This thesis consists of three empirical studies on the economics of organization using novel data on organizations for analysis. Chapter 1 uses the longitudinal and nationally representative data from Statistics Canada's Workplace and Employee Survey to examine the distinct effects of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on decentralization of decision rights. Using a sample of workplaces from different sectors and controlling for unobserved workplace-level heterogeneity, I find that decentralization (defined as the case when workers can plan work for themselves) is more likely when database software is used (which reduces learning cost) but is less likely when communication system is used (which reduces communication cost). These results are consistent with the predictions of the organizational model by Garicano (2000). Chapter 2 also uses the data from Workplace and Employee Survey and examines the impact of competition on the quality of the middle management in terms of the use of Human Resources Management (HRM) practices. I find that increased competition leads to an improvement in managerial quality, proxied by the use of HRM practices. These results complement the industry-specific evidence documented in the literature. Chapter 3, co-authored with Professor Varouj A. Aivazian, uses the management score of Bloom and Van Reenen (2007) as a proxy for managerial quality to examine the extent to which market structure interacts with capital structure. We find that leverage is negatively related to competition (measured by Import Penetration Ratio, Lerner Index, and Herfindahl-Hirschman Index). Besides, we find that competition is positively associated with managerial quality, and that managerial quality is in turn negatively related to leverage. We conclude that managerial quality explains the impact of competition on leverage which suggests that managerial quality serves as an important link between capital structure and market structure.

Knowledge management is considered a necessary precursor to organizational success. This view is increasingly prevalent in the case of the health care sector. Two main knowledge management strategies are recognized: codification and personalization strategies. An organizations choice of knowledge management strategy depends on its objectives and the dominant form of knowledge informing its decision-making processes.<p>Health care decision-makers have access to a wealth of knowledge with which to inform their decisions. Little is known, however, about how the various types of knowledge are managed to optimize their use in decision-making. This study examines the knowledge management strategies of health care decision-makers working in the context of a regionalized health care system. The potential of communities of practice as a conceptual means for understanding health care knowledge management is also explored.<p>Members of Regional health authorities (RHAs) in the province of Saskatchewan constitute the unit of analysis for the study, which is guided by a qualitative research design. Interviews were used as the main data collection technique. For data analysis, open and axial coding methods based on the inductive and deductive approaches were adopted.<p>The study concludes that regional health authority (RHA) members utilize more fully explicit rather than tacit forms of knowledge. One of the main knowledge management practices adopted by the RHA members is the use of professional reports. This indicates that RHA members pursue a codification strategy more strongly than a personalization strategy. Moreover, it was found that the practices and strategies associated with managing knowledge were in place, despite the absence of a stated knowledge management policy. Finally, RHAs cannot be regarded as communities of practice, even though they exhibit many of their features.<p>Recommendations include the following: (1) the need for RHAs to institutionalize a knowledge management policy to guide their knowledge management processes and strategies, and (2) the cultivation of online communities of practice to marshal the tacit knowledge of RHA members, and that of the public, as an intervention to complement the use of explicit knowledge.

In this highly competitive environment, innovation seems to be the inevitable challenge to every company. The employees within the companies have become the key point for the companies to be innovative. So how do these companies use human resource management practices to promote innovation capabilities? In this thesis, the study will explore the relationship between human resource management practices and innovation capabilities and as well as the relationship between innovation capabilities and organizational performance. In addition, the business strategy as the moderator is also discussed. This thesis is conducted through opinion survey. This study gathered 86 valid questionnaires replied by the directors of research and development department in each company and the findings of this thesis can be summarized as follows: 1.Training and teamwork impact the exploratory innovation positively. 2.Recruitment, career system and employee participation impact the exploratory innovation positively. 3.Performance reward impacts the exploitative innovation positively. Performance appraisal does not have evident impact on exploitative innovation. 4.Recruitment, career system and employee participation impact the exploitative innovation positively. 5.Exploratory and exploitative innovations impact the organizational performance positively. 6.Business strategy does not have evident moderating effect.

This study aims to address the organizational temporality issues based upon the theory of time, interaction, and performance and self-regulation perspective. This study demonstrates the multi-level main effects of both team-level temporal norm and individual temporal perception and also the cross level moderating effects of team temporal management practices. This study answers the calls of incorporating temporal constructs in explaining team members¡¦ performance and exploring these issues within the formal consideration of multilevel modeling. This study also links the needed flexibility and temporality in modern manufacturing context with employee adaptive performance and temporal characteristics of team members. Specifically, this study collects data from 132 teams and 488 employees from southern Taiwan¡¦s Export Process Zones. Results demonstrates that team level polychronicity and individual level perceived control of time act as significant antecedents of employee adaptive performance after controlling individual personality characteristics. Moreover, team temporal management practices consisted of temporal planning, temporal reminders, and temporal reflexivity as a bundle quadratically enhance the linkage between employees¡¦ perceived control of time and their adaptivity.

