Resource Management Paradigm Research Articles

An empirical investigation of the effects of firm characteristics on the propensity to adopt cloud computing

Cloud computing (CC) is emerging as a new paradigm of resource acquisition and management of information and communication technologies (ICT) by firms, which can offer significant benefits, but at the same time can pose significant risks as well, so its adoption by firms has been lower than the initial expectations. Therefore, it is quite important to gain a better understanding of the factors affecting positively or negatively the adoption of CC. This paper presents an empirical investigation of the effects on a firm’s propensity to adopt CC of a set of firm characteristics referring to technological infrastructure, strategy, personnel skills, size and competition. Its conceptual foundation is the Technology, Organization and Environment theory of technological innovation adoption. Our study is based on data from 676 European manufacturing firms from the glass, ceramics and cement sectors, which have been collected through the e-Business Survey of the European Commission. The results indicate that in the above sectors ICT infrastructure sophistication has the strongest positive effect on CC adoption propensity among all examined firm characteristics. Furthermore, we have found that the existence of an ICT investment reduction strategy, the employment of specialized ICT personnel and the existence of previous experience of ICT outsourcing also have positive effects on a firm’s propensity to adopt CC. On the contrary, employees ICT skills, price and quality competition do not affect CC adoption propensity. Finally, our results also indicate that in the three examined sectors firm size has no significant influence on the propensity to adopt CC.

The Application of the Multilevel Paradigm in Human Resource Management–Outcomes Research: Taking Stock and Going Forward

The authors provide a systematic evaluation of the emerging multilevel paradigm in human resource management (HRM) research focusing, in particular, on multilevel mediation analyses of the HRM-outcomes relationship. They first distinguish different types of multilevel models and then identify a number of best practice theoretical and methodological criteria for the conduct of multilevel research derived from the literature. These criteria are used to analyze and evaluate all multilevel mediation studies ( N = 46) of the HRM-outcomes relationship published in 11 core management and HRM journals in the 2000 to 2016 period. The results suggest that progress in the application of the multilevel paradigm has been slow and uneven and that the new paradigm has not as yet taken firm root in the field of HRM. On the basis of this evaluation, the authors identify key areas for improvement in the application of the multilevel approach to the analysis of the HRM-outcomes relationship. In the process, they highlight important ways in which the further development of a multilevel perspective can enhance both strategic and employee-centered HRM research by contributing to a fuller substantive understanding of the processes and mechanisms through which HRM systems affect outcomes of interest at different levels of analysis.

Adaptive Water Governance: Integrating the Human Dimensions into Water Resource Governance

AbstractThe command‐and‐control paradigm of water resource management that dominated 20th century water policy has resulted in vulnerabilities due to its inadequate consideration of the human dimensions as well as its failure to prioritize the need for learning and adapting to change and uncertainties. In response to these shortfalls, recent years have seen the emergence of alternative water policy frameworks, notably integrated water resource management (IWRM) and adaptive management. However, while IWRM broadens the planning goals and scope of water resource governance through integration and coordination across scales and sectors, it does not adequately emphasize learning to deal with uncertainty. On the other hand, adaptive management emphasizes the need to prioritize learning to deal with uncertainty in resource management through monitoring and experimentation, but places less emphasis on the human dimensions required for its successful implementation. This paper discusses adaptive water governance – collaborative, flexible, and learning‐based institutions that connect state and non‐state actors across multiple levels for ecosystem‐based management of land and water resources – as a promising institutional mechanism for integrating the human dimensions into water resource governance while building the capacity of water resource systems to learn and adapt to change. The paper highlights four attributes of adaptive water governance: (1) reintegrating humans into nature; (2) integrating diverse sources and types of knowledge; (3) promoting adaptive and integrative management goals; and (4) using polycentric institutions and analytic deliberation processes. Through these mechanisms, adaptive governance can contribute to sustainability, good governance, conflict management, and social‐ecological resilience in water resource systems.

