role of social partners in the implementation of skill needs: Isabelle Schömann: A right to vocational training - the anticipative action of workers' representatives in selected European countries (186-195); Ralf Rogowski, Isabelle Schömann: The role and impact of social partners on training in the European Union (196-223); Philippe Mehaut: What is the future of vocational education? Chronicle of unsuccessful negotiations (224-240); Harm van Lieshout, Ton Wilthagen: Transitional labour markets in action - new developments in the Dutch vocational educationand training market (241-273)."Die Erhöhung des Qualifikationsniveaus der Arbeitskräfte ist ein zentrales Anliegen der Regierungen der Europäischen Union: im globalen ökonomischen Wettbewerb spielt die Entwicklung des Humankapitals eine zentrale Rolle. Diesem Ausgangspunkt entsprechend untersuchen die Beiträge des Bandes, wie der identifizierte Qualifizierungsbedarf von Unternehmen und Beschäftigten gedeckt werden kann. Der gemeinsame Fokus besteht in der Analyse der Koordinierungsmustern der Akteuren der nationalen, regionalen und supranationalen Ebene für die Implementation und Institutionalisierung neuer Arbeitsmarktarrangements, um ein effektiveres Qualifizierungs-Matching zu gewährleisten. Die Beiträge basieren auf Vorträgen für einen internationalen Workshops des Wissenschaftszentrums Berlin am 27. und 28. September 2001. Der Workshop wurde organisiert im Rahmen des Forschungsnetzwerkes für die Früherkennung von Qualifizierungsbedarf - FreQueNz - 1999 initiiert und gefördert vom Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF)." (Autorenreferat

Reacting in time to qualification needs: Towards a cooperative implementation?

Upgrading the qualification level of the workforce has become a central issue among the governments of the European Union : in the race towards global economic competitiveness, human capital development should play a key role. Taking this statement as point of departure, the contributions gathered here explore how the qualification needs of firms and workers - once identified - are answered. The common focus lies in analysing the co-ordination schemes established among labour market actors the national, regional and supranational levels to implement and institutionalize new labour market arrangements for a more effective qualification matching. -- Die Erhöhung des Qualifikationsniveaus der Arbeitskräfte ist ein zentrales Anliegen der Regierungen der Europäischen Union: im globalen ökonomischen Wettbewerb spielt die Entwicklung des Humankapitals eine zentrale Rolle. Diesem Ausgangspunkt entsprechend untersuchen die Beiträge des Bandes, wie der identifizierte Qualifizierungsbedarf von Unternehmen und Beschäftigten gedeckt werden kann. Der gemeinsame Fokus besteht in der Analyse der Koordinierungsmustern der Akteuren der nationalen, regionalen und supranationalen Ebene für die Implementation und Institutionalisierung neuer Arbeitsmarktarrangements, um ein effektiveres Qualifizierungs-Matching zu gewährleisten.

Social Technologies and Informal Knowledge Sharing within and across Organizations

This doctoral dissertation is focused on both empirical and conceptual contributions relative to the roles social technologies play in informal knowledge sharing practices, both within and across organizations. Social technologies include (a) traditional social technologies (e.g., email, phone and instant messengers), (b) emerging social networking technologies commonly known as social media, such as blogs, wikis, major public social networking sites (e.g., Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn), and (c) enterprise social networking technologies controlled by a host organization ( e.g., SocialText). The rapid uptake of social technologies, combined with growing interest in their broader social implications, raises pertinent questions about uses for knowledge sharing in organizations. The work reported in this thesis is motivated by two broad phenomena: (1) the importance of informal knowledge-sharing in organizations and (2) the rapid rise in the variety and prevalence of social technologies. The empirical basis of this research is a field study focused on the uses of social technologies by knowledge workers, specifically those in consulting firms. Building from the theoretical lenses of sociomateriality, structuration, and technological frames, the findings from this work advances our understanding of: (1) the ways social technologies are used in combination as a suite of tools, (2) the ways in which organizational norms, policies, and arrangements shape the uses of social technologies for knowledge practices, and (3) the variations in uses of social technologies by different groups of knowledge workers. The theoretical contribution of this work is to conceptualize the suite of social technologies used to support and enable knowledge workers is a more useful approach than the single-technological-tool-in-isolation approach, which is the norm in studies of computing. A second contribution of this work is to situate social technologies-in-use through incorporating complementary theoretical concepts: technology-mediated knowledge practices, social structures of organizations, and workers\u27 distinct interpretations of social technologies (technological frames). Practical implications arising from this study both inform the ways social technologies can be collectively integrated in work practices and inform the design and implementation of social technologies for accommodating different needs and preferences of knowledge workers. This research also generates insight into how organizations can craft policies that realistically regulate the use of social technologies, while empowering individual workers to optimize their knowledge sharing capacity by supporting informal engagement via social technologies

