Nanludet Moxom and Richard Noonan
Higher education institutions in Lao PDR are not generally performing well. Some sector goals achieved include an outcomes-based curriculum focus and gender equity. However…
Abstract
Higher education institutions in Lao PDR are not generally performing well. Some sector goals achieved include an outcomes-based curriculum focus and gender equity. However, problems with quality are wide-ranging and complicated, with most institutions struggling to improve their quality in teaching and learning, research, community service, and quality assurance. Efforts to improve tend to be frustrated by inefficiency and unmanageability. At the heart of the problem is a lack of sufficient leadership capacity. The challenges are profound, and the need for solutions is pressing.
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Oren Pizmony-Levy, James Harvey, William H. Schmidt, Richard Noonan, Laura Engel, Michael J. Feuer, Henry Braun, Carla Santorno, Iris C. Rotberg, Paul Ash, Madhabi Chatterji and Judith Torney-Purta
This paper presents a moderated discussion on popular misconceptions, benefits and limitations of International Large-Scale Assessment (ILSA) programs, clarifying how ILSA results…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper presents a moderated discussion on popular misconceptions, benefits and limitations of International Large-Scale Assessment (ILSA) programs, clarifying how ILSA results could be more appropriately interpreted and used in public policy contexts in the USA and elsewhere in the world.
Design/methodology/approach
To bring key issues, points-of-view and recommendations on the theme to light, the method used is a “moderated policy discussion”. Nine commentaries were invited to represent voices of leading ILSA scholars/researchers and measurement experts, juxtaposed against views of prominent leaders of education systems in the USA that participate in ILSA programs. The discussion is excerpted from a recent blog published by Education Week. It is moderated with introductory remarks from the guest editor and concluding recommendations from an ILSA researcher who did not participate in the original blog. References and author biographies are presented at the end of the article.
Findings
Together, the commentaries address historical, methodological, socio-political and policy issues surrounding ILSA programs vis-à-vis the major goals of education and larger societal concerns. Authors offer recommendations for improving the international studies themselves and for making reports more transparent for educators and the public to facilitate greater understanding of their purposes, meanings and policy implications.
Originality/value
When assessment policies are implemented from the top down, as is often the case with ILSA program participation, educators and leaders in school systems tend to be left out of the conversation. This article is intended to foster a productive two-way dialogue among key ILSA actors that can serve as a stepping-stone to more concerted policy actions within and across national education systems.
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Jay P. Mulki and Divakar Kamath
Tolerance to ambiguity (TOLA) is a personal trait influencing one’s comfort and proficiency in navigating uncertain situations. While the concept of role ambiguity is…
Abstract
Purpose
Tolerance to ambiguity (TOLA) is a personal trait influencing one’s comfort and proficiency in navigating uncertain situations. While the concept of role ambiguity is well-established in sales literature, the broader trait of ambiguity has been largely overlooked in this context. In the dynamic landscape of modern business, uncertainty is a regular phenomenon, and navigating ambiguity is an invaluable skill. While salespeople are celebrated for their customer focus, negotiation skills and product knowledge, their capacity to embrace ambiguity-a skill that could be an important contributor to their success in the diverse global market is rarely studied. This study contributes by linking a salesperson’s TOLA and two well-established dimensions of emotional intelligence to adaptive selling behavior. Using responses from a sample of 209 employees of financial institutions in a large metropolitan city in India, this study shows that TOLA, understanding others' emotions and regulation of emotions positively influence a salesperson’s adaptive selling behavior. Further, results also point out that TOLA moderates the relationship between understanding other emotions and adaptive selling. To our knowledge, this is the first study that has explored the link between these two important skills of salespeople, thus extending TOLA as a critical construct to the sales field. Managerial implications and directions for future research are provided.
Design/methodology/approach
Using responses from a sample of 209 employees of financial institutions, a model was tested using structural equation modeling. A measurement model was used to assess the validity of the scales used in the study. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted using AMOS 28 with the scale items for understanding other’s emotions (UOE), regulation of emotions (ROE), adaptive selling behavior (ADPS), job performance (JOBP) and three mean-centered dimensions of the TOLA scale. A structural equation model was run using AMOS 28 to test the relationships among variables.
Findings
The study results show that TOLA has a strong positive relationship with adaptive selling. Further, results show that TOLA acts as a moderator in the relationship between understanding others’ emotions, a fact of emotional intelligence and adaptive selling behavior.
Research limitations/implications
To our knowledge this is the first study that explored the link between TOLA and adaptive selling, a critical predictor of sales performance. While the concept of role ambiguity is well-established in sales literature, the broader trait of ambiguity has been largely overlooked in this context. By establishing the link between these two important skills of salespeople, this study extends the concept of TOLA as a critical construct to the sales field.
