Daniel Rayne, Heath McDonald and Civilai Leckie
The purpose of this paper is to assess corporate social responsibility (CSR) implemented via social partnerships between professional sports teams and not-for-profit organizations…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess corporate social responsibility (CSR) implemented via social partnerships between professional sports teams and not-for-profit organizations according to current theoretical perspectives. Limited resources and outcomes often mean there is a gap between theory and practice, the implications of which are not well understood.
Design/methodology/approach
Five partnerships in Australian football were analyzed via case study methodology which incorporated interviews, analysis of websites, social media and annual reports.
Findings
Despite being used as a CSR tool, findings showed most organizations enter these arrangements to achieve instrumental outcomes. Further, such partnerships mostly operate at a basic stage often described as philanthropic. One partnership was seen as more advanced consisting of a workplace plan to enhance diversity.
Practical implications
It is advocated that managers adopt a more integrated partnership model consisting of formalized objectives, activity implementation, evaluation mechanisms, frequent interaction, top-level leadership involvement and promotion to sufficiently achieve CSR goals.
Originality/value
Addressing calls from past research into an examination of the variation of CSR in sports, this research is one of the first to compare multiple case studies to assess the strategic implementation of social partnerships in a professional sporting context. Accordingly, the study demonstrates how such partnerships can be evaluated against a prominent theoretical model, the Collaboration Continuum, enabling more robust social partnership strategies.
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Rachel Clissold, Karen Elizabeth McNamara, Ross Westoby, Ladonna Daniel, Elizabeth Raynes and Viviane Licht Obed
This paper builds on existing studies by drawing on Conservation of Resources theory to explore the losses, psychological impacts as well as recovery processes of the 2017/18…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper builds on existing studies by drawing on Conservation of Resources theory to explore the losses, psychological impacts as well as recovery processes of the 2017/18 volcanic disaster on Ambae Island, Vanuatu.
Design/methodology/approach
This discussion is based on local perspectives and personal accounts collected through a series of eight semi-structured interviews (five males and three females).
Findings
The volcanic activity and subsequent displacement and evacuation led to significant resource loss which had a spiralling nature, causing psychological harm. Locals invested resources to recover and protect against future loss in diverse ways and, as resource gains were secured, experienced emotional relief. Key to recovery and healing included returning “home” after being displaced and reinvigorating cultural practices to re-establish cultural continuity, community and identity. Resource gains spiralled as people reconnected and regained a sense of place, optimism and the motivation to rebuild.
Originality/value
Numerous studies have drawn upon the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory to explore how resource loss can trigger psychological distress during environmental disasters; however, it has not been applied in Vanuatu, the most at-risk nation globally to natural hazards. This paper builds on existing studies by exploring personal accounts of resource loss, distress and recovery, and providing insights into resource spirals, caravans and passageways.
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Norma Raynes, Dimitri Pagidas, Pat Margiotta and John Lawson
Older people currently do not view websites as a preferred source of information. This may not be a view held in the future. An exploration of local authority websites suggests…
Abstract
Older people currently do not view websites as a preferred source of information. This may not be a view held in the future. An exploration of local authority websites suggests room for improvement and collaboration with others to shape a future in which websites are joined up and informative for older people.
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The focus on local-level policy initiatives in US anti-fracking movements presents unique opportunities to explore interactions between professional advocacy organizations with…
Abstract
The focus on local-level policy initiatives in US anti-fracking movements presents unique opportunities to explore interactions between professional advocacy organizations with regional/national constituencies and grassroots organizations with constituencies who will directly experience changes in local landscapes resulting from unconventional oil and gas development (UOGD). However, research on anti-fracking movements in the US has considered dynamics of interorganizational cooperation only peripherally. This chapter examines factors that motivate coalition building, sources of coalition fragmentation, and the progressive polarization of grassroots anti-fracking and countermovement activists using qualitative research on an anti-fracking movement in Illinois. While grassroots groups may experience some strategic advantages by collaborating with extra-local, professionalized advocacy organizations, these relationships involve navigating considerable inequalities. In the case presented here, I find that coalition building was important for putting UOGD on the policy agenda. However, when anti-fracking activists began experiencing success, institutionalization rapidly produced fragmentation in the coalition, and a countermovement of UOGD supporters was formed. I highlight how ordinary movement dynamics are particularly susceptible to polarization in the context of local land use disputes that “scale-up” to involve broader movement constituencies as perceptions of distributive injustice collide with perceptions of procedural injustice.
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Neal Caren, Kay Jowers and Sarah Gaby
Purpose – We build on prior research of social movement communities (SMCs) to conceptualize a new form of cultural support for activism – the social movement online community…
Abstract
Purpose – We build on prior research of social movement communities (SMCs) to conceptualize a new form of cultural support for activism – the social movement online community (SMOC). We define SMOC as a sustained network of individuals who work to maintain an overlapping set of goals and identities tied to a social movement linked through quasi-public online discussions.
Method – This paper uses extensive data collected from Stormfront, the largest online community of white nationalists, for the period from September 2001 to August 2010 totaling 6,868,674 posts. We systematically analyzed the data to allow for a detailed depiction of SMOCs using keyword tags. We also used Stata 11 to analyze descriptive measures such as persistence of user presence and relation of first post to length of stay.
Findings – Our findings suggest that SMOCs provide a new forum for social movements that produces a unique set of characteristics. Nevertheless, many characteristics of SMOCs are also in line with conventional offline SMCs.
