Scott W. Lester and Dale J. Dwyer
The aim of this paper is to examine the motivations and benefits for pursuing or not pursuing the PHR and SPHR.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to examine the motivations and benefits for pursuing or not pursuing the PHR and SPHR.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a sample of 1,862 participants, the study used multinomial logistic and hierarchical linear regression to test six hypotheses.
Findings
Participants pursuing SPHR were more likely to report intrinsic motivations pursuing certification, while PHR respondents were more likely to report extrinsic reasons. Other‐driven reasons were not significant predictors. Respondents not pursuing certification saw a lack of perceived benefits. Non‐pursuers of SPHR were concerned about time constraints. The pursuing and non‐pursuing groups did exhibit differences in their demographic and commitment profiles.
Research limitations/implications
The sample is limited to only those professionals active in their local SHRM chapters. The data were cross‐sectional. Future research needs to address the validity of Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI) certification and the lack of empirical research on the connection between certification and objective measures of job performance.
Practical implications
Results regarding perceived certification benefits suggest that organizations could run into retention problems if HR professionals continue to view marketability as the top benefit and view pay and promotion as unaffected by certification. The profiles of pursuers and non‐pursuers suggest that HRCI should target younger, less educated professionals when promoting the PHR and highlight increased marketability as the key benefit. Furthermore, HRCI should target those with high levels of affective commitment when promoting the SPHR.
Originality/value
The paper provides some of the first empirical evidence for why professionals pursue or do not pursue PHR and SPHR certification.
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Robert C. Erffmeyer and Dale A. Johnson
Previous research has revealed that sales trainers have been reluctant to incorporate distance education training methods into their programs. This study investigated the…
Abstract
Previous research has revealed that sales trainers have been reluctant to incorporate distance education training methods into their programs. This study investigated the effectiveness of six different teaching methods in delivering one sales training course to a national salesforce from one organization. Training methods ranged from no‐tech to high‐tec and included: an on‐site instructor, a written manual, a manual plus videotape, video‐conferencing, audio‐graphics and an interactive multi‐media computer‐based training program. Pre‐ and post‐training evaluations of course content indicated significant improvements. Media were evaluated in terms of training required, number of participants to be trained and other technical considerations. Measures of course content revealed no significant differences in terms of delivery methods. Strengths, weaknesses and situations for optimal utilization of media and delivery method were identified. Findings should assist sales training managers in making more informed choices among distance education delivery options.
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Paul Sparks, Monique M. Raats, Moira A. Geekie, Richard Shepherd and Claire Dale
Outlines research on the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food‐funded project Communication strategies for the Promotion of Dietary Change. With a view to general dietary…
Abstract
Outlines research on the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food‐funded project Communication strategies for the Promotion of Dietary Change. With a view to general dietary recommendations and to Health of the Nation targets, the focus of this three‐year project is the promotion of dietary change through information provision. A multidisciplinary team of researchers at the Institute of Food Research, Reading, is conducting the research, drawing on a number of different theoretical perspectives and methodological procedures. Pays special emphasis to the issue of fat consumption, summarizes the practical role of the theory of planned behaviour, the elaboration‐likelihood model and unrealistic optimism research, and outlines the development of a novel food and drink diary. Advocates a multidisciplinary, integrative approach to information‐based health promotion efforts.
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Claire-France Picard, Sylvain Durocher and Yves Gendron
This paper investigates the strategic processes surrounding the development, in accounting firms, of office (re)design projects and their overarching objectives.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates the strategic processes surrounding the development, in accounting firms, of office (re)design projects and their overarching objectives.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors’ investigation relies on a series of interviews with individuals from different accounting firms involved in the decision process related to office (re)design projects. A triangular template made up of strategy, space and time informs the analysis, which the authors complement by relying on a strategy-as-practice integrated framework.
Findings
The authors found that accounting firm office (re)design projects are characterized by a strategic spatial agenda that aims to define and create present organizational time, in ways that embed a particular vision of the future. The analysis brings to light the interrelationships between strategy practitioners, strategy practices and strategic work through which the future is actualized. Office design processes involve not only the physical transformation of office space; they also promote a prominent agenda to modify, in the long run, office members' minds. Hence, office (re)design processes may be conceived of as a significant device in the socialization of accounting practitioners.
