Endogenous Effort Norms in Hierarchical Firms

__Abstract__ This paper studies how a three-layer hierarchical firm (principal-supervisor-agent) optimally creates effort norms for its employees. The key assumption is that effort norms are affected by the example of superiors. In equilibrium, norms are eroded as one moves down the hierarchy. The reason is that, because exerting effort is costly, the supervisor only partially complies with the principal's example, and thereby transmits a lower norm to the agent. The principal optimally responds to norm erosion by setting a higher example to begin with. In equilibrium, norm erosion gives rise to three inefficiencies: the principal works too hard, the supervisor's norm is too high, and the agent's norm is too low. To reduce these inefficiencies, firms should keep the extent of hierarchy to a minimum, promote employees with the strongest sensitivity to social norms, and distort man agerial spans of control

Altruism and Relational Incentives in the Workplace

This paper studies how altruism between managers and employees affects relational incentive contracts. To this end we develop a simple dynamic principal-agent model where both players may have feelings of altruism or spite toward each other. The con- tract may contain two types of incentives for the agent to work hard: a bonus and a threat of dismissal. We find that altruism undermines the credibility of a threat of dis- missal but strengthens the credibility of a bonus. Among others, these two mechanisms imply that higher altruism sometimes leads to higher bonuses, while lower altruism may increase productivity and players utility in equilibrium

Social Relations and Relational Incentives

This paper studies how social relationships between managers and employees affect relational incentive contracts. To this end we develop a simple dynamic principal-agent model where both players may have feelings of altruism or spite toward each other. The contract may contain two types of incentives for the agent to work hard: a bonus and a threat of dismissal. We find that good social relationships undermine the credibility of a threat of dismissal but strengthen the credibility of a bonus. Among others, these two mechanisms imply that better social relationships sometimes lead to higher bonuses, while worse social relationships may increase productivity and players' utility in equilibrium

Altruism, Conformism, and Incentives in the Workplace

Performance pay can motivate employees, but money is not the only motivation in the workplace. Altruism, which means that someone enjoys the well-being of someone else, can also provide a powerful motivation. The first part of this thesis studies theoretically how altruism between an employee and his superior affects the optimal use of monetary incentives. Among others, the analysis reveals how altruism influences the credibility of monetary incentive schemes, and how altruistic managers can be prevented from being lenient in evaluating employee performance. The second part of this thesis focuses on motivation stemming from the desire to conform to social norms. I develop a theoretical model in which it is assumed that norms for employees are affected by the example of superiors. The analysis sheds light on how superiors take the norm-setting aspect of their behavior into account, and derives implications for the optimal design of organizations

Portable and integrated microfluidic flow control system using off-the-shelf components towards organs-on-chip applications

Organ-on-a-chip (OoC) devices require the precise control of various media. This is mostly done using several fluid control components, which are much larger than the typical OoC device and connected through fluidic tubing, i.e., the fluidic system is not integrated, which inhibits the system’s portability. Here, we explore the limits of fluidic system integration using off-the-shelf fluidic control components. A flow control configuration is proposed that uses a vacuum to generate a fluctuation-free flow and minimizes the number of components used in the system. 3D printing is used to fabricate a custom-designed platform box for mounting the chosen smallest footprint components. It provides flexibility in arranging the various components to create experiment-specific systems. A demonstrator system is realized for lung-on-a-chip experiments. The 3D-printed platform box is 290 mm long, 240 mm wide and 37 mm tall. After integrating all the components, it weighs 4.8 kg. The system comprises of a switch valve, flow and pressure controllers, and a vacuum pump to control the diverse media flows. The system generates liquid flow rates ranging from 1.5 μ Lmin - 1 to 68 μ Lmin - 1 in the cell chambers, and a cyclic vacuum of 280 mbar below atmospheric pressure with 0.5 Hz frequency in the side channels to induce mechanical strain on the cells-substrate. The components are modular for easy exchange. The battery operated platform box can be mounted on either upright or inverted microscopes and fits in a standard incubator. Overall, it is shown that a compact integrated and portable fluidic system for OoC experiments can be constructed using off-the-shelf components. For further down-scaling, the fluidic control components, like the pump, switch valves, and flow controllers, require significant miniaturization while having a wide flow rate range with high resolution.</p

Suspended photonic waveguide arrays for submicrometer alignment

This paper presents a new alignment concept for the alignment of multichannel photonic intergrated circuits (PICs) using flexible photonic waveguides on one of the PICs that are positionable by integrated micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) actuators. The concept aims for high precision and high degree of assembly process automation. The proposed concept includes pre-alignment of both PICs on a common substrate followed by fine-alignment using the on-chip flexible waveguides and MEMS functionality. This paper introduces the alignment approach and reports on the development and fabrication of suspended and mechanically flexible photonic waveguides. Single suspended waveguide beams and suspended arrays with two and four coupled parallel waveguide beams of different lengths (250 ?mto 1000 ?m) and different widths (18 ?mto 34 ?m) are designed and fabricated. After fabrication, waveguide beam fracturing is observed. The fabrication process has been extended by an additional under-etching step in order to reduce beam fracturing. The static out-of-plane deflection of the fabricated devices follows a specific profile with a dominating upward curvature resulting in a measured maximum out-of-plane deflection of 2% of the length. The beam stiffness of the fabricated devices is measured and proves to be within the available force of microactuators.Precision and Microsystems EngineeringMechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineerin

Reactivity-stereoselectivity mapping for the assembly of Mycobacterium marinum lipooligosaccharides

The assembly of complex bacterial glycans presenting rare structural motifs and cis -glycosidic linkages is significantly obstructed by the lack of knowledge of the reactivity of the constituting building blocks and the stereoselectivity of the reactions in which they partake. We here report a strategy to map the reactivity of carbohydrate building blocks and apply it to understand the reactivity of the bacterial sugars, caryophyllose, a rare C12-monosaccharide, containing a characteristic tetrasubstituted stereocenter. We mapped reactivity-stereoselectivity relationships for caryophyllose donor and acceptor glycosides, by a systematic series of glycosylations in combination with the detection and characterization of different reactive intermediates using experimental and computational techniques. The insights garnered from these studies enabled the rational design of building blocks with the required properties to assemble Mycobacterial lipooligosaccharide fragments of M. marinum .Bio-organic Synthesi