William Swan, Nigel Langford, Ian Watson and Richard J. Varey
The inter‐organizational network is becoming an increasingly common form of organization. The majority of trade is carried out between organizations, rather than organizations and…
Abstract
The inter‐organizational network is becoming an increasingly common form of organization. The majority of trade is carried out between organizations, rather than organizations and households. Many of these networks are concerned with the exchange of tangible goods. However, increasing numbers are concerned with the exchange of knowledge and all are dependent upon the role of knowledge in their activities. It is our assertion that with an understanding of the nature of knowledge, we may identify how, and why, certain network formations are adopted. It is asserted that links between organizations may be viewed as knowledge assets. The expression of multiple links within a corporate community may be regarded as a network of knowledge assets. From this conceptual framework, it may be possible to answer wider questions concerning the nature of networks established in the real world and how changes are wrought on a network over a period of time.
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Andrew D. Holt, Joseph A. Giordano and Nigel White
This paper aims to provide analysis on the state of UK commercial service charge accounting practices when the guiding regulatory framework changed to a mandatory professional…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide analysis on the state of UK commercial service charge accounting practices when the guiding regulatory framework changed to a mandatory professional standard.
Design/methodology/approach
From a critical review of the accounting requirements of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Professional Standard, the paper develops metrics for measuring the quality of service charge accounts. These metrics are used to measure accounting quality within 154 accounting statements prepared during the first year of the Standard’s implementation.
Findings
The paper identifies conceptual weaknesses in the RICS Professional Standard and poor levels of compliance with many of its accounting requirements. The findings suggest that long-standing issues remain unsolved and also identify new areas of concern within present accounting practices for UK commercial service charges.
Research limitations/implications
The data were obtained from accounting documents prepared by 68 landlords and 40 managing agents for the commercial clients of one UK service charge consultancy company. Although the population is representative of industrywide practice, further longitudinal analysis is required to improve generalisability.
Practical implications
The paper provides performance metrics that stakeholders can use for benchmarking accounting quality. The RICS needs to act to improve accounting practice or risk government intervention. Some corporate landlords must provide higher quality service charge accounts or risk potentially losing occupiers to competing schemes.
Originality/value
This work provides a unique dataset that explores the role of the RICS Professional Standard in improving UK service charge accounting practices.
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Michael J. Roszkowski and Francis J. Berna
The purpose of this paper is to assess the prestige of the Doctor of Ministry (DMin) among Roman Catholics in leadership positions, who may be a potential market for this degree.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the prestige of the Doctor of Ministry (DMin) among Roman Catholics in leadership positions, who may be a potential market for this degree.
Design/methodology/approach
In a mail survey employing a comparative rating scale, respondents rated the prestige of the DMin relative to six other doctorates: PhD, EdD, PsyD, DBA, MD, and JD.
Findings
Ratings were provided by 184 priests, 73 deacons, and 95 directors of religious education (69 lay, 26 sisters). The DMin carried the least prestige with priests and the most with religious educators, particularly the sisters. In all groups, the DMin fared best on prestige when compared to the professional doctorates (DBA, EdD, PsyD) and worst relative to the traditional degrees (MD, JD, and PhD). When submitted to a cluster analysis, three groups emerged, corresponding to negative (46 percent), neutral (38 percent), and positive (16 percent) impressions of the prestige of the DMin. The majority of the priests (44 percent) were in the negative cluster whereas the largest proportion of deacons (45 percent) and most lay religious educators (71 percent) fell into the neutral cluster. In contrast, the largest proportion of the religious educators who were sisters by background went into the positive cluster (40 percent). With the exception of the sisters, the percentage of each group falling into the positive cluster was quite small and approximately the same size across the remaining three groups (16 percent, 15 percent, and 13 percent). A discriminant analysis of the clusters identified two discriminating functions; the primary function involved perceptions of the DMin relative to the traditional degrees (MD, JD, and PhD), whereas the very minor second function involved how the DMin is perceived in comparison to the newer practice doctorates (EdD, DBA, and PsyD).
Research limitations/implications
The response rate was low.
Practical implications
Currently, owing to its low prestige, the DMin probably does not have a sizable potential market among Roman Catholic priests, but it may appeal more to religious educators.
Social implications
The DMin may be subject to the same concerns and prejudices as raised about other professional doctorates.
Originality/value
Roman Catholics are a non‐traditional audience for the DMin. This degree's perceived prestige was not previously studied in this emerging market.
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In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of…
Abstract
In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.
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In order to succeed in an action under the Equal Pay Act 1970, should the woman and the man be employed by the same employer on like work at the same time or would the woman still…
Abstract
In order to succeed in an action under the Equal Pay Act 1970, should the woman and the man be employed by the same employer on like work at the same time or would the woman still be covered by the Act if she were employed on like work in succession to the man? This is the question which had to be solved in Macarthys Ltd v. Smith. Unfortunately it was not. Their Lordships interpreted the relevant section in different ways and since Article 119 of the Treaty of Rome was also subject to different interpretations, the case has been referred to the European Court of Justice.
