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Article
Publication date: 31 May 2019

Cliff Ferguson

Trade unions are the political arm of the working class, economically active masses, whilst industrial action is a demonstration of the will to reach their objectives. However…

Abstract

Purpose

Trade unions are the political arm of the working class, economically active masses, whilst industrial action is a demonstration of the will to reach their objectives. However, the crippling of systems through such contradicts business continuity. Yet, the opposite is true for a natural disaster that traumatises the union member and has a direct impact on their well-being. Inculcating a service continuity and resilience in government, with trade unions as majority stakeholders, may be a challenge. Moreover, it is further complicated by the African perspective, which will become prevalent in the author’s deliberations, as the trade union landscape is open to revolutionary Marxism, Socialism and Capitalistic precepts and concepts. Testing the problem and solutions with the period model produces evidence that purports a future praxis for business continuity management (BCM) that involves trade union representatives and their members. Ultimately, trade unions, cumbersome as they may seem, have much to offer as far as human resources, mass membership, knowledge and skill are concerned. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

An action learning approach linked to the period model to answer five research questions, namely: What is the actual modus operandi of trade unions with regard to business continuity and resilience?; What is the actual interest of union representatives in the understanding and implementation of BCM and resilience standards and concepts?; What would be required to utilise trade union platforms for the purposes of BC induction and awareness?; How will BCM certification for trade union stewards affect or impact on their industrial actions or campaigns?; How can the BCM fora develop a theory and possible praxis, to involve trade unions as part of the business continuity and resilience programme of an organisation?

Findings

The findings are as follows: the period model works as an agent of action learning. The likelihood of trade unions to participate in business continuity outside of labour action is commendable. Trade union representatives are keen on being certified as BCM practitioners. BCPs are inclined to fail with industrial action when involving trade union representatives. The BCM Policy and ISO 22301 standards bring about a good understanding of the roles of BC practitioners and union representatives in a crisis period.

Research limitations/implications

Research was limited to the pilot site, i.e. The Government Pensions Administration Agency – South Africa.

Originality/value

The paper brings about a new dimension to a business continuity programme, where the trade unions are no longer an interested party but rather they become active members of a business continuity team.

Details

Continuity & Resilience Review, vol. 1 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2516-7502

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 1990

Mike Mead

The author describes the process by which a group of six managers,from a variety of disciplines, on an Action Learning programmeinfluenced each other. The support and…

Abstract

The author describes the process by which a group of six managers, from a variety of disciplines, on an Action Learning programme influenced each other. The support and encouragement offered is illustrated and related to research carried out by Margerison and Belbin. The article is based on the author′s own recollections leading up to the MBA award, and also as a result of replies to a questionnaire received from colleagues.

Details

Industrial and Commercial Training, vol. 22 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0019-7858

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Article
Publication date: 5 February 2018

Daewook Kim

The purpose of this paper is to explore how internal public relations practices (e.g. internal communication and relationship management strategies) enhance employees’…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how internal public relations practices (e.g. internal communication and relationship management strategies) enhance employees’ organizational social capital in the Korean context by examining the mediation roles of employee-organization relationships.

Design/methodology/approach

The researcher then recruited 23 field research assistants to collect data from 23 organizations in South Korea. For the purpose of this study, the researcher trained each of the research assistants, kept the confidentiality of each research participant, and used common methods of data collection. After this training process, the research assistants distributed an online link and encouraged employees in 23 organizations to participate in this survey. From these 23 organizations, 287 participants completed the survey. However, the authors had to delete 11 invalid responses. Consequently, the authors used a total of 276 responses to analyze the data.

Findings

The results of this study showed that two-way and symmetrical internal communication strategies were associated positively with employee-organization relationships and organizational social capital. Additionally, satisfaction and control mutuality had mediating effects on the relations between internal communication strategies and organizational social capital.

Originality/value

These results contribute to expanding the functions of internal public relations practices into organizational social capital.

Details

Corporate Communications: An International Journal, vol. 23 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1356-3289

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 July 2018

Obby Phiri, Elisavet Mantzari and Pauline Gleadle

The purpose of this paper is to critically explore the interactions of key stakeholders and their impact upon corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices in the Zambian copper…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to critically explore the interactions of key stakeholders and their impact upon corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices in the Zambian copper mining sector. In particular, the authors examine the power dynamics that emerge in the stakeholder interactions.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors analyse the stakeholder interactions based on the varying degrees of stakeholder salience and critical collaboration potential, and draw on rich evidence from 43 interviews with multiple stakeholders involved in CSR in the Zambia mining sector.

