Stephen T.T. Teo, Naomi Segal, Adam C. Morgan, Peter Kandlbinder, Karen Y. Wang and Anurag Hingorani
The purpose of this study is to examine variables explaining students’ positive and negative experiences of groupwork and connect country of residence with the perception of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine variables explaining students’ positive and negative experiences of groupwork and connect country of residence with the perception of generic skills development and self‐reported satisfaction with groupwork. It also aims to examine the effect of prior training in groups from the perspective of Australian and Non‐Australian permanent residency Business students.
Design/methodology/approach
Respondents were 389 undergraduate and postgraduate Business students at an Australian metropolitan university. A path model was developed and analysed using partial least squares modeling.
Findings
Students’ country of residence had a significant influence on reporting of generic skill development and experience of groupwork. Self‐reported improvement in generic skills after groupwork assessment was associated with reporting of fewer negative and more positive aspects of working in groups.
Research limitations/implications
The findings were limited by using data collected from students enrolled in one undergraduate and one postgraduate subject at the conclusion of a group assignment from one university. Future research should test the model by extending it to other universities and non‐Business units. Future research should rely on a longitudinal design, where the survey is carried out at the beginning and the end of the group assessment.
Practical implications
It is important to ensure both domestic and international students acquire generic skills through groupwork and that prior training in groupwork takes place before group assessments.
Originality/value
The study provides empirical evidence supporting the incorporation of generic skill teaching into academic practice prior to assigning groupwork to students.
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Irene Tempone, Marie Kavanagh, Naomi Segal, Phil Hancock, Bryan Howieson and Jenny Kent
The purpose of this paper is to determine the requirements of accounting graduates in relation to generic attributes. Employers have consistently maintained that graduates are…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine the requirements of accounting graduates in relation to generic attributes. Employers have consistently maintained that graduates are deficient in this area. This Australia‐wide, all‐sector study addresses the issue by examining what employers mean when they make demands for universities and academics to deliver work‐ready graduates.
Design/methodology/approach
Interviews (recorded, transcribed and analysed with NVivo) with employers, and accounting professional bodies were conducted to ascertain their views of their needs of accounting graduates into the future.
Findings
Employers held the generic attributes of communication, team work and self‐management to be the most critical for graduates in the three areas of recruitment, training and ongoing employment. Demands on universities to deliver work‐ready graduates are not homogeneous. Employers in different sectors construe the meaning of generic attributes in line with their specific needs.
Originality/value
The study was an original piece of work that gauged the opinions of professional accounting bodies and employers of accounting graduates across Australia and in all sectors of the accounting profession. The value of the study is to inform academics as to the ranked importance of generic attributes but also alert them to the different meanings that are assigned to these skills by employers in different sectors.
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The figure of the femme fatale is attached to a range of contested meanings around femininity, sexuality and violence. Despite its ambiguity and its origins in art, myth and…
Abstract
The figure of the femme fatale is attached to a range of contested meanings around femininity, sexuality and violence. Despite its ambiguity and its origins in art, myth and fiction, the term has proven popular in giving a name to violent articulations of female power in non-fictional settings by journalists. In this chapter, I outline the figure of the femme fatale as an archetype of women's violence that appears throughout Western popular culture, and provide an overview of the term's definitions and cultural meanings. In doing so, I trace the figure's movement across different forms and genres of popular culture. I identify a number of themes in the existing scholarship around the figure: feminist criticism of the figure; the value that feminist film scholars have found in the figure as a symbol of power and sexual transgression; the relationship between the femme fatale, race and the colonial imagination; and the way the idea of the femme fatale has been used in reporting of real-life women's violence.
David Pick, Paull Weber, Julia Connell and Louis Andre Geneste
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the paradox inherent in the term “Creative Industry Management”. The challenges of applying creative industry experiences within a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the paradox inherent in the term “Creative Industry Management”. The challenges of applying creative industry experiences within a managerial context are explored through a careful selection of papers that identify linkages between creative industry practice and management theories.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is a narrative commentary using the Jurassic Park franchise to highlight the potential application of management theory to explain the success or failure of a creative venture. The analogy of filmmaking and the creation of blockbuster movie sequels is useful in determining the tensions between creative production and management of a profitable franchise.
Findings
This paper identifies opportunities for theory building at the meso level in the management domain, born of the experiences of those in the creative industries. The papers presented add to the continuing discovery of ways of applying management theory in the creative industries. However, there remain opportunities for a cross-pollination of theory from the creative industry to management domains.
Research limitations/implications
It is not possible to claim more than observation and exploratory inference from the selection of papers presented. The special issue has only uncovered one half of the theoretical perspective, namely management theory that can be applied in the creative industries.
Originality/value
The approach taken to liken the challenge of managing creativity to the production of creative works in moviemaking is novel and highlights the dearth of creative industry experiences that currently influence management theory.
