Yvonne Brunetto, Stephen T.T. Teo, Rodney Farr-Wharton, Kate Shacklock and Art Shriberg
The purpose of this paper is to examine whether management supports police officers adequately, or whether police have to rely on their individual attributes, specifically…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine whether management supports police officers adequately, or whether police have to rely on their individual attributes, specifically psychological capital (PsyCap), to cope with red tape and stress. Work outcomes/consequences examined were discretionary power, affective commitment and turnover intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional design using a survey-based, self-report strategy was used to collect data from 588 police officers from USA, who are most engaged with the public. The data were analysed using AMOS and a structural model to undertake structural equation modelling.
Findings
Two significant paths were identified Path 1: management support to red tape to discretionary power to affective commitment and turnover intentions; and Path 2: supervisor relationships to PsyCap to stress to affective commitment and turnover intentions. Further, management support predicted PsyCap, red tape and police stressors. Red tape increased police stressors and turnover intentions.
Research limitations/implications
The use of self-report surveys is a limitation, causing common methods bias. Using Harmon’s one-factor post hoc test, the authors were able to provide some assurance that common method bias was of no major concern.
Originality/value
As far as is known, this study is the first to examine, for police officers, how PsyCap impacts upon negative factors (stress and red tape) and enhances positive drivers for employees. Examining the impact of an individual attribute – PsyCap – provides an important piece of the organizational puzzle in explaining the commitment and turnover intentions of police officers. By examining the impact of both organizational and individual factors, there is now more knowledge about the antecedents of police outcomes.
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This study aims to examine the cross-institutional variation in university greenness and analyze its underlying dynamics.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the cross-institutional variation in university greenness and analyze its underlying dynamics.
Design/methodology/approach
This study constructs a University Greenness Index (UGI) and conducts multivariate regression.
Findings
This study finds variation within two dimensions; in the vertical dimension, top-tier universities have significantly higher UGIs than tier-2 universities, and in the horizontal dimension, agricultural and forest, engineering and technology and generalist universities have significantly higher UGIs than other specialist universities. The dynamics underlying the greenness variation lies in different universities’ motivations and resources, which are associated with China’s higher education administrative system, especially the mechanism by which funding is allocated.
Research limitations/implications
The Internet-search-based greenness index has some inherent limitations. First, there exists a gap between green information expression and real green achievement. Second, this research may be difficult to apply to other countries, because of the specific characteristics of China’s higher education system.
Practical implications
Based on the empirical results, two policy implications can be generated. First, for the problem of the vertical dimension variation, related institutional transformation should be launched to promote university greenness. Second, for the problem of the horizon dimension variation, specialist universities can take advantage of an interdisciplinary approach to promote greenness.
Originality/value
This research helps scholars and administrators to better understand the progress being made and the achievements realized with regard to green university initiatives in China.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the evolution of a sustainability network at a large California public university, as an example of organizational change.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the evolution of a sustainability network at a large California public university, as an example of organizational change.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper combines participant observation and case study techniques over a three‐year period. From 2007 to 2010, the author helped found the university's Institute for Sustainability and sat on both the Institute's first Advisory Board and the university's first Core Green Team. The author also interviewed 19 key informants to the sustainability network, including upper administrators, physical plant management (PPM) staff, faculty, and students.
Findings
This campus sustainability initiative evolved over three decades in three phases. Phase I evolved from the 1980s in facilities management and student recycling because of changing environmental demands, the 1994 Northridge earthquake, and strong leadership who believed in developing human resources. In Phase II, faculty and Academic Affairs established the Institute for Sustainability. Phase III examines the current state at May 2010. Forces driving change include leaders' core values, incentives, communication, and community outreach. Forces inhibiting change relate to funding, information, policies, shared values, time, and training. Key informants defined success in campus sustainability as actions which: increase efficiency (and reduce waste); educate and prepare graduates for a fundamentally different world; achieve broad‐based support; and improve the university's sustainability image.
Research limitations/implications
This study points to at least four avenues of future research. One, scholars interested in more completely revealing their organization's sustainability network can map it using social network analysis techniques. Two, scholars could seek to answer the extent to which a campus institute becomes a center of gravity or an excuse for others to step away. Three, scholars can directly measure the four parameters of success respondents in this study identified (increase efficiency/reduce waste, educate/prepare graduates, achieve broad‐based support, improve image). And four, scholars can examine how an organization's commitment to recycling affects its image.
Originality/value
This paper provides a longitudinal look at the evolution of a campus sustainability network. It highlights how sustainability efforts evolve in different parts of the university at different rates, and in the present case how PPM and facilities planning influenced Academic Affairs to embrace sustainability.
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Leadership educators are constantly looking for new and inventive ways to teach leadership theory. Because leadership educators realize principles of androgyny and experiential…
Abstract
Leadership educators are constantly looking for new and inventive ways to teach leadership theory. Because leadership educators realize principles of androgyny and experiential education work well with leadership theories, instructors find movies are a great way to infuse leadership theory with novel teaching methodology. “Movies, like Shakespeare, are becoming a staple of college curricula” (Hoffman, 2000, p.1).
