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2018 | Book

Advances in Human Factors, Business Management and Leadership

Proceedings of the AHFE 2017 International Conferences on Human Factors in Management and Leadership, and Business Management and Society, July 17−21, 2017, The Westin Bonaventure Hotel, Los Angeles, California, USA

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About this book

This book reports on practical approaches for facilitating the process of achieving excellence in the management and leadership of organizational resources. It shows how the principles of creating shared value can be applied to ensure faster learning, training, business development, and social renewal. In particular, the book presents novel methods and tools for tackling the complexity of management and learning in both business organizations and society. It covers ontologies, intelligent management systems, methods for creating knowledge and value added. It gives novel insights into time management and operations optimization, as well as advanced methods for evaluating customers’ satisfaction and conscious experience. Based on two conferences, the AHFE 2017 International Conference on Human Factors, Business Management and Society and the AHFE 2017 International Conference on Human Factors in Management and Leadership, held on July 17-21, 2017, in Los Angeles, California, USA, the book provides both researchers and professionals with new tools and inspiring ideas for achieving excellence in various business activities.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter

Business Development and Applications

Frontmatter
Working Life Within a Hybrid World – How Digital Transformation and Agile Structures Affect Human Functions and Increase Quality of Work and Business Performance

Digitization is dramatically changing economy and society. With current developments in the field of e.g. artificial intelligence and machine learning, big data and data analytics, cloud computing, conversational systems and adaptive architectures, robotics as well as virtual and augmented reality work life is facing huge challenges. On the other side the networking over the internet, more effective handling and sharing of data and new forms of human-machine-collaboration offer a great variety of potentials for designing even more flexible business processes, agile working structures and even smarter working setups and environments. Technique, organizational aspects and humans in the future are going to be within a new triad. Instead of taking the role of a “dominator” or “captain” as in former times, humans now more and more have to fulfill tasks as a “conductor”. The role of building up and interacting within new hybrid networks and holistic systems is gaining higher importance – leading to massive changes with reference to all dimensions of work. Total new requirements concerning work objectives, working tasks, work equipment, workspace as well as new challenges for organization, qualification, employment and leadership arise. Work is becoming more and more digitally and going to look quite different than expected today. Combining the physical and virtual world is representing the key success factor for future work. The study examines how digitization is going to penetrate working life further on displaying central measures and selected solutions for resulting organizational structures, human qualification needs and optimized working conditions in a hybrid world.

Wilhelm Bauer, Sebastian Schlund, Christian Vocke
Airbnb in China: The Impact of Sharing Economy on Chinese Tourism

Today an increasing number of young people are likely to book homestay hotels instead of traditional hotels. We find Airbnb is one of the most popular websites in China to reserve homestays for young people traveling aboard. Since the company’s headquarters is based in San Francisco, we find it is not well-known in China and little research has been done about it in China. Therefore, this paper addresses how Airbnb can influence Chinese tourism. We use mixed methods in this paper, including surveys, interviews and ethnography studies. We conduct semi-structured interviews to travelers and Airbnb employees. We carry out surveys to participants. The surveys have been posted both on the internet and in print. Ethnography studies have been conducted in order to get detailed information about customers’ usage of the website. We find that 59.05% of the participants prefer to live in starred hotels, and 49.52% of the participants prefer to stay in budget hotels and 18.1% of the participants used Airbnb. We find out that interviewees believe that the emerging of sharing economy like Airbnb does influence or will impact the traditional hotel industry. Some participants expressed their preferences about the website design and the work environment of Airbnb. Our ethnography studies also investigated four Airbnb customers’ travel experiences about using Airbnb website. They reported that Airbnb not only offered them diverse rooms, but also offered them good accommodation, lots of travel information and help from landlords. However, trust issue still is a big concern between customers and Airbnb.

Yumeng Bie, Jieyu Wang, Jingyu Wang
The Value Analysis in the Investment Evaluation of Innovative Productions

The work objective is a study of methodological issues for evaluating innovation industries with the value analysis based on the modification of the economic value added indicator obtained by using the method of hierarchy analysis. It is shown that for the analysis of industrial enterprises’ investment appeal while calculating of their value as a measure of forecasted cash flows, from the point of view of the authors, it is expedient to use an indicator of economic value added (EVA), proposed by B. Stewart. Analyzing the structure of the expression for the value of the existing innovative enterprise with the economic value added indicator, the authors show that, in practice, it is expedient to apply its modification with the introduction into the calculated model the evaluation scaled constants that determine the significance of the economic value added components.

Vasilyi Sychev, Galina Sycheva, Yulia Salnikova
Value Network Development in Industry 4.0 Environment

We are moving towards fourth industrial revolution through the development of digitalization. Globalization, shortage on resource, change on purchase behavior, urbanization e.g. influence on new competitive situation in every industry segment. This causes as well remarkable change pressures and opportunities for most of the industry. The development of competitiveness of the region as attractive and maintaining it continuously requires co-operation between actors and building up a Roadmap, how to do continuously and systematically small development steps towards the vision and start development activities according that. This article introduces created development process and framework for regional Roadmap-development for various industry segments in Industry 4.0 environment. It also analyses how the increase of digitalization influences on work environment. The most important is how the mindset of people and behavioral culture is possible to change. The introduced industry sectors are manufacturing industry and circular economy.

