Search results

This study aims to empirically identify the relationship between gender diversity and organizational leadership.

A multifactor questionnaire, Form 6-S, developed by Bass and Avolio (1992), is used to measure leadership. The results are derived from univariate and multivariate analyses conducted through ordinary least square linear regression. This study uses a base consisting of 142 small and medium enterprises in Cali (Colombia); men manage 111 of which, whereas women manage 31. The data came from a project performed by the Humanism and Management research group of the Administration Sciences Department of Valley University (Universidad del Valle). Fieldwork was conducted between November 2013 and April 2014.

The results show that companies with greater gender diversity (mostly women on the board of directors and in management) develop a transformational organizational style orientated towards organizational change through the transformation of followers.

There is no previous study combining these variables in Colombian context.

A mission statement is the central axis of any organization and the cornerstone of its strategic planning. Universities have implemented this tool to define, among other things, its identity; however, the legal nature and functions of the mission statement have not been determined. In this article, the authors analyze the differences in the university mission statements of public and private higher education institutions in relation to the mission functions proposed by the 1992 legislation on higher education in Colombia – Law 30 – involving teaching, research, extension and social projection and internationalization.

Through content analysis, the authors analyze the mission statements of two groups of institutions that make up the totality of universities in Colombia – 32 public and 53 private universities. The analysis is conducted along the four dimensions defined by the law as comprising the higher education mission, i.e. teaching, research, extension and social projection, and internationalization, due to its importance in the high-quality institutional accreditation process.

Based on the differences identified in the mission statements, the authors establish the university functions and determine how they give back to society in their legal capacity as public or private institutions.

This research scenario is appropriate for answering research questions related to whether there are differences in the strategies of Colombian public and private universities based on their mission statements. Although the Colombian higher education system includes various types of tertiary institutions, only universities are included in the study.

Research has shown that regardless of their legal nature, based on their mission statements, Colombian universities are mainly geared towards teaching. However, when comparing additional dimensions, private universities are less involved in research processes and more focused on activities related to social impact than are public universities. Additionally, private universities are more engaged in internationalization than are public institutions, with mission statements focused on both national and international accreditation processes.

The results of this research are intended to help society comprehend the differences between public and private universities in Colombia based on mission statements, which can contribute to understanding, among other factors, the academic programs offered by universities and how they should guide their activities.

This is the first such study in Colombia, a country that provides higher education through public and private institutions in very similar proportions, that analyses the differences in university mission statements and whose findings contribute to understanding whether universities are strategically oriented towards their own established policies or to contributing to the development of new public policies aimed at supporting the country's development process.

Microbes that are able to grow on different surfaces can cause the deterioration of the underlying layers because of their metabolic activity. The purpose of this study is report the ability of fungi-bacteria consortium (FBC) in anaerobic media, and marine strain bacteria, to attach onto UNS 1008 carbon steel and zinc epoxy coats.

Impedance analysis, scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) were used to evaluate the adherence, biofilm formation and corrosion effect of FBC and marine bacteria onto UNS1008 carbon steel in anaerobic and aired conditions, respectively. In a similar way, the anticorrosive performance of hybrid coats on UNS 1008 carbon steel against marine bacteria.

In aerobic conditions, the outer layer shows a micro-crack appearance and several semi-sphere products that could be because of spore formation. In anaerobic conditions, evidence of iron sulfide surrounded by a mixture of sulfur-containing extracellular polymer substance was observed by SEM images and EDS analysis. The presence of hybrid coats (zinc epoxy with carbon nanotubes CNT content) affected the level of microbial adherence and the concentration of corrosion products (Fe₂O₃, Fe(OH)₂ and FeS); the cell attachment was lower when the steel surface was coated with Zn/CNTs.

