The merger of two giant pharmaceutical businesses inevitably affects staff motivation and morale. Whether leaving or staying, staff need support in these circumstances to enable…
Abstract
The merger of two giant pharmaceutical businesses inevitably affects staff motivation and morale. Whether leaving or staying, staff need support in these circumstances to enable them to cope with the effects of major change. A model for addressing this problem is explored and the beneficial results — personal commitment, job satisfaction, enhanced performance — emphasised.
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Jeff Grimshaw, Gregg Baron, Barry Mike and Neill Edwards
The authors offer a leaders' guide to assess accountability problems, “take away excuses,” and promote a culture of accountability.
Abstract
Purpose
The authors offer a leaders' guide to assess accountability problems, “take away excuses,” and promote a culture of accountability.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors believe that attribution error and bias influences much of the existing business literature and conventional wisdom around accountability, which focuses almost exclusively on individual responsibility and character. Under‐emphasized or ignored is the way that informal company practices and habits contribute to the widespread problem that employees are not doing what leadership needs and expects them to do.
Findings
The authors developed a predictive accountability model that asserts that most people in organizations will be accountable – that is, they will do what is needed and expected – if four factors are present: expectations are clear to employees; employees perceive that those expectations are credible and reasonable; employees anticipate that positive consequences will follow performance; and employees anticipate that negative consequences will follow poor performance.
Practical implications
Managing accountability is a process for which leaders have responsibility. Toward that end, the authors' experience has shown the culture of accountability model to be a highly reliable tool capable of diagnosing a wide variety of accountability problems.
Originality/value
The authors offer a program for diagnosing and addressing existing accountability problems and for preventing such problems from becoming endemic.
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Julie McLeod and Catherine Hare
The purpose of this paper is to examine critically the history of Records Management Journal on its 20th anniversary; it aims to review and analyse its evolution and its…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine critically the history of Records Management Journal on its 20th anniversary; it aims to review and analyse its evolution and its contribution in the context of the development of the profession and the discipline of records management. The paper seeks to provide the context and justification for the selection of eight articles previously published in the journal to be reprinted in this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper utilises the contents of Records Management Journal (1989 to date) to present a thematic analysis of topics covered and their development over time, and statistical data (from 2002 to date) provided by the current publisher to assess quantitatively the use and impact of the journal worldwide. The paper then compares this with a series of key turning points in the records management profession.
Findings
There is evidence that the initial aspiration for the journal to make an important and long‐lasting impact on the field of records management in the UK has been exceeded because its readers and contributors are global. The volume of downloads has continued to increase year‐on‐year and the journal appears to be the only peer‐reviewed journal in the world in the records management discipline. The journal has responded to and kept abreast of the records management agenda.
Research limitations/implications
The analysis is based on the work of the current and immediate past Editor and did not seek the views of its Editorial Board members, readers or contributors to the journal.
Practical implications
Looking to the future, the journal must seek to widen its impact on other key stakeholders in managing information and records – managers, information systems designers, information creators and users – as well as records professionals. It must also continue to develop the scope of its content, whilst maintaining its focus on managing records, and must keep pace with technology developments. It should try to influence the professional agenda, be controversial, stimulate debate and encourage change. And it should remain a quality resource.
Originality/value
The paper provides a unique critical analysis of the journal, its history and contribution to the development of records management, on its 20th anniversary of publication.
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Laws geared toward regulating the employment relationship cling to traditional definitions of workplaces, neglecting the domain of the home and those who work there. Domestic…
Abstract
Laws geared toward regulating the employment relationship cling to traditional definitions of workplaces, neglecting the domain of the home and those who work there. Domestic workers, a population of largely immigrant women of color, have performed labor inside of New York City's homes for centuries and yet have consistently been denied coverage under labor law protections at both the state and federal level. This article traces out the exclusions of domestic workers historically and then turn to a particular piece of legislation – the 2010 New York Domestic Worker Bill of Rights – which was the first law of its kind to regulate the household as a site of labor, therefore disrupting that long-standing pattern. However, the law falls short in granting basic worker protections to this particular group. Drawing from 52 in-depth interviews and analysis of legislative documents, The author argues that the problematics of the law can be understood by recognizing its embeddedness, or rather the broader political, legal, historical, and social ecology within which the law is embedded, which inhibited in a number of important ways the law's ability to work. This article shows how this plays out through the law obscuring the specificity of where this labor is performed – the home – as well as the demographic makeup of the immigrant women of color – the whom – performing it. Using the case study of domestic workers' recent inclusion into labor law coverage, this article urges a closer scrutiny of and attention to the changing nature of inequality, race, and gender present in employment relationships within the private household as well as found more generally throughout the low-wage sector.
