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1 – 10 of 138
Article
Publication date: 9 May 2016

Kate Walsh, Susan S. Fleming and Cathy A. Enz

The purpose of this paper is to explore what organizations can do to facilitate the retention and advancement of women professionals into top leadership positions. A social…

3410

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore what organizations can do to facilitate the retention and advancement of women professionals into top leadership positions. A social exchange framework is applied to examine ways organizations can signal support for and investment in the careers of women professionals, and ultimately the long-term work relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper employed a qualitative methodology; specifically, semi-structured interviews with 20 women executives, in primarily the US hospitality industry, were conducted. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and content analyzed.

Findings

Organizations are likely to strengthen the retention of their female professionals if they signal support through purposeful, long-term career development that provides a sightline to the top, and ultimately creates more female role models in senior-level positions. Organizations can also signal support through offering autonomy over how work is completed, and designing infrastructures of support to sustain professionals during mid-career stages. Findings are used to present a work-exchange model of career development.

Research limitations/implications

This research is an exploratory study that is limited in its scope and generalizability.

Practical implications

The proposed work-exchange model can be used to comprehensively structures initiatives that would signal organizational support to – and long-term investment in – female professionals and enable them to develop their career paths within their organizations.

Originality/value

Through offering a work-exchange model of career development, this paper identifies components of organizational support from a careers perspective, and highlights the factors that could potentially contribute to long-term growth and retention of women professionals.

Details

Career Development International, vol. 21 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1362-0436

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 July 2010

Kate Walsh and Judith R. Gordon

The purpose of this paper is to apply concepts from organizational and social identity theories to theoretically consider different ways that professional service providers…

2109

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to apply concepts from organizational and social identity theories to theoretically consider different ways that professional service providers conceptualize their roles and deliver their knowledge.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is a conceptual discussion to advance the understanding of professional service delivery, within the realm of service‐quality research.

Findings

The field has yet to provide a clear understanding of what professional service delivery actually looks like. The paper offers propositions examining the process by which professionals identify with membership in their profession and firms that in turn, influence their expert‐based self‐concepts, the images they form of their clients as recipients of their knowledge, and ways they create the service exchange. The paper also considers the impact of professional and organizational identification on the types of clientele professionals may develop.

Research limitations/implications

The paper adds depth to the understanding of the complex process of expert‐based service delivery. The ideas presented in this paper have implications for research in service‐quality, specifically in understanding how and why professionals approach their client‐interactions.

Practical implications

The ideas presented in this paper would be useful to professional service firms interested in understanding the role their firm's identity plays in ways its professionals conduct their work and the types of clientele they wish to attract.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to the service quality literature through conceptualizing professional service delivery. It represents a step in acknowledging the role of professional delivery in influencing service outcomes and in developing the theoretical rationale as to why different approaches exist.

Details

International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, vol. 2 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-669X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 2005

Kate Walsh and Dalmar Fisher

Introduces the primary concepts behind the practice of action inquiry. Then, examines what current literature suggests about components of the performance appraisal process and…

7676

Abstract

Purpose

Introduces the primary concepts behind the practice of action inquiry. Then, examines what current literature suggests about components of the performance appraisal process and identifies areas where applying action inquiry concepts can add a new dimension to our current understanding.

Design/methodology/approach

Applies action inquiry, a concept from the organizational learning and change literatures, to suggest ways to infuse meaning and mutuality into appraisal discussions to help organizational leaders and members learn and develop. Ways to do so are demonstrated through a review and discussion of seven principal research streams in the current appraisal literature.

Findings

An action inquiry approach can address many of the limitations inherent in the appraisal process and refocus appraisals as developmental tools. Potentially, appraisals can act as forums to open dialogue, invite participation and build relationships around re‐visioning one's work and career. The process can become instrumental to continual quality improvement and organizational growth suggests that a rich opportunity exists to make the performance appraisal process developmentally meaningful for individuals and potentially transformative for organizations.

Originality/value

Discusses seven themes addressed in performance appraisal research and poses new possibilities that emerge when these themes are examined through an action inquiry lens.

Details

The Learning Organization, vol. 12 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-6474

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 25 September 2007

Steven Walczak

314

Abstract

Details

The Learning Organization, vol. 14 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-6474

Content available
Article
Publication date: 1 November 2006

Steven Walczak

364

Abstract

Details

The Learning Organization, vol. 13 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-6474

Article
Publication date: 4 May 2010

Douglas L. Fugate and Joanna Phillips

The purpose of this paper is to replicate and extend earlier work on product gender perceptions.

9783

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to replicate and extend earlier work on product gender perceptions.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology tested six hypotheses, using nearly 500 respondents. The hypotheses were investigated using a survey approach with validated scales. Likert‐type data were analyzed using appropriate statistical measures.

Findings

Analysis of the data demonstrated that product gendering is still prevalent. In addition, males were more likely than females to purchase gender‐congruent products; that individuals with a greater desire for product‐self‐congruence used products as a form of self‐concept; that individuals reared in non‐traditional households were less focused on gender congruence; that less traditional individuals were less focused on gender congruence; and that those who sought gender congruence were more likely to seek gender cues in the marketing mix.

Research limitations/implications

The product selection was based on a previous study and the sample was non‐random. Both of these decisions could be questioned.

Practical implications

These research results will allow one to understand whether social change during the past decade has altered product gender perceptions and to explore the degree to which consumers seek congruence between their own gender orientations and perceived product gender. This knowledge could be very important to consumer goods marketers making product design and promotional decisions.

Originality/value

The paper examines gender congruence in a maturing Generation Y, a generation second in size only to the Baby Boomers and one of significant market importance. It also provides the first substantive new data on this subject in over a decade.

