Documents found
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37041.More information
The idea of regulating pollutions by means of tradable emission permits on a competitive market was developed for the first time by Dales in 1968. The question of the citizens' participation on these markets received little attention in the economic literature. However, people are allowed to buy emission permits and can therefore reduce the level of pollution by removing them from the market. From a practical viewpoint, the citizen's preferences are not taken into account neither in the elaboration nor in the functioning of pollution permits markets. However, such a situation does not comply with both the democratic values and the prevailing economic principles. This article aims to discuss the legitimacy of a participation of the citizens to a pollution permits market by introducing both the economic efficiency and the ethical dimension. As the problem of free riding is fundamental when the citizen participation takes place, we show that it can be partly solved by funding the citizen demand. In addition, it seems that the free riding behaviour is overestimated by theoretical economics as experimental economics applied to the game of the public good shows. In addition, the ethical stakes associated to the opening of the pollution markets permits to the citizens are analyzed. An ethics based on the freedom and the sovereignty of the citizens commands us to authorize the participation of the citizens to these markets. This point is finally discussed towards the cumulative pollutions and towards the intergenerational dimension of the equity.
Keywords: Équité, Altruisme, bien public, efficacité économique, éthique, participation du citoyen, permis d'émissions négociables, justice intergénérationnelle, pollutions cumulatives, passager clandestin, equity, altruism, public good, economic efficiency, ethics, tradable emission permits, citizen participation, intergenerational justice, free rider, cumulative pollutions
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37042.More information
The construct «Organizational Social Capital» (OSC) emphasizes the benefits of an intangible asset: the development and maintenance of high-quality social relationships whether into an internal or external enterprise environment. This paper presents the case of «Kirvit Ltda», a Very Small Technology-based Enterprise (VSTE), located in Colombia. Our purpose is to analyze the moments of OSC formation during the innovation of one of its products, focusing on the action of three variables (we have called them «variables of individual level»). The type of enterprise analyzed supports a reflection on specificities of the formation of OSC considering the firm size and its nature.
Keywords: stratégie, capital social organisationnel, TPE technologiques, études de cas, strategy, organizational social capital, technology-based small enterprises, case studies, estrategia, capital social organizativo, microempresas de base tecnológica, estudios de caso
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37043.More information
Teleworking from home may be an emerging trend in work organization, but authors have overestimated its popularity. In fact some studies show that, with its inconvenient aspects for both employees and employers, teleworking is not a panacea. In some cases the arrangement falls or only partially succeeds. Success in implementing a teleworking program is not guaranteed and relies on certain conditions. In view of the emergence of teleworking and the resistance to change it engenders, it is important to better understand the conditions that lead to a successful telework experience.This study focuses on a specific condition for success, namely the organizational support offered to home teleworkers. This is an important prerequisite over which an organization's leaders exercise a certain degree of control. More specifically, this study will attempt to answer the following question : To what extent do three sources of organizational support — that of telesupervisors, colleagues and senior executives — influence home teleworking success? Although the support provided to teleworkers is often considered a determinant of telework success, it has not been fully investigated. The few studies that do exist on the subject were conducted years ago, included only a small number of teleworkers, and explored the impact of personal characteristics and working conditions on a teleworker's attitudes and performance. To our knowledge, the present study is the fïrst to analyze the relationship between organizational support and the success of home teleworking. More specifically, we will analyze two forms of organizational support offered by various agents — emotional and instrumental support. Emotional support is expressed by sympathy and openness to the teleworker, while instrumental or hands-on support directly helps an employee meet work objectives. To our knowledge, this study is the first to propose and test a typology involving forms of support (emotional and instrumental), and to analyze their impact on home teleworking success. A questionnaire was distributed in three companies with home teleworking arrangements. The teleworking coordinator distributed the questionnaire to all employees who had been teleworking for at least six months. Most of the 193 respondents who returned the questionnaire are clerical workers (47%) or professionals (36%). On average, the respondents have 16 years of seniority within their organization, 8 years in their current position, and 3 years as teleworkers. They telecommute an average of 21 hours per week, and spend 13 hours at the company. Their average age is 42 years old. Slightly over half of respondents are women (56%), live with a partner (55%), and have children (56%). In terms of educational profile, 16% of respondents have a high school diploma, 25% a college diploma, 48% a bachelor's degree, and 11% a graduate or postgraduate degree. The "teleworking success" concept was measured with retrospective questions on 13 success indicators including job performance, work volume, feelings of belonging, advancement possibilities and job creativity. A factorial analysis (with Varimax rotation) generated three interpretable factors (eigenvalues above 1). Together, these three factors accounted for 65% of the scale variance. After dropping ambiguous scale items, those three factors were : Job performance (4 items, alpha = .85), quality of life (4 items, alpha = .81) and job commitment (3 items, alpha = .79). The strongest teleworking success factor was undoubtedly job performance since it explained 46% of the scale variance, compared with about 10% for each of the two other factors. The fourth teleworking success variable was satisfaction with teleworking which was assessed with three indicators : satisfaction with working at home, the home work environment, and the respondent's participation in the teleworking program.The support offered by three categories of key agents—telesupervisors, colleagues and senior executives—was