Standing Spin Wave Resonances in Manganite Films

We report the first observation of spin wave resonances in 110 nm thick films of LBMO. The spin wave stiffness follows $D$ = 47 (1 - 3 \times 10$_{-7}$ $T^{5/2}$) meV${\AA_2}$.Comment: 5 pages LATEX, 3 figures available on request. Submitted to Nature. Please send all queries to [email protected]

Identification of Factors Affecting Employee Satisfaction and Their Relative Importance: An Empirical Study of An Indian Public Sector Organization

There are several factors affecting organizational effectiveness and one of the important factors is employee satisfaction. This study aims to identify the factors affecting employee satisfaction and determine their relative importance, so that suitable strategies could be formulated to enhance employee satisfaction. The primary data was collected from a sample of 50 respondents using a questionnaire based on five point response category of Likert type. The modified Likert scale (i.e. Indices) were employed as variables in the quantitative analysis. Two tailed t-test was employed to test the significance of regression coefficients ; The degree of significance measures the relative importance. IBM SPSS 20 and Excel 2007 software were used to sort the data and undertake quantitative analysis. Altogether six broad factors were identified. Statistical results revealed that all factors are important, however, pay & perks emerged as the most important factor. Group of factors consisting of “pay & perks”, “career & development” and “welfare facilities” is relatively more effective than the Group of factors consisting of “company”, “job” and “work life & culture”. The key contributions and limitations have also been mentioned. Keywords: Employee Satisfaction, Factors, Indices, Standard Scores, Weighted Standard scores. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/12-33-02 Publication date: November 30th 202

Does It Really Work? Re-Assessing the Impact of Pre-Departure Cross-Cultural Training on Expatriate Adjustment

Cultural adjustment is considered to be a prerequisite for expatriate success abroad. One way to enhance adjustment is to provide employees with knowledge and awareness of appropriate norms and behaviors of the host country through cross-cultural training (CCT). This article analyzes the impact of pre-departure CCT on expatriate adjustment and focuses on variations in participation, length and the comprehensiveness of training. Unlike previous research, the study focuses on the effectiveness of pre-departure CCT for non-US employees expatriated to a broad range of host country settings. Employing data from 339 expatriates from 20 German Multinational Corporations (MNCs) the study finds CCT has little if any effect on general, interactional or work setting expatriate adjustment. However, a significant impact of foreign language competence was found for all three dimensions of expatriate adjustment. We used interviews with 20 expatriates to supplement our discussion and provide further implications for practice

The Interrelationship Between Managerial Ownership and Board Structure

The paper tests the hypothesis that high managerial ownership entrenches managers by allowing the CEO to create a board that is unlikely to monitor. The results show a strong negative relationship between the level of managerial ownership and corporate governance factors, such as, the split of the roles of the CEO and the Chairman, the proportion of non-executive directors, and the appointment of a non-executive director as a Chairman. I also find that companies with low managerial ownership are more likely to change their board structure to comply with the Cadbury (1992) recommendations. The results suggest that managers, through their high ownership, choose a board that is unlikely to monitor. Overall, the findings cast doubt on the effectiveness of the board as an internal corporate governance mechanism when managerial ownership is high. Copyright 2006 The Author Journal compilation (c) 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Voluntary Listing Requirements and Corporate Performance: The Case of the Dey Report and Canadian Firms

We investigate the determinants and consequences of compliance with the Dey Committee recommendations encouraging greater board independence in Canada. Companies that acted on this recommendation appear to have done so to improve their performance and not for cosmetic purposes. Poorly performing firms that modified their boards experienced a greater increase in performance compared to those that did not. Overall, it appears that the primary function of the Dey Report was to refocus firms' attention on the quality of board monitoring, particularly those with poor relative performance. Copyright 2008, The Eastern Finance Association.