INTRODUCTION This paper examines some of the issues which arise from management research which develops theory from case studies. It first raises some fundamental questions which…
Abstract
INTRODUCTION This paper examines some of the issues which arise from management research which develops theory from case studies. It first raises some fundamental questions which arise when case material is used in management research. For example, confusion surrounds the distinctions between qualitative data, inductive logic and case study research. Further, the processes of building theory from case studies lacks clarity. To help clear up some of these matters several research programmes are described in which the author has been personally involved and which developed theory from case studies. These case studies are used as illustrations of the multiple ways that case material might be used. Although every researcher has his/her preferred approach, it is concluded that case studies may be built up in a number of ways from, on the one hand, deep single case studies to multiple case studies using comparative logic, on the other. Between these two extremes are a number of hybrid methods which use both approaches.
Ian Boraston, John Gill, John Shipton and Peter L. Jennings
Using evidence from a programme of interviews with owners of small businesses, the possible problems which can arise for providers of support services when seeking to help…
Abstract
Using evidence from a programme of interviews with owners of small businesses, the possible problems which can arise for providers of support services when seeking to help potential entrepreneurs in deprived communities are considered. The focus is a co‐operative development initiative whose history is traced from its origins in the early 1980s, when the process aims of co‐operation were arguably as important as commercial success, to its current form with a more avowedly business ethos. The interviews had, as their principal purpose, to discover whether support could be provided and in what way, and what differences existed between assistance for the entrepreneur and the owner‐manager. A discussion of the distinction between entrepreneurs and owner‐managers provides a basis for analysing the firms in the study. Owner‐management rather than entrepreneurship is argued to be the more appropriate frame and support initiatives are discussed mainly in that context. Training, information (particularly from networking) and consultancy advice are considered as the principal ways of helping businesses of this type.
Matthew John Gill and Samantha Brookes
The purpose of this paper is to develop a psychological outcome tool which reflects the relationship between clusters of items on the Short Term Assessment of Risk and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a psychological outcome tool which reflects the relationship between clusters of items on the Short Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability (START) risk assessment and different categories of psychological progress in male inpatient psychiatric services.
Design/methodology/approach
A principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted on data from 135 male psychiatric rehabilitation patients’ START risk assessments.
Findings
PCA identified four strength psychology quadrants which were explained by a five-factor structure and four vulnerability quadrants which were explained by a four-factor structure. The development of the psychology quadrant, its usefulness in establishing a treatment pathway and areas of future research are also discussed.
Originality/value
Developing accessible, transparent outcome measures using evidence-based practice is highly relevant within the field of mental health rehabilitation.
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Academics in industrial relations have for many years been attempting to define their field of study. Recently, we were asked, by a client interested in training, to find out how…
Abstract
Academics in industrial relations have for many years been attempting to define their field of study. Recently, we were asked, by a client interested in training, to find out how practitioners (managers and shop stewards) would react to a systems model of industrial relations. Their responses are reported here and suggest an approach to industrial relations training which may be helpful in clarifying, improving and changing practice.
This paper aims to examine the actions of public sector accountants in the New Zealand government departments as they respond to the demands of the Central Treasury.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the actions of public sector accountants in the New Zealand government departments as they respond to the demands of the Central Treasury.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis is developed through an understanding of the secondary literature and practical experience of the first author who worked in the New Zealand public sector as a public sector accountant from 1972 to 1998. Both authors have remained active in the public sector through research and practice. The first author's last three placements were being Director Financial Management in the Ministry of Energy, Assistant Secretary in the Department of Maori Affairs and finally as CFO at the Ministry of Education. The first author has been a close observer of the Budget and was a participant at the departmental level for over 20 years.
Findings
The public sector reforms have posed challenges for public sector accountants. The arrival of accrual output based budgeting shaped a reconfiguration of accountants' identities. The politicians made public sector accountants the central entity of accrual output based budgeting and thus responsible for increasing public sector efficiency.
Research limitations/implications
The research is limited to public sector in New Zealand only.
Practical implications
This study would be of use to practitioners interested in the pressures and opportunities which arise out of a particular constellation of administrative roles.
Social implications
The administrative history, in particular, by senior officers is often unwritten for the public sector offices.
Originality/value
This is a descriptive piece on the role of public sector accountants and contributes to the understanding of how financial accountability works within the New Zealand Central Government.
