Explores worker flexibility, through learning, union strategies, and resistance to learning. Issues of flexibility, learning, and quality are subject of much debate, negotiation…
Abstract
Explores worker flexibility, through learning, union strategies, and resistance to learning. Issues of flexibility, learning, and quality are subject of much debate, negotiation, and conflict in the Canadian pulp and paper industry. A key bargaining issue for management has been to harness flexibility among the manual craft workers, to improve labour productivity. Within this context, workplace learning is not neutral or independent of day‐to‐day union‐management relations: it is a contested issue. Learning new skills is viewed as a threat to job control and security and presents a paradox: learning new trade skills enhances individual workers’ flexibility and employability but collectively weakens the union through job losses. Data were collected from pulp mills in British Columbia between 1996 and 1999. Survey and qualitative data provides evidence that workers’ resistance to learning is part of the contested arena of productivity and job control.
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Suzanne J. Konzelmann, Victoria Chick and Marc Fovargue-Davies
The debate about corporate purpose is a recurring one that has re-emerged today. What should be the guiding principles of business: the pursuit of profit or a contribution to…
Abstract
The debate about corporate purpose is a recurring one that has re-emerged today. What should be the guiding principles of business: the pursuit of profit or a contribution to public interest? We trace key elements in this debate in Britain and America, from the interwar years, when John Maynard Keynes and Adolf Berle made important contributions, to the 1970s, when events ushered in a return to laissez-faire and the rise to dominance of the shareholder primacy model of corporate governance and purpose, to today. Both the earlier and the current debates are centered around whether we see business institutions as strictly private entities, transacting with their suppliers, workers, and customers on terms agreed with or imposed upon these groups, or as part of society at large and therefore expected to contribute to what society deems to be its interests. Whether current developments will ultimately produce a shift in corporate purpose akin to the one that followed the Second World War remains to be seen. But the parallels to the interwar debates, and the uncertain economic, political, and social environments in which they took place, are striking. Our objective is to see what might be learned from the past to inform the current direction of thought concerning capitalism and corporate purpose.
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This paper commences with the recognition that so‐called zero tolerance policing strategies have been implemented and sustained ‐ both in the USA and Britain ‐ in response to a…
Abstract
This paper commences with the recognition that so‐called zero tolerance policing strategies have been implemented and sustained ‐ both in the USA and Britain ‐ in response to a very widespread public demand. It is argued that dismissing this support as part of a reactionary political backlash fails to address some very legitimate public concerns. Consequently, this paper considers the socio‐political circumstances that have provided the conditions for this popular support in terms of the notion of postmodern politics, whereby political demands and subsequent strategies are introduced that appeal to a wide range of interest groups, and which cross over the traditional liberal/conservative divide. Examples are cited, from New York City in the USA, to various geographical locations in Britain, in order to support the argument that zero tolerance‐style policing needs to be driven by the concerns of the particular community in order to receive widespread legitimacy.
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John Bratton and Sandra Watson
The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of line managers (LMs) in managing talent and emotional labour (EL) in the Scottish hospitality industry.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of line managers (LMs) in managing talent and emotional labour (EL) in the Scottish hospitality industry.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were generated from manager and HR practitioner interviews and a roundtable discussion with ten invited participants. In addition to obtaining an overview of approaches taken to managing talent and emotion, the authors also explored any challenges in implementing talent management (TM) in the industry and used an adapted model to rank the perceived importance of decisional, interpersonal, informational and developmental roles undertaken by front-LMs.
Findings
TM is seen as being of strategic importance, with structured and planned approaches in many of the organizations. Within these, LMs are given a great deal of responsibility. This requires organizations to provide time, resources and support to managers. It was evident that a caring and supportive culture is required. Highly significant differences are found on managing emotion. Although all managers highlighted that EL is important in the hospitality industry and managing it is challenging, most participants had an equivocal understanding of the concept and managers indicated that they had received no formal training to help manage emotion in the workplace.
