Personal Development Plans: insights from a case based approach

Purpose: In light of contemporary shifts away from annual appraisals, this study explores the implications of using a personal development plan (PDP) as a means of focussing on continuous feedback and development to improve individual performance and ultimately organisational performance. Research Methods: Data were collected through an employee survey in one private sector organisation in the UK finance sector using a case study approach. Secondary data in the form of completed PDP’s was used to compare and contrast responses to the survey. Findings: Results indicate that the diagnostic stage is generally effective but support for the PDP and development activity post diagnosis is less visible. Implications of this are that time spent in the diagnostic stage is unproductive and could impact motivation and self-efficacy of employees. Furthermore, for the organisation to adopt a continuous focus on development via PDPs would necessitate a systematic training programme to effect a change in culture. Research limitations: This study was limited to one organisation in one sector which reduces the generalisability of results. Research methods were limited to anonymous survey and a richer picture would be painted following qualitative interviews. There was also a subconscious bias towards believing that a PDP containing documented goals would lead to improved individual and organisation perspectives but the discussion has identified the concept of sub conscious priming which indicates verbal goals may equally be valid and further comparative research between verbal and written goals is recommended. Practical implications: The results indicate the potential value that using PDPs could bring to an organisation as an alternative to annual appraisal subject to a supportive organisational culture. Originality/value: PwC, in a recent article for CIPD (2015) reported that two thirds of large companies are planning to rethink their annual appraisal system. One of the key drivers for this was the desire for more regular feedback. Given the recent shift in thinking little research has been conducted into what would replace annual appraisal. This paper therefore focuses on the extent to which PDPs can contribute to supporting this more regular contact and feedback

Organizational Change in French Manufacturing: What Do We Learn From Firm Representatives and From Their Employees?

In this paper, we use a French matched employer-employee survey, the COI survey, conducted in 1997, to describe the general features of organizational change in manufacturing firms with more than 50 employees. In a first section, we explore the methodological issues associated with the building up of a statistical measure of organizational change, we describe the COI survey and we present the set of firm level and employee level variables that we have selected to investigate organizational change. In a second section, we present the results of two correspondence analysis, one conducted on a sample of 1462 firms from the COI survey and the other one conducted on the sample of 2049 blue collar workers affiliated to those firms. On one hand, using the firm level section of the survey, we show that all types of new organizational practices are positively correlated with one another. On the other hand, at the blue collar level, three main dimensions discriminate between jobs: the intensity of involvement in information processing and decision, the intensity of constraints weighing on the content and rhythm of work and the orientation of information and production flows: either pushed by colleagues or pulled by the market. We also find that blue collars cannot develop a high level of involvement in information processing and decisions and have at the same time their work rhythm fixed by heavy technical constraints whereas high time pressure imposed on work rhythm by the market is positively correlated with such an involvement. Finally, if we correlate firm level and worker level variables, we find that an increase in the use of 'employee involvement' and 'quality' practices by the firm is positively correlated both with a higher level of blue collars' involvement in information processing and decision and with a higher level of technical constraints, production flows being pushed by colleagues rather than pulled by the market. The mapping of firm level responses stemming from our first correspondence analysis has been used to select 4 firms in different areas of the statistical universe and belonging to the with executives from these firms and plant visit are used to check the quality of our statistical data and to better understand our descriptive results.