A Systematic Evaluation of Environmental Discrimination with Sustainability Initiatives in India

In the past fifty-years, India has undeniably become one of the world’s economic and industrial superpowers, dominating the geopolticial climate of South Asia. India’s road to industrialization has been accompanied by extreme environmental devastation which is encapsulated by population growth, pollution, and loss of biodiversity; additionally, many of these factors have had crippling effects on certain areas of India’s environment. To combat these problems, certain groups within the government and nation, such as the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, have been implementing sustainable solutions to combat the adverse effects of man-made environmental degradation. Oftentimes however, the implementation of these conservation tactics is done at a state-wide or national level in what is masked as “soft-authoritarianism” and fail to consider the interests and accessibility of programs for all peoples; especially communities which are labeled as minority, indigenous, slum, or lower caste (Dalit) leading to the rise of environmental prejudices. Although India has come a long way in the past decade regarding action against environmental problems through new sustainable solutions, it has failed to consider the accessibility of these programs to all peoples and the alleviation of environmental discrimination. This paper considers the convoluted nature of the past and aims to propose solutions that will a) allow India to continue its commitment to a sustainable future and b) combat socio-political issues of environmental biases, which adhere to the paradigm of Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM).

A Study on Integrated Operation of Monitoring Systems using a Water Management Scenario

Recent shifts in the water resource management paradigm and information and communication technologies (ICT) call for platform-based integrated operation management technology, which provides the multidimensional approach of two-way communication. To domestically prepare for such paradigm changes, research on the Smart Water Grid, which is intelligent water management that combines water resource management with ICT, remains ongoing. In this paper, we propose a framework for using the components of a variety of program modules to build an intelligent water-management-integrated operation system that is appropriate for the Smart Water Grid. In addition, we suggest a system development environment and integrated operation system implementation plan for using the Core-Platform framework

Sustainable water management under future uncertainty with eco-engineering decision scaling

Managing freshwater resources sustainably under future climatic and hydrological uncertainty poses novel challenges. Rehabilitation of ageing infrastructure and construction of new dams are widely viewed as solutions to diminish climate risk, but attaining the broad goal of freshwater sustainability will require expansion of the prevailing water resources management paradigm beyond narrow economic criteria to include socially valued ecosystem functions and services. We introduce a new decision framework, eco-engineering decision scaling (EEDS), that explicitly and quantitatively explores trade-offs in stake - holder-defined engineering and ecological performance metrics across a range of possible management actions under unknown future hydrological and climate states. We illustrate its potential application through a hypothetical case study of the Iowa River, USA. EEDS holds promise as a powerful framework for operationalizing freshwater sustainability under future hydrologi- cal uncertainty by fostering collaboration across historically conflicting perspectives of water resource engineering and river conservation ecology to design and operate water infrastructure for social and environmental benefits. evaluation a significant challenge 7,8 . These costs can be substantial, as evidenced by human displacement 5,9 , local species extinctions 10

The evolution of water management in Alberta, Canada: the influence of global management paradigms and path dependency

This study examines the evolution of Alberta's water management framework in response to changing demands, national policy and global paradigms. The South Saskatchewan River basin is presented as the crucible for Albertan water policy, given the severity of droughts, over-allocation, and environmental degradation. The analysis finds a distinct trend in the past two decades towards integration and sustainable management, as affirmed by the globally dominant integrated water resource management paradigm. The concept of path dependency offers valuable insight into the barriers posed by past policy frameworks to water management systems, particularly in relation to the prior-allocation system of water rights.

Reading Ecosystem Services at the Local Scale through a Territorial Approach: the Case of Peri-Urban Agriculture in the Thau Lagoon, Southern France

In recent years, the ecosystem services (ES) concept has become a major paradigm for natural resource management. While policy-makers demand hard monetary evidence that nature conservation would be worth investing in, ongoing attempts are being made to formalize the concept as a scientifically robust one size fits all analytical framework. These attempts have highlighted several major limitations of the ES concept. First, to date, the concept has paid little attention to the role of humans in the production of ES. Second, the ongoing formalization of the ES concept is turning it into a technology of globalization, thereby increasingly ignoring the socio-cultural context and history within which ecosystems emerge. Third, economic valuation has been shown to limit local stakeholders in expressing their daily and immediate ways of interacting with their environment over and beyond extrinsic motivation provided by financial gains. We address these three limitations by analyzing a social evaluation of the roles of peri-urban farmland from a territorial perspective. Our case study is the Thau lagoon in southern France. We conducted in-depth interviews with a broad range of stakeholders and ran two participatory workshops. Using a territorial meta-model that distinguishes three levels-physical, logical, and existential-stakeholder data were analyzed to unravel the interplay of territorial elements at these three levels that gives rise to ES in two broad categories: food production and aesthetic landscape. The coupling of ES and territory concepts opens up several novel analytical perspectives. It allows partitioning of ES in a manner that re-contextualizes them and gives insight about both their physical constituents and their meaning at the territorial level. Additional research should incorporate the dynamics of service demand and supply, and further investigate options for implementation.

