Thomas D. Cairns, John Hollenback, Robert C. Preziosi and William A. Snow
This study empirically tested Hersey and Blanchard’s situational leadership theory (SLT) among 151 senior executives within service and manufacturing businesses of a large Fortune…
Abstract
This study empirically tested Hersey and Blanchard’s situational leadership theory (SLT) among 151 senior executives within service and manufacturing businesses of a large Fortune 100 company. SLT focuses on the interaction of the leader’s behaviour and follower readiness to determine leader effectiveness. SLT suggests that the appropriate level of task and relationship behaviour is the one that “matches” the level of follower readiness. A variety of statistical techniques were used to test the central hypotheses of SLT and the matching concept. The study produced 18 matches and 126 mismatches. One statistical technique, the partitioned test, was found to provide the most insight about SLT and the concept of matching. The researchers recommend its utilization in future research of SLT. The researchers conclude that SLT remains intuitively appealing and empirically contradictory. The concepts of SLT and matching are engaging and further research is recommended.
Details
Keywords
As clients of India's IT services providers continue to complain about knowledge loss caused by high attrition rates in their offshore delivery factories, the linkages between…
Abstract
Purpose
As clients of India's IT services providers continue to complain about knowledge loss caused by high attrition rates in their offshore delivery factories, the linkages between organizational culture and commitment of the Indian employee base are of interest to researchers as well as practitioners. This paper seeks to address these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Data was collected in the first half of 2012 through the ICCA™ appraisal framework from 291 Indian IT executives and managers working for two IT services sourcing provider organizations in Pune and Bangalore, India. To analyse the data, descriptive and inferential statistics were used together with multiple regression and confirmatory factor analysis.
Findings
Taken together, this research makes several contributions. First, the results of data analysis exhibit that, among the organizational culture dimensions, in‐group collectivism and performance orientation are the antecedents with the biggest effect on employee commitment. Other culture dimensions show varying degree of positive and negative influence on employee commitment. Second, this paper contributes to the cross‐cultural generalizability discussion of employee commitment. The data analysis unveils a stronger correlation between affective and normative commitment in the Indian context as compared to other North American studies. Third, it supports suggestions put forward in other research that continuance commitment should be split into the two subfactors c/alternative and c/sacrifice.
Practical implications
It is proposed that the Indian IT services sourcing industry should be adept at thinking about employee commitment from an organizational culture point of view.
Originality/value
The proposed model of this research posits and proves that employee commitment in an Indian IT services offshoring context is influenced by organizational culture.
Details
Keywords
SIR, I am writing to advise you that we found this year's Corrosion Exhibition a resounding success.
“GIVE a dog a bad name and hang him,” is an aphorism which has been accepted for many years. But, like many other household words, it is not always true. Even if it were, the dog…
Abstract
“GIVE a dog a bad name and hang him,” is an aphorism which has been accepted for many years. But, like many other household words, it is not always true. Even if it were, the dog to be operated upon would probably prefer a gala day at his Tyburn Tree to being executed in an obscure back yard.
The purpose of this paper is to bring the work of Seth Siegelaub (1941–2013) to the attention of document studies. Siegelaub was a pioneer of the conceptual art movement in New…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to bring the work of Seth Siegelaub (1941–2013) to the attention of document studies. Siegelaub was a pioneer of the conceptual art movement in New York in the 1960s, active as an Art Dealer, Curator and Publisher. He is remembered by art history for his exhibition catalogues, which provided a material base for intangible works of art.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses a comparative approach to examine the documents of conceptual art, especially the exhibition catalogues produced by Siegelaub between 1968 and 1972. Drawing on literature from document theory and art history and criticism, it examines several of Siegelaub’s key exhibition catalogues and books.
Findings
Siegelaub’s theories of information have much in common with the documentalist tradition. Siegelaub’s work is important, not just for its potential to contribute to the literature of document theory. It also provides a point of dialogue between art history and information studies.
Originality/value
To date, the common ground between art and documentation has been explored almost exclusively from the perspective of art history. This paper is among the first to examine conceptual art from the perspective of document theory. It demonstrates potential for cross-disciplinary collaboration.
Details
Keywords
Shalini Singh, Amitabh Deo Kodwani and Rakesh Kumar Agrawal
The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of lifestyle orientation and perceived organizational functioning in psychological empowerment perceptions of information…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of lifestyle orientation and perceived organizational functioning in psychological empowerment perceptions of information technology (IT) professionals.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is a cross‐sectional survey of 242 IT professionals across ten software product and services companies based in India. Established scales of the research instruments were used for data collection.
Findings
Findings indicate that professionals with aggressive, individualistic and resistive lifestyle orientation are likely to feel more psychologically empowered. Organizational functioning is also found to have a strong effect on psychological empowerment perceptions of IT professionals.
Research limitations/implications
Use of self‐reported measures for all the variables may cause desirability bias on the part of participants. Future studies may explore demographic differences and incorporate empowerment climate as well.
Practical implications
Insights from the study would help organizations facilitate employee performance using the empowerment tool and consequently gain competitive advantage by retaining skills and experience within the organization rather than outside it.
