Balvinder Shukla, Tahir Sufi, Manoj Joshi and R. Sujatha
The COVID-19 crisis has affected almost all the global sectors. The hotel industry, however, was hit hardest challenging the leadership. This study, therefore, attempts to explore…
Abstract
Purpose
The COVID-19 crisis has affected almost all the global sectors. The hotel industry, however, was hit hardest challenging the leadership. This study, therefore, attempts to explore the challenges hospitality leadership in India face to navigate the crisis. The study additionally addresses how leaders manage the expectations of key stakeholders; communicate hard decisions with employees, pursue strategies for revival and explores the role of technology to survive the crisis.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts a qualitative approach involving structured interviews with 16 senior hospitality leaders consisting of CEO, vice president, general managers, directors, entrepreneur and general managers from various organisations like hotels, restaurant chains, food services and facilities management services. Data were content analysed involving coding techniques.
Findings
The leadership challenges included making customers and employees feel safe, optimising operations, agility and resilience of leaders, maintaining a balance between stakeholders, managing employee stress and ensuring cash reserves. The study found that leaders manage the expectation of various stakeholders by maintaining balance, demonstrating empathy and agility. The hard decisions are communicated with the employees through involvement, empathy and alleviating stress.
Research limitations/implications
The study contributes by identifying twelve themes from the participants' responses under five major themes-labelled as leadership challenges, managing stakeholders, communicating with the employees, the role of technology and best practices of surviving the crisis. Future research can be conducted on such sub-themes in different countries.
Practical implications
As the tourism industry in India is recovering after the second wave, the governments along with all stakeholders, must launch special events for promoting the tourism sector. Safety measures like making vaccination certificates for all tourists and employees of the tourism sector should be made mandatory. Further, special certification following the COVID-19 protocol needs to be introduced for hotels and catering establishments. A fund generated from the sector's direct tax contribution needs to be established to support the employees.
Social implications
The study has several social implications. The study results can unite all industry stakeholders to shape the post-pandemic era through collaboration. Empathetic leadership can take the industry out of chaos by balancing the interests of the various stakeholders of society. The pandemic has proven that we all are vulnerable to risks and challenges; leaders have a vital role in taking proactive steps to ensure that such uncertainties do not cause unprecedented damage.
Originality/value
This study expanded the research on the hospitality leadership challenges in managing crises in the backdrop of the crisis caused by COVID-19 pandemic. The conceptual model, variables, themes and sub-themes utilised are original contributions to the hospitality literature.
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V. Deepa, Hasnan Baber, Balvinder Shukla, R. Sujatha and Danish Khan
The COVID-19 pandemic pushed organizations across the world to suddenly adopt work from home at a mass scale to maintain business continuity. This study aims to investigate the…
Abstract
Purpose
The COVID-19 pandemic pushed organizations across the world to suddenly adopt work from home at a mass scale to maintain business continuity. This study aims to investigate the influence of lack of social interaction in work from the home arrangement on employee work effectiveness.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were analysed using the partial least square (PLS) structural equation modelling (SEM) approach, a nonparametric method based on total variance, through SmartPLS software 3.0. The data were collected from 399 participants in India using the snowball sampling technique. The target populations were the people who were working from home due to the pandemic and by asking them to forward the survey link in their network.
Findings
The results suggest that social interaction has a significant positive impact on work effectiveness. However, this impact is not affected by the employee's perceived benefits of maintaining social distancing during the pandemic. The study also found that social interaction is important for both genders and found no significant difference in the relationship between social interaction and work from home effectiveness for male and female employees.
Practical implications
This study will be useful for human resource practitioners and managers as they build strategies to adopt work from home as a regular practice even in non-pandemic situations.
Originality/value
This study is the first to examine the influence of lack of social interaction on the work from home effectiveness during the COVID-19 times. It examines the moderating role of the perceived benefits of maintaining social distancing and gender on the effect of lack of social interaction as a barrier to work from home effectiveness.
