Martyn Styles and Theo Tryfonas
The purpose of this case study paper is to demonstrate that, no matter how complex computer security systems are, effort should be concentrated and focused on employees to improve…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this case study paper is to demonstrate that, no matter how complex computer security systems are, effort should be concentrated and focused on employees to improve their security awareness. Each employee needs to become a “Security Deputy” to the company's computer security staff and he or she needs to take some responsibility for preventing security breaches – whether inside the workplace or not. It is easy to unwittingly spread a virus, or open security vulnerabilities, and such actions might damage a company's systems perhaps even more than malicious employees, through simple ignorance of security issues.
Design/methodology/approach
A series of surveys and questionnaires were designed along with practical exercises and security awareness training sessions.
Findings
Following their involvement in the exercises and awareness training, employees demonstrated improvement in security awareness. Users were made explicitly aware of the realities of IT security with pertinent questions asked in order to force them evaluate their own reactions to a situation which may escalate into a security incident.
Research limitations/implications
The research was undertaken in a typical medium‐large sized company within the energy business sector, but it is possible that results may be different in other sectors.
Practical implications
It is clear that security technologies alone cannot prevent incidents and therefore employees need good quality security awareness training in order to protect the organisation.
Originality/value
It is becoming increasingly important that employees are taken through a more rigorous security‐awareness training programme, in order to protect business computer systems and to “protect them from themselves”.
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In common with other public sector bodies, the police service recognises that the development of leadership capability amongst its workforce is key to improving levels of both…
Abstract
In common with other public sector bodies, the police service recognises that the development of leadership capability amongst its workforce is key to improving levels of both performance and service delivery. The recently developed Police Leadership Qualities Framework lays out a clearly defined model of leadership, and is underpinned by a framework of values and behaviours that enable that model to be developed in practice. This paper expands on one of the key underlying principles of the model that leadership is evident at all ranks and grades of the service, and is a skill that can be developed. This article postulates that each individual has their own ‘leadership space’ which it is important they are able to fill effectively. Individual and organisational failings often occur when this ‘space’ is not properly filled ‐ through lack of skill, development opportunity or experience. The paper considers a cognitive and behaviourist approach to learning and explores some of the ways in which leadership capability is developed in the police service.
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Helen Clare Martin, Colin Rogers, Anthony John Samuel and Martyn Rowling
The police service in England and Wales faces unprecedented challenges as it moves further into the twenty-first century. Globalisation, increases and changes in types of crime…
Abstract
Purpose
The police service in England and Wales faces unprecedented challenges as it moves further into the twenty-first century. Globalisation, increases and changes in types of crime, including cybercrime alongside perennial terrorist threats, coupled with budgetary constraints, mean that the way the police service has traditionally operated needs to change. In part, the police service sees the drive for professionalisation as assisting in providing an efficient and effective answer to the challenges ahead. Previous approaches to leadership styles, based upon hierarchy and rank, may not be the best approach for leaders in such a dynamic and professional organisation. The purpose of this paper is to argue for a debate and a rethink regarding the leadership styles employed by the police in their current role in the context of the influx of new graduate officers.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents a discursive argument based upon servant leadership (SL) models that aspire to address the multi-faceted challenges faced by the police service.
Findings
Leaders in the police service may well consider SL for its ability to release the potential and manage the aspirations of graduate officers. SL is also recognised for its potential in helping the police to better engage with important societal changes that will impact on its organisation and its structure in the future.
Social implications
Previous approaches to leadership styles, based upon hierarchy and rank, may not be the best approach for leaders in such a dynamic and professional organisation. This is discussed in relation to a suggested style of leadership.
Originality/value
This paper considers the problems faced in leading a professionalised police service and the suitability of a novel approach to leadership, that of the “Servant Leader”.
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Social constructionist perspectives are becoming increasingly influential in organisational and management studies. Evaluates an experientially based personal development module…
Abstract
Social constructionist perspectives are becoming increasingly influential in organisational and management studies. Evaluates an experientially based personal development module on a management diploma that was re‐designed according to social constructionist ideas about learning and managerial activity. In particular, the paper assesses whether storytelling and argument analysis are viable elements in experientially based teaching, and considers how they mediate the processes of learning and action. It is concluded that storytelling and argument analysis are viable techniques, that they facilitate multiple perspective taking and negotiation and help in the creation of intelligible solutions in joint action with others. While accepting that there are a number of difficulties with the approach, we suggest that it provides management educators with another method of experiential learning, and that it is particularly appropriate to those wishing to encourage managers to explore and develop social constructionist perspectives in a practical and action orientated way.
