Employee ownership as a signal of management quality

The employees' decision to become shareholder of the company they work for can be a consequence of employers' matching contribution in company stock. From a behavioral perspective, employees would regard these contributions as an implicit investment advice made by their employer. This paper adopts another viewpoint. Since employee ownership can be used as an entrenchment mechanism, we suggest that employer's matching policy can be considered as an imperfect signal of management quality. This paper suggests that employee ownership can be used by managers to compensate their management skills to the market. It recommends that employee ownership policy should not be influenced by the managers.Employee ownership ; corporate governance ; management entrenchment

A World Englishes Study of Korean University Students: Effects of Pedagogy on Language Attitudes

I examine the impact of raising awareness of World English varieties on the language attitudes of Korean university students. This study triangulated direct attitudinal measurements through the use of a 6-point Likert scale survey with indirect attitudinal measurements by employing a verbal guise test. The verbal guise test used recordings of representative speakers from six varieties of English: American, Chinese, Japanese, British, Saudi, and Korean English. Attitudinal measurements were taken pre and post a series of four 1½-hour practical English classes designed to raise awareness of world varieties, along with global trends in language use that highlight the importance of English as a lingua franca. A two tailed t test for a repeated measures design was performed to determine which changes in pre and post measurements were statistically significant, along with using r2 to determine the effect size of the measurements. Statistically significant positive changes in attitude were detected towards the Chinese, Japanese, British, and Korean speakers. Attitudinal change for the Saudi speaker was not statistically significant. A statistically significant negative change of attitude was detected toward the American speaker. Both the Saudi and American varieties were coincidently omitted from the awareness raising classes. Changes in two responses of the survey were statistically significant. Participants agreed more that they will use English to communicate with non-native speakers, and agreed less with feeling nervous to communicate with native speakers. This study has important pedagogical implications since it indicates that awareness raising classroom activities can positively affect students’ attitudes towards World Englishes

Modelling of the radiative properties of an opaque porous ceramic layer

Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) operate at temperatures above 1,100 K where radiation effects can be significant. Therefore, an accurate thermal model of an SOFC requires the inclusion of the contribution of thermal radiation. This implies that the thermal radiative properties of the oxide ceramics used in the design of SOFCs must be known. However, little information can be found in the literature concerning their operating temperatures. On the other hand, several types of ceramics with different chemical compositions and microstructures for designing efficient cells are now being tested. This is a situation where the use of a numerical tool making possible the prediction of the thermal radiative properties of SOFC materials, whatever their chemical composition and microstructure are, may be a decisive help. Using this method, first attempts to predict the radiative properties of a lanthanum nickelate porous layer deposited onto an yttria stabilized zirconium substrate can be reported

Employee ownership as a signal of management quality

The employees' decision to become shareholder of the company they work for can be a consequence of employers' matching contribution in company stock. From a behavioral perspective, employees would regard these contributions as an implicit investment advice made by their employer. This paper adopts another viewpoint. Since employee ownership can be used as an entrenchment mechanism, we suggest that employer's matching policy can be considered as an imperfect signal of management quality. This paper suggests that employee ownership can be used by managers to compensate their management skills to the market. It recommends that employee ownership policy should not be influenced by the managers

La pratique de l’éducateur mise en mots

Cet article propose d’étudier les rapports adressés aux juges des enfants comme une possible modalité d’accès aux pratiques effectives. L’attention a été portée sur les conditions de réalisation d’une pratique discursive particulière avec une prise de parole qui, dans la majorité des actes, est tournée vers l’extérieur, vers la famille et son milieu. L’existence de la dimension relationnelle du travail éducatif ne semble pouvoir être contestée et, paradoxalement, c’est à travers l’énonciation du contrôle que l’on comprendra la prégnance de la relation d’aide grâce à certaines stratégies langagières et autres précautions énonciatives présentes dans les rapports écrits.This paper suggests that the reports signalling endangered children to the judge give access to the real practice of social work. It studies the conditions of exercise of a specific discursive practice, which is oriented on the outside, towards the family and its milieu. Educational work has, incontestably, a strong relational dimension; however, it is paradoxically the function of control that point out the aid-dimension, due to linguistic strategies and enunciative precautions used in the reports

Le passage à l'écriture. Les enjeux du « rapport éducatif » adressé à un juge pour enfants

