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Article
Publication date: 16 March 2022

Damian Ruth

The purpose of this paper is to offer an appraisal of the craft metaphor in management with particular reference to authority, resistance, care and the interior landscape of the…

436

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to offer an appraisal of the craft metaphor in management with particular reference to authority, resistance, care and the interior landscape of the manager/crafter.

Design/method/approach

This is a conceptual essay that draws on an autoethnography.

Findings

Respect for the limits of managerial and bureaucratic authority and an appreciation of the manager/crafter's interior landscape are crucial aspects of effective craft and management practice. Insights into the practice of craft may enhance understanding of how both craft and management are a potent brew of politics, power, people, history, reason, faith and authority and just how crucial the interior landscape of the manager/crafter is.

Originality/value

This article offers a focus on an inadequately examined aspect of management/craft – the interior landscape of the manager – that is informed by an auto-ethnography and suggests a case for conceptualizing management as craft, with implications for management development.

Details

Journal of Management Development, vol. 41 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0262-1711

Keywords

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Article
Publication date: 28 October 2019

Deborah Knowles, Damian William Ruth and Clare Hindley

The purpose of this paper is to enrich the understanding of current models of organisational response to crises and offer additional perspectives on some of these models. It is…

675

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to enrich the understanding of current models of organisational response to crises and offer additional perspectives on some of these models. It is also intended to confirm the value of fiction as a truth-seeking and hermeneutic device for enriching the imagination.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses Daniel Defoe’s 1722 novel A Journal of the Plague Year to draw parallels between his portrayal of the London Great Plague of 1665 and the management of modern-day crises. Defoe uses London’s ordeal of the Great Plague to advise those subjected to future crises. Through his representation of plague-ridden streets, Defoe shows stakeholders acting in ways described in current crisis management literature.

Findings

The authors note how the management of the Plague crisis was unsuccessful and they challenge the very idea of managing a true crisis. The authors are able to illustrate and offer refinements to the Pearson and Clair (1998) and Janes (2010) models of crisis management as well as confirming the value of their constructs across a lapse of centuries.

Research limitations/implications

Although it is an examination of a single novel, the findings suggest value in conceptualising organisational crises in innovative and more imaginative ways.

Originality/value

It confirms the heuristic value of using fiction to understand organisational change and adds value to current models.

Details

Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 32 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0953-4814

Keywords

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Article
Publication date: 8 October 2021

Damian Ruth, Frances Gunn and Jonathan Elms

The purpose of this paper is to explore the everyday tasks and activities undertaken by retailer entrepreneurs and owner/managers when they strategize. Specifically, it…

317

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the everyday tasks and activities undertaken by retailer entrepreneurs and owner/managers when they strategize. Specifically, it interrogates the nature of the intuitive, idiosyncratic strategic agency of a retail owner/manager.

Design/methodology/approach

Through adopting a combination of phenomenological and narrative approaches, focussing on illuminating the everyday operational and strategic practices of one retail entrepreneur and owner/manager, a richly contextualized, ideographic account of the procedures and outcomes of their strategizing is provided.

Findings

By revealing narratives that are seldom obvious – often kept behind the counter, and not on display – the authors are able to unravel the social reality of the retailer's decision-making, and the influences of identity, connections with customers and community, emotions and the spirit, and love and family. This study also illuminates how entrepreneurs retrospectively make sense out of the messiness of everyday life particularly when juggling the melding of personal and business realities.

Research limitations/implications

This paper explores the experiences and reflections of the decision-making of one retail entrepreneur manager within a particular business setting. However, the use of an ideographic approach allowed for an in depth investigation of the realities of strategic practices undertaken by a retail owner that may be extrapolated beyond this immediate context.

Originality/value

This paper develops original insights into the retailer as an individual, vis-à-vis an organization, as well as nuanced understanding of the actual nature of work undertaken by retail entrepreneurs and owner/managers. To this end, this paper contributes to the “strategy-as-practice” debate in the strategic management literature, and to narrative analysis and advances insights to the perennial question: “what is a retailer?”.

Details

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, vol. 50 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-0552

Keywords

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Article
Publication date: 30 January 2007

Damian Ruth

To give an overview of prevalent views on and practices in management development in New Zealand

1914

Abstract

Purpose

To give an overview of prevalent views on and practices in management development in New Zealand

Design/methodology/approach

Employs a questionnaire, mainly Likert‐scale, to interview human resource managers and line managers in 86 companies in New Zealand. The research model and instrumentation is based on existing research on management development in Europe.

