Understanding the use value dimensions of outsourced maintenance services

Surviving in long-term outsourced maintenance contracts in current financial situation necessitates better understanding of what customers attribute as value and its dimensions. This paper reports on findings from research undertaken with a supplier of automation products and services and its customers. Structured interviewing technique has been conducted in four customer companies from different industrial sectors at different organizational levels. Value dimensions and their role in different decision making levels are identified

Adelante! From high school to higher education: an analysis of the academic success and persistence of Hispanic students through an expectancy-value framework

2016 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between student pre-college academic perceptions with first-year in college academic experiences, specifically in the areas of academic self-efficacy, academic perseverance, and academic engagement, to identify predictors for academic success and persistence in college of Hispanic students. An abbreviated version of the expectancy-value model was utilized as the framework for this study. The guiding question for this study was: Do pre-college experiences and beliefs (expectancies for success) as well as academic engagement (subjective task values) contribute to the academic success (achievement related performance) and persistence to second year (achievement related choice) for first-year Hispanic students? The study sample (n = 271) included students at a public Hispanic-serving institution who completed both the BCSSE and NSSE surveys in the given years of the study. Findings identified several variables as predictors of achievement-related performance and choice. The variables identified for achievement-related performance (academic success) were writing skills, speaking skills, quantitative skills, participation in class discussions, finishing tasks, gender and type of school attended. The variables identified for achievement-related choice (persistence) were writing skills and quantitative skills. Additionally, significant differences were identified by gender for academic self-efficacy and by generation-status and by type of school attended for academic engagement

The Compliance Process

Even as regulators and prosecutors proclaim the importance of effective compliance programs, failures persist. Organizations fail to ensure that they and their agents comply with legal and regulatory requirements, industry practices, and their own internal policies and norms. From the companies that provide our news, to the financial institutions that serve as our bankers, to the corporations that make our cars, compliance programs fail to prevent misconduct each and every day. The causes of these compliance failures are multifaceted and include general enforcement deficiencies, difficulties associated with overseeing compliance programs within complex organizations, and failures to establish a culture of compliance throughout the organizational structure. In short, creating an effective compliance program is an inherently difficult task.And yet, it may be that organizations can improve compliance within their organizations by rethinking the way they approach the compliance challenge. This Article — drawing on insights from cognitive psychology, behavioral economics, and behavioral ethics — sets forth a new method of evaluating compliance failures that focuses on the compliance process, which has the distinct, albeit interrelated, stages of prevention, detection, investigation, and remediation. The Article argues that utilizing a process frame will assist industry leaders, regulators, and policymakers in conducting more effective root-cause analyses of compliance failures, which will lead to the creation, implementation, and better evaluation of compliance programs. Delineating clear boundaries for the stages within the compliance process is difficult, but getting these distinctions right is essential when confronted with significant or complex compliance failures, particularly when an organization lacks a robust commitment to compliance. Additionally, the process frame can be utilized across regulatory areas and corporate forms, which serves to cement compliance as its own proper field worthy of further inquiry and study. By focusing on “The Compliance Process,” organizations, policymakers, and scholars will improve the tools available for them to assist in the creation and implementation of effective compliance programs

Reframing the DEI Case

Corporate firms have long expressed their support for the idea that their organizations should become more demographically diverse while creating a culture that is inclusive of all members of the firm. These firms have traditionally, however, not been successful at improving demographic diversity and true inclusion within the upper echelons of their organizations. The status quo seemed unlikely to move, but expectations for corporate firms were upended after the #MeToo Movement of 2017 and 2018, which was followed by corporate support of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement in 2020. These two social movements, while distinct in many ways, forced firms to rethink how to approach the status of women and people of color within their organizations. It forced them to ask, yet again, but with renewed energy: “What is the best way to improve diversity and inclusion within firms?” This Article seeks to contribute to scholarly conversations aimed at addressing that, admittedly elusive, question head-on. It argues that in addition to pursuing the business and legal cases for diversity when crafting diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) programs, firms should also employ insights from behavioral ethics literature. By utilizing insights from behavioral ethics literature, firms can better prompt decisionmakers to recognize that DEI questions—whether under the business or legal case for diversity—are questions that should be evaluated from an ethical perspective. Scholars and firm leaders have long debated the accuracy of the business case rationale in support of DEI efforts. More recent scholarship has focused on the legal case in support of DEI efforts. This Article recognizes that firms committed to crafting meaningful DEI reforms must focus on both the business and legal cases, but they must reinforce the ethical ramifications of DEI concerns under both frameworks. In short, firms committed to creating a successful DEI program must find ways to evoke ethical framing when engaged in the creation of diverse, equitable, and inclusive organizational cultures

College and Career Awareness in Elementary Schools

Greenfield Union School District provides the educational needs of students, K-6, who are economically disadvantaged, English learners, and special education. Data shows that students in the Greenfield Union School District have low academic performance in English, Mathematics, and other subjects. One reason for low academic performance is the lack of student engagement in school. The capstone project attempted to encourage student engagement, by increasing students’ knowledge and awareness about college and careers. Three 5th grade classes participated in the college activities. The capstone project consisted of four college awareness sessions. The sessions included activities which expanded students’ knowledge about career exploration, college terminology, researching skills, college culture, and college tips and skills. Data collected through a pre-survey and post-survey indicated that students gained knowledge and awareness of college and career topics. As a result of the project, students’ knowledge about college terminology increased. Also, there was a noticeable increase in student engagement