Search results

1 – 10 of 71
Per page
102050
Citations:
Loading...
Access Restricted. View access options
Article
Publication date: 15 June 2010

Charles Holme

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

11035

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.

Details

Industrial and Commercial Training, vol. 42 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0019-7858

Keywords

Access Restricted. View access options
Article
Publication date: 3 October 2008

Charles A. Holme

This second article (Part One in Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 40 No. 5) aims to provide an overview for senior managers of how to develop an ethical culture in

2794

Abstract

Purpose

This second article (Part One in Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 40 No. 5) aims to provide an overview for senior managers of how to develop an ethical culture in business. It describes a management system to support a strategy, and a governance trail of activities that may be used by Non Executive Directors and Trustees as they discharge their fiduciary responsibilities.

Design/methodology/approach

The object is achieved through arguing for a systematic approach to developing ethical behaviour based on core values that support the business strategy. The article then goes on to present examples from organisations from different sectors and sizes where ethical values are part of a positive strategy to determine the culture of the business.

Findings

There is clear guidance about how to manage ethical values in business. Readers could start with the “ethical health check list” of questions. The questions could be a thought starter to managers discussing the topic at an away day for example. Managers could conduct an audit of an existing ethical strategy to identify if their values statement is being translated into behaviours throughout the organisation. They could contrast their activities with the examples in the article.

Originality/value

This article is educational and therefore provides value to senior managers and directors in a concise but comprehensive overview of the topic that is of current concern in the business world.

Details

Industrial and Commercial Training, vol. 40 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0019-7858

Keywords

Access Restricted. View access options
Article
Publication date: 1 August 2006

Charles A. Holme

This case study aims to describe a consultancy project where managers in a distribution centre of a major logistics company were developed to give them confidence to implement a

672

Abstract

Purpose

This case study aims to describe a consultancy project where managers in a distribution centre of a major logistics company were developed to give them confidence to implement a new harassment and bullying policy.

Design/methodology/approach

Included within the design was an action research project using a five‐stage scale defining the development of harassment and bullying. The new policy, the background to it and the development scale were introduced using group training methods.

Findings

The study finds that during the follow‐up discussions and reports after the action research, managers reported that they could distinguish “good humoured banter” from harassment. They also distinguished more serious examples of harassment and bullying. In a four‐week period there were 21 incidents in the two lowest stages of harassment development and seven were in the higher stages. These even are of the level that may create a reportable incident. Follow‐up three months after the programme is also described.

Originality/value

This paper will be of value to directors, strategic managers and human resource professionals who want to discover a way to enable managers to handle harassment and bullying issues with more confidence.

Details

Industrial and Commercial Training, vol. 38 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0019-7858

Keywords

Access Restricted. View access options
Book part
Publication date: 24 July 2014

Joachim Schöpfel

The United Nations action plan on sustainable development, called Agenda 21, is applied as a new framework to strategic management of libraries and information services is…

Abstract

The United Nations action plan on sustainable development, called Agenda 21, is applied as a new framework to strategic management of libraries and information services is described in this chapter. Strategic management with Agenda 21 involves adapting the library to its social and ecological environment. It affects the entire organization including institutional and individual strategies. Key issues are ecology, social responsibility, accountability and ethics. The chapter is not about climate change, but is about goal definition and resource allocation. The message is that library management should contribute to the sustainable development of society on a local level, in addition to its particular cultural or scientific objectives. The global approach of Agenda 21 helps to evaluate library performance as a system, against criteria derived from the action plan, and to develop sustainable scenarios integrating social and ecological impact. Also, following the Agenda 21 philosophy, no performance level such as service quality, information technology, financial balance or carbon footprint should be evaluated unrelated to the other levels. In the new societal context, social, economic and ecological aspects are inter-connected. The author’s conviction is that the traditional cultural and scientific functions of libraries cannot be isolated from this environment, and that strategic library management must integrate sustainable development, not as a marginal element, but at the heart of analysis and decision-making.

