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1 – 10 of 173The economic and social importance of minority ethnic‐owned businesses (MEBs) is widely recognised, but it is also well‐known that the providers of business support services have…
Abstract
Purpose
The economic and social importance of minority ethnic‐owned businesses (MEBs) is widely recognised, but it is also well‐known that the providers of business support services have so far fallen short of the ideal in identifying, targeting and communicating with MEBs. This study seeks to add to the very limited academic literature on the topic by investigating the application of marketing principles to the task, in Scotland.
Design/methodology/approach
Data for interpretation were collected by six semi‐structured in‐depth interviews with public‐sector business‐support providers in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Findings
Providers are aware of the lack of awareness among MEBs of the services available, and the consequent poor take‐up rates. Some have made limited efforts to initiate change by beginning to differentiate their products and services, and market them proactively, but others still favour a generic approach. A constraint on further progress is the lack of useful databases.
Research limitations/implications
This was a small‐scale exploratory study. It would be useful to use its tentative findings as the departure point for broader‐based studies, especially where MEBs are more numerous.
Practical implications
The findings contain lessons for academic researchers and marketing practitioners with an interest in ethnic minorities. Various “differentiated” marketing strategies are discussed, and promotional strategies for targeting the owners and operators of MEBs.
Originality/value
This study adds significantly to the published body of knowledge. Its findings are potentially applicable in the wider context of non‐profit, public‐sector and services marketing.
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As a result of human right movements, the importance of special needs of individuals with disabilities has become more prominent in many countries in the world. Hence, endeavors…
Abstract
As a result of human right movements, the importance of special needs of individuals with disabilities has become more prominent in many countries in the world. Hence, endeavors of people with disabilities, their family members, and advocates to seek accessible communities and equal opportunities for education, as well as, job placement have been widely accepted as human rights for individuals with disabilities. Consequently, establishing barrier-free environments and inclusive societies for people with disabilities have become important indicators of social development of countries. Besides, since education is considered as a fundamental human right, the importance of providing special education for children with disabilities has been recently realized by many nations (United Nations. (2006). World programme of action concerning disabled persons. New York, NY: United Nations). Turkey is one of those countries that have quite recently started to invest in special education services for its citizens with disabilities. This chapter focuses on the development, as well as the current state of special education in Turkey. Included in this development are the following sections: origins of Turkish special education, prevalence and incident rates, trends in laws and regulations, educational interventions, working with families, teacher preparation, progress that has been made, and special education challenges that exist.
Donnie Adams, Ashley Ng Yoon Mooi and Vasu Muniandy
The purpose of this paper is to examine the Malaysian National Professional Qualification for Educational Leaders (NPQEL), a principal leadership preparation programme and the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the Malaysian National Professional Qualification for Educational Leaders (NPQEL), a principal leadership preparation programme and the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013–2025, a comprehensive plan for a rapid and sustainable transformation of our education system through to 2025 to ensure high-performing school leaders in every school.
Design/methodology/approach
In understanding how the NPQEL operates and its effectiveness in preparing high performing school leaders, a research instrument of open-ended questions were administered to 102 principals from government-funded secondary schools, to establish how they were prepared for their leadership roles and their views of their leadership practices.
Findings
The NPQEL programme provides evidence of strong outcomes in preparing school leaders towards high-performing school leadership in Malaysia in combination of a variety of approaches with respect to its designs and competency standards. Findings indicate that the NPQEL contributes towards the development of the school leaders' attributes or skills for their leadership roles; and the NPQEL fulfils the aspirations set out in the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013–2025.
Originality/value
This paper explores the potential influence of Malaysian NPQEL and the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013–2025 on preparing high-performing school leaders in every school.
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Seda Türkmen Dural and Yüksel Dede
This study investigated the problem-solving strategies used in solving problems in the learning domain of numbers and operations in mathematics textbooks for Turkish middle…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigated the problem-solving strategies used in solving problems in the learning domain of numbers and operations in mathematics textbooks for Turkish middle schools.
Design/methodology/approach
To this end, four middle school mathematics textbooks published by the Ministry of National Education of Turkey (MEB in Turkish), one from each grade level (Grades 5–8), were examined. The data in this document analysis study were analyzed using semantic content analysis.
Findings
The findings revealed that mathematics textbooks' most used problem-solving strategies for each level were drawing a figure (diagram), writing equality and inequality, making a table and making a systematic list. Drawing a diagram (figure) strategy was the most used strategy at each grade level, while working backwards was the least used one. Another finding was that finding a pattern and solving a simpler analogous problem strategies were rarely used at each grade level.
