Search results

This study of job advertisements for internal communication practitioners aims to investigate the signals that organisations are sending the profession about what is required of these roles. The concept of corporate voice – the “voice” of the organisation – is problematised to explore tensions in vocality. The aim is to support communication practitioners to navigate multi-vocality in the evolving professional context of digital communication technologies and changes in the workplace.

This qualitative study considers the role of voice in corporate communication practices and offers insights into “digital disruption” and the discursive pressure of employers' priorities on the profession and its practices. Job advertisements for internal communication practitioners were examined during 6-month periods in 2018, 2020 and 2022, which was a significant time of change for the profession with the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Qualitative content analysis of 514 internal communication job advertisements identifies that control and consistency are valorised, and continue to dominate descriptions of internal communication skills and responsibilities. The digital affordances that communication practitioners rely on has not changed significantly and a preference for “broadcasting” is evident.

This study provides insights into how Australian organisations shape and sustain univocal corporate communication practices, and the incompatibility of narrow configurations of voice with emerging organisational challenges such as social connectedness.

Quiet quitting trends spurred by the pandemic have sent shockwaves through the world of work. It has woken business leaders up to the importance of improving employee engagement among a disparate, demotivated workforce. Previous insights from global research firms like Gallup and Gartner highlight that labor turnover is higher than ever as organizations are struggling to retain their staff. However, leaders are yet to enact meaningful strategies reflective of technological advancements to tackle the problem at its core.

At Unily, the author conducted extensive research to uncover the new pillars of an employee retention blueprint and unpick the intersection of digital communication, engagement and retention. The survey was completed by 218 Heads of Internal Communications, Heads of HR, IT Leaders and Intranet Managers at international businesses with over 10,000 employees.

The findings indicate that a high-quality digital experience is key to employee engagement with over half (53%) of those surveyed stating the two are linked. As the consumer world moves in the direction of superapps, such as TikTok, X and Instagram Threads, the digital age has heightened expectations of communication, blurring the lines between personal and work spheres. The author also found that employees now expect a smooth, multichannel, digital experience with WhatsApp (31%) text (47%), emojis (41%) and memes and GIFs (33%) as cited as common new modes of communication.

This study enriches existing research on employee retention and engagement by offering solutions on how to leverage digital communication to re-engage a dissatisfied, dispersed workforce.

Despite the significance of knowledge sharing for competitive advantage in networked businesses like franchising systems, there is a lack of comprehensive understanding regarding the strategic value of knowledge sharing in the context of franchising. In particular, the specific contribution of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in facilitating interorganizational knowledge exchange among franchising members remains inadequately understood, particularly in emerging economies. Therefore, this study aims to explore the mechanisms involved in the knowledge-sharing process facilitated by a virtual learning environment (VLE) within franchising networks and examine the role of VLEs in facilitating knowledge.

This study uses a multiple-case study approach involving 24 franchisees and the franchisor within a Brazilian franchising network operating in the furniture market to examine the role played by a VLE.

The results of the study reveal that the introduction of a VLE has played a significant role in fostering enhancements in the knowledge-sharing process among the franchisor and franchisees in the network. Moreover, the results indicate that VLEs play a significant role in overcoming geographical obstacles, thereby enabling efficient knowledge sharing between franchisees and franchisors operating in extensive territorial contexts. Finally, findings indicate that intracommercial competition acts as a prominent barrier, leading to low levels of cooperation and knowledge-sharing intent among franchisees within the network.

This study contributes to the existing knowledge by enhancing the understanding of how ICTs can facilitate knowledge sharing in organizations operating within franchising systems. Furthermore, this paper advances the comprehension of the role of networking franchising configuration and governance in supporting organizational improvements. Additional actionable insights are provided.

This paper aims to investigate the process by which performative technologies (PTs), in this case accreditation work in a business school, take form and how humans engage in making up such practices. It studies how academics come to accept and even identify with the quantitative representations of themselves in a translation process.

The research involved a longitudinal, self-ethnographic case study that followed the accreditation process of one Nordic business school from 2015 to 2021.

The findings show how the PT pushed for different engagements in various phases of the translation process. Early in the translation process, the PT promoted engagement because of self-realization and the ability for academics to proactively influence the prospective competitive milieu. However, as academic qualities became fabricated into numbers, the PT was able to request compliance, but also to induce self-reflection and self-discipline by forcing academics to compare themselves to set qualities and measures.

The paper advances the field by linking five phases of the translation process, problematization, fabrication, materialization, commensuration and stabilization, to a discussion of why academics come to accept and identify with the quantitative representations of themselves. The results highlight that the materialization phase appears to be the critical point at which calculative practices become persuasive and start influencing academics’ thoughts and actions.

Over the last several years, it has been clear that HR departments rely heavily on their own pieces of technological infrastructure. For improved time management, efficiency in working, productivity, managing remuneration, assessing personnel, recruiting candidates via online methods, etc., technology is being used across all areas of human resources. All of this require technology, and in this qualitative study, the author has attempted to compile the technologies used across all of the verticals, as well as their impact on HR functioning and the ways in which the Human Resource Information System (HRIS) is used within the organization. HRIS have modified HR administrative work and improved the business, allowing HR to rise from the tiers of management, administration, and maintenance to the level of core business and strategy.

