The purpose of this paper is to exhort leaders, organizations, and HR professionals to introduce changes in the work structure and environment, as well to pioneer new policies and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to exhort leaders, organizations, and HR professionals to introduce changes in the work structure and environment, as well to pioneer new policies and practices, which allow employees to bring more balance into their lives.
Design/methodology/approach
The long‐term benefits of balanced work‐life are outlined from the research literature as well as the experience of selected business leaders. This is followed by a series of practical exercises designed to help readers achieve work‐life balance.
Findings
Using the metaphor of an acrobat, this paper provides compelling reasons and proven methodology for leaders and HR professionals to engage more seriously with the topic of work‐life balance. How to effectively balance work with personal life is demonstrated through a series of personalized exercises which urge readers to examine their past, present, and future; and then set and implement short‐ and long‐term action plans to reach goals that are linked to their personal values and priorities. The final exercise allows readers to track and measure progress using a Balanced Scorecard.
Research implications
This paper highlights the need for a longitudinal research to determine how leaders manage to balance their work and life, and what variables lead to either success or failure.
Practical implications
HR professionals must become creative when designing work systems/programs catering for those who prefer more flexibility through supportive organizational cultures and work/job structures.
Originality/value
This paper links the theory of work‐life balance to implementation of changes in lifestyle through practical individual exercises. It is valuable to both leaders and HR professionals.
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The purpose of this article is to discuss the implications of three lessons that leaders can learn from Canada geese to leadership and teamwork in organizations.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to discuss the implications of three lessons that leaders can learn from Canada geese to leadership and teamwork in organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
Migratory behavior of Canada geese is compared to widespread behavior among leaders and teams in organizations.
Findings
The first lesson is: work as a team: Canada Geese migrate long distances flying in V‐formation. This formation results in lesser wind resistance, which allows the whole flock to add around 70 percent greater flying range than if each bird flew alone. Geese find out quickly that it pays handsomely to be team players. Second, wise leadership: when the leader at the apex of the V gets tired, it is relieved by another goose. Leaders rotate, empower, delegate, and even step down when it's in the best interest of the team. How often do we see this taking place among organizational leaders? Wise leaders ensure that their followers are well trained and developed in order to achieve true empowerment and smooth succession processes. Third, humane behavior: if a goose drops to the ground when it gets hurt or sick, two of its colleagues go down with it to take care of it until it either gets healthier or dies. In this fast‐paced and competitive age, we seldom see managers going out of their way to help colleagues who are in trouble. In organizations, morale, productivity, and loyalty increase when employees are treated humanely.
Originality/value
This paper discusses ways that leaders, teams, and organizations can improve performance by applying three lessons learned from Canada geese.
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Jafar Keighobadi, Mohammad‐Javad Yazdanpanah and Mansour Kabganian
The purpose of this paper is to consider the process of design and implementation of an enhanced fuzzy H∞ (EFH∞) estimation algorithm to determine the attitude and heading angles…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to consider the process of design and implementation of an enhanced fuzzy H∞ (EFH∞) estimation algorithm to determine the attitude and heading angles of ground vehicles, which are frequently affected by considerable exogenous disturbances. To detect the changes of disturbances, a fuzzy system is designed based on expert knowledge and experiences of a navigation engineer. In the EFH∞ estimator, the intensity bounds of disturbances affecting the measurements are updated using a heuristic combination of three change‐detection indices. Performance of the proposed estimator is evaluated by Monte‐Carlo simulations and field tests of three kinds of vehicles using a manufactured attitude‐heading reference system (AHRS). In both simulations and real tests, the proposed estimator results in a superior performance compared to those of the recently developed and standard H∞ estimators.
Design/methodology/approach
Design, implementation and real tests of the EFH∞ estimator are considered for an AHRS specialized for vehicular applications. In the AHRS, three‐axis accelerometers (TAA) and three‐axis magnetometers (TAM) may be affected by large disturbances due to non‐gravitational accelerations and local magnetic fields. Therefore, the design parameters of EFH∞ estimator including the theoretic bound of disturbance intensity and the attenuation level are adaptively tuned using a fuzzy combination of three change‐detection indices. Once a sensor is affected by an exogenous disturbance, the fuzzy system will increase the scale factor of the corresponding measurement disturbance to place more confidence on the data of the AHRS dynamics including measurements of gyros with respect to the data coming from the TAA and TAM.
Findings
An intelligent fault detector is proposed for considering changes of disturbances to adjust the upper bounds of the estimator's disturbances and the length of data to update the fuzzy system inputs. The EFH∞ estimator is suitable to attenuate the effects of disturbances changes on accurate estimation of the attitude and heading angles, intelligently.
Originality/value
The paper provides a fuzzy state estimator for adaptively adjusting the theoretic disturbance matrices according to the actual intensity of the disturbances affecting the AHRS dynamics and the measurement sensors.
