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Thesis (M.S. in International Resource Planning and Management) Naval Postgraduate School, June 1997. / Thesis advisors, Jan S. Breemer, Roger D. Evered. Includes bibliographical references (p. 77-78). Also available online.

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Over the last decade, much research has been conducted in the field of HRM and its association with organisational performance. Encouraged by substantial positive evidence for statistical associations between sophisticated HRM practices and enhanced organisational performance, HRM researchers have become more assertive in their claims that HRM contributes to performance. However, most of the research is based on questionnaire surveys and still leaves key questions unanswered, in particular by which processes HRM contributes to performance. This lack of knowledge about the processes involved in the HRM-performance relationship is referred to as 'black box'. It is the focus of this thesis to attempt to open this 'black box'. A qualitative case study methodology was adopted and the Glasgow four-star hotel sector chosen as a field of enquiry. This choice allowed for a standardisation of factors that might influence the degree of sophistication of HRM and its impact on performance, i.e. regional differences in terms of product and labour markets, capital intensity and unionisation. Four out of seven eligible hotels participated in the research. The cognitions of managerial respondents from different levels (i.e. general managers, HR managers and line managers) formed the basis of the research. Interviews with these respondents were analysed using a causal mapping method. Detailed quantitative secondary data enabled an investigation of the economic context and demonstrated that organisational performance is influenced by the economic context. It is argued that the appropriate level of analysis is the operational departments where HRM is applied by line managers in a way not necessarily in accordance with formal policy. On this level, HRM has demonstrated both direct effects on the achievement of departmental performance indicators and indirect effects through employee outcomes.

<p> The current landscape of small farms is approaching a major shift as more and more small farms are poised to come onto open marketplace around urban areas. A different farming business model called Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has been utilized as new way for farmers to potentially earn above average revenue. However, small farmers still feel dissatisfied with their overall farm income, but when implementing the CSA business model the producers do feel that the CSA enhances their overall income satisfaction. Three essays were developed to examine this predicament. The first essay examined possible economic pricing models that a CSA is espoused to operating under, a multiproduct club good and monopoly. Utilizing these theories and data collected from prior research, I postulate that the CSA business model is not operating at the Pareto equilibrium because producers seem worse off and the shareholders are better off. The solution to this equilibrium problem seems to be two fold. One is that the producer is acting inefficiently and needs better control of their production and distribution. Second, the true cost of the product is not being communicate as espoused by CSA business model concept. Increasing efficiencies and fully communicating all costs to the shareholders are needed so that the correct consumers&rsquo; willingness to pay can be revealed and the Pareto optimal be achieved.</p><p> The second essay constructs and illustrates a mathematical model implemented by the gardening by the square foot method and expands it so that it can be applied by the CSA farmer. Comparing this planting method to other CSA row cropping models, the needed square footage for growing the need harvest can be reduced by 80%. Although the land needed is drastically decreased using this cropping method, labor costs have not been evaluated and field studies still need to be conducted. Also, this technique now segregates the shareholders production area from other production areas on the farm. This not only allows a CSA producer to better detail their specific production cost per shareholder but also has the advantage of allowing for more exclusion required to exert more monopoly or club good power, thus possibly correcting the dissatisfaction of producers&rsquo; personal income as described in essay one.</p><p> The third essay discusses the results of a survey, e-mailed to 673 producers listed on the USDA CSA website. The results of this survey were compared to previous CSA producer surveys and shows that not much has changed in the demographics of the CSA operations across the U.S. Using survey and census data, a linear regression econometric model was developed to explain full share pricing at CSAs. Five variable coefficients were found to have large impacts on full share prices. The variable of CSA farmers participating in other marketplaces had a negative impact of $294.62. When farmers used prices of other CSAs in their pricing, share prices were $120.82 higher. The preparation of the CSA harvest for distribution was found to have a negative effect on the price with a coefficient of $232.83. The factor of the management and labor of the family and shared risk coefficients were positive $226.45 and $169.65, respectively. Finally the weeks of harvest was positive with a coefficient of $12.38. All these variables were found to be significant at the 1% or 5% significance level. However, many other non-monetary attributes espoused in the literature as reasons for a producer choosing the CSA business model, did not have any discernable impact on pricing. More research is needed to clarify the value of these non-market items.</p>

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The purpose of this research was to compare employee participation practices in a Swedish and a British bank. There has been considerable interest in human resource management over the past decade, of which employee participation forms an important part, but there have been very few studies which attempt a qualitative comparison of international aspects of this subject. By using a wider study, the Price Waterhouse Cranfield Project on . International Human Resource Management, a European context is provided for the case study material, which examines in depth the forms and outcomes of employee participation in a Swedish and British setting. A triangulation methodology was employed using two questionnaires given to employees of each organisation, a series of in-depth interviews, a reading of company documentation and personal visits. This enabled the use of a multiple of approaches with the questionnaires providing a framework for the in-depth interviews. Four hypotheses were posed which offered tentative explanations for the similarities and differences in employee participation practices in Sweden and Britain. The findings were then analysed using Poole's Framework of Participation which proposes a number of contingent factors which influence the outcomes of employee participation. The thesis showed that Swedes allow greater participation in the workplace than the British, explanations of which are rooted in the cultural and ideological differences of the two societies. Secondly, it was shown that the drive for profit or financial stability will override participation mechanisms if it is felt necessary for survival. Thirdly, HRM techniques of employee participation are used mainly at a micro (workplace) level in the organisation as they can safely be distanced from any strategic decision making. Thus the strength of employee participation is very much anchored to the latent power of employees which is influenced by convergent forces such as economic, technological and political factors, and divergent forces such as cultural and ideological factors.

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