Peter Bürgi, Bart Victor and Jody Lentz
“Chemcor”, a mid‐sized specialty chemicals firm must balance the disciplining effects of planning against the need for innovative and adaptive action. The top corporate strategy…
Abstract
“Chemcor”, a mid‐sized specialty chemicals firm must balance the disciplining effects of planning against the need for innovative and adaptive action. The top corporate strategy officer at Chemcor resolved to help three company divisions work towards finding a way. To complement the planned strategy development process, separate workshops were held for the strategists and senior managers at each of the organization’s three divisions. Built around a radical new technique for analyzing an organization’s identity, landscape and deepest interests in the face of a variety of potential situations, these workshops were intended to help managers learn to continuously assess their organization’s strategic situation in real time. Called “Real Time Strategy”, the workshops encourage a thorough conversation about issues of identity and strategy using a technique called LEGO Serious Play®. The representation of their strategic situation made from Lego construction materials that the Chemcor managers built in the real time strategy workshop enabled them to have a profitable conversation about how their business model would work in variety of different potential situations. In sum, the workshop encouraged senior managers to cultivate their ability to adapt rather than to only implement the plan.
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Abstract
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To suggest methods and approaches to the study of relationships between the blogsphere and news, and to show, through a preliminary study, how the blogsphere makes particular…
Abstract
Purpose
To suggest methods and approaches to the study of relationships between the blogsphere and news, and to show, through a preliminary study, how the blogsphere makes particular political contributions through the manner in which social issues are discussed.
Design/methodology/approach
The article provides a set of research questions as well as general methodological approaches to undertake empirical, comparative analysis of the blogsphere and news. It reports on a preliminary study of the contribution of the blogsphere to politics using semantic analysis. Hyperlink analysis of the right‐of‐center US political blogsphere is also provided in a figure.
Findings
It was found that the contribution of the blogsphere to political issue formation is distinctive from that of the news, for the blogsphere provides to issues a poignancy not found in the news.
Research limitations/implications
The reported study is suggestive of a particular contribution the blogsphere may make to issue formation.
Practical implications
The article outlines a research agenda.
Originality/value
The article seeks to reorient the study of the blogsphere.
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Frankie J. Weinberg, Jay P. Mulki and Melenie J. Lankau
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of mentor beliefs about effort related to the knowledge and learning process on their extent of mentoring at work, and to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of mentor beliefs about effort related to the knowledge and learning process on their extent of mentoring at work, and to determine the role that the mentor’s perception of psychological safety plays in tempering this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
This study was conducted at an 820-member organization maintenance and operations organization consisting of a number of professions in which apprenticeship-style learning is prevalent. Data collection resulted in 570 members self-identifying as having mentored a less experienced colleague. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to confirm that the measurement instrument represents one unified factor, and a structural equation modelling approach was used to assess the relationships among the study’s latent variables.
Findings
Results reveal that mentors who hold sophisticated effort-oriented beliefs are more likely to offer psychosocial support to their protégés. Further, although the relationship between effort-oriented beliefs and vocational support is not significant, the mentor’s perception of a psychologically safe work environment significantly moderates both sets of relationships.
Research limitations/implications
As approximately 88 per cent of respondents work in service, as opposed to administrative groups, caution should be exercised in generalizing this study’s findings to the general workforce population. Further, the present study did not differentiate mentors who identified a current or previous subordinate as their protégé from those whose protégés were not a subordinate, nor did the authors differentiate formal from informal mentoring relationships. Thus, further investigation is needed to determine whether our hypothesized relationships differ in any unique manifestations of mentoring relationships at work.
Practical implications
By providing a better understanding of the relationship between effort-oriented beliefs and mentoring at work, this study may help in the design of more effective mentoring relationships and ultimately enhance knowledge management and workplace learning.
Originality/value
There is no previous research that investigates how one’s cognitions about the effort associated with the knowledge and learning process, in particular, influence mentoring at work. This study provides a model for understanding and developing enhanced mentoring relationships, which are considered a critical element of organizational learning.