Heikki Ruohomaa, Jussi Kantola, Vesa Salminen
Ontology Based Service Environment Supports Successful Aging

The aging individuals living independently at home need new kinds of services. Digitalization of services and the wellbeing data gathered from the individual creates an opportunity for optimized and punctual services. It is important to pilot the new technology solutions at actual home and well-being environments to get certainty of usability, flexibility and accessibility of the digitalized services for citizens and nurses. The implementation of digitalization has to happen according to ethical rules and take the values and individual capabilities into account. The data gathered through digital equipment can be used in optimizing service processes. However, there is missing generic data as common ontology of service process and semantic architecture to use the gathered data for service optimization. In the article is introduced what type of ontology based semantic architecture could be used in social and health care and how geriatric data should be integrated in caring elderly people.

Vesa Salminen, Päivi Sanerma, Seppo Niittymäki, Patrik Eklund
Management Style, Focus and Purpose in Development of LEAN in University Hospital

Today’s rapid turmoil in economy caused by globalization and changes in world, has forced, leaders and managers in public institutions as well as private organizations to adapt and change their organizations’ cultures with their own management systems and styles. Different situational management theories and approaches are scrutinized in this study. Literature review focuses on management styles. This paper investigates classic approaches, management boundary conditions and possibilities that these approaches can give to leaders and managers. The ontology for management style was created in this study, and gives the preliminary frame for university hospital leaders when inspecting possibility to move to Lean management. This article points out to future research needs.

Tero Reunanen, Riikka Maijala
Identification of Factors Predictive of Nurses’ Time Pressure, Workload and Job Satisfaction in Ghanaian Public Hospitals

The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors that constitute time pressure, mental stress and job satisfaction among Ghanaian nurses working in public hospitals. Factor analysis of the collated data showed that not all the standardized factors of time pressure, mental stress and job satisfaction could be used to predict nurses’ work in the Ghanaian public hospital work environment. Based on correlation analysis, it was found that by ameliorating the time pressure associated with the nursing work, nurses will experience improved relationship with both superiors and among themselves. It is concluded that by eliminating the time pressure, moderating the task pace and eliminating the emotional strain and mental stress associated with the nursing work, the mental stress associated with the nursing work will also be reduced. By implication, this understanding can be used in designing, convulsive and friendly nursing work environments in Ghanaian public hospitals.

Mohammed-Aminu Sanda, Elikplim Cudjoe
Service Recovery Model Based on the Fulfillment of the Value Promise

This research represents a quantitative correlational study to identify the relationship or degree of association that takes place when concepts of service recovery and degree of compliance, as related to the value proposition of an organization or company, in this case, restaurants in the city of Querétaro, México. During the study, these two variables will be measured and their links will be quantified, analyzed and established, and hypotheses derived from the theoretical framework will be proved. The main utility of correlational studies is to learn how a concept or a variable can behave in respect to behavior of other related variables. Particularly, we aim to understand the relationship between service recovery and value proposition to enable predictions and quantify the relations between both variables.

Mariana Alfaro
Avoiding Wow-Gaps Through Wow-Canvas in Business Development

When talking about business development, it is important to keep in mind that the purpose of developing should drive towards differentiation of the company superiorly from rivals. The Wow-factor affects to all stakeholders of the company. Therefore, Wow-factor should be defined clearly and utilized better in all company processes. Wow approach is the approach through distinctive linkages between human, business and management aspects. Approach may emerge new, unique and motivating power to business development. This article introduces the model how to find the building blocks of Wow and how to track Wow through the company processes. The model is developed by combining the business model canvas, Wow-gap model and the theory of the Wow to a distinctive Wow-canvas. This article also deepens the knowledge of the use of the Wow-factor and the Wow-gap model in business development. Future research needs and actions are addressed in the end of the article.

Marcus Penttinen, Tero Reunanen, Arndt Borgmeier
Finding the Wow-Factor to Enhance Business

In every company’s business, there should be something really unique that differentiates the company from others, superiorly. In order to enhance company’s business and profits, the Wow-factor needs to be found consciously, defined clearly and utilized better. To enhance business by using Wow-factors and its potential, the concept of Wow need to be understood. This article presents the importance of the Wow and how it is connected to company’s everyday business. This article also presents one method to find the company’s Wow-factor by a case study. Method shows how to give personnel the opportunity to tell their feelings and point-of-views of what is that great, unique and positive thing what the company is doing. Article also deepens the knowledge behind the Wow-factor and why business development should take the Wow-factor into account. Future research needs and actions are handled at the end of the article.

Marcus Penttinen, Tero Reunanen, Arndt Borgmeier
Relationships Matter: Directors and Revenue Performance in the Fortune 500 Network

Conventional wisdom states that relationships matter, thus interlocking directorships among corporations has spawned a vast amount of studies. Built on our previous research that discovered director interlocks are correlated with Fortune 500 ranking, this paper further explores the relationship of director interlocks and corporate revenue performance. Controlling for standard firm financial performance measures of GPM, S&P returns and number of employees, we look at various social network metrics from director interlocks, including degree, betweeness and closeness from the Fortune 500 network from 1996–2007. Here we employ a fixed effects, panel OLS model to analyze both if and how director relationships impact firm revenues. Our results indicate that director relationships are as important as traditional corporate measures and can almost double the explanatory power of Fortune 500 corporations’ revenue performance.

Mark Abdollahian, Zining Yang, John Thomas
Universities of the Future: Universities in Transition Under the Influence of Stakeholders’ Changing Requirements

Along with the changing expectations of the environment, higher education institutions are subject to modifications of management strategies. They have shifted from simply satisfying customers to a much higher goal – to creating value for stakeholders. Constant analysis of the changing needs of stakeholders can provide knowledge on how to modify the offer of the university as well as its pro-social activities. But in order to fully analyse the environment, institutions of this kind should also examine the changing group of their stakeholders. With the prevalence of social media and the increasing geographical range of prospective students, the groups of stakeholders who come from completely new environments are expanding. The degree of reaction of universities to these demands seems worth examining. The article is about how universities were being forced to reconsider their role in society and redefine their relations with stakeholders. The article was based on an analysis of the literature.

