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1 – 10 of 402Wellbeing at work inspires global interest (WHO, 1997, 2010) which shapes international wellbeing whilst ensuring national wellbeing initiatives are devolved. This study is set in…
Abstract
Purpose
Wellbeing at work inspires global interest (WHO, 1997, 2010) which shapes international wellbeing whilst ensuring national wellbeing initiatives are devolved. This study is set in Wales, UK; the findings, however, are of interest to the global community as they present ways in which health promotion practices that are essentially salutogenic in nature (Antonovsky, 1987; Mittlemark and Bauer, 2017), may be operationalised through leadership development. The study is contextualised during a time of perceived public service overwhelm, and the purpose of this paper is to explore how a salutogenic model (Gray, 2017) captures a leadership narrative shaped by workplace stress, informing what the authors know about the resilience and wellbeing of leaders.
Design/methodology/approach
The salutogenic model used in this exploratory study is based on the theories of Antonovsky (1979, 1987), and the conceptual work of De la Vega (2009). Participants were invited to take part in qualitative conversations, designed to explore leadership from a sense of coherence (SoC) perspective, and identify resilience and wellbeing descriptors across sectors. The data represented the lived experience of leader’s resilience and wellbeing within their work role. A purposeful sample of leaders (N=356) were invited to take part in the project, others were suggested as part of a snowball sampling approach (N=36). The overall participant numbers were N=68.
Findings
Using the SoC framework to explore resilience and wellbeing in terms of leadership, enabled participants to make sense of a stressful workplace environment, and share experiential knowledge that contributes to leadership development. The narrative that emerges is one in which leaders are feeling overwhelmed, and the broader influences of BREXIT, workforce and service user demographics, and organisational change are challenges to sustaining resilience. Participants suggest that leaders need to develop self-knowledge/awareness first, and role model the “resilient and well leader” to others.
Research limitations/implications
The limitations of this study relate to the fact that given the potential for participation was nearer 400 leaders, the N=68 participants could not be deemed large enough to generalise the findings. However, this was a scoping study exercise, designed to explore resilience and wellbeing through SoC conversations and to surface descriptors that would add to what the authors know about contemporary leadership. The study could be improved in the future by the collection of more descriptors, and where practical segmentation of descriptors may provide further insight in terms of comparison between professions/sectors.
Practical implications
The authors know that leadership is linked to positive and negative outcomes for employees; it is, therefore, prudent to consider how the authors can support both current and future leaders, to incorporate their own and others’ resilience and wellbeing into their leadership repertoire. This may well be best facilitated through health leadership which is known to have a positive association in determining the psychological climate of the workplace. Leadership authenticity means leaders should be able to ask for help, if leaders are struggling with that, then the authors need to examine leadership from a cultural perspective. In practical terms, the generalised resistance resources (GRRs) put forward by the participants may also form local as well as national wellbeing action plans for the future.
Social implications
Leadership is socially constructed within the organisational context, and the resilience and wellbeing of leaders is affected by the organisational health determinants in the working environment. If the authors are to consider how leaders are to develop an SoC for themselves and others, the authors need to attend to how the leader learns in the context. This is because their SoC is also shaped by the challenges they experience, and socio-constructed learning becomes neurologically embedded, so that ways of thinking, feeling and behaving are reinforced and exhibited over and over again.
Originality/value
This exploratory study demonstrates the efficacy of the salutogenic model to stimulate dialogue about a potentially sensitive subject. Many of the answers rest with the leaders themselves. The authors held conversations with leaders from the public services in Wales, identified “best self” and “peripheral” variables that leaders manifest across the various organisations they lead, and leaders produced a range of GRRs to support resilience and wellbeing across sectors in the future. There is a growing recognition that in terms of health leadership capability, there will be a premium on knowledge capital that pertains to improving the resilience and wellbeing of employees.
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Michael P. Earley, Jessica Panza and Katherine Thrapp
To explain the SEC’s historical focus on the calculation of investment performance and to highlight important issues for fund sponsors in the future.
Abstract
Purpose
To explain the SEC’s historical focus on the calculation of investment performance and to highlight important issues for fund sponsors in the future.
Design/methodology/approach
This article discusses the SEC’s recent subpoena of at least one fund sponsor for information related to the firm’s practices in calculating internal rates of return and then explains the history of SEC enforcement in this area.
Findings
The SEC continues to be focused on how fund sponsors calculate investment performance metrics, such as IRRs, and the related disclosure.
Originality/value
This article contains valuable information for fund sponsors, such as best practices for valuation methods and related investment performance disclosures, including the calculation of IRRs from experienced investment fund lawyers.
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Peter R.M. Jones, Peng Li, Katherine Brooke‐Wavell and Gordon M. West
Presents a standard data format for describing and interpolating 3‐D human body shapes from data collected by a 3‐D body scanner. The body data were treated as a series of…
Abstract
Presents a standard data format for describing and interpolating 3‐D human body shapes from data collected by a 3‐D body scanner. The body data were treated as a series of horizontal cross‐sections. Each cross‐section was described by 16 data points. The 3‐D surface can be calculated by interpolating between these sections. This procedure allowed editing and manipulation of raw scanned data, as well as substantial data reduction. Horizontal cross‐sections of the body were chosen to correspond to particular anatomical surface landmarks, rather than distances from a reference point. Hence, each data element described a particular anatomical location, irrespective of body shape and size. This feature allowed comparison and averaging of 3‐D shapes, greatly enhancing the application of 3‐D scanned data. The standard data format allows 3‐D scanned data to be transferred into CAD/CAM systems for automated garment design and manikin manufacture.
