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1 – 10 of 224
Article
Publication date: 1 October 1997

Victor Callaghan, Paul Chernett, Martin Colley, Tony Lawson, John Standeven, Malcolm Carr‐West and Malcolm Ragget

Describes the design and construction of TROWEL ‐ a test bed for experimental agricultural vehicles. The vehicle will be used to explore ways of increasing the productivity of…

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Abstract

Describes the design and construction of TROWEL ‐ a test bed for experimental agricultural vehicles. The vehicle will be used to explore ways of increasing the productivity of expensive agricultural mobile machinery by taking over some of the tasks of the operator, allowing him to drive faster or for longer; and by allowing a single operator to control several machines simultaneously. In some cases machines may be able to operate entirely autonomously without operator intervention.

Details

Industrial Robot: An International Journal, vol. 24 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 November 1964

TECHNOLOGICAL progress is a scythe which cuts ever deeper swathes in the familiar fields of the world's industrial and commercial life. It finds its justification in words like…

Abstract

TECHNOLOGICAL progress is a scythe which cuts ever deeper swathes in the familiar fields of the world's industrial and commercial life. It finds its justification in words like productivity, competition, modernization and similar emotive terms. This is no matter of tired waves seeking a painful inch to gain, but a flood tide sweeping forward with irresistible momentum despite Canute's command or Mrs Partington's mop.

Details

Work Study, vol. 13 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0043-8022

Article
Publication date: 28 June 2013

Mary Louise Brown, Seonaidh McDonald and Fiona Smith

The purpose of this paper is to consider a psychoanalytic explanation for the challenges facing social entrepreneurs in Scotland.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to consider a psychoanalytic explanation for the challenges facing social entrepreneurs in Scotland.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative approach was used, in an exploratory study involving semi‐structured interviews with, and observation of, a purposive sample of social entrepreneurs.

Findings

Respondents exhibited a sense of splitting between the archetype of hard driving business leader and that of social reformer. One respondent was able successfully to integrate the two roles through an intuitive understanding of psychodynamic processes.

Research limitations/implications

This was an exploratory study with a small sample.

Practical implications

In a period of financial challenge for the UK economy, presenting new challenges for social enterprises, the findings add to researchers' understanding of apparently irrational responses to change.

Originality/value

There is limited research into the impact of archetypes on business behaviours and the paper aims to extend the literature.

Article
Publication date: 16 August 2011

Ishbel McWha and Malcolm MacLachlan

The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a measure of relationships and learning within the aid context.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a measure of relationships and learning within the aid context.

Design/methodology/approach

The Aid Relationships Quality Scale (ARQS) was administered to 1,290 local and expatriate workers across six countries in three regions (Africa: Malawi, Uganda; Asia: India, China; Oceania: PNG, Solomon Islands), as part of a larger study exploring remuneration differences. Data were factor‐analysed and explored using correlations. Individual and organisational level variance was partialed out in the analyses.

Findings

The ARQS showed a stable factor structure and acceptable reliability for each subscale: “relationship with expatriates”, “relationship with locals”, and “learning from expatriates and locals”. Construct validity was examined using a modification of the Multitrait‐Multimethod Matrix. For the sample as a whole, and at the individual level, both relationships subscales were positively correlated with each other, job satisfaction, and “learning from expatriates and locals”. At the organisational level “relationship with expatriates” correlated positively with pay justice, and international mobility, and negatively with de‐motivation, pay comparison and self‐assessed ability. “Relationships with locals” correlated positively with self‐assessed ability, turnover, and job satisfaction, and negatively with pay justice. The convergent and discriminant correlation patterning is largely in line with theory and thus supports the construct validity of the scale.

Originality/value

Relationships between aid workers are integral to the success of development assistance initiatives. This research has developed a new and brief instrument for measuring one aspect of aid relationships – that between expatriate and local workers.

Details

Journal of Managerial Psychology, vol. 26 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0268-3946

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 June 1993

Malcolm MacLachlan and Stuart Carr

The health services of many less‐developed countries continue tostruggle. Donors also continue to contribute money, equipment andpersonnel in the hope of producing sustainable…

Abstract

The health services of many less‐developed countries continue to struggle. Donors also continue to contribute money, equipment and personnel in the hope of producing sustainable improvements in these health services. Despite this cumulative effort over many years, some health services in Africa have failed to make significant gains. Suggests that the giving of aid, through the provision of medical and other personnel, produces a potentially damaging double standard. In particular, the dramatic dichotomy in the renumerations of local and foreign doctors may have the unintended, but damaging, effect of demotivating local staff. In addition, reviews research which supports the notion that the higher‐paid foreign doctors may also experience a demotivation, through being focused on extrinsic rather than intrinsic aspects of their work. Discusses implications of this double demotivation – in local as well as foreign doctors – for the provision of medical personnel in less‐developed countries.

