Personnel Economics

The purpose of this article is to review spirituality at work literature and to explore how spirituality improves employees’ performances and organizational effectiveness. The article reviews about 140 articles on workplace spirituality to review their findings on how spirituality supports organizational performance. Three different perspectives are introduced on how spirituality benefits employees and supports organizational performance based on the extant literature: (a) Spirituality enhances employee well-being and quality of life; (b) Spirituality provides employees a sense of purpose and meaning at work; (c) Spirituality provides employees a sense of interconnectedness and community. The article introduces potential benefits and caveats of bringing spirituality into the workplace; providing recommendations and suggestions for practitioners to incorporate spirituality positively in organizations.

The paper investigates the management practices in place and the labour market outcomes experienced by workers in the Traffic Branch of the Victorian Railways over the period 1864–
1921. Using longitudinal panel data drawn from several publicly available sources and employing methods similar to those used by Baker et al. (1994a, 1994b), Seltzer and Merrett (1996), Hamilton and MacKinnon (1996) and Maloney and Whatley (1995), the careers of workers permanently employed in the Traffic Branch are examined. An analysis of the ports of entry, career structure, tenure and remuneration patterns indicates that the organisation operated as a well defined yet flexible internal labour market that included both blue- and white-collar positions.

"Block Printing is the process of using an object to make an inked impression upon a plain surface. It is one of the oldest and most enjoyable of all the crafts and has given color and pattern to paper, cloth, and other surfaces for nearly 4,000 years.
Today the process is essentially the same. As it is simple and impressive, it is ideal for the beginner. "

Relatively little is known about the youth labour market in Mongolia. This paper studies returns to education of 15-29-year-olds by taking advantage of a recent ad hoc School to Work Transition Survey. Based on augmented Mincerian earnings equations, education and work experience appear to be important determinants of earnings. Vocational does not provide higher wages than compulsory education. Factors bearing wage gains include: living in the capital city and in urban areas in general. Factors bearing wage penalties include: gender, informal work, training, using informal job search networks, herding. Union membership, being a migrant, the civil status are wage neutral.

Strategic recruitment is of vital importance in recruitment planning now a day. We also found the usefulness of Generation X approach in identifying the differences between the old generation and the young new Generation x and the different needs and attitudes of both the generations. This gives us an idea that the old recruitment practices might not be enough in today’s competitive environment. The Rank and Yank approach shows just how intense the competition is in the corporate world today and the fact that this approach is so successful is astounding. Although the benefits of Internet recruiting exceed its drawbacks but even then we found that Internet recruiting is still more useful for computer related business sector. We would also conclude that despite all other recruitment testing methods Interviews still stand out as one of the best ways to identify and recruit the right person for your organization.
Keywords: Recruitment, 21st Century, Human Resource, Generation X, Rank and Yank Approach, Internet Recruitment.

PL: Opracowanie przedstawia krótkie studium nad zagadnieniem satysfakcji pracowników pracy, pokazuje czynniki wpływające na satysfakcję oraz jej związki z innymi aspektami funkcjonowania organizacji.
EN: The chapter presents a brief study on the issue of employee satisfaction, shows the factors determining the satisfaction and its relationship with other aspects of the functioning of the organization.

[PL] Opracowanie przedstawia krótką syntezę wyników trzech badań przeprowadzonych w Katedrze Zarządzania Akademii Techniczno-Humanistycznej w Bielsku-Białej. Badania dotyczyły roli lidera, jego zdolności przywódczych, opinii pracowników na temat przywództwa w ich środowisku pracy. Wyniki pokazują problemy z jakimi spotykają się pracownicy w kontaktach ze swoim liderem, kierownikiem, ich oczekiwania w stosunku do kierownictwa przedsiębiorstwa, w którym są zatrudnieni, cechy przywódcze którymi zdaniem pracowników powinni cechować się ich przełożeni. W artykule omówiono również pojęcie przywództwa, jego istotę, specyfikę, kompetencje przywódcze oraz przedstawiono kategoryzację czynników z nim związanych.
[EN] The paper presents a short synthesis of three studies regarding the role of the leader, leadership skills and employee opinions on leadership in their work environment. Studies was performed at the Department of Management at the University of Bielsko-Biała. The results show the problems with leadership in organizations and expectations towards the leaders. Additionally, the paper discusses the concept of leadership, its essence, specificity and shows leadership competences.

In Charlemagne’s Survey of the Holy Land, Michael McCormick rehabilitates and reinterprets one of the most neglected and extraordinary sources from Charlemagne’s revival of the Roman empire: the report of a fact-finding mission to the Christian church of the Holy Land. The roll of documents translated and edited in this volume preserves the most detailed statistical portrait before the Domesday Book of the finances, monuments (including exact dimensions), and female and male personnel of any major Christian church.

