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1 – 10 of 233
Article
Publication date: 25 July 2008

Hartmut Huebner, Richard Varey and Laurie Wood

Rational modes of decision‐making, followed by communication of the decision to stakeholders, leading to implementation of the decision is taken as a given in most management…

3168

Abstract

Purpose

Rational modes of decision‐making, followed by communication of the decision to stakeholders, leading to implementation of the decision is taken as a given in most management theories. The role of corporate communication managers in many cases is to support this process via standard communication tools. This study aims to challenge the efficacy of this model by drawing on discourse and strategy‐as‐practice perspectives in order to explain the link between managed communication and performance in terms of enacting decisions.

Design/methodology/approach

Following an ethnographic case study approach, the research analyses communication discourse at Intech, a major international conglomerate based in Germany. Data was collected over a period of 15 months, structured and thematic analysis conducted, supported by ATLAS.ti computer‐aided qualitative data analysis software. Methods of discourse analysis were applied in order to explain concrete practices.

Findings

A key contribution is to provide a framework that enables researchers and practitioners to understand in‐depth the setting in which decision‐related communication takes place, as recently demanded by Suchan and Charles (2006). Three critical fields of action for effective communication and strategy implementation are identified: giving decisions voice; facilitating the legitimisation process for decisions; and developing alternatives to cascading as a mode of decision implementation.

Research implications/limitations

Researchers may adopt the alternative view of corporate communication proposed and test or apply it in further case studies or in more large‐scale, perhaps quantitatively oriented research projects across companies and cultural boundaries.

Practical implications

For practitioners, a key challenge lies in implementing modes of legitimisation into managed communication.

Originality/value

This paper makes the case for an alternative approach to enacting decisions via practices of managed communication, based on the insights gained from the Intech case.

Details

Journal of Communication Management, vol. 12 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-254X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 1935

OUR readers need no apology from us for the attention given to Library Training in these pages. The amount of dissatisfaction with the present state of affairs, if it may be…

Abstract

OUR readers need no apology from us for the attention given to Library Training in these pages. The amount of dissatisfaction with the present state of affairs, if it may be judged from the gossip and letters that reach us, is of some proportions. It is not to be supposed that complaints are necessarily justified. They may be made in the natural chagrin of disappointment by candidates who have failed. Alternatively, there may be reasons which have a disinterested origin. The record of passes and failures shows that in December there was a dêbacle in candidates in the subject of cataloguing, which at least merits thought. In earlier issues it has been suggested by our writers that examinations twice yearly encourage experiments in sitting. There has also been the suggestion that librarians place too much stress on qualifications for their juniors and urge them to struggle with subjects for which they cannot be ready. To pass in cataloguing a student must be able to catalogue anything from a novel to an academic thesis in Anglo‐Norman French on Phlogiston, supposing that to be possible!

Details

New Library World, vol. 37 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4803

Article
Publication date: 1 June 1960

W.A. MUNFORD

From whichever point of view we consider it, Edwards's Memoirs of Libraries is a remarkable work. Its two volumes provide a total of two thousand pages of text It is at once a…

Abstract

From whichever point of view we consider it, Edwards's Memoirs of Libraries is a remarkable work. Its two volumes provide a total of two thousand pages of text It is at once a history of libraries—and a history on a world scale—and a manual of library administration. It can, of course, be criticised on that score. Would it not have been better to have issued the history separately, in two still sizeable volumes, and to have presented the practical manual as a separate work? As published by Trubner in 1859 the manual occupies the second half of the second volume which itself consists of rather more than 1,100 pages. But to Edwards the history and the administration were by no means so clearly divisible. The practical chapter on book‐binding, for example, approaches the subject historically; prints a small selection of Roger Payne's bills; and is illustrated, inter alia, with lithographs of sixteenth century bindings.

