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1 – 10 of 141Kristen Faile, Paula Roberts and Cate Loes
This paper aims to provide instructors with a hands-on engaging and experiential class activity designed to teach undergraduate and graduate students about different…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide instructors with a hands-on engaging and experiential class activity designed to teach undergraduate and graduate students about different organizational structures in management courses. Through this exercise, students will be able to self-identify the challenges and strengths of working under contrasting organizational structures.
Design/methodology/approach
Split into two (or four) teams, students construct origami animals based on their team’s organizational structure, using both mechanistic and organic structures to create a zoo based on a set of instructions and boundary conditions. Materials required include origami paper, markers, printed instructions, origami animal instructions, and role title cards for each student. The exercise takes approximately 30–45 min, including debriefing discussion. All materials/instructions needed are included with this paper (except origami paper and markers).
Findings
Through this exercise, students internalize the challenges and strengths of working in organizations with contrasting structures. The debrief discussion will help solidify student understanding of what the day to day experience of working in different organizational structures might look like, the pros and cons of different structures, and what type of employees or industries might thrive under different structures.
Research limitations/implications
This paper is being submitted for the “Special Issue Call for Papers: Modern Day Experiential Exercises.”
Practical implications
This activity allows students to draw their own conclusions about organizational structure and to engage in a fruitful discussion about what working at different types of organizations looks like on a day-to-day basis.
Social implications
This activity allows students to strengthen their skills in communication, teamwork, and leadership by having them work in teams to complete a challenging, competitive task.
Originality/value
While teaching organizational structure in management courses has traditionally been limited to traditional forms of instruction such as lecturing and reviewing different organizational charts, this activity gives students a fun competitive in-class activity in which they practice working as a part of contrasting organizational structures to see what type of structure they might thrive in.
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Helena Priest, Paula Roberts, Helen Dent, Tom Hunt, Dale Weston, Amy Chell, Christine Blincoe and Christine Armstrong
Effective interprofessional working is widely claimed to enhance service delivery, user satisfaction, and most importantly, clinical outcomes. Achieving this position is proving…
Abstract
Purpose
Effective interprofessional working is widely claimed to enhance service delivery, user satisfaction, and most importantly, clinical outcomes. Achieving this position is proving difficult. Research suggests that strategies to enhance interprofessional collaboration should begin at the earliest possible opportunity to prevent negative stereotypes from developing. This project was an attempt to develop effective interprofessional education (IPE) across staff groups who work in the mental health arena (mental health nursing students and clinical psychology trainees).
Design/methodology/approach
Participants were whole cohorts of undergraduate mental health nursing students (n=11) in their second year of training (at the commencement of their “branch” programme), and trainees on the doctorate in clinical psychology (n=10) at the start of their first year of training. IPE sessions were facilitated by mental health nursing and clinical psychology academic staff and clinicians. Activities included creative group work and problem‐based learning. Seven sessions were delivered across over a 2 year period.
Findings
Qualitative and quantitative data from this two year project showed an increase in positive attitudes towards professionals from each profession over a two year period, though no overall improvement. Qualitative analysis of participant comments provided more encouraging support for improvement in attitudes, within the theme areas of teamwork and collaboration, professional identity, and roles and responsibilities. Overall, the project provided important information on building positive attitudes within the mental health workforce, while identifying challenges that need to be anticipated and addressed.
Originality/value
Few studies have explored IPE in mental health contexts, especially in the pre‐qualification arena.
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E‐Teaching as the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in education is of growing importance for educational theory and practice. Many universities and other…
Abstract
E‐Teaching as the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in education is of growing importance for educational theory and practice. Many universities and other higher education institutions use ICT to support teaching. However, there are contradicting opinions about the value and outcome of e‐teaching. This paper starts with a review of the literature on e‐teaching and uses this as a basis for distilling success factors for e‐teaching. It then discusses the case study of an e‐voting system used for giving student feedback and marking student presentations. The case study is critically discussed in the light of the success factors developed earlier. The conclusion is that e‐teaching, in order to be successful, should be embedded in the organisational and individual teaching philosophy.
