scholarly journals Dynamic Complexity: Senior Management Skills for the Safety of Present-Day Mining Companies

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-27
Author(s):  
Jorge Pedrals
Keyword(s):  
Operations Management ◽  
Corporate Responsibility ◽  
Work Teams ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Rock Blasting ◽  
Management Skills ◽  
Dynamic Complexity ◽  
The Board Of Directors ◽  
How People Learn ◽  
Mining Projects

Based on the author’s more than 35 years of experience in mining projects and operations’ management – including the expansion of CODELCO’s El Teniente with rock blasting challenges that threatened its continuity – this article introduces a new way of facing safety in today’s companies. The proposal divides the management process into four stages: i) Adequate context diagnostic; ii) How people perceive reality; iii) An action plan; and iv) A focused and goal-oriented organization, where the key is understanding how people learn and interpret the existing reality. Based on these variables, organizations are challenged with developing a capacity to integrate corporate Dynamic Complexity – with “uncertainties” as a key variable – with their environment, both local and global. The proposal includes the Inverted Pyramid of Corporate Responsibility, where the integration capacity to manage communication and outreach processes as part of the company’s continuous development lies in the Board of Directors and the Top Management, thereby allowing the company to correctly address the cultural, professional, and educational diversity of its work teams, facing an increasingly uncertain environment. 

Communities of Practice and Organizational Development for Ethics and Values

2011 ◽  
pp. 308-312
Author(s):  
Jim Grieves
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Operations Management ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Ethical Framework ◽  
Management Skills ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
Ethical Decisions ◽  
Global Corporations ◽  
Modern Business ◽  
Government Ethics

Ethics is the study of moral issues and choices. In organizations, such a study inevitably involves consideration of decision-making practices and interpersonal relationships. This in turn may require the investigation of complex combinations of influences which include personality characteristics, values, and moral principles as well as organizational mechanisms and the cultural climate that rewards and reinforces ethical or unethical behavioral practices. Organizations ignore ethical issues at their peril as we know from recent examples of: • past claims of brutality, poor wages, and 15-hour days in the Asian sweatshops run by Adidas, Nike and GAP, • banks that rate their customers by the size of their accounts, • the race for commercial control by private firms, universities, and charities claiming exclusive development rights over natural processes in the human body and patents sought by organizations, overwhelmingly from rich countries, on hundreds of thousands of animal and plant genes, including those in staple crops such as rice and wheat, • a lack of people management skills and supervision which was said to be responsible for the falsification of some important quality control data of an experimental mixed plutonium and uranium fuel at the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing scandal which led to cancelled orders and the resignation of its chief executive. We can all think of other examples that have hit the headlines to indicate that modern business management must recognize its responsibility to provide an ethical framework to guide action. This is the case in respect to human resources policy, health and safety policy, marketing policy, operations management, and environmental management. Ethical policymaking has become the watchword for both national and local government. Ethics is now taught in the police force in order to be proactive and combat discrimination. Concern is now expressed in all forms of decision making from genetic modification of foods and the patenting of human organs to the ethical decisions of pharmaceutical companies or the marketing dilemmas of global corporations. Despite these developments, we continue to find many examples of decision makers making bad ethical decisions and people who blow the whistle on many of those actions. On the positive side, we have seen how so called green organizations have proved that ethics and profit are not incompatible goals.

Keeping up with growing complexity of managing global operations

2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 390-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kasra Ferdows
Keyword(s):  
Operations Management ◽  
Production Networks ◽  
Global Production Networks ◽  
Sensitive Data ◽  
Dynamic Complexity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Levels Of Detail ◽  
Simplifying Assumptions ◽  
Number Of Publications ◽  
Global Operations

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to argue that operations management (OM) scholars ought to be among the thought leaders in research into the design and management of global production networks, but too few of them currently are. It suggests possible reasons for what is holding them back and calls for ideas for removing the obstacles. Design/methodology/approach This paper is a viewpoint. Nevertheless, it reports results of an indicative survey and uses example cases to illustrate and support its arguments. Findings The survey confirms the conclusions from previous studies that the number of publications specifically in leading OM journals focusing on management of global operations is small. Relatively high levels of detail and dynamic complexity and hysteresis of variables affecting the management of global operations are identified as the major hurdles. Applying analytical modeling, a popular research methodology among OM scholars, may be of limited use as it mandates making too many simplifying assumptions. Empirical research is also difficult because it is time consuming and requires access to often sensitive data and may require longitudinal studies. These are tough problems with no clear solutions. Originality/value The paper urges OM scholars to take on the broad and strategic problems in management of global operations. That would not only change how the OM discipline is viewed, but it would also benefit the firm, the economy, and the society.

Management and Leadership of Innovative Work Teams

2012 ◽  
pp. 290-315
Author(s):  
Santiago Gutiérrez
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Work Teams ◽  
Business Culture ◽  
Management Skills ◽  
Performance Practices ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Innovative Work ◽  
Basic Characteristics ◽  
Management And Leadership

This chapter focuses on the analysis of two factors; the characteristics of new work teams and the management and leadership tools required for these innovative teams, in order to generate greater effectiveness. Firstly, the authors present the differences between a work team and a group and the basic characteristics of innovative work teams (multifunctional teams, self-managing teams, virtual teams and open-innovation teams). Then, the authors focus on the management systems of these teams with the aim of generating greater effectiveness. High-performance practices and management skills are presented as tools for increasing motivation and commitment to the company and its business culture. Finally, the authors analyzed the leadership and the effect of leadership has an impact on the team’s results as well as on the company’s innovativeness, making it an essential part of creating effective innovative teams.

