Managing Diversity in a Technical Environment

ABSTRACT

A landmark study completed by a public policy research organization concluded that American technical businesses can expect a heterogeneous labor force in the future. To maximize productivity, it is crucial that managers tap the potential of all employees, no matter how diverse employee backgrounds might be. A major change in attitudes and behaviors is necessary so that no employee may be limited by the barriers of organizational structure, whether formal or informal. This article recognizes some of the companies that are pioneers in their efforts toward diversity education, and presents a model approach for planning diversity in a technical environment. The model approach was developed by the author by careful review of current diversity programs in the literature.     

Hierarchical environmental impact evaluation of a process in printed circuit board manufacturing

Considering the growing concerns and importance of environmental issues, manufacturing industrialists, in particular those in electronics manufacturing, are seeking methods to evaluate the environmental performance of their manufacturing processes. These environmental evaluation tools should be capable of performing detailed analysis on the environmental performance of each individual process unit, identifying the environmental improvement opportunity and providing adequate decision support to environmental engineers for process modification and operational change. This paper modifies and improves the environmental impact evaluation model already developed and provides directions for decision-making at various stages of the analysis. The decision algorithm in this revised model adopts a hierarchical environmental impact evaluation approach and uses five impact categories related to ecological health and seven categories related to human health to form the base of an evaluation hierarchy. The algorithm, with its evaluation results presented in all levels of the hierarchy, is proposed as a means of tracking, controlling and improving the environmental performance of a process. A printed circuit board case study shows the effectiveness and applicability of the algorithm. The results indicate that the electroless copper process has a higher impact on ecological health than on human health, and that the phosphoric acid in the waste components is the identified major source of the impact on ecological health.     

A simultaneous-mounting process for automated printed circuit board assembly

Current robotized printed circuit board assembly systems allow one component to be inserted onto the board at a time and the corresponding design usually causes complicated operation planning problems for plant engineers. This paper addresses an opportunity for productivity improvement in automated printed circuit board assembly through the design of a new assembly mechanism from plant engineer's viewpoint. The mechanism not only will allow simultaneous insertions of multiple components but also will simplify the component placement planning task.     

领导者-成员交换与情感承诺关系研究:领导情绪智力的调节作用

员工的情感承诺受领导影响,以往研究认为领导者与成员的交换质量会影响员工的情感承诺。本研究进一步提出领导的情绪智力对此有调节效应。并以某通信公司的213名员工为调查对象,发现领导者-成员交换正向显著影响员工情感承诺,领导情绪智力起到了调节作用。说明企业领导者情绪智力对于培育员工的情感承诺具有重要意义。     

Economic Inequality,Cultural Orientation and Base-of-Pyramid Employee Performance at the MNC Subsidiary: A Multi-Case Investigation

Research to date on economic inequality and how it affects organizational employee performance is both sparse and generic in scope. Multinational corporations—in particular—can benefit from an extension of empirical inquiry which looks at economic inequality in conjunction with cultural orientation in order to understand the behavior of their cross-border subsidiary employees. To this end, we report on an exploratory, multi-case study using data drawn from interviews, observation and company information with frontline, base of the organizational pyramid employees at the Thai subsidiaries of Anglo-US MNCs. Our findings detail the manifestations of high economic inequality and low worker status, as well as the adverse implications for subsidiary service delivery (e.g., absenteeism, moonlighting, deficient-communication) and broader corporate reputation concerns. We also detail the specific role of vertical-collectivist cultural norms and values in both exacerbating and mitigating the adverse effects observed. Finally, we discuss the implications for international business managers seeking to address (and prevent) subsidiary performance suppression due to economic inequality, focusing on the development of ‘social embeddedness’ as a key competence in the engagement and nurturing of base-of-pyramid employees in emerging Asia.     

企业训练与组织绩效关系之探讨--以台湾地区制造业为例

在变化日益快速的环境中，组织经营绩效的好坏已经成为企业生存的要件，而为组织创造竞争优势的其中一个重要资源便是“人”，组织中为了要让员工创造更高的绩效，人力资源部门透过训练可以让员工增加工作技能、知识及能力，进而提高组织绩效。然而在学术界及实务界较少谈及要如何证明训练对组织绩效是有影响的，因此针对训练成效对组织绩效的影响作一个深入的探讨。首先归纳整理相关献与企业实际的作法，探讨企业的训练成效对组织绩效之影响，接着以天下杂志1999年台湾地区一千大制造业厂商的调查结果进行分析，研究发现：主管对训练的支持程度及组织愈重视员工参与与决策并充分授权于员工时其训练成效愈佳；主管对训练的支持程度及公司对员工的工作有充分的保障对营业收入成长率具有正向的影响；组织重视员工参与决策或是充分授权给员工其组织获利率较高；绩效评估制度的公平性对资产报酬率具有正向的影响力；平均每人训练费用愈多，其员工产值愈高。     

