Using a Consultant Workshop Model to Improve Performance Management in Chinese Autism Agencies: A Preliminary Study

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the outcomes of using a consultant workshop model to help implement performance management (PM) methods in selected Chinese autism agencies. A need for improvement of educational services in Chinese autism agencies was identified. However, the theory and methods of organizational behavior management (OBM) in general and PM in particular are still foreign in the Chinese autism community. The primary research question of the current study was whether first-line teacher performance in Chinese autism agencies could be improved by the use of a consultant workshop model to train management staff to implement a PM system. Four autism agencies in different Chinese provinces participated in this study. Results demonstrated that after the implementation of the PM system through a consultant workshop model in the participating agencies, the performance of first-line teachers in these agencies improved in several important areas. The intervention appeared modestly effective. Implications of the outcome data and future directions for practitioners and researchers are discussed.     

Realisierung von Cross-Selling Potenzialen durch das Management von kundeninitiierten Kontakten

Existing research has not sufficiently addressed the question of how to cross-sell additional products and services to customers and what the behavioral consequences of cross-selling are. Moreover, these cross-selling-related questions have not been investigated in the context of customer-initiated contacts.The contribution of the paper is the empirical analysis of metrics which can be used to predict cross-selling success, e.g., in a call-center. The results show that two metrics, namely first contact resolution and reason for contact, significantly predict cross-selling success. Another contribution is the analysis of behavioral consequences. Here the results show that usage intensity significantly increases the time directly after the cross-selling took place but relapses to the original level within a few weeks.The results of the study can be used to derive managerial implications for managing and controlling cross-selling initiatives and for increasing and stabilizing cash-flows.     

Preliminary Validation and Training of Supervisory Interactional Skills

Employee job satisfaction and performance are critical to the effectiveness of an organization. Although satisfaction and performance are not determined in total by a supervisor's interactional skills, it appears that interactional skills can significantly influence employee satisfaction and productivity. This research was conducted to further validate the types of interpersonal skills important in supervisory interactions, and then to evaluate the effectiveness of a supervisory training workshop in improving these aspects of managers' repertoires. In the first study social validation and survey procedures were used to identify supervisory behavior that employees judge to either facilitate or inhibit their job satisfaction and performance. Based on these results, the workshop training program was developed and tested in a second study which revealed a significant improvement in the group of supervisors who underwent training versus a no-training control group. This study provided a preliminary demonstration of the efficacy of using a behavioral training program to improve supervisors' interactional skills judged to be related to an organization's level of satisfaction and performance.     

Managing behavioral intentions in diverse cultural environments: an investigation of service quality,service value,and satisfaction for American and Ecuadorian fast-food customers

This study reports a cross-cultural assessment of the effects of service quality, service value, and satisfaction on consumers' behavioral intentions. The study endeavors to extend recent advances in services marketing theory to the international level of analysis. A composite model of a service encounter is developed based on the literature cited and compared across 425 North American and Latin American fast-food customers. A number of significant findings are reported, including the empirical verification of the position that service value and satisfaction drive consumers' behavioral intentions in North America, whereas Latin Americans are found to emphasize satisfaction in their service assessments. These results indicate that American consumers tend to place more emphasis on the tradeoff between what they receive in the service encounter and what they have to give up to receive the benefit. Conversely, Latin American consumers place heightened importance on the more emotive satisfaction judgment. The immediate implication for practitioners in both regions is that North Americans should respond favorably to offerings that emphasize the quality of the meal relative to the expenditure required. Latin Americans, on the other hand, should respond to more emotional appeals that accentuate the pleasure derived from the encounter.     

Evaluating the Temporal Location of Feedback: Providing Feedback Following Performance vs. Prior to Performance

In order to make feedback as effective as possible, it is important to understand its function in the three-term contingency (TTC) and the impact of various factors involved in delivering feedback. Timing of feedback is one factor that can affect the impact of feedback on learner’s behavior. An analysis of timing of feeback may help us getting closer to better understanding how feedback functions in the TTC. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of feedback at different temporal locations. Specifically, feedback was provided either immediately (a) after a teaching session or (b) before the following teaching session, on teaching performance of undergraduate psychology students. The results indicated that feedback provided before the teaching session was more effective in improving teaching skills than feedback that was provided after the session. These findings suggest that feedback may function primarily as an antecedent to future performance and not necessarily as a consequence for past performance. However, the behavioral mechanism that explains these results is not yet clear. Future studies should investigate this further by manipulating the content of feedback prior to the teaching performance.     

