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Article
Publication date: 1 January 1993

Mark G. Borg and Richard J. Riding

A sample of 150 school administrators in state primary andsecondary schools in Malta completed a self‐administered questionnaireon their perceptions of role‐related stress. About…

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Abstract

A sample of 150 school administrators in state primary and secondary schools in Malta completed a self‐administered questionnaire on their perceptions of role‐related stress. About one‐fifth of the respondents found their job as school administrators either very stressful or extemely stressful; 80 per cent indicated that they were fairly satisfied or very satisfied with their job. Some of the demographic characteristics of the sample were related to the level of job stress and satisfaction. Results also showed that respondents who reported greater levels of stress were least satisfied with their role as school administrators. A principal components analysis of 22 listed sources of stress revealed four major stress factors, labelled “lack of support and resolving conflicts”, “inadequate resources”, “workload” and “work conditions and responsibilities”. The demographic variables of “sex”, “type of administrative post” and “type of school” interacted significantly with the four stress factors.

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Journal of Educational Administration, vol. 31 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0957-8234

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Publication date: 24 November 2014

Mary Phillips

The sexual and erotic dimensions inherent in leadership’s physicality impact on power dynamics within organizations but have been rendered largely invisible by current…

Abstract

The sexual and erotic dimensions inherent in leadership’s physicality impact on power dynamics within organizations but have been rendered largely invisible by current scholarship. In organizational practice, leadership is a masculine activity ideally carried out by male bodies, such that women’s leadership is still perceived as problematic. This suggests that the field is fearful of allowing sexual bodies to pollute what should be a functional, cognitive and instrumental activity. This chapter therefore draws on Julia Kristeva’s concept of abjection to explain how and why the sexual body is positioned as the unspoken other of leadership. To do this, I explore the representation of two very contrasting leaders, Jean Luc Picard and the Borg Queen, in the popular film Star Trek: First Contact. The film illuminates how leadership ideally resides in a virile, mastered and distant male body. The sexual female body is represented as disgusting, dangerous, and a source of contamination and so must be cast out and destroyed. Finally, I ask whether the representation of the Borg Queen is useful as a transgressive means to undermine the abjection of the female leader’s body. However, I conclude that to counter abjection, scholars of leadership need instead to build discursive and material practices that revalue the feminine and respect the alterity of self and others.

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The Physicality of Leadership: Gesture, Entanglement, Taboo, Possibilities
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-289-0

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Article
Publication date: 1 February 2004

Rachel Suff and Steve Williams

Based on data generated from a case study investigation of a well‐known partnership company the implications of partnership for employees are examined. The partnership approach…

2400

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Based on data generated from a case study investigation of a well‐known partnership company the implications of partnership for employees are examined. The partnership approach received the endorsement of employees and it does appear to have brought them tangible benefits. Nevertheless, an assessment of employee perceptions of four key ingredients of partnership – employee voice, job security, quality of working life and job satisfaction, and trust – demonstrates the inappropriateness of “mutuality” as a device for conceptualizing the employment relationship under partnership regimes. The reality of market relations and the imbalance of power in the employment relationship imply that genuine mutuality is likely to be unobtainable in practice.

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Employee Relations, vol. 26 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

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Book part
Publication date: 1 March 2021

Nicolaia Iaffaldano, Sonia Ferrari and Giovanni Padula

The accommodation sector has a strong impact on the host destination in terms of waste production, use of natural resources, physical impact on landscape and natural environment…

Abstract

The accommodation sector has a strong impact on the host destination in terms of waste production, use of natural resources, physical impact on landscape and natural environment, greenhouse gas emissions, etc. (Hall et al., 2016). For this reason, the increasing attention to sustainability, also in the tourism sector, requires us to rethink the planning of the tourist accommodation development with reference to this approach. Moreover, it is necessary to take into consideration some important emerging trends in tourist consumption, in particular the greater interest in experiential holidays, the deep impact of sharing economy and the phenomena of ‘home stay tourism’ and ‘living like a local’. All of these are significantly orientating the demand and the offer towards a greater attention to authenticity (Grayson & Martinec, 2004; Paulauskaite, Powell, Coca-Stefaniak, &, Morrison, 2017; Tussyadiah & Pesonen, 2016a and 2016b; Tussyadiah & Pesonen, 2018).

