Seasonal businesses have different manpower needs at different times of the year and, to remain efficient, must match manpower availability with manpower need. Common approaches…
Abstract
Seasonal businesses have different manpower needs at different times of the year and, to remain efficient, must match manpower availability with manpower need. Common approaches are to maintain a stable workforce, allowing idle time/overtime during slow/busy periods; to maintain a basic workforce, augmenting it by temporary workers during busy periods; and to reduce workdays and pay during slow periods. Looks at novel ways in which some businesses are addressing the seasonal manpower problem.
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Offices usually operate five‐days‐a‐week from Monday to Friday, withemployees following the standard five‐day workweek. Unlike schedulingemployees in seven‐days‐a‐week or…
Abstract
Offices usually operate five‐days‐a‐week from Monday to Friday, with employees following the standard five‐day workweek. Unlike scheduling employees in seven‐days‐a‐week or round‐the‐clock operations, (e.g. hospitals and utilities), scheduling office employees seldomly presents problems – an office opens from 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, and employees go to the office from 9 to 5, Monday to Friday. While scheduling office employees is not seen as a problem, office operation might be improved using compressed workweeks, which call for fewer workdays per week, but usually a longer workday.
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Explains that the idea of the compressed work week is already a familiar one and much has been written on the subject in trade and academic publications. Presents an annotated…
Abstract
Explains that the idea of the compressed work week is already a familiar one and much has been written on the subject in trade and academic publications. Presents an annotated bibliography compiled from many years of research.
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Can you become more comfortable with your PC (and thus more productive) by playing with it? Probably—and, in any case, we all need a break now and then. Fun and games for the PC…
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Can you become more comfortable with your PC (and thus more productive) by playing with it? Probably—and, in any case, we all need a break now and then. Fun and games for the PC come in all varieties; the most widely reviewed programs require dozens of hours and your full concentration. Those programs aren't the topic of this column. The author writes about momentary pleasures or digital diversions: programs that can be fun on a fifteen‐minute break—although some of them, to be sure, can easily take up full days. If you have a VGA monitor and wonder where all those colors are, you'll find some answers here. If you want to sharpen your skills for a trip to Nevada—that's another kind of play, covered here as well. And if you've ever heard of the Game of Life (not the board game) or cellular automata and wonder what they're all about, read on: the answer is intriguing and can be incredibly time‐wasting. The usual notes from the literature follow, including this year's printer roundup and reviews of a remarkable number of top‐of‐the‐line 80386 computers.
Chiranjit Das and Sanjay Jharkharia
The purpose of this paper is to review the relevant literature on low carbon supply chain management (LCSCM) and classify it on contextual base. It also aims at identifying key…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review the relevant literature on low carbon supply chain management (LCSCM) and classify it on contextual base. It also aims at identifying key decision-making issues in LCSCM. This paper also highlights some of the future challenges and scope of research in this domain.
Design/methodology/approach
A content analysis is carried out by systematically collecting the literature from major academic sources over a period of 18 years (2000-2017), identifying structural dimensions and classifying it on contextual base.
Findings
There is an increasing trend of research on LCSCM, but this research is still in a nascent stage. All supply chain functions such as supplier selection, inventory planning, network design and logistic decisions have been redefined by integrating emissions-related issues.
Research limitations/implications
Limitation of this study is inherent in its unit of analysis. Only peer-reviewed journal articles published in English language have been considered in this study.
Practical implications
Findings of prior studies on low carbon inventory control, transportation planning, facility allocation, location selection and supply chain coordination have been highlighted in this study. This will help supply chain practitioners in decision making.
Originality/value
Though there are an increasing number of studies about carbon emission-related issues in supply chain management, the present literature lacks to provide a review of the overarching publications. This paper addresses this gap by providing a comprehensive review of literature on emissions-related issues in supply chain management.
