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GKN Chep Ltd manages approximately 18 million pallets within the European distribution change. Harry Hibbert comments on the rapidly changing European distribution scene based on obsevations, discussions and research with manufacturers, retailers and hauliers.

Organizations are increasingly joining inter-organizational networks to foster sustainable employability for their employees. The purpose of this study is to identify the factors and mechanisms central to their success as experienced by key stakeholders.

An explorative, qualitative approach was adopted, using four focus groups with network coordinators (N = 18) and HR professionals (N = 14). Fourteen Dutch inter-organizational networks were represented. Respondents were recruited through purposive and snowballing sampling techniques. Thematic analysis was applied using open coding to generate themes.

The results of this study outline environmental, structural, and inter-personal factors and mechanisms that contribute to the success of inter-organizational networks that aim to foster sustainable employability for their employees. The environmental factors and mechanisms consist of challenges stemming from the labor market. The structural factors and mechanisms include: a network’s flat structure, flat fee, lack of informal rules, the allocation of roles and expectations for stakeholders and shared network activities. Lastly, the inter-personal factors and mechanisms are: communication among stakeholders, establishing reciprocity, interaction and collaboration between stakeholders, the valuation of trust, a convivial culture and shared vision among stakeholders. The dynamics between these factors and mechanisms are compared to other forms of inter-organizational networks. Furthermore, several recommendations for network coordinators and practitioners regarding the development of networks are presented.

This study provides insights into the factors and mechanisms that are regarded by stakeholders as influencing the success of inter-organizational networks in their ability to foster sustainable employability for workers. We have identified a unique model that captures this new way of inter-organizational collaboration and builds on insights from literature on collaborative governance regimes, institutional fields and entrepreneurial ecosystems. Specifically, the model provides a framework that consists of environmental, structural and interpersonal factors and mechanisms for network success. This study increases our understanding of how collaborative efforts can be fostered beyond organizational boundaries and existing Human Resource Management practices.

This paper aims to examines responsible management (RM) practice and the learning processes that underpin its development. It presents a conceptual framework to highlight the relationship between the learning experience of the individual and their capacity to develop responsible practice.

This conceptual paper synthesises knowledge from studies of how managers learn for ethical and responsible practice. A scoping review of peer-reviewed academic papers was conducted using key search terms that included “responsible management learning” (RML), “ethics”, “Human Resource Development (HRD)”, “responsible management (RM)”, “responsible leadership (RL)” and “work-based learning”. Analysis resulted in development of a conceptual framework of RML processes.

The review of studies concerned with how individuals learn to manage “responsibly” identified a range of learning processes that are necessary for the development of responsible practice. These learning processes are presented in a conceptual model that offers insights for the design of HRD interventions. Learning for responsible practice is presented as occurring in learning spaces where the learner/manager experiences a combination of learning processes. These are found to include situated, social and experiential learning that is “transformative”, potentially “troublesome” and “reflexive” such that learners develop responsible values and practices.

The paper contributes to the field of management development by focussing on the intersection between what is known about how individuals learn for ethical and responsible practice and the implications for work-based learning pedagogies. The paper will be of interest to HRD professionals tasked with fostering a responsible and ethical culture within organisations.

For HRD practitioners, this paper highlights the importance of work-based learning intervention design. What is suggested is that not all HRD interventions are likely to provide the learning conditions required for the development of “responsible practice”. A review of research into RML points to the need for interventions that offer a deep, personal, situated and transformative learning experience. There are organisational implications that arise from the type of learning found to develop responsible practice. For example, facilitating managers skills and awareness of how they learn such as: developing reflective practices and supporting developmental/collaborative networks that examine existing workplace practices. HRD professionals will need to recognise the need to support individual's learning for responsible practice given that it may entail questioning existing practice, and confronting troublesome knowledge, such as recognising where areas of irresponsibility exist. This may have implications for wider HR practices such as line management support, reward and performance management.

The paper contributes to the field of management development by focussing on the intersection between what is known about how individuals learn for ethical and responsible practice and the implications for work-based learning pedagogies. The paper will be of interest to HRD professionals tasked with fostering a responsible and ethical culture within organisations.

Construction management skills and competencies (CMSC) are of greatest importance for the industry to succeed and thrive. Some factors are critical to CSMC development. Hence, following the restrictions occasioned by the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, this study reviewed and examined these factors to understand their level of influence in the remote development of CMSC adopted by the industry within and post the disruptions induced by the pandemic.

This study adopted a quantitative and descriptive research method. Data were sourced from 155 completed and usable survey questionnaires with registered and licensed engineering and construction professionals practicing in both private and public sectors in Nigeria. Participants were drawn from the membership database of the Nigeria Society of Engineers.

The identified critical success factors (CSFs) are categorised into organisational factors which include leadership, engineering project networks and eLearning, measurement and review system, strategy and resources, organisational culture, tradition and structure. In addition to individual factors in this order of influence; willingness to learn, promotion and career development, obtaining certified qualification and obtaining respect of peers are CSFs of remote development of CMSC in Nigeria.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to identify and examine the CSFs to remote development of CMSC tailored to developing countries in Africa. It explored the two categories of CSFs in both remote and traditional CMSC developments and established that the organisational factors remain positively dominants in traditional as well as in remote development of CMSC. It further ranked the individual factors in their order of influence in Nigeria, offered insights into motivation of construction management trainees in developing countries and offered areas of improvements such as quality of training and certification.

The purpose of this paper is to describe how the term “corporate social responsibility” (CSR) is interpreted, introduced and applied in corporations from the point of view of the person in charge of this process, i.e. the translator.

