Kathryn J. Brooks, Robert I. Wakefield and Kenneth D. Plowman
The purpose of this paper is to explore the propositions of activism and prosocial public relations that an organization will engage in non-confrontational (prosocial) public…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the propositions of activism and prosocial public relations that an organization will engage in non-confrontational (prosocial) public relations and negotiation by building up internal resources, reaching out to target publics, and making connections to a cause to gain visibility and support.
Design/methodology/approach
This study was a single embedded case study that explored the public relations and communication tactics of a non-profit organization (NGO).
Findings
Observations from the case study support the proposition. This study begins to establish some of the public relations methods of how a successful prosocial NGO can successfully engage its publics through activism and negotiation.
Research limitations/implications
A single embedded case study is not generalizable to a population but is generalizable to theory so it is trustworthy and replicable when using a similar organization studying the same concepts in this paper.
Practical implications
An organization can reach out to publics through publicity, promotion, and information to raise the visibility of the organization and encourage active participation. The organization increased support for its cause and helped to establish the reputation of the organization as a legitimate, trustworthy and effective establishment. The study further uncovered nurturing relationships as an additional fourth element to the process of prosocial public relations.
Social implications
Activism, prosocial public relations and negotiation in corporate communications and in this case a non-profit can apply to increase well-being and society conditions.
Originality/value
This study is the only one of its kind to apply activism, prosocial public relations and negotiation theory to a practical case using a non-profit entity.
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Olga Epitropaki and Charalampos Mainemelis
In the present chapter, we present the case study of the only woman film director who has ever won an Academy Award for Best Director, Kathryn Bigelow. We analyzed 43 written…
Abstract
In the present chapter, we present the case study of the only woman film director who has ever won an Academy Award for Best Director, Kathryn Bigelow. We analyzed 43 written interviews of Kathryn Bigelow that have appeared in the popular press in the period 1988–2013 and outlined eight main themes emerging regarding her exercise of leadership in the cinematic context. We utilize three theoretical frameworks: (a) paradoxical leadership theory (Lewis, Andriopoulos, & Smith, 2014; Smith & Lewis, 2012); (b) ambidextrous leadership theory (Rosing, Frese, & Bausch, 2011), and (c) role congruity theory (Eagley & Karau, 2002) and show how Bigelow, as a woman artist/leader working in a complex organizational system that emphasizes radical innovation, exercised paradoxical and ambidextrous leadership and challenged existing conventions about genre, gender, and leadership. The case study implications for teaching and practice are discussed.
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Life studies are a rich source for further research on the role of the Afro‐American woman in society. They are especially useful to gain a better understanding of the…
Abstract
Life studies are a rich source for further research on the role of the Afro‐American woman in society. They are especially useful to gain a better understanding of the Afro‐American experience and to show the joys, sorrows, needs, and ideals of the Afro‐American woman as she struggles from day to day.
Alexander Challinor, Kathryn Naylor and Patrick Verstreken
Self-harm, including death from suicide, remains a significant public health challenge. The prison population is known to be a high-risk group for self-harm and suicide. The…
Abstract
Purpose
Self-harm, including death from suicide, remains a significant public health challenge. The prison population is known to be a high-risk group for self-harm and suicide. The purpose of this study is to explore the trends in the frequency of self-harm over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic within a high-secure hospital. The authors hypothesised that the pandemic could adversely affect the mental health of patients, which could increase the rates of self-harm. Reasons for changes in the frequency of self-harm and the strategies used in response to the pandemic were also investigated.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper encompasses findings from a quality improvement project that investigated self-harming behaviours from February 2020 to February 2021 in a high-secure psychiatric hospital. Incidents of self-harm were recorded based on the hospital’s ward structure. Data was collected on the incidence of self-harm rates over the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on how the pandemic may have had an effect on self-harm.
Findings
This paper found an increase in the incidents of self-harm during the initial stages of the pandemic. The first national lockdown period yielded a rise in self-harm incidents from pre-COVID levels. The frequency of self-harm reduced following the first lockdown and returned to pre-COVID levels. The authors explored the psychological effects of COVID, isolation, interpersonal dynamics and changes in the delivery of care as reasons for these trends.
Practical implications
This study demonstrates the substantial challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic to secure psychiatric services. Having an awareness of how the pandemic can impact on self-harm is important, as it allows the correct balance of restriction of our patients’ liberty to a degree deemed necessary to control the pandemic and the delivery of effective patient care. The key clinical implications include the importance of direct face-to-face patient contact, effective communication, therapeutic interventions and activities, the psychological impact of quarantine and the influence the pandemic can have on an individual’s function of self-harm.
Originality/value
This paper is the first, to the authors’ knowledge, to explore the impact of COVID-19 in a high-security psychiatric hospital. The authors also explore possible explanations for the changes in the trends of self-harm and include the consideration of strategies for improving the prevention and management of self-harm in high-secure settings during a pandemic.
