This book identifies, analyzes and discusses the current trends of digitalized, decentralized, and networked physical value creation by focusing on the particular example of 3D printing. In addition to evaluating 3D printing's disruptive potentials against a broader economic background, it also addresses the technology's potential impacts on sustainability and emerging modes of bottom-up and community-based innovation. Emphasizing these topics from economic, technical, social and environmental perspectives, the book offers a multifaceted overview that scrutinizes the scenario of a fundamental transition: from a centralized to a far more decentralized system of value creation.

This book summarizes the results of Design Thinking Research carried out at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, USA and at the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam, Germany. Offering readers a closer look at Design Thinking, its innovation processes and methods, the book covers topics ranging from how to design ideas, methods and technologies, to creativity experiments and wicked problem solutions, to creative collaboration in the real world, and the interplay of designers and engineers. But the topics go beyond this in their detailed exploration of Design Thinking and its use in IT systems engineering fields, or even from a management perspective. The authors show how these methods and strategies actually work in companies, introduce new technologies and their functions, and demonstrate how Design Thinking can influence such unexpected topics as marriage. Furthermore, readers will learn how special-purpose Design Thinking can be used to solve wicked problems in complex fields. Thinking and devising innovations are fundamentally and inherently human activities - so is Design Thinking. Accordingly, Design Thinking is not merely the result of special courses nor of being gifted or trained: it's a way of dealing with our environment and improving techniques, technologies and life.

This book introduces readers to essential facilitation techniques for leadership in the contexts of project and network management. It provides method-based messages, a facilitator curriculum, and a veritable arsenal of 50 carefully selected and 'reality-tested' tools for facilitation in non-hierarchical contexts. As such, readers will benefit just as much from learning by doing as from doing by learning. This book is also intended for all managers who are responsible for successful communication and co-operation in projects in and across organisations or networks of organisations, and who want to know how to share their plans effectively and improve collaboration. Though the book employs scientific principles, it is chiefly a practical guide, and draws on the authors' extensive experience in consultancy and management.

This book offers a comprehensive overview of quality and quality management. It also explores total quality management, covering its human, technological and analytical imperatives. It also examines quality systems and system standards, highlighting essential features and avoiding a reproduction of the ISO 9000 standard, as well as people-related issues in implementing a quality system. A holistic understanding of quality considerations, which now permeate every aspect of human life, should guide related policies, plans and practices. The book describes the all-pervasive characteristics of quality, putting together diverse definitions of "quality," outlining its different dimensions, and linking it with reliability and innovation. It goes on to assess the quality of measurements in terms of precision, accuracy and uncertainty and discusses managing quality with a focus on business performance. This is followed by a chapter on improving process quality, which is the summum bonum of quality management, and a chapter addressing the crucial problem of measuring customer satisfaction through appropriate models and tools. Further, it covers non-traditional subjects such as quality of life, quality of working life, quality assurance and improvement in education, with special reference to higher education, quality in research and development and characterizes the quality-related policies and practices in Indian industry. The last chapter provides a broad sketch of some recent advances in statistical methods for quality management. Along with the research community, the book's content is also useful for practitioners and industry watchers.

Covering the period of the financial crisis, this Research Handbook discusses the degree of importance of different driving forces on employee turnover. The discussions contribute to policy agendas on productivity, firm performance and economic growth. The contributors provide a selection of theoretical and empirical research papers that deal with aspects of employee turnover, as well as its effects on workers and firms within the current socio-economic environment. It draws on theories and evidence from economics, management, social sciences and other related disciplines. With its interdisciplinary approach, this book will appeal to a variety of students and academics in related fields. It will also be of interest to policy makers, HR experts, firm managers and other stakeholders. Contributors: I. Beltran Martin, S. Bevan, M. Bossler, C. Carrillo-Tudela, W.-J.A. Chang, M. Coles, C.L. Cooper, H. Dale-Olsen, M. Daskalaki, T. Eriksson, P. Ferreira, R.W. Griffeth, K.E. Hall, L. Holbeche, J.-T. Kao, Y. Lai, C.S. Long, A.-M. Mohammed, K. Morrell, E. Parry, J. Purl, G. Saridakis, S. Taylor, R. Upward, P. Urwin, W.K. Wan Ismail, M. Wong El Leen

