Diverse Management Strategies Research Articles

Percepciones sobre el concepto y la gestión de la diversidad en un centro en proceso de democratización escolar

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar la concepción de la diversidad y los procesos de gestión de la misma en un centro inmerso en un proyecto de democratización escolar, desde las percepciones de los actores implicados. A través de un estudio de caso nos centramos en el análisis de las prácticas educativas desarrolladas un colegio rural agrupado de la provincia de Valencia. La recogida de la información se ha realizado mediante observaciones de aula, entrevistas y diarios de las sesiones. El análisis de la información se ha llevado a cabo mediante análisis de contenido temático. Los resultados ponen de manifiesto las diferentes representaciones de la diversidad de los miembros de la comunidad educativa. Entre las estrategias de gestión de la diversidad utilizadas en las aulas desde un enfoque inclusivo y democrático se destacan el apoyo directo, la graduación de la dificultad de las tareas, la coenseñanza y la ayuda entre iguales. De las prácticas de centro, como el consejo escolar ampliado, se da cuenta de los beneficios y dificultades encontrados y en las conclusiones se ponen en relación las premisas que facilitan los procesos de democratización que tienen en cuenta la diversidad y su manejo efectivo.

Are shrimp farmers actual gamblers? An analysis of risk perception and risk management behaviors among shrimp farmers in the Mekong Delta

Shrimp farming is considered a “risky business” and often compared to gambling for farmers. It is associated with a diverse range of risks and uncertainties, including volatile markets, climate variability, and production risks. In order to mitigate the effects of unpredictability farmers may decide on a particular stocking density and adopt different risk management strategies. Aquaculture research has paid little attention to the influence played by the evaluation and selection of different farming practices, risk perceptions associated with shrimp farming, and the farmers' confidence in their own ability to mitigate risk. The objective of this paper is to analyze the case of shrimp farming in Vietnam's Mekong Delta, where different types of shrimp farms (extensive, semi-intensive and intensive) co-exist within the same landscape, to identify the underlying factors driving stocking behavior and the adoption of different risk management strategies.A survey of 250 farms showed that perceptions toward different stocking behaviors (from extensive to intensive) varied according to the species raised (Penaeus monodon or P. vannamei) and the type of farm. At low density, farmers consider P. monodon as more productive and easier to adopt than P. vannamei. Adoption of intensive farming practices for both species is negatively associated with risk of disease emergence. However, expected productivity is not a predictor of adoption of intensive shrimp farming practices. Mediation analysis indicates that risk management strategies are significantly influenced by perceived market risk. The perception of this type of risk is a key predictor of risk management strategies. The farmers' lack of access to efficient market risk mitigation measures reflects inadequate or missing regulations or lack of specific value chain organization to mitigate this type of risk. Using a behavioral approach provides new insight on how farmers manage their farms, address risk and implement risk management strategies. It showed that farmers, unlike actual gamblers, adopt diverse management strategies after carefully evaluating species and stocking density as well as critically assessing different sources of risk.

Study on Improving the Quality of Work Life of Female Employees : With a focus on the Moderating Roles of Diversity Management Strategies

Study on Improving the Quality of Work Life of Female Employees : With a focus on the Moderating Roles of Diversity Management Strategies

Workforce Diversity Management Strategies and Organisational Performance in the Food and Beverage Industries in Lagos State, Nigeria

