William L. Tullar

Making sense of the market: An exploration of apparel consumption practices of the Russian consumer

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine and interpret post‐socialist consumer experiences in relation to clothing consumption practices when consumers shop, acquire, and wear clothing and other fashion‐related products.Design/methodology/approach – The in‐depth interview was the primary data collection tool. Data collection was conducted during summer 2004 in St Petersburg, Russia. College students formed the sample for the study. In total, 17 students (four males and 13 females) were interviewed. The hermeneutic approach was used to interpret the meanings of the participant lived experiences.Findings – In comparison to consumers in an established market‐based economy, consumers in this post‐socialist market have unique perceptions of clothing attributes (quality, brand name, country of origin, retail channel) critical for buying decisions. Overall, appearance and clothing play a special role in the emerging Russian market as they help construct and communicate new identities more than any other...

Group Work and Electronic Meeting Systems: From Boardroom to Classroom

In the business community, collaborative efforts of work teams have led to a dramatic increase in the number of group meetings. Business managers, seek ing more efficient and effective methods of managing diverse contributions, have increasingly used information technology to supportgroup work. The same need to improve group communication is relevant to todays classroom, where new technologies can transform the classroom from a traditional instructor-centered environment to a student-centered environment where stu dents actively participate in intellectual discourse. Results from field and labo ratory studies about business usage of electronic meeting systems (EMS) can be applied to the classroom setting. We offer an overview of available tools and suggest some classroom activities. EMS-supported courses provide many new opportunities to foster learning. Students participate, participate more equally, and report a highly satisfying experience.

The Effect of Process Training on Process and Outcomes in Virtual Groups

Virtual groups meet via the Internet every day. When such groups confront large bodies of information in decision making, the group process often becomes con fused and chaotic. Process structuration (Giddens, 1979, 1984; Poole, Seibold, & McPhee, 1985) provides a theoretical framework by which we can understand group processes and outcomes. This study examines the effects of process struc turation by means of a training video on maintenance behavior and outcomes in 55 different student virtual decision-making groups from two universities. Results show that trained groups had higher levels of social support, greater participation rates, and greater satisfaction with the group; wasted less time and energy; and made significantly more accurate judgments. We discuss implications for the impact of this type of training on virtual groups and suggest further research.

Russian Entrepreneurial Motive Patterns: A Validation of the Miner Sentence Completion Scale in Russia

This study utilises the Miner Sentence Completion Scale Form T, translated into Russian, to compare the entrepreneurial motivation of 120 Russian managers interested in entrepreneurial activity with an American sample found in Miner (1986). This contrast shows very substantial differences between the two groups. After four years a follow-up study was conducted on the Russian sample. Of the 120 managers who originally took the MSCS, 58 men and women were found actually engaged in running their own businesses. Comparing this follow-up sample with a similar one provided by Miner, Smith, & Bracker (1994) shows very little difference between American and Russian active entrepreneurs. Correlations of MSCS Form T with two criteria of entrepreneurial success show similar positive results for both samples. Implications for use of the test by Russian authorities are discussed. On utilise dans cette recherche l’Echelle de Comple`tement de Phrases de Miner (MSCS) forme T, traduite en russe, pour comparer l’esprit d’entreprise de 120 cadres russes tente´s par l’activite´ d’entrepreneur avec celui d’un e´chantillon ame´ricain e´tudie´ par Miner (1986). Cette confrontation met en e´vidence de tre`s nettes diffe´rences entre les deux groupes. L’e´chantillon russe a e´te´ revu quatre ans plus tard. Sur les 120 cadres du de´part, 58 hommes et femmes furent retrouve´s a` leur compte. La comparaison de cet e´chantillon avec un autre comparable pre´sente´ par Miner, Smith, & Bracker (1994) de´tecte tre`s peu de diffe´rences entre les entrepreneurs actifs russes et ame´ricains. Les corre´lations du MSCS forme T avec deux crite`res de succe`s pour l’entrepreneur de´bouchent sur des re´sultats positifs analogues dans les deux e´chantillons. Le proble`me de l’utilisation du test par les autorite´s russes est aborde´.

