Dirk van Dierendonck, Clare Haynes, Carol Borrill and Chris Stride
To investigate the influence of participating in an upward feedback program on leadership behaviour, both as indicated be self‐ratings and subordinates' ratings.
Abstract
Purpose
To investigate the influence of participating in an upward feedback program on leadership behaviour, both as indicated be self‐ratings and subordinates' ratings.
Design/methodology/approach
The research design consisted of two measurement points within six months. The program included managers receiving an upward feedback report and a short workshop to facilitate interpretation. A sample of 45 managers and 308 staff members of a community health care organization took part.
Findings
The study showed three results. First, managers lack insight into the real impact of their behavior. Second, only a small positive effect was found of the upward feedback program on the leadership behaviour as rated by their staff in terms of valuing diversity. Third, the managers' self‐ratings of Presenting feedback, Fairness and Integrity & respect decreased between Time 1 and Time 2.
Originality/value
The study points towards the need for HRM professionals to carefully implement upward feedback programs in order to have a real impact on the development of managers.
Details
Keywords
Kirstie Ball, Elizabeth M. Daniel and Chris Stride
The study goes beyond the more frequent interest in information privacy to identify other notions of privacy within the workplace. The purpose of this paper is to explore how…
Abstract
Purpose
The study goes beyond the more frequent interest in information privacy to identify other notions of privacy within the workplace. The purpose of this paper is to explore how these additional notions of privacy relate to key demographic and employment characteristics and how data protection training, often instigated as a means of highlighting and addressing issues relating to privacy of customers’ data, is related to employees’ notions of their own workplace privacy.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was undertaken in two telephone call centres since they offered a working environment where staff are highly monitored and hence there are likely to be issues relating to employee privacy. The study is exploratory in nature and adopts a mixed method approach based on a questionnaire survey that was followed by semi‐structured, qualitative face to face interviews.
Findings
The survey findings identified three distinct notions of privacy; the concern for personal information privacy (CfPIP), the concern for working environment privacy (CfWEP) and the concern for solitude privacy (CfSP). The findings were supported by the qualitative data provided by the interviews. CfWEP is found to be a gendered issue, with women showing a greater concern for the privacy of their working environment. Finally, the findings indicate that effective data protection training are associated with increased concern for their own privacy in the form of CfPIP, and that inclusion of data protection issues in performance reviews is associated their concern for CfWEP.
Originality/value
Previous studies of privacy in the workplace focus on the simplistic notion of information privacy. This study goes beyond such studies and provides empirically‐based evidence of multiple dimensions of privacy operant in a single, real‐world workplace setting. It also provides empirical insight to the previously unexplored issue of the association between data protection training employees’ notions of their own privacy.
Details
Keywords
Guilherme Guimaraes, Chris Stride and Daragh O'Reilly
The purpose of this paper is to link the notions of brand community, loyalty and promise as a reminder to marketers of the importance to brands of keeping their commercial…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to link the notions of brand community, loyalty and promise as a reminder to marketers of the importance to brands of keeping their commercial promises to brand community members.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reports on a questionnaire survey (n=500) of members of a sport brand community as part of an investigation into the relationship between brand community and brand loyalty.
Findings
Brand loyalty was predicted by age, frequency of attendance, motivations for joining the brand community and the degree to which expectations built by the brand promise are met.
Research limitations/implications
In common with many inquiries in the area of brand community, this is a single case study. It is primarily a cross-sectional study, with a minor longitudinal element.
Practical implications
Branding practitioners and consultants with responsibility for brand community management issues need to balance the consumer-to-consumer dimensions of community with a careful understanding and operationalisation of the brand promise.
Originality/value
This is the first paper to integrate the constructs of brand community and brand loyalty with that of brand promise.
Details
Keywords
– Describes the advantages that technology company Dinamiks gains from its apprenticeship program.
Abstract
Purpose
Describes the advantages that technology company Dinamiks gains from its apprenticeship program.
Design/methodology/approach
Gives the managing director’s viewpoint of the benefits of apprenticeships to a small company.
Findings
Reveals that apprentices have enabled Dinamiks to tap into the technology innovations and ways of working with technology that many young people take in their stride and to learn what of that needs to be included in its products.
Practical implications
Details how the company has benefited from the energy of youth, a different style of conversation and innovative individuals who have the ideas to move the product, and therefore the company, on.
