106 research outputs found
Effect of Selected Strategic Human Resource Management Practices on Employee Performance at Equator Bottlers Limited in Kisumu
No full textFULL TEXTWith the development of strategy literature strategic aspect of human resource management in the organizations has been among the most remarkable subjects of research papers. The 21st century companies are keen on human resources as they are the assets for an organization. These assets play a major role towards enhancing the performance of a company. As these companies look towards optimizing their human resources practices, they evaluate solutions that provide strategic human resource/capital management. This well-developed, people-centered approach to business involves a variety of HR-related processes—such as recruiting, on-boarding, payroll, talent management, and others—working together as one, unified ―team‖ to improve the overall health of the organization, by building upon the individual strengths of its people. This study sought to investigate the effect of selected Strategic Human Resource Management practices on employee performance in the Manufacturing Industry, a case study of Equator Bottlers Limited. More specifically the study examined the effect of strategic staffing, strategic training and strategic reward on employee performance in Equator Bottlers Limited. The research was anchored on universalistic and contingency theories. The study adopted a case study with descriptive and cross-sectional research design. The target population of this study were all the 124 employees of Equator Bottlers Limited thus a census sampling method was used. Primary data which was collected by use of questionnaires. The self-administered questionnaire employed the Drop and pick later method. Piloting was done in Rift Valley Bottlers, Eldoret Town, with a sample of 11 employees to ascertain whether the instruments would yield the required data, and to further improve on the data collection instruments. The questionnaire was also tested for validity and reliability. Descriptive (percentages and means) and inferential (correlation and regression) techniques were used to analyze the collected data with the assistance of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. The three independent variables that were studied (strategic staffing, strategic training and strategic rewarding) explained a substantial 57% of the employee‘s performance in Equator Bottlers Limited as represented by adjusted R2 (0.577). The results further indicate that strategic reward(r=.674, p=.000) indicated the highest association to employee performance, followed by strategic training(r=.459, p=.012) and lastly strategic staffing(r=.443, p=.016). Multiple linear regression analysis using the beta coefficients on the line of best fit pointed out the decision rule was to reject Ho: βi = 0 since the regression coefficients were significantly different from zero and consequently Rejected all the null hypothesis of the study. The study recommends future research to explore these relationships by testing the causal order of employee commitment potentially that could affect perceptions of the system of SHRM practices and superior employees‘ performance. Therefore, the causal order needs to be investigated furthe
Strategic Procurement Management Practices and Performance of Real Estate firms in Nairobi County, Kenya
Full text linkIn Kenya, the real estate industry provided 9.0% of the GDP of the
nation in the second quarter of 2020. It also made a large contribution to
employment generation and the provision of residential and commercial space.
But because of the weak housing market, which is demonstrated by the housing
index's progressive and severe decrease in the 2019- 2020 period, real estate
enterprises continue to encounter a variety of performance issues. The real
estate firms in Kenya have also had challenges of late delivery of the housing
projects, poor quality of delivered projects, client funds misappropriations, and
legal challenges with their clients. This study sought to examine the effect of
procurement management practices on the performance of real estate firms in
Nairobi County, Kenya. This study utilized correlational research design. The
study’s population was the 100 senior managers of real estate firms in Nairobi
County, Kenya. The study utilized a sample size of 50 respondent’s generated
using Naissuma coefficient of variation formula. The study collected data using
structured questionnaires. The findings indicated that strategic procurement
practices have a significant effect on the performance of real estate firms. The
study concludes that applying aspects such as supplier optimization dynamics,
supplier development and strategic alliances with suppliers is significant in
organization performance among firms. The study recommends that supplier
development strategies in terms of financial support and training ought to be
underscored. The real estate practitioners and investors in the real estate may
gain an understanding on the effect of the strategic management practices on the
performance of the real estate firm
Étude des procédés d’appropriation esthétique de l’astronautique dans Nous trois de Jean Echenoz suivi de Hellen-Freischmann
Full text linkMémoire en recherche-créationL’essai Études des procédés d’appropriation esthétique de l’astronautique dans Nous trois de Jean Echenoz explore les stratégies développées par l’écrivain Jean Echenoz pour engager un dialogue inédit avec le thème de l’astronautique, qu’il met en récit dans son sixième roman. Caractérisé par une adhésion ludique et distanciée au genre romanesque, Nous trois multiplie les jeux stylistiques, référentiels et langagiers, inscrivant son univers thématique au sein d’une esthétique de la précarité, qui n’épargne aucune dimension de l’œuvre. La structure du récit induit une part troublante d’équivoque autour de l’identité des personnages et des instances narratives. Sur le plan diégétique, le romancier met en place un univers instable et inquiétant dans lequel le milieu de l’astronautique est exposé sans complaisance. Tirant profit de la précarité inhérente au langage, Echenoz s’approprie un lexique rattaché au thème de l’astronautique qu’il exploite à des fins stylistiques.
