Mandy M. Cheng and Kerry A. Humphreys
Strategic uncertainty from emerging threats and opportunities in the business environment can significantly impact managers’ abilities to successfully implement their business…
Abstract
Purpose
Strategic uncertainty from emerging threats and opportunities in the business environment can significantly impact managers’ abilities to successfully implement their business strategy. A key strategic control and governance mechanism designed to enable managers to respond to strategic uncertainty is a strategic performance measurement system, such as the balanced scorecard (BSC). This study aims to investigate whether strategic uncertainty is associated with the diversity and types of performance measures in a BSC, which are used by managers for various strategic control and governance purposes.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey of senior-level managers within strategic business units of Australian Stock Exchange listed organizations was conducted.
Findings
This study finds that the extent to which managers face strategic uncertainty is positively associated with performance measurement diversity. Further, managers faced with greater strategic uncertainty use performance measures relatively more to evaluate subordinates’ performance, communicate business strategy, track performance against targets, identify problem areas and guide future directions. Outcome measures are used to a greater extent for all five purposes, whereas leading measures are used more only for future-oriented purposes.
Practical implications
Strategic performance measurement systems, such as the BSC, can and are being used to provide managers with the information and control mechanisms necessary to meet the challenges associated with strategic uncertainty.
Originality/value
This study provides the first evidence on the relations between strategic uncertainty, performance measurement diversity and managers’ use of performance measures for five key purposes. Understanding these relations is important, as managers need to formulate appropriate responses to strategic uncertainty, to protect and create value by exploiting emerging opportunities and managing associated threats.
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Joseph Ben‐Ur and Bruce I. Newman
The purpose of this paper is to provide an evaluation of a newspaper insert survey and web‐based voter surveys associated with the same newspaper, conducted before and after the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide an evaluation of a newspaper insert survey and web‐based voter surveys associated with the same newspaper, conducted before and after the 2004 US presidential election.
Design/methodology/approach
The study compares response rates, demographics, and political profiles of voters responding to these two different channels of communication and evaluates the success of each in predicting the election outcome.
Findings
The study results show some significant differences between the two methods of voter data collection; nevertheless, each is useful in a comprehensive system that attempts to follow voter attitudes and intentions before the election and predict election outcome.
Origiality/value
The study relies on the use of an innovative marketing poll that goes beyond simple prediction of a voter's behavior and offers an explanatory component useful in the development of marketing strategies during a campaign.
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The purpose of this study is to evaluate the pre and post success of patron-driven acquisition (PDA) streaming video projects using financial analysis, thus comparing PDA as a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the pre and post success of patron-driven acquisition (PDA) streaming video projects using financial analysis, thus comparing PDA as a collection building tool against other legacy purchasing practices.
Design/methodology/approach
This is primarily a quantitative study based on deductive data derived; however, it does include qualitative findings. Hence, it is a mixed study.
Findings
The study approaches this topic from the viewpoint that ongoing evaluations of PDA projects, based on savings and benefits derived, can be practically conducted and are useful for CD decision-making by purchasing agents in academic libraries.
Research limitations/implications
Caution should be used when generalizing this study due to its specificity of its library’s collection development (CD) needs and methodology. The study is not intended to be original research, but it builds upon other case studies in this area.
Practical implications
In addition to improving CD strategies, libraries could use this study to develop a financial valuation methodology, which can help guide purchasing practices.
Social implications
This study has implications to all library stakeholders.
Originality/value
Few studies have compared and analyzed streaming video PDA programs using financial analysis in a practical manner to aid library acquisitions.
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Kerry Hendricks, Nick Deal, Albert J. Mills and Jean Helms Mills
The purpose of this study is to draw attention to the heuristic value of intersectionality by historicizing it as a framework appropriate for the use of studying discrimination…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to draw attention to the heuristic value of intersectionality by historicizing it as a framework appropriate for the use of studying discrimination and discriminatory practices in organizations over time.
Design/methodology/approach
Utilizing a fusion between amodernist historiography vis-à-vis the nascent ANTi-History approach and intersectional complexity, the authors draw upon historical narratives from archival materials British Airways to empirically examine the utility of, and turn to, intersectional history in historical organization studies.
Findings
Analysis of archival materials and commissioned corporate histories revealed subjectivities of socially constructing historicized intersectional identities. This suggests that certain identities have been and continue to “enjoy” privilege while others are marginalized and/or neglected through serial interconnected historical meanings. These processes of privileging and marginalization rely on the way a nexus of meaning is configured.
Research limitations/implications
The research process relied and is dependent on limited archival materials within a single organization (British Airways) and industry (civil aviation). The critique herein should not be misinterpreted as judgment of the airline itself as an exemplar of discriminatory practices but rather for its longevity as an ongoing concern; its rich, colonialist history within the United Kingdom and accessibility of data. Archival traces are housed within a semi-public corporate archive which means those traces available for study have been professional and rhetorically curated.
Practical implications
From the perspective of workplace diversity, our aim has been to reveal to diversity professionals and activists not only the role of history in shaping discrimination but also, in particular, to be alert to the processes whereby the production of knowledge of the past takes place. The authors hope also to have drawn attention to the power of organizations in the generation of discriminatory historical accounts and the need to further explore how such accounts are produced as knowledge of the past. Finally, the authors introduce the notion of “nexus of meaning” to suggest that in the complexity of intersectionality, the authors need to explore not only how people experience different and combined forms of discrimination but also how those experiences are shaped in a complex series of meaning that owe much to past experiences.
Social implications
The research directs attention to the nexus of meaning that constitute intersecting identities.
