From warren:
OMAHA, Neb. — Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said Friday the economy continues to be in a recession, by his definition, and will continue to be for at least several more months.
During a live appearance on CNBC, Buffett said ripples of the credit crunch are continuing to cause problems in financial businesses and the economy.
Earlier this year he said a financial crisis reveals which players have been "swimming naked," because the tide goes out. That picture has worsened along with the crisis.
"We found out that Wall Street has been kind of a nudist beach," said Buffett, who is chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which is based in Omaha.
Buffett said activity at businesses Berkshire owns, especially ones related to housing construction such as Shaw carpet and Acme Brick, continued to slow during the summer.
He's confident the nation will be doing better five years from now, Buffett said, but the economy could be worse five months from now. Buffett said the economy is in a recession because most Americans aren't doing as well today as before. The technical definition of a recession most economists use is two consecutive quarters of negative growth in the nation's gross domestic product.
Regarding the nation's credit crunch, Buffett said he believes mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are too big to fail, but that doesn't mean that all the shareholder equity in those companies can't be wiped out.
"They're looking for help, obviously. And the scale of help is such that I don't think it can come from the private sector," Buffett said.
So the Oracle of Omaha predicted that the federal government eventually will have to step in to help because the troubles of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac seem to be growing and feeding on themselves. Together the companies hold about half of U.S. mortgage debt and are the largest source of funding for home mortgages. But they are seeing too many defaults. Losses between April and June for the two companies totaled $3.1 billion, and investors fear they will continue to grow. Buffett said it's likely more banks will fail, especially in areas where there was a real estate bubble and the bank got heavily involved in the housing market.
"What we'll see is failures where the bankers were dumb in what they did," Buffett said.
But Buffett said the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s guarantee on accounts up to $100,000 should prevent bank failures driven by panic. Buffett said the nation's current economic struggles create investment opportunities, and his phone is ringing more lately than it was three months ago. But Buffett said many of those calls have come from desperate people and didn't represent good investment opportunities.
As the stock market problems continue, Buffett is looking for ways to use Berkshire's roughly $31 billion in cash. "The cheaper they get, the harder I'll look," he said, referring to shares.
He said Berkshire added to some of its holdings because share prices fell enough to be attractive. The company had been buying shares of either Wells Fargo & Co. or American Express Co. in recent months, he said, but wouldn't specify which.
On Friday, American Express shares gained $1.78, or 4.8 percent, to close at $38.79, while Wells Fargo gained 92 cents, or 3.2 percent, to $29.36. Buffett also said Friday he sold nearly two-thirds of Berkshire's 35.6 million shares of Anheuser-Busch Cos. stock because he hadn't been sure Belgian brewer InBev SA's takeover bid of $65 a share would succeed. Anheuser agreed to the $52 billion bid in July.
"In retrospect, I was wrong to partially sell the holdings," Buffett said, disclosing that he sold the stock for about $61 or $62 a share. At the end of June Berkshire still held 13.8 million shares of Anheuser.
Buffett said the trip he and friend Bill Gates took earlier this week to Canada to look at Alberta's oil sands shouldn't be interpreted as a sign that he or Berkshire will invest in mining companies.
Buffett said what he learned on the trip may be useful a couple years down the road, but he has no current plans to invest in oil sands mining.
On the political front, Buffett encouraged Americans not to expect perfection from candidates. He said the presidential race features two good candidates this year, but he favors Democrat Barack Obama even though he doesn't agree with all of his proposals.
"The only way to get somebody who agrees with you 100 percent is to run yourself, and I have no interest in that," Buffett said.
Berkshire subsidiaries include insurance, clothing, furniture, candy companies, restaurants, natural gas and corporate jet firms. Berkshire also has major investments in such companies as Coca-Cola Co. and Wells Fargo & Co.
Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/22/buffett-recession-will-co_n_120754.html
23rd August 2008
With oil whipsawing the markets these few days, those speculating in oil will probably feel the heat. Nothing much to mentioned about these few days but the same old stuffs, looking at oil prices, inflation starting to be contained, but the main targets are still the financial institutions, where everyone is still looking forward to the fourth quarter results. Lehman brothers was the hot topic these few days, where goldman analysts targeted them, as well as citigroup and some others.
