Employee Compensation and Advanced Manufacturing Technology

[Excerpt] The globalization of product markets has intensified competition in an increasingly wide array of industries, including automobiles, consumer electronics,steel, and computer chips to name just a few. In manufacturing as a whole during the last thirty years, productivity growth in the U.S. has lagged significantly behind that of Japan, Germany, Sweden, and many other industrialized countries. For example, between 1960 and 1985, the annual growth in manufacturing productivity (output per hour) was 2.7 percent in the U.S. compared with 8.0 percent in Japan. Unless this trend can be turned around, U.S. companies will find it increasingly difficult to compete in the world market

A Proposal for a Comprehensive Restructuring of the Public Information System

After more than ten years of legislative, judicial and bureaucratic tinkering, the public information system created by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is still far from satisfactory. The present public information system has not been successful because its drafters lacked imagination and failed to do the basic work necessary to create a sound foundation for such a comprehensive program. They failed to analyze the realistic goals of a public information system; they ignored the ultimate goals of improved government performance; they misrepresented the system\u27s costs, both in monetary expense to taxpayers and in diminished government performance. They considered neither alternative techniques nor the problem of designing the public information system as an integral part of the total governmental structure. Actual open government for the benefit of the general populace will be possible only if the basic weaknesses of the present system are explored in depth. This Article is an appeal to Congress to undertake the careful analysis necessary to construct a workable, useful public information system

Hotel universe

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University Bibliography

Correlation of shock initiated and thermally initiated chemical reactions in a 1:1 atomic ratio nickel-silicon mixture

Shock initiated chemical reaction experiments have been performed on a 1:1 atomic ratio mixture of 20- to 45-µm nickel and –325 mesh crystalline silicon powders. It has been observed that no detectable or only minor surface reactions occur between the constituents until a thermal energy threshold is reached, above which the reaction goes to completion. The experiments show the energy difference between virtually no and full reaction is on the order of 5 percent. Differential scanning calorimetery (DSC) of statically pressed powders shows an exothermic reaction beginning at a temperature which decreases with decreasing porosity. Powder, shock compressed to just below the threshold energy, starts to react in the DSC at 621 °C while powder statically pressed to 23% porosity starts to react at about 30 °C higher. Tap density powder starts to react at 891 °C. The DSC reaction initiation temperature of the shock compressed but unreacted powder corresponds to a thermal energy in the powder of 382 J/g which agrees well with the thermal energy produced by a shock wave with the threshold energy (between 384 and 396 J/g). (Thermal energies referenced to 20 °C.) A sharp energy threshold and a direct correlation with DSC results indicates that the mean thermal energy determines whether or not the reaction will propagate in the elemental Ni+Si powder mixture rather than local, particle level conditions. From this it may be concluded that the reaction occurs on a time scale greater than the time constant for thermal diffusion into the particle interiors

GLOBALIZATION, TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES, AND OTHER THREATS TO AMERICAN AGRICULTURE: DISCUSSION

International Relations/Trade,

The Importance of Recruitment in Job Choice: A Different Way of Looking

Recent literature reviews have called into question the impact of recruitment activities on applicants\u27 job choices. However, most previous findings have been based on cross-sectional ratings obtained immediately after initial screening interviews, thus raising questions about the degree to which prior conclusions are bound to that particuJar methodology. In contrast, the present study used longitudinal structured interviews to let job seekers explain, in their own words, how they made critical job search and choice decisions. Interview transcripts revealed that recruitment practices played a variety of roles in job seeker decisions. For example, consistent with signalling theory, subjects interpreted a wide variety of recruitment experiences (recruiter competence, sex composition of interview panels, recruitment delays) as symbolic of broader organizational characteristics. In addition, a number of contingency variables emerged that seemed to affect the perceived signalling value of recruitment experiences (e.g., prior knowledge of the company, functional area of the recruiter). Also notable were the strongly negative effects of recruitment delays, particularly among male students with higher grade point averages and greater job search success. Finally, our results suggest that certain applicant reactions may be systematically related to sex, work experience, grade point average, and search success. The article concludes with practical and research implications

Recruiter Perceptions of Applicant Fit: Commonalities and Differences

To date, normative selection models have focused primarily on matching individual knowledges, skills, and abilities to job requirements. However, it has increasingly been argued that people should also be selected for fit to broader organizational characteristics such as strategy, culture and values. Despite the apparent reasonableness of these claims, there has been little research on how employers actually go about the task of screening or selecting for broader organizational fit. Accordingly, the present study examined how organizational recruiters assess applicant fit. Fifty-four campus recruiters in four colleges provided examples of best-fitting and worst-fitting applicants from just-completed interview schedules, along with specific descriptions of what it was that made each applicant fit or not fit . Examination of interview transcripts suggested that despite the recent emphasis on unique organizational values, strategies, or cultures in discussions of fit, by far the most frequently-mentioned determinants of fit were either (1) job-related coursework or experience, or (2) generally (rather than uniquely) desirable personal characteristics such as articulateness, positive personal appearance, and good general communication skills. However, some systematic differences were detected in the extent to which particular characteristics were sought by recruiters in different colleges or by those recruiting for different types of vacancies. Findings are related to previous research, and implications for applicants, employers, and future researchers are offered

A Descriptive Survey of Grant Funded Physical Education Teachers' Knowledge, Skills and Dispositions in Adapted Physical Education.

Ph.D. Thesis. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 2017