Joseph A. Petrick and Robert A. Wagley
Identifies four conceptual models and four practical steps toenhance responsible management of organizations. The conceptual modelsdiscussed include: a modified process model of…
Abstract
Identifies four conceptual models and four practical steps to enhance responsible management of organizations. The conceptual models discussed include: a modified process model of parallel strategic planning; a model of contractual/strategic development; a model of organizational theories and their relative moral emphases; and a model of organizational moral development. The four practical steps which managers can take include: developing the technical skills of environmental scanning, issue monitoring, and scenario building; the organizational design skills of moral climate assessment, codes of conduct, and moral audits; the value‐conflict resolution skills of stage‐challenging dialogue and structured rational processing of dilemmas; and the feedback and control network skills of providing channels for multi‐level input and protection for whistleblowers. Argues that the awareness of, as well as the routine use of these conceptual models and practical steps will allow managers to be more responsible strategic planners.
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Anthropology was a late‐comer to the Caribbean and only after World War II did the study of Caribbean culture and societies become less exceptional. Early in this century when…
Abstract
Anthropology was a late‐comer to the Caribbean and only after World War II did the study of Caribbean culture and societies become less exceptional. Early in this century when anthropology was first making itself over as an ethnographic science, anthropologists concentrated on tribal peoples. For most of the post‐Columbian era, the Caribbean region, with a few minor exceptions, was without indigenous tribal societies. Even after anthropology turned its attention to the study of peasantries, Caribbean peasantries were ignored in favor of more stable and tradition‐oriented peasant societies in other parts of Latin America. When anthropologists began to study Caribbean peoples in a more serious and systematic fashion, they found that they had to develop new concepts to explain the variation, flexibility, and heterogeneity that characterized regional culture. These concepts have had a significant impact on social and cultural theory and on the broader contemporary dialogue about cultural diversity and multiculturalism.
Most issue management practitioners and scholars accept that issue management has progressed substantially over 25 years, from primarily a reactive crisis prevention tool to a…
Abstract
Most issue management practitioners and scholars accept that issue management has progressed substantially over 25 years, from primarily a reactive crisis prevention tool to a maturing strategic management discipline. But the terminology used within issue management to define the different management positions has not kept pace with that evolution. In fact some of the language used heavily influences responses to issues and limits the apparent framework of choice. This paper reviews some past efforts to develop appropriate terminology and proposes an alternative lexicon.
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The purpose of this paper is to analyse the accounting research project concerned with accounting narrative obfuscation, focusing on the translation of the concept of readability…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the accounting research project concerned with accounting narrative obfuscation, focusing on the translation of the concept of readability from educational psychology via an earlier literature concerned with the readability of accounting narratives per se.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses actor-network theory and examines, in particular, the need for a network to accommodate the interests of its actors and the consequent risk of failure.
Findings
The analysis shows that the project is failing because the network seeking to support it is failing, and failing because of its inability to adapt sufficiently to accommodate the interests of its constituents. This failure is contrasted with the earlier concern with readability per se, which did see a successful reconfiguration of actors’ interests.
Research limitations/implications
The puzzle of the maladjustment of the network concerned with obfuscation is examined and it is suggested that it is a consequence of interests prevailing in the wider academic research network within which the relevant human actors are embedded.
Social implications
The reasons for the failure of the project are bound up in the wider circumstances of the contemporary accounting research community and may affect scholars’ capacity to pursue knowledge effectively.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to a modest stream of actor–network analysis directed at accounting research itself.
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Craig S. Fleisher and Natasha M. Blair
This paper examines the evolution of two separate fields, which are essentially concerned with the same issues but are framed by different academic and professional disciplines…
Abstract
This paper examines the evolution of two separate fields, which are essentially concerned with the same issues but are framed by different academic and professional disciplines and practice. It appears that public affairs management researchers often fail to take into account parallel literature from the discipline of public relations — even when purporting to offer an interdisciplinary approach. Equally, the public relations literature frequently fails to speak the language of business management and narrowly defines such key business activities as marketing, policy and strategy. In this paper, the authors present evidence prescribing the differing evolution of public affairs and public relations. They compare and contrast public affairs and public relations in terms of their definitions, scholarship, survey evidence, leading writers, academic and professional associations and educational programme content. They conclude by offering several suggestions for closing the gap between the two areas.
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Robert L. Heath and Damion Waymer
The purpose of this paper is to explore the proposition that organizational policies and actions gain more legitimacy when they proactively improve (rather than reactively defend…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the proposition that organizational policies and actions gain more legitimacy when they proactively improve (rather than reactively defend) their corporate social responsibility (CSR) standing by meeting challenges discursively mounted by competitors, watchdog activists, and governmental officials.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews literature, including social capital, to consider CSR as both a reactionary and proactionary construct that guides how organizations defend and publicize their corporate social performance (CSP). The paper examines four premises relevant to the discursive (contentious and collaborative) approach to formulating and implementing CSR norms. The case of fracking (hydraulic fracturing) in the USA provides text for exploring these premises, especially the advantages of a proactionary strategy.
Findings
This paper concludes that CSR expectations of industry performance rest on threshold legitimacy standards that not only withstand but also are improved by discursive challenge.
Research limitations/implications
The case study offers limited support for the findings; more cases need to be examined to determine whether the findings are robust.
Practical implications
This paper, based on theory and research, proposes a strategic management and communication approach to social responsibility based on proaction.
Social implications
CSR communication is most constructive to a fully functioning social that generates social capital by proactive engagement rather than reactive challenges of stakeholder CSR expectations.
Originality/value
Discussion of CSR and CSP as employing profit for the good of society, based on discussions of legitimacy and social capital, strengthens CSR as strategic management and communication options. Such research clarifies how evaluative expectations of CSR are a legitimacy threshold as well as basis for reputational enhancement.