Call for Papers: The Institute of Behavioral and Applied Management

Priority Submission: April 30, 2014

Regular Submission: May 31, 2014

Type: Conference

Join us in beautiful Orlando, Florida for IBAM 22, where we will gather to discuss, debate, and present our ideas about the future of behavioral and applied management!  As one of America’s most visited cities, Orlando's famous attractions form the backbone of its tourism industry: Walt Disney World Resort, located in Lake Buena Vista, opened by the Walt Disney Company in 1971; the Universal Orlando Resort, which consists of the two parks of Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure; City Walk; SeaWorld; Gatorland; and Wet 'n Wild Water Park.

Topics: HRM, Org. Behavior, Strategic & Global Management, Management Education & Pedagogy, Student Papers.

Website

Using Training to Raise Global Competitiveness

Companies need training and development to bridge the skill gaps between needed market competencies and employee skills. Research by Bersin and Associates are presented to help highlight the differences in these skills on a global scale and how this led to major unemployment concerns in many countries (O’Leonard, 2012). They provide a number of recommendations for organizations that seek to develop their talent for competitive advantages. 

A study entitled World of Work Report by the International Labor Organization indicates that unemployment could be around 208 million globally in the next year or so (International Labor Organization, 2013). They highlight the problems as uneven opportunities, creating jobs and macroeconomic approaches. The focus of countries should be to develop the right skills and create opportunities for youth. 

 “The labour market and income situation is uneven but can be improved by consolidating the rebalancing process in emerging countries and finding the right balance between employment and macroeconomic goals in advanced economies. Progress towards reducing economic and social inequalities would pave the way for a lasting recovery (International Labor Organization, 2013).”

Even though chronic unemployment is higher than ever before others are being relied on to fill skill gaps. Training rose 9.5% in the last year to around $800 per person while hours spent in training also increased. A total of $67 billion within the U.S. was spent in 2011 (O’Leonard, 2012). Companies are attempting to meet these skill gaps by reinvesting in motivated employees. 

To provide better training at a more effective price many companies are relying heavily on social media, e-classes, social learning, and alternative forms of training. In 2011 the total spent on alternative training doubled to around $40,000 per large organization. Training costs have begun to decline and were at $51 per hour in 2011 which is the lowest in the past 6 years. 

Most organizations are still not doing well. 6% of HR organizations ranked themselves as highly skilled with 56% ranking themselves low. They are unsure of how to measure training and move people to higher skill levels. Their metrics are not well developed and moving to higher effective training programs is difficult. 

The author recommends that changes are needed in order to further develop employees to take on new skills and abilities to gain corporate competitive advantages. They are as follows:

- Starting to encourage collaborative and generative learning connections. Use virtual education and advanced methods to lower costs and improve upon the use of social learning to create higher skill sets. 

-Continue to recognize and reward productivity gains. Rewarding employees for improvement in their skills helps them stay motivated during the developmental process. 

O’Leonard, K. (2012). Mind the global skills gap. Chief Learning Officer, 11 (8). 

International Labor Organization (2013). 2013 World of Work Report. Retrieved March 10^th, 2014 from http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_214673.pdf

Call for Papers: Organization Behavior & Human Resources Management

Organization Behavior & Human Resources Management (OB & HRM) track is to advance theories and practices in the OB and HRM domains.  The track welcomes a broad range of scholarly contributions (e.g., empirical research – qualitative and quantitative, theory development, applied research, etc.) that are dedicated to a better understanding of the roles of individual, group and organizational dynamics in shaping organizational outcomes and how organizations can be more effective through managing human resources.  The track is also open to and endorses the use of diverse methodologies and theoretical perspectives in addressing OB & HRM inquiries.

Possible topics on which papers can be submitted include but are not limited to:

-          Cognition and emotion: perception, attribution, cognitive process, learning, decision making

-          Individual differences: characteristics, personalities, values, beliefs

-          Behavior and organizational processes: motivation, individual performance, communication, socialization, conflict resolutions

-          Group and social dynamics: social exchanges, culture, team demography (e.g., size, diversity, etc.), team process (e.g., cohesion, development), leadership/followership, power, politics

-          Effective HRM practices:  human resource (HR) acquisition, development, utilization, and/or evaluation, compensation, employment relations, talent/knowledge worker management in organizations

-          Impacts of HR practices/policies in various contexts: the role and influence of HR in the contexts of organizational strategies, organizational cultures, institutional and national settings

-          Organizational outcomes: creativity, innovation, organizational citizenship behaviors, ethical behavior, absenteeism, turnover, job performance, firm performance

Website:  http://dsi-tampa2014.org/submission/ for instructions for submission.