Social capital, conflict, and adaptive collaborative governance: exploring the dialectic

Previously lineal and centralized natural resource management and development paradigms have shifted toward the recognition of complexity and dynamism of social-ecological systems, and toward more adaptive, decentralized, and collaborative models. However, certain messy and surprising dynamics remain under-recognized, including the inherent interplay between conflict, social capital, and governance. In this study we consider the dynamic intersections of these three often (seemingly) disparate phenomena. In particular, we consider the changes in social capital and conflict that accompanied a transition by local groups toward adaptive collaborative governance. The findings are drawn from multiyear research into community forestry in Nepal using comparative case studies. The study illustrates the complex, surprising, and dialectical relations among these three phenomena. Findings include: a demonstration of the pervasive nature of conflict and “dark side” of social capital; that collaborative efforts changed social capital, rather than simply enhancing it; and that conflict at varying scales ultimately had some constructive influences.

Strategic decision making under climate change: a case study on Lake Maggiore water system

Abstract. Water resources planning processes involve different kinds of decisions that are generally evaluated under a stationary climate scenario assumption. In general, the possible combinations of interventions are mutually compared as single alternatives. However, the ongoing climate change requires us to reconsider this approach. Indeed, what have to be compared are not individual alternatives, but families of alternatives, characterized by the same structural decisions, i.e. by actions that have long-term effects and entail irrevocable changes in the system. The rationale is that the structural actions, once they have been implemented, cannot be easily modified, while the management decisions can be adapted to the evolving conditions. This paper considers this methodological problem in a real case study, in which a strategic decision has to be taken: a new barrage was proposed to regulate Lake Maggiore outflow, but, alternatively, either the present barrage can be maintained with its present regulation norms or with a new one. The problem was dealt with by multi-criteria decision analysis involving many stakeholders and two decision-makers. An exhaustive set of indicators was defined in the participatory process, conducted under the integrated water resource management paradigm, and many efficient (in Pareto sense) regulation policies were identified. The paper explores different formulations of a global index to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of the classes of alternatives under both stationary and changing hydrological scenarios in order to assess their adaptability to the ongoing climate change.

A comparative analysis of best human resource management practices in the hotel sector of Samoa and Tonga

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to comparatively analyse the best human resource management (HRM) practices in the hotel sector of Samoa and Tonga. Design/methodology/approach – This study examined best HRM practices used by the hotel sector of Samoa and Tonga by using self-administered questionnaires. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 73 hotels in Samoa and 66 hotels in Tonga. Out of the 73 self-administered questionnaires that were distributed in Samoa, 58 usable questionnaires were returned resulting in a response rate of 79 per cent. In the case of Tonga, out of the 66 self-administered questionnaires were distributed, 51 usable questionnaires were returned resulting in a response rate of 77 per cent. Findings – The findings of this study show that there are 28 best HRM practices in Samoa and 15 best HRM practices in Tonga. This study also found that best HRM practices differ based on differences in internal and external environmental factors present in different geographical areas. The findings of this paper support the assumptions of the Contextual Paradigm of HRM and strategic human resource management. Research limitations/implications – This study is based on a single sector of Samoa and Tonga. A single sector study limits the generalisations that can be made across different sectors in Samoa and Tonga. Practical implications – Human resource managers should incorporate cultural, political, legal, economic and social factors in HRM practices. Originality/value – None of the existing studies have examined best HRM practices used by the hotel sector of Samoa and Tonga. This study is a pioneering study that comparatively analyses the best HRM practices used by the hotel sector of Samoa and Tonga.

When the pendulum doesn’t find its center: Environmental narratives, strategies, and forest policy change in the US Pacific Northwest