Details

Library Review, vol. 17 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0024-2535

Article
Publication date: 1 September 1936

MID‐OCTOBER sees the activities of the library world in full swing. Meetings, committee discussions, schools at work, students busy with December and May examinations in view, and…

Abstract

MID‐OCTOBER sees the activities of the library world in full swing. Meetings, committee discussions, schools at work, students busy with December and May examinations in view, and a host of occupations for the library worker. This year—for in a sense the library year begins in October—will be a busy one. For the Library Association Council there will be the onerous business of preparing a report on State Control; for libraries there will be the effort to retain readers in a land of increasing employment and reduced leisure; and for the students, as we have remarked in earlier issues, preparations for the new syllabus of examinations which becomes operative in 1938. It is a good month, too, to consider some phases of library work with children, “which,” to quote the L.A. Resolutions of 1917, “ought to be the basis of all other library work.”

Details

New Library World, vol. 39 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4803

Article
Publication date: 1 December 1906

THE first of the Islington Public Libraries, opened on September 21st, has proved a phenomenal success, and, at the same time, has thrown an interesting light on several modern…

Abstract

THE first of the Islington Public Libraries, opened on September 21st, has proved a phenomenal success, and, at the same time, has thrown an interesting light on several modern theories in librarianship. It is, as our readers know, the fust of a system of five libraries, towards the erection of which Dr. Carnegie has given £40,000. The building itself is, as many librarians had an opportunity of judging at the “private view” described in our last number, of an exceedingly well‐lighted and attractive character. The arrangement and accommodation provided present several novel features. On the ground floor, opening from the Central Hall, is the Children's Lending Library and Reading Room. This is stocked with about 3,000 volumes for lending purposes, including French and German juvenile literature, and the reading room portion has seating accommodation for about a hundred children. A representative selection of children's magazines are displayed here, and there are special study‐tables for girls and boys equipped with suitable reference collections. A feature of this room is a striking dado of pictures illustrating scenes from English history, which goes far to make the room interesting and attractive.

Details

New Library World, vol. 9 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4803

Article
Publication date: 1 December 2000

Linda Miller, Tracey Ann Wood, Jackie Halligan, Laurie Keller, Claire Hutchinson‐Pike, Diana Kornbrot and Julie deLotz

The rise of all forms of information systems has been one of the major factors affecting the nature of work over the last decade. This article reports on research that suggests…

1146

Abstract

The rise of all forms of information systems has been one of the major factors affecting the nature of work over the last decade. This article reports on research that suggests that whilst females may now gain more experience of computers and information systems at an earlier age, this does not appear to lead to more favourable evaluations of jobs involving computers. If women overcome initial negative perceptions of jobs involving computers then the particular style, manner, skills or approach that are seen as prerequisite for success, can constitute an additional barrier over and above that of the “glass ceiling”. The study looked at factors influencing initial attitudes towards computers, female attitudes to jobs involving computers and factors influencing self‐selection into gender‐typical and atypical jobs, including IT‐based jobs. The article considers the actions required from managers in many roles, including those with responsibility for staff development, marketing and recruitment.

Details

Career Development International, vol. 5 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1362-0436

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 June 2021

Laurie Wu, Alei Fan, Yang Yang and Zeya He

Taking a mixed-method approach, this research developed and validated a novel, value-centric experience framework delineating robotic involvement in the service encounter and its…

2526

Abstract

Purpose

Taking a mixed-method approach, this research developed and validated a novel, value-centric experience framework delineating robotic involvement in the service encounter and its subsequent impact on customers' experiences.

Design/methodology/approach

Focused on robotic restaurant businesses where robots are mainly involved in food production processes, this research utilized online customer review data and a multistage, mixed-method design for empirical examination. Automated thematic analysis was first adopted to facilitate a comprehensive understanding of the empirical reality as reflected in online customer reviews. Following an analytic induction process, a theoretical framework was developed integrating prior literature with the empirical reality to uncover the relationships across robotic involvement, experiential values and evaluative outcomes. A theory-driven, dictionary-based content analysis together with path analysis further enabled empirical validation of the developed theoretical framework.

Findings

The current research developed and validated a value-centric experience framework to theorize robotic involvement in the service encounter and its downstream impact on customers' experiences. Specifically, this framework conceptualizes robotic involvement as a five-dimensional composition of robotic visibility, competency, performanism, co-creativity and prominence. In addition, the framework specifies seven dimensions of experiential values revolving around high-tech–high-touch robotic service encounters, namely sensorial, utilitarian, hedonic, social, agentic, epistemic and aesthetic values. Following empirical validation, this framework sheds light on robotic involvement and experience design for high-tech–high-touch service businesses aiming to incorporate robots in their service encounters.