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This study aims to develop an in-depth understanding of the underlying dynamics of an emergent shared information practice within a Facebook group, and the resources the group…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to develop an in-depth understanding of the underlying dynamics of an emergent shared information practice within a Facebook group, and the resources the group develops to sustain this practice.
Design/methodology/approach
In-depth semi-structured interviews were carried out with twenty members from the group. The findings are based on comparative analysis combined with narrative analysis and were interpreted using theories of situated learning and Community of Practice.
Findings
The study shows that although members of this multicultural mothers group endorsed different, sometimes opposing parenting practices, the group had to find common ground when sharing information. Managing these challenges was key to maintaining the group as an open information resource for all members. The group produced a shared repertoire of resources to maintain its activities, including norms, rules, shared understandings, and various monitoring activities. The shared online practice developed by the community is conceptualised in this article as an information practice requiring shared, community-specific understandings of what, when, and how information can or should be sought or shared in ways that are valued in this specific community. The findings show that this shared information practice is not static but continually evolves as members negotiate what is, or not, important for the group.
Originality/value
The research provides novel insights into the underlying dynamics of the emergence, management, and sustainability of a shared information practice within a contemporary mothers group on Facebook.
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Abhisheck Kumar Singhania and Nagari Mohan Panda
This study aims to examine the influence of Audit Committee (AC) composition on Firm Performance (FP) by measuring AC composition (ACC) with a composite score based on the varying…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the influence of Audit Committee (AC) composition on Firm Performance (FP) by measuring AC composition (ACC) with a composite score based on the varying effect of each composition-characteristic.
Design/methodology/approach
Partial Least Squares- Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) technique is used to weigh ACC characteristics. Based on 133 companies and covering five years from 2016 to 2020, the study analyses data after controlling endogeneity through the Gaussian Copula approach.
Findings
We find a significant positive influence of ACC on Firm Performance. Among the ACC characteristics, the absence of executive directors has the highest positive weight on ACC to influence FP, followed by AC size and Gender diversity. AC independence and members' accounting and financial expertise have no significant weight on its composition.
Practical implications
Apart from the theoretical contribution, the study reveals that each ACC characteristic has a varying effect on AC effectiveness to influence the FP that needs to be considered by regulators while framing regulations on ACC and by BOD while constituting AC for a company.
Originality/value
The study claims originality by being pioneering to reveal that AC composition, with a synergy of its disparate characteristics, positively impacts FP. It highlights that the absence of executive directors and gender diversity in AC (characteristics overlooked by the extant literature) significantly and positively influence FP. Methodologically, it introduces the use of the PLS-SEM algorithm to weigh the characteristics in governance studies. Further, these findings remain relevant amid recent Indian legal reforms, offering contemporary insights for policy consideration.
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This case gives students the opportunity to explore the concept of organizational status as a competitive asset. CEO Noura Abdullah of Saudi furniture retailer Aura founded her…
Abstract
This case gives students the opportunity to explore the concept of organizational status as a competitive asset. CEO Noura Abdullah of Saudi furniture retailer Aura founded her company as a middle-market furniture and home goods store offering affordable yet design-savvy products. By many accounts, both tangible and intangible, Aura had been a success. By late 2014, Aura had drawn considerable attention from several high-status Saudi wedding planners and media outlets, including Harper's Bazaar Interiors, Elle Decor, and Martha Stewart Weddings. This attention yielded unusually strong conversion rates (the percentage of visitors to the store who made a purchase). Foot traffic, on the other hand, remained unexpectedly low, leading Abdullah to wonder whether the high-status affiliations had unintentionally signaled to mid-market consumers that they would not be able to afford Aura's products, keeping such customers away. Students will decide, along with Abdullah, how to handle this unique “problem” as Aura enters a growth phase to other Saudi and Middle Eastern markets.
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![Kellogg School of Management](/insight/static/img/kellogg-school-of-management-logo.png)
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Rohaida Basiruddin and Habib Ahmed
This study aims to investigate the relationship between corporate governance and Shariah non-compliant risk (SNCR) that is unique for Islamic banks. The study examines the roles…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the relationship between corporate governance and Shariah non-compliant risk (SNCR) that is unique for Islamic banks. The study examines the roles of Shariah committee along with the board of directors in mitigating SNCR.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper empirically investigates the implications of characteristics of board of directors and Shariah committee on the SNCR by using a sample of 29 full-fledge Islamic banks from Malaysia and Indonesia over the period 2007-2017. All data is hand collected from the Islamic banks' annual reports with the exception of country-level data collected from the World Bank database.
Findings
The results show that banks with a smaller board size and higher proportion of independent board members are likely to have lower SNCR. The findings also indicate that the financial expertise and higher frequency of Shariah committee meetings reduces the SNCR. Collectively, the analysis shows that banks with strong corporate governance environments reduce SNCR.
Practical implications
The findings of the study shed light on the relationship between corporate governance practice, Shariah committee characteristics and SNCR. The results can be used by different stakeholders such as policymakers, boards of directors and senior management of Islamic banks to mitigate SNCR.