This book provides fresh insights into the cutting edge of multimedia data mining, reflecting how the research focus has shifted towards networked social communities, mobile devices and sensors. The work describes how the history of multimedia data processing can be viewed as a sequence of disruptive innovations. Across the chapters, the discussion covers the practical frameworks, libraries, and open source software that enable the development of ground-breaking research into practical applications. Features: reviews how innovations in mobile, social, cognitive, cloud and organic based computing impacts upon the development of multimedia data mining; provides practical details on implementing the technology for solving real-world problems; includes chapters devoted to privacy issues in multimedia social environments and large-scale biometric data processing; covers content and concept based multimedia search and advanced algorithms for multimedia data representation, processing and visualization.

This book is the first in a series on Chinese management based on the Global Chinese Management Conferences (from 2015 to 2017), an annual conference organized by the Sun Tzu Art of War Institute. The first volume is by FOO Check Teck, professor at Fudan and Hunan University and founding editor of Chinese Management Studies (SSCI), who encourages readers to broaden their minds to embrace the Universe as a Community. The book argues that the lives of all beings are worth preserving and urges the academic community to recognize the ideologies at heart of management and to see research as a deep, reflective thinking process that goes far beyond the testing of hypotheses - great works, lasting 2,500 years are the result of deep reflection upon experiences. It also calls for the re-framing of management integration of a variety of ideological strands, typically in topics in MBA or MPA programs: earnings, mobility of human capital, complex adaptive systems, HRM (in small high-tech firms), technology standardization, Xin (trust: labor relations), multi-leveling, re-forming (hospitals), He-Xie (doctoral work), upgrading (automobile industry). The major consequential consideration must be what it means for people.

Riahi-Belkaoui's research shows that U.S. firms, and possibly firms elsewhere, resort to the underutilization of their resources, a phenomenon known as organizational and budgetary slack. In this, the first exhaustive study of slack, the author identifies and explains the phenomenon and its causes, explicates the characteristics of organizations afflicted by it, and suggests ways to remedy it. In doing so, he also analyzes the role of the multidivisional structure and the performance plan in the creation of slack, and the distortion of information that accompanies it. A challenging study for organizational behavior theorists and for organization planners and top management in the private and public sectors.

This book examines the introduction of smart technologies into public administrations and the organizational issues caused by these implementations, and the potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to rationalize and improve government, transform governance and organizational issues, and address economic, social, and environmental challenges. Cities are increasingly using new technologies in the delivery of public sector services and in the improvement of government transparency, business-led urban development, and urban sustainability. The book will examine specific smart projects that cities are embracing to improve transparency, efficiency, sustainability, mobility, and whether all cities are prepared to implement smart technologies and the incentives for promoting implementation. This focus on the smart technologies applied to public sector entities will be of interest to academics, researchers, policy-makers, public managers, international organizations and technical experts involved in and responsible for the governance, development and design of Smart Cities.

A volume in Research in Careers Series Editors S. Gayle Baugh, University of West Florida and Sherry E. Sullivan, Bowling Green State University The first volume of the series, Maintaining Focus, Energy, and Options Over the Career, examines how individuals enact and keep their career vital over their work life. Awarding-winning, internationally renowned researchers, including Daniel Feldman, Jennifer Deal, Phyllis Tharenou, and Terry Beehr examine the dynamic nature of contemporary careers and how careers change as individuals change in response to such factors as aging, learning, experience or contextual changes. Volume 1 includes theoretical perspectives on maintaining personenvironment "fit" over the course of the career, the shifting constellation of developmental relationships over time and place, a new framework for examining midcareer renewal, a reconceptualization of the retirement transition, and potential gender differences in self-initiated international careers. Empirical studies in volume 1 examine provocative questions including: Is the traditional career really dead? Are there significant generational differences in learning and development? Can career plateauing be positive for the individual or the organization? The focus throughout this volume is on how careers unfold over time and how individuals remain productive and successful as they navigate career changes.