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This series of articles has developed a number of views on organisation behaviour and how current knowledge on the subject can be used to improve training and development in…
Abstract
This series of articles has developed a number of views on organisation behaviour and how current knowledge on the subject can be used to improve training and development in industrial organisations. The series has been an attempt to focus the reader's attention towards the critical need for us as trainers to understand why organisations are as they are and what causes them to behave as they do. Organisation behaviour as a subject is therefore about understanding, or attempting to understand, the complexity of the relationships that exist in the collectivity of people and things that we call ‘organisation’. To achieve full understanding is, I am afraid, as hopeless as expecting to understand why our fellow men (or women) behave as they do, for organisations like all living things change as we examine them. What the theories and hypotheses on organisation behaviour can do for us is give us some idea of organisational change and the links between these causes and their manifestations in terms of behaviour. This knowledge gives us a map, however fragmented, on which we can plot bearings to indicate the course our actions should follow if they are to influence and change the reality of the organisational situation.
This study offers a lens for exploring women leaders’ production of resistance through postfeminist discourses. Through the case study of Bozoma Saint John, a high-profile Black…
Abstract
Purpose
This study offers a lens for exploring women leaders’ production of resistance through postfeminist discourses. Through the case study of Bozoma Saint John, a high-profile Black C-Suite executive, this study examines micro-acts of subversion and considers the extent they can promote feminist thinking in the corporate world and the implications for feminist theorising about women in leadership.
Design/methodology/approach
Interviews with Saint John were collected from YouTube and examined using feminist critical discourse analysis informed by intersectionality, feminist poststructuralism and Foucault’s notion of “reverse discourse”.
Findings
Saint John reproduces elements of the postfeminist confidence discourse to defy stereotypes of Black women, while simultaneously reversing the individualistic conception of confidence in favour of corporate and collective action. This has the potential to facilitate positive change, albeit within the boundaries of the confidence culture.
Research limitations/implications
Combining reverse discourse, intersectionality and feminist poststructuralism with a micro-level analysis of women leaders’ language use can help to capture the ways postfeminist concepts are given new subversive meanings.
Originality/value
Whereas existing studies have focused on how elite women’s promotion of confidence sustains the status quo, this study shifts the research gaze to the resistance realised through rearticulations of confidence, illustrating how women-in-leadership research can advance feminist theorising without vilifying senior women even as they participate in postfeminist logics of success.
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In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of…
Abstract
In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.
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In 2014, Paul Gill et al. introduced a study of 119 lone-actor terrorism cases, and found that lone-actor extremists could be more accurately identified by their behavioural…
Abstract
Purpose
In 2014, Paul Gill et al. introduced a study of 119 lone-actor terrorism cases, and found that lone-actor extremists could be more accurately identified by their behavioural characteristics and activities, rather than their extremist ideologies. The study was said to have significant impact on intelligence analysis in the field of counterterrorism. The purpose of this paper is to apply Gill et al.’s findings to financial intelligence investigations, to assist investigators with the detection and prevention of lone-actor terrorist financing.
Design/methodology/approach
This article provides an overview of the key findings provided by Gill et al. It then discusses the indicators of lone-actor terrorism in the context of financial intelligence investigations, and sets out methods to improve financial intelligence investigations to better identify and stop lone-actor terrorism in the future.
Findings
By applying traditional financial intelligence techniques, which focus on assessing an individual’s activity and behaviour, with open-source intelligence gathering, financial intelligence investigators will be better equipped to identify lone-actor terrorism and its financing moving forward.
Originality/value
This article will be of value to investigators specializing in terrorism and financial crime, as it will assist them in the identification of a proliferating security threat, the lone-actor terrorist. While the article relies on the findings provided by Gill et al., it takes a new approach by applying those findings specifically to the financial intelligence sector, to improve investigations related to terrorism.
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It's a pleasure to find that retail outlets designed for grown‐ups can be fun. Claude Gill bookshops, which have been around for well over 35 years, came under new management in…
Abstract
It's a pleasure to find that retail outlets designed for grown‐ups can be fun. Claude Gill bookshops, which have been around for well over 35 years, came under new management in 1982 and soon after plans were underway to update the chain. Isherwood & Co's new design has given the units a light, fresh feel, but most of all they've added a touch of humour.