Performance management of suppliers in outsourcing project: case analysis from the financial services industry

This study investigates the characteristics of an effective performance management framework for outsourcing projects in a UK-based financial services organisation and how this may contribute to the success of the outsourcing arrangement. The analysis draws on outsourcing and performance management theory, and uses both primary and secondary data. Valuable information was found on objective setting, performance measurement and performance improvement in the outsourcing project. An adapted version of the Balanced Scorecard, termed a Logic Scorecard, is suggested as a measurement tool; a service credit system and a continuous improvement schedule used to enhance supplier performance. The performance management framework, which is one of the pillars of the supply chain operations reference (SCOR) model, was developed, and provides practitioners with step-by-step guidance for the implementation of performance management in outsourcing projects. This combines both suggestions for performance management before and after the outsourcing decision, thus considering the entire outsourcing lifecycle. The proposed 10-step framework for outsourcing not only incorporates strategic propositions but also shows its implementation at an operational level.     

Decision Making for Risk Management: A Comparison of Graphical Methods for Presenting Quantitative Uncertainty

Previous research has shown that people err when making decisions aided by probability information. Surprisingly, there has been little exploration into the accuracy of decisions made based on many commonly used probabilistic display methods. Two experiments examined the ability of a comprehensive set of such methods to effectively communicate critical information to a decision maker and influence confidence in decision making. The second experiment investigated the performance of these methods under time pressure, a situational factor known to exacerbate judgmental errors. Ten commonly used graphical display methods were randomly assigned to participants. Across eight scenarios in which a probabilistic outcome was described, participants were asked questions regarding graph interpretation (e.g., mean) and made behavioral choices (i.e., act; do not act) based on the provided information indicated that decision‐maker accuracy differed by graphical method; error bars and boxplots led to greatest mean estimation and behavioral choice accuracy whereas complementary cumulative probability distribution functions were associated with the highest probability estimation accuracy. Under time pressure, participant performance decreased when making behavioral choices.     

Testing whether reduced cognitive performance in burnout can be reversed by a motivational intervention

It has been suggested that the motivation to spend effort is decreased in burnout patients, resulting in reduced cognitive performance. A question that remains is whether this decreased motivation can be reversed by motivational interventions. We investigated this by examining the effect of a motivational intervention on cognitive performance. We presented 40 burnout patients in The Netherlands and 40 matched healthy controls with a complex attention task. As expected, in a first block of trials the performance of the burnout patients was poorer than that of healthy controls. Subsequently, we provided the participants with fake positive feedback about their performance and announced that we would financially reward those who performed best in a subsequent block of trials. Contrary to the healthy controls, the burnout patients did not improve their performance and experienced more aversion to spend effort. The study demonstrated that impaired cognitive performance in burnout patients could not be reversed by motivational interventions, which is in line with contemporary theories on burnout that state that physiological changes in burnout may underlie a relatively long-term decrease in motivation. The implication of these results is that in practice employers and therapists might need to accept that there could be a reduction in cognitive performance in employees with burnout.     

How to govern business services exchanges: Contractual and relational issues

With firms concentrating on core competencies, more emphasis has been placed on outsourcing and dealing with external sourcing agents. This has led to a stronger academic focus on buyer–seller exchanges and the corresponding mechanisms for governing these exchanges. This paper gives an overview of previous research investigating the exchange governance phenomenon based on transaction cost theory or co‐operative interorganizational relationships. The results reveal that few research studies have investigated the overall picture of exchange governance, including both contractual and relational governance and taking into account antecedents as well as performance outcomes of the governance mechanisms involved. Moreover, despite the service‐dominant logic shift, limited attention is given to specific service characteristics and their impact on exchange governance. This paper attempts to meld economic and social related antecedents into a model with regard to exchange governance in business services settings. Contractual and relational governance issues and their impact on performance outcomes are also considered. The resulting model indicates that to govern business services exchanges efficiently, more emphasis should be placed on behavioral uncertainty, human and process asset specificity and contractual governance. The paper concludes by discussing several directions for future research.     