Details

Journal of Management in Medicine, vol. 7 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0268-9235

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 1979

David S. Walker and John Child

Examines the history of professionalism as an issue in British marketing. Investigates attempts made to establish professional attributes in British marketing and the model of…

Abstract

Examines the history of professionalism as an issue in British marketing. Investigates attempts made to establish professional attributes in British marketing and the model of professionalism adopted. Looks at limits placed on the progression of marketing with regard to professionalism. States that the ideal typical model of professionalism has never been a valid framework for marketing, in that the structural bases of the occupation are of a different order and require individual analysis.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 13 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 August 1994

Malcolm MacLachlan and Stuart C. Carr

Although substantial evidence is now accumulating that some Africanpeoples readily accept advice and help about health from both modernmedical and traditional sources, this has…

623

Abstract

Although substantial evidence is now accumulating that some African peoples readily accept advice and help about health from both modern medical and traditional sources, this has not yet happened with – what is arguably the major health problem in many parts of Africa – AIDS. We asked 175 of Malawi′s undergraduates what sources they judged to be credible with regard to information on preventing and clinically managing AIDS. While traditional healers were seen on average to be less credible than modern health professionals (doctors and nurses), there was no correspondence between credibility of traditional healers and modern health professionals. Thus a strong belief in the credibility of modern health professionals was not associated with low credibility ratings for traditional healers. Our findings provide further support for “tropical tolerance”, especially as regards a pluralistic (modern and traditional together) approach to the prevention of AIDS. Given the over‐stretched health services in Malawi and many other African countries, a pluralistic approach to AIDS prevention could be a credible and economic use of indigenous human resources.

Details

Journal of Management in Medicine, vol. 8 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0268-9235

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 August 1996

Stuart C. Carr, Vanessa Powell, Maria Knezovic, Don Munro and Malcolm MacLachlan

Despite a growing body of findings that individualistic achievers incur punitive social costs in the workplaces of collectivistic and equalitarian cultures, little attention has…

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Abstract

Despite a growing body of findings that individualistic achievers incur punitive social costs in the workplaces of collectivistic and equalitarian cultures, little attention has so far been paid to measuring such motivational gravity in psychometrically appropriate ways. From egalitarian Australia, reports psychometric data from two organizational surveys, evaluating the 20‐item “Tall Poppy Scale” (TPS), a Likert instrument which measures attitudes towards high achievers in society, and the twin‐item “Motivational Gravity Scenario Scale” (MGSS), which focuses instead on behavioural intentions towards high achievers in one’s own workplace. In Study I, involving 80 employees of a retail chain, scores on the TPS were significantly and positively associated with social desirability effects on the Marlowe‐Crowne Scale, whereas the MGSS remained free of such confounding. In Study II, 47 employees of a major service organization rated the MGSS as significantly more satisfactory than did 49 university undergraduates, who preferred the TPS. Workplace scenarios may be more appropriate than the conventional Likert TPS for describing organizational cultures, but recommends the development of multiple‐item instruments for assessing individual differences in motivational gravity.

Details

Journal of Managerial Psychology, vol. 11 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0268-3946

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 30 July 2020

Kass Gibson

To outline the multiple ways in which animals are inserted into sporting practices, outline historical and contemporary approaches to studying human–animal sporting practices, and…

Abstract

To outline the multiple ways in which animals are inserted into sporting practices, outline historical and contemporary approaches to studying human–animal sporting practices, and advocate for the centering of sociological problems in human–animal research in sporting contexts and cultures and for considering such problems in relation to environmental issues.

In the first part of the chapter, conceptual differentiation of animals in the animal–sport complex is presented. Subsequently, studies of interspecies sport are reviewed with reference to the “animal turn” in the literature. In the second part, a critique is presented relating to: (1) the privileging of companion animals, especially dogs and horses, which overlooks the multiple ways animals are integrated into (multispecies) sport; (2) micro-sociological and insider ethnographies of companionship displacing of sociological problems in favor of relationship perspectives; and (3) the environment as absent from analysis. The conclusion offers implications for understanding multispecies sport and the environment.

I chart a general shift in emphasis and focus from animals as an “absent presence” in pursuit of sociological knowledge toward a clearly defined focus on interspecies sport as a field of research characterized by investigations of relationships with companion animals through the “animal turn.”

The focus on companion species means other animals (i.e., noncompanions) are understudied, big picture sociological questions are often sidelined, environmental concerns marginalized, and sociological understanding of the environment more generally is either ignored or reduced to a conduit of human–animal interactions.

Article
Publication date: 1 October 2005

Yvonne Lagrosen and Stefan Lagrosen

In this study, the effects of the different models and tools of quality management are examined. The purpose is to identify differences in the effects generated by different…

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Abstract

Purpose

In this study, the effects of the different models and tools of quality management are examined. The purpose is to identify differences in the effects generated by different quality management models and tools.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire was mailed to 500 Swedish quality professionals. The questions concerned their companies' adoption of the values of TQM, the use of the models and tools of TQM and the effects they notice. Correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis were carried out.

Findings

The findings show that there is statistical correlation between the adoption of the values of TQM and successful quality management. The usefulness of the Swedish Quality Award, the European Quality Award and ISO 9000 as well as several of the quality management tools is also indicated. Regarding ISO 9000 specific effects have been found.

Research limitations/implications

A limitation of the study is that the financial outcomes of the quality management practices are not measured but only the managers' perceptions of effects produced. The implication for further research is an increased knowledge of the different effects of the quality management practices and the significance of the values, particularly three values that were included in the multiple regression models.

Practical implications

The specific findings on the effects of ISO 9000 are useful for managers when implementing the standard. The results of the study also indicate the importance of emphasising the values for successful quality management.

Originality/value

This study has provided more detailed knowledge of the effects of the different quality management practices, particularly of ISO 9000.

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 25 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

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