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This study aims to investigate the research question: how do women leaders in the professional business services (PBS) sector develop and approach workplace (in)authenticity?
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the research question: how do women leaders in the professional business services (PBS) sector develop and approach workplace (in)authenticity?
Design/methodology/approach
Ten senior women leaders in the Midlands region of the UK were purposefully selected and interviewed. A semi-structured approach meant that the author adopted a social constructionist paradigm and feminist interpretation. Questions were designed to elicit rich descriptions from the participants. An inductive thematic analysis was conducted to address the study’s purpose.
Findings
Four themes were important to women when they developed and approached workplace (in)authenticity: (1) Power Structures, (2) Fit to Belong, (3) Influential Femininity and (4) Through Her Evolution. Women described masculine-majority organisations exerting power. They were pressured into altering their behaviours to “fit” into workplaces. When women had the latitude to be themselves, their leadership excelled. Women’s authenticity developed through increased self-knowledge, helping them to overcome workplace challenges. The study concluded that women face complexities when developing and approaching their constructions of authenticity, namely in the barriers and ramifications they face.
Practical implications
The study suggests several implications for practice and theory concerning enablers and barriers to women leaders' workplace authenticity. The link between authenticity and workplace gender equity needs to be investigated.
Originality/value
The study provides evidence that women are challenged when becoming authentic, therefore, altering their careers irrecoverably in some cases.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of graduate recruitment in the professional socialisation and subjectification of Big Four professionals.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of graduate recruitment in the professional socialisation and subjectification of Big Four professionals.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on documentary data and interviews conducted at one British university. It adopts an interpretive perspective and is informed by Foucault’s work on technologies of power and technologies of the self.
Findings
The paper argues that the graduate recruitment practices of Big Four firms represent a series of examinations which produce the category of ideal recruits. It moreover suggests that this category serves as the ultimate objective of an ethical process whereby aspiring accountants consciously and deliberately seek to transform themselves into the type of subjects they aspire to be – ideal recruits.
Research limitations/implications
The findings of the paper are primarily based on interviews conducted at one university. Future research could explore if students at other universities experience graduate recruitment in similar or different ways.
Originality/value
The paper highlights the constitutive role of graduate recruitment practices and shows that they can construct ideal recruits as much as they select them. It also shows that graduate recruitment is an important anticipatory socialisation mechanism that can compel aspiring accountants to learn how to look, sound and behave like Big Four professionals long before they join such organisations. Finally, the paper discusses its implications for the future of the profession, social mobility and the use of Foucault’s work on technologies of power and the self in studying subjectivity at elite professional service firms.
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Horst Treiblmaier, Kristijan Mirkovski, Paul Benjamin Lowry and Zach G. Zacharia
The physical internet (PI) is an emerging logistics and supply chain management (SCM) concept that draws on different technologies and areas of research, such as the Internet of…
Abstract
Purpose
The physical internet (PI) is an emerging logistics and supply chain management (SCM) concept that draws on different technologies and areas of research, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and key performance indicators, with the purpose of revolutionizing existing logistics and SCM practices. The growing literature on the PI and its noteworthy potential to be a disruptive innovation in the logistics industry call for a systematic literature review (SLR), which we conducted that defines the current state of the literature and outlines future research directions and approaches.
Design/methodology/approach
The SLR that was undertaken included journal publications, conference papers and proceedings, book excerpts, industry reports and white papers. We conducted descriptive, citation, thematic and methodological analyses to understand the evolution of PI literature.
Findings
Based on the literature review and analyses, we proposed a comprehensive framework that structures the PI domain and outlines future directions for logistics and SCM researchers.
Research limitations/implications
Our research findings are limited by the relatively low number of journal publications, as the PI is a new field of inquiry that is composed primarily of conference papers and proceedings.
Originality/value
The proposed PI-based framework identifies seven PI themes, including the respective facilitators and barriers, which can inform researchers and practitioners on future potentially disruptive SC strategies.
