Key Employees Research Articles

Evaluation of Get Healthy at Work, a state-wide workplace health promotion program in Australia

BackgroundWorkplace health programs (WHPs) may improve adult health but very little evidence exists on multi-level WHPs implemented at-scale and so the relationship between program implementation factors and outcomes of WHPs are poorly understood. This study evaluated Get Healthy at Work (GHaW), a state-wide government-funded WHP in Australia.MethodsA mixed-method design included a longitudinal quasi-experimental survey of businesses registered with GHaW and a comparison group of businesses surveyed over a 12-month period. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups with key contacts and employees of selected intervention group businesses and the service providers of the program were conducted to assess program adoption and adaptation.ResultsPositive business-level changes in workplace culture were observed over time among GHaW businesses compared with the control group. Multilevel regression modelling revealed perceptions that employees were generally healthy (p = 0.045 timeXgroup effect) and that the workplace promoted healthy behaviours (p = 0.004 timeXgroup effect) improved significantly while the control group reported no change in work culture perceptions. Changes in perceptions about work productivity were not observed; however only one third of businesses registered for the program had adopted GHaW during the evaluation period. Qualitative results revealed a number of factors contributing to program adoption: which depended on program delivery (e.g., logistics, technology and communication channels), design features of the program, and organisational factors (primarily business size and previous experience of WHPs).ConclusionsEvaluation of program factors is important to improve program delivery and uptake and to ensure greater scalability. GHaW has the potential to improve workplace health culture, which may lead to better health promoting work environments. These results imply that government can play a central role in enabling prioritisation and incentivising health promotion in the workplace.

A Literature Review on Employee Retention with Focus on Recent Trends

Employees are the most important, valuable and productive asset of an organization and retaining them is one of the toughest challenges for the managers. As the replacement cost of key employees involves huge turnover, there is a need to develop a fully integrative retention policy to tackle such type of problems. The objective of this study is to critically analyze the various works done in the field of employee retention and highlight factors responsible for employee departure and retention initiatives followed to retain them. As the study is descriptive in nature, a number of secondary sources are explored to synthesize the fragmented knowledge and present the literature review in a concise format. As the ever-changing technology, stiff competition, and globalization has brought human resources at the forefront in organizational roles, no organization wants to lose their talented employees. The literature review will present traditional retention techniques followed as well as contemporary techniques used to retain the employees. Also, more emphasis will be put on the factors such as leadership style of superiors, ability to exercise control with respect to decision-making and problem-solving, desire for career advancement and skills development, flexible working and ever increasing aspiration on retention of key employees.

Determinants of Internal Audit Effectiveness (IAE) in the Ethiopian Public Enterprise, Case of Southern Region

Due to political, technological and economic changes in the last decades resulted in the rise of business risks, the economic instability and the important increase of financial fraud scandals have necessitated the use of internal audit for companies (Bekiaris et al., 2013; Vinary and Skaerbaek; 2014; Tsipouridou and Spathis, 2014; Gbadago, 2015). Therefore, it is of great importance to identify the factors affecting internal audit in order to be effective. Previous studies have used different approaches to investigate internal audit effectiveness, as effective internal audit is influenced by series of factors. Moreover, factors and measurement of internal audit effectiveness have been used differently by the researchers (Arena and Azzone, 2009) and until now, there is no consensus regarding the most appropriate framework for internal audit effectiveness (Endaya and Hanefah, 2013). Thus, effectiveness of internal audit is a dynamic process and a matter of considerable debate.Public sector offices are part of the public body which is partly or wholly financed by government budget and concerned with providing basic government services to the whole society (Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED, 2004). The compositions of the public sectors are varied by their function and purposes, but in most cases, they are designed in order to enable the public sectors to achieve their goals. The public sector provides services such as banking service, financing, education, communication service, healthcare, police, transportation, electric services, security and so on, which benefit all of the society and encourage equal opportunity to benefit from those services provided (Mihret and Yismaw, 2007). This research was focused on the determinants of Internal Audit Effectiveness in SNNPR Public sector office found in Hawasa mainly regional government offices. Mostly, the efficiency and effectiveness of the management operations in public sector are ensured by the effectiveness of its employees. Internal audit which are the focus of this study and also the key employee of public offices, are expected to work independently and objectively to enhance high quality of public services, achieve good internal control system, avoid corruption, ensure good corporate governance system, promote accountability and greater transparency (Coram et al, 2008; Van Peursem 2005; Belay, 2007). DOI : 10.7176/JRDM/52-02

