Does Academic Freedom Protect Antisemitism?

The examples listed in the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s Working Definition of Antisemitism suggests that some political views common in humanities and social science disciplines are antisemitic. In some disciplines, these views are well estab­lished in both teaching and publication. Yet the American Association of University Pro­fessors has long used prevailing disciplinary views as a guide to which faculty statements cannot be sanctioned. What should universities do when not just individual faculty, but entire disciplines have been captured by radical antizionism, when students are taught that Israel has no moral legitimacy and must be eliminated? How should personnel decisions be affected? Should this evolving situation lead us to rethink the relationship between advo­cacy and indoctrination? Can universities keep the search for the truth at the core of their mission in the wake of disciplinary solidarity behind antisemitism?

Aggregated criterion for estimating the efficiency of functioning of sections of the Ulan-Bator railway

В статье рассматривается проблема разработки (формирования) функции эффективности (агрегированного критерия, свертки критериев) входящих в состав Улан-Баторской железной дороги (УБЖД) участков, которая содержала бы специальным образом взвешенные частные характеристики качества функционирования этих участков. Решение этой проблемы осуществляется на основе разработанной в Иркутском государственном университете путей сообщения информационно-вычислительной технологии (ИВТ) многокритериального оценивания эффективности функционирования сложных социально-экономических и технических систем. ИВТ позволяет на модельном уровне оценивать эту эффективность одним числом (выраженным, например, в процентах), что открывает широкие возможности в управлении этими системами, поскольку позволяет выполнять, в частности, масштабный многофакторный сравнительный анализ деятельности однородных организационных и других структур и принимать на этой основе решения самого различного характера. Построена функция эффективности функционирования участков УБЖД, включающая в свой состав взвешенные частные индикаторы такой эффективности: погрузка, статическая нагрузка, выгрузка, отправление вагонов, перевозка пассажиров, простои вагонов с одной переработкой, простои местных вагонов, простои транзитных вагонов с переработкой, простои транзитных вагонов без переработки. На основе этой функции рассчитана масштабированная на сто процентов эффективность каждого участка. При этом все показатели предпочтения упорядочены по убыванию значимости. Подобная информация, формируемая с годичной периодичностью, может быть весьма полезна руководству УБЖД для принятия широкого спектра управленческих, в том числе кадровых, решений. Аналогичная работа может быть выполнена в интересах РАО РЖД. The article discusses the problem of developing (forming) an efficiency function (aggregated criterion, convolution of criteria) of the sections included in the Ulan Bator Railway (UBZhD), which would contain specially weighted private characteristics of the quality of the functioning of these sections. The solution to this problem is carried out on the basis of the information and computational technology (ICT) developed at the Irkutsk State University of communication lines for multi-criteria assessment of the effectiveness of the functioning of complex socio-economic and technical systems. IWT makes it possible at the model level to evaluate this efficiency by one number (expressed, for example, as a percentage), which opens up ample opportunities in the management of these systems, since it allows performing, in particular, a large-scale multifactorial comparative analysis of the activities of homogeneous organizational and other structures and on this basis solutions of the most varied nature. The function of the effectiveness of the functioning of the UBZhD sections has been built, which includes weighted private indicators of such efficiency: loading, static load, unloading, dispatch of cars, transportation of passengers, idle time of cars with one processing, idle time of local cars, idle time of transit cars with processing, idle time of transit cars without processing. Based on this function, a 100% scaled efficiency is calculated for each site. Moreover, all preference indicators are sorted in descending order of importance. Such information, generated on a yearly basis, can be very useful to the UBZhD leadership for making a wide range of managerial, including personnel, decisions. Similar work can be performed in the interests of RAO Russian Railways.

Digitalization of Personnel Procedures As a Harsh Reality of Our Time

Introduction: based on the current regulatory framework, draft laws, research, and news in the field of economics and sociology, the paper presents the author’s periodization of the phenomenon of digitalization of personnel procedures. The examples of using the software products of each of the three generations are given. The conclusion is made about the negative consequences of total digitalization. The task is to identify the generations of digitalization of personnel procedures and evaluate the positive and negative features of this process. Methods: the methodological framework for the research is a combination of the following methods of scientific knowledge: comparative law method, the method of analysis and synthesis, the empirical methods (observation, experiment, measurement, comparison). Results: the author’s periodization of the process of digitalization of personnel procedures is proposed, some positive and negative features of this process are given. Conclusions: the software products of the first generation allow you to automatically fill in all the necessary personnel documents with the data of a specific employee. In the second generation, documents are created and “live” completely in electronic form without the need to print them on paper. During the transition to the third generation, individual personnel decisions are made without human participation.

Debasement of Merit: The Method and Experience of Political Discrimination by Public Employees in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico

While most democratic governments include some political appointees at the top of agencies for the sake of bureaucratic accountability, too much patronage decreases government performance. Puerto Rico has all of the components for a robust merit system on paper, but it is consistently undermined, with significant negative consequences for public employees. Based on an inductive analysis of 29 in-depth interviews with public employees and 50 political discrimination court cases, this article shows how an informal patronage system is implemented by incorporating political information into personnel decisions. The pervasiveness of this system results in employees being categorized as either insiders or outsiders, where outsider status is accompanied by harassment, ostracizing, and other negative changes in working conditions. These shifts in status sustain patronage practices by crystalizing political identity, which increases partisan polarization, and provides a rationale and justification for future politically discriminatory actions.

