Sam Natale and Frederick Ricci
This paper aims to review the history of critical thinking as a seminal and foundational skill for small groups. The paper shows that much of the team research focuses on the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to review the history of critical thinking as a seminal and foundational skill for small groups. The paper shows that much of the team research focuses on the elementary functions of decision‐making processes, task fulfilment, and project management. Virtual teaming research adds some of the complexities introduced by working in and between cultures, across time zones and related difficulties in coordination and meaning‐making activities for the virtual team.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper seeks to review the definitions of critical thinking, and review the literature relative to small group activities and the impacts and requirements of critical thinking for effective team functioning. The notion of reflective journaling is introduced as a way in which to introduce improved critical thinking into the organization at the level of the individual for performance organizational performance.
Findings
The paper finds that critical thinking within teams will improve organizational performance. It will also enhance any training and development initiatives. The topic is introduced as an information analysis of the field of critical thinking, and its impact on individuals working in teams. Authorial content is presented which can become the elements of a critical thinking checklist for team practitioners in the organization to enhance critical thinking at the individual, organization and societal levels.
Originality/value
In this paper useful ideas for established or “to be established” teams and improving performance are shown.
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Keywords
Syed Zamberi Ahmad, Frederick Robert Buchanan and Norita Ahmad
Entrepreneurship, venture creation and business management.
Abstract
Subject area
Entrepreneurship, venture creation and business management.
Study level/applicability
The case is suitable for analysis in an undergraduates program specializing in entrepreneurship, business and management. The case could also be discussed in an executive development program on business ventures/business strategy/business management.
Case overview
Since its inception in 1981, Abdul Rahim Al Fahim, CEO Paris Gallery decided that Paris Gallery would foray into French perfumes. At that time, he would have never thought that such a move would ever make him more than a shopkeeper. Now in 2016, Mr Abdul Rahim Al-Fahim has much to be pleased about the success that his organization Paris Gallery (Luxury stores in Dubai) has been able to achieve. He has been twice named as the Arab World’s most powerful retail sector entrepreneur. Certainly, it was his good fortune to be based in the great city, and his business venture has paralleled the exponential success of Dubai. As the concept of grand malls developed and flourished in UAE, Paris Gallery stores emerged and also prospered. Currently, Paris Gallery has 80 stores in the finest locations of the Middle East. This encourages family business owners in UAE to have ambitions for success and growth of their enterprises. This is especially true in a developing region that has rarely hosted such a high-end homegrown success story as Paris Gallery. The study of strategic positioning of Paris Gallery with a workforce of 4,000 employees and representing more than 550 international brands today shall help us in weighing the options of how businesses should proceed strategically.
Expected learning outcomes
The following insights could be elucidated by the case: familiarizing students with the business challenges in the retail industry in emerging markets such as the United Arab Emirates, and exploring future strategy options from the business growth perspective.
Supplementary materials
Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.
Subject code
CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.
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Lina Begdache, Anseh Danesharasteh and Zeynep Ertem
The impact of diet quality on mental health has gained strong ground. However, most studies on this relationship were performed before COVID-19, a pandemic that was accompanied by…
Abstract
The impact of diet quality on mental health has gained strong ground. However, most studies on this relationship were performed before COVID-19, a pandemic that was accompanied by high levels of psychological stress. Stress disturbs normal physiology, which makes studying diet quality and mental health under high stress a necessity. In addition, COVID-19 has been associated with disturbances in sleep and has increased the prevalence of mental health issues in women more than in men. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess food group consumption and sleep during different stages of the pandemic in relation to mental distress among men and women. Secondary data collected from adults 18 years or older between September 2018 and November 2021 was analysed. Temporal stages were divided into pre-COVID-19 (as a baseline), during the lockdown, and after the ease of restriction (two periods of different psychological stress levels). Regression analyses using a Difference-in-Difference (DID) event study or a Dynamic DID modelling were used. COVID-19 seemed to have a modulatory effect on food groups and mental health. The pandemic appeared to have either magnified the negative impact of certain food groups or changed the tolerance threshold for the beneficial ones. Across the board, women’s moods exhibited higher sensitivity to several food groups. COVID-19, a period of high psychological stress, differentially altered the impact of food on the mood of men and women; which proposes the need to further evaluate diet quality and mood under stressful conditions.
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WE have urged constantly that, where the resources of libraries allow, readers should not be confined rigidly to one ticket plus a Student's ticket, but that a more generous…
Abstract
WE have urged constantly that, where the resources of libraries allow, readers should not be confined rigidly to one ticket plus a Student's ticket, but that a more generous approximation to a common American policy of allowing readers “as many as they like” should be kept in mind. We read in the Leeds annual report (1929–30) that “readers are now allowed two tickets on which any kind of book may be borrowed, and, in addition, students' tickets up to a maximum of six, on which only non‐fiction may be issued.” The rule has been in operation only since January 1st this year and therefore, since the report concludes with March 31st, too recently to show the results ; but in the year the increase in the central and branch lending issues was roughly ten per cent., so the sudden ticket generosity has not resulted in overwhelming demands.
Holkham Hall was completed in the middle of the eighteenth century, a monument of the Italianate taste of Lord Burlington and the Earl of Leicester. The magnificent sculpture…
Abstract
Holkham Hall was completed in the middle of the eighteenth century, a monument of the Italianate taste of Lord Burlington and the Earl of Leicester. The magnificent sculpture, pictures, tapestry, furniture, and the library itself, are part of the general architectural scheme. This summer the state rooms have been opened to the public for one day a week.
The war cut off students in England from foreign countries at the same time as it awakened an increased interest in their affairs, and, compelling the inquirer to fall back on…
Abstract
The war cut off students in England from foreign countries at the same time as it awakened an increased interest in their affairs, and, compelling the inquirer to fall back on English or American resources in his studies, brought a realization of the deficiencies of our libraries. With the gradual re‐establishment of relations, it is worth assessing the situation revealed by the years of isolation, if only because this necessary task does not seem to be anybody's responsibility.