ECONOMIC-MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF THE OPTIMAL ORGANIZATION OF THE BUSINESS PROCESSES SYSTEM OF ENGINEERING ENTERPRISE

The management of labor (human) resources (HRM) in multinational companies (MNCs) acquires new functions in the context of globalization. In this regard, the study of HRM, recruitment and training of labor from among foreign citizens is of particular interest. Of particular interest is the successful experience of recruiting activities and HRM of UAE MNCs in Asia and in the Arab region. As an example, the characteristic features of HRM of MNC the Al Hawi Alalmya Facilities Management (AHAFM) L.L.C., Abu Dhabi, UAE is considered. In this paper, the authors propose: • The permanent training and professional development for executive directors, top managers, the best employees and higher qualified workers of AHAFM by: - Inviting foreign and local professors, teachers, and professional specialists to train all employees directly in subsidiary companies. - The use of distance learning methods for all employees directly in subsidiaries. - Sending of key employees from subsidiaries – executive directors, top and middle level managers and highly qualified specialists for advanced training at AHAFM headquarters in the UAE or at well-known universities and colleges of the world. • Personal promotion of the best workers – the organization for them of foreign tours, providing assistance to their families, financial bonuses. • Organization of joint cultural-ethnic and moral-ethical events for employees of different nationalities and ethnic groups, organization of joint holidays and festivals, teaching foreign languages. • The widespread use of IT and computer technologies for the management of human resources and production processes, continuous SWOT analysis of results and optimization of labor and material (and financial) costs. • The wide informing of all employees on the performance of AHAFM and all subsidiaries, attracting all employees to make decisions and take actions to improve the efficiency of the company and its subsidiaries. Based on a thorough study of the theory and practice of modern human resources management, engineering and technical personnel, extensive use of SWOT analysis and study of the conditions of AHAFM activity using new IT, computer and other technologies, the authors achieved some positive and effective results.

Study on the Equity Incentive Effects of Chinese Growing Listed Company

Growing enterprises are playing more and more important roles in the social and economic development in China. The growing enterprises are also mostly high-tech enterprises, in which the activeness and enthusiasm of the employees directly determine the development status of the company. Effective encouragement for the key employees has become the core of growing enterprise management. Through the empirical study of Chinese growing listed companies, this paper finds that equity incentive can really achieve incentive effect for the growing listed companies, and the proportion of equity incentive and equity incentive mode also have some impact on the effect of equity incentive.

Social Network Analysis of Sustainable Human Resource Management from the Employee Training’s Perspective

Employee training is not only important for the continuous growth of human resources but also guarantees sustainable human resource management in enterprises. It is very important to understand corporate behaviour related to employee training not only from the perspective of a single enterprise but also from that of multiple enterprises. The purpose of this study is to explore multiple enterprises’ employee training behaviours by conducting a content analysis of corporate social responsibility (sustainability) reports and a social network analysis. This study also seeks to find a way to achieve sustainable employee training by analysing the similarities in the different types of corporate training behaviours. Our analysis shows that, in 2017, 108 types of training activities were implemented by 53 enterprises; the key employee trainings (e.g., security training and skills training) and enterprises (e.g., bank of communication) are identified. The training behaviours of some of the enterprises are similar to some extent, and eight groups of firms that are very similar are identified. The results of this study show that social network analysis performs well for studying corporate employee training behaviours. Some suggestions to minimize the investment costs of training and to improve the sustainability of human resource management from the employee training perspective are provided.