A case study approach is applied. Semi‐structured interviews with those responsible for CSR introduction in three different companies are conducted, based on the knowledge transfer and translation theory (KTT). The content of CSR reports issued by the three companies is also reviewed to describe the CSR introduction process.

The findings suggest that the translator's understanding of the term CSR, as well as his or her position and motivation, impacts the outcome of CSR introduction. Furthermore, the findings reveal that introducing the term CSR into the corporate vocabulary does not necessarily reflect changes in corporate activities.

The cases were selected to reflect differing corporate settings. However, for the purposes of generalization, the findings should be tested on other companies and in other countries.

The study and findings are useful for self‐evaluation and benchmarking by other corporations.

The study confirms that the growth in volume and scope of CSR reports does not necessarily reflect the same increase in CSR activities. In these cases, the main effect of CSR introduction reflects increased openness about already ongoing environmental and social activities.

Whereas most attention so far has been given to how institutional pressure leads to CSR activities, the paper reveals the importance of the individual translator's interpretation of institutional CSR pressure and how this subsequently becomes the corporate CSR approach.

This study aims to explore key factors influencing the work of interdisciplinary university research teams of small size.

This is a multiple-case study of four interdisciplinary university research teams of small size in which science and/or engineering was an important component.

Data analysis revealed 17 critical factors classified into five groups. Although some factors were more influential than others, it was rather multiple factors at various levels of analysis, and not a single factor, that influenced the work of research teams. Another important finding was the identified need to develop project management capacity of university researchers. The study also revealed two strategies, conditioned on the availability of funds, that small university research teams use as a way to adapt to situational demands and research opportunities.

Although previous research examined various aspects pertinent to the work of industry research teams and large research groups, empirical research into interdisciplinary university research teams of small size has been limited.

This article overviews some key contributions to service research from the organizational behavior/human resource management (OB/HRM) discipline with its strong focus on the role of employees. This focus complements the Marketing discipline’s heavy emphasis on customers, largely true of service research, overall.

Ten OB/HRM frameworks/perspectives are applied to analyzing the roles of people (with a focus on employees and modest consideration of customers as “partial” employees who co-create value) in a service organization context. Also, commentary is offered on how the frameworks relate to six key themes in contemporary service research and/or practice. The article concludes with five reflections on the role and status of employees in service research—past, present and future.

Employee roles in evolving service contexts; participation role readiness of both employees and customers; role stress in participating customers; an employee “empowered state of mind”; an emphasis on internal service quality; “strong” HRM systems link individual HRM practices to firm performance; service-profit chain with links to well-being of employees and customers; a sociotechnical system theory lens on organizational frontlines (OF); service climate as an exemplar of interdisciplinary research; emotional labor in both employees and customers; the Human Experience (HX); specification of employee experience (EX).

Service remains very much about people who still guide organizational design, develop service strategy, place new service technologies and even still serve customers. Also, a people and organization-based competitive advantage is tough to copy, thus possessing sustainability, unlike with imitable technology.

This study aims to provide a point of reference and another of guidance for future research on the topic of responsible leadership by exploring its challenges, outcomes and practices.

A systematic review of the literature, originally adopted from the medical sciences but also used in management and leadership studies, was conducted to integrate research in an organized, translucent and reproducible manner. The final sample of 46 empirical and conceptual studies were scientifically screened and synthesized.

The synthesis revealed that balancing stakeholder needs, personal characteristics and organizational structures are the main challenges against responsible leadership, whereas financial benefits, employees-related benefits and reputational gains among others are the main outcomes. Practices pinpointed, while scarce, are represented in nurturing a stakeholder culture, and engaging employee-related and human-resource-responsible functions.

This study contributes to the development of responsible leadership.

The current paper explores the use of equity theory in understanding the challenges of workforce localization of healthcare professionals in an international context.

Utilizing the Delphi method with a team of senior healthcare professionals, equity theory framed the discussions and aided in understanding the managerial challenges of recruiting and retaining Saudi nurses.

The article highlights how careful contextual considerations should be made when making referent choices to ensure the most effective and useful application of equity theory.

A series of managerial implications are outlined for improving the localization of the nursing workforce of Saudi Arabia and beyond.

Equity theory assists in addressing the decades old problem of localizing the Saudi nursing workforce, by proposing a hitherto unconsidered referent of public sector employees, rather than the conventional referent of expatriate nurses.

This paper aims to understand the impact of the job switching behavior on different stages of the communities of practice’s life cycle. Job switching has been viewed from both positive and negative point of views, and its impact on certain organizational factors might be found in literature. Job switching/job hopping behavior of an individual might be fueled by socio-economic factors as well as fun, but it has serious implication for the companies. But an understanding of how this new employee might influence the communities of practice, given which stage is the community in, is something that has not been studied yet. This work is an attempt in that direction.

Using integrative review technique, this paper forwards a conceptual framework based on the literature reviewed and builds a model using an understanding of the nuances of each stage of the life cycle of communities of practice.

The model proposes the impact of switching on each stage of the life cycle of communities of practice. It is observed that at each stage a new entrant who is a “job hopper” might either help or hinder the progress of a community of practice.

This paper gives a new impetus to the research on communities of practice in contemporary perspective. The model proposed could be tested using data from real communities of practice. This paper limits itself to the proposal of the model and does not engage in testing it.

Organizations and managers may use the model to understand how a new entrant to the organization will complement the existing life cycle phase of the communities of practice within.

The conceptual model proposed is unique in its context of job switching behavior and its effect on communities of practice. Research on communities of practice from this contemporary perspective might bring important research directions in future.