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21 – 30 of 129
Article
Publication date: 1 August 2004

Margaret Patrickson and Rob Ranzijn

Australia, together with most other developed and developing countries, faces a difficult demographic pattern in the first half of the twenty‐first century, due to a low and…

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Abstract

Australia, together with most other developed and developing countries, faces a difficult demographic pattern in the first half of the twenty‐first century, due to a low and declining birth rate and an ageing population. This has led to an ageing workforce, with a relative shortage of younger entrants. One issue for government is what further steps they could initiate to persuade more people to remain in the labour force beyond the currently median retiring age of around 55 years. Employers will need to consider the degree to which they are prepared to reverse present negative attitudes towards employment of older staff, and workers need to resolve whether they need or desire to keep working and under what conditions. Boundaries constructed by government policy and employer actions, and their resolution by older individuals, form the content of this paper. The paper concludes that employers now face the management of up to four generational groups and resolving their intergenerational differences will present as a major future challenge. Revisiting practices for managing older workers will be essential and the paper offers suggestions for employers towards more effective utilisation of their older staff and more effective integration of workers of all age groups.

Details

Employee Relations, vol. 26 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 15 March 2022

Antonia Koumproglou and Konstantinos Biginas

Start-up owners have emerged in recent years as thought leaders in a variety of encouraging ways throughout the business world, changing the game that organisations function…

Abstract

Chapter Contribution

Start-up owners have emerged in recent years as thought leaders in a variety of encouraging ways throughout the business world, changing the game that organisations function worldwide in fascinating ways. They have transformed office culture by embracing flex-time, innovative work spaces, informal networks and work structures among many things. Building a great organisational culture at the early stages of forming a business as in a start-up is about creating an identity. The World Economic Forum community observes that start-ups are social systems which are very attractive for their enhancing of personal creativity and social inclusion. Thus, members of creative start-ups seem to exhibit strong group affiliation and passion for their profession. Based on the assumptions above, the study of start-up workplaces as unique social systems with distinct characteristics is proposed. Drawing on social identity theory as a collective construct was derived by Henri Tajfel and John Turner (Tajfel, 1972; Tajfel & Turner, 1979; Turner, 1982).

This chapter aims to investigate the idiosyncratic bundle of resources, capabilities and personal attributes resulting from the system interactions in the unique organisational context of start-ups (Habbershon, Williams, & McMillan, 2003, p. 452). This chapter considers the need for nurturing of start-up business owners/managers’ entrepreneurial learning capabilities, and highlights the fact that entrepreneurial learning and behaviour is different from other forms of learning and behaving.

Although multiple factors influence how people work, social identity theory could possible serve as a unifying theory of organisational behaviour elements, because it views the organisation as a social system where individual behaviours and attitudes are to a large degree influenced by psychological, behavioural, economic and sociological processes of group formation and membership. Social identity perspectives can shed light on

what and how people think in the early, but very critical stages of organisation formation.

Research in entrepreneurship points out that a heightened sense of self-realisation in individual starting/participating in new ventures is a strong motivator (Triandis, 1989). Engaged and inspired employees perceive their entrepreneurial identity to be central to their self-concept and experience greater levels of passion at their work (Murnieks, Mosakowski, & Cardon, 2014). The result is that the staff is committed to their organisation’s goals and values, motivated to contribute to organisational success, with an enhanced sense of their own well-being. For start-up culture is the reflection of everyone’s actions and values in the office – the interactions of everyone in the start-up with suppliers, customers and other stakeholders set the tone for the company’s relations with its external environment and its culture.

Developing a business with like-minded individuals to advance a collective business vision is at the heart of entrepreneurial activity of small and emerging enterprises. Small but highly flexible work groups provide a united voice and a common sense of purpose for individual members (Alpkan & All, 2007). They have the ability to take action to reconfigure or move entrepreneurial resources and activities in company routines quickly and effectively. This is particularly important in times of high uncertainty and volatility as the one we are currently going through in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Details

Small Business Management and Control of the Uncertain External Environment
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83909-624-2

Article
Publication date: 15 August 2011

Elizabeth Wakely and Jerome Carson

Isaac Newton has been described as the father of modern science. What is less well known is that he had mental health problems. Here, the authors aim to review the literature on…

405

Abstract

Purpose

Isaac Newton has been described as the father of modern science. What is less well known is that he had mental health problems. Here, the authors aim to review the literature on his problems and life to see if he was a mental health recovery hero.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reviewed all the published papers on Newton's mental health problems, as well as many of the biographies written on him.

