This paper aims to discuss the appropriate uses of bonuses and award in recruiting and motivating project employees.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to discuss the appropriate uses of bonuses and award in recruiting and motivating project employees.
Design/methodology/approach
It is a conceptual discussion of human resources management (HRM) practices, supported by the author’s professional experience and observations in real-life project settings.
Findings
Bonuses and awards not only provide extrinsic financial rewards but also provide positive feedback to recipients. Extrinsic financial benefits (such as sign-on bonus, and retention bonus) may enhance the total compensation package and positively affect an employee’s job-related decision at least for the short term. He/she may accept a job offer or choose to stay on a project longer until the completion of a critical milestone because of the bonuses. However, positive recognition of employee performance (through the use of spot award, holiday award, or non-financial certificate of appreciation) is also a useful means to motivate employees. In addition, managers on international assignments need to pay attention to practices specific to host countries.
Practical implications
The practices discussed in this paper are based on real-life experience and observations. When they are used properly in conjunction with other HRM arrangements, bonuses and awards can be used to mitigate and delay turnover, and to motivate employees to increase their work performance.
Originality/value
This paper not only draws on theories and information from the HRM and project management literature but also draws from the author’s own management experience. Thus, the relevance and validity of the proposed concepts and practices have been proven in actual functional and project management settings.
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Chuck C.H. Law and Eric W.T. Ngai
The purpose of this paper is to present an empirical investigation into the relationships between the selected organizational variables, business process improvement (BPI) and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present an empirical investigation into the relationships between the selected organizational variables, business process improvement (BPI) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) success.
Design/methodology/approach
It is based on a sample of 96 firms operating in an Asian (Hong Kong) setting. Non‐parametric statistical tests are conducted on the sample.
Findings
It has found that the extent of BPI is positively related to ERP success, and senior management support of BPI (MSB), and senior management support of IT (MSI) and CEO‐IT distance are negatively related. However, it has also found that there exist no statistically significant relationships between approaches to business process changes and BPI, between MSI and ERP success, and between CEO‐IT distance and MSB. It has also yielded divergent findings for the impacts of CEO‐IT distance on the levels of senior MSI and MSB for the sub‐samples of firms of Western and Asian origin.
Research limitations/implications
This research has produced empirical evidence in an Asian setting for some of the hypothesized relationships and pointed out that the impacts of certain organizational variables may differ across firms of different geographic (cultural) background. However, it is primarily empirical in nature and is weak in its theoretic underpinning to explain why these organizational variables are adopted in the study.
Originality/value
The findings of this study in an Asian setting add to those conducted in the West, and thus help fill the lacuna of research involving the variables relevant to ERP adoption.
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Eric W.T. Ngai, Chuck C.H. Law, Simon C.H. Chan and Francis K.T. Wat
The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the perceptions of the importance of the internet to human resource management (HRM) and to understand the existing human…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the perceptions of the importance of the internet to human resource management (HRM) and to understand the existing human resource (HR) practices and needs of the internet to support HRM functions.
Design/methodology/approach
A structured questionnaire survey was used to collect data from selected public companies quoted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Questionnaires were returned by 147 respondents and used for the analysis. The overall response rate was 29 percent, which was higher than expected.
Findings
The findings indicated that the most frequently cited internet‐supported HRM function in the existing literature is recruitment and selection. The results showed that there are no significant organization size differences or significant differences in internet connectivity as far as the perceived importance of the internet to HR practitioners is concerned. Specifically, helping managers to stay informed is the most important reason for adopting the internet for HR practitioners.
Originality/value
This study has proved that internet‐based HR offers enormous opportunities to improve organization performance. This paper introduces the reader to the potential use of the internet to support HRM.