Originality/value
This study extends the literature on corporate governance and risk-taking by including additional dimensions of governance and risk type. The corporate governance mechanism at the board level is complemented by including the Shariah committee characteristics and SNCR which is relevant to Islamic financial institutions is examined.
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Ibrahim Nandom Yakubu, Ayhan Kapusuzoglu and Nildag Basak Ceylan
This study seeks to empirically examine the influence of corporate governance on corporate performance in Ghana.
Abstract
Purpose
This study seeks to empirically examine the influence of corporate governance on corporate performance in Ghana.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employs data from 30 listed firms spanning from 2008 to 2018 and applies the generalized method of moments technique. The authors use economic value added, shareholder value added (SVA) and economic margin (EM) as measures of corporate performance.
Findings
The findings reveal that the presence of both inside directors and outside (nonexecutive) directors significantly improves corporate performance, lending credence to both the stewardship theory and the agency theory. The inclusion of women on the corporate boards and frequent meetings of the board reduce the economic profits of firms. The authors find that CEO duality impedes corporate performance, supporting the presumption of the agency theory. The study further reveals that audit committee size and ownership concentration positively drive the performance of quoted firms in Ghana.
Originality/value
Prior studies on corporate governance and firm performance nexus have chiefly adopted traditional accounting-based performance measures such as return on assets and return on equity to evaluate firm performance. However, these indicators are critiqued for being historic and fail to consider firms' cost of equity. In light of the shortcomings of the accounting-based proxies, this study takes a unique direction by using value-based metrics, which are considered superior measures of performance. Besides, to the best of the authors' knowledge, this study provides a first attempt to investigate the link between corporate governance and firm performance using SVA and EM as performance indicators.
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Peter Kodjo Luh and Baah Aye Kusi
This study aims to investigate the impact of female chairperson, female chief executive officer and presence of females on boards on listed firms’ profitability using data from…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the impact of female chairperson, female chief executive officer and presence of females on boards on listed firms’ profitability using data from Ghana.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used ordinary least square estimation and generalized least square (i.e. fixed and random effect estimation techniques) estimation on the data of 15 nonfinancial listed firms on Ghana Stock Exchange between 2010 and 2020.
Findings
The results show that while males dominate corporate executive positions in listed nonfinancial firms in Ghana, females serving in top corporate executive positions like chief executive officer, board chairperson and female board membership positively impact listed firms’ performance in the form of return on assets, net profit margin and gross profit margin. These findings are consistent even when year and industry effects are controlled for. This suggests that enacting policies at the national and firm levels to encourage female participation in corporate executive roles/positions are critical for promoting firm performance.
Originality/value
This study extends extant empirical literature on the economic role of female executives in firm performance from the developing context of Ghana. With calls in literature for more studies on the subject matter in varied contexts and conditions, this study takes the discussion a step further by investigating whether the gender of those in positions such as board chairperson and chief executive officer matters in firm profitability in Ghana.
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Mohammad Talalwa, Fu’ad Magableh and Nemer Badwan
The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of corporate governance structure corporate governance on a firm’s performance in the Palestinian business environment…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of corporate governance structure corporate governance on a firm’s performance in the Palestinian business environment between 2016 and 2023. The specific environment of the developing Palestinian economy is the main motivation and emphasis of this investigation.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were gathered from 49 financial and non-financial firms listed on the Palestine Stock Exchange between 2016 and 2023. While the random and fixed effects estimates were utilized to be the most suitable for this particular investigation, they were used to undertake the data analysis procedure. The study employed two-stage least squares (2SLS) to assess the robustness and correctness of data to bolster the findings and subsequent implications.
Findings
The findings show that the return on equity, a measure of corporate performance, was positively but not significantly impacted by the presence of women on the executive boards of Palestinian companies. This suggests that the variable in question had no bearing on the success of the firms. In terms of moderating influence, corporate governance structure had no bearing on the link between dual chief executives, institution ownership, government ownership, independent directors and firm performance. Family ownership and board size had negative, significant impacts on performance.
Research limitations/implications
The research limitations of this study are that it focuses exclusively on manufacturing firms listed on the Palestine Exchange (PEX) over a seven-year period, which limits its generalizability to other industries and regions. Furthermore, due to a lack of data, the model did not account for global diversity on boards of directors.
Practical implications
The findings of this research help managers understand how management structures impact business success and provide regulatory authorities with insights into gender diversity and corporate governance legislation in Palestine. It suggests enhancing company performance, competitiveness and capital acquisition by improving governance information quality, building investor confidence, raising standards and reforming governance systems.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature by enhancing the understanding of how corporate governance and gender diversity affect the financial performance of listed firms, addressing a research gap in the Palestinian market. It is one of the few studies examining company performance during political turmoil, specifically focusing on the increased role of women on Palestinian boards.