The sustainability, environmental, socio-cultural and economic dimensions must be respected to develop forms of sustainable accommodations (Boley & Uysal, 2013; Elkington, 1997, 1998, 2004; Farrell, 1992). They have to be respectful of local communities and their identity and culture, not going beyond the host environmental and social carrying capacities (Graefe & Vaske, 1987; Hernandez-Maskivker, Ferrari, & Cruyt, 2019; Van Der Borg, 1992; Van der Borg, Costa, & Gotti, 1996; Vargas-Sánchez, Porras-Bueno, & de los Ángeles Plaza-Mejía, 2011). Those aspects must be referred not only to environmental ecosystems (Buckley, 2000; Sánchez-Cañizares, Castillo-Canalejo, & Cabeza-Ramírez, 2018) but also to the art, cultural heritage and local socio-cultural tissue of the destination (García-Hernández, la Calle-Vaquero, & Yubero, 2017). This is especially true in tourist destinations that are characterized by a remarkable fragility and sensitiveness. As explained by Jeong, Zielinski, Chang, and Kim (2018, p. 2), sensitive tourist destinations are areas that support responsible tourism, but do not necessarily have all the characteristics of ‘ecotourism’ or ‘responsible tourism’ destinations, as provided in their common definitions (Dolnicar & Leisch, 2008). Responsible tourism is a kind of tourist behaviour that occurs when tourists understand the impact of their behaviour on the environment and local people, and abide by the socio-cultural and environmental norms of the site (Jeong et al., 2018, p. 1).

Our research is focused on Matera. This southern Italian town, which has been the European Capital of Culture in 2019 and World Heritage Site since 1993, has an ancient and very peculiar history. It is a complex urban cave situated in a deep natural canyon, continuously inhabited since the Palaeolithic period. Today Matera, which has frequently been the location of important movies, is a successful international tourist destination and has shown an uninterrupted increase in tourism over the last 20 years. Unfortunately, this rapid tourist growth is threatening the town centre and its surroundings that are part of a protected area. In fact, the dimensions of visitors' flows are endangering a delicate destination with a fragile equilibrium, together with its priceless cultural heritage, traditions and way of living. In addition, it is giving rise to a residents' negative attitude towards tourists. For all these reasons, investments should be made to favour the development of different types of tourist accommodations (e.g. diffuse hotels or some forms of sharing accommodations) that are respectful of local economy, physical environment and cultural heritage as well as of the host community and its culture, traditions and identity (Gilli & Ferrari, 2016).

In this analysis a qualitative approach was adopted by carrying on face-to-face interviews with stakeholders. The main aims were to study to what extent tourist accommodations are perceived as sustainable by the main stakeholders' categories in Matera today, how their sustainability could be improved and if town innovations in this field already exist or could be promoted.

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Publication date: 4 October 2012

Natalya Godbold

Purpose – To present detailed examples of the social construction of understandings, exploring interplay between social and individual sense making.Methodology/approach – A form…

Abstract

Purpose – To present detailed examples of the social construction of understandings, exploring interplay between social and individual sense making.

Methodology/approach – A form of ethnomethodological discourse analysis is undertaken using text from online discussions groups for people with kidney failure. Sense making is theorised using Dervin's Sense-Making Methodology (1999) as a starting point. Chatman's Theory of Normative Behaviour (2000) and Pettigrew's Information Grounds (1999) are considered for their potential to theorise social impacts on individual understandings, while a practice theoretic approach (Gherardi, 2009a, 2009b) illuminates dynamics between social and individual sense making.

Findings – Local understandings developed out of repetition with gradual modification of ideas. Meanwhile, generic information such as facts was usually contextualised by descriptions of lived experiences. In this way, specifics were emphasised rather than generalities. However, the detailed, non-prescriptive commentaries provided by individuals gathered into usefully loose (non-specific) fields of possibilities.

Research implications – Information and knowledge manifest as transient and customised. This suggests a need for caution if researchers conceive people as having stable ‘knowledge structures’ which can be mapped by research, and it raises questions about durable incarnations of information.

Practical implications – People must produce flexible understandings particular to their situation. This requires time, reiteration and access to contributions from a range of sources. Provision of generic information during one-off interactions is only a first step towards support of these larger needs.

Originality/value of paper – Extends relational conceptions of information and verb-based metaphors for sense making, by proposing sense making, information and knowledge as transient and customised.

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Article
Publication date: 1 May 1960

PAUL RICHARDSON

SIMPLIFIED CONTROL OF THE MOTOR CAR has occupied the minds of designers ever since the earliest days of the industry. In the many attempts to make driving a car easier for the…

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Abstract

SIMPLIFIED CONTROL OF THE MOTOR CAR has occupied the minds of designers ever since the earliest days of the industry. In the many attempts to make driving a car easier for the man‐in‐the‐street, steam was one of the forms of propulsion used until the early ‘thirties’ but when the internal combustion engine finally won the day, efforts were concentrated on finding something better than the friction clutch and manually operated gearbox for use in conjunction with this type of engine. Before World War II several fully automatic transmissions for passenger cars had already been developed, especially in the U.S.A., and it was during this war that these transmissions found application in fighting vehicles. With the return of peace, motor manufacturers turned to fully automatic transmissions in a big way. It is hardly surprising, considering the generally advanced state of mechanisation in that country, that in the volume production of this type of transmission the U.S. again took the lead. Also, the large output of the domestic motor industry offered the best chances for a favourable return on the considerable capital investments inherent to volume production of complex transmission designs.

