Aida Idris, Denise See and Paul Coughlan
The topic of employee empowerment and job satisfaction, and its implications for organizational change management, is underexplored in developing countries. Consequently, the…
Abstract
Purpose
The topic of employee empowerment and job satisfaction, and its implications for organizational change management, is underexplored in developing countries. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the two variables in the context of urban Malaysia as an emerging market. Differences in empowerment and job satisfaction in relation to organizational and socio-cultural environments were also assessed. The findings are then discussed in terms of their implications for organizational change management in Malaysia and other emerging countries.
Design/methodology/approach
Using survey data gathered from 125 local employees working in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur, the effect of empowerment on job satisfaction was tested using correlation and regression analyses. ANOVA tests were used to determine differences in empowerment and satisfaction among sub-groups divided according to four factors in the organizational and socio-cultural environments, namely, form of ownership, job sector, type of industry and organizational hierarchy.
Findings
The results demonstrate that employee empowerment has a strong positive effect on job satisfaction. However, significant differences in employee empowerment and job satisfaction between higher and lower levels of the organizational hierarchy raise concerns about organizational change diffusion and the sustainability of strategic changes.
Research limitations/implications
Empirical evidences are provided for the generalizability of the theoretical link between employee empowerment and job satisfaction in the urban Malaysian context. Nevertheless, the findings have highlighted the need to further examine specific issues faced by employees in lower levels of the organizational hierarchy which affect their rates of empowerment and satisfaction in a rapidly changing environment.
Practical implications
Implications on power relations between managers and their subordinates are discussed, as well as on succession and goal-sharing during periods of intense organizational change.
Originality/value
By demonstrating the influence of organizational hierarchy on employee empowerment and job satisfaction in a non-western setting, this study has contributed new insights on the role of socio-culture and power relations in organizational change management.
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This chapter examines the everyday experiences of short women, focusing on the problems they face and the coping strategies used to navigate being short in a heightist society…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter examines the everyday experiences of short women, focusing on the problems they face and the coping strategies used to navigate being short in a heightist society. Further, this chapter views height as a stigmatized identity, which both negatively and positively impacts short women.
Methodology
Sixteen qualitative interviews were conducted with women 5′2″ and under.
Findings
Using the literature on stress, and coping models laid out by social psychologists, this chapter elucidates the unique place of short women in American society.
Originality
While there has been a wealth of literature on how short stature impacts men, research on how short stature impacts women has been scant.
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Joana Milan Lorandi and Pamela Block
This chapter explores the experiences of people with complex conditions before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, their fears for imagined futures when the pandemic first appeared…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter explores the experiences of people with complex conditions before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, their fears for imagined futures when the pandemic first appeared, their reflections on their experiences and present status, as well as plans for a post-pandemic future.
Methods/Approach
This research is based on semi-structured interviews conducted by phone, Zoom, or in-person with six participants, each interviewed twice – before and during the pandemic – who either have complex medical conditions or are mothers of a child with complex medical conditions, in the United States. Half the interviews were conducted before the pandemic and the other half during the pandemic.
Findings
The data illuminate the understanding of our participants of the COVID-19 pandemic as a disability issue, which should be analyzed with the focus of disability as an intersectional social category and that disabled people felt at higher risk due to ableism in health policies and getting their health needs met. The results demonstrated the tremendous impact of the pandemic on the lives of our participants with complex medical conditions, whether in their work, care, physical and mental health, and social relationships.
Implication/Value
This study points to the importance of policymakers incorporating strategies to reduce ableism in health care provision, rationing, and other forms of decision-making. Services need to be designed keeping in mind the challenges of disabled people and their need for care. In addition, adequate education, and employment opportunities for disabled people must be ensured, while continuing to expand access options to disabled people that were available throughout the lockdown.
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Since the first Volume of this Bibliography there has been an explosion of literature in all the main areas of business. The researcher and librarian have to be able to uncover…
Abstract
Since the first Volume of this Bibliography there has been an explosion of literature in all the main areas of business. The researcher and librarian have to be able to uncover specific articles devoted to certain topics. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume III, in addition to the annotated list of articles as the two previous volumes, contains further features to help the reader. Each entry within has been indexed according to the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus and thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid information retrieval. Each article has its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. The first Volume of the Bibliography covered seven journals published by MCB University Press. This Volume now indexes 25 journals, indicating the greater depth, coverage and expansion of the subject areas concerned.
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Kevin Bottomley, Justin Snyder, Alinane Misomali, Denise Archuleta, David H. Davenport, Marsha Dwyer, Destenie Nock, Lucy Kapenuka, Chifundo Ziyaya, Ann Potts and Liz Barber
Juanita Sherwood and Thalia Anthony
Over recent decades, research institutions have prescribed discrete ethics guidelines for human research with Indigenous people in Australia. Such guidelines respond to concerns…
Abstract
Over recent decades, research institutions have prescribed discrete ethics guidelines for human research with Indigenous people in Australia. Such guidelines respond to concerns about unethical and harmful processes in research, including that they entrench colonial relations and structures. This chapter sets out some of the limitations of these well-intentioned guidelines for the decolonisation of research. Namely, their underlying assumption of Indigenous vulnerability and deficit and, consequently, their function to minimise risk. It argues for a strengths-based approach to researching with and by Indigenous communities that recognises community members’ capacity to know what ethical research looks like and their ability to control research. It suggests that this approach provides genuine outcomes for their communities in ways that meet their communities’ needs. This means that communities must be partners in research who can demand reciprocation for their participation and sharing of their knowledge, time and experiences. This argument is not purely normative but supported by examples of Indigenous research models within our fields of health and criminology that are premised on self-determination.
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Robert Jones and George Kriflik
The purpose of this paper is to present a set of strategies for effective managerial self‐change within the substantive setting of a cleaned‐up bureaucracy.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a set of strategies for effective managerial self‐change within the substantive setting of a cleaned‐up bureaucracy.
Design/methodology/approach
Using inductive methodology, data have been collected and analysed from a large Australian public‐sector bureaucracy by means of 26 personal interviews conducted between 2000 and 2002.
Findings
A conceptual model of managerial self‐change is presented stressing the importance of both cognitive and behavioural strategies within the context of an “awareness‐understanding‐accomplishment” feedback loop and learning process. The model incorporates and extends some of the major concepts in the extant literature on thought self‐leadership and learned optimism by incorporating attributional analysis into managerial cognitive thought patterns. The findings also suggest refinements to the concept of managerial credibility within cleaned‐up bureaucracies.
Research limitations/implications
Findings are derived on the basis of a substantive case study of one cleaned‐up bureaucracy in a particular country. Further research needs to expand this base to encompass other organizations in a wider range of countries across different cultures.
Practical implications
The model draws attention to how the behaviour of organisational subordinates within cleaned‐up bureaucracies is significantly affected by the attitudes and actions of their immediate manager. By adopting a set of strategies contained with the conceptual model, managers can learn how to change themselves.
Originality/value
The paper departs from the prevalent tendency of the extant literature to employ laboratory or experimentally derived data by using systematically gathered and grounded empirical data in a naturalistic organisational setting. Additionally, the findings have more to say about the nuances of a particular organisational context rather than generalising across numerous contextual environments.