Le roman Hellen-Freischmann raconte le parcours d’un personnage écrivain singulier qui cherche à faire publier un manuscrit ayant pour protagonistes des corps célestes. Cette trame narrative a pour contrepoint un récit mettant en scène l’éditrice d’une maison d’édition prestigieuse, qui doit composer avec cette soumission atypique. Ces personnages évoluent au sein d’un univers sombre où l’étrangeté côtoie le familier, où le vraisemblable menace de basculer dans le fantastique, où la fiction contamine la réalité. Le roman est porté par une voix narrative inusitée, instable, caractérisée par des jeux complexes de focalisation, des registres contrastés et une certaine indécidabilité quant au rapport de la narration à l’histoire racontée. Ce narrateur assimile une nomenclature propre à l’astronomie, qui sert tant le développement de l’intrigue que les jeux stylistiques du roman.The essay entitled Études des procédés d’appropriation esthétique de l’astronautique dans Nous trois de Jean Echenoz explores the strategies employed by the author Jean Echenoz to engage in a new dialogue with the theme of astronautics, which he brings into play in his sixth novel. Characterized by a playful and distanced adherence to literary fiction, Nous trois plays with styles, references and language, inscribing his universe into an esthetic of precariousness, sparing no dimension of his work. His narrative structure induces a troubling ambiguity around the characters’ identities and narrative instances. On a diegesis level, the author sets an unstable and unsettling universe in which the subject of astronautics is exposed without any complacency. Taking advantage of the language’s inherent precariousness, Echenoz takes ownership of the astronautics’ lexicon which he employs to further his style.
The novel Hellen-Freischmann narrates the journey of a peculiar author whose goal is to publish his manuscript starring celestial bodies as protagonists. This narrative is intertwined with the tale of a publisher from a prestigious publishing house who must come to terms with this atypical submission. These characters evolve within a dark universe where strangeness stands alongside familiarity, where likelihood threatens to fall into fantasy, and fiction contaminates reality. The novel is carried by an unusual and unstable voice, characterized by complex plays on focus, contrasted language use, and a certain indecision towards the role of narration in the story told. This playful narrator incorporates a nomenclature proper to astronomy, which serves both the intrigue and the style of the novel
When does good envy turn into bad envy? The relationship between benign and malicious envy
No full textPrevious research has distinguished between forms of envious reactions - malicious envy that is characterized by hostile feelings leading to negative consequences for firms and benign envy that is free of hostility and leading to positive consequences. In this paper, we focus on identifying conditions when benign envy can turn into malicious envy. Results show that perceived attractiveness of the purchase to others (vs. to the self) and tendency to engage in ability-oriented comparisons positively moderates the relationship between benign and malicious envy. In contrast, tendency to engage in opinion-orientated comparisons negatively moderates the relationship between benign and malicious envy.Product Innovation ManagementIndustrial Design Engineerin
Investigating human infant anthropomorphism in products
No full textIn this paper we set out to investigate the nature and effects of infant anthropomorphism in products, i.e. products that share features of human infants. Across four studies, evidence suggests that infant anthropomorphism comprise four dimensions: sweetness, simplicity, sympathy, and smallness. We found that consumers react positively to infant anthropomorphic products but that men perceived infant anthropomorphic products as more sympathetic than do women. These findings suggest that human infant anthropomorphism is important for marketers but that their appeal is based on different factors for men and women.Product Innovation ManagementIndustrial Design Engineerin
How designers and marketers can work together to support consumers' happiness
No full textA product’s value proposition rests on the notion that it brings value to its customers. Typically, such value is created by having novel product functionality, superior technology, or new customer benefits, but value can also be created by adhering to what is fundamentally important to customers in their lives. Focusing on customers’ happiness is a value proposition of the latter kind. Yet, implementing such an approach requires that designers and marketers have a common understanding of the product’s value proposition, and work together to create authentic value propositions about happiness that will also be compelling in the marketplace. In this article, we draw upon the positive psychology literature and present three propositions of design for happiness that designers and marketers can use to communicate and create value together. Design for happiness means designing business concepts with the aim of building and supporting long-term consumer happiness. The three propositions that we bring forward are: 1) design for fostering social relationships and belongingness, 2) design for meaning in life, and 3) design for making consumers active participants rather than passive observers. These propositions create a shared understanding of what “design for happiness” can contribute to customers, and how it can contribute to profits and sales.Product Innovation ManagementIndustrial Design Engineerin
The impact of narcissistic dimensions on feelings of envy
No full textResearch on the effects of envy in marketing situations suggests that envious consumer reactions can come in a positive form, benign envy, and a negative form, malicious envy. In this research it is shown that narcissistic personality dimensions differently impact benign and malicious envy. More specifically, results indicate that authority and exploitativeness reduces benign envy while exhibitionism reduces malicious envy. Entitlement increases both benign and malicious envy. This means that narcissistic traits are associated with both positive, benign envy, but also negative, malicious envy.Product Innovation ManagementIndustrial Design Engineerin
Design-integrated Urban Heat Island analysis tool and workflow : development and application