Une analyse est proposée de la place des tâches d'écriture dans la pratique professionnelle des éducateurs spécialisés mandatés par le juge des enfants pour des suivis en milieu ouvert (A.E.M.O.). L'accomplissement de ces tâches d'écriture est vécue comme paradoxale par les professionnels, en ceci que les exigences juridiques et le projet éthique se combinent en une double contrainte. L'examen de la distance entre les échanges oraux lors de réunions et leur transformation en comptes rendus écrits met au premier plan le jeu des marques et traces d'énonciation. Celles-ci sont le résultat d'une stratégie de non-choix entre les exigences contradictoires du poste de travail.An analysis is proposed of the setting of writing tasks inside the professional practices of social workers in charge of following up families, in application of a judicial warrant from the judge of minors. The performance of these tasks is felt as a paradoxe by the workers : judicial necessities and ethical goals are arranged into a double bind. Studying the differences between talks during meetings and their transformation into written reports focuses on the spurs and marks of speech. These are the results of a nonchoosing strategy between the contradictory necessities of the job

Fidélité au site et à l'habitat chez le bruant à gorge blanche

La niche écologique est souvent considérée comme étant une caractéristique propre à l’espèce ou à la population. Cependant, les individus d’une même espèce ne partagent généralement pas la même niche. Plusieurs études, portant principalement sur la diète alimentaire, ont déjà montré que certaines espèces dites généralistes sont en fait composées d’individus spécialistes n’utilisant qu’une portion de la niche globale de leur population. J’ai effectué une expérience visant à mesurer la spécialisation individuelle de la sélection des habitats chez le Bruant à gorge blanche (Zonotrichia albicollis; BRGB ou « bruants »), à la Forêt Montmorency, Québec. Des relevés par points d’écoute nous ont permis de confirmer que le BRGB fréquentait une vaste gamme d’habitats forestiers allant des parterres de coupe récents (< 1 an) aux peuplements matures feuillus et résineux riches et pauvres en lisières. Selon l’hypothèse de la spécialisation individuelle, les individus de cette espèce devraient être fidèles à un type précis de peuplement forestier. Des individus spécialistes devraient ainsi relocaliser leur territoire en cas de perturbation majeure, même si l’habitat suivant la perturbation demeure adéquat pour l’espèce. Nous avons comparé la fidélité interannuelle de bruants aux peuplements matures non soumis à des coupes forestières (sites témoins) à la fidélité aux peuplements matures soumis à des coupes totales effectuées durant l’hiver entre deux saisons de nidification (sites expérimentaux). Les sites expérimentaux étaient fréquentés par l’espèce dès les mois qui suivaient les coupes. Parmi les oiseaux retournés au site d’étude deux étés consécutifs, la fidélité au territoire des 14 mâles des sites expérimentaux était moins élevée que celle des 21 mâles des sites témoins (P = 0.01). La distance médiane de dispersion entre deux saisons de reproduction consécutives était deux fois plus élevée chez les mâles expérimentaux que chez les mâles témoins (P < 0.001). Aussi, plus leurs territoires originaux étaient coupés, plus les mâles des sites expérimentaux avaient tendance à s’éloigner de ceux-ci (P = 0.04). Bien que les nouveaux territoires des mâles expérimentaux étaient davantage coupés que leurs territoires originaux avant traitement (P = 0.02), leurs nouveaux territoires étaient tout de même moins coupés que l’emplacement de leurs territoires originaux après traitement (P = 0.04). Le gain en superficie non coupée dans les nouveaux territoires était correlé positivement avec la distance de dispersion des bruants expérimentaux (P = 0.03). Nous concluons que les BRGB n’utilisent individuellement qu’une partie de la niche écologique diversifiée de leur espèce. Il serait donc injustifié d’assumer que les individus d’une espèce ubiquiste sont versatiles et peu perturbés par les pratiques forestières en forêt boréale québécoise.The ecological niche is often considered as a species or population property. However, conspecific individuals may sometimes use contrasting parts of their species’ niche. As shown by many studies dealing with individual diet, generalist species are often composed of individual specialists that use only a subset of their population’s niche. I did an experiment to measure individual specialization in habitat selection of White-throated Sparrows (Zonotrichia albicollis; WTSP; “sparrows”) at Forêt Montmorency, Quebec. Point counts showed that the WTSP used a large range of habitats, from clearcuts (< 1 year) to mature mixed and coniferous stands with and without edges. According to the individual specialization hypothesis, individual WTSP should be faithful to a particular type of forest stand. In case of major disturbance, specialized individuals should relocate their territories even if the habitat resulting from the disturbance is suitable for the species. We compared between-year fidelity of sparrows to mature stands not affected by forest harvest (control sites) vs. fidelity to mature stands clearcut during the winter between two breeding seasons (experimental sites). Experimental sites were used by the species from the first months following the clearcut. Among all birds that returned two consecutive summers to the study site, territory fidelity of the 14 males from experimental sites was lower then that of the 21 males from control sites (P = 0.01). Median between-year breeding dispersal distance of experimental males was twice as large as that of control males (P < 0.001). The more the original territory was clearcut, the farther experimental males dispersed (P = 0.04). Experimental males’ new territories were more clearcut than their old territories before treatment (P = 0.02). However, their new territories were less clearcut than the location of their old territories after treatment (P = 0.04). Gain in uncut habitat in new territories was positively correlated with between-year breeding dispersal distance of experimental males (P = 0.03). We conclude that WTSP individually use only a subset of their species’ wide ecological niche. Therefore, it seems unjustified to assume that individuals from a generalist species are versatile and barely disturbed by silvicultural treatments in Quebec’s boreal forests

