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1 – 10 of 16Examines how the personal computer has brought about dramatic changes inautomatic test equipment [ATE] in electronics manufacturing.Describes the three major instrumentation types…
Abstract
Examines how the personal computer has brought about dramatic changes in automatic test equipment [ATE] in electronics manufacturing. Describes the three major instrumentation types used in ATE today, the GPIB [general purpose interface bus] the VXI [VME eXtensions for instrumentation] and DAQ [data acquisition cards]. Looks at instrument drivers which provide the programmer with an interactive front panel enabling them to manipulate the instruments using a PC mouse and keyboard. Also looks at test executive software and the three main tasks it performs of test flow control, data logging and user interfacing. Concludes that in the ever changing world of ATE, virtual instrumentation is opening the system architecture of ATE and driving costs down by capitalizing on the power and low cost of the PC.
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The case opens with Martha Stewart's 2005 release from prison following her conviction for obstructing an insider-trading investigation of her 2001 sale of personal stock. The…
Abstract
The case opens with Martha Stewart's 2005 release from prison following her conviction for obstructing an insider-trading investigation of her 2001 sale of personal stock. The scandal dealt a crippling blow to the powerful Martha Stewart brand and drove results at her namesake company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSO), deep into the red. But as owner of more than 90 percent of MSO's voting shares, Stewart continued to control the company throughout the scandal.
The company faced significant external challenges, including changing consumer preferences and mounting competition in all of its markets. Ad rates were under pressure as advertisers began fragmenting spending across multiple platforms, including the Internet and social media, where MSO was weak. New competitors were luring readers from MSO's flagship publication, Martha Stewart Living. And in its second biggest business, merchandising, retailing juggernauts such as Walmart and Target were crushing MSO's most important sales channel, Kmart. Internal challenges loomed even larger, with numerous failures of governance while the company attempted a turnaround.
This case can be used to teach either corporate governance or turnarounds.
Students will learn:
How control of shareholder voting rights by a founding executive can undermine corporate governance
The importance of independent directors and board committees
How company bylaws affect corporate governance
How to recognize and respond to early signs of stagnation
How to avoid management actions that can make a crisis worse
How weaknesses in executive leadership can push a company into crisis and foster a culture that actively prevents strategic revitalization
How control of shareholder voting rights by a founding executive can undermine corporate governance
The importance of independent directors and board committees
How company bylaws affect corporate governance
How to recognize and respond to early signs of stagnation
How to avoid management actions that can make a crisis worse
How weaknesses in executive leadership can push a company into crisis and foster a culture that actively prevents strategic revitalization
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Elesa Zehndorfer and Chris Mackintosh
This paper analyses the radical reorganisation of English school sport by the coalition government, a move that led to the emergence of a significant discourse of dissatisfaction…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper analyses the radical reorganisation of English school sport by the coalition government, a move that led to the emergence of a significant discourse of dissatisfaction amongst school sport advocacy coalition groups.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper utilises Sabatier’s (Sabatier & Jenkins-Smith, 1999) Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) to identify how the coalition government’s decision to abolish the successful Physical Education School Sport and Club Links (PESSCL) programme has specifically weakened the power of formerly influential advocacy coalitions within the school sport arena. Weber’s (1947) conceptualisation of charisma, in particular, the concept of charismatic rhetoric, is used to explain how these historically extensive policy changes were communicated by the coalition government, and particularly, by Michael Gove, the Secretary of State.
Findings
Locating the government’s rhetoric within the charismatic literature allowed the exploration of how a disempowerment of advocacy coalition groups and centralisation of power towards the state might have been partly achieved via the use of charismatic rhetoric (Weber, 1947).
Originality/value
Javidan and Waldman (2003) identified a lack of rigorous empirical study of the role of charismatic leadership and its consequences in public sector leadership, a critique that has been addressed by this paper.
