Search results

This study aims to investigate how radio frequency identification (RFID) is used and opinions about RFID in two world-leading logistics companies and four organisations in their supply network. Operations strategy was used to understand the sources of operations improvement and associated competitive advantage. However, the complexity of operations strategy hampers an evaluation of the benefits of RFID for logistics processes. We can evaluate RFID applied in logistics processes by thoroughly applying the theories of operations strategy.

Participants were recruited based on their roles and level of experience using non-probability purposive sampling. The findings were checked with participants to confirm interpretations and to ask confirming questions as necessary. Interviews were conducted as video chats. NVivo Pro was used for the fragmentation, classification, management and analysis of the primary and secondary data, allowing themes and relationships to emerge inductively. The literature was compared with the primary data.

The findings reinforce the argument that a firm can improve more than one performance objective at a time; show the relevance of technology and an operations performance objective; support the argument that top management strategies to implement technology should be aligned with the operations strategy and business aspirations.

This research area would benefit from more detailed investigation to strengthen the arguments for the relationships between RFID capabilities and elements of operations strategy for logistics processes. The findings indicate that top management support of strategically aligned RFID projects will have the best chance of success if they create and leverage valuable data whilst addressing identified competitive priorities.

Smart connected devices, such as RFID, give firms access to big data, which can be used to develop long-term processes, to achieve competitive advantage and access new forms of economic value. RFID cumulatively influences the operations performance objectives of cost, quality, flexibility, speed, dependability and technology. Business strategies based on technology should align with operations strategy.

The sharing of operational performance results, both before and after the implementation of RFID, will help to build learning within operations, increase the support of senior management and improve the performance of logistics processes with the associated benefits for society at large.

RFID is often evaluated in terms of theoretical technical or cost benefits. This research evaluates RFID by assessing and suggesting how it can contribute to operations strategy.

Libraries have long played an important role in the preservation, appreciation, and perpetuation of American traditions. As early as 1928, the Archive of American Folk‐Song was established in the Library of Congress to maintain a national collection of manuscripts and recordings of American folk songs. The archive's mission broadened to include all aspects of folklore and folklife, prompting a name change in 1981 to the Archive of Folk Culture. Today, the archive serves as a national repository for primary source material on American folklore, spoken word as well as music, and provides reference and reader services for the fields of folklore and ethnomusicology. In 1976, the American Folklife Center was established at the Library of Congress, and the archive was placed under its auspices. Charged with developing, promoting, and implementing programs that support American folklife, the center sponsors an active research and publications program. Archives are not the only connection, however, between libraries and folklore. With collections and performances of folktales in children's departments, folklore in school programs, family and local history collections in public libraries, and academic research collections, folklore engages a broad spectrum of library users.

This paper aims to accomplish two things: to build on current research which interrogates the role of management history in the neglect of women leaders and labor programs and to draw attention to Hallie Flanagan and the Federal Theater Project and their lost contributions to management and organizational studies.

This paper adopts a feminist poststructural lens fused with critical discourse analysis to capture the role of discourses in concealing a more fragmented view of history.

The findings are openly discursive and aim to disrupt current knowledge and thinking in the practice of making history. The paper calls for an undoing of history and an examination of the powerful forces, which result in a gendered and limited understanding of the past.

The objective of this paper is to help scholarship continue to transform management and organizational studies and management history and to raise the profile of remarkable leaders, like Flanagan and similarly remarkable programs like the Federal Theater Project. Flanagan managed arguably the most ambitious and novel labor program under the New Deal, which resulted in an average of 10,000 workers in the arts being employed over four years, in a project which engaged audiences of over 30,000,000 Americans.

The implementation of the UNICORN Collection Management System from Sirsi Ltd is described, showing its adaptation to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew's particular needs, for books, art, archives and other materials; and the inter‐relationship of management and system factors.

For the benefit of those who want to address gaps in our understanding of business relationships, this paper seeks to conceptually frame investigation into critical interaction episodes that fundamentally strengthen or fatally weaken relationship development. It also considers the importance of non‐critical episodes in business relationships. Particular attention is paid to the enduring yet frequently modified critical incident technique associated with Flanagan.

Episode relationship theory, the qualitative/quantitative debate, and the critical incident technique (CIT) literature are selectively reviewed and critically assessed.

First, because business relationships tend to persist, episode research must advance beyond relationship dissolution studies and progress into investigations of how different types of interactions change relationships. New types of episodes need to be studied, such as the generative, degenerative, and neutral episodes discussed here. Also, functionally distinct characteristic and non‐critical episodes are conceptualized. Second, the methods review suggests that useful qualitative methods deserve more attention. Third, though CIT research is prevalent in the marketing literature, it is at present incompletely adapted to business marketing research and needs development along the lines suggested in this article.

The interaction perspective on business relationships is given a dynamic framework at the interaction episode level while keeping the connection to the more macro relationship development models that conceptualize relationship states and processes.

As the field of history expands with each passing decade, so does the number of reference works on historical events. Many fine reference works have been released in recent years, and the following is an annotated list of some of those that librarians ought to consider purchasing. The materials included were published in the decade beginning with the American Bicentennial. The scope of the bibliography is also limited to certain subjects deemed appropriate by the author, and excludes a number of excellent works that were considered too limited (bibliographies of individuals, for example), even though they might well be proper purchases for a library's reference collection. Also excluded, generally, are those works that are revisions of earlier works. The range of subjects included within the larger context of “American history” is somewhat dependent on the materials actually published, and the author has attempted to select only those materials that have received favorable reviews.

