That the introduction of the Control system should have given rise to a considerable amount of criticism, both appreciative and adverse, was naturally to be expected. The…
Abstract
That the introduction of the Control system should have given rise to a considerable amount of criticism, both appreciative and adverse, was naturally to be expected. The appreciative remarks which have appeared in the press, and those also which have been privately communicated to the directors, indicate that the subject has been intelligently considered, and in some cases carefully investigated and studied. The opinions given are worth having on account of the position and influence of hose who have given them, and on account of the obvious freedom from bias which has characterised them. This is so far satisfactory, and goes to show that the success which has attended the working of the Control system abroad may well be expected to attend it in this country as soon as it is sufficiently well known to be appreciated by the manufacturers and vendors of good and genuine products, and by the general public, whose best interests it cannot but serve.
Frank J. Barrett, Edward H. Powley and Barnett Pearce
Our aim in this chapter is twofold: first, to review briefly the history of the hermeneutic traditions; second, to examine its influence in organization studies. We begin with a…
Abstract
Our aim in this chapter is twofold: first, to review briefly the history of the hermeneutic traditions; second, to examine its influence in organization studies. We begin with a review of hermeneutic philosophy including ancient Greek origins and Biblical hermeneutics. We then delve more deeply into the work of 20th-century hermeneutic philosophy, particularly Heidegger, Gadamer, and Ricoeur, to demonstrate how hermeneutics became a field that is concerned not only with texts but also with verbal and nonverbal forms of action and the preunderstanding that makes any interpretation possible. Finally, we explore how hermeneutic philosophers claim that interpretation is the mode by which we live and carry on with one another. In the third section, we suggest that the field of organizational studies has discovered the relevance of hermeneutic theory, a rarely explicitly acknowledged debt. In particular, we outline the influence of hermeneutic theory on several figural areas, including culture, sensemaking, identity, situated learning, and organizational dialogue.
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This paper is concerned with recent attempts to appropriate normative ethics as a medium for engaging critically with the practice and theory of human resource management (HRM)…
Abstract
This paper is concerned with recent attempts to appropriate normative ethics as a medium for engaging critically with the practice and theory of human resource management (HRM). Focusing particularly on arguments for justice and rights in the workplace, the limits of foundationalist critiques of HRM are explored. The discussion suggests a future direction for the critical study of HRM in the present economic and political conjuncture. Critical scholars of HRM are invited to give further consideration to their aims and objectives and the manner of their intervention in current debates, in a discussion which highlights the importance of politically and rhetorically sensitised management scholarship.
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“A Candidate, canvassing his district, met a Nurse wheeling a Baby in a carriage, and, stooping, imprinted a kiss upon the Baby's clammy muzzle. Rising, he saw a Man, who laughed.
In devices for securing structural members together, the combination with a nut‐containing fastening strip comprising a channel member having a web and side flanges, of a nut…
Abstract
In devices for securing structural members together, the combination with a nut‐containing fastening strip comprising a channel member having a web and side flanges, of a nut having a screw‐threaded bore, said nut comprising a body portion and a laterally enlarged base portion, said base portion being housed within said channel member, the web of the channel member being provided with an aperture into which the body portion of the nut extends, the laterally enlarged base portion of the nut being adapted to engage the side flanges of the channel member to prevent relative rotary movement between the nut and channel member and to engage the said web to prevent the nut from passing completely through the aperture in the web, the side flanges of the channel member having inwardly‐turned edge portions forming a base to the channel member to secure the nut to the channel member against removal, the said base of the channel member having a bolt‐receiving aperture of such size as to register with the bore of the nut and a threaded bolt for insertion, in the order named, through a plurality of structural members, the base of the channel member, and the threaded bore of the nut, whereby the base of the channel member may be frictionally gripped between the base portion of the nut and the adjacent structural member to resist spreading of the channel member by rotation of the nut.
The purpose of this paper is to explore what the attitudes of small firm owner-managers are to developing the skills of their key resources and then examine how these and other…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore what the attitudes of small firm owner-managers are to developing the skills of their key resources and then examine how these and other factors affect owner-managers’ preferences for training these employees.
Design/methodology/approach
This study of training in small road transport firms in West Australia is cast in light of the literature on human resource management in small firms underpinned by insights drawn using the resource based view of the firm. Small firms (less than 20 people) dominate this industry, while the increasing freight task, and extreme distances between West Australian ports, towns and mines highlight this sectors’ importance. Survey results from 39 small road transport firms and interviews with nine owner-managers are analysed.
Findings
Legislative, regulatory and licensing requirements were shown to be a key determinant of skills development. Employers ensured that basic standards for employee certification and qualification were met, as the penalty for not doing so would be too high. Regulations drove the need for certain types of training – licenses, fatigue management, occupational health and safety, handling dangerous goods, the Maritime Security Identification Card card, forklift license, mine site inductions – while owner-managers knew where to get the training their staff needed. Although regulation appeared most visible in prescribing what happened in relation to training for drivers, the relevance of owner-managers’ attitudes could not be ignored, nor could conditions in the firms external environment as this shaped how these requirements were met.
Research limitations/implications
The RBV is useful in showing how skill development enabled similarity in skills across firms, while the attitudes owner-managers and economic and social conditions meant what happened in firms around skill development varied. The importance of small firm owner-managers’ attitudes are clearly highlighted and shown to influence organizational decisions and choices around training, but these were not independent of the regulatory framework and the economic and social conditions within which the firm operated. The small firms in this study did engage workers in formal training when necessary but it was put in the context of the idiosyncratic approach of the owner-manager and the day-to-day needs of the firm. “Training” was essentially about ensuring certain types of skills were held by employees and then passing on knowledge to ensure the behavior of employees was consistent with the owner-manager’s vision for the firm in its current environment.
