Shirley A. Hopkins

The Ethics of Downsizing: Perceptions of Rights and Responsibilities

Within the context of employee rights and management social responsibility, this paper identifies and explores three ethical dimensions of downsizing. Using ANOVA and Scheffe post-hoc statistical techniques, groups involved in the downsizing decision making process were compared with groups affected by the process on each ethical dimension. Results indicated that those affected by the process attached greater ethical significance to these dimensions than those who were involved in formulating and implementing/communicating downsizing decisions.

Quality and empowerment programs: dual paths to customer satisfaction?

Members of the Original Equipment Manufacturer Group (OMEG) at National Semiconductor Corporation (NSC) were used to help answer the question of whether empowerment programs, independent of quality improvement programs such as total quality management (TQM), create customer satisfaction. Results of a customer satisfaction survey, administered to a sample of NSC customers prior to implementing an empowerment program and then again one year into the program, provided affirmative support for our research question. Finally, a conceptual model suggesting a process by which empowerment programs create customer satisfaction is proposed to provide direction for future research.

A comparative study of quality management in Taiwan's and China's electronics industry

Assesses differences in the economies of Taiwan and China to determine whether or not perceptions of quality management differences exist among managers of electronic firms in the two countries. Statistical results suggest that these two groups of managers not only differ in how they define quality, they also differ in their beliefs about the relationship between quality management and organizational outcomes, the extent to which quality management is practiced in the firm, and how the quality of their products compares with products produced by competitors in other countries.

Diversity Leadership: A Mandate for the 21st Century Workforce

This article contends that if U.S. corporations are to remain competitive as they enter the 21st century, their managers must stop trying to manage members of a workforce that is becoming increasingly more diverse and begin leading them. We offer evidence that this admonition amounts to a mandate for corporations to begin developing diversity leaders. In addition to providing a definition of what a diversity leader is, we describe nine characteristics that diversity leaders must possess to successfully lead a diverse workforce. The importance of these characteristics is supported by examples from a variety of large, well-known corporations. Finally, we offer recommendations that will be useful to those managers with aspirations of becoming effective diversity leaders.

Training Priorities for a Diverse Work Force.

Individuals from diverse cultural, ethnic, and racial backgrounds are entering the work force at a rapid pace and in record numbers. These individuals will bring different values, languages, skills, attitudes, communication styles, and a host of other job-relevant factors to the workplace. Subsequently, organizations will be afforded the opportunity to implement training programs designed to extract productivity-enhancing synergies from these differences. In addition to assessing the preparedness of organizations to effectively manage a work force that is rapidly becoming more diverse, this article identifies some training programs that are perceived by personnel directors to be priorities for a diverse work force.

Savings and Loan Industry: Strategic Responses to Regulatory Change

As Americans face the reality that their dream of owning their own home is no longer within the reach of many of them, they may begin to wonder, why? The answer may lie in the fact that the traditional suppliers of mortgage credit, the savings and loan associations (SLA), are fighting for survival. Recent deregulation of the SLA’s liabilities without the commensurate deregulation of their assets has created a situation which has eroded net worth, forced unprecedented failures, and dictated mergers with other large, healthy associations.3 3