KENNETH J. CAMERON and MICHAEL ROBERTS
Recession, inflation, cuts — these and related keywords have dominated the international literature of librarianship in recent years. The academic library community has been…
Abstract
Recession, inflation, cuts — these and related keywords have dominated the international literature of librarianship in recent years. The academic library community has been implored to change its “mission”, redefining its basic priorities, and substituting service for stock, access strategies for holdings strategies, collection management for collection development, undergraduate needs for postgraduate needs (or vice‐versa), and management skills for professionalism. While the production of prescriptions, frequently radical ones, has become an industry, analysis and, above all, measurement of the underlying problem has been strictly limited. Descriptions of cuts have tended to paint a qualitative rather than a quantitative picture. Statistical analysis of aspects of recession has usually been restricted by time‐span, subject coverage, type of material, or a combination of these.
Kenneth J. Cameron and Michael Roberts
A review of the main financial trends in Scottish universitylibraries during the 1980s. Updates a previous study in 1986 by the sameauthors on this topic, covering the…
Abstract
A review of the main financial trends in Scottish university libraries during the 1980s. Updates a previous study in 1986 by the same authors on this topic, covering the post‐Robbins era. Methodology based upon the use of published statistical sources, together with library annual reports. Examines the declining proportion of university finance devoted to libraries. Within the libraries′ budgets investigates the cumulative transfer of resources away from traditional collection building and staffing complements in favour of mushrooming services and automation requirements, in a period of vastly increasing clienteles, usage and demand. Spotlights various co‐operative ventures instigated by the Scottish academic library community to help meet the challenge. Argues that the decline in overall funding and continued transfer of resources from collections to services cannot proceed indefinitely if Scottish universities are to function effectively in an age of information‐hunger and accelerated growth in student numbers.
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This review begins by looking at interlending statistics from research libraries in New Zealand and the USA, which show a general increase in interlending activity, but with far…
Abstract
This review begins by looking at interlending statistics from research libraries in New Zealand and the USA, which show a general increase in interlending activity, but with far more lending than borrowing being carried out. International interlending statistics for 1982 are briefly analysed and a paper describing the use of interlending statistics to detemine monographic acquisitions policy is discussed. Two major reports on interlending and document delivery in Quebec and the USA reveal inadequacies in these services, mainly in supply times, and their authors put forward suggestions for improvement in the future. The views of a US author on the future of document delivery are discussed along with an electronic messaging survey in the USA, the DOCDEL project in Europe and the present and future prospects for interlending in the USSR. News of new interlibrary loan subsystems in the major US on‐line bibliographic networks is given. Finally a new interlibrary loan handbook from the USA is reviewed.
Valerie Chambers, Eric N. Johnson, Gary M. Fleischman and Kenneth Zheng
Management discretion in the decision to reduce payroll costs is an important but under-researched issue in management accounting. The authors leverage the experimental…
Abstract
Management discretion in the decision to reduce payroll costs is an important but under-researched issue in management accounting. The authors leverage the experimental environment to test the role of organizational culture (close vs. distant) and managerial communion (concern for others) along with their interaction with sales decline persistence (one vs. two periods) on planned layoff decisions. The authors find that communal managers are hesitant to downsize employees and that a close organizational culture interacts with one period sales declines to reduce layoffs although the influence of culture is reduced with persistent sales declines. The authors also examine the influence of culture and communion on managers’ preference for pay cuts as an alternative to layoffs. The authors find that a close culture and higher communion are associated with decisions to choose pay cuts over layoffs; however, these costs interact such that managers low in communion in a distant culture express a higher preference for layoffs. These findings illustrate the combined influence of economic, organizational, and dispositional factors on manager decisions about the extent and form of labor cost reductions due to sales declines.
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Cameron Sumlin, Mauro J. J. De Oliveira, Richard Conde and Kenneth W. Green
The purpose of this study is to determine whether the implementation of a performance management system comprising some traditional management practices (management process and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to determine whether the implementation of a performance management system comprising some traditional management practices (management process and organizational behavior modification) lead to an ethical organizational environment and improved employee performance.
Design/methodology/approach
A structural model is theorized and assessed using data from samples of full-time employees in the USA and Brazil. Partial least squares–structural equation modeling is used.
