Robert Orton, Rita Marcella and Graeme Baxter
This paper describes the results of an observational study of the information seeking behaviour of Members of Parliament. It is argued that political life functions on a flow of…
Abstract
This paper describes the results of an observational study of the information seeking behaviour of Members of Parliament. It is argued that political life functions on a flow of information and that information itself is a prime resource. The study sought to determine the characteristics that impact upon the manner in which information is sourced and used by parliamentarians. For this project a shadowing methodology was adopted. The conclusions drawn include that UK Members of Parliament are subject to a range of triggers of information seeking, in an information rich environment where the amount of information presents decision makers with difficulties. Public accountability results in demands from a wide variety of individuals, groups and associations. MPs are also expected to be knowledgeable about a wide variety of issues, while information need is frequently unpredictable and reactive. Members must be efficient information gatherers and managers and they must be flexible in their attitudes to information seeking, while retaining the capacity to critically appraise the quality of sources.
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Inês Cruz, Maria Major and Robert W. Scapens
The paper aims to look at a joint venture (JV) set up by a Portuguese company and a global corporation (GC) in the hospitality sector. The paper seeks to examine how, and why the…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to look at a joint venture (JV) set up by a Portuguese company and a global corporation (GC) in the hospitality sector. The paper seeks to examine how, and why the JV's managers introduced variations in the management control (MC) rules and procedures in institutionalizing the global MC system imposed by the GC.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper relies on qualitative data collected through a case study of the JV over a period of two years. Insights from recent neo‐institutional work in accounting, complemented by the notion of multiple logics and the Orton and Weick perspective on loose coupling, are drawn on to interpret the case findings. The MC literature in GCs is also reviewed to explore whether and how practice variation can occur in these complex institutional settings.
Findings
Although institutional and technical criteria were not in dialectical tension, the global MC system was adapted by the JV's managers. They developed loosely coupled MC rules and procedures to satisfy the multiple logics informing it.
Research limitations/implications
More qualitative studies on the adoption of externally imposed practices in other global/local settings are needed to refine the understanding of this phenomenon.
Originality/value
The present study extends the scope of neoinstitutional analysis in accounting by showing and explaining how and why individual organizations, which are dependent on dominant others, can introduce variations in imposed systems and practices. In so doing, the paper also contributes to a fuller understanding of MC practices in GCs.
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The final report of the Butter Regulations Committee has now been published and it is earnestly to be hoped that Regulations based on the Committee's Recommendations will at once…
Abstract
The final report of the Butter Regulations Committee has now been published and it is earnestly to be hoped that Regulations based on the Committee's Recommendations will at once be framed and issued by the Board of Agriculture. It will be remembered that in an Interim Report the Committee recommended the adoption of a limit of 16 per cent. for the proportion of water in butter, and that, acting on this recommendation, the Board of Agriculture drew up and issued the “Sale of Butter Regulations, 1902,” under the powers conferred on the Board by Section 4 of the Food Act of 1899. In the present Report the Committee deal with the other matters referred to them, namely, as to what Regulations, if any, might with advantage be made for determining what deficiency in any of the normal constituents of butter, or what addition of extraneous matter other than water, should raise a presumption until the contrary is proved that the butter is not “genuine.” The Committee are to be congratulated on the result of their labours—labours which have obviously been both arduous and lengthy. The questions which have had to be dealt with are intricate and difficult, and they are, moreover, of a highly technical nature. The Committee have evidently worked with the earnest desire to arrive at conclusions which, when applied, would afford as great a measure of protection—as it is possible to give by means of legislative enactments—to the consumer and to the honest producer. The thorough investigation which has been made could result only in the conclusions at which the Committee have arrived, namely, that, in regard to the administration of the Food Acts, (1) an analytical limit should be imposed which limit should determine what degree of deficiency in those constituents which specially characterise butter should raise a presumption that the butter is not “genuine”; (2) that the use of 10 per cent. of a chemically‐recognisable oil in the manufacture of margarine be made compulsory; (3) that steps should be taken to obtain international co‐operation; and finally, that the System of Control, as explained by various witnesses, commends itself to the Committee.
Elysa C.M. Briens, Yiwen Chiu, David Braun, Priya Verma, Gregg Fiegel, Brian Pompeii and Kylee Singh
As sustainability teaching and learning rises in importance, an increasing number of higher education institutions (HEIs) are assessing the effectiveness of their approach to…
Abstract
Purpose
As sustainability teaching and learning rises in importance, an increasing number of higher education institutions (HEIs) are assessing the effectiveness of their approach to sustainability education. However, most assessments fall short in determining the impacts of curriculum plans on learning outcomes. Therefore, this study aims to assess the impact of curricula on undergraduate sustainability knowledge and assess opportunities for improving sustainability education in HEIs.
Design/methodology/approach
A campus-wide survey deployed at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, (Cal Poly) solicited data identifying students’ sustainability knowledge score (SKS). The survey collected responses from undergraduate student groups enrolled in different curriculum plans under different academic settings.
Findings
This study reveals that Cal Poly honors students enrolled in a structured sustainability curriculum have significantly higher SKS than general students (i.e. nonhonors students) enrolled in random sustainability courses. Further, taking at least three sustainability-related courses significantly distinguishes SKS for general students. The results also show that SKS does not significantly differ across colleges, suggesting that additional sustainability education can benefit all students.
Originality/value
Findings of this study provide statistical evidence to justify institutional efforts to integrate sustainability into existing courses, with the minimum requirement of three sustainability-related courses to make an impact on SKS for the general student population. Such efforts could represent the first steps toward developing sustainability education at a HEI and improving sustainability learning outcomes.
