Countering the trend towards careerist orientation in the age of downsizing:test of a social exchange model

Predicated on the assumption that employee careerist orientation resulting from organizational actions to cut costs constitutes a potential threat to their long-term profitability and success, this study proposed and tested a social exchange model of careerist orientation in the People's Republic of China. Specifically, it was hypothesized that organizational justice and career growth opportunities will be related to careerist orientation, but the relationship will be mediated by trust in employer. Structural equation modeling results provided support for the model. Trust in organization fully mediated the relationship between careerist orientation and its antecedents.

The importance of collaborative frontloading in automotive supply networks

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how research and development (R&D) collaboration takes place for complex new products in the automotive sector. The research aims to give guidelines to increase the effectiveness of such collaborations. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology used to investigate this issue was grounded theory. The empirical data were collected through a mixture of interviews and questionnaires. The resulting inducted conceptual models were subsequently validated in industrial workshops. Findings – The findings show that frontloading of the collaborative members was a major issue in managing successful R&D collaborations. Research limitations/implications – The limitation of this research is that it is only based in the German automotive industry. Practical implications – Practical implications have come out of this research. Models and guidelines are given to help make a success of collaborative projects and their potential impacts on time, cost and quality metrics. Originality/value – Frontloading is not often studied in a collaborative manner; it is normally studied within just one organisation. This study has novel value because it has involved a number of different members throughout the supplier network.

The state of the field in UK management research: reflections of the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) panel

This paper reviews the state of the field of the sub-disciplines within UK management research, based upon the submissions of 94 UK higher education institutions to the Business and Management Studies Panel in the UK's 2001 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). It offers observations on the UK model of the assessment of quality in, and funding of, research conducted in publicly funded higher education institutions.

A comparative assessment of performance and productivity of health centres in Seychelles

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to measure the technical and scale efficiency of health centres; to evaluate changes in productivity; and to highlight possible policy implications of the results for policy makers. Design/methodology/approach - Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is employed to assess the technical and scale efficiency, and productivity change over a four-year period among 17 public health centres. Findings - During the period of study, the results suggest that the public health centres in Seychelles have exhibited mean overall or technical efficiency of above 93 per cent. It was also found that the overall productivity increased by 2.4 per cent over 2001-2004. Research limitations/implications - Further research can be undertaken to gather data on the prices of the various inputs to facilitate an estimation of the allocative efficiency of clinics. If such an exercise were to be undertaken, researchers may also consider collecting data on quantities and prices of paramedical, administrative and support staff to ensure that the analysis is more comprehensive than the study reported in this paper. Institutionalization of efficiency monitoring would help to enhance further the already good health sector stewardship and governance. Originality/value - This paper provides new empirical evidence on a four-year trend in the efficiency and productivity of health centres in Seychelles. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Meta-analytic model comparisons of surface- and deep-level relational diversity effects on social integration and individual effectiveness

While diversity might give an organization a competitive advantage, individuals have a tendency to prefer homogenous group settings. Prior research suggests that group members who are dissimilar (vs. similar) to their peers in terms of a given diversity attribute (e.g. demographics, attitudes, values or traits) feel less attached to their work group, experience less satisfying and more conflicted relationships with their colleagues, and consequently are less effective. However, prior empirical findings tend to be weak and inconsistent, and it remains unclear when, how and to what extent such differences affect group members’ social integration (i.e. attachment with their work group, satisfaction and conflicted relationships with their peers) and effectiveness. To address these issues the current study conducted a meta-analysis and integrated the empirical results of 129 studies. For demographic diversity attributes (such as gender, ethnicity, race, nationality, age, functional background, and tenure) the findings support the idea that demographic dissimilarity undermines individual member performance via lower levels of social integration. These negative effects were more pronounced in pseudo teams – i.e. work groups in which group members pursue individual goals, work on individual tasks, and are rewarded for their individual performance. These negative effects were however non-existent in real teams - i.e. work groups in which groups members pursue group goals, work on interdependent tasks, and are rewarded (at least partially) based on their work group’s performance. In contrast, for underlying psychological diversity attributes (such as attitudes, personality, and values), the relationship between dissimilarity and social integration was more negative in real teams than in pseudo teams, which in return translated into even lower individual performance. At the same time however, differences in underlying psychological attributes had an even stronger positive effect on dissimilar group member’s individual performance, when the negative effects of social integration were controlled for. This implies that managers should implement real work groups to overcome the negative effects of group member’s demographic dissimilarity. To harness the positive effects of group members’ dissimilarity on underlying psychological attributes, they need to make sure that dissimilar group members become socially integrated.

