What training does Japan do that contributes to its efficiency and productivity? How have they measured training in terms of its contribution to business efficiency? These were…
Abstract
What training does Japan do that contributes to its efficiency and productivity? How have they measured training in terms of its contribution to business efficiency? These were two main questions which Bob Duncan, Director, and George Wilkinson, Chief Training Officer, of the Iron and Steel Industry Training Board took to Japan's iron and steel industry in November 1977. A short visit cannot necessarily probe in depth but enough was gained from the visits to six companies and works, an employers' federation and a special college to indicate considerable differences between practice here and that in Japan. Bob Duncan comments on some of them.
Siri Terjesen and Sherry E. Sullivan
The purpose of this study is to examine the under‐researched subject of the role of mentoring relationships within and outside of organizational boundaries as individuals make the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the under‐researched subject of the role of mentoring relationships within and outside of organizational boundaries as individuals make the career transition from being a corporate employee to becoming an entrepreneur.
Design/methodology/approach
Using structured interviews, the authors collected data from 24 men and women in the financial services industry in the UK about their experiences in making the transition from a corporate organization to a new venture work context. All interviews were transcribed and systematic Nvivo coding was used.
Findings
Developmental relationships with structural, relational, and cognitive embeddedness were most likely to transfer from the individual's corporate workplace to their new venture. Support for both the recent literature on multiple mentors and for gender differences in the patterns of these mentoring relationships was also found.
Originality/value
This is the first published study to examine whether mentor relationships from previous corporate employment transfer to the protégé's new entrepreneurial venture and whether other types of relationships (e.g. coworkers, clients) are transformed into mentor‐protégé relationships after the career transition to entrepreneurship. It is also among the few studies to examine mentoring of entrepreneurs and gender differences in mentoring within the entrepreneurial work context.
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Terry Lee Ballard and Anna Blaine
In response to the changing world of information access, librarians at the New York Law School's Mendik Library became interested in providing a full‐service mobile phone…
Abstract
Purpose
In response to the changing world of information access, librarians at the New York Law School's Mendik Library became interested in providing a full‐service mobile phone application so that users could search the catalog, access the reserves module, renew books and find information such as library hours. The purpose of this paper is to show how the library went from this concept to an award‐winning product.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper shows step by step how the librarians listened to experts in the field, searched the mobile stores to find other libraries that have done this, chosen a vendor, and rolled out the service with a multimedia information campaign.
Findings
Using a team approach, it is possible to develop a mobile application that is useful and still being accessed a year after its first launch.
Research limitations/implications
More needs to be done to see the precise state of mobile access in the world's libraries.
Originality/value
The approach documented in the paper will serve as a template for libraries planning to add mobile access, but are unsure of how to proceed.
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The paper aims to review what is trending on the internet and presents vignettes of related library technology and hot topics from weblogs, webinars, tweets, wikis and other…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to review what is trending on the internet and presents vignettes of related library technology and hot topics from weblogs, webinars, tweets, wikis and other discussions on the internet.
Design/methodology/approach
A surfing of web sites, tweets, webinars, wikis and internet-based information sites is done over a three-month period and the trends identified and highlighted.
Findings
The trends in various information and library-related issues discussed online show a tending towards using new technology and the disadvantages of some, while advocating for review of some instructional methods by librarians to their clientele.
Originality/value
The most current trends of discussion on the internet are presented up to the January 31, 2014.
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Elizabeth Gammie, Bob Gammie and Fiona Duncan
The inclusion of a 12‐month work placement within an undergraduate degree programme in accounting resulted in the development of a distance‐learning auditing module to facilitate…
Abstract
The inclusion of a 12‐month work placement within an undergraduate degree programme in accounting resulted in the development of a distance‐learning auditing module to facilitate maximum accreditation from professional bodies. The pitfalls of such an approach have been well documented. The course team have produced a model that has been implemented and is currently operating, which has achieved a balance that has largely satisfied all respective stakeholders, namely students, lecturers, employers, professional bodies, and external examiners. This has been done through the use of certain strategic control mechanisms. The initiative has been reviewed through a series of unstructured focus groups. The main findings were that initial detailed contact with all stakeholders is fundamental to success in developing and implementing innovations, especially in the accounting curriculum. Equity is a key feature and must be addressed to ensure that all students have the opportunity to maximise their performance.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the sociocultural underpinnings of wiki-based knowledge production in the videogame domain, and to elucidate how these underpinnings…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the sociocultural underpinnings of wiki-based knowledge production in the videogame domain, and to elucidate how these underpinnings relate to the formation of wikis as resources of videogame documentation.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on a three-month ethnographic investigation of knowledge practices on the Dark Souls Wiki (DSW). In focus of the analysis were the boundaries and knowledge aims of the DSW, together with how its contributors organized inquiries and used various sources, methods of investigation, and ways of warranting knowledge claims.
Findings
The principal result of the paper is an empirical account of how the DSW functions as a culture of knowledge production, and how the content and structure of the wiki connects to the knowledge practices of its contributors. Four major factors that influenced knowledge practices on the wiki were identified: the structures and practices established by the community’s earlier wiki efforts; principles and priorities that informed wiki knowledge practices; the characteristics of the videogame in focus of the site’s knowledge-building work; the extent and types of relevant documentation provided by videogame industry, the videogaming press included.
Originality/value
Previous research has shown interest in investigating the mechanisms by which community-created knowledge and online resources of documentation emerge, and how these are utilized in play. There is, however, little research seeking to elucidate the sociocultural structures and practices that determine and sustain collaborative online videogame knowledge production.
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Since the first Volume of this Bibliography there has been an explosion of literature in all the main areas of business. The researcher and librarian have to be able to uncover…
Abstract
Since the first Volume of this Bibliography there has been an explosion of literature in all the main areas of business. The researcher and librarian have to be able to uncover specific articles devoted to certain topics. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume III, in addition to the annotated list of articles as the two previous volumes, contains further features to help the reader. Each entry within has been indexed according to the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus and thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid information retrieval. Each article has its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. The first Volume of the Bibliography covered seven journals published by MCB University Press. This Volume now indexes 25 journals, indicating the greater depth, coverage and expansion of the subject areas concerned.
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Bob McKee, OCLC Principal Lecturer in the Department of Librarianship and Information Studies at Birmingham Polytechnic, got the conference off to a flying start with a lively…
Abstract
Bob McKee, OCLC Principal Lecturer in the Department of Librarianship and Information Studies at Birmingham Polytechnic, got the conference off to a flying start with a lively paper on ‘Systems astigmatism’. He warned of the dangers of ‘technofervour’ — where the technology itself becomes the predominant consideration rather than its appropriate application. He urged a re‐think of the term to describe library users, ‘user’ suggests someone without expectations, grateful for anything we can provide and ‘client’ suggests dependency, whereas ‘customer’ or ‘consumer’ suggests someone with rights to expect a good and professional service.