Search results
1 – 10 of 70How can students become transformational leaders if they are left alone to grapple with the emotional toll of climate change, preparing for careers while scientists sound the…
Abstract
How can students become transformational leaders if they are left alone to grapple with the emotional toll of climate change, preparing for careers while scientists sound the alarm that business as usual is untenable? Ecoanxiety, solastalgia, and climate grief are the affective undercurrents in sustainability and environmental science classrooms. This case study discusses strategies used to support students' emotional well-being in an introductory sustainability class and a co-curricular climate change support group program at Oregon State University. Psychologists and sustainability educators created space for students and faculty to engage in authentic dialogues confronting the emotional uncertainty of the climate crisis and working together to define their roles building a resilient future.
Details
Keywords
Jenny Lynne Semenza, Tania Harden and Regina Koury
The purpose of this paper is to describe survey findings on onboarding initiatives at the Carnegie Doctoral Research Institutions of Higher Education libraries. The findings would…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe survey findings on onboarding initiatives at the Carnegie Doctoral Research Institutions of Higher Education libraries. The findings would be helpful to libraries that are at the beginning of their own onboarding initiatives or that wish to compare ongoing efforts.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a survey of Carnegie Doctoral Research Institutions of Higher Education libraries using Qualtrics, an online survey software. Link to the survey with a short explanation was e-mailed to the 319 identified contacts and 111 responses were received at the end of the survey.
Findings
Survey responses revealed that the most prevalent types of onboarding initiatives are an orientation to campus policies and procedures and meeting with human resources. Half of the respondents introduce new employees to the social/cultural norms of the library informally, with responsibility for onboarding falling on the supervisor. Surprisingly, diversity and inclusion have not been identified as formal components of the onboarding by those who engage in it.
Originality/value
Specific research into the onboarding initiatives of Carnegie Doctoral Research Institutions of Higher Education libraries does not exist.
Details
Keywords
Sari Rajamäki and Leena Mikkola
This qualitative study aims to understand young professional newcomers' experiences of communication processes in membership negotiation in their first workplace after graduation.
Abstract
Purpose
This qualitative study aims to understand young professional newcomers' experiences of communication processes in membership negotiation in their first workplace after graduation.
Design/methodology/approach
Instead of a one-time interview, the participants were contacted five to ten times during the three to ten months, beginning when they entered the workplace. The data were analyzed using a constant comparative method.
Findings
Three communication processes during membership negotiation were identified: developing reciprocity, seeking and perceiving acceptance and becoming an active member. To experience membership, newcomers need to achieve acceptance and engage in reciprocal communication in early interaction situations with managers and coworkers.
Research limitations/implications
Only the experiences of newly graduated newcomers were studied. This study illustrates the communication processes and social interaction evolving in membership negotiation during newcomers' entry.
Practical implications
Organizations need to re-evaluate their short orientation programs to support membership negotiations in workplace communication.
Social implications
By recognizing the communication processes during membership negotiation, the practices of newcomers' entry can be developed to support the membership development.
Originality/value
This study contributes to membership negotiation by showing how newcomers join the flow of membership negotiation through the processes of developing reciprocity, seeking and perceiving acceptance and becoming an active member.
Details
Keywords
The focus of this chapter is upon workplace coaching, one of the deepest forms of communication where true understanding is formed between two people in rich dialogue.Two domains…
Abstract
The focus of this chapter is upon workplace coaching, one of the deepest forms of communication where true understanding is formed between two people in rich dialogue.
Two domains of personal learning are presented: the inner theatre, which includes multi-source feedback, and the outer theatre, which includes action-learning projects (Callan & Latemore, 2008).
Two transformative learning strategies are considered in detail: the therapeutic metaphor (Atkinson, 1995) and the intensive journal (Progoff, 1992). Four case studies are then examined where clients engage in transformative change.
The chapter concludes with cautions for the professional coach and insists that coaching needs to be deeply respectful. Authentic coaches facilitate change with their clients, not to do things to them.
