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1 – 10 of 15Lynne J. Millward and Karen Bryan
This paper aims to briefly review leadership within the contemporary UK National Health Services (NHS) including Department of Health and Royal College of Nursing (RCN…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to briefly review leadership within the contemporary UK National Health Services (NHS) including Department of Health and Royal College of Nursing (RCN) initiatives.
Design/methodology/approach
It is argued that the concept of clinical leadership is a viable and important one, and is theoretically consistent with the contemporary social psychological literature on the importance of “local” leadership to effective organizational functioning. Field theory proposes that local influences (e.g. local management) on attitudes and behaviour will to a large extent mediate the impact of the organization (e.g. organisational structure and values) on (in this instance) health care delivery.
Findings
The reality of clinical leadership must involve a judicious blend effective management in the conventional sense with skill in transformational change in order to make real difference to the care delivery process.
Practical implications
For leadership initiatives to become truly culturally embedded into the “way we do things around here”, they require more than just individual training and development.
Originality/value
A view is offered for the practical interpretation of the clinical leadership concept in relationship terms. This will involve management of the relationship between health care professionals, between health care professionals and the “organizations” to which they are accountable and between health care professionals and service users.
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Lynne J. Millward, Adrian Banks and Kiriaki Riga
The purpose of this paper is to describe and defend a generative model for understanding effective self‐regulating teams from a distinctively psychological perspective that has…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe and defend a generative model for understanding effective self‐regulating teams from a distinctively psychological perspective that has implications for both research and practice.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper complements Hackman's work on the critical conditions for effecting “self‐regulated” teamwork with an understanding of team psychology, as the basis for evolving a propositional model of effective teamwork.
Findings
Assuming various structural pre‐requisites, it is proposed that effective teamwork is generated by a social self‐identification process, upon which there are “emergent states” across affective (commitment, cohesion), motivational (drive to secure and maintain positive self‐esteem), cognitive (shared cognition) and behavioural (intra‐team and inter‐team processes) dimensions.
Research limitations/implications
Considerations for further testing, conceptual and methodological refinement, are highlighted.
Practical implications
The model affords clear pragmatic implications for leveraging more effective teamwork in organizational contexts.
Originality/value
The propositional model in the paper integrates and builds on previous thinking into a more generative understanding of effective team work (i.e. what makes teamwork possible and how can this be sustained) that takes into account the importance of context in accounting for team success.
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Lynne Millward and Olympia Kyriakidou
This paper looks at the challenges to identity at both individual and organizational levels of analysis, posed specifically by merger‐induced change. Merger‐induced change can…
Abstract
This paper looks at the challenges to identity at both individual and organizational levels of analysis, posed specifically by merger‐induced change. Merger‐induced change can seriously challenge processes of identification, by disrupting cognitive alignments and emotional attachments. An extensive literature review reveals that maintaining continuity of identity from pre‐ to post‐merger is critical to successful cognitive and emotional adjustment to transformational change. Maintaining continuity is a multi‐dimensional consideration contingent not just on issues of content (image, meaning) but at a more fundamental level of identity process (maintaining distinctiveness, esteem and efficacy). It is argued, therefore, that one way in which subjective permanence can be assured is to actively manage individual careers. The literature consistently shows that for many employees, the new investment criterion (on which their contribution to an organization is predicated) is “opportunities for development”. This could be said to hold a key to maintaining and/or forging “relational” relationships in contemporary organizations. So long as employees feel that they are “developing” (e.g. learning new transferable skills, acquiring important knowledge, gaining personal credibility and confidence) and thereby increasing their employability, organisations can, to some extent, overcome employee concerns about future job insecurity by facilitating “subjective security” by furnishing maximum personal potential. In so doing, the organization can secure the human investment it needs to succeed in financial terms.
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Michelle L McGrath, Lynne J. Millward and Adrian Banks
The purpose of this paper is to identify how psychological contract perceptions are used as a lens through which employees make sense of their workplace emotions. Applying…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify how psychological contract perceptions are used as a lens through which employees make sense of their workplace emotions. Applying Rousseau’s (1995, 2011) conceptualisation of psychological contracts it examines how the emotions linked to both promise perceptions (broken/exceeded) and regulation are made sense of in relation to perceptions of contract type.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper takes a unique perspective into the role perceptions of psychological contract type play in the process of emotional sensemaking using qualitative thematic analysis of 30 in-depth interviews. A range of occupations are represented and all participants worked in a full-time capacity.
Findings
The paper identifies how the predominant relationship frame (transactional/relational) is used by employees when making sense of the emotions recalled during specific psychological contract events, as well as the emotions they feel are necessary to regulate while at work.
Research limitations/implications
The mean age of the study sample was 26 years, comparatively young in terms of the span of the employment age bracket. Taking a lifespan approach would potentially broaden the understanding of how employees use their predominant relationship frame in the process of emotional sensemaking at different stages of their life and careers.
Originality/value
This paper identifies an important work-related cue used in the active regulation of specific emotions whilst at work, contributing to both the psychological contract and emotion literature.
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Lynne J. Millward, Maxwell Asumeng and Almuth McDowall
This paper aims to locate managerial feedback‐seeking in a self‐regulation model in which self‐motivational considerations are uppermost. It seeks to use a qualitative…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to locate managerial feedback‐seeking in a self‐regulation model in which self‐motivational considerations are uppermost. It seeks to use a qualitative psychological approach to address the question of when, what, how, from whom and why is feedback sought in a performance contingent managerial setting.
Design/methodology/approach
Using Kelly's Repertory Grid technique, ten managers reflected systematically on their feedback seeking in an organizational context. A grounded theory framework was used to identify higher‐order cross‐case constructs.