Access Restricted. View access options
Article
Publication date: 1 October 1948

It is important to have clearly in mind what is meant by fats, when discussing the part they play in our diet. To many people the word fat calls to mind butter, lard, margarine…

30

Abstract

It is important to have clearly in mind what is meant by fats, when discussing the part they play in our diet. To many people the word fat calls to mind butter, lard, margarine and the obviously fatty parts of meats and bacon. It is fat that can be seen. It is appropriate, therefore, to apply to it the convenient term “visible fat”, in contradistinction to other fats contained in food, not so generally recognised as fats, which are designated “invisible”. The latter are by no means unimportant. As we shall see, they provide something of the order of one‐half of our total daily intake. A few examples will illustrate the contributions foods usually regarded as not fatty can make to the total. Lean meat contains 6–8 per cent of fat; cheese, from 4–30 per cent, depending on the quality of the milk from which it was made; dried eggs, 42 per cent; rabbit, 5 per cent; herrings, 10 per cent; flour, 1–2 per cent; bread, 1 per cent; oatmeal, 8 per cent. Analysis of diets eaten in this country before the war shows that more than half the total fat consumed was in the form of foods providing “invisible” fat. That, of course, was in the days when a sausage contained 30 per cent of fat and a good cake as much as 15 per cent. Before passing to consider the significance of fats in our daily diet we should briefly review the more important facts concerning their behaviour in the body and what is known of their function.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 50 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Access Restricted. View access options
Article
Publication date: 11 July 2008

Charles Holme

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview for senior managers of the strategic importance of ethical values in organisations working in the profit‐making and

19104

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview for senior managers of the strategic importance of ethical values in organisations working in the profit‐making and not‐for‐profit sectors.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper examines the principles involved and contrasts them with examples of unethical behaviour in the news at present. The paper presents the practical application of ethical business values through case studies from different organisations where ethical values are part of a positive strategy to achieve competitive advantage. There is an analysis of the case against and for ethical values, a discussion of how business ethics can be part of an organisation's strategy, the evidence that non‐executive directors and others may find of ethical behaviour in business decisions, a discussion of ethics in an international context and a short checklist of questions to provide readers with a guide to the “ethical health” of the organisation.

Findings

The arguments in favour of defining ethical values within business are persuasive.

Practical implications

There are examples from experience together with clear guidance about how to manage ethical values in business. Readers could start with the ethical health checklist of questions, decide how their ethical values statement, if any, compares with the examples in the papers, conduct an audit of an existing ethical strategy to identify if their values statement is being translated into behaviours throughout the organization, and test the impact of the ethical values strategy on the competitive position of the business.

Originality/value

The paper is educational and therefore provides value to senior managers and directors in a concise but comprehensive overview of the topic that is of current concern in the business world. It points to practical actions they can take in this respect. It could be a thought starter to managers discussing the topic at an away day for example, or for strategic leaders to discuss how to use ethical values to develop a competitive position.

Details

Industrial and Commercial Training, vol. 40 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0019-7858

Keywords

Access Restricted. View access options
Article
Publication date: 1 February 1945

ALEC CRAIG

For adequate bibliographical information about Baudelaire's works one must go to collected editions by no means readily available in Great Britain. Information concerning the…

64

Abstract

For adequate bibliographical information about Baudelaire's works one must go to collected editions by no means readily available in Great Britain. Information concerning the extensive literature about Baudelaire is still farther to seek. For the English reader the bibliography in Arthur Symons's study mentioned below has not been superseded, although important editions of Baudelaire's works have been issued and much written about him since 1920.

