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1 – 10 of over 4000The purpose of the article is to outline the insights provided by Alan Fox in Man Mismanagement in relation to the rise of the New Right political economy and the spread of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the article is to outline the insights provided by Alan Fox in Man Mismanagement in relation to the rise of the New Right political economy and the spread of unitarist managerialism. The article assesses the contemporary work and employment relations implications of mismanagement arising from a “second wave” of the New Right ideology from 2010 in the UK.
Design/methodology/approach
Responding to the Special Issue on Alan Fox, the article focuses on Alan Fox's book Man Mismanagement, considering industrial relations developments arising between the 1st (1974b) and 2nd (1985) editions relating to the political rise of the New Right. It reviews various literature that illustrates the contemporary IR relevance of the book and Fox's insights.
Findings
The New Right’s ideology has further fragmented work, disjointed labour rights and undermined collective industrial relations institutions, and macho mismanagement praxis is even more commonplace, compared to when Fox wrote Man Mismanagement. The stripping away of the institutional architecture of IR renders the renewal of pluralist praxis, like collective bargaining and other forms of joint regulation of work, a formidable task.
Originality/value
The value of the article relates to the identification of dramatic historical industrial relations events and change in the UK in Alan Fox's book Man Mismanagement, most notably relating to the rise to power of the Thatcherite New Right in 1979. Originality is evidenced by the authors’ drawing on Fox's ideas and assessing the implications of the “second wave” of the New Right in the contemporary industrial relations (IR) context of the 2020s under the conceptual themes of fragmented work, disjointed labour rights and undermined collectivism.
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Lisa Grow Sun and Sabrina McCormick
The intensifying effects of climate change and the growing concentration of population in hazardous locations mean that, for many communities, disasters are increasingly becoming…
Abstract
The intensifying effects of climate change and the growing concentration of population in hazardous locations mean that, for many communities, disasters are increasingly becoming not only foreseeable, but inevitable. While much attention is, and should be, focused on what these foreseeable disasters require in terms of disaster planning and mitigation, attention should also be focused on a related and equally pressing phenomena: mismanagement of disaster response, particularly as climate proves an increasing stressor. Like disasters themselves, disaster mismanagement – while not entirely predictable – may exhibit some predictable patterns. This chapter explores past disaster management failures, considers how climate change may alter or exacerbate certain response pathologies, and evaluates some potential remedies that might mitigate these challenges.
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Merlin Stone, Eleni Aravopoulou, Geraint Evans, Esra Aldhaen and Brett David Parnell
This paper reviews the literature on information mismanagement and constructs a typology of misinformation that can be applied to analyse project planning and strategic planning…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper reviews the literature on information mismanagement and constructs a typology of misinformation that can be applied to analyse project planning and strategic planning processes to reduce the chances of failure that results from information mismanagement. This paper aims to summarize the research on information mismanagement and provide guidance to managers concerning how to minimize the negative consequences of information mismanagement and to academics concerning how to research and analyse case studies that might involve information mismanagement.
Design/methodology/approach
Literature review accompanied by conceptual analysis.
Findings
Information mismanagement is widespread in organizations, so all those involved in managing and researching them need to be far more aware of the damage that can be done by it.
Research limitations/implications
The research is based on the Western society (Europe and North America). The same research should be carried out in other parts of the world. Also, all the case studies could usefully be investigated in more depth to apply the taxonomy.
Practical implications
Managers should be much more aware of their own and others’ tendencies to mismanage information to their own benefit.
Social implications
Stakeholders in public sector activities, including citizens, should be much more aware of the tendency of the government and the public sector to mismanage information to justify particular policy approaches and to disguise failure.
Originality/value
The taxonomy on information mismanagement is original, as is its application to project planning and strategic decision-making.
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Agrippa Madoda Dwangu and Vimbi Petrus Mahlangu
The purpose of this article is to investigate the effectiveness of accountability mechanisms employed in financial management practices of school principals in the Eastern Cape…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to investigate the effectiveness of accountability mechanisms employed in financial management practices of school principals in the Eastern Cape Provincial Department of Education. The strengths and weaknesses of the systems and mechanisms of the processes to hold school principals accountable are explored in detail in this study. The argument that this article seeks to advance is that accountability of the school principal to the school governing body (SGB) does not yield the best results in terms of efficiency. It creates a loose arrangement in terms of which the school principal takes part in financial mismanagement in schools.
Design/methodology/approach
Data collection was made through semi-structured interviews whose purpose was to draw experiences from SGBs, particularly the finance committees who are in fact the sub-committees of the SGBs; as well as literature review. The finance committee is made up of the chairperson of the SGB, the secretary of the SGB, the treasurer of the SGB, and the financial officer who is a clerk responsible for the keeping and the management of financial records of the school. The process started with semi-structured interviews, then transcribing, coding, developing themes, making meaning of the themes and subsequently developing a principle.
