The increasing presence of traditional or new forms of robots at work demonstrates how the copresence of workers and robots might reframe work and workplaces and consequently…
Abstract
Purpose
The increasing presence of traditional or new forms of robots at work demonstrates how the copresence of workers and robots might reframe work and workplaces and consequently arouse new human resource management (HRM) questions regarding how to manage the spatiotemporal change of work in organizations. Based on a spatiotemporal perspective, this conceptual article examines the implication of new spatiotemporal dynamics of work, which are generated by the interaction between workers and traditional or new forms of robots that are driven by advanced digital technologies, for HRM.
Design/methodology/approach
The article begins by carrying out a selective review focusing on the studies that enhanced the comprehension of the digital-driven spatiotemporal dynamics of work. It then presents a spatiotemporal framework from which it examines the implications of digital-driven spatiotemporal work boundaries for HRM. The article ends by underscoring the theoretical and empirical importance of taking more interest in new spatiotemporal forms of work for developing the HRM of the future.
Findings
By developing the notion of workuniverses, which denotes the spatiotemporal boundaries generated by the act of working through the interaction between workers and different forms of robots, this research first develops a theoretical framework that discerns three forms of spatiotemporal dynamics forming workuniverses at different levels and two spatiotemporal arrays for managing the spatiotemporal change of work in organizations. The HRM questions and ethical concerns generated by the formation of workuniverses are then revealed through four focuses: the management ethics in workuniverses, individuals' spatiotemporal well-being, collective spatiotemporal coordination and spatiotemporal change management in workuniverses.
Originality/value
This research provides an original perspective, which is the spatiotemporal perspective, to examine the new spatiotemporal dynamics that form workuniverses and the HRM questions and concerns generated by the increasing interaction between workers and different forms of digital-driven robots.
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The purpose of this paper is to study the potential interest in and the possible limits of the concept of organizational ambidexterity (Duncan, 1976; Tushman and O’Reilly, 1996…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the potential interest in and the possible limits of the concept of organizational ambidexterity (Duncan, 1976; Tushman and O’Reilly, 1996) in the context of public non-profit organizations (PNPOs), a concept that is frequently studied in the private sector.
Design/methodology/approach
From an inductive and qualitative approach, this research is based on observations of ambidextrous innovation processes implemented in a French PNPO in charge of job search and unemployment compensation operations.
Findings
This research shows that the concept of organizational ambidexterity might provide some strategic leads for balancing the possible paradoxes within different kinds of expectations of the stakeholders of PNPOs. It might also facilitate the combination of the stability of public service deliverance and organizational transformation. Beyond its interest, this study identifies the limits of the concept in the context of PNPOs. For overcoming its limits, the study suggests a renewed understanding of organizational ambidexterity by taking account of PNPOs’ specificities, especially in terms of the regulation of the different tensions generated by ambidextrous organizational change.
Research limitations/implications
This research proposes a conceptual framework built with the integration of sectorial and organizational characteristics of the public non-profit sector for understanding the organizational ambidexterity and its possible strategic, organizational and management implications in this sector. The results are limited to the context the author studied because of several sectorial, national, organizational and cultural specificities.
Practical implications
The results might inspire management practices in PNPOs and potentially in private non-profit organizations or in voluntary organizations, since these three types of organizations could have certain similar organizational characteristics and might encounter similar questions in terms of strategy and innovation management.
Originality/value
This research suggests a renewed understanding of the concept of organizational ambidexterity in a sector in which the complexities, tensions and paradoxes generated by different stakeholders’ expectations are probably more present but less explicit than other organizations.
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The role of imagination (Gioia et al., 2002; Weick, 1995, 2005, 2006) and the potential of distributed sensemaking (Weick et al., 2005) are highlighted in existing sensemaking…
Abstract
Purpose
The role of imagination (Gioia et al., 2002; Weick, 1995, 2005, 2006) and the potential of distributed sensemaking (Weick et al., 2005) are highlighted in existing sensemaking studies in a distinct manner. The purpose of this paper is to articulate these two perspectives by observing a specific sensemaking process defined as “distributed imagining process (DIP)” in this paper.
Design/methodology/approach
From an observation conducted in 2016 within a French public organization regarding an operation that invited all organizational actors to imagine the future of their work life, this study analyzed 777 collected texts, through an inductive and qualitative approach, for understanding DIP’s functioning and results.
Findings
This study identified that what actors imagine about the future is a self-contextualized observation and an interpretation of the present incorporated into an imagined future. With a distributed modality, individual imagining processes might interact with collective processes for contributing organizational change sensemaking.
