Charles University in Prague Faculty of Social Sciences Institute of Economic Studies Bibliographic Record of a an Academic Thesis Title in the language of the thesis (as recorded in SIS) Analyzing the integration of migrants in the Eurozone: lessons for the EU integration Subtitle Translation of the title into English/Czech (as recorded in SIS) Type of the Thesis Master's thesis Author: Gustavo De Luna Gallardo Year 2014 Advisor of the thesis Dr. Wadim Strielkowski, Ph.D. Number of pages 119 Awards Specialization Abstract in Czech Abstract in English Since European Union enables free mobility between its Members States, certain EU countries have become attractive destinations because of the working conditions and/or employment opportunities. As a result, some EU nations have experienced the inflow of large amount of immigrants and disturbances on their labor markets. With regard to this, the concept of Immigration Surplus that proposes that phenomenon of immigration can trigger a process of redistribution of wealth that could enhance the level of production and increase the national income can be applied for analyzing these processes. In addition, research literature suggests that deeper integration of immigrants into host countries can lead to higher levels of economic success. Thus, high levels of...

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Science in Industrial Engineering. October 2016 / The research project aimed at determining employees’ experiences of the application of the flow efficiency methodology. The flow efficiency methodology was the selected management methodology from the broader scope of process-focused methodologies. The significance of the flow efficiency approach is that it’s an alternative approach to the traditional management approach of optimising resource efficiency, but rather focuses on improving the flow of the process in which the resources work. The research was conducted in the context of the labour-intensive, South African manufacturing sector using a case study approach. The purpose of the research was to understand front-line employees’ and supervisors’ perceptions during the application of the flow efficiency approach. The assessed perceptions came from four selected change factors that stemmed from the Lean change iceberg model commonly found in literature. The motivation for research was two-fold: (1) prior research of the flow efficiency methodology in the socio-technical environment focused on operational improvement impact, and not on the impact on people; and (2), most research of improvement approaches and methods in South Africa tended to focus on success factors and pre-requisite maturity levels of various methods. The chosen flow efficiency approach required no pre-requisite culture requirements. The researcher was of the view that gaining an insight (through a case study) into employees’ perceptions of change factors during a flow efficiency approach, could lead to benefits of development and empowerment of employees and management in the labour-intensive, manufacturing sector of South Africa. The case study selected was a flow efficiency-based, improvement initiative in a multinational dairy plant in South Africa. The researcher used an unstructured, group-administered questionnaire to assess operational and supervisory employees’ perceptions of the selected change factors after process changes were made in the process where they work. The four selected process-improvement change factors derived from the Lean change iceberg were: Leadership Behaviour; Social System Change; Effectiveness of Change; and Employee Involvement & Empowerment. Content validity was conducted with external and internal experts to refine the questions and sequence of the questionnaire. A trained research assistant facilitated the multiple questionnaire sessions. Thematic content analysis was used to categorise participant’s responses into themes and sub-themes for each question. The occurrence of themes and sub-themes per question was tallied up and discussed for operational and supervisory employees with respect to the research objectives. The research did not yield a broad-based view on the impact of the flow efficiency management approach on employees’ perceptions in the greater industry context. However, it did give an insight, through the case study, into some universally applicable perceptions of changes experienced by South African, front-line and supervisory employees when the flow efficiency management approach was used. Perceptions of: leadership commitment and coaching, improved teamwork, simplification of jobs, improved flow, and improvements in individual performance, and employee empowerment were prevalent perceptions felt by most employees at both levels. / MT2017

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Engineering, 2017 / Productivity is an important topic within the mining industry and advances in productivity open up opportunities to make the best possible use of South Africa’s mineral wealth. The report uses publicly available data to assess trends in productivity in the SA coal mining industry since the 1980s and to compare SA’s performance with that of the US and Australia. It is found that between 1980 and 2003, productivity growth in the SA coal mining sector was primarily driven by capital deepening. However, productivity growth has been negative from 2004 onwards, despite continued capital deepening. Possible explanations include resource depletion, investment lags, deteriorating worker quality, increased complexity, more stringent safety regulations and adverse labour market conditions. The report highlights skills development and investment in innovation as possible ways of addressing declining productivity performance in the SA coal mining sector and recommends improvements to the availability of data for productivity research purposes. / CK2018

This study investigates the effect of human capital, using gross enrolment rate as a proxy, on labor productivity. It also investigates if a larger public effort in providing education opportunities would lead to a more efficient distribution of skills and therefore give a positive effect on labor productivity. We use a panel data approach to estimate an endogenous growth model on countries that are selected as to be reasonably similar. The main results are that growth in gross enrolment rate have a positive effect on labor productivity, while the level of government expenditure on tertiary education (measured as a percentage of GDP) has a negative effect on labor productivity.