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Industrial Lubrication and Tribology, vol. 12 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0036-8792

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Article
Publication date: 1 January 1978

The Equal Pay Act 1970 (which came into operation on 29 December 1975) provides for an “equality clause” to be written into all contracts of employment. S.1(2) (a) of the 1970 Act…

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Abstract

The Equal Pay Act 1970 (which came into operation on 29 December 1975) provides for an “equality clause” to be written into all contracts of employment. S.1(2) (a) of the 1970 Act (which has been amended by the Sex Discrimination Act 1975) provides:

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Managerial Law, vol. 21 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0558

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Book part
Publication date: 31 January 2022

Jana Groß Ophoff and Colin Cramer

The German evidence-based model of educational governance is bureaucratically regulated, but teachers and schools are autonomous in their way of implementing requirements in…

Abstract

The German evidence-based model of educational governance is bureaucratically regulated, but teachers and schools are autonomous in their way of implementing requirements in schools. Accountability is ensured by regularly monitoring educational outcomes with reference to national educational standards, e.g. in the form of mandatory comparative performance tests. In this context, it is worth determining the process stages of research engagement with which the available data or evidence is associated and which purposes they can serve in teacher education and practice. Building on that, an overview is provided of the state of (mainly German) research on teachers' and school leaders' research engagement and influencing factors. This research field has flourished in the wake of the Empirical Shift in German education. By now the understanding has emerged that ultimately the depth of inferential processes is vital for sustainable development and this in turn is influenced by data, context and user characteristics. On the individual level, in particular, positive affective-motivational dispositions and research literacy are deemed important, whereas the feeling of being controlled has detrimental effects. On the school level, school culture and leadership are of impact, whereas a certain continuity of measures on the governance level proves meaningful for the engagement with data and evidence in educational practice. With regard to the German experience, it is concluded that more (funded) dialogue opportunities between different actors and professional groups in education are needed and that initial and further training should strive even more to impart a meta-reflective stance or enquiry habit of mind.

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The Emerald Handbook of Evidence-Informed Practice in Education
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80043-141-6

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Article
Publication date: 5 September 2018

Svjetlana Pantic-Dragisic and Elisabeth Borg

The purpose of this paper is to explore how a technical consulting firm approaches the development of engineering consultants, to prepare them to deal with their liminal, i.e…

444

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how a technical consulting firm approaches the development of engineering consultants, to prepare them to deal with their liminal, i.e. mobile and transient work situation. More specifically, this paper addresses how a training program, designed for newly graduated engineers, can increase the consultants’ liminality competence.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper reports on a qualitative case study of an introductory development program in a Scandinavian technical consulting firm. The study is based on observations of training sessions and meetings, and interviews with developers, leaders and participants of the program.

Findings

This study identifies three processes, which develop the engineering consultants’ ability to master their mobile and transient work situation: identifying the core of an assignment, embracing “in-betweenness” and broadening the scope of action.

Originality/value

This paper enhances the understanding of formal training in the context of technical consulting and adds to the knowledge of how engineering consultants can master their liminal work positions; in particular, the study identifies how liminality competence can be elevated through formal training.

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European Journal of Training and Development, vol. 42 no. 7/8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-9012

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Article
Publication date: 1 October 2010

A.K. Halabi, A. Essop, T. Joosub, N. Padia, M. Vawda and Y. Yasseen

This paper compares the effectiveness of in‐house developed computer‐based learning (CBL) materials with face‐to‐face teaching. Two groups of higher education students were…

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Abstract

This paper compares the effectiveness of in‐house developed computer‐based learning (CBL) materials with face‐to‐face teaching. Two groups of higher education students were randomly assigned to complete tutorial work in one highly structured topic of introductory accounting using either CBL materials (treatment group) or face‐to‐face teaching (control group). The effectiveness of both approaches was measured according to the students’ performance in a class test, in relation to their prior accounting knowledge and gender. The results showed that the students with no prior accounting knowledge who completed the CBL materials achieved a significantly higher test mark than the face‐to‐face teaching group. However, there was no significant difference in the marks of the students with prior accounting knowledge, and there was no difference on the basis of gender. The results of this South African study correspond to results in existing literature in other countries, and contribute to the overall knowledge of the effectiveness of CBL materials with respect to prior accounting knowledge and gender.

Details

Meditari Accountancy Research, vol. 18 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1022-2529

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