Behavioral aspects of corporate planning

Most models of corporate planning neglect to include behavioral variables. This is unfortunate, as human behavior is typically the most dynamic component of any planning system. Should behavioral variables be overlooked, due to their difficult measurability, or for other reasons, the planning system will inevitably prove deficient in terms of predictability and control. Accounting for human resources and other behavioral measurements should be routinely included in any corporate planning model. A component of such a system would include the output from a stochastic process model of expected future values of employee services. The theoretical development of such a model is briefly discussed in this paper.     

基于信号传递模型的企业投资短视与敲竹杠长期投资行为分析

采用信号传递模型对投资短视和敲竹杠长期投资两种非效率投资行为进行均衡分析发现:在面临长短期投资决策时,经理仅依据项目的选择无法向股东传递自己的类型信息,因此如果不具备与股东谈判的能力,经理会选择短期项目以巩固自己的职位,如果此时短期项目的净现金流量较低则出现投资短视类型的非效率投资行为;如果具备与股东谈判的能力,经理会选择长期项目使得股东无法在长期项目收益实现之前解雇自己,如果此时长期项目的净现金流量较低则出现敲竹杠长期投资类型的非效率投资行为。分析还表明,适度的惩罚和激励都有助于减少经理的投资短视行为;但是只有适度的激励才有助于减少经理的敲竹杠长期投资行为。     

Assessing the impact of new technology in information systems

Computer and communication technology is changing at an increasing rate. New technologies are emerging: the price- performance of current technology is improving. There is a need to assess the impact of technology on new information systems projects, particularly those dealing with distributed processing and electronic office systems. Such an assessment provides direction and guidance in long range and intermediate term information services planning. It can potentially prevent costly conversion efforts. An approach is developed for obtaining this assessment. Two case examples of applications are provided which illustrated the method, results and benefits.     

How effective are models?

This article discusses a number of common interpretations of ‘implementation’ in the literature, and how these have been confused. Various different levels of implementation are then discussed, including the concept of model effectiveness. This is concerned with both the operational effectiveness of the model, as shown by a tangible improvement in the system modelled, and the personal effectiveness in helping users learn more about the system itself. Research is then described to explore various aspects of model usage and effectiveness. The research took place in the context of a business game used by a large number of practising managers. An unusual feature of the game was the fact that participants were offered the use of a number of models to aid their decisions. The usage of the models, and their effects, were measured objectively. Results showed that models were used extensively, and their effects were advantageous in a number of ways. The implications of this work are discussed.     

Effects of repeated multi-source feedback on the influence behavior and effectiveness of managers: A field experiment

Despite the widespread use of multi-source behavioral feedback as a method of leadership development, little research has been conducted to identify facilitating conditions that can make the feedback more effective. This article reports results from a longitudinal field experiment on the effects of providing feedback about influence behavior to middle managers in the corporate office of a supermarket chain. Managers who only attended a single feedback workshop were compared to managers who attended a second feedback workshop several months after the initial one. A significant increase in the use of “core” influence tactics with subordinates and peers was found only for the managers who received repeated feedback, and they were also rated higher in overall effectiveness by their bosses. Practical implications for leadership development and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

面向并行制造的多生产单元协同调度研究

为提升多生产单元制造系统整体效率，在其系统内开展面向并行制造的协同调度研究，在考虑运输、换线等时间的基础上，构建多生产单元并行协同调度模型，采用并行分段协同遗传算法求解；在此基础上，将所研究协同调度方法应用于某复杂机电产品多生产单元制造车间，并与变批量调度与等批量调度比较。研究表明，所提的并行协同调度方法可以显著提升生产单元效率，提高生产单元设备和人员利用率。     

Reducing Requirement Incorrectness and Coping with Its Negative Impact in Information System Development Projects