This is a nice chart to show how much they have declined since the credit crisis.
That's pretty much what I know for these few days, and in the meanwhile, I got to make some decisions on my career.
Psychological contract
Off topic:
Here is one of my reports I did on employment relations.
A psychological contract is defined as the mutual expectations held by employees and their employers regarding the terms and conditions of the exchange relationship (Kotter 1973). A psychological contract between two parties in an employment setting creates an enduring mental model of the employment relationship, which provides a stable understanding of what to expect from each other and guides efficient actions by both parties. As such, the subjectivity of the contract means that an individual can have a unique experience regarding the exchange relationship with an employer (Rousseau 2004). Feldhiem (1999) describes that the psychological contract can be divided into two areas, which is transactional and relational. The transactional factor is based on economic or monetary terms with clear expectations that the organization will fairly compensate according to performance while the relational factor is a socio-emotional base that underlies expectations of shared ideals and values, and respect and support in interpersonal relationships.
Overview of employment
The popular view of the ‘traditional’ promise of job security in return of hard work or organizational career in return for loyalty and hard work has been eroded by organizational changes, such as downsizing or retrenchment (Guest, 1998). Since the 1980s, the increasingly competitive environment and rapid technological developments have caused many organizational restructuring, resulting in changes in employment relationships among employees at all levels (Shore 2004). One example would be Singapore’s largest port operator, PSA Corporation, where the organization held a retrenchment in February 2003. This signifies that no employees are indispensable to the organization. Bridges (1995) discussed about this point where organizations can no longer offer employees careers for life. As such, employees may not feel safe and stay loyal to the organization and this may result in job hopping every few years.
Employment relationship
By entering into an employment relationship, the employee is accepting an obligation to supply particular services to the organization as well as following the directives of management. The employee also perceives that the organization is obligated to provide certain items in exchange for the contributions supplied by the employee, such as wages, benefits, training, and career opportunities. Likewise, the employer accepts and expects certain obligations when entering into a relationship with a new employee (Barnard 1938). As such, employees may have the perception that proper training and resources will be provided. Sturges (2000) agrees on this point, stating that many employees continue to anticipate receiving some kind of career management help from their employers. These perceptions of mutual obligations are created by spoken and written communication, as well as by actions taken by each party. Both parties may believe that the obligations are mutually understood but the communication is often incomplete or inaccurate. This miscommunication is not intentional or malicious but caused by a natural tendency by both parties to present a favorable image during the attraction process. This leads to both parties believing that more promises are made than might be intended. Since each party will only provide what they believe they owe to the other, if one party believes the other is obligated to provide a particular contribution yet the obligated party is unaware of that obligation that party will invariably fall short of delivering it (Shore 2004). An example would be an IT executive where the employer should provide the employee with all the necessary training and resources to perform the duties. If inadequate training or resources are provided, the employee may struggle to keep up with the daily tasks. Apart from this, the behavior of the employer, supervisors and managers on a day to day basis is not determined by the written contract. According to Guest (1998), employees will need to negotiate on the roles and duties to perform in order to satisfy their side of the bargain and what to expect in return.
Breach of the psychological contract
A violation of the psychological contract occurs when an employee experiences a discrepancy between the actual fulfillment of obligations by the organization, and the promises previously made about these obligations. The degree of the violation depends on the type of violation, the degree of discrepancy, and whether the organization is held responsible for the violation (McFarlane Shore and Tetrick 1994). As psychological contracts are formed on the basis of trust, the violation may lead to strong emotional reactions and feelings of betrayal. This may lead to various results like higher turnover, lower trust and job satisfaction and lower commitment to the organization (Rousseau 2004). Robinson (1995) and Herriot (1996) agreed that psychological contracts become more transactional compared to relational after a violation. This will result in the employee focusing more to financial and economic aspects.
