Anné Leonard and Anské F. Grobler
The purpose of this paper is to explore the management of employment equity (EE) communication at corporate level, against the background of South African societal complexities…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the management of employment equity (EE) communication at corporate level, against the background of South African societal complexities. It speculates about how the normative ideals of transformational change communication could be applied in order to bridge the apparent divide between government's current development agenda and negative societal sentiments about EE per se on the one side, and corporate transformation efforts on the other.
Design/methodology/approach
A multiple qualitative case study design was followed for the collection of empirical evidence. Semi‐structured interviews were used for data collection in each of the three case studies.
Findings
This paper indicates current trends pertaining to the complexity of communicating EE in South Africa, including the strategic value of communication. It appears that internal communication does not receive as much strategic attention as external communication does. Furthermore, some key organizational leaders (involved in EE strategy implementation) view communication as a tactical tool and not a strategic means, thereby failing to appreciate either their own leadership responsibilities, or the complex nature of transformation change communication per se. These findings confirm the need for a new breed of transformational leaders who can conceptually and practically navigate the societal and corporate complexities surrounding EE communication in the management of change in South Africa.
Originality/value
The paper stresses the complexity of transformational change communication against the background of societal and corporate reactions to EE in South Africa.
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Susan E. Thomas and Anne E. Leonard
The purpose of this paper is to interpret and discuss survey results of a study of academic librarians’ scholarship and creative work outside of library and information science in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to interpret and discuss survey results of a study of academic librarians’ scholarship and creative work outside of library and information science in order to reveal some librarians’ motivations to perform such work as well as their perceptions of administrators’ attitudes toward it.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors published a link to a qualitative survey instrument on COLLIB-L and ULS-L, the e-mail lists for the college libraries section and the university libraries section of American Library Association, asking that only academic librarians engaged in scholarship and creative work outside of library and information science participate. This paper is an exploratory analysis of the survey results.
Findings
Librarians reported that they produce such work for many reasons, including personal satisfaction, dynamic and successful liaison work, and ongoing commitment to scholarship and creative work. Academic librarians who produce non-LIS work do so with varying levels of support, and the recognition of such work is inconsistent among institutions.
Originality/value
The authors are the first to query American academic librarians specifically about their scholarship or creative work outside of library and information science. Managers and administrators will glean much about academic librarians’ attitudes toward such work and how it adds value to the library operation and institution. Findings could affect criteria for reappointment, promotion, and tenure.
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Rachid Zeffane and Geoffrey Mayo
In recent years, organisations around the world have been seriously affected by a range of economic, political and social upheavals that have gathered momentum in most parts of…
Abstract
In recent years, organisations around the world have been seriously affected by a range of economic, political and social upheavals that have gathered momentum in most parts of the globe. The viability of the conventional (pyramidal) organisational structures is being challenged in conjunction with major shifts in the roles of mid and top managers. In many countries, the pace of the above socio‐economic events and uncertainties is happening at an unprecedented pace. Some markets are showing signs of potential gigantic expansions while others (historically prosperous) are on the verge of complete collapse (Dent, 1991). In responding to the socio‐economic challenges of the nineties, organisations (across the board) have resorted to dismantling the conventional pyramidal structure and adopting so‐called “leaner” structures (see Zeffane, 1992). The most common struggle has been to maintain market share in an economic environment increasingly characterised by excess labour supply (Bamber, 1990; Green & Macdonald, 1991). As organisations shifted their strategies from “mass production” to “post‐fordism” (see, for example Kern and Schumann, 1987), there has been a significant tendency to emphasise flexibility of both capital and labour in order to cater for the niche markets which are claimed to be rapidly emerging, world‐wide. This has resulted in massive organisational restructuring world‐wide.
This edition of the Advances in Ecopolitics Series with Emerald Publishing examines the range of environmental campaigns that are in occurring across the planet. As world leaders…
Abstract
This edition of the Advances in Ecopolitics Series with Emerald Publishing examines the range of environmental campaigns that are in occurring across the planet. As world leaders attempt to tackle climate change, this edition presents a collection of case studies on global grassroots initiatives and activism in diverse areas such as green economic alternatives in Anne Pettifor's study on ‘The Green New Deal: Restoring Balance and Stability to the Global Financial and Ecosystem’ or John Barry's chapter ‘Towards a Model of Green Political Economy: From Economic Growth and Ecological Modernisation to Economic Security’ or regional activism in defense of communities as presented in Victor Ojakorotu's study on ‘the Dilemma of Justice: Foreign Oil Multinationals and Human Rights Violation in the Niger Delta of Nigeria’.