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Dee Gray and Katherine Fiona Jones
The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential of a collaborative organisational development and learning (OD/L) programme for small and medium-sized enterprise’s (SME’s…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential of a collaborative organisational development and learning (OD/L) programme for small and medium-sized enterprise’s (SME’s) and micro businesses (MB) to contribute towards business resilience and sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
This is an ethnographic case study that utilised an iterative interpretative approach to data collection and analysis, which was conducted around key OD/L interventions.
Findings
The findings demonstrate that the provision of an OD/L programme that focused on collaboration and learning, had both an immediate positive effect on business owners and long term effect in relation to business confidence, clarity, and action.
Research limitations/implications
The limitations of this study relate to the fact that the sample population is small so that the findings are not generalisable, and some of the challenges faced by SME business owners may be confined to socially deprived rural locations. Future research could focus on replicating the designed OD/L programme, or aspects of it, and a longitudinal study could be conducted over time.
Practical implications
The practical implications of this study are that it gives direction for those designing support for SME/MB’s to include tried and proven OD/L interventions.
Social implications
The social implications include that by demonstrating targeted support to SME business owners in socially deprived areas, the potential for growth in terms of survival and flourishing are increased and economic regeneration is positively influenced.
Originality/value
There are few studies in this area, the OD/L programme highlights that collaboration, and sustainable actions to develop resilience, have a part to play in supporting the SME/MB population, and a contribution to make towards a more buoyant economy.
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The purpose of this paper is to briefly cover the origins of neuromarketing, explain the process in layman's terms, enumerate some of the findings in anecdotal form, and suggest…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to briefly cover the origins of neuromarketing, explain the process in layman's terms, enumerate some of the findings in anecdotal form, and suggest future consumer behavior research directions based on these findings.
Design/methodology/approach
The discussion of neuromarketing in this paper is based on reports of both a theoretical and applied nature. Their contents have been synthesized and placed into context by showing how they relate to traditional marketing research approaches and assumptions.
Findings
While there are no concrete findings, preliminary assessments suggest that traditional, inferential assumptions about consumer behavior might be less powerful and explanatory than once believed. Combining neural activity images with conventional tools may produce more effective marketing practices.
Research limitations/implications
Because this is an emerging field and still controversial, some of the key information is proprietary and/or fairly presumptive at this time. Cautions and criticisms have been included to counterbalance that point.
Practical implications
Understanding what is happening in this emerging field of inquiry is essential for anyone who believes that marketers can change the probability of a favorable response from consumers. The use of neuromarketing, if proven through use, has the capability of fundamentally changing how we design, promote, price, and package our products.
Originality/value
The marriage of cognitive neuroscience and marketing practice is a new field of inquiry. This paper provides a useful, non‐technical introduction.
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At issue in the debate over home employment is whether paid work performed in the home exploits workers or enables them to decide when and where to do their work. Converting the…
Abstract
At issue in the debate over home employment is whether paid work performed in the home exploits workers or enables them to decide when and where to do their work. Converting the terms of the debate into a set of variables, I compare blue‐collar workers in manufacturing industries by work location. Although observed differences are open to varying interpretations, I conclude that as a group the home workers in this sample may be choosing to work at home. However, my analyses also demonstrate the diversity of home working arrangements, and that worker's ‘choices’ are socially shaped such that home employment has different meanings and consequences for different groups of workers. I further argue that the exploitative potential in home work cannot be dismissed because the findings are controversial, and the sample most likely underrepresents home workers, especially those most vulnerable to exploitation. Evidently, more research is necessary on the diversity of home working arrangements and their implications.
Catrin Hedd Jones, Diane Seddon, Katherine Algar-Skaife, Carol Maddock and Stephanie Green
This paper aims to share how the Centre for Ageing and Dementia Research co-designs research within a national programme of work to improve the lives of older adults and those…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to share how the Centre for Ageing and Dementia Research co-designs research within a national programme of work to improve the lives of older adults and those affected by dementia. Through examples of this work, the authors identify the barriers and enablers to participatory approaches and lessons to inform future involvement activities.
Design/methodology/approach
This study reflects on implementing the UK National Standards for Public Involvement into practice. Of international relevance, the observations span the research process from research prioritisation and design to research implementation and knowledge exchange.
Findings
This study demonstrates the importance of using a relational approach, working toward a common purpose and engaging in meaningful dialogue. Only through offering choice and flexibility and actively learning from one another can co-design lead to synergistic relationships that benefit everyone.
Research limitations/implications
Key implications for researchers engaged in patient and public involvement are be receptive to other people’s views and acknowledge expertise of those with lived experience alongside those with academic expertise. Training, resources and time are required to effectively support involvement and meaningful relationships. A nominated contact person enables trust and mutual understanding to develop. This is an ongoing collective learning experience that should be embedded throughout the entire research process.
Originality/value
This paper demonstrates how the standards are implemented with people who are often excluded from research to influence a national programme of work.
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