Originality/value

Drawing on classic service role theory and consumption value theory, this research developed and validated a novel theoretical model connecting robotic involvement dimensions with experiential consumption values and downstream customer evaluative outcomes. This research and theoretical framework open an exciting avenue for future research in robotic services and customer experiences.

Details

Journal of Service Management, vol. 32 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-5818

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 29 October 2021

Gergana Todorova, Kenneth Tohchuan Goh and Laurie R. Weingart

This paper aims to add to the current knowledge about conflict management by examining the relationships between conflict type, conflict expression intensity and the use of the…

3939

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to add to the current knowledge about conflict management by examining the relationships between conflict type, conflict expression intensity and the use of the conflict management approach.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors test theory-based hypotheses using a field study of new product development teams in an interdisciplinary Masters program (Study 1) and an experimental vignette study (Study 2).

Findings

Results show that people are more likely to respond to task conflict and conflicts expressed with less intensity using collectivistic conflict management approaches (i.e. problem-solving, compromising and yielding), and to relationship conflicts and conflicts expressed with higher intensity through forcing, an individualistic conflict management approach. Information acquisition and negative emotions experienced by team members mediate these relationships.

Practical implications

Knowing how the characteristics of the conflict (type and expression intensity) affect conflict management, managers can counteract the tendency to use dysfunctional, forcing conflict management approaches in response to high intensity conflicts, as well as to relationship conflicts and support the tendency to use collectivistic conflict management approaches in response to low intensity conflict, as well as task conflicts.

Originality/value

The authors examine an alternative to the prevailing view that conflict management serves as a moderator of the relationship between conflict and team outcomes. The research shows that conflict type and intensity of conflict expression influence the conflict management approach as a result of the information and emotion they evoke. The authors open avenues for future research on the complex and intriguing relationships between conflict characteristics and the conflict management approach.

Details

International Journal of Conflict Management, vol. 33 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1044-4068

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 1991

Edgar S. Lower

Guanidine stearate will function as a lubricant for melamine/formaldehyde resins (and guanamine/formaldehyde resins), and glyceryl monostearate can improve the mechanical…

Abstract

Guanidine stearate will function as a lubricant for melamine/formaldehyde resins (and guanamine/formaldehyde resins), and glyceryl monostearate can improve the mechanical properties of the former. Laurie acid can be applied to the production of high grade baking enemel resins in combination with melamine. Stearic acid can be used in the manufacture of melamine resins, e.g. by reaction with formaldehyde and butanol, to give resins for lacquers, and to yield moulding resins. Sodium myristate is usable as a chain transfer agent in the emulsion polymerisation of methyl methacrylate. Copolymerisation of methacrolein dibutyrate and methyl methacrylate has given resins that can be moulded or used in varnishes, and reaction products of stearic acid with methacrylic acid and neodymium oxide has given transparent optical resins. Cellulose laurate can produce extensibilities of nitrocellulose of the order of 100%, and cetyl acetate can act similarly in film, having little tendency to yellowing, but it has also little stability to exterior exposure. When ethylene glycol monmethyl ether acetyl ricinoleate is incorporated into nitrocellulose as a plasticizer, it gives films that are clear, tough and flexible. Stearic acid can act as a stabilizer for nitrocellulose. Lauryl phosphate has been applied as a catalyst in the modification of olefinic petroleum results, by reaction with acrylic resins, and distearyl pentaerythritol diphosphite can function as a heat stabilizer in petroleum resins.

Details

Pigment & Resin Technology, vol. 20 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0369-9420

Article
Publication date: 1 June 1996

Graham P. Cornish

The term “library management” covers many different aspects of the way that a library is operated and conjures up different concepts in the minds of different people, depending on…

Abstract

The term “library management” covers many different aspects of the way that a library is operated and conjures up different concepts in the minds of different people, depending on their own interests, agendas and requirements. Research into the subject is even more difficult to define because the application of research in one field can be vital to the development of another. Some researchers would not consider their research central to library matters at all, whereas the practising librarian might well see it as casting new light on a difficult area of understanding or development.

Details

Library Management, vol. 17 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-5124

1 – 10 of 233