Setting these documents in the context of economic trends, archaeological evidence, and a comparison of Holy Land churches and monasteries with their contemporaries west and east, this study shows that the Palestinian church was living in decline as its old financial links with Byzantium slackened. In recounting Charlemagne’s move to outflank the Byzantine emperor, McCormick constructs a microhistory of the Frankish king’s ambitions and formidable organizational talents for running an empire.

Supplementing McCormick’s major synthesis, The Origins of the European Economy, this volume will be indispensable reading for anyone interested in medieval rulership and economics, and in the history of the Holy Land, its Christian communities, and its late antique monuments.


"At its worst, microhistory is merely antiquarian button counting. But at its best, as exemplified here, small things serve as touchstones for studies of wider-ranging significance. McCormick examines the Basel Roll, a ninth-century manuscript relating the information gathered by envoys of Charlemagne, who inquired into the financial needs of churches in and around Jerusalem. The roll preserves three documents that provide personnel numbers and sizes of building roofs in area churches and monasteries, as well as partial annual expenditures for the patriarch of Jerusalem...McCormick shows that the Jerusalem church had shrunk since late antiquity; that contemporary Frankish houses were larger and richer; and that Einhard did not exaggerate Charlemagne's interest in faraway Christian communities. Among the many strengths of the book is the full-size facsimile of the Basel Roll included as a stand-alone poster. (C. J. Chandler Choice 2012-11-01)"

The introduction of decentralized planning in Kerala in the year 1996, has heralded a new era of participatory pattern of development process in the state.  Each and every stage of development planning in the state is based on the active involvement of people. Peoples participation had been ensured by the various institutions like, Grama Sabha, Development Seminars Beneficiary Committees, Expert groups, monitoring committees etc. Of all these various realms of peoples participation, the institution of Grama Sabha is the most important one.  From 9th plan onwards, Grama Sabhas are very active in Kerala. The experience from conducting general Grama Sabha’s showed that, the participation of physically and mentally differently abled people are chronically absent  in such  meetings. The conspicuous absence of these groups had led to, one or another form of social exclusion. In order to overcome this problem, from this year (2012) onwards, Govt. of Kerala had insisted that, all the local bodies should conduct special Grama Sabhas, for the old, differently abled, and school children.  Hence, the present study has been done, with the following objectives.

a) To study the need for special Grama Sabha meetings of physically handicapped people
b) To investigate the effectiveness of special Grama Sabhas for school children
c) To examine the various income generating projects proposed in the special Grama Sabha.
d) To examine the challenges and opportunity for special Grama Sabha

The paper is divided in to three sections.  The first section deals with, back ground of participatory pattern of development planning process in Kerala, and a brief discussion of the various institutions which enables mass participation. The second section presents a brief discussion of the institution of Grama Sabha and the need for special Grama Sabha. The third section presents the actual experience of a village panchayat in convening two special Grama Sabhas. The importance of the special Grama Sabhas, on the participants and the challenges and opportunities are also discussed in the paper.

PL: Opracowanie omawia podstawowe pojęcia związane z satysfakcją, satysfakcją pracowników i czynnikami ją kształtującymi, a następnie prezentuje wyniki badań dotyczących satysfakcji z pracy młodych pracowników (do 35 roku życia), przeprowadzone na próbie 100 respondentów. Badania pokazały, że satysfakcja z pracy oceniana jest raczej nisko, największym problemem młodych ludzi są wynagrodzenia, brak możliwości rozwoju oraz stabilności zawodowej. Dodatkowo sytuacja kobiet w środowisku zawodowym kształtuje się znacznie gorzej, niż mężczyzn.
EN: Job satisfaction in the opinion of young employees. The paper discusses the basic concepts associated with satisfaction, employee satisfaction and the factors shaping it, and then presents results of research on job satisfaction of young employees (aged under 35), made on a sample of 100 respondents. Research shows, that job satisfaction is assessed rather low, the biggest problem of young people are salaries, lack of opportunities for professional development and job stability. Moreover, the situation of women in the professional environment is significantly worse than men.

In a command economy, centralized political priorities take precedence over market equilibrium, and government purchases cannot be refused. This chapter describes the antecedents, origins, evolution, and outcomes of the Soviet command economy from the Bolshevik Revolution to World War II. The Soviet command economy was built in two phases, 1917 to 1920, and 1928 onward, with a 'breathing space' between. The present account gives prominence to features of a command economy that, while missing from the first phase, were developed during the breathing space, and then helped to ensure the relative success of the second phase. These were features that assured secrecy, security, and the selection of economic officials for competence and party loyalty. Like any economy in the international system, the command economy had a comparative advantage: the production of economic and military power.

This study represents the first substantial investigation of the human resource management practices within the Victorian Railways over the period 1864-1921. The employment and management strategies of the organisation are examined using a range of models and theories drawn from labour economics, new institutional economics and human resource management.