No full textThis electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture, 2019"June 2019." Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 106-108).The Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect is a well-studied phenomenon broadly attributed to human activities that transform open terrain into cityscapes. Among global 21st-century concerns, projected trends in population growth, urbanization, and regional climate change could exacerbate the warming in cities and intensify the UHI effect. Yet, microclimate analysis essential to assessing UHI intensity is often neglected, resulting in poor planning practices with adverse effects on health, comfort and energy use within cities. With buildings responsible for substantial quantities of global energy consumption and carbon emissions, this context demands climate-responsive design to achieve better-performing cities. The UHI effect presents an urban design challenge, but only recently has there been a platform for design workflow integration.Despite existing engines that accurately evaluate UHI intensity in urban environments, architects, designers, and urban planners have often not incorporated such simulation into microclimate studies due to prohibitively expensive computational costs, disconnected workflows within unintuitive or unfamiliar platforms, and uncertainty about difficult-to-obtain urban climatology parameters. These hindrances cause impactful delay within the design feedback loop and often generate a lack of confidence in the simulation process and output. This thesis proposes a Computer-Aided-Design integrated graphical user interface for the Urban Weather Generator (UWG), an urban-scale climate prediction tool developed by Bruno Bueno to simulate microclimatic conditions of urban sites using operational weather station data.The goal is to make the powerful and computationally cheap engine accessible to design workflows by incorporating it as a plugin within the conventional design software Rhinoceros-3D, and by coupling it with the Local Climate Zone classification scheme developed by urban climate experts lain Stewart and Timothy Oke to standardize quantitative physical descriptions of cities. The proposed update automates geometric parameter extraction and implements a reliable means of urban morphological parameter estimation. As a case study, an iterative urban-scale design exploration is analyzed for selected climates.by Hellen Rose Anyango Awino.S.M.S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architectur
Celebrity endorsement: The effects of social comparisons on women's self-esteem and purchase intensions
No full textIn this research we investigated the interplay between celebrities holding positive vs. negative media images and women’s self-esteem and purchase intensions. Study 1 documents that “good” celebrities decrease consumers’ self-esteem while a “bad” celebrity increase self-esteem. Study 2 shows that changes in self-esteem transfer to the product if consumers engage in an assimilating comparison process. Study 3 demonstrates that for consumers low in true self-esteem, a bad celebrity increases and a good celebrity decreases purchase intentions. In contrast, for women high in true self-esteem, a positive celebrity leads to greater intentions to purchase the celebrity-endorsed product.Product Innovation ManagementIndustrial Design Engineerin
Effect of Selected Strategic Human Resource Management Practices on Employee Performance at Equator Bottlers Limited in Kisumu
No full textWith the development of strategy literature strategic aspect of human resource management in the organizations has been among the most remarkable subjects of research papers. The 21st century companies are keen on human resources as they are the assets for an organization. These assets play a major role towards enhancing the performance of a company. As these companies look towards optimizing their human resources practices, they evaluate solutions that provide strategic human resource/capital management. This well-developed, people-centered approach to business involves a variety of HR-related processes—such as recruiting, on-boarding, payroll, talent management, and others—working together as one, unified ―team‖ to improve the overall health of the organization, by building upon the individual strengths of its people. This study sought to investigate the effect of selected Strategic Human Resource Management practices on employee performance in the Manufacturing Industry, a case study of Equator Bottlers Limited. More specifically the study examined the effect of strategic staffing, strategic training and strategic reward on employee performance in Equator Bottlers Limited. The research was anchored on universalistic and contingency theories. The study adopted a case study with descriptive and cross-sectional research design. The target population of this study were all the 124 employees of Equator Bottlers Limited thus a census sampling method was used. Primary data which was collected by use of questionnaires. The self-administered questionnaire employed the Drop and pick later method. Piloting was done in Rift Valley Bottlers, Eldoret Town, with a sample of 11 employees to ascertain whether the instruments would yield the required data, and to further improve on the data collection instruments. The questionnaire was also tested for validity and reliability. Descriptive (percentages and means) and inferential (correlation and regression) techniques were used to analyze the collected data with the assistance of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. The three independent variables that were studied (strategic staffing, strategic training and strategic rewarding) explained a substantial 57% of the employee‘s performance in Equator Bottlers Limited as represented by adjusted R2 (0.577). The results further indicate that strategic reward(r=.674, p=.000) indicated the highest association to employee performance, followed by strategic training(r=.459, p=.012) and lastly strategic staffing(r=.443, p=.016). Multiple linear regression analysis using the beta coefficients on the line of best fit pointed out the decision rule was to reject Ho: βi = 0 since the regression coefficients were significantly different from zero and consequently Rejected all the null hypothesis of the study. The study recommends future research to explore these relationships by testing the causal order of employee commitment potentially that could affect perceptions of the system of SHRM practices and superior employees‘ performance. Therefore, the causal order needs to be investigated furthe
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