assessed on a series of statements from our literature review. Each statement is associated with a 5-point Likert scale with values ranging from (1) rarely to (5) often. A factor analysis of the statements confirms that all types of support can be grouped into the emotional and instrumental forms of support. The factor analysis conducted on the supervisor support scale items generated four distinct factors that can in essence be sorted as follows under the emotional and instrumental headings : (1) The coordination and follow-up of the teleworker's tasks (instrumental support, 8 items, alpha = .81); (2) acceptance of telework as a legitimate work arrangement (emotional support, 5 items, alpha = .75); (3) performance planning (instrumental support, 2 items, alpha = .84) and (4) higher performance expectations (emotional support, 2 items, alpha = .70). Together, those four dimensions of supervisor support contribute 54 % of the scale variance. The factor analysis conducted on the colleague support scale items generated two factors that fit under the emotional and instrumental headings: (1) the coordination and follow-up of the teleworker's tasks (instrumental support, 4 items, alpha = .74) and (2) equal treatment of teleworkers (emotional support, 3 items, alpha = .61). A final factor analysis was conducted on the top management support scale items. Again two factors consistent with the emotional and instrumental support headings were retained : (1) the acceptance of telework as a legitimate work arrangement (emotional support, 4 items, alpha = .75) and (2) technical support (instrumental support, 2 items, alpha = .61). The results of our study generally confirm the importance of the instrumental support offered by telesupervisors (coordinating teleworkers' work and elaborating clear and specific job objectives) and by senior executives (giving appropriate equipment and specialized staff to repair them) on teleworking success. Results also confirm that the support of supervisors has a relatively greater influence on teleworking performance, which is the most important aspect of teleworking success (explaining 54% of the scale variance). It also appears that the emotional support offered by senior executives, that is their openness to telework, has a significant influence on job commitment. This study's results do not confirm a link between any forms of colleague support, either emotional or instrumental, on various indicators of teleworking success.These results may serve as a reference to companies and managers who wish to implement or improve the effectiveness of home-based teleworking. They demonstrate how different forms of support from various sources influence teleworking success, a concept that includes job performance, job commitment, quality of life, and satisfaction, all of which are variables that have a major impact on organizational performance.
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37044.More information
The trade unions' reluctance to accept the reforms envisaged in the Industrial Relations Act 1971 is cited as an important example of trade unions* intransigence and arrogance and of the fact that they consider themselves to be above law. But the way the trade unions fought the Act appears to be quite in keeping with the democratic procedure and the rule of law.
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37045.More information
This paper investigates the origins and development of unions in the Canadian banking industry since 1976. The historically low level of unionization in banking, coupled with its largely female workforce, makes bank unionization a significant development on the Canadian industrial relations scène.
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37046.More information
Keywords: Posizionalità, linguaggio, scrittura, etica, pedagogia
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37047.More information
According to Vygotsky, pretend play is the main source of development of kindergarteners. Moreover, it constitutes a favorable context for language development and literacy learning. However, kindergarten teacher involvement in children’s pretend play to support their learning do not happen very often. This could be explained by their uncertainties as to when and how to get involved in children's play. Thus, an educational design research was carried out with the aim of developing a pedagogical device based on the Vygotskian perspective. First, this article describes how, with anasynthesis, we created a flowchart presenting eight interventions to be conducted in the pretend play to scaffold children’s language development and literacy learning. Second, it presents the usefulness of this tool according to three kindergarten teachers who try it out in their class for 10 to 12 weeks. Data were collected with the think-aloud method, two semi-structured interviews and one focus group. A qualitative analysis allowed to identify the interventions that have proven useful in scaffolding the children’s language development and literacy learning, to describe to what extent the flowchart has made it possible to meet the needs of teachers, to highlight the interest of children in using the writing and in doing writing attempts, as well as children's progress in language development, literacy learning and play. These results thus contribute to the advancement of knowledge on the operationalization of Vygotsky's ideas in education, more specifically concerning the development of language, literacy, and play.
Keywords: Pretend play, Jeu symbolique, Language development, Développement langagier, Interventions enseignante, teacher's intervention, kindergarten, Éducation préscolaire, Vygotskian perspective, perspective vygotskienne
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37049.More information
Keywords: Alterità, rappresentazione, esotismo nordico, epica barocca, Gerusalemme liberata
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37050.More information
This essay first offers a review of the critical positions of Marilyn Randall in relation to the novel Trou de mémoire (1968) by Hubert Aquin. I focus specifically on the concept of biolectography, removing its prefix to examine the idea of lectography, a reading no longer centered on the search for the image of the author in the margins of fiction, but on the responsibility of the reader. Trou de mémoire is an unusual detective novel because the criminal’s identity is quickly discovered however the motives for the crimes that structure the plot are otherwise obscure. Based on criticism theorized and practiced by Pierre Bayard, I propose an investigation that reconstructs the characters’ motivations, without sparing an examination of the reader's desire. This insistence on the encounter with the text gives rise to a conceptual character that I refer to as the detective reader. At the helm of the investigation, the detective reader revisits the enigmas of Trou de mémoire, plunging into the vanishing point of the text, less to propose a solution but rather to survey the questionable logic put forth by the novel.