Enhancing The People Factor

Enhancing The People Factor: Human Resource Issues and Challenges covers the selected papers presented by various authors comprising of corporate leaders, management practitioners, thinkers, academicians and researchers. It covers a diverse range of topics pertaining to learning organizations, leadership styles, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, employability and human resourced planning. Contemporary areas like Human Resource productivity accounting, Human Resource productivity accounting, Human resource information systems, exit interviews and Internal corporate social responsibility have been presented with a flavour of latest research and empirical treatment of the data. The book shall serve as a rich resource to a wider section of the society and the industry at large on the issues, challenges, innovations and strategies adopted by various corporate to become sustainable organizations.

Successful businesses have spent the past two decades retooling and rethinking how to manage their people better. Most big companies that have survived and prospered in the 21st century view employees as a vital strategic asset. In comparison, the U.S. federal government is a Stone Age relic, with its top-down bureaucracy, stovepiping of labor and responsibilities, and lack of training and investment in its own public servants. The inevitable result is a government not keeping up with the complex demands placed on it. In T he People Factor, Linda Bilmes and Scott Gould present a blueprint for reinvigorating the public sector in order to deliver results for America. Their premise is that the federal government can achieve the same gains as the best private sector and military organizations by managing its people better. Their new vision for public service is based on "The People Factor," a set of management tools drawn from best practices in successful companies, the military, and high-performing government agencies. Part One of The People Factor book shows why the U.S. personnel system needs reform, revealing the high price of inaction. Part Two lays out the specific steps that must be taken to achieve the necessary gains. Part Three focuses on how to implement the People Factor and make the authors' vision a reality. They argue that the next president needs to turn this issue into a top priority and use political capital to push reform. Highlights of the book include: • Extensive original survey research • Case studies from government and the military • Interviews with leading thinkers on strategic human capital • A number of specific proposed innovations • A detailed proposal for a nationwide effort to train and revitalize the public service

What really sets the best managers above the rest? It’s their power to build a cadre of employees who have great inner work lives—consistently positive emotions; strong motivation; and favorable perceptions of the organization, their work, and their colleagues. The worst managers undermine inner work life, often unwittingly. As Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer explain in The Progress Principle, seemingly mundane workday events can make or break employees’ inner work lives. But it’s forward momentum in meaningful work—progress—that creates the best inner work lives. Through rigorous analysis of nearly 12,000 diary entries provided by 238 employees in 7 companies, the authors explain how managers can foster progress and enhance inner work life every day. The book shows how to remove obstacles to progress, including meaningless tasks and toxic relationships. It also explains how to activate two forces that enable progress: (1) catalysts—events that directly facilitate project work, such as clear goals and autonomy—and (2) nourishers—interpersonal events that uplift workers, including encouragement and demonstrations of respect and collegiality. Brimming with honest examples from the companies studied, The Progress Principle equips aspiring and seasoned leaders alike with the insights they need to maximize their people’s performance.

This book attempts to look into the genesis of security culture as a concept which emerged with the recognition of the role of the human factor in the context of security. It traces the rapid evolution of security culture into a multi-functional discipline reinforced by supplementary tools such as assessment and enhancement methodologies, reviews practical steps to harmonize nuclear safety and security culture as well as recommends its practical application to address insider threats and their consequences. In addition, it demonstrates how to tailor the generic model of nuclear security culture to meet specific needs of diverse facilities and activities in different countries. Finally, the book discusses several challenges which need to be addressed to make security culture a user-friendly, universal, and sustainable instrument to turn the perception of the human factor as a liability into an asset of nuclear security.

Change management and organizational development is unthinkable without people. Human beings form its core as both subjects and objects of change. This volume attempts to cut through to the core of change management, to the people that stand at its heart and focuses on their intrinsic role in change management and organizational development. Topics covered in this volume encompass the human element within organizational change, how this impacts roles, dynamics of team interaction and affects the workplace in teaching and learning settings. It also addresses resistance to institutional and organizational change and the central role that agile management plays in this process.

The relationships in your life will make the difference between happiness and misery. The right relationship will launch you to the heights of achievement; the wrong one will tether you to mediocrity. Your relationships will be your sources of greatest joy and your venues of greatest pain. Van Moody says, “When people show you who they are, pay attention.” We need to undertake the important task of evaluating our relationships intelligently. We need to recognize the people with whom God has called us to walk in mutually beneficial relationships and to identify those who will derail our destinies or hinder His purposes for our lives. It is high time we cultivate our Relational IQs, understanding not only how to build great relationships but also how to avoid or skillfully exit bad ones. Van Moody saw this need every day of his pastoral life, but he could not find a concise, practical resource for people who need to become more relationally savvy. He needed a beyond-the-basics study guide for Relational IQ. The People Factor is his solution. God works in our lives through our relationships. Yet, all too often, we get our relationship advice from the most toxic sources we can find. The People Factor is based on the most effective, trustworthy relationship book of all time: the Bible. If you hunger for a richer, more fulfilling life, your Relational IQ is the place to start. If you put The People Factor principles to work, you will become stronger, happier, and healthier in all your relationships. You will be a better spouse, a better friend, a better boss, a better parent, and a better person.

An increasing number of countries are shifting toward sustainable energy economies, emphasizing the use of renewable energy sources, increases in energy efficiency and the abatement of greenhouse gas emissions. The success of such an energy transition will depend not only on the development of new energy technologies, but also on major changes in the patterns of individual energy-related decisions and behaviors resulting in substantial reductions in energy demand. Consequently, the behavioral sciences can make important contributions to the energy transition by increasing our understanding of the multiple factors and mechanisms that underlie individual as well as group-based decisions and behaviors in the energy domain and by creating a basis for systematic interventions that reduce energy usage. Many different types of relevant behaviors and decisions need to be considered in this context, including decisions to invest in energy-efficient household equipment, adjustments of energy-critical habits related to heating, eating, or mode of transportation, and participation in the political discourse related to questions of energy. An integration of the expertise of the different disciplines of the behavioral sciences is thus needed to comprehensively investigate the impact of the different drivers and barriers that may determine energy-related decisions and behaviors, including economic factors such as price level, social factors such as norms, communication patterns and social learning processes, and individual factors such as values, attitudes, beliefs, heuristics, affective biases and emotions. The potential impact of these factors on the success of the energy transition is considerable: for example, a recent projection of the energy demand in Switzerland until 2050 has estimated the reduction potential related to psychological and sociological factors between 0% and 30%, depending on which behavioral changes will be implemented in society. Increased research efforts from the behavioral sciences are required to ensure that the full reduction potential can be achieved. This Research Topic brings together contributions from different disciplines such as psychology, affective science, behavioral economics, economics, sociology, consumer behavior, business science, sociology, and political science, that improve our understanding of the many factors underlying decision-making and behavior in the energy domain, and contribute to the development of targeted interventions that aim at reducing energy demand based on these factors.