Important Dates:

Conference Management System is accepting submissions

05/01/2014    Full Paper Submissions Deadline

05/15/2014    Papers Abstracts Submission Deadline

05/15/2014    Panels Proposals Deadline

07/01/2014    Authors Notified of Paper Acceptance Decision

07/15/2014    Full Paper Revisions Resubmission

Book Review: A Small Management Tips Book with a Big Punch

Management Tips by Harvard Business Review offers some important advice for managers. The book is small but gives strong advice and explanations on how to become a better manager. It is something that you put on the shelf and refer to the key principles of management when needed. It is broken into managing yourself, managing your team and managing your business. You can zoom through the book in a few hours. 

You may be interested in a few tips:

Listen: Listening is a skill that is learned over time. Truly listening means to try and understand what another person is saying and why they are saying it. You can determine a lot about the person, their goals, their motivations, and their personalities simply by listening. The book encourages readers to think about the conversation and try and understand where it is headed. 

Be Confident-But Not Really Sure: Having a strong opinion is a sign of confidence but being so sure about that opinion is mental weakness. The point is that opinions should be adjusted and changed depending on the information that is available and the feedback you get from others to make them more accurate. Ignorance is based upon opinions that are unyielding to the realities of the environment. 

Battle Change Resistance:  People are naturally resistant to change if only because it is not the way in which they view the problem and often don’t want to put forward the effort to make change. Ensure that you are using the facts/research, know their arguments, and provide them with the big picture. This helps others see the need for change and to have some ability to formalize the possibilities. 

Management is not easy but if you haven’t thought about how much of management is working with others and guiding them to higher levels of performance you are missing the big picture yourself. Management requires learning the proper skills and developing them in the context of others. Managers are influencers and should ensure that they have developed the right social, strategic, and personality resources to make things happen. 

Management Tips by Harvard Business Review.  (2011). Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press ISBN: 978-1-4221-5878

Developing Socio-Cultural Awareness in the Military

Sociocultural awareness is becoming more important in the military. At present there appears to be sociocultural gaps in military leadership development. The researcher Janice Lawrence believes that leaders will be called upon to engage socially across many different cultures and to build trust, create alliances, read intentions, and influence and understand people and their motivations (2011). This type of learning is fundamentally different and higher than previous learning. 

For decades the military has been at the helm of leadership development. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have highlighted some gaps. The development of higher sociocultural awareness helps leaders understand the local population, their needs, and their motivations. To create greater cross-cultural awareness requires skills in empathy, respect, genuine interest in others, flexible behavior, tolerance for ambiguity, open-mindedness, sociability, and initiative (Early & Ang, 2003). 

A failure to be culturally aware means that leaders may not be aware of the deeper issues at play. As all language contains a coding, transference and decoding process of signals it is necessary for leaders to understand the non-verbal cues of the local population to understand their emotions such as anger, happiness, disgust and many other facets to get a deeper picture of the local population. 

Situational awareness is important to military leaders but so is cultural awareness. It cannot be easily documented in a photograph or satellite picture. It requires an understanding of interests, habits, intentions, beliefs, social structure, and political systems (McFate, 2005). It is a subtle skill that should be rewarded in military training. 

There is a natural blending between military and social science. Leadership exists within a medium of culture. Culture is not finite or immobile and doesn’t exist by the same standard rules one might find in other sciences. The author indicates that sociocultural competence should be rewarded in the military as its impact in saving lives may be more profound than other methods.  To understand the situation and the people that have a natural impact on that situation can do much in being more effective strategically, socially, and militarily.

Comment: The subtle tones and non-verbal expressions can give an indication of how a person is receiving, interpreting, and adjusting to new information. When engaged in cross-cultural communications the specific nuances of human expression may be more important in determining intention than the words themselves. Understanding the local population, how they view the situation, and their likely actions, will help in improving upon effectiveness. Social skill at a deep neurological level that creates awareness is difficult to train but can be fostered. 

The same process applies to business leaders that may not have a strong grasp of the culture and the associated cognitive models within their workplace. It is possible to find workplaces where there are 2 or 3 different cultures that interpret information differently. Strategic changes will naturally have a different impact and interpretation to each of the different cultures. Understanding how a new strategic plan will be interpreted will impact its business effectiveness and the success of the organization.

Earley, P. & Ange, S. (2003). Cultural intelligence: individual interactions across cultures. Stanford, CA: Stanford Business Books. 

Laurence, J. (2011). Military leadership and the complexity of combat and culture. Military Psychology, 23

McFate, M. (2005). The military utility of understanding adversary culture.  Joint Forces Quarterly, 38.