Showing papers on "Resource management published in 1996"

The Impact of Human Resource Management on Organizational Performance: Progress and Prospects

Abstract: We describe why human resource management (HRM) decisions are likely to have an important and unique influence on organizational performance. Our hope is that this research forum will help advance ...

Human resource management, manufacturing strategy, and firm performance

Abstract: This study examines two alternative views—universal and contingency—of the human resources (HR)-performance relationship in manufacturing settings. Results from a survey of 97 plants primarily support a contingency approach to human resource management (HRM). An HR system focused on human capital enhancement was directly related to multiple dimensions of operational performance (i.e., employee productivity, machine efficiency, and customer alignment), but subsequent analysis revealed that this main effect was predominately the result of linking human-capital-enhancing HR systems with a quality manufacturing strategy. Other manufacturing strategies also moderated the HR-performance relationship.

Command and Control and the Pathology of Natural Resource Management

Abstract: As the human population grows and natural resources decline, there is pressure to apply increas- ing levels of topdown, command, and~control management to natural resources. This is manifested in at- tempts to control ecosystems and in socioeconomic institutions that respond to erratic or surprising ecosystem behavior with more control Command and control, however, usually results in unforeseen consequences for both natural ecosystems and human welfare in the form of collapsing resources, social and economic strife, and losses of biological diversity. We describe the "pathology of natural resource management, " defined as a loss of system resilience when the range of natural variation in the system is reduced encapsulates the unsustain- able environmental, social, and economic outcomes of command~and~ontrol resource management. If natu- ral levels of variation in system behavior are reduced through command-and~ontrol, then the system be- comes less resilient to external perturbations, resulting in crises and surprises. We provide several examples of this pathology in management. An ultimate pathology emerges when resource management agencies, through initial success with command and control, lose sight of their original purposes, eliminate research and monitoring, and focus on efficiency of control They then become isolated from the managed systems and inflexible in structure. Simultaneously, through overcapitalization, society becomes dependent upon com- mand and control, demands it in greater intensity, and ignores the underlying ecological change or collapse that is developing. Solutions to this pathology cannot come from further command and control (regulations) but must come from innovative approaches involving incentives leading to more resilient ecosystems, more flexible agencies, more self-reliant industries, and a more knowledgeable citizenry. We discuss several aspects of ecosystem pattern and dynamics at large scales that provide insight into ecosystem resilience, and we pro- pose a "Golden Rule" of natural resource management that we believe is necessary for sustainabllity: man- agement should strive to retain critical types and ranges of natural variation in resource systems in order to maintain their resiliency.

The Resource-Based View of the Firm in Two Environments: The Hollywood Film Studios From 1936 to 1965

Abstract: This article continues to operationally define and test the resource-based view of the firm in a study of the major U.S. film studios from 1936 to 1965. We found that property-based resources in th...

Natural resource and environmental economics

Abstract: Natural Resources and Environmental Economics, provides comprehensive and contemporary analysis of the major areas of natural resource and environmental economics.

Sustained product innovation in large, mature organizations: Overcoming innovation-to-organization problems.

Abstract: We examined problems with sustained product innovation in 15 firms that averaged 96 years of age, 54,000 employees, and $9.4 billion in annual revenues. Findings reveal that the inability to connec...

Improving labor productivity: human resource management policies do matter

Abstract: Despite the consistency with which the theoretical and normative connections between human resource management practices and firm-level performance outcomes are made, empirical studies that link the two are sparse. This paper presents results from a study of 319 business units that addresses this gap. Hypotheses are derived from a resource-based perspective on strategy. Positive and significant effects on labor productivity are found for organizations that utilize more sophisticated human resource planning, recruitment, and selection strategies. These effects are particularly pronounced in the case of capital-intensive organizations.

