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Extreme temperature and humidity are major causes of errors in industrial precision and in dimensional measurement. In addition, hot and/or humid workplaces have adverse effects on humans which include reduced work time due to more frequent and longer breaks, reduced production rates, and increased error rates. Managers considering investments in air conditioning their manufacturing facilities must weigh many uncertain benefits against more certain costs. In this paper, we identify the benefits resulting from air conditioning manufacturing facilities and develop a Monte Carlo computer simulation model to evaluate investments in air conditioning. The model uses projected incremental cash flows to compute net present value and internal rate of return. Simulation is used to take into account the uncertainty associated with projecting the benefits of air conditioning, deal with possible correlation among some benefits of air conditioning, and sensitize decision makers to the range of possible outcomes. The proposed model is programmed into user‐friendly menu‐driven software which is tested on actual cases and is illustrated in this paper.

Change is normal in a healthy economy, and is intrinsically driven by continued acquisition of new knowledge – both scientific and otherwise (Drucker, 1985). Continued acceleration of knowledge attainment provides context for what is arguably the twenty-first century’s single most critical socioeconomic characteristic: rapid change and continuous disruption of the free market (Carlson and Wilmot, 2006). In this unstable landscape, even the most resilient and successful companies, despite applying sound business management principles, are not immune to gradual erosion of their positions of growth and dominance (Christensen and Raynor, 2003). The life span of the average organization is shrinking, and a mainstay of past generations – “lifetime employment” – is no longer the status quo (Carlson and Wilmot, 2006, pp. 34-35).

Employees who wish to become leaders in the twenty-first century must develop the capability to exploit opportunities generated by the external pace of change and turn those opportunities into growth avenues for their organizations. Employees who master this process, and adopt the behaviors that drive it, will find themselves highly desirable to employers and in possession of a new version of the lifetime employment guarantee that stems from continuously creating value for their organizations. By understanding the relationship between innovation and organizational growth, organizations can better cultivate and leverage the multifaceted role that intrapreneurs can play in understanding the market, delivering value to the customer and formulating strategy.

Many organizations do not have the human resource capacities needed to create new growth. Managers at most established organizations have focused by necessity mainly on current operations. Doing this allows them and their employees to develop operational skills for solving problems related primarily to quality and cost-control, or to process implementation – but not for starting new growth areas (Christensen and Raynor, 2003, p. 179). While managers’ current responsibilities are important, this workload draws them away from focusing on new opportunities for the sake of monitoring current ones. The problems encountered and skills required for intrapreneurial action are very different from those needed to conduct “business as usual” operations; however, the capacity and skillset is critical to develop so that the organization as a whole can experience long-term growth. Therefore, organizations need intrapreneurial leaders who have learned and practiced these skills through experience – leaders who demonstrate not only a deep knowledge of their market and how to create new customer value, but also a sustained commitment to turning that knowledge into a real source of growth for their organization. Fortunately, there is incentive for both organizations and employees to progress in this direction.

Organizations will benefit from the longevity provided by new growth if they make efforts to promote and foster intrapreneurial behavior by their employees and managers. Managers and employees, in turn, will benefit by becoming leaders who find themselves more and more employable, as organizations shift to hiring people who possess intrapreneurial skills. The significant value here is that innovation facilitated by intrapreneurs practically enhances organizational growth overall. The result is a future of growth and opportunity for both individuals and organizations alike, in which both the knowledge and the passion of intrapreneurial leadership light the way through the unfamiliar business environment of the twenty-first century.

The competence model of conflict communication suggests that individuals who use various conflict styles will be perceived differently in terms of appropriateness and effectiveness. A simulated organizational decision‐making task involving 100 randomly‐paired dyads consisting of business students suggested that an integrative conflict style is generally perceived as the most appropriate (in terms of being both a polite, prosocial strategy and an adaptive, situationally appropriate strategy) and most effective style. The dominating style tended to be perceived as inappropriate when used by others, but some participants judged themselves as more effective when they used dominating tactics along with integrating tactics. The obliging style was generally perceived as neutral, although some participants perceived themselves to be less effective and relationally appropriate when they employed obliging tactics. The avoiding style was generally perceived as ineffective and inappropriate. Finally, compromising was perceived as a relatively neutral style, although some participants judged their partners to be more effective and relationally appropriate if they compromised. Overall, these results and others provide general support for the competence model's predictions, while also suggesting some modifications and directions for future research.

Self‐determination is widely regarded as a core social work value and as central to work in adult protection. However, it is not unproblematic and raises difficult questions about how to balance empowerment and protection, or rights and risks. Inter‐agency procedures and the recent publication of policy guidance may reflect these difficult questions rather than assist practitioners and managers to resolve practice dilemmas they encounter.

Prevailing explanations of the US secession crisis trace the latter’s origins to slavery and slaveowners’ interests. The central problem with all such explanations, however, is that the Whig Party, the party of the largest slaveowners, opposed secession until the mid-1850s. Why did southern Whigs and their planter base resist secession through the political crisis over slavery only to fold by 1861? Drawing on archival electoral returns by precinct, party newspapers, speeches, and personal correspondence from antebellum Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, I argue for an institutional and sequential approach to the secession crisis that does not take social actors’ individual interests as given, but rather as naturalized and denaturalized in the back and forth struggle of political parties to advance competing solutions to the problem of preserving slavery.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the contextual and linguistic challenges that French business schools face when preparing for international accreditation and to shed light on the different ways in which experts facilitate these accreditation processes, particularly with respect to how they capitalize on their contextual and linguistic boundary-spanning competences.

The authors interviewed 12 key players at four business schools in France engaged in international accreditations and in three specific categories: senior management, tenured faculty and administrative staff. The interview-based case study design used semi-structured questions and an insider researcher approach to study an underexplored sector of analysis.

The findings suggest that French business schools have been particularly impacted by the colonizing effects of English as the mandatory language of the international accreditation bodies espousing a basically Anglophone higher education philosophy. Consequently, schools engage external experts for their contextual and linguistic boundary-spanning expertise to facilitate accreditation processes.

The authors contribute to language-sensitive research through a critical perspective on marginalization within French business schools due to the use of English as the mandatory lingua franca of international accreditation processes and due to the underlying higher-education philosophy from the Anglophone academic sphere within these processes. As a result, French business schools resort to external experts to mediate their knowledge and competency gaps.

In this viewpoint, the authors argue that the predominant method of analyzing conflict management focuses too heavily on the managerial interests in administrative efficiency and productivity rather than on the needs of individuals and organizations. The aim of this paper is to employ Weber's analysis of conflict systems, specifically the distinction between formal and substantive rationality, to support the authors’ view.

This is a viewpoint, where content is dependent on the author's opinion and interpretation.

Conflict management based on Weber's theories of formal and substantive rationality will benefit organizations and society by promoting a more positive perception of corporate behavior.

Future research could examine the relationship between organizational justice and the more global concepts of formality and rationality. Similarly, future research on justice may be expanded by through the notion and perception of legitimacy by members of the organization. How employees accept a system as fair and just has potential import for future justice research.

The combination of formal and substantive rationality offers a practical, and meaningful, way of dealing with conflict from a personal orientation as well as an organizational one. It orients conflict resolution toward people rather than productivity concerns. It further safeguards organizational interests by minimizing litigation, negative publicity, and other adverse effects of conflict.

Weber theorized that formal rationality requires organizations to develop clear, objective, and universal procedures in order to carry out administrative routines. Substantive rationality, in contrast, acknowledges that specific cases may demand particularized decision‐making focusing on individual cases. The paper draws on the procedural justice literature to show how these procedures can be implemented in a fair manner.