The purpose of this paper is to use the critical approach to management research (Alvesson and Deetz), to examine intellectual capital (IC) with the twin perspectives of from…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to use the critical approach to management research (Alvesson and Deetz), to examine intellectual capital (IC) with the twin perspectives of from inside the classroom and as a bottom‐up approach, and, in the process, develop a micro IC model of knowledge flows.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents a case study, based on the author's experience in applying the concept of micro IC to the classroom and student learning.
Findings
IC is created without the students being formally aware of its extent. The focus moves from a top‐down evaluation of IC stocks such as student academic performance to a bottom‐up view of IC flows in which discipline knowledge is applied and generic attributes such as collaboration, communication and critical evaluation are exercised with incremental improvement. These are not normally noticed by the students. However, some skills which do not form part of the university skills plan are acknowledged by students. These include high engagement in the classroom instead of passive learning, more confident, flexible communication and persuasion, as well as the ability to speak unprepared without resorting to reciting from the textbook or lecture slides.
Research limitations/implications
The model for micro IC is based on case study research which has been conducted longitudinally for three years. The micro IC knowledge flow model has been developed outside the business environment but with reference to it.
Practical implications
There is scope to compare and apply the insights from the micro IC model to business performance without requiring an overarching interwoven set of indicators as is required by approaches such as the balanced scorecard.
Social implications
A micro IC approach provides a bottom‐up method for understanding the often significant benefits of IC that are hidden by a top‐down approach.
Originality/value
A micro IC approach has not been previously proposed. The paper both provides a model drawn from the knowledge literature and then applies it to learning and teaching in management accounting coursework which uses a team‐learning approach.
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Gary R. Oliver and Rodney Coyte
The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon and describe the introduction of an articulated engagement learning and teaching approach to a diverse cohort in a postgraduate…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon and describe the introduction of an articulated engagement learning and teaching approach to a diverse cohort in a postgraduate management accounting unit of study.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study, based on the authors' experiences teaching diverse cohorts applies Bandura's social learning theory. Observation and modelling (which shaped earlier educational experiences and dominate student behaviour and classroom engagement) were used to overcome passive learning behaviour in diverse cohorts.
Findings
Better preparation for class by students is engendered by showing how study is applied. High engagement during class time is a combination of careful team construction and a task that has work relevance. Diversity need not be a constraint on teaching nor a barrier to learning. Diversity can be harnessed to facilitate learning. Reflection of the experience of students indicates high engagement, more confident, flexible and non‐scripted student responses and awareness of the value of diversity in the team.
Originality/value
An articulated engagement learning and teaching approach is described which caters for diversity, using resourcing problems with alternative recommendation choices, requiring justification, critique and defence.
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Blues music is in the midst of its second revival in popularity in roughly thirty years. The year 1960 can be identified, with some qualification, as a reference point for the…
Abstract
Blues music is in the midst of its second revival in popularity in roughly thirty years. The year 1960 can be identified, with some qualification, as a reference point for the first rise in international awareness and appreciation of the blues. This first period of wide‐spread white interest in the blues continued until the early seventies, while the current revival began in the middle 1980s. During both periods a sizeable literature on the blues has appeared. This article provides a thumbnail sketch of the popularity of the blues, followed by a description of scholarly and critical literature devoted to the music. Documentary and instructional materials in audio and video formats are also discussed. Recommendations are made for library collections and a list of selected sources is included at the end of the article.
President Bill Clinton has had many opponents and enemies, most of whom come from the political right wing. Clinton supporters contend that these opponents, throughout the Clinton…
Abstract
President Bill Clinton has had many opponents and enemies, most of whom come from the political right wing. Clinton supporters contend that these opponents, throughout the Clinton presidency, systematically have sought to undermine this president with the goal of bringing down his presidency and running him out of office; and that they have sought non‐electoral means to remove him from office, including Travelgate, the death of Deputy White House Counsel Vincent Foster, the Filegate controversy, and the Monica Lewinsky matter. This bibliography identifies these and other means by presenting citations about these individuals and organizations that have opposed Clinton. The bibliography is divided into five sections: General; “The conspiracy stream of conspiracy commerce”, a White House‐produced “report” presenting its view of a right‐wing conspiracy against the Clinton presidency; Funding; Conservative organizations; and Publishing/media. Many of the annotations note the links among these key players.
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Virpi-Liisa Kykyri and Risto Puutio
Although emotions are relevant for conflicted interactions, the role of emotions in organizational conflicts has remained understudied. The purpose of this paper is to contribute…
Abstract
Purpose
Although emotions are relevant for conflicted interactions, the role of emotions in organizational conflicts has remained understudied. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to this by looking at the role of nonverbal affective elements in conversations.
Design/methodology/approach
Bringing together organizational “becoming” and embodiment approaches, the study focused on a conflict which emerged during a multi-actor consulting conversation. The episode in question was analyzed via a detailed, micro-level discursive method which focused specifically on the participants’ use of prosodic and nonverbal behaviors.
Findings
Changes in prosody were found to have an important role in how the conflict between a consultant and an employee client emerged and was handled. Nonverbal and prosodic means had a central role in creating legitimate space for the employees’ feelings: they helped to validate the feelings and thus led the interlocutors to act in a more constructive manner in their handling of the conflicted situation.