Moreover, Studies from Bunderson (2001), Coyle-Shapiro & Kessler (2000), Kickul (2001), Lester et al. (2002), Raja et al. (2004), and Robinson (1995) have provided convincing evidence that the perceived discrepancy that was promised by the employer was negatively related to an employee’s organizational commitment, in-role performance, and extra-role behavior or organization citizenship behavior. These results are consistent with both social exchange theory (Blau, 1964) and equity theory (Adams, 1965). According to these theories, employees are motivated to seek fair and balanced exchanges with their employer. Employees whose psychological contracts have been breached are likely to believe that their employer cannot be trusted to fulfill its obligations and does not care about the well being of its employees (Robinson, 1995). When this happens, the employee will be less loyal to the organization and a drop in performance may be expected.
Importance of the psychological contract
Research from Rousseau (2004) has consistently show that unmet obligations generate far more intense and negative reactions than unmet expectations. Expectations based upon the creation of the psychological contract differ from other expectations because they generate different consequences for the individual. This demonstrates the importance of psychological contracts in understanding employee responses and highlights the critical role that reliance losses play in reaction to organizational changes. It is important to identify how the psychological contract can affect employees in defining the relationship with their employer. If it is used correctly, it can reduce insecurity, shapes the behavior of the employee and gives the employee a feel of being influential in the organization (McFarlane Shore and Tetrick, 1994). Especially in the context of Singapore, it is important for employers to retain talents, as the main resource is human resource.
Luc et al. (2004) discussed on employees accepting the authority of hierarchy and adopting a traditional attitude and respecting orders. It was identified that job titles and job designations are extremely important in Singapore as it signifies employees’ career milestones and achievements. In other words, Singaporean employees are sensitive over their job titles and designations and they preferred job titles and designations that feel more important. An example is like an IT technician compared to an IT systems engineer. Employees would have the perception that the role of an IT systems engineer holds higher role and responsibilities as compared to an IT technician.
Neil (1998) discussed on the re-evaluation of the employee’s perspective, on what they owe to the organization as compared to what it owes to them. In Hofstede (1980) and Kluckhohn’s (1961) research, employees may not react to inducement breach in the same way if they hold different cultural values and these values may have impacts on their work behaviors. Schwartz (1992) described about the traditional cultural orientation as commitment to respect for and acceptance of the customs and norms of a society. In the research studies from Chen et al. (2007), it showed that more traditional employees were less sensitive to their employer’s psychological contract breach as compared to less traditional employees. This is consistent with the findings from Farh et al. (1997), which suggest the importance of the cultural value to organizational behavior in which tradition and modernity may co-exist.
Apart from the traditional variable, research studies conducted by Porter et al. (1998) have identified three important variables that employees perceived. The three variables are job satisfaction, job security and meaningful work. Results show that job satisfaction is an important control variable as employees who perceived that they are receiving less of the inducements than what the organization is offering are less satisfied with their jobs. In Turnley and Feldman’s (2000) study, a similar result was also obtained with regards to job satisfaction. When job satisfaction has been controlled, the negative relationship in job security and meaningful work relating between satisfaction with the organization and gaps in perceptions become insignificant (Porter et. al. 1998). Through Porter’s (1998) research, it shows that knowing the gap between what employees perceive to be the inducements offered to them and what the employers perceived to offer contributes in understanding employees’ satisfaction with the organization. The biggest negative gap in Porter’s (1998) research is the amount of recognition provided by the employers. This was the most significant result after controlling for job satisfaction. It is indicated in various studies that majority of the employees report that their organization provides less recognition than expected and it led to anger and betrayal (Herriot et. al. (1997), Robinson (1995), Robinson and Rousseau (1994)).
From the various research studies conducted, it can be seen that employees are very particular on job satisfaction and the different cultural backgrounds of employees affect their perception towards the organization. As identified in the research by Luc et al. (2004), Singapore employees generally adopts a traditional work attitude and in conjunction with Chen’s (2007) findings, it can be deduced that Singapore employees are less affected by psychological contract breaches.