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This paper aims to provide a systematic literature review of the state-of-the-art applications of climate information in humanitarian relief efforts, to further the knowledge of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide a systematic literature review of the state-of-the-art applications of climate information in humanitarian relief efforts, to further the knowledge of how climate science can be better integrated into the decision-making process of humanitarian supply chains.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic literature review was conducted using a combination of key search terms developed from both climate science and humanitarian logistics literature. Articles from four major databases were retrieved, reduced and analyzed.
Findings
The study illustrates the status of application of climate information in humanitarian work, and identifies usability, collaboration and coordination as three key themes.
Originality/value
By delivering an overview of the current applications and challenges of climate information, this literature review proposes a three-phase conceptual framework.
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A global trend of type 2 diabetes prevalence is rising. Preventing and managing of systemic and dental complications is crucial to decrease negative effects on glycemic control…
Abstract
Purpose
A global trend of type 2 diabetes prevalence is rising. Preventing and managing of systemic and dental complications is crucial to decrease negative effects on glycemic control. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the efficacy of Brief Lifestyle Change in conjunction with Dental Care (Brief-LCDC) Programs to decrease glycemic level and improve periodontal status in patients with type 2 diabetes.
Design/methodology/approach
Health Center 54 conducted randomized controlled trial among 192 patients (96 intervention and 96 control) from February to August 2018. Group education for lifestyle modification, individual oral hygiene instruction and lifestyle counseling by motivational interviewing was provided to the intervention group at baseline. Motivation of lifestyle modification every month by multimedia was also provided to the intervention group. The usual program was provided to the control group. At baseline and a six-month follow-up, glycemic level and periodontal status were assessed from participants. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistic, t-test, χ2 test, Fisher’s exact test, Repeated measure ANOVA and multiple linear regression.
Findings
Glycemic level and periodontal status were lower in the intervention group than the control group at the sixth-month followed up with statistical significances. Glycemic level and periodontal status had negatively correlated to intervention group with statistically significant.
Originality/value
Brief-LCDC Program which incorporated lifestyle modification and oral health care had efficacious to decrease glycemic level and improve periodontal status in patients with type 2 diabetes. Early prevention program by Brief-LCDC Program is crucial to prevent dental complications.
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Desirée H. van Dun and Celeste P.M. Wilderom
Why are some lean workfloor teams able to improve their already high performance, over time, and others not? By studying teams' and leaders' behaviour-value patterns, this…
Abstract
Purpose
Why are some lean workfloor teams able to improve their already high performance, over time, and others not? By studying teams' and leaders' behaviour-value patterns, this abductive field study uncovers a dynamic capability at the team level.
Design/methodology/approach
Various methods were employed over three consecutive years to thoroughly examine five initially high-performing lean workfloor teams, including their leaders. These methods encompassed micro-behavioural coding of 59 h of film footage, surveys, individual and group interviews, participant observation and archival data, involving objective and perceptual team-performance indicators. Two of the five teams continued to improve and perform highly.
Findings
Continuously improving high lean team performance is found to be associated with (1) team behaviours such as frequent performance monitoring, information sharing, peer support and process improvement; (2) team leaders who balance, over time, task- and relations-oriented behaviours; (3) higher-level leaders who keep offering the team face-to-face support, strategic clarity and tangible resources; (4) these three actors' endorsement of self-transcendence and openness-to-change work values and alignment, over time, with their behaviours; and (5) coactive vicarious learning-by-doing as a “stable collective activity pattern” among team, team leader, and higher-level leadership.
Originality/value
Since lean has been undertheorised, the authors invoked insights from organisational behaviour and management theories, in combination with various fine- and coarse-grained data, over time. The authors uncovered actors' behaviour-value patterns and a collective learning-by-doing pattern that may explain continuous lean team performance improvement. Four theory-enriching propositions were developed and visualised in a refined model which may already benefit lean practitioners.
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