Alain d'Astous and Suzanne Mathieu
Research on fairly‐traded products has shown that changing consumers' attitudes may not be the best strategy to bring consumers to purchase these products. The objective of this…
Abstract
Purpose
Research on fairly‐traded products has shown that changing consumers' attitudes may not be the best strategy to bring consumers to purchase these products. The objective of this study is to examine a different, non‐cognitive approach based on the utilization of behavioral influence strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
A field experiment was conducted involving 168 consumers. The experiment took place in the context of a commercial stand in which fairly‐traded products such as coffee, sugar, chocolate, and so on, were sold. Three factors were manipulated: the concreteness of the information provided to visitors; the provision of information about the popularity of fairly‐traded products among relevant others; and the possibility of receiving concrete feedback from a producer.
Findings
The paper finds that, contrary to what was expected, abstract information led to a greater amount of money spent on average by visitors. In addition, knowing that fairly‐traded products were popular among relevant others had a significant impact on money spent only when feedback was not offered to the participants.
Research limitations/implications
A field experiment does not offer a high degree of control over nuisance variables. The application of the manipulations and the randomization of participants in this study were therefore not optimal.
Practical implications
Managers involved in the marketing of fairly‐traded products who communicate with potential buyers using concrete messages should make sure that consumers are attentive to their messages. These messages should inform consumers that fairly‐traded products are purchased by relevant others.
Originality/value
The paper provides useful information on how to influence consumers' attitudes to purchasing fairly‐traded products.
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Suzanne T. Bell and Neal Outland
Team composition research considers how configurations (e.g., team-level diversity) of team members’ attributes (e.g., personality, values, demographics) influence important…
Abstract
Purpose
Team composition research considers how configurations (e.g., team-level diversity) of team members’ attributes (e.g., personality, values, demographics) influence important outcomes. Our chapter describes key issues in understanding and effectively managing team composition over time.
Methodology/approach
We discuss how context shapes team composition. We review empirical research that examined relationships between team composition, and team processes and emergent properties over multiple time points. We review research that examined how composition can be effectively managed over the lifecycle of a team.
Findings
Context shapes the nature of team composition itself (e.g., dynamic composition). To the extent that membership change, fluid boundaries, and multiple team membership are present should be accounted for in research and practice. The research we reviewed indicated no, or fleeting effects for surface-level (e.g., demographics) composition on the development of team processes and emergent properties over time, although there were exceptions. Conversely, deep-level composition affected team processes and emergent properties early in a team’s lifespan as well as later. Team composition information can be used in staffing; it can also inform how to best leverage training, leadership, rewards, tasks, and technology to promote team effectiveness.
Social implications
Teams are the building blocks of contemporary organizations. Understanding and effectively managing team composition over time can increase the likelihood of team.
Originality/value
Our chapter provides novel insights into key issues in understanding and effectively managing team composition over time.
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Suzanne T. Bell and Shanique G. Brown
Teams are best positioned for success when certain enabling conditions are in place such as the right mix of individuals. Effective team staffing considers team members’…
Abstract
Teams are best positioned for success when certain enabling conditions are in place such as the right mix of individuals. Effective team staffing considers team members’ knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) as well as the configuration of team member KSAOs and their relations, called team composition. In practice, however, how to integrate team composition considerations into team staffing to facilitate outcomes such as team cohesion can seem nebulous. The purpose of this chapter is to describe how team member KSAOs and their configurations and relations affect team cohesion, and suggest how this information can inform team staffing. We frame team cohesion as an aspect of team human capital to understand when it may be an important consideration for staffing. We describe multilevel considerations in staffing cohesive teams. We summarize theories that link team composition to team cohesion via interpersonal attraction, a shared team identity, and team task commitment. Finally, we propose a six-step approach for staffing cohesive teams, and describe a few areas for future research.
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Suzanne Richbell and Lydia Minchin
There is a growing awareness within organisations of the significance of “green” issues. This paper aims to examine the impact of a public sector organisation's sustainable…
Abstract
Purpose
There is a growing awareness within organisations of the significance of “green” issues. This paper aims to examine the impact of a public sector organisation's sustainable transport policies on the sickness absence levels of its employees. It focuses on those policies (such as workplace travel plans) which include methods of increasing the use of public transport for the journey to work.
Design/methodology/approach
This is an exploratory study, using a quantitative methodology, which analyzes data from a survey of a sample of employees within a large public sector organisation.
Findings
The key finding is that sickness absence levels are higher among employees who use public transport to travel to work. A profile of public transport user characteristics most associated with higher absence levels is offered. Moves to act “green” by encouraging greater use of public transport may unintentionally have an adverse effect on sickness absence levels.
Research limitations/implications
This is a study of a sample of employees within a large public sector organisation. The size and character of the sample were restricted by organisational constraints. The results are indicative of a potential area of concern which needs wider investigation.
Practical implications
HR practitioners need to be more closely involved in workplace travel plans and sickness absence variations between different modes of travel to work require careful monitoring.
Originality/value
These results suggest a link between the use of public transport for the journey to work and above average sickness absence levels which may have significant implications for the implementation of workplace travel plans.
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Khairil Izam Ibrahim, Seosamh B. Costello and Suzanne Wilkinson
The purpose of this paper is to identify, review and classify the key practice indicators of successful team integration in construction projects, with the intention of gaining a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify, review and classify the key practice indicators of successful team integration in construction projects, with the intention of gaining a greater insight into how they influence team dynamics.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a review paper that draws on existing research and, through observation of previous studies, identifies patterns to produce a greater understanding of the indicators affecting team integration in construction projects.
