The Impact of the Reward Systems on employee motivation: The Case of a Department Store

The aim of this research is to study the impact of reward systems used within a city centre department store on employee motivation. At its core the research looks to discover whether intrinsic or extrinsic motivation is the strongest, uncover if pay is a motivator and how to enhance motivation through pay and reward management. According to the literature review previous studies suggest that organisations use reward systems and strategies to motivate their employees, increase individual performance and to improve business performance. The literature review analyses current practises used in the department store to analyse benefit and limitation factors. The research was undertaken via a single case study at a department store and adopted the use of quantitative data via a questionnaire and qualitative data via structured interviews. The research found that although extrinsic rewards were present, intrinsic remains the dominant motivating factor amongst individuals, and that even within this individuals had different intrinsic motivators

Modelling the vertical UL 94 test: competition and collaboration between melt dripping, gasification and combustion

An experimental and numerical investigation of the effect of bisphenol A bis(diphenyl phosphate) (BDP) and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) on the fire behaviour of bisphenol A polycarbonate/acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (PC/ABS) in the vertical UL 94 scenario is presented. Four PC/ABS blends were discussed, which satisfy different UL 94 classifi cations d ue to the  competing ef fects of gasifica ti on, charring, flame inhibition and melt flow/dripping. For numerical investigation, the particle finite element method (PFEM) is used. Its capability to model the complex fire behaviour of polymers in the UL 94 is analysed. The materials’ properties are characterised, in particular the additives impact on the dripping behaviour during thermal exposure. BDP is an efficie nt p lasticiser; adding PTFE p reve nts dripping  by causing a flo w limit. P FEM simulation s reproduce the dripping and burning behaviour, in particular the competition between gasification and dripping. The thermal impact of both the burner and the flame is approximated taking into account flame inhibition, charring and effective heat of combustion. PFEM is a promising numerical tool for the investigation of the fire behaviour of polymers, particularly when large deformations are involved. Not only the principal phenomena but also the different UL 94 classi fi cations and t he exti nc tion times are well predicted

Practical considerations for measuring the effective reproductive number, Rt.

Estimation of the effective reproductive number Rt is important for detecting changes in disease transmission over time. During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, policy makers and public health officials are using Rt to assess the effectiveness of interventions and to inform policy. However, estimation of Rt from available data presents several challenges, with critical implications for the interpretation of the course of the pandemic. The purpose of this document is to summarize these challenges, illustrate them with examples from synthetic data, and, where possible, make recommendations. For near real-time estimation of Rt, we recommend the approach of Cori and colleagues, which uses data from before time t and empirical estimates of the distribution of time between infections. Methods that require data from after time t, such as Wallinga and Teunis, are conceptually and methodologically less suited for near real-time estimation, but may be appropriate for retrospective analyses of how individuals infected at different time points contributed to the spread. We advise caution when using methods derived from the approach of Bettencourt and Ribeiro, as the resulting Rt estimates may be biased if the underlying structural assumptions are not met. Two key challenges common to all approaches are accurate specification of the generation interval and reconstruction of the time series of new infections from observations occurring long after the moment of transmission. Naive approaches for dealing with observation delays, such as subtracting delays sampled from a distribution, can introduce bias. We provide suggestions for how to mitigate this and other technical challenges and highlight open problems in Rt estimation

'Keeping up to date with the Old Way of Doing Things': Competence Management in the UK Heritage Railway Industry

There are over 200 heritage railways throughout the UK, operated primarily by volunteers. To address recent accidents, the Heritage Railway Association has provided guidance on the management of competence, complementing that of the Office of Rail and Road. However, each heritage railway has its own bespoke approach to this issue. Aspects such as the volunteer culture, the prevailing language, the diversity of skills, qualifications and learning abilities, are all factors to be addressed in managing competence effectively. Here, qualitative research methods have been used in the form of eighteen in-depth interviews conducted with workers at four UK heritage railways. Analysis of this data revealed issues such as the need to transfer knowledge from an aging volunteer workforce to new recruits and the importance of ensuring that competences are portable to maintain the viability of the industry, whilst recognising the special needs of volunteers in this unique working environment. Future work will determine the gap between how volunteers ‘see’ competence and how it is managed today, with the aim of developing a new approach to competence management for the UK heritage railway industry