Accounting for Slavery: Masters and Management by Caitlin Rosenthal

Reviewed by: Accounting for Slavery: Masters and Management by Caitlin Rosenthal Howard Bodenhorn (bio) Accounting for Slavery: Masters and Management. By Caitlin Rosenthal. (Cambridge Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2018. Pp. 295. Cloth, $35.00.) Over the past two decades, historians have developed narratives around the history of capitalism in which slavery stands at the center of the nineteenth century's economic transformations. Slavery was not rooted in a precapitalist aristocratic mentality, but rather was one of the engines of the industrial revolution. Slaveholders were sharp-dealing, entrepreneurial, and sometimes brutal landlords and labor lords that supplied the raw materials (sugar, tobacco, and cotton) that fueled the rise of transatlantic commerce. Up to this point, economic historians and new historians of capitalism agree. Where the old and new interpretations diverge is on the centrality of slavery to capitalism itself. The new literature invests slavery as the driving force behind technological innovation, modern finance, economic inequality, and modern free labor systems that remains repressive, coercive, and exploitative. Economic historians, it is fair to say, are deeply skeptical of the new interpretation, partly on ideological grounds, partly on methodological grounds, and partly because cliometricians are convinced that the new history sometimes gets the facts wrong.1 Caitlin Rosenthal's Accounting for Slavery represents a valuable contribution in that it bridges the ideological and methodological divide. Rosenthal is clearly sympathetic to the new history of slavery, but she is also interested in getting the facts right and engaging with business and economic historians. By her own account, her book owes a debt to a conversation she had, while still a graduate student, with Stan Engerman, who handed her Thomas Affleck's Plantation Record and Account Book, which "blew [her] away" (xii). Rosenthal uses plantation account books and other source documents familiar to business historians to interrogate competing narratives of slavery. Slaveholders left behind thousands of account books, which have been studied by historians but rarely as business records per se. Rosenthal uses [End Page 635] these books to reconstruct the management practices of slaveholders in the West Indies and the United States. Slaveholders kept detailed accounts, and ledgers reveal the plantation as the "great machine" it was (69). Jamaica's largest sugar plantations, some of which employed more than two thousand slaves, were complex and formidable enterprises that exhibited some of the features of the modern multidivisional firm. These vertically integrated firms did everything from plant the seed to pack the final product, including all the ancillary processes such as cooperage, blacksmithing, and animal husbandry. Because sugar plantations exhibited high mortality rates, Jamaican planters appear to have been most concerned with the size and composition of their labor force. Their account books categorize workers into as many as two dozen occupations and track changes in the size and skill distribution of the labor forces. The deaths of a few key employees such as sugar boilers or coopers, for example, posed a potential threat to the firm's operations. And because they were outnumbered, white planters also kept inventories of tools that might be turned into weapons. Many also recorded punishments designed to terrorize and cow as much as punish their workforces. Account books simultaneously document slaveholders' efforts to control and slaves' efforts to resist. Rosenthal documents how American planters took the Jamaicans' concerns with accounting for their labor force to the next level. It was not enough to keep tabs on births, deaths, sales, and purchases. Beside every name, planters added a dollar value. Newborns might be valued at $25, prime field hands upward of $1,500 or more. European travelers frequently commented on Americans' fascination with trade and money making, which is apparent in the planters' account books. Planters not only assigned dollar values to everything, but documented everything they could. The 1842 ledger of Mississippian Eli Capell records that his slaves jointly harvested an unprecedented 2,545 pounds of cotton in a single day. Planters kept track not for the sake of keeping track. They used detailed records to assess the productivity of their plantations. They could compare picking rates across slaves, across time, across different plant hybrids, and across different harvesting techniques. Planters were scientific managers before the term was invented...

Breaking Down Benefits: Employee Understanding of Benefits and Readability Levels of University Benefits Handbooks

Benefits are often cited as one of the most important factors to hiring and retaining employees. One of the key ways employees learn about benefits is through communications provided by their human resources departments. However, little research has been dedicated to how effective employees perceive human resources communication about benefits to be. Universities offer a unique environment to study benefits communication due to employees’ diverse educational backgrounds. Employees’ perceived ease of understanding benefits information was investigated. Guided by a universal precautions approach to health literacy, this study also examined readability levels of benefits handbooks from more than two dozen large U.S. universities. Surprisingly, results revealed that faculty, and those with graduate degrees, had the lowest perceptions that they received easily understandable benefits information from their employer. Additionally, average benefits handbook readability levels are approximately twice the recommended level for a typical adult to adequately comprehend. Suggestions for improving benefits handbooks are discussed.

