M Com (Human Resources Management) / The aim of this study was to explore and describe foundational assumptions in selection of human capital metrics, unpacked within three broad categories of meaning, namely: why?, what?, and how? we measure human capital. A literature study was conducted to demystify conceptual elements and to report on the status quo. A modernist qualitative research methodology, with purposive and snowball sampling to recruit a limited number of practitioner experts in the field of HC and HC measurement in South Africa, was employed. With the aid of computerised qualitative data analysis software, thematic analysis was inductively applied to data generated during unstructured, in-depth interviews. Twenty-four assumptions found and positioned within the three broad categories of meaning (why?, what?, and how?) provide some understanding of selection in human capital metrics. Significant clusters of findings are: the supply of decisionlevel specific human capital information (which originated heuristically and inferentially), the limited value attached by senior managers to transactional and compliance information, the systemic integration (vertical and horizontal) of the business strategy into the business value chain, supported by multiple and parallel value chains, and an emerging measurement framework within HR. These clusters are representative of two emerging and overarching paradigms, namely: the current and entrenched Performance Measurement Paradigm (transactional), and the aspiration towards the fruition of a Human Capital Contribution Paradigm. It is clear from this study that there is still conceptual confusion regarding the terms human capital and metrics as presented in literature and understood and applied in practice. Recommendations are offered to eradicate conceptual confusion and to assist HR in moving towards a Human Capital Contribution paradigm.

Research report presented to SBL, Unisa, Midrand. / Lean manufacturing is a very good and effective concept of managing a company. The philosophy of reducing wastes found in a manufacturing business is a sound idea. When these wastes are minimized, the quality of the products or services is improved, the production time and the cost of manufacturing the goods is reduced. With this in mind, many companies go through lean manufacturing training to get the most out of their systems. But this is only achieved if there is a proper implementation lean manufacturing plan. However, despite the training and plans, some companies have trouble in implementing lean manufacturing systems. There are different reasons in the failure of implementing lean manufacturing principles in projects. One of them is the difficulty in grasping the true nature of lean manufacturing from a human capital perspective.

It is generally accepted that a more educated workforce can provide more economic growth. However, the extent to which personal benefits outweigh the social benefits of higher education has become not only an economic issue, but also a political issue. Voicing screening sympathies, Chancellor Kenneth Clarke asked 'why should bus drivers pay for the education of lawyers?' when cutting student grants in 1993 [The Economist 22/4/95]. The screening theories of the 1970's posited that, in some circumstances, if higher education was only signalling and not improving a person's ability, then society may be better off without higher education. A less extreme view is that some component of education acts solely as a signal and is socially worthless. There has been relatively little attention paid to testing the role of education in the labour market of the United Kingdom and Italy. One reason may be the shortage of suitable data sets available for such tests. This Thesis utilises UK and Italian data sets and aims to redress some of the imbalance in empirical work which tends to centre on data from United States. It is important to test the educational screening hypothesis in the context both of revisions in UK government policy towards the funding of higher education and the aim of convergence of labour market conditions within the European Union. The key objective of this Thesis is to investigate the role of education in the determination of wage rates for full-time work in the UK and Italy. The empirical analysis generally supports the hypothesis that education has both a screening and a productivity augmenting role.

No description available.

No description available.

This thesis examines methods to assess the value of the Manpower Systems Analysis (MSA) Curriculum at the Naval Postgraduate School. What exactly does the Navy get in return from the MSA curriculum graduates? Is the return on investment simply an increase in â Quality of Life,â thus increasing retention? Or does the MSA curriculum teach graduates the necessary skills for follow-on billets? Individuals in the private and public sections have tried to quantify the value of both training and education. However, currently most measures of effectiveness are based purely on financial aspects of the education. Little has been done to capture the result of the investments in human capital on any part of the organization. The result of this research is the creation of two surveys that will be used as vehicles to access the value of the MSA curriculum to the Navy and to the graduate. The surveys created are for MSA graduates and their immediate supervisors. This research identifies specific measures and survey techniques that can be used to evaluate education and training. In the future, this approach can be applied to other curricula. / US Navy (USN) author.

