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Article
Publication date: 9 April 2018

Newman M.K. Lam and James MacGregor

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether deeply rooted ethnic values persist in public administration in spite of strong foreign influence in education and administrative…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether deeply rooted ethnic values persist in public administration in spite of strong foreign influence in education and administrative culture.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper presents the theories and concepts on ethnic values, in particular Chinese and Canadian administrative values in order to examine their differences. Victoria of Canada and Hong Kong of China, both former British colonies, have been selected as the study sites due to their similarity in British education and administrative culture. Comparable samples of human subjects were drawn from the public sectors of Hong Kong and Victoria, who were either students or graduates of a master of public administration program. A questionnaire containing questions on program evaluation and staff promotion was administered to participants.

Findings

The survey results show that, while organizations may have similar administrative systems and cultures, employees revert to their ethnic values for matters concerning their immediate well-being – staff promotion in this case. The findings also suggest that employees endorse good practices and reject bad ones more often than they believe their organizations do.

Research limitations/implications

The purpose of this study is to examine whether lengthy foreign influence can change deeply rooted ethnic culture. The research results are not aimed at and may not be relevant to explaining a current situation.

Practical implications

The research findings may help improve public administration, in particular regarding issues of human resources management.

Social implications

The research findings may provide a better understanding of social behavior in the work place.

Originality/value

This paper contains original data for a comparative analysis that appears to have never been done before. It provides empirical proof that deeply rooted ethnics values are very difficult to change in spite of a long history of foreign influence.

Details

Asian Education and Development Studies, vol. 7 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-3162

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 October 2018

James MacGregor and J. Barton Cunningham

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the results from two public sector organizations to test a model of the organizational antecedents and health consequences of sickness…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the results from two public sector organizations to test a model of the organizational antecedents and health consequences of sickness presenteeism (SP) in the workplace.

Design/methodology/approach

The study reports on two surveys of public employees, one including 237 respondents and another of 391 employees. The combined sample allowed for the testing of a model of organizational antecedents and the health consequences of SP.

Findings

The results supported the model, indicating that increased leader support and goal clarity decrease SP indirectly through increased trust. Decreasing presenteeism is associated with decreased sickness absence and better health.

Practical implications

The key practical application is in encouraging managers and scholars to recognize that the costs of presenteeism are as higher or higher than the costs of absenteeism.

Social implications

The social implications are clear in helping us recognize that when people come to work sick, they are not productive and are endangering the productivity of others.

Originality/value

This is the first time that research had defined and operationalized a causal model linking antecedents such as leader-member relations, goal clarity and trust with SP and absenteeism.

Details

Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, vol. 5 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2051-6614

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 1936

Sir Kingsley Wood, the Minister of Health, speaking at Plymouth on September 15th, said the problem of nutrition was one to which increased attention must be given in the light of…

Abstract

Sir Kingsley Wood, the Minister of Health, speaking at Plymouth on September 15th, said the problem of nutrition was one to which increased attention must be given in the light of modern scientific knowledge. In all our consideration of it we should not forget the necessity of pure, wholesome food. The consumption of food of all kinds in the United Kingdom had grown considerably. To‐day it was probably over 25 million tons a year. The consumption of dairy products and of eggs, fruit and vegetables, so important to good nutrition, had greatly increased. It was vital to our good health that our food supply should not only be unimpaired by the addition of harmful substances, but that there should be no abstraction from articles of food of their proper qualities. It was only fair that the public should get what they asked and paid for. There had undoubtedly been a considerable improvement in the food standards in this country. It had been achieved largely by the Health Authorities and their professional advisers, as well as producers and manufacturers themselves. Some 60 years ago some 15,000 samples only were submitted to Public Analysts, and over 19 per cent. were found to be adulterated or not up to standard. Last year over 143,000 samples were submitted—the highest on record—and the percentage adulterated or not up to standard was a little over 5 per cent. For a variety of reasons the true percentage of adulterated food was probably less than was indicated in this figure. It could be fairly said that nowadays there was very little gross adulteration or deliberate substitution of one article of food for another. But we still had to be vigilant to see to it that the public had some sort of guarantee that they were getting what they asked for, and that food did not contain ingredients which would render it injurious to health. The consumer's interest must always come first both from the point of view of fair trading and good health. There was also no doubt about the high nutritional value of milk, and we must do all we can to increase the consumption of clean and safe milk.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 38 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Article
Publication date: 1 April 2014

M.S. Rao

The purpose is to present a case study on transformational leadership.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose is to present a case study on transformational leadership.

Design/methodology/approach

It adopts the 4 I's of Bernard M. Bass, the leadership researcher – individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation and idealized influence.

Findings

It emphasizes that leaders have to act according to the situation, with more emphasis on transformational leadership, for motivating their people and institutions to achieve their goals and objectives.

Practical implications

It stresses the importance of accepting feedback and making bold decisions, to ensure the longevity of an academic institution and achieve academic excellence.

Social implications

It provides an example of a passionate academic leader who leads from the front through his visionary leadership.

Originality/value

It describes how to turn around an educational institution through academic leadership.