Research limitations/implications
The scale of the paper is limited and restricted to the Scottish hospitality industry. Extending the research to other parts of the UK would be useful.
Practical implications
It is apparent that TM has to be linked to business strategy, with incentives and rewards for LMs. In addition, more formal training in the concepts of EL and emotional intelligence should be provided for senior and LMs. Also, good communication skills and support from top management for TM is important.
Originality/value
Previous research and commentary on TM mainly centres on relevant HR practices and policies. This paper focuses on the connection between managing talent and EL and identifies development behaviours as key factor affecting the performance of front-line employees.
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Explores leader‐follower dynamics within a context of a learning organization. Examines the influence of leaders’ behaviours on their followers’ learning in an energy company…
Abstract
Explores leader‐follower dynamics within a context of a learning organization. Examines the influence of leaders’ behaviours on their followers’ learning in an energy company based in western Canada. Using survey data gathered from 400 full‐time employees the researchers assessed Senge’s proposition in The Fifth Discipline (1990) that leadership behaviour, conceptualized in terms of three roles: steward, designer and teacher, facilitated informal learning. Using a learning questionnaire to measure supportive leadership practices for learning in the workplace, it is argued that the results revealed the presence of all three roles in the case study. Of the three, the “designer” role was the weakest at 57 percent agreement from respondents followed by 63 percent for “steward” and 67 percent for “teacher”. Significant differences in the level of agreement were found within duration of employment and occupational group. The data will encourage organizational leaders to reflect critically upon their activities if they are committed to the strategy of developing their intangible assets: people.
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Compstat is a goal‐oriented strategic management process that uses technology, operational strategy and managerial accountability to structure the delivery of police services and…
Abstract
Compstat is a goal‐oriented strategic management process that uses technology, operational strategy and managerial accountability to structure the delivery of police services and provide safety to communities. This process originated with the New York City Police Department and is now being adapted by many law enforcement agencies throughout the USA. It thus represents an emerging police organizational management paradigm. This paper analyses the evolution of police management techniques and the emergence of this new paradigm. It concludes with an assessment of the organizational changes required for the adaptation of this process.
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Mark H. Moore and Anthony A. Braga
Police performance measurement systems based on traditional indicators, such as arrest rates and response times, prevent police organizations from moving towards a strategy of…
Abstract
Police performance measurement systems based on traditional indicators, such as arrest rates and response times, prevent police organizations from moving towards a strategy of community problem solving as there is no way to hold police departments externally accountable for addressing community concerns and no way to hold particular officers internally accountable for engaging community problem‐solving activities. In the absence of relevant measurement systems, police executives experience difficulty motivating their managers and line‐level officers to change their approach towards policing. A number of departments have made considerable progress in developing performance measurement systems that both address community concerns and drive their organizations towards a community problem‐solving strategy. This paper argues why police executives would want to measure performance, describes how measurement is important in driving organizational change, discusses what police departments should be measuring, and presents an exploratory qualitative analysis of the mechanisms at work in the New York Police Department’s Compstat and its application in six other police departments.
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The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical analysis of the various proposals to regulate executive pay in the UK. Situated within a corporate governance context, it…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical analysis of the various proposals to regulate executive pay in the UK. Situated within a corporate governance context, it focuses on using shareholder empowerment as a mechanism to formulate a regulatory strategy to quell the continued furore that surrounds the issue.
Design/methodology/approach
Using an expansive array of different academic materials, the paper adopts the approach of using critical analysis to provide an original insight into the popular and contentious issue of executive remuneration.
Findings
The paper finds that the UK Government’s current proposal to regulate executive remuneration, via the shareholder empowerment device of a binding vote on remuneration, will primarily consist of symbolic rather than practical significance.
Social implications
The paper provides important social implications, as it provides a new prospective and insight into the well-covered issue of executive remuneration.
Originality/value
The paper draws on a host of traditional and modern academic materials to create a new viewpoint on the issue of remuneration. Moreover, the paper is original insofar that it ties the issue of shareholder empowerment into the conceptual design and formulation of company law and corporate law theory.