Originality/value
Ways industry and government can encourage training activity that goes beyond the day-to-day firm needs are suggested.
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Librarians are in the fortunate position of having a firm institutional foundation. Books and libraries can exist without librarians or readers, but few would question the nature…
Abstract
Librarians are in the fortunate position of having a firm institutional foundation. Books and libraries can exist without librarians or readers, but few would question the nature of libraries as such. Although individual libraries may differ greatly in character, the essence of what a library is remains constant, and there is usually at least a hint of bricks and mortar. The concept of the library is sufficiently strong to be able to use the word for analogous collections of things (such as a library of computer programs) without degrading the overall concept. Information is a far less secure phenomenon: 50% of a library and 50% of the information may both be used in conversation, but whereas we might expect to receive 1500 books (out of total of 3000) in the case of the former, 50% of the information might be found in three books, and the remaining 50% in the remainder of the collection! The position of the information professional is also less secure than that of the librarian who at the very least is the custodian of tangible objects. This insecurity was captured succinctly by the Vickerys in the concluding chapter of a major textbook on information science where it was stated:
A joint Committee consisting of six members of the Royal Sanitary Institute and five members of the Society of Medical Officers of Health, Dr. Charles Porter presiding, was…
Abstract
A joint Committee consisting of six members of the Royal Sanitary Institute and five members of the Society of Medical Officers of Health, Dr. Charles Porter presiding, was appointed in October, 1924, to consider the methods adopted in this country in regard to the handling of food. The report of the Committee, which has just been issued, affords interesting reading. In order to obtain information with regard to methods adopted in relation to particular foods, each member of the Committee undertook to make investigations and to prepare a monograph on some special aspect of the problem. The subjects investigated and the members taking responsibility tor the preparation of the monographs were:—Meat and Meat products— J. R. Hayhurst, M.R.C.V.S. Fish—Professor H. R. Kenwood, C.M.G., M.B. Fruit and Vegetables—J. Fenton, M.D. Bread and Confectionery—Joseph Cates, M.D. Milk, Ice Cream, &c.—Thomas Orr, M.D., D.Sc. Groceries—Sir William Beveridge, K.B.E., C.B., D.S.O. Restaurants and Cafés‐Francis J. Allan, M.D. Premises where Prepared Food is made—T. W. Naylor Barlow, O.B.E., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. Imported Foods—W. M. Willoughby, M.D. Food Regulations, Licensing and Registration of Premises—Francis J. Allan, M.D.
In America they do not tell Englishmen the story of George Washington and his exceptional devotion to the truth. The reason for that is, I think, because they are too busy telling…
Abstract
In America they do not tell Englishmen the story of George Washington and his exceptional devotion to the truth. The reason for that is, I think, because they are too busy telling us yarns illustrative of their conviction that we are entirely devoid of any sense of humour, the favourite, of course, being the one about “we eat what we can and can what we can't.” But even if we are dense and slow‐witted and have no Washington story, we are not without our Washingtons. Myself, I have discovered one and in the most unexpected of situations—in the milk trade, in fact, It was not with a little hatchet he said he had done it, of course; it was with his little bucket. And having prefaced his statements, as did the illustrious original, with the ringing declaration “I cannot tell a lie,” he explained just how the water found its way into the milk. It was because, taking his little bucket and filling it with water, he went round all the milk pails and he swilled them out and then added all the rinsings to the churn containing the milk, all ready for distribution. It was not that he wanted to adulterate the milk; it was that he wanted to make sure that no single drop of milk given by the cows was lost. Not for a moment did it occur to him that the rinsings consisted mainly of water and that the bulk of the milk would be diluted to such an extent that in the churn containing 7½ gallons about a gallon was water. How there could be so much, my lacteal Washington could not understand, as for rinsing purposes he was convinced he used no more than a pint. No one in court or in the witness box could tell him, or his judges either for that matter, and so it finished up with him being called upon to pay a fine of £10 with costs £2 18s. And all because he used his little bucket as he ought not to have used it. I forget what G. Washington's father did to him for demolishing the cherry tree with his little hatchet. The next time I am in America, interrupting somebody's funny story about the uselessness of expecting an Englishman to see anything funny in a funny story, I must ask about this.
Cecilia Bjursell and Lisa Bäckvall
Writings in the media have the potential to influence our standpoint and, thereby, our actions. In this paper, the authors analyze how women in family business are represented in…
Abstract
Purpose
Writings in the media have the potential to influence our standpoint and, thereby, our actions. In this paper, the authors analyze how women in family business are represented in media to understand the frames set by this discourse in terms of women owning and leading family businesses. The aim of the paper is to explore how the counterposed roles of business person and mother are presented in media and what implications this might have for role enactment.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper opted for an exploratory study of 308 articles about women in family business over a 15‐year period. In the interpretative, qualitative analysis of media texts, the discursive construction of the mother role and the business role are explored.
Findings
The paper provides empirical insights into how the mother role is taken for granted while the business role is approached as problematic in portrayals of women in family business. The authors discuss whether the media discourse reinforces traditional roles or stimulates role innovation.
Practical implications
Understanding role as something separate from the individual provides a means to critically review expectations of women in business and how these expectations hinder business activities.
Originality/value
The study examines data over a 15‐year period in the Swedish media setting and describes changes in attitudes about women's roles in family business. Regarding the family business as an arena for performative acts provides a perspective that can highlight the intertwinement of the private and professional arenas in family business.