Findings
The findings of this study suggest that management process and organizational behavior modification directly and positively impact the ethical environment, and the ethical environment directly and positively impacts employee performance. The management process and organizational behavior modification indirectly impact employee performance through an ethical environment.
Research limitations/implications
Although this theorized model was tested and provided significant results for implementing the management practices suggested, it is strongly recommended that other random data samples be used to analyze the theorized model and assess to reconfirm the results. In addition, incorporating the ethical environment construct within a larger model that includes other potential antecedents, such as management principles, and other potential outcomes, such as organizational commitment, job satisfaction and workplace optimism, is recommended.
Practical implications
This study provides management practitioners with empirical evidence that implementing a performance management system consisting of the management process and organizational behavior modification will enhance both the ethical environment and organizational trust, which, in turn, will lead to improved individual employee performance. Based on the theoretically and statistically supported framework, managers can improve the performance of their subordinates. The results further support the assertions that managers must implement the management process along with organizational behavior modifications to improve employee performance through an ethical environment and organizational trust
Social implications
The general conclusion from this study is that good management practices in the form of the management process and organizational behavior modification are inherently ethical. Furthermore, when implemented and consistently maintained by managers, these practices will result in an organizational environment that supports ethical behavior and engenders a high level of trust. The results of this study demonstrate a significant contribution to the existing literature, in that good management is tied, in fact, directly to ethics and trust.
Originality/value
The results provide evidence that good management in the form of the management process and organizational behavior modification yields both a positive ethical environment and improved employee performance. Practitioners are provided with evidence that reaffirms the need to define expectations for employees and to provide the necessary resources and positive reinforcement to fulfill the expectations. This study is one of the first to directly assess the impact of traditional management practices on an ethical environment.
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Kenneth Lawani, Billy Hare, Michael Tong and Iain Cameron
Over 2.7 million workers are employed in the UK construction industry and with the fragmented nature of the construction sector; cases of poor mental health of workers are on the…
Abstract
Purpose
Over 2.7 million workers are employed in the UK construction industry and with the fragmented nature of the construction sector; cases of poor mental health of workers are on the increase. This upsurge in the number of workers experiencing poor mental health could directly impact construction safety with significant financial adverse consequences on employers and the UK economy. Studies have identified lapses within the construction sector emphasising the lack of transparency regarding reporting of mental health and well-being of construction workers due to the inadequate engagement from employers and the lack of genuine leadership commitment to tackle mental health.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopted a non-probability purposive sampling strategy, using a self-selected sample. A self-administered questionnaire benchmarked against the mental health core and enhanced standards tools by the “Stevenson/Farmer review of mental health and employers” served as the basis for the methodology. A total of 106 industry managers from highways, construction, maritime, utilities, home building, rail and haulage/fleet were involved in this study.
Findings
The findings indicate that the industry is making good strides towards addressing mental health issues; poor mental health have significant financial burdens on businesses and the economy; some contractors have mental health initiatives and programmes in place; there is inconsistency of support available to employees; some contractors now integrate leadership training; the level of engagement vary based on the strategy and action plan adopted by organisations; different mechanisms are adopted for monitoring mental health issues, and there are cross-industry initiatives.
Research limitations/implications
A limitation of this study is the number of participants which is not representative of the entire UK construction workforce. Therefore, the findings from this study as much as it presents some understanding of employee mental health and well-being cannot be overtly generalised across multiple industries, different geographic regions or contexts.
Originality/value
Employers should have a clear representation of the mental health of their employees to help them understand what affects worker’s mental well-being and how they can support them. Disregarding the multifaceted causes of mental ill-health due to the perceived financial implications could be more devastating for the industry.
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This chapter provides an overview of the century-long economic history of scheduled passenger airlines services in developing countries. Initially there is discussion of what…
Abstract
This chapter provides an overview of the century-long economic history of scheduled passenger airlines services in developing countries. Initially there is discussion of what constitutes a developing country and how airlines activities interact with development processes. It is a broad view which compares and contrasts the varying paths civil aviation has taken within different countries and internationally. It offers some insights as to why airlines are where we are today and as to what the future may hold for developing nations.
