Human Resource Management, Service Quality, and Economic Performance in Call Centers

This paper examines the relationship between human resource practices, operational outcomes, and economic performance in call centers. The study draws on a sample of 64 call centers serving the mass market in a large telecommunications services company. Surveys of 1,243 employees in the 64 centers were aggregated to the call center level and matched to archival data on service process quality, as measured by customer surveys; call handling time, revenues per call, and net revenues per call. Our path analysis shows that human resource practices emphasizing employee training, discretion, and rewards lead to higher service quality, higher revenues per call, and higher net revenues per call. In addition, service quality mediates the relationship between human resource practices and these economic outcomes. There is no significant relationship between HR practices and labor efficiency, as measured by call handling time; and labor efficiency is inversely related to revenue generation

Performance and Growth in Entrepreneurial Firms: What do Unions do?

This paper explores the effects of union presence on the performance of entrepreneurial firms in the mid-1990s (both at the initial public offering (IPO) and after the event). Contrary to prior studies, we find that within our sample, union presence raises Tobin’s q by 14.5 percent. For the critical outcomes of earnings growth and growth in share price, union presence raises earnings over three years by 10.1 percent and raises stock price by 15.7 percent. We interpret these findings using the exit/voice framework. We suspect that union bargaining power in the highly competitive environment of entrepreneurial firms is limited, and therefore, the union effects on compensation are also likely to be limited. In addition, we suspect that unions provide a mechanism for employee voice that constrains managerial prerogative in ways that reduce short-term decision-making and support longer term investment in human capital and the adoption of higher performing production systems

Nonlocal spectral properties of disordered alloys

A general method is proposed for calculating a fully k-dependent, continuous, and causal spectral function A(k,E) within the recently introduced nonlocal version of the coherent-potential approximation (NLCPA). The method involves the combination of both periodic and anti-periodic solutions to the associated cluster problem and also leads to correct bulk quantities for small cluster sizes. We illustrate the method by investigating the Fermi surface of a two-dimensional alloy. Dramatically, we find a smeared electronic topological transition not predicted by the conventional CPA.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, Submitted to: J. Phys.: Condens. Matter Editorial receipt 25 May 200

New Exploration in the Chitral Valley, Pakistan: An Extension of the Gandharan Grave Culture

NoNew survey in the Chitral Valley has doubled the number of recorded Gandharan Grave culture sites in the region and extended their geographical range. The numbers and location of sites indicates that the Gandharan Grave culture was well established in the Chitral valley, suggesting that the valley may have been central to this cultural development, rather than marginal

Student Paramedic Research at Fanshawe College

Abstracts from several student-led research studies currently ongoing in the Primary Care Paramedic Program at Fanshawe College are detailed below. These projects are presented at the annual Paramedic Programs Research Day, and several of these projects were also presented at the Fanshawe College Research and Innovation Day held in April

Zika Virus: What Paramedics Need to Know

Zika Virus Disease (ZVD) is a viral illness spread primarily through the bite of infected Aedes mosquitos. This review will provide a brief overview of the history of ZVD, epidemiology, prevention, clinical presentation, management and complications to help better prepare the paramedic for potential encounters with patients with ZVD

#FOAMems: Engaging paramedics with free, online open-access education

Background and aim: Twitter use among paramedics and other prehospital care clinicians is on the rise and is increasingly being used as a platform for continuing education and international collaboration. In 2014, the hashtag #FOAMems was registered. It is used for the sharing of emergency medical services, paramedicine, and prehospital care-related content. It is a component of the \u27free open-access meducation\u27 (FOAM) movement. The aim of this study was to characterize and evaluate the content of #FOAMems tweets since registration. Materials and methods: An analytical report for #FOAMems was generated on symplur.com from February 4, 2014, to April 30, 2017. A transcript of all #FOAMems tweets for a randomly selected 1 month period (October 2015) was generated, and quantitative content analysis was performed by two reviewers. Tweets were categorized according to source (original tweet/retweet) and whether referenced. The top 92 tweeters were analyzed for professional identity. Results: During the study period, there were over 99,000 tweets containing #FOAMems, by over 9,200 participants. These resulted in almost 144 million impressions. Of the top 92 tweeters, 50 were paramedics (54%). Tweets were mainly related to cardiac (23%), leadership (19%), and trauma (14%). The 1-month period resulted in 649 original tweets, with 2110 retweets, 1070 of these were referenced. Conclusion: Paramedics are engaging with both clinical and nonclinical content on Twitter using #FOAMems. Social media resources are widely shared, which is in line with the FOAM movement\u27s philosophy. However, opportunities exist for paramedics to share further diverse resources supported by referenced material