Using Employee Level Data in a Firm Level Econometric Study

In this paper, we make the general point that econometric studies of the firm can be effectively and substantially enriched by using information collected from employees, even if only a few of them are surveyed per firm. Though variables measured on the basis of the answers of very few employees per firm are subject to very important sampling errors, they can be usefully included in a model specified at the firm level. In the first part of the paper, we show that in estimating parameters of interest in a regression model of the firm, the biases arising from the sampling errors in the employee based variables can be assessed, as long as we have a large enough sub-sample of firms with at least two or with more (randomly chosen) surveyed employees. Dans cet article, nous mettons en avant et argumentons l'idée suivant laquelle les études économétriques sur les entreprises peuvent être efficacement et substantiellement enrichies à l'aide d'informations obtenues aupres de leurs employés, même si seuls quelques-uns par entreprise, deux ou trois par exemple, sont interrogés. Alors même que les variables mesurées à partir des réponses d'un très petit nombre d'employés par entreprise sont sujettes à d'importantes erreurs d'échantillonnage, elles peuvent être utilement incorporées dans un modèle économétrique spécifié au niveau de l'entreprise. Dans une première partie de l'article, nous montrons, pour un modèle de régression linéaire, que les biais d'estimation sur les paramètres d'intérêt qui proviennent de telles erreurs d'échantillonnage, peuvent être corrigés, si on dispose au minimum d'un sous-échantillon (suffisamment grand) d'entreprises où on a pu interroger, au moins, deux employés choisis au hasard. Dans la deuxième partie de l'article, nous considérons, à titre d'exemple, l'estimation de la relation entre le salaire moyen des entreprises (connu directement à partir de leurs données comptables) et la proportion de leurs employés de sexe féminin, telle qu'elle peut être elle-même estimée à partir du sexe de un, deux ou trois salariés choisis au hasard par entreprise. En guise de test, nous comparons les estimations établies sur cette base avec celles obtenues sur la base de la vraie proportion d'employés de sexe féminin (c'est à dire la proportion pour tous les employés), que nous pouvons connaitre aussi, par ailleurs, directement auprès des entreprises. Cette analyse est effectuée sur deux échantillons appariés entreprises-salariés, relatifs à environ 2500 entreprises, en 1987 et 1993, pour l'industrie et les services en France, entreprises où un, deux et trois employés ont été interrogés pour respectivement 75 %, 15 % et 10 % d'entre elles.Linked employer-employee data, errors in variables, pseudo-panel, wage gender differentials, Données appariées entreprises-salariés, modèles à erreurs sur les variables, pseudo-panels, écarts salariaux hommes-femmes.

Using Employee Level Data in a Firm Level Econometric Study

In this paper, we make the general point that econometric studies of the firm can be effectively and substantially enriched by using information collected from employees, even if only a few of them are surveyed per firm. Though variables measured on the basis of the answers of very few employees per firm are subject to very important sampling errors, they can be usefully included in a model specified at the firm level. In the first part of the paper, we show that in estimating parameters of interest in a regression model of the firm, the biases arising from the sampling errors in the employee based variables can be assessed, as long as we have a large enough sub-sample of firms with at least two or with more (randomly chosen) surveyed employees. As an illustration in the second part of the paper, we consider the estimation of the relationship between the firm average wage (directly obtained from the firm accounts) and estimates of the proportion of female workers based on the gender of one, two or three surveyed employees per firm. As a test, we compare the estimates that we find in this way with those using the employees), which we could also directly obtain at the firm level from a firm survey. The analysis is performed on two linked employer-employee samples of about 2500 firms in the French manufacturing and services industries in 1987 and 1993, with one, two or three surveyed employees per firm (for respectively 75%, 15% and 10% of the firms).

Porcelain Fused to Zirconia Wing Bridge: A Clinical Trial

This study evaluated the durability and retention of nine porcelain fused to zirconia wing bridges with the addition of counter sunk holes in the wings. Prior to this clinical trial, preliminary in-vitro testing of bridges with porcelain fused zirconia was performed. The nine bridges were then fabricated for the replacement of missing anterior teeth

Subjective Evaluation of Performance Through Individual Evaluation Interview: Empirical evidence from France

