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1 – 10 of over 36000This paper investigates the adoption, structure, and function of dispute resolution procedures in the nonunion workplace. Whereas grievance procedures in unionized workplaces have…
Abstract
This paper investigates the adoption, structure, and function of dispute resolution procedures in the nonunion workplace. Whereas grievance procedures in unionized workplaces have been an important area of study in the field of industrial relations, research on dispute resolution procedures in nonunion workplaces has lagged behind. As a result, our knowledge of the development of nonunion procedures remains relatively limited. Similarly, with a few noteworthy exceptions (e.g. Lewin, 1987, 1990), our knowledge of workplace grievance activity is almost entirely based on research conducted in unionized settings. Given the major differences in the institutional contexts of union and nonunion workplaces in the United States, existing ideas about workplace dispute resolution developed in the unionized setting will likely require significant modification in order to understand dispute resolution procedures and activity in the nonunion workplace. Issues relating to dispute resolution in the nonunion workplace are of increasing importance to public policy given the combination of continued stagnation in levels of union representation and mounting concerns over rising levels of employment litigation in the courts. Knowing what nonunion dispute resolution procedures look like and how they function will help answer the question of what role these procedures may play in the future governance of the workplace.
Huijie Zhong, Xinran Zhang, Kam C. Chan and Chao Yan
Robots are widely used in industrial manufacturing and service industries around the world. However, most of the previous studies on industrial robots use data at the national or…
Abstract
Purpose
Robots are widely used in industrial manufacturing and service industries around the world. However, most of the previous studies on industrial robots use data at the national or industry level in the context of developed countries. This study examines the impact of imported industrial robots on firm innovation at the firm level in China.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on a large dataset of more than three million records in China, including non-publicly traded small and medium firms, the authors adopt a difference-in-differences method to investigate the impact and channels of industrial robots on firm innovation.
Findings
The authors find that the application of industrial robots increases firm innovation. Two possible channels are identified through which robots promote innovation: alleviation of financial constraints and the improvement of human capital. Further analysis shows that the effect of robots on innovation is more pronounced for firms that are highly dependent on external financing, belong to high-tech industries, import high-end robots, have insufficient supply of skilled labor and private firms (non-SOEs). The authors also find that industrial robots increase the firms' innovation quality and the marginal contribution of innovation to firms' total factor productivity.
Originality/value
This study provides big data evidence of the unintended positive consequences of industrial robots on firm innovation. The results are helpful to clarify the controversy of industrial robots. It also has important implications for government industrial policy making, firm innovation and human resource management.
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Garima Goel and Saumya Ranjan Dash
This paper aims to investigate the moderating role of government policy interventions amid the early spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) (January–May 2020) on the investor…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the moderating role of government policy interventions amid the early spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) (January–May 2020) on the investor sentiment and stock returns relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses panel data from a sample of 53 countries to examine the impact of investor sentiment, measured by the financial and economic attitudes revealed by the search (FEARS) index (Da et al., 2015) on the stock return.
Findings
The moderating role of government policy response indices with the FEARS index on the global stock returns is further explored. This paper finds that government policy responses have a moderating role in the sentiment and stock returns relationship. The effect holds true even when countries are split based on five classifications, i.e. cultural distance, health standard, government effectiveness, social well-being and financial development. The results are robust to an alternative measure of pandemic search intensity, quantile regression and two measures of stock market activity, i.e. conditional volatility and exchange traded fund returns.
Research limitations/implications
The sample period of this study encompasses the early spread phase (January–May 2020) of the novel COVID-19 spread.
Originality/value
This paper provides some early evidence on whether the government policy interventions are helpful to mitigate the impact of investor sentiment on the stock market. The paper also helps to shed better insights on the role of different country characteristics for the sentiment and stock return relationship.
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O.O. Ugwu and T.C. Haupt
This paper reports on research that investigated perceptions and prioritization of key performance indicators (KPI) for infrastructure sustainability, from a cross section of…
Abstract
This paper reports on research that investigated perceptions and prioritization of key performance indicators (KPI) for infrastructure sustainability, from a cross section of construction industry stakeholders in Hong Kong and Republic of South Africa. The results show that although there is general agreement on the indicators, there are noticeable differences in stakeholder ranking, which measures their prioritisation of the various indicators. These differences are closely linked to the level of development of the respective country and hence macro‐level priorities in formulating their sustainable development agenda. The most significant agreements are on indicators related to health and safety, while there are significant disagreements on some indicators related to environment, economy and project management and administration. The study provides empirical evidence of such underlying differences. The paper discusses the implications and challenges in addressing sustainability and sustainable development in developed and developing countries. The paper discusses the findings from the two‐country comparative studies and provides validated indicators for infrastructure sustainability. Recommendations are given on the application of these indicators for decision‐support and integrated sustainability appraisal in infrastructure project (SUSAIP).