Influence of Socio-Demographic Factors on Work Life Balance (WLB) Among Public University Teachers in Karnataka

In today’s fast paced society managing Human resources has become a challenging yet dynamic and exciting task. Organizations have realized that human resources are their most unique and valuable assets. In this era where the world has become a global village educational institution are trying to keep pace with the competition by retaining key employees through reducing disparities, improving faculty effectiveness, morale and increasing developmental opportunities. Work Life balance is a delicate aspect that results in teacher satisfaction and effectiveness. It has been proved over the years that the balanced work life results in well-being of the faculties, students as well as the organization. Work life Imbalance affects the performance at work place on one side and family care on the other side. This can also create Glass ceiling resulting in lack of opportunities for career growth and development. Organizations are formulating polices and women themselves have adopted strategies to maintain work life balance and overcome glass ceiling. The present study is an attempt to understand the influence of socio-demographic factors on WLB among the faculties of the public universities in Karnataka. This study is based on the primary data. For this purpose, a survey was carried out among the university teachers of the Public universities of Karnataka. An attempt has been made to highlight the challenges faced by women in maintaining the work life balance in this sector.

The Effect of Human Resources Management on Employees Retention in IBM Corporation

The study investigates HRM practices and their effect on employee retention in the International Business Machine (IBM) Corporations. Organizational success and growth depend on retaining key employees; however, nowadays, organizations are facing a notable challenge in retaining staff (Haider et al., 2015). The research used IBM’s human resources management secondary data consists of 1470 sample size. Established the study’s independent and dependent variables, the reliability coefficient of 0.899 and the model’s adjusted r-square of 91% (p<0.0000). It anchored on Social Exchange Theory (SET) to examine the hypotheses and the survey supported its four hypotheses; whereas it failed to support the remaining two hypotheses. It seems rather odd to conclude that findings on the percentage of salary hike have a negative effect on employee retention, and also an insignificant contribution of an hourly rate and extent of training provided. Hence, its implication to management includes salary hike, hourly rate, and training programs should be geared to improve employee retention rather than as standalone practices. Besides, it has a theoretical contribution anchored on the SET lens. It also incorporated a new variable an extended years’ of work experience, promotion, and supervisory relations have a positive and significant effect on employee retention.

The Impact of Employee Attitude on Service Performance

This paper is extracted from a Ph.D. thesis (Impact of Employee Competencies on Service Performance), the main objective of the original work is to examine the impact of employee competencies on service performance and on customer experience and to determine wither there is a mediating role of customer experience between employee competencies and service performance or not. This paper has a target to present the findings of the mentioned research with special concern to the results of the impact of employee attitude on service performance. The study is a descriptive, cross-sectional ; a quantitative method has been used and self-completion questionnaire developed by the researcher, using convenient sampling technique has been distributed to the customers of Sudanese telecommunication companies (Khartoum State was study area), to test the relationship between employee competencies and service performance from the standpoint of customers based on customer experience. The findings reveal that employee competencies have a direct impact on the service performance and customer experience and it is significant, and that customer experience has a direct impact on service performance, findings also reveal that customer experience has a mediating effect although it is not significant. Attitude as one of the key employee competencies has a significant positive and direct impact on service performance. The role of customer experience as a mediator between employee competencies and service performance is not significant. Employee attitude is important for better performance in service business. Managers need to pay more attention for employee attitude to ensure winning service performance. Previous studies have used employee self-reports or manager reports of employee competencies, both of which have major weaknesses when used to predict customer outcomes. This research investigates employee competencies from the customer standpoint. We adopted a customer perspective of employee competencies and used customer experience to predict the customer outcomes.

