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1 – 10 of 150Linda Logan, William B. Harley, Joan Pastor, Linda S. Wing, Naftaly Glasman, Lee Hanson, David Collins, Barbara A. Cleary, Jacqueline Miller and Paul Hegedahl
Each member of the Journal’s Editorial Advisory Board reviews the state of empowerment in today’s organizations.
Abstract
Each member of the Journal’s Editorial Advisory Board reviews the state of empowerment in today’s organizations.
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Addresses the value of laughter, play and a sense of humour as tools for improving communication, innovation and empowerment. Organizations around the world are hiring the author…
Abstract
Addresses the value of laughter, play and a sense of humour as tools for improving communication, innovation and empowerment. Organizations around the world are hiring the author, and other facilitators, to deliver playful and humorous programmes designed to help team members develop a creative collaborative and customer‐centred culture. Lowering stress, improving interpersonal skills, increasing creativity and accelerating learning all can be accomplished by including fun in the workplace. These behaviours and skills support the empowered organization.
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Abstract
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Addresses the value of laughter, play and a sense of humor as tools for improving communication, innovation and empowerment. Organizations around the world are hiring the author…
Abstract
Addresses the value of laughter, play and a sense of humor as tools for improving communication, innovation and empowerment. Organizations around the world are hiring the author, and other facilitators, to deliver playful and humorous programs designed to help team members develop a creative, collaborative and customer‐centered culture. Lowering stress, improving interpersonal skills, increasing creativity and accelerating learning all can be accomplished by including fun in the workplace. These behaviors and skills support the empowered organization.
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Jacqueline Dahan and Yvon Dufour
The main aim of this paper is to investigate the way middle managers picture their career success and the business strategy of their firm with the following key question in mind…
Abstract
Purpose
The main aim of this paper is to investigate the way middle managers picture their career success and the business strategy of their firm with the following key question in mind: “Is there a relationship between the two?”.
Design/methodology/approach
This research is based on a “polar sample” of two companies of the Canadian aerospace industry that use generic business strategies which differ considerably along the continuum of strategic approaches from one another. A list of 50 people was made in collaboration with the executives of the companies investigated. A total of 74 percent (37) of the middle managers invited to be interviewed accepted the invitation. The interviews lasted on average 90 minutes. They were analyzed using NVivo software.
Findings
The analysis yielded a set of four empirical configurations of career success. The idea of central orchestrating theme has been at the core of configuration theory since its inception but few researchers have set the task to investigate them let alone in studying career success. Four core unifying themes were found: “just watch me”, “one for all and all for one”, “eureka”, and “thanks but no thanks”. Each of the company strategies provides a receptive context for no more than two coexisting configurations of career success, one leading to a rapid ascent and the other to a slower one.
Originality/value
Few studies have looked into how middle managers portray career success for themselves. Furthermore, the literature is wanting in another crucial respect: the researchers do not take into consideration the particular strategic context of the firm. This paper argues that the paths toward career success must be understood in the context of the business strategy of the firms that give them form, meaning, and substance.
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Chris Williams, Jacqueline Jing You and Nathalie Spielmann
The study explores the relationship between the breadth of external pressures facing leaders of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the entrepreneurial stance they adopt…
Abstract
Purpose
The study explores the relationship between the breadth of external pressures facing leaders of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the entrepreneurial stance they adopt for their firm, that is, entrepreneurial orientation (EO).
Design/methodology/approach
Blending attention theory with EO literature, we argue that increasing breadth of external pressures will challenge leaders' attentions with implications for how they seek innovation, risk-taking and bold acts. We highlight an inflection point after which a negative relationship between the breadth of external pressure and EO will turn positive. We use data from a survey of 125 small-sized wineries in France to test this and capture a range of 15 external pressures on entrepreneurs.
Findings
The main tests and additional robustness tests provide support. It is the breadth of external pressures – as opposed to intensity of any one specific form of pressure – that plays a fundamental role in shaping leaders' adoption of EO in small enterprises over and above internal characteristics.
Research limitations/implications
While the results may be context-dependent, they provide support for an attention-based view of entrepreneurial responses by leaders of SMEs under pressure.
Practical implications
SME leaders and entrepreneurs should be aware of how their attention is challenged by breadth of pressures from external sources, as this can influence the EO they adopt for their SME.
Originality/value
This nonlinear perspective on external pressures influencing the EO of small firms has not been taken in the EO literature to date, despite some recent work that considers only a small range of external pressures.