Marcin Geryk
A Co-evolute Approach to Analyze the Competencies of Sales Personnel of Banking Sector of Pakistan

The banking sector of Pakistan is playing a pivotal role in the economy of country. Over the last two decades, private banks have progressed rapidly. It resulted into highly competitive environment in the sector that raised the need of highly competitive human resources, especially sales personnel who play a very important role in the development of banks. The purpose of this research is to use The Evolute system as a tool to analyze competencies and devising training and developing of employees. The current competency levels and creative tension levels of the sample group were analyzed and individual and group level pictures of their competencies was provided. In this paper, Astroid 1.0 tool is chosen from The Evolute platform for the analysis of competencies of sales personnel. This study resulted into practical framework to enhance the competencies of sales personnel. It makes valuable contribution into applying HRM practices that will lead banking sector to develop the competencies of their sales personnel.

Faisal Imran, Jussi Kantola
Encompassing the Work-Life Balance into Early Career Decision-Making of Future Employees Through the Analytic Hierarchy Process

The paper presents the results of ranking of the significance of quality of life determinants by University students that are starting professional activities. Research methodology: literature review; elaboration of an AHP decision-making model; two-stage expert selection; significance rankings by experts and a graphical and descriptive presentation of obtained results. Research sample: 14 experts out of almost 200 University students. Research outcome: a decision-making model that aims at maximizing the life satisfaction of future employees as a function of their individual assessments of significance of particular determinants of quality of life. Research implications: a more accurate adaptation to trends on the labor market and creation of new business models. Research limitation: narrowing the group of experts to University students. Value added of the research: better-motivated employees with a satisfactory level of work-life balance will contribute to an increase of societal satisfaction level.

Remigiusz Gawlik
Safety Culture and Collective Commitment in Organizational Context

In nuclear power plants and process industry safety is the number one priority over profitability and productivity. In such high-risk environments where individuals work independently their decisions can lead to dangerous situations to coworkers, organizations or even to society. In many cases, a loose commitment to occupational role causes individual to perceive safety culture as something too much detailed which makes them to lose focus on what is important regarding the safety culture. In our view, this is a problem for collective safety culture to raise to a higher level. To understand organizations collective safety culture and safety consciousness it is important to analyze employees individually to see what are their internal feelings, understanding and aims. This paper presents a joint analysis of organization’s safety culture and commitment towards their organization by utilizing also Company Democracy Model (CDM).

Jarno Einolander, Jussi Kantola, Hannu Vanharanta, Evangelos Markopoulos
On the Basis of the Sales Engineering Competences and Education

Sales engineers (SE) sell technical products and services to companies. They consult the professional customer and suggest technically and economically feasible solutions with maximum utility for both the customer and their own company. They combine technical knowledge with commercial skills. They are best trained to understand the requirements of the industry. Nowadays there is no clear definition of the profession of a sales engineer. Sales engineering is a profession which includes at least as much skills than knowledge. This unique profession is a mixture of technical, sales, business, management and soft skills, internationalization included. Therefore traditional division between engineering, economics, management and other education does not seem to fit for sales engineering education and its needs. Since there is no definition for SE curricula, the state-of-the-art of the education has never been studied before. This article reveals the need for the sales engineers, introduces methods for the definition of the sales engineering education, and presents a state-of-the-art education from European perspective. Study proposes boundary limits for sales engineering education and gives a basic definition for sales engineers´ education. Future research actions and needs are addressed at the end of the article.

Tero Reunanen, Thomas Röhr, Timo Holopainen, Ludger Schneider-Störmann, Jobst Görne
Design Thinking: User-Centered Multidisciplinary Methodology Based on People and Innovation

The Design for today’s complex world requires a cross-disciplinary and multidisciplinary approach involving several domains of science and learning. Sharing knowledge has aroused a great deal of interest in Design Thinking that has been applied in many organizations and institutions in attempt to acquire creative thinking and a wide-ranged vision broader problem-solving for user-centered innovation. Adopted by individuals, public and private companies, geared towards entrepreneurial initiative, management, use of technology, systems and engineering in the corporate world, its influence has also extended to curricula of university programs. A brief analysis of DT’s indexes showed an increase of 50 to 100% in the search for the term Design Thinking, and indicates that the interest in this methodological tool has intensified in recent years, reaching a considerable growth with expressive levels. This article identifies the bias of the usage application and verifies if DT is a trend, or an asset in addition to a methodology and seeks to determine its real applicability by designers and other areas and segments where strategic human factors are essential.

Ekaterina Emmanuil Inglesis Barcellos, Galdenoro Botura Jr.
History of Social Responsibility in Mexico: A Review of the Literature

This article discusses the history of the Social Responsibility (SR) in Mexico are presented. When words social responsibility are used, usually refer to donations and philanthropy. Some engineers think the environment is, in their ecological responsibility. It is believed that the company in addition to fulfilling its legal obligations, is required to “return to society” a certain annual amount, thinking thus becomes the RS in a “social quota”. Late last century, the third sector or nonprofit sector in Mexico had a major expansion to increase the generation of new laws to strengthen civil society, supporting with funding to private welfare organizations to acquire legally, and either a civil partnership or private assistance institution. For the realization of this work was carried out a literature review to find a relationship between the theoretical and the empirical study of the subject.