Findings

Scholars of Newton have focussed most of their attention on Newton's breakdown of 1693. This has been attributed to mercurialism or paranoid psychosis. The more likely explanation is depression or bipolar disorder. Personality factors are also critical in understanding Newton; he had a troubled upbringing and problems in relating to others. The latter enabled him to focus exclusively on his research and experiments and may have contributed to his greatness.

Originality/value

The authors have brought to bear their insights as a professional historian and as a clinical psychologist, giving this paper a unique perspective from previous uni‐disciplinary reviews.

Details

Mental Health and Social Inclusion, vol. 15 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-8308

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 13 September 2018

Lionel Taito-Matamua, Simon Fraser and Jeongbin Ok

This research addresses the grave issue of plastic waste in the Pacific. By using Samoa as a case study, it was considered that distributed recycling combined with 3D printing…

Abstract

This research addresses the grave issue of plastic waste in the Pacific. By using Samoa as a case study, it was considered that distributed recycling combined with 3D printing offers an opportunity to (1) repurpose and add new value to this difficult waste stream and (2) engage diverse local communities in Samoa by combining notions of participatory design with traditional Samoan social concepts. Fieldwork in Samoa established the scope of the issue through interviews with stakeholders in government, waste management businesses, the arts and crafts community and education. Based on the information obtained from the fieldwork, potential product areas and designs were explored through material and 3D printing experiments using low-cost, open-source equipment. The experiments informed the design of speculative scenarios for workable, economically viable, socially empowering and sustainable systems for repurposing and upcycling plastic waste, which then enabled production of practically useful and culturally meaningful 3D printed objects, artefacts and products. Building upon the outcome and with a view towards implementation, Creative Pathways, an educational initiative aimed at propagating 3D printing and contextual design, was established and is being delivered in local schools.

Details

Unmaking Waste in Production and Consumption: Towards the Circular Economy
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78714-620-4

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 10 December 2016

Denis Harrington, Margaret Walsh, Eleanor Owens, David John Joyner, Morag McDonald, Gareth Griffiths, Evelyn Doyle and Patrick Lynch

Adopting an EU policy lens, this chapter primarily addresses the proposed pivotal role of firm-level innovation capability (FLIC) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as a…

Abstract

Adopting an EU policy lens, this chapter primarily addresses the proposed pivotal role of firm-level innovation capability (FLIC) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as a stimulant of sustainable development (SD) and green growth in Ireland/Wales. The chapter specifically examines the scale and scope of the green economy (GE), and considers the importance of organizational inherent “green” innovation capabilities (GICs) to achieve it. Underpinning the study is the methodology and concept of utilizing a facilitated cross-border multi-stakeholder learning network to enable knowledge transfer and exchange practices to flourish between partners, acting as a significant predictor of the development of SME GICs structures. Specifically, against the backdrop of the Green Innovation and Future Technologies (“GIFT” hereafter) INTERREG 4A Project, the research assesses how academic–industry partner exchange and inter-group learning and cooperation facilitates the development of GICs in smaller enterprises to realize a sustainable smart green economy in Ireland.

Details

University Partnerships for International Development
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78635-301-6

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 February 2013

Andrew Voyce and Jerome Carson

This paper aims to provide a profile of Andrew Voyce.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to provide a profile of Andrew Voyce.

Design/methodology/approach

Andrew gives a short biography and is then interviewed by Jerome. Areas covered in the interview include the central role of Mrs Thatcher in closing down the old asylums, homelessness, education, benefits and digital art.

Findings

Andrew's recovery from long term mental health problems has seen him return to higher education. He failed to get his undergraduate degree, but decades later and with the encouragement of workers in the community, he completed both undergraduate and postgraduate studies. He talks of the negative impact of asylum care, especially the terrible side effect of akathisia, which resulted from the depot neuroleptic medication.