<p>Workforce Diversity Management is gradually being used and becoming acceptable as a significant organizational resource in esteems to whether the objective is to be an employer choice, to offer outstanding customer service, or to sustain a competitive advantage. It also has verified to have controlled to an opinion of being essential for organizational performance especially in the Food and Beverage Industry in Nigeria. This ultimate faith forces managers to hold and understand the theory of workforce Diversity, its benefits and challenges. As such, this study examined the effect impact of workforce diversity management towards organizational performance which focuses into the food and beverage industry within the larger manufacturing sector. The research also emphases on workforce diversity management which contains the employee communication(EC) as a mechanism in reducing conflicts and talent availability(TA) which are the utmost critical variables amongst the others. The study employed primary data mainly for revalidation of results and inferential information from secondary sources. Primary data was harnessed from the views of managers and employees of the foods and beverage industries through questionnaire. The study adopted cross sectional research design and considered 3 multinational corporations in the food and beverage sector in Nigeria based on random sampling technique. The sample size constituted the lower, middle and senior level staff of the multinational Corporations at their headquarters and plants to achieve the objectives of this study based on the two hypotheses that were formulated. Both descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were employed. The statistical tools used included cross tabulations, Mean, Regression and Correlation analysis with the aid of SPSS computer packages. The results showed that employee communication (EC) have significant effect on organizational effectiveness (OE) (at P=0.000). It was discovered that talent availability (TA), has significant relationship on employee retention (ER)(at P= 0.002), the study reflected that Workforce diversity represents both a challenge and an opportunity for business and corporate entity. Hence, no organization in this dispensation of Globalization can survive without workforce Diversity. The study recommends that; organization ought to accord due priority for optimum utilization of strength of workforce diversity and institute measures to enhance commitment among the employees for improvement of organizational performance. Organizations should make workforce diversity management a core business value because diverse work teams bring high value to organizations and respecting individual differences will benefit the workforce by creating a competitive edge and increasing work productivity.</p>

Direct sizing and characterization of Energy Storage Systems in the Energy-Power plane

This paper presents an original sizing method for Energy Storage Systems (ESS) based on directly matching their capabilities – as specified by their energy-power Safe Operation Area (SOA) in the Energy-Power (EP) plane – with the energy and power demand required to accomplish their missions. Starting from the system requirements and from an energy management strategy, the power demanded by a set of representative operating scenarios and its associated energy are calculated and represented as trajectories in the EP plane. The objective is to size the ESS such as its SOA contains these trajectories. Comparison between different technologies of Energy Storage Devices (ESDs) is possible using this SOA characterization. Special attention should be paid to compare specific SOAs across devices. Diverse energy management strategies can be synthesized in the EP plane where they can be compared and analyzed. The sizing method converges extremely fast and is suitable for its integration in an optimization loop. The method allows to determine directly and efficiently the technology and the size most appropriate (in terms of indicators such as mass or cost) to a given EP demand. In the paper, three different technologies (SuperCapacitor, Li-Ion and H2∕O2 batteries) are characterized and compared in terms of sizing synthesis.

Motivation and implementation of traffic management strategies to reduce motor vehicle emissions in Canadian cities

There is a pressing need to reduce pollution emissions from transportation and consequent negative effects on air quality, public health, and the global climate. Diverse traffic management strategies have been proposed and undertaken with primary or secondary goals of reducing motor vehicle emissions. The objective of this paper is to investigate the motivation and implementation of traffic management strategies to reduce motor vehicle emissions, with a focus on moderate-scale local and regional strategies that are broadly applicable. Public documents from 44 local, regional, and provincial government entities across Canada were reviewed for information regarding the implementation of 22 traffic management strategies. Results show that different levels of government are involved in the implementation of different types of strategies, and with a different mix of traffic, safety, and environmental motivations. Regional governments more frequently cite environmental motivations and appear to be most interested in the two strategies with the strongest empirical evidence of air quality benefits: area road pricing and low emission zones. Strengthening regional transportation planning and better integrating it with municipal and provincial planning could potentially increase the implementation of effective sustainable traffic management strategies in Canada. Additional opportunities exist through emphasizing the potential environmental co-benefits of strategies such as road pricing, speed management, and traffic signal and intersection control improvements.

Alternative management options for irrigation-induced salinization and waterlogging under different climatic conditions

Arid and semiarid regions cannot meet the demands for food and fiber, at an acceptable environmental cost, without irrigation. However, the escalation of irrigated agriculture could result in environmental problems of soil salinisation and waterlogging. This study attempts to analyse the long-term effect of different management strategies on the watertable depth and groundwater salinities. To evaluate diverse management strategies to solve the environmental problems, the current study used a salt and water balance model SaltMod in an irrigated command area of northwest India which faced with environmental problems of salinization and waterlogging. Following the successful calibration and validation, the model was used for studying various management alternatives for the study region under different climatic and agro-hydrological conditions. The alternative scenarios revealed that the study region would experience continuous rise in groundwater levels in the future under the business as usual scenario. Therefore, appropriate management strategies such as increased groundwater use, reduced rice cultivation, and reduced canal water use are suggested. The optimal scenario revealed that even a small change of two to five percent in various inputs could keep the region from further waterlogging and associated secondary salinisation.