Distributed workflow resource management system and method

Abstract: A system and method for distributed resource management in a computer network operating under control of workflow management software system (WFMS) to manage plural resources to perform a workflow process that includes multiple process activities, uses two-step resource assignment to manage resources at two levels. The resources are grouped by capabilities into resource groups controlled by a local resource manager (LRM), which maintains dynamic status of each resource, such as availability and load, as well as their roles and addresses. A global resource manager (GRM) stores resource data only about the groups: capabilities and status. The WFMS invokes the GRM, requesting a specified resource activity. The GRM checks the stored capabilities and status among the resource groups, selects the resource group capable of the specified activity and available, and forwards the request to the LRM for the selected group. The LRM selects one of the resources in the group to perform the specified activity and assigns the activity to that resource.

Construction resource scheduling with genetic algorithms

Abstract: A new approach for resource scheduling using genetic algorithms (GAs) is presented here. The methodology does not depend on any set of heuristic rules. Instead, its strength lies in the selection and recombination tasks of the GA to learn the domain of the specific project network. By this it is able to evolve improved schedules with respect to the objective function. Further, the model is general enough to encompass both resource leveling and limited resource allocation problems unlike existing methods, which are class-dependent. In this paper, the design and mechanisms of the model are described. Case studies with standard test problems are presented to demonstrate the performance of the GA-scheduler when compared against heuristic methods under various resource availability profiles. Results obtained with the proposed model do not indicate an exponential growth in the computational time required for larger problems.

The Ecology and Management of Non-Timber Forest Resources

Abstract: Tropical forests contain an incredible diversity of fruit, nuts, oil seeds, latexes, resins, gums, spices, and medicinal plants of great potential economic value. This report summarizes the current state of knowledge on the ecology of these non-timber resources and outlines a series of management recommendations for their sustainable harvest. The discussion is divided into four parts. The first part summarizes the basic characteristics of tropical plant populations that limit the nature and intensity of resource exploitation. The major problem areas include the diversity and low-density of tree species, the complexity of flowering and fruiting, the specificity of microsites for successful regeneration and growth, and the labile response of population structure to changes in the level of recruitment. The second part discusses the potential long-term ecological impacts resulting from the selective harvest of different plant tissues such as reproductive propagules (fruits, nuts, and oils seeds), plant exudates (latexes, resins, and gums), and vegetative structures (fibers, medicinals, rattans, and thatch). It is argued that most of the current commercial exploitation of non-timber resources is plagued by destructive harvesting, over-exploitation, and a basic disregard for the functional ecology of tropical plant populations. The third part outlines the basic inventory and yield data needed to develop a program of sustainable resource use. Two different methodologies for defining a sustainable level of harvest are discussed. The first, a conceptually simple, inexpensive, and straightforward process called successive approximation, monitors the population impact of exploitation and sequentially adjusts harvest levels over time to obtain a sustainable yield. The second method uses plant demography, matrix models and computer simulations to estimate the maximum quantity of resources that can be harvested from the forest without damaging the long-term regeneration of the species under exploitation. The fourth part provides an overview of conventional and indigenous forms of forest management and proposes a general sequence of silvicultural operations for enhancing the regeneration, growth, and productivity of different non-timber forest resources. Brief summaries are included at the end of each chapter and boxes are used to present supplementary material and to give examples of certain statistical procedures.

Overview of the I-Way: Wide-Area Visual Supercomputing

Abstract: This paper discusses the I-WAY project and provides an overview of the papers in this issue of IJSA. The I-WAY is an experimental environment for building distributed vir tual reality applications and for exploring issues of distrib uted wide-area resource management and scheduling. The goal of the I-WAY project is to enable researchers to use multiple internetworked supercomputers and ad vanced visualization systems to conduct very large scale computations. By connecting 12 ATM testbeds, 17 super computer centers, 5 virtual reality research sites, and over 60 applications groups, the I-WAY project has created an extremely diverse wide-area environment for exploring advanced applications. This environment has provided a glimpse of the future for advanced scientific and engineer ing computing.

