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The recent COVID-19 pandemic posed a challenge to employee well-being and will have a lasting impact on how safe employees feel about their work environment. This study aims at examining: (1) the impact of safety perception of employees on their job attitudes; and (2) what factors affect their expectations that their organizations will effectively protect them from potential health threats. Using data from the U.S. Federal Government, this study divided organizational responses to COVID-19 aimed at protecting their employees into the following three types: protecting the employees while working on site, reducing the number of employees working on-site, and providing mental and health assistance. The effects of these organizational responses were analysed separately, and regression analysis was performed with these factors with regards to employees’ safety perception. The results showed that the first group of measures, protecting the employees while they are in the workplace, had generally the most significant influences on employees’ feeling of safety. The attempt to protect those in vulnerable medical conditions was also seen as significant. These findings show that organizations need to protect their employees in the workplaces during a health crisis.

In the development of a reliable cathode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), it is crucial to clearly understand the structural degradation mechanism and its correlation with the electrochem...

In response to the recent outbreak of COVID-19, the government has encouraged all organizations including public organizations to support teleworking of their employees However, correctional officers, due to the unique nature of their tasks, have not actively engaged in the current trend Nevertheless, the correctional institutions in the western society, such as in the U S , have implemented the teleworking policy This study aims at learning from the teleworking experience of the U S Bureau of Prisons We tested what factors leading to teleworking of the employees in the bureau The results indicate that those employees in the bureau, who are prepared to deal with the potential security threats, share the job-related information with their colleagues effectively, and communicate frequently the goals of organizations with their managers, tend to likely telework The implications for the Korean correctional management are discussed

Organizational justice is known to help promote organizational sustainability. The literature has explained the impact of organizational justice relying heavily on the social exchange perspective, the idea that employees are motivated to show favorable attitudes in return for the fair rewards that organization has provided. To the contrary, little attention has been given to the proposition that it affects employee’s attitudes by increasing their intrinsic motivation. The latter has a greater implication of sustainable management since intrinsic motivation of its employees is the key to the sustained success of an organization. This approach can be called a value-based perspective. To fill that gap, this study examined the mediating effects of both the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation links between organizational justice and employee satisfaction. The analysis revealed that the indirect mediating effects of intrinsic motivation were greater than those of extrinsic motivation for procedural and interactional justice, while the mediating effect of extrinsic motivation was greater when it comes to distributive justice. In addition, the sum of the indirect effects of intrinsic motivation was comparable to that of extrinsic motivation. This result implies that the mediating effects of intrinsic motivation are as important as those of extrinsic motivation, confirming our prediction that organizational justice contributes to organizational sustainability via the path that has not been verified so far.

Purpose Addressing low performers has been an important issue for government. The purpose of this paper is to examine what practices of performance management are effective in reducing the proportion of low performers in the US federal government. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted the binary logit regression analysis and multinomial regression analysis. Findings Analyzing the Merit Principle Survey 2016, the authors found that the dismissal of low performing employees and the formal performance improvement plan (PIP) is the most effective in reducing the proportion of low performers. To the contrary, the within-grade-increase did not have a significant influence on the proportion of low performers. Moreover, using the performance appraisal for the purpose of reassigning employees to the position that better match employees’ talent increased the number of low performers in work units. Research limitations/implications Research limitations are as follows. First, the performance measure for this study was the percentage of employees rated as unsuccessful. Second, the pseudo-R2 indicated that the proposed model explained only the small, albeit significant, portion of the total variance in employee performance. Lastly, this study used a cross-sectional research design that may impede the validity of inference of causalities. Practical implications According to a recent news article (Rein, 2018), Trump signed an executive order that limits the stable benefits associated with government employment such as, limiting pay associated with union work and negotiating more stringent union contracts. These measures are largely aimed at eliminating low performing employees rather than attempting to improve their performances through carefully designed training programs. Although removing low performers may be an option, the results indicate that providing assistance in order to develop employee knowledge and skills through the PIP have a comparable impact on reducing low performers. Originality/value These findings imply that the use of performance evaluation for developmental or sanctioning purpose is more effective than reassignment or incentive purpose.