New Migrants in Residential Aged Care: Managing Diversity in Not-for-Profit Organisations

This paper draws on qualitative interviews with migrant Indo-Asian and African personal care workers and registered and enrolled nurses employed by two not-for-profit residential aged care organisations in Australia: AnglicareSA and Resthaven Inc. The paper examines the way these culturally and linguistically diverse staff talk about the safe organisational environment provided by their employers, while in the wider Australian environment, low levels of hostility towards migrants and refugees are a constant cultural force. We demonstrate the impact of these organisations’ foundational ethics and values that influence how human resource diversity management strategies impact on the quality care provided to residents. We argue that this ethic and these human resource strategies act as conduits for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) staff to integrate into the workforce and as a mechanism in assisting new migrants to transition into the wider Australian society, while at the same time enriching the care of the older persons.

<b>Rhododendron diversity along the Kusong-Panch Pokhari transect in Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve, the eastern Himalaya: a conservation perspective</b>

Sikkim Himalaya, India is part of one of the richest global biodiversity hotspots, exhibiting a significant amount of native flora including Rhododendron (Ericaceae) species, which are particularly well represented with 37 species, 11 subspecies, seven varieties and two natural hybrids occurring along the rolling mountains between 1,500m to 6,000m. Most of the habitats of rhododendrons in Sikkim Himalaya have not only been threatened by climate change but also by emerging eco-tourism and economic activities vis-à-vis trekking corridors. In recent decades, it has been observed that the climate-governed phenology of rhododendrons of eastern Himalaya is shifting; further the urbanization, tourism influx, and clearances for the footpaths have adversely impacted the diversity of many forest areas. To better understand the effects of trekking corridors on Rhododendron species for the tourist destinations, we performed a pilot survey along the Kusong-Panch Pokhari transect in relatively virgin forest of the northern part of Sikkim to assess the status of both Rhododendron diversity and potential environmental management strategies that can be employed within the transect as a new tourist destination in the Sikkim Himalaya. Along with this transect, we recorded 23 Rhododendron species, with five eastern Himalayan endemics. Our results indicate that the diversity of rhododendrons seem good along the Kusong-Panch Pokhari transect and we further recommend it could be a new potential eco-tourism destination as an alternative income generating source for the local people, provided that appropriate conservation management strategies are in place.

Cultural Differentiation and Social Integration in Complex Modern Societies Reflections on Cultural Diversity Management Strategies from a Sociological Point of View

This paper reflects on foundations of integration in our differentiated and globalized society from a sociological point of view, and links this reflection to most recent scientific acquisitions of the New Systems Theory or Complexity Science about how all systems, natural as well as social systems, work and evolve. Incorporating the sociological tradition on differentiation processes as rule of social functioning, the contemporary sociology accepted emergent, far from equilibrium (entropy), self-organization, unpredictable and surprising organizational change processes, operative closure and autopoiesis concepts, as particularly adapting concepts to represent social systems and, above all, our contemporary society characterized by an increase of complexity due to differentiation, individualization and globalization processes. In this regard, strong and permanent migratory waves, due to economic and digital globalization processes, and increasing cultural differentiation processes, have led contemporary western societies to face a serious social organizational problem: how the recognition of cultural difference and the instance of social integration can be reconciled? In this regard, the characterization of all systems as able to adapt to environmental perturbations and survive by self-organizing, balancing organization integrative constraints and emergencies, that is, far from complete differentiation, without being even minimal connection (far from equilibrium or in the edge of the chaos), can constitute a valid point of reference for sociologically reflecting, starting from here, on current integration policies of cultural differences in our complex society (pluralism, multiculturalism, interculturalism) and their implications for social integration. About it, the paper accepts the perspective of those sociological and political theories according to which, from a theoretical and empirical point of view, the sufficiency of procedural foundations seems to show serious limits as integrative constraint. Therefore, the Complexity language can justify the caution with which the normative multiculturalism—which implies it—is believed that should be considered, by anchoring it to the vision of a society conceived so as to dangerously visit that range of maximum differentiation which should be avoided, being identified as the range of ungovernability. Islamic radicalism and nationalistic rejection signs in the West show that this is no a mere theoretical possibility. How to bridge this relationality deficit that normative multiculturalism seems to institute and avoid the risk of a society unable to regain order with coherence? The Complexity framework is where the entire debate must be kept. Here, the integration proposal of interculturalism can gain greater meaning, avoiding the risks of mono-culturalism, on the one hand, and social balkanization, on the other hand.