Findings
Mechanisms employed by schools and the Department of Education to hold principals accountable for their financial management practices fail to make them fully accountable and effectively face the consequences of acts on their part that are illegal and unlawful. The mechanisms need a great deal of overhauling. The argument that this article seeks to advance is that this account of the school principal to the SGB does not yield the best results in terms of efficiency. It creates a loose arrangement in terms of which the school principal easily gets away with a crime when financial mismanagement occurs in the school.
Research limitations/implications
Participants could possibly not be comfortable and willing, to tell the truth as it is. Participants might have the fear that telling the truth could land them in trouble with the law. Whilst participants were assured by the researchers of their anonymity and the confidentiality of the information given by them, there was no guarantee that the fear of being exposed would subdue completely. There was also a possibility that some participants would not be willing to say the truth as it is for fear of being victimised by other participants for exposing the status quo in their schools.
Practical implications
The findings and recommendations from this study may be used by the Department of Basic Education as a source of information for policymakers and stakeholders to understand the effectiveness of their mechanisms to ensure the accountability of school principals on issues of financial management. On the basis of this study, policymakers will then be able to revisit their policies for the purpose of strengthening them. The principal is therefore responsible for the day-to-day administration and management of school funds because of this mandatory delegation. However, when things go wrong, it is the SGB that is held liable.
Social implications
School principals hold dual accountability in terms of which they are accountable to the employer only in so far as their professional responsibilities are concerned on financial management in the first instance. They are by no means accounting officers in schools. In the second instance, they are fully accountable to the SGB for issues relating to financial management. Section 16A of SASA lists the functions and responsibilities for which the principal as an employee of the Department of Basic Education, and in his official capacity as contemplated in Sections 23(1) and 24(1) (j) of the same Act, is accountable to the head of department (HOD).
Originality/value
The study provides a theoretical and empirical contribution to the existing literature on the effectiveness of the mechanisms employed to ensure the accountability of school principals in their financial management practices in schools. It offers practical recommendations putting in place mechanisms that effectively hold school principals wholly accountable for their financial management practices in schools. Most of the time, it is easy for the principal to get away with a crime even in instances where he or she is called upon to account for alleged financial mismanagement.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the available judicial precedence using both the United Arab Emirates and UK laws to bring up a much broader understanding of wrongful and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the available judicial precedence using both the United Arab Emirates and UK laws to bring up a much broader understanding of wrongful and fraudulent trading concepts and provide a critical analysis of potential personal liabilities of directors in the UK and UAE jurisdictions for the acts of fraud and mismanagement.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper seeks to understand corporate fraud from the aspect of trading. It will take an in-depth look into wrongful trading and fraudulent trading in the UAE and UK jurisdictions while analyzing the punishment for the same. The study will also look at famous cases for the same while seeking to understand the mitigation measures undertaken in various nations across the world.
Findings
The author studies the contents and provisions of the UK Insolvency Act 1986, truly the concepts of wrongful trading and fraudulent trading are not explicitly mentioned in the UAE Law, but the said terms associated with “lifting of corporate veil” are notionally existent under the UAE Federal Law No2/2015, otherwise known as Companies Law (Articles 84 and 162-1), and under the UAE Bankruptcy Law (Federal Decree Law No. 9 of 2016), which provides legislation governing trading while the company is insolvent.
Originality/value
In the current paper, the author is keen to examine the available judicial precedence to bring up a much broader understanding of the mentioned concepts and provide a critical analysis of potential personal liabilities of directors in the UK and UAE jurisdictions for the acts of fraud and mismanagement.
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States that the financial services industry application of mainstream strategy literature gives ample consideration to an organization’s task and technical environment. Points…
Abstract
States that the financial services industry application of mainstream strategy literature gives ample consideration to an organization’s task and technical environment. Points out, however, that this level of analysis does not deal explicitly with the larger “institutional” context, within which an organization is embedded. Using the Canadian banking industry as an exemplar of a highly institutionalized financial services industry, demonstrates the utility of institutional theory in understanding the origins, nature and dynamics of powerful institutional pressures of conformity. Calls this conformist strategy “mismanagement”.
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Keren Deal, Judith Kamnikar and Edward Kamnikar
To date, only two counties in the United States have filed for bankruptcy protection: Orange County, California (1994) and Greene County, Alabama (1996). This case study pertains…
Abstract
To date, only two counties in the United States have filed for bankruptcy protection: Orange County, California (1994) and Greene County, Alabama (1996). This case study pertains only to Greene County. Although economic decline due to a loss of gaming revenues was involved, financial mismanagement was the primary causal factor for Greene County’s fiscal stress. This research chronicles an impoverished rural Alabama county whose legislative and administrative decisions resulted in its fiscal stress and municipal bankruptcy. The Greene County bankruptcy case was closed in 1999 and the County continues to operate under a fiscal recovery plan. However, the County has yet to comply with the miscellaneous provisions of the bankruptcy plan that could improve the financial management of the County.