Generic experiments at the sump model "Zittauer Strömungswanne" (ZSW) for the behaviour of mineral wool in the sump and the reactor core

The investigation of insulation debris transport, sedimentation, penetration into the reactor core and head loss build up becomes important to reactor safety research for PWR and BWR, when considering the long-term behaviour of emergency core cooling systems during loss of coolant accidents. Research projects are being performed in cooperation between the University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Görlitz and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf. The projects include experimental investigations of different processes and phenomena of insulation debris in coolant flow and the development of CFD models. Generic complex experiments serve for building up a data base for the validation of models for single effects and their coupling in CFD codes. This paper includes the description of the experimental facility for complex generic experiments (ZSW), an overview about experimental boundary conditions and results for upstream and down-stream phenomena as well as for the long-time behaviour due to corrosive processes. © Carl Hanser Verlag, München.

Size distribution curves of senile plaques in patients with Alzheimer’s disease: do plaques grow according to the log-normal model?

The size frequency distributions of diffuse, primitive and cored senile plaques (SP) were studied in single sections of the temporal lobe from 10 patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The size distribution curves were unimodal and positively skewed. The size distribution curve of the diffuse plaques was shifted towards larger plaques while those of the neuritic and cored plaques were shifted towards smaller plaques. The neuritic/diffuse plaque ratio was maximal in the 11 – 30 micron size class and the cored/ diffuse plaque ratio in the 21 – 30 micron size class. The size distribution curves of the three types of plaque deviated significantly from a log-normal distribution. Distributions expressed on a logarithmic scale were ‘leptokurtic’, i.e. with excess of observations near the mean. These results suggest that SP in AD grow to within a more restricted size range than predicted from a log-normal model. In addition, there appear to be differences in the patterns of growth of diffuse, primitive and cored plaques. If neuritic and cored plaques develop from earlier diffuse plaques, then smaller diffuse plaques are more likely to be converted to mature plaques.

An empirical investigation of the effect of rights issue announcements on share returns and the determinants of abnormal returns on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange

This thesis examines the effect of rights issue announcements on stock prices by companies listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) between 1987 to 1996. The emphasis is to report whether the KLSE is semi strongly efficient with respect to the announcement of rights issues and to check whether the implications of corporate finance theories on the effect of an event can be supported in the context of an emerging market. Once the effect is established, potential determinants of abnormal returns identified by previous empirical work and corporate financial theory are analysed. By examining 70 companies making clean rights issue announcements, this thesis will hopefully shed light on some important issues in long term corporate financing. Event study analysis is used to check on the efficiency of the Malaysian stock market; while cross-sectional regression analysis is executed to identify possible explanators of the rights issue announcements' effect. To ensure the results presented are not contaminated, econometric and statistical issues raised in both analyses have been taken into account. Given the small amount of empirical research conducted in this part of the world, the results of this study will hopefully be of use to investors, security analysts, corporate financial managements, regulators and policy makers as well as those who are interested in capital market based research of an emerging market. It is found that the Malaysian stock market is not semi strongly efficient since there exists a persistent non-zero abnormal return. This finding is not consistent with the hypothesis that security returns adjust rapidly to reflect new information. It may be possible that the result is influenced by the sample, consisting mainly of below average size companies which tend to be thinly traded. Nevertheless, these issues have been addressed. Another important issue which has emerged from the study is that there is some evidence to suggest that insider trading activity existed in this market. In addition to these findings, when the rights issue announcements' effect is compared to the implications of corporate finance theories in predicting the sign of abnormal returns, the signalling model, asymmetric information model, perfect substitution hypothesis and Scholes' information hypothesis cannot be supported.