Research limitations/implications
This study points out how problem-solving strategies used Grades 5-8 mathematics textbooks in a different culture like Türkiye. So, it may also give some important clues for applying problem-solving strategies in mathematics classrooms in a different culture.
Practical implications
This study may draw the attention of educational stakeholders and textbook authors who want to understand and implement problem-solving strategies in mathematics classrooms by considering a different cultural perspective.
Social implications
This study may point to the importance of using problem-solving strategies in mathematics and daily and social learning environments due to the nature of mathematical problem-solving and problem-solving strategies.
Originality/value
This document review study examined the problem-solving strategies used in Turkish middle school mathematics textbooks, and the data were analyzed using semantic content analysis. The findings revealed that mathematics textbooks' most used problem solving strategies for each level were drawing a figure (diagram), writing equality and inequality, making a table and making a systematic list. Drawing a diagram (figure) strategy was the most used strategy at each grade level, while working backwards was the least used one. Another finding was that finding a pattern and solving a simpler analogous problem strategies were rarely used at each grade level.
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Susanna Kultalahti and Riitta Viitala
The purpose of this qualitative paper is to seek more understanding of the elements important to the psychological contracts of working Millennials. The study also presents the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this qualitative paper is to seek more understanding of the elements important to the psychological contracts of working Millennials. The study also presents the implications of those findings for human resource management practices.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirical data were collected from Facebook using the method of empathy-based stories (MEBS). A sample of working Millennials describes the factors they saw as motivating and desirable in working life.
Findings
The findings are in line with previous quantitative studies in western countries, which reveal constant learning and developing at work; interesting, challenging, and varied tasks; social relations and the supervisor’s behaviour; reciprocal flexibility concerning timetables and working hours; and a good work-life balance to be important factors. However, the findings indicate that the desire to develop competences, and factors related to time may be even more significant for Millennials than previous literature on psychological contracts has suggested. Neither monetary issues nor a desire for long-term contracts emerged clearly as important factors from the material, showing that the manifestations of some elements that are important in the formulation of the psychological contract vary in different contexts.
Practical implications
The findings of this study indicate that employing Millennials challenges HR professionals to develop HR practices that offer flexible time structures, systematic and individual development procedures, and a coaching form of leadership.
Originality/value
The paper exhibits a methodological innovation in using Facebook as a vehicle for data gathering. Additionally it applies the MEBS: a method still rare in research in the field of business.
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Mervi Luonila and Maarit Kinnunen
To make sense of the relationship between the festival attendance and the aims in arts festival management, the purpose of this paper is to explore the key characteristics for…
Abstract
Purpose
To make sense of the relationship between the festival attendance and the aims in arts festival management, the purpose of this paper is to explore the key characteristics for success and analyze the perceptions of the future in arts festival productions.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative study uses interviews with festival managers and empathy-based stories (MEBS) written by members of festival audience. Discourse analysis is employed for answering the questions: What are the characteristics of a successful festival, and what could ruin it?
Findings
The paper highlights the importance of interaction with the audience orchestrated by the festival organization. Such interaction co-constructs a more holistic festival experience valued by both parties, which supports the sustainability and future success.
Research limitations/implications
The research data are limited to one country, and music festivals dominate the data.
Practical implications
Among managers, there is a need to consider audiences as consumers and as producers in the current competitive climate in the arts and cultural field and clarify the role of the audience as a partner in the networked festival production by placing the attendee at the core of the strategic planning process of arts festivals.
Originality/value
The research combines the views of the demand-and-supply side. It adds to the knowledge in arts and festival management by exploring the relationship between attendance and the aims of arts festival management in general, and the key characteristics of success in the arts festival context in particular. MEBS offers new interesting opportunities for future research in qualitative festival research.
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Suaniza Mamat, Nik Nazli Nik Ahmad and Julia Mohd Said
This paper explores the institutionalisation of a financial sustainability agenda in Malaysian public universities.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper explores the institutionalisation of a financial sustainability agenda in Malaysian public universities.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses semi-structured interviews and document analysis. New Institutional Sociology and the institutional logics perspective are utilised to frame the study and explain findings.
Findings
The findings reveal that universities manage the conflicting academic and financial logics to co-exist to ensure legitimacy and survival. By compartmentalising the functions of key divisions and through loose coupling, universities are able to support dual logics.