Originality/value
Adopting a temporality that positions the future as an imagined interpretative prolongation of the present and the past (Gioia et al., 2002), this study suggests that the combination of self-contextualized imagining process and distributed modality might be inspiring for exploring more inductive and enriched organizational sensemaking through, on the one hand, the reduction of cognitive constraints implicitly imposed by organizational and temporal contexts and, on the other hand, the incitation of interactions in and between individual and collective sensemaking processes.
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Lixiang Li, Hongxia Ge and Rongjun Cheng
This paper aims to put forward an extended lattice hydrodynamic model, explore its effects on alleviating traffic congestion and provide theoretical basis for traffic management…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to put forward an extended lattice hydrodynamic model, explore its effects on alleviating traffic congestion and provide theoretical basis for traffic management departments and traffic engineering implementation departments.
Design/methodology/approach
The control method is applied to study the stability of the new model. Through nonlinear analysis, the mKdV equation representing kink-antikink soliton is acquired.
Findings
The predictive effect and the control signal can enhance the traffic flow stability and reduce the energy consumption.
Originality/value
The predictive effect and feedback control are first considered in lattice hydrodynamic model simultaneously. Numerical simulations demonstrate that these two factors can enhance the traffic flow stability.
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Xinyue Qi, Rongjun Cheng and Hongxia Ge
This study aims to consider the influence of density difference integral and relative flow difference on traffic flow, a novel two-lane lattice hydrodynamic model is proposed. The…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to consider the influence of density difference integral and relative flow difference on traffic flow, a novel two-lane lattice hydrodynamic model is proposed. The stability criterion for the new model is obtained through the linear analysis method.
Design/methodology/approach
The modified Korteweg de Vries (KdV) (mKdV) equation is derived to describe the characteristic of traffic jams near the critical point. Numerical simulations are carried out to explore how density difference integral and relative flow difference influence traffic stability. Numerical and analytical results demonstrate that traffic congestions can be effectively relieved considering density difference integral and relative flow difference.
Findings
The traffic congestions can be effectively relieved considering density difference integral and relative flow difference.
Originality/value
Novel two-lane lattice hydrodynamic model is presented considering density difference integral and relative flow difference. Applying the linear stability theory, the new model’s linear stability is obtained. Through nonlinear analysis, the mKdV equation is derived. Numerical results demonstrate that the traffic flow stability can be efficiently improved by the effect of density difference integral and relative flow difference.
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Qingying Wang, Rongjun Cheng and Hongxia Ge
The purpose of this paper is to explore how curved road and lane-changing rates affect the stability of traffic flow.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how curved road and lane-changing rates affect the stability of traffic flow.
Design/methodology/approach
An extended two-lane lattice hydrodynamic model on a curved road accounting for the empirical lane-changing rate is presented. The linear analysis of the new model is discussed, the stability condition and the neutral stability condition are obtained. Also, the mKdV equation and its solution are proposed through nonlinear analysis, which discusses the stability of the extended model in the unstable region. Furthermore, the results of theoretical analysis are verified by numerical simulation.
Findings
The empirical lane-changing rate on a curved road is an important factor, which can alleviate traffic congestion.
Research limitations/implications
This paper does not take into account the factors such as slope, the drivers’ characters and so on in the actual traffic, which will have more or less influence on the stability of traffic flow, so there is still a certain gap with the real traffic environment.
Originality/value
The curved road and empirical lane-changing rate are researched simultaneously in a two-lane lattice hydrodynamic models in this paper. The improved model can better reflect the actual traffic, which can also provide a theoretical reference for the actual traffic governance.
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Huizhe Li, Hongxia Ge and Rongjun Cheng
The goal of this study is to explore the effect of two-sided lateral gap with uncertain velocity on the stability of traffic flow on a curved road.
Abstract
Purpose
The goal of this study is to explore the effect of two-sided lateral gap with uncertain velocity on the stability of traffic flow on a curved road.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, an extended car-following model considering the effect of two-sided lateral gap with uncertain velocity on a curved road is proposed. The effects of different lateral positions and radius of different sizes can be considered as control signals. The stability condition of the new model is obtained by the control theory. The numerical simulations are carried out to analyze how the control signal and lateral positions and radius of curved road affect traffic flow stability. The results show that driving between two lanes and inaccurate speed estimates both have a negative effect on traffic flow stability, and the stability also decreases with the increase in the radius of curved road.
Findings
(1) Simulation of influencing factors of vehicle lateral position indicates that if the driver drives between two lanes, it would have a negative impact on traffic flow. (2) When the speed is fixed, the traffic flow becomes more and more unstable with the increase in the radius of the curve. (3) The stability of traffic flow will be affected when the driver estimates the speed of the vehicle ahead. Therefore, whether it is manual driving or future intelligent vehicle driving, it is necessary to accurately judge the speed of the front vehicle.
