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1 – 10 of over 20000Based on an earlier policy‐capturing study of the Big Five personality traits and general mental ability, this paper explores and analyzes the hiring preference of Hong Kong…
Abstract
Based on an earlier policy‐capturing study of the Big Five personality traits and general mental ability, this paper explores and analyzes the hiring preference of Hong Kong employers across five important personal attributes, including not only personality but also practical skill dimensions. The preferences and trade‐offs of 300 experienced recruiters were obtained via conjoint analysis, a theoretically grounded statistical tool that is used to discompose and analyze decisions, for assessing the hiring decisions for entry‐level professional positions. Among knowledge, skills, abilities, and personality, the personality of a candidate has a relatively greater impact on the hiring decision. Three of the Big Five personality traits were elected from among five major hiring attributes for effective performance, with conscientiousness being the most dominant attribute across all eight major industries. The other attributes, in order of importance, include English communication skills, openness to new experiences, academic performance, and agreeableness. Discrepancies between intended and actual decisions were also addressed by comparing the results with self‐reported ratings.
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To underestimate service quality is like saying goodbye to some of your hard‐earned profits. Even after revamping and upgrading products, manyorganizations continue to experience…
Abstract
To underestimate service quality is like saying goodbye to some of your hard‐earned profits. Even after revamping and upgrading products, many organizations continue to experience decline because they forget that people want to feel good. The feel‐good factor is espoused by politicians throughout the world to nurture votes. The fact that people want to feel good is often overlooked and ignores Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. How many times have you bought a product only to find there is a fault and the product needs replacing? This is normally something which is very irritating, but not ulcer‐inducing enough to get worked up about until, that is, the customer service department treats you as though it is your fault.
For Becton Dickinson Japan, talent management meant overhauling its approach to talent from hire to retire. Find out how it created a new culture of accountability and engagement…
Abstract
For Becton Dickinson Japan, talent management meant overhauling its approach to talent from hire to retire. Find out how it created a new culture of accountability and engagement that helped the company exceed its target to double sales in five years.
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Lydia Qianqian Li, Katherine Xin, Vlado Pucik and William X. Wei
This paper aims to propose practical recommendations in accordance with the strategic roles played by research and development (R&D) in multinational companies (MNCs).
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to propose practical recommendations in accordance with the strategic roles played by research and development (R&D) in multinational companies (MNCs).
Design/methodology/approach
This study applies a qualitative method to investigate the talent management (TM) practices implemented in MNCs’ R&D units.
Findings
The findings identify four R&D strategies and four sectors of TM practices. Furthermore, there exists an alignment between R&D strategies and TM practices.
Research limitations/implications
This paper has several limitations. This qualitative research is exploratory, and larger samples or quantitative methods are needed to ensure the wider applicability of the findings. When possible, longitudinal studies yield superior results in revealing the evolving strategic roles of R&D subsidiaries and their TM practices. The authors used China as the research context, and similar studies in other emerging countries with active R&D activities are required to further validate or complement the findings in this study.
Practical implications
This study has some practical implications for companies with regard to aligning their TM practices with R&D strategies.
Originality/value
R&D units play an increasingly significant role in MNCs and TM is a key issue. However, there is a lack of TM research focusing on R&D employees by taking strategies into account.
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As people work through their daily lives, they interact with a variety of organisations. Some of those interactions are successful, and others are dreadful. And managers of…
Abstract
As people work through their daily lives, they interact with a variety of organisations. Some of those interactions are successful, and others are dreadful. And managers of organisations tend to look at their own organisational successes and failures and hope that the successes outnumber the failures. Managers observe that most of the successes come from the highest performing employees, and the failures tend to emanate from the worst performers. So, they try to encourage the worst performers to ‘become better team players’ or ‘be more sensitive to the customer's needs’, and hope that they eventually ‘get it’. Some will, and most will not. And then one day, a manager interacts with an organisation that ‘goes the extra mile’ and provides a great service or product, and he/she fantasises about what it is that makes this organisation successful, while his/hers is marginal at best. The answer to this question is actually quite simple, but to fix the problems can be time consuming and painful. The single quality that highly successful organisations all have in common is that they have an organisational culture which values leadership. They have achieved what few organisations have achieved: they have become a ‘Leadership Organisation’ (an organisation that has leaders at all levels of the organisational chart). Once an organisation has achieved this level of leadership, overall organisational success is easily achievable. This paper is intended to give managers a basic framework on how they can turn their organisations into high‐performing successes. Managers' ability to achieve this success can be limited by the legal process, the company's employment practices and culture, and their own willingness to make radical changes to their organisation. Once a manager has achieved building a Leadership Organisation, however, the rewards of success are well worth the effort.
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Baird K. Brightman and John W. Moran
Presents a schedule for the alignment of personal needs and priorities with organizational needs and priorities. By considering leadership, coaching, corporate citizenship, change…
Abstract
Presents a schedule for the alignment of personal needs and priorities with organizational needs and priorities. By considering leadership, coaching, corporate citizenship, change management, efficiency, team working, customer focus, and decision making, individuals can compile an action plan for professional and organizational change, ensuring that one is not at the expense of the other. Features a number of models to encourage reflection and discussion as well as assessment instruments to aid immediate practical development.