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Abstract
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Literature in international business and finance share the belief that country‐level institutions affect the decisions of corporations. In this study, we highlight the other side…
Abstract
Literature in international business and finance share the belief that country‐level institutions affect the decisions of corporations. In this study, we highlight the other side of the picture and propose that MNCs can moderate the impact of the national institutions of a country. Unlike previous studies, we treat culture not only as an explanatory variable but also as a moderator. We posit that multinationality moderates the influence of national culture on corporate financial leverage. Using a large panel data set of 50 countries, we show that the multinationality of a firm decreases the impact that national culture has on its capital structure. Additionally, our study makes another significant contribution by establishing existing cultural dimensions as economically and statistically significant determinants of capital structure.
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One of the common law duties owed by the employer is his duty to take reasonable care for the safety of his employee. This common law duty is an implied term in the contract of…
Abstract
One of the common law duties owed by the employer is his duty to take reasonable care for the safety of his employee. This common law duty is an implied term in the contract of employment and is therefore contractual in nature. Because of the difficulties which may arise in bringing an action in contract for breach of the employer's duty of care, the employee who has sustained injuries during the course of his employment (although he may sue either in contract of tort will normally bring a tort action.
The findings of the Steering Group on Food Freshness in relation to the compulsory date marking of food contained in their Report, reviewed elsewhere in this issue, has brought…
Abstract
The findings of the Steering Group on Food Freshness in relation to the compulsory date marking of food contained in their Report, reviewed elsewhere in this issue, has brought within measurable distance the Regulations which were, in any case, promised for1975. The Group consider that the extension of voluntary open date marking systems will not be sufficiently rapid (or sufficiently comprehensive) to avoid the need or justify the delay in introducing legislation.
A highly significant action taken by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, reported elsewhere in this issue, could well result in important advances in surveillance and…
Abstract
A highly significant action taken by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, reported elsewhere in this issue, could well result in important advances in surveillance and probably legislative control over enforcement of certain aspects of EEC legislation in the Member‐states. The Minister has sent an urgent request to the Commission in Brussels to dispatch inspectors to each country, including the United Kingdom, to examine and report on the standards of inspection and hygiene with detailed information on how the EEC Directive on Poultry Meat is being implemented. Information of the method of financing the cost of poultrymeat inspection in each country has ben requested. The comprehensive survey is seen as a common approach in this one field. The Minister requested that the results of the inspectors' reports should be available to him and other Member‐states.
In the Court of Appeal last summer, when Van Den Berghs and Jurgens Limited (belonging to the Unilever giant organization) sought a reversal of the decision of the trial judge…
Abstract
In the Court of Appeal last summer, when Van Den Berghs and Jurgens Limited (belonging to the Unilever giant organization) sought a reversal of the decision of the trial judge that their television advertisements of Stork margarine did not contravene Reg. 9, Margarine Regulations, 1967—an action which their Lordships described as fierce but friendly—there were some piercing criticisms by the Court on the phrasing of the Regulations, which was described as “ridiculous”, “illogical” and as “absurdities”. They also remarked upon the fact that from 1971 to 1975, after the Regulations became operative, and seven years from the date they were made, no complaint from enforcement authorities and officers or the organizations normally consulted during the making of such regulations were made, until the Butter Information Council, protecting the interests of the dairy trade and dairy producers, suggested the long‐standing advertisements of Reg. 9. An example of how the interests of descriptions and uses of the word “butter” infringements of Reg. 9. An example af how the interests of enforcement, consumer protection, &c, are not identical with trade interests, who see in legislation, accepted by the first, as injuring sections of the trade. (There is no evidence that the Butter Information Council was one of the organizations consulted by the MAFF before making the Regulations.) The Independant Broadcasting Authority on receiving the Council's complaint and obtaining legal advice, banned plaintiffs' advertisements and suggested they seek a declaration that the said advertisements did not infringe the Regulations. This they did and were refused such a declaration by the trial judge in the Chancery Division, whereupon they went to the Court of Appeal, and it was here, in the course of a very thorough and searching examination of the question and, in particular, the Margarine Regulations, that His Appellate Lordship made use of the critical phrases we have quoted.