Juan Ramon Pérez-Morales, Alfonso Aldape-Alamillo, Rosa María Reyes-Martínez, Humberto Hijar-Rivera, Velia H. Castillo-Pérez
Technological Capability of the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Manufacturing Sector

The purpose of this research is to analyze the technological capability that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) currently have in the electronics sector. For this purpose, theories and models for the measurement of technological capabilities are presented. This is a descriptive and correlational research; the methodology consists in carrying out semi-structured interview with managers of large companies, as well as questionnaires to entrepreneurs and/or managers of SMEs subject to study. To know the level of technological capability, identifying the main indicators that affect its competitiveness, with the aim of making the results known to nongovernmental organizations, to make better decisions when proposing new strategies and to support SMEs manufacturing sector in its competitiveness increase.

Maria Marcela Solis-Quinteros, Luis Alfredo Avila-Lopez, Teresa Carrillo-Gutierrez, Karina Cecilia Arredondo-Soto

Tools and Methods

Frontmatter
Strategic Port Human Resource Talent Acquisition and Training: Challenges and Opportunities

Strategic human resource management provides a robust approach to building a foundation for strategic advantage by creating an effective organizational port structure and design, proposition, systems thinking, culture, workforce value, and an appropriate communication strategy. Effective human resource asset management brings the skill, talent, and productivity to the port organizations. The looming challenges and opportunities facing the next generation of public port and private marine terminal management professionals are unprecedented. The main contribution of this study is investigating a talent acquisition challenges and required professional training to provide a guidance for aligning strategic human resource asset management with the strategic and long-term goals of the port operation and management. While the need for professional training through a higher education degree program focused on the needs of the industry has never been so acute, the port managers can best leverage their human capital by focusing on the potential opportunity and solutions.

Mahdi Safa, Kelly Weeks, Rolf Stromberg, Abdullah Al Azam
The Trust of the Information from Employer Rating Platforms

Employer rating platforms are an important platform for potential candidates to collect and provide information about employer. The research investigates the reason to use employer rating platforms by individuals. The focus is on the factor trust for employment rating platforms Trust is important for the exchange of information and use of employer rating platforms. This paper evaluates the factor of trust for the use of employment rating platforms. The analysis of empirical data obtained in survey has been processed with statistical analysis. The research has been done by survey with 514 participants who are living in Germany. The research provide the result that the use of employer rating platforms depends on demographic factors and there is a weak tendency that people trust employer rating platforms and they are aware that they can be manipulated with the information at employer rating platforms.

Tom Sander, Biruta Sloka, Henrijs Kalkis
Determinants of Business Overdraft Accessibility Within Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in the South African Construction Industry: A Case of Gauteng Province

Small and medium construction enterprises (SMEs) are an important vehicle to drive the economic growth globally. However, this enterprise sector have been constrained by different factors that stifle there full participation in the mainstream economy specially finance accessibility. There is paucity of research to verify the determinants that predict business overdraft accessibility from financial banks in South Africa. The data was obtained using questionnaire survey. 179 small and medium contractors responded from conveniently sampled respondents in Gauteng province in South Africa. The data was analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22. The study found that the dependant variable i.e. business overdraft was only predicted with locality of the business. However, the other independent variables modelled with business overdraft i.e. gender, age group, current position, type of organization ownership, tax number and collateral were not good predictors of the business overdraft accessibility. The finding informs financial institutions not to force clients to submit collateral before awarding credit to the SMEs. The suggested model that was tested attained the Hosmer and Lemeshow Test goodness of fit. Hence, the results were credible. However, a further study is proposed for the entire country as the researchers acknowledge limitation on the locality of study. This will enable the researchers to generalize the findings.

Olanrewaju Abdul Balogun, Nazzem Ansary
Econometric Modeling of Time Series Bid-Ask (Spread) for a Sample of Chilean Companies

The financial literature associated with capital markets, provide a significant relationship between bid-ask and the degree of disclosure given by companies to the capital market and the bid-ask measured by the spread, this has become accepted a measure of information asymmetries. This research is concerned with the behavior of the stock intraday spread and the factors that can affect it. To carry out the study an empirical analysis of a Chilean companies representing 38% of the total market capitalization of the IPSA is used. The results provide that only the factors, quantity supplied and the broker involved in it, are relevant in explaining the bid-ask (spread).

Hanns de la Fuente-Mella, Ricardo Campos-Espinoza, Gonzalo Farías
Motivational Factors for Users’ Reposting Behavior in Different Mobile UGC Online Communities

With the popularity of mobile user-generated-content (UGC) online communities, it is important to explore why the same users behave differently in different UGC communities. This study was conducted to investigate motivational factors for users’ reposting behavior in two UGC communities with Chinese young adults. A field experiment was conducted, where users were required to interact with two high fidelity prototypes of mobile UGC community applications. The results indicated that interface usability, information credibility, information usefulness, affect and community reputation had both direct and indirect effects on users’ reposting behavior. In addition, several factors exerted differential effects for the two UGC communities. Information usefulness was important for higher reputation in the UGC community that was featured by its quality of content, while interface usability focused more on quality of interfaces. This study has important implications for the understanding of key factors that influence viral diffusion of online content through different UGC communities.