MODELING THE TASK OF MANAGEMENT BY NUMBER OF DYNAMICS AND PROFESSIONAL-QUALIFICATION STRUCTURE OF PERSONNEL

The article substantiates the application of methods of economic-mathematical modeling for solving the problem of dynamics of the number and professional qualification structure of personnel in order to create an initiative, rationally operating collective, whose efforts are aimed at the effective functioning and development of the enterprise. With the help of these methods, it is likely to predict possible models of enterprise development. The peculiarities of their application are studied: the main advantage of these methods is the possibility of their use in enterprises with unstable organizational structure and in the unstable external environment, the disadvantage is the complexity of the study of all possible situations of organization development and the creation of a model that is adequate to the existing conditions.A pairwise linear regression model was developed to solve the problem of quantification of the needs of employees of all categories of staff and an optimization model for personnel management, namely, the definition of an optimal plan for retraining, advanced training, hiring and dismissal of personnel based on the criterion of minimizing total expenditures for all categories of staff by the nature of the functions performed for data of a particular enterprise. As a result of the implementation of the constructed models, the economic interpretation of the modeling results obtained and the recommendations for the change in the number and professional qualification structure of the personnel of a particular enterprise, as well as the formation of its personnel reserve, that is, the formation of such a group of workers who are potentially capable of managing activities, meet the necessary requirements, have been selected and targeted training to improve their skills.Advantages of creating a personnel reserve group are to ensure continuity in management, increase the level of readiness of employees for changes in the organization, their motivation and loyalty, which leads to a decrease in personnel turnover and overall personnel stabilization. In addition, it can significantly save financial and time resources in recruiting, training and adapting key employees and responding in a timely manner to the company to change the external and internal environment, which is also very important.

Features of calculations with the personnel at the enterprises providing information and technological services

The article analyzes the features of formation of calculations with the personnel at the enterprises providing information and technological services. A severe shortage of qualified personnel and high competition between companies in the industry necessitate the formation of a more contemporary wage system. It seems very appropriate to form a basic salary on the basis of the tariff system, or grading system, as well as to develop a system of motivation for key employees of the company.

External Risk Factors Influence on the Financial Stability of Construction Companies

The modern conditions of construction companies’ activities in Russia are influenced by various processes: developing globalization, limitation of free trade due to economic sanctions, man-made disasters growth, worldwide digitalization, constantly evolving technologies. The purpose of this study is to develop a model for assessing risk factors’ impact on the financial stability of construction companies using regression analysis based on dependencies between risk factors and financial stability of construction companies on the basis of statistical data over the past 10 years. The following methods were used: questioning of owners and key employees in construction companies on the indicators choice that characterize external risk factors, correlation analysis, regression analysis, expert evaluation method, trend line method. As a result it was revealed that in order to create favorable conditions for the construction companies’ growth, a stable legislative base, a stable ruble rate and an activation of investments in fixed assets are needed. The proposed tool for assessing external risk factors and their impact on the construction companies’ financial sustainability can be used both to assess the organization's environment and to assess various risk situations in order to further use the results in decision-making.

Corporate social responsibility and hotel performance: A view from Tehran, Iran

The paper aims to investigate and illuminate critical aspects of the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and hotel performance with particular reference to four and five star hotels in the Iranian capital of Tehran. A quantitative approach is adopted and the methodology is that of a questionnaire survey of key employees of a sample of hotels. Data collected is analysed using structured equation modelling techniques. Results support the argument that CSR has direct and positive consequences for hotel performance. These effects apply to all the core dimensions of CSR which are social, economic, legal, ethical and environmental. Findings add to understanding of the perceived outcomes of adopting CSR within the context of hotels outside the developed world and make a practical contribution by assisting decision-making. Studies of CSR in developing countries as a whole and in Iran, agreed to be an emerging international destination with considerable potential, are limited. Original insights are thus afforded into attitudes towards CSR and its impacts.

An Empirical Analysis of Significant Factors influencing Entrepreneurial Behavior in the Information Technology Industry

The purpose of the current empirical research paper is to study and comprehend the significant factors that influence the entrepreneurial behavior through a detailed survey among the key employees of the information technology (IT) industry. The data thus collected from the survey was examined through the method of Partial Least Squares (PLS) for evaluating the relationship among the constructs of the conceptual research model. The results of the current empirical research study reveal that entrepreneurship-institutional linkage has the strongest effect on entrepreneurial behavior, followed by role of outsourcing and nature of the industry. The hypothesized path relationships between significant factors and entrepreneurial behavior have been found to be statistically significant. The top management of the companies in the IT industry have to focus and provide more importance to the entrepreneurship-institutional linkages which plays a key role in developing entrepreneurial behavior among the employees and in due course lead to innovative products and services and the over-all development of the organization.

