Strategic Inertia vs. Strategic Change

Increasingly dynamic, complex and unpredictable economic circumstances require continuous and systematic re-evaluations of business strategies and plans and coherent and effective strategy implementation. Adopting the Resource Based View theoretical framework this chapter is aimed at shedding light on the role of human capital in the strategic change process. Specifically, by adopting the case study methodology the chapter points out the relevance and critical nature of human capital in the complex process that has driven Fiat's competitive and financial turnaround since 2008. Through the lens of Fiat's case, the article contributes both from an academic and a practitioner point of view, to shed light on the relevance of human capital in organizational attitude change, strategy formulation, choices implementation, and more in general, in Fiat's business model re-definition. The chapter ends with case questions.

Human Resources Development Practices and Employees' Job Satisfaction

This chapter introduces the relationship between human resource development (HRD) practices and employees' job satisfaction. Employees' job satisfactions have gained tremendous attentions from scholars in organizational study and special focus are given into searching the answer to understand why some people are more satisfied with their jobs than others. In this chapter, the definition and importance of job satisfaction is first discussed followed by exploring HRD theories and models through relevant literature review. Lastly, the relationship between job satisfaction and the four elements of human resource development: i) Training and development; ii) Organization development; iii) Career development; and iv) Performance management are discussed and developing of a conceptual framework.

Emotional Intelligence and Personality Traits as Predictors of Job Performance of IT Employees

The chief aim of this article is to examine the emotional intelligence (EI) and personality traits as the predictors of job performance of IT employees in India. To obtain this, the data was collected from 158 middle management employees working in Indian IT sector through random sampling method with the help of three scales such as DKEIT, JPI, and MPI. After data collection, the study carried out a different statistical analysis which includes frequency, correlation and regression analysis through SPSS 23.0 version. The study findings reported that both EI and Personality Traits impact the performance of job of IT employees, i.e. both Personality Traits and EI operate as a predictor of Job Performance of Indian IT employees. Based on which, the article gives few recommendations to future researchers.

Readiness for Agriculture Companies Effectiveness Begin With Employee Motivation

The main aim of this article is to contribute to the understanding of the organizational change and the effect of the human factor within the management of change in nigerian agriculture companies. The method approached considers an investigative study to identify the main directions of the manifestation of organizational performance among private companies to identify and motivate employees' contribution to organizational performance. The results reveal that the best motivation strategies remain those that take into account employees' motivation and satisfaction levels and determine their degree of involvement. Finally, these findings are relevant for the transformation of human resources from a passive state to an active one in producing and implementing change.

An Exploration of the Critical Need for Formal Training in Leadership for Cybersecurity and Technology Management Professionals

For many cybersecurity professionals it is often their technical skills, certifications, and technical academic education that gets them hired and even promoted from a line employee to a management role in technical departments and technical organizations. Being in management roles requires the development of new leadership soft skills that include personality traits, attitudes, habits, and behaviors you display when working with leading, coaching, empowering and developing others. While good soft skills are also important for employees, they are critical for managers - and for those who want to be managers. This article explores that nature of those skills and approaches to help organizations develop leaders in these areas.

Assessing Knowledge Management Performance in Organisations Based on the Criteria of Total Quality Management

Knowledge management (KM) has been gaining momentum as the means toward organisational growth. Recent literature also gives much prominence to emerging performance measurement (PM) systems for assessing performance. This chapter comprehends the concepts of integrating KM with PM, and in short, KM performance measures in organisations. It reviews the issues that surround KM/PM initiatives, and discusses the assessment criteria that integrate the philosophy and the principles of total quality management (TQM) with KM performance measures. Five KM/PM enablers/criteria are identified, namely 1) senior management leadership, 2) management by processes, 3) people development, 4) continuous improvement, and 5) results orientation. These concepts are constituted the development of an integrated knowledge management (IKM) model for assessing organisational KM performance. Future research could evaluate the efficacy of the IKM model, validate the key KM/PM criteria, and develop an implementation framework to foster the KM/PM efforts in organisations in different sectors.

From Control to Commitment Work Systems

The shift towards a flatter, more networked and flexible organization has required an alternative approach to employment issues - from a normative and prescriptive “Personnel Management” approach to a broader “Human Resource Management” (HRM) approach - so as to foster employees' commitment and empowerment. Through a range of HRM practices, so-called High Commitment Work Systems (HCWS), organizations seek to engender higher level of identification, empowerment and autonomy, which are crucial for the ‘post-bureaucratic employee' who is expected to use intuition, discretion and knowledge to deal with ongoing changes and service demands. Focusing on recruitment and selection, career management and flexible work arrangements, the chapter argues that contemporary HR practices offer a powerful mechanism that modern organizations may use to replace bureaucratic control. However, the analysis also highlights several contradictions and tensions that surface during the adoption of HCWS and may explain some of the unsatisfying outcomes of the post-bureaucratic approach.

Functional Assessment of Persons With Motor Limitations

In this chapter a referral is made to the most known examination methods and tools for evaluating persons with motor limitations. Since there are many methods and tools, standardized or not, describing each of them by the area of evaluation and forming a quick reference guide seem to be helpful. Furthermore referrals are made to some special evaluation forms regarding special conditions, like stoke, which appear to have multiple problems influencing function. Finally, in the last section of this chapter a referral is made to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health scale (ICF), which has been developed the past few years by the World Health Organization (WHO), in an effort to have and apply a universal way of assessing people with disabilities. This scale aims to give to all the health professional and researchers a “common language” when “measuring” disability and function.

Digital Citizenship for All

Digital literacy is important, particularly for young people as they prepare for college and a career in modern society. From computer-based tests used to measure student progress on college applications and online job applications, the transition to college and career requires the use of technology. Individuals must have digital literacy skills to fully participate and contribute on the job and at school. This includes people with disabilities. These young adults have aspirations for jobs and higher education just like others their age and therefore deserve to be taken seriously. This article is a review of literature that explores what it means to be digitally literate, the digital literacy experience for young adults with disabilities, and the implications for education and the workplace. It also proposes instructional solutions to aid in the preparation of young adults for college and career.

The HRA-Based Road Crash Data

Human error has played a critical role in the events precipitating the road accidents. Such accidents can be predicted and prevented by risk assessment, in particular assessing the human contribution to risk. As part of the Human Reliability Assessment (HRA) process, it is usually necessary not only to define what human errors can occur, but how often they will occur. Lack of understanding of the failure distribution characteristics of drivers on roads at any given time is a factor impeding the development of human reliability assessment and prediction of road accidents in order to take best proactive measures. The authors developed the complete investigation methodology for crash data collection. Furthermore, they have experimentally tested the proposed predictive behavioral characteristics of drivers in light of their instantaneous error rate over the course of driving period to assist processing and analysis of data collection as part of risk assessment. The findings of this research can assist road safety authorities to collect the necessary data, to better understand the behavioral characteristics of drivers on roads, to make more accurate risk assessments and finally to come up with right preventive measures.