Details

Industrial and Commercial Training, vol. 46 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0019-7858

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 December 2001

Thomas A. Lee

Reports on the role of UK emigrants to the USA in the creation and early development of its public accountancy profession. Explains findings in the context of US public…

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Abstract

Reports on the role of UK emigrants to the USA in the creation and early development of its public accountancy profession. Explains findings in the context of US public accountancy firms founded by UK immigrants and focuses on the recruitment of qualified and unqualified public accountants from the UK. The study is based on searches of relevant archives in the UK and USA. The evidence reveals UK immigrants played a substantial part in the formation and early development of both public accountancy firms and institutions in the USA. However, the recruitment of immigrants by US firms appears to have been a temporary phenomenon pending the supply of US‐born accountants with suitable training and experience. The firms examined include local and national firms. Subject to data retrieval limitations, a major conclusion of the study is that unqualified immigrants played significant roles in the early histories of firms and institutions of US public accountancy.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 14 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 March 2008

Stephen Denning

Modern leaders need to encourage their organizations to thrive on innovation and embrace opportunities to do things differently. Based on the author's experience training

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Abstract

Purpose

Modern leaders need to encourage their organizations to thrive on innovation and embrace opportunities to do things differently. Based on the author's experience training executives, the paper aims to conclude that successful leaders inspire enthusiasm for change through communication that is fundamentally differently from the traditional, abstract approach.

Design/methodology/approach

Effective leaders communicate by first getting attention, then stimulating desire and only then reinforcing with reasons. The paper explains the surprising method that works best in practice.

Findings

The paper finds a surprisingly effective change management skill: learn to tell simple, attention getting stories that enable audiences to recognize and choose future possibilities that they have hitherto missed.

Practical implications

An ability to spark enthusiasm for change through the use of simple but powerful narratives becomes an essential competence for all leaders in the organization.

Originality/value

The paper reveals that the kinds of stories that are effective for leaders in stimulating desire for change are very different from what most people expect.

Details

Strategy & Leadership, vol. 36 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1087-8572

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 January 2019

Barbara Kellerman

Abstract

Details

Strategy & Leadership, vol. 47 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1087-8572

Article
Publication date: 27 August 2019

Barbara Kellerman

As the author defines “followership” followers cannot have authority. But, they can and increasingly they do have power and influence. Social media embolden followers to pressure…

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Abstract

Purpose

As the author defines “followership” followers cannot have authority. But, they can and increasingly they do have power and influence. Social media embolden followers to pressure leaders, to push leaders as they never have previously been pressured or pushed. The author explores the consequences of this new dynamic.

Design/methodology/approach

The author urges that a curriculum be developed by academics and trainers that includes teaching the fundamentals of followership and learning what constitutes a follower who is as ethical as effective.

Findings

History is replete with examples of what goes wrong when individual answerability is abdicated and followers have the responsibility learn how to use their power to pressure their organizations to act ethically and morally.

Originality/value

Implicit in the growing if still modest interest in followers by researchers and trainers is the implication that the leadership industry is now obliged – for moral, intellectual and practical reasons – to pay them some increased level of attention. This article makes the case that followers have more power than ever before and need to learn how to use it ethically and morally.

Details

Strategy & Leadership, vol. 47 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1087-8572

Article
Publication date: 20 June 2008

James N. MacGregor, J. Barton Cunningham and Natasha Caverley

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship of stressful life events and health related events with sickness absenteeism and presenteeism (attending work while…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship of stressful life events and health related events with sickness absenteeism and presenteeism (attending work while ill or injured).

Design/methodology/approach

A web‐based survey was conducted within a public service organization which had just undergone a significant downsizing, where the workforce was reduced by over 30 per cent.

Findings

The findings indicated that stressful life events were significantly associated with both presenteeism and absenteeism, to the same degree.

Research limitations/implications

These results extend previous research in suggesting that employees are substituting presenteeism for absenteeism. However, different health risks (chronic conditions vs needing counselling support) were more likely to predict absenteeism than presenteeism.

Originality/value

By supporting a substitution hypothesis, the present study suggests that both presenteeism and absenteeism are important measures of employee health and organizational productivity.

Details

Management Research News, vol. 31 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0140-9174

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 September 1936

We deeply regret to record the sudden death of Benjamin Henry Gerrans, F.I.C., at Clapham Park, on August 12th. For many years he had been chief assistant to the late Colonel…

Abstract

We deeply regret to record the sudden death of Benjamin Henry Gerrans, F.I.C., at Clapham Park, on August 12th. For many years he had been chief assistant to the late Colonel Charles E. Cassal, upon whose decease he became Public Analyst for Kensington, the Borough of Battersea, additional Public Analyst for the City of Westminster, Public Analyst for the Kesteven and Holland divisions of Lincolnshire, and for the Borough of Chepping Wycombe. At the time of his death he was Public Analyst for the Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea and Official Agricultural Analyst for the Kesteven and Holland Divisions of Lincolnshire. In 1895 he was appointed as a Gas Examiner to the London County Council, in 1910 to the Urban District Council of Sittingbourne, and in 1921 to the County Borough of West Ham. For thirty‐eight years he was a member of the Consulting Scientific Staff of the British Analytical Control. His death will be keenly felt by all those who were privileged to know him and to appraise his worth. He was elected an Associate of the Institute of Chemistry in 1888.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 38 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

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