The manager's role in employees' successful return to work following back injury

This study reports on the short-term effects of an educational programme for immediate supervisors on employees' back pain problems. The course was designed to help supervisors more efficiently deal with employees returning to work after being treated for back pain. Forty-seven supervisors who had personnel either undergoing treatment for back pain problems or were candidates for this treatment were invited to attend a one-day course. This educational package consisted of information about back pain and stressed specific behaviours which supervisors could use to help their employees successfully return to work. The results showed that 78% of the supervisors found the course to be satisfactory enough to recommend it to a colleague without hesitation. Furthermore, independent ratings made by the supervisors and their employees suggested that supervisors complied with the recommended programme. Returning employees, moreover, gave their supervisors significantly higher ratings of support than a control group whose supervisors had not attended the educational programme. It was concluded that an educational programme which alters specific supervisory behaviours may be an effective method of assisting employee return to work after treatment for back pain. Further research is needed to determine the long-term effects of such a programme on absenteeism due to illness.     

The manager's role in employees' successful return to work following back injury

Abstract

This study reports on the short-term effects of an educational programme for immediate supervisors on employees' back pain problems. The course was designed to help supervisors more efficiently deal with employees returning to work after being treated for back pain. Forty-seven supervisors who had personnel either undergoing treatment for back pain problems or were candidates for this treatment were invited to attend a one-day course. This educational package consisted of information about back pain and stressed specific behaviours which supervisors could use to help their employees successfully return to work. The results showed that 78% of the supervisors found the course to be satisfactory enough to recommend it to a colleague without hesitation. Furthermore, independent ratings made by the supervisors and their employees suggested that supervisors complied with the recommended programme. Returning employees, moreover, gave their supervisors significantly higher ratings of support than a control group whose supervisors had not attended the educational programme. It was concluded that an educational programme which alters specific supervisory behaviours may be an effective method of assisting employee return to work after treatment for back pain. Further research is needed to determine the long-term effects of such a programme on absenteeism due to illness.     

Commercializing the Back Office at Lloyds of London:: Outsourcing and Strategic Partnerships Revisited

With the recent global recession, senior executives are desperate to cut costs from back office functions like information technology, human resource management, finance and accounting. Outsourcing these functions has been the primary cost reduction strategy for the past decade, and remains a viable option. But some innovative companies actually see the potential to participate as a supplier in the outsourcing space. Companies such as Lloyds of London, Bank of America, Barclays Bank, and BAE Systems have transformed high-cost, low-performing back office functions into commercial enterprises by partnering with key suppliers. The suppliers typically centralize, standardize, and web-enable the customer’s back office processes, retrain, empower, and motivate transitioned back office staff, and leverage the assets to attract external customers. The results are impressive: lower costs, better service, and revenue generation. Of course, such radical transformation is never pain-free. We aim to help senior executives assess the viability of commercialization of their own back offices and offer eight lessons derived from one customer’s experiences.     

Das Reflektierende Team als Methode des „Peer-Coaching“

The Reflecting Team as method of ?peer coaching“ Presented is the employment of coaching in leadership training to grant for the participants a ?peer coaching“ method (collegial case study) for the day by day operations. The scope is the expansion for the problem solving capability. As methodical procedure is a ?reflecting team“, which originally was developped in the systemic psychotherapy and is applied as well as supervisory tool in a modified form. Application possibilities and methodical procedures as frame conditions are described. The feed back by the participants refering to usefullness and practical results are in general of positiv relevance.     