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Research in the arts/humanities frequently requires the use of an information retrieval system which can handle varying lengths of text, and which can also be used for large…
Abstract
Research in the arts/humanities frequently requires the use of an information retrieval system which can handle varying lengths of text, and which can also be used for large bibliographies. This paper describes a text‐retrieval and processing system developed in‐house at Leicester Polytechnic, entitled General Retrieval System (GRS). The paper is written from the point of view of a humanities lecturer, and emphasises the relevance of the package for non‐specialists. The various modules of the package are described, together with the author's experience of using it to produce a corpus of Roman stamped tiles. Other applications, including use by the library, are mentioned.
The British retailer Marks & Spencer aspires to be the world's most sustainable major global retailer by 2015. This paper seeks to examine how the company is embedding…
Abstract
Purpose
The British retailer Marks & Spencer aspires to be the world's most sustainable major global retailer by 2015. This paper seeks to examine how the company is embedding sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is written as part of an ongoing investigation into how businesses do this. It is based on direct dialogue with corporate sustainability specialists inside and outside the company; participation in company stakeholders' briefings held regularly since the launch of Marks & Spencer's Plan A for sustainability in January 2007; and analysis by the company's own corporate sustainability specialists about how they are embedding.
Findings
This case demonstrates that, in order to speed their journey, Marks & Spencer have aligned sustainability with core strategy. Top leadership is driving the strategy, which is overseen by the board. M&S have made a very public commitment: Plan A with measurable targets, timescales and accountabilities. The strategy is being integrated into every business function and strategic business unit; and involves suppliers, employees and increasingly customers. To enable implementation, the company is developing its knowledge‐management and training; engaging with wider stakeholders including investors; building partnerships and collaborations; and has evolved its specialist sustainability team into an internal change‐management consultancy and coach/catalyst for continuous improvement.
Originality/value
The value of the case study is that it provides an analysis of how one company, which has been active in progressing corporate sustainability, has evolved its approach in recent years.
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This paper aims to provide a rigorous practitioner review of the concept of CSR. The paper presents a comprehensive and sometimes challenging overview of the subject. It is about…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide a rigorous practitioner review of the concept of CSR. The paper presents a comprehensive and sometimes challenging overview of the subject. It is about the practice and ethics of a topic of current interest.
Design/methodology/approach
Taking a representative selection of recently published papers, the article explores the concept. Questions are raised about whether CSR is just corporate window dressing – or greenwash. Can it be a tool for business development? Is CSR for organizations big and small? Does it apply to government and NGOs or is it only for commercial businesses? Has the current economic climate forced companies to abandon CSR in the face of the harsh realities of the recession?
Findings
The findings start with the variation in the subject and how the words corporate social responsibility are ill defined. A structure for examining CSR in practice is suggested by using two examples. Benefits of CSR in profit based organizations are identified and compared with an example in a not for profit organization. An argument is put forward that SMEs may not relate comfortably to a corporate concept. The strategic role of CSR is outlined, as is the limited role of government. Directors' responsibility and CSR lead on to the competitive advantage opportunities of CSR. The article ends with a key indicator of whether businesses see CSR as a distraction or a strategic issue by looking at evidence of whether CSR activity has declined in the current recession.
Practical implications
This is essential reading for strategic leaders reviewing their CSR activity, whether it is from a position of early implementation or after some development. The comparisons and examples are thought provoking. By raising the variations in practise senior managers will be able to clarify their own position, formulate a way forward and communicate their objectives.
Originality/value
This paper is aimed at directors and strategic leaders with an interest in linking CSR, ethics and competitive advantage. The article will also help senior managers to reflect upon their own management style. HR practitioners will find this review indispensible if they wish to lead or contribute to the development of CSR in their own organizations.