Lam Suk Yee Eva. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 44-47). / Abstracts in English and Chinese ; questionnaire and appendix also in Chinese. / ABSTRACT --- p.2 / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.4 / Chapter CHAPTER 1: --- INTRODUCTION --- p.6 / Time discounting --- p.7 / Causes of the time discounting effect --- p.8 / Time discounting in job choice decision --- p.9 / Counteracting the time-discounting effect by influencing perceived probability --- p.12 / Summary of hypotheses --- p.12 / Chapter CHAPTER 2: --- METHOD --- p.15 / Participants --- p.15 / Procedure --- p.15 / Chapter CHAPTER 3: --- RESULTS --- p.20 / Manipulation Checking --- p.20 / Effect of feedback messages on job acceptance decisions --- p.20 / Effect of feedback messages on perceived value and probability of getting the jobs and the test scores --- p.22 / Effect of perceived value and probability of getting the jobs and written test scores on job acceptance decision --- p.25 / Effect of perceived probability of getting the job offer as mediator --- p.31 / Effect of feedback messages on the length of time that people need to make up their job acceptance decision --- p.33 / Chapter CHAPTER 4 : --- DISCUSSION --- p.34 / Effect of feedback message on perceived value of getting the jobs --- p.34 / Effect of feedback messages on job acceptance decision --- p.35 / Limitation --- p.39 / Implications and future research --- p.41 / REFERENCE --- p.44 / APPENDIX A --- p.48 / APPENDIX B --- p.49 / APPENDIX C --- p.53 / APPENDIX D --- p.57 / APPENDIX E --- p.59 / APPENDIX F --- p.63 / APPENDIX G --- p.64 / APPENDIX H --- p.67 / APPENDIX I --- p.69 / APPENDIX J --- p.71 / APPENDIX K --- p.75

It is estimated that 20% of American employees have some sort of a personal problem that substantially hinders their work performance. This can result in future consequences for both the employee and employer, such as loss of job by the employee and increased expenses for the employer. Employee Assistance Programs (EAP's) are one of the leading approaches used in an attempt to mitigate problems experienced by distressed workers. EAP' s are formal intervention systems that assist employees with a variety of personal problems. Studies have shown that EAP's are effective in treating employee problems, however, most employees do not take advantage of this service The goal of this study was to identify factors that predict increased likelihood of employee self referrals to an EAP and whether there were any significant differences in factors relating to self versus supervisory referrals to an EAP. Previous literature had not explored the latter issue. SeveJ1:ty-one subjects, 37 males and 34 females, from a government agency participated in the study. Of the 71 participants, 33 were supervisors and 38 were subordinate employees. Each subject completed a Likert-type survey that assessed their willingness to either self refer themselves or refer their subordinate employees to an EAP for a variety of problems. Supervisors assessed their willingness to refer subordinate employees to an EAP, while subordinates assessed their willingness to self refer to an EAP . Multiple regression analyses indicated that the variables of familiarity, embarrassment, attention, effectiveness, trust, control and referral by supervisor were significant in predicting an employees' willingness to self refer to an EAP for a variety of personal problems. Furthermore, analyses suggested that there was a difference between employees and supervisors in factors related to willingness to refer to an EAP. The primary difference was that supervisors mainly considered the overall effectiveness of the EAP program when deciding willingness to refer employees while employees mostly considered job security concerns, such as referral by supervisor or trust in confidentiality, when deciding willingness to self refer to an EAP. Future research should investigate this issue further to examine if this conclusion can be generalized to other organizations.

Obesity, a condition of having a body mass index (BMI) greater than 30, is a universal epidemic with the greatest prevalence in the United States. The greatest concern with this epidemic health problem is that it presents with many comorbidities and is a risk factor for other chronic diseases. Employee wellness programs (EWP) have been in place for years and incorporate programs on weight management, nutritional education, and smoking cessation to reduce risk factors associated with chronic diseases. These programs utilize the concept of empowerment, often guided by Pender's self-management theory, to encourage employees to take onus for their health by making better lifestyle choices. The research question for this project addressed whether obesity rates as measured by BMI could be diminished through an EWP by implementing health promotion strategies. This EWP project was conducted utilizing a quasi-experimental, 1-group, pretest-posttest design with a convenience sample of 23 employees who had a BMI > 30 and were from a health information management department of a health care organization in southeast Florida. The project evaluated whether a 6-week EWP would decrease the BMI of participants. Data were analyzed using paired sample t test and Statistical Product and Service Software. The results of the paired sample t test indicated there was a significant decrease in BMI from the preintervention to the postintervention. The results demonstrated that health promotion strategies implemented by an advanced practice nurse can affect obesity rates while effecting social change and supporting a culture of health and well-being.

An engaged workforce can increase organizational productivity and decrease employee turnover. Current research on employee engagement exists, yet little research exists on how the communication behaviors of management affect employee engagement. Guided by the conceptual framework of systems theory and communications theory, an exploration of the influence of management communication behaviors on employee engagement was conducted. A descriptive research design helped explore the influence of management communication behaviors on employee engagement within local, government entities of the Tidewater, Virginia, area. Data included semistructured interviews with 23 participants (11 managers and 12 employees). Data analysis occurred using the modified van Kaam method, which resulted in 4 emergent themes including (a) open, respectful, and transparent communication; (b) positive communication promoted an engaged workforce; (c) favorable communication increased engagement; and (d) negative communication decreased engagement. The results of the study may contribute to positive social change by providing managers a tool to reduce turnover in organizations, which, in turn, may lower the local unemployment rate. Indicators of economic cycles with low rates of unemployment include greater economic activity, stronger demand for workers, and a higher demand for goods and services. A lower unemployment rate may lessen the overall burden on government and society.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Delaware, 2007. / Principal faculty advisors: John E. Sawyer, Dept. of Business Administration. Includes bibliographical references.