Social implications
Explains that the program prepares apprentices to go out into the wider business world and be a valuable contributor in whatever field they ultimately choose.
Originality/value
Highlights the winning combination of apprentices, who bring new ideas and ways of working, with seasoned employees, with their business acumen gained through years of experience.
Details
Keywords
The Engineering Employers' Federation took a measured stride into the ruckus over financial help for strikers and emerged with some wobbly conclusions.
Bonita Betters-Reed and Elise Porter
Leadership, organizational behavior, entrepreneurship.
Abstract
Subject area
Leadership, organizational behavior, entrepreneurship.
Study level/applicability
This case study is intended for undergraduate and graduate levels.
Case overview
This is a leadership case about Agnes Jean Brugger, founder of the A.J. Brugger Education Project (also known as the A.J. Brugger Foundation (AJBF)) in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. It is the story of how and why she and Chris Berry co-founded this unique non-profit foundation in tandem with Piedras Y Olas: Pelican Eyes Resort (PEPO) in the late 1990s. The case focuses on how her identity and values shape the origins of AJBF and how the organization evolves in the context of the Nicaraguan and Anglo-American cultures. “Devoted to assisting Nicaragua through education and development of one of the country's most valuable and treasured resources: its young people”, the vision for AJBF was a cutting edge socially conscious venture that grew to meet the needs of the community that had captured Jean's heart and mind. The case ends in early 2009 on the precipice of the biggest economic down-turn the US economy has experienced in recent history. Standing at the edge of this cliff, Jean contemplates the numerous successful accomplishments of the foundation, while reflecting on the many leadership and organizational problems she, as Founder and Chair of the Board, faces.
Expected learning outcomes
The case will help participants to: evaluate and discuss leadership effectiveness, identifying responses to opportunities and challenges; explain cross-cultural identity from the Globe Study model and how it impacts organizational interactions; explore successful models of cross-cultural leadership through the lens of gendered theory; explore the ways in which social entrepreneurship can be seen as an extension of socially-minded leadership; describe how socially-minded entrepreneurship is different from traditional forms of entrepreneurship; describe social identity and evaluate its impact on leadership; and discuss the rich historical and community context that influences interpersonal and organizational dynamics.
Supplementary materials
Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or e-mail support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.
Details
Keywords
Thomas C. Leach, Herbert Sherman and Margaret J. Naumes
Tasneem Amatullah and David R. Litz
The United Arab Emirates has made great strides in terms of its overall educational system with a variety of educational reforms to meet the nation's strategic vision. In this…
Abstract
The United Arab Emirates has made great strides in terms of its overall educational system with a variety of educational reforms to meet the nation's strategic vision. In this chapter, we utilize Hood's (1998) social cohesion/social regulation theory and DiMaggio and Powell's (1991) institutional theory to examine the evidence-informed teaching practice in the UAE. It is evident that the UAE educational model sits in the top two quadrants based on this chapter's analysis – a high social cohesion with high social regulation (i.e., “a hierarchist way”) and at times exhibiting fatalism with high social regulation and low social cohesion. Although the findings reveal substantial diversity in terms of enablers and barriers to evidence-informed practices, they provide a space to reflect on the complex cultural and social contexts behind such a diverse set of perspectives and responses.
Details
Keywords
Mohammad Hossein Jarrahi, Sarah Kenyon, Ashley Brown, Chelsea Donahue and Chris Wicher
The purpose of this paper is to present a framework that captures the strategic value of artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Although AI has become a crucial component of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a framework that captures the strategic value of artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Although AI has become a crucial component of digital transformation efforts tied to organizational strategy, many firms struggle to derive strategic value from emerging AI systems.
Design/methodology/approach
The analytical framework in this paper is based on a learning-centered approach. Specifically, by building on the knowledge-based perspective, this paper elaborates on how AI can contribute to organizational learning to create a competitive advantage in knowledge-intensive contexts.
Findings
This paper argues that the power of AI as a strategic resource lies in its self-learning capacities. Such learning capacities are only realized in partnership with humans through mutual learning. This paper formulates the concept of artificial capital and the ways artificial and human capital can together drive routinization and strategic learning processes that connect internal and external environments of the organization.
Originality/value
This is a timely contribution as many organizations are considering adopting AI technologies for strategic purposes. This paper translates the proposed framework into several practical implications for managing and developing AI to meet strategic business goals.