Exploring challenges in recruiting and retaining civil engineers within the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport (KZN-DOT) is a provincial department and its core function is the construction, upgrading, maintenance of road infrastructure and the control of the provincial road network. The availability of competent, qualified, skilled, experienced engineering team in the field of engineering is critical for the achievement of KZNDOT objective. However, the shortage of engineers has been identified frequently as one of the key features that inhibiting the achievement of KZNDOT objective. In light of the above context the study was conducted with attempts to explore the challenges faced by the KZNDOT in recruiting and retaining engineers which are typically required for the achievement of the balanced road network for the KwaZulu-Natal province for social development and economic growth. The research was conducted at the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport. A qualitative research design was used and case study as the strategy whereby one–on-one interviews were used to collect data from the sampled respondents in order to understand the research problem. Data collected was analysed according to six phases of thematic analysis. Results of the study shows that engineers play critical role for the implementation and the delivery of road infrastructure projects. However, the challenge was that there is a shortage of engineers and undeniable challenge in recruiting and retaining engineers within the KZNDOT. It was clear from the findings that the current recruitment and retention policies are not yielding any results to curb the high vacancy rate of engineers as the department is experiencing the infrastructure backlog, poor performance reporting and under expenditure. Also, that there is a high staff migration because the department competes in the same limited pool of engineers with other levels of government and private sector. The study concluded that current policies and programs are not effective in addressing the challenge of recruiting and retaining engineers. Key recommendations were made based from the findings of the study among other was the review of policies. Also, for the department to consider to approach DPSA through the Office of the Premier for the consideration of a holistic, standardized and balanced remuneration model that allows the department to be on par with municipalities and private Sector with the aim of eliminating competition between these sectors and eliminate employee migration.Author's Key words: Recruitment, retention, civil engineers, technical staff, road infrastructure, KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport

Middle school innovation: Interpretation and assessment

The purposes of this study were to present a historical interpretation and explanation of the middle school innovation and to examine the characteristics of model middle schools. In light of the available body of knowledge is the middle school a reasonable innovation to sustain and implement? A subsidiary purpose was to determine if there were any consensually agreed upon characteristics. The main research question is:;A comprehensive review of the literature was completed to provide the history of middle level education. Beginning with an explanation of the work of the Committee of Ten in 1893, the study provided a report on the current status of the middle school movement and established the rationality and reasonableness of the program in meeting the intent established by the Committee of Ten. The educational, social, and political issues that affected the development of the middle school movement were also examined.;The second part of the study included an examination of the literature on middle level education for the past quarter of a century to determine the essential characteristics of good middle schools. The rationale for implementing teacher training, flexible scheduling, and a core and exploratory curriculum was also examined as they relate to the middle school program.;It was concluded that the middle school is a reasonable innovation to sustain and implement in light of the available body of knowledge. The middle school itself is now being presented as a distinct unit in the educational system that provides a transitional program between the elementary school and high school. The literature and research of middle level education also indicated that highly successful middle schools have very similar programs.;Further study is needed to determine what types of teaming arrangements are most appropriate for the various middle grades, the strengths and weaknesses of various middle school daily schedules, and the effects of the interdisciplinary approach used in the middle school