La pratique de l’éducateur mise en mots

Cet article propose d’étudier les rapports adressés aux juges des enfants comme une possible modalité d’accès aux pratiques effectives. L’attention a été portée sur les conditions de réalisation d’une pratique discursive particulière avec une prise de parole qui, dans la majorité des actes, est tournée vers l’extérieur, vers la famille et son milieu. L’existence de la dimension relationnelle du travail éducatif ne semble pouvoir être contestée et, paradoxalement, c’est à travers l’énonciation du contrôle que l’on comprendra la prégnance de la relation d’aide grâce à certaines stratégies langagières et autres précautions énonciatives présentes dans les rapports écrits.This paper suggests that the reports signalling endangered children to the judge give access to the real practice of social work. It studies the conditions of exercise of a specific discursive practice, which is oriented on the outside, towards the family and its milieu. Educational work has, incontestably, a strong relational dimension; however, it is paradoxically the function of control that point out the aid-dimension, due to linguistic strategies and enunciative precautions used in the reports

Employee ownership: A theoretical and empirical investigation of management entrenchment vs. reward management

International audienceEmployee ownership is often used not only as a reward management tool but also as an entrenchment mechanism. The literature suggests that good managers use employee ownership as a reward management tool, whereas bad managers implement it for entrenchment, thus suggesting the existence of an equilibrium level of employee ownership. The contributions of this paper are both theoretical and empirical. Theoretically, this paper fills a gap in the published research by taking into account both positive and negative outcomes of employee ownership. Our model produces three main conclusions: (i) Low-performing managers use employee ownership as an entrenchment mechanism (ii) that increases the signaling cost of employee ownership for high-performing managers. (iii) We suggest that employee ownership should not be left only to the management's discretion because both types of managers have an incentive to implement employee ownership. Our empirical study investigates how employee ownership affects management tenure. This study takes into account the two main motives for employee ownership examined by the model (i.e., management entrenchment and reward management). We find a positive relationship between employee ownership and management tenure. This result provides new evidence that employee ownership can be used as an entrenchment mechanism

Is employee ownership so senseless ?

Since Enron and the ruin of thousands of its employees, employee ownership is harshly criticized. Investing savings in employer's stock would be equivalent to bet on only one asset. Moreover, employee ownership's debated efficiency would not justify employers to grant company stock to their employees. Still, employee ownership is put in place by thousands of companies and withhold by millions of employees throughout the world. This paper considers a moral hazard setting where a risk neutral entrepreneur grants company stock to its risk averse employee as an incentive. We show that there is an optimal transfer of employee ownership that satisfies employee's risk preference and has an incentive effect. We thus bring about rational argument in favor of employee ownership.Depuis Enron et la ruine de milliers de ses employés, l'actionnariat salarié est critiqué. Investir son épargne en actions de son entreprise équivaudrait à parier sur un seul actif. De plus, l'efficacité contestée de l'actionnariat salarié ne justifierait pas que les entreprises distribuent des actions à leurs salariés. Pourtant, l'actionnariat salarié est adopté par des milliers d'entreprises et des millions de salariés à travers le monde. Cet article propose un modèle d'aléa moral où un entrepreneur neutre envers le risque utilise l'actionnariat salarié pour inciter son salarié averse au risque. Nous montrons l'existence d'un transfert optimal d'actionnariat salarié qui satisfait les préférences du salarié et s'accompagne d'un effet incitatif. Nous apportons ainsi un argument rationnel en faveur de l'actionnariat salarié