This study opens a window for further evaluations of CNTs associated with metals as active materials to assess the corrosion on extreme corrosive environments, like in oil and gas industries the microorganisms play an important role either to increase or reduce the corrosion processes.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse extant literature on POE of a building’s operations and performance as a means of holistically mapping the existing body of knowledge (BOK); identify impediments preventing its wide-scale adoption throughout practice; and develop new theory that seeks to integrate digital technologies (such as building information modelling (BIM)) within facilities management (FM) via a POE feedback mechanism.

An inductive and interpretivist methodological approach is adopted that utilises a mixed methods systematic review to map bibliometric data on the POE, associated underpinning processes and benchmarking facilities. Publication and citation metrics are produced via the software VOSviewer to determine the extent to which POE interrelates with other fields of study (namely, digital technologies and FM).

The BOK accrued illustrates that whilst POE has received comparatively scant academic attention in comparison to other fields of study, interest in the area is growing. The work also identifies that a stronger community of practice (CoP) is needed (that comprises of academics and practitioners) to ensure that a consistent approach to POE implementation is developed and that the barriers to POE implementation are addressed.

Findings presented accentuate the need for design practitioners to reverse engineer POE implementation to inform future design vis-à-vis simply reporting upon an existing building’s performance post construction. Other new theories are also introduced as a means of engendering wider academic discourse in this field of science.

The purpose of this paper is to explore contemporary attitudes amongst UK construction professionals regards fire safety post the Grenfell Tower disaster. Specifically, the research examines practitioner’s perceptions of fire safety design, material specification, construction and maintenance of high-rise blocks throughout a building’s whole life cycle.

A multi-methodology approach was adopted that utilises a mix of research methods. Extant literature and media content is used as a secondary data source, providing a more insightful interpretivist analysis – the results of which guided the development of the survey’s main question set. Primary survey data are sourced from structured interviews and questionnaires completed by participating industry professionals and built environment undergraduate students using non-representative sampling methods. In addition, a Grenfell Tower special advisory panel member was interviewed to add further validity to the overall findings.

The quantitative findings present evidence to suggest that the Grenfell disaster (and media storm that has surrounded this event) has raised the general level of fire safety knowledge and competency amongst construction professionals. However, qualitative feedback from the special advisory panel member suggests specific fire prevention knowledge remains elusive within both industry and taught programmes at Higher Education Institutes. As a consequence, changes in the taught curriculum are proposed together with an extension of the role of facilities managers in practice to cover fire safety in greater depth.

This paper provides thoughtful insights into the contemporary discourse on fire safety within the UK construction industry. The research also provides critical suggestions to both industry and policy makers which seek to prevent a repeat tragedy occurring again.

This study aims to investigate the behaviour of building users and how this impacts upon building energy performance. Specifically, the work examines the behavioural traits of able-bodied users of a large higher education building who erroneously access and egress the building using doorways intended for disabled users.

An inductive methodological approach is adopted that uses grounded theory to devise new insights into building users’ access and egress habits. Structured interviews are conducted to collect primary data from 68 building users of a large educational building over a four-week period. Responses to questions posed provide the basis for a tabularisation of behavioural traits.

Reasons for able-bodied building users’ preferences to using disabled access are identified and discussed; these are thematically grouped under the headings of apathy, convenience, emergency, ergonomics, ignorance and phobia. Building upon these findings, the research then offers insights into the approaches that could be adopted to change the erroneous behaviours. These approaches include education of building users on the impact their behaviour has upon building performance and environmental pollution, more stringent regulation to penalise repeat offenders and changes to building entrance design using obtrusive (i.e. radio frequency identification tags) and unobstrusive control measures (i.e. a second entrance doorway or slower opening mechanism).

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to investigate the rationale for able-bodied building users erroneously using disabled persons’ access and egress doorways within a building, which as a consequence, inadvertently reduces the building’s environmental performance.

The purpose of this study is to analyse the background and consequences of the Spanish job market on the employment conditions of Spanish women and on underlying attitudes on gender role in the working environment.