Oluwatoyin Olubiyi, Anne Futterer and Christina D. Kang-Yi
The purpose of this paper is to comprehensively identify and synthesize the mental health care provided through diverse community schools implemented in the USA.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to comprehensively identify and synthesize the mental health care provided through diverse community schools implemented in the USA.
Design/methodology/approach
Using PubMed, community school model websites and Google Search, we identified 21 community school models that publicly reported outcomes and conducted full review of these models. The authors also conducted e-mail and telephone communication with ten program directors and evaluators to gain insights into successes and lessons learned through implementing community school models based on community partnership.
Findings
Provision of mental health care though community schools leads to reducing school suspensions, disciplinary referrals, problem presentation, and risk behaviors, and improving school grades, personal responsibility, future aspiration, and family engagement.
Research limitations/implications
Developing standardized outcome measure for the evaluation of mental health care provided through community school models is important to establish evidence that leads policymakers and practitioners into action. Information toolbox to guide mental health administrators and practitioners about future funding and partnership mechanisms for successful implementation and sustained mental health care through community school models can be useful.
Originality/value
This systematic literature review provides insights into the current practice and future direction in the provision and evaluation of mental health care through community school models and addresses concrete research and practical implications to guide mental health professionals.
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Anne E. Zald and Cathy Seitz Whitaker
Despite the title of this bibliography, there was not a truly underground press in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. The phrase is amisnomer, reputedly coined on the…
Abstract
Despite the title of this bibliography, there was not a truly underground press in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. The phrase is amisnomer, reputedly coined on the spur of the moment in 1966 by Thomas Forcade when asked to describe the newly established news service, Underground Press Syndicate, of which he was an active member. The papers mentioned in this bibliography, except for the publications of the Weather Underground, were not published by secretive, covert organizations. Freedom of the press and of expression is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution, although often only symbolically as the experience of the undergrounds will show, and most of the publications that fall into the “underground” described herein maintained public offices, contracted with commercial printers, and often used the U.S. Postal Service to distribute their publications.
The purpose of this paper is to contribute further to the understanding of why and how employees resist workplace change. Building on previous studies exploring the link between…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contribute further to the understanding of why and how employees resist workplace change. Building on previous studies exploring the link between worker subjectivity and workplace change, the paper highlights both the spatial and temporal dimensions of tactics of resistance.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on case study evidence from an Australian credit union that had implemented significant changes to its service strategy, and identifies employee responses to these changes.
Findings
The case study identifies the way in which tradition and place can be discursive resources with which employees resist changes to work practices and roles which threaten to disrupt workplace and gender identities.
Originality/value
To date, the literature has focused on tactics of resistance that draw on temporal and spatial narratives from inside the organization. This paper extends the understanding by showing how individuals also draw on narratives from outside the organization to resist workplace change.
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Public interests and concerns often create dilemmas for school principals. As such moral dilemmas are the case for schools as places marked by social, economic, cultural and…
Abstract
Purpose
Public interests and concerns often create dilemmas for school principals. As such moral dilemmas are the case for schools as places marked by social, economic, cultural and political diversity. The purpose of this paper is to look at how Appalachian school leaders use moral literacy to make decisions when facing ethical issues?
Design/methodology/approach
The data for this study emerged from interviews conducted with ten principals. The principals interviewed represent a purposeful sample of practitioners within the Appalachian region of Southern Ohio, using group characteristic sampling.
Findings
Principals’ responses varied in their depth of familiarity and comfort with moral literacy. The abductive analysis yielded several thematic units, classified using both emergent patterns and a priori codes. The overarching themes that emerged from this analysis concerned what an ethical dilemma is, what it means to be a morally literate leader, moral dimensions of leadership, and the value integration of doing ethics and being ethical.
Research limitations/implications
This study relies strictly on the participants’ personal conceptualization of moral literacy and the ethical paradigms it presupposes. As a qualitative study, the findings are based primarily on the participants’ perception of and the researcher’s interpretation of the complexities and ambiguities in reading ethical dilemmas.
Practical implications
To effectively accomplish the moral work of the principalship requires that school leaders be morally literate, understanding the integrated nature of ethical paradigms.
Originality/value
The findings of this study continue to disclose the manner in which practicing principals define what an ethical dilemma is and moves us closer to understanding how practitioners frame moral literacy within their practice yet outside of exposure to clearly defined theoretical frameworks.