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Lorraine Warren and Robert Smith
The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the tension between rule-breaking and legitimacy for entrepreneurs, who are expected to challenge and change social or business…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the tension between rule-breaking and legitimacy for entrepreneurs, who are expected to challenge and change social or business norms. In doing so, they may be presented as heroes in the media, or alternatively, are cast out as villains with attendant negative press with consequent loss of legitimacy.
Design/methodology/approach
Through secondary data methods, the paper analyses the case of Vance Miller, an entrepreneur from the North of England who has achieved economic success amid reports of alleged criminality and poor ethical behaviour. Thus he spans rule-breaking and legitimacy.
Findings
The paper illustrates how rule-breaking directed towards demonstrable entrepreneurial achievement does not always result in media legitimacy. Miller’s storyline both chimes with and clashes with the discourse of the enterprise culture, providing a cautionary note for aspirant entrepreneurs.
Research limitations/implications
The hero-villain paradox remains relatively unexplored in the media, and thus further qualitative research is required, particularly for aspirant entrepreneurs with controversial or criminal backgrounds.
Practical implications
Entrepreneurs should question carefully the extent and potential consequences of rule breaking in regard to legitimacy.
Social implications
The paper highlights and indeed questions the role of the media in their representations of entrepreneurship, and challenges the valorisation of rule-breaking behaviour by entrepreneurs.
Originality/value
The paper makes a distinctive contribution to the literature by examining the relation between rule-breaking and legitimacy for an entrepreneur who is represented negatively in the media, yet remains successful, counter to the heroic stereotype.
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In 1979 the trustees of the R. D. MacLeod Trust divided their monies between the two Scottish library schools to further the studies in libraries and librarianship carried on in…
Abstract
In 1979 the trustees of the R. D. MacLeod Trust divided their monies between the two Scottish library schools to further the studies in libraries and librarianship carried on in them. The first research grant awarded by the School of Librarianship, Robert Gordon's Institute of Technology, Aberdeen from the above fund enabled the writer to study rural mobile services in Scotland both in detail and in perspective.
Food—national dietary standards—is a sensitive index of socio‐economic conditions generally; there are others, reflecting different aspects, but none more sensitive. A country…
Abstract
Food—national dietary standards—is a sensitive index of socio‐economic conditions generally; there are others, reflecting different aspects, but none more sensitive. A country that eats well has healthy, robust people; the housewife who cooks hearty, nourishing meals has a lusty, virile family. It is not surprising, therefore, that all governments of the world have a food policy, ranking high in its priorities and are usually prepared to sacrifice other national policies to preserve it. Before the last war, when food was much less of an instrument of government policy than now—there were not the shortages or the price vagaries—in France, any government, whatever its colour, which could not keep down the price of food so that the poor man ate his fill, never survived long; it was—to make use of the call sign of those untidy, shambling columns from our streets which seem to monopolize the television news screens—“out!” Lovers of the Old France would say that the country had been without stable government since 1870, but the explanation for the many changes in power in France in those pre‐war days could be expressed in one word—food!
Prominence is given in this issue to the interesting Diamond Jubilee celebration held last month in connection with the Norwich Public Library. It was a courageous but entirely…
Abstract
Prominence is given in this issue to the interesting Diamond Jubilee celebration held last month in connection with the Norwich Public Library. It was a courageous but entirely proper thing to hold this celebration in war time, because although it was calculated to raise opposition from short‐sighted people, at the same time it was good policy to affirm that the Public Library is an essential part of national economy even in the greatest of wars. Excellent arguments on behalf of this last proposition were advanced at that meeting in the happy speech made by Mr. L. Stanley Jast, which we hope to see published in even fuller form sooner or later, and equally in the letter from Sir Frederic Kenyon. This gains greatly in force from the fact that Sir Frederic is not only an officer in the Army, but is, we believe, at this moment serving in France. If any of our readers have had doubts about the present seasonableness of their work, and there may conceivably be such, they may wisely ponder the letter and again take heart of grace. As for the celebration as a whole, it was, as we have said, opportune; it was also skilfully engineered and advertised, and was an undoubted success upon which the Norwich Library Committee and Mr. G. A. Stephen have every reason to congratulate themselves.
In the past 50 years, numerous reference books have been written on the subjects of medieval history, art, literature, and philosophy. Steven F. Vincent provides a guide to…
Abstract
In the past 50 years, numerous reference books have been written on the subjects of medieval history, art, literature, and philosophy. Steven F. Vincent provides a guide to selecting modern, as well as standard, sources of information on the Middle Ages.
Rita Marcella, Graeme Baxter, Sylvie Davies and Dick Toornstra
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the results of a customer knowledge study commissioned by the Parliamentary Documentation Centre (PDC) of the European Parliament in order…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the results of a customer knowledge study commissioned by the Parliamentary Documentation Centre (PDC) of the European Parliament in order to elicit a better understanding of the views and needs of its actual and potential client base.
Design/methodology/approach
The study consisted of in‐depth, face‐to‐face interviews with 72 clients and 11 staff (83 individuals) in Brussels in February 2004. The paper explores the significance of information in the parliamentary context and summarises the activities which respondents described as being information‐dependent. The paper also highlights the evolutionary nature of information need during the course of the legislative process.
Findings
The information‐seeking behaviour and skills of the PDC clients are discussed, as are the criteria by which they assess information quality. The study revealed that users were frequently uncritical and pragmatic in use of the most readily available information, sacrificing quality in favour of ease of access.
Originality/value
This paper presents results from a uniquely complex information environment – the European Union. Users tended to be complacent about their information‐seeking skills and reluctant to engage in skills enhancement activities.