The realisation of fast-charging lithium-ion batteries with long cycle lifetimes is hindered by the uncontrollable plating of metallic Li on the graphite anode during high-rate charging. Here we report that surface engineering of graphite with a cooperative biphasic MoOx–MoPx promoter improves the charging rate and suppresses Li plating without compromising energy density. We design and synthesise MoOx–MoPx/graphite via controllable and scalable surface engineering, i.e., the deposition of a MoOx nanolayer on the graphite surface, followed by vapour-induced partial phase transformation of MoOx to MoPx. A variety of analytical studies combined with thermodynamic calculations demonstrate that MoOx effectively mitigates the formation of resistive films on the graphite surface, while MoPx hosts Li+ at relatively high potentials via a fast intercalation reaction and plays a dominant role in lowering the Li+ adsorption energy. The MoOx–MoPx/graphite anode exhibits a fast-charging capability (, Fast-charging of lithium-ion batteries is hindered by the uncontrollable plating of metallic Li on the graphite anode during cycling. Here, the authors demonstrate the fast chargeability and long cycle lifetimes via surface engineering of graphite with a cooperative biphasic MoOx–MoPx promoter.

The mechanical properties of cathode materials are among the critical factors that directly affect the lifespan of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, a significant challenge remains in understanding the exact mechanism of mechanical degradation of present cathode materials that results in significant loss of performance during long-term operation. Herein, a comparative study on the correlation between mechanical strength (e.g. particle hardness) and cycle performance of the cathode materials (particularly those with layered structures) is presented. By improving the particle hardness of cathode materials via Mg doping, the formation of undesirable microcracks within the particles during cycling can be effectively suppressed, thus improving cycle performance. Structural and electrochemical analyses are performed in order to further elucidate the mechanical degradation mechanism of LIBs during repeat cycles, and identify a possible approach to the enhancement of electrochemical performance and long-term durability in present cathode materials.

To meet the growing demand for high-power lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), the development of advanced materials is crucial because they play a central role in energy storage technologies. Although graphite is widely used as the most popular anode material, the rate capability and thermal stability of graphite should be further improved for extending the applications of LIBs into emerging markets like electric vehicles and personal mobility devices. With this in mind, we propose off-stoichiometric TiO2-x-decorated graphite as a potential anode material for practical use in high-power LIBs. Thanks to the high electrical conductivity and thermal resistance of off-stoichiometric TiO2-x induced by an in situ carbothermal reduction process, the rate capability and thermal stability of graphite can be notably enhanced. The TiO2-x-decorated graphite offers a high capacity retention of 76.9% even after 100 cycles at a current density of 1C. We believe that this work can provide more opportunities to explore highly reliable anode materials offering high-energy and high-power characteristics for advanced LIBs.

This study examines the relationship between performance information and resource allocations in the context of the George W. Bush administration's performance budgeting metric: the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART). Results of regression analysis suggest that performance information reported through the PART system had a fragmented and incomplete effect on congressional appropriations. This was because (1) PART was a politicized tool applied more rigorously to cuts in programs supported by Democrats; (2) PART scores had little or no impact on earmarked programs; (3) PART's impact declined during a divided government; and (4) PART scores were used more often in budget decisions for small or medium-size programs than for larger programs.

This paper describes some of the issues surrounding South Korea's introduction of autonomous executive agencies as one component of its new public management (NPM) reform. Particular emphasis is given to some problems and critiques surrounding implementation. The research defines the concept of autonomous public agencies, explains why South Korea's government embraced the concept, and analyzes some critiques of its deployment. Finally, this study suggests a revision to bring the concept closer to the goals of a democratic polity by detaching autonomization from NPM's customer model of citizenship and aligning it with a citizen–owner model.

City managers have been considered as technicians or general managers. However, previous research shows that the roles and leadership of city managers are not limited to management only. Although city managers are appointed by elected officials, elected officials and appointed managers interact with each other in overall government and decision making processes. Additionally, city managers have been actively involved in local policy processes as well. This study attempts to empirically examine city managers’ policy influence and the factors that affect this influence. The study finds that there is a cooperative relationship between city managers and elected officials in policy process.