The development of a novel in vitro model suitable for the prediction of bioavailability

In vitro studies of drug absorption processes are undertaken to assess drug candidate or formulation suitability, mechanism investigation, and ultimately for the development of predictive models. This study included each of these approaches, with the aim of developing novel in vitro methods for inclusion in a drug absorption model. Two model analgesic drugs, ibuprofen and paracetamol, were selected. The study focused on three main areas, the interaction of the model drugs with co-administered antacids, the elucidation of the mechanisms responsible for the increased absorption rate observed in a novel paracetamol formulation and the development of novel ibuprofen tablet formulations containing alkalising excipients as dissolution promoters.Several novel dissolution methods were developed. A method to study the interaction of drug/excipient mixtures in the powder form was successfully used to select suitable dissolution enhancing exicipents. A method to study intrinsic dissolution rate using paddle apparatus was developed and used to study dissolution mechanisms. Methods to simulate stomach and intestine environments in terms of media composition and volume and drug/antacid doses were developed. Antacid addition greatly increased the dissolution of ibuprofen in the stomach model.Novel methods to measure drug permeability through rat stomach and intestine were developed, using sac methodology. The methods allowed direct comparison of the apparent permeability values obtained. Tissue stability, reproducibility and integrity was observed, with selectivity between paracellular and transcellular markers and hydrophilic and lipophilic compounds within an homologous series of beta-blockers.

Multiple paradigms and organisational research: an analysis of work behaviour in the fire service

The thesis examines Kuhn's (1962, 1970) concept of paradigm, assesses how it is employed for mapping intellectual terrain in the social sciences, and evaluates it's use in research based on multiple theory positions. In so doing it rejects both the theses of total paradigm 'incommensurability' (Kuhn, 1962), and also of liberal 'translation' (Popper, 1970), in favour of a middle ground through the 'language-game of everyday life' (Wittgenstein, 1953). The thesis ultimately argues for the possibility of being 'trained-into' new paradigms, given the premise that 'unorganised experience cannot order perception' (Phillips, 1977). In conducting multiple paradigm research the analysis uses the Burrell and Morgan (1979) model for examining the work organisation of a large provincial fire Service. This analysis accounts for firstly, a 'functionalist' assessment of work design, demonstrating inter alia the decrease in reported motivation with length of service; secondly, an 'interpretive' portrayal of the daily accomplishment of task routines, highlighting the discretionary and negotiated nature of the day's events; thirdly, a 'radical humanist' analysis of workplace ideology, demonstrating the hegemonic role of officer training practices; and finally, a 'radical structuralist' description of the labour process, focusing on the establishment of a 'normal working day'. Although the argument is made for the possibility of conducting multiple paradigm research, the conclusion stresses the many institutional pressures serving to offset development.

The response to and effects of microcomputers in the education sector:the introduction of an innovation in local authority secondary schools

The study addresses the introduction of an innovation of new technology into a bureaucratic profession. The organisational setting is that of local authority secondary schools at a time at which microcomputers were being introduced in both the organisational core (for teaching) and its periphery (school administration). The research studies innovation-adopting organisations within their sectoral context; key actors influencing the innovation are identified at the levels of central government, local government and schools.A review of the literature on new technology and innovation (including educational innovation), and on schools as organisations in a changing environment leads to the development of the conceptual framework of the study using a resource dependency model within a cycle of the acquisition, allocation and utilisation of financial, physical and intangible resources. The research methodology is longitudinal and draws from both positivist and interpretive traditions. lt includes an initial census of the two hundred secondary schools in four local education authorities, a final survey of the same population, and four case studies, using both interview methods and documentation. Two modes of innovation are discerned. In respect of administrative use a rationalising, controlling mode is identified, with local education authorities developing standardised computer-assisted administrative systems for use in schools. In respect of curricular use, in contrast, teachers have been able to maintain an indeterminate occupational knowledge base, derived from an ideology of professionalism in respect of the classroom use of the technology. The mode of innovation in respect of curricular use has been one of learning and enabling. The resourcing policies of central and local government agencies affect the extent of use of the technology for teaching purposes, but the way in which it is used is determined within individual schools, where staff with relevant technical expertise significantly affect the course of the innovation.

