Ted Buswick, Clare Morgan and Kirsten Lange
To convey the findings of an investigation into the relationship between poetry and business thinking, which began with the hypothesis that regular reading and analysis of poetry…
Abstract
Purpose
To convey the findings of an investigation into the relationship between poetry and business thinking, which began with the hypothesis that regular reading and analysis of poetry and its levels of meaning, subtle verbal and nonverbal contextual nuances, emotional content, and required associative thinking will help people deal with ambiguity, delay closure on decisions, and result in more systemic thinking and in better business decisions.
Findings
The research and workshops indicate that reading poetry can expand thinking space by enhancing associative thinking and access to preconceptual areas.
Research limitation/implications
The findings are based on extensive interdisciplinary research and a small number of seminars and workshops. No formal studies have yet been conducted.
Practical implications
This provides a way to open thinking spaces that may be often unused by the business strategist, and that can lead to better decisions. By focusing on how executives can refine their thinking abilities to take them beyond the ordinary limits of cause‐and‐effect approaches, encourages the application of those radical judgments that can help differentiate one organization from another.
Originality/value
The authors believe they are the first to explore this relationship between reading poetry and business thinking.
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Eva Cyhlarova, David Crepaz-Keay, Rachel Reeves, Kirsten Morgan, Valentina Iemmi and Martin Knapp
– The purpose of this paper is to establish the effectiveness of self-management training as an intervention for people using secondary mental health services.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to establish the effectiveness of self-management training as an intervention for people using secondary mental health services.
Design/methodology/approach
A self-management and peer support intervention was developed and delivered by secondary mental health service users to 262 people with psychiatric diagnoses living in the community. Data on wellbeing and health-promoting behaviour were collected at three time points (baseline, six, and 12 months).
Findings
Participants reported significant improvements in wellbeing and health-promoting lifestyle six and 12 months after self-management training. Peer-led self-management shows potential to improve long-term health outcomes for people with psychiatric diagnoses.
Research limitations/implications
Due to the lack of a control group, the positive changes cannot definitively be attributed to the intervention. Other limitations were reliance on self-report measures, and the varying numbers of completers at three time points. These issues will be addressed in future studies.
Practical implications
The evaluation demonstrated the effectiveness of self-management training for people with psychiatric diagnoses, suggesting self-management training may bring significant wellbeing gains for this group.
Social implications
This study represents a first step in the implementation of self-management approaches into mental health services. It demonstrates the feasibility of people with psychiatric diagnoses developing and delivering an effective intervention that complements existing services.
Originality/value
This is the first study to investigate the effectiveness of a self-management training programme developed and delivered by mental health service users in the UK.
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Andrew Martel, Kirsten Day, Mary Ann Jackson and Saumya Kaushik
The COVID-19 pandemic has engendered changes in previously unimaginable timeframes, leading to new ways of working, which can quickly become the “ordinary” way of working. Many…
Abstract
Purpose
The COVID-19 pandemic has engendered changes in previously unimaginable timeframes, leading to new ways of working, which can quickly become the “ordinary” way of working. Many traditional workplace and educational practices and environments, however, are disadvantageous to people with disability and consequently are under-represented in the workforce and higher education.
Design/methodology/approach
Contributing factors include exclusionary societal and employer attitudes and inaccessible built environments including lack of attention to paths of travel, amenities, acoustics, lighting and temperature. Social exclusion resulting from lack of access to meaningful work is also problematic. COVID-19 has accelerated the incidence of working and studying from home, but the home environment of many people with disability may not be suitable in terms of space, privacy, technology access and connection to the wider community.
Findings
However, remote and flexible working arrangements may hold opportunities for enhancing work participation of people with disabilities. Instigating systemic conditions that will empower people with disability to take full advantage of ordinary working trajectories is key. As the current global experiment in modified work and study practices has shown, structural, organisational and design norms need to change. The future of work and study is almost certainly more work and study from home. An expanded understanding of people with disabilities lived experience of the built environment encompassing opportunities for work, study and socialisation from home and the neighbourhood would more closely align with the UNCRPD's emphasis on full citizenship.
Originality/value
This paper examines what is currently missing in the development of a distributed work and study place continuum that includes traditional workplaces and campuses, local neighbourhood hubs and homes.
