The Conference on Corporate Communication serves as a forum to “exchange ideas and information on relevant issues facing the corporate communication profession.” What have we…
Abstract
Purpose
The Conference on Corporate Communication serves as a forum to “exchange ideas and information on relevant issues facing the corporate communication profession.” What have we found over the past 10 years? What themes have been seen as “relevant” and how has what we research changed? This paper aims to focus on the answers to these questions.
Design/methodology/approach
In order to examine how the central themes have changed over the years, a semantic network analysis was undertaken using the abstracts from all the presentations from each of the past nine years. The semantic network analysis examined the relationship among words to determine clusters of shared themes.
Findings
The research found that over the course of the last decade, the study of corporate communication is not static. It is ever evolving as the world changes and continues to rise to meet the needs of this changing world
Originality/value
This tool allowed the researcher the opportunity to capture the visible and quantifiable way in which themes are established in this community by noting a shared discourse among members that reflects common understanding of rules, a common belief of values and a way of life.
Details
Keywords
To move beyond the literature definitions of knowledge work to provide insight into knowledge workers' identity within the organization.
Abstract
Purpose
To move beyond the literature definitions of knowledge work to provide insight into knowledge workers' identity within the organization.
Design/methodology/approach
For knowledge workers, the need to identify themselves as part of a collective within their work environment is important due to the fact that they function in an organizational environment where they do not have the benefit of a traditional, formal bureaucratic structure. By using a combination of network analysis and semantic network analysis, it was possible to gain a clearer understanding of who knowledge workers are and how their interaction creates a sense of identity among these workers, even in a flexible organizational environment.
Findings
Knowledge workers see themselves somewhat differently from what the literature predicts. They do engage in interaction to fulfill task needs as well as social needs, are well connected beyond their focal workgroup, and their interaction leads to a shared meaning and identity across this otherwise rather disparate and autonomous group of workers.
Research limitations/implications
One of the limitations of this research is that communication events did not take into account the quality of the interaction. Future studies should include this aspect.
Originality/value
Perhaps by redefining what one feels is known about the elements of knowledge work and the organizational environment in which they work, and by pairing that knowledge with the communication network of these individuals, one can continue to explore both the essential essence and complexity of this new worker so that management of this worker can be optimized.
Details
Keywords
Nilupulee Liyanagamage and Mario Fernando
Socially responsible firms are known to improve competitive advantage and create workplaces that protect employees and the society in the long-term. Yet, the transitionary and…
Abstract
Purpose
Socially responsible firms are known to improve competitive advantage and create workplaces that protect employees and the society in the long-term. Yet, the transitionary and project-based nature of the construction industry makes it difficult to espouse socially responsible practices. This study aims to adopt a person-centric conceptualisation of social responsibility by drawing on processes of individual sensemaking to gain a deeper understanding of small-business social responsibility (SBSR).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted semi-structured interviews with 11 people from the construction industry in Sri Lanka to develop retrospective narratives.
Findings
The findings suggest that individuals in small-business construction firms rely on intraindividual, organisational and wider societal considerations to make sense of SBSR. What drives these interviewees to be responsible is determined not so much by profitability or reputation but by their own SBSR sensemaking process.
Originality/value
This study examines how individuals make sense of social responsibility in transitionary project-based small businesses in the construction industry.
Details
Keywords
In September 1985, eight sets of children's books from Australia began an odyssey that will take them into all fifty states and Canada by the end of 1988. The books— and the…
Abstract
In September 1985, eight sets of children's books from Australia began an odyssey that will take them into all fifty states and Canada by the end of 1988. The books— and the resource, reference and display materials that accompany them—were chosen specifically for their value in introducing non‐Australians to Australia and her children's literature. They also provide an ideal starting point for library collection development.