Urban development will continue to increase in Texas because of population growth and urban sprawl. Despite the desire for urbanization and expansion of the economy, this growth increases the amount of construction, which, if not properly managed, can increase non-point source pollution and threaten surface water quality. Therefore, Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has approved and promoted the use of compost as a stormwater best management practice (BMP) during highway construction. The objectives of this study were to construct and calibrate an indoor rainfall simulator and to determine the effectiveness of using compost rather than conventional hydroseeding or topsoil to reduce erosion from disturbed soils. Runoff rates, interrill erosion, and interrill erodibility were determined and compared across five compost treatments following TxDOT specifications for compost applied as an erosion control and two control treatments of topsoil (TS) and hydroseeding (HS) applied at 5 cm depth. The simulator produced 89% uniformity using ten Veejet 80100 nozzles at a target rate of 100 mm h-1. The surface runoff was collected after 5 minutes of rainfall (first flush) and during the last 30 minutes of rainfall (steady-state). The first flush mean runoff for GUC-5 treatment was significantly higher than all other treatments. All other treatments; 50% woodchips and 50% compost blend (ECC-1.3, ECC-5), and hydroseeding (HS) had significantly lower runoff and erosion rates compared to topsoil (TS) and compost manufactured topsoil (CMT) at first flush and steady-state. Furthermore, there were no performance differences between 1.3 cm and 5 cm compost applications at first flush or steady-state. The results of this project indicate that particle size, soil moisture capabilities, and time at which rainfall is applied affect surface runoff. TxDOT specification of using ECC at 5 cm depth on a max of 3:1 slope should be reconsidered. An ECC application depth of 1.3 cm was effective in reducing first flush runoff and interrill erosion rates.

Multiple objectives are often used by agencies trying to manage pavement networks. Often alternative investment strategies can accomplish the agencies’ target objectives. If the goal is to achieve the target objectives at the minimum cost, an approach is needed to assist agencies in identifying investment strategies capable of meeting the targets while minimizing costs. The approach used by the agency should not be limited to an analytical method to mathematically solve the funding allocation problem. Finding mechanisms to ensure the sustainability and efficiency of the investment strategy over time is a great challenge that needs to be addressed by the approach. The challenge is even greater for local agencies where resources are usually limited. This research develops a multi-objective strategic management approach oriented to improving decisions for pavement management practices in local agencies. In this approach, target objectives are tied to key pavement network parameters in the management process. A methodology to identify the best combination of projects to meet target objectives at the minimum cost while maximizing treatment effectiveness is provided as a result of the research. Concepts from the pavement management program (PMP) of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) of the San Francisco Bay Area were used as a basis for developing the methodology. Four pavement network parameters are considered for setting the target objectives over the agency’s planning horizon: the average network pavement condition index (PCI), average network remaining life, percent of the pavement network in good condition, and percent of the pavement network in poor and very poor condition. Results from a case study show that funding allocation methods influence the allocation of preservation and rehabilitation funds among pavement network groups, affecting budget estimates and future condition of the pavement network. It is also concluded that the use of mechanisms that facilitate data integration and the flow of knowledge across management levels can contribute to making better informed decisions. Hence, the adoption of the multi-objective strategic pavement management approach developed in this dissertation should lead to identifying more efficient investment strategies for achieving the pavement network state desired by a local agency at a minimum cost.

Land development transforms the natural landscape and impacts in stream ecosystems and downstream communities as it alters the natural flow regime. An increase in impervious areas results in higher volumes of storm water runoff, reduced time to peak, and more frequent flooding. Best Management Practices (BMP) and Low Impact development (LID) are a few of the set of measures which are used to mitigate the impact of urbanization. Peak flow, runoff volume are few of the conventional metrics which are used to evaluate the impact and performance of these storm water management strategies on the watershed. BMP are majorly used to control the flood runoff but results in the release of large volumes of runoff even after the flood wave passed the reach and LIDs are used to replicate the natural flow regime by controlling the runoff at the source. Therefore need to incorporate a metric which includes the timing and area being inundated needs to be considered to study the impact of these strategies on the downstream. My proposed research will focus on simulating the Low Impact Development (LID) techniques like permeable pavements and rainwater harvesting on an urbanized watershed using a curve number approach to quantify the hydrologic performance of these strategies on the watershed. LID, BMPs, and combined strategies are introduced for retrofitting existing conditions and their hydrologic performance is accessed based on the peak flow and a new metric Hydrologic Footprint Residence. A simulation optimization framework would be developed which identifies cost effective LID options that maximize the reduction of peak flow from the existing condition design storms while meeting budget restrictions. Further LID and BMP placement is included in the optimization model to study the impact of the combined scenario on the storm water management plans and their performance based on different storms and corresponding budget. Therefore a tradeoff can be illustrated between the implementation cost and the hydrological impact on the watershed based on the storm water management approach of using only LID and combination of LID and BMP corresponding to varied spectrum of design storm events.