From the European Social Survey (2004, 2008, 2010, 2016), the authors draw a sample of 3,706 individuals aged from 25 to 64 years old living in Spain. The sample allows the authors to make estimations from several aggregation levels depending on gender (men and women) and generational cohort (baby boom and X generation).

Education improves the perception of women’s work among both men and women. The role of education is especially interesting for older people. Educational levels help women adapt to a changing context, promote female participation in the job market and protect them from unemployment situations. This study demonstrates that both gender and generational cohort moderate the impact of education on gender labour attitudes and working status.

Finally, this work is not exempt from limitations. For example, the use of cross sections does not allow the authors to obtain a richer set of causal relationships than the use of panel data would allow them. In addition, it would be interesting to replicate the study of gender labour attitudes among human resource managers and workers to have a broader view of what happens within companies.

The main contribution to the state of the art is to demonstrate that both gender and generational cohort moderate the impact of education on gender labour attitudes and working status. In addition, this study analyses whether gender labour attitudes change throughout the economic cycles, because population characteristics change (endowment effect) and/or because the same characteristics have different impacts (coefficient effect).

The average woman educator spends more time in the classroom than their male counterpart before ascending to an administrator position. Women educators spends on average 10–11 years as a teacher and as an administrator before becoming promoted to the superintendent position (Kingsberry & Jean-Marie, 2018; Manuel & Slate, 2003; Robinson, Shakeshaft, Grogan, & Newcomb, 2017). However, when they do reach this position, women superintendents lead in a different manner than men. They tend to focus on the well-being of children and families. They bring a strong interest in educating the child as a whole and place those at high risk a priority (Grogan, 2005). Women are finding way(s) to bring women's way(s) of knowing and expertise into this position. Women tend to keep instruction at the forefront and develop relationships with school and wider community members that can help foster the academic and social growth of the student (Grogan, 2005; Robinson et al., 2017; Wilmore, 2008).

Therefore, feminist@ leaders surface from their feminist and cultural knowledge (Sanchez & Ek, 2013) as a form of traditional resistance. They create pathways for other Latinas on their journey to claim Chicana feminism. As such, this chapter highlights the voices of four valiant women of color leaders on the path toward the superintendency whose personal and professional pathways intersect to create a feminist@ leadership identity.

Dialogue has been an elusive concept for academics when it comes to its definition within organisational contexts. In spite of the vast amount of academic research, it is not easy to find concrete proposals – both from theoretical and empirical standpoints – that analyse how companies manage dialogue processes with their stakeholders. The aim of this chapter is to fill this gap by highlighting the role of dialogue in strategic decision-making processes. In order to achieve this purpose, this work is structured into two parts. Firstly, multidisciplinary literature regarding how Public Relations and Management studies research on dialogue is reviewed. Secondly, the chapter presents a managerial proposal of dialogue for decision-making processes called the IDEA model. This chapter aims to scale back the theoretical fragmentation of the concept of dialogue while looking into its practicality based on an original proposal for scholars and practitioners.

The purpose of this paper is to reduce the amount of copper in antifouling paints by using eugenol as an additive. Biofouling leads to deterioration of any submerged material. The most widespread method for control is the application of cuprous oxide antifouling paints which are toxic. First of all, the paper describes the effect of eugenol on larvae of Balanus amphitrite (fouling organism) under laboratory conditions and then the preparation, application and performance of different types of antifouling paints in field trials.

Three types of soluble matrix antifouling paints were prepared with different pigments. The first one containing 16 per cent v/v copper, the second with 1.6 per cent copper and the third with 1.6 per cent copper + 2 per cent eugenol.

After 12 months of immersion in Mar del Plata harbour paints containing 1.6 per cent copper + eugenol and 16 per cent copper were the most effective. Although these formulations showed a similar performance, copper + eugenol-based paint contains 90 per cent lesser copper than a traditional copper-based formulation.

The use of antifouling paints with copper + eugenol combination as pigment is a promising alternative due to its performance, low cost and reduction in copper leaching to environment.