A competição acirrada no mercado da Construção Civil tem exigido das empresas construtoras a busca pela melhoria de sua eficiência produtiva. Dentro desse contexto, a melhoria da produtividade da mão-de-obra apresenta-se como caminho relevante na medida em que seus custos representam parcela significativa do ônus total relativo à produção, e existe uma variação significativa de desempenhos nas empresas atuantes no mercado. Como qualquer outro tipo de serviço de construção, o serviço de armação carece deste mesmo tipo de abordagem, haja vista a existência, nos canteiros de obras brasileiros, de uma alta variabilidade na produtividade da mão-de-obra envolvida na fabricação e montagem das armaduras para estruturas de concreto armado (30 a 100 Homens-hora/tonelada). Some-se a esse aspecto o fato de se detectar, na bibliografia, um número de trabalhos bastante mais expressivos quanto a outros serviços; por exemplo, discutem-se muito os projetos de processo para fôrmas enquanto não se dá esta mesma abordagem à armação. Portanto, o diagnóstico da produtividade e dos estudos relativos ao tema demonstram a importância do estudo de ações que possam levar à melhoria da competitividade na produção de armaduras. Este trabalho apresenta um método para a proposição de diretrizes, relativas ao processo de produção de armaduras para estruturas de concreto armado, que visam melhorar a produtividade da mão-de-obra do serviço de armação. Para tanto, buscar-se-á, no entendimento da relação entre a produtividade e os fatores que a influenciam, o embasamento necessário para a proposição de tais diretrizes. Tais fatores podem estar relacionados ao projeto do produto (com ênfase no projeto de detalhamento das armaduras), ao método de produção e à organização do trabalho. ) Para se alcançarem os objetivos propostos, o trabalho envolve um levantamento de informações prévio, realizado com base em estudos bibliográficos, entrevistas com especialistas e um intenso contato com os canteiros de obras. Para a validação do método proposto faz-se uma aplicação do mesmo através de um caso real. As diretrizes, obtidas mediante a aplicação do método, ajudarão a tomada de decisões da construtora, que poderá auxiliar: i) os projetistas estruturais a favorecerem, no desenvolvimento dos projetos de detalhamento das armaduras, sempre que possível, a construtibilidade; ii) os contratantes na concepção de sistemas de armação, nos canteiros de obras, que possibilitem a racionalização das operações e o alcance das produtividades potenciais da mão-de-obra; iii) os responsáveis pela mão-de-obra na organização do trabalho, de maneira a favorecer a melhoria da produtividade com benefícios a todas as partes envolvidas. / The increasing competition in Brazilian building industry has encouraged construction companies to develop efforts in order to enhance their productive efficiency. Naturally, improving labor productivity becomes a critical path to achieve the above goal, since labor represents a significant component of construction costs and its performance may vary considerably from project to project. Likewise other construction services, concrete reinforcing planning stages reasonably lack systematic approaches to reduce the remarkable variability found in labor productivity (30 to 100 men hours/ton) throughout production and assembly processes. Moreover, and differently from other topics such as formwork, concrete reinforcing has not been covered by comprehensive studies in recent years. Therefore, the reported inefficiency in the production process, the impact on construction costs and the lack of systematic studies evidence the relevance of further investigations about this topic. This research proposes guidelines to improve labor productivity in the concrete reinforcing. The methodology involved an international literature review and an extensive data collection, which included interviews with specialists and descriptive case studies in construction sites. Initially, factors that influence labor productivity were identified through literature review and empirical studies. Subsequently, these factors were grouped in three main categories: product design (especiallyreinforcement detailing), production method and work organization factors. Then a method to improve the productivity in concrete reinforcing was proposed and finally validated though application in a real case study. ) The resulting guidelines may arguably support decision makers throughout the planning process of concrete reinforcing, including: i) structural engineers, who may take into account construct ability issues during the conception of design solutions; ii) contractors and subcontractors, who may conceive reinforcing systems more efficiently as to rationalize production operations and achieve better performances; and iii) those responsible for workers\' organization, who may bring efficiency gains to the production process and benefits for all the stakeholders.

Japanese workers are facing a threat of literal death from working too hard. In 1978, karōshi, defined as death or severe disability from overwork, was added to the Japanese dictionary. Japan is recognized as having one of the worst working conditions in the developed world with awfully long working hours. This thesis deconstructs the underlying psychological, cultural and economic reasons that contribute to the long working hours in Japanese companies. Then, this thesis examines the previous and current efforts by the Japanese, South Korean and German governments to reduce working hours in their countries to prevent the fatal consequences of overwork. It concludes by recommending the Japanese government to continue the research on overtime and death, raise awareness through education and outreach, enforce strict labor laws, and to adopt a method of flexible working hours.

