Natalia D'Souza, Darryl Forsyth and Kate Blackwood
This paper offers a synopsis of workplace cyber abuse, identifying patterns of and responses to cyber abuse, as well as barriers to reporting and successful organisational…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper offers a synopsis of workplace cyber abuse, identifying patterns of and responses to cyber abuse, as well as barriers to reporting and successful organisational intervention.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a pragmatic research paradigm, quantitative and qualitative survey data were collected from 205 targets of cyber abuse in New Zealand.
Findings
Nearly half of all respondents experienced more than one form of cyber abuse, with gendered patterns emerging. Workplace cyber abuse also frequently went unreported for varying reasons. Based on the descriptive analyses, four key challenges for the management of cyber abuse are identified: (1) multiple and gendered patterns of cyber abuse, (2) cyber abuse across organisational boundaries, (3) non-reporting and underreporting and (4) ineffective (or lack of) organisational interventions.
Practical implications
Implications for human resource management (HRM) and line managers include adopting a preventative approach to workplace cyber abuse by implementing clear policies, guidelines and resources to deal with cyber abuse, clarifying the boundaries of “workplace” cyber abuse and considering organisational protection measures for non-standard and vulnerable workers.
Social implications
Unique challenges with workplace cyber abuse emphasise the need for a coordinated, multilevel intervention approach involving organisations, policymakers, online platforms and academics.
Originality/value
This study provides an important overview of existing approaches to the management of workplace cyber abuse as well as a foundation upon which to base further research exploring good practice in its prevention and intervention and much-needed theoretical development.
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Bevan Catley, Kate Blackwood, Darryl Forsyth, David Tappin and Tim Bentley
Current research provides an incomplete picture of the challenges facing human resource personnel (HRP) tasked with managing a workplace bullying complaint. The purpose of this…
Abstract
Purpose
Current research provides an incomplete picture of the challenges facing human resource personnel (HRP) tasked with managing a workplace bullying complaint. The purpose of this paper is to provide a holistic model of the complaint management process in order to advance the theorising of HRP’s role in this important process, and the challenges they face in undertaking it.
Design/methodology/approach
Cases of workplace bullying heard before the legal system were analysed – a novel data source in research on workplace bullying. Thematic analysis was undertaken on the case determinations to identify the challenges HRP faced that prevented the resolution of the complaint.
Findings
The analysis indicated two key phases in the complaints management process with five associated challenges. The first two challenges were related to HRP’s ability to assess the substance of the complaint. HRP’s ability or inability to “sort out” conflicting accounts and to follow the process saw the complaint follow one of three “resolution pathways”. Three further challenges were associated with HRP communicating the outcome to the complainant. Failure to overcome these challenges left the complainant aggrieved at the unfairness in which their complaint had been handled – triggering legal action.
Originality/value
This paper draws on a novel data source to provide a holistic model of the complaint management process related to workplace bullying which details the various components and challenges related to HRP throughout the process. Alongside advancing theory, this research has practical value for improving HR practice.
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Trish Bradbury and Darryl Forsyth
The purpose of this paper is to investigate athlete selection procedures implemented by 25 provincial and national level coaches in New Zealand. One of the main focuses of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate athlete selection procedures implemented by 25 provincial and national level coaches in New Zealand. One of the main focuses of the study was the degree to which workplace human resource management (HRM) selection practices were utilised, or could have been beneficial, for athlete selection. As many selection controversies have been caused by unclear or unspecified selection procedures, the study focused on discovering what processes coaches utilised when selecting athletes and, importantly, to what degree these processes were communicated to athletes.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected via semi‐structured interviews and interpreted using thematic analysis which enabled the extraction of the major recurring themes.
Findings
Although the majority of coaches supported the use of HRM selection processes, only six reported implementing HRM type practices. Overall, the study found that coaches on the whole did not fully utilise HRM selection practices. Furthermore, although there tended to be some degree of communication of these processes to athletes, this was not always done in a clear and precise way.
Research limitations/implications
Core HRM practices, procedures, and terminology are seemingly rarely utilised in the athlete selection processes of amateur team sport. It is argued that future research should focus on determining how best to implement workplace HRM selection processes for team athlete selection.