Patricia Ahmed, Rebecca Jean Emigh and Dylan Riley
A “state-driven” approach suggests that colonists use census categories to rule. However, a “society-driven” approach suggests that this state-driven perspective confers too much…
Abstract
A “state-driven” approach suggests that colonists use census categories to rule. However, a “society-driven” approach suggests that this state-driven perspective confers too much power upon states. A third approach views census-taking and official categorization as a product of state–society interaction that depends upon: (a) the population's lay categories, (b) information intellectuals' ability to take up and transform these lay categories, and (c) the balance of power between social and state actors. We evaluate the above positions by analyzing official records, key texts, travelogues, and statistical memoirs from three key periods in India: Indus Valley civilization through classical Gupta rule (ca. 3300 BCE–700 CE), the “medieval” period (ca. 700–1700 CE), and East India Company (EIC) rule (1757–1857 CE), using historical narrative. We show that information gathering early in the first period was society driven; however, over time, a strong interactive pattern emerged. Scribes (information intellectuals) increased their social status and power (thus, shifting the balance of power) by drawing on caste categories (lay categories) and incorporating them into official information gathering. This intensification of interactive information gathering allowed the Mughals, the EIC, and finally British direct rule officials to collect large quantities of information. Our evidence thus suggests that the intensification of state–society interactions over time laid the groundwork for the success of the direct rule British censuses. It also suggests that any transformative effect of these censuses lay in this interactive pattern, not in the strength of the British colonial state.
Details
Keywords
Sharon L. Segrest, Martha C. Andrews, Scott W. Geiger, Dan Marlin, Patricia G. Martinez, Pamela L. Perrewé and Gerald R. Ferris
Acts of interpersonal influence are observed throughout organizations, and most typically, in direct supervisor–subordinate relationships. However, researchers have focused less…
Abstract
Purpose
Acts of interpersonal influence are observed throughout organizations, and most typically, in direct supervisor–subordinate relationships. However, researchers have focused less on subordinates bypassing the chain of command and targeting their supervisor's supervisor with influence attempts. We conceptualize a new term, “leapfrogging,” as subordinates' attempts to influence and manage the impressions of their supervisor's supervisor. Here we focus on influencing the target's perception of likability (the focus of ingratiation) and competence (the focus of self-promotion). This study focuses on its personal and situational antecedents.
Design/methodology/approach
Given the central role of social exchange and psychological processes within this phenomenon, we build on a social exchange and a social cognition approach. Using a sample of 131 university support personnel service employees, hierarchical regression is used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The following antecedents of leapfrogging are hypothesized and tested: the subordinate personal characteristics of Machiavellianism, need for achievement, and fear of negative evaluation, and the situational/relational characteristic of leader–member exchange (LMX). Of these potential antecedents, subordinate Machiavellianism and LMX were the strongest predictors, and subordinates' need for achievement and fear of negative evaluation were moderate predictors.
Practical implications
Leapfrogging occurs when actors are frustrated with their current situation and desire change. However, influence tactics aimed at a subordinate's supervisor's supervisor may further strain a low-quality leader–subordinate relationship. As actors become increasingly dissatisfied and leave, this may result in increased organizational costs related to the loss of experienced employees and the hiring and training of new ones.
Originality/value
Most upward influence research has largely ignored subordinate influence attempts that go outside of the normal chain of command and target their boss's boss. The present study addresses this gap in the literature by examining leapfrog behaviors. Although acknowledged in a limited manner as a legitimate organizational behavior, this topic has received virtually no empirical attention.
Details
Keywords
Most of my work focusing on educational systems – including universities, public elementary schools, private schools, and training programs in organizations – was supported by…
Abstract
Most of my work focusing on educational systems – including universities, public elementary schools, private schools, and training programs in organizations – was supported by Stanford University centers and grants separate from the Training Program, for example, the Stanford Center for Research and Development in Teaching (1968–1977) and the Institute for Research on Educational Finance and Governance (1979–1986). Faculty collaborators in these studies included Elizabeth Cohen and Terrence Deal in the School of Education, and John W. Meyer, my colleague in Sociology. A number of NIMH trainees participated in these studies, including Andrew Creighton, Margaret Davis, and Brian Rowan. Other doctoral students involved in this research included Sally Cole, Joanne Intili, Suzanne E. Monahan, E. Anne Stackhouse, and Marc Ventresca.
The following bibliography focuses mainly on programs which can run on IBM microcomputers and compatibles under the operating system PC DOS/MS DOS, and which can be used in online…
Abstract
The following bibliography focuses mainly on programs which can run on IBM microcomputers and compatibles under the operating system PC DOS/MS DOS, and which can be used in online information and documentation work. They fall into the following categories: