An Architectural Approach to Managing Knowledge Stocks and Flows: Implications for Reinventing the HR Function

Sustainable competitive advantage is increasingly dependent upon a firm’s ability to manage both its knowledge stocks and flows. We examine how different employees’ knowledge stocks are managed within a firm and how—through their recombination and renewal—those stocks can create sustainable competitive advantage. To do this, we first establish an architectural framework for managing human resources and review how the framework provides a foundation for studying alternative employment arrangements used by firms in allocating knowledge stocks. Next, we extend the architecture by examining how knowledge stocks (human capital) can be both recombined and renewed through cooperative and entrepreneurial archetypes. We then position two HR configurations to focus on facilitating these two archetypes. By identifying and managing different forms of social capital across employee groups within the architecture, HR practices can facilitate the flow of knowledge within the firm, which ultimately leads to sustainable competitive advantage

A Resource-Based View Of International Human Resources: Toward A Framework of Integrative and Creative Capabilities

Drawing on organizational learning and MNC perspectives, we extend the resource-based view to address how international human resource management provides sustainable competitive advantage. We develop a framework that emphasizes and extends traditional assumptions of the resource-based view by identifying the learning capabilities necessary for a complex and changing global environment. These capabilities address how MNCs might both create new HR practices in response to local environments and integrate existing HR practices from other parts of the firm (affiliates, regional headquarters, and global headquarters). In an effort to understand the nature of such capabilities, we discuss aspects of human capital, social capital, and organizational capital that might be linked to their development. Page

Minu, Startu and All That: Pitfalls in Estimating the Sensitivity of a Worker's Wage to Aggregate Unemployment

In this paper we show that panel estimates of tenure specific sensitivity to the business cycle of wages is subject to serious pitfalls. Three canonical variates used in the literature â the minimum unemployment rate during a workerâs time at the firm (min u), the unemployment rate at the start of her tenure (Su) and the current unemployment rate interacted with a new hire dummy (δu) â can all be significant and "correctly" signed even when each worker in the firm receives the same wage, regardless of tenure (equal treatment). In matched data the problem can be resolved by the inclusion in the panel of firm-year interaction dummies. In unmatched data where this is not possible, we propose a solution for min u and Su based on Solon, Barsky and Parker's (1994) two step method. Our proposed solution method is however suboptimal because it removes a lot of potentially informative variation in average wages. Unfortunately δu cannot be identified in unmatched data because a differential wage response to unemployment of new hires and incumbents will appear under both equal treatment and unequal treatment.wage cyclicality, unemployment

Real and Nominal Wage Rigidity in a Model of Equal-Treatment Contracting

Following insights by Bewley (1999a), this paper analyses a model with downward rigidities in which firms cannot pay discriminate based on a year of entry to a firm, and develops an equilibrium model of wages and unemployment. We solve for the dynamics of wages and unemployment under conditions of downward wage rigidity, where forward looking firms take into account these constraints. Using simulated productivity data based on the post-war US economy, we analyse the ability of the model to match certain stylised labour market facts.labour contracts, business cycle, unemployment, equal treatment, downward rigidity, cross-contract restrictions

