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1 – 10 of 397Mark Julien, Karen Somerville and Jennifer Brant
The purpose of this paper is to examine Indigenous perspectives of work-life enrichment and conflict and provides insights to better support Indigenous employees.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine Indigenous perspectives of work-life enrichment and conflict and provides insights to better support Indigenous employees.
Design/methodology/approach
Interviews were conducted with 56 Indigenous people from six Canadian provinces. In total, 33 of the respondents were female and 23 were male. The interview responses were transcribed and entered in NVivo10. Thematic analysis was used.
Findings
The authors’ respondents struggled with feeling marginalized and felt frustrated that they could not engage in their cultural and family practices. The respondents spoke of putting family needs ahead of work and that many respondents paid a price for doing so.
Research limitations/implications
The results are not generalizable to all Indigenous peoples, however these results do fill a void in the literature.
Practical implications
Employers must consider revising policies including providing more supervisor support in the form of educating supervisors on various Indigenous cultural practices and examine ways of providing more flexibility with respect to cultural and family practices.
Social implications
Indigenous peoples have been marginalized since the advent of colonialism. This research addresses a gap in the literature by presenting how a group of Indigenous respondents frames work-life enrichment and conflict.
Originality/value
Very few studies have examined Indigenous perspectives on work-life enrichment and conflict using a qualitative research design. It also aligns with one of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s calls to action.
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Deborah McPhee, Mark Julien, Diane Miller and Barry Wright
Drawing upon the theoretical concept of social identities, the purpose of this paper is to investigate if an aboriginal employee resource group (ERG) helps to improve…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing upon the theoretical concept of social identities, the purpose of this paper is to investigate if an aboriginal employee resource group (ERG) helps to improve connectedness between the participants of the ERG and the organization in a Canadian context.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative research was used to interview 13 members of this ERG situated within a large Canadian bank.
Findings
The ERG created a positive experience for its members. It provided a bridge between the aboriginal identity and the organizational identity. Those who were part of the ERG felt that it encouraged them to bond to their cultural identity and that it also generated affirmative connections to the organization.
Practical implications
For employers seeking a more diverse workforce who have struggled with retaining employees from marginalized groups, ERGs may prove helpful.
Originality/value
This study posits a theoretical perspective of how ERGs are able to connect minority members to organizations through the recognition of dual identities. This is also the first study to examine the benefits of an aboriginal ERG.
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Mark Julien, Micheal Stratton, Gordon B. Schmidt and Russell Clayton
Management educators often seek out innovative ways to introduce theories and concepts in such a way that students are more engaged and connected with the course material. A meme…
Abstract
Purpose
Management educators often seek out innovative ways to introduce theories and concepts in such a way that students are more engaged and connected with the course material. A meme is an image juxtaposed with short text that elicits emotional responses from its readers and is now a staple in social media. Examples include: grumpy cat, success kid and distracted boyfriend. The authors have successfully used memes both online and in-person as a teaching tool. This paper aims to describe how the authors have used memes and some of the best practices and lessons learned from this experience.
Design/methodology/approach
Students in a training and development undergraduate course and an organizational behavior MBA course were tasked with creating and presenting memes that reflected the subject matter in their respective courses.
Findings
Their fellow students were successful in identifying the course theory or concept when these student presenters presented their memes in class. This suggests that this type of activity is helpful for students to apply a key course concept or theory in a way that was fun and interactive. Follow-up feedback from the students indicated that they enjoyed this type of activity and felt that it aided in their retention of course material.
Originality/value
While memes are quite popular in social media, there is a paucity of academic articles on the application of memes for teaching management concepts. This article guides instructors on how the authors have used memes in the classroom and offers some suggestions for doing a debrief afterward.
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Monica Draayer and Mark Julien
The purpose of this paper is to examine the challenges faced by a small Canadian winery in retaining its winemaker.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the challenges faced by a small Canadian winery in retaining its winemaker.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi‐structured face‐to‐face interviews with both owners of the winery, as well as the general manager and hospitality manager.
Findings
A case study has been produced that will allow readers to apply their understanding of key organizational behaviour (e.g. job characteristics model, motivation theories) concepts and effective recruitment, retention and selection principles, to assist in trying to retain the key position of winemaker.
Practical implications
This case study will be useful for those involved in the wine business, as well as students of human resources and organizational behaviour. Retaining employees with unique skill sets provides employers with a competitive advantage and this case explores a variety of retention strategies.
Originality/value
Very few cases have been written involving the recruitment, retention and selection of winemakers and therefore this paper will be of interest to both academics and practitioners.