Practical implications
Study results validate the important role of TOLA on salesperson’s ability to use adaptive selling behavior which is critical for sales performance. This study highlights the different ways sales professionals who possess a high TOLA can benefit. Field sales managers can play a crucial role in fostering a TOLA culture in the sale team and help leverage the relationship between TOLA, emotional intelligence and adaptive selling. By integrating qualities of TOLA into recruitment and training, managers can create a sales team that is not only effective in navigating uncertainties and thrive in dynamic and competitive business environments.
Originality/value
In sales settings, the concept of role ambiguity is well-established, but the broader trait of ambiguity has been largely overlooked and has rarely been part of sales research. A recent review of 15 studies on TOLA shows that almost all the studies used student samples and only a handful of them were done in organizational or sales settings. The current study aims to fill the gap in sales research by exploring how TOLA influences adaptive selling, one of the critical constructs in sales research.
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M. Begoña Lloria and Leydy Burbano
This paper first analyses the direct effect of quality management practices (QMPs) on organisational ambidexterity (OA). It then analyses the mediating influence of the values of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper first analyses the direct effect of quality management practices (QMPs) on organisational ambidexterity (OA). It then analyses the mediating influence of the values of ambidextrous culture (AC). A novel theoretical model is tested in a quantitative study of the organic agri-food sector.
Design/methodology/approach
Quantitative methods and an online survey were used to collect and analyse 239 valid questionnaire responses. The data analysis method was partial least squares (PLS).
Findings
There is a relationship between QMPs and OA. AC partially mediates this link, strengthening the direct relationship between the two variables.
Originality/value
The proposed model is novel and creates opportunities for new lines of research. The concept of QMPs is considered in all its dimensions (processes, people, customers and suppliers). The study reaffirms the importance of the novel concept of AC in the literature. In this study, OA is defined in terms of the balanced processes of exploitation and exploration. The choice of sector is another original feature of the study.
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This chapter considers how observers can effectively and safely engage with unethical organizational behaviors. Engagement methods need to be aligned with the situational contexts…
Abstract
This chapter considers how observers can effectively and safely engage with unethical organizational behaviors. Engagement methods need to be aligned with the situational contexts of specific cases. Micro-level individual, meso-level organizational, and macro-level environmental contextual obstacles to effective and safe engagement are considered. Five types of observer ethics engagement methods are considered in the context of specific cases and contextual obstacles. Engagement methods considered are as follows: (1) evocation and framing of dialogic engagement as consistent with the identity, vision, and values of the organization; (2) win–win incentive and ethics networking methods; (3) internal and external whistle-blowing methods; (4) if the observer is in a position of organizational power, top-down forcing methods; and (5) linking of observed unethical behaviors with strong external social movements.
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Building on relational inequality theory, this paper incorporates social capital as a device to trace the flow of resources through relationships originating within and beyond…
Abstract
Building on relational inequality theory, this paper incorporates social capital as a device to trace the flow of resources through relationships originating within and beyond organizations. I draw on a survey of over 1,700 lawyers to evaluate key dynamics of social capital that shape earnings: bridging and bonding, reciprocity exchanges and sponsorship, and boundary maintenance. The findings show social capital lends a lift to law graduates through bridges to professional careers and sponsorship following job entry. Racial minorities, however, suffer a shortfall of personal networks to facilitate job searches, and once having secured jobs, minorities experience social closure practices by clients and colleagues that disadvantage them in their professional work. A sizeable earnings gap remains between racial minority and white lawyers after controlling for human and social capitals, social closure practices, and organizational context. This earnings gap is particularly large among racial minorities with more years of experience and those working in large law firms. The findings demonstrate the importance of identifying the interrelations that connect social network and organizational context to impact social inequality.
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In the first decades of the nineteenth century to the first decade of the twentieth century, the US Federal and Supreme Courts heard several cases on the legal status of ships…
Abstract
In the first decades of the nineteenth century to the first decade of the twentieth century, the US Federal and Supreme Courts heard several cases on the legal status of ships. During this period, Chief Justice John Marshall and Justice Joseph Story determined that a ship was a legal person that was capable to contract and could be punished for wrongdoing. Over the nineteenth century, Marshall and Story also heard appeals on the illegal slave trade and on the status of fugitive slaves crossing state lines, cases that raised questions as to whether enslaved peoples were persons or property. Although Marshall and Story did not discuss the ship and the slave together, in this chapter, the author asks what might be gained in doing so. Specifically, what might a reading of the ship and the slave as juridical figures reveal about the history of legal personhood? The genealogy of positive and negative legal personhood that the author begins to trace here draws inspiration and guidance from scholars writing critically of slavery. In different ways, this literature emphasises the significance of maritime worlds to conceptions of racial terror, freedom, and fugitivity. Building on these insights, the author reads the ship and the slave as central characters in the history of legal personhood, a reading that highlights the interconnections between maritime law and the laws of slavery and foregrounds the changing intensities of Anglo imperial power and racial and colonial violence in shaping the legal person.
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“What went wrong?” This was the question no doubt asked by the Bush campaign and the Republican Party after the 3 November 1992 presidential election.