Esben Rahbek Gjerdrum Pedersen, Morten Hove Henriksen, Claus Frier, Jeanette Søby and Vernon Jennings
– The objective of the paper is to describe and discuss how the biotech company Novozymes integrates stakeholder thinking into everyday sustainability practices.
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of the paper is to describe and discuss how the biotech company Novozymes integrates stakeholder thinking into everyday sustainability practices.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on first-hand experiences as well as secondary information from Novozymes' stakeholder-oriented sustainability activities.
Findings
The paper illustrates how a company is striving to transform the general stakeholder principles into concrete, manageable actions. Moreover, the paper describes some of the needs, challenges, and paradoxes experienced by an organisation that is trying to make sense of stakeholder thinking.
Originality/value
The contribution of this paper is to provide a detailed analysis of how various stakeholder relations management methods can be used in practice to integrate sustainability in an organisation.
Details
Keywords
Traditional management techniques and change management interventions are deficit‐based. That is, they often focus on “fixing” what is wrong in our organizations by solving…
Abstract
Purpose
Traditional management techniques and change management interventions are deficit‐based. That is, they often focus on “fixing” what is wrong in our organizations by solving problems. Maintaining a committed and motivated workforce, open to learning, growth and positive change, is difficult, however, when the daily focus is on what's not working.
Design/methodology/approach
Growing evidence suggests that positive leadership and a strengths‐based approach to long‐term organizational change have a greater impact on performance and profitability.
Findings
Positive leaders develop such traits as optimism, self‐confidence, compassion, emotional intelligence, loyalty, and trustworthiness. Moreover, they promote a strengths‐based organizational culture that emphasizes possibilities rather than problems.
Practical implications
We need to develop leaders who can identify the organization's “root causes of success”, and build on those strengths for future performance.
Originality/value
The article will be of value to all those involved in leadership development.
Details
Keywords
This paper considers the capacity of the public library service to support adult basic skills education. Research and policy documents pertaining to this subject in the fields of…
Abstract
This paper considers the capacity of the public library service to support adult basic skills education. Research and policy documents pertaining to this subject in the fields of librarianship and education are presented, from which issues are identified that can prevent the public library from being effective in its basic skills provision. The Vital Link project (2001‐2002) is introduced as an example of a recent initiative that attempted to create a sustainable link between adult literacy and public libraries. Findings of a key aspect of the qualitative evaluation of The Vital Link are presented, with a focus on recommended changes to the public library service. The paper concludes that although barriers preventing effective service delivery are complex, the key to removing them may be more straightforward.
Details
Keywords
Mohinder Chand and Anastasia A. Katou
The study has a two‐fold purpose: to investigate whether some specific characteristics of hotels affect organisational performance in the hotel industry in India; and to…
Abstract
Purpose
The study has a two‐fold purpose: to investigate whether some specific characteristics of hotels affect organisational performance in the hotel industry in India; and to investigate whether some HRM systems affect organisational performance in the hotel industry in India.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 439 hotels, ranging from three‐star to five‐star deluxe, responded to a self‐administered questionnaire that measured 27 HRM practices, five organisational performance variables, and ten demographic variables. Factor analysis was performed to identify HRM systems, one‐way ANOVA was employed to test the association of the demographic variables with organisational performance, and correlation analysis was used to test the relation between HRM systems and organisational performance.
Findings
The results indicate that hotel performance is positively associated with hotel category and type of hotel (chain or individual). Furthermore, hotel performance is positively related to the HRM systems of recruitment and selection, manpower planning, job design, training and development, quality circle, and pay systems.
Research limitations/implications
Single respondent bias may have occurred because a single respondent from each organisation provided information on HRM practices and perceived measures of organisational performance. The sample was drawn from the population of best performing hotels in India, so is not representative of the hotel industry in India.
Practical implications
If hotels are to achieve higher performance levels, they should preferably belong to a chain and increase their category, and management should focus on “best” HRM practices indicated in the study.
Originality/value
The study makes a modest attempt to add information to the very little empirical knowledge available referring to the link between HRM and performance in the hotel industry.
