Search results

Following a recent government initiated change to a consumer-directed care model across the Australian community aged care sector, the purpose of this paper is to explore frontline home support workers’ perceptions of relational changes with clients in power and subordination within the triadic relationship between employer, employee and client.

Contextual interviews were held with managers (n=4), coordinators (n=10) and semi-structured face-to-face interviews with support workers (n=17) in three organizations. Interview transcripts were analyzed.

Some workers did not perceive a power change in their relationships with clients. Others perceived minimal change but were concerned about the incoming client generation (baby boomers) that were more aware of their rights. Others felt subordinated to the client, perceived a loss of control or that felt treated like an employee of the client. Consistent with the philosophy of consumer-directed care, senior staff encouraged clients to treat workers in this way.

Further research is recommended on worker and client perceptions of relationships within the context of a consumer or client focused model.

A clear and realistic understanding of the locus of power within a triadic relationship by all actors is important for positive workplace outcomes.

The increasing ageing population makes it essential that workers’ relationships with clients and with their organization are unambiguous.

This study makes a contribution to theories about change and power transfer in the implementation of consumer-directed care through the perceptions of support workers. Examination of power and subordination transfer through the perceptions of the actors of rather than through the prism of organizational policy deepens the understanding of frontline service work and relationships.

This study empirically examines factors affecting the extent of balanced scorecard (BSC) adoption in Vietnamese small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) such as top management involvement, an innovative culture, a product innovation strategy, organisational resources, a competitive environment and business network support. This study aims to gain an improved understanding and draw important lessons on BSC adoption for SMEs.

Using primary data obtained from a survey of top managers of SMEs that have experienced some forms of BSC adoption, the authors conduct their analysis using exploratory factor analysis and regression analysis methods.

The authors find that top management involvement, an innovative culture, organisational resources and business network support are essential factors impacting the extent of BSC adoption in Vietnamese SMEs. Besides confirming literature findings on these variables, the authors identify support of business networks as another important factor affecting the extent of BSC adoption, alongside location and business owners’ experience. However, the impacts of a product innovation strategy and a competitive environment are not significant.

This study adapts scales previously designed for large enterprises in developed countries to fit into the context of Vietnamese SMEs. Future research can take advantage of this new set of scales and data to obtain further research results.

This study will serve as guidance for SMEs considering BSC adoption to have a clear vision of what factors are likely to affect BSC adoption, how they affect it and in what direction.

Lessons learned can be extended not only to Vietnamese SMEs that have not yet adopted the BSC but also to firms in other countries with similar economic conditions.

This study is among pioneering studies on BSC in SMEs and within the context of Vietnam.

Company turnaround, General Management.

Executive education, MBA.

This is a four-part case study in which the case of a company turnaround emerges as the students work through a series of decision-making processes. In teaching the case, the students would only be given Part A to begin with, about which they need to make decisions as to what they would do, as preparation for the first part of the lecture. After that has been discussed, they are provided with the second part which tells them what in fact happened in the situation and leads them to the next decision point, and so on. The case deals with an entrepreneur hearing about a business that has gone insolvent; it then tracks the process from investigating the small manufacturing and sales company through the various stages of its subsequent remarkable turnaround to the point where the protagonist was voted Entrepreneur of the Year in South Africa. It covers the period 2007 to 2012 and includes the annual financial statements.

Following are the expected learning outcomes: an understanding of the broad range of management competencies; an understanding of how to turnaround a small organisation; and to experience group-based decision-making.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS 11: Strategy.

Mentoring is widely used in the health sector, particularly for early career professionals in the public health system. However, many allied health professionals are employed in private practice and rely on their professional association to provide mentoring support and training. This mentoring context is under-researched. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

A purposeful sample of 15 allied health professionals were interviewed using semi-structured interviews that were then analyzed using template analysis.

The many-to-many group mentoring program delivered valuable knowledge, diagnostic skills and networking opportunities but did not provide inclusion, role modeling or psychosocial support to participants. Also identified were structural and operational issues including; the role of the coordinator in addressing contribution reluctance and participant confidence, confidentiality issues, lack of mentor training and overall organization of the program.

