Electricity markets are being deregulated or face new regulatory frameworks. In such changing markets, new pricing strategies will need to consider such factors as cost, value of service and pricing by objective. Pricing in Competitive Electricity Markets introduces a new family of pricing concepts, methodologies, models, tools and databases focused on market-based pricing. This book reviews important theoretical pricing issues as well as practical pricing applications for changing electricity markets.

Competition in Europe, which has been chosen as the title for the Essays in Honour of Henk W. de Jong, contains two key concepts, that characterize his scientific contribution to Industrial Organisation. Professor H.W. de Jong is in the first place an economist who is highly inspired by the dynamics of markets in general and the dynamics and conditions of compe tition in particular. In the second place, H.W. de Jong is a real European economist, not in the sense that his theoretical insights are limited to Europe, but in the sense that his ideas and policy suggestions - especially those concerning competition policy - reflect his sincere involvement in the European inte gration process and the economic conditions and perspectives of a Common Market for the European Community. In his many illustrations of the evolution of markets and the performance of enterprises in different business environments, H.W. de Jong also demonstrates his knowledge of historical and political aspects of different economies in Europe, often in comparison with the United States and Japan."

Power Structure examines the effects on economic performance of several key features of the U.S. electric power industry. Paramount among these are public versus private ownership, vertical integration versus deintegration, and retail competition versus monopoly distribution. Each of these, as well as other structural characteristics of utilities and their markets, are analyzed for their effects on costs and price. These issues are important for a number of reasons. The U.S. electric power industry is presently embarking on a fundamental restructuring in terms of integration and competition. In other countries, privatization of state-owned enterprises is being viewed as the answer to unsatisfactory performance. From a longer perspective, the question of the relative performance of publicly owned versus privately owned utilities in the U.S. has never been resolved. And despite much speculation there is little reliable evidence as to the importance of either vertical integration or competition.

A group is working on a business challenge. The group members are under pressure. They have a lot to accomplish and a limited amount of time. After first attempting to develop an overview of their common task, they try to make a plan to ensure an efficient group process. The planning is proving difficult. We've all been there. We are in a working group or at a meeting, discussing a topic or a challenge, and all the while, as a separate track running underneath our conversation, there is a subtext that no one explicitly addresses. This is an example of 'the elephant in the room.' Most of us notice the elephant, it gets in the way, and it's difficult to deal with until someone points at it and says, 'There it is, let's take a look at it and reduce its impact.' With an engaging use of examples and questions, the book addresses how we can best deal with the elephant and thus promote job satisfaction, creativity, and productivity. In the context of action, what we notice often recedes into the background and gradually slips out of focus until we eventually reconnect with our need to reflect and recreate a space for it. This book addresses the challenge of focusing on, holding on to, and acting on what we notice 'in the middle of it all.' Maintaining a simultaneous focus on task and process - what we do and what we notice - is what I define as 'double awareness.' Double awareness is not only a core capacity but also a core challenge. The aim of the book is to promote understanding and awareness of this core challenge and to inspire both reflection and action in anyone wishing to improve their capacity for double awareness. How can we define and understand the practice of mindful avoidance? And can we, as members of groups and organizations, begin to practice mindful action by engaging in and acting on what we notice, in real time?

The purpose of this book is to introduce the concept of Transformational Coaching and to educate professional business coaches or mangers-as-coaches in their organizations on the influential and relevant elements of Transformational Coaching for Effective Leadership designed for coaching individuals, teams, businesses or applying such elements in any levels of Organization Development intervention, either toward individuals, teams, groups, departments, or the organization itself. Given the power and long-lasting influence of transformational coaching, it also could be beneficial to professionals in fields of Human Resources Development (HRD), Workplace Learning and Performance (WLP), Human Performance Enhancement (HPE) and overall, in the domain of Workforce Education and Development (WFED). This book will start by reviewing the background and presence of Transformational Coaching in businesses and organizations, along with the general concepts, perceptions, and understanding of coaching. This book will examine the uses of Transformational Coaching in management and leadership development, human resources development for talent development and retention, and for developing managerial coaching skills and competencies. Additionally, this book will review the presence and use of Transformational Coaching concepts, theories, and practices, including transformational learning for HR and HRD professionals to influence the workforce's attitude, behavior, and productivity. This book: * Builds individuals' self-awareness, self-realization, and self-confidence. * Offers personal and professional development. * Teaches the concept of transformational learning and its use in transformational coaching. * Teaches rituals, skills, and strategies for individuals and teams to increase their productivity. * Offers an approach to building healthy and strong relationships with oneself and others. * Includes change management strategies for redirecting poor job performance. * Helps readers implement effective transformational coaching practices by offering many tools such as forms, checklists, and worksheets.

