Search results

The purpose of this paper is to explore who small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owner–managers consider as key stakeholders for their business for helping increase productivity and the nature of the stakeholders' impact.

The study uses the Lego Serious Play methodology and narrative analysis in a focus group setting.

The analysis revealed a narrow depth of field of productivity stakeholders and identified critical narratives, involving close stakeholders which could constrain productivity. Lack of information on current and/or future productivity states, and a social brake due to the potential impact on employees are two at the forefront of owner–manager perspectives. The study also identified the importance of internal and external champions to improve productivity and re-enforced the significance of skills gaps, the role of Further Education providers and other infrastructure assets.

The purposiveness sample of the single focus group setting results in a lack of generalizability, but provides potential for replication and transposability based on the generic type of stakeholders discussed. The work highlights the potential to further enhance the constituent attributes of stakeholder salience.

There is a potential for different network agents to increase their collaboration to create a more coherent narrative for individual productivity investment opportunities and for policy makers to consider how to leverage this.

The findings suggest that the implications of deskilling and job loss are major factors to be considered in the policy discourse. SMEs are less likely to pursue productivity improvements in a low growth setting because of their local social implications.

The study is innovative in using Lego to elucidate narratives in relation to both stakeholder identification and their contributions to productivity improvement impact in a UK SME context. The study introduces an innovative stakeholder orbital map and further develops the stakeholder salience concept; both useful for the future conceptual and empirical work.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a model for organizational learning (OL) that can help organizations to transform into a learning-driven organization (LDO); a model that considers the whole ecosystem, its subsystems and considers the importance of technology, digitalization and dataism. The authors seek to answer key questions, specifically, first, what makes an organization learning-driven? and, second, how the learning ecosystem works organization-wide?

This paper draws on prior research conducted by the authors in the hospitality sector. Insights were gleaned from both theoretical perspectives and qualitative data drawn from a number of empirical studies. This paper focuses on critically reviewing the literature on OL, and selected organizational development frameworks such as the European Foundation for quality management and investors in people.

The authors propose an ecosystem model that entails three subsystems for OL. At this stage, the authors propose a conceptual framework that will be tested in the following part two. Leaders in organizations need to re-design their organizations to incorporate learning at all levels, i.e. individuals, teams and organization-wide. Learning should be an overarching approach within and beyond the boundaries of the organizations; for organizations to learn effectively, learning should be strategized and institutionalized.

This paper sheds light on the emerging trends in OL in light of the Industry 4.0 revolution with its phenomenal impact on humans and workplace; there is a dire need for research on human-machine balance, role and impact of machine learning and AI technologies. The authors call for setting up an updated agenda for learning and reconstructing learning into the corporate world; not only this but the future research should focus on reviewing and evaluating what did the authors learn about learning and how can the authors further learn, unlearn and re-learn.

The authors argue that organizations should look into learning as an enabler toward creativity and innovation, which should ultimately lead to excellence and fulfilling the needs of all stakeholders. Organizations should be consciously aware of their emerging intangible assists and proactively encourage their people toward more creativity. Learning can be institutionalized, and the organization transforms into a LDO.

The authors propose an ecosystem model that entails three subsystems for OL. At this stage, the authors propose a conceptual framework that will be tested in the following part two. Leaders in organizations need to re-design their organizations to incorporate learning at all levels, i.e. individuals, teams and organization-wide. Learning should be an overarching approach within and beyond the boundaries of the organizations; for organizations to learn effectively, learning should be strategized and institutionalized.

The LDO model will help organizations to strategize learning. Strategic learning about understanding a global strategy and how each business unit in an organization contributes its best, most innovative thinking followed by actions that execute the strategic intent of the organization.

The purpose of this paper is to argue that human resource development (HRD) needs to embrace and include futures and foresight learning (FFL) as a new addition to its field of theorising and practice. The question to consider is: How can FFL become a new feature of HRD? A key part of the authors’ argument is that the inclusion of FFL will enable HRD to add to the success of any organisation and make a vital contribution to the management of people at work.

This paper firstly considers some of the debates surrounding the meaning of HRD. The authors suggest that instability of the time serves to disturb any comforts that have been created in HRD and that there is a need to consider how there might be different futures for what we still call HRD in research, practice and praxis. This paper then considers how FFL might become one possibility for expanding the existing boundaries of HRD. The authors characterise futures and foresight as a learning process, which provides new but complementary features to what is already considered as HRD. This paper will show how FFL can lead to organisation's success and the way this can be achieved.