Risk factors for neck and back pain in a working population in Sweden

The relationship between lifestyle, ergonomie and psychosocial workplace factors and musculo-skeletal pain was examined in this cross-sectional study. A total of 22180 employees undergoing screening examinations at their occupational health-care service filled in a series of questionnaires concerning their health, lifestyle and working situation. Of these 31% reported having had neck pain and 18% had seen a health professional for such pain during the previous year. Similarly, 39% reported having had back pain and 16% had seen a professional during the year. Odds ratios were calculated to estimate the relative risk of the various exposure factors. Although not eating regularly and smoking increased the risk for both neck and back pain somewhat, not exercising and consuming alcohol did not increase the risk for these musculoskeletal pains. Lifting, monotonous work tasks, vibration and uncomfortable work postures were the most important ergonomie factors (odds ratios from 1.01 to 2.95). Sitting, however, did not increase the risk for either neck or back pain. A 'poor' psychosocial work environment, as compared to a 'good' one, increased the risk for both neck and back pain (odds ratios from 1.62 to 3.01). Work content and social support were of particular relevance. Finally, a combination of a 'poor' psychosocial work environment and exposure to one of the ergonomic variables produced the highest risk factors (odds ratios from 2.42 to 3.61). Although the conclusions that may be drawn are limited by the cross-sectional nature of this study, the results seem to underscore the complex aetiology of musculoskeletal pain and especially the importance of psychosocial variables. Prevention programmes should therefore be broad-based and include psychosocial as well as ergonomic measures.     

Stakeholder Perspectives on E‐Waste Take‐Back Legislation

In this study, we compare two common forms of product take‐back legislation implementation: (i) manufacturer‐operated systems, where the state imposes certain take‐back objectives on manufacturers, and (ii) state‐operated systems, where manufacturers or consumers finance take‐back through recovery fees. We show that their impacts on different stakeholders, that is, social welfare, manufacturers, consumers, and the environment, can be significantly different and stakeholder preferences for these models vary depending on the operating environments (e.g., production and take‐back costs, and environmental externalities). We also consider the impact of operational externalities such as operating and monitoring costs, and show how they affect stakeholder preferences.     

Strategic planning for internationalization—The European dilemma and some possible solutions

The crux of the European dilemma in international corporate planning lies in the frequent European fate as a way-station for manufacturers that begin their commercial lives in North America and end them in the Less Developed Countries. Thus, it is the companies in middle income countries like Europe (and Japan) that are going to have to be fastest on their feet. By and large, they have neither the first markets nor the last production sites. If they wish to survive, they will have to plan to take up and cast off products. Unless, of course, we wish to go back to the negotiated interwar, no or low growth environment. Fortunately, however, there probably is no going back. The cost to consumers of protected markets would be far too high to be acceptable.     

价值与风险感知对好评返现行为影响的演化分析

为探究C2C平台在线评论中好评返现行为的演化机制，将前景理论和风险感知因素引入演化博弈过程，构建了有别于传统收益矩阵的收益感知矩阵，以更好地刻画奖惩机制设置下买家和商家行为决策的动态演化过程。从前景理论和风险感知的视角诠释最优演化结果难以实现的原因，通过仿真收益和价值感知等不同参数对演化结果的影响，有针对性的提出治理好评返现的措施。研究结果表明：决策者的认知偏差、乐观偏见、确定和反射效应将使系统难收敛于最优演化稳定点；提高决策者对"收益"和"损失"的价值感知及损失规避程度有助于系统演化至最优结果；当博弈双方的初始选择概率，买方的客观差评收益、道德成本、公共利益感知和卖方的好评返现运营成本、抢占市场收益等参数围绕阈值变动时能够改变策略的演化倾向和稳定性。     

Kanban implementation between a heavy manufacturing department and foundry suppliers

Implementation of JIT methods often begins in an assembly department with the introduction of kanban. Only when the implementation program begins in the fabrication areas supplying the assembly department do the most serious problems with JIT arise. The farther back in the supply chain JIT is implemented, the harder problems become, especially in the management of outside suppliers such as foundries where economics still requires the batching of jobs. Faced with supplying a tractor assembly line, department 500, a producer of heavy cast iron transmission cases using transfer lines and MRP, implemented kanban not only to supply the assembly area, but also back to their own supplying foundries. The results were positive and suggest a need for creativity in JIT implementation rather than a strict adherence to a cookbook approach.     

