Execution: the Critical “What’s Next?” in Strategic Human Resource Management

The Human Resource Planning Society’s 1999 State of the Art/Practice (SOTA/P) study was conducted by a virtual team of researchers who interviewed and surveyed 232 human resource and line executives, consultants, and academics worldwide. Looking three to five years ahead, the study probed four basic topics: (1) major emerging trends in external environments, (2) essential organizational capabilities, (3) critical people issues, and (4) the evolving role of the human resource function. This article briefly reports some of the study’s major findings, along with an implied action agenda – the “gotta do’s for the leading edge. Cutting through the complexity, the general tone is one of urgency emanating from the intersection of several underlying themes: the increasing fierceness of competition, the rapid and unrelenting pace of change, the imperatives of marketplace and thus organizational agility, and the corresponding need to buck prevailing trends by attracting and, especially, retaining and capturing the commitment of world-class talent. While it all adds up to a golden opportunity for human resource functions, there is a clear need to get to get on with it – to get better, faster, and smarter – or run the risk of being left in the proverbial dust. Execute or be executed

Scale development to evaluate differences between concern about falling and fear of falling: the concern and fear of falling evaluation

PurposeIndividuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) experience fear of falling (FOF), which is associated with negative health and quality-of-life consequences. Prior research has used FOF and concern about falling (CAF) interchangeably, but persons with MS report that CAF and FOF represent separate constructs that lie on a continuum. Unfortunately, no scale exists to understand the differences between CAF and FOF. Therefore, we developed a novel questionnaire, the Concern and Fear of Falling Evaluation (CAFFE), in which respondents rank their CAF and FOF on a continuum across various activities. This study aims to describe the scale development process and examine its psychometric properties.MethodsIn a single online survey, MS participants responded to demographic questionnaires, indicated whether they experience CAF and FOF, and completed the CAFFE. Psychometric evaluation of the CAFFE involved internal consistency, split-half cross validation, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).ResultsOut of 1,025 respondents, 64.6% reported CAF and 47.2% reported FOF. The EFA yielded a two-factor solution encompassing activities in open (factor 1) and closed environments (factor 2). The CFA replicated this two-factor solution and the CAFFE demonstrated excellent internal consistency (α = 0.98).ConclusionThe 27-item CAFFE is a highly reliable and valid measure capturing the tipping point at which point CAF moves to FOF. Future research should seek to define the tipping point from the MS community, as CAF may be an adaptive mechanism, whereas FOF may be a maladaptive behavior

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SIGLETIB Hannover: RO 3238(6) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman

Theoretical and numerical investigation of the elastic-plastic behavior of thick-walled cylinders

This chapter presents a theoretical and numerical investigation of the elastic-plastic behavior of thick-walled cylindrical pressure vessels loaded by combined large hydrostatic pressure and axial force. A novel approach is introduced for developing general theory, considering material behavior with nonlinear isotropic hardening. The adopted constitutive law is based on applying the von Mises yield criterion in association with the normality rule. The resulting stress and strain distributions are obtained and presented for a case study of combined internal pressure and axial load. The theoretical analysis is validated by comparing the results with those obtained numerically using nonlinear finite element simulation. This investigation addresses a persisting unresolved problem and provides a solution which results in continuous stress and strain fields throughout the cylinder wall. Earlier attempts cited in literature provided incorrect solutions due to invalid assumptions and/or inadequate selection of the yield criterion. The findings provide valuable information in the safety design of extremely loaded pressure vessels and establish the basis for further research in this field