Haverhill‐based Kemira Coatings, a leading manufacturer of factory applied coatings for wood, has been awarded four stars under the British Safety Council Five Star rating for…
Abstract
Haverhill‐based Kemira Coatings, a leading manufacturer of factory applied coatings for wood, has been awarded four stars under the British Safety Council Five Star rating for safety in the workplace, by the Council's director general, James Tye.
The New Year will see Britain a member of the largest multi‐national free trade area in the world and there must be few who see it as anything less than the beginning of a new…
Abstract
The New Year will see Britain a member of the largest multi‐national free trade area in the world and there must be few who see it as anything less than the beginning of a new era, in trade, its trends, customs and usages and especially in the field of labour, relations, mobility, practices. Much can be foreseen but to some extent it is all very unpredictable. Optimists see it as a vast market of 250 millions, with a lot of money in their pockets, waiting for British exports; others, not quite so sure, fear the movement of trade may well be in reverse and if the increasing number of great articulated motor trucks, heavily laden with food and other goods, now spilling from the Channel ports into the roads of Kent are an indication, the last could well be true. They come from faraway places, not all in the European Economic Community; from Yugoslavia and Budapest, cities of the Rhineland, from Amsterdam, Stuttgart, Mulhouse and Milano. Kent has had its invasions before, with the Legions of Claudius and in 1940 when the battle roared through the Kentish skies. Hitherto quiet villagers are now in revolt against the pre‐juggernaut invasion; they, too, fear more will come with the enlarged EEC, thundering through their one‐street communities.
Based on a review of constructs that have been the subject of both educational and information science research, a model of learning‐related information behaviour is developed…
Abstract
Based on a review of constructs that have been the subject of both educational and information science research, a model of learning‐related information behaviour is developed. The model details components of such behaviour, including: basic information processes, information processing types and information processing approaches; and factors affecting information behaviour relating to educational environments (in particular, learning objectives) and mental (including cognitive and affective) states. The complexity of information needs and associated relevance judgements implied by the model are discussed, as are implications for the provision of cognitively and affectively ergonomic access to information, and for research into learning‐related information behaviour.
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Nigel Ford, Barry Eaglestone, Andrew Madden and Martin Whittle
The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of a number of human individual differences on the web searching of a sample of the general public.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of a number of human individual differences on the web searching of a sample of the general public.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 91 members of the general public performed 195 controlled searches. Search activity and ratings of search difficulty and success were recorded and statistically analysed. The study was exploratory, and sought to establish whether there is a prima facie case for further systematic investigation of the selection and combination of variables studied here.
Findings
Results revealed a number of interactions between individual differences, the use of different search strategies, and levels of perceived search difficulty and success. The findings also suggest that the open and closed nature of searches may affect these interactions. A conceptual model of these relationships is presented.
Practical implications
Better understanding of factors affecting searching may help one to develop more effective search support, whether in the form of personalised search interfaces and mechanisms, adaptive systems, training or help systems. However, the findings reveal a complexity and variability suggesting that there is little immediate prospect of developing any simple model capable of driving such systems.
Originality/value
There are several areas of this research that make it unique: the study's focus on a sample of the general public; its use of search logs linked to personal data; its development of a novel search strategy classifier; its temporal modelling of how searches are transformed over time; and its illumination of four different types of experienced searcher, linked to different search behaviours and outcomes.
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Dan Bogart and Gary Richardson
A new database demonstrates that between 1600 and 1830, Parliament passed thousands of acts restructuring rights to real and equitable estates. These estate acts enabled…
Abstract
A new database demonstrates that between 1600 and 1830, Parliament passed thousands of acts restructuring rights to real and equitable estates. These estate acts enabled individuals and families to sell, mortgage, lease, exchange, and improve land previously bound by landholding and inheritance laws. This essay provides a factual foundation for research on this important topic: the law and economics of property rights during the period preceding the Industrial Revolution. Tables present time-series, cross-sectional, and panel data that should serve as a foundation for empirical analysis. Preliminary analysis indicates ways in which this new evidence may shape our understanding of British economic and social history. The data demonstrate that Parliament facilitated the reallocation of resources to new and more productive uses by adapting property rights to modern economic conditions. Reallocation surged in the decades following the Glorious Revolution and was concentrated in areas undergoing urbanization and industrialization. The process was open to landowners of all classes, not just the privileged groups who sat in the Houses of Lords and Commons. Parliament's rhetoric about improving the realm appears to have been consistent with its actions concerning rights to land and resources.