References
Neil Anderson and Rene Schalk, 1998, The psychological contract in retrospect and prospect, Journal of Organizational Behavior, 19, 637-647
Luc Sels, Maddy Janssens and Inge Van Den Brande, 2004, Assessing the nature of psychological contract, a validation of six dimensions, Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25, 461-488
Adams, J. S. (1965). Inequity in social exchange. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 267–300). New York: Academic Press.
Blau, P. M. (1964). Exchange and power in social life. New York: Wiley.
Barnard, C. I. (1938). The function of the executive. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Bunderson, J. S. (2001). How work ideologies shape the psychological contract of professional employees: Doctors’ responses to perceived breach. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 22, 717–741.
Coyle-Shapiro, J., & Kessler, I. (2000). Consequences of the psychological contract for the employment relationship: A large scale survey. Journal of Management Studies, 37, 903–930.
Kickul, J. (2001). Promises made, promises broken: An exploration of employee attraction and retention in small business. Journal of Small Business Management, 39, 320–335.
Lester, S. W., Turnley, W. H., Bloodgood, J. M., & Bolino, M. C. (2002). Not seeing eye to eye: Differences in supervisor and subordinate perception of and attributions for psychological contract breach. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23, 39–56.
Raja, U., Johns, G., & Ntalianis, F. (2004). The impact of personality on psychological contracts. Academy of Management Journal, 47, 350–367.
Herriot, P. and Pemberton, C. (1996). `Contracting careers', Human Relations, 49, 757-790.
Robinson, S. L. (1995). Violation of psychological contracts: Impact on employee attitudes. In L. E. Tetrick, & J.Barling (Eds.), Changing employment relations: Behavior and Social Perspectives, Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Kotter, J. P. (1973). The psychological contract: Managing the joining up process. California Management Review, 15, 91–99.
Guest, D. (1998), Is the psychological contract worth taking seriously?, Journal of Organizational Behavior, 19, 649-664
Rousseau, D. M. (2004). Psychological contracts in the workplace: Understanding the ties that motivate. Academy of Management Executive, 18, 120–127.
McFarlane Shore, L. and Tetrick, L. E. (1994), The psychological contract as an explanatory framework in the employment relationship, In: Cooper, C. L. and Rousseau, D. M., Trends in Organizational Behavior
Bridges, W. (1995), Jobshift, London; Nicholas Brealey
Sturges, J., Guest, D., & Mackenzie Davey, K. (2000), Who’s in charge? Graduates’ attitudes to and experiences of career management and their relationship with organizational commitment, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 9(3), 351-370
Feldhiem, Mary., 1999 Downsizing, Paper presented at the Southeastern Conference of Public Administration, St. Petersburg, FL, October 6-9.
Shore, L. M., Tetrick, L. E., Taylor, M. S., Coyle Shapiro, J. A.-M., Liden, R. C., McLean Parks, J., et al., 2004, The employee-organization relationship: A timely concept in a period of transition., In J. Martocchio,&G. Ferris (Eds.), Research in personnel and human resources management. Oxford: Elsevier Ltd.
Schwartz, S. J. (1992). Universals in the content and structure of values: Theory and empirical tests in 20 countries. In M. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 25, pp. 1–65). New York: Academic Press.
Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Kluckhohn, F., & Strodtbeck, F. L. (1961), Variations in value orientations. Evanston, IL: Row, Peterson. Kotter, J. P. (1973). The psychological contract: Managing the joining up process. California Management Review, 15, 91–99.
Lyman W. Porter, Jone L. Pearce, Angela M. Tripoli and Kristi M. Lewis, 1998, Differential perceptions of employers’ inducements: implications for psychological contracts, Journal of Organizational Behavior, 19, 769-782
Turnley. W., and Feldman, D. (2000), Re-examining the effects of psychological contract violations: unmet expectations and job dissatisfaction as mediators, Journal of Organizational Behavior, 21, 25-42
Herriot, P. Manning, W.E.G. and Kidd. J (1997), The content of the psychological contract, British Journal of Management, 8(2), 151-162
Robinson, S.L., and Rousseau, D.M. (1994), Violating the psychological contract: not the exception but the norm, Journal of Organizational Behavior, 15, 245-259
Zhen Xiong Chen, Anne S. Tsui and Lifeng Zhong, 2007, Reactions to psychological contract breach: a dual perspective, Journal of Organizational Behavior, revised 16th May 2007
Farh, J.L., Earley, P.C., & Lin, S.C. (1997), Impetus for action: A cultural analysis of justice and organizational citizenship behavior in Chinese society, Administrative Science Quarterly, 42, 421-444
======
I will cover on the economy when I get more news. Yesterday's news was on Citi, where the CEO of Asia Pacific did some restructuring of the operations in AP.