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Ida Torunn Bjørk, Mette Tøien and Anne Lene Sørensen
– The purpose of this article is to explore the opportunities for informal learning among nurses working on a hospital ward.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to explore the opportunities for informal learning among nurses working on a hospital ward.
Design/methodology/approach
A field study was conducted in one hospital ward. Methods used to collect data included participant observation, ad hoc conversations and formal interviews.
Findings
Eight categories describe the opportunities for informal learning among the nurses. Several factors seemed to mediate the opportunities for informal learning, such as the size and physical structures of the ward, role modeling by the nurse leader, systems and artifacts that triggered and scaffolded learning, and interaction and collaboration among all professionals on the ward.
Research limitations/implications
A limitation is that data are collected from only one ward. A strength is the use of several methods to collect data and the range of participants' ages, experience and gender.
Practical implications
This study offers examples of informal learning opportunities that can be tailored to different clinical settings. Through role-modeling the leader can influence both the norms that become established in a ward and the development of a culture of mutual support and learning.
Originality/value
This article adds to the existing research by including observation in the hospital setting of actual practices that involve informal learning.
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This study aims to introduce an empirical model which incorporates newsgroups, knowledge forums, knowledge assets and knowledge application processes to share organisational…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to introduce an empirical model which incorporates newsgroups, knowledge forums, knowledge assets and knowledge application processes to share organisational knowledge. Therefore it seeks to illustrate an application for integrating knowledge management (KM) into the business process.
Design/methodology/approach
The Taiwanese contingent of an international certification body – also a council member of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) – was selected for a case study. A hybrid technology infrastructure was designed and employed to implement the proposed model. Based on knowledge value added validation, the proposed KM model provides a set of new operating systems for sharing knowledge within an organisation.
Findings
Although many theories regarding implementation of KM in organisations have been proposed and studied, an application model for practical integration of various modern principles to share organisational knowledge is strategically important. Therefore a model that integrates principal KM applications into the business process, and the measurement of the resulting benefits, has been developed.
Originality/value
Knowledge is a valuable asset for an individual in today's economy; nevertheless the acquisition of such an asset relies heavily on knowledge sharing within an organisation. The author has proposed an exclusive hybrid platform with an empirical process model to address innovative approaches and practical values of KM within an organisation.
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Sedigheh Moghavvemi, Lee Su Teng and Huda Mahmoud
This chapter will introduce the concept of the gig economy. It begins with a brief discussion of technological changes and their impact on the workforce and labour market…
Abstract
This chapter will introduce the concept of the gig economy. It begins with a brief discussion of technological changes and their impact on the workforce and labour market, demonstrating how the trend shifts towards the gig economy. It then examines the trends that are influencing this transformation and discusses various perspectives and the attractiveness of the gig economy for workers and businesses. This chapter will also discuss the gig economy, platform economy, digital platform, and gig worker categories. It concludes with a brief discussion of some of the opportunities, issues, and challenges associated with the gig economy.
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Palka Mittal, Sheetal Kalra, Abhishek Dadhich and Puneeta Ajmera
Child-to-Child (C-to-C) approach is an evidence-based approach that ensures the child’s participation in bringing about positive changes in healthcare. By systematically…
Abstract
Purpose
Child-to-Child (C-to-C) approach is an evidence-based approach that ensures the child’s participation in bringing about positive changes in healthcare. By systematically investigating the literature, the study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the approach and recognize associated themes, methodologies and outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
An extensive search on PubMed, ProQuest, Cochrane and Dimensions AI databases was performed for original research articles on C-to-C intervention, with no time and geographical restrictions. Following PRISMA and PICO, the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) critical appraisal tool assessed the studies. A data tabulation technique was used to summarize these studies.
Findings
The approach shows promising results in enhancing children’s understanding of health issues and their participation in community health promotion. This, in turn, encourages the adoption of better healthcare practices and shows improved health outcomes.
Research limitations/implications
Further research is required to understand the long-term impact of the approach on populations from diverse socioeconomic statuses in different study settings.