Efficient Take‐Back Legislation

Product and waste take‐back is becoming more regulated by countries to protect the environment. Such regulation puts an economic burden on firms, while creating fairness concerns and potentially even missing its primary target: environmental benefits. This research discusses the economic and environmental impacts of extended producer responsibility type of legislation and identifies efficiency conditions. It is shown that the right policy would (i) make producers responsible for their own waste to avoid fairness concerns and (ii) favor eco‐design producers to create stronger environmental benefits. Furthermore, the efficiency of take‐back systems is also driven by environmental classification of products, industry structure, and end‐user willingness to participate in take‐back programs.     

Data‐Driven Classification Using Boundary Observations

Classification is often a critical task for business managers in their decision‐making processes. It is generally more difficult for a classification scheme to produce accurate results when the input domains of the various output classes coincide, to some degree, with one another. In an attempt to address this issue, this article discusses a data‐driven algorithm that identifies the region of coincidence, or overlap, for two‐group classification problems by empirically determining the convex boundary for each group. The results are extendable to multigroup classification. The class membership of a new observation is then determined by its relative position with respect to each of these boundaries. Due to minimal data storage requirements, this boundary‐point classification technique can adapt to changing conditions far more easily than other approaches. Test results demonstrate that the new classification technique has similar performance to a back‐propagation neural network under static conditions and significantly outperforms a back‐propagation neural network under dynamic conditions.     

Sage advice. Experienced physician executives share the secrets of their success. Interview by David O. Weber

Seven successful physician executives, now retired from distinguished careers, look back over their experiences and offer advice for those who follow. Be a good doctor first, and never let business interests undermine the ethics of the health care profession. Prepare for management responsibilities with business training. Seek out mentors and develop a network of knowledgeable colleagues and advisors. Exert leadership rather than authority. Expect disappointments and arm yourself for them.     

资产减值准备计提与会计盈余价值相关性——基于亏损上市公司的经验数据

采用多元回归分析法对新8项资产减值会计准则实施后,亏损上市公司计提减值准备的会计盈余价值相关性进行了研究;在考虑公司个体特点的基础上,运用堆栈回归法,采用随机效应影响的面板模型对不同年度的会计盈余价值相关性进行了分析。结果表明,从整体上看,亏损上市公司计提减值准备后增强了会计盈余价值相关性,计提的减值准备数据本身也具有增量价值相关性,同时,研究还发现盈利年度的会计信息对投资者的决策更有用,以及投资者不能有效识别微利公司的会计盈余质量,而对于巨亏公司与通过转回减值准备方式盈利的公司来说,其会计盈余数据的决策相关性显著低于对比公司,投资者能有效识别其会计盈余质量,这为2007年1月1日起实施的《企业会计准则第8号——资产减值》中规定的关于已计提的减值准备不可转回的会计准则变革提供了实证支持。     

Diaspora Concentration and the Venture Investment Impact of Remittances

International business (“IB”) research has developed theory and preliminary evidence suggesting that remittances from overseas immigrant diasporas enhance home-country venture funding access, particularly in developing countries where a dearth of formal institutional protections deter other foreign investors. I extend this research with theory and evidence linking the geographic concentration of immigrant diasporas abroad to the magnified venture investment impact of their remittances back home. Analyses of remittances to 50 developing counties from 2002 to 2007 show that the venture investment impact of remittances may be completely nullified when coming from geographically-dispersed immigrant diasporas. Diaspora concentration abroad facilitates more effective discovery of venture opportunities back home.     

将知识管理纳入企业战略

分析了知识管理的渊源,论述了将知识管理纳入企业战略的可能性,提出了基于知识的企业持续竞争优势框架。     

Importance of active listening in treating workers with musculoskeletal disorders

Female assembly workers reporting constant neck and shoulder pain, despite ergonomically acceptable working conditions, were interviewed. As a starting point in the interviews, the patients were asked to describe their general situation at work. Their reports were fed back and discussed with company management in a wider group meeting and resulted in an improvement in their attitudes to those workers. A climate of confidence and well-being was created, which the women experienced as genuine. The workers' report of pains improved dramatically and absence due to musculoskeletal disorders was reduced by more than 90% during the following year.     