Since the 1980s, the US Pacific Northwest has been shattered by a major environmental policy conflict related to the management of Federal forests. These “timber wars” were similar to forest environmental policy conflicts in several other countries, but were particularly polarized. They resulted in a significant change in Federal forest policy from timber production orientation to biodiversity conservation. The change occurred suddenly and had significant economic and social consequences within the region and beyond, but was embedded in long-term societal and institutional trends.In this paper, I adopt an interpretive approach in order to, first, understand contemporary interpretations of the 1993 policy change and, second, to reconstruct the contemporary discursive ‘landscape’ of the Pacific Northwest including the major resource management paradigms and narratives that guide policy making in this region today. Empirically, my interpretation is mostly built on 37 qualitative interviews with policy stakeholders that were conducted in the summer of 2011.Based on this evidence, the paper argues that there are four narratives circulating amongst policy stakeholders that represent different conceptualizations of the 1993 policy change. Yet, all narratives highlight the importance of environmental strategy making that mobilized the socio-institutional setting in order to prepare and finally achieve the change.Current forest policy in the region is characterized by a policy stalemate resulting from the confluence of diverse institutional, context-related factors and the inability of stakeholders to create enough contradictions or crisis by combining these factors in order to promote change-enabling narratives. Four resource management paradigms compete in the region and, within these, narratives and counter narratives on physical and social events are developed. Current forest policy is dominated by an ecosystem management paradigm, but forest management practices aim to reconcile demands arising from the different paradigms to a certain degree, for instance via the concept of “ecological restoration”. Yet, given that the material base that feeds such compromises is finite, a new crisis in Pacific Northwest forest policy in the future is likely.In conclusion, this paper offers an interpretation of Pacific Northwest forest policy (change) as a process in which social and physical events are ‘discursively mobilized’ by means of narratives that are produced against the background of major natural resources paradigms. This includes the art of ‘discourse agents’ in constructing problematizations and intervention logics to either defend the current policy state or to increase the likelihood of change.

Overcoming the land–water disconnect in water-scarce regions: time for IWRM to go contemporary

This article aims to analyze the relationships between water and land. It posits that there is a disconnect between land and water management that needs to be rectified. To address the major challenges the world is facing in terms of feeding itself and securing adequate access to water there is a need to revisit the integrated water resources management (IWRM) paradigm. While IWRM incorporates the link between land and water in theory, it is often ignored in practice. The authors argue that greater visibility of the land–water linkage is needed and would be encouraged by adding an L for land use, making ILWRM: integrated land and water resources management. The natural systems at play are juxtaposed with a discussion of the (water) governance challenges that they pose. Challenges stemming from increased land (and thereby water) acquisitions, as well as the transboundary perspectives of the ILWRM challenge, highlight the need to revisit and evolve our approach to providing water and food security.

Challenges of the European Union Social Market Economy in the Human Resource Management Paradigm

Žmogiskųjų isteklių vadybos modelių specifiką Europoje nulemia Europos integracijos bei Europos Sąjungos raidos ir plėtros procesai, orientuojami į socialinio modelio koncepcijos įgyvendinimą kuriant Europos kontinente socialine rinkos ekonomiką intensyvėjancių sanglaudos procesų sąlygomis. Straipsnyje atskleidžiama žmogiskųjų isteklių vadybos modelių transformacijas lemiancių aplinkybių ir aplinkos pokycių įtaka istoriniam požiūrių į žmonių valdymą evoliucionavimui, nustatomos žmogiskųjų isteklių vadybos modelių kaitos sąsajos su Europos Sąjungos raidos ir plėtros etapais, siūlomos perspektyvių socialiai orientuotų žmogiskųjų isteklių vadybos modelių plėtotės gairės, reaguojant į Europos socialinio modelio issūkius sanglaudos procesų sąlygomis. Konceptualus tyrimas atliekamas taikant mokslinės literatūros analizės ir sintezės, teorinio modeliavimo, metaanalizės ir interpretavimo metodus, o įžvalgoms parengti pasitelktas sisteminis holistinis požiūris ir grafinio modeliavimo metodas.

English

The integration of economic development and environmental management has become a major concern for society, businesses and governments, especially during the past century. A desk review was carried out to examine the various forest resource management systems used in Ethiopia over the past half century. Forest resources in Ethiopia have been managed with different intentions and motivations at different times; these management systems can be broadly categorized by prominent resource management paradigms, like frontiers economics, deep ecology, environmental protection, resource management, and eco-development. Three main forest development periods are identified: pre-derge environmental protection, derge regime environmental protection and frontiers economics, and post-derge resource management and environmental protection. We suggest that for long-term sustainable forest management to succeed, a combination of resource management and eco-development paradigms should be promoted. Key words: Ethiopia, natural resource, natural resource management paradigm, forest, forest degradation.