Performance and Growth in Entrepreneurial Firms: Revisiting the Union-Performance Relationship

[Excerpt] A substantial body of research has examined the relationship between unions and firm performance. It generally has found a positive relationship between unions and productivity and a negative relationship between unions and financial performance (Freeman & Medoff, 1984; Addison & Hirsch, 1989; Belman, 1992; Freeman, 1992). The exit/voice model is most commonly used to explain this paradox (Freeman & Medoff, 1984). Freeman and Medoff argued that the “monopoly power” of unions leads to high union wages and restrictive work rules, both of which raise the costs of production and lower profit margins. The presence of unions, however, also lowers production costs by reducing turnover (exit) and providing incentives for employee effort through “collective voice.” Thus, unionized workplaces may be at once more productive but less profitable because employees share in productivity gains through higher wages. There are a number of reasons, however, why the findings from prior research may not generalize to firms in the 1990s, particularly, high tech and entrepreneurial firms. First, under the exit/voice model, the relationship between unions and firm performance is an empirical question that depends on the net effect of opposing forces. Most of the empirical evidence on this topic, however, draws on data from U.S. manufacturing firms in the post-World War II period, when mass production models dominated the approach to organizing work, union power was at its height, and union-management relations were largely adversarial. In the 1990s, however, several forces have changed. First, U.S. firms, particularly high tech and entrepreneurial firms, have adopted much more flexible approaches to organizing work, such as “high performance work systems” (Appelbaum & Batt, 1994), which reduce status differences between workers and managers. Second, union power has dropped significantly, with union membership falling from 24% of the private sector workforce in 1973 to about 10% in 1995 (Bureau of Labor Statistics). Third, mutual gains and win-win approaches to bargaining (Walton & McKersie, 1965) have transformed union-management relationships in many instances, leading to greater cooperation and less zero-sum conflict. For these reasons, we decided to revisit the question of the relationship between unions and firm performance by drawing on a unique set of 464 entrepreneurial firms at the time of their initial public offering (IPO) in 1993 and their subsequent financial performance through 1996. This is an important context to examine because entrepreneurial firms are a major source of economic growth in the U.S. They are known for their innovation and flexibility in responding to rapidly changing market demand. Unions are conventionally viewed as barriers to change and anathema to the type of flexibility and quick response needed to compete in entrepreneurial markets. Thus, it is important to know whether unions pose a negative threat to financial performance and economic growth in this important sector of the economy. This is also an appropriate context for exploring the topic of unions and financial performance because most entrepreneurial firms are small and young. They are less likely to have the kind of “monopoly union power,” conflictual labor management relations, or rigid work rules traditionally found in large U.S. mass production enterprises - the context of much prior research on unions and financial performance. In this context, firms and unions have more opportunity to adopt new forms of work organization and labor-management relations. In this chapter, we first review the prior literature on this topic, including theoretical frameworks and the empirical evidence on the union-performance relationship. Then, we present our quantitative case study of unions and financial performance in entrepreneurial firms. In the final section, we consider our findings in the context of the prior literature and suggest avenues for future research

Navigating Pre-Hospital End of Life Care: A Paramedic Perspective

End of life care (EoLC) issues in the Canadian healthcare system are now commonplace. Palliative care and medical assistance in dying (MAID) programs are giving patients more options than ever before. Consequently, pre-hospital and community paramedicine programs now interact with more patients who require EoLC