Details
Keywords
This paper aims to review the history of black and minority ethnic housing associations in England since the arrival of Commonwealth migrants.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to review the history of black and minority ethnic housing associations in England since the arrival of Commonwealth migrants.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on the theoretical framework of Lawrence and Buchanan (2017), the authors examine the interplay of institutional control, agency and resistance, in a highly racialized context.
Findings
The authors identify five phases in the development of grassroots organizers into housing associations, describing the different types of “institutional work” involved in challenging racialized institutions and establishing new institutions. The exercise of episodic power to achieve institutional agency created resistance from powerful actors seeking to maintain systemic power. The growing movement for black and minority ethnic housing fought to establish organizational legitimacy. Achieving this not only enabled them to serve and represent their communities but also entailed compromising more radical political agendas.
Originality/value
Racialized aspects are largely lacking from institutional theory, as are the actions of racialized individuals and organizations. In looking at a highly racialized context, the authors hope to contribute to understanding the institutional work done by such groups and the challenges they face as their efforts develop and become legitimated.
Details
Keywords
Discusses the long existing and confusing problems of establishing the relationship of who is, and who if not, a dependent worker. Reflects developments which have occurred in…
Abstract
Discusses the long existing and confusing problems of establishing the relationship of who is, and who if not, a dependent worker. Reflects developments which have occurred in British law as it affects the employment field, plus an evaluation and analysis of some of the different types of employment relationships which have evolved by examining, where possible, the status of each of these relationships. Concludes that the typical worker nowadays finds himself in a vulnerable position both economically and psychologically owing to the insecurity which exists.
Details
Keywords
Rick Holden, Vikki Smith and Dave Devins
Explores the impact of the establishment of a learning centre, within an industrial estate, on the development of lifelong learning in the workplace. It draws on data generated as…
Abstract
Explores the impact of the establishment of a learning centre, within an industrial estate, on the development of lifelong learning in the workplace. It draws on data generated as part of an evaluation of a European social fund project to establish information and communication technology (ICT) based learning centres on each of three industrial estates in the East Midlands. The project sought to develop amongst participating companies and their employees a commitment to continuous development and lifelong learning. The purpose of the paper is to focus analysis upon one company (the organisation which housed the learning centre on one of the industrial estates) and to explore the impact of the intervention, first in terms of the organisation itself and second in terms of its wider impact on the industrial estate.
Details
Keywords
Varunkumar H. Mehta, Meena Goswami, Vikas Pathak, Arun Kumar Verma and Vincentraju Rajkumar
This present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of different cooking methods on quality characteristics of turkey meat cutlets, i.e. turkey meat cutlets prepared by deep…
Abstract
Purpose
This present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of different cooking methods on quality characteristics of turkey meat cutlets, i.e. turkey meat cutlets prepared by deep frying (DF), turkey meat cutlets prepared by shallow frying (SF), turkey meat cutlets prepared by microwave cooking at 740 MHz for 20 min (MW) and turkey meat cutlets prepared by microwave cooking at 740 MHz for 10 min followed by shallow frying (MS).
Design/methodology/approach
Several preliminary trials were conducted to optimise the formulation, and finally, turkey meat cutlets were prepared, as per the method followed by Singh et al. (2015). These standardised turkey meat cutlets were cooked with four different cooking methods. The best formulation and optimum cooking method were selected on the basis of physicochemical properties and sensory evaluation.
Findings
pH and moisture content of MW were significantly (P < 0.03) higher than DF, SF and MS; however, cooking yield and water activity values of MW and MS were significantly (P < 0.05) higher. DF had significantly (P < 0.02) higher fat content than SF > MS > MW. The values of textural parameters were significantly (P < 0.01) higher in DF, whereas lightness values of MW and redness values of DF were significantly (P < 0.02) higher. Scores of various sensory attributes, including overall acceptability, were significantly (P < 0.03) higher in MS. Therefore, MS – turkey meat cutlets prepared by microwave cooking at 740 MHz for 10 min followed by shallow frying were found optimum.
Originality/value
Cooking methods vary according to the choice and flavour of the consumer. Meat products, especially cutlets, can be cooked with many cooking methods, but it is always good to choose the one method which contains less fat per cent as per the requirement of present-day health-conscious consumer and also retains and add on to the taste of the product. Hence, microwave cooking followed by shallow frying was found as such a cooking method that has the characteristics of both, i.e. less fat content and also is tasty to the tongue.