Group mentoring is a valuable method of delivery for professional associations. The many-to-many group mentoring model is beneficial in a situation where the availability of mentors is limited. Further, the importance of having a dedicated program coordinator and a skilled facilitator is emphasized.

This research contributes to the limited literature on many-to-many group mentoring by reviewing the effectiveness of an existing many-to-many group mentoring program for allied health professionals delivered by a professional association.

The aims of this paper are: to investigate the perceptions held by police (insiders) and community member (outsiders) of the recruitment and retention of culturally and linguistically diverse employees of Victoria Police; and, to develop a model that can assist in future recruitment and retention policy development.

Structured focus group interviews were conducted based on an instrument deduced from existing literature. Police and community members were interviewed separate cohorts. The discussions were thematically coded to themes and sub‐themes.

Specific differences were identified in perceptions of the importance of recruiting culturally and linguistically diverse groups, barriers to recruitment, recruitment methods, and retention methods.

Based on these perceptions, a proposed a model addresses the importance of cultural diversity in policing and barriers to recruitment and retention of culturally and linguistically diverse employees. Further research is necessary to assess the broader applicability of this model.

The proposed model may be used as the basis for future recruitment and retention activities, and human resource management policy development.

This is the first study in the Australian context of recruitment and retention of culturally and linguistically diverse police that addresses both community and police perspectives. Aligning the demographic profile of the police service with that of the community is beneficial to effective policing.

This philosophical paper explores why people have so much trouble understanding, coping with and managing change. It looks behind the problem to try to understand its origins. It provides an account of human nature that suggests people are “naturally” capable of coping with change but that we have forgotten how to do so because of our intellectual history. It suggests the pervasive influence of scientific paradigms and rationalism has turned us into conformists who are afraid to trust our own individual experiences and who rely on others to validate them and tell us how to respond. Change makes it difficult to conform because we do not know on whom to rely for validation; we do not know which paradigm is “right.” This paper suggests some current management remedies respond to this conformity problem but others may exacerbate it. It offers its philosophical analysis as a tool to interpret and evaluate such remedies from a fresh perspective.

Tax professionals in public accounting firms must meet professional standards in working with their clients, but may also face pressure from both their clients and firms when making ethical decisions. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of client factors on tax professionals’ ethical decision-making. Furthermore, we also investigate how client service climate and different ethical climate types affect these ethical decisions. Based on an experimental design with 149 practicing tax professionals, results indicate that tax professionals are not swayed by client importance or social interaction with the client when making ethical decisions. However, tax professionals are more likely to engage in ethical behavior when their own accounting firm monitors and tracks the quality of client service, whereas unethical behavior is more common when public accounting firms emphasize using personal ethical beliefs in decision-making. The results of the study suggest the importance of strong policies and procedures to promote ethical decision-making in firms.

Purpose: To describe how an approach to instruction that intentionally considers elements of motivation and engagement, intensity of instruction, and cognitive challenge can accelerate the reading achievement of lower-performing readers by giving them access to and support to meet reading and knowledge building with success.

Design: The authors discuss a set of high-leverage practices squarely under the teacher’s control. Grounded in longstanding and rigorous research, the integrated set of practices have been shown time and time again to accelerate achievement beyond typical growth while also intentionally considering the experiences, cultures, and linguistic knowledge students bring to the classroom. The re-conceptualized approach forefronts student agency and engages students in meaningful interactions with text to build knowledge of the world they live in.

Findings: The authors illustrate the comprehensive approach through a composite vignette drawn from work with teachers and students in school and clinical contexts. The focus of the vignette is on the actions of the classroom teacher who is working to meet the needs of three struggling readers within the broader context of her 5th-grade classroom, while also establishing a coherent instructional approach with fellow teachers.

Practical Implications: By re-conceptualizing their approaches to working with struggling readers, teachers increase the likelihood that students will not only develop component skills related to reading but also integrate these components and develop the conceptual expertise that anchors future reading and learning.