Partial/Parallel Disassembly Sequence Planning for Complex Products

Disassembly is a very important step in recycling and maintenance, particularly for energy saving. However, disassembly sequence planning (DSP) is a challenging combinatorial optimization problem due to complex constraints of many products. This paper considers partial and parallel disassembly sequence planning for solving the degrees-of-freedom in modular product design, considering disassembly time, cost, and energy consumption. An automatic self-decomposed disassembly precedence matrix (DPM) is designed to generate partial/parallel disassembly sequence for reducing complexity and improving efficiency. A Tabu search-based hyper heuristic algorithm with exponentially decreasing diversity management strategy is proposed. Compared with the low-level heuristics, the proposed algorithm is more efficient in terms of exploration ability and improving energy benefits (EBs). The comparison results of three different disassembly strategies prove that the partial/parallel disassembly has a great advantage in reducing disassembly time, and improving EBs and disassembly profit (DP).

Diverse Management Strategies Produce Similar Ecological Outcomes on Ranches in Western Great Plains: Social-Ecological Assessment

Experiments investigating grazing systems have often excluded ranch-scale decision making, which has limited our understanding of the processes and consequences of adaptive management. We conducted interviews and vegetation monitoring on 17 ranches in eastern Colorado and eastern Wyoming to investigate rancher decision-making processes and the associated ecological consequences. Management variables investigated were grazing strategy, grazing intensity, planning style, and operation type. Ecological attributes included the relative abundance of plant functional groups and categories of ground cover. We examined the environmental and management correlates of plant species and functional group composition using nonmetric multidimensional scaling and linear mixed models. After accounting for environmental variation across the study region, species composition did not differ between grazing management strategy and planning style. Operation type was significantly correlated with plant community composition. Integrated cow-calf plus yearling operations had greater annual and less key perennial cool-season grass species cover relative to cow-calf−only operations. Integrated cow-calf plus yearling ranches were able to more rapidly restock following drought compared with cow-calf operations. Differences in types of livestock operations contributed to variability in plant species composition across the landscape that may support diverse native faunal species in these rangeland ecosystems. Three broad themes emerged from the interviews: 1) long-term goals, 2) flexibility, and 3) adaptive learning. Stocking-rate decisions appear to be slow, path-dependent choices that are shaped by broader social, economic, and political dynamics. Ranchers described having greater flexibility in altering grazing strategies than ranch-level, long-term, annual stocking rates. These results reflect the complexity of the social-ecological systems ranchers navigate in their adaptive decision-making processes. Ranch decision-making process diversity within these environments precludes development of a single “best” strategy to manage livestock grazing.

Workplace diversity in South Africa: Its qualities and management

This qualitative study explored diversity management strategies used by South African financial institutions. The sample included 72 employees (33.33% females; 39.08% Indigenous African language speakers). Of the participants, 44.45% were white, 28.57% were black, 22.22% were Indian, and 4.78% were from the Coloured population group. The participants completed focus-group interviews or individual interviews on their workplace diversity experiences and its management. Themes emerging from Atlas.ti and Tesch’s data analyses included the consensus view that effective diversity management proactively addressed cultural differences, stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination, misunderstandings, communication gaps, and conflict due to organisational hierarchical levels. Organisational competitiveness is enhanced through client focused services and an employee valuing work environment. However, some of the employees also viewed diversity initiatives as costly, time-consuming, and forced on employees.

Quantifying ecosystem service trade-offs for plantation forest management to benefit provisioning and regulating services.

