Towards a diversity justice management model : integrating organizational justice and diversity management

Purpose – Contemporary organizations are increasingly paying attention to incorporate diversity management practices into their systems in order to promote socially responsible actions and equitable employment outcomes for minority groups. The aim of this paper is to seek to address a major oversight in diversity management literature, the integration of organizational justice principles.

Design/methodology/approach – Drawing upon the existing literature on workforce diversity and organizational justice, the authors develop a model based on normative principles of organizational justice for justice-based diversity management processes and outcomes.

Findings – The paper proposes that effective diversity management results from a decision-making process that meets the normative principles of organizational justice (i.e. interactional, procedural and distributive justice). The diversity justice management model introduced in this article provides important theoretical and practical implications for establishing more moral and just workplaces.

Research limitations/implications – The authors have not tested the conceptual framework of the diversity justice management model, and recommend future research to take up the challenge. The payoff for doing so is to enable the establishment of socially responsible workplaces where individuals, regardless of their background, are given an equal opportunity to flourish in their assigned jobs.

Practical implications – The diversity justice management model introduced in this paper provides organizational justice (OJ)-based guidelines for managers to ensure that OJ can be objectively benchmarked and discussed amongst diversity stakeholders to continuously improve actual and perceived OJ outcomes.

Social implications – The social implication of this conceptual paper is reduction of workforce marginalization and establishment of socially responsible organizations whereby those marginalized (e.g. people with disabilities) can effectively work in their organizations.

Originality/value – This is the first attempt to establish a diveristy justice management model, which incorporates normative principles of organizational justice into diversity management processes and outcomes.

From efficiency to effectiveness :a new management model of social inclusion

This paper challenges the tendency in the contemporary management literature to conceptualize management within a micro-framework that focuses on short-term efficiency and privatized economic gain. Based on a literature review of social-relation theories, we propose a new management model of social inclusion for general management across contexts with a particular concern for profit-for organizations. The model conceptualizes management within a systemic societal framework where its effectiveness is demonstrated for society, organizations, groups and individuals.  We suggest that management based on the collectivistic values of shared humanity and social inclusion (not only organization) is expected to reduce management-led systematic marginalization in the workplace and social whole. For the purpose of this paper, we define management as “mutually interdependent activities that add value to individuals’, groups’, organizations’ and societal wellbeing by ensuring social inclusion at each of these dimensions.” We term this management process ‘Management Process of Social Inclusion’ as it extends management perspectives to not only organizational effectiveness but societal effectiveness. The paper concludes by proposing several propositions and implications for future research.

Modelling multi-criteria decision analysis for benchmarking management practices in project management

The link between management practices and worker’s motivations impacting construction productivity is being considered as significant among the research community. This research aimed to identify and analyse the underlying attributes impacting construction productivity from the site management perspective. This research presents a framework designed to analyse and quantify the relative relevance of different drivers in the determination of productivity levels and the degree of effectiveness of potential opportunities for improving performance of overall projects. Owing to the complexity of construction projects and underlying conflicting drivers influencing higher worker’s productivity, the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is employed to deal with interdependent relationships within a multi-criteria decision-making model. In the analytical approach, the large unstructured decision parameters are identified first and then are broken down into the manageable and measurable components using a top down hierarchical structure. This paper demonstrates an example to illustrate how to empirically analyse and prioritise a set of influencing parameters as selection criteria in devising appropriate management practices to ensure higher productivity vis-à-vis optimum performance of projects.

Towards the development of a conceptual design management model for remote sites

Remote and environmentally sensitive sites present unique challenges for participants involved in the design and construction process. Worldwide advances in information technology coupled with improved site accessibility and manageability has enabled the construction industry to undertake such projects with greater ease. Furthermore, research on information technology in construction has begun to focus our attentions on our increased ability to work virtually in distributed teams. These remote sites have a range of development potential as clients have varied interests including; tourism, scientific investigation and resource exploration and processing which impact upon the management of the design process. These sites pose unique challenges to the project teams and in particular for the management of project design. The conceptual design phase is often marked by an iterative and creative process, which tends to be a sociologically oriented world where designers respond to a range of functional, aesthetic, environmental and even spiritual concerns. Strategic decisions made during the briefing and conceptual design stage may impact upon construction logistics and sustainability. Detailed design for construction tends to be a production oriented world. There is a significant body of literature that addresses the application of lean thinking to improving the interface between detailed design and construction production. There is little literature that takes a holistic view of design management for remote sites. The lean design management field of research has much to contribute to the design management of these projects. The review of the literature indicated that much of the lean thinking has been primarily concerned with sequential production. However, lean thinking is based upon principles of flow and value, which is also conducive to the complex process involved in design management for remote sites. A conceptual model is developed that considers both the production and sociological approaches to design management, in response to the peculiar demands of the site and their project teams.