Barbara Myers, Kaye Thorn and Noeleen Doherty
Research into self-initiated expatriation (SIE) has increased exponentially, although the focus of these investigations has been on professional workers, and little has been…
Abstract
Purpose
Research into self-initiated expatriation (SIE) has increased exponentially, although the focus of these investigations has been on professional workers, and little has been gender specific. The purpose of this research therefore is to explore the career and personal motivations for SIE through the novel lens of older women. In this exploratory study, SIE and socio-emotional selectivity motivation theories (SSTs) are used, in addition to the Kaleidoscope Career Model (KCM), to understand the reasons these women have taken this path.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper employs a qualitative methodology, drawing on in-depth life story interviews with 21 women aged 50 or more who had taken a SIE. A five-step narrative process using a story-telling approach was the method of analysis.
Findings
The findings show important contradictions to the extant literature. Career dissatisfaction and escape are key motivations for these women. Further, contrary to SST, these women were seeking novelty–new places and new experiences. These women were also seeking authenticity as suggested by KCM, but also challenge was to the fore–not in the career domain, but in the personal domain. Their motivations for SIE extend beyond the current evidence base and understanding of the phenomena.
Originality/value
The contributions include new insights into the motivational drivers for SIE for these older women and the importance of timing as facilitators of SIE. The SIE nomenclature is broadened through the inclusion of older women and beyond professional spheres. An initial framework of a more integrated model is developed from this exploratory study and presented as a basis for beginning to understand the phenomenon of older women undertaking SIE.
Details
Keywords
Reza Yaghoubi, Mona Yaghoubi, Stuart Locke and Jenny Gibb
This paper aims to review the relevant literature on mergers and acquisitions in an attempt to provide a comprehensive account of what we know about mergers and which parts of the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to review the relevant literature on mergers and acquisitions in an attempt to provide a comprehensive account of what we know about mergers and which parts of the puzzle are still incomplete.
Design/methodology/approach
This literature review consists of three key sections. The first part of this paper summarises the literature on the cyclical nature of mergers referred to in the literature as merger waves. The second section reviews the causes and consequences of takeovers; it first reviews the causes, or drivers, of acquisitions, while focusing on the fact that acquisitions happen in waves and then reviews the consequences of takeovers, with a predominant focus on the impacts of mergers on the economic performance of acquirers. The third part of the review summarises the theories, as well as previous empirical studies, on determinants of announcement returns and post-acquisition performance of combined firms.
Findings
Merger activity demonstrates a wavy pattern, i.e. mergers are clustered in industries through time. The causes suggested for this fluctuating pattern include industry- and economy-level shocks, mis-valuation and managerial herding. Market reaction to announcement of acquisitions is, on average, slightly negative for acquirer stocks and significantly positive for target stocks. The combined abnormal return is positive. These findings have been consistent over several decades of investigation. Prior research also identifies a number of factors that are related to performance of acquisitions. These factors are categorised and reviewed in five different groups: acquirer characteristics, target characteristics, bid characteristics, industry characteristics and macro-environment characteristics.
Originality/value
This review illustrates a number of issues. Prior research is heavily biased towards gains to acquirers and factors that affect these gains. It is also biased towards finding sources of value creation through mergers despite the fact that several theories suggest that mergers can be value-destroying. In fact, value destruction is often attributed to managers’ self-interest (agency problem) and mistakes (hubris). However, the mechanisms through which mergers destroy value are rarely addressed. Aside from that, the possibility of simultaneous creation and destruction of value in acquisitions is not often considered. Finally, after several decades of investigation, a key question is not completely answered yet: “What are the sources of value in mergers and acquisitions?”
