Search results

The purpose of this paper is to provide concrete examples of what leadership behaviors and strategies look like in high-poverty urban schools in Chicago that are successful at improving student outcomes. The authors compared the strategies used by principals who were rated by their teachers on annual surveys as being strong instructional leaders but had varying success in improving student outcomes for comparison.

This paper is part of a larger mixed-methods study exploring the link between leadership and student learning. For the qualitative portion of the study, the authors utilized a contrasting case study design (Merriam, 1998) to distinguish leadership practices in schools with improvements in student achievement from practices in schools with stagnating or declining student achievement. The authors conducted case studies in a total of 12 schools–6 schools with improving student achievement and 6 schools with stagnating or declining student achievement. For brevity, the authors chose 4 schools to highlight in this manuscript that best illustrate the findings found across the full sample of 12 schools. The authors coded each interview using both inductive and deductive coding techniques.

The study findings indicate that there are subtle but important differences between the strategies principals in improving and contrast schools use to lead school improvement efforts. Principals in improving schools were able to create learning environments where staff were open to new ideas and work together towards goals. Principals in improving schools were also more likely to create structures that facilitated organizational learning than principals in contrast schools.

This study is unique because the authors provide concrete examples of what principals do in their schools to help create strong learning climates that foster organizational learning and improvement. The authors also identify differences in leader practices and structures in schools that are having a harder time making improvements for comparison. The study findings can be used by principals and other educators to better understand which of their various efforts may result in stronger school cultures conducive to organizational learning as outlined in Louis' and colleagues' work.

Adaptation is often seen as a key competitive advantage for outsourcing vendors. Outsourcing research has often assumed that vendor capabilities are static. However, as a result of uncertainties and/or changes in the client environment, vendors need to be able to adapt their outsourcing capabilities. The aim of our research is to compare two contrasting outsourcing approaches and illustrate how an adaptive approach may deliver better results for clients in the long term.

The paper uses a combination of literature and case study research. A retrospective case study approach was adopted, using interviews, observations and analysis of reports. Two case studies utilizing contrasting clients approaches were investigated and compared. In one of the case studies, the client reorganized activities first and then outsourced them, while in the other, the client did the reverse – outsourced first and then reorganized.

The findings indicate that reorganizing first and outsourcing afterwards contributes to a more controlled implementation, which results in a more defined and stable set of vendor outsourcing capabilities that contributed to short-term success. In contrast, outsourcing first and reorganizing later demonstrates a less controlled redesign of the client’s organizational structure, which requires a malleable set of outsourcing capabilities to accommodate future change. The latter strategic manoeuver results in an extended adaptation period, as some capabilities need to be developed over time. However, it may improve success over time as subsequent changes in the client environment can be catered for in a better way.

Only two explorative case studies were performed, limiting confidence in the degree of generalization of the results. We plea for more research on the effect of context dependency as various contingencies may impact the adaptation of outsourcing capabilities; for example, the volatility of the client’s market or the stability of the technology concerned.

When a client applies a proactive manoeuver, reorganizing first and then applying outsourcing, the number of adaptive capabilities required of the outsourcing vendor is reduced, limiting the risk for the client in the short term. In the longer term, however, subsequent change requirements may be less well-accommodated.

Strategic manoeuvers within an outsourcing context have received limited attention in research. As far as we know, this is the first empirical research that investigates the benefits of vendors having adaptive capability.

In fact, this research seeks to understand, on the one hand, the nature of defensive reactions and, on the other hand, the strategies mobilised by actors to deal with paradoxes of identity.

The authors mobilise a qualitative methodology based on three contrasting longitudinal case studies, several sequences of non-participant observations, semi-structured interviews and secondary data.

The results show, on the one hand, close professional identities despite different organisations and, on the other hand, different reactions and strategies for managing paradoxes of identity despite the proximity of professional identities.

Beyond the singularity of the paradoxes of identity studied, the research invites the authors to develop spaces for discussion.

Case study research, most often associated with qualitative inquiry has gained significance as an effective approach to investigate complex issues in real-world settings. Conducting case research is considered to be appropriate when a contemporary phenomenon is to be studied. This chapter covers all related concepts, relating to this unique method of research. The focus is on bringing about rigor in case study research.

This paper presents a methodological contribution to benchmarking studies of production practices. It presents some of the main findings gathered from a benchmarking study developed between UK and Brazilian construction sites. The study was carried out within six case studies and focused on the use of visual controls in construction sites. The “cross‐case study analysis” approach used a process called “pattern matching” where the researcher looked for direct replications of theoretical propositions. In this pattern‐matching approach, empirical evidence is considered to be a “literal replication” if the observed results match the theoretical predictions. In contrast, when the case study produced contrasting results but for predictable reasons, it is called a “theoretical replication”. The results show that pattern‐matching is a highly useful approach for developing benchmarking studies in production management because it allows direct transfer of results from practice to theory.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between higher educational institution bullying policies and the subsequent cultural impact to determine the effectiveness of policy in ameliorating bullying within the university culture.

This study consisted of two separate but related case studies at two universities in different countries, focussing on university staff. The field work gathered data about existing anti-bullying policy, the extent to which it was part of the organisational culture for staff, and the levels of staff bullying experienced or seen within the organisation. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected.

The study found that despite one university having significant policy and the other having very little policy, the knowledge of policy in both universities was and subsequent experience of bullying for staff were very similar.

The findings indicate that anti-bullying policy alone appears to have a limited impact on organisational behaviour. This suggests that the entrenched and historical master/servant relations of academia enable such practices to continue. Policy implementation is insufficient and training and development to generate more inclusive, people-focussed management cultures is necessary to ameliorate bullying behaviour.