Xingyu Chen, Dandan Tian, Da Tao, Xingda Qu
E-service Adoption: The Three Q Model

Previous studies on information technology (IT) acceptance have focused on instrumental beliefs as the drivers of behavioral intention. The factors influence adoption decisions are perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness [1]. Wixom and Todd [2] integrated the user satisfaction and the technology acceptance literatures to theorize about and account for the influence of the information technology artifact on usage. In their research, information quality (IQ) and system quality (SysQ) were found to be precursors of information satisfaction and system satisfaction which in turn predict behavioral intention. Xu, Benbasat, and Cenfetelli [3] argued that service quality (SQ) is critical to the success of e-service and has to be added into Wixom and Todd’s [2] model. They assert that the adoption decisions have to factor into account of the three Qs: information quality, system quality, and service quality. This study takes a theory building approach to further develop the concepts appeared in adoption and IS success research. Xu et al.’s [3] model does not take into account the affective aspect of IT usage which found to be crucial to Web-based adoption decisions. We then proposed the 3Q model which contains the information quality, system quality, service quality, instrumental beliefs (i.e. ease of use and usefulness), affective factors (i.e., enjoyment and cognitive absorption), and flow. The 3Q model builds upon the current research efforts and advances the theories by including both cognitive and affective aspects of human judgment; by doing so, we advance the knowledge of adoption in Web context; therefore the theories can be continuously developed and refined along with the development of IT artifacts that are used in consumer contexts. Online surveys were conducted to test the 3Q model. The results with Partial least squares (PLS) analysis show the structural relationships with the 3Q model. Managerial implications were discussed.

Margaret Meiling Luo
Measurement of Organizational Happiness

Personal well-being studies have reported a strong positive relationship between happiness and productivity, determining the need of the Human Resource (HR) function to regularly monitor and maintain employee happiness and satisfaction. However, lack of scientific precision in defining the term ‘happiness’ and inconsistency in its measurement have made this research area more challenging. The study proposes an automated detection technique that uses Natural Language Processing (NLP), to offer the HR function an easy means of implementing a technique that enables constant monitoring of happiness levels, and leverages the data into a tool for evaluating the effectiveness of programs, policies, and practices. A case study is presented to demonstrate the framework’s effectiveness.

Eyal Eckhaus
Human Factor Based Conceptual Framework for Construction Business Marketing

The absence of human related factors in extant construction marketing frameworks appears to have limited their applicability to construction marketing management. This paper identifies and examines human related factors relevant to construction marketing to shows why they are critical success factors for marketing in construction. This paper seeks to bridge the human factor gaps in extant construction marketing frameworks by merging human related factors which are marketing acceptance and behaviour toward marketing to existing frameworks which are predominantly strategic management factors as a compliment. The paper adopts a descriptive research design which is supplemented with literature review as the method to identify and summarize the factors to show the gaps in existing knowledge on the subject. It was found that the resultant framework is a conglomerate of factors that contribute to existing frameworks to improve upon the gaps inherent in construction marketing. This amalgamated framework is adequate in addressing challenges with existing construction marketing frameworks. Construction marketing researchers will find this framework useful in examining human factor related aspects of construction marketing.

Jonas Yankah, Clinton Aigbavboa, Wellington Thwala
Measuring New Product Development Project Success in Vietnamese Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

New product development (NPD) is crucial for organizations to ensure their market positioning. The purpose of this study is to examine the measurement of NPD project success in Vietnamese manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). A total of 795 questionnaires were sent to manufacturing SMEs in Hanoi, with 340 usable responses received yielding a response rate of 42.77%. Using SPSS (v.24) software to analyze the data, the findings indicated that three dimensions: subjective customer acceptance, objective customer acceptance and technical success had a significant impact on the overall NPD project success measurement. Financial performance did not have a significant impact on the overall NPD project success measurement. The study findings enhance our understanding about the key dimensions of the overall NPD project success measurement in Vietnamese organizations. Vietnamese business managers may use the results to improve NPD project success in their organizations by formulating better policies supporting both financial and non-financial innovation success.

Nga Hoang Thanh Dang, Adela J. McMurray, Xueli Huang

Leadership and Skill Development

Frontmatter
Mind Steering Leadership Game

We report on a Game based learning system, in which players can freely explore consequential judgment and dynamic decision making tasks based on an inquiry learning paradigm. The simplified dynamic game model integrates and balances several game components allowing players reading and steering minds of in-game characters, and subsequently influencing game stories. We implemented parts of a leadership competency framework allowing players discovering and influencing key stakeholders in order to influence key outcomes.

Johan de Heer, Rafal Hrynkiewicz, Thomas de Groot, Edward Faber
Enhancing Managers’ Leadership Capabilities with a Leadership Process Reference Model

Geographically dispersed integrated project teams collaborating in virtual environments face many challenges in the successful completion of projects, particularly when the project teams are non-homogenous. Model-based process improvement provides a viable way for organizations to improve the capability of software development teams, including the effectiveness of leaders in charge of integrated teams operating in virtual environments. Evolving a Process Reference Model (PRM) covering this activity has therefore been the subject of an on-going research project at Griffith University. The outcomes of this project may prove useful as a means to improving leadership capability, particularly in relation to complex, multidisciplinary teamed projects conducted in virtual environments. This paper introduces the nature and scope of the Process Reference Model and presents the preliminary findings of the validation phase of the PRM development.

David Tuffley
Motivation and Work: A Survey of the Motivational Aspects in Industries

Several generations work together in the workplace today, with very different desires, qualifications and experiences. In this scenario, we must increasingly question how to motivate the employees and how to conduct them in order to align their strengths with the company’s strategic objectives. The objective of this research was to identify the motivational aspects of the staff, from the point of view of some companies. The survey developed through an electronic questionnaire applied on responsible for Human Resources of 65 industries of Paraíba Valley. The discovered aspects related to the existing and best-known motivational theories, in such a way that it was possible to understand the tendency and the convergence of the companies’ motivational thinking to the aspect: recognition of work. It has founded that even today, limited attention given to subjective and intrinsic needs, such as recognition of work, whereas there is emphasis mainly on basic and extrinsic aspects as salary, safety and relative stability. These results, associated with new theoretical studies such as Strengths Based-Development Theory, suggest the need to rethink the current HR management, in a way that is actually possible to offer employees what they expect to grow personally and professionally in subjective levels, internal, in other words, to fulfill the need for self-realization.