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This article was based on the information from The 5th International Conference of Institutes and Libraries for Chinese Overseas Studies held in the University of British Columbia…
Abstract
Purpose
This article was based on the information from The 5th International Conference of Institutes and Libraries for Chinese Overseas Studies held in the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC, Canada in which the author was a presenter in session 4.2.9a of the Early life of Yuan Shikai and the formation of Yuan family. The paper aims to include comprehensive analysis and development of the history of Chinese migration. An annotated bibliography of suggested readings was offered to highlight the subject knowledge for further research in this area.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper includes comprehensive analysis and development of the history of Chinese migration and the experiences and family histories of overseas Chinese in Canada. An annotated bibliography of suggested readings was offered to highlight the subject knowledge for further research in this area.
Findings
The paper offers full description and comprehensive analysis of the history of Chinese migration and overseas Chinese studies in Canada. A bbibliography of suggested readings was offered for further research in this area.
Research limitations/implications
This research study has a strong subject focus on Chinese migration, overseas Chinese studies, and resource-sharing in the subject area. It is a specific field for research in Asian studies.
Practical implications
The result of this study will assist students, researchers, and the general public in the area of overseas Chinese studies and developing their interests in the social and historical value of Chinese migration history and resource-sharing in the area.
Originality/value
Very little research has been done in the area of Chinese migration and historical development. The paper would offer historians, sociologists, ethnologists, librarians, administrations, professors, as well as students in the fields of Asian history, anthropology, sociology, political science, geography, and other Asian-related interdisciplinary studies.
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Alice Stewardson, David J. Edwards, Eric Asamoah, Clinton Ohis Aigbavboa, Joseph H.K. Lai and Hatem El-Gohary
The UK government has elaborated the effect of late payment on the economy, with its impact on the construction sector being particularly pronounced. This paper aims to evaluate…
Abstract
Purpose
The UK government has elaborated the effect of late payment on the economy, with its impact on the construction sector being particularly pronounced. This paper aims to evaluate the late payment epidemic that persists within the construction industry, specifically analysing the effectiveness of government-led voluntary payment initiatives.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed philosophical lens is adopted that incorporates both pragmatism and post-positivism to examine the late payment phenomena. Couched within deductive reasoning and a case study strategy, a questionnaire survey was conducted to elicit responses from one-hundred construction professionals. Elucidating upon respondents’ perceptions of the UK’s late payment epidemic, a comparative analysis was undertaken of upstream (main contractor) and downstream (subcontractors/suppliers) contractors through Cronbach’s alpha, descriptive statistics, independence chi-square test, Kruskal–Wallis test and Mann–Whitney U test.
Findings
Emergent findings reveal that in practice, the monitoring and enforcement of government-led voluntary payment initiatives has been unprosperous with numerous contractors being forced to adopt indefensibly poor and punitive payment practices. Survey responses and extant literature substantiate and underscore the industry’s need to strengthen voluntary government-led payment initiatives. To create a responsible payment culture, any future code created should be mandatory and enforceable as a self-regulating approach has failed dismally. The work concludes with practical additional measures that could be introduced to create a responsible payment culture and promote ethical trading within the UK construction industry.
Originality/value
This paper constitutes a novel vignette of, and reflection upon, contemporary practice in this area of construction finance and serves to emphasise that very little has changes in the sector despite numerous UK government led reports and interventions.
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Michael A. Katovich and Sarah Rosenthal Vaughan
This chapter examines four episodes of The Simpsons, paying particular interest to one, The Days of Wine and D’oh’ses to connect the notion of pastiche with a symbolic…
Abstract
This chapter examines four episodes of The Simpsons, paying particular interest to one, The Days of Wine and D’oh’ses to connect the notion of pastiche with a symbolic interactionist view of media representation. We use The Simpsons and episodes pertinent to alcoholism and alcoholic imbibing to show that pastiche, which does not deny the resolute qualities of a serious social issue, nevertheless provides ironic and fantastic imagery to merge the serious and even tragic with the comedic. We use the four episodes to depict alcoholism as a disease but also as focal point for humor, making the contrast between The Days of Wine and D’oh’ses and its classic alcoholism-film counterpart, The Days of Wine and Roses, central to the tragic-comedic connection. We further draw upon Denzin’s notions of the comedic drunk and the alcoholism alibi to discuss how pastiche both inspires attention to alcoholism as a serious medical disease and disease of the self and to alcoholism as pivotal to comedic character development and the emergence of pragmatic and creative selves.