This is the first book to comprehensively analyze key issues regarding innovation, entrepreneurship, and human resource development in the Japanese agricultural sector. Despite the fact that innovation and entrepreneurship are vital to the development of modern Japanese agriculture, there have been comparatively few studies in this field; in addition, they have been virtually none on measures for developing entrepreneurial human resources or innovation in agriculture. The agricultural sector's declining competitiveness and sustainability as an industry in Japan are serious concerns, especially in combination with an aging labor force and decreasing farmland. To date, Japanese agricultural policies have largely concentrated on accumulating farmland and securing a sufficient agricultural labor force. However, from the perspectives of industrial and regional development, policies focusing on creating innovation, the driving force of economic development, have been recognized as being more effective. Moreover, there have been some recent developments concerning innovation and entrepreneurship in various regions of Japan. This book provides a wealth of significant findings from studies on successful cases involving e.g. agricultural clusters, agriculture-commerce-industry collaborations, networking, franchising, and corporate entry-induced innovation utilizing limited regional resources; and how they have contributed to the development of each region. The interrelationships between innovation, entrepreneurship, and human resource development are then clarified, and effective policies to promote Japanese agriculture and rural areas are suggested. Given its scope, the book contributes to the advancement not only of farm management science, but also of regional science and related fields.

Cooperative activities, or joint ventures, are becoming increasingly popular as instruments of strategic action. But although more and more companies are entering into these alliances full of hope and enthusiasm, past experience shows that most will likely experience the disillusionment of having their ventures fall apart. William Murphy contends that our understanding of the strategic management of collective action needs improvement if the hoped for benefits of cooperation are to be realized. In this work, he examines the management of a specific type of cooperative action that has become critically important to company and national competitiveness: the cooperative research venture.

Murphy thoroughly details this new class of inter-firm cooperation to produce knowledge, which has only recently been made possible by changes in the competitive and legal environments. He begins with an introduction and review of the prior literature on cooperative ventures, followed by an extensive survey of competition and cooperation. The management challenges of cooperative research, particularly the need to forge a consensus among participants, are examined in a brief chapter, which precedes four studies of specific cooperative ventures: the Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology, the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation, Sematech, and U.S. Memories. A final chapter draws conclusions and lessons from the examples, and three appendixes detail antitrust laws applicable to cooperative ventures, Japanese and European microelectronic and computer ventures, and cooperative ventures under NCRA. This work will be an important resource for executives and managers in companies involved in research and development, as well as for college courses in business and economics. Public and academic libraries will also find it to be a valuable addition to their collections.

Branding and human capital are considered a firm's most important assets, and the development of these intangible assets is a particularly challenging and important management task for human resource managers and marketers. Employee-based brand equity is a key advantage for the organization and an important part of the brand-based evaluation. To develop an effective and strong employee-based brand equity, firms need to focus on the perceptions of employees and promote positive attitudes about affiliation with the firm. Antecedents and Outcomes of Employee-Based Brand Equity explores the antecedents and consequences of employee-based brand equity from different perspectives and different artifacts of employee-based brand equity. This book highlights the importance of brand equity from a human resource management perspective. It further highlights the ways in which brand equity can be fruitful in understanding and learning different theories and concepts with the interaction of different industries and culture. Covering topics such as employee retention, psychological capital, and brand experience, this premier reference source is an indispensable resource for corporate offices, human resource managers, business leaders and managers, governmental organizations, marketing professionals, customer service professionals, libraries, students and educators of higher education, researchers, and academicians.

