David McElhinney and Tony Proctor
Informs executives of the dangers of entrapment which can occur when there is an increasing commitment to an ineffective course of action to justify previous allocation of…
Abstract
Purpose
Informs executives of the dangers of entrapment which can occur when there is an increasing commitment to an ineffective course of action to justify previous allocation of resources when managing new projects.
Design/methodology/approach
Reviews research studies on establishing call/contact‐centres in local government across the UK. Data were also collected via interviews with executives in authorities experienced in setting up call/contact centres.
Findings
Centres involve spending millions of pounds but there was only limited knowledge of capital or ongoing revenue costs. Evidence of internal resistance, lack of any shared vision, or knowledge of the level of risk existed as well as only limited understanding of the centres' organisational impact, potential benefits or added value. There was an absence of stated project objectives or formal project appraisal and a creeping commitment to the projects continuation. The potential for entrapment existed
Research limitations/implications
A single case study but one which adds to the existing literature on entrapment and focuses attention on the risks that can exist in the public sector.
Practical implications
Underlines the importance of setting out specific procedures for evaluating the potential costs/benefits and subsequent progress of new, particular large scale, business projects.
Originality/value
Shows that potential entrapment can be present in the context of projects of national importance. The paper is relevant to managers within the public sector engaged on new ventures and to all executives in any setting.
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In April 1988, the National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature (NRC) (see sidebar) published “AIDS: Law, Ethics and Public Policy.” As part of the NRC's Scope Note Series…
Abstract
In April 1988, the National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature (NRC) (see sidebar) published “AIDS: Law, Ethics and Public Policy.” As part of the NRC's Scope Note Series, the paper offered a current overview of issues and viewpoints related to AIDS and ethics. Not meant to be a comprehensive review of all AIDS literature, it contained selected citations referring to facts, opinion, and legal precedents, as well as a discussion of different ethical aspects surrounding AIDS. Updating the earlier work, this bibliography provides ethical citations from literature published from 1988 to the present.
This paper focuses on the decision by firms to commit and to invest unilaterally. It is concerned with the intriguing question as to whether unilateral commitments are mechanisms…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper focuses on the decision by firms to commit and to invest unilaterally. It is concerned with the intriguing question as to whether unilateral commitments are mechanisms that help a firm manage risks in alliance relationships in a proactive manner.
Design/methodology/approach
The hypotheses are tested with survey data on 344 alliance relationships of European biotechnology small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs).
Findings
In this paper it is shown that unilateral commitments have a positive effect on perceived opportunistic behavior. However, the evidence suggests that, by creating a basis for exchange, relational capital moderates the relationship between unilateral commitments and the perception of opportunistic behavior.
Research limitations/implications
This research adopts a static perspective. It is known that alliances evolve, and develop. Consequently, future research could extend and modify this study along this dimension and analyze the evolution of unilateral commitments through longitudinal research.
Practical implications
From a managerial point‐of‐view, this paper shows that motivation for commitments is different and their effects on risk perception can be contradictory according to the level of relational capital in the inter‐organizational relationship.
Originality/value
This paper is one of the few empirical studies that explored the concept of unilateral commitments and provided empirical evidence to highlight the significance of some managerial practices such as building trust.
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A war still rages in the United States. This is a war with many different battles – one such battle being against queer teachers and students, as well as teachers and…
Abstract
A war still rages in the United States. This is a war with many different battles – one such battle being against queer teachers and students, as well as teachers and administrators who support queer youth and teachers in their schools. While this battle may look new in the social media landscape that is 2022 (TikTok and YouTube videos and anyone with the slightest thought, even if based on someone else's, a regurgitated idea and old tropes, is posting to social media as if they are saying something new and profound, yet is old tried and filled with hate), it is almost the same old battle where queer and LGBTQ2+ are used interchangeably. Queer folks are the ones being sacrificed to save the nation from spiraling into the abyss of debauchery and chaos of a lost moral compass (Gogarty, 2022; Lorenz, 2022; Montpetit, 2022). If this is the case, and queer people are battling for humanity and existence in schools, understanding teacher burnout from a queer perspective poses incredible challenges. Why would one want to be a teacher, especially a queer person, if we are so often the brunt of the attacks in this war to control society?
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The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the success and continuing relevance of the universal service obligation (USO) in delivering voice telephony, basic digital data…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the success and continuing relevance of the universal service obligation (USO) in delivering voice telephony, basic digital data capability and broadband services to all Australians.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper outlines the background to the National Broadband Plan being implemented by the Labor Government elected in November 2007. The costs of this plan and other funding programs implemented since 1996 are annualized and compared to the cost of the USO.
Findings
The paper reveals that the USO has been eclipsed as a policy tool for making basic telecommunications services universally available in Australia, at least for the time being. It survives as a policy mechanism, but is contained to fixed line telephony, payphones and basic digital data capability. Its declared costs have fallen. The proposed national broadband network continues the trend towards using government funding to achieve telecommunications policy goals. This trend was initiated by the previous government with some of the proceeds from privatizing the former government monopoly, Telstra. The national broadband network also supplements this trend with a reversion to a degree of state participation in a facility (a fibre‐to‐the‐node network serving 98 percent of the population) likely to have strong natural monopoly characteristics.
Originality/value
The paper considers the USO as just one of many tools available to ensure basic telecommunication services are universally available and the debates about it in Australia less as arguments about where an old concept should go in the future, and more about what a very young concept really means.
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Ben Morris, James Jackson and Anthony Roberts III
In recent years, Yoga practice has seen a rapid rise in popularity with many positive consequences, both physical and mental attributed to its practice. Ashtanga Yoga has been…
Abstract
Purpose
In recent years, Yoga practice has seen a rapid rise in popularity with many positive consequences, both physical and mental attributed to its practice. Ashtanga Yoga has been less well researched in this area and is the specific focus on this work. The aim of this study is to investigate the possible positive impact of long-term Ashtanga Yoga on psychological well-being.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 213 long-term Ashtanga Yoga practitioners were asked to complete the positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, accomplishment (PERMA) 23 scale (Butler and Kern, 2016) which measures psychological well-being. The values given by these individuals were then compared against a larger sample of 31,966 representative of the general population.
Findings
Scores were then compared with a PERMA data set representative of the general population (see Butler and Kern, 2016), primarily using a test of difference to compare samples. Secondly, the causal relationship between time spent in practice upon well-being scores.
Research limitations/implications
Findings indicated that those individuals engaged in long-term Ashtanga Yoga practice significantly outperformed the control group on all dimensions of psychological well-being.
Practical implications
This work has demonstrated specific benefits to the practice of Ashtanga Yoga on psychological well-being. Yoga is a form of exercise that is now widely available across the globe, and as such, represents an accessible form of physical practice, which has important psychological benefits.
Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first work investigating differences in psychological well-being profiles using PERMA, as a function of Yoga practice.