The effect of supply chain integration, modular production, and cultural distance on new product development: A dynamic capabilities approach

Little research has examined how international firms' operations strategies affect dynamic capability creation or how cultural distance affects operations management. This study addresses these gaps by bridging the work on dynamic capabilities, two operations management techniques (product modularization and supplier integration) and cultural distance. Using a sample of 111 Brazilian automobile suppliers, the study finds that new product development is marginally increased by product modularization but decreased by supplier integration. Cultural distance negatively moderated these relationships. This research extends the dynamic capabilities literature and indicates that operations management strategy is an important part of the dynamic capability formation process.     

IGLOO: An integrated framework for sustainable return to work in workers with common mental disorders

ABSTRACT

Current research on return to work (RTW) for employees with common mental disorders suffers from two limitations. First, research mostly focuses on the influence of resources during the absence period ignoring the resources which may facilitate sustainable RTW, i.e. employees continuing to work and thrive at work post-return. Second, research tends to view the work and non-work domains separately and fails to consider the interaction of resources at the individual, group, leader and organisational levels, once back at work. In the present position paper, we present an integrated framework and a preliminary definition of sustainable RTW. Based on current occupational health psychology theory and existing research on RTW, we develop ten propositions for the resources in and outside work, which may promote sustainable RTW. In addition to the individual, group, leader, and organisational levels, we also argue for the importance of the overarching context, i.e. the societal context and the culture and legislation that may promote sustainable RTW. Our framework raises new questions that need to be addressed to enhance our understanding of how key stakeholders can support employees with common mental health disorders staying and thriving at work.     

Expertentum und eskalierendes Commitment

The present study examines the role of expertise for the escalation of commitment. Subjects were 56 apprentices of the financial services sector and 46 subjects working as first-aid persons. Subjects were confronted with scenarios stemming from both areas of work and they had to decide about the allocation of further financial resources after a failing investment. Commitment was measured through the amount of additional investments. The independent variable ?expertise“ was manipulated by the combination of sample and job-context: Those, who had to decide about further investments in the condition with the scenario stemming from their own area of work, were considered to be experts whereas those who were confronted with the scenario of the unfamiliar work-setting were rated as novices. Results show that escalating commitment was significantly higher for novices than for experts.     

Friendship and other weapons: Group activities to help young girls aged 5–11 to cope with bullying by Whitson,S.

In face of the proliferation of many varieties of group modalities, social work has paradoxically been eroding its own group work component in the past decade. The rise of generic training has resulted in a diminishing pool of qualified practitioners, consultants, and educators in group work, as well as the virtual disappearance of group work articles in social work journals. This self-created gap has been filled by borrowing techniques from other professions. With a beginning recognition of these trends, some shifts are occurring that begin to signal a reversal of this process.     

University gatekeepers’ use of the rhetoric of citizenship to relegate the status of students with disabilities in Canada

Despite affirmation that students with disabilities should have equal access to education, individuals with disabilities are still not participating to the same degree as individuals without disabilities, particularly within postsecondary institutions. Students in Health and Human Service (HHS) programs experience many unique challenges and disadvantages. In-depth focus groups and interviews were conducted with 14 university stakeholders in HHS programs regarding their perceptions and experiences of working with students with disabilities. We found that the rhetoric of citizenship, specifically notions of rationality, autonomy, and productivity, interacts with beliefs about students with disabilities to allow stakeholders to justify their exclusion or limited participation. Our findings demonstrate how taken-for-granted beliefs can limit the inclusion of students with disabilities in ways that seem natural and unproblematic.     

New simulation results for the calibration and inverse median estimation problems

This paper gives the results of a new simulation study for the familiar calibration problem and the less familiar inverse median estimation problem. The latter arises when one wishes to estimate from a linear regression analysis the value of the independent variable corresponding to a specified value of the median of the dependent variable. For example, from the results of a regression analysis between stress and time to failure, one might wish to estimate the stress at which the median time to failure is 10,000 hours. In the study, the mean square error, Pitman closeness, and probability of overestimation are compared for both the calibration problem and the inverse median estimation problem for (1) the classical estimator, (2) the inverse estimator, and (3) a modified version of an estimator proposed by Naszodi (1978) for both a small sample and a moderately large sample situation.     

Dimensions of Intimacy: The Interrelationships between Gender and Listening

In the introduction to their text on intimate relationships, Perlman and Duck (1987, p. 9) note that psychologists, sociologists, family scientists and communication experts “are all making important contributions” to the study of personal relationships, thereby reflecting the recent multidisciplinary aspect of this field. However, in many important works on intimacy and intimate relationships, the gender differences that often create barriers to intimacy, and how these differences are reflected in the communication process, have, until recently, been notably absent.¹ While alluded to repeatedly, nowhere, in fact, is the connection directly made between intimacy and the listening behavior of women and men. This paper therefore attempts to fill this absence by integrating into the literature on intimacy the salient aspects of listening that affect the quality of intimate relationships between women and men. Hopefully, such understanding will contribute to our knowledge of the concept of intimacy in our culture and will facilitate razing the barriers to intimate relationships that are a product of cultural expectations.