There is increasing interest worldwide regarding managing plantation forests in a manner that maintains or improves timber production, enhances ecosystem services, and promotes long‐term sustainability of forest resources. We selected the Gan River Basin, the largest catchment of Poyang Lake and a region with a typical plantation distribution in South China, as the study region. We evaluated and mapped four important forest ecosystem services, including wood volume, carbon storage, water yield, and soil retention at a 30 × 30 m resolution, then quantified their trade‐offs and synergies at the county and subwatershed scales. We found that the wood volume and carbon storage services, as well as the soil retention and water yield, exhibited synergistic relationships. However, the carbon storage displayed a trade‐off relationship with the water yield. Additionally, we compared the beneficial spatial characteristics among dominant species in the study region. The results showed that the Chinese fir forest and the pine forest exhibited lower overall benefits than natural forests including the broad‐leaved forest and the bamboo forest. To propose a suitable management strategy for the study region, method of spatial cluster analysis was used based on the four eco‐services at the subwatershed scale. The basin was divided into four management groups instead of treating the region as a homogenous management region. Finally, we proposed more specific and diverse management strategies to optimize forest benefits throughout the entire region.

Improving Diversity in Evolutionary Algorithms: New Best Solutions for Frequency Assignment

Metaheuristics have yielded very promising results for the frequency assignment problem (FAP). However, the results obtainable using currently published methods are far from ideal in complex, large-scale instances. This paper applies and extends some of the most recent advances in evolutionary algorithms to two common variants of the FAP, and shows how, in traditional techniques, two common issues affect their performance: 1) premature convergence and 2) the way in which neutral networks are handled. A recent replacement-based diversity management strategy is successfully applied to alleviate the premature convergence drawback. Additionally, by properly defining a distance metric, the performance in the presence of neutrality can also be greatly improved. The replacement strategy combines the principle of transforming a single-objective problem into a multiobjective one by considering diversity as an additional objective, with the idea of adapting the balance induced between exploration and exploitation to the requirements of the different optimization stages. Tests with 44 publicly available instances yield very competitive results. New best-known frequency plans were generated for 11 instances, whereas in the remaining ones the best-known solutions were replicated. Comparisons with a large number of strategies designed to delay convergence of the population clearly show the advantages of our novel proposals.

Development of a model to analyze HEI image: a case based on a private and a public university

ABSTRACTEducation is considered a fundamental element in society's development, and higher education institutions (HEIs) must direct a part of their activity towards supporting countries’ social, economic and cultural progress. It is crucial that HEIs develop diverse marketing and management strategies, above all image management, since this will make them competitive in the market and provide their managers with decision-making capacity. Regarding the image of HEIs, the literature presents different measurement models, with no consensus about the variables to include in them. The main aim of this research is to analyze studies presenting models of university image, search for synergies among the models’ variables and develop a model that combines all of them. Other variables not found in these studies have been included, since the bibliography on the subject considers them relevant. The sample is formed of 438 students from two universities, a private university in Spain and a State university in Portugal. The results show that image has a conceptualization formed of four constructs: external communication and values, national and international recognition, economic value, and facilities. We conclude with confirmation of a model that measures university image with variables that are significant in previous studies, but with some added variables.

Assessment of Sedimentation in Wlingi and Lodoyo Reservoirs: A Secondary Disaster Following the 2014 Eruption of Mt. Kelud, Indonesia

Wlingi and Lodoyo reservoirs in the Brantas River basin, Indonesia, provide numerous benefits including reliable irrigation water supply, flood control, power generation, fisheries and recreation. The function of both reservoirs particularly in relation to flood control has declined due to severe sedimentation that has reduced their storage capacities. The sedimentation in Wlingi and Lodoyo reservoirs is mainly caused by sediment inflow from the areas most affected by ejecta from eruptions of Mt. Kelud, one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia. The main objective of this research is to assess the sedimentation problem in Wlingi and Lodoyo reservoirs, particularly as they are affected by eruptions of Mt Kelud. We performed reservoir bathymetric surveys and field surveys after the most recent eruption of Mt. Kelud in February 2014 and compared the results with surveys undertaken before the eruption. The assessment revealed that both reservoirs were severely affected by the 2014 eruption. The effective storage capacity of Wlingi reservoir in March 2013 was 2.01 Mm3and the survey in May 2015 indicated that the effective storage of Wlingi reservoir had decreased to 1.01 Mm3. Similarly, the effective storage capacity of Lodoyo reservoir in March 2013 was 2.72 Mm3, reduced to 1.33 Mm3in May 2015. These findings underpin the analysis of the impacts of the secondary disaster due to reservoir sedimentation following the volcanic eruption and the implications for mitigating and managing the risks for sustainable use of reservoirs to control floods, supply water, generate electricity, etc. To cope with the extreme sedimentation problem in Wlingi and Lodoyo reservoirs, diverse sediment management strategies have been applied in these reservoirs and their catchments. However sediment disaster management strategies for both reservoirs, an integral part of the Mt. Kelud Volcanic Disaster Mitigation Plan, require continuous maintenance and recurrent operations, and ongoing evaluation and improvement.

