Yaw A. Debrah and Ian G. Smith
Presents over sixty abstracts summarising the 1999 Employment Research Unit annual conference held at the University of Cardiff. Explores the multiple impacts of globalization on…
Abstract
Presents over sixty abstracts summarising the 1999 Employment Research Unit annual conference held at the University of Cardiff. Explores the multiple impacts of globalization on work and employment in contemporary organizations. Covers the human resource management implications of organizational responses to globalization. Examines the theoretical, methodological, empirical and comparative issues pertaining to competitiveness and the management of human resources, the impact of organisational strategies and international production on the workplace, the organization of labour markets, human resource development, cultural change in organisations, trade union responses, and trans‐national corporations. Cites many case studies showing how globalization has brought a lot of opportunities together with much change both to the employee and the employer. Considers the threats to existing cultures, structures and systems.
Details
Keywords
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.
To strengthen the middle manager role in a hospital quality improvement (QI) program, with a view to increasing and sustaining organisational QI implementation.
Abstract
Purpose
To strengthen the middle manager role in a hospital quality improvement (QI) program, with a view to increasing and sustaining organisational QI implementation.
Design/methodology/approach
Case study based action research project, combining pre‐ and post‐action quantitative and qualitative data collection, relating to a QI program intervention in an Australian metropolitan specialist teaching hospital. A model for enhancing the middle manager role in QI was developed and then implemented as the action over a 12‐month period.
Findings
Middle manager understanding and ownership of the QI program and organisational QI implementation significantly increased, although their perceived enjoyment of being involved in QI decreased.
Research limitations/implications
This case‐study based action research project was limited to one organisation of a specific type – a large specialist metropolitan teaching hospital. The composition of the middle manager group, therefore, is necessarily limited to particular specialties. It is acknowledged that findings from case study and action research methodologies are limited in their generalisability, but assist in the development of knowledge and principles that can be adapted to different settings.
Practical implications
This QI implementation model can increase levels of organisational QI implementation by effecting a positive change in middle manager attitude to and involvement in QI.
Originality/value
There are many theories regarding the importance of the middle manager role in QI, but little empirical research into exactly what this role may be and how it may be strengthened. This research adds to the knowledge base, and provides clear steps for achieving increased staff involvement and QI implementation.
Details
Keywords
Ronald Scott Wolf and Maria Alejandra Gonzalez-Perez
Reputational crisis negatively affects brands and companies. This chapter, based on a single case study, aims to explore how prejudicial corporate statements directed toward…
Abstract
Purpose
Reputational crisis negatively affects brands and companies. This chapter, based on a single case study, aims to explore how prejudicial corporate statements directed toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals have affected the Italian multinational Barilla S.p.A., as well as how the company responded both internally and to the market in order to attempt to overcome the highly damaging consequences.
Design/Methodology
This chapter uses a single case-study methodology, which constitutes “a research strategy that focuses on understanding the dynamics present within single settings to create theoretical constructs, propositions and/or midrange theory from empirical evidence” (Eisenhardt, 1989, p. 534). The case-study design was chosen as it has been demonstrated to provide a methodological tool for both theory generation and theory testing (Gibbert et al., 2008).
Findings
Conclusions from the chapter indicate that negative, incendiary, and oftentimes comments citing either religious or stereotypical-based ideology negatively impact both the consumers and its associated publics in terms of product branding or reputation image.
Research Limitations
The study’s limitations, which rely primarily on a single case study and secondary research data, may motivate further investigative avenues, particularly as similarly referenced events continue to unfold almost daily, such as the study’s referenced incident with Philippine boxer Manny Pacquiao, as well as action taken by social media giants (Apple and Facebook) against the controversial media figure Alex Jones.
Practical and Social Implications
This chapter also looks at family succession roadblocks and navigating social media gaffes. These contemporary issues highlight challenges, strategies, sales and market share dynamics for the company, and suggestions for navigating the road ahead. The research concludes with possible linkages and insights for both ongoing management issues and potential areas for future research. Other findings indicate that rapid responses, particularly those citing concrete corporate policy changes or tangible actions, help to reverse and mitigate reputational damage, and contemporary approaches utilizing social media appear to buttress these efforts.
Originality/Value
This case study of Barilla as well as other firms mentioned, such as Chick-fil-A and Nike (which have experienced parallel situational crises), indicates that in only the last five years of contemporary international business practice, MNEs are continually and at times unexpectedly challenged by the lack of sensitivity demonstrated by their owners and spokespeople who utter comments which may be seen by the public as potentially harmful to the LGBT community. This study hopes to illuminate this challenge while offering tangible solutions to turning around future, similar situational crises.