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The purpose of this study is to explore whether interlock ties between the board of directors and the external auditors facilitate the cross-firm diffusion of voluntary…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore whether interlock ties between the board of directors and the external auditors facilitate the cross-firm diffusion of voluntary disclosures in annual reports.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a sample of 149 non-financial companies publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Euronext Amsterdam, we use ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis to examine the relationships between the incidence of financial and non-financial voluntary disclosures in the focal firms’ annual reports and the annual reports of other companies to which the firms are related via the interlock ties of its board members and external auditor.
Findings
The results show significant associations between financial and non-financial voluntary disclosures in the focal and related firms’ annual reports when there were board interlocks. Differences in the diffusion of specific types of disclosures are found depending on the type of interlocking director. The results also show that interlock ties of the external auditors positively influence the associations with voluntary financial disclosures in the annual reports.
Practical implications
We find clear indications that board and auditor interlocks form important sources of inter-organisational information exchange that can drive changes in voluntary disclosure practices in annual reports. The networks of social relationships between firms may play a significant incremental role in the cross-firm diffusion of corporate voluntary disclosure practices, particularly in complex and ambiguous situations.
Originality/value
This paper is the first empirical study to investigate how board and external auditor interlock ties are related to the levels of financial and non-financial voluntary disclosures in the focal and related firms’ annual reports.
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President Bill Clinton has had many opponents and enemies, most of whom come from the political right wing. Clinton supporters contend that these opponents, throughout the Clinton…
Abstract
President Bill Clinton has had many opponents and enemies, most of whom come from the political right wing. Clinton supporters contend that these opponents, throughout the Clinton presidency, systematically have sought to undermine this president with the goal of bringing down his presidency and running him out of office; and that they have sought non‐electoral means to remove him from office, including Travelgate, the death of Deputy White House Counsel Vincent Foster, the Filegate controversy, and the Monica Lewinsky matter. This bibliography identifies these and other means by presenting citations about these individuals and organizations that have opposed Clinton. The bibliography is divided into five sections: General; “The conspiracy stream of conspiracy commerce”, a White House‐produced “report” presenting its view of a right‐wing conspiracy against the Clinton presidency; Funding; Conservative organizations; and Publishing/media. Many of the annotations note the links among these key players.
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Nathalia de Paula and Silvio Melhado
The objective of this paper is to draw up management guidelines on environmental sustainability for architectural and engineering design firms.
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of this paper is to draw up management guidelines on environmental sustainability for architectural and engineering design firms.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is derived from a research experience between 2010 and 2018. That experience comes from three source sets: Management Development Program for Design Firms from the Research Line of Management Design, Department of Civil Construction Engineering, University of São Paulo in Brazil; papers including a doctoral thesis; and literature review. Revisiting and investigating processes were conducted by research questions, resulting in lessons learned, management difficulties and guidelines.
Findings
The guidelines were drawn up from a strategic sphere, understanding internal and external factors to the firm, diagnosis of the firm's management and sustainability, a building sustainability plan, implications of the plan for management processes, plan monitoring and control and plan evaluation.
Research limitations/implications
The studies were mostly conducted in Brazil, and one of them in the USA. Other studies could be carried out in other countries comparing findings or implementing the guidelines.
Practical implications
The findings will provide feedback to Management Development Program for Design Firms (PDGEP) in the action research method. Moreover, the knowledge about firm's capabilities can advance understanding of architectural and engineering (AE) design firm management as support for sustainability, performance and building information modeling (BIM).
Originality/value
Architectural and engineering design firms are hardly discussed; design is treated in the building project context, giving prominence to technical solutions, not to management ones.
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Gender bias in artificial intelligence (AI) should be solved as a priority before AI algorithms become ubiquitous, perpetuating and accentuating the bias. While the problem has…
Abstract
Purpose
Gender bias in artificial intelligence (AI) should be solved as a priority before AI algorithms become ubiquitous, perpetuating and accentuating the bias. While the problem has been identified as an established research and policy agenda, a cohesive review of existing research specifically addressing gender bias from a socio-technical viewpoint is lacking. Thus, the purpose of this study is to determine the social causes and consequences of, and proposed solutions to, gender bias in AI algorithms.