The paper draws on the experiences, critique and suggestions of the study participants to prepare a possible agenda for cultural change that human resource (HR) managers could develop in association with academic and professional managers within their institution.

The findings suggest that in any social setting or organisational structure where strong historical patterns of master/servant endure, the opportunity for bullying behaviours to grow and flourish is fertile and that policy statements alone may have little impact on curtailing such behaviour.

This study makes two contributions to existing knowledge. First, it provides evidence that anti-bullying policy is alone unlikely to have an effective impact on instances of bullying within the culture. Second, the case study contrast displays that unacceptable levels of bullying exist in two very different institutions in two very different cultures. Whilst one country has a war-torn history and the other exists in splendid isolation, the same patterns persist, indicating that universities have structured cultural issues that are difficult to change.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the implementation of lean within two contrasting UK-based organizations; a food manufacturer and a healthcare organization. The different contexts provide insight to the strategic desire for efficiency gains and tactical issues and challenges of lean execution and implementation.

The research questions developed from the review of the literature were tested using evidence from field-based, action research within a food manufacturer and a National Health Service organization. The reported contrasting case studies contribute to the longer term debate on the adoption and adaptation of lean-based “best practice” within organizations.

There are three primary findings: first, that the adoption of lean provides a strategic benefit, as well as providing a basis for a strategy of operational change; second, that partial, as opposed to full, adoption of lean occurs due to external organizational constraints, such as demand patterns, supplier unreliability, little expertise in deploying change programmes, etc.; and third, that a company will balance the adoption of the lean ideology against the financial costs and operational risks incurred in full adoption.

The conclusions drawn add substantially to the ongoing commentaries on aspects of lean, and develop interesting questions for future research regards the developed “Cycles of Lean Implementation” concept.

The conclusion proposes that partial implementation of the lean philosophy does not necessarily represent a conscious organizational choice, or any lack of conviction, but is representative of external constraints on the organization. This complements previous commentaries on appropriate strategies and develops interesting questions for future research into operational efficiency.

This article aims to focus on one of the most intriguing issues related to the public sector reforms: the accountability systems. In particular the paper aims to deal with the relationships between accounting‐based reforms, forms of accountability, and people‐changing or people‐processing approaches to service provision within Italian social work.

The paper draws on the accountability and people changing/processing literature to interpret and discuss the evidence gathered in an in‐depth longitudinal case study conducted in a social service public organization between 2007 and 2009.

The article reveals that the case study site had developed two distinct groups of services: “Territoriali” and “Residenziali”. “Territoriali” engage in a traditional mode of social care, they provide professional support to clients with, sometimes, quite intractable problems, and aim to modify clients' characteristics, behaviour and attitudes. In contrast, “Residenziali” deal with, and often outsource, more standardized care packages in the form of residential care, day care and some home‐based services. The accounting reforms were received very differently in these two areas. “Territoriali” was resistant to the changes but, in large part, “Residenziali” embraced them. The article then argues that this reflected the extent to which each service area was willing and able to implement a people‐processing rather than a people‐changing approach. The adoption of the people‐processing method had profound implications for the ways that accountability was both experienced and delivered in the services.

This article deals with the under‐researched area of social care. It integrates two literatures not previously articulated together: accountability and people changing/processing. A three‐year longitudinal study is presented, enabling an in‐depth appreciation of the changes affecting social services and the differential responses to accounting and consequent shifts in accountability in two contrasting service areas.

There has been no shortage of rosy visions for the future of Africa or its regions. Almost without exception, these visions have been dashed by reality. The question therefore arises: “To what extent or under what conditions is visioning an ideal future a worthy exercise?” or “Under what conditions is it useful and when is it limiting?” In anticipating the future in general, and seeking a better future for Africa in particular, might foresight tools built on another (non‐visionary) basis provide better fruit? This paper aims to address this issue.

The paper considers this question as it applies to scenario planning in particular, by investigating recent, contrasting case studies of scenario‐building activities in Africa (Tanzania and South Africa).

The paper determines the appropriate uses and limits of “visionary” scenario planning, and suggests a contrasting “adaptive” basis for scenario work.

It is argued that maintaining the purpose‐platform distinction between these two modes is fundamental to getting full value out of scenario work in general, and in the African context in particular. The contrasting case studies explain how and why the adaptive‐normative distinction is important; how different purposes each demand different use of the scenario process tools that currently exist, and show why failure to fit scenario approaches to purpose greatly diminishes the efficacy of the method for either purpose.

This paper aims to study the informational dynamics that take place between a firm and its stakeholders with respect to corporate environmental management.

The analysis is based on a case study contrasting environmental information reported by the case firm with environmental information about the firm disclosed by four stakeholder groups or their representatives (governments, the community, environmental non-governmental organizations and investors) over three years. The information flow of disclosure is also considered.

The results suggest that the informational dynamics are composed of multiple related patterns. The patterns range from correspondence between disclosures to stakeholders complementing or contradicting corporate disclosures. Different patterns are associated with different levels of interactions from stakeholders, who are most involved when they combine disclosure patterns around key environmental issues for the forest industry. Limited interactions are observed from the firm, suggesting a symbolic engagement within the dynamics and a strategic accountability approach.

Limitations are found in the focus on disclosure outlets without examination of their production and reception, and in the inherent nature of the documents collected to represent each perspective. Some stakeholder groups were excluded from the study due to data unavailability.

This paper offers an in-depth analysis of firm-stakeholders interactions with respect to environmental reporting and maps the information flow of their disclosure.