Originality/value
There is little research on two-sided lateral gap with uncertain velocity for the stability of traffic flow on a curved road. The enhanced model constructed in this study can better reflect the real traffic, which can also give some theoretical reference for the development of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs).
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Ting Wang, Rongjun Cheng and Hongxia Ge
The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of the mixed traffic flow, self-stabilization effect and the lane changing behavior on traffic flow stability.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of the mixed traffic flow, self-stabilization effect and the lane changing behavior on traffic flow stability.
Design/methodology/approach
An extended two-lane lattice hydrodynamic model considering mixed traffic flow and self-stabilization effect is proposed in this paper. Through linear analysis, the stability conditions of the extended model are derived. Then, the nonlinear analysis of the model is carried out by using the perturbation theory, the modified Kortweg–de Vries equation of the density of the blocking area is derived and the kink–antikink solution about the density is obtained. Furthermore, the results of theoretical analysis are verified by numerical simulation.
Findings
The results of numerical simulation show that the increase of the proportion of vehicles with larger maximum speed or larger safe headway in the mix flow are not conducive to the stability of traffic flow, while the self-stabilization effect and lane changing behavior is positive to the alleviation of traffic congestion.
Research limitations/implications
This paper does not take into account the factors such as curve and slope in the actual road environment, which will have more or less influence on the stability of traffic flow, so there is still a certain gap with the real traffic environment.
Originality/value
The existing two-lane lattice hydrodynamic models are rarely discussed in the case of mixed traffic flow. The improved model proposed in this paper can better reflect the actual traffic, which can also provide a theoretical reference for the actual traffic governance.
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Hongxia Tong, Asadullah Khaskheli and Amna Masood
Given the evolving market integration, this study aims to explore the connectedness of 12 real estate investment trusts (REITs) during the COVID-19 period.
Abstract
Purpose
Given the evolving market integration, this study aims to explore the connectedness of 12 real estate investment trusts (REITs) during the COVID-19 period.
Design/methodology/approach
The connectedness of 12 REITs was examined by considering three sample periods: full period, COVID peak period and COVID recovery period by using the quantile vector autoregressive (VAR) approach.
Findings
The findings ascertain that REIT markets are sensitive to COVID, revealing significant connectedness during each sample period. The USA and The Netherlands are the major shock transmitters; thus, these countries are relatively better options for the predictive behavior of the rest of the REIT markets. In contrast, Hong Kong and Japan are the least favorable REIT markets with higher shock-receiving potential.
Research limitations/implications
The study recommends implications for real estate industry agents and investors to evaluate and anticipate the direction of return connectedness at each phase of the pandemic, such that they can incorporate those global REITs less vulnerable to unplanned crises. Apart from these implications, the study is limited to the global REIT markets and only focused on the period of COVID-19, excluding the concept of other financial and health crises.
Originality/value
This study uses a novel approach of the quantile-based VAR to determine the connectedness among REITs. Furthermore, the present work is a pioneer study because it is targeting different time periods of the pandemic. Additionally, the outcomes of the study are valuable for investors, policymakers and portfolio managers to formulate future development strategies and consolidate REITs during the period of crisis.
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Hongxia Liu and Michelle W.L. Fong
This paper aims to contribute to research studies on boards of directors in the Chinese transition economy that are by far, few and limited.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to contribute to research studies on boards of directors in the Chinese transition economy that are by far, few and limited.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses basic data compilation method to investigate the board characteristics of large and medium Chinese companies listed on the Shenzhen and Shanghai Stock Exchange between 2004 and 2006. Sample data on these companies were obtained from the China Center for Economic Research (CCER) database that contains information on at least 1,350 listed companies in a particular year. Companies with missing data or incomplete information on board attributes are not included in the sample in this paper. Studies of relationships between board characteristics and firm performance in the Chinese context are compared to those studies in the West for determining whether there is a conclusive empirical outcome.
Findings
This investigation found some significant differences in board characteristics between the Chinese and Western contexts, such as non‐compliance with legal requirement, equity‐based compensation structure for board members, and lag in the establishment of Chinese board committees as compared to their counterparts in developed Western countries. In addition, the literature review reveals that studies of relationships between board characteristics and firm performance from the small community of scholars investigating the Chinese context produce inconclusive results similar to those studies of the West.
Practical implications
The empirical findings and literature review suggest that the prototype of an effective board may vary from one industry to another, or even from one company to another, and perhaps across time for the same company.
Originality/value
This contingency approach to board impact on firm performance may be relevant to companies operating in the Chinese transition economy, where factors are evolving continuously at the micro, macro, and international levels.