With the demise of the polygraph following the passage of the Employee Polygraph Protection Act, honesty testing has come to be seen as an alternative approach. But it has become the subject of considerable controversy, some legal enactments, a barrage of union opposition, and a great deal of employer interest. Miner and Capps provide an understanding and the tools necessary to help human resource managers make decisions regarding the use of honesty testing. Generic types of testing instruments are assessed; the writing is straightforward, with all statistical and mathematical concepts presented with sufficient detailed explanation for those without technical training.

The employers' need to protect their organizations and reduce the potential for theft and white-collar crime versus the individual's right to privacy are polarized issues in discussing the use of honesty testing. The authors deal with the restrictions imposed by the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1991 and show that certain features of test scoring were directly influenced by legal considerations. The authors then extend the discussion to the Americans with Disabilities Act and how this enactment affects honesty testing.

Employee theft is one of the most pervasive problems faced by businesses today, and it continues to escalate at an estimated rate of 15 percent per year. This volume presents the first full-length guide to the alternatives available to companies seeking to reduce both the actual theft of tangible property and the profits lost through cheating on time cards and expense accounts. The authors offer an in-depth discussion of the safeguards employers can implement, ranging from internal controls to physical security measures, and develop a comprehensive theft reduction strategy aimed at creating a working environment that discourages theft. They also address the legal and ethical problems arising from theft control issues as well as the question of equity in the workplace.

The authors agree that a plan for reducing employee theft can only be successful if it focuses on making the work environment unattractive to thieves rather than on simply catching thieves. They offer a practical theft reduction strategy, based on techniques that have proven successful in a variety of firms, that begins with the recruitment process and reaches into every aspect of business operation. In their concluding chapter they discuss what to do when a thief is identified. Five appendixes provide additional information including a guide to hiring and keeping good employees, a study of employee theft by Virginia's Crime Prevention Manual Task Force, an examination of what motivates employees, an internal controls checklist, and a list of dos and don'ts in dealing with employee theft. Human resource managers, small business owners, and executives in large corporations will find this volume an invaluable asset in their efforts to confront the growing problem of employee theft.

Inferior quality service threatens the accounting profession's existence. To reduce instances of substandard service, the profession requires firms to have a system of quality control, to annually inspect that system, and to undergo a comprehensive triennial external review. This book shows firms how to develop a quality control system, prepare for the review, and earn an unqualified report. In addition, it tackles the problem of substandard service head-on.

The author examines the roots of review, substandard service, and discusses the undiscussable. Next he reviews the pluses and minuses of the practice-monitoring programs and the importance of selecting the firM's reviewer. Quality control's nine functional areas are explained in depth and the ten steps to a successful review are also described in detail. He describes what happens on a review and offers practical advice about the problems to avoid. The concluding chapter offers over twenty recommendations that would return the accounting business back to the accounting profession. This book is for every firm, every practicing CPA, and the profession's leaders as well as those interested in improving the integrity of the financial reporting system. It also is important for students planning to enter public accounting.

This book details the primary concepts of Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA), integration of social aspects in product life cycles, quantification of social impacts in S-LCA, impact categorization in S-LCA, methodological aspects of S-LCA, and detailed case studies. As the societal implications of producing a product are coming to take on a new importance, the concept of Social Life Cycle Assessment has recently been developed and is becoming increasingly prominent. However, S-LCA is still in its infancy and its impact categories for many industrial segments are still under development.

This first volume on detox fashion discusses various interesting topics including a Toxic-Free Supply Chain for Textiles and Clothing; Environmental Issues in Textiles; Global Regulations, Restrictions & Research; Making the Change: Consumer Adoption of Sustainable Fashion; and Strategies for Detoxing Your Wardrobe. It provides an overview of the chemical-related issues confronting the fashion sector, summarizes global regulations, and discusses how to make the change by changing consumers' attitude towards adopting sustainable fashion, as well as the best strategies for detoxing our wardrobes.