Legion-a view from 50,000 feet

Abstract: The coming of giga-bit networks makes possible the realization of a single nationwide virtual computer comprised of a variety of geographically distributed high-performance machines and workstations. To realize the potential that the physical infrastructure provides, software must be developed that is easy to use, supports a large degree of parallelism in the application code, and manages the complexity of the underlying physical system for the user. Legion is a metasystem project at the University of Virginia designed to provide users with a transparent interface to the available resources, both at the programming interface level as well as at the user level. Legion addresses issues such as parallelism, fault-tolerance, security, autonomy, heterogeneity, resource management and access transparency in a multi-language environment. In this paper, we present a high-level overview of Legion, its vision, objectives, a brief sketch of how some of those objectives will be met, and the current status of the project.

Ecosystem Management with Multiple Owners: Landscape Dynamics in a Southern Appalachian Watershed

Abstract: Ecosystem management is emerging as an organizing theme for land use and resource management in the United States However, while this subject is dominating professional and policy discourse, little research has examined how such system-level goals might be formulated and implemented Effective ecosystem management will require in- sights into the functioning of ecosystems at appropriate scales and their responses to human interventions, as well as factors such as resource markets and social preferences that hold important influence over land and resource use In effect, such management requires an understanding of ecosystem processes that include human actors and social choices We examine ecosystem management issues using spatial models that simulate landscape change for a study site in the southern Appalachian -highlands of the United States We attempt to frame a set of ecosystem management issues by examining how this landscape could develop under a number of different scenarios designed to reflect historical land-cover dynamics as well as hypothetical regulatory approaches to ecosystem management Scenarios based on historical change show that recent shifts in social forces that drive land cover change on both public and private lands imply a more stable and a more forested landscape Scenarios based on two hypothetical regulatory instruments indicate that public land man- agement may have only limited influence on overall landscape pattern and that spatially targeted approaches on public and private lands may be more efficient than blanket regu- lation for achieving landscape-level goals

Water Resources Handbook

Abstract: Part I: Principles for Water Resources.Water Resources: An Introduciton.Priciples of Flow of Water.Water Economics.Principles of Planning and Financing for Water Resources in the United States.Water Law.Systems Analysis.Uncertainty and Reliability Analysis.Part II: Water Resource Quality (Natural Systems) Water Quality.Lakes and Reservoirs.Rivers and Streams.Groundwater.Estuaries.Wetlands.Computer Models for Water-Quality Analysis.Part III: Water REsources Supply Systems.Surface Water Resource Systems.Groundwater Systems.Water Treatment Systems.Water Distribution.Wastewater-collection Systems.Wastewater Treatment.Water Reclamation and Reuse.Irrigation Systems.Water Demand Analysis.Part IV: Water Resources Excess Management.Hydrology for Water-Excess Management.Hydraulics for Excess Water Management.Urban Stormwater Management.Federal Perspective for Flood-Damage-Reduction Studies.Computer Models for Water-Excess Management.Part V: Water Resources for the Future.Global Climate Change: Effect on Hydrologic Cycle.Ecological Effects of Global climate Change on Freshwater Ecosystems with Emphasis on Streams and Rivers.Energy and Water.Water-Use Management: Permit and Water-Transfer Systems.Decision support Systems (DDS) for Water-Resources Management.

Knowledge based resource management

Abstract: The knowledge based system identifies the occurrence of a failure within the customer equipment and functions using its rules, hypotheses and collected data to isolate the functional resource which is the source of the error in the customer equipment and, whenever possible, "fence" or isolate the failed functional resource that has caused the error. In addition, the knowledge based system makes use of resource related rules to remove a resource or set of resources available for concurrent other failure management operations. The resource related rules allow resources to function in any one non-operational or operational mode or to functional simultaneously in multiple non-operational modes.

Adaptive resource management algorithms for indoor mobile computing environments

Abstract: Emerging indoor mobile computing environments seek to provide a user with an advanced set of communication-intensive applications, which require sustained quality of service in the presence of wireless channel error, user mobility, and scarce available resources. In this paper, we investigate two related approaches for the management of critical networking resources in indoor mobile computing environments:• adaptively re-adjusting the quality of service within pre-negotiated bounds in order to accommodate network dynamics and user mobility.• classifying cells based on location and handoff profiles, and designing advance resource reservation algorithms specific to individual cell characteristics.Preliminary simulation results are presented in order to validate the approaches for algorithmic design. A combination of the above approaches provide the framework for resource management in an ongoing indoor mobile computing environment project at the University of Illinois.

