The Future of Employee-Employer Relations

[Excerpt] This paper seeks to initiate a discussion of the challenges facing the future of employee-employer relations in the United States. I take a very broad perspective to the task, one that reflects the expanded domain of issues, activities, and parties that must be considered if employee relations are to contribute to the twin challenges facing the American economy and workforce: The need to improve long term economic competitiveness while simultaneously improving our standards of living

Barriers to Work Place Advancement: the Experience of the White Female Work Force

Glass Ceiling ReportGlassCeilingBackground17WhiteFemaleWorkForce.pdf: 8903 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

CAHRS hrSpectrum (July - August 2004)

HRSpec04_08.pdf: 59 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

Is There a New HRM? Contemporary Evidence and Future Directions

[Excerpt] Is there a new human resource management? Yo. That is, yes and no. A new perspective -- strategic human resource management -- emerged during the 80s to take its place alongside the more traditional operational and programmatic perspectives as a major influence on the field. This perspective has rapidly progressed in terms of theory and research (if not practice). But, it continues to take many shapes and forms, and even with its various permutations, is far from universally embraced by scholars or practitioners. What follows is a brief look at the strategic perspective of the field. It begins with a summary of some common themes. This is followed by an illustrative review of extant theory,which in particular distinguishes between the two dominant theoretical streams which have thus far emerged: (1) the multiple model theorists (MMTs) who are given to building typologies of human resource strategies and describing or prescribing the conditions under which the various types work or should work best and (2) the dominant model theorists (DMTs) who are rather less preoccupied with contingencies and rather more concerned with the details and promulgation of their preferred models or strategies within and across firms. Next comes a look at the extent to which these two views show up in actual practice.The evidence is sparse, but their diffusion appears to be rather limited thus far. This naturally gives rise to a discussion of the factors which seem to encourage and, especially, discourage diffusion. Particular attention is paid to the adoption of the so-called strategic business partner role by human resource executives, managers, and professionals, and to the adequacy of this role as a catalyst for the diffusion of the strategic perspective across the U. S. and Canadian economies. Finally, suggestions are made regarding future theoretical and empirical work which might help keep the strategic perspective moving ahead

Overcoming Resistance to Diversity in the Executive Suite: Grease, Grit, and the Corporate Tournament

Once we open the corporate governance/human resources nexus to deeper inquiry, mutual scholarly interest in diversity and discrimination follows naturally. Firms have complex motives to take nondiscrimination and the promotion of diversity seriously. First, at least certain forms of discrimination are both unlawful and socially illegitimate and hence present threats of potential liability and injury to reputation. Second, human resources demands are such that attracting and motivating a diverse workforce is a competitive imperative. At the same time, however, offsetting economic forces may exist that favor subtle forms of discrimination and hostility to diversity, even if intentional and overt racial or gender-based bias is mostly outdated. In sum, the process of promoting diversity and ending discrimination, whether to avoid liability or simply to remain competitive, is a difficult challenge faced by many firms. It demands a close look at the efficacy of the internal decisionmaking and authority structures of the firm

Project benefit management: a conceptual framework of target benefit formulation

Successful realization of project benefits is strongly associated with organizational performance. Formulating project target benefits is regarded as the first and critical step in the benefit management process. In this study, we drew upon relevant theories and conducted in-depth interviews with senior managers in Australia to develop a conceptual framework of project target benefit formulation and corresponding propositions. Our findings highlight the important role of project target benefits in funding decision-making and suggest seven criteria for their appraisal (strategic fit, target value, measurability, realism, target date, accountability and comprehensiveness) and four constructs which improve the formulated target benefits (a formal benefit formulation process, senior executive leadership, senior executive supports, and public service motivation). These findings extend the current literature on project benefit management by providing a holistic view on how project target benefits should be formulated and appraised

Corporate governance

Governance is largely about the decision-making process in a complex organization Shareholders (owners) delegate authority to professionals who have the managerial skills to increase shareholders’ wealth. As a consequence the contributors of a firm's capital base are usually different from the contributors of its management base. This separation of ownership from control has led to organizations establishing a system of corporate governance controls designed to discourage managers from pursuing objectives that fail to maximize shareholder wealth. These controls constitute the firm's corporate governance framework. Corporate governance controls are designed to monitor managers behavior or align the goals of management with the goals of shareholders. In this chapter, a corporate governance framework is developed that outlines the roles and responsibilities of participants involved in governing the organization and portraying information to the capital market

Hotel management in Cuba and the transfer of best practices.

The main purpose of this paper is to analyse the management challenges faced by international hotel operators when applying universally accepted management principles to the Cuban hospitality market. The authors use both secondary and primary research sources based on fieldwork carried out in Cuba during the first semester of 2003 and a later visit during the months of December 2003 and January 2004. Eight in depth interviews were conducted with senior executives of Cuban, Spanish and French hotel corporations. The paper presents a scenario where the state’s role in the protection of the socialist revolutionary principles, combined with the need to adopt some market based management practices, constitutes a singular case in the world of hotel management. In the current Cuban institutional context, the implementation of some western best management practices can produce significant results, while others produce negative outcomes, and therefore, should be held back until the institutional context is changed. The paper has implications for managers in suggesting that from a hotel perspective, the application of universally accepted best management practices must be carried out practice by practice and country by country. This paper contributes to increased knowledge about the dilemmas of managing hotels in a still highly centralised socialist country but with an increasingly market based economyCuba; Best practice; Hospitality management; Hotel and catering industry;

WHAT MOTIVATES EMPLOYEES OF BANKING SYSTEM Abstract The relationship between people and their work has long attracted psychologists, behavioral scientists and, also, economic scientists.Early management theories suggested using financial compensation to impel motivation and job performance. The past two decades have seen tremendous growth in the use of goal setting and management by objectives programmers. More recently, cybernetic control, resource allocation, and social-cognitive theories have been used to examine more closely how particular attributes of a goal, a person and a situation influence goal striving and performance.

motivation, behavior, job performance, management, needs, surveys, appreciation , productivity, expectancy.