Angela C. Henderson, Heidi Grappendorf and Laura J. Burton
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of attractiveness on perceptions of female athletes' potential success in managerial positions using role congruity as…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of attractiveness on perceptions of female athletes' potential success in managerial positions using role congruity as the theoretical framework.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a simulated employment evaluation, participants (n=68 male, n=121 female) were asked to evaluate the résumé of either an attractive female athlete or an unattractive female athlete for an entry‐level management position in a sport organization. Participants evaluated the athlete on hiring recommendations, competence, and anticipated liking for the applicant.
Findings
Analysis of the data indicated that attractive‐looking athletes had a significant advantage over unattractive‐looking athletes on all dependent measures. Athletes perceived to be unattractive were more harshly evaluated for entry‐level managerial positions.
Research limitations/implications
The unattractive‐looking female athletes in this study may have been perceived as having both the masculine characteristics of athlete in addition to appearing to be less feminine. This combination of the masculine role of athlete, heightened by a less‐feminine appearance (i.e. unattractive‐looking), may have negatively impacted the unattractive‐looking female athletes in this study, providing further support that when women demonstrate characteristics considered to violate appropriate gender roles, they will be punished for such violations. These findings are a potential addition to role congruity theory in that backlash was occurring as a result of violating two roles; being both athletic and less attractive.
Originality/value
This study was the first to explore if the influence of perceived attractiveness on hiring preferences for female athletes applying for management positions was similar to the influence of attractiveness as reported in research that has examined this influence for women in social and managerial settings. The results of the current study indicated female athletes that are perceived as unattractive must walk the tightrope of being masculine, but not too masculine.
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Claire Stuart, Andrew McKeown, Angela Henderson and Chloe Trew
Learning Disability Statistics Scotland collects information on adults with learning disabilities who are known to local authorities in Scotland and the services they use. The…
Abstract
Purpose
Learning Disability Statistics Scotland collects information on adults with learning disabilities who are known to local authorities in Scotland and the services they use. The data collection supports national and local government policy making and is focused on monitoring the implementation of learning disability policy. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Individual level data are requested from all 32 local authorities on adults aged 16-17 who are not in full-time education and those aged 18 and over. Annual data guidance is developed in conjunction with local authorities prior to the collection and is issued to standardise the process and manage avoidable error. The collated data are extracted from local authority administrative data and records are provided on each adult regardless of whether they are currently receiving a service. Anonymisation takes place prior to upload and strict guidelines are followed to ensure it is not possible to identify individuals.
Findings
The paper provides insights to the project's processes, uses, challenges and future plans. It details the position of the data outputs within a policy context and the role these might play within a broader research agenda.
Research limitations/implications
This data includes only adults known to local authority services.
Originality/value
The value of the project lies in its strength as a national social care data set comprised of individual level data. This methodology increases the analytical potential of the data set. This paper will be of interest to those interested in data on learning disability and those with an interest in the analytical potential of an individual level national data set.
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Life studies are a rich source for further research on the role of the Afro‐American woman in society. They are especially useful to gain a better understanding of the…
Abstract
Life studies are a rich source for further research on the role of the Afro‐American woman in society. They are especially useful to gain a better understanding of the Afro‐American experience and to show the joys, sorrows, needs, and ideals of the Afro‐American woman as she struggles from day to day.
The racial makeup of the United States' elementary school population is in flux. While much discussion addresses the shrinking White population and the growing Latinx population…
Abstract
The racial makeup of the United States' elementary school population is in flux. While much discussion addresses the shrinking White population and the growing Latinx population, less highlighted is the growing number of individuals who identify as belonging to two or more races. This group of individuals currently constitutes the youngest, fastest growing racial subgroup. According to the US Census' projections, the two or more races population will grow by 226% between 2014 and 2060, almost double the Asian population, the next fastest growing subgroup. Though individuals with multiplicity to their racial backgrounds have existed in the United States since its inception, only recently has the government provided the option for individuals to quantify their self-reported belonging to multiple races. The resulting statistics alert educators to the fact that individuals identifying as biracial and multiracial are going to be an increasingly sizable group of students requiring, as all children do, individualized care and support within school walls. In this chapter, I draw upon Black-White biracial women's elementary school recounts to help educational practitioners understand lived experiences that inform young girls' navigations of the intersections of their Blackness and Whiteness in schooling spaces.
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Steven Henderson and Angela Zvesper
This paper explores the implications of paradigm diversity for understanding the strategic decisions involved in transforming organisations. It examines the conflicting…
Abstract
This paper explores the implications of paradigm diversity for understanding the strategic decisions involved in transforming organisations. It examines the conflicting conclusions that can be drawn from a well respected study into strategic change. It shows that evidence to support a variety of paradigms and contradictory conclusions is present in the data and arguments presented. By clarifying these, it is possible for strategic decision makers to understand better their own thought processes and become more critical of strategic solutions offered in the literature and in the narratives circulating in their own organisations. The paper then moves on to examine the ramifications of researching and advising on a subject that cannot agree a single paradigm, and argues that conflicting paradigms are not a feature of immaturity, as some writers have suggested, but rather a feature to be celebrated as it exemplifies, and can help to encourage, a high degree of critical reflection and originality about the how and why of making strategic decisions.
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Angela Benson and Steven Henderson
To understand the effects of the best value regime on the public provision of recreation at the level of the leisure centre.
Abstract
Purpose
To understand the effects of the best value regime on the public provision of recreation at the level of the leisure centre.
Design/methodology/approach
A strategic auditing device is applied to 87 leisure centres to investigate the strategic variables of environmental stability and attractiveness, service strengths and financial resources. The analysis produces a typology of leisure centres, and evaluates the prospects of each type under best value.
Findings
The findings suggest that a large number of leisure centres managed by local authorities will make limited headway in implementing best value. What is more, many face problems that will be exacerbated, rather than eased, by current policy. Leisure centres managed by Trusts generally face more benign local environments, which appear to offer greater prospects, but it is clear that Trust status itself offers few advantages outside a greater range of financial sources.
Research limitations/implications
The research focuses on strategic choices as they face leisure centre managers. It does not directly explore the strategic and policy decisions made at other levels.
Practical implications
The paper argues for subtler recreation policy (and by implication, the provision of public sector services generally) that pays due regard to the local conditions of service providers. Policy that focuses only on general prescription of managerial (and often rhetorical) practices will frequently lead strategies towards satisficing performance indicators that may be arbitrary, rather than focusing on problems and issues as they face professional leisure managers.
Originality/value
The use of a formal strategy tool as the level of a service provider is novel, and augments work on hybrid firms facing strategic choices based not only on political factors but also private sector market‐oriented competitors. Further, useful comparisons are made between leisure centres managed by Trusts and those still controlled by a Local Authority. The data provided will also help to inform practical and academic debates concerning the application of quality standards and management practices in the leisure sector.
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Focuses on street vending in Chicago, in the USA, taking a historical perspective. Shows how it was used to alleviate unemployment in the volatile progressive era but then became…
Abstract
Focuses on street vending in Chicago, in the USA, taking a historical perspective. Shows how it was used to alleviate unemployment in the volatile progressive era but then became mired in complaints about corruption and vice. Uses a case study of an entrepreneurial Mexican family and highlights the wisdom of earlier days by showing how street vending offers a series of choices that are different from the choices made by larger forms only in that they are more accessible to the poor.