Digital and social media have arguably altered the civic landscape, creating not only opportunities for civic voice and engagement but also distinct challenges. How do youth who are civically active think about activism and their own civic activities in this landscape? How does their sense of themselves as civic actors – the strength and salience of their civic identities – shape decisions to “speak up” online? In this chapter, we draw on data from interviews with civically active youth to explore connections between their civic identities and uptake of opportunities for voice online. Drawing on data from a follow-up study conducted two years after initial interviews, we also examine reported changes in online expression over time. We find that many – though not all – youth in our study appear to have strong civic identities, as indicated by their self-identification as “activists” and the centrality of voice to their conceptions of activism. We also observe connections between activist identification and online civic expression over time. Youths’ narratives about what informs their online voice decisions further suggest the relevance of forces that have influenced persistence in civic participation (such as life transitions, work, and family demands) in addition to pressures unique to the digital context (including online conflict and surveillance). This qualitative study suggests that strong civic identities may support uptake of, and persistence with, online civic expression and tolerance of related challenges. In the discussion, we consider implications for youth civic development and for the vitality and diversity of the digital civic sphere.

This research paper aims to study the achievement of the objectives set by the Government of Kerala through the Arogyakeralam Pain and Palliative Care project.

The research paper delves into diverse facets of an individual’s well-being including medical, emotional, spiritual and social aspects, when confronted with an incurable and incapacitating disease through the intervention of the PPC project. This insightful study was conducted in the state of Kerala, India.

The analysis reveals that quality of life (QoL) is most influenced by spiritual, social and psychological factors. This paper raises pertinent questions about the effectiveness of PPC initiatives within the realm of medical care.

The thought, conception and preparation of the subject is on improving social health care by assessing the existing practices followed by the local governance. This, by far, would benefit millions by formulating appropriate policies for improving the QoL.

The Kerala model of health care has garnered global acclaim, standing shoulder to shoulder with the health systems of developed nations. Adopting “active total care” to address pain and allied indications, the Arogyakeralam palliative care program significantly enhances patients' QoL. The focus was to uplift the QoL of patients suffering from terminal illnesses post-pandemic.

Large companies are the dominant forms of wealth creation in society today. As well as providing jobs and export income, they are key influences on social cohesion. We ignore how companies are run at a peril to us all. However, today investors are increasingly concerned about the ethical behaviour of those who run companies. Regular disclosures that directors and executives have behaved unethically reflect badly on the corporate sector as a vehicle for investor funds. By comparison, Australian company directors are increasingly stating that there is already too much concentration on the mechanisms of corporate governance, indicating that they will happily tick the boxes, but do little more.

In the latter part of the 20th century, companies discovered mission. The key elements of any mission must include the major corporate participants – investors, suppliers, customers, employees and society. The role of management is to develop a structure that can operationalise the mission. Such an approach puts ethics – how we treat other people – at the core of a company's activities. Trust is a critical element in how the interests of these stakeholders are taken up in decision-making and embedded in strategy, plans and action on the ground.

In the aftermath of significant corporate collapses in the 1980s and then again at the start of this century, companies also discovered corporate governance. According to the much referenced Cadbury Committee in the U.K., corporate governance is the system by which companies are directed and controlled, i.e., a the system of checks and balances for effective resolution of conflicts and control over the exercise of managerial power.

This paper suggests that an alternative “professional” approach to governance is likely to be more effective. Today, the role of management is to “add value” and contribute to the “good” of society. This good is the collective set of stakeholder interests entrusted to the governing board to look after. A governance model that integrates the human good with the operations of ‘mind’ in terms of learning and leadership highlights eight distinctive “products,” the eighth being valued products and by-products delivered to each stakeholder. The model is structured around the person's capacity to ask four categories of questions, including those that provide orientation and direction.

The model is used to examine a contemporary governance issue experienced by the board of directors at the National Australia Bank Limited.

Empowerment is a concept that means different things to different individuals. The factors that engender feelings of empowerment are thus multifarious. The purpose of this paper is to focus on to the factors that empower individuals and teams in projects settings.

Using the critical incident technique (CIT), 122 critical incidents comprising 69 empowering and 53 disempowering experiences of 30 purposively selected construction professionals are elicited and analysed.

Adopting a broad frame of reference on the premise that empowerment of individuals and teams in project settings is associated with drivers and barriers related to: the individual; the team context; the organisation; and the project – mutually exclusive and exhaustive contextual influences within each frame of reference are identified. At the individual‐level, cultural values and factors related to the quality of relationships with leaders and colleagues emerged. At the team‐level, team context and leadership style are the key factors. At the organisation‐level, factors related to structure and culture emerged. At the project‐level, project characteristics, organisation, environment and technology‐related factors impacted the empowerment of individuals and teams.

Practically, the paper provides targets of concrete interventions by leaders and organisations desirous of fostering empowerment in project teams.

This paper adds to previous research in demonstrating the practicality of the CIT in construction specific research and the credibility and trustworthiness checks employed are exemplary of measures researchers using qualitative methodologies can take to assert the credibility of their findings and conclusions.