Design/methodology/approach
A comprehensive systematic review followed established protocols to ensure accurate and verifiable identification of suitable articles. The process revealed 177 articles in the socio-technical framework, with 64 articles selected for in-depth analysis.
Findings
Most previous research has focused on technical rather than social causes, consequences and solutions to AI bias. From a social perspective, gender bias in AI algorithms can be attributed equally to algorithmic design and training datasets. Social consequences are wide-ranging, with amplification of existing bias the most common at 28%. Social solutions were concentrated on algorithmic design, specifically improving diversity in AI development teams (30%), increasing awareness (23%), human-in-the-loop (23%) and integrating ethics into the design process (21%).
Originality/value
This systematic review is the first of its kind to focus on gender bias in AI algorithms from a social perspective within a socio-technical framework. Identification of key causes and consequences of bias and the breakdown of potential solutions provides direction for future research and policy within the growing field of AI ethics.
Peer review
The peer review history for this article is available at https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-08-2021-0452
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Paula Álvarez-González and Carmen Otero-Neira
Mergers and acquisition are a very common part of business strategy. However, it is not clear if and how these processes affect customers. This study aims to assess banking M&A…
Abstract
Purpose
Mergers and acquisition are a very common part of business strategy. However, it is not clear if and how these processes affect customers. This study aims to assess banking M&A from the marketing perspective, by analyzing its impact on the customer loyalty.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employed a purposive sampling method for collecting data from 232 respondents using a self-administered questionnaire. Variance-based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used for testing the proposed structural model.
Findings
Results show that M&A integration does influence customers' perception of key variables like customer–company relationship, and their loyalty after the M&A. Findings highlight the relative importance of these variables and the potential influence of some moderators (customer orientation, speed of integration and communication). The most important antecedent of loyalty in a M&A situation is service quality followed by company image, products and prices, sales channels and sales force.
Originality/value
This paper explores the impact of M&A on clients by using customer survey data, an area that is still an under-explored field, in relation with the total number of articles on M&A that are published each year.
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María Paula Lechuga Sancho, Manuel Larrán Jorge and Jesus Herrera Madueño
The purpose of this study is to provide an initial, valid and reliable measure of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in small companies from the theoretical perspective of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to provide an initial, valid and reliable measure of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in small companies from the theoretical perspective of the stakeholders.
Design/methodology/approach
To design the multi-item scale or measure a factorial analysis was used. This helped the authors develop the CSR assessment tool, measurement instrument and formalize the model connecting observable phenomena to theoretical attributes.
Findings
The results of the analysis provided a four-dimensional structure of CSR, including, employees, customers, the environment and society. Specifically, the authors concluded with an original scale of 24 validated indicators that measures CSR in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The observed results confirmed the validity of the measure proposed to evaluate the commitment of SMEs to CSR through the level of practices developed with their stakeholders.
Originality/value
The scale developed to assess the level of CSR practices in SMEs stands not only as a valid and reliable measure for future research studies but also as a perfect guide for SMEs managers that want to develop CSR practices in their firms.
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Paula Guimaraes, Ricardo P.C. Leal, Peter Wanke and Matthew Morey
This paper aims to investigate the long-term impact of shareholder activism on Brazilian listed companies.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the long-term impact of shareholder activism on Brazilian listed companies.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a sample of 194 companies in 2010, 2012 and 2014 and a two-stage data envelopment analysis to generate an efficiency score based on corporate governance, ownership structure and financial characteristics of companies. In the second stage, the study applies a bootstrap truncated regression to identify whether there is a relationship between the efficiency scores and a company-level activism index.
Findings
The results show a negative correlation between the efficiency scores and the activism index, suggesting that activist shareholders tend to target less efficient companies. A time analysis over the period 2010-2014 does not offer evidence of impacts of activism on changes of the efficiency scores.
Practical implications
Activist shareholders target less efficient companies. Shareholder activism increased after regulation that facilitated shareholder voting and required greater company transparency was introduced.
Originality/value
The two-stage nature of the procedure used in the analysis ascertains that this result is not spurious, assuring data separability between productive resources and contextual variables. This study contributes to the scarce literature on activism in emerging markets.
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