Here is one of my reports I did on employment relations.
A psychological contract is defined as the mutual expectations held by employees and their employers regarding the terms and conditions of the exchange relationship (Kotter 1973). A psychological contract between two parties in an employment setting creates an enduring mental model of the employment relationship, which provides a stable understanding of what to expect from each other and guides efficient actions by both parties. As such, the subjectivity of the contract means that an individual can have a unique experience regarding the exchange relationship with an employer (Rousseau 2004). Feldhiem (1999) describes that the psychological contract can be divided into two areas, which is transactional and relational. The transactional factor is based on economic or monetary terms with clear expectations that the organization will fairly compensate according to performance while the relational factor is a socio-emotional base that underlies expectations of shared ideals and values, and respect and support in interpersonal relationships.
Overview of employment
The popular view of the ‘traditional’ promise of job security in return of hard work or organizational career in return for loyalty and hard work has been eroded by organizational changes, such as downsizing or retrenchment (Guest, 1998). Since the 1980s, the increasingly competitive environment and rapid technological developments have caused many organizational restructuring, resulting in changes in employment relationships among employees at all levels (Shore 2004). One example would be Singapore’s largest port operator, PSA Corporation, where the organization held a retrenchment in February 2003. This signifies that no employees are indispensable to the organization. Bridges (1995) discussed about this point where organizations can no longer offer employees careers for life. As such, employees may not feel safe and stay loyal to the organization and this may result in job hopping every few years.
Employment relationship
By entering into an employment relationship, the employee is accepting an obligation to supply particular services to the organization as well as following the directives of management. The employee also perceives that the organization is obligated to provide certain items in exchange for the contributions supplied by the employee, such as wages, benefits, training, and career opportunities. Likewise, the employer accepts and expects certain obligations when entering into a relationship with a new employee (Barnard 1938). As such, employees may have the perception that proper training and resources will be provided. Sturges (2000) agrees on this point, stating that many employees continue to anticipate receiving some kind of career management help from their employers. These perceptions of mutual obligations are created by spoken and written communication, as well as by actions taken by each party. Both parties may believe that the obligations are mutually understood but the communication is often incomplete or inaccurate. This miscommunication is not intentional or malicious but caused by a natural tendency by both parties to present a favorable image during the attraction process. This leads to both parties believing that more promises are made than might be intended. Since each party will only provide what they believe they owe to the other, if one party believes the other is obligated to provide a particular contribution yet the obligated party is unaware of that obligation that party will invariably fall short of delivering it (Shore 2004). An example would be an IT executive where the employer should provide the employee with all the necessary training and resources to perform the duties. If inadequate training or resources are provided, the employee may struggle to keep up with the daily tasks. Apart from this, the behavior of the employer, supervisors and managers on a day to day basis is not determined by the written contract. According to Guest (1998), employees will need to negotiate on the roles and duties to perform in order to satisfy their side of the bargain and what to expect in return.
Breach of the psychological contract
A violation of the psychological contract occurs when an employee experiences a discrepancy between the actual fulfillment of obligations by the organization, and the promises previously made about these obligations. The degree of the violation depends on the type of violation, the degree of discrepancy, and whether the organization is held responsible for the violation (McFarlane Shore and Tetrick 1994). As psychological contracts are formed on the basis of trust, the violation may lead to strong emotional reactions and feelings of betrayal. This may lead to various results like higher turnover, lower trust and job satisfaction and lower commitment to the organization (Rousseau 2004). Robinson (1995) and Herriot (1996) agreed that psychological contracts become more transactional compared to relational after a violation. This will result in the employee focusing more to financial and economic aspects.