Findings

Many of the tensions and inconsistencies exhibited between assumptions and practices and a variance of views indicate that at national level management development is rather incoherent and further research would be justified. For example, it is widely assumed that experience makes a good manager, but mentoring is rated lower than external courses as a source of development. There are often substantial disparity of views between HR managers and line managers.

Practical implications

Firms wishing to develop coherent management development processes could be guided by the disparities revealed in this research.

Originality/value

This research is the first step towards international comparative data on management development for New Zealand, and the model allows for direct comparison with existing European data.

Details

Journal of European Industrial Training, vol. 31 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0590

Keywords

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Article
Publication date: 1 March 2006

Damian Ruth

To offer a coherent critique of the concept of managerial frameworks of competence through the exploration of the problems of generalizability and abstraction and the “scientific”…

4552

Abstract

Purpose

To offer a coherent critique of the concept of managerial frameworks of competence through the exploration of the problems of generalizability and abstraction and the “scientific” assumptions of management.

Design/methodology/approach

Employs the ecological metaphor of intellectual landscape and extends it to examining the development of the field of management, its early contours which traversed a diversity of conceptualisations such as management as an art, or an expression of personality, or as a vocation, the search for coordinates and a scientific image, and finally, a comparison of agri‐business and market gardening. The argument is illustrated by reference to particular management development programmes.

Findings

The argument is made that frameworks of competence impose conceptual limitations – “monocultures of the mind” – that are destructive. Justifying coordinates in an activity that is always particular, contextual and socially constructed faces the problem of finding stable evidence in a turbulent ecology and “frameworks of competence” are beset with problems of definition. However, with an understanding of power and discourse, and the application of the landscape metaphor such frameworks can be productively illuminated. What seems to be required is a wholesale shift in values and a re‐evaluation of the meaning and purpose of work.

Practical implications

Useful to curriculum designers and programme developers to analyse their work.

Originality/value

Provides a detailed coherent account of the emergence of the concept of competency, and subjects the concept to wide‐ranging critical review.

Details

Journal of European Industrial Training, vol. 30 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0590

Keywords

Available. Content available
Article
Publication date: 11 February 2014

Ruth Helyer

111

Abstract

Details

Higher Education, Skills and Work-based Learning, vol. 4 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-3896

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Article
Publication date: 29 November 2021

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

92

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

Design/methodology/approach

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. 10;

Findings

Individuals working as retailers must overcome considerable barriers in order to succeed. Greater awareness and understanding of the various challenges, issues and experiences that shape their strategic decision-making can help to increase their competitiveness.

Originality/value

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers’ hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Details

Strategic Direction, vol. 38 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0258-0543

Keywords

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Article
Publication date: 11 February 2014

Ruth Taylor and Damian De Luca

The purpose of this study is to look at the experiences of university academic staff setting up a small computer games studio to provide work placement opportunities for…

210

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to look at the experiences of university academic staff setting up a small computer games studio to provide work placement opportunities for undergraduate students and the supporting role of industry.

Design/methodology/approach

The case study uses sense making to explore the boundaries between “simulated” and “real” work in an educational setting.

Findings

For students and teachers to work together in a commercial setting, relationships have to be reconstructed. Teaching focusses on developing the individual and personal attainment, the work environment prioritises the team so that organisational and business needs are met. Differences in culture and working practices between industry and academia and the organisational constraints of a university, present challenges for academic staff engaged in enterprise.

Research limitations/implications

The authors recognise the limitations of a single institution case study and intend further investigation into factors around employability, enterprise education and the availability of work experience for students studying in the creative technologies including experiences in other institutions.

Practical implications

Practical experience and business knowledge gained through the studio development process by the student and staff, has informed the curriculum through the introduction of team-working modules. The studio provides a unique interface between the university and games industry partners.

Originality/value

The study shows the value of a university-based games studio in providing work experience for students and enhancing employability and provides insights into university/industry partnering.

Details

Higher Education, Skills and Work-based Learning, vol. 4 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-3896

Keywords

Available. Content available
Article
Publication date: 15 August 2011

Charlie Brooker, Damian Mitchell and Alison Wheeler

928

Abstract

Details

Advances in Dual Diagnosis, vol. 4 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-0972

Available. Content available
Book part
Publication date: 8 November 2010

Abstract

Details

Interdisciplinary Higher Education: Perspectives and Practicalities
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-85724-371-3

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