Findings

This paper finds stark power asymmetries in the relationship between the state, the civil society and mining companies which are exacerbated by a number of factors, including divisions within these key stakeholders themselves. Apart from power imbalances within and between stakeholders, the potential for critical collaboration at the local level is further challenged by the lack of commonly accepted social and environmental frameworks, transparency and accountability of the leadership of stakeholder groups. However, despite these power asymmetries some limited agency is possible, as civil society in particular co-opts previously dormant stakeholders to increase its own salience and, more importantly, that of the state.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the literature on the key stakeholders’ interactions shaping CSR in developing countries by exploring these issues in a critical industry, the Zambian copper mining sector, on which the state economy is so heavily dependent.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 32 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 1974

Z.A. SPINDLER

Many modern microeconomic theory textbooks similarly conclude that the bilateral monopoly equilibrium price and quantity are theoretically indeterminate given the usual…

Abstract

Many modern microeconomic theory textbooks similarly conclude that the bilateral monopoly equilibrium price and quantity are theoretically indeterminate given the usual assumptions of the theory of the firm; they usually state that additional assumptions about bargaining power or firm behaviour are required for a determinate solution. The past literature on bilateral monopoly generally supports the textbook position with respect to price but not with respect to quantity. For example, von Stackelberg (1952, 182–9) and Fellner (1947, 523–8) argued that quantity is determinate at the joint profit maximizing level for bilateral monopoly between profit maximizing firms which employ “all or none” offers; price, however, must still be determined by relative bargaining power which is unspecified.

Details

Journal of Economic Studies, vol. 1 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3585

Article
Publication date: 30 October 2007

Zoë H. Wool

To understand practices of inscription and description used by the US Government in the production of discourse concerning the war in Iraq as part of the post 9/11 War on Terror…

1189

Abstract

Purpose

To understand practices of inscription and description used by the US Government in the production of discourse concerning the war in Iraq as part of the post 9/11 War on Terror and as part of a neo‐liberal project of governance.

Design/methodology/approach

Using an analytics of governmentality, this paper interrogates US government discourse on the war in Iraq, focusing on a series of Department of Defense documents entitled Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq (MSSI).

Findings

Through the use of New Public Management techniques, the MSSI reports render the war in Iraq in depoliticized, decontextualized, apolitical and amoral terms. Such a rendering does an unacceptable violence to the experiences of those living in the war zone and to the complex context of US military involvement in Iraq.

Originality/value

Neo‐liberal regimes of knowledge and practice are ubiquitous, perhaps even hegemonic. This analysis disturbs the neat logic of neo‐liberalism and seeks to reinsert the troubling bodies, both political and material, which such a logic obviates. In so doing, it problematizes both the deployment of neo‐liberal regimes of knowledge production and critics’ easy dismissal of the War on Terror as an evanescent discursive construction.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 27 no. 11/12
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

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Article
Publication date: 2 October 2017

Catherine Sutton-Brady, Tom Taylor and Patty Kamvounias

The Australian supermarket industry has long been dominated by two players – Coles and Woolworths. Most recently this dominance has increased significantly and the “Big 2” have…

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Abstract

Purpose

The Australian supermarket industry has long been dominated by two players – Coles and Woolworths. Most recently this dominance has increased significantly and the “Big 2” have used their power more effectively and have introduced an ever-increasing number of “private label” products on supermarket shelves. This study aims to investigate the effect these products have had on the relationship between the supermarkets (buyers) and their suppliers.

Design/methodology/approach

This qualitative study used in-depth, high engagement interviews with a range of suppliers. An extensive data analysis process was carried out to ensure the coding of the key insights into themes, which helped to answer the aims and objectives of the research.

Findings

A key contribution of this study has been to highlight the ability of supermarket chains to increase existing dominance by using their ever-increasing private label brand portfolio. The findings indicate an uncertain future for food suppliers, with the situation likely to continue to worsen further as the supermarkets continue to exercise and abuse their power.

Originality/value

This paper’s main contribution lies in providing a greater understanding of the significance of the effect of private labels on relationships and the implications of these effects. The impact of the supermarket dominance on innovation is especially interesting, given that this has not been previously discussed in the literature. Additionally, the deterioration in trust is significant in this context and to an extent that is rarely seen.

