Terrell G. Manyak and Isaac Wasswa Katono
The paper aims to investigate whether differences exist in the conflict management styles exhibited by male and female managers at different organizational levels in Uganda.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to investigate whether differences exist in the conflict management styles exhibited by male and female managers at different organizational levels in Uganda.
Design/methodology/approach
Using samples from organizations within Uganda, the paper utilizes the Rahim Organization Conflict Inventory to collect data.
Findings
Independent sample t‐tests of the hypotheses reveal that basically no statistically significant differences exist in the way men and women in Uganda handle conflict when dealing with subordinates, peers, or supervisors.
Research limitations/implications
Research is restricted to a convenience sample of educated working men and women in the greater Kampala urban area. The findings serve to dispel the widely held myth that women in Uganda use significantly different management styles than men because of the patrilineal nature of the male dominated society.
Practical implications
The paper shows that Ugandan women exhibit little difference from their male counterparts in how they deal with conflict. They also have much in common with their female counterparts in the developed world in confronting gender based discrimination in the workplace.
Social implications
The findings of this paper neutralize some of the negative connotations about women in Uganda and may help lead to a protracted campaign to change the attitudes toward women in this patriarchal society.
Originality/value
Little is known in Africa about the conflict management styles of women because they are only now becoming a significant element in the economies of developing countries. This paper fills some of gaps.
Details
Keywords
Belay Seyoum and Terrell G. Manyak
This paper aims to examine the role of public and private transparency in attracting inward foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to developing countries.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the role of public and private transparency in attracting inward foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to developing countries.
Design/methodology/approach
The study tests the hypothesis that developing countries with low levels of public and private sector transparency attract lower levels of FDI inflows. It also tests the hypotheses that private sector transparency in developing countries has a greater impact on inward FDI than public sector transparency. A cross‐sectional model was tested for 58 developing countries (using regression analysis) over the 2003‐2006 period.
Findings
The empirical analysis shows that: private sector transparency has a significant and positive effect on inward FDI flows to developing countries; public sector transparency has a positive and significant effect on FDI inflows; and private sector transparency has a greater influence on FDI inflows to developing countries than public sector transparency.
Originality/value
This is the first study to examine the impact of different forms of transparency on FDI. Existing studies tend to examine the subject in a separate fashion without considering their joint effect on foreign investment inflows.
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Keywords
Shaista E. Khilji, Edward F. Murphy, Regina A. Greenwood and Bahaudin G. Mujtaba
– The purpose of this paper is to expand the burgeoning research, which provides evidence relating to the influence of religion upon work-related values.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to expand the burgeoning research, which provides evidence relating to the influence of religion upon work-related values.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors employed a survey methodology to collect data across seven countries and six religions.
Findings
The study provides evidence of differences as well as similarities in the way people belonging to different religions rank personal values. Thus, on the one hand, the authors can argue that religion helps shape our behavior and attitudes in the workplace, whilst at the same time, however, accepting the converging influence of globalization and/or the universality of some values that they include in their analysis. This finding leads the authors to focus upon a complex pattern of value variations and similarities across religions.
Originality/value
Overall, the findings provide a glimpse into what the paper interprets as (just one dimension of) plurality within contemporary organizations to support the paradox perspective, popularized by Lewis and Smith and Lewis, who contend that organizations embed multiple tensions and dilemmas in an ongoing cyclical process. Hence the paper argues that the similarities and differences across religious affiliations are not “either/or” choices but dualities that must be dynamically balanced in order to simultaneously meet multiple employee needs. The paper concludes that managers and employees need to articulate and embrace paradoxes related to religion, in order to create an awareness of the influence of religion that leads to being inclusive.