Details

Journal of Consumer Marketing, vol. 27 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0736-3761

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 April 2020

Kira LeeKeenan

This paper aims to clarify opportunities for collaborative interactions between cooperating teachers (CTs) and preservice teachers (PTs) in practice-based teacher preparation…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to clarify opportunities for collaborative interactions between cooperating teachers (CTs) and preservice teachers (PTs) in practice-based teacher preparation programs (TPPs). The study aimed to explore the discursive moves that facilitate collaboration between one CT and PT.

Design/methodology/approach

Grounded in the critical sociocultural theory, this study applied a qualitative microanalytic approach to the study of coaching interactions for the purpose of understanding why and how collaborative discourse developed between a CT and a PT.

Findings

This study of discourse moves within collaborative coaching interactions revealed collaborative interactions developed from strategic repositioning of social roles, which created space for authentic problem-posing by both the CT and the PT, and the co-construction of teaching events, which supported more specific planning toward future lessons; and routine and appreciative use of observational data created space for co-construction and co-inquiry.

Practical implications

This study illuminated the complex social and discursive dance embedded within collaborative interactions. The findings also suggested that the project of co-constructing curriculum with someone is a powerful and necessary experience for a PT because it is through this co-construction that PTs learn how to design meaningful curriculum and critically reflect on practice.

Originality/value

This study offers new understandings around how collaborative talk in educational discourse transpires and why providing opportunities for PTs to take a more active role in their own learning is important.

Details

International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, vol. 9 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6854

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 June 2018

Margaret Healy, Peter Cleary and Eimear Walsh

Innovation, the outcome of innovativeness, is a collaborative activity, requiring an integrated approach to the development and management of organisational capabilities (Tushman…

Abstract

Purpose

Innovation, the outcome of innovativeness, is a collaborative activity, requiring an integrated approach to the development and management of organisational capabilities (Tushman and Nadler, 1986), and therefore inextricably implicated in the accounting practices of organisations. Extant research however is not conclusive as to the influence of accounting practices on organisational innovativeness with some considering them enabling while others view them as restricting. This study aims to investigate the process of innovation as suggestive of a greater understanding of innovativeness as a dynamic organisational capability and therefore requiring greater consideration of the enabling conditions underpinning this.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a case study approach, and from the perspectives of three separate functionally specific organisational actors, this paper investigates the role of accounting practices in managing innovativeness within one high-technology organisation. Structuration theory is used as a lens through which the data collected are analysed.

Findings

Creative tensions (Simons, 2000) at the operational level between innovativeness and performance measurement are managed through the development of creative boundaries (“guide rails”), within which innovative solutions must be developed.

Practical implications

The findings support the assertion that the use of performance metrics (i.e. accounting practices) can support organisational innovativeness thereby potentially contributing to enhanced organisational performance.

Originality/value

Accounting metrics are simultaneously enabling and constraining, whereby the tension created from this dual functionality generates ways of empowering organisational capabilities for innovativeness throughout the organisation.

Details

Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, vol. 15 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1176-6093

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 7 June 2023

Nicole Schlaack

Professional development schools (PDSs) advocate links between schools and teacher education programs, but how do mentor teachers in schools experience their role in this…

Abstract

Purpose

Professional development schools (PDSs) advocate links between schools and teacher education programs, but how do mentor teachers in schools experience their role in this? Therefore, this research focuses on mentor teachers to investigate the change brought about by the implementation of a complex-wide PDS.

Design/methodology/approach

This qualitative single case study in a newly formed complex-wide PDS is based on surveys and individual interviews with mentor teachers from one school complex area. Activity systems analysis provided the framework to analyze mentor teachers interactions, their role and activities.

Findings

Mentor teachers expressed a sense of purpose in educating the next generation of teachers, experienced continuous learning in the collaboration with the teacher candidates and recognized opportunities for professional development offered by teacher education programs.

Practical implications

Schools and teacher education institutes rely on mentor teachers in their support to educate the next generation of teachers. Knowing what activities and values mentor teachers place on their mentoring can guide school administrations and teacher education institutes in their support and recruitment for mentor teachers.

Originality/value

This research contributes to the development of teacher education in the State of Hawaii and has identified helpful structures for meaningful teacher education.

Details

School-University Partnerships, vol. 16 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1935-7125

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 30 March 2021

Kate McLoughlin and Joanne Meehan

The purpose of this paper is to examine how, and by whom, institutional logics are determined in the action of sustainable organisation. The authors analyse a supply chain network…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine how, and by whom, institutional logics are determined in the action of sustainable organisation. The authors analyse a supply chain network structure to understand how multiple stakeholders' perceptions of sustainability emerge into a dominant logic and diffuse across an organisational field.

Design/methodology/approach

Stakeholder network theory provides novel insights into emerging logics within a chocolate supply chain network. Semi-structured interviews with 35 decision-makers were analysed alongside 269 company documents to capture variations in emergent logics. The network was mapped to include 63 nodes and 366 edges to analyse power structure and mechanisms.

Findings

The socio-economic organising principles of sustainable organisation, their sources of power and their logics are identified. Economic and social logics are revealed, yet the dominance of economic logics creates risks to their coexistence. Logics are largely shaped in pre-competitive activities, and resource fitness to collaborative clusters limits access for non-commercial actors.

Research limitations/implications

Powerful firms use network structures and collaborative and concurrent inter-organisational relationships to define and diffuse their conceptualisation of sustainability and restrict competing logics.

Originality/value

This novel study contributes to sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) through presenting the socio-economic logic as a new conceptual framework to understand the action of sustainable organisation. The identification of sophisticated mechanisms of power and hegemonic control in the network opens new research agendas.

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 41 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

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