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Kirsten Mitchell and Patrick Branigan
Introduces focus group methodology to health professionals interested in the possibility of using the method to evaluate health promotion interventions. A working definition and…
Abstract
Introduces focus group methodology to health professionals interested in the possibility of using the method to evaluate health promotion interventions. A working definition and brief history of the method is provided, followed by a summary of possible uses in the three types of evaluation: formative; process; and outcome. It suggests that professionals deciding if and when to use focus groups should consider the aim of their evaluation, the research participants who will be involved in the evaluation and the resources available. Practical issues such as preparing an appropriate topic guide, recruiting participants, facilitating the discussion, analysis and report writing are discussed.
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Kirsten M. Rosacker and Robert E. Rosacker
This study aims to revisit and extends the work of Rosacker and Rosacker (2012) that called for increased interdisciplinary efforts to address and solve the critical issues…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to revisit and extends the work of Rosacker and Rosacker (2012) that called for increased interdisciplinary efforts to address and solve the critical issues (critical success factors) facing technologically-enabled remote-access voting platforms. It builds upon the background platform presented there, which included an historical timeline of information and communication technologies and an e-voting literature review, and extends that work by providing a state-of-the-art update and review of the rapidly changing voter environment from societal, technological and experiential studies over the past decade. Specific focus is directed at technology-enabled, remote-access voting, while also considering the important role technological advances can play in improving voter registration/confirmation procedures.
Design/methodology/approach
First, a brief review of significant societal and technological changes, including the rapid evolution of the internet of things, is undertaken to frame the discussion. Second, a sample of several technology-enabled, remote-access voting experiments are reviewed and critiqued. Third, currently available technical solutions targeting technology-enabled voter registration and vote casting are offered as the next step in the process that will ultimately lead to remote-access voting becoming widely deployed across smart devices. Finally, some contemporaneous conclusions are tendered.
Findings
Society and technology-enabled devices have each witnessed myriad changes and advancements in the second decade of the 21st century. These have led to numerous remote-access voting experiments across the globe that have overwhelmingly proven the concept of technology-enabled, remote-access voting to be viable while also identifying/reasserting issues (critical success factors) that continue to restrain its full implementation. Importantly, none of the problems identified is fatal to the concept.
Originality/value
This study considers the issue of technologically-enabled, remote-access voting focussing on the impacts associated with the portfolio of recent societal and technological advancements including the many vexing concerns and issues presented by the coronavirus pandemic. Social distancing is limiting access to the traditional methods of in-person voting for both election officials and voters bringing into question the November 2020 US national election. Calls for expanded mail voting options and the requisite federal funding required to support these efforts are increasing, widespread and broadly persuasive. Wholly missing in this debate is an exhaustive consideration and discussion of technologically enhanced, remote-access voting systems and their role in filling the void.
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Clemens Boy, Femke L. Truijens, Anneke Louwerse, Kirsten Visser, Dennis Bastiaansen, Wietske A. Ester, Elisabeth H.M. Van Rijen, Ruth Van der Hallen and Linda P. Dekker
The lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on autistic children and adolescents remains uncertain. Disruptions to routines, social communication and support systems presented…
Abstract
Purpose
The lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on autistic children and adolescents remains uncertain. Disruptions to routines, social communication and support systems presented unique challenges. The existing body of research has produced inconclusive results, necessitating further investigation to elucidate this ambiguity. This study aims to provide clarity regarding the emotional and behavioral functioning of autistic youth in response to COVID-19 related lockdowns. We further explore distinct subgroups of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), investigating the socially inflexible and demand avoidant profile.
Design/methodology/approach
To surpass short-term outcomes, this study examined emotional and behavioral problems (EBPs) by means of the Brief Problem Monitor in 69 autistic youth before, during and after a national lockdown in the Netherlands. Using individualized measurement (Reliable Change Indices), group-level changes were discerned. An exploratory analysis compared individuals from the socially inflexible and demand avoidant profile.
Findings
Both on a group and individual level, this findings suggest stability of EBPs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its corresponding measures. However, while the demand avoidant profile showed significantly more EBPs compared to the socially inflexible profile prior to the pandemic, the two profiles showed similar EBPs levels during and post-pandemic. Taken together, autistic youth and their families may have exhibited unique adaption strategies toward challenges caused by the pandemic and managed them better than initially expected.
