The paper aims to explain how the culture of UK shop‐fitting manufacturer Crusader Displays has been transformed by award‐winning training in the principles of lean manufacturing.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to explain how the culture of UK shop‐fitting manufacturer Crusader Displays has been transformed by award‐winning training in the principles of lean manufacturing.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on information provided by Crusader Displays director Steve Turner.
Findings
The paper shows that three years ago the company was struggling, with its bank increasingly concerned that the business was at its overdraft limit, poor working conditions and low staff morale, leading to poor efficiency and late deliveries to customers. It describes how: nine employees, including three from the shop floor, received a total of 67 days' training on lean manufacturing; five managers were trained in computer skills, time management and hosting appraisals; while managers, supervisors and office staff had specialist training in subjects as varied as computer‐aided design and accountancy. Shows that, in 2003‐04, Crusader made operating profits of £240,000 and its bank account now operates permanently in credit. Morale has improved, the workforce has received two pay rises and on‐time deliveries have risen from 74 to 94 per cent. Increased efficiency has also led to new business. The company's future and all of the employees’ jobs have been saved.
Originality/value
The paper argues that, following the learning, managerial departments are working as one team, all departments attend daily production meetings that improve communications, office staff and shop‐floor operatives are working more closely together, and every three months a meeting of everybody ensures that information and plans are shared. One‐to‐one meetings with shop‐floor staff also occur every three months.
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This paper aims to explore how accounting is entwined in the cultural practice of popular music. Particular attention is paid to how the accountant is constricted by artists in…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how accounting is entwined in the cultural practice of popular music. Particular attention is paid to how the accountant is constricted by artists in art and the role(s) the accountant plays in the artistic narrative. In effect this explores the notion that there is a tension between the notion of the bourgeois world of “the accountant” and the world of “art for art's sake”.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper draws on the cultural theory of Pierre Bourdieu to understand how the character of the accountant is constructed and used by the artist. Particular attention is paid in this respect to the biography and lyrics of the Beatles.
Findings
Accounting and accountants play both the hero and the villain. By rejecting the “accountant villain”, the artist identifies with and reinforces artistic purity and credibility. However, in order to achieve the economic benefits and maintain the balance between the “art” and the “money”, the economic prudence of the bourgeois accountant is required (although it might be resented).
Research limitations/implications
The analysis focuses on a relatively small range of musicians and is dominated by the biography of the Beatles. A further range of musicians and artists would extend this work. Further research could also be constructed to more fully consider the consumption, rather than just the production, of art and cultural products and performances.
Originality/value
This paper is a novel consideration of how accounting stereotypes are constructed and used in the field of artistic creation
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Steve Linstead and Keith Turner
Arts sponsorship is very much a Cinderella sister of sports sponsorship. The amounts involved are vastly different, media exposure is much smaller and advertising opportunities…
Abstract
Arts sponsorship is very much a Cinderella sister of sports sponsorship. The amounts involved are vastly different, media exposure is much smaller and advertising opportunities are less. Major objectives of arts sponsors are promotion of the corporate image, enhancement of community relations, and, to a certain degree, the promotion of brand awareness. An in‐depth case study by Middlesex Business School of the Peterborough Festival of Country Music revealed four main types of sponsors. Sponsorship was identified as coming together in a field of flux rather than a strict matching. Characteristics of both the Company and Event were identified which were influential in determining the process of sponsorship. When identified, these characteristics enable an accurate picture of the sponsorship relationship to be drawn. With this in focus, wider issues of control and policy, social influences and ideology in relation to cultural issues may be considered.
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Describes how the tool‐hire business of builders' merchant and home‐improvement retailer Travis Perkins has teamed up with Stocken Prison, Rutland, UK, to train inmates to repair…
Abstract
Purpose
Describes how the tool‐hire business of builders' merchant and home‐improvement retailer Travis Perkins has teamed up with Stocken Prison, Rutland, UK, to train inmates to repair and refurbish the tools that the company hires out to its customers.
Design/methodology/approach
Explains the reasons for the training program, the form it takes and the results it has obtained.
Findings
Examines how the modular program, taught over five months to small groups of inmates, is practical and flexible, tailored to individual needs and technical experience. Explains that the training is carried out by a Travis Perkins workshop supervisor and two prison‐service instructors, all employed specifically for the project.
Practical implications
Describes how Travis Perkins has a fully functional and cost‐effective repair workshop in the prison, which is producing high‐quality work and saving money when compared to alternative solutions.
Social implications
Reveals that the project is helping to develop a skills and work ethos among the prisoners involved, giving them qualifications that will improve their chances of getting a job when released and so reduce the risk of them re‐offending.
Originality/value
Details a scheme that makes sound business sense and brings significant social benefits.
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Elizabeth D. Smolensky and Brian H. Kleiner
Making the most of one′s resources is critical to the success ofany manager and those who are able to train their staff to thinkcreatively maximize one of the most valuable assets…
Abstract
Making the most of one′s resources is critical to the success of any manager and those who are able to train their staff to think creatively maximize one of the most valuable assets available to any company: brain power. Re‐examines creativity in relation to the working environment and corporate attitudes. Claims that training in various creativity techniques can open new vistas to every employee willing to try a new approach; and that managers must learn to manage the newly energized team. Finds that the process can result in a powerful, more committed workforce, and a company prepared for the future and its challenges.
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Cathryn Johnson, Amy M. Fasula, Stuart J. Hysom and Nikki Khanna
In this paper, we examine the effects of legitimation and delegitimation of female leaders in male- and female-dominated organizations on leader behavior toward their…
Abstract
In this paper, we examine the effects of legitimation and delegitimation of female leaders in male- and female-dominated organizations on leader behavior toward their subordinates. Drawing upon status and legitimacy theories, we argue that delegitimation represents one event that makes gender stereotypes salient in different organizational contexts, and by this means affects leader–subordinate interaction. Gender stereotypes will be more salient in male- than in female-dominated organizations, but only when female leaders are delegitimated. Specifically, we hypothesize that deauthorized female leaders will exhibit more deferential and less directive behavior than authorized female leaders, and this effect will be stronger in male- than in female-dominated organizations. Authorized female leaders, however, will express a similar amount of deferential and directive behavior, regardless of organizational sex composition. To test these hypotheses, we created a laboratory experiment with simulated organizations. Results are mixed. Deauthorized leaders are marginally more deferential than authorized leaders, and this effect is stronger in male-dominated organizations; authorized leaders express similar amounts of deferential behavior in both types of organizations. Yet, leaders are more directive in male- than in female-dominated organizations, whether they are deauthorized or authorized. We discuss the implications of these results and future directions for this research.