伦理型领导对员工任务绩效的影响

目的本研究旨在探究伦理型领导对员工任务绩效的影响机制。方法采用伦理型领导、员工影响力、同事支持以及任务绩效问卷,在企业进行两轮问卷调查,共收集了201名企业员工的两个时间点配对的调查问卷数据。结果通过多层线性回归分析,结果表明同事支持对伦理型领导与员工任务绩效之间的关系具有中介作用,员工影响力负向调节伦理型领导与同事支持之间的关系,以及员工影响力负向调节同事支持在伦理型领导与员工任务绩效之间的中介作用。结论伦理型领导可以通过增加同事支持来影响员工任务绩效,以及此影响路径效果受到员工影响力水平的约束。     

Self-regulation and social media addiction: A multi-wave data analysis in China

Based on social cognitive theory (SCT), the present study aimed to investigate the impact of social media addiction (SMA) on employee strain and task performance through work-technology conflict and self-esteem. Furthermore, this study hypothesizes that the moderating influence of self-regulation may buffer the impact of SMA on work-technology conflict and self-esteem. The final sample of this study was 282 employees of Chinese information technology companies from southwest China's Guizhou province. Results demonstrated that SMA significantly affects task performance via work-technology conflict and self-esteem. This study presents some distinctive results by showing that the mediating role of self-esteem is found to be insignificant in the association between SMA and strain. Self-regulation reduces the increased impact of SMA on work-technology conflict and self-esteem. Moreover, this study provides useful insights for practitioners, managers, and future researchers to understand the impact of SMA on employees' mental health and task performance.     

An empirical assessment of the influence of quality dimensions on organizational performance

While there are several conceptual models to suggest that there exists an association between quality dimensions (customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, employee service quality) and organizational performance, no empirical study to date has verified such claims. This paper extends the literature by collecting hard data from 165 practising managers and testing their perceptions of the association among various quality dimensions and several organizational performance measures. The relationships between these quality dimensions and the nine component items that make up organizational performance were also investigated for both manufacturing and service firms. The data were grouped into four typologies to include type of firm, size, age, and presence of formal quality department. Multiple discriminant analysis was conducted to differentiate the typology of firms in a multivariate setting. Our results indicate that practising managers in manufacturing firms tend to perceive more widely a positive correlation between quality dimensions and the component items of organizational performance than managers in service firms. Also, managers from older manufacturing firms tend not to perceive a relationship between employee service quality and five component items of organizational performance such as competitiveness and market share.

The measures used for the three quality dimensions and organizational performance are shown to be valid and reliable. However, information derived from the study shows that practising managers in the service sector do not perceive some of the claims and expected benefits of quality management activities.     

An Analysis of Employee Motivation

This article presents the results of a survey that was designed to measure the attitude of employees toward the various phases of industrial quality motivation programs. This study was conducted with three categories of employees (engineers, factory workers, and supervisors), and the data are analyzed to determine the group attitudes as well as where and why significant differences in attitudes occur between the groups.     

Investigation of 360-degree instrumentation effects: application of the Rasch rating scale model

Performance appraisals have been frequently investigated for inaccuracies attributable to raters. In addition to rater contributions, problems in measurement can arise from properties of instrumentation. If administered items do not parallel the full range of employee performance, a restriction of range can occur. Here employees are rated similarly (no distinction made) not because of rater error, but because of an instrument floor or ceiling effect. A RASCH measurement procedure was applied to a 360-degree dataset in order to uncover potential instrumentation effects. A similar magnitude ceiling effect was found across rater categories. It is recommended that performance appraisal practitioners consider including items of greater difficulty in their criterion measures.     

Quality Control Measurement of an Engineering Productivity Index

In the business community, it has become critical that companies know how productive their engineers are. Organizations find it very difficult to measure the productivity of their knowledge workers (e.g., engineers) because their work output is cognitive. Because the nature of the work is “thinking” or “knowledge application,” which brings important ideas and breakthroughs to organizations, this challenging task must be undertaken. Quality control (QC) charts were used to measure cognitive indexes of a group of knowledge workers, working engineers. These statistical process control charts measured previously developed cognitive indexes. The QC chart components were created from a representative group of working engineers, and then another sample of engineers were tracked over time for out-of-control run patterns. The results indicate that the cognitive behavior index would show out-of-control patterns for low productivity engineers. Substantial performance improvements are possible for engineers, resulting in cost savings from reduced negative turnover and lowered productivity giving better returns on engineering salaries.     