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Brandon A. Knettel, Anna Oliver-Steinberg, M.J. Lee, Hillary Rubesin, Naomi N. Duke, Emily Esmaili and Eve Puffer
The refugee journey is fraught with challenges before, during and after resettlement. There is a critical need for mental health support upon arrival, and refugees face language…
Abstract
Purpose
The refugee journey is fraught with challenges before, during and after resettlement. There is a critical need for mental health support upon arrival, and refugees face language, cultural and logistical barriers. Arts-based therapies are a promising approach to mitigating such barriers. The purpose of this study was to elicit professional stakeholder perspectives on mental health challenges among refugees, the value of arts-based programs and future directions.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted three 90-min focus groups with 19 professional stakeholders in North Carolina, USA. This included mental health professionals, professors and community services/resettlement workers. Participants were identified from professional networks and snowball sampling. Each group was held by videoconference, audio recorded and transcribed. Data were analyzed through a team-based approach using applied thematic qualitative analysis.
Findings
Interviewees described a need for targeted, culturally compatible mental health services for refugee families, including trauma-informed, family-focused services with language interpretation. Arts-based therapies were viewed as highly acceptable and culturally responsive approaches for understanding distress and building resilience and less stigmatizing than traditional mental health services. Services in schools and community settings would further reduce stigma and minimize logistical barriers. Participants identified needing strong, culturally sensitive assessment tools to measure treatment progress as a key future direction.
Originality/value
The study offers novel insights into the value of arts-based approaches and considerations for program development. The next phase of the project will obtain the perspectives of refugee parents and children to understand client preferences for arts-based therapies.
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Purpose – To answer two related questions, namely, why women in general are excluded from peace-building processes and why women in Israel are excluded from peace-building…
Abstract
Purpose – To answer two related questions, namely, why women in general are excluded from peace-building processes and why women in Israel are excluded from peace-building processes and have to create their own organizations?
Methodology/approach – This is narrative prospective research paper. First, the research focuses on international gender theories regarding participation of women in peace-building processes, and then on the particular situation of women in Israel and their need to form peace movements and organizations of their own.
Findings – The research revealed that Israeli women's absence from the official negotiations with the Palestinians as well as women's exclusion from other peace-building processes is part of a global phenomenon. Given the fact that women have been missing from the Israel's official negotiations with the Palestinians since 1987 when the first Intifada began, and their plight is not addressed, women need to create their own peace movements and organizations for voicing their unique value for the benefit of society at large.
Research limitations – An update of the research should be conducted every two years to check changes in findings.
Value of the paper – The chapter highlights the significance of women's inclusion in peace building. It describes women's exclusion from the peace process in Israel although they have been extremely active and were recognized internationally and stresses the need for a gendered society to end the Palestinian–Israel conflict.
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Michel Anteby and Amy Wrzesniewski
Multiple forces that shape the identities of adolescents and young adults also influence their subsequent career choices. Early work experiences are key among these forces…
Abstract
Purpose
Multiple forces that shape the identities of adolescents and young adults also influence their subsequent career choices. Early work experiences are key among these forces. Recognizing this, youth service programs have emerged worldwide with the hope of shaping participants’ future trajectories through boosting engagement in civically oriented activities and work. Despite these goals, past research on these programs’ impact has yielded mixed outcomes. Our goal is to understand why this might be the case.
Design/Methodology/Approach
We rely on interview, archival, and longitudinal survey data to examine young adults’ experiences of a European youth service program.
Findings
A core feature of youth service programs, namely their dual identity of helping others (i.e., service beneficiaries) and helping oneself (i.e., participants), might partly explain the program’s mixed outcomes. We find that participants focus on one of the organization’s identities largely to the exclusion of the other, creating a dynamic in which their interactions with members who focus on the other identity create challenges and dominate their program experience, to the detriment of a focus on the organization and its goals. This suggests that a previously overlooked feature of youth service programs (i.e., their dual identity) might prove both a blessing for attracting many diverse members and a curse for achieving desired outcomes.
Originality/Value
More broadly, our results suggest that dual identity organizations might attract members focused on a select identity, but fail to imbue them with a blended identity; thus, limiting the extent to which such organizations can truly “redirect” future career choices.
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The purpose of this paper is to recommend that public administration (PA) theory and practice should become more sensitive to its sub-administration, and to suggest how this can…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to recommend that public administration (PA) theory and practice should become more sensitive to its sub-administration, and to suggest how this can be done.
Design/methodology/approach
This conceptual paper maintains that this sub-administration includes those ideologies, myths and metaphors that contribute like an unconscious in shaping (and misshaping) governmental policy and administration. Descriptions of the nature of ideologies, myths and metaphors are given, along with some examples of those that are harmful – such as the ideologies of the American Business Model and neo-liberalism.
Findings
PA should seek to engage and oppose such ideologies, myths and metaphors that are problematic – both those constructed within and without of PA itself. It is recommended that, for such analytical purposes, PA should turn toward post-traditional PA, including the insights of post-modernism and epistemic pluralism.
Originality/value
The concept of sub-administration is of significant utility both for PA theorists and practitioners in strengthening public administrative performance. The author has offered such and/or similar recommendations in earlier publications, including in the International Journal of Organization Theory and Behavior, 19 (1), 90-102: 2016.