Maria Auxiliadora Motta Barreto, Sarah Salim Vasconcelos, Eduardo Ferro dos Santos
Taking a Holistic Approach in Training and Educating Knowmads and Daredevils of the 21st Century

Our world is changing rapidly. What was mainstream is rapidly being replaced by a new socio-economic order which renders our traditional teaching and learning models outdated and even obsolete. The “Millennial Generation”, who has been exposed to technology and innovation from an early age, has now started higher education programmes at different Universities. Research papers suggest that the Millennial Generation present new characteristics to previous generations, which implies that for this new generation requirements and expectations of the learning environment are different [1–4]. We believe that applying a holistic approach to training and educating in higher education with a strong emphasis on the above mentioned topics may assist universities and academic staff in adapting to the demands of a new generation. In this paper we explore what the impact is of a holistic learning model on the millennial generation.

Saskia Harkema, Florentin Popescu
University Leaders Responsibilities in Carrying New Programs into Practice

Responsible leadership is a topic that is still under research. The complexity of the issue requires deeper involvement of researchers. Playing the role of a university leader imposes the duty of being responsible. Leaders should be responsible not only towards the stakeholders of the organization they manage, but also for the expected results of the actions predicted by the institution itself. It is noteworthy that there exists an empirically proved relationship between the quality of school leadership and student achievement. Building a professional community of teachers is the key to improve students’ achievements. Results of newly implemented programs should be duly assessed by universities. The conclusions should be then discussed and the feedback should influence future changes in programs. It means that every activity of a responsible university leader should be focused primarily on stakeholders’ needs. The article was based on an analysis of the literature.

Marcin Geryk

Leadership and Safety Management

Frontmatter
Modeling the Security Risk Management Process in Higher Education Institutions to Understand, Explain and Improve

Security in organizations is no longer just a matter of having locks and alarms; it is more like a question of different dimensions of rules, perceptions and actions. The focus must return to more interpersonal relationships in security issues instead of technically advanced equipment. In facing today’s challenges, the focus must be on more interpersonal relationships in security issues than on technically advanced equipment. This also applies to institutions of higher learning. Sixteen security risk managers from Swedish universities and university colleges were interviewed about the dimensions of rules, perceptions and what is actually carried out. The results show that the size of the higher education institution has no significance for the success of good security work. To improve the security risk management process, a modeling started inspired on three levels of culture. Finally this model could support a systematic approach to the security risk management process in higher education.

Per Gustafson
Applying Decision Analysis to Program Management and Leadership Issues at the U.S. Veterans Health Administration

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has long been a leader in developing and applying safe patient handling methods and equipment to reduce caregiver injuries and patient complications. Following a very successful initial program, the VHA faced the challenges of determining if additional efforts were needed and, if so, what form they should take, what it would cost, and the benefits to justify additional investment. By applying Decision Analysis, the VHA was able to create a detailed and compelling new program recommendation and justify the cost. The potential benefits are on the order of $2 billion per year, which constitute a 4% reduction in the approximately $50 billion annual expenditures at the VHA.

John Celona
Leadership and the Role of Information for Innovation, Security and Knowledge Based Management

Information management is an important factor for organizations - as important as people, capital, and technology. Research results presented in this article based on an exploratory study done by the authors in the frame of the research project at the South-West University “Neofit Rilski”, Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria in 2016 give reason to assume that creativity of managing processes is reflected not only in the ability of leaders to implement innovative situational approaches, but subordinate knowledge for the application of such approaches. We assume that the management of information becomes creative management only when it is based on relevant knowledge. The entire lifecycle of information - its existence, methods of collection, classification, storage, distribution, use, etc. contains the potential for creativity and innovation serves as a knowledge tool. We argue that leadership and knowledge based management are incompatible with the uncertainty of any kind.

Dobrinka Peicheva, Valentina Milenkova, Boris Manov, Denislav Peichev
Workplace Stress Assessment Among Managers of Textile Industries at Developing Countries: A Case Study from Pakistan

Textile Industry is the principal manufacturing Industry of Pakistan and has great standing in worldwide businesses. This sector provide employment to around 15 million people. Because of socio-technical complication of working frameworks alongside abnormal state of desires, workplace stress management has turned into a zone of profound concern where textile segment is no exemption. The goal of the present work is to assess the level of perceived stress amongst managers of textile sector organizations. In the study, Sheldon Cohen’s ‘10’ items PSS, ‘Perceived Stress Scale’ was used to collect data from managers belonging to different areas of textile organizations. Around 48% of the subjects were found under high level of stress. Organizations, therefore, are obliged to affluence the circumstances in an attempt to take utmost advantage of their human resource by confirming their well-being at all echelons.

Aftab Ahmad, Amjad Hussain, Mohammad Pervez Mughal, Nadeem Ahmad Mufti, M. Qaiser Saleem

Organization Development: Learning, Capacity Building and Social Innovation

Frontmatter
Effects of Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS) Standard: A Study on Core Competencies Building and Organizational Learning

Promoting the human factor of every organization is an important component that needs to be continuously up held to build employee competencies. Ultimately, this strengthens the competitiveness and sustainability of the operations within the organization. The aim of this paper is to investigate the effects of occupational health and safety management system (OHSAS 18001-2007) and learning in organizations to building its core competencies. This case study was carried out by the Evolute web based research tool in four factories between May and August 2015. Results indicated that, the acquisition of OHSAS 18001:2007 standard improves employee work output as well as increases knowledge capacity. Thus, an appreciable level of occupational health and safety management system, practice and environment has positive employee effect and that, organizational learning can be facilitated by top management commitment and leadership. However, the need for an increase in tacit knowledge disbursement among employees was realized needed.

