DMS Newsletter Draft 2

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Strong brands increase customer trust and reduce skepticism in purchase decisions. Strong brands also give service providers a tangible forum to differentiate an otherwise intangible product category. Building strong brands in services can be challenging. Dr. Meena Rambocas and Professor Surendra Arjoon conducted a study to examine the factors that contribute to building strong brands in financial services. In their study, Dr. Rambocas and Professor Arjoon map the contribution of three unique services related attributes: service experience, brand affinity, and customer satisfaction to brand equity in three financial service areas: commercial banks, insurance companies, and credit unions. Data were collected from 751 customers in five Caribbean countries including Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, St. Lucia, Barbados, and Jamaica. From a management perspective, the findings provide a theoretically-based argument that supports the impact of the three key service areas in building valuable brands. More specifically, the findings highlight the pivotal contributions employees make toward the success of service brands, and suggest that financial service managers augment external communication strategies with employee-centred initiatives. These initiatives should engage employees and cultivate a high level of commitment toward achieving branding goals. Also, the study builds a strong case for a region-centric approach to branding. In Mrs. Marcia Nathai- Balkissoon's research into safety systems in manufacturing companies, she expected that larger companies would have had more resources available, and thus would have systems that better complied with occupational safety and health (OSH) legislation requirements. Therefore, Mrs. Nathai-Balkissoon was surprised to find that bigger companies were no more likely than smaller companies to have met the mandatory or voluntary elements set out in the OSH legislation. Mrs. Nathai-Balkissoon’s research also looked into which people at various organisational levels affected safety system development. In descending order of influence, the research found that the presence of a dedicated safety leader (typically a safety officer or safety manager), top management Balkissoon’s research are as follows: 1. While dedicated safety leaders must hold suitable safety qualifications, peopleskills and a focus commitment, and participation demonstrates commitment of the employees at the lowest level of the organisation to your company’s safety message. (Don’t just talk the hierarchy all talk – walk the walk!) impacted on the establishment of mandatory and 3. Involving employees in voluntary elements contained evaluating and growing the in OSH legislation. safety system proves that they are valued and encourages The four main takeaways everyone to recognise from Mrs. Nathai- and buy into efforts to enhance your safety system. “Posting a safety policy or talking about the importance of safety is 4. The best safety systems evolve in window dressing that companies that does little to boost adopt a continu- safety system developmental improvement mindset. Establish your safety on continual improvement are equally critical attributes if they are to help your safety system thrive. system within the context of your business strategy, and involve your entire team in scaffolding the growth of the safety system using a practical 2. Posting a safety policy or combination of radical talking about the importance and incremental enhancements of safety is window dressing that does little to boost safety system to the system’s vision, goals, measures, and other components. development, unless top management actively
In Trinidad & Tobago, SMEs have flourished in the last decade numbering 18,000 by the end of 2015 and employing around 200,000 persons, thus contributing to nearly 28% of the country’s GDP. The survival rate for most SMEs illustrates a considerably lower rate when compared to larger firms with the tendency for higher mortality rates especially within the first few years of operation. Emerging research suggests that for smaller firms to perform and survive, a more structured approach to HRM is necessary and an understanding of which firms are more likely to use this approach is needed. Using a sample of 132 SMEs across Trinidad, Dr. Riann Singh’s findings suggest that SMEs, which took HRM as a systematic business function, performed better. Her findings also suggest that female entrepreneurs, SMEs that are larger, and SMEs that survive the start-up phase are more likely to view systematic HRM as important. From a practical perspective, policy-makers at the national level could use these findings to target SMEs for support and training programmes focused on the power of formal HRM practices. SMEs are heavily dependent on support from government agencies primarily in the set-up stages of development. Knowing which SMEs to target for formal HRM support and training can be made easier by understanding which SMEs are more or less likely to prioritise HRM practices. Not-for-profit and privatefor-profit corporate boards worldwide have been under extreme scrutiny for lapses in effective governance. School governance refers to the roles, responsibilities and effectiveness of monitoring and oversight of a school by its Board of Directors. The literature on school governance indicates that students’ learning is enhanced by the provision of responsive and effective governance. Early empirical findings among school boards in T&T highlight the following concerns: micro-management of schools, the absence of a transparent director appointment process, non-existence of board performance appraisal, lack of corporate governance codes, and formal strategic planning is either non-existent or inadequate. These concerns underscore the need for an educational governance system that will strike a balance between effectiveness, efficiency, economy, accountability, and educational outcomes. Research on leadership and transformational leadership has largely focused on supervisoremployee dynamics, which are characterised by traditional hierarchical structures. However, project teams also appear conducive to transformational leadership. Dr. Paul Balwant conducted a study of transformational leadership, leader distance, work engagement, and performance in project teams. The findings supported the relationship between work engagement and performance, but transformational leadership does not appear to be useful in project teams. Unexpectedly leader distance was directly related to work engagement, even while controlling for transformational leadership and social desirability. This study not only contributes to leadership research, but also has two main practical implications for managing project teams. First, the findings raise concerns regarding the training of transformational leadership to project team leaders. Second, project team leaders may need to locate themselves physically and socially close to team members, while maintaining frequent interactions in order to engage team members. To address these concerns, Dr. Vindel Kerr is conducting an investigation to (1) assess and understand existing corporate governance realities among schools, (2) develop a Corporate Governance Framework for School Boards in T&T, and (3) develop and deliver a Model School Board Training Manual and Board Performance Evaluation Tool
Page 1: In 1973, the Department of Manageme

DMS Newsletter Draft 2

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?