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During the last decade research in leadership has escalated and newleadership styles have started to prevail. This study intends to examinewhether a leaders increased level of motivation in turn can motivateemployees. A major company included all employees in a leader position inan exhaustive intervention with the purpose to increase the leaders’motivation in order for them to motivate their employees. After theintervention, which ended in spring 2012, interviews with six differentemployees at the company were made to see if their level of motivation hadincreased. The interviews were semi-structured with an interview guide as asupport for the researcher. The material is interpreted through hermeneuticmethod were the researcher uses the hermeneutic spiral to raise theunderstanding of the subject and reach validity. Through the threeinterpretations which are presented in the result the researcher found twowords which seemed to be the foundation for the concept of motivation: rolemodel and acknowledgement. The result shows that depending on what yousearch for in a leader the intervention has been either useful or useless. Theemployees who want a role model have not seen any difference in theleaders, whilst the employees who wanted more acknowledgementexperience that the leaders have changed due to the intervention. Four of thesix interviewed employees have become more motivated. For furtherresearch it would be interesting to dive into the leaders point of view, alsoresearching this topic with a Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire would beinteresting, as well as including the head office to see if the results of theintervention have fulfilled their expectations.

Service recovery innebär företags försök att uppväga kunders negativa reaktioner på ett misslyckande vid leverans av en tjänst. Det här är ett relativt välutforskat ämne, men fokus är nästan uteslutande på kunden och hur den ska hanteras. Kundperspektivet är dock bara en av tre delar som ingår i service recovery. Förutom att göra kunderna nöjda, behöver företag arbeta aktivt med att förbättra processerna samt ge medarbetarna rätt förutsättningar för att hantera misslyckanden och därefter återhämta sig. Det sistnämnda, kallat employee recovery, upplever vi ha blivit bortprioriterat och nonchalerat i en majoritet av tidigare forskning inom service recovery. Den här uppsatsen har därför för avsikt att belysa employee recovery, för att få nöjda och lojala medarbetare. Studien är utförd på två turismföretag i norra Lappland, Icehotel och Björkliden. Vi har använt en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi, där vi genom semistrukturerade intervjuer åskådliggjort hur receptionisterna och deras chefer arbetar med service recovery. 16 intervjuer genomfördes och syftet var att därigenom finna hinder och drivkrafter för employee recovery, dvs. hur medarbetarna stöttas till återhämtning efter att ha hanterat missnöjda kunder. De slutsatser vi dragit, utifrån det empiriska materialet, kan sammanfattas med att hur medarbetare upplever employee recovery framförallt beror på kontexten. Vi vill därför framhäva att generaliserbarheten för slutsatserna är högst begränsad. Receptionisternas bemyndigande, dvs. hur de tillåts ta egna initiativ, förefaller var en stark drivkraft för employee recovery. Icehotel arbetade aktivt med att bemyndiga sin personal, medan Björkliden var betydligt mer restriktiva i detta avseende. Enligt vår studie gynnas employee recovery av att receptionerna på båda företagen leds av en karismatisk och deltagande receptionschef. Dock skiljer sig stöttningen åt mellan företagen, i och med skillnader i den ovan nämnda inställningen till bemyndigande. Stolthet och lojalitet gentemot företagen verkar även det skilja de båda receptionsstaberna åt. På Icehotel ser vi en drivkraft för employee recovery i receptionisternas stolthet över företaget, samtidigt som vi frågar oss om deras utryckta lojalitet främst kan kopplas till receptionschefen som person, snarare än till företaget i sig. I Björkliden framstår receptionisterna förvisso uppleva en viss typ av stolthet, men den tycks framförallt vara relaterad till den naturupplevelse som destinationen kan erbjuda. Däremot brister lojaliteten i andra avseenden, som exempelvis att förbättringar upplevs utföras efter felaktiga prioriteringar. Ytterligare en slutsats är att den främsta motivationsfaktorn för att utföra service recovery är inre belöning. Det här tycker vi sammanfattas bra med studiens titel, som en av receptionisterna utryckte, ”man måste vara egoistisk för att kunna hjälpa andra”.

Abstract This paper uses a sample of listed and unlisted securities companies in Taiwan to investigate the effects of employee productivity. The empirical estimation is based on a modified Cobb-Douglas production function. To provide a preliminary account of how the securities firms use the group incentive system and if the system certainly works as well as other companies on productivity effects, this paper examines the productivity effects via pooling the financial data during 1997-2000, the dataset is constructed of 132 securities firms. In addition, to estimate the incentive effects from the bonus, a number of independent variables are included in this study, such as profit-sharing dummy variables, amount of distributed shares, stock price and the ratio of profit sharing to net-profit. Moreover, the study also adds the ratio of profit sharing to wage to explore that if the wage risk could reduce the effects of employee productivity. The result indicates that firms with stock bonus will perform better than others, it apparently shows on listed companies, and the stock price is a key factor. Further, this study also finds that increasing the ratio of cash bonus to wage or to net-profit, it would significantly reduce employee productivity, especially on unlisted companies, and the stock bonus is contrary to the cash bonus.