Baojuan Ye, Shunying Zhao, Hohjin Im, Liluo Gan, Mingfan Liu, Xinqiang Wang and Qiang Yang
This study aims to examine how the initial ambiguity of COVID-19 contributed to tourists' intentions for visiting a once-viral outbreak site in the future.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine how the initial ambiguity of COVID-19 contributed to tourists' intentions for visiting a once-viral outbreak site in the future.
Design/methodology/approach
The present study (N = 248) used partial least-squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to examine whether perceptions of ambiguity and mismanagement of COVID-19 are indirectly related to intentions to travel to Wuhan in a post-pandemic world through perceptions of risk and tourism value. Further, whether the model effects differed as a function of individual safety orientation was examined.
Findings
Perceptions of COVID-19 risk and tourism value serially mediated the effects of perceived COVID-19 ambiguity on post-pandemic travel intentions. Safety orientation did not moderate any paths. Perceived risk was a negative direct correlate of post-pandemic travel intentions.
Originality/value
The current study's strength is rooted in its specific targeting of post-pandemic travel intentions to Wuhan—the first city to experience a widescale outbreak of COVID-19 and subsequent international stigma—compared to general travel inclinations.
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A personal injury claim for compensation is one of the most common kinds of litigation in Hong Kong. In recent years, a number of cases have emerged which involve accidents…
Abstract
A personal injury claim for compensation is one of the most common kinds of litigation in Hong Kong. In recent years, a number of cases have emerged which involve accidents resulting from mismanagement of buildings and, in particular, in which the unit owners within the buildings were held liable to pay a portion of the damages. The relevant court cases, relating to domestic property, are researched, to find out the amounts of damages awarded, the effects of the compensations on individual unit owners in the relevant buildings and on their return on investment and the factors that may affect the investment. This kind of litigation is likely to grow, owing to the increase in the proportion of old buildings as a result of the downturn in the local property development market. The research results are likely to be of use to other common law countries where multi‐storey buildings are the major form of property for property investment.
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This paper aims to provide a country case study of South Africa’s response during the first six months following its first COVID-19 case. The focus is on the government’s…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide a country case study of South Africa’s response during the first six months following its first COVID-19 case. The focus is on the government’s (mis-)management of its non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) (or “lockdown”) to stem the pandemic and the organized business sector’s resistance against the lockdown.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper makes use of a literature review and provides descriptive statistics and quantitative analysis of COVID-19 and the lockdown stringency in South Africa, based on data from Google Mobility Trends, Oxford University’s Stringency Index, Johns Hopkins University’s COVID-19 tracker and Our World in Data.
Findings
This paper finds that both the government and the business sector’s responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have been problematic. These key actors have been failing to “pull together,” leaving South Africa’s citizens in-between corrupt and incompetent officials on the one hand, and lockdown skeptics on the other. This paper argues that to break through this impasse, the country should change direction by agreeing on a smart or “Goldilocks” lockdown, based on data, testing, decentralization, demographics and appropriate economic support measures, including export support. Such a Goldilocks lockdown is argued, based on available evidence from the emerging scientific literature, to be able to save lives, improve trust in government, limit economic damages and moreover improve the country’s long-term recovery prospects.
Research limitations/implications
The pandemic is an unprecedented crisis and moreover was still unfolding at the time of writing. This has two implications. First, precise data on the economic impact and certain epidemiological parameters was not (yet) available. Second, the causes of the mismanagement by the government are not clear yet, within such a short time frame. More research and better data may be able in future to allow conclusions to be drawn whether the problems that were besetting the country’s management of COVID-19 are unique or perhaps part of a more general problem across developing countries.
Practical implications
The paper provides clear practical implications for both government and organized business. The South African Government should not altogether end its lockdown measures, but follow a smart and flexible lockdown. The organized business sector should abandon its calls for ending the lockdown while the country is still among the most affected countries in the world, and no vaccine is available.
Social implications
There should be better collaboration between government, business and civil society to manage a smart lockdown. Government should re-establish lost trust because of the mismanagement of the lockdown during the first six months of the pandemic.
Originality/value
The outline of the smart lockdown that is proposed for the country combines NPIs with the promotion of exports, as a policy intervention to help aggregate demand to recover. The paper provides advice on how to resolve an impasse created by mismanagement of COVID-19, which could be valuable for decision-making during a crisis, particularly in developing countries.
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