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Jacqueline Graves, Amunpreet Boyal, Tracey Shields, Roger Newham, Alistair Hewison and Louise Terry
This paper aims to report findings of a service evaluation using a human rights-based approach in the training and education of staff in palliative settings.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to report findings of a service evaluation using a human rights-based approach in the training and education of staff in palliative settings.
Design/methodology/approach
A non-randomly sampled, uncontrolled, pre- and post-test design. Data was collected at three points over a six-month period during the period April 2017 to September 2019. As a service evaluation no ethical approval was required. Consent was implied by self-completion and submission of questionnaires. In total, 1,402 people attended the training, 480 completed pre- and post-training questionnaires (146 completed the questionnaire at six months), with 86 completing a questionnaire at all three data collection points.
Findings
Findings show increased levels of self-reported knowledge and confidence at two weeks and six months post-training. Implementing human rights in the workplace is complex. Difficulties maintaining knowledge and keeping up to date with changes in legislation and traditional ways of working were cited as barriers to service users’ human rights.
Research limitations/implications
More evaluation is required to ensure the positive elements in this evaluation can be applied more widely.
Practical implications
Human rights education has a contribution to make in supporting staff to manage the challenges involved. It may also increase the complexity of decision-making. Training needs to incorporate systems wide approaches and its benefits measured.
Social implications
The aim was to provide staff with the knowledge to make objective and proportionate decisions about personalised care. The assumption was this would help improve the experience of end of life care.
Originality/value
This is the first evaluation in the UK that we are aware of that has examined the impact of human rights education on end of life care.
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Jacqueline Stephenson and Natalie Persadie
The purpose of this paper is to examine employment discrimination in the English-speaking Caribbean by analysing evidence from jurisdictions where anti-discrimination legislation…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine employment discrimination in the English-speaking Caribbean by analysing evidence from jurisdictions where anti-discrimination legislation has been enacted (namely Guyana, St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago (T&T)).
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reviews existing anti-discrimination legislation in the three named countries, along with available court and tribunal decisions, with a view of determining whether the protections reasonably cover all minority groups.
Findings
It has been shown that, despite the existence of anti-discrimination law in T&T, St Lucia and Guyana, discrimination is still reported. T&T is the only jurisdiction with a functioning Equality Opportunity Commission and Tribunal, and where a wide range of cases has been adjudicated, relative to St Lucia and Guyana.
Research limitations/implications
Legislators and policy makers may wish to consider the findings of this research in making legislative amendments or enacting new laws, with a view to broadening the range of protections. Organisational practitioners may use the findings to assist them with interpreting the law (and their responsibilities to protected groups) and its intended impact on HR practice and, where necessary, make changes where current practices are incongruent with the legislation.
Practical implications
Legislators and policy makers may consider the findings of this research in making legislative amendments, with a view to broadening the range of protections. Organisational practitioners may use the findings to assist them with interpreting and implementing the law.
Originality/value
This paper reviews current Caribbean anti-discrimination legislation and cases, which to date has not been done. It highlights the omission of sexual orientation from legislation enacted across the region. There is currently a paucity of research on employment discrimination within Caribbean territories and specifically as it relates to the effect of applicable legislation. Consequently, this paper establishes a benchmark for future researchers and it informs organisational and societal stakeholders as to what may constitute prohibited practices.
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Alys Longley and Barbara Kensington-Miller
Many graduate attributes (such as adaptability, resilience, cultural awareness and professionalism) are often considered aspirational or invisible and conventionally go “under the…
Abstract
Purpose
Many graduate attributes (such as adaptability, resilience, cultural awareness and professionalism) are often considered aspirational or invisible and conventionally go “under the radar” of standard university dance education. The purpose of this paper is to add to existing theories of dance as an academic discipline and contributes to studies identifying and mapping graduate attributes across the academy.
Design/methodology/approach
The research project Making the Invisible Visible contextualises this paper. It has involved a two-year, cyclical data-gathering process, involving interviews with leading dance employers and academics, and surveys of students from diverse disciplines entering and completing full-time dance degrees.
Findings
Due to the centrality of embodiment in studio learning, dance is an unusual discipline within research on graduate attributes and holds a unique place in academia. The creative, embodied, collaborative activities typical to dance learning offer fresh insight to the literature on graduate attributes – both visible and invisible – all graduates from a given institution are expected to hold.
Originality/value
A narrative methodology is employed to present a series of amalgam characters manifesting specific ways in which invisible graduate attributes inform pedagogies, student–teacher relationships and student understandings of their professional skills.
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