Details

Journal of Documentation, vol. 1 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0022-0418

Access Restricted. View access options
Article
Publication date: 1 August 1916

In a recent article dealing with the crimes against humanity committed by Germany, The Daily Telegraph remarks that thousands of innocent men, women, and little children murdered…

27

Abstract

In a recent article dealing with the crimes against humanity committed by Germany, The Daily Telegraph remarks that thousands of innocent men, women, and little children murdered in cold blood by airship and submarine appeal for vengeance. The acts of Germany from the early days of the war onwards have filled decent‐minded people with feelings of loathing, and it is well that the last bonds uniting the two nations should be severed. This is no ordinary war. It has cut a deep chasm between the British and German peoples. By every means in our power we must remove, root and branch, those enemy influences in our midst which, by a process of “peaceful penetration,” were undermining our social, financial, and industrial power.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 18 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Access Restricted. View access options
Article
Publication date: 13 February 2024

Mark Adrian Govier

This study aims to identify the political alignment and political activity of the 11 Presidents of Britain’s most important scientific organisation, the Royal Society of London…

36

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to identify the political alignment and political activity of the 11 Presidents of Britain’s most important scientific organisation, the Royal Society of London, in its early years 1662–1703, to determine whether or not the institution was politically aligned.

Design/methodology/approach

There is almost no information addressing the political alignment of the Royal Society or its Presidents available in the institution’s archives, or in the writings of historians specialising in its administration. Even reliable biographical sources, such as the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography provide very limited information. However, as 10 Presidents were elected Member of Parliament (MP), The History of Parliament: British Political, Social and Local History provides a wealth of accurate, in-depth data, revealing the alignment of both.

Findings

All Presidents held senior government offices, the first was a Royalist aristocrat; of the remaining 10, 8 were Royalist or Tory MPs, 2 of whom were falsely imprisoned by the House of Commons, 2 were Whig MPs, while 4 were elevated to the Lords. The institution was Royalist aligned 1662–1680, Tory aligned 1680–1695 and Whig aligned 1695–1703, which reflects changes in Parliament and State.

Originality/value

This study establishes that the early Royal Society was not an apolitical institution and that the political alignment of Presidents and institution continued in later eras. Furthermore, it demonstrates how the election or appointment of an organisation’s most senior officer can be used to signal its political alignment with government and other organisations to serve various ends.

Details

Journal of Management History, vol. 30 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1751-1348

Keywords

Access Restricted. View access options
Book part
Publication date: 4 July 2016

Sandra H. Sulzer, Gracie Jackson and Ashelee Yang

To examine how clinicians navigate providing treatment to Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) in the context of the DSM 5, deinstitutionalization, and the biomedical model.

Abstract

Purpose

To examine how clinicians navigate providing treatment to Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) in the context of the DSM 5, deinstitutionalization, and the biomedical model.

Methodology/approach

We conducted 39 interviews with mental health providers in the United States in a two-year period preceding and following the release of the DSM 5. Using Constructivist Grounded Theory, we analyzed the data for themes that emerged.

Findings

Clinicians faced pressures from insurance companies, the DSM categories, and their professional training to focus on biomedical treatments. These treatments, which emphasized pharmaceuticals and short courses of care, were ill-suited to BPD, which has a strong evidence base recommending long-term therapeutic interventions. We term this contradiction a “biomedical mismatch” and use Gidden’s concept of structuration to better understand how clinicians navigate the system of care. Providers ranged in their responses to the mismatch: some championed biomedicine, others were complicit, and a final group behaved as activists, challenging the paradigm. The sum of the strategies had downstream effects which included crisis reinstitutionalization and a discourse of untreatability. Ultimately, we discuss how social factors such as gender bias, stigma, and trauma are insufficiently represented in the biomedical model of care for BPD.

Originality/value

BPD fits poorly within the biomedical underpinnings of the current system. Accordingly, it illuminates the structuration of health care and where the rules of care break down. More precisely, deinstitutionalization was designed to remove patients from long courses of inpatient care. Many patients with BPD have failed to experience this outcome, with some patients now cycling through long courses of short-term crisis reinstitutionalization instead of having effective outpatient care over long periods. This unintended consequence of deinstitutionalization calls for a more biopsychosocial response to BPD.

Details

50 Years After Deinstitutionalization: Mental Illness in Contemporary Communities
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78560-403-4

Keywords

1 – 10 of 71
Per page
102050