Details

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 32 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0885-8624

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 1992

John Conway O'Brien

A collection of essays by a social economist seeking to balanceeconomics as a science of means with the values deemed necessary toman′s finding the good life and society enduring…

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Abstract

A collection of essays by a social economist seeking to balance economics as a science of means with the values deemed necessary to man′s finding the good life and society enduring as a civilized instrumentality. Looks for authority to great men of the past and to today′s moral philosopher: man is an ethical animal. The 13 essays are: 1. Evolutionary Economics: The End of It All? which challenges the view that Darwinism destroyed belief in a universe of purpose and design; 2. Schmoller′s Political Economy: Its Psychic, Moral and Legal Foundations, which centres on the belief that time‐honoured ethical values prevail in an economy formed by ties of common sentiment, ideas, customs and laws; 3. Adam Smith by Gustav von Schmoller – Schmoller rejects Smith′s natural law and sees him as simply spreading the message of Calvinism; 4. Pierre‐Joseph Proudhon, Socialist – Karl Marx, Communist: A Comparison; 5. Marxism and the Instauration of Man, which raises the question for Marx: is the flowering of the new man in Communist society the ultimate end to the dialectical movement of history?; 6. Ethical Progress and Economic Growth in Western Civilization; 7. Ethical Principles in American Society: An Appraisal; 8. The Ugent Need for a Consensus on Moral Values, which focuses on the real dangers inherent in there being no consensus on moral values; 9. Human Resources and the Good Society – man is not to be treated as an economic resource; man′s moral and material wellbeing is the goal; 10. The Social Economist on the Modern Dilemma: Ethical Dwarfs and Nuclear Giants, which argues that it is imperative to distinguish good from evil and to act accordingly: existentialism, situation ethics and evolutionary ethics savour of nihilism; 11. Ethical Principles: The Economist′s Quandary, which is the difficulty of balancing the claims of disinterested science and of the urge to better the human condition; 12. The Role of Government in the Advancement of Cultural Values, which discusses censorship and the funding of art against the background of the US Helms Amendment; 13. Man at the Crossroads draws earlier themes together; the author makes the case for rejecting determinism and the “operant conditioning” of the Skinner school in favour of the moral progress of autonomous man through adherence to traditional ethical values.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 19 no. 3/4/5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 1991

Phillip C. Wright and Gary D. Geroy

Qualitative information‐gathering techniques are focused on todetermine whether they can be adapted or adopted to support strategicgoal‐setting. Much of the literature suggests…

1040

Abstract

Qualitative information‐gathering techniques are focused on to determine whether they can be adapted or adopted to support strategic goal‐setting. Much of the literature suggests that if planning is based on information gathered and presented in a manner which managers can understand they are more likely to act on it, and, for this reason, qualitative rather than quantitative techniques are stressed here. Factors which are not amenable to numerate analysis but which are useful to the strategic planner, such as experience, judgement and intuition, are also isolated and analysed. An attempt is made to facilitate the use of qualitative data‐gathering methods and suggestions are made as to where particular techniques may prove beneficial, together with their limitations. Research, from a small (n = 20), in‐depth survey of small business owners/ managers in Canada, is included which shows that they do not use quantitative planning processes but that judgemental techniques were most widely used; in general, the less sophisticated the planning process the higher it would be ranked among the survey participants. The research from other surveys also shows that scientific mathematically based models often do not fit with small business organisational reality and that methodologies should be developed that integrate research into the decision‐making process.

Details

Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 12 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7739

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Article
Publication date: 1 July 2005

Peta Stevenson‐Clarke and Allan Hodgson

This paper estimates the value added by Big 8/6/5 auditors after controlling for the permanent and non‐permanent impact of earnings and cash flows using linear and nonlinear…

Abstract

This paper estimates the value added by Big 8/6/5 auditors after controlling for the permanent and non‐permanent impact of earnings and cash flows using linear and nonlinear (arctan) regression models. The linear model shows significant value added for industrial firms that utilise Big 8/6/5 auditors; while an arctan model shows that large auditors value‐add by attesting to the permanence of earnings for large firms. We demonstrate that refinements to the audit research can be made by using response coefficients to filter out the different timing components inherent in earnings and cash flows.

Details

Accounting Research Journal, vol. 18 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1030-9616

Keywords

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