Originality of the paper – This research broadens our understanding of the differences between online and offline SMCs and presents the special case of the SMOC as a way for scholars to conceptualize and study social movements that use the Internet to form their collective identity.
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Introduction As in any past period, companies are under a number of pressures, both internal and external, which call for changes in management style, management functions, etc…
Abstract
Introduction As in any past period, companies are under a number of pressures, both internal and external, which call for changes in management style, management functions, etc. What tends to make the present period distinct, and in some ways sets it apart from previous periods, is that these pressures are more acute and are demanding that rapid and quite radical changes be made. This article is not directly concerned with either the source or the cause of these pressures, but more with their implications for a company's personnel policy as it relates to its managerial and professional staffs. For the purposes of our discussion it is more important to know the severity and speed of the impact of the pressures rather than to be fully acquainted with the nature of the pressures themselves. For example, the impact technological change will have upon both production and office work methods will be profound. There is no need to know in detail how a new technological system operates, such as a word processor, all that needs to be known at this stage is that it has the capability of reducing manning levels in the office, of increasing office productivity, and of changing personnel organisation alongside other changes. In short, it is important to be aware that this or that pressure, technology in this case, will have a series of broad implications for present work practices. It is probably sensible to keep the discussion at this more general level as the mix of pressures will have different implications for each company.
Helen Buckley, Sadhbh Whelan, Cliona Murphy and Jan Horwath
This article reports on the evaluation of a pilot project which tested the utility of a framework for the Assessment of Vulnerable Children and their Families in five health board…
Abstract
This article reports on the evaluation of a pilot project which tested the utility of a framework for the Assessment of Vulnerable Children and their Families in five health board (local authority) areas in the Republic of Ireland. The framework had been developed following a consultancy process with practitioners and managers from a number of disciplines. The evaluation sought to establish whether (1) use of the framework helped to standardise practice across a range of organisational environments, (2) the framework was effective in a range of family situations and circumstances, (3) the process of assessment was transparent, (4) the framework advanced collaboration between disciplines and (5) the materials were user‐friendly. The methods used for evaluation were: semi‐structured interviews, a review of case records, a postal survey of practitioners, an action learning set and consultation with an expert group. Findings indicated that the framework was largely successful in its aims, with weaknesses demonstrated principally in two areas, namely inadequate use of evidence for decision‐making and deficiencies in documented information about children.
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Since March 16th the ban on the use of soya in the manufacture of sausages has been removed. The lifting of this restriction, which has been in force since 1946, will be welcomed…
Abstract
Since March 16th the ban on the use of soya in the manufacture of sausages has been removed. The lifting of this restriction, which has been in force since 1946, will be welcomed by some manufacturers who claim that soya is an excellent binding agent. We are doubtful, however, whether these sentiments will be shared by all public analysts, many of whom are of the opinion that the presence of soya in a sausage renders the determination of the meat content if not wholly impossible at best a series of long and tedious processes, the accuracy of which would seem to be a matter of some controversy. Upon our enquiry about this divergency of opinion to the Ministry of Food, we were told that the Ministry were quite satisfied that the new Order could be properly enforced, in other words we assume this to mean that they consider the presence of soya does not prevent the accurate determination of the meat content. This was the answer one would expect to receive from the authority who framed the Meat Products Order, but it is none the less surprising to recall that only a very short while ago the Ministry were of the reverse opinion. In May 1950 a report was published in this Journal of a case heard before Old Street Magistrates. The defendants were summoned under The Meat Products, Canned Soup and Canned Meat (Control and Maximum Prices) Order, 1946, for selling sausages which contained soya. The Order stated that no persons should manufacture or sell any sausage, slicing sausage or sausage meat which to his knowledge contained any soya product. The prosecuting solicitor, for the Ministry of Food, said that it was necessary under the Order of 1946 for sausages to contain a minimum meat content, and if soya flour were used to bind the sausage it was not possible upon analysis to determine the meat content. It would be interesting to know whether the results of research during the past two years have made available new and efficient methods of examination which justify this change of viewpoint. We are advised, however, that if soya is present the amount of meat cannot be accurately assessed, and, moreover, the percentage error of this determination is likely to be directly related to the percentage of soya in the sausage. Thus it would seem possible that this new piece of legislation provides an added incentive to an unscrupulous manufacturer to prepare his mix with a lower meat content than that prescribed and to make up the balance with soya: a practice which would enable him to make more sausages than his honest competitor, and which would probably be difficult to expose.
When asked, somewhat to my astonishment, to give this most prestigious American Express lecture my first reaction was that I'd better find out something about the subject. Last…
Abstract
When asked, somewhat to my astonishment, to give this most prestigious American Express lecture my first reaction was that I'd better find out something about the subject. Last year's Women in Management speaker, Baroness Young, was at the time Leader of the House of Lords, Head of the Civil Service and properly immersed in women's affairs. I am, not to put too fine a point on it, a cook. I spend more of my time thinking about doughnuts than about management. But I've done my homework, and have found it so fascinating I've become a first‐class bore on the subject. I discovered from earnest reading of feminist and management literature that, for example, women (who, of course, constitute half the world's population) do two‐thirds of its work (most of it unpaid), receive one‐tenth of its income, and own less than one‐hundredth of its property.
Yet another survey to reinforce the belief that talented British managers are looking abroad for a better deal.