Hierarchical resource management with maximum allowable allocation boundaries

Abstract: A system for managing resources such as buffers and bandwidth which are allocated to competing entities through two or more levels in a telecommunications network is disclosed. The system provides a tool to allocate resources for use by individual entities. Each entity may be assigned a Minimum -- Guaranteed variable and a Maximum -- Allowed variable. When an entity requests resources the system determines if the entity is using its respective minimum guaranteed resource allocation which is specified by the Minimum -- Guaranteed variable. If the entity is not using its respective minimum guaranteed resource allocation, the system allocates a resource unit to the requesting entity. The system also allows a requesting entity to use additional resource units above the resource allocation specified by the Minimum -- Guaranteed variable, provided such resource units are available. If the entity has reached its respective minimum guaranteed resource allocation, but has not reached the respective maximum allowed resource allocation specified by the Maximum -- Allowed variable and no intervening level is using its respective maximum allowed resource allocation, then a resource unit is allocated to the requesting entity.

Between hard and soft HRM: human resource management in the construction industry

Abstract: The rapid change in the economic environment has not resulted in the development of sophisticated human resource management practices in the UK construction industry. There are similarities between personnel practice in construction and ‘hard’ models of HRM, particularly in relation to manual workers, but non-manual employment resembles more the conditions where ‘soft’ HRM might be expected. Focusing on the HRM levers developed by John Storey, HRM practices are examined in relation to the role of personnel departments, line management responsibility, performance management, and values and beliefs of personnel managers. The survey results suggest few signs of fundamental or far-reaching innovation in human resource management practice in the construction industry despite the changing shape of construction companies. There are some, though limited, signs of change in respect to expectations of training and employee development in the future.

Grassland enclosures: catalyst of land degradation in inner mongolia

Abstract: Since decollectivization, Chinese government policies have promoted household enclosures as the best solution to maximize pastoral productivity and control desert expansion in grassland areas. Recent fieldwork from Inner Mongolia contradicts this optimism. Data and participant-observation reveal that enclosures, as implemented through village level social context, actually compound grazing problems for most residents and the wider ecosystem. Expanding household enclosures function to intensify hyper-critical stocking ratios on highly vulnerable rangeland, exacerbating wind and soil erosion processes across vast territories only to protect small isolated fields dedicated to poorly financed fodder cultivation. This case study indicates that privatization of land in modernizing pastoral societies can be less meaningful for good resource management than other factors, such as secure tenure, equitable access to community resources, and meaningful institutional supports in the form of credit, production service...

Adaptive Management for Sound Ecosystem Management

Abstract: / Sound ecosystem management meshes socioeconomic attitudes and values with sustainable natural resource practices. Adaptive management is a model for guiding natural resource managers in this process. Ecosystems and the societies that use them are continually evolving. Therefore, managers must be flexible and adaptable in the face of uncertainty and lack of knowledge. To couple good science to management, it is important to develop goals, models, and hypotheses that allow us to systematically learn as we manage. Goals and models guide the development and implementation of management practices. The need to evaluate models and test hypotheses mandates monitoring, which feeds into a continuous cycle of goal and model reformulation. This paper reviews the process of adaptive management and describes how it is being applied to oak/pine savanna restoration at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge as an illustration. Our aim is to help managers design their own adaptive management models for successful ecosystem management.KEY WORDS: Adaptive management; Ecosystem management; Monitoring; Restoration; Savanna

Genetic algorithms and the location area partitioning problem in cellular networks

Abstract: As the subscriber population grows and the network capabilities are enhanced, mobility management and resource management become increasingly critical in (micro-) cellular networks. Moreover, coverage areas are increasingly enlarged, possibly requiring the adoption of partitions to facilitate management activities. Location areas constitute an important strategy of location management, used to reduce signaling traffic caused by location updating and paging messages in cellular networks. Due to the very large state spaces to be searched, the determination of optimal LA's represents a NP-hard combinatorial optimization problem. In this paper, genetic algorithms are used in order to group cells in an efficient way, while preserving bandwidth. Elitism, linear normalization of chromosoma and edge-based crossover are used to speed up the convergence time, allowing near-optimal solutions to be obtained in an acceptable computation time.