Research limitations/implications
This study underscores that spatial strategizing constitutes a major device through which the future is brought into the present. As such, the analysis provides insights not only into the processes through which space transformations take place, but also into their underlying agenda. The latter promotes the advent, in present time, of the organic office of the future.
Practical implications
This analysis brings to the fore a concrete illustration of how the strategy-space-time triangle operates in organizational life. The authors underline the key role played by strategists in charge of designing the office of the future.
Originality/value
This study extends the burgeoning literature whose analytical gaze is informed by the strategy, space, and time triangle.
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This chapter is concerned with the relationship between gender performativity and rhythm, taking the City of London (often known by its metonym the Square Mile) as the focus for…
Abstract
This chapter is concerned with the relationship between gender performativity and rhythm, taking the City of London (often known by its metonym the Square Mile) as the focus for the empirical research and extending a Lefebvrian understanding of urban space and time via the practice of rhythmanalysis. It is concerned with how the City of London is imagined, constructed and experienced in and through gender performativity which can be expressed rhythmically (Reid-Musson, 2018). The research is based on fieldwork including photographic and interview data, as well as an embodied, immersive methodology used to analyse rhythms, showing how this can help to both sense and make sense of organisational place, particularly in terms of how such places can compel feelings of belonging or non-belonging. The chapter looks beyond the spatial configuration of a single organisation to encompass the wider geographical location of multiple organisations, in this case the City.
The findings show that the relationship between the socio-cultural and material aspects of the City can be understood through the rhythms of place. Using a methodological approach based on Lefebvre's Rhythmanalysis (2004), the chapter foregrounds a subjective, embodied and experiential way of researching the places and spaces of organising, and shows how gendered inclusion and exclusion can be expressed spatially and rhythmically.
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Christopher Cox, Hui Hua Chua, M. Claire Stewart and S.G. Ranti Junus
To highlight content of interest to this journal’s readership that promotes current thinking and activities in information technology.
Abstract
Purpose
To highlight content of interest to this journal’s readership that promotes current thinking and activities in information technology.
Design/methodology/approach
A selective conference report of the annual meeting of the American Library Association and a pre‐conference.
Findings
The largest conference of librarians, the variety of programs, activities, exhibit halls, creates one of the best professional development opportunities for librarians. Attracting librarians from all sectors and work environments from around the globe, this conference is hard to describe in a brief way except to say it is an experience. Documenting relevant programs about information technology was the goal of this contribution.
Practical implications
An alternative to not being present while gaining some information and coverage.
Originality/value
Contains information of particular interest to readers who did not attend these sessions. Introduces them to presenters and important hot topics.
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Bernadette Nooij, Claire van Teunenbroek, Christine Teelken and Marcel Veenswijk
Our study centered on activity-based workspaces (ABWs), unassigned open-plan configurations where users’ activities determine the workplace. These workspaces are conceived and…
Abstract
Purpose
Our study centered on activity-based workspaces (ABWs), unassigned open-plan configurations where users’ activities determine the workplace. These workspaces are conceived and shaped by accommodation professionals (APs) like managers and architects and are loaded with their ideas, ideals, norms and values; therefore, they are normative and hegemonic. Previous research has largely failed to consider how APs’ spatial conceptions materialize in the workplace. To address this omission, we adopted a narrative approach to study APs’ impact during the conceptualization stage.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected via a 10-year at-home ethnographic study at a Dutch university, including observations, interviews, documents and reports. Studying the researchers’ organization allowed for a longitudinal research approach and participative observations. The data focused on the narrative techniques of APs when establishing an ABW.
Findings
In introducing ABWs, APs resorted to two principal narrative strategies. Firstly, the ABW concept was lauded as a solution to a host of existing problems. Yet, in the face of shortcomings, lecturers were often blamed.
Originality/value
Despite the considerable influence of APs on both the physical layout of workspaces and the nature of academic labor, there is little insight into their conceptions of the academic workspace. Our research contributes a novel perspective by revealing how APs’ workspace conceptions drive the narratives that underpin the roll-out of ABWs and how they construct narratives of success and failure.