Have you ever wondered why even large companies fail when faced with changes in their environment? Would you be surprised to learn that the average life expectancy of a Fortune 500 company is below 50 years? This book presents findings from 19 case studies in multinational companies such as Siemens, Volkwagen, General Electric, Philips and Deutsche Telekom. Rene Rohrbeck proposes a Maturity Model to assess how prepared a company is to respond to external (disruptive) change. He uses data from 107 interviews with board members, corporate strategists, innovation managers, and corporate foresight professionals to present and discuss best practices. Using illustrations to show the complex interaction of corporate foresight with other units such as innovation and strategic management, Rene Rohrbeck provides the reader with rich insights on how to make an organization agile and reactive towards change. For scholars this book proposes multiple hypotheses and frameworks for future research.

This book analyses the private provision of rescue and emergency services, and focuses on the emergence of the world's largest rescue company, Falck. The author's structured academic perspective is informed through close co-operation with Falck, which operates in 44 countries and across 6 continents. The chapters examine aspects of reliability, culture, innovation, trust, governance and business development within rescue and emergency services, including differentiation, internationalisation and globalisation. Drawing on detailed case studies of Falck's global work in the USA, Columbia, India and Denmark, Private Action for Public Purpose is instructive for students and researchers of business and management, and will provide value for emergency responders, managers, policy-makers and organisations involved in emergency response and crisis management.

Postal and Delivery Services: Delivering on Competition is an indispensable source of information and analysis on the current state of the postal and delivery sector. It offers current insight into strategy, regulation as well as the economics of this sector. Issues addressed include international postal policy, the universal service obligation, regulation, competition, entry, the role of scale and scope economies, the nature and role of cost and demand analysis in postal service, productivity, interaction of law and economics, human resources, transition and reform issues.

This text offers a detailed and entertaining analysis of the daily interactions between managers and employees in creative knowledge intensive organizations. Based on vivid examples, it shows how both managers and employees entertain contradictory understandings of their mutual commitment.

The unique and controversial companion volume to Daniel Seymour's On Q places Seymour's ideas and theories within the context of a call to action. In a series of realistic case-study lessons, he reveals how colleges and universities can dramatically improve their performance by drawing upon the concepts found in systems theory, quality management, and studies of organizational behavior. Seymour's goal is to overcome the current reactive mind-set and replace it with a proactive education environment where student success is the main objective. Once Upon a Campus can be put to use as an audit tool, as a guide for readers to identify problem areas in their institutions, and as a planning resource in evaluating and implementing overall performance improvement.

The edited volume Age and Work: Advances in Theory, Methods, and Practice presents a systematic collection of key advances in theory, methods, and practice regarding age(ing) and work. This cutting-edge collection breaks new ground by developing novel and useful theory, explaining underutilized but important methodological approaches, and suggesting original practical applications of emerging research topics. The book begins with a prologue by the World Health Organization's unit head for aging and health, an introduction on the topic by the editors, and an overview of past, current, and future workforce age trends. Subsequently, the first main section outlines theoretical advances regarding alternative age constructs (e.g., subjective age), intersectionality of age with gender and social class, paradoxical age-related actions, generational identity, and integration of lifespan theories. The second section presents methodological advances regarding behavioral assessment, age at the team and organizational levels, longitudinal and diary methods, experiments and interventions, qualitative methods, and the use of archival data. The third section covers practical advances regarding age and job crafting, knowledge exchange, the work/nonwork interface, healthy aging, and absenteeism and presenteeism, and organizational meta-strategies for younger and older workers. The book concludes with an epilogue by an eminent scholar in age and work. Written in a scientific yet accessible manner, the book offers a valuable resource for undergraduate and graduate students, academics in the fields of psychology and business, as well as practitioners working in the areas of human resource management and organizational development.

Readers are introduced to basic terms and principles used in the study of organizations as an invitation to further learning. The approach blends classical writing on organizations with current research and examples illustrating key elements of positions, patterns, and persons. A discussion of role analysis shows how these elements enter into the actual behavior of participants. Discussions of such topics as interaction and bureaucracy and a unique chapter on paperwork and record-keeping are presented.

With the decline of collective regulation and the mushrooming of statutory rights in the developed world over the past half-century, individual workplace disputes are now often resolved by the civil courts, by labour courts, by administrative bodies or by arbitration. The nature and operation of these institutions, however, have been largely ignored in the employment literature and this book, by focusing on the institutional architecture itself, fills this gap.
Adjudicating Employment Rights looks at the institutions in ten countries across its chapters: seven European countries, including France, Germany, Italy and Great Britain, as well as countries outside Europe, such as the USA, South Africa and New Zealand. In addition, this book compares these countries' employment adjudication regimes through descriptive comparisons, the analysis of different institutions using well-known theoretical frameworks, and the evaluation of these countries' institutions against a number of yardsticks.

