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1 – 10 of 110Teresa Keil, Janet Ford, Alan Bryman and Alan Beardsworth
The research data reported in this article were collected as part of a programme of research into management strategies in relation to the demand for labour. The research project…
Abstract
The research data reported in this article were collected as part of a programme of research into management strategies in relation to the demand for labour. The research project, funded by the Employment Services Division of the Manpower Services Commission, was designed to investigate the ways in which a sample of firms in the private sector (both service and manufacturing) in the East Midlands established their demand for new and replacement labour, formulated and publicised that demand and then recruited. The research design included a detailed consideration of firms' established procedures for recruitment to four occupational categories as well as accounts of recruitment to their two most recent vacancies. It is the material relating to the ways in which firms handled recruitment to these different occupational groups and explanations of the patterns found which form the focus of discussion.
The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains…
Abstract
The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains features to help the reader to retrieve relevant literature from MCB University Press' considerable output. Each entry within has been indexed according to author(s) and the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus. The latter thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid retrieval. Each article or book is assigned its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. This Volume indexes 29 journals indicating the depth, coverage and expansion of MCB's portfolio.
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Explores the use of strategies adopted by authors and publishers to enhance the success potential of their books.
Abstract
Purpose
Explores the use of strategies adopted by authors and publishers to enhance the success potential of their books.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on the literature on the production of best selling business books, strategies and techniques increasingly being deployed in the production of social science texts are considered. These strategies are collectively referred to as the “Ritzerization of knowledge”. The Disneyization of Society, by Alan Bryman, is explored as an example of this Ritzerization strategy.
Findings
It is argued that while such techniques aid in the production of easy reading, or “knowledge‐lite”, the dictates of the market may threaten the survival of more demanding texts and, worryingly, the capacity for a scholarly depth of understanding or the development of a substantial knowledge base.
Originality/value
Examines the “Ritzerization of knowledge” in both a social and a marketing context.
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Alan Bryman and Catherine Cassell
The aim of this paper is to highlight some of the issues that emerge in the researcher interview process. It is argued that researcher interviewing is becoming an increasingly…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to highlight some of the issues that emerge in the researcher interview process. It is argued that researcher interviewing is becoming an increasingly used practice yet the researcher interview is under‐critiqued in the literature.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors provide an “insider” account of their own experiences of researcher interviewing. Additionally they seek to locate these experiences within two conceptual approaches: that of reflexivity and identity work.
Findings
The paper aims to investigate some of the distinctive concerns that arise when one researcher interviews another.
Research limitations/implications
The paper outlines the implications for others who may be engaging in the process of interviewing researchers, and highlights further issues for consideration when planning a researcher interview study.
Originality/value
The paper provides an analysis of a little considered, but expanding practice within qualitative research, namely the researcher interview.
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Anuja Talla and Stephen McIlwaine
This study examines how applying innovative I4.0 technologies at the design stage can help reduce construction waste and improve the recovery, reuse, and recycling of construction…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines how applying innovative I4.0 technologies at the design stage can help reduce construction waste and improve the recovery, reuse, and recycling of construction materials.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts a three-stage sequential mixed methods approach, involving a thorough review of current literature, interviews with six experts in digital construction, and a survey of 75 experienced industry practitioners.
Findings
The study identifies and discusses how ten specific digital technologies can improve design stage processes leading to improved circularity in construction, namely, (1) additive and robotic manufacturing; (2) artificial intelligence; (3) big data analytics; (4) blockchain technology; (5) building information modelling; (6) digital platforms; (7) digital twins; (8) geographic information systems; (9) material passports and databases; and (10) Internet of things. It demonstrates that by using these technologies to support circular design concepts within the sector, material recycling rates can be improved and unnecessary construction waste reduced.
Practical implications
This research provides researchers and practitioners with improved understanding of the potential of digital technology to recycle construction waste at the design stage, and may be used to create an implementation roadmap to assist designers in finding tools and identifying them.
Originality/value
Little consideration has been given to how digital technology can support design stage measures to reduce construction waste. This study fills a gap in knowledge of a fast-moving topic.