Restoration and management for plant diversity enhances the rate of belowground ecosystem recovery.

The positive relationship between plant diversity and ecosystem functioning has been criticized for its applicability at large scales and in less controlled environments that are relevant to land management. To inform this gap between ecological theory and application, we compared recovery rates of belowground properties using two chronosequences consisting of continuously cultivated and independently restored fields with contrasting diversity management strategies: grasslands restored with high plant richness and managed for diversity with frequent burning (n=20) and grasslands restored with fewer species that were infrequently burned (n=15). Restoration and management for plant diversity resulted in 250% higher plant richness. Greater recovery of roots and more predictable recovery of the active microbial biomass across the high diversity management strategy chronosequence corresponded with faster recovery of soil structure. The high diversity grasslands also had greater nutrient conservation indicated by lower available inorganic nitrogen. Thus, mesic grasslands restored with more species and managed for high plant diversity with frequent burning enhances the rate of belowground ecosystem recovery from long-term disturbance at a scale relevant to conservation practices on the landscape.

Ecosystem services from community-based forestry in Nepal: Realising local and global benefits

Community-based Forestry (CBF) is now a popular approach for landscape restoration, forest management, biodiversity conservation and support for rural livelihoods worldwide. The Himalayan country Nepal has been at the forefront of CBF for over four decades, with almost 40% of the total population directly involved in protecting and managing more than 32% of the country’s forested land. However, in the past, the focus of CBF in Nepal was the provision of goods for local subsistence, and there has been limited analysis of the role of CBF in providing ecosystem services (ES) from restored forest landscapes. Based on material drawn from a literature review and a stakeholders’ workshop, this paper analyses changes in Nepalese forest policies to provide a more holistic framework for CBF that provides a wider range of ES and to potentially underpin payments for ecosystem services in Nepal. The analysis indicates that Nepal’s forest policy and practices are still dominated by a narrowly conceived notion of forest management that does not accommodate the holistic concept of ES. The study illustrates that CBF provides many ES from local to global benefits as result of forest restoration. For example, timber, firewood, food, and water have local importance, while climate regulation, flood/erosion control, and habitat improvement have global importance. Many innovative cases are emerging in the long journey of CBF in Nepal that demonstrate more diverse management strategies, new forms of tenure rights and autonomy in institutional spaces. These can potentially provide a catalytic platform for the wider adoption of the ES framework in CBF regimes, in order to focus and reward forest management more directly for the provision of services such as water, biodiversity, climate regulation and recreation. Consequently, this study discusses the issues and challenges that are impeding the implementation of the ES concept in Nepal and suggests some ways forward.

Negative Attitudes toward Older Workers and Hiring Decisions: Testing the Moderating Role of Decision Makers' Core Self-Evaluations.

Organizational hiring practices have been charged for unfair treatment on the grounds of age. Drawing on theories of planned behavior and core self-evaluations, this research investigated the impact of negative attitudes toward older workers on hiring decisions and examined the moderating role of decision-makers’ core self-evaluations. We tested our hypotheses based on a structured online questionnaire and a vignette study using a sample of 102 participants working in human resource management across different industries. As predicted, negative attitudes toward older workers were positively related to avoidance of hiring older people, which in turn was negatively related to the likelihood to select the oldest candidate. Because hiring decisions are not only about the hiring subject but also about the decision-maker, we tested the moderating role of decision-makers’ core self-evaluations. Results showed that core self-evaluations buffered the relationship between negative attitudes toward older workers and avoidance of hiring older people. Theoretical implications of the findings with regard to hiring decisions about older people and practical recommendations to improve diversity management strategies and age-balanced hiring practices in organizations are discussed.