One of the main underlying sources of economic growth is productivity. An economy can grow by either accumulation of its inputs, namely labour and capital, or improvements in productivity. The latter implies that more can be produced with the same amount of inputs, generating a greater amount of income that can be distributed among the economy's population. With rising per capita incomes, an economy can provide higher living standards and well-being. This thesis analyses variations in economic and productivity trends among the states of Australia and the USA. It investigates whether disparities in GSP per capita, labour and multifactor productivity among the states have declined (converged) or widened (diverged), during this period. The analysis is undertaken at a national level as well as for specific industries to identify the sectoral sources of the various trends. Further, in an interstate analysis the performance of individual states is examined to identify those that may have had a major role in accounting for the observed trends. The analysis employs both cross - section and time - series techniques. Contrary to earlier studies, this thesis finds that lately the interstate dispersion of per capita incomes and productivity has stopped decreasing. In Australia, once the Mining sector (which is a special case) is excluded from the analysis, the levels of GSP per capita and labour productivity in the various states are found to have neither converged nor diverged. Convergence trends among the US states observed prior to the 1990s have not only slowed down but even reversed into divergence. Divergence in labour productivity started during the 1980s in the service industries and was followed by the Manufacturing sector (and here in particular by the Electronic and Electrical Equipment industry) during the 1990s. There appears to be a belt of states in the West (and a few states in the North-East) which started off relatively poorly but managed to catch-up with the richer states due to an above average growth performance in labour productivity and multi factor productivity. Some of these states did not only manage to catch-up with richer ones but continued to surge ahead, causing the observed increase in the interstate dispersion in recent years. Policy makers, especially those in the states that are falling behind need to develop policies that will lead to an increase in the rate of productivity growth. In order to achieve this they must foster industries, which are conducive to higher growth rates and adopt policies that would increase the productivity of the labour force. These policies will need to create an environment in which productivity enhancing innovation can be sustained. States need to engage in research and development activities to ensure the invention and the adoption of new technologies.

The Corporate Real Estate Executive has many factors to consider when selecting and outfitting workspace for the company's employees, most of whom are knowledge workers. There are many factors to consider other than cost including the office space design, the LEED or other green building characteristics of the space,the business context in which the company operates, and how all these factors work together to impact productivity. A workplace and productivity assessment tool was completed for four different companies to assess eight different productivity elements and how they interact to impact productivity. Two companies occupied LEED certified facilities, one company occupied a green building, and the fourth company was in conventional office space.

This dissertation consists of three essays in applied econometrics that analyze the strategic interactions between individuals and institutions. The first chapter examines the relationship between employee benefits and the performance of startups. Using national longitudinal data on startups, I find that an increase in the share of employee benefits in total compensation packages leads to increased productivity of startups. Results indicate that a 10 percent increase in the share of employee benefits leads to an increase ranging from 1.5 to 3.9 percent in productivity even if the returns to the employee benefits are heterogeneous across startups. I also find that an increase in the share of employee benefits increases the chance of survival of startups. The second chapter investigates the dynamics of employee screening and transitions from temporary to permanent employment. I analyze unique German data that contains specific information about the dynamics of the transition from temporary to permanent employment, I find that employers screen the abilities of employees only before they hire them. I find no evidence that employers screen the cognitive ability of employees during temporary employment. The third chapter examines the relationship between housing prices and the availability of curbside parking. Using a policy change in Istanbul as a quasi-experiment, this chapter explores the effect of Istanbul’s switch from informal and free curbside parking to formal and paid curbside parking on housing prices. In a differences-in-differences model coupled with a propensity score matching, we find that an exogenous change in the availability of parking leads to a statistically significant decrease in house prices. We estimate that house prices per square meter decrease by 13 percent in the neighborhoods where the city starts charging curbside parking spaces. However, rents stay the same compared to the other neighborhoods. / text

M. Tech. Human Resources Management / This study was conducted to determine whether there is a relationship between organisational culture and assignment fulfilment in an energy provider. Factors comprising organisational culture and assignment fulfilment will be established and discussed. By making use of a detailed literature review, three factors of organisational culture and assignment fulfilment were identified. These factors were used to structure a questionnaire. The following factors of organisational culture were identified: values, managing employee-employer relationships and leadership. Assignment fulfilment factors that were identified are job involvement, job satisfaction and organisational fulfilment. Correlation analyses were used to determine whether there is a relationship between organisational culture and assignment fulfilment. Correlation analysis proved that there is a negative correlation between organisational culture and assignment fulfilment, because when one variable increases the other decreases. It was proved that employees are not fulfilled in the organisation due to the culture of the organisation. An organisation needs to focus on leadership in order to improve the culture of the organisation.