8,252 research outputs found
An investigation into the work of managers in Great Britain: with particular reference to the management of human resources; and the skills and knowledge used
The Study is in four parts. The first part provides a background to the original
research through a short twentieth century history of management and synopses of
the work of selected earlier writers and researchers.
The second part provides the results of a new empirical study of managerial work
in Great Britain in the early nineteen-nineties. This study follows the lead of
earlier researchers such as Carlson, Stewart and Mintzberg and invstigates
managerial work using three methodologies. A quantitative study through a
questionnaire survey is complemented by a smaller diary study and thirty face to
face interviews with a range of managers from widely differing organisations and
jobs.
A statistical analysis of the data provides a very detailed review of how managers
spend their time, requirements for effective performance, how performance is
measured, major changes which have affected them, and the skills and knowledge
used. Analysis of the diary data provides a very detailed profile of managerial
work. Factor analysis is used to identify a new managerial typology; and using
data from the various elements of the study a series of detailed managerial models,
identifying both similarities and differences, is provided for an average manager, a
general manager, five types of functional manager and five hierarchical levels of
manager.
Using information from the interview case studies, together with the statistical
analysis, the management of human resouces, or "getting things done through other
people", is addressed and a range of abilities, skills and knowledge required for
effective people management identified. This section, particularly, contributes to
the field of knowledge and provides guidance for the development of management
education and training.
Part three provides a comparison of the present study with earlier researches and
shows that whilst the fundamental nature of managerial work changes relatively.
little, the environment within which it takes place is constantly changing. Recent
changes identified include greater customer orientation and demands for quality,
new legislation, "de-layering" and the very rapid development of new technologies
within both offices and factories. The evidence suggests that the work of managers
is becoming continually more demanding and increasingly difficult.
Part four provides a range of very detailed appendices in support of the main text
Three months journeying of a Hawaiian monk seal
Hawaiian monk seals (Monachus schauinslandi) are endemic to the Hawaiian
Islands and are the most endangered species of marine mammal that lives
entirely within the jurisdiction of the United States. The species numbers
around 1300 and has been declining owing, among other things, to poor juvenile
survival which is evidently related to poor foraging success. Consequently,
data have been collected recently on the foraging habitats, movements, and
behaviors of monk seals throughout the Northwestern and main Hawaiian Islands.
Our work here is directed to exploring a data set located in a relatively
shallow offshore submerged bank (Penguin Bank) in our search of a model for a
seal's journey. The work ends by fitting a stochastic differential equation
(SDE) that mimics some aspects of the behavior of seals by working with
location data collected for one seal. The SDE is found by developing a time
varying potential function with two points of attraction. The times of location
are irregularly spaced and not close together geographically, leading to some
difficulties of interpretation. Synthetic plots generated using the model are
employed to assess its reasonableness spatially and temporally. One aspect is
that the animal stays mainly southwest of Molokai. The work led to the
estimation of the lengths and locations of the seal's foraging trips.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/193940307000000473 the IMS
Collections (http://www.imstat.org/publications/imscollections.htm) by the
Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org
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