Richard Conde, Victor Prybutok, Kenneth Thompson and Cameron Sumlin
The purpose of this study is to extend sales control research to inside sales. Aside from a few notable exceptions (Conde et al., 2022) much of the sales control literature has…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to extend sales control research to inside sales. Aside from a few notable exceptions (Conde et al., 2022) much of the sales control literature has focused on a single control mechanism rather than a sales control portfolio perspective. The authors add multiple layers to Conde et al. (2022) by capturing secondary operational data and manager interviews to access sales control theory in practice.
Design/methodology/approach
With operational data from a Fortune 100 financial services company and sales manager interviews, the authors present evidence that managers apply a portfolio of controls to ensure sales agents’ overall performance.
Findings
Findings support that cultural controls have a greater influence on overall performance than a focus solely on process and outcome controls. Inside sales managers can generate better results when they focus on creating an employee-centric culture rather than controlling sales agents with formal sales controls.
Originality/value
This study extends sales control research by examining inside sales managers’ formal and informal sales controls. Historically, inside sales had sales leaders balance a myriad of sales controls grounded in strict oversight. With a few notable exceptions, the limited inside sales control research provides the opportunity to display an inside sales manager’s need to jointly focus on operational results and sales outcomes, illustrating the importance of cultural controls compared to other sales process and outcome controls. This research considerably extends sales controls research by focusing on inside sales.
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THE INTER‐RELATIONSHIPS between the flowering of the fourth estate and popular literature, the democratisation of the reading public, and the growth of radicalism in the first…
Abstract
THE INTER‐RELATIONSHIPS between the flowering of the fourth estate and popular literature, the democratisation of the reading public, and the growth of radicalism in the first half of the nineteenth century have been long recognised. Yet although literary and political historians have dug deeply and frequently in the periodical press of the time for evidence of contemporary attitudes, less attention has been paid to the journalists whose output is represented. It is unsafe to assume that they were typified by literary giants like Dickens (whose editorship of the Daily news was at best undistinguished) or by those who subsequently produced autobiographical accounts. Most were comparatively faceless men, whose social, educational, literary, and political backgrounds can be discovered only through extensive research. Until numerous bio‐bibliographies are compiled on an individual basis, generalisations about the profession as a whole will remain tenuous. William Weir, editor of the Daily news in 1854–58, was one of this powerful new group of substantially‐neglected communicators, but in his case a unique if scattered range of sources permits a reconstruction of the apprenticeship of a Victorian journalist and some interesting insights into the profession.
David Cooperrider, David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva
It’s been thirty years since the original articulation of “Appreciative Inquiry in Organizational Life” was written in collaboration with my remarkable mentor Suresh Srivastva…
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It’s been thirty years since the original articulation of “Appreciative Inquiry in Organizational Life” was written in collaboration with my remarkable mentor Suresh Srivastva (Cooperrider & Srivastva, 1987). That article – first published in Research in Organization Development and Change – generated more experimentation in the field, more academic excitement, and more innovation than anything we had ever written. As the passage of time has enabled me to look more closely at what was written, I feel both a deep satisfaction with the seed vision and scholarly logic offered for Appreciative Inquiry, as well as well as the enormous impact and continuing reverberation. Following the tradition of authors such as Carl Rogers who have re-issued their favorite works but have also added brief reflections on key points of emphasis, clarification, or editorial commentary I am presenting the article by David Cooperrider (myself) and the late Suresh Srivastva in its entirety, but also with new horizon insights. In particular I write with excitement and anticipation of a new OD – what my colleagues and I are calling the next “IPOD” that is, innovation-inspired positive OD that brings AI’s gift of new eyes together in common cause with several other movements in the human sciences: the strengths revolution in management; the positive pscyhology and positive organizational scholarship movements; the design thinking explosion; and the biomimicry field which is all about an appreciative eye toward billions of years of nature’s wisdom and innovation inspired by life.
This article presents a conceptual refigurationy of action-research based on a “sociorationalist” view of science. The position that is developed can be summarized as follows: For action-research to reach its potential as a vehicle for social innovation it needs to begin advancing theoretical knowledge of consequence; that good theory may be one of the best means human beings have for affecting change in a postindustrial world; that the discipline’s steadfast commitment to a problem solving view of the world acts as a primary constraint on its imagination and contribution to knowledge; that appreciative inquiry represents a viable complement to conventional forms of action-research; and finally, that through our assumptions and choice of method we largely create the world we later discover.