Business to employee (B2E) e-business model : service to employees or organisational management?

This paper is a discussion of the B2E e-business model from the perspectives of employee services and organisational management. It includes literature to support B2E as employee services and organisational management with benefits to both. Intranets and portals are technologies supporting the implementation of the B2E e-business model which are also discussed. A case study is included to understand the application of the B2E model in a large organisation. Case study analysis indicates that the B2E e-business model is a service to the employees, however, these services are to support organisational efficiencies.

Do female and male employees in Iran experience similar work-family interference, job and life satisfaction?

This study aims at examining gender differences in the experience of work–family interference and perceived job–life satisfaction in a group of Iranian employees. The participants in the study consist of 387 Iranian male and female employees from a variety of organizations. The results of t tests and multiple regression analysis using EQS 6.1 support the hypothesis that Iranian male and female employees experience similar interference in their work–family domains although they spend different numbers of hours in the workplace. The findings also show that whereas work-to-family interference has significant and negative effects on job–life satisfaction among male employees, for female employees, working hours and family-to-work interference had even more significant and negative effects on their job–ife satisfaction. Implications are discussed and recommendations made regarding future research and interventions in this area.

Building commitment through integrating employees

Corporate collapses of past decade have affected all stakeholders through a loss of public confidence, loss of jobs and loss of shareholders' funds. We have seen poor business decisions, extravagant business acquisitions, lack of attention to detail, exorbitant directors fees, lack of board scrutiny and inadequate disclosure internationally and in Australia in cases such as Enron, WorldCom, HIH, the Australian Wheat Board, and numerous state banks. This paper analyzes annual reports, web sites and CSR/ Sustainability and Governance reports of twenty selected companies to highlight the position of human resources and labour in their governance frameworks, and by linking the data to Stum's (2001) performance pyramid, evaluates the extent of organizational commitment. It concludes that despite all the rhetoric around employees being stakeholders, employees continue to be viewed as 'outsiders' with governance primarily focused on shareholder concerns. Employees are primarily seen as constituents of legal and regulatory frameworks and employee codes of conduct and lack a position in strategy and effective decisionmaking structures, thereby conveying to employees that they are perceived only as workers, and not as a person (Stum, 2001). Naturally, the organizations fail to win the commitment of their employees.

Governance, employees and CSR : integration is the key to unlocking value

Corporate governance has gained increasing importance in the last decade as organisations have been involved in bankruptcies and frauds alongside decreases in organisational value and jobs. Researchers have signalled a need for new perspectives and models of governance, especially one that clearly identifies and embeds employees as part of the system. This article explores the importance of human resources as a key component of the governance system. It discusses whether organisational rhetoric in relation to stakeholders and social responsibility incorporates employees and in doing so it delves into the concept of labour as a key stakeholder. The article examines publicly available reports of two resource-based firms and two finance-sector firms: Rio Tinto, Shell Australia, Westpac and ANZ Bank to explore the position of labour. It concludes that the position of labour as a stakeholder is problematic, with a divergence between espoused statements on CSR and how they are operationalised throughout the organisation. The emphasis seems to be on environmental and financial sustainability with lesser importance placed on dimensions of workplace management and accompanying employee relations approaches.

Employer satisfaction with employees with a disability

Previous research that addressed determents of employer satisfaction with employees with a disability (EWDs) mainly targeted employers’ perceptions of workplace performance. This thesis used quantitative and qualitative approaches to examine perspectives of employers and disability employment service providers (DESPs) on the complex nature of employer satisfaction with EWDs within an ecological paradigm. Three studies were undertaken. The first analysed questionnaire ratings for 656 employers of workplace performance of EWDs. Analyses found: (1) employers rated EWDs lower than non-disabled employees (NDEs) on employer satisfaction and work performance; (2) determinants of employer satisfaction differed between EWDs and NDEs; (3) employers were more satisfied with EWDs than NDEs in relation to work performance; (4) lower comparative ratings on employer satisfaction for EWDs influenced future employment intentions toward people with a disability; (5) employers’ perceptions of job-match affected ratings on employer satisfaction and performance; (6) effects of job-match on employer satisfaction were direct and indirect, through work performance; and (7) variables representing job-match were relatively more important to employers’ decisions to hire and retain a person with a disability than variables representing Social Concerns and employer/management items. A theoretical model that depicted the influence of processes (job-match) and outcomes (work performance) on employer satisfaction with EWDs was supported. The second study analysed questionnaire ratings from 36 non-employers of EWDs. Findings indicated very similar responses between employers and non-employers of EWDs on experiences related to employer satisfaction with NDEs. Views about the relative importance of variable related to hiring and retaining a person with a disability suggested that generalising findings from the first study to all employers was reasonable. The third study analysed data from interviews with 50 employers and 40 DESPs; and questionnaire responses for 56 DESPs and 36 non-employers of EWDs. This study validated the importance of job-match to successful employment outcomes; suggesting DESPs were undervaluing their services to the employers. The study also showed that Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory provided a relevant framework with which to interpret complex information from different stakeholders, important to understanding employer satisfaction. In summary, employer satisfaction was shown to be a relative concept that varied with referent, and a developmental phenomenon that was influences by many factors operating and interacting at a number of ecological levels. Policies and practices to promote employer satisfaction with EWDs need co-ordinated approaches that recognise the influence of contexts internal and external to the workplace and the dynamic nature and interrelationships of characteristics within these contexts.

Are employees entitled to more?

George Lopez, chair of CPA Australia's insolvency and reconstruction committee reported in Australian CPA (November 2001) on the replacement of the Commonwealth Government Employee Entitlements Support Scheme (EESS) with a new scheme, the General Employee Entitlements Redundancy Scheme (GEERS). Both schemes provide a safety net by which government pays employees their service entitlements and then takes the employees' place in claims against the insolvent employer organisation. Such schemes are fundamentally inequitable as ultimately they require taxpayers and shareholders to foot the bill for the mistakes, excesses, misdemeanours or incompetence of employers. Similar arrangements have been proposed in the past. For instance, the Australian Law Reform Commission's Harmer Report (1988) contained a recommendation that a wage earner (fidelity-type) protection fund be established. In the state of Victoria, local government legislation already exists to ensure that long service leave entitlements are funded.

Training frontline workers : drug education from theory to practice

This study investigated the effectiveness of alcohol and other drug education by examining practice change in workers when they returned to their workplace, identifying barriers to and supports for that practice change. The influencing characteristics of the individual, their team environment and their organisation have also been identified.

Employees' perceptions of fit and misfit

What makes some people feel that they fit in at work whilst others feel they misfit? This brief paper outlines a study which is currently in progress to explore individuals’ perceptions of fit and misfit at work. In the person-organisation and person-environment fit literature, fit and misfit tend to be shown as two ends of a spectrum, with an underlying assumption being that the two states are polar opposites. Whilst this seems intuitively logical, there has been no empirical test of this core assumption in the literature. This paper outlines a qualitative study, using causal mapping, to identify the factors affecting employees’ fit and misfit perceptions at work. It is anticipated that by the time of the BAM conference, the data analysis will be complete and full findings will be available.