The negative impact of incorrect requirements on information system development (ISD) project performance has long been acknowledged. This study addresses the problem of incorrect requirements by proposing a model that combines the error reduction and coping concepts proposed by Field, Ritzman, Safizadeh, and Downing (2006) with the view that ISD is a knowledge‐intensive process. The model hypothesizes that when developers and users possess an understanding of each other's primary domain of knowledge, the prevention of incorrect requirements and the mitigation of the negative consequences of incorrect requirements tend to improve project performance. Data collected from 250 ISD professionals on the basis of their experiences of recently completed ISD projects confirmed all of our hypotheses. The results demonstrate that the eliciting of incorrect requirements can be reduced when users and developers possess cross‐domain understanding and when requirement analysis methodologies and techniques are available. Furthermore, the negative impact of incorrect requirements on project performance can be mitigated when developers have sufficient ISD knowledge and behavioral knowledge.     

Assessing the Cost of Large‐Scale Power Outages to Residential Customers

Residents in developed economies depend heavily on electric services. While distributed resources and a variety of new smart technologies can increase the reliability of that service, adopting them involves costs, necessitating tradeoffs between cost and reliability. An important input to making such tradeoffs is an estimate of the value customers place on reliable electric services. We develop an elicitation framework that helps individuals think systematically about the value they attach to reliable electric service. Our approach employs a detailed and realistic blackout scenario, full or partial (20 A) backup service, questions about willingness to pay (WTP) using a multiple bounded discrete choice method, information regarding inconveniences and economic losses, and checks for bias and consistency. We applied this method to a convenience sample of residents in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, finding that respondents valued a kWh for backup services they assessed to be high priority more than services that were seen as low priority ($0.75/kWh vs. $0.51/kWh). As more information about the consequences of a blackout was provided, this difference increased ($1.2/kWh vs. $0.35/kWh), and respondents' uncertainty about the backup services decreased (Full: $11 to $9.0, Partial: $13 to $11). There was no evidence that the respondents were anchored by their previous WTP statements, but they demonstrated only weak scope sensitivity. In sum, the consumer surplus associated with providing a partial electric backup service during a blackout may justify the costs of such service, but measurement of that surplus depends on the public having accurate information about blackouts and their consequences.     

The Use of Visual Prompts to Increase the Cleanliness of Restrooms on a College Campus

Prompting procedures have been used in community settings to change many public health related behaviors. The current study took place on a college campus and used a multiple baseline across settings design to evaluate the effectiveness of visual prompts to decrease urinal splatter on men's restroom floors. Results indicate that prompts were immediately effective, and effectiveness was maintained during follow-up four months later. Findings suggest research in community settings should investigate long-term maintenance of prompts to increase the generalization of behavior analytic interventions.     

A symbolic approach to competence development

A deep-lying assumption nested in the civil service culture is that of competence. The article illustrates the research project carried out in a municipality over a period of three years, using a symbolic approach to competence development. Competence is defined as a symbolic field, an imaginary territory comprising the ideas, projects and emotions that subjects attribute to their organization within a metaphorical map which represents the texture of organizing. Possessing competence or being competent is the dilemma which provides the key to the analysis of the symbolization processes which took place during the consultation. The social representation of competence highlights the relationships between organizational actors (the competent civil servant, the competent boss, the competent politician, the competent administration, the competent citizen) and their mutual image. Competence therefore becomes a relational concept.     

The impact of leader personality on new product development teamwork and performance: The moderating role of uncertainty

We examined the affect of leader personality on new product development (NPD) project performance under differing conditions of uncertainty. Our model posits teamwork as a mediating variable between leader personality and NPD performance. We hypothesized that the personality variable of openness would have a stronger influence on teamwork and NPD performance when uncertainty was high, and that the personality variables of extraversion, conscientiousness and stability would have a stronger indirect influence on NPD performance through teamwork when uncertainty was low. We used structural equation modeling to test two models of the influence of personality. In our study of 143 development projects, we support the importance of teamwork as a process variable linking leader personality to NPD performance and confirm that the effects of leader personality on these criteria depend on the level of uncertainty operating in NPD projects, thus substantiating all our hypotheses. Recommendations to re-consider hiring criteria and training for NPD project leaders are provided.