There is a wide variety of meanings of the term HRD; however, HRD is still cast as a “weakened profession” which has to play a subservient role to others in the workplace. Over the last 15 years, the expansion of the meaning of HRD has been seen as evidence of its evolving and emerging nature and development based on a co-creation with other disciplines. This creates a space for FFL, defined as an ongoing learning process to find predictable, probable, possible and/or a variety of long-term futures. FFL embraces three key processes of scanning, futuring and reconfiguring, all of which contain a high potential for participants and others to learn as they proceed, providing outcomes at each stage. FFL has been shown to enhance organisation performance and success and HRD interventions can play a key part in implementation. This represents a significant opportunity for the HRD profession to move from weakness towards strength.

For HRD researchers, while FFL is not yet on its radar, the authors would argue that the uncertainties of the future require that more attention be given to what might lie ahead. Indeed, HRD researchers need to ask the question: What is the future of HRD research? In addition, if the authors’ call for FFL to be included in the practice of HRD, such practice will itself provide new pathways for HRD research. Further research questions might include: To what extent is FFL practiced in organisations and what role do HRD practitioners play in delivery? How does FFL impact on organisation behaviour and outcomes? What new products and services emerge from FFL? What new skills are required to deliver FFL? Can FFL enhance the status of HRD practitioners in the work place and its role in decision-making? and How can the HRD profession develop as a hybrid profession with respect to machine learning (ML)/artificial intelligence (AI)?

FFL produces outcomes that have importance for strategy, HRD practitioner can learn to facilitate FFL by action learning and in leadership development programmes. FFL offers a significant opportunity to enhance the importance of HRD in organisations and beyond. FFL offers those involved in HRD a significant opportunity to transfer ideas into practice that have an impact on organisation sustainability. HRD can play a significant role in the design and delivery of ML and AI projects.

This paper concludes with a call for embracing FFL as a challenging but important addition to how we talk about learning at work. The authors argue that FFL offers a significant opportunity to enhance the importance of HRD in organisations and beyond. At its centre, FFL involves learning by people, groups, organisations and machines and this has to be of concern to HRD.

This paper seeks to show appreciation for the collective endeavour of work practices based on varying degrees of dependence, interdependence and mutuality between at least two people. Such dependencies have to be concerned with how talent is used and how this use is an interaction between people, a process called talenting. The aim of this paper is to provide a method to explore talenting.

The paper provides a brief overview of recent debates relating to talent management (TM). This paper argues that TM seldom pays attention to work practices where performance is frequently a collective endeavour. A mapping method is explained to identify work practices and obtain narrative data. This paper provides a case to explore talenting in West Yorkshire Police.

In total, 12 examples are found and 3 are presented showing the value of various forms of dependency to achieve outcomes.

TM needs to move beyond employment practices to work practices. There is a need to close the gap between traditional TM employment practices, usually individually focused, and work practices which are most likely to require a collective endeavour.

There needs be ongoing appreciation of talenting to add to TM activities.

This paper recognises a more inclusive approach to TM based on work performance.

This paper, to the best of the authors’s knowledge, is probably the first enquiry of its kind.

Reports on the development of a module concerning the international management of change by a multidisciplined team at Leeds Metropolitan University. The aim of the module is to enable students to combine problem‐based learning within an action research methodology using a case study to highlight the nature and processes of change within international business organizations. Explains the underlying rationale and describes the phases of learning, incorporating qualitative data from the evaluations of pilots in the UK and France.

This paper aims to provide an exposition of the constructive research approach (CRA) to show the potential utility of CRA in transcending or mitigating the methodological and practical issues involved in researching organisations.

The paper is a literature review, and resulting thematic discussion of methodological and practical issues involves in action research (AR) in organisations through the lens of the CRA approach.

The paper identifies that CRA has benefits in orientation to a practical outcome grounded in a theoretical domain but with leeway to facilitate creativity, which can also potentially improve the quality of the collaborative relationships. The centrality of the construction within the method provides a “vantage point” to manage the emic (inside) and etic (outside) positionality concerns of action researchers working within organisational settings.

CRA has multiple practical benefits for action researchers and their collaborators in terms of time, risk and collaborative commitment.

The paper develops a useful tactical framework for discussing the practical and methodological issues when considering AR in organisations and highlights how CRA can be used in wider organisational scholarship outside its roots in management accounting.

This paper aims to analyse student perspectives on the contribution that teaching anticipatory reflection can make to the development of their reflective practice. The project explores lived student experiences of anticipatory reflection and the value students attribute to these in helping them bridge the transfer gap between reflective learning and reflective practice.