The hotel sector in South Africa is also aware of the detrimental impact of its activities on the environment. As a result, it has taken steps to mitigate such effects, evidenced by implementing green hotel practices. ‘Green hotels’ refers to lodging establishments that try to consume less energy, water and materials while still offering high-quality services. Unfortunately, although the hotel sector contributes significantly to employment and economic growth globally, its activities harm the environment through pollution, overuse of natural resources and solid and liquid waste.

This chapter discusses the concepts of green hotels and green practices. This chapter also highlights the need for green practices and identifies a case study on green hotels and practices in a South African context. This chapter found that the green hotel sector implements green practices, such as water-saving practices due to the risk of water insecurity, the growing demand for sustainability and the necessity to boost revenues. Green hotels and practices are a step to actualise the objectives of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 12 and 13, which focus on clean water and sanitation and climate change, respectively. The study underscores the importance of green practices and how South Africa responds to the challenge. It is believed that hotels contribute significantly to environmental degradation, but they can also help to preserve the environment through their activities through green practices. Strategies like adopting green practices would be a remedy to mitigate pollution and its effects on environmental sustainability.

This study aims to analyze the alignment between sustainable performance and sustainability planning in higher education, proposing a strategic map that integrates planning with the implementation of performance actions and sustainable performance on campuses.

The literature review development addresses sustainability in higher education institutions (HEIs). Data collection took place in two ways, documentary, through the analysis of documents and through an open interview, guided by a script with 13 questions. For data interpretation, the content analysis technique was applied.

To achieve the objective of this work, this study proposed a sustainable performance strategic map for better management of the university’s green strategies, based on three dimensions: internal processes, educational and sustainable performance.

This study’s main contribution was to propose a sustainable performance strategic map as a strategic management system aimed at HEIs to accelerate the promotion of sustainability in these organizations.

This chapter proposes authentic leadership as a generic competence and an integral part of doctoral education regardless of field of study. The authors explore its potential to enhance the development of doctoral candidates and academics and search for answers to the questions: Can and should authentic leadership be developed as a generic competence in doctoral education? How can it be designed and implemented in a doctoral training module? What would its learning outcomes be? The authors address these questions in the context of doctoral education. They assert that authentic leadership training should be mandatory for all doctoral candidates, and that supervisors should be actively engaged in the development of this underappreciated transferrable skill.

The study is interested in knowing “the role of the organizational structure as a mediating variable of the relationship between the information technology and organizational communication”.

The study was conducted in several service companies, and the study adopted the questionnaire as a basic tool for the data collection on the practical side, as 267 opinions were surveyed, in addition to conducting personal interviews, and the normal distribution of data was tested, analyzing, describing and diagnosing study variables, testing correlations and determining direct effects.

Findings show that there is no direct and significant statistical impact of information technology on organizational communications. Whereas there was a positive, direct and statistically significant impact of information technology on the organizational structure. There was also a positive, direct and statistically significant effect of the organizational structure on organizational communication.

This paper is restricted to the role of the organizational structure as a mediating variable of the relationship between the influence of information technology on organizational communication.

As part of the practical implication, the paper suggests the need to increase support and attention to the importance of information technology in service organizations in order to increase coordination and organizational communication and achieve a high ability to explore and exploit ideas.

Apart from the fact that several companies were engaged, the organizational structures of these companies were engaged too to examine the impacts of Information technology (ICT) on organizational communication.

Operation and maintenance (O&M) processes projects such as identification, assessment, planning and execution, embody a variety of standards such as technical (method of statement), environmental, economic (campus development) and social (health and wellbeing). Because these standards have proven to be challenging to integrate, local governments are increasingly experimenting with social innovation (SI) as a bottom-up form of standard integration. This study aims to apply the concept of SI to the O&M processes of facilities management at polytechnics in Malaysia to identify problems with conventional working practices in this area and to recommend potential solutions.

The paper reviews evidence that conventional working methods generate significant problems related to paper-based forms, improper database management and flawed decision-making processes. Because of the lack knowledge about different ways of how standard integration is achieved, the comparison of three polytechnic institutions which are Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and Southern Polytechnic College of Engineering and Engineering Technology (SPCEET) in USA as well as Seberang Perai Polytechnic, Pulau Pinang (PSP) in Malaysia shares the ambition to realise standard integration of O&M through SI.

The findings reveal that SI leads to four ways of standard integration: computerised maintenance management system, online customer complaint, electronic form and relational database. Application of the concept of SI reveals the need for more sophisticated management solutions in the O&M processes of facilities management.

These standard integration arrangements unfortunately seem to mainly contribute to greater alignment between standard rather than true standard integration. The concept of SI will guide future improvements and developments in maintenance management systems to fulfil requirements in this area.