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The topic of whistleblowing is achieving prominence as a question of social policy. Some influential voices are suggesting that far from whistleblowing — informing on…
Abstract
The topic of whistleblowing is achieving prominence as a question of social policy. Some influential voices are suggesting that far from whistleblowing — informing on organisations —, being socially undesirable, it may in certain circumstances be an activity deserving high praise. Inevitably it entails huge risks to the activist, and these risks need to be personally and carefully considered. John Banham, Director General of the Confederation of British Industry, wrote in support of the Social Audit report on the subject (Winfield 1990), and a committee established by the Speaker of the House of Commons has suggested the possibility of honouring whistleblowers in the British Honours system for their good corporate citizenship. There have also been landmark reports in America, Australia and Canada (Leahy 1978, Electoral and Administrative Review Commission 1990, Ontario Law Reform Commission 1986).
Andrew Fincham and Nicholas Burton
The importance of networks has been established in the development of commerce and capitalism, with key concepts reflecting both the dynamic and permeable characteristics of…
Abstract
Purpose
The importance of networks has been established in the development of commerce and capitalism, with key concepts reflecting both the dynamic and permeable characteristics of networks. Such attributes are exemplified by religious networks, which have been typically dismissed in terms of economic contribution as being both risk-averse and bounded by ethical barriers imposed by theology. This paper aims to examine the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in the long 18th century to evidence the multi-plexity and density of connections and suggest that adherence to the Quaker discipline acted as a trust-based attribute and substituted for repeated iteration.
Design/methodology/approach
The archival investigation centres upon an analysis of “The Catalogue of Quaker Writing” and a close re-reading of the seminal text “Quakers in Science and Industry”, an authoritative account of Quaker firms and families in industry and commerce. By identifying multiple possible social network connections in Raistrick’s work, this paper reviewed and analysed The Catalogue of Quaker Writing to examine the presence or absence of these connections in the Quaker network in the long 18th century.
Findings
This paper shows how the Quaker network was an unusually dense network that benefited co-religionists by enabling commerce through its unique topography. In a period characterized by the absence of formal institutional mechanisms to regulate behaviour, Quaker discipline acted as a quasi-regulatory mechanism to regulate membership of the network and to govern member moral behaviour.
Originality/value
The Quakers offer an opportunity to examine an early modern network to gain important insights into key aspects of network topography. By using social network analysis, this paper shows how Quakers performed a multiplicity of roles, which encouraged multiple modes of contact between members of the society in a dense network of contexts, which, in turn, provided high levels of connectedness between individuals. This unique range of roles, shared among a relatively small group of individuals, ensured that the degrees of separation between roles were very few; similarly, the plethora of connections resulted in a density, which not only allowed for multiple ways to engage with other individuals but also ensured no individual would become a bottle-neck or indeed a gateway that would prevent access. This unique topography was also highly unusual in that it was permeable to any aspirant member upon acceptance of the discipline – neither poverty nor lack of social status was barriers to membership. This unusual network offered atypical commercial advantages for its members.
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Maria Whittaker, Andy Cook, Marisa Marrocco and David Osborne
Readmission to hospital can be distressing, costly for the National Health Service (NHS) and legally it should be a last resort as it entails restriction of liberty. This study…
Abstract
Purpose
Readmission to hospital can be distressing, costly for the National Health Service (NHS) and legally it should be a last resort as it entails restriction of liberty. This study aims to develop an understanding of factors leading to readmission for a cohort of service users under the care of a community forensic mental health team (CFMHT) in England to consider how support could be improved to reduce incidence of future readmissions.
Design/methodology/approach
Thematic analysis was used to examine case recording relating to 13 service users who were readmitted to hospital within a specified time period. The same service users were invited to complete questionnaires regarding their views of what contributed to the readmission to cross-reference with themes identified.
Findings
The analysis of case notes produced eight sub-themes. These were sorted into three overarching themes, illustrating the challenges that service users face upon discharge from hospital, the sense they make of these challenges and the impact upon relational patterns, in particular with the CFMHT. Researchers highlight that the multiple challenges can increase service users’ sense of being under threat which can lead to distrust of professionals.
Practical implications
Practical suggestions arising from the study were fed back to the subject team and are listed at the end of the paper.