Research report presented to SBL, Unisa, Midrand. / Lean manufacturing is a very good and effective concept of managing a company. The philosophy of reducing wastes found in a manufacturing business is a sound idea. When these wastes are minimized, the quality of the products or services is improved, the production time and the cost of manufacturing the goods is reduced. With this in mind, many companies go through lean manufacturing training to get the most out of their systems. But this is only achieved if there is a proper implementation lean manufacturing plan. However, despite the training and plans, some companies have trouble in implementing lean manufacturing systems. There are different reasons in the failure of implementing lean manufacturing principles in projects. One of them is the difficulty in grasping the true nature of lean manufacturing from a human capital perspective.

<p>This is a survey study about the concept of human capital and has to be considered as a collection of opinions, ideas and models. The concept of human capital can be defined, despite the difficulties, as the stock of skills and knowledge, gained through education and experience. A more detailed definition is given and a review of its historic development it is also made. The study then turns to the problem of evaluation of human beings and finds some solutions to evaluation problems that may arise. Earnings or future incomes seem to be a good approximation of human capital value.</p><p>The concept of human capital is then analyzed from an economic stand point and the bonds it has with family, education, training and future incomes are analyzed. Further an explanation of the impact of parents, of the schooling system and of on the job training on the formation of human capital is also made. Other factors, especially sociological ones, are also taken in account and are considered important in influencing human capital. Thus the role of society must not be forgotten.</p><p>All those issues contribute in determining one's income flows during life, as the earnings age profile shows. Differences in opportunities, depending mostly on family and public expenditures in education, and abilities, depending mostly on one's “natural talents”, are deemed as important in determining one's future incomes, direct expression of human capital.</p>

This is a survey study about the concept of human capital and has to be considered as a collection of opinions, ideas and models. The concept of human capital can be defined, despite the difficulties, as the stock of skills and knowledge, gained through education and experience. A more detailed definition is given and a review of its historic development it is also made. The study then turns to the problem of evaluation of human beings and finds some solutions to evaluation problems that may arise. Earnings or future incomes seem to be a good approximation of human capital value. The concept of human capital is then analyzed from an economic stand point and the bonds it has with family, education, training and future incomes are analyzed. Further an explanation of the impact of parents, of the schooling system and of on the job training on the formation of human capital is also made. Other factors, especially sociological ones, are also taken in account and are considered important in influencing human capital. Thus the role of society must not be forgotten. All those issues contribute in determining one's income flows during life, as the earnings age profile shows. Differences in opportunities, depending mostly on family and public expenditures in education, and abilities, depending mostly on one's “natural talents”, are deemed as important in determining one's future incomes, direct expression of human capital.

Human capital is basically knowledge, skill, or expertise embodied in people and acquired through investments in formal or informal education, training, or learning by doing. If one adopts the household production model of consumer behavior in which the household or consumer is viewed as producing goods or services in the household that they sell to themselves, in effect, it is natural to think of labor used in the household. It follows that human capital should be an important input to the process of household production. Following the prevailing of the internet, on-line shopping is the whole new tendency towards consumption. In the view of human capital, on-line shopping provide more information about goods and prices to consumers, but the point is that consumers build the skill to search information. When consumers have the ability to shop by computer and internet, and are also familiar with the on-line shopping procedure through on-line shopping experience, it may rise the consumption of on-line shopping. This is a kind of accumulated human capital effect. Many empirical research show that most internet users have higher degree, and on the other hand the percentage of employees from information industries is also increasing. Students and employees from information are the large weight users. Thus it can be seen that shopping on the web or not depends on the degree of eduction and contact with internet. This study use the concept of human capital to explain the motive of on-line shopping. When consumers have the ability to shop by computer and internet, and are also familiar with the on-line shopping procedure through on-line shopping experience, it would lower the full price of on-line shopping, and then increase the consumption. It involves with the effect of network externality, therefore this external effect lower the full price and rise the consumption of on-line shopping. That is why more and more people are willing to consume on the wed. The purpose of this study is using the generalized human capital model under the network externality to discuss the role of human capital when consumers consume the activities of on-line shopping.