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Gloria J. Leckie and Lisa M. Given
The history of the public library is long and rich, and continues to reflect this institution's initial mission: to respond to the needs of an evolving democratic society. From…
Abstract
The history of the public library is long and rich, and continues to reflect this institution's initial mission: to respond to the needs of an evolving democratic society. From its early days as a subscription service for the middle-class, through its evolution to become an educational site for the lower-classes and new immigrants, the public library has served as a touch-stone for urban industrial society in North America (Lerner, 1998, p. 138; Shera, 1974). Over the past century, public libraries have evolved to respond to the growing needs of the communities they serve and continue to do so with recent advances in technologies (such as DVDs, electronic books, the Internet, etc.), and with a more global outlook on the ways that people seek and share information. Indeed, the public library's constituents today are exceedingly diverse, including children and adults from a broad range of socio-economic, cultural, and educational backgrounds, all of whom seek information for a variety of personal and work-related purposes. The fact that public libraries have been fulfilling patrons' information needs for well over a century is a testament to their enduring success and versatility as information providers, and also points to the overall effectiveness of public librarians as intermediaries in the provision process.
The aims of this paper is to provide an overview on information literacy/library programs for first‐year students in Canadian universities and colleges.
Abstract
Purpose
The aims of this paper is to provide an overview on information literacy/library programs for first‐year students in Canadian universities and colleges.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper introduces and discusses periodical articles, monographs and up‐to‐date research on the subject. It presents anecdotal evidence gained from web site searches of 169 Canadian post‐secondary institutions complemented by personal communications from library and student services staff.
Findings
The study provides information about several types of library services for first‐year students currently in use in Canadian academic libraries.
Originality/value
There is no evidence of research in the area of library services for first‐year college and university students in Canada. This paper complements research on information literacy/library programs offered through academic libraries in other countries by focusing solely on first‐year student initiatives in Canadian academic libraries.
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Thibaut Bardon and Emmanuel Josserand
The purpose of this paper is to explore why digital games based learning (DGBL) is spreading rapidly in all educational settings, when the literature does not provide clear…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore why digital games based learning (DGBL) is spreading rapidly in all educational settings, when the literature does not provide clear empirical evidence of the pedagogical benefits. The paper seeks to understand why DGBL is constantly developing despite this lack of consensus about the learning outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
In order to identify the motivations for DGBL adoption and implementation beyond pedagogical ones, the authors use organizational theories to propose a three‐dimensional framework in which pedagogical motivation is articulated with political (linked to local characteristics) and institutional (linked to the macro‐environment) motivations. They then study the respective importance the three kinds of motivation in the adoption decisions and the implementation process of DGBL. To this end, they conducted a retrospective analysis of four embedded case studies in European business schools.
Findings
The authors find that institutional motivation plays a major role in adoption decisions while political motivations can contribute to the decision but are not necessarily present. Isomorphic pressure is essentially mimetic for early adopters and combined with coercive elements for late adopters.
Practical implications
During the implementation phase customization is mainly driven by political objectives while institutionalized ideas about the best way to implement the game are not typically influential.
Originality/value
The study shows that pedagogical benefits are a prerequisite rather than the core motivation for adoption or implementation. Second, the study is a call for both academics and practitioners not to over‐rationalize or under‐rationalize DGBL and, more broadly, pedagogical innovations and adoption decisions.
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Mathieu Brévilliers, Julien Lepagnot, Lhassane Idoumghar, Maher Rebai and Julien Kritter
This paper aims to investigate to what extent hybrid differential evolution (DE) algorithms can be successful in solving the optimal camera placement problem.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate to what extent hybrid differential evolution (DE) algorithms can be successful in solving the optimal camera placement problem.
Design/methodology/approach
This problem is stated as a unicost set covering problem (USCP) and 18 problem instances are defined according to practical operational needs. Three methods are selected from the literature to solve these instances: a CPLEX solver, greedy algorithm and row weighting local search (RWLS). Then, it is proposed to hybridize these algorithms with two hybrid DE approaches designed for combinatorial optimization problems. The first one is a set-based approach (DEset) from the literature. The second one is a new similarity-based approach (DEsim) that takes advantage of the geometric characteristics of a camera to find better solutions.
Findings
The experimental study highlights that RWLS and DEsim-CPLEX are the best proposed algorithms. Both easily outperform CPLEX, and it turns out that RWLS performs better on one class of problem instances, whereas DEsim-CPLEX performs better on another class, depending on the minimal resolution needed in practice.
Originality/value
Up to now, the efficiency of RWLS and the DEset approach has been investigated only for a few problems. Thus, the first contribution is to apply these methods for the first time in the context of camera placement. Moreover, new hybrid DE algorithms are proposed to solve the optimal camera placement problem when stated as a USCP. The second main contribution is the design of the DEsim approach that uses the distance between camera locations to fully benefit from the DE mutation scheme.
Details