Findings
Managers sought performance feedback when they perceived uncertainty and difficulty in the pursuit of their managerial functions and were minded of their need to develop their management skills. Consistent with the instrumental model, feedback seeking was highly goal‐oriented and self‐affirmative in pursuit of increased managerial competence. However, the finding that adds most to the understanding on both an empirical and theoretical level is in showing how managers sought their feedback remotely, and from largely external sources, to reconcile development needs with self‐protective considerations (i.e. image and ego‐costs) in relation to subordinates and peers. These findings have implications for understanding feedback seeking as a multi‐dimensional highly self‐motivated process.
Research limitations/implications
Qualitative research uses small samples and this limits their empirical generalizability; however, the paper's findings link with previous work indicating potential for hypothesis generation and theoretical development.
Originality/value
Questions are raised about whether managers feel able to seek performance feedback for learning and development purposes, without feeling threatened in their capability and worth as managers. The paper argues that the environment most conducive to feedback seeking is one in which managers feel “psychologically safe” rather than defensive about their capability.
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Lynne Millward and Sarah Senker
The purpose of this paper is to consider how male young offenders on community orders made sense of their offending behaviour as well as considering the extent these views aligned…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to consider how male young offenders on community orders made sense of their offending behaviour as well as considering the extent these views aligned with traditional stereotypes of masculinity.
Design/methodology/approach
The research adopted a qualitative approach, using semi‐structured in‐depth interviews followed by interpretative phenomenological analysis to identify themes within the participant's narratives.
Findings
Two master themes were identified; “dissociating from an offender identity and authoring a new non‐offender identity” as well as “masculinity as multifaceted”. These themes were interpreted using self‐determination theory, highlighting the importance of intrinsic motivation and specific environmental conditions in enabling change and exploration of new identities.
Research limitations/implications
This work was based on a small sample size. Whilst this permitted an in‐depth analysis it is acknowledged that this may have implications for making generalisations across the youth offending population.
Practical implications
This study identifies that the principles of autonomy, relatedness and competence, as outlined in self‐determination theory, potentially offer fruitful areas to be implemented in community orders. Such conditions can help to harness intrinsic motivation to change and self‐regulated behaviour.
Originality/value
This paper is of value to those working and holding an interest within the criminal justice domain. Its adoption of a qualitative approach, considering a UK sample of young offenders on community orders at the time of the interview is unique. This study allows practical recommendations to be made to those engaged in youth rehabilitation.
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Moira Cachia and Lynne Millward
The telephone has been widely used to conduct quantitative research in diverse fields of study, generally using survey methodology. However, comparatively very few qualitative…
Abstract
Purpose
The telephone has been widely used to conduct quantitative research in diverse fields of study, generally using survey methodology. However, comparatively very few qualitative studies opt for this means of data collection. The purpose of this paper is to argue in favour of a medium that has generally been second‐rated in qualitative research. It aims at establishing telephone interviews as an equally viable option to other established methods of qualitative data collection.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is informed by the authors’ experience of using this method, as well as the limited number of previous research articles presented on the topic. It discusses its specific strengths and limitations, drawing on a conducted longitudinal study to illustrate key points. Its application to particular qualitative analysis methods, in view of the acknowledged requirements for each of these approaches, is also presented.
Findings
Telephone conversations naturally follow an agenda‐driven format that is initiated by the caller, similar to semi‐structured interviews. The authors propose that the telephone medium and interview modality are complementary. Also, the interview transcripts provide rich textual data that can subsequently be analysed using a range of qualitative data analysis methods.
Originality/value
Focus is placed on the methodological strengths of using telephone interviews in qualitative research, rather than convenience factors which have been the most featured element in previous literature. The paper aims at informing researchers who want to consider using the telephone medium for qualitative data collection and analysis.
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Olivia Kiriakidou and Lynne J. Millward
Examines the impact of corporate identity management on the employees’ attitudes towards the organization, as well as their willingness to accept its premises in the way they…
Abstract
Examines the impact of corporate identity management on the employees’ attitudes towards the organization, as well as their willingness to accept its premises in the way they conduct organizational business. Argues that this knowledge is critical to our understanding of how external relations can be systematically managed via the employee. Presents a framework which outlines the perceived actual‐ideal identity fit seen as critical to the way in which corporate identity is interpreted and enacted by employees. Case study material is provided from within a telecommunications company, to illustrate that the effective management of corporate identity requires that it is perceived to be consistent with, and representative of, actual organizational reality.
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Amelia Jane Wise and Lynne J. Millward
The purpose of the study was to discover the key psychological issues involved in voluntary career change in 30‐somethings, with implications for career theory and guidance.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the study was to discover the key psychological issues involved in voluntary career change in 30‐somethings, with implications for career theory and guidance.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative methodology was employed. Data gathering was by means of semi‐structured interviews and interpretation used interpretative phenomenological analysis. A sensemaking perspective within a constructivist framework defined the research.
Findings
Three types of themes were generated from the participant interviews. The first relates to issues of continuity and discontinuity during the change process, the second deals with participant's values directing the change, and the final theme covers the influence of context on the change process. The implications these themes have for contemporary meanings of career are discussed together with suggestions for guidance.
Research limitations/implications
Findings only reflect views at a point in time. A recommendation for future longitudinal research is made. The effect of the researcher is acknowledged in the sensemaking process.
Practical implications
A number of revisions to traditional career theory are identified and several career guidance implications.
Originality/value
This research is unique in addressing specific issues relating to the 30‐something age‐group and is topical in dealing with the phenomena of autonomous career change among this group. The use of a phenomenological perspective is scarce in the study of career change and provides a highly personal insight that furthers our understanding of the meaning of career. This is of particular value to career theorists and career counsellors.
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