Corporate social responsibility: a stages framework

This article speculates whether British companies evolved more effective systems, practices, and procedures for implementing corporate social responsibility (CSR) and environmental policies within the period 1994-2004. It is found out that CSR and environmental issues have become increasingly significant in large companies. This is because corporate image and reputation are often factors in the equation leading to competitive success. Benefits may not always be readily quantifiable, but the costs of reputational loss can be dramatic

Sex and Ancestry Estimation Using the Base of the Cranium

Discriminant function analysis was employed to test sexual dimorphism and ancestral differences in the basicrania of European Americans and African Americans. The data used was originally collected on crania from the Terry and Bass III Donated Collections, using a three-dimensional digitizer. The data was converted to linear data using the method of Franklin et al. (2005). The results showed that sexual dimorphism and ancestral differences do exist in the cranial base of European and African Americans and individuals can be correctly classified at rates ranging from 75% to 80.4%, depending on the analysis

Making Institutional Academic Assessment Work for Faculty

Poster presented at the Assessment for Curricular Improvement Poster Exhibit 2023.Academic Assessment is required for institutional accreditation, yet may be challenging for individual departments, programs, and faculty to produce due to time constraints, lack of training, or lack of interest. Making academic assessment accessible to faculty with expertise in non-assessment fields can contribute to favorable outcomes for a university's accreditation reports and to a smoother process for programs. At Old Dominion University, we piloted a new Academic Assessment Report focusing on student learning outcomes, learning improvement pursuits, and the use of results upon implementation of these pursuits. Results of the pilot showed ease of use with constructive comments for improvement. Continued improvements include clarifying assessment language program faculty may find more practical. This presentation reports on the process of drafting the new report, piloting it to faculty, and reporting initial results to apply to an improved product

Changing corporate attitudes towards environmental policy

Purpose – To report findings from an updated survey of environmental policy and practice among UK organizations. To draw conclusions about the relationship between environmental concerns and organizational strategy making. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reports findings from a 1999 survey of 911 UK organizations, updated by interviews conducted with participant organizations in 2004. The paper represents an extension of a ten-year longitudinal study of environmental policy and practice in UK organizations. Findings – The gap between policy formulation and implementation in the environmental area has continued to narrow, but environmental concerns appear not to have moved towards the centre of the strategy making process in many firms. Organizations are still primarily influenced by short-term rather than long-term imperatives, and although recognition of opportunity offered by the environment is increasing, organizations are still liable to adopt a reactive position, increasingly so as the size of the organization decreases. Research limitations/implications – It offers a contribution to the debate over the ongoing relationship between organizational strategy and environmental factors as a determinant of organizational strategy. It locates the debate in the wider discussion of determinants of organizational strategy. Practical implications – It highlights the complex decision-making processes facing managers in satisfying a variety of stakeholders who may be making competing demands of their organization. Originality/value – The paper offers a longitudinal review of changes to environmental policy and practice among UK organizations, providing an opportunity to explore the nature of change over a ten-year period

Stopover Ecology of Autumn Landbird Migrants in the Boise Foothills of Southwestern Idaho

The topography of western North America provides a complex landscape for landbird migrants, and stopover patterns in this region are poorly understood. We examined seven years of stopover data (1997–2003) from a montane area in southwestern Idaho to determine whether this area provides suitable stopover habitat. We compared the proportion of birds recaptured, stopover duration, and changes in energetic condition within and among species and between two mist-netting sites located in different habitats. The proportion of birds recaptured ranged from zero to over 20%, and fewer than 5% of individuals were recaptured in most species. Mean minimum stopover durations from recapture data ranged from 1 to 10 days; most species averaged less than 6 days. Stopover duration estimates from open-population models were comparable but generally greater than estimates from recapture data. As found in stopover studies from other regions, stopover metrics varied within and among species in Idaho. However, most migrants in this study exhibited an ability to gain mass, evidenced both by recapture data and by regression of energetic condition against time since sunrise. These data imply that montane habitats in Idaho are suitable stopover sites. It follows that these habitats might serve an important role for many landbird migrants during the period of late summer molt and autumn migration, a time when many lowland areas of the West, including some riparian systems, are especially arid. We suggest that including montane nonriparian habitats in future stopover ecology studies will allow for a more complete understanding of migrant habitat needs in the West

Molt Strategies and Age Differences in Migration Timing Among Autumn Landbird Migrants in Southwestern Idaho

Intraspecific patterns of autumn migration timing are not well known, particularly in the western United States. Here, we (1) describe autumn migration timing and age ratios of landbird migrants in southwestern Idaho, (2) examine differences in timing among age and sex classes, and (3) demonstrate how prebasic molt strategies affect migration timing differences between age classes. As a group, Neotropical migrants were most common from late July through early September, whereas temperate migrants were most common from mid-September into early October. Proportion of hatch-year birds was 74.5% for all migrants combined and ranged from 33.3% to 100% for individual species. Timing differences between sex classes were detected in only a few species and no general patterns emerged. In 22 of 31 Neotropical and temperate migrants examined, there were significant differences in timing between adults and hatch-year birds. In species in which adults begin fall migration before replacing flight feathers, adults migrated earlier than hatch-year birds. Conversely, in species in which adults molt flight feathers on or near the breeding grounds before departing on fall migration, hatch-year birds migrated earlier than adults in all but one case. Therefore, it appears that molt strategy is a powerful determinant of intraspecific migration timing differences and, to our knowledge, this is the first study to document this pattern among migrant passerines of North America