Originality/value
Studies of such nature being few in the Indian IT context, findings present both opportunities and challenges for IT human resource managers and can also be taken up for future research work.
Details
Keywords
Christianne V.D.R. Anderson and Kumar K. Tamma
We first provide an overview of some predominant theoretical methods currently used for predicting thermal conductivity of thin dielectric films: the equation of radiative…
Abstract
We first provide an overview of some predominant theoretical methods currently used for predicting thermal conductivity of thin dielectric films: the equation of radiative transfer, the temperature‐dependent thermal conductivity theories based on the Callaway model, and the molecular dynamics simulation. This overview also highlights temporal and spatial scale issues by looking at a unified theory that bridges physical issues presented in the Fourier and Cattaneo models. This newly developed unified theory is the so‐called C‐ and F‐processes constitutive model. This model introduces the notion of a new dimensionless heat conduction model number, which is the ratio of the thermal conductivity of the fast heat carrier F‐processes to the total thermal conductivity comprised of both the fast heat carriers F‐processes and the slow heat carriers C‐processes. Illustrative numerical examples for prediction of thermal conductivity in thin films are primarily presented.
Details
Keywords
This study aims to offer an original criterion of assessment for examiners of practice-based doctorates in contemporary arts practices, based upon the degree of intrigue…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to offer an original criterion of assessment for examiners of practice-based doctorates in contemporary arts practices, based upon the degree of intrigue, perceptual and conceptual, afforded by the research outputs. It is argued that intrigue is the necessary stimulus for the states of attention required for the recognition of fresh understanding and the acquisition of new knowledge from such outputs. The paper is intended to support doctoral students structuring theses for such research, those responsible for assessing proposals in university cross-disciplinary research committees with limited experience of practice-based research and the examiners of such research.
Design/methodology/approach
Acknowledging the several decades of work already published on practice-based research, this study adopts an aesthetic cognitivist position from which the visual arts are construed as powerful means of deepening our understanding, a source of non-propositional knowledge on a par with, although qualitatively different from, the way that the sciences are accepted as the means to propositional knowledge.
Findings
A case study demonstrates the efficacy of applying the proposed criterion in the assessment of practice-based doctoral research.
Social implications
Within the social context of academic research, the article strengthens the validation of practice-based research.
Originality/value
The terms perceptual intrigue and conceptual intrigue are coined as values implicit in aesthetic cognitivism; they are construed as the initial stimuli for the state of attentiveness required for fresh understanding, and the degree of balance between them is proposed as an original criterion for the assessment of practice-based research.
Details
Keywords
Professore Dottore Michele Troisi
Sommario: 1° Il bisogno di viaggiare per motivi turistici. 2° Turismo nei tempi antichi e nei tempi moderni in relazione ai nuovi mezzi di trasporto. 3° Turismo sociale. 4° Forme…
Abstract
Sommario: 1° Il bisogno di viaggiare per motivi turistici. 2° Turismo nei tempi antichi e nei tempi moderni in relazione ai nuovi mezzi di trasporto. 3° Turismo sociale. 4° Forme di viaggi collettivi: treni turistici, crociere marittime e fluviali, servizi automobilistici di gran turismo. 5° Politica delle tariffe e miglioramenti nei trasporti ferroviari. 6° La rivincita della strada con lo sviluppo della motorizzazione e del turismo automobilistico. 7° Le autolinee nel sistema dei trasporti terrestri. 8° Azione propulsiva a vantaggio del turismo nei trasporti marittimi ed aerei. 9° Gli effetti economici del turismo.
Sian Calvert, Robert C. Dempsey and Rachel Povey
Childhood obesity is a major global health concern. Understanding children's and adolescent’s eating behaviours and promoting healthier behaviours is key for reducing the negative…
Abstract
Purpose
Childhood obesity is a major global health concern. Understanding children's and adolescent’s eating behaviours and promoting healthier behaviours is key for reducing the negative health outcomes associated with obesity. The current study explored the perceptions of healthy eating behaviours and the influences on eating behaviours amongst 11-to-13-year-old secondary school students.
Design/methodology/approach
Nine semi-structured same-sex focus group discussions were conducted in schools located in deprived areas of England, with the discussions subjected to a thematic framework analysis.
Findings
Three main constructs were identified in the analysis as follows: (1) eating patterns and lifestyle, (2) social influences and (3) environmental influences. Participants understood what healthy eating behaviours are and the benefits of eating healthy; yet, they reported irregular mealtimes and consuming unhealthy snacks. Students reported that their parents and fellow student peers were strong influences on their own eating behaviours, with girls subjected to being teased by male students for attempting to eat healthily. Finally, students perceived that unhealthy foods were cheaper, tasted better and were readily available in their social environments compared to healthier options, making healthier behaviours less likely to occur.
Originality/value
Findings indicate that students had a good understanding of healthy eating behaviours but did not always practise them and are seemingly influenced by their social and environmental context. The promotion of healthier eating in this age group needs to challenge the misperceptions associated with the accessibility and social acceptability of unhealthy food items.