A new vision of management : full potential management model

This paper establishes the Full Potential Management (FPM) Model based upon the social model of disabilities coupled with principles of diversity management and disability-oriented human resource management. Despite the fact that the concept of management was once envisioned as having 'value to society ' by improving the quality of life through efficient practices (Rimler, 1976), management literature has narrowly defined management as a means to gain increased productivity and achieve organizational goals, thus overlooking the social formation and implementation design for a better life (Diener & Seligman, 2004; Small, 2004; Whitley 1989). Based upon the diversity literature, we propose that social-oriented diversity management principles and practices are the key to transforming management concepts from achieving organizational potential to achieving social aims that maximize the potential and quality of life of each person.

Program management: the next step in the evolution of project management?

The term ‘program management’, while referred to occasionally in journals, organisation publications and by training consultants, is not a widely acknowledged notion. While literature on project management is plentiful and the concept is well entrenched in both a practical and academic
sense, program management is a term that is used differently by various sectors. Its meaning is less defined and more broadly applied than that of project management. For example, although Program Managers are sometimes recruited under that title, the definition still remains somewhat
obscure. Seen mostly in the health and education public sectors, program management is commonly thought of as separate to project management but, as this paper will suggest, program management is more likely an extension of project management and a complementary tool to achieving
organisational outcomes. This paper attempts to clarify the distinctions between the management approaches by looking at existing literature and comparing it to common practice in a government instrumentality. It will become apparent that further research is needed regarding this significant
step in the evolution of management practices.

Information system strategy for promoting demolition project management

Building demolition has been undergoing evolutionary development in its technologies for several decades. In order to achieve a high level of demolition material reuse and recycling, new management approaches are also necessitated, in particular in conjunction with the applications of information technologies. The development of an information system for demolition project management is an impactful strategy to support various demolition activities including waste exchange, demolition visualization, and demolition method selection and evaluation. This paper aims to develop a framework of an integrated information system for building demolition project demolition decision-making and waste minimization. The components of this information system and their interactions are demonstrated through a specifical demolition project.

Utilising integrated information system approach for building demolition project management

Building demolition has been undergoing evolutionary development in its technologies for several decades. In order to achieve a high level of demolition material reuse and recycling, new management approaches are also necessitated. Several information systems are proposed or developed particularly promoting efficient project management, waste minimization and project safety. These information systems include waste exchange, 4D visualization, safety aware schedule, waste product schedule, site atTangement optimization and so on. However, the fragmented information systems applied by various parties involved in the demolition project could generate conflicts due to the lack of communication and standardization. This paper aims to develop a framework of an integrated information system for building demolition projects, which covers the major aspects of innovative management approaches and conventional construction project management perspective. Practically, the system will serve as an information portal for all demolition project team members.

Requisite organizational theory : management panacea or a lot of ROT?

This paper sets out to explain and critique the contribution made by Elliott Jaques to organizational and management theory. The attractiveness of the Jaquesian approach to senior managers is considered to be due to its justification for managerial authority, its logical worldview, and its claims of scientific rigour. Ultimately, however, his theoretical framework, today known as requisite organizational theory, despite having been developed from admirable intentions, is deemed to be seriously flawed and potentially dangerous.

An intelligent energy management model for a parallel hybrid vehicle under combined loads

To exploit the benefits offered by parallel HEVs, an intelligent energy management model is developed and evaluated in this paper. Despite most existing works, the developed model incorporates combined wind/drag, slope, rolling, and accessories loads to minimise the fuel consumption under varying driving conditions. A slope prediction unit is also employed. The engine and the electric motor can output power simultaneously under a heavy-load or a slopped road condition. Two simulation were conducted namely slopped-windy-prediction and slopped-windy-prediction-hybrid. The results indicate that the vehicle speed and acceleration is smoother where the hybrid component was included. The average fuel consumption for the first and second simulations were 7.94 and 7.46 liter/100 km, respectively.