Originality/value
The research attempts to historicize intersectionality as a qualitative framework worthy of consideration in management and organization studies. From the perspective of studying discrimination in organizational life, the aim of this paper is to bring forward the role history plays in shaping discrimination as well as the processes whereby the production of knowledge of the past takes place. Attention is also drawn to the power of organizations in the generation of discriminatory historical accounts and the need to further explore how such accounts are produced. This study introduces the nexus of meaning analytic that understands how the experiences of different and combined forms of discrimination are shaped by meanings of the past.
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Abstract
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Kerry Jacobs and Suresh Cuganesan
– The purpose of this paper is to review and present a contemporary perspective on interdisciplinary accounting research in the context of the public services.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review and present a contemporary perspective on interdisciplinary accounting research in the context of the public services.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors present the experience, interpretations and perspective on the state of this research and how it might usefully proceed. The authors use the concept of knowledge production modes to inform the discussion on how the authors might tackle wicked problems.
Findings
The interdisciplinary accounting research project in the public services needs to do more in terms of moving outside the disciplines of accounting scholarship. Shifting to a mode of knowledge production that addresses wicked problems requires the interdisciplinary accounting project to work on specific problems with real world application. The authors must re-envision how the work with practice in the doing of research.
Originality/value
This timely perspective argues for a transition in the interdisciplinary accounting research project in the public services before its approach, assumptions and methods become taken-for-granted, potentially missing this opportunity to shift into a more engaged research enterprise.
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Phyllis Annesley and Kerry Sheldon
This paper aims to describe issues clinicians encounter when delivering cognitive analytic therapy (CAT) within a high secure hospital (HSH).
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to describe issues clinicians encounter when delivering cognitive analytic therapy (CAT) within a high secure hospital (HSH).
Design/methodology/approach
Focus groups were conducted with six staff using a semi‐structured interview. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.
Findings
Five main themes emerged from the data. These were: concerns around therapy and the therapeutic relationship; issues with CAT stages and structure; issues around CAT tools; issues connected with the HSH setting; and concerns about integrating CAT and teamwork. Clinicians addressed these issues by helping others understand therapeutic relationships and adapting CAT tools and structure.
Research implications
It is recommended that HSH managers ensure that therapists are fully supported and subsidiary therapy staff members are appropriately trained. Additionally, the Association for Cognitive Analytic Therapy (ACAT) and CAT training organizations need to demonstrate sensitivity to the HSH context and fully prepare trainees for forensic work.
Originality/value
This paper describes how clinicians effectively address challenges when delivering CAT and makes recommendations for future delivery.
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Muhammad Nateque Mahmood, Subas Prasad Dhakal, Kerry Brown, Robyn Keast and Anna Wiewiora
The purpose of this paper is to explore and compare the asset management policies and practices of six Australian states – New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore and compare the asset management policies and practices of six Australian states – New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania – to improve understanding of the policy context to best shape policy focus and guidelines. Australian state-wide asset management policies and guidelines are an emergent policy domain, generating a substantial body of knowledge. However, these documents are spread across the layers of government and are therefore largely fragmented and lack coherency.
Design/methodology/approach
The comparative study is based on the thematic mapping technique using the Leximancer software.
Findings
Asset management policies and guidelines of New South Wales and Victoria have more interconnected themes as compared to other states in Australia. Moreover, based on the findings, New South Wales has covered most of the key concepts in relation to asset management; the remaining five states are yet to develop a comprehensive and integrated approach to asset management policies and guidelines.
Research limitations/implications
This review and its findings have provided a number of directions on which government policies can now be better constructed and assessed. In doing so, the paper contributes to a coherent way forward to satisfy national emergent and ongoing asset management challenges. This paper outlines a rigorous analytical methodology to inform specific policy changes.
Originality/value
This paper provides a basis for further research focused on analyzing the context and processes of asset management guidelines and policies.
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Paula Phillips Carson, Patricia A. Lanier and Kerry David Carson
Through the application of Hirst’s “forms of knowledge” theory, it is shown that the Shakers’ nineteenth century management principles had many similarities to Deming’s tenets…
Abstract
Through the application of Hirst’s “forms of knowledge” theory, it is shown that the Shakers’ nineteenth century management principles had many similarities to Deming’s tenets. For example, Shakers were committed to perfection in work, taking their time in pursuit of quality. Training was accomplished through sharing community expertise, apprenticing, and rotating jobs. Also, equality and cooperation were encouraged among the “brothers” and “sisters.” This example of management history research provides a baseline from which management concepts can be understood and potential mistakes avoided.
Kristin L. Cullen-Lester, Caitlin M. Porter, Hayley M. Trainer, Pol Solanelles and Dorothy R. Carter
The field of Human Resource Management (HRM) has long recognized the importance of interpersonal influence for employee and organizational effectiveness. HRM research and practice…
Abstract
The field of Human Resource Management (HRM) has long recognized the importance of interpersonal influence for employee and organizational effectiveness. HRM research and practice have focused primarily on individuals’ characteristics and behaviors as a means to understand “who” is influential in organizations, with substantially less attention paid to social networks. To reinvigorate a focus on network structures to explain interpersonal influence, the authors present a comprehensive account of how network structures enable and constrain influence within organizations. The authors begin by describing how power and status, two key determinants of individual influence in organizations, operate through different mechanisms, and delineate a range of network positions that yield power, reflect status, and/or capture realized influence. Then, the authors extend initial structural views of influence beyond the positions of individuals to consider how network structures within and between groups – capturing group social capital and/or shared leadership – enable and constrain groups’ ability to influence group members, other groups, and the broader organizational system. The authors also discuss how HRM may leverage these insights to facilitate interpersonal influence in ways that support individual, group, and organizational effectiveness.