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1 – 10 of 14Stephen E. Bear and Alvin Hwang
This paper aims to examine how employee perceptions of organizational context relate to willingness to mentor. This research will help organizations to understand the relationship…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine how employee perceptions of organizational context relate to willingness to mentor. This research will help organizations to understand the relationship between organizational context and willingness to mentor to encourage mentoring.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a survey approach. Employees who worked in the development, production and marketing of pharmaceuticals were administered a survey questionnaire. Data were analyzed through structural equation modeling.
Findings
The findings showed that the downsizing experience was negatively related to willingness to mentor, and the threat of being downsized was negatively related to perceived organizational support. In contrast, perceived organizational support was positively related to organization-based self-esteem, which, in turn, was positively related to willingness to mentor.
Research limitations/implications
The relationship between perceived organizational support and organization-based self-esteem, with its subsequent positive effect on willingness to mentor, indicates the importance of organizations’ providing their employees with needed organizational support. Conversely, the negative relationship between the downsizing experience and willingness to mentor, and the threat of being downsized and perceived organizational support, indicates the need to separate mentoring programs from downsizing events even if it means delaying the initiation of a mentoring programs.
Originality/value
Research on the impact of organizational context on willingness to mentor is limited, and this study helps to address that gap.
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J. Ben Arbaugh, Alvin Hwang, Jeffrey J. McNally, Charles J. Fornaciari and Lisa A. Burke-Smalley
This paper aims to compare the nature of three different business and management education (BME) research streams (online/blended learning, entrepreneurship education and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to compare the nature of three different business and management education (BME) research streams (online/blended learning, entrepreneurship education and experiential learning), along with their citation sources to draw insights on their support and legitimacy bases, with lessons on improving such support and legitimacy for the streams and the wider BME research field.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors analyze the nature of three BME research streams and their citation sources through tests of differences across streams.
Findings
The three streams differ in research foci and approaches such as the use of managerial samples in experiential learning, quantitative studies in online/blended education and literature reviews in entrepreneurship education. They also differ in sources of legitimacy recognition and avenues for mobilization of support. The underlying literature development pattern of the experiential learning stream indicates a need for BME scholars to identify and build on each other’s work.
Research limitations/implications
Identification of different research bases and key supporting literature in the different streams shows important core articles that are useful to build research in each stream.
Practical implications
Readers will understand the different research bases supporting the three research streams, along with their targeted audience and practice implications.
Social implications
The discovery of different support bases for the three different streams helps identify the network of authors and relationships that have been built in each stream.
Originality/value
According to the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to uncover differences in nature and citation sources of the three continuously growing BME research streams with recommendations on ways to improve the support of the three streams.
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Outdoor experiential activities, commonly referred to as adventure learning (AL), have been useful in improving teamwork. This study shows the impact of AL on teamwork attitudes…
Abstract
Outdoor experiential activities, commonly referred to as adventure learning (AL), have been useful in improving teamwork. This study shows the impact of AL on teamwork attitudes that are moderated by two competitive attitudes – the first, Kiasu‐positive (an attitude of diligence that directed effort towards work so as to get ahead of others) led to smaller teamwork attitudinal improvements, while the second, Kiasu‐negative (an attitude that is focussed on preventing others from getting ahead of oneself), led to larger teamwork attitudinal improvements. These competitive attitudes were also examined for their relationships with collectivism and pace of work.
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Alvin Hwang, Regina Bento and J.B. (Ben) Arbaugh
The purpose of this study is to examine factors that predict industry‐level career change among MBA graduates.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine factors that predict industry‐level career change among MBA graduates.
Design/methodology/approach
The study analyzed longitudinal data from the Management Education Research Institute (MERI)'s Global MBA Graduate Survey Dataset and MBA Alumni Perspectives Survey Datasets, using principal component analyses and a three‐stage structural equations model.