A model of cross campus entrepreneurship and assessment

Abstract Entrepreneurship education has revolutionized all aspects of business. Entrepreneurship education has progressed from programs housed only in business schools to cross-disciplinary programs in departments across college and university campuses in the past 10 years. This blended approach that encompasses various disciplines with entrepreneurship through combined learning objectives focuses on application. However, the measurement of entrepreneurial propensity in students across the curriculum, let alone in traditional Entrepreneurship programs, is sorely needed. Learning assessment is lacking. We propose and test a measure of entrepreneurial propensity across the curriculum in a successful cross-disciplinary entrepreneurship program at a public state university. Six of the nine entrepreneurship constructs showed statistically significant gains from pre- to post-test scores. Implications for further research and application are discussed.

Compensation consequences of reengineering.

The effects of business process reengineering (hereinafter reengineering) on the worth of jobs in 2 separate branches of a beverage and food distribution company were investigated. Using job descriptions gathered before and after a reengineering change effort, student raters were asked to rate each position on the 3 Hay dimensions: accountability, know-how, and problem solving. Know-how and problem solving rose significantly in the reengineered branch compared to the control branch. Results indicate that total Hay points in the reengineered branch were 26% higher than the control branch after the changes. Implications of these changes for reengineering are discussed.

Theory development in human resource management

Abstract This article argues that little has changed in Human Resource Management theory over the past twenty years. There is a split in the field between practitioners and researchers. However, practitioners are the ultimate consumers of theory and hence they form the market for it. If practitioners are acclimated to and demand more useful and more extensive Human Resource theory, more theories will be developed and tested. The paper concludes by suggesting four means by which theory development may be improved.

Toward a Theoretical Framework for Mail Survey Response

A survey was employed as an exploratory, partial test of a theoretical framework for predicting/describing response to mail surveys. This framework suggests that in order for individuals to respond to a mail survey, they must have sufficient justification. Justification is defined as perceived benefits minus perceived costs. In order to provide a preliminary test of this framework, 10c incentives were employed as one factor from within the frameworks and follow-up was employed as one factor from outside the framework. The results indicate that a different segment of the population is induced to respond with dime incentives than is induced to respond with follow-up. The best response rate (86%) was produced by both including a dime and sending a follow-up questionnaire. However, the inclusion of a dime with no follow-up questionnaire had a response rate (70%) which compared very favorably -- but cost only half as much per sample member -- with the dime plus follow-up.

A representative organizational diversity metric: a dashboard measure for executive action

Workforce analytics is an evolving measurement approach in human resource (HR) planning and strategy implementation. Workforce analytics can help organizations manage one of their most important resources: their human capital. The purpose of this paper is to propose a diversity metric, called the D-Metric, as a new tool for HR planning. The D-Metric can be used to assess the demographic representativeness of employees across skill categories of an organization’s workforce compared to its relevant labor markets.,The authors present a real example and discuss possible applications of the D-Metric in HRM strategic planning and diversity research.,The D-Metric is a statistic useful in assessing demographic representativeness in the occupational categories of an organization’s workforce compared to the demographics of its relevant labor markets. The methodology could be implemented to assess an organization’s work force representativeness on dimensions such as race, sex, age and pay levels. When the labor market is unitary, without measurable variance, a substitute metric, the U-Metric also presented in this paper, can be used.,Use of the D-Metric requires publicly available labor market data with variance across labor market segments.,There currently is no published metric that evaluates the representativeness of an organization’s work force relative to its relevant labor markets. Many organizations seek a demographically representative workforce to better understand their diverse customer segments. Monitoring the representativeness of an organization’s work force, as captured in Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO-1) forms in the USA, for example, is an important component of HR management strategy. From a legal perspective, the D-Metric or the alternative U-Metric, could be useful in showing progress toward a demographically representative work force.

Psychological contracts and self-directed learning

This paper examines the relationship between psychological contracts and Self-Directed Learning (SDL). There is an extensive literature that provides ample evidence that human resource departments should care about the psychological contracts that their employees form with the organisation. This study focuses on how the psychological contract affects the employees perception of his/her need to engage in SDL. SDL is important for the creation and dissemination of new knowledge, since formal training programmes can never be expected to keep up with the rate of increase in the available knowledge. The study provides evidence that employees with transactional psychological contracts tend to be negatively disposed towards SDL. Conversely, employees with more relational psychological contracts tend to be positively disposed towards SDL.