Firm Personnel Research Articles

Measuring and Engineering Personnel Productivity in Graphic Arts Industry

This article considers means for measuring the productivity of personnel in firms in the graphic arts industry and for using such data as a means of tracking and improving performance of individual firms, and the industry as a whole. We introduce several powerful means of analysis and explore the problems, issues, and benefits of these analyses using examples from the Finnish graphic arts industry.

Workplace literacy: A descriptive investigation

This study sought to determine the literacy level of the manufacturing and retail personnel in firms that employ 150 or more people in the Oklahoma City metroplex. The number of employees tested was 116. Using the Adult Basic Learning Examination, Level Three, for analysis, the examinees scored an 11.4 grade level in vocabulary, a 10.9 grade level in reading, a 10.3 grade level in spelling, an 8.4 grade level in language, a 9.4 grade level in number operations, and an 11.3 grade level in problem solving. Although examinees reported having an average of 12.6 years of education, they scored a mean of 10.3. Analysis of individual test scores revealed four examinees in the illiterate range and forty in the functionally illiterate range, a 38 percent rate of illiteracy.

Social Harmony and the Small Firm: A Reappraisal

Government, academics and the media have, over the past decade, entered fully into the spirit of ‘small business revival’. Many of the contributions to this debate, however, have taken for granted the nature of small firm employment relations. It has frequently been remarked that workers in a small firms behave in ways more compatible with the goals and interests of their employers than employees in large firms. Thus, industrial relations are assumed to be more harmonious. In support of this assertion attention is usually drawn to the relative infrequency of conflict and industrial disputes, and the absence of militant trade unionism as an indication of the small firm workers' greater commitment to the goals of the enterprise and the interests of the employer (Ingham 1970). This paper suggests that such assumptions are unwarranted and provide a potentially misleading starting point for studies of employment relations in small firms. Data from a small number of in-depth interviews with small firm personnel is used to illustrate some of the complex and contradictory processes through which capital-labour relations may be constituted within small enterprises.

Strategies and performance improvement for computer-assisted design

Firms can obtain computer-assisted design (CAD) capability through the use of engineering consultants, in-house development of the technology, or some combination of internal staff and external consultants. Four realistic strategies with different degrees of external consultant involvement which firms can utilize to attain CAD technology are identified. Through the cooperation of two nationally recognized CAD engineering consulting firms, six projects completed for client firms within the durable parts/durable good (DP/DG) industries were studied. Performance improvement estimates for successive similar projects were obtained for each strategy from the consulting firm personnel and from the client firm personnel assigned to the original projects. Mathematical descriptions of these perceived performance improvement curves (PPIC) were established and the rates of performance improvement calculated. These were examined to determine if the performance improvement changed depending upon: 1) the strategy selected to obtain the CAD technology and 2) who (consulting or client firm personnel) provided the data. The factors which the client firm and the consulting firm personnel felt would be significant in influencing the performance improvement are reported and compared. Implications from the findings are discussed and areas for future research are proposed.

The Oil Industry in Nazi Germany, 1936–1945

The oil industry in Nazi Germany provides an excellent focus for studying the interplay between economics, politics, and government policy in the Third Reich. In this article, Mr. Stokes brings to this subject a comparative approach, making comparisons both within the oil industry and with the industry's major industrial counterparts. He concludes that a variety of factors—including the degree of shared interest between individual firms and the government, the size and concentration of a firm's production facilities, and the political position of key firm personnel—explain the success as well as the eventual collapse of a given industrial sector.

The present status and problems of impact research in technology policy: A case study on the federal program for funding research and development personnel in Germany

The paper illustrates the present status and the problems of impact research through an impact research study of the program of funding research and development personnel in small and meduim-sized firms launched by the German Federal Government. This impact analysis study is one of the first of its kind to be conducted in technology policy in the Federal Republic of Germany. It is mainly devoted to the following problems: acceptance by the firms involved of the funding program; relevance of the program to internal decision-making processes; quantitative and qualitative effects on R&D personnel and R&D activities; impact on the innovation activities of firms; efficient implementation and management of the program. Impact analyses need to go beyond the framework of a shallow technocratic incidence analysis studying only effects the funding program is assumed to have. Such solidly based impact analysis is possible only if also the basic aspects underlying the funding programs can be reviewed critically and verified empirically. The practical implementation of this criterion is demonstrated by studying the effects of the funding measure on the innovative activities of firms. Typical problems associated with impact anayses are insufficient access to the data required, shortcomings in the evolution of theories and the development of methods, weaknesses inherent in the formation of indicators on a sound theoretical basis and with a sufficient degree of operationalization. It is shown how far these problems make themselves felt, and are partly overcome, in this impact analysis. In particular, the early inclusion of evaluation aspects in the conceptual phase of the funding program has established comparatively favorable conditions for this impact analysis.

Marketing to Industrial Democrats

Presents a case study of participation in buying practice, showing in what situations unions and personnel in customer firms take an active interest in a buying decision. Uses information from interviews carried out with industrial sellers to show how industrial marketers approach unions and personnel. Emphasizes the difference between union and employee involvement.

Publishers as Gatekeepers of Ideas

Publishers stand at a crucial crossroads in the process of production and distribution of knowledge in any society. They are in a position to decide what is “in” and what is “out” of the marketplace of ideas. In the United States, the nature of the publishing industry has much to do with what kinds of materials are published. Decentralization of firms, a very unpredictable market and the peculiar internal organization of the industry itself all affect the situation. The personnel of publishing firms—editors, sales people and others—also have a role in the distribution of knowledge. The orientation of editors and their professional expertise are crucial. Publishing is no doubt one of the most complicated of enterprises, and its key role in shaping and distributing knowledge and culture makes it a key element for analysis.