Organization design is a key feature of management theory and practice. It addresses the challenges of constructing and maintaining effective organizations. Essential to organizational design is the assumption that it can improve organizations.

Faced with the ever-accelerating pace of technological change and the restructuring of markets, many firms have been questioning their own organization. This book is the third to emerge from a series of workshops on organization design, featuring new empirical research and theoretical insights. The chapters are organized around four central themes: 1) Towards New Organizational Forms, 2) Dynamics of Adaptation and Change, 3) Theoretical and Practical issues, 4) Fit and Performance. Collectively, the chapters reflect the state of the art of OD as well as provide a further step towards the evolution of this important field of research.

First published in 2007. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This unique work bridges the gap between theory and practice in organizational behavior. It provides a practical guide to real-life applications of the 35 most significant theories in the field. The author describes each theory, and then analyzes its usefulness and importance to the successful practice of management. His analysis covers key managerial topics such as goal setting, training and development, assessment, job enrichment, influence processes, decision-making, group processes, organizational development, organizational structuring, and effective organizational operation.

In this book about deception and self-deception in and beyond the workplace, Stein portrays a psychological, ethical, cultural, and spiritual crisis that cannot be reduced to a business crisis. He shows how the language of economics shrouds loss, dread, rage, despair, and brutality in the guise of rational business necessity. For example, the act of ridding a workplace of thousands of people has become magically, "euphemistically" transformed into an impersonal, bottom line based exercise in downsizing and outsourcing. As Stein explores the role of euphemism in the official doctrines and public claims of business, he also portrays how people experience the trauma of repeated mass layoffs, and the constant turmoil over shifting workroles and uncertain job security. Stein shows how the inner experience of downsizing, reengineering, and corporate medicine becomes part of a person's very essence and structure, not some unfortunate epiphenomenon.

Three extensive case studies--one of downsizing (and related social engineering concepts), one of managed care, and another of the U.S. prairie's adaptation to life afterthe Oklahoma City bombing--provide the evidence for his interpretation. Stein supplements these with telling analyses of the concept of spin, the popularity of Scott Adams' "Dilbert" cartoons, George Orwell's trenchant use of euphemism in his novels, and the web of words on which the Nazis' extermination program was spun. He shows how our priorities have created long-term massive social casualty for the sake of short-term gain. Further, he shows how a widespread cultural ethos of scarcity and callousness transcends the boundaries of workplace and business. He calls for an ethical awakening from our self-deceptions and the social harm we have done in the name of good business, and for direct, honest language that expresses our feelings and intentions.

The current world is absurd. Faced with climate change, health pandemics, and ever-growing inequality, it is striking how globally, governments and organizations are malingering to find effective responses to these crises, leading to absurd situations where we are facing the destruction of the planet, while humankind is not making the necessary transformation towards truly sustainable societies and workplaces. Focusing on these grand, global challenges from an absurdity and hypernormalization lens, the book aims to elucidate what is happening in contemporary society and workplaces, why there is so little improvement being made in relation to the grand global challenges, and how a more sustainable social transformation can be made in organizations. It offers a wide, yet in-depth, perspective on absurdity in society and the workplace and presents a theoretical framework, as well as in-depth case studies of sectors or organizations where absurdity manifests itself. Presenting an overarching new perspective on society and workplaces, this book helps students and academics make sense of what is currently unfolding, and what can be done. The book therefore bridges theory, science and the everyday practice of organizational life, and how individuals working in a variety of organizations can contribute to more sustainable economies and societies.

The electric utility industry and its stakeholders in the. United States appear to be at a critical juncture in time. Powerful forces of global proportions are propelling the industry instinctively and in a secular fashion towards restructuring. That the industry will change is a fait accomplii. The nature and timing of the change is still a matter of intense debate, however. Because of the evolution of the industry into its present-day form, i.e. regulated local monopolies in their designated franchise service territories, the relative roles and expectations of various institutions would have to change to conform to the new state in the future. In either encouraging, or allowing this change to happen, society is essentially saying that future societal welfare would be better served by the changed structure contemplated. What that assumption translates into in more direct terms is that creation of future wealth would be better accomplished through redistribution of wealth today. Thoughtful individuals recognize the enormous responsibility placed upon the various entities empowered with jurisdiction over the timing and nature of the structural change. They are trying hard to bring analytical rigor to bear on the debate. One very critical element of this debate on restructuring is the issue of the treatment of transmission. The issue has been variously labeled transmission access, or pricing. Volumes have been written and spoken on this topic.