Findings
The review identified 15 key practice indicators of team integration from the literature, which together form the basis for transforming disparate project teams into a highly integrated team. It is argued that although there is an element of interdependence between some of the indicators, for the purpose of defining team integration practice by means of key indicators it is important to consider them independently because each indicator represents a key element of team integration practice. The indicators were classified as either “Relationship Oriented Indicators”, whereby the relationship between project teams is directly influenced through human behaviours, or “Non‐Relationship Oriented”, whereby relationships are indirectly influenced by putting systems or processes in place to promote, or at the very least allow, members of different functions to collaborate.
Practical implications
The process of integration is a result of a combination of many indicators and this review presents a complete picture of team integration for construction projects developed from past team integration research. It is hoped that the proposed framework will make a contribution by providing the necessary groundwork for further research and development in this area, with the aim of bridging the current gaps in the understanding of team integration in the construction management discipline.
Originality/value
Although there is a diversity of current thinking on team integration practice in construction projects, there is currently no consolidated set of key indicators embedded in integration practice. This study achieves that while recognising a complex system of interdependency between some of the indicators. It further extends the team integration literature by providing deeper insights into the characterisation and importance of exercising and improving integration practice.
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Nicole Healy, Elana Joram, Oksana Matvienko, Suzanne Woolf and Kimberly Knesting
There is a growing need for school-based nutritional educational programs that promote healthy eating attitudes without increasing an unhealthy focus on restrictive eating or…
Abstract
Purpose
There is a growing need for school-based nutritional educational programs that promote healthy eating attitudes without increasing an unhealthy focus on restrictive eating or promoting a poor body image. Research suggests that intuitive eating (IE) approaches, which encourage individuals to focus on internal body signals as a guide for eating, have had a positive impact on eating-related psychological outcomes in adults. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects an IE education program on the eating attitudes of high school students.
Design/methodology/approach
In a quasi-experimental study, 48 high school students (30 females) in a Midwest town in the USA received instruction on IE or a comparison program over seven days during health classes. Repeated measures analyses of covariance were conducted to examine changes in eating attitudes in sexes across conditions.
Findings
Students who received the IE program made significantly greater gains in overall positive eating attitudes on the Intuitive Eating Scale than students in the comparison program (p=0.045), as well as on the Unconditional Permission to Eat subscale (p=0.02). There were no significant effects of sex on any of the analyses.
Research limitations/implications
Because of the relatively small sample size and short duration of the program, the results should be generalized with caution.
Practical implications
The results suggest that IE instruction may encourage the development of healthy eating attitudes in high school students, and health teachers may wish to consider including IE instruction in the health curriculum.
Originality/value
This is the first study to examine the effectiveness of an IE program in a K-12 population, with instruction provided in the context of the school. The results are promising and suggest that this may be a fruitful area for future research in nutrition education.
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The aim of the chapter is to examine whether the challenges to administering the EU outlined by Les Metcalfe in his famous article, ‘After 1992, can the Commission manage Europe?’…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of the chapter is to examine whether the challenges to administering the EU outlined by Les Metcalfe in his famous article, ‘After 1992, can the Commission manage Europe?’ have now been met. Metcalfe not only identified a ‘management deficit’ in the implementation of the single market programme arising from an oversight among policy makers, but highlighted a neglect of the administrative dimension of European integration among scholars.
Methodology/approach
The chapter draws on primary and secondary literature to track developments in respect of the three elements identified by Metcalfe: the small size of the European Commission, its poor internal coordination and weak leadership; the responsiveness of administrative bodies in the member states to the need for inter-organizational coordination; and the network-building and management capacity of the Commission.
Findings
Despite changes, such as further enlargement, agencification at national and EU levels, and the expansion of EU competencies that have exacerbated the management challenge confronting the EU, there have been significant developments that have closed the deficit. First, the Commission has become far better integrated, coordination upgraded, and leadership strengthened. Second, through networking, cooptation and other strategies the Commission has sought to assure the effective implementation and enforcement of the single market rules. Third, member state governments, ministries and agencies have sought to cultivate networked relations that have increased the manageability of EU administration.
Research implications
To the knowledge of this author, this is the first attempt to revisit Metcalfe’s diagnosis and to review the extent to which the management deficit he identified has been addressed subsequently.
Practical implications
The chapter has implications for how inter-organizational coordination within the EU administrative system could be improved.
Social implications
The chapter bears on the administrative capacity of the EU to deliver the policies decided by EU policy makers.
Originality/value
As well as offering an assessment of the extent to which progress has been made in addressing the management deficit identified by Les Metcalfe in his classic article, this chapter conceptualizes the EU administration as an entity that encompasses both EU institutions and administrative bodies in the member states. It advances the concept of the EU as a multi-level administration.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship among job involvement, organizational commitment, team commitment and professional commitment and to explore generational…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship among job involvement, organizational commitment, team commitment and professional commitment and to explore generational differences for these variables.
Design/methodology/approach
It used structured questionnaire survey approach for which data were collected from 477 full-time employees of 13 organizations from diverse sectors in India. Respondents were categorized into four generational cohorts following the classification reported in Robbins et al. (2011).
Findings
The findings of the study indicated that professional commitment is negatively related with job involvement, affective organizational commitment, normative organizational commitment, and team commitment. Job involvement, affective and normative organizational commitment, and team commitment were positively correlated. Differences were observed among Generation Y, Generation X, Liberals, and Socialist for job involvement, affective organizational commitment, normative organizational commitment, professional commitment, and team commitment. Generation Y, for example, was found high in professional commitment, while Socialist were found higher on affective organizational commitment compared to other generations.
Practical implications
Findings suggests that there is a decrease in job involvement, affective organizational commitment, normative organizational commitment, and increase in professional commitment in young generations. Organizations need to take consideration this while designing the HR policies for employees’ engagement.
Originality/value
The contribution of the study lies in examining the employees’ attitude to different dimensions of work life and differences among Indian generations.