Individual evaluation interviews have become a widespread practice. 52% of employees in French manufacturing firms over 50 employees declared an annual individual evaluation interview in 1997. However whereas the problem of constructing an optimal contract with subjective evaluation (which is defined simply as a signal in most papers) receives a large attention, firm-level evaluation interviews are strikingly left aside from economic analysis. This paper aims at identifying the underlying logics of individual evaluation interviews in the case of individual production and of team production. Especially, it aims at analyzing the relationships between effort, wage distribution within the firms and individual evaluation interviews. From a theoretical standpoint, three papers by Alchian and Demsetz (1972), by Che and Yoo (2001) and by MacLeod (2003) are closely related to our paper and from an empirical point of view, a paper by Engellandt and Riphahn (2004). Our theoretical analysis allows to derive testable predictions regarding the effect of individual evaluation interviews on productive and cognitive effort, on work overload and on wage setting. Using a matched employer / employee survey on computerisation and organisational change (COI), we are able to test part of these predictions and to corroborate them. First, evaluation interviews have a positive impact on productive and cognitive effort. Second, evaluation interviews increase effort through two effects: the classical incentive effect and also a selection effect. Third, the selection effect is stronger in the case of individual production compared with the case of team production. Fourth, evaluated employees earn more than employees in a classical incentive scheme and fifth, evaluated workers have a better knowledge of the rules driving wage setting.

How images are the making of the Women's Art Library/Make

When a group of women artists decided to organise their slides to inspire others to document themselves and raise the visibility of women’s art, they could not have known that several decades later those slides would still be together, forming the core of an internationally significant research resource. How did this idea of gathering together images transform a women’s art group – in the 1980s these were almost as common as book groups are today – into the Women’s Art Library/Make collection? Historically rooted in gender politics and the subsequent emergence of a radicalised women’s art practice and feminist art criticism, WAL/Make is an exciting ‘work in progress’. Now based in Goldsmiths, University of London it is being developed as a key special collection by the Library

Amorphous Carbon Aerogels from Xerogel Powders

Carbon aerogels are well known for their high surface areas and high porosities. Their applications have been demonstrated in a wide range of areas such as CO2 capture, electrodes for electrochemical cells, etc. They are typically made from pyrolysis of carbonizable polymeric aerogels, which in turn are synthesized via sol-gel methods. Preparation of those polymeric aerogels involves supercritical fluid drying of wet-gels by replacing the pore-filling solvent with liquid CO2 that can be vented off as a gas, thus allowing pores to retain their shape and size. In contrast, here a new alternative route is proposed for the synthesis of carbon aerogels from xerogel powders, which allows to speed-up the solvent exchange process and bypasses the supercritical fluid drying, resulting in time, energy, and materials efficient methodology for fabricating porous carbons. In this new method, crosslinked silica xerogel powders were prepared via free-radical surface-initiated polymerization of acrylonitrile on the network of silica suspension. Alternatively, cross-linked silica xerogel powders were prepared with a carbonizable polyurea derived from the reaction of an aromatic triisocyanate with different functional groups on the surface of silica suspension. Wet-gel powders were dried under vacuum, compressed into pellets and were then aromatized, pyrolyzed, and treated with HF and/or CO2 to remove SiO2 particles and/or carbon, creating porosity

Subjective evaluation of performance through individual evaluation interview : theory and empirical evidence from France

Individual evaluation interviews have become a widespread practice. 52 % of employees in French manufacturing firms over 50 employees declared an annual individual evaluation interview in 1997. However whereas the problem of constructing an optimal contract with subjective evaluation (which is defined simply as a signal in most papers) receives a large attention, firm-level evaluation interviews are strikingly left aside from economic analysis. This paper aims at identifying the underlying logics of individual evaluation interviews in the case of individual production and of team production. Especially, it aims at analyzing the relationships between effort, wage distribution within the firms and individual evaluation interviews. From a theoretical standpoint, three papers by Alchian and Demsetz (1972), by Che and Yoo (2001) and by MacLeod (2003) are closely related to our paper and from an empirical point of view, a recent paper by Engellandt and Riphahn (2004). We test in our paper four predictions. First, evaluation interviews have a positive impact on effort. Second, evaluation interviews increase the effort through twoeffects : the classical incentive effect and also a high selection effect. Third, evaluation interviews are associated with positive beliefs regarding wage and work recognition. Finally, evaluation interviews are associated with monetary gains for employees. These predictions are tested using a matched employer/employee survey on Computerization and Organizational Change (survey «Changements Organisationnels et Informatisation», C.O.I.), conducted in 1997 over a sample of about 4 000 firms and 9 000 employees.Subjective evaluation, Principal-Agent model, personnel economics, super-modularity.