The second edition of Responsible Leadership offers orienting knowledge on how to lead in a world of contested values. The new edition includes new chapters on inclusive leadership, the study of responsible leadership, the purpose of organizations, authenticity and values, virtuous leadership, irresponsible leadership, the paradoxical nature of responsible leadership, responsible leadership in context and in Asia, on artistic expression to enable responsible leadership, responsible leadership measurement, and new directions for responsible leadership. It will appeal to academics and practitioners alike with a wide array of perspectives grounded in pioneering scholarship and best practice.

Dr. Williams contends that over the last 20 years a change has occurred in organizations that has created a syndrome of dysfunctions that are neither good for businesses nor for the people who work in them. Williams sees businesses as living entities, and argues that how they act and react will have an impact on their employees, and often a devastating impact. In much the same way as businesses make decisions, people make choices, and seldom are these decisions and choices congruent. Unless disparate self-interests and goals can be reconciled--unless a partnership can be restored between people and their organizations--not only will employees be damaged, but the success of their organization, upon which they depend for their livelihoods, will be jeopardized. How this dangerous situation came about, what it means, and how it can be remedied is the subjet of Dr. Williams' book. Research-based and always in touch with the realities of commerce, Dr. Williams will make business people aware that organizations and their people must become reunited, and then show them how it can be done.

Dr. Williams makes clear he is not simply speculating or theorizing. His goal is to make management aware of the dysfunctions that are damaging their organizations, and how these are reflected in the behaviors of their employees. When he calls for a focus on humanity, spirit, and context, Dr. Williams is actually offering a workable, real-world strategy to breathe new life into organizations of all kinds--a strategy he calls The Trinity Process. Its purpose: to help management restore the essential partnership between organizational entities and the people who make them succeed or fail. In Part One he shows what it means to be part of any organization and, with anecdotes and cases from his own research, helps readers grasp the dynamics of their own organizations. In Part Two he proposes new or reframed paradigms that provide an underpinning for the reestablishment of equality between organizations and their employees. Then, in Part Three he presents The Trinity Process itself. The result is a remarkably lucid, readable, engrossing exploration of organizational life today, important reading for decision makers in all types of organizations, public as well as private, and for academics concerned with how organizations behave.

The world changes like the patterns in a kaleidoscope: trends expand, contract, break up, melt, disintegrate and disappear, while others are formed. Change - as opposed to stasis - is our normal condition, the only certainty in our lives, hence the need to create tools that provide organizations with the means to tackle change and navigate complexity. We must accept the reality of constant change and be prepared for a heavy shift in perspective: interconnection versus separation, acceleration versus linearity and discontinuity versus continuity. Anticipating the future requires more than the traditional predictive models (forecasting) based on the forward projection of past experiences. Advanced methods use anticipation logic (foresight) and build probable scenarios taking into account weak signals, emerging trends, coexisting presents and potential paths of evolution. Corporate foresight is fundamental to interpret and lead change. The two cornerstones of foresight are organization and management. As concerns organization, the authors advocate the separation of research (oriented to the market of tomorrow) from development (oriented to the market of today), the establishment of a foresight unit and the concentration of research activities mainly on the acquisition and recombination of external know-how. As regards management, after an overview of state-of-the-art literature on forecasting methods, the authors propose the implementation of a "future coverage" methodology, which enables companies to measure and verify the consistency between trends, strategic vision and offered products. These organizational and managing tools are then tested in a case study: the Italian company Eurotech SpA, a leader in the ICT sector.

Today, industrial organization can hardly be imagined without long-term supply relationships. Firms use this specific type of alliance to acquire or develop (complementary) competencies. These are necessary to be able to survive and be successful in an increasingly dynamic environment. Rather than studying particular features in isolation, this book analyzes the overall, underlying causal structure of long-term supply relationships. De Jong and Nooteboom develop an encompassing theoretical model that brings together important firm- and relation-specific characteristics such as trust, commitment, dependence, uncertainty, dedicated investments, and the exchange of information. The relationships between these main characteristics build the overall, underlying causal structure and determine the nature of long-term supply relationships. The model is based on an extended theory of transactions that includes trust next to opportunism and the development of competencies. The model is tested in the automobile industries of the United States, Japan and Europe. The empirical evidence indicates that there are strong similarities between the three regions in the underlying causal structure. There are differences but these differences seem small, particularly relative to the expectations one may have on the basis of perceived views of systemic differences between Japanese' and Western' contracting. Thus, if indeed there were large differences between the Triad's regions, there now appears to be considerable convergence towards a common underlying logic' of long-term supply relationships. The Causal Structure of Long-Term Supply Relationships is a primary source for scholars and students who want tolearn about industrial organizations in an international perspective. It reviews the main theories, defines many concepts, offers an overview of literature on alliances, and provides insights into the statistical techniques of LISREL. Little background knowledge is required, since concepts are developed as the book progresses.