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Alan Bryman, David Gillingwater and Iain McGuinness
One of the features of the New Leadership literature that has come to exert a substantial influence over leadership research in recent years is the role of leadership in relation…
Abstract
One of the features of the New Leadership literature that has come to exert a substantial influence over leadership research in recent years is the role of leadership in relation to organizational transformation. Leadership is increasingly depicted as concerned with instilling of vision which has often carried with it the connotation or implication of changing organizations. The term ‘transformational’ leader exemplifies this tendency. The originator of the term, Burns (1978), was referring to the transformation of those individuals who are encompassed by it, so that they become highly motivated by and engaged in the leader's cause. Increasingly, however, the term has come to refer to leadership that involves the transformation of organizations, with the image of the bold leader promoting a dramatic turnaround in his/her company's fortunes. This kind of theme receives further reinforcement from the growing business leader hagiography, which lionises (or in some cases self‐lionises) such figures as lacocca, Carlzon, Sculley, and Harvey‐Jones. These leaders have come to public attention because of the association of their leadership with the transformation of their organizations. This literature comes close to portraying the heroic leader as capable of succeeding against all odds. The leader comes across as almost omnipotent and omniscient. This impression is at least in part a function of the ex post facto character of most of the business hagiography and much of the literature linking leadership and organizational transformation: it seems almost inevitable after the event that the leader was going to succeed. He or she appears to have done all the right things at the time.
Alan Beardsworth and Alan Bryman
This paper reports the findings of an 11‐year longitudinal study of the food preferences of first‐year social science undergraduates at a UK university. Argues that this…
Abstract
This paper reports the findings of an 11‐year longitudinal study of the food preferences of first‐year social science undergraduates at a UK university. Argues that this predominantly young and female response group constitutes a “critical case” that can be used to assess broader trends in meat consumption and meat avoidance. Relatively high levels of meat avoidance (in terms of reduced consumption or vegetarianism) were detected, although in recent years the trend appears to be away from avoidance and towards an increase in the reported inclination to eat meat. An attempt is made to interpret the findings of the study within the broader context of long‐term shifts in attitudes towards meat consumption in general, and towards beef consumption in particular.
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The legend of Porsche Chief Executive Peter Schutz pacing the pits at Le Mans with tears in his eyes after a motor racing success is very much the stuff corporate cultures are…
The purpose of this paper is to explore what the term “methodology” might be taken to mean. It uses an aphorism by Howard Becker as a springboard for examining the nature of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore what the term “methodology” might be taken to mean. It uses an aphorism by Howard Becker as a springboard for examining the nature of methodology, arguing that Becker's view of methodology was misleading.
Design/methodology/approach
There are two components. First, “insider” account of research findings concerning the nature of mixed methods research is presented. These findings derive from a content analysis of articles based on mixed methods research and from interviews with mixed methods researchers. Second, the paper examines the paradox that qualitative research is often viewed as generating interesting findings but that qualitative researchers frequently feel that they experience difficulty in placing qualitative articles in mainstream journals.
Findings
The findings from the mixed methods study demonstrate that mixed methods research is often rationalized in a different way from how it is actually employed.
Research limitations/implications
The second part of the paper should be extended so that a more comprehensive analysis of publication patterns can be carried out.
Originality/value
There are relatively few examinations of what we mean by “methodology.” The paper tries to move these considerations forward by arguing that methodology is about the examination of “methodic practice.”
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Andrew R.J. Dainty, Alan Bryman and Andrew D.F. Price
The feasibility and success of empowerment are to some extent determined by factors relating to the culture and structure of the industries within which organizations are…
Abstract
The feasibility and success of empowerment are to some extent determined by factors relating to the culture and structure of the industries within which organizations are embedded. The UK construction industry is an example that has a unique socio‐technical context, some aspects of which seem well‐suited to empowerment strategies. However, despite support for empowerment, it has not yet been universally embraced by construction organizations. Outlines the aspects of the industry that provide a suitable context for implementation of empowerment strategies. Suggests that, used selectively, it could play an important part in helping construction organizations to address increasing performance demands whilst mitigating the negative effects of the fragmented project delivery process. However, there remain many barriers to individual and team‐based empowerment strategies that require empirical investigation before the industry can benefit from their implementation.
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