Details
Keywords
Imprisonment has the potential to significantly impact mothering (Lockwood, 2017). For some women, imprisonment may present the opportunity to repair and rebuild fractured…
Abstract
Imprisonment has the potential to significantly impact mothering (Lockwood, 2017). For some women, imprisonment may present the opportunity to repair and rebuild fractured relationships with their children; however, for many, being separated from their children is constructed as the most difficult aspect of imprisonment (Crewe, Hulley, & Wright, 2017), with the potential to severely alter, disrupt or even terminate mothering (Lockwood, 2017; 2018). Available research highlights the importance of mothering in relation to women's adjustment to and experiences of imprisonment and upon their rehabilitation, resettlement and potential reunification (Baldwin, 2017; Lockwood, 2017, Lockwood, 2018). However, consistent with prison policy and practice, available research tends to rely on narrow definitions that often construct motherhood in relation to younger children, under the age of 18 (Caddle & Crisp, 1997). Consequently, the stories, experiences and needs of mothers in prison with older adult children often remain unheard.
Focussing on the individual stories of mothers in prison and those who have recently been released from prison, within this chapter, I consider the way in which women story motherhood in relation to older adult children. Presenting three interrelated narratives, ‘Mothering from a distance: stories of missing out on children's transitions to adulthood’; ‘“Motherwork”: stories of participating in mothering adult children’ and ‘“Role reversal”: stories of receiving support from adult children’, I consider the specific challenges and opportunities for mothers in prison with older adult children.
Details
Keywords
During the 1990s many states used budget surpluses to refinance public education and provide property tax relief. This paper uses a case study of Kansas to assess the…
Abstract
During the 1990s many states used budget surpluses to refinance public education and provide property tax relief. This paper uses a case study of Kansas to assess the sustainability of state-initiated property tax cuts. It finds that the cuts are not fully sustainable over time because of court and federal mandates that require additional spending on education, economic fluctuations that reduce the ability of state budgets to maintain a given share of education spending, and demands for local control to allow school districts to spend more or less than state-mandated levels. The paper also argues that the property tax is essential to economic efficiency and local control.
COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the nature of support available to new parents. Previously we conducted a study to explore parents' experiences of shifting to…
Abstract
COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the nature of support available to new parents. Previously we conducted a study to explore parents' experiences of shifting to ‘digitalised’ caregiving specifically focussing on parents' access to online parenting groups. That study is re-examined in this chapter, presenting parents' narratives about their attempts to provide the best environment for their children while most of their face-to-face support networks were unavailable. The analysis aims to determine parents' constructions of the ‘COVID baby’, a term introduced by Brown (2021), although never defined in detail. Three themes were identified: ‘Hopes and fears for the babies’ future’; ‘Peaceful and oblivious babies’; ‘Babies as a perceived mirror of parents’ abilities’. Parents in this study depicted a positive portrait in which babies thrived at home; however, they expressed worries about their children’s future, as they lacked opportunities for development and socialisation usually offered by paid or unpaid group activities. To compensate, some parents engaged in extra labour at home in the face of home-made activities, inspired by previously attended group sessions. We argue that new parents, specifically mothers, are often pressured to display ‘intensive mothering’ to provide the best opportunities for development for their babies and fulfil gender and class expectations: such pressure leads to increased consumerism. Limitations of this approach have been emphasised by the simpler life that the lockdown forced on them, with apparent benefits to the babies' well-being. On the other hand, the need for new parents to be connected to nurturing networks of support remains essential.
Details
Keywords
Sarah Beresford, Jenny Earle, Nancy Loucks and Anne Pinkman
From June 2017 to May 2018, the Prison Reform Trust partnered with Families Outside to identify the particular impacts on children of a mother's involvement in the criminal…
Abstract
From June 2017 to May 2018, the Prison Reform Trust partnered with Families Outside to identify the particular impacts on children of a mother's involvement in the criminal justice system. This included a literature review and extensive consultations with 25 children and 31 mothers with lived experience. This chapter presents the main findings of the research, which identified five key themes: ‘Children with a mother in prison are invisible within the systems that are there to protect them’; ‘Every aspect of a child's life may be disrupted when a mother goes to prison’; ‘Children feel stigmatised when a mother is involved in the criminal justice system’; ‘Children affected by imprisonment face many barriers to support’ and ‘With the right support, children can become more resilient and develop the skills they need to thrive’. The material presented in this chapter constitutes a compelling case for reform. The chapter concludes with recommendations for action at local and national levels to protect children from the harm caused by maternal imprisonment.
Details