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1 – 10 of 145Dan Parrish C.S.C., Timothy S. Clark and Samuel S. Holloway
Since Weick’s (1993) seminal Mann Gulch paper articulated a collapse of sensemaking, scholars have repeatedly investigated sensemaking downstream of enactment. Motivated by…
Abstract
Purpose
Since Weick’s (1993) seminal Mann Gulch paper articulated a collapse of sensemaking, scholars have repeatedly investigated sensemaking downstream of enactment. Motivated by another wildland firefighting tragedy, the tragic loss of 19 firefighters in Arizona in 2013, this study aims to look at enactment itself and reveals that the endogenous creation and re-creation of the wildland fire caused a fatal feedback loop of “trigger traps” leading to perpetual enactment that short-circuited sensemaking. Wildland fires can have unpredictable consequences, which triggers in individual sensemakers a fatal and continuous return to the beginning of the sensemaking process.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper’s approach is a case study based on a textual analysis of sources investigating the 2013 Yarnell Hill fire. The authors also carefully compared the Yarnell Hill and Mann Gulch disasters in search of breakdowns in sensemaking that could help us understand why we continue to lose firefighters in the line of duty.
Findings
The simultaneously volatile and complex environment at Yarnell illustrates sensemaking antecedents to the study of enactment. The findings suggest ways that organizations – those fighting wildfire or those fighting a global pandemic – can avoid getting trapped in the early stages of enactment and can retain resilience in their sensemaking.
Originality/value
This paper introduces the concept of “trigger traps” to help explain the fatal feedback loop of repeated environmental triggers in the early stages of sensemaking in volatile environments.
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Ian D. Parkman, Samuel S. Holloway and Helder Sebastiao
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation, innovation capacity, and firm performance in the creative industries context.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation, innovation capacity, and firm performance in the creative industries context.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses a survey‐based empirical analysis.
Findings
Innovation capacity mediates the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and two different measures of firm performance in the creative industries.
Research limitations/implications
These results suggest that success in the creative industries requires significant alignment between the entrepreneurial management and creative capabilities of the firm. Firms must identify unique opportunities to exploit that will foster and best leverage their creative competencies.
Originality/value
In addition to providing initial insight on the relationship between entrepreneurial action, innovative capacity, and performance with the creative industries, the paper also is one of the first on the creative industries to focus on firm‐level strategy.
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It is now forty years since there appeared H. R. Plomer's first volume Dictionary of the booksellers and printers who were at work in England, Scotland and Ireland from 1641 to…
Abstract
It is now forty years since there appeared H. R. Plomer's first volume Dictionary of the booksellers and printers who were at work in England, Scotland and Ireland from 1641 to 1667. This has been followed by additional Bibliographical Society publications covering similarly the years up to 1775. From the short sketches given in this series, indicating changes of imprint and type of work undertaken, scholars working with English books issued before the closing years of the eighteenth century have had great assistance in dating the undated and in determining the colour and calibre of any work before it is consulted.
Mary Bowerman, Graham Francis, Amanda Ball and Jackie Fry
Explores issues surrounding the recent evolution of benchmarking in the UK public sector with particular regard to local authorities. Argues that what is being done in the name of…
Abstract
Explores issues surrounding the recent evolution of benchmarking in the UK public sector with particular regard to local authorities. Argues that what is being done in the name of benchmarking in UK local authorities is fundamentally different to the current understanding of benchmarking practice in the private sector. Despite these differences, and somewhat ironically, the development of benchmarking in the public sector pre‐dates its popularity in the private sector. In the public sector, benchmarking is frequently in response to central government requirements, or is used for defensive reasons rather than striving for performance gains. These themes are captured in two new benchmarking typologies: compulsory and voluntary models of benchmarking. Concludes that: the reasons for benchmarking in the public sector are confused; pressures for accountability in the public sector may militate against real performance improvement; and an appropriate balance between the use of benchmarking for control and improvement purposes is yet to be achieved.