Exploring Talent Management Potential in Digital-Savvy SMEs: A Case Study from Yogyakarta, Jakarta, and Bandung

Digitalization offers a new direction in creating opportunities for business to support national economic growth. Indonesia, as the rising star in Southeast Asia emerging market, shows a promising employment prospect along with the increasing growth of digital savvy Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs). There is a growing need for SMEs to understand Talent Management (TM) better and optimize the digital economy potential in Indonesia. Nonetheless, TM in SMEs is still under research in Indonesia since most of the Human Resource Management studies were conducted in well-established large enterprises. Accordingly, this study aims to explore TM, especially in digitalsavvy SMEs that using internet platforms in their business. By using cluster analysis, this study presents the pattern of TM issues: attract, select, develop and retain key talented employees. This exploratory study involved CEOs and managers of digital-savvy SMEs in Jakarta, Bandung, and Yogyakarta. This study also aims to map the awareness of SMEs in harnessing the demographic growth of the young population in Indonesia. In addition, early identification of TM challenges - related to digital-savvy concern - will contribute not only to the SMEs in scaling up their business, but also newly stage entrepreneurs who are commencing their start-ups and attracting new talents. As part of the discussion, this study proposed a perspective that the digital economy will produce the “New Working Life” employment in the nearly future which entails the more flexible time, place, work tasks and social interaction which might answer the geographical challenges of the archipelago in Indonesia.

Cloud manufacturing: from a concept to a way for being lean

Today, a production enterprise cannot survive without using computer-based machines. Nevertheless, not all enterprises have enough money to invest in such manufacturing resources. On the other hand, handling the resource or providing appropriate platform is not easy at all. For companies, Cloud-based strategies give them a chance to bring their inherent knowledge and intelligence to every business case and cause a quick response by reducing the cost of investment. Manufacturers know that providing capacity, according to demand will increase the profit and help them to get new work contracts. In the recent century, intelligent manufacturing would be the one in which all information is available in the most useful way, right where and when that it is needed to hold an optimum operation or response such as cloud manufacturing. This paper aims to provide a framework for how using cloud services emerge at obtaining lean concepts in the manufacturing companies. The research has conducted through semi-structured interviews among professionals in Cloud-based environments and production systems. Key managers or employees from different levels have selected. Analyzing interview transcripts using a constructivist approach to grounded theory is supposed to result in a model for how to develop cloud service models according to the lean concepts, especially in manufacturing frameworks.

Employee dependence and strategic human capital in IPO of U.S. high-tech firms

Human capital is a key component for the resource base of the firm, particularly in high-tech entrepreneurial firms. However, research is limited in finding the direct impact of human capital of key employees on firm performance. We fill this gap by exploring the effects of dependence on key employees in IPO firms. Using a sample of high-tech firms that went public in the US stock market, we show that the IPO firm's performance is lower when the IPO prospectus discloses such dependence. In addition, among the firms with such disclosures, the long-tenure executives would moderate such negative impact.

Service employees’ naturally felt emotions: Do they matter?

Frontline service employees often engage in emotional labour as part of their job requirements. Previous studies focus on surface acting and deep acting and their outcomes for employees and customers but largely ignore the expression of naturally felt emotions (NFE). This study focuses on NFE and investigates two potential employee outcomes—commitment to organizational display rules and burnout. Using two-wave data from U.S. service employees and employee burnout as a lagged dependent variable, the author investigates relationships between NFE and two employee outcomes. He also considers which of the three emotional labour dimensions best predicts these outcomes. Unlike surface and deep acting, NFE is negatively associated with display rule commitment and burnout; these associations are stable over time. The results also confirm the mediating role of display rule commitment. Theoretically, the present study shows that emotional labour–burnout relationships differ across the three emotional labour strategies of surface acting, deep acting and NFE, and thus complements previous emotion regulation research in a service organization context. Managerially, the findings improve understanding of the role of NFE, in terms of driving key employee outcomes. Knowledge of the mechanism by which NFE influences employee outcomes can help service and human resource managers design more effective display rules.