Research limitations/implications
The paper provides university management and policy makers with insights into how leading universities in Malaysia cope with a financial sustainability agenda.
Originality/value
The present study documents how universities cope with and respond to government reforms and budgetary cuts in the context of a developing country, Malaysia. Most prior research in the area focuses on individual or organisational responses. This paper examines organisational-level responses but goes deeper to understand how universities, through three key divisions; bursaries, corporate strategy divisions and faculties manage to enable the multiple logics to co-exist through compartmentalisation and loose coupling.
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Susanna Kultalahti and Riitta Liisa Viitala
The purpose of this paper is to examine some perceptions of Millennials concerning what makes work motivating, and discuss their implications for human resource management (HRM…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine some perceptions of Millennials concerning what makes work motivating, and discuss their implications for human resource management (HRM) practices.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirical data were collected via Facebook using the method of empathy-based stories (MEBS). The theoretical framework is grounded in the literature on motivation.
Findings
The full-time working Millennials wrote more about intrinsic motivators than extrinsic ones. Additionally, there were several dichotomies of positive and negative factors causing motivation/demotivation. Thus, the results contradict to some extent with the ones of Herzberg's. The stories revealed that the most important things having an effect on motivation were an interesting, varying and flexible job and good relationships with colleagues and supervisor.
Practical implications
The results revealed some particular factors that should be considered when designing HRM practices to dovetail with the motivational drivers of the Millennials: flexibility, work-life balance, convenient social relationships, need for coaching-based leadership and the opportunity to develop.
Social implications
Due to retirements and shrinking generations, the impact of Generation Y is increasing in the workforce. Thus, recognising its motivational factors is important.
Originality/value
The originality of the study partly rests in its methodological innovativeness. Often adopted by sociologists, this study introduces the method of MEBS to the business field. Furthermore, Facebook is still seldom used in data gathering. While much of the extant research on Generation Y is quantitative in nature, the adoption of a qualitative approach allows for the voice of Generation Y to be heard.
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Tony Bush and Ashley Yoon Mooi Ng
The purpose of this paper is to present and discuss the findings from research on the relationship between leadership theory and policy reform in Malaysia. Distributed leadership…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present and discuss the findings from research on the relationship between leadership theory and policy reform in Malaysia. Distributed leadership is normatively preferred in the Malaysia Education Blueprint (MEB), the country’s major policy reform document. The research was conducted in two dissimilar Malaysian states (Selangor and Sarawak).
Design/methodology/approach
The research was a multiple case-study design, with 14 schools (seven in each state). Sampling was purposive, with schools selected from the different bands used to categorise school performance in Malaysia. Within each school, interviews were conducted with principals (secondary schools), headteachers (primary schools) and a range of teachers, middle leaders and senior leaders, to achieve respondent triangulation.
Findings
The findings confirm that the MEB prescribes distributed leadership as part of a strategy to move principals and head teachers away from their traditional administrative leadership styles. While there were some variations, most schools adopted a modified distributed leadership approach. Instead of the emergent model discussed and advocated in the literature, these schools embraced an allocative model, with principals sharing responsibilities with senior leaders in a manner that was often indistinguishable from delegation.
Research limitations/implications
A significant implication of the research is that policy prescriptions in major reform initiatives can lead to unintended consequences when applied in different cultural contexts. While distributed leadership is presented as “emergent” in the international (mostly western) literature, it has been captured and adapted for use in this highly centralised context, where structures and culture assume a top-down model of leadership. As a result, distributed leadership has taken on a different meaning, to fit the dominant culture.
Practical implications
The main practical implication is that principals and head teachers are more likely to enact leadership in ways which are congruent with their cultural backgrounds and assumptions than to embrace policy prescriptions, even when unproblematic adoption of policy might be expected, as in this centralised context.
Social implications
The main social implications are that policy change is dependent on socio-cultural considerations and that reform will not be whole-hearted and secure if it is not congruent with the values of institutions such as schools, and the wider society which they serve.
Originality/value
The paper is significant in exploring a popular leadership model in an unfamiliar context. Beyond its importance in Malaysia, it has wider resonance for other centralised systems which have also shown interest in distributed leadership but have been unable and/or unwilling to embrace it in the ways assumed in the literature. This leads to theoretical significance because it adds to the limited body of literature which shows that allocative distributed leadership has emerged as a device for accommodating this model within centralised contexts.
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