Originality/value
The findings urge to look beyond group level functioning, and rather into nuances in ASD profiles to tailor interventions and support to the needs of autistic youth and families. A novelty of the study consists in having identified two different autism profiles to explain differences among subgroups of ASD.
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Andrea Romi, Kirsten A. Cook and Heather R. Dixon-Fowler
The purpose of this paper is to examine whether B corps’ (for-profit entities whose owners voluntarily commit to conduct business in a socially responsible manner, beyond…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine whether B corps’ (for-profit entities whose owners voluntarily commit to conduct business in a socially responsible manner, beyond traditional CSR, that generates profits, but not at the expense of stakeholders) commitment to social issues influences two aspects of financial performance: employee productivity and sales growth.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is an exploratory analysis of B corps. This paper examines B corps with B Lab’s B Impact Assessment reports and PrivCo financial data, for descriptive information. This paper also analyzes the financial impact of obtaining and reporting on excellence in both employee and consumer focus, as well as the differences in financial growth between B corps and non-hybrid peers.
Findings
Overall, results suggest that, among B corps whose treatment of employees (consumers) is recognized as an “area of excellence,” employee productivity (sales growth) is significantly higher. Additionally, sales growth is significantly higher for B corps relative to their peer, non-hybrid, matched firms.
Practical implications
Results from this study inform states considering the adoption of the B corp legal status – this legal status does not hinder firm profitability, but instead enhances long-term firm value while allowing firms to beneficially affect their communities, consumers, employees and the environment.
Social implications
Results from this study provide important insights regarding the current paradigm shift from the traditional business focus on profit maximization to a fruitful coexistence of profits with social interests and initiatives, within a structure of dissolving national boundaries and increasingly divergent logics.
Originality/value
This paper provides an initial empirical examination of B corp performance.
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Based on in-depth interviews with 64 women in 5 Japanese firms, this chapter examines how women workers interpret workplace sexual behaviors and interactions in different…
Abstract
Based on in-depth interviews with 64 women in 5 Japanese firms, this chapter examines how women workers interpret workplace sexual behaviors and interactions in different organizational contexts. The chapter explores the processes by which workplace sexual interactions, including harmful behaviors, are normalized and tolerated. It discusses three types of sexual workplace interactions in Japanese firms: (1) taking clients to hostess clubs, which women workers often see as “a part of their job”; (2) playing the hostess role at after-work drinking meetings, where a certain amount of touching and groping by men is seen as “joking around” or simply as behavior that is to be expected from men; and (3) repetitive or threatening sexual advances occurring during normal working hours, which are seen as harassment and cause women to take corrective action. The chapter confirms previous studies that have shown that women's interpretations of sexual behaviors can vary from enjoyable to harmful, depending on the organizational contexts. The chapter also argues that Japanese organizational culture, through its normalization of male dominance and female subordination, fosters and obscures harmful behaviors. Eradicating harmful sexual behaviors will require firms to reevaluate sexualized workplace customs and mitigate the large gender gap in the organizational hierarchy in Japanese firms.
Donatella De Paoli, Kirsten Arge and Siri Hunnes Blakstad
The purpose of this paper is to examine what organisational and management practices used in connection with open space flexible offices create business value. It seeks to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine what organisational and management practices used in connection with open space flexible offices create business value. It seeks to identify what consequences this may have for successful real estate practices.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper utilises an inductive case study approach. The international telecom company Telenor has implemented open space flexible offices from top to bottom amongst their 35,000 employees. The case description and analysis is based on secondary data, user evaluations and 20 interviews with middle- and top-level managers across levels and functional departments.
Findings
The case of Telenor reveals that leadership and organizing issues are important, together with work modes and communication technology, for a productive use of work place design. The paper highlights specifically how the open, transparent, flexible office solution creates business value when used with centralised and standardised organisational management systems and a participative, informal leadership culture.
Research limitations/implications
The study is based on one case, so the findings need to be tested across a representative sample of companies.
Practical implications
Managers need to take both organisational and management issues into consideration when implementing new office space design. This challenges also the existing real estate strategies to include the organisational and management issues in their planning.
Originality/value
The originality and value of the paper lies in the analysis and findings of the Telenor case introducing organizational and management perspectives to real estate issues.