An ecosystem services framework to support statutory water allocation planning in Australia

ABSTRACTDuring the past decade the concept of ecosystem services (ES) – the benefits that nature provides to humans – has increasingly been embraced as a promising avenue towards sustainable resource management. Initially pitched to incentive-based biodiversity conservation, the ES concept is now being applied to a diversity of environmental resources in a multitude of policy, planning and management contexts. In the context of water planning, the ES concept is increasingly rivalling the Integrated Water Resource Management paradigm. Despite the omnipresence of the ES language, significant challenges remain in terms of ES implementation and governance. This paper reports on lessons learnt from the collaborative development of an ES Framework within the context of statutory water allocation planning in Australia. The Framework consists of seven components, three of which match key planning steps in existing Australian statutory water planning guidelines. Central to the Framework is a benefits table for water planning. The benefits table is based on the ‘ES cascade’ model, a metaphor which makes clear distinctions between ecosystem processes, functions, services, benefits, values and beneficiaries. The benefits table is intended for bidirectional use, confronting demands of water system beneficiaries with the biophysical mechanisms that render the services. The Framework is innovative in three ways. First, it was jointly designed with Australia's national water agency (the National Water Commission), based on statutory guidelines for water planning and management. Second, it addresses a statutory requirement for water planning processes to better consider public benefits from aquatic systems, thus providing a direct incentive for water planners to engage with the Framework. Third, the Framework emphasizes the need for comprehensive, a-priori analysis of ES beneficiaries. Comprehensive evaluation of the ES Framework will be required to document successful applications and share lessons learnt amongst the water planning and ES research communities.

Trends in integrated water resources management research: a literature review

The integrated water resources management (IWRM) paradigm has emerged as the main guiding framework for water resources development and management. Since the IWRM approach started to gain prominence with the 1992 Rio de Janeiro Summit and the Dublin Conference, developing and developed countries worldwide have adopted and transposed the tools and principles embodied in this holistic approach into their national policies as well as their regulatory and institutional frameworks. The scientific community has performed extensive studies within the IWRM field. In fact, there is a growing literature analysing multi-dimensional functions to pursue an IWRM approach in water resources management. The main objective of this study is to perform a literature review of the scientific knowledge in the IWRM field published between the years 2000 and 2011. A total of 353 papers published in scientific journals were carefully reviewed and extracted from the ISI Web of Science database. The main results show that: (a) the dominant research topics in IWRM analysis focus on its institutional framework, on equitable water allocation (sustainable management of water resources), and on IWRM implementation and stakeholder participation; and (b) the leading countries in scientific research into IWRM are Germany, the USA and South Africa.

Resilience, Social-Ecological Rules, and Environmental Variability in a Two-Species Artisanal Fishery

Duer-Balkind, M., K. R. Jacobs, B. Güneralp, and X. Basurto. 2013. Resilience, social-ecological rules, and environmental variability in a two-species artisanal fishery. Ecology and Society 18(4): 50. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-05751-180450

Following the proper channels: tributaries in the Mekong legal regime

The Mekong is the archetypal dissevered river basin, separated, divided into parts and broken up by ambiguous and undefined terms in the 1995 Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin. The treaty's text generalizes and redefines the concept of a river basin in which tributaries are marginalized and headwaters are excluded, yet on paper the 1995 Mekong Agreement creates the legal fiction of a holistic water resources management paradigm primarily by focusing on the ‘imported’ (Affeltranger, 2005, p. 54) concept of sustainable development. In effect, transboundary tributaries in the Mekong legal regime are managed by each state unilaterally through application of the limiting language embodied in Article 5(A) which emphasizes hydro-sovereignty. The modern trend and badge of responsibility are to provide a legal framework for the entire watercourse, defined as including its tributaries, and to promote basin-wide governance. Analysis of selected legal regimes and case law demonstrates that ironically, despite their volumetric contributions to flow, tributaries remain at the margin of many legal regimes of international and interstate watercourses including the Mekong. The Lower Mekong River Basin states should consider use of joint development agreements (JDAs), sub-compacts or subsidiary agreements for negotiating and dealing with intrabasin water use and interbasin water diversions on tributaries.

Reinventing Spatial Planning at the Urban Rural Interface: A Christchurch, New Zealand Case Study

Peri-urban areas are characterized by rapidly changing relationships between rural and urban land uses and activities and present both conceptual and practical policy challenges. Traditional urban containment strategies are being supplemented by a range of alternative spatial strategies and styles of governance. New Zealand has experimented with a performative approach to planning, replacing conventional land use zoning with an effects-based resource management paradigm. Consequences for peri-urban landscapes are investigated and implications for other developed countries seeking to reform their planning systems are discussed.