Shocks,Stocks, and Socks: Smoothing Consumption Over a Temporary Income Loss

We investigate how households in temporarily straitened circumstances due to an unemployment spell cut back on expenditures and how they spend marginal dollars of unemployment insurance (UI) benefit. Our theoretical and empirical analyses emphasize the importance of allowing for the fact that households buy durable as well as non‐durable goods. The theoretical analysis shows that in the short run households can cut back significantly on total expenditures without a significant fall in welfare if they concentrate their budget reductions on durables. We then present an empirical analysis based on a Canadian survey of workers who experienced a job separation. Exploiting changes in the unemployment insurance system over our sample period we show that cuts in UI benefits lead to reductions in total expenditure with a stronger impact on clothing than on food expenditures. Our empirical strategy allows that these expenditures may be non‐separable from employment status. The effects we find are particularly strong for households with no liquid assets before the spell started. These qualitative findings are in precise agreement with the theoretical predictions. (JEL: D11, D12, D91, J65)     

Aus Fehlern Iernen

Learning from blunders. Experiences of an executive coach with problems and solutionsNot too often, even rarely, we are in a situation to talk about blunders or shortcomings within our coaching community. That really is a pity, because a discussion like this combined with reflection and feed back is the best and only way for a coach to avoid professional mistakes in his future. So this article is “somehow another kind” of contribution. The author reports his own 18 years of “blunder-experience” as well as professional mistakes of other coaches which he observed in mentor coachings and supervisions, he suggests outcomes, consequences and solutions. Topics are: Anger, aggression and “struggles of power” within the coaching process; dependence versus (internal) independence of a coach; transference and counter-transference within the coaching process; peanut politics within a coaching process. Result: the coach himself, his core values, his boldness directed to social risks and to natural consequences — combined with appreciative conversation and respecting clients — makes out the core dissolving capacity. Without mentor coaching and professional supervision every coach would be trapped into his personal “trap of mistakes” — and even worse: without recognizing this dilemma.     

Why we cannot agree on the direction of health reform: an exploration of American values

Most of the articles in this series examine historical forces that have shaped American health care policy. This article will ask the reader to step back from the swirl of events that have led to a health care system that provides excellent care to many and minimal services to a substantial minority. The purpose of this article is to place often contradictory health policies within their philosophical context. Such an analysis can lead to an understanding of the reasons for the simultaneous appearance of both competitive and regulatory features in the American health care system.     

考虑消费者退货的制造商入侵策略研究

在考虑消费者退货的情形下，通过构建包括一个制造商、一个零售商和消费者的二级供应链模型，研究了订货量决策以及制造商开通直销渠道的问题。分析提供退款保证和决策顺序对均衡结果以及制造商开通直销渠道的影响。研究发现：在单一渠道供应链中，提供退款保证提高销量，制造商和零售商利润以及消费者剩余；在不提供退款保证情形下，制造商利润和零售商利润都随零售满意度递增；在提供退款保证情形下，制造商利润和零售商利润都随零售满意度先递减后递增；当直销渠道的成本较高时，制造商将不开通直销渠道；提供退款保证有利于制造商开通直销渠道。在双渠道供应链中：在顺序决策情形下，直销量随零售满意度递增，然而在同时决策情形下，直销量却随零售满意度递减；提供退款保证虽然降低零售商利润但能够提高消费者剩余，零售商利润随直销成本递增，在提供退款保证情形下，制造商利润和总利润随直销成本先递减后递增；当零售满意度较高，且直销成本也较高时，提供退款保证使制造商和零售商“双输”，当零售满意度较高，但直销成本较低时，提供退款保证使制造商和零售商达到(win-lose)。