Ebo Kwegyir-Afful, Emma Kwegyir-Afful, Richard Addo-Tenkorang, Jussi Kantola
Designing an FR-Soft-Skill Measurement System to Be Used in Adult- or Higher Education

The environment of the 21st century adult and tertiary education has changed at several places. The obstacles of information flow have disappeared and the educational environment has been virtualized. At the same time, the learning habits of students have also changed radically. These changes should be followed by teriary and adult education as well. By accepting these phenomena workers of tertiary and adult education have to face a lot of fresh challenges. It is very important for them to adjust to the trends mentioned above. Even those people who are not certified teachers need information, pedagogical and psychological knowledge to be able to find their way in the pedagogy of adult and tertiary education.

Mészáros Attila, Baróti Enikő
Communicative Skills and the Training of the Collaborative Operator

The management of communication in organizations depends on well-defined policies on the flow of information. However, communicational tools and procedures may not achieve the desired goals if there is no operator collaboration. The objective of this paper is to analyze the communicative behavior of operators of a Water Treatment Plant. Problems in the flow of information can result in abnormalities in operation and compromise product quality. The method that characterizes this research is the case study, and for the documentary analysis the communication records between the shifts of the operators were made available. Data were analyzed in a descriptive-interpretive manner with a predominantly qualitative approach. The results suggest that the organization has operators with different communicative behaviors, and reveals a great discrepancy in the quantity and quality of the information regarding the operational routine. They highlight the need for training in communicative skills and improvement of the event reporting tool.

Edmara dos Santos Drigo, Salvador Ávila Filho, Marcelo Embiruçu
Simulation and Surface Response Methodology for Simultaneous Optimization of Response Variables: Case Study in a Warehousing Process

The purpose of this paper is to present an applicable approach for simultaneous optimization of response variables in a warehouse process. Through simulation and the Response Surface Methodology, supported by information and communication technologies. The methodology applied to this problem considers the design of a simulation model, defined by discrete events to represent real-life activities in a warehouse process; this will allow to simulate different alternatives, in order to collect the results of the response variables. In addition, the Response Surface Methodology is applied to analyze the effects of the factors, and to define an empirical model able to appropriately describe the behavior of a multivariate system. A prediction model was established empirically through a case study; this scenario showed that the simultaneous optimization of the response variables is plausible.

Jorge González, Humberto Híjar, Jaime Sánchez-Leal, Daniel E. Hernández
Comparison of Laboral Tension Between Management and Operational Teams

This research corroborates that stress level showed by upper management groups, and lowest labor ranks are similar, and that there is not statistical difference. Karasek questionnaire was used to measure labor tension level and resources available to the worker to deal with different job situations, such as qualifications, skills, experience, team work, including the amount of autonomy and participation in the decision making as well as the control over the development of the employee’s activities. The study performed among 78 employees of several labor backgrounds and different professional skills, working in different local businesses. The levels studied were from operational up to management; sample divided in two segments according to hierarchical level within their workplace. 2-sample t test was used to compare the teams; results showed no significant statistical difference. The study offers to directives, elements to evaluate laboral stress level and effect on performance of employees.

Velia Castillo-Pèrez, Liliana Carrazco-Armendariz, Mario Alberto Corral-Chacón, Ramòn Federico Elizondo
Constructing a Career as a Determinant of Career Success in the Globalizing Society - on the Need for Pro-developmental and Proactive Behaviors of the Subject

In light of the pace of development of the global world, the acceleration of social life, the hard to predict direction of social change, the question arises about the quality of the transformations in the world of work and the process of constructing careers understood as investing in the career “portfolio”. A contemporary study of career requires us to take into account the multi-contextual occurring changes in the world of work, which create new requirement for the employees. Career development is a life-long process of a comprehensive nature. In the process of constructing a career emphasis is put on the subjects’ work on themselves, their permanent participation in life projects and multi-layered processes as well as the acquisition of experience and the capacity for self-awareness. This view is a background for thinking about career as a “property” of an individual, along with their individual career choices. This peculiar shift of an individual’s orientation from external conditions to internal conditions prompts us to consider career in connection with an individual seen as a pro-development and proactive subject, who possesses an individual career and a sense of success in its construction. Success in a career is the result of integration of two processes: career planning and career directing and management. In this sense, it is understood as the subject’s achievement of the objectives of their career. The distinguishing feature of proactive and pro-development planning, directing and management of a career is the awareness of being a causative agent that performs actions in a desired direction and influences the surrounding reality, thereby initiating changes. There is no doubt that active coping in a reality subject to permanent change requires people to adapt to the constantly changing context of creation of individual careers, and the new way of thinking about career means entering a path of permanent constructing of a career in the world of “boundaryless” careers.

Agnieszka Cybal-Michalska
Comprehensive Internationalization at HAN University of Applied Sciences: Articulated Institutional Commitment

The Netherlands Universities Foundation for International Cooperation (Nuffic) conducted a study [1, 2] into institutional policy on internationalization in 2014 in the Netherlands. This study included most Dutch Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Of these, 27 (59%) had a central-level plan, eight (17%) were developing such a plan, whilst seven (15%) did not have a separate central-level plan. Only four of the HEIs (9%) in the study did not have a central-level internationalization policy. It can be concluded that the penetration of internationalization in terms of policy is high in the Netherlands. This article is a part of an extensive research project developed at HAN University of Applied Sciences and traces the recent institutional developments within the context of its strategic planning and internationalization policies. In particular, this article deals with the “Articulated Institutional Commitment” dimension of the Comprehensive Internationalization CIGE model [3].