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Narayan Sethi, Bikash Ranjan Mishra and Padmaja Bhujabal
The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate whether market size and its growth rate, along with financial development indicators, affect human capital in selected…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate whether market size and its growth rate, along with financial development indicators, affect human capital in selected south Asian economies over the time period from 1984 to 2015.
Design/methodology/approach
The stationarity of the variables are checked by LLC, IPS, ADF and Phillips–Perron panel unit-root tests. Pedroni’s and Kao’s panel co-integration approaches are employed to examine the long-run relationship among the variables. To estimate the coefficients of co-integrating vectors, both PDOLS and FMOLS techniques are used. The short-term and long-run causalities are examined by panel granger causality.
Findings
From the empirical results, the authors found that both the market size and financial development play an important role in the development of human capital in the selected south Asian economies. It is evident that a large market size and faster degree of financial development in the selected countries result in better human capital formation.
Originality/value
There are a number of studies on the impact of financial development indicators on human capital and economic growth, but there is hardly any study that considers market size and its growth rate along with financial development indicators with human capital in the context of south Asian economies. The study fills this research gap.
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The purpose of this paper is to introduce a novel device to handle a robot manipulator which can grip large‐size panels. This concept arises from questioning why the glazing task…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a novel device to handle a robot manipulator which can grip large‐size panels. This concept arises from questioning why the glazing task is always performed manually and it is assumed that if the panel is handled by worker's bare hands, the material is lifted by a robot system and can be assembled to a frame easily and intuitively.
Design/methodology/approach
This study proposes the intuitive manipulator device (IMD) which can be attached on the panel directly and connected to it with the coordinate of robot end‐effector based on a virtual coordinate of IMD. The virtual coordinate is defined by the detection of the location of the IMD from the robot end‐effector using IR sensor scanning and origin point estimation method. In this study, the robot manipulator system is operated by a combination of the commands of two IMDs to perform the panel assembly test and its aspect of input commands is compared with the previous force‐control based human‐robot cooperative systems.
Findings
The proposed system shows the better performance while reducing the frequent force reflection of robot system against an environment and simplifies the instant input source for robot control system. Those are caused by the intuitiveness of visual servoing performed by operators and the minimization of a force control strategy by utilizing the operator's own sensitivity. The proposed system shows the possibility of efficiency improvement and simple mechatronic system to realize the automation of panel assembly task.
Originality/value
The proposed device alternates the expensive 6‐axis F/T sensor system to handle the robot manipulator by using the two 3‐axis load cell and those force/torque combinations. Also, the developed device is portable and can attach on the material anywhere. That is why this system could cover various sizes of materials. This system minimizes the computational load to control the robot system and improves the efficiency of an assembly task based on the human‐robot cooperation strategy.
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Gerard Prendergast and Norman Marr
Self‐service technology is challenging the traditional concept of provider‐client interaction in the retail banking industry. Following a review of the literature, this paper…
Abstract
Self‐service technology is challenging the traditional concept of provider‐client interaction in the retail banking industry. Following a review of the literature, this paper discusses the experts' opinions of the role of self‐service technologies and human bank staff in New Zealand retail banking to the years 2000 and 2010. These opinions were identified through a Delphi study held with leading executives from various sectors of the economy. The research indicated that in the future utilisation of home banking by television will be limited to a specific and small market segment. Home banking by personal computer will be relatively more widespread, although it is unlikely to be used by more than twenty per cent of the banking population. Home banking by automated telephone service will be more widespread still, yet acceptance is unlikely to be greater than thirty per cent of the banking population. ‘Staffless branches’ (which are staffed predominately by self‐service technology) will be available in all main city centres before the turn of the century. Automatic Telling Machines (ATMs) will be the most utilised self‐service technology in the future.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of migration on economic growth and human development in selected Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of migration on economic growth and human development in selected Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries.
Design/methodology/approach
The estimations were carried out in a panel of 19 selected SSA countries over the period 1990-2013, using the two-stage least squares estimation techniques. Two measures of migration, namely stock of international migrants and the ratio of personal remittances received to personal remittances paid were used in the study to carry out this investigation.