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Hannah King occupies a unique place in missionary and colonial history, the history of education, cross‐cultural relations and material culture in New Zealand. She was the only…
Abstract
Hannah King occupies a unique place in missionary and colonial history, the history of education, cross‐cultural relations and material culture in New Zealand. She was the only woman from the first 1814 Missionary settlement of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) in New Zealand to remain in New Zealand for the rest of her life, yet she does not have an entry in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, and is rarely indexed in either New Zealand’s general historical works or even works more specifically related to the Missionary era. John and Hannah King were one of three artisan missionary couples who sailed with the Revd Samuel Marsden on his ship, the missionary brig ‘Active’, from Port Jackson, Australia to Rangihoua, in the Bay of Islands, in late 1814. Marsden’s 1814 Christmas Day service on the beach at Rangihoua is recognised as the beginning of missionary activity and planned European settlement on New Zealand soil.
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Fadwa Chaker, Samuel K. Bonsu, Majid K. El Ghaib and Diego Vazquez-Brust
The instrumental-normative divide that has historically characterized approaches to societal sustainability has also resulted in a rift between underlying mental models and…
Abstract
Purpose
The instrumental-normative divide that has historically characterized approaches to societal sustainability has also resulted in a rift between underlying mental models and methods destined to address the issue. This separation makes our understanding and tackling of the present global ecological problems only limited and ineffective. The present work aims to draw on theoretical background to develop a conceptual framework for transitioning to integrated corporate sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing inspiration from Luhmann’s (1995) theory of social systems, we consider the instrumental (hard) and normative (soft) methods (Jackson 2019) for corporate sustainability as “conceptual systems” that derive much of traditional social systems’ attributes. These systems are autopoietic, complexity-reducing and functionally differentiated. Following Luhmann’s philosophical grounding, we suggest that integrating the two systems of hard and soft methods boils down to constraining both systems’ internal complexity by imposing limitations on their operational structures. This translates into a decodification–recodification process whereby new methods emerge as a combination of initially disconnected structures.
Findings
The proposed conceptual integration framework is applied to the case of the Sustainability Balanced Scorecard (SBSC) which has been recently subject to inconclusive controversy. Our work demonstrates that redesigning the SBSC’s architecture following the presented framework leads to embracing complexity, tensions and conflict all the while offering a systematic approach for properly identifying and quantifying cause–effect relationships. Moreover, the proposed framework scores high in Complexity and Systemicity measures, making it both durable and practically useful. More generally, this work drives home the point that an integrated approach to sustainability management is not only important but also feasible and theoretically durable.
Research limitations/implications
Theoretically, the present work underscores the contribution of systems theory, and particularly the Luhmannian perspective, to transcending some of the most salient “divides” in approaches to societal sustainability. The decodification–recodification process not only enables integrating two distinct conceptual systems, but it also transforms the divide into an opportunity to gain a fresher perspective on one of the most challenging issues of our time. This process may demand, however, some adjustments as we move across various function systems, which requires solid knowledge and understanding of the underlying “codes” that define the systems subject to integration.
Practical implications
This work implies that integration of varied and sometimes outwardly opposed function systems can and must be carried out to achieve larger societal impact. With respect to the illustrated case, the emerging dynamic SBSC offers a viable strategic planning platform whereby managers and stakeholders can concurrently define, forecast and adjust the societal strategy that maximizes triple bottom-line indicators and sustainable development impact.
Social implications
Providing decision and policymakers with integrated sustainability management approaches and instruments will have a direct benefit on enhancing the way systems, and large corporations in particular, treat and deal with nature and human beings.
Originality/value
We propose that proper integration of multiple function systems, employing integrative, unbiased and structured methodologies, can be decisive in challenging current practices in sustainability management and in providing informed guidance for making the high-stake decisions needed in the transition towards sustainable development of business and society.
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This paper aims to explore the nature of the marketing of concerts 1672–1749 examining innovations in the promotion and commodification of music, which are witness to the early…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the nature of the marketing of concerts 1672–1749 examining innovations in the promotion and commodification of music, which are witness to the early development of music as a business.
Design/methodology/approach
The study takes as its basis 4,356 advertisements for concerts in newspapers published in London between 1672 and 1749.
Findings
Musicians instigated a range of marketing strategies in an effort to attract a concert audience, which foreground those found in more recent and current arts marketing practice. They promoted regular concerts with a clear sense of programme planning to appeal to their audience, held a variety of different types of concerts and made use of a variety of pricing strategies. Concerts were held at an increasing number and range of venues with complementary ticket-selling locations.