The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) is a movie illustrating five power bases defined by Raven and French (1958). The rogue characters in this film use expert power, referent power, legitimate power, reward power, and coercive power to get the treasure, get the girl, get the curse lifted, and/or get freedom. Utilizing a three-hour block of time, an instructor can complete a mini lecture on power, watch the movie, and discuss the power bases shown. Results show students develop a deeper understanding of power after the class.
The purpose of this paper is to discuss findings from the formative evaluation of a national public library development initiative in England, with a focus on the practice and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss findings from the formative evaluation of a national public library development initiative in England, with a focus on the practice and impact of collaborative leadership.
Design/methodology/approach
A realistic evaluation approach was used in the study, enabling a nuanced assessment of the initiative’s contexts, mechanisms and outcomes in relation to its core objectives. These included testing innovative, partnership approaches to library service delivery, encouraging greater synergy between libraries and the arts and other public and commercial sectors. Evaluation findings are subsequently contextualised using a conceptual framework drawn from critical management studies on collaborative advantage.
Findings
Data show that the initiative was an effective catalyst for enhanced collaborative leadership in the public library sector, including the development of a cross-sector community of practice, with evidence of collective ownership and decision making. The relative collaborative advantages of the initiative are underpinned by evidence on the unique value of public library services to collaborating organisations and sectors.
Practical implications
Outcomes are of relevance to a range of public services and governing bodies with reference to shared strategic objectives with other sectors and services and collaborative leadership learning and practice.
Social implications
There are implications relating to the public value of library services and how this can potentially be enhanced via collaborative leadership approaches to service design and delivery. This is especially pertinent given current cross-government policy drivers towards integrated public services.
Originality/value
The research makes an original contribution to contemporary debates on cultural value in considering the cross-sector role and impact of collaborative leadership.
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Denise Kwan and Libi Shen
The purpose of this case study was to explore senior librarians’ perceptions of successful leadership skills in the 21st century. The data gathered from 10 senior library leaders…
Abstract
The purpose of this case study was to explore senior librarians’ perceptions of successful leadership skills in the 21st century. The data gathered from 10 senior library leaders consisted of demographic information and responses to six open-ended interview questions. From the NVivo 10 analysis, several significant themes emerged regarding successful library leadership skills in the 21st century at two levels: foundational and interpersonal. At the foundational level, technical and knowledge skills form the building blocks for the next level of interpersonal skills. Persuasion and collaborative skills are interwoven with these interpersonal skills, both of which are at the core of the postindustrial paradigm of leadership. These two levels of skills, with an emphasis on persuasion skills, should form the basis of succession planning programs for next generation librarians. Implementing such programs could lead to increased leadership diversity, greater job satisfaction, improved job performance and effectiveness, all of which help retain librarians and ease staff shortages. Further studies are recommended.
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Cindy Blackwell, Richard Cummins, Christine D. Townsend and Scott Cummings
This research evaluated learning outcomes of a leadership development program at a large, southern land grant institution. The program is an interdisciplinary, semester-long class…
Abstract
This research evaluated learning outcomes of a leadership development program at a large, southern land grant institution. The program is an interdisciplinary, semester-long class where experience and theory are juxtaposed to offer leadership training and development. Through an intensive research project, the program exposes students to four practical skills and four adaptive skills related to leadership development. The research outcomes of this study found that students did perceive to have gained the intended leadership skills as related to the four practical and four adaptive skills set forth by the program curriculum. As leadership programs continue to grow, these programs must be assessed and evaluated to continue to garner merit within the academic community.
To assess the Lüneburg Sustainable University Project (the Project) in a non‐European international context; to relate the project scholarly approach to selected scholarly and…
Abstract
Purpose
To assess the Lüneburg Sustainable University Project (the Project) in a non‐European international context; to relate the project scholarly approach to selected scholarly and practice‐oriented North American sustainability in higher education (SHE) methods; to analyze project innovations against North American initiatives.
Design/methodology/approach
Benchmarking indicators were developed inductively in four SHE areas – governance/administration, curriculum/student opportunities, research/scholarship, and operations – via thematic content analysis of 15 descriptions of USA and Canadian universities active in SHE. Data were triangulated with data from the four Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education Campus Sustainability Leaders 2006.
Findings
The assessment against selected North American peers suggests that the project is unique in its scholarly approach to and scientific foundation of sustainability in higher education. The transdisciplinary transformative case study is not replicated at any of the comparison institutions; however, elements of the approach and scholarly framework can be found at all North American universities participating in this assessment. North American institutions tend to excel in operational innovations; to keep abreast of international developments, University of Lüneburg is encouraged to commit to a climate‐neutral campus strategy and to implement a sustainability management system, amongst other initiatives.
Practical implications
Knowledge transfer and capacity‐building: North American post‐secondary institutions can learn from the theoretically‐guided, applied research‐based approach to SHE. Through intensified exchange (partnerships) with North American peers, the project and the University of Lüneburg stand to profit from community‐based research approaches and the practice‐oriented work of USA and Canadian campus sustainability offices.
Originality/value
The paper contributes an “outsider's perspective” to the project evaluation. Methodologically, the paper contributes to inductive SHE indicator development.