Moreover, Studies from Bunderson (2001), Coyle-Shapiro & Kessler (2000), Kickul (2001), Lester et al. (2002), Raja et al. (2004), and Robinson (1995) have provided convincing evidence that the perceived discrepancy that was promised by the employer was negatively related to an employee’s organizational commitment, in-role performance, and extra-role behavior or organization citizenship behavior. These results are consistent with both social exchange theory (Blau, 1964) and equity theory (Adams, 1965). According to these theories, employees are motivated to seek fair and balanced exchanges with their employer. Employees whose psychological contracts have been breached are likely to believe that their employer cannot be trusted to fulfill its obligations and does not care about the well being of its employees (Robinson, 1995). When this happens, the employee will be less loyal to the organization and a drop in performance may be expected.
Importance of the psychological contract
Research from Rousseau (2004) has consistently show that unmet obligations generate far more intense and negative reactions than unmet expectations. Expectations based upon the creation of the psychological contract differ from other expectations because they generate different consequences for the individual. This demonstrates the importance of psychological contracts in understanding employee responses and highlights the critical role that reliance losses play in reaction to organizational changes. It is important to identify how the psychological contract can affect employees in defining the relationship with their employer. If it is used correctly, it can reduce insecurity, shapes the behavior of the employee and gives the employee a feel of being influential in the organization (McFarlane Shore and Tetrick, 1994). Especially in the context of Singapore, it is important for employers to retain talents, as the main resource is human resource.
Luc et al. (2004) discussed on employees accepting the authority of hierarchy and adopting a traditional attitude and respecting orders. It was identified that job titles and job designations are extremely important in Singapore as it signifies employees’ career milestones and achievements. In other words, Singaporean employees are sensitive over their job titles and designations and they preferred job titles and designations that feel more important. An example is like an IT technician compared to an IT systems engineer. Employees would have the perception that the role of an IT systems engineer holds higher role and responsibilities as compared to an IT technician.
Neil (1998) discussed on the re-evaluation of the employee’s perspective, on what they owe to the organization as compared to what it owes to them. In Hofstede (1980) and Kluckhohn’s (1961) research, employees may not react to inducement breach in the same way if they hold different cultural values and these values may have impacts on their work behaviors. Schwartz (1992) described about the traditional cultural orientation as commitment to respect for and acceptance of the customs and norms of a society. In the research studies from Chen et al. (2007), it showed that more traditional employees were less sensitive to their employer’s psychological contract breach as compared to less traditional employees. This is consistent with the findings from Farh et al. (1997), which suggest the importance of the cultural value to organizational behavior in which tradition and modernity may co-exist.
Apart from the traditional variable, research studies conducted by Porter et al. (1998) have identified three important variables that employees perceived. The three variables are job satisfaction, job security and meaningful work. Results show that job satisfaction is an important control variable as employees who perceived that they are receiving less of the inducements than what the organization is offering are less satisfied with their jobs. In Turnley and Feldman’s (2000) study, a similar result was also obtained with regards to job satisfaction. When job satisfaction has been controlled, the negative relationship in job security and meaningful work relating between satisfaction with the organization and gaps in perceptions become insignificant (Porter et. al. 1998). Through Porter’s (1998) research, it shows that knowing the gap between what employees perceive to be the inducements offered to them and what the employers perceived to offer contributes in understanding employees’ satisfaction with the organization. The biggest negative gap in Porter’s (1998) research is the amount of recognition provided by the employers. This was the most significant result after controlling for job satisfaction. It is indicated in various studies that majority of the employees report that their organization provides less recognition than expected and it led to anger and betrayal (Herriot et. al. (1997), Robinson (1995), Robinson and Rousseau (1994)).
From the various research studies conducted, it can be seen that employees are very particular on job satisfaction and the different cultural backgrounds of employees affect their perception towards the organization. As identified in the research by Luc et al. (2004), Singapore employees generally adopts a traditional work attitude and in conjunction with Chen’s (2007) findings, it can be deduced that Singapore employees are less affected by psychological contract breaches.
