Dudley-Anne Thomson is the current manager of the Bay House Café, located10 kilometers from Westport, South Island, New Zealand. She rents the space from Brian Finlayson and…
Abstract
Dudley-Anne Thomson is the current manager of the Bay House Café, located10 kilometers from Westport, South Island, New Zealand. She rents the space from Brian Finlayson and Michael Varekam, who both started the Bay House Café eight years ago and then moved on to open restaurants in Sydney, Australia.
William S. Kaplan and Anne F. Thomson Reed
This paper aims to impart how Acquisition Solutions, Inc. is moving knowledge management “from concept to theory to practice” through an ability to connect, collect, and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to impart how Acquisition Solutions, Inc. is moving knowledge management “from concept to theory to practice” through an ability to connect, collect, and collaborate at all levels “as part of the way we do business”. It demonstrates how the void that exists between the theories about “knowledge management” and the delivery of clear and specific knowledge management practices that “deliver on the promise of KM” is filled.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors provide brief company context and the knowledge challenges faced in considering future evolution and growth, such as improving the ability to leverage the hidden value of corporate knowledge in business development and new solution creation, strengthening the ability to learn from past challenges and successes in strategic decision making and client solution delivery, and creating value from knowledge, experience, and insight held by both employees and clients. The authors discuss a Knowledge Convergence© strategy, implementing framework and model and how to integrate these into consulting operations – employing an Applied Innovation Model© to continually improve solution delivery by integrating communities of practice, attention to business practice methodologies, and the development of competencies in the workforce.
Findings
The paper presents ten learnings, including the fundamental understandings that “it is not about knowledge management, it's about knowledge leadership” as well as “capture and reuse must be part of business operations and not something extra”.
Originality/value
This paper is written for practitioners who are focused on performing and learning to improve the performance of individuals, teams, and organizations.
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Zoe Scott, Kelly Wooster, Roger Few, Anne Thomson and Marcela Tarazona
– The purpose of this paper is to focus on improving the monitoring and evaluation of DRM capacity development initiatives.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on improving the monitoring and evaluation of DRM capacity development initiatives.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper first explores the complexities and challenges presented in the literature, before using empirical data from a research project in six countries (Ethiopia, Pakistan, Myanmar, Philippines, Haiti and Mozambique) to discuss current approaches to M & E of DRM capacity strengthening interventions.
Findings
This is generally an area of technical weakness in the initiatives studied, with poor understanding of terminology, little attention to outcomes or impact and few independent evaluations. The need for greater inclusion of participants in M & E processes is identified and one programme from the fieldwork in Mozambique is presented as a case study example.
Originality/value
The paper ends by presenting a unique M & E framework developed for use by DRM programmes to track the outcomes of their interventions and ultimately raise standards in this area.
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This chapter investigates how we have come to know what we know, in the United States, about the terms “ability” and “disability” through the story of Helen Keller and her teacher…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter investigates how we have come to know what we know, in the United States, about the terms “ability” and “disability” through the story of Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan Macy. What is the narrative of Helen Keller as told through children’s literature? How might the ways in which her life is presented contribute to stereotypes of what it means to be disabled? What, if any, are the ways in which authors of these books resist writing about her as someone who “overcame” her disabilities? How is Helen Keller’s relationship with her teacher, Anne Sullivan, portrayed and what might this representation contribute to the concepts of dependence and interdependence?
Method/Approach
This project provides a sociological analysis of common themes through a content analysis of 20 children’s books on Helen Keller.
Findings
The theme of the widely circulating “story of the water pump moment” (when Keller realizes that hand movements signify language) depicts a one-sided relationship of Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan Macy. This informs the narrative representations of Anne Sullivan Macy as “miracle worker” and Helen Keller as “miracle child.” Another theme is the “complexities of resistance,” which shows how these narratives uphold the stereotype that Helen Keller needed to “overcome” her disabilities while also resisting this notion and showing how she also helped Anne Sullivan Macy.
Implication/Value
This demonstrates how widely circulating stories such as those about Helen Keller shape what we know about what it means to be abled or disabled, challenges simplistic binary understandings of the disability experience, and points to the power of narratives to shape systems of beliefs.
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Wim J.L. Elving, Ursa Golob, Klement Podnar, Anne Ellerup - Nielsen and Christa Thomson
This editorial is an introduction to the special issue on CSR Communication attached to the second CSR Communication Conference held in Aarhus (Denmark) in September 2013. The…
Abstract
Purpose
This editorial is an introduction to the special issue on CSR Communication attached to the second CSR Communication Conference held in Aarhus (Denmark) in September 2013. The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate the role of CSR communication and the development of theory and practice of CSR Communication in recent years.
Design/methodology/approach
The editorial sets up a research agenda for the future, the premises outlined about the role of CSR communication being based on Habermas’ (1984) idea of instrumental/strategic and communicative action.
Findings
The theoretically based research shows that there are different framings of CSR. In the first framing, the business discourse is trying to institutionalize CSR and sustainability by pursuing CSR purely as a business case. In the second framing, alternative CSR discourses are challenging the business discourse, communication being oriented towards shared understanding.