Research limitations/implications
Findings are based on a single case study. Multi-modal analysis proved effective in capturing the relevant interactions in a comprehensive manner.
Practical implications
Conversational “traps” may be observed by becoming alert to interactional patterns involving repeated chains of actions. A nonverbal response, validating the interlocutor as someone who is entitled to her/his feelings, can be sufficient in providing emotional help in consultancy.
Social implications
Nonverbal elements of interactions are important in handling delicate issues in conflicts.
Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge, no previous organizational research has provided a detailed description of a conflicted interaction “as it happened” between clients and a consultant.
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Gary B. Roberts, Kerr Watson and John E. Oliver
The relationship between organisation size, technologyimplementation, and organisational culture is examined. Thirty‐fiveAmerican and Canadian manufacturing organisations were…
Abstract
The relationship between organisation size, technology implementation, and organisational culture is examined. Thirty‐five American and Canadian manufacturing organisations were surveyed concerning their approach to implementing statistical process control (SPC) technology. Organisations were classified as either large or small and hierarchic or non‐hierarchic. Approaches to implementing SPC were measured and compared among the four groups (large hierarchic, small hierarchic, large non‐hierarchic and small non‐hierarchic). Results indicated that both the size of the organisation and its culture determine how that organisation goes about implementing technological change. Larger organisations use inter‐departmental liaisons, temporary task forces, and permanent implementation teams more than smaller organisations in implementing new technology. Non‐hierarchic organisations appear to use goal and direct contact mechanisms at higher levels than hierarchical organisations when it comes to innovation and change. Results also indicate that there is more in common in the area of technological implementation between large and small businesses, and hierarchical and non‐hierarchical organisations than is often suggested.
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Michael R Mullen, C.M Sashi and Patricia M Doney
Market entry strategies range from foreign direct investment to licensing with varying levels of commitment, risk and opportunity. Exporting products or services is one of the…
Abstract
Market entry strategies range from foreign direct investment to licensing with varying levels of commitment, risk and opportunity. Exporting products or services is one of the most common of the intermediate market entry strategies. It is typically accomplished through authorized international channels of distribution. However, when significant price differences exist between markets, alternative, parallel channels of distribution are almost certain to arise. These parallel channels, often referred to as gray marketing, are generally legal but unauthorized distribution channels that create an alternative export market entry. After a review of the literature, a case study highlights these complex issues from the perspective of both manufacturer and parallel marketer. The case study provides a tool for evaluating theory and a basis for discussing this important alternative mode of market entry. The case and the discussion which follows also highlight the role of international trade shows as an important element of the marketing mix for entering many foreign markets.
Christopher W. J. Steele and Timothy R. Hannigan
Talk of “macrofoundations” helps foreground the constitutive and contextualizing powers of institutions – dynamics that are inadvertently obscured by the imagery of…
Abstract
Talk of “macrofoundations” helps foreground the constitutive and contextualizing powers of institutions – dynamics that are inadvertently obscured by the imagery of microfoundations. Highlighting these aspects of institutions in turn opens intriguing lines of inquiry into institutional reproduction and change, lived experience of institutions, and tectonic shifts in institutional configurations. However, there is a twist: taking these themes seriously ultimately challenges any naïve division of micro and macro, and undermines the claim of either to a genuinely foundational role in social analysis. The authors propose an alternative “optometric” imagery – positioning the micro and the macro as arrays of associated lenses, which bring certain things into focus at the cost of others. The authors argue that this imagery should not only encourage analytic reflexivity (“a more optometric institutionalism”) but also draw attention to the use of such lenses in everyday life, as an underexplored but critical phenomenon for institutional theory and research (“an institutionalist optometry”).
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Simona Giorgi, Margaret E. Guider and Jean M. Bartunek
We discuss a recent effort of institutional resistance in the context of the 2008–2011 Apostolic Visitation of U.S. women religious motivated by Vatican concerns about perceived…
Abstract
We discuss a recent effort of institutional resistance in the context of the 2008–2011 Apostolic Visitation of U.S. women religious motivated by Vatican concerns about perceived secularism and potential lack of fidelity among Catholic sisters. We examined the process of and women’s responses to the Visitation to shed light on the institutional work associated with productive resistance and the role of identity and emotions in transforming institutions.
At a time when the male leadership can be blamed for leading the church to a state of crisis – a time when the voices of women are needed more than ever – even the modest roles accorded to female clerics have come under attack. The specific reasons for the investigation are unclear (or, more probably, not public), but the suspicion, clearly, can be put in the crassest terms: too many American nuns have gone off the reservation.
– Lisa Miller, Female Troubles, Newsweek, May 27, 2010
At a time when the male leadership can be blamed for leading the church to a state of crisis – a time when the voices of women are needed more than ever – even the modest roles accorded to female clerics have come under attack. The specific reasons for the investigation are unclear (or, more probably, not public), but the suspicion, clearly, can be put in the crassest terms: too many American nuns have gone off the reservation.
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Christopher W. J. Steele, Timothy R. Hannigan, Vern L. Glaser, Madeline Toubiana and Joel Gehman