Communities of Practice and Organizational Development for Ethics and Values

2011 ◽  
pp. 55-59
Author(s):  
Jim Grieves
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Operations Management ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Ethical Framework ◽  
Management Skills ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
Ethical Decisions ◽  
Global Corporations ◽  
Modern Business ◽  
Government Ethics

Ethics is the study of moral issues and choices. In organizations, such a study inevitably involves consideration of decision-making practices and interpersonal relationships. This in turn may require the investigation of complex combinations of influences which include personality characteristics, values, and moral principles as well as organizational mechanisms and the cultural climate that rewards and reinforces ethical or unethical behavioral practices. Organizations ignore ethical issues at their peril as we know from recent examples of: • past claims of brutality, poor wages, and 15-hour days in the Asian sweatshops run by Adidas, Nike and GAP, • banks that rate their customers by the size of their accounts, • the race for commercial control by private firms, universities, and charities claiming exclusive development rights over natural processes in the human body and patents sought by organizations, overwhelmingly from rich countries, on hundreds of thousands of animal and plant genes, including those in staple crops such as rice and wheat, • a lack of people management skills and supervision which was said to be responsible for the falsification of some important quality control data of an experimental mixed plutonium and uranium fuel at the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing scandal which led to cancelled orders and the resignation of its chief executive. We can all think of other examples that have hit the headlines to indicate that modern business management must recognize its responsibility to provide an ethical framework to guide action. This is the case in respect to human resources policy, health and safety policy, marketing policy, operations management, and environmental management. Ethical policymaking has become the watchword for both national and local government. Ethics is now taught in the police force in order to be proactive and combat discrimination. Concern is now expressed in all forms of decision making from genetic modification of foods and the patenting of human organs to the ethical decisions of pharmaceutical companies or the marketing dilemmas of global corporations. Despite these developments, we continue to find many examples of decision makers making bad ethical decisions and people who blow the whistle on many of those actions. On the positive side, we have seen how so called green organizations have proved that ethics and profit are not incompatible goals.

scholarly journals A supply-demand study of practice in rail logistics higher education

2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 338-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marin Marinov ◽  
Anna Fraszczyk ◽  
Tom Zunder ◽  
Luca Rizzetto ◽  
Stefano Ricci ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Operations Management ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Company Performance ◽  
Specific Training ◽  
Management Skills ◽  
Training And Education ◽  
Current State ◽  
Educational Programmes

This paper includes a study conducted to analyse the current state of supply and demand for higher education in rail logistics. More specifically the study presented consists of two surveys, as follows. The first survey, Supply Survey, explores existing transport and logistics-related courses and educational programmes offered in higher education institutions. The second survey, Demand Survey, examines demands for rail logistics higher education and aims to understand the current needs for higher education in the sector. This paper shows that a spectrum of rail, freight transport and logistics related courses and programmes exist, however there is a strong need for a more specific training and education offering operations management skills needed to improve the company performance, efficiency and quality of service provided.

scholarly journals Board Gender Diversity, Corporate Reputation and Market Performance

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meredith B. Larkin ◽  
Richard A. Bernardi ◽  
Susan M. Bosco
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Responsibility ◽  
Gender Diversity ◽  
Fortune 500 ◽  
Ethical Orientation ◽  
Women Directors ◽  
Corporate Transparency ◽  
Fortune 500 Companies ◽  
The Board Of Directors ◽  
Report Data ◽  
Board Gender Diversity

This study examines the association between corporate transparency, ethical orientation of Fortune 500 companies, the number of females represented on the board of directors as reported in the 2010 annual report data and respective stock performance. Our basis for this judgement was whether the firm was listed on either (both) Ethisphere Magazine’s 2010 ‘World’s Most Ethical Companies’ or (and) Corporate Responsibility Magazine’s 2010 ‘100 Best Corporate Citizens List’. Our results indicate that, as the number of women directors increased, the probability of a corporation appearing in these lists increases. Finally, while being on one of these lists did not increase corporate return data in a statistically significant sense, it did dramatically reduce the degree of negative returns.  

scholarly journals Does Female Representation on Boards of Directors Associate with Increased Transparency and Ethical Behavior?

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meredith B. Larkin ◽  
Richard A. Bernardi ◽  
Susan M. Bosco
Keyword(s):  
Boards Of Directors ◽  
Corporate Responsibility ◽  
Critical Mass ◽  
Ethical Orientation ◽  
Women Directors ◽  
Female Representation ◽  
Corporate Transparency ◽  
Fortune 500 Companies ◽  
The Board Of Directors ◽  
Report Data

ABSTRACT This study examined the association between corporate transparency and ethical orientation of Fortune 500 companies and the number of females represented on the board of directors from the Fortune (2010) annual report data. Our basis for this judgment was whether the firm was listed on either (both) Ethisphere Magazine's “2010 World's Most Ethical Companies” (Ethisphere Magazine 2011) or (and) Corporate Responsibility Magazine's “100 Best Corporate Citizens 2010” (Corporate Responsibility Magazine 2011) list(s). Our results indicated that, as the number of women directors increased, the probability of a corporation appearing on these lists increased. We also found that a “critical mass” of women directors was indicated by the data for Ethisphere Magazine's but not Corporate Responsibility Magazine's list.

Corporate Responsibility

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Archie B. Carroll ◽  
Kenneth J. Lipartito ◽  
James E. Post ◽  
Patricia H. Werhane ◽  
Kenneth E. Goodpaster
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Responsibility
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