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What has been called “the McDonaldization of universities” (another name for top-down and strong corporate managerialism) has gained momentum as a model for governing and managing…
Abstract
Purpose
What has been called “the McDonaldization of universities” (another name for top-down and strong corporate managerialism) has gained momentum as a model for governing and managing universities. This trend exacerbates the traditional tension between academic freedom and managerial control – a major challenge for the administration of academic institutions. The ideas of Charles Darwin represent an opportunity for overcoming such a challenge. However, traditional managerial models show inadequate, pre-Darwinian assumptions for devising organizational designs. This paper aims to show not only the opportunities but also the challenges of embracing a Darwinian paradigm for designing social systems. The case of managerialism in universities is an illustrative example. The paper proposes evolutionary guidelines for designing universities capable of maintaining managerial control while warranting academic freedom.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper proposes to understand the tension between academic freedom and managerial control in universities as the same tension between freedom and control that Karl Popper identified as successfully handled by evolutionary processes. The paper uses Darwinian theory, understood as a broader theory for complex systems, as a heuristic for designing social systems – universities in this case – able to adapt to changing environmental conditions while handling equilibrium between freedom and control. The methodology articulates the Popperian model of knowledge with the Darwinian scheme proposed by David Ellerman known as “parallel experimentation” for suggesting organizational forms in which university administrators and faculty can interact for generating free innovations in pseudo-controlled organizational arrangements.
Findings
A salient characteristic of strong managerialism is its pre-Darwinian understanding of survival and adaptation; such an approach shows important flaws that can lead universities to unfit designs that changing environments can select for elimination. As an alternative, the philosophy behind the ideas of Charles Darwin provides guidelines for designing innovative and adaptive social systems. Evolutionary principles challenge basic tenets of strong managerialism as Darwinian designs discard the possibility of seeing managers as knowledgeable designers that allegedly can avoid mistakes by allocating resources to “one-best” solutions through ex ante exhaustive, top-down control. Instead, a Darwinian model requires considering survival as a matter of adaptability through continuous experimentation of blind trials controlled by ex post selection. The key is to organize universities as experimenting systems that try new and different things all the time and that learn and improve by making mistakes, as an adaptive system.
Research limitations/implications
Governing and managing universities require to acknowledge the uniqueness of academic institutions and demand to look for appropriate forms of organization. The proposal of this paper opens possibilities for exploring and implementing action-research initiatives and practical solutions for universities. Studies in management and administration of higher-education institutions must take into account the characteristics of this type of organizations and should consider wider spectrums of possibilities beyond the core ideas of managerialism.
Practical implications
University managers face a special challenge for achieving equilibrium between managerial control and academic freedom. Darwinian models of management invite to reconsider several management creeds, for instance, that “errors are bad things” – instead of innovation triggers and learning opportunities or that “one solution must fit all” – instead of considering bottom-up, different and adaptive solutions triggered by local academic units, each facing different environments.
Originality/value
Currently, there is no clear picture for governing universities. This paper introduces principles and guidelines for facing the current challenge that strong managerialism represents if universities are expected to maintain academic freedom and also survive in volatile environments.
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Menno Vos, Gürkan Çelik and Sjiera de Vries
The higher education sector has become increasingly aware of how the increasing diversity in society affects their institutions. The student population has become more diverse and…
Abstract
Purpose
The higher education sector has become increasingly aware of how the increasing diversity in society affects their institutions. The student population has become more diverse and future employers increasingly require trained students who are able to meet the demands of dealing with a more diverse market/clientele. In this regard, education institutions need to align their strategic approach to diversity within their organization. The purpose of this paper is to examine strategical reasons to diversify in different education teams in relation to two different diversity practices: attraction and selection of culturally diverse lecturers and utilization of cultural differences in team interaction.
Design/methodology/approach
In a qualitative study the authors conducted 19 interviews with educational professionals in six different education teams in a university of applied sciences.
Findings
Interviews with 19 members of six educational teams revealed that some teams acknowledge they need more diversity and exchange of knowledge and skills in order to meet the requirements of the labor market. Especially teams that prepare students for international careers foster this “Integration and Learning” perspective. Other teams, e.g. the Law team, notice less changes in labor market requirements. Still, these teams were open for recruiting diverse lecturers and found it important, especially to meet the needs of the diversity in students (access perspective). They also found value in the interaction and mutual learning in their team, but saw no extra value of diversity (colorblind perspective). Labor market demands for diversity seem to have more influence on the diversity perspective of teams than the diversity in the student population.
Practical implications
Since earlier research has shown that the diversity practices of organizations are more effective when they are in line with their diversity perspective, the differences between teams suggest that when dealing with diversity issues, universities can best work toward a common understanding of the importance of diversity but leave room for team differences in diversity practices.
Originality/value
Most studies on diversity management assume or argue that organizations adopt one diversity perspective. The present study shows that intra-organizational differences may exist with regard to the specific needs or concern for diversity management practices.
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Baird K. Brightman and John W. Moran
Since every organization’s success is built on the participation and good work of its staff, this article advises leaders to view their organization as a country, and frames their…
Abstract
Since every organization’s success is built on the participation and good work of its staff, this article advises leaders to view their organization as a country, and frames their primary management challenge as creating “organizational citizenship”, defined as a voluntary consistent commitment to the goals, methods, and ultimate success of the organization. Most leadership strategies are designed to create specific business results; their effectiveness will depend on the creation of a culture of patriotism throughout the organization.
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