Originality/value
Findings from this study parallel those previously reported. This study contributes an inter-relational aspect of the factors and the central role of meaning-making in the path of recovery and building a life in the community.
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Jessie Nixon, Erica Halverson, Andy Stoiber and Andy Garbacz
The purpose of this study is to understand how learners describe their experiences with short-term, introductory maker experiences and to test a method for assessing learners’…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to understand how learners describe their experiences with short-term, introductory maker experiences and to test a method for assessing learners’ experiences authentic to short-term learning.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors collected written responses from participants at a two-day event, STEM Center Learning Days. Through an analysis of 707 unique instances of learner responses to participation in drop-in maker activities, they examined how participants describe their short-term learning experiences.
Findings
The authors found that although some activities appear to onlookers to create passive experiences for learners, these seemingly passive moments have a significant impact on learners. In addition, some learners described themselves as working in tandem with tools to make something work and other learners viewed the tools as working autonomously. They found that the assessment method allowed them to gain an understanding of how learners describe their experiences offering important implications for understanding short-term learning events.
Originality/value
The findings provide researchers studying short-term learning in its natural setting a new method to understand how learners make sense of their individual experience. Further, designers of short-term learning experiences may gain insights into their unique activities and indications of where additional guidance and scaffolds will improve small learning moments.
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Konstantinos Spyropoulos, Christopher James Gidlow, Fiona McCormack, Andy Meakin, Rachele Hine and Sophia Fedorowicz
This paper reports the use of situational analysis as a systems methodology to evaluate the voices of independence change and empowerment in the Stoke-on-Trent (VOICES…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper reports the use of situational analysis as a systems methodology to evaluate the voices of independence change and empowerment in the Stoke-on-Trent (VOICES) partnership project.
Design/methodology/approach
Using situational analysis and drawing on a range of secondary data sources, a three-stage conceptual mapping process provided a detailed picture of both the non-linear interlinkage and complexity of the local system that VOICES was working to influence, as well as the processes that shaped the experiences of those who act within the situation.
Findings
Data highlighted the systemic challenges facing VOICES customers (e.g. stigma and marginalisation and lack of legal literacy), progress made by VOICES in each of their priority areas and an overarching theme of VOICES promoting equity (rather than equality) to address failure demand in the system of support for people with multiple needs and disadvantage.
Originality/value
The authors present the novel application of situational analysis to demonstrate a substantial impact of VOICES while demonstrating the value of this methodology for complex systems thinking research and evaluation.
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Fletcher Glancy, David P. Biros, Nan Liang and Andy Luse
The authors argue that the current studies about malicious insiders confuse the fact that malicious attacks belong to two different categories, namely, those that launch…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors argue that the current studies about malicious insiders confuse the fact that malicious attacks belong to two different categories, namely, those that launch instrumental attacks and expressive attacks. The authors collect malicious insider data from publicly available sources and use text-mining techniques to analyze the association between malicious insiders’ characteristics and the different types of attack.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors investigated the relationship between personality characteristics and different types of malicious attacks. For the personality characteristics, the authors use the same method as Liang et al. (2016), which extracted these characteristics based on a keyword-characteristic dictionary. For different types of malicious attacks, two raters rated each case based on criteria modified from criminology research to determine the degree of expressiveness and instrumentality.
Findings
The results show that malicious insiders who are manipulative or seeking personal gain tend to carry out instrumental attacks. Malicious insiders who are arrogant tend to conduct expressive attacks.
Research limitations/implications
This study uses third party articles to identify the personality characteristics of known malicious insiders. As such, not all personality characteristics may have been reported. Data availability was an issue.
Practical implications
Understanding if different personality characteristics lead different types of attacks can help managers identify employees who exhibit them and mitigate an attack before it occurs.
Social implications
Malicious insider attacks can have devastating results on businesses and employees. Help to identify potential malicious insiders before they act, may prevent undue harm.
Originality/value
This study used 132 cases of none malicious insiders to examine their attack objectives. No other study that the authors know of used that many cases.
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