Findings
Perceptions about career growth and opportunity for advancement were the strongest predictors of industry shifts. The type of program was also found to have an influence, with part‐time MBA programs positively predicting industry shift, and full‐time programs having an indirect effect through significant associations with each of the intermediate predictors of industry shifts. Women were found to be more likely to change industries. Satisfaction with the MBA degree was not a predictor of industry change behavior: they were found to be related only to the extent that graduates valued the importance of certain career factors, such as the objective career factor of career growth.
Originality/value
This is a first large scale study of industry‐level career change among MBA graduates.
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What organization would not want staff who could work well as a team, who could get on well with their colleagues, and who would support each other and who pooled their skills…
Abstract
What organization would not want staff who could work well as a team, who could get on well with their colleagues, and who would support each other and who pooled their skills, knowledge and effort into the common cause of the enterprise’s success? Silly question maybe. After all, the only reason any workforce is a “force” at all, or why any establishment of employees is established in the first place is to work as a unit for the good of the business. Or is it? The answer, of course, is undoubtedly “yes” but the question needs asking, and answering, if only to clear up some confusion.
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Peter E. Swift and Alvin Hwang
This paper seeks to add to the research on the role of cognitive and affective trust in promoting knowledge sharing between executives and consequently establishing an…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to add to the research on the role of cognitive and affective trust in promoting knowledge sharing between executives and consequently establishing an organizational learning environment.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper examines the influence of one conceptualization of trust, one that has two sub‐constructs – affective (emotional) trust and cognitive (rational) trust – on knowledge sharing among 157 marketing and sales executives.
Findings
The results indicate that affective trust is more important than cognitive trust in sharing interpersonal knowledge, but cognitive trust is more important in creating an organizational learning environment.
Research limitations/implications
The scope of this study was limited to the marketing and sales functions in business to consumer companies. Knowledge sharing is an acute issue in this industry and the results may not be completely applicable to less competitive industries or business functions. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further in other industries and business functions.
Practical implications
The results indicate that organizations should focus on organizational processes which promote both affective and cognitive trust. Such processes include job rotation to improve cognitive understanding and employee screening for affective trust traits.
Originality/value
To date, much of the planned organizational learning efforts have been focused on outside interventions (i.e. training seminars, meetings, etc.) that have value but are limited in their ability to generate sustained levels of trust. To increase knowledge sharing and consequent organizational learning benefits, results of this study indicate that organizations should encourage cognitive and affective trust building endeavours.
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Sophie Revillard Kaufman and Alvin Hwang
The purpose of this paper is to develop the mindfulness construct in Thomas’ (2006) cultural intelligence (CQ) model and identify three mindfulness facets based on the mindfulness…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop the mindfulness construct in Thomas’ (2006) cultural intelligence (CQ) model and identify three mindfulness facets based on the mindfulness literature: empathy, open-mindedness and using all senses. Relationships among mindfulness, cross-cultural knowledge and cross-cultural behavioral ability are explored.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study of two French banking institutions operating in the USA is used incorporating multiple sources of data: participant observations, primary public and private documentation sources, archival records, secondary data and open-ended interviews with a key informant.
Findings
The two organizations showed similar emphasis on cross-cultural knowledge but differences in cross-cultural behavioral ability. These differences were traced to the posited mindfulness components of empathy, open-mindedness and using all senses.
Research limitations/implications
The two-sample case only provides emerging evidence of the role of mindfulness in linking cross-cultural knowledge to behavioral ability and will require validation through empirical studies to test for significance of relationships among these CQ facets.
Practical implications
Thomas’ (2006) CQ model and the authors’ understanding of its underlying mindfulness components provide insight in predicting cross-cultural potential of employees and designing customized employee training to help organizations meet the needs of a globally diverse workplace.
Social implications
The development of mindfulness qualities should improve interactions among individuals in any organizational setting, with added benefit of bridging cross-cultural differences.
