Opportunism in Capital Budget Recommendations: The Effects of Past Performance and Its Attributions*

This study uses an experiment to examine the separate and combined effects of managers' loss aversion and their causal attributions about their divisions' performance on tendencies to make goal‐incongruent capital budget recommendations. We find that managers' recommendations are biased by their loss aversion. In particular, managers of high‐performing divisions are more likely than managers of low‐performing divisions to propose investments that maximize their division's short‐term profits at the expense of the firm's long‐term value. We also find that managers' recommendations are biased by their causal attributions. In particular, managers are more likely to propose investments that maximize their division's short‐term profits at the expense of the firm's long‐term value when they attribute their division's performance to external causes (e.g., task difficulty or luck) rather than to internal causes (e.g., managerial ability or effort). Further, the effects of causal attributions are greater for managers of high‐performing divisions than for managers of low‐performing divisions. The study's findings are important because loss aversion and causal attributions are often manifested in firms. Thus, they may bias managers' decisions, which in turn may be detrimental to the firms' long‐term value.     

A PREEMPTIVE VALUE-FUNCTION METHOD APPROACH FOR MULTIOBJECTIVE LINEAR PROGRAMMING PROBLEMS

Many common decision-making situations require integration of a number of objectives or goals into a single objective function to be optimized. A number of techniques for performing this analysis are presented in the literature. These procedures generally require a tradeoff between realism and tractability. The present approach uses the idea of preemptive priority levels with an approximate value function at each level. An efficient experimental design is used to assess directly a quadratic approximation of the multiattribute value functions. An existing algorithm is then used to solve the resulting problem. This procedure is shown to give good results when compared to both the value-function method and goal programming.     

Concepts,Theory, and Techniques DISTRIBUTED COMPUTER SYSTEM DESIGN: A MULTICRITERIA DECISION-MAKING METHODOLOGY*

The design of distributed computer systems (DCSs) requires compromise among several conflicting objectives. For instance, high system availability conflicts with low cost which in turn conflicts with quick response time. This paper presents an approach, based on multi-criteria decision-making techniques, to arrive at a good design in this multiobjective environment. An interactive procedure is developed to support the decision making of system designers. Starting from an initial solution, the procedure presents a sequence of non-dominated vectors to designers, allowing them to explore systematically alternative possibilities on the path to a final design. The model user has control over trade-offs among different design objectives. This paper focuses on the details of the mathematical model used to provide decision support. Accordingly, a formulation of DCS design as a multicriteria decision problem is developed. The exchange search heuristic used to generate nondominated solutions also is presented. We argue that multicriteria models provide a more realistic formulation of the DCS design problem than the single-criterion models used widely in the literature. While obtaining a clear definition of design objectives (single or multiple) is an important activity, by explicitly acknowledging the trade-offs among multiple objectives in the design process, our methodology is more likely to produce a better overall design than methods addressing a single criterion in isolation.     

An Analysis of Pedagogical Effects of Alternative Teaching Approaches of Goal Programming

Lee, Shim, and Lee [12] suggested the superiority of the signal flow graph (SFG) method over the modified simplex method in enhancing students' learning of goal programming (GP). The present study empirically investigated this claim by analyzing the effect of the SFG method of GP on students' learning. In the process, this study also developed an effective tool for measuring GP knowledge. The findings showed that students who learned the SFG method understood GP better and more easily than those who learned the concept through the modified simplex method. The students who learned the SFG method of GP were also less dependent on rules or formulas than the students who learned the modified simplex method.     

高师音乐教育改革的理论构想

本文就高师音乐教育改革提出了理论构想和具体内容。从分清层次——完善办学规模,到完善体系——建立系统的课程体系和教学内容,再到培养目标——全能型知识结构和能力三个方面,全面阐述了高师音乐教育改革的理论支持和具体设想,为高师音乐教育面向21世纪提出了自己的一家之言,希望以此能为高师音乐教育改革带来一些有益的思考。     

多维环境规制下的组织目标及组织形态演变——基于中国长江三峡集团公司的案例研究

环境力量如何渗透到组织内部影响组织形态是组织理论研究的一个基本话题。本文通过案例方法,以处于战略转型中的中国长江三峡集团公司为研究对象,分析、总结其从工程建设阶段到运营管理阶段所处环境的变化、组织目标以及组织形态的演变。研究发现,组织目标作为组织边界上链接环境与组织的机制,是整合组织内外部力量和要求并赋予组织主体性的关键要素;在追求目标实现的过程中,结构安排与文化控制塑造了组织形态。环境影响组织的力量并非是单一纯粹的,而是社会性、经济性和技术性力量的混合甚至是变异;同时,环境力量是在与组织内部动机、需求的共同作用下影响组织目标的。对此过程的深层剖析发现,环境变化引致组织任务继而组织权力格局的变化,而把握权力的群体因为对组织产出和结果的控制而控制了组织目标。     

Multi-choice goal programming

The situation of multi-choice aspiration levels (MCAL) may exist in many decision/management problems. However, the problem cannot be solved by current goal programming (GP) techniques. In order to improve the utility of GP and solve the MCAL problem, this paper proposes a new idea for programming the MCAL problem. The proposed method allows decision-makers (DMs) to set multiple aspiration levels for their problems in which “the more/higher is better” and “the less/lower is better” in the aspiration levels are addressed. In addition, illustrative examples are given to demonstrate the correctness of the proposed model.     

油田规划指标的比例分配模型

针对油田产油指标分配难的实际问题，本文提出了指标分配的比例分配模型．此模型能使全油田的产油指标“均衡”的分配到各个区块，最后通过具体实例说明了模型的可行性．     

中国上市公司终极所有权结构及演变

本文基于终极产权论的方法对我国上市公司的终极所有权结构进行了动态分析。研究发现,我国上市公司终极所有权高度集中,国家和私人是第一和第二大终极控制人,他们通过间接持股的方式实施对企业的最终控制。2004年以来,从数量上看,国家作为终极控制人持有的上市公司比例显著下降,私人控制的比重显著上升,但是从资产上看,绝大部分上市公司的资产由国家最终控制,私人最终控制的上市公司资产比重很小而且还在下降。     

对禅宗"终极解脱"的心理学分析

对禅宗"终极解脱"的人格理想--"超越精神"和"自由境界"进行了心理学阐释,论明禅宗<坛经>对中国传统心理文化产生了深远影响,即它秉承了中国传统哲学中体用一如的思维原则,发展了得意忘象的直觉思维方式,构筑了一种以心性理论为核心的新的心理生活样式;不仅如此,禅宗<坛经>对世界心理文化的发展也产生了重要影响,它提供了一个关于人的终极层面的心理学理论体系,对当代心理学理论的建构,尤其是对终极层面的心理学理论的建构,具有十分重要的启发和鉴赏意义.同时,它对当代心理生活实践也具有十分重要的启发意义.