Although the organizational life cycle is inevitable, each stage could be extended by some means or other. Besides, continuous innovation and revival could enable the organization not to move toward the decline stage easily or even to die. The Taiwanese industries are facing common new challenges--the internal market is not large enough and the global competition is becoming more rigid. While local industries, under a ceaseless change environment of innovation, are unable to compete with those from other major nations in terms of capital, cost, marketing channels and other resources, the specialized talents are becoming un-replaceable great assets to the local industries and the application of human resource management practices appears more and more vital. Therefore, this study attempts to explore the characteristics of organizational life cycle as well as the impact to and the human resources management practices by the linkage of the organizational life cycle and the human resources management practices. The purpose of this study is to investigate the inter-relationship between organizational life cycle and human resource management practices. In this study, organizational life cycle is defined as independent variable, and the organization life cycle various stages are defined by the eight constructs of the organization situation and the organization structure. On the other hand the human resource management practices are defined as dependent variable, including HRM planning, employment management, performance appraisal, training and development, and compensation. This study adopts a questionnaire survey and targets on various industries. As far as the data analysis is concerned this study adopts factor analysis, cluster analysis, and one-way ANOVA to define the various of organizational life cycle. Furthermore, using factor analysis and one-way ANOVA to examine the effect of organizational life cycle on human resources management practices. The findings of the study indicate as follows. (1) The organizational life cycle may be differentiated into five stages: start-up, growth, maturity, decline, and diversification. (2) The different stages of organizational life cycle show different characteristic, and the differences are very significant. (3) The organizational life cycle reveals the differences to a certain extent to the human resources management practices in terms of four factors, i.e. highly human resources planning, and emphasized talents selection, performance appraisal management, as well as training.

Abstract The 21st century globalization and liberalization pose distinctive human resource management challenges to businesses especially those operating across national boundaries as multinational or global enterprises (Huselid, 1995). According to Huselid (1995), strategic human resource management primary should be emphasized to ensure that managers and employees are adjusting and accepting their organizational human resource practices in their daily work, thus, the human resource management practices appear to be more essential. The study attempted to gain a better understanding of the human resource management practices in hairdressing salon service industry in Taiwan by analyzing the relationships between employee¡¦s technical skill and organizational commitment on work performance. The data was collected by the researcher using mailing and delivering questionnaires. The sample size included 500 hair stylists from north, central, and south of Taiwan. There were 307 questionnaires and the return rate was 61.4%. The data was analyzed by descriptive statistics, Pearson correction analysis, and Structure equation modeling. The results of this study were as follows: 1. The perception of hair stylists on the human resource management practices showed high in employment security, then in decrease status distinction, training, contingent and compensation. 2. The organizational commitment and technical ability showed positive corrections on human resource system. In addition, the influence on the organizational commitment is greater than on the technical ability. 3. There was a negative relationship between organizational commitment and turnover intention. 4. There was a positive relationship between technical skill and work performance. 5. The work performance could be improved by using the intermediary result of technical ability from the human resource management practices. 6. There was a negative relationship between turnover intention and human resource management practices.

Abstract During the courses of banks being taken over, put on auction, or under compulsory merger, their employees are under tremendous impact. This calls for the importance of human resource management practices. If a bank being taken over has proper human resource management practices, the employees are more likely to have stable mood and morale to carry on their services to customers. On the one hand this will enhance the value of the bank being taken over, and on the other hand the synergy to the bank winning the bid in auction would be more obvious. In this research, we made in-depth studies of the human resource management practices in three stages, i.e. after take-over and before auction, after auction but before merger, and finally, after merger. The approaches adopted in this research include in-depth interview and questionnaire survey. We conducted interviews with members of management teams, human resource departments, and labor union officers. Questionnaire surveys were also conducted on employees to determine their feeling and whether they are satisfied with human resource management practices after being taken over and merged. We have drawn conclusions as follows: 1. Human resource management practices in banks that were taken over and merged are similar to ordinary merger cases, with emphasis on communication, protecting the interests of employees, focusing on the retention of employees and interview skills, establishing merger and integration team, and providing employees with a cushion period. Particularly, if a take-over team is formed, it would have major influence over policy-making, and would better protect the employees¡¦ interests when compared with banks which were taken over in the past. 2. During the take-over period, there were no layoffs and pay cuts which abide by the provisions of the Basic Labor Law and relevant regulations as well as the internal regulations of the bank in settling seniority and establishing settlement plans to reduce arguments between employees and employer. In these cases the questionnaire survey indicated that employees have high satisfaction. 3. The labor union shall act as a bridge between the take-over team, the winning bank, and employees under legitimate policy and with rational manner, to secure the interests of the employee and maintain harmony between employees and employer. Questionnaire surveys and interviews indicated that these efforts and contributions won the recognition of all employees. However, the retention rate is low, which is rather disappointing. 4. Questionnaire surveys had found that the main causes of employees quitting their jobs are: 1. After take-over and before merge: worrying about the future with uncertainty and insecurity; 2. On the reference date of merger: to lose retention from the winning bank; 3. After merger: poor adaptation to the new organizational culture, leadership of management, and difficulty in conforming to working environment. Key Words: Take Over, Merger, Bank, Resolution Trust Corporation, Human Resource Management Practices