ARM! For the Future: Adaptive Resource Management in the Wildlife Profession

Abstract: The wildlife profession has a long-established tradition of examining and debating the quality and direction of wildlife research (Scheffer 1976, Romesburg 1981, Bailey 1982, McCabe 1985, Capen 1989, Nudds and Morrison 1991, Lancia et al 1993) This introspection is good, for it encourages the profession to improve and mature In this essay, we provide what we hope will be a significant milepost in that process by advocating a general philosophy and protocol for wildlife research and management Rather than articulating a list of specific research priorities and reiterating the need for additional research money, we encourage an encompassing, fundamental shift that will promote more efficient use of current research and management dollars Over the last several years, various groups and many individuals interested in the management of natural resources have recognized a need for reform in natural resources-related research These include the Ecological Society of America's Committee for a Research Agenda for the 1990's (Lubchenco et al 1991), the National Research Council's Committee on Forestry Research (Comm For Res 1990), the Society of American Forester's Task Force on Sustaining Long-term Forest Health and Productivity (Soc Am For 1993) and many others (Brussard 1991; Brussard and Ehrlich 1992; Levin 1992a,b; Levin 1993) There appears to be a general consensus that change is due Furthermore, intensifying political debates about management of natural resources (eg, timber harvests and ancient forests, sustainable development, and the preservation-conservation of biodiversity) call for integrated research and management to address uncertainty in wildlife and ecosystem management and thereby ameliorate controversy in the future (Clark 1992, Ludwig et al 1993, Ludwig 1994) Research and management can no longer afford to be "two solitudes"; distinctions between basic and applied research have blurred (Nudds 1979, Moffatt 1994) The central issue is the application of sound scientific principles to solve problems

Strengthening health management: experience of district teams in The Gambia.

Abstract: In recognition of the importance of developing strong district health teams in order to implement primary health care in developing countries a district-level health management strengthening project took place during an 18-month period starting in 1991 in the Gambia. The objectives of the project were to teach regional health teams (RHTs) how to function as decentralized management units improve team management skills achieve improved resource management and increase awareness of district health management problems at the national level. RHT training involved the introduction of a six-month planning cycle which identified priorities and problems and defined ways to address them. This analysis formed the basis for the RHTs to make realistic workplans and to begin to exhibit initiative in planning. New teamwork skills led to the delivery of more coordinated supervision and training support to health staff. The new planning process also involved initiating local analysis and use of local service delivery data and the improvement of problem analysis skills. Regional health administrators were hired to improve resources management including repair and construction of health facilities and developing better transportation mechanisms. Project effectiveness was enhanced by a the motivation of the team members the support of new team leaders the problem-solving hands-on approach and better access to information. Restraints included national procedures that resisted decentralization a lack of skilled national-level managers the resistance of national-level health managers and donor policy that created vertical and parallel programs and supported top-down decision-making. While the project resulted in some gains it also demonstrated that the initiatives of district level health teams are not sufficient to achieve reform. Further improvements will rely on actions taken at the national level and by donors.

Energy and resource constraints on intensive agricultural production

Abstract: ▪ Abstract This review explores the potential energy, soil, and water constraints on highly productive agricultural systems. It focuses on the process of agricultural intensification during the past 50 years, and it shows that multiple constraints—as opposed to a single constraint, such as energy—are needed to assess the future sustainability of intensive agricultural production. Recent studies documenting changes in total factor productivity based on long-term experimental trials and field surveys are discussed in detail. The results of these studies are worrisome; they indicate that degradation in soil quality and in the overall natural resource base may threaten the long-run viability of several of the world's most intensive agricultural systems. Other studies are reviewed that support a more optimistic view of resource availability and the ability of improved technology and management to overcome these physical constraints. However, the combined evidence suggests that the increase in agricultural pric...