Practical implications
The findings will be helpful for practitioners, educators, policymakers and other stakeholders in creating more successful and effective C-to-C intervention programs to make informed decisions, achieve sustainable behavior change and improve health.
Originality/value
The originality of this review paper is evident in its unique focus on the C-to-C approach, which empowers children not only as recipients of health education but also as active contributors to promoting health. Further, the present research also explores the intricacies of how children learn from each other, offering new insights into effective educational practices.
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Md Sakib Ullah Sourav, Huidong Wang, Mohammad Raziuddin Chowdhury and Rejwan Bin Sulaiman
One of the most neglected sources of energy loss is streetlights that generate too much light in areas where it is not required. Energy waste has enormous economic and…
Abstract
One of the most neglected sources of energy loss is streetlights that generate too much light in areas where it is not required. Energy waste has enormous economic and environmental effects. In addition, due to the conventional manual nature of operation, streetlights are frequently seen being turned ‘ON’ during the day and ‘OFF’ in the evening, which is regrettable even in the twenty-first century. These issues require automated streetlight control in order to be resolved. This study aims to develop a novel streetlight controlling method by combining a smart transport monitoring system powered by computer vision technology with a closed circuit television (CCTV) camera that allows the light-emitting diode (LED) streetlight to automatically light up with the appropriate brightness by detecting the presence of pedestrians or vehicles and dimming the streetlight in their absence using semantic image segmentation from the CCTV video streaming. Consequently, our model distinguishes daylight and nighttime, which made it feasible to automate the process of turning the streetlight ‘ON’ and ‘OFF’ to save energy consumption costs. According to the aforementioned approach, geo-location sensor data could be utilised to make more informed streetlight management decisions. To complete the tasks, we consider training the U-net model with ResNet-34 as its backbone. Validity of the models is guaranteed with the use of assessment matrices. The suggested concept is straightforward, economical, energy-efficient, long-lasting and more resilient than conventional alternatives.
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The external business environment of the organization is always changing at a rapid pace. For a firm to adapt to changing client requirements, it must implement the right business…
Abstract
Purpose
The external business environment of the organization is always changing at a rapid pace. For a firm to adapt to changing client requirements, it must implement the right business procedures and strategies. To improve competitive advantage, this study investigates the roles that supply chain partnerships, cross-functional integration, responsiveness and resilience play in achieving competitive advantages in Palestine.
Design/methodology/approach
Industrial institutions in Palestine constitute the study population. Data are collected by distributing surveys via Google Forms linked to manufacturers in industries such as the Leather and shoe Industry, metal industries, chemical industries, construction industries, textile industries, stone and marble industries, pharmaceutical industry, veterinary industry, food industry, plastic industry, paper industry, major advantages and disadvantages. The SEM-PLS approach is used to analyze the data.
Findings
The findings demonstrate that supply chain responsiveness, resilience and cooperation are all improved by cross-functional integration in inventory data integration and immediate operation. Supply chain partnerships improve the supply chain’s responsiveness, resilience and competitive advantage by involving partners in work teams and exchanging best practices. The enhancement of supply chain resilience and competitive advantage is influenced by the company’s capacity to act promptly in response to variations in demands.
Research limitations/implications
This paper faces some limitations and it can be drawn as follows: To enhance supply chain risk management, the study continues to concentrate on manufacturing organizations that have internal integration. It also emphasizes the necessity of supply chain integration, which establishes direct connections with outside partners.
Practical implications
The findings of this study suggest some policy implications, as follows: To provide the manufacturing sector with a competitive edge, operations supervisors must be able to track and assess processes to ensure they are meeting demand. Firms that possess the ability to adjust to novel procedures or advancements in technology gain a competitive edge by guaranteeing consistent and high-quality delivery of products.
Originality/value
By implementing IT integration, this study theoretically and practically advances the understanding of the resource-based view of competitive advantages. This study focuses on providing insights into the nature of the relationship between supply chain partnership, cross-functional integration, responsiveness and flexibility and competitive advantages in the manufacturing sector in the Palestinian market.