Florentin Popescu
Relationship Between Diversity Faultlines and Turnover Intentions of Nurses in Japan

The importance of promoting diversity in the nursing workforce is broadly acknowledged. Diversity in the nursing workforce is considered to be an essential element of success in the team medical-care and provides opportunities to deliver quality care which promotes patient satisfaction. Recently, diversity “diversity faultlines” has received worldwide attention. Lau and Murnighan [1] proposed the term diversity faultlines refer to hypothetical dividing lines that may split a group into subgroups based on one or more attributes. In the present study, we have demonstrated that the current status of faultlines in nurse organization and the relationship between faultlines and turnover intentions among Japanese nurses. This study was carried out in the university hospital in Japan. Through the informed consent procedure, questionnaires were distributed to 692 nurses and responses from 633 female nurses and 42 male nurses were analyzed. The results revealed that nurses in Japan perceived faultlines just like workers did. The fact suggests that it is needed to pay attention to reduce probability of faultlines formation for the success in diversity and retention management of nursing organization.

Takumi Iwaasa, Yasuyuki Yamada, Motoki Mizuno

Human Factors and Organizations

Frontmatter
Examining the Role of Self-leadership in an Integrated Model of Work Characteristics and Health-Related Outcomes

Modern working environments bring about new opportunities for personal growth but also increased risks for health impairment. In this setting, self-regulatory competence becomes a key skill. Building on an integrated model of work characteristics rooted in action regulation theory, we examine the role of self-leadership in the relationship of work characteristics with health-related indicators. N = 395 employees participated in a survey study. Work characteristics (learning requirements, work overload) and health-related outcomes (intrinsic work motivation, exhaustion tendency) were assessed by well-established measures. Self-leadership was assessed by a new measure. Statistical analyses confirmed main and moderating effects of self-leadership, although observed and predicted direction of the effects differed in some cases. The partly unexpected findings highlight the importance of considering the complex interplay of self-leadership with organizational context, individual factors, and conceptual clarity, among others.

Christian Seubert, Severin Hornung, Jürgen Glaser
Cultivating Networked Innovation: Tools and Techniques for Innovation in Maritime Clusters

This paper discusses how to cultivate networked innovation and development in maritime clusters and what tools and techniques are available. The nature of innovation and development is increasingly driven in open and dynamic networks of people with complementary competences. Traditional innovation and development models conceptually located within the confines of corporate walls do not suffice. Professionals from industry, academics, and civil servants need to find spaces and approaches to come together, a practice that we have termed “networked innovation”. This paper develops an approach to community-based innovation and development with participatory design principles. These principles are tested and analyzed with empirical data from an innovation and development workshop attended by international participants from the maritime cluster as part of a project funded by the Swedish Institute.

Johan Bolmsten, Momoko Kitada
Developing and Testing a Methodological Approach to Assess the QWL in Retail Banks

The banking sector has been facing several changes related to the characteristics of the respective activities and the technological advances. The increasing use of new technology has led to a reduction in the number of jobs, flattening of hierarchies and the assignment of multiple functions and intensification of workload for employees who remained in the companies. In this context, this work proposes a methodological approach to assess the quality of work life (QWL) in order to identify the factors that must be prioritized to improve the QWL in retail banks. A study was conducted in 33 Brazilian branches and a 55-item questionnaire was designed to obtain the respondents’ satisfaction degree with the QWL. Factor analysis was used to identify relationships between the dimensions and the items. One-way ANOVA was conducted to examine the difference in the QWL according to male and female employees and Quartile analysis was used to identify the most critical items. Professional growth and stability, work characteristics and remuneration policies are the factors that most influence on the QWL in banks. The bank activities are stressful to bank employees. Some differences between the QWL of male and female employees are perceived. The questionnaire is valid and reliable.

André Luís Policani Freitas, Mara Regina dos Santos Barcelos
Research on Enterprise Personnel Safety Awareness Based on Voronoi Diagram

Accident analysis aims to help understand the majority of production safety accidents, which can be caused by management loopholes. As an important factor affecting the safety management, employees safety awareness has been an important topic. In the enterprise’s production activities, enterprise management and employee safety awareness is closely related, where many accidents are due to poor management, such as staff group safety awareness. In order to improve safety management leadership, it is necessary to improve the employees safety awareness of typical and safety issues root causes, and based on the analysis of safety and complexity of environment. This study utilized Matlab software and Voronoi diagram simulation method to build personnel safety awareness model, by adjusting the safety rules, education, communication and other factors and their the impact of security management, thereby strengthening the leader of the enterprise safety management.

Peng-zhuo Xu, Li-juan Wu, Xuebo Chen, Qiubai Sun
Association Between Job Insecurity and Perceived Job Satisfaction and Life Satisfaction: A Comparison of Japanese and Korean Regular Office Workers

This study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between job insecurity, job satisfaction, and life satisfaction. We compared two groups of Korean workers (N = 400) and Japanese workers (N = 805). The survey was conducted by an on-line research institute registered monitor that sent questionnaire to workers. As a result, Job insecurity differ significantly by income in Japan, and it differ significantly by length of service in Korea. Multiple regression analyses find that job insecurity relates to job satisfaction in Japan meanwhile life satisfaction relates to job insecurity in both country Japan and Korea. Given these results and trends towards increasing frequency of insecure jobs, attention needs to be paid to the work well-being of job insecurity.

Myunghee Park, Takumi Iwaasa, Motoki Mizuno
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
Advances in Human Factors, Business Management and Leadership
Editors
Jussi Ilari Kantola
Tibor Barath
Salman Nazir
Copyright Year
2018
Electronic ISBN
978-3-319-60372-8
Print ISBN
978-3-319-60371-1
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60372-8

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