Originality/value
Whilst there is some literature investigating concert-giving in this period from a musicological perspective (James, 1987; Johnstone, 1997; McVeigh, 2001; Weber, 2001; 2004b; 2004c; Wollenberg, 1981–1982; 2001; Wollenberg and McVeigh, 2004), what research there is that uses marketing as a window onto the musical culture of concert-giving in this period lacks detail (McGuinness, 1988; 2004a; 2004b; McGuinness and Diack Johnstone, 1990; Ogden et al., 2011). This paper illustrates how the development of public commercial concerts made of music a commodity offered to and demanded by a new breed of cultural consumers. Music, thus, participated in the commercialisation of leisure in late 17th- and 18th-century England and laid the foundations of its own development as a business.
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The aim of this paper is to examine the nature of newspaper advertisements published in the Irish newspaper The Freeman's Journal. This is approached by examining the construction…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to examine the nature of newspaper advertisements published in the Irish newspaper The Freeman's Journal. This is approached by examining the construction of a selection of printed advertisements, including the strategies used in each, which appeared in The Freeman's Journal between 1763 and 1924.
Design/methodology/approach
The central primary source used is The Freeman's Journal and the selected advertisements. A number of primary and secondary sources are employed in the analysis of the featured advertisements in respect to the format, language and marketing strategies used in each.
Findings
The case study finds that there were a number of constants in the advertisements examined, as well as a number of advertising strategies employed from the eighteenth century onward, that have more commonly been associated with the 1918 to 1939 interwar period. It also found that the use of illustrations did not solely depend on twentieth century printing advances, but that printing developments did much to expand and progress advertising in Ireland.
Originality/value
This case study explores a little researched area in Irish advertising history.
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Natasha Rhoden, Sarah Senker and Emily Glorney
In the context of desistance, employment has been described as a contributing factor in the formation of a non-offending identity. This study aims to examine the lived experiences…
Abstract
Purpose
In the context of desistance, employment has been described as a contributing factor in the formation of a non-offending identity. This study aims to examine the lived experiences of adult male ex-offenders who had served a custodial sentence in the UK, to explore the potential influence of employment as a desistance-promoting factor in the construction of a new, non-offending identity.
Design/methodology/approach
Interpretative phenomenological analysis was applied to eight semi-structured interview transcripts, up to 12 months after release from prison, from which five themes emerged.
Findings
Findings showed that lawful income through employment is associated with a shift in the values and goals of former prisoners, but only after transformation from an offending identity into a pro-desistance identity had taken place. The early days of prison, soon after induction, were reported as critical to catalyzing identity reconstruction. Once committed to a non-offending identity, desistance was then consolidated by employment and external support.
Practical implications
External support soon after arrival at prison may be useful in helping offenders to develop a non-offending identity. Professionals within the prison service could initiate identity reconstruction strategies in the days immediately following arrival at prison. This was shown to be a potential key phase of reflection for offenders, which could result in life-changing identity reconstruction.
Originality/value
The findings challenge previous research, which suggests that identity change occurs on release from prison or after sourcing regular employment. The application of identity reconstruction strategies, immediately following arrival at prison, might provide a useful approach when supporting the development of a non-offending identity among adult men serving a custodial sentence.
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THE historian sometimes has a blissful dream that he has come across a mass of records previously unknown to exist but capable, in his hands, of forming the basis of an…
Abstract
THE historian sometimes has a blissful dream that he has come across a mass of records previously unknown to exist but capable, in his hands, of forming the basis of an epoch‐making study. In 1921 it came true with the thrilling discovery of the documents on which Professor George Unwin was to base his Samuel Oldknow and the Arkwrights, which might be called the first business history. Oldknow's cotton mill at Mellor was then a ruin, having been destroyed by fire in 1892; all that remained was a detached portion which, though dilapidated, was used for stabling and for other odd purposes. One day a Boy Scout aroused curiosity by offering to passers‐by a number of weavers' pay‐tickets dating from the eighteenth century. His explanation, on being questioned, was that he had found them in this small outhouse. The find was quickly reported to Unwin, and he joined eagerly in the search among the dust and debris of the upper floor, to be rewarded by the discovery of heaps of letters, account‐books, wages‐sheets, and other manuscripts. Then began an engrossing task of cleaning and sorting. By incredibly good fortune the documents were found to include the records of Oldknow's previous business as a muslin manufacturer at Stockport, of his bleach and print works at Heaton Mersey, and of the beginnings of his enterprise at Anderton, as well as those of the Mellor mill itself.