Automating warehouse operations can be a very alluring proposition. However, it is vital that a decision to progress with such substantial investment is taken only after the…
Abstract
Automating warehouse operations can be a very alluring proposition. However, it is vital that a decision to progress with such substantial investment is taken only after the deliverable benefits are thoroughly understood. This is especially important when the business environment is changing rapidly. Describes the approach taken by B&Q to decide on the appropriate level of automation; explains how, through a process of establishing good performance through manual processes, it has created a sound base against which it can evaluate automation, and how its new supply chain strategy has exposed further opportunities to improve business performance. Also describes how B&Q Distribution has renewed its focus on serving the customer (the B&Q retail store), and how this experience has affected the automation project. Finally, covers B&Q’s approach to supplier selection.
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Samantha Warren and Lee Parker
The purpose of this paper is to put forward a “next step” research agenda for investigating accountants' professional identity.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to put forward a “next step” research agenda for investigating accountants' professional identity.
Design/methodology/approach
The visual nature of identity construction is discussed, issues of media stereotyping are revisited and recruitment/educational implications are reviewed. Attention is also paid to the accounting profession's attempts to change perceptions of the accounting identity.
Findings
A hybrid strategy of research participant generated photographs and semi‐structured interviews is exemplified as a fruitful methodology and outlined as a way forward for tapping into the identity construction processes and perceptions of accountants from their particular perspectives.
Research limitations/implications
The paper is intended to stimulate further research into accountants' identities from a visual perspective. However, it does not directly report on empirical findings.
Practical implications
Questions of identity construction offer us a window into the degree to which public stereotypes are matched by professional accountants' own personal definitions and the bearing these may have on current and future career intentions. Such insights can provide foundations for a range of profession policy issues spanning recruitment, retention, training and professional development.
Originality/value
This paper proposes a visual methodology not employed in accounting research before and addresses the neglected area of accountants' identities as individual professionals.
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Children experience trauma more often than many early childhood educators realize. As many as 26% of children experience multiple trauma events such as abuse, neglect, parental…
Abstract
Children experience trauma more often than many early childhood educators realize. As many as 26% of children experience multiple trauma events such as abuse, neglect, parental substance abuse, parental incarceration, and so forth. Trauma impacts brain development in many negative ways that may have serious consequences on the child’s ability to learn, grow socially and emotionally, and develop physically. These brain changes also change how the child will play in the early childhood classroom, and information is given to help recognize the signs of trauma in children. The early childhood educator can make trauma-sensitive modifications in the classroom to assist the traumatized child’s ability to play out the problem. School counselors can be a resource for assisting early childhood teachers when working with traumatized children. A brief description of the importance of play therapy as a developmentally appropriate method to help traumatized young children is provided.
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In 1971, Kilby likened research about the psychology ofentrepreneurs to search for a “heffalump”, with noconvincing descriptions resulting from the research. This paper…
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In 1971, Kilby likened research about the psychology of entrepreneurs to search for a “heffalump”, with no convincing descriptions resulting from the research. This paper surveys later research which compares entrepreneurs with other people, and concludes that more is now known about the psychology of entrepreneurs, but that entrepreneurs are not as different from other groups within the general population, managers included, as was once assumed.
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This current paper reviews the theoretical speculations concerning psychopaths in the workplace that were originally presented in a paper published in this journal in 2006. The…
Abstract
Purpose
This current paper reviews the theoretical speculations concerning psychopaths in the workplace that were originally presented in a paper published in this journal in 2006. The 2006 paper was called: “The Dark Side of Management Decisions: Organisational Psychopaths”.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a review of the literature on workplace psychopaths since 2006.
Findings
This current paper determines that while many of these prior speculations about workplace psychopaths have since been supported by evidence, several others remain unexplored. This finding suggests that several important avenues for further research remain in this important area. In particular, links between corporate psychopaths, bullying and lowered corporate social responsibility have been established. On the other hand, links between corporate psychopaths, career advancement, fraud, and corporate failure as exemplified in the 2007 global financial crisis, have been under-explored.
Social implications
Corporate psychopaths are worthy of further research because of their impact on society, for example on corporate social responsibility and their willingness to dump toxic waste material illegally.
Originality/value
The paper provides an extensive review of research into corporate psychopaths to date and highlights areas where further investigation would be potentially rewarding.
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Parisa Diba, Jonathan Bowden, Andrew Divers, Beth Taylor, Dorothy Newbury-Birch and Jonathan Ling
Integrated service models aim to simplify access, enable effective delivery, remove duplication and provide a holistic and person-centred approach. This project explored the…
Abstract
Purpose
Integrated service models aim to simplify access, enable effective delivery, remove duplication and provide a holistic and person-centred approach. This project explored the development of integrated well-being services in two local authorities in North-East England. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
Underpinned by public health and co-production approaches, the project utilised a mixed-methods approach. Data were collected via online surveys (n = 95), virtual interviews with members of the local population (n = 8) and practitioners and commissioners (n = 8) to explore needs for a new service. Thematic analysis was used to identify key themes and issues.
Findings
Several benefits of an integrated service were highlighted by both staff and service users, with a central anticipated benefit being the provision of holistic care. Improvement in information sharing was also seen to increase the efficiency of services and communication barriers between services. Beneficial aspects and barriers related to the COVID-19 pandemic on current service provision were reported that have informed our future recommendations.
Originality/value
The authors’ findings provide a much deeper insight into function, care, social inclusion and ongoing support needs, from both the perspectives of staff and service users. Service users and staff saw value in an integrated model for themselves, as well as the wider community. The authors’ findings indicate that the integrated service model is a promising one for the development of services within local authorities.
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When Trump entered the presidential race in 2015, many white evangelicals turned up their noses at his candidacy. By 2020, Trump had garnered such commitment from white…
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When Trump entered the presidential race in 2015, many white evangelicals turned up their noses at his candidacy. By 2020, Trump had garnered such commitment from white evangelicals that not only did 80% vote for him, but 60% also refused to accept the election results after his loss. How did this transformation occur, and with what lasting results for the evangelical vote and US politics more broadly? This chapter shows that in the “new culture wars” of the Trump era, race has played an even more central and explicit role in religion and politics than it did in the past. Christian nationalism and the intersection of religion and race help explain the strong bond between Trump and many white evangelicals. COVID-19 vaccine refusal and critical race theory bans provide examples of the continuing significance of that bond. These cases demonstrate the likelihood that Trumpian politics will maintain influence over white evangelicals in the near future.
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The US Congress is a racialized governing institution that plays an important role structuring the racial hierarchy in the nation. Despite Congress’s influence, there is little…
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The US Congress is a racialized governing institution that plays an important role structuring the racial hierarchy in the nation. Despite Congress’s influence, there is little theoretical and empirical research on its racialized structure – that is, how it operates and the racial processes that shape it. This lacuna has developed from a narrow conceptualization of Congress as a political institution, and it ignores how it is a multifaceted organization that features a large and complex workplace. Congressional staff are the invisible force in American policymaking, and it is through their assistance that members of Congress can fulfill their responsibilities. However, the congressional workplace is stratified along racial lines. In this chapter, I theorize how the congressional workplace became racialized, and I identify the racial processes that maintain a racialized workplace today. I investigate how lawmakers have organized their workplace and made decisions about which workers would be appropriate for different types of roles in the Capitol. Through a racial analysis of the congressional workplace, I show a connection between Congress as an institution and workplace and how racial domination is a thread that connects and animates both its formal and informal structures.