This paper uses a unique data set containing detailed micro-information on organisations, managers, workers and volunteers belonging to public, private forprofit and private nonprofit institutions delivering social services in Italy. The analysis aims to estimate the determinants of wages across organisations at a sector level focusing on the role of hiring and job search methods, including informal networks. We find that, independent of the organisation type, being hired through public competitions brings with it a substantial wage premium (ranging from 7 to 32%). Informal networks bring with them a wage penalty (-6.5%) in the state sector, where formal hiring methods are common, and a wage premium (6.3%) in social cooperatives and religious institutions, where formal hiring methods are not common. Interestingly, the differences in hiring and in job search methods between state and private organisations explain from 50% to 100% of the conditional wage differentials across organisation types. Our interpretation of these findings is that nonprofit organisations prefer informal recruitment methods not for nepotistic reasons, but to better select the most motivated workers, those who share the nonprofit mission. This paper adds to the previous literature by suggesting that in addition to lower than average monetary compensations, informal recruitment methods are part of the process of self-selection of motivated workers in nonprofit organisations.

In the UK and other western countries the financial services sector is seen as offering women better career prospects than most other sectors. Unprecedented numbers of well-qualified young women are now achieving promotion to first-line and middle management positions. Companies are represented as progressive employers, committed to promoting equal opportunities. However, a cross-cultural study of three Turkish and six UK banks and high street financial organisations explores how organisational ideologies and cultures operate to perpetuate inequality, based on managers’ gendered conceptions of “the ideal worker”. Favoured staff were identified, sponsored, promoted and rewarded, often based on their personal affinity with senior managers rather than objective criteria. This distinction between favour and exclusion operates not only along the traditional lines of gender, class, age, sexual orientation, religion and physical ability, but also along the new dimensions of marriage, networking, safety, mobility and space. Despite local and cross-cultural differences in the significance of these factors, the cumulative disadvantage suffered by women managers and supervisors in both countries was remarkably similar.

This paper analyzes the recent literature on innovation and its determinants from an institutional point of view. Innovation is a concept that has been defined by several authors as implementing new ideas, processes, mechanisms and methods that allow the generation and development of new ideas, products, services and organization architectures. However, it is shown that the government, the universities and the private sector must converge in order to encourage the coevolution process of innovation. This is analyzed theoretically.

The story of wages in nineteenth‐ and early twentieth‐century Australia has largely been told through official published statistics and the experiences of skilled artisans and construction labourers. Utilising wage book data from an early successful manufacturing plant – a biscuit factory – we reveal the earning histories of several neglected groups of Australian workers. We specifically investigate the effects of the 1890s depression, the introduction of a wages board, and shifting demographics on the wages of unskilled factory hands, women, juvenile workers, and commercial clerks. We demonstrate that typical Australian wage series studies have misinterpreted the impact of these phenomena.

This paper is about the school that began technical secondary education in the Province of Ontario,
Canada. It is an historical case study that seeks to understand why the Toronto Technical School (TTS) was
established, how it functioned for 13 years, and why it was amalgamated with public secondary education
in 1904. This case history analyzes the rationale and purposes behind this first school and considers the
impact of provincial control. TTS played a role that directly influenced provincial legislation which resulted
in the formal recognition, public funding, and eventually, the inclusion of technical education in the public
school system. The TTS still exists today and serves as a reminder of the original vision of a school designed
and created for technical education. The findings of this study prompt critical questioning of the need to
continue separate educational space in the absence of the kind of support needed to make it a challenging
and worthwhile option for students.

The purpose of this paper is to show the relation between job satisfaction and proactive behaviour. Existing studies clearly indicate the impact of proactive attitude on job satisfaction. The authors' objective was to verify this relation, assuming reversed hypothesis. Therefore their intention was to establish to what extent job satisfaction affects proactive attitude. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was implemented to test and verify the micromodel containing two latent variables: job satisfaction (exogenic) and proactive behaviour (endogenic). Both of them were equipped with relevant manifest variables, measured in a survey. The survey questionnaires were distributed using snowballing method and the model was tested on the sample of 292 employees. The verification process came out positive and provided necessary data to support the assumed hypothesis. However the model fit was problematic in a sense that it requires verification of the measurement model in order to increa...

Personnel economics drills deeply into the firm to study human resource management practices like compensation, hiring practices, training, and teamwork. Why should pay vary across workers within firms—and how “compressed” should pay be within firms? Should firms pay workers for their performance on the job or for their skills or hours of work? How are pay and promotions structured across jobs to induce optimal effort from employees? Why do firms use teams and how are teams used most effectively? How should all these human resource management practices, from incentive pay to teamwork, be combined within firms? Personnel economists offer new tools to analyze these questions—and new answers as well.

Abstract: In our simple model the supervisor: i) cannot observe the agent's effort; ii) aims at inducing the agent to exert high effort; but iii) can only offer rewards based on performance. Since performance is only stochastically related to effort, evaluation errors may occur. In particular, deserving agents that have exerted high effort may not be rewarded (Type I errors) and undeserving agents that have exerted low effort may be rewarded (Type II errors). We show that, although the model predicts both errors to be equally detrimental to ...