Originality/value

This paper shows a remarkable journey of recovery, from a life of being a “revolving door” patient, to homelessness, to re‐establishing an ordinary life in the community. The inmate's perspective is one that has largely been absent from narratives of asylum care.

Details

Mental Health and Social Inclusion, vol. 17 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-8308

Keywords

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 19 August 2021

Abstract

Details

Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80117-430-5

Article
Publication date: 3 July 2009

Kalipso M. Karantinou and Margaret K. Hogg

Relationship development is presented as an optimal strategy across all sectors of economic activity, although relationships, and their appropriateness, vary by industry sector…

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Abstract

Purpose

Relationship development is presented as an optimal strategy across all sectors of economic activity, although relationships, and their appropriateness, vary by industry sector. In order to contribute to academic and managerial understanding of relationships in professional business services, this study aims to investigate the characteristics of relationship development in management consultancy.

Design/methodology/approach

Data collection involved semi‐structured interviews with both consultants and clients and employed a multilevel perspective for the investigation of relationships.

Findings

The findings provide a more nuanced reading of relationships and relationship development. First, a distinction between within‐project and between‐projects relationships and the important strategic implications which flow from these two different types of relationships are identified. Second, a distinction between relationship‐seekers and relationship‐switchers, and the resource allocation decisions associated with managing these two different client groups are identified.

Research limitations/implications

This is an exploratory study based on a qualitative methodology and thus no claims are made about generalizability. The study primarily aimed to achieve a theoretical generalization. The emerging conceptualizations could be extended to and tested by other cases in future studies.

Practical implications

The study has implications for managers because of the insights it offers into the mechanisms for relationship development; the strategic value of relationships; what the clients have to say about relationships; and the elements that characterize successful long‐term relationships.

Originality/value

The study contributes to relationship management theory within services marketing by offering a more refined understanding of company‐client relationships, compared with the more generic interpretations of relationships which often characterize studies of relationship management.

Details

Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 23 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0887-6045

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 2006

John Mullins and Margaret Linehan

This paper aims to add to the limited extant literature on public library leadership.

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to add to the limited extant literature on public library leadership.

Design/methodology/approach

The study investigates the desired qualities and behaviours required for public library leaders by interviewing 30 senior librarians from Ireland, the UK and the east coast of the USA in order to develop an understanding of the perceptions of current leaders in the field of public librarianship. A review of the relevant literature was used to design an interview guide which was used to conduct structured in‐depth face‐to‐face interviews.

Findings

The findings illustrate that there is no universal or common behaviour, even within national boundaries, for effective public library leadership. Two‐thirds of the interviewees, however, prioritised attention to the implementation of vision – desired goals – as the most essential element of library leadership.

Practical implications

Demonstrates a lack of focus in the leadership problem in librarianship and the need for work to be devoted to the development of leaders. Shows that there is also an absence of success in planning.

Originality/value

The current study is the most in‐depth study to date on this topic, drawing on face‐to‐face interviews with 30 public library leaders. Prior to his study, no in‐depth face‐to‐face study on the topic of leadership in librarianship has been researched and published outside of North America. As this study was undertaken in three national jurisdictions – Ireland, the UK, and the USA – it is also the first interview‐based transnational study on the topic.

Details

Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 27 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7739

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 9 November 2009

Scott S. Wiltermuth

Dominance complementarity, which is the tendency for people to respond oppositely to others along the control dimension of interpersonal behavior, is a means by which people…

Abstract

Dominance complementarity, which is the tendency for people to respond oppositely to others along the control dimension of interpersonal behavior, is a means by which people create and perpetuate informal forms of interpersonal hierarchy within social relationships (Tiedens, Unzueta, & Young, 2007b). In the present chapter, I explore the likely effects of such complementarity on group creativity. I propose specifically that expressions of dominance, even those borne not out of formal hierarchy but rather out of such factors as expertise and enthusiasm for the task, are likely to elicit submissive responses from fellow group members when the group is trying to generate creative ideas. As group members behaving submissively are likely to contribute fewer ideas to group discussion, I argue that group members who behave dominantly may, through their influence on other group members, reduce both the number and diversity of ideas generated within the group. I, therefore, propose that dominance complementarity may impair groups' abilities to generate creative ideas.

Details

Creativity in Groups
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-583-3

21 – 30 of 129