Originality/value
This paper helps extend research on CQ facets using a qualitative method incorporating multiple sources of evidence to explore the mindfulness CQ construct.
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Peter E. Swift and Alvin Hwang
This paper seeks to present organizational learning processes of knowledge accumulation, articulation, codification and subsequent routine development in a marketing services…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to present organizational learning processes of knowledge accumulation, articulation, codification and subsequent routine development in a marketing services organization where judgment and rules of thumb were more the norm than codified knowledge and explicit routines. The case illustrates how organizational learning through a conscious knowledge codification effort could lead to tangible benefits for consumer‐driven organizations and how heterogeneous and infrequent yet important routines can be aided by an explicit and dynamic learning process.
Design/methodology/approach
After a review of the relevant literature, a case is provided to illustrate many of the key concepts in the organizational learning literature as they are applied to a consumer package goods company.
Findings
The case study is followed by a discussion of how the organization in the case applied organizational learning processes through a knowledge clarification and codification system. The organizational learning process was enabled by contextual enablers such as leadership commitment to organizational learning, teamwork and organization‐wide participation in the knowledge articulation and codification processes, and multi‐lateral flow of information across the organization in developing the routines.
Practical implications
Implications of how companies in market‐oriented environments that often have nuanced practices and uncodified norms could utilize various organizational learning processes are discussed in the paper.
Originality/value
It is rare in the field of organizational learning to see the application of numerous learning theories in one place and one organization. Such was the case in this examination, where different roles played by different organizational components, such as support from leadership, teamwork and flexibility, organization‐wide participation, and multilateral communication, in addition to knowledge accumulation, articulation, codification, and circular learning loops were utililzed by the organization to produce marketplace success for a major consumer battery company with heterogeneous and nuanced yet important learning requirements.
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Alvin Hwang, Naresh Khatri and E.S. Srinivas
This paper aims to examine the extent leadership charisma and vision could be discriminated by followers and how they influenced follower commitment and reported performance…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the extent leadership charisma and vision could be discriminated by followers and how they influenced follower commitment and reported performance across three countries.
Design/methodology/approach
An instrument to identify leadership charisma and vision was developed in Singapore and validated in New Zealand and India before tests on how these leadership qualities influenced followers through Lisrel path models.
Findings
Results from the Singapore sample showed that charisma and vision were made up of two charismatic factors (social sensitivity and personality traits – persuasive) and two visionary factors (expert and analytical and visionary and futuristic). Tests across three countries showed that the two visionary factors influenced reported performance and the two charismatic factors influenced subordinate commitment. Only social sensitivity predicted both performance and commitment of subordinates.
Research limitations/implications
Future studies should include a larger sample of respondents. Cross‐cultural differences in vision and charismatic qualities would have to be explicitly tested with cross‐cultural variables in future studies. The performance output measure should also include objective measures of follower performance, such as revenue or cost in future studies.
Practical implications
Effective leaders should strive to have both charismatic and visionary qualities. Special attention should be paid to “socially sensitive” since it influenced both commitment and reported performance.
Originality/value
This instrument was developed and tested across three countries and therefore has some cross‐cultural validity. The clear discrimination between charisma and vision is also an important development that showed the role both played in leadership influence.
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Gives a bibliographical review of the finite element methods (FEMs) applied for the linear and nonlinear, static and dynamic analyses of basic structural elements from the…
Abstract
Gives a bibliographical review of the finite element methods (FEMs) applied for the linear and nonlinear, static and dynamic analyses of basic structural elements from the theoretical as well as practical points of view. The range of applications of FEMs in this area is wide and cannot be presented in a single paper; therefore aims to give the reader an encyclopaedic view on the subject. The bibliography at the end of the paper contains 2,025 references to papers, conference proceedings and theses/dissertations dealing with the analysis of beams, columns, rods, bars, cables, discs, blades, shafts, membranes, plates and shells that were published in 1992‐1995.
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