Human Systems Management - Volume 21, issue 1

Authors: Lin, Binshan | Stasinskaya, Victoria S.

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Online recruiting is becoming one of the major trends in Human Resource Management. Managers are capable of finding quickly and efficiently qualified candidates to fill variety of professional positions within United States and overseas. Varieties of websites were created online to store resumes for the employer's search in the form of database warehouses and datamarts. Datamarts target specific segments of the employment opportunities. Managers run queries to search and analyze data abstracted from these large databases. Major issues for managers in using online recruitment present accuracy, verifiability, and accountability of the data selected. An obstacle for potential employees using online …employment services is the privacy of the data submitted by them from current employers and other websites collecting their personal data without consent for marketing purposes. Another issue in online employment databases remains inefficiencies in the ways the data is be retrieved, stored and analyzed. The lack of personal touch during online employment limits communicational flow between potential employees and the employer, leading to the frustrations of the job candidates and missed opportunities on the behalf of the employers. A follow-up service from the site can serve as a communicational link in the process. Show more

DOI: 10.3233/HSM-2002-21101

Citation: Human Systems Management, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 1-8, 2002

Authors: Liang, Thow Yick

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: As humankind ventures deeper into the intelligence era, a totally re-defined mindset is essential to ensure its continuity. With the emerging new environment, human organizations must behave as intelligent beings, in the same manner as biological entities are competing for survival in an ecological system. They must learn, self-organize, adapt, compete and evolve. Thus, human systems can no longer be like machine. Consequently, the structures and characteristics of the industrial era will have to be dismantled. This shift in paradigm requires all human organizations to re-design their structure and operations around intelligence. Therefore, to strategize for the future, the …first initiative human organizations need to adopt is to establish an intelligent structure, and to nurture an orgmind and its collective intelligence. A significant component of the orgmind is an intelligence enhancer comprising three entities, namely, intelligence, knowledge structure and theory. These entities interact continuously among themselves, supported by at least one physical symbol system. Eventually, the accuracy and appropriateness of the language used helps to enhance the engagement of the interacting agents in organization. In this respect, the ability to learn continuously, to adapt quickly, and to evolve effectively, is sustained by the intelligence enhancer. Show more

Keywords: Intelligent organization, orgmind, collective intelligence, complexity, nonlinearity, intelligence enhancer, theory, knowledge structure, intelligence strategy

DOI: 10.3233/HSM-2002-21102

Citation: Human Systems Management, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 9-19, 2002

Authors: Tung, Lai-Lai

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Information kiosks are machines that can disseminate information, handle transactions or perform both functions. For the purpose of our study, these kiosks are classified into four different types of information kiosks with respect to the functions that they perform. These four types of kiosks are Basic Information kiosks, High Transactional kiosks, High Information Dissemination kiosks and High-End kiosks. A questionnaire survey on the general public was conducted to find out the public views on the information kiosks. Focus group interviews and pilot tests were carried out to ensure the survey was feasible and that the structure of the questionnaire was …clear and proper. Generally, the results of our survey showed that older users and those with high positions tend to use less of information kiosks. The reasons cited by users of information kiosks: need to find out information or perform some transactions, for convenience and out of curiosity. On the other hand, non-users of information kiosks cited that they do not use the kiosks because of inconvenience and a lack of need to use them. Generally, transactional kiosks are found to be the most preferred kiosks due to convenience reasons. On the other hand, for Basic and High Information Dissemination kiosks, users actually prefer personalised services to them. Our results also showed that except for High-End kiosks, people's preference of information kiosks to personalised services is not related to the demographic variables but rather the types of functions the kiosks perform. Show more

Keywords: Kiosks, perceptions, Singapore

DOI: 10.3233/HSM-2002-21103

Citation: Human Systems Management, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 21-41, 2002

Authors: Cainelli, Giulio | Fabbri, Roberto | Pini, Paolo

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: The income policy agreement of July 1993 – the so-called Accordo di Luglio – has considerably changed the industrial relations framework in Italy. The adoption of company agreements, linking workers' compensation to company performance, opened up a new phase in bargaining, increasing the growth of decentralised negotiation between workers' trade union organisations and companies. Previous empirical investigations have mainly analysed this phenomenon at national level, focussing on the factors behind this practice. Less attention has been devoted to the investigation of the diffusion of these negotiating practices at local level. The aim of this paper is to analyse this phenomenon …at this level, investigating decentralised bargaining carried out in Emilia Romagna, one of the most industrialised and unionised regions of Italy. In particular, company bargaining on performance-related pay (PRP) and/or pay for participation (PFP) is analysed during the period 1994–1997 within this region. First of all, forms of agreement on PRP/PFP are investigated to find out the incentive, risk-sharing, and participation mechanisms as predicted by economic theory and embodied within each contract. Secondly, an econometric investigation is carried out to identify the variables that can explain their introduction. Show more

Keywords: Performance-related pay, partecipation, income policy, industrial relations, bargaining, local system, Emilia Romagna, Italy

DOI: 10.3233/HSM-2002-21104

Citation: Human Systems Management, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 43-61, 2002

Authors: Pilotti, Luciano | Rinaldin, Marina

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to examine the consequences of using the environmental variable (in its manifold appearances) to describe the dynamics of economic systems. The focus is on the ability of economic growth to guarantee sustainable use of environmental resources. A dynamic optimization technique is used as the standard theory of optimal control. Everybody knows that economists have used, and often still use, the terms economic growth and economic development in the same way. The analysis of the models proposed here is based, firstly, on the following distinction as a basic convention between two concepts: economic growth and …economic development. This convention gives us a better view of the different weight that the environment takes on with respect to the economic dynamic and how this in turn influences the architecture of models. Both hypotheses and the results depend on the specific perspective from which authors have analyzed the problem. In a first case the focus is on a concept of economic progress in which collective wellbeing is directly linked to increases in income, that is to the quantity of goods (for consumption and investment) available to agents (consumers and enterprises) following growth in productivity: a case of sustainable economic growth, it means the possibility that wealth (and hence consumption) is able to increase steadily over time. Sustainable development, on the other hand, means the whole range of structural, economic, social and institutional changes accompanying growth. A case of economic progress it could be seen as a synonymous for a better quality of life, that is not only as growth in GNP: it does involve growth in income, but what is more important are often non-economic variables like the environment governance which generate services and functions contributing directly and indirectly to individual and collective wellbeing, as well as supplying the factors necessary to support productivity. In this way sustainability becomes synonymous of an economic process which does not change the basic functions of ecosystems. Sustainable development means an increase over time of a better quality of life. The environment, in all aspects, must (and can) ‘support’ this notion of the economic system, enabling it to live and grow. The conventional distinction between growth and development leads to different approaches of which we analyse some details. To conclude, the debate on sustainability allows one to compare different ethical principles. Eco-economists claim that the emphasis must be placed on the system's needs, rather than individual ones. This implies an ethical judgment on the role and rights of individuals living today as regards survival of the system and future generations' welfare. Moreover, given that individual behaviour is driven by egoistic motivations, supporters of sustainability examine how such behaviour can be modified and how such modifications can be achieved. Generally speaking quality and wealth should not trade off but an ‘open approach’ is required also adopting self-sustainability cathegory. Show more

Keywords: Environment, growth, sustainability, quality of life, ethics

DOI: 10.3233/HSM-2002-21105

Citation: Human Systems Management, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 63-80, 2002

Article Type: Book Review

DOI: 10.3233/HSM-2002-21106

Citation: Human Systems Management, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 81-83, 2002