Originality/value
The above findings are original insofar as they have implications for CSR communication scholars and practitioners. It is, for example, important that they acknowledge that two kinds of framings exist, and that they are interdependent. Hence, they should not fall into the trap of a critical discourse of suspicion where CSR communication is constantly criticized as a tool to serve business interests. In the context of strategic and/or communicative action, CSR communication occurs in different forms and for different purposes – either as informative, persuasive, aspirational and participatory type of CSR communication.
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Andrew Swan, Anne Schiffer, Peter Skipworth and James Huntingdon
This paper aims to present a literature review of remote monitoring systems for water infrastructure in the Global South.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a literature review of remote monitoring systems for water infrastructure in the Global South.
Design/methodology/approach
Following initial scoping searches, further examination was made of key remote monitoring technologies for water infrastructure in the Global South. A standard literature search methodology was adopted to examine these monitoring technologies and their respective deployments. This hierarchical approach prioritised “peer-reviewed” articles, followed by “scholarly” publications, then “credible” information sources and, finally, “other” relevant materials. The first two search phases were conducted using academic search services (e.g. Scopus and Google Scholar). In the third and fourth phases, Web searches were carried out on various stakeholders, including manufacturers, governmental agencies and non-governmental organisations/charities associated with Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in the Global South.
Findings
This exercise expands the number of monitoring technologies considered in comparison to earlier review publications. Similarly, preceding reviews have largely focused upon monitoring applications in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This paper explores opportunities in other geographical regions and highlights India as a significant potential market for these tools.
Research limitations/implications
This review predominantly focuses upon information/data currently available in the public domain.
Practical implications
Remote monitoring technologies enable the rapid detection of broken water pumps. Broken water infrastructure significantly impacts many vulnerable communities, often leading to the use of less protected water sources and increased exposure to water-related diseases. Further to these public health impacts, there are additional economic disadvantages for these user communities.
Originality/value
This literature review has sought to address some key technological omissions and to widen the geographical scope associated with previous investigations.
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Delphine Godefroit-Winkel, Marie Schill and Margaret K. Hogg
This paper aims to examine the interplay of emotions and consumption within intergenerational exchanges. It shows how emotions pervade the trajectories of grandmothers’ relational…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the interplay of emotions and consumption within intergenerational exchanges. It shows how emotions pervade the trajectories of grandmothers’ relational identities with their grandchildren through consumption practices.
Design/methodology/approach
This study analyses qualitative data gathered via 28 long interviews with French grandmothers and 27 semi-structured interviews with their grandchildren. This study draws on attachment theory to interpret the voices of both grandmothers and their grandchildren within these dyads.
Findings
This study uncovers distinct relational identities of grandmothers linked to emotions and the age of the grandchild, as embedded in consumption. It identifies the defining characteristics of the trajectory of social/relational identities and finds these to be linked to grandchildren’s ages.
Research limitations/implications
This study elicits the emotion profiles, which influence grandmothers’ patterns of consumption in their relationships with their grandchildren. It further uncovers distinct attachment styles (embedded in emotions) between grandmothers and grandchildren in the context of their consumption experiences. Finally, it provides evidence that emotions occur at the interpersonal level. This observation is an addition to existing literature in consumer research, which has often conceived of consumer emotions as being only a private matter and as an intrapersonal phenomenon.
Practical implications
The findings offer avenues for the development of strategies for intergenerational marketing, particularly promotion campaigns which link either the reinforcement or the suppression of emotion profiles in advertising messages with the consumption of products or services by different generations.
Social implications
This study suggests that public institutions might multiply opportunities for family and consumer experiences to combat specific societal issues related to elderly people’s isolation.
Originality/value
In contrast to earlier work, which has examined emotions within the ebb and flow of individual and multiple social identities, this study examines how emotions and consumption play out in social/relational identity trajectories.
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The purpose of this paper is to discuss the case for change at Deakin University Library and the change process adopted, and to explore organisational competences and the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the case for change at Deakin University Library and the change process adopted, and to explore organisational competences and the structural and strategic outcomes achieved. The Library's change process was driven by university strategic priorities and financial exigencies.
Design/methodology/approach
Change management theory is drawn on to illustrate that the change process adopted is influenced by the state of the organisation and the state of urgency. Four steps are outlined that encapsulate the process developed by the Library. These four steps draw on a book by Kotter and Rathberger, Our Iceberg Is Melting. The concept of strategic organisational competences as proposed by Thomson and Cole is adopted.
Findings
The case study demonstrates the need to take a structural and strategic view of the organisation when developing new models of service and ways of operating. An organisation needs to develop the capacity to manage both continuous and discontinuous change. The change process has delivered improvements to the Library's strategic and functional capabilities, as well as sustainable cost savings. Client satisfaction surveys indicate the quality of service provision has not diminished.
Originality/value
The paper proposes a change process that may suit other organisations. It advocates a simple conceptualisation of the process that will aid communication with key stakeholders. Further, to achieve the desired strategic and structural outcomes, it is critical to assess the strategic competence of the organisation.