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Management industrial relations policy and management style are examined in a panel of 50 highly unionised companies between 1979 and 1991. Management policy in panel firms in…
Abstract
Management industrial relations policy and management style are examined in a panel of 50 highly unionised companies between 1979 and 1991. Management policy in panel firms in 1979 was relatively uniform, centred upon collective bargaining and the closed shop. A much broader spectrum of policies was evident in 1991, although collective bargaining was retained as part of the policy‐making framework in the large majority of companies. A minority of firms had either a strategic planning or financial control management style, which may be associated with tighter regulation of industrial relations. The majority had a strategic control style, the effects of which were more ambiguous.
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Wen Pan Fagerlin and Eva Lövstål
This study aims to understand the formal and informal practices of top managers as they seek to control product innovation processes and how the style of control used differs…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to understand the formal and informal practices of top managers as they seek to control product innovation processes and how the style of control used differs during development stages and gates.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative in-depth case study was conducted at a multinational corporation (pseudonym: MEC). The authors examined 12 product innovation projects and carried out semi-structured interviews to understand the experiences, perceptions and challenges of the people involved in product development projects with a focus on the interactions between top managers and the project teams.
Findings
The authors found that MEC uses formal control mechanisms such as a stage-gate model and a project management and reporting system to keep track of the progress of innovation projects. In addition, top managers use informal controls through involvement in innovation activities and interaction with the team members during the stages and gates of the development process. To carry out their control practices top managers use four distinct styles of control as follows: participative, facilitative, empowering and authoritative.
Practical implications
Suggestions are provided for managers on how formal and informal management control tools can be used in innovation processes. The authors show how top managers can broaden their range of interventions by involving themselves in product innovation projects in different ways.
Originality/value
This paper shows how the combination of formal and informal controls can generate a more holistic view of management control in innovation. It also adds to previous conceptualizations of control use by suggesting four distinct styles, which top managers can use to involve themselves in product innovation processes.
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Martyn Harris, Mark Levene, Dell Zhang and Dan Levene
The purpose of this paper is to present a language-agnostic approach to facilitate the discovery of “parallel passages” stored in historic and cultural heritage digital archives.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a language-agnostic approach to facilitate the discovery of “parallel passages” stored in historic and cultural heritage digital archives.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors explore a novel, and relatively simple approach, using a character-based statistical language model combined with a tailored version of the Basic Local Alignment Tool to extract exact and approximate string patterns shared between groups of documents.
Findings
The approach is applicable to a wide range of languages, and compensates for variability in the text of the documents as a result of differences in dialect, authorship, language change over time and errors due to inaccurate transcriptions and optical character recognition errors as a result of the digitisation process.
Research limitations/implications
A number of case studies demonstrate that the approach is practical and generalisable to a wide range of archives with documents in different languages, domains and of varying quality.
Practical implications
The approach described can be applied to any digital archive of modern and contemporary texts. This makes the approach applicable to digital archives recording historic texts, but also those composed of more recent news articles, for example.
Social implications
The analysis of “parallel passages” enables researchers to quantify the presence and extent of text-reuse in a collection of documents, which can provide useful data on author style, text genres and cultural contexts.
Originality/value
The approach is novel and addresses a need by humanities researchers for tools that can identify similar documents and local similarities represented by shared text sequences in a potentially vast large archive of documents. As far as the authors are aware, there are no tools currently exist that provide the same level of tolerance to the language of the documents.
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The purpose of this paper is to discuss how web‐based technologies (WBT) can be applied to theater arts courses.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss how web‐based technologies (WBT) can be applied to theater arts courses.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a review of the literature and parallels drawn between theater and online pedagogy, the paper proposes ideas for incorporating asynchronous and synchronous discussions, collaborative projects, and ways to utilize authentic and alternative assessments in addition to or in place of pen‐and‐paper tests.
Findings
WBT can be used as an effective enhancement to any theater course, though not in the same way for each area of theater. Almost any class can benefit from expanding the social dynamics through using asynchronous communications, but the true decision of the best way to utilize the benefits of WBT in a theater arts class is the same as for the integration into any class. The instructor must look at their own teaching style, the class objectives, and determine what usages will best enhance the learning process for the students in the particular course.
Originality/value
The paper offers insight into how WBT can help create a social online presence.
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Martyn Sloman and Maram Al Dowayan
Short projects are often the most illuminating. This article seeks to draw some lessons from a simple research project. The methods used in the research are easily understood; the…
Abstract
Short projects are often the most illuminating. This article seeks to draw some lessons from a simple research project. The methods used in the research are easily understood; the conclusion will cause no surprise to any human resource development professional. What is important is to expose some of the implications. They are far‐reaching and challenge many of our traditional approaches to implementing human resource development in organizations.
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Patrick Lo, Robert Sutherland, Wei-En Hsu and Russ Girsberger