Constructing institutional change: emergence, contestation and convergence of business models in the field of Java application servers

How are innovative new business models established if organizations constantly compare themselves against existing criteria and expectations? The objective is to address this question from the perspective of innovators and their ability to redefine established expectations and evaluation criteria. The research questions ask whether there are discernible patterns of discursive action through which innovators theorize institutional change and what role such theorizations play for mobilizing support and realizing change projects. These questions are investigated through a case study on a critical area of enterprise computing software, Java application servers. In the present case, business practices and models were already well established among incumbents with critical market areas allocated to few dominant firms. Fringe players started experimenting with a new business approach of selling services around freely available opensource application servers. While most new players struggled, one new entrant succeeded in leading incumbents to adopt and compete on the new model. The case demonstrates that innovative and substantially new models and practices are established in organizational fields when innovators are able to refine expectations and evaluation criteria within an organisational field. The study addresses the theoretical paradox of embedded agency. Actors who are embedded in prevailing institutional logics and structures find it hard to perceive potentially disruptive opportunities that fall outside existing ways of doing things. Changing prevailing institutional logics and structures requires strategic and institutional work aimed at overcoming barriers to innovation. The study addresses this problem through the lens of (new) institutional theory. This discourse methodology traces the process through which innovators were able to establish a new social and business model in the field.

Empirical research into white racialized identities in Britain

The intellectual project of using whiteness as an explicit tool of analysis is not one that has taken root in Britain. However, there are a number of empirical studies that investigate the racialization of white identities. In this article, I look at some empirical sociological fieldwork carried out on white identities in Britain since the early 1990s and identify the key themes arising. These themes are (in)visibility, norms and values, cultural capital and integration, contingent hierarchies and Empire in the present. In Britain, a pertinent distinction is between rural and urban settings for the enactment of white identities vis-a`-vis those of minorities, and there is an exploration of some of the contingency that draws the boundary between ‘white’ and ‘Other’ in different places. Areas of commonality and distinctiveness are noted in terms of the American work. In the last section, I argue that there are a number of issues to resolve around continuing such studies, including linking the micro-level to the macro-level analysis, and expanding to international comparative work.

Evolution of competing strategies in a threshold model for task allocation

A nature inspired decentralised multi-agent algorithm is proposed to solve a problem of distributed task allocation in which cities produce and store batches of different mail types. Agents must collect and process the mail batches, without global knowledge of their environment or communication between agents. The problem is constrained so that agents are penalised for switching mail types. When an agent process a mail batch of different type to the previous one, it must undergo a change-over, with repeated change-overs rendering the agent inactive. The efficiency (average amount of mail retrieved), and the flexibility (ability of the agents to react to changes in the environment) are investigated both in static and dynamic environments and with respect to sudden changes. New rules for mail selection and specialisation are proposed and are shown to exhibit improved efficiency and flexibility compared to existing ones. We employ a evolutionary algorithm which allows the various rules to evolve and compete. Apart from obtaining optimised parameters for the various rules for any environment, we also observe extinction and speciation.

Balancing expectations in engineering education:enhancing student experiences through empirical research - a comparative analysis

This paper draws upon the findings of an empirical study comparing the expectations and concerns of engineering students with students enrolled on business and management programs. It argues that whilst the two groups of students have very similar expectations, motivations and concerns before their start their studies, once at university, engineering students are twice as likely to drop-out than are their compatriots in business studies. Drawing upon the study findings, recommendations are made as to what might be done to counteract this. The conclusion argues that there is a need for more in-depth research to be conducted in this area in order to identify the reasons behind the different attrition rates and to further enhance engineering undergraduate experience.