Originality/value
Somewhat surprisingly, very little past research has investigated current athlete selection processes in relation to workplace HRM selection practices. The present research increases the understanding of current team athlete selection and provides discussion of the results in relation to HRM selection best practice.
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This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.
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.
Findings
A firm’s human resources (HR) department has a significant responsibility with regard to providing the workplace with a positive environment. Such a clearly demanding task becomes more difficult still when incidents of bullying occur. The damaging effects of workplace bullying are often widespread. Victims obviously bear most of the brunt. But negative consequences do not stop there. The risk of harm to witnesses can be considerable. And as hostility, tension and unease take hold, organizational performance will suffer accordingly. This makes it even more imperative for HR personnel (HRP) to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. Decisive action will reduce the possibility of such future instances. However, the trouble is that the HRP remain uncertain of the best approach to tackle accusations of workplace bullying.
Practical implications
The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations.
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.
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Michael R. Hyman and Jeremy J. Sierra
Sport celebrities often endorse their team, their sport, and non‐sports‐related products. Increased idolizing of sport celebrities by adolescents is one artifact of this…
Abstract
Purpose
Sport celebrities often endorse their team, their sport, and non‐sports‐related products. Increased idolizing of sport celebrities by adolescents is one artifact of this promotional practice. Although seemingly innocuous, adolescents who idolize sport celebrities may, as adults, come to worship such celebrities; this unhealthy obsession may afflict 10 percent or more of adults. If adolescent hero worship of sport celebrities is a gateway to this adult psychopathology, then alerting parents, as well as encouraging social responsibility among advertisers and sport teams/leagues, is critical. This paper aims to address the issues.
Design/methodology/approach
After a brief review of the literature on adolescent hero worship, the literature on the determinants and effects of celebrity worship are explored.
Findings
Once parents, advertisers, sport team/leagues are sensitized to the problem, adolescent hero worship of sport celebrities can be mitigated as a likely gateway to many adults' unhealthy obsession with celebrities.
Research limitations/implications
Directions for future sport celebrity worship research are suggested.
Practical implications
The incidence of a potentially psychologically damaging affliction can be reduced without harm to advertisers, sport teams/leagues, and athletes.
Social implications
Ways to reduce promotion‐induced sport celebrity worship – without eliminating sport promotion per se – are suggested. Recommendations are targeted for sport‐related and non‐sport‐related products as well as teams and leagues/conferences.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to suggest a link between adolescent hero worship of sport celebrities and psychologically dangerous celebrity worship by adults.
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Tauchid Komara Yuda and Rangga Kala Mahaswa
For over two decades, diverse social sciences disciplines have placed the Anthropocene among the key factors influencing contemporary ontological and epistemological advancements…
Abstract
Purpose
For over two decades, diverse social sciences disciplines have placed the Anthropocene among the key factors influencing contemporary ontological and epistemological advancements. However, social policy research and literature focus little on the Anthropocene discussion loop. This article, therefore, discusses how debates on the Anthropocene unfold in social policy understanding and practices; and how they challenge core premises in the path-dependence model on which policy processes are explained.
Design/methodology/approach
With a brief reflection on social and public policy studies, we summarise the core literature from the debates regarding the Anthropocene. In this regard, we revisited established policy school traditions that, to our knowledge, have never yet provided a solid basis for responding to the epoch of the Anthropocene rift around the globe.
Findings
The Anthropocene crisis is characterised by constantly evolving social-ecological problems that lack fixed reference points for ending. However, globally, social policy decisions remain bound by conventional practices and ways of thinking developed in static, path-dependency-oriented institutional models. These models and practices ignore the “non-human world”, which has become a central threat to human civilisation and its institutions. As a counter to discourse hegemony, we then present an alternative ontology and epistemology that can navigate uncertainty and socio-ecological relationality, primarily linked to the proposed idea of path-situational. We also emphasise the need for co-production governance that involves meaningful collaboration among various stakeholders within policy-making.
Originality/value
This article contributes to the literature on the intersection between social policy and Anthropocene issues by offering a new narrative that embraces uncertainty and a more assertive political ontology in describing the actual and objective conditions of the crisis. Our argument evolves around two well-established fields of social and public policy scholarship: policy process, policy paradigm and policy practices for outlining future ontological and epistemological elements of policy studies that require researchers and policymaking to move away from static territories (such as path dependency or gradualism) and towards a more dynamic one.