Details
Keywords
Presents a special issue, enlisting the help of the author’s students and colleagues, focusing on age, sex, colour and disability discrimination in America. Breaks the evidence…
Abstract
Presents a special issue, enlisting the help of the author’s students and colleagues, focusing on age, sex, colour and disability discrimination in America. Breaks the evidence down into manageable chunks, covering: age discrimination in the workplace; discrimination against African‐Americans; sex discrimination in the workplace; same sex sexual harassment; how to investigate and prove disability discrimination; sexual harassment in the military; when the main US job‐discrimination law applies to small companies; how to investigate and prove racial discrimination; developments concerning race discrimination in the workplace; developments concerning the Equal Pay Act; developments concerning discrimination against workers with HIV or AIDS; developments concerning discrimination based on refusal of family care leave; developments concerning discrimination against gay or lesbian employees; developments concerning discrimination based on colour; how to investigate and prove discrimination concerning based on colour; developments concerning the Equal Pay Act; using statistics in employment discrimination cases; race discrimination in the workplace; developments concerning gender discrimination in the workplace; discrimination in Japanese organizations in America; discrimination in the entertainment industry; discrimination in the utility industry; understanding and effectively managing national origin discrimination; how to investigate and prove hiring discrimination based on colour; and, finally, how to investigate sexual harassment in the workplace.
Details
Keywords
Sandra G. Leggat and Cathy Balding
While there has been substantial discussion about the potential for clinical leadership in improving quality and safety in healthcare, there has been little robust study. The…
Abstract
Purpose
While there has been substantial discussion about the potential for clinical leadership in improving quality and safety in healthcare, there has been little robust study. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a qualitative study with clinicians and clinician managers to gather opinions on the appropriate content of an educational initiative being planned to improve clinical leadership in quality and safety among medical, nursing and allied health professionals working in primary, community and secondary care.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 28 clinicians and clinician managers throughout the state of Victoria, Australia, participated in focus groups to provide advice on the development of a clinical leadership program in quality and safety. An inductive, thematic analysis was completed to enable the themes to emerge from the data.
Findings
Overwhelmingly the participants conceptualised clinical leadership in relation to organisational factors. Only four individual factors, comprising emotional intelligence, resilience, self‐awareness and understanding of other clinical disciplines, were identified as being important for clinical leaders. Conversely seven organisational factors, comprising role clarity and accountability, security and sustainability for clinical leaders, selective recruitment into clinical leadership positions, teamwork and decentralised decision making, training, information sharing, and transformational leadership, were seen as essential, but the participants indicated they were rarely addressed. The human resource management literature includes these seven components, with contingent reward, reduced status distinctions and measurement of management practices, as the essential organisational underpinnings of high performance work systems.
Practical implications
The results of this study propose that clinical leadership is an organisational property, suggesting that capability frameworks and educational programs for clinical leadership need a broader organisation focus.
Originality/value
The paper makes clear that clinical leadership was not perceived to be about vesting leadership skills in individuals, but about ensuring health care organisations were equipped to conceptualise and support a model of distributive leadership.
Details
Keywords
Talmadge Wright and Corinne Riave
For the past ten years the United States has experienced intensive industrial restructuring as the economy moved from one based on heavy manufacturing to one of services…
Abstract
For the past ten years the United States has experienced intensive industrial restructuring as the economy moved from one based on heavy manufacturing to one of services (Bluestone & Harrison 1982; Kuttner 1983; Thurow 1984). This national transformation has had clear implications for housing, employment, and transportation. Economic growth has not been uniform but has focussed on both the East (Shank 1985) and the West Coast leaving the Midwest sweltering in a sharp recession (Rennert 1986). Massive intervention in the economy through high levels of military spending has produced a boom in such areas as Southern California and the Northeast.
Clive Bingley, Edwin Fleming and Allan Bunch
THE GENTLEMAN who tipped me off about the Ridgmount Street Arrest, on which I commented in August (p151), tells me he cannot find out further how the matter progresses or when it…
Abstract
THE GENTLEMAN who tipped me off about the Ridgmount Street Arrest, on which I commented in August (p151), tells me he cannot find out further how the matter progresses or when it may come to trial. Not being on the staff there, he is not, of course, in close touch; I mention this because the LA frequently reveals an indiscreet interest in my private gossip‐lines to the profession, which do—they may learn with surprise—stretch to both of the principal genders, and include many not on the association's payroll.
THE Manchester School of Librarianship was founded in October 1946, one of the original five schools opened in the autumn of that year. It was attached to the Department of…
Abstract
THE Manchester School of Librarianship was founded in October 1946, one of the original five schools opened in the autumn of that year. It was attached to the Department of Industrial Administration in the Manchester College of Science and Technology and was thus something of an exception, as the majority of schools of librarianship were attached to Colleges of Commerce or general Colleges of Further Education. As accommodation was very limited in this rapidly expanding college, the then City Librarian of Manchester, Charles Nowell, kindly offered the use of two rooms in the Central Library, so after a brief period in the College building, the students were moved to the Central Library, though the School remained administratively a part of the College. Many former students must have memories of those two curving rooms, the Manchester Room and the Lancashire Room, with their old‐fashioned school desks.