Studies on the Synthesis of Layer Silicates

Magnesium hydroxide reacts with silica gel to form a hectorite-like phyllosilicate. The reaction is believed to involve initial interlayer adsorption of silicate ion into the brucite crystals. Subsequent argillification is thought to occur by dissolution of the adsorbate and recrystallization of the complex magnesium silicate ions thus formed. If this reaction scheme is valid, silicates should be most easily formed from hydroxides whose crystal structure can be easily penetrated by silicate ion. The reactions with silica gel of the divalent hydroxides of magnesium, calcium, cadmium, copper, zinc and beryllium were investigated. In each case, a 10% aqueous slurry of a mixture of the solid hydroxide with silica gel was refluxed at pH 10. The hydroxide-silica ratio was 0.75, to satisfy the formula of an ideal 2:1 trioctahedral layer silicate. The reactions were fallowed by infrared spectroscopy and electron microscopy, and evidence was sought for the existence of an initial intrastructural adsorbate. In some cases, differential thermal analysis was used for further characterisation of the samples. The reaction products were, where possible, identified by powder x-ray diffraction and electron diffraction. In the case of polymorphous hydroxides, samples of consisting of single polymorphs were used as starting materials. Amorphous silica gel has a strong Si-O stretch band at 1070 cm-1 in the infrared. Intrastructural adsorption of silicate ion produces a new Si-O stretch hand at around 1020 cm-1. This hand increases in intensity as the adsorbate is formed. Recrystallization of the adsorbate leads to further changes in the Si-O stretching pattern. Adsorption leads to the breaking up of the hydroxide crystals, yielding a material of very low particle size having a weak microcrystalline electron diffraction pattern. Recrystallization of this material is not always observed under the reaction conditions used. With all the hydroxides except epsilon-Zn(OH)2 and beta-Be(OH)2, the above changes were observed. Recrystallization of the Mg(OH)2 and gamma-Zn(OH)2 adsorbates led to hectorite and hemimorphite, respectively. Ca(OH)2 and Cu(OH)2 gave adsorbates which recrystallized partially. The Cd(OH)2 adsorbate did not recrystallize. epsilon-Zn(OH)2 and beta-Be(OH)2 did not form adsorbates. The adsorbate half-time is defined from the infrared spectra for each hydroxide, and correlated with the hydroxide structural parameters. Hydroxides with layer or chain structures have short adsorbate half- times, while those with framework structures have long or infinite adsorbate half-times. The reaction of magnesium hydroxide with Pyrex glass at 11

Perceptions of Beginning Secondary Alternatively Licensed Family and Consumer Sciences Teachers in Kansas: A Case Study

Alternatively licensed Career and Technical Education teacher licensure programs have become a more conventional process for licensing new CTE teachers. Evidence from recent research supports that alternatively licensed teachers have a much greater teacher turnover rate than traditionally licensed teachers. This study focused on Family and Consumer Sciences education, which is part of the umbrella of CTE. There is limited research on new teacher training that specifically supports beginning alternatively licensed secondary FCS teachers in Kansas. This qualitative study examined the experiences of novice alternatively licensed secondary FCS teachers in Kansas who transitioned from the workforce with no previous teacher training experience. Specifically, this study investigate their sense of self-efficacy in their role. Interviews were conducted with beginning alternatively licensed secondary FCS teachers in Kansas at the beginning years of their teaching. Teachers were asked questions regarding their experience as it correlated to their sense of self-efficacy and their stories of successes and challenges they experienced. The results of this study may provide educators, mentors, administrators, and researchers with a deeper appreciation of how this unique population may come prepared to teach their content areas and where they may need to improve in essential teaching skills. The data were coded to identify themes related to the research questions. These themes were validated using triangulation methods that include member checks, multiple data points, peer-debrief and audit trails

Perceptions of Beginning Secondary Alternatively Licensed Family and Consumer Sciences Teachers in Kansas: A Case Study

Alternatively licensed Career and Technical Education teacher licensure programs have become a more conventional process for licensing new CTE teachers. Evidence from recent research supports that alternatively licensed teachers have a much greater teacher turnover rate than traditionally licensed teachers. This study focused on Family and Consumer Sciences education, which is part of the umbrella of CTE. There is limited research on new teacher training that specifically supports beginning alternatively licensed secondary FCS teachers in Kansas. This qualitative study examined the experiences of novice alternatively licensed secondary FCS teachers in Kansas who transitioned from the workforce with no previous teacher training experience. Specifically, this study investigate their sense of self-efficacy in their role. Interviews were conducted with beginning alternatively licensed secondary FCS teachers in Kansas at the beginning years of their teaching. Teachers were asked questions regarding their experience as it correlated to their sense of self-efficacy and their stories of successes and challenges they experienced. The results of this study may provide educators, mentors, administrators, and researchers with a deeper appreciation of how this unique population may come prepared to teach their content areas and where they may need to improve in essential teaching skills. The data were coded to identify themes related to the research questions. These themes were validated using triangulation methods that include member checks, multiple data points, peer-debrief and audit trails