Sunkist. Edificio Central – (EE. UU.)

Sunkist central building – (U.S.A.) Architects: Albert C. Martin and Associates It consists of three floors: — the ground floor includes an auditorium, kitchen and cafeteria, a private diningroom, office area, etc.; — on the first floor are the sales department and the electronic data processing department, and — on the second floor, the firm's executive personnel department, and three kitchens for experimenting with products and developing formulas. This building was planned with the idea of reviving, by the design and the materials used, the memory and character of Old California.

Towards an International Civil Service

AS THE PRECEDING ARTICLES in this symposium have pointed out, for over a half a century a slow and frequently broken advance has been made toward an international civil service. Since the hopeful days at the birth of the League of Nations to the threatening hours of the early 1970's, a growing number of men and women from a longer and longer list of independent nations have been appointed for service in international organizations. Across ideological walls and cultural barriers, they have come to join talents in support of global missions. Even in the years of World War II residual staffs in temporary locations preserved the continuity of certain international functions and the evolutionary growth of the international civil service. But if the construction of a meaningful and viable national civil service has fallen short of expectations in the United States, and other Western countries, the international civil service has also failed to match the aspiring standards of the charter writers in postwar years. The ideal of an international merit system where individuals would be selected on the basis of relative ability and qualifications, where national origin would be incidental, where total careers would be committed to international service, and where assignments anywhere on the globe might be expected, has not been realized nor can it realistically be expected to materialize. Some critics refuse to recognize employment with international agencies as a bonafide form of civil service. They point to the continuing emphasis upon geographical distribution, the inequality of linguistic demands, the preservation of national identification in benefits and allowances, the involvement of national governments in recruitment and placement of individuals, the lack of mobility between organizations and points of duty around the world, the high prevalence of short-term assignments, and the absence of firm personnel policies relating to the entire international community. These criticisms have validity but they fail to recognize the conflicting policy positions, the complexity of international staffing, and the rapidly changing national composition of international bodies. With all the seemingly insurmountable problems faced in building an international civil service, it is truly remarkable that a body of employees from more than 100 nations, in virtually all professions and occupations, are on the job in locations on all continents in support of the missions of the United Nations and the several independent organizations. The management of each organization has secured the services of men and women to accomplish the administrative responsibilities, the technical services, and the support for international conferences and meetings which occur somewhere with more than daily frequency throughout the world. Although the forms of coordinated planning and action among the organizations leave much to be desired, there has been agreement on certain basic personnel policies which relate to the entire international community. The chief executive officers of international organizations meet at least semiannually to consider common problems in the personnel field, to accept the advice of the International Civil Service Advisory Board, and to determine common objectives for the future. Their deputies with responsibility for administrative services and their personnel officers meet with even greater frequency to form a more consistent management front with respect to the human side of international government. The time has long passed for the world verdict on whether or not there should be an international civil service. There must be a multinational body of men and women to play the parts in the international drama of drawing together the purposes of all mankind. As Dag Hammarskjbld viewed it, it was the task of in-

EXTENSION OPPORTUNITIES IN MARKETING1

SummaryIn summary I would like to make the following points:1. There are numerous opportunities for educational programs in agricultural marketing that would be of value to farmers, to the management of marketing firms, and to consumers.2. In Colleges and Departments of Agriculture our first responsibility is still to farm people, even though they are actually performing fewer marketing services today.3. Marketing information of most general use to farmers is that which helps them understand the economic situation and outlook, and important economic principles related to marketing.4. Developing educational programs with marketing firms requires a change in direction from primary concern with farm problems to concern with the problems of the private marketing firm. While this may be difficult to accept, there is really no direct conflict of interest between programs for farmers and those for marketing firm personnel and the methods and kinds of information available can often be used in both areas.5. Programs with marketing firms are as varied as the needs of the firms themselves. The extension specialist well versed in a particular phase of business management, or equipped with a particular set of analytical tools, or familiar with recent research findings, can make considerable improvement in the efficiency of operation of most marketing firms.6. A major policy question at present is how far we should go in working with marketing firms. There is considerable agreement that some work is desirable from the point of view of providing greater knowledge of marketing, and that it can be done with little additional help and few special studies.7. Arguments presented in favor of considerable expansion in marketing work are that legislators are willing to provide public support, the need is great in view of rising marketing costs and obvious inefficiencies, and benefits to agriculture are as great as for some of the farm production work.8. Those who caution against moving too rapidly in this area are reluctant to divert resources away from agricultural programs, and argue that once work with marketing firms is initiated there is no logical place to draw the line on extension programs.9. The case for marketing information for consumer programs is largely based on the complexity of modern food marketing. The growth of new products and more processing would indicate that educational programs in buying foods for homes or institutions will expand in the future.10. Extension programs in marketing can be successful if the educational feature is stressed, and the programs are based on sound research, conducted by competent personnel using appropriate methods, and given the freedom and administrative support necessary for the job.

IDENTIFICATION AND SOLUTION OF PROBLEMS RELATED TO DELIVERY DELAY IN A SMALL PRECISION ENGINEERING FIRM

SUMMARY A case study of an engineering firm is described in which all causes of delay over given periods of time were analysed and traced to their sources. These were examined in relation to the firm's structure and personnel. Basic reasons for many of the delays are suggested which underlie the stated or apparent causes. Data sources and analysis methods developed for this work are described.