References
Neil Anderson and Rene Schalk, 1998, The psychological contract in retrospect and prospect, Journal of Organizational Behavior, 19, 637-647
Luc Sels, Maddy Janssens and Inge Van Den Brande, 2004, Assessing the nature of psychological contract, a validation of six dimensions, Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25, 461-488
Adams, J. S. (1965). Inequity in social exchange. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 267–300). New York: Academic Press.
Blau, P. M. (1964). Exchange and power in social life. New York: Wiley.
Barnard, C. I. (1938). The function of the executive. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Bunderson, J. S. (2001). How work ideologies shape the psychological contract of professional employees: Doctors’ responses to perceived breach. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 22, 717–741.
Coyle-Shapiro, J., & Kessler, I. (2000). Consequences of the psychological contract for the employment relationship: A large scale survey. Journal of Management Studies, 37, 903–930.
Kickul, J. (2001). Promises made, promises broken: An exploration of employee attraction and retention in small business. Journal of Small Business Management, 39, 320–335.
Lester, S. W., Turnley, W. H., Bloodgood, J. M., & Bolino, M. C. (2002). Not seeing eye to eye: Differences in supervisor and subordinate perception of and attributions for psychological contract breach. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23, 39–56.
Raja, U., Johns, G., & Ntalianis, F. (2004). The impact of personality on psychological contracts. Academy of Management Journal, 47, 350–367.
Herriot, P. and Pemberton, C. (1996). `Contracting careers', Human Relations, 49, 757-790.
Robinson, S. L. (1995). Violation of psychological contracts: Impact on employee attitudes. In L. E. Tetrick, & J.Barling (Eds.), Changing employment relations: Behavior and Social Perspectives, Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Kotter, J. P. (1973). The psychological contract: Managing the joining up process. California Management Review, 15, 91–99.
Guest, D. (1998), Is the psychological contract worth taking seriously?, Journal of Organizational Behavior, 19, 649-664
Rousseau, D. M. (2004). Psychological contracts in the workplace: Understanding the ties that motivate. Academy of Management Executive, 18, 120–127.
McFarlane Shore, L. and Tetrick, L. E. (1994), The psychological contract as an explanatory framework in the employment relationship, In: Cooper, C. L. and Rousseau, D. M., Trends in Organizational Behavior
Bridges, W. (1995), Jobshift, London; Nicholas Brealey
Sturges, J., Guest, D., & Mackenzie Davey, K. (2000), Who’s in charge? Graduates’ attitudes to and experiences of career management and their relationship with organizational commitment, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 9(3), 351-370
Feldhiem, Mary., 1999 Downsizing, Paper presented at the Southeastern Conference of Public Administration, St. Petersburg, FL, October 6-9.
Shore, L. M., Tetrick, L. E., Taylor, M. S., Coyle Shapiro, J. A.-M., Liden, R. C., McLean Parks, J., et al., 2004, The employee-organization relationship: A timely concept in a period of transition., In J. Martocchio,&G. Ferris (Eds.), Research in personnel and human resources management. Oxford: Elsevier Ltd.
Schwartz, S. J. (1992). Universals in the content and structure of values: Theory and empirical tests in 20 countries. In M. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 25, pp. 1–65). New York: Academic Press.
Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Kluckhohn, F., & Strodtbeck, F. L. (1961), Variations in value orientations. Evanston, IL: Row, Peterson. Kotter, J. P. (1973). The psychological contract: Managing the joining up process. California Management Review, 15, 91–99.