Corporate governance, stakeholder power, and executive compensation

Excessive executive compensation is one of the prevailing topics in the business press. The ??managerial power approach??, which is at the center of numerous publications of Bebchuk and Fried (Pay without performance: the unfulfilled promise of executive compensation, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 2004) and Bebchuk and Grinstein (Oxford Rev Econ Policy 21:283?C303, 2005), claims that chief executive officers (CEOs) corrupt the pay-setting process by influencing the board of directors. This paper analyzes the role of the board of directors in the pay-setting process for the CEO??s compensation schedule in an optimal contracting framework. The board??s role in our model is to provide information about the CEO??s ability to the shareholders. We assume that the CEO and other stakeholders, such as employees?? representatives, can influence the board to act in their respective favor when reporting to the shareholders. We show how the CEO??s influence on the board alters the optimal contract and the CEO??s incentives. Most interestingly, the influence of an interest group on the board can be the reason for high pay schedules, even though that was not the objective of the interest group.     

电子电路系统中壳体结构功能研究

结合电子电路系统对于壳体功能的不同需求,分别讨论了壳体在电波传播、电磁屏蔽、电路失效、电子设备物流包装这4方面的应用;分析概括了壳体孔径、电路板孔径对于电路系统性能的作用和影响,论述了传感壳体集成技术的应用实践;最后总结了壳体结构设计对于电子电路系统的价值和进一步的研究方向。     

Digital workplace transformation in the financial service sector: Investigating the relationship between employees' expectations and intentions

Digital workplace transformation goes beyond the adoption or non-adoption of technologies – it has far deeper effects in the context of re-designing a workplace. Future digital work implies not only a change of tools used in work activities, but it also often changes the very nature of the working activities and processes. Psychological needs of employees are important in this context: the need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness which affect the employees' motivation to accept the future workplace. More specifically, if employees have expectations that digital environment will enable them to accomplish better performance, bigger satisfaction and personal well-being more easily, they will be more motivated to support digital transformation. Thus, in our study we aim to investigate whether employee involvement, well-being and support to digital work foster digital transformation of the workplace. In doing so, we close the existing gap in literature and confirm that interpersonal relatedness in digital work environment has a significant influence on employees' performance and well-being. This, in turn, increases employees’ intentions to support digital workplace transformation. We believe this study will help pre-digital organizations to rethink their strategies according to employee involvement to respond to the challenges of digital transformation. The study also encourages scholars to investigate whether and how those factors are shaped differently due to COVID-19 pandemic context.     

化学镍钯金表面处理工艺研究进展

印制电路板表面处理工艺关乎元器件焊接的可靠性,对电子产品的质量有着重大的影响。总结前人研究发现化学镍钯金为最具前景的表面处理工艺,并且从化学镍钯金的基本结构、焊接时的界面反应、影响化学镍钯金焊接性能的主要因素方面入手,介绍了化学镍钯金的研究现状。     

企业员工流失问题的可拓分析

近几年来,企业员工流失问题一直困扰着企业管理者。企业员工流失有很多因素,利用可拓学的理论与方法,从员工满意度入手,对企业员工流失问题进行可拓分析。     

企业R&D人员工作压力的类型分析

目的探讨企业RD人员工作压力的分类模型。方法以23家企业1957名RD人员为被试,采用快速聚类分析技术对其进行分类。结果 1)企业RD人员工作压力四类模型-高压力型、中压力型、低压力型和高个体自身压力型是一个有效的分类模型;(2)企业RD人员工作压力类型呈现以下分布特征:总体上以中压力型为主,高级职称的比中级和低级职称的RD人员更趋高压力型,集体企业的较其它企业类型的RD人员更趋高压力型,有离职倾向的比没有离职倾向的RD人员更趋于高压力型,未婚的和工作年限最短的RD人员归为低压力型的最多。结论企业RD人员的工作压力可以分为四种类型:高压力型、中压力型、低压力型和高个体自身压力型。     

Interface Stress-Induced Degradation of the Performance of Electrically Conductive Adhesives

Electrically conductive adhesives are of increasing importance as a powerful alternative to eutectic bonding. In the use of electrically conductive adhesives in soldering applications, a lack of conductivity of the adhesive bond between surface mounted devices (SMD) and the printed circuit board was frequently observed. This lack of conductivity caused failure of the unit because of an unacceptable series resistivity in the circuit. A failure analysis proved that the resistance of the contact between the adhesive and device depends on the stress situation in the bonded interface induced by the shrinkage of the adhesive during curing. Under stress, the formation of a resin segregation layer of low conductivity results. The outer shape of the electrical component as well as the SMD assembly process has strong influence on the electrical performance.     

Engineering education for the future

The output of education and training systems, in terms of both quantity and quality of skills at all levels, is the prime determinant of a country's level of industrial productivity and, hence, its competitiveness. However, the number of British students entering engineering courses is declining at a time when, more than ever, our lives are governed by technology and we are dependent on the ideas and work of engineers. However, that decline is also being observed in Europe, the USA and Japan. An issue of great importance is the engineering degree course itself and many countries, as well as institutions, are now overhauling their education system in order to attract more students to their engineering courses and, equally importantly, to help keep pace with the rapid development of technology and society. In this article, the author discusses the changes which need to be made in the way the UK educates its engineers