Findings
The results conform to the findings of existing literature, namely that social expenditure, domestic investment, financial inclusion, income inequality, income and human poverty are significant determinants of either human development or per capita GDP in Sub-Saharan Africa. The distinctive feature of the study is the significant but negative role played by migration in explaining human development and economic growth in the region. The results from the panel estimations reveal that an increase in the measures of migration deteriorates the level of human development and growth of the region.
Research limitations/implications
The major limitation of this study is the unavailability of quality data on migration flows. Therefore, it would be imperative to reinvestigate the specifications adopted in this study in follow-up studies.
Practical implications
The study includes implications for policy makers, especially in SSA countries, that the pattern and flow of migration does not circulate within the region and has tended to drain out human capital to other regions of the world. In the same event, the stock of migrants residing in the region may be low-skilled migrants that do not contribute directly to the level of human development.
Originality/value
To assess the impact of migration on economic growth and development such as the SSA region, it is imperative to follow the growth-based, capacity-based and asset-based approaches to development. This study has made this distinction.
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Maria Fransisca Njoman, Galih Nugroho, Sonia Dwi Puspita Chandra, Yoeska Permana, Suhadi Suhadi, Mujiono Mujiono, Agist Dwiki Hermawan and Sugiono Sugiono
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate subjectivity issue, particularly sensitivity variance and fatigue effect, in human sensory evaluation, as well as review the feasibility…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate subjectivity issue, particularly sensitivity variance and fatigue effect, in human sensory evaluation, as well as review the feasibility of human-independent quality system, using E-tongue and E-nose.
Design/methodology/approach
The sensitivity level is evaluated by measuring the threshold of Acesulfame-K, while the fatigue effect is evaluated by measuring the accuracy level of evaluation through the time. The experiment was administered to six trained sensory panelists.
Findings
The experiment result shows that each panelist has a different level of sensitivity and tendency in evaluating samples containing Acesulfame-K. Furthermore, by simulating the panelists’ daily inspection, the fatigue effect is also found in one out of six panelists. The use of E-nose and E-tongue, may eliminate the subjectivity issue, supporting the development of human error-free quality system.
Research limitations/implications
The research findings indicate the needs of human substitution-built into the quality system to avoid both of subjectivity and error judgment while defining the products quality. However, the small numbers of panelists as well as the unvalidated substitute instruments application in the target workcenter were the main limitation of this study. Human-independent quality system could be applied only when the instruments have been calibrated to human response in perceiving taste and odor.
Originality/value
The research finding supports the theory of human panels’ tradeoffs in a sensory analysis in terms of sensitivity level variance and fatigue. It has provided additional contributions to the existing theories as well as developed effective strategies for the development of the human-independent quality system.
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Bianca Caiazzo, Teresa Murino, Alberto Petrillo, Gianluca Piccirillo and Stefania Santini
This work aims at proposing a novel Internet of Things (IoT)-based and cloud-assisted monitoring architecture for smart manufacturing systems able to evaluate their overall status…
Abstract
Purpose
This work aims at proposing a novel Internet of Things (IoT)-based and cloud-assisted monitoring architecture for smart manufacturing systems able to evaluate their overall status and detect eventual anomalies occurring into the production. A novel artificial intelligence (AI) based technique, able to identify the specific anomalous event and the related risk classification for possible intervention, is hence proposed.
Design/methodology/approach
The proposed solution is a five-layer scalable and modular platform in Industry 5.0 perspective, where the crucial layer is the Cloud Cyber one. This embeds a novel anomaly detection solution, designed by leveraging control charts, autoencoders (AE) long short-term memory (LSTM) and Fuzzy Inference System (FIS). The proper combination of these methods allows, not only detecting the products defects, but also recognizing their causalities.
Findings
The proposed architecture, experimentally validated on a manufacturing system involved into the production of a solar thermal high-vacuum flat panel, provides to human operators information about anomalous events, where they occur, and crucial information about their risk levels.
Practical implications
Thanks to the abnormal risk panel; human operators and business managers are able, not only of remotely visualizing the real-time status of each production parameter, but also to properly face with the eventual anomalous events, only when necessary. This is especially relevant in an emergency situation, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
Originality/value
The monitoring platform is one of the first attempts in leading modern manufacturing systems toward the Industry 5.0 concept. Indeed, it combines human strengths, IoT technology on machines, cloud-based solutions with AI and zero detect manufacturing strategies in a unified framework so to detect causalities in complex dynamic systems by enabling the possibility of products’ waste avoidance.
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