The Civil Rights Revolution at Work: What Went Wrong

The civil rights and women's movements led to momentous changes in public policy and corporate practice that have made the United States the global paragon of equal opportunity. Yet diversity in the corporate hierarchy has increased incrementally. Lacking clear guidance from policymakers, personnel experts had devised their own arsenal of diversity programs. Firms implicated their own managers through diversity training and grievance systems and created a paper trail for personnel decisions, but they maintained the deeper structures that perpetuate inequality. Firms that changed systems for recruiting and developing workers, organizing work, and balancing work and life saw diversity increase up the hierarchy, but those firms are all too rare. The courts and federal agencies have found management processes that do not explicitly discriminate to be plausibly unbiased, and they rarely require systemic reforms. Our elaborate corporate diversity programs and public regulatory systems have largely failed to open opportunity, but social science research points to a path forward. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Sociology, Volume 47 is July 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Public Service Quality under Permanent and Fixed-term Employment Contracts: Evidence from Physician Supply of Primary Care

A key feature of public sector employment in many countries is rigid civil service rules that effectively limit manager autonomy over hiring, firing, promotion, and compensation decisions. We study the effect of these rules by comparing the quality of healthcare provided by physicians employed as civil servants with physicians hired in the same facilities on fixed-term contracts that give managers more autonomy over personnel decisions. Using data from interactions with unannounced standardized patients, we find that fixed-term contracts motivate greater diagnostic effort without increasing unnecessary treatments. Lower effort among civil servants appears due to both weaker career and wage incentives.

Reliability Estimates for IRT-Based Forced-Choice Assessment Scores

Forced-choice (FC) assessments of noncognitive psychological constructs (e.g., personality, behavioral tendencies) are popular in high-stakes organizational testing scenarios (e.g., informing hiring decisions) due to their enhanced resistance against response distortions (e.g., faking good, impression management). The measurement precisions of FC assessment scores used to inform personnel decisions are of paramount importance in practice. Different types of reliability estimates are reported for FC assessment scores in current publications, while consensus on best practices appears to be lacking. In order to provide understanding and structure around the reporting of FC reliability, this study systematically examined different types of reliability estimation methods for Thurstonian IRT-based FC assessment scores: their theoretical differences were discussed, and their numerical differences were illustrated through a series of simulations and empirical studies. In doing so, this study provides a practical guide for appraising different reliability estimation methods for IRT-based FC assessment scores.

Analysis of the Effectiveness of Toro Rosso Team as a Supporting Team of Red Bull Concern in Formula 1

Background. The main goal of this research was to study the activities of Formula 1 team Toro Rosso in order to understand the peculiarities of its functioning and its role in realization of the performance program of Red Bull concern in this auto racing championship. This study provided an in-depth look at one of the most unusual examples of partnership in professional sports – Red Bull and Toro Rosso alliance. Methods. The main research method was the collection and interpretation of statistical data concerning various characteristics of the performance of Toro Rosso team and its pilots in Formula 1, primarily sports performance. Also, additional facts were collected, which made it possible to give a more detailed description of the role of the Toro Rosso team in realizing the goals of Red Bull concern in Formula 1. Results. During the study various characteristics were identified that reflect the peculiarities of managing Toro Rosso team. Among them we want to admit the next ones: A) Toro Rosso confirms the status of the team that prepares pilots for the performance in the main team Red Bull; B) TR, with some features, matches the status of “junior” team; C)–among the personnel decisions, connected with the Toro Rosso team in Formula 1, there were both successful and ineffective ones; D) the team brings sufficient benefits to both the main team of Red Bull and the entire Austrian concern. Conclusions. Toro Rosso team proves the effectiveness of its existence and its value for Red Bull concern, and in order to increase the efficiency of its activity the leaders of Austrian company should continue to realize the strengths of the team, taking into account the interests of the RB main team, and, at the same time, improve the principles of personnel policy, carefully think out the positioning of team and correct the character of work of Red Bull Junior Team program. Keywords: sports partnership, management, motorsport, team-satellite.

Collegial Cooperation turns toxic: Its depth and breadth: What are the implications for higher education institutions (HEIs)?

Collegiality has been glorified as the strongest governance pillar for higher education institutions, especially in promoting independence of thought, impartial decisions on leadership, mutual respect, and providing peer support. However, the recent corporate culture recently adopted by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and a system that rewards individual accomplishments, together with decreased state funding had steadily weakened the collegial philosophy, while toxicity takes the center stage - thereby threatening unity, harmony and institutional visibility. As a result, institutions have turned toxic. Unfortunately, although easily identifiable, toxicity is a difficult phenomenon to deal with, especially in dynamic academia environment, performance-based pay and personal traits notwithstanding. The paper concludes that the lack of conclusive empirical research to establish the depth and breadth of toxicity has made it difficult for personnel to make defensible decisions. The paper recommends that institutions should prioritize institutional inquiry in order to address work related behavior – among others to negate unacceptable behavior that have persistently harmed individuals as well as the institutions. Finally, institutions should make collegiality part of all “Personnel decisions” that clearly stipulate flawless indicators and measures of toxic behavior, in order to enhance collegial, civil and harmonious work environment that promotes staff engagement, productivity and institutional stability.