Lyman W. Porter, Jone L. Pearce, Angela M. Tripoli and Kristi M. Lewis, 1998, Differential perceptions of employers’ inducements: implications for psychological contracts, Journal of Organizational Behavior, 19, 769-782
Turnley. W., and Feldman, D. (2000), Re-examining the effects of psychological contract violations: unmet expectations and job dissatisfaction as mediators, Journal of Organizational Behavior, 21, 25-42
Herriot, P. Manning, W.E.G. and Kidd. J (1997), The content of the psychological contract, British Journal of Management, 8(2), 151-162
Robinson, S.L., and Rousseau, D.M. (1994), Violating the psychological contract: not the exception but the norm, Journal of Organizational Behavior, 15, 245-259
Zhen Xiong Chen, Anne S. Tsui and Lifeng Zhong, 2007, Reactions to psychological contract breach: a dual perspective, Journal of Organizational Behavior, revised 16th May 2007
Farh, J.L., Earley, P.C., & Lin, S.C. (1997), Impetus for action: A cultural analysis of justice and organizational citizenship behavior in Chinese society, Administrative Science Quarterly, 42, 421-444
======
I will cover on the economy when I get more news. Yesterday's news was on Citi, where the CEO of Asia Pacific did some restructuring of the operations in AP.
It's been some time...
Since I have posted anything, as I was quite busy with work and my school work. Another semester has passed and I'm embarking into my last 2nd semester. I have started to look for opportunities in the banking industry but with not much responses either... Nevertheless, I won't stop finding :)
Back to the economy, currently the market is more or less stablized with oil failing at a steady rate. With USD/Yen coming back to the range of 110.18-110.19 - 0.07, maybe the green dollar rally isn't far from what we expected. However, I don't really share this sentiment as more banks and mortgage companies are starting to disclose their writedowns. Indymac, Freddy and Fannie, Bear Stearns.. Looking at Citigroup right now, it seem to be a company that investors would want to avoid with all those massive writedowns they are incurring at the moment and probably we won't know whether there's more to come or not.
In any case, I have finished Buffett's book and probably read it for 5-6 times to understand the concepts and ideals he have. The company that I have picked out is SMRT in the Singapore market. I will soon compile the information gathered from the annual reports and determine its financial status and whether it is worthwhile the investment. Why did I pick SMRT?
Firstly, SMRT is the largest train service provider in Singapore as compared to ComfortDelgro. SMRT's service quality may not be that fantastic, but it is the more dominant public transport as there won't be traffic jams on the rails itself, apart from the trains being overpacked. Comparing to other forms of public transport like bus, the service timings are not as comparable as SMRT.
Next, MRT stations are not the same as the past. Looking at the amount of advertisments that are in the MRT stations, MRT trains, it has become an additional revenue for SMRT as well. This in Buffett's idea, is a form of monopoly. Monopoly is important as they control the price of the service provided, and able to rise to beat any rising cost or inflation that the organization faced.
Being backed by the government as well, it shows its competitive advantage.
That's about all at the moment for the background, I will start to do abit of compiling and come out with some research results.
Back to the economy, currently the market is more or less stablized with oil failing at a steady rate. With USD/Yen coming back to the range of 110.18-110.19 - 0.07, maybe the green dollar rally isn't far from what we expected. However, I don't really share this sentiment as more banks and mortgage companies are starting to disclose their writedowns. Indymac, Freddy and Fannie, Bear Stearns.. Looking at Citigroup right now, it seem to be a company that investors would want to avoid with all those massive writedowns they are incurring at the moment and probably we won't know whether there's more to come or not.
In any case, I have finished Buffett's book and probably read it for 5-6 times to understand the concepts and ideals he have. The company that I have picked out is SMRT in the Singapore market. I will soon compile the information gathered from the annual reports and determine its financial status and whether it is worthwhile the investment. Why did I pick SMRT?
Firstly, SMRT is the largest train service provider in Singapore as compared to ComfortDelgro. SMRT's service quality may not be that fantastic, but it is the more dominant public transport as there won't be traffic jams on the rails itself, apart from the trains being overpacked. Comparing to other forms of public transport like bus, the service timings are not as comparable as SMRT.
Next, MRT stations are not the same as the past. Looking at the amount of advertisments that are in the MRT stations, MRT trains, it has become an additional revenue for SMRT as well. This in Buffett's idea, is a form of monopoly. Monopoly is important as they control the price of the service provided, and able to rise to beat any rising cost or inflation that the organization faced.
Being backed by the government as well, it shows its competitive advantage.
That's about all at the moment for the background, I will start to do abit of compiling and come out with some research results.
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