An interpretivist approach is taken whereby student reflections on the students' experiences of practicing anticipatory reflection in a workshop setting were analysed using template analysis to understand the value attributed to these. Students were guided through a series of exercises including visualisation of future events and the nature of future practice as well as reflective writing.

Students identified multiple benefits of being taught and practising anticipatory reflection. Specifically, high levels of realism, personal relevance and engagement were reported, as well as increased confidence, self-efficacy and self-belief. In addition, the development of empathy and increases in self-awareness were common benefits of working through the process of anticipatory reflection.

In contrast to existing retrospective approaches, here the authors focus on the future, using anticipatory reflection to inform pedagogical approaches enabling students to experience anticipatory reflection in a classroom setting. The positive value attributed to experiencing anticipatory reflection suggests that the temporal focus in teaching reflection should evolve to incorporate prospective approaches which have a valuable role to play in bridging existing transfer gaps between reflective learning and practice.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact competency frameworks as standardisation can have on the employee engagement of academic staff within higher education (HE) through their employment as managerial tools.

A literature review is conducted from which the conditions for effective competency frameworks are evaluated and the influence of changes in the HE environment in the form of political agendas and tight resources are explored.

This paper provides insights into the dynamics of public service modernisation and the tensions between the dominant discourse of managerialism and the degree of agency afforded to professional academics. It highlights the relevance of informal peer relationships in setting the climate to generate collegial bonding and professional engagement that underpin successful teacher fellowship accreditations. It further highlights the key role managers play in this process and provides a conceptual framework highlighting the dynamics and combined effect of employee engagement and competency frameworks set within complex HE environment.

This paper brings together the prerequisites for effective implementation of competency frameworks to implement successful employee engagement strategies set within the complexities of the HE context, which has not been studied to date. Armed with such insights, Human Resource Development (HRD) departments and universities can implement competency assessments that generate greater staff engagement.

The paper provides a critical approach in reviewing the impact of Continued Professional Development and its link to professional status and thus helps British Universities and others to understand how the mechanisms at work affect engagement levels of academic staff. Armed with this depth of understanding of how the change initiative works, with whom and under what circumstances, universities will be better able to meet target UK Professional Standards Framework membership levels required by the higher education academy (HEA) and, subsequently, the HEA to meet their targets for the government.

The purpose of this paper is to first consider how veterans use talk to shape interpretations of personal and social identify. Second, this paper seeks to gain an understanding of how veterans see themselves in a civilian world, their ability to re-conceptualise and realign their perspective on life to support their transition in to a civilian world.

Underpinned by Ricoeur’s theory of narrative identity, the work provides a qualitative analysis data from coaching interviews with five veterans.

The findings revealed the on-going legacy of military life and how its distinctiveness and belief centred on kinship shapes personal identity and the way they see their civilian world. The work sheds light on to the benefits of this Ricoeur’s self-reflexive approach and how it can be used to provide a deeper insight in to the nature of personal transitions and how narrative can be used to expose complexities of the narratives of personal history and meaning as the narrator becomes both the seeker and what is sought.

The work reinforces the value of Ricoeur’s self-reflexive approach identifying narrative mediating between two “poles” of identity and the act of mimesis; prefiguration, configuration and refiguration as veterans project stories of their world and their place within it.

The paper provides new insights in to the importance of narrative identify broadening its potential application with engagement across diverse communities, thereby providing depth and rigour of its conceptual understanding of personal identify. The work further provides insights in to the challenges facing veterans to integrate within a civilian society.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the instrumental use of social capital regarding career growth within an organization, focusing on the mediating role of perceived competence mobilization and the moderating role of two situational variables: perceived external prestige and job insecurity climate.

Relationships among the constructs are predicted based on relevant literature, and are tested using survey results from 324 employees working in 14 leading corporations in Korea.

Results show that social capital positively influenced, via perceived competence mobilization, each of two career growth dimensions (i.e. the personal efforts to develop a career and the experience of being rewarded by the organization). In contrast, moderated path analysis indicated that perceptions of external prestige and job insecurity climate failed to moderate the indirect effect of social capital on career growth.

In light of the instrumental use of social capital and the ensuring mechanism of competence mobilization, a detailed understanding of this effect on career growth cannot only neutralize the fears of brain drain, but is also helpful in providing possibilities for building new career development strategies.

Although social capital has become an influential concept in social sciences, little evidence has been presented on the above relationship, particularly from the perspective of careerist orientation. This may be the first research examining how and when the influence of social capital becomes instrumental with respect to career attainment within an organization.