From job-based to competency-based organizations

The efficacy of designing organizations around job structures is challenged. Although this approach has dominated the fields of organizational behavior and human resource management for decades, a number of forces have converged to suggest that a competency-based approach often is more appropriate. In the global competitive environment which large, complex organizations face, the competency-based approach and the capabilities that individuals need to acquire and develop should be the major focus. Reward systems, career tracks, selection systems, and the structure of organizations need to change to focus on competencies. The challenges and opportunities for research, theory, and practice development that a change to a competency-based approach raises are many and diverse. For example, new pay systems are needed, new selection systems are needed, indeed whole new concepts about what constitutes selection validity and career development are needed.     

Achieving competitive advantage through product stewardship and LCA

Companies have achieved competitive advantage by expanding the boundaries of their concern beyond the product life-cycle stage that they directly control. By using product stewardship and life-cycle information, coupled with business analysis, companies can successfully outperform their competitors by improving their product or product system by reducing costs, increasing revenue, reducing liabilities, and enhancing their image. Life-cycle information and its use within a product stewardship management framework goes beyond traditional life-cycle applications. Used wisely, it can help companies establish a sustainable framework for long-term success.     

Predator biomass,prey density,and species composition effects on group size in recruit coral reef fishes

Group incidence and size are described for recruit parrotfishes, wrasses, and damselfishes on Hawaiian reefs over 3 years (2006–2008) at sites spanning the archipelago (20–28°N, 155–177°W). Coral-poor and coral-rich areas were surveyed at sites with both low (Hawaii Island) and high (Midway Atoll) predator densities, facilitating examination of relations among predator and recruit densities, habitat, and group metrics. Predator and recruit densities varied spatially and temporally, with a sixfold range in total recruit densities among years. Group (≥2 recruits) metrics varied with time and tracked predator and recruit densities and the proportion of schooling species. Groups often included heterospecifics whose proportion increased with group size. A non-saturating relationship between group size and recruit density suggests that the anti-predator benefits of aggregation exceeded competitive costs. Grouping behavior may have overarching importance for recruit survival–even at high recruit densities–and merits further study on Hawaiian reefs and elsewhere.     

Air pollution control costs and consumption pattern effects A regional analysis

The purpose of this study was to ascertain, through the use of an input-output model, the impact of air pollution control costs on income groups in the Philadelphia Region. The range of increases in consumption expenditure was found to be fairly narrow, with the middle-income group bearing the largest increase (2.9%) and the highest and lowest groups slightly lower increases (about 2%). This finding lends support to the proposition that all income groups would probably share the costs of control equally, which leads to a slightly regressive effect on income distribution. The sharing of the region's air quality costs by other areas was also analyzed.     

Should the federal government subsidize industrial pollution control investment?

Tax-exempt financing of industrial pollution control equipment has increased rapidly in recent months. This method of subsidizing pollution abatement is known to be highly inefficient. If tax-exempt industrial revenue bonds were replaced by a more efficient subsidy the net financial benefits to polluting industries could probably be about doubled without any extra cost to American taxpayers. Increased utilization of an inefficient subsidy device and the international energy crisis make this a propitious time for tax experts and economists to re-examine the question, should industrial pollution control investments be subsidized?     

Restoring piscivorous fish populations in the Laurentian Great Lakes causes seabird dietary change

Ecosystem change often affects the structure of aquatic communities thereby regulating how much and by what pathways energy and critical nutrients flow through food webs. The availability of energy and essential nutrients to top predators such as seabirds that rely on resources near the water's surface will be affected by changes in pelagic prey abundance. Here, we present results from analysis of a 25-year data set documenting dietary change in a predatory seabird from the Laurentian Great Lakes. We reveal significant declines in trophic position and alterations in energy and nutrient flow over time. Temporal changes in seabird diet tracked decreases in pelagic prey fish abundance. As pelagic prey abundance declined, birds consumed less aquatic prey and more terrestrial food. This pattern was consistent across all five large lake ecosystems. Declines in prey fish abundance may have primarily been the result of predation by stocked piscivorous fishes, but other lake-specific factors were likely also important. Natural resource management activities can have unintended consequences for nontarget ecosystem components. Reductions in pelagic prey abundance have reduced the capacity of the Great Lakes to support the energetic requirements of surface-feeding seabirds. In an environment characterized by increasingly limited pelagic fish resources, they are being offered a Hobsonian choice: switch to less nutritious terrestrial prey or go hungry.