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Kathryn Haynes and Anne Fearfull
The aim of this paper is to examine gendered identities of women academics by exploring the interplay and exploitation of internal and external, personal and academic, identities…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to examine gendered identities of women academics by exploring the interplay and exploitation of internal and external, personal and academic, identities. The paper also considers the relative prioritisation of the three main academic activities of teaching, research, and administration, in which an enhanced emphasis on research performance, as opposed to teaching and administration, is what is often deemed to represent “success” in academia.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on autoethnographical detail, the paper reflects on the complexities of identities as they are constructed, developed, experienced and understood both by themselves and by others. By presenting several short autobiographical vignettes, the paper examines perceptions of the gendered identity of women in academia as caring, “motherly” and nurturing, and demonstrates attempts to exploit so‐called “natural” feminine, mothering traits as a means of fulfilling the pastoral and administrative components of universities.
Findings
In considering such stereotypes, the paper addresses examples of their self‐fulfilment, whilst considering how academic structures and practices also impose such distinctions, in a context where academic “success” is often typified by research, publications and academic networking.
Originality/value
The paper considers both possibilities for resistance and the negative implications for the career success of women academics, arguing that, until these gendered stereotypes are challenged, women academics will continue to be disadvantaged within academic institutions.
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Kathryn H. Dekas and Wayne E. Baker
A work orientation represents a person’s beliefs about the meaning of work – the function work plays in the person’s life and the constellation of values and assumptions the…
Abstract
Purpose
A work orientation represents a person’s beliefs about the meaning of work – the function work plays in the person’s life and the constellation of values and assumptions the person holds about the work domain. Research has suggested that adults tend to favor one of three primary work orientations: job, career, or calling. Empirical studies have shown that adults with different primary work orientations tend to experience different work and career outcomes; however, scholars have not analyzed how or why an individual first develops a work orientation. In this study, we take a first step toward investigating the origins of adults’ work orientations.
Design/methodology/approach
We propose hypotheses drawing on extant literature on the development of work values and occupational inheritance. We test hypotheses using a retrospective research design and survey methodology, with a sample of working adults.
Findings
Work orientations are developed through socialization processes with parents during adolescence. There are different patterns of development across the three work orientation categories: stronger calling orientations are developed when both parents possess strong calling orientations; stronger career orientations develop in accordance with fathers’ career orientations; and job orientations are related more to the nature of the adolescent’s relationship with parents than with parents’ own work orientations.
Originality/value
This research provides the first empirical study of the origin and development of work orientations.
Research limitations/implications
This research offers insight into ways generations are connected through the perceived meaning of their work, even as the nature of work changes. We encourage future scholars to use this as a starting point for research on the development of work orientations, and to continue exploring these questions using additional methods, particularly longitudinal study designs.
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Thomas Hatch, Kathryn Hill and Rachel Roegman
The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors and conditions that help to explain what it takes to mount district-wide efforts to improve instruction and address inequities.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors and conditions that help to explain what it takes to mount district-wide efforts to improve instruction and address inequities.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors examined the evolution of administrator social networks related to instruction, equity and race in three districts over a three-year period. The authors documented when and how these social networks support district-wide connections and consider the relationship between network evolution and each district’s efforts to improve outcomes for all students.
Findings
The authors found that administrators were most likely to be talking together about instruction, equity and race, and administrator social networks were most conducive to the sharing of information across roles, levels and initiatives when explicit efforts were made to engage administrators in common equity-related initiatives and when discussions of equity and race were part of the public conversation.
Research limitations/implications
Future studies of social networks among teachers and among teachers and administrators would provide a more well-rounded picture of how information and resources related to instruction, equity and race are shared throughout a district.
Practical implications
Results from this study can be used to help administrators reflect on key aspects of their organizational structure and the opportunities for interaction they provide.
Social implications
Strategic connections among those in different roles and initiatives can foster sharing of different perspectives and support the development of community cohesion and a common understanding of joint work.
Originality/value
This study provides an initial step in bringing together work on social networks and instructional leadership with research related to equity and race in studies of school improvement.
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Andrew F. Johnson, Beth M. Rauhaus and Kathryn Webb-Farley
Nonprofit organizations rely on earned income, government funding, charitable donations and investment income to support numerous programs and services for the public good. During…
Abstract
Purpose
Nonprofit organizations rely on earned income, government funding, charitable donations and investment income to support numerous programs and services for the public good. During times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, some nonprofits become even more critical to provide for those in need, but the funding streams to support activities may be even more stressed. The purpose of this article is to understand how COVID-19 might affect the financial stability of nonprofits in the US.
Design/methodology/approach
The article reviews historical financing patterns for US nonprofits and then uses reports and secondary data to understand how COVID-19 might change nonprofit financing in the US.
Findings
Earned revenues, the largest source of revenues for nonprofits historically, are down significantly as venues remain closed or at reduced capacity. Federal government grants and contracts have not been aimed specifically at the nonprofit sector and state and local budgets are stressed, suggesting government funding may be at risk. Charitable contributions from large foundations, corporations, and individual givers have increased, with some added flexibility, but this may not be a viable source for many smaller or community-based organizations. Nonprofit leaders may need to find new ways to collaborate to overcome the pandemic and researchers should seek to understand the impacts on different types of nonprofits and their revenues.
Originality/value
The value of this article lies in understanding COVID-19's early financial impacts on nonprofits to suggest research and operating paths for academics and practitioners.