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1 – 10 of over 2000
Article
Publication date: 1 April 1995

Robert F. White and Roy Jacques

As postmodernity is increasingly discussed in the managementdisciplines, there is growing acceptance that the postmodernity debateschallenge the adequacy of traditional research…

2904

Abstract

As postmodernity is increasingly discussed in the management disciplines, there is growing acceptance that the postmodernity debates challenge the adequacy of traditional research and teaching practices. Argues that, to date, this has been interpreted primarily as a need for new theoretical and/or pedagogical content. Believes the issue is more fundamental. Contrasting modernist and postmodernist theories of post‐industrialism, argues that postmodern transformations of work and society throw the very forms, even the existence of organizational theorizing, academic business education, and “management” as it is currently understood into question. While it is directed at those who have some background with these debates, attempts to provide background and citations sufficient to point the new reader towards other commentary on these issues.

Details

Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 8 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0953-4814

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1992

Robert D. Winsor

Recent innovations applied to the design and management ofproduction in the United States have been termed“post‐Fordist”, in an effort to distinguish these methodsfrom those of…

Abstract

Recent innovations applied to the design and management of production in the United States have been termed “post‐Fordist”, in an effort to distinguish these methods from those of large‐scale mass‐production characteristic of earlier decades. These efforts, however, may be vulnerable to criticism from both a conceptual and also a practical position. Specifically, suggests that post‐Fordist methods not only fail to live up to their ideological promise, but are inappropriate to our current “post‐industrial” state of diminishing manufacturing output.

Details

Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 5 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0953-4814

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 April 2007

John Humphreys, Kendra Ingram, Courtney Kernek and Theresa Sadler

This paper aims to show how industrial thinking has led to a myopic focus on individual leadership styles to the potential detriment of a broader understanding of leadership…

1218

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to show how industrial thinking has led to a myopic focus on individual leadership styles to the potential detriment of a broader understanding of leadership. Also, to present the Nez Perce leadership council as an exemplar of post‐industrial leadership. Finally, to demonstrate that a historical approach can be used effectively to elucidate such constructs.

Design/methodology/approach

A historical examination of the popular portrayal versus the actual functioning of the non‐treaty Nez Perce leadership council during the conflict of 1877.

Findings

Although Chief Joseph has often been considered the supreme leader of the Nez Perce during the conflict period (industrial view), the group was actually led by a leadership council, which functioned in the manner described by Rost and Smith as post‐industrial leadership.

Research limitations/implications

Although the paper illuminates Rost and Smith's model, it does not attempt to assess the effectiveness of post‐industrial leadership, as the successes and failures of the Nez Perce during the conflict period could be attributed to other variables beyond the authors' scope. It is to be hoped, however, that future researchers will continue the debate concerning leadership and its peripheral elements.

Practical implications

It is suggested that contemporary organizational leaders should be focused on leadership beyond style and might consider the post‐industrial model for mutually satisfying influence, particularly with the team‐based and flattened structures common to the modern firm.

Originality/value

The use of a historical example and method to exemplify the contemporary model of post‐industrial leadership. Further, to demonstrate how industrial thinking has encouraged many to focus on the periphery of leadership.

Details

Journal of Management History, vol. 13 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1751-1348

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 2011

Jiang Yingying and Jia Beisi

When N.J. Habraken proposed the conception of support-infill in housing construction in 1960s, housing issues was centered by drawn material construction and consumption, although…

Abstract

When N.J. Habraken proposed the conception of support-infill in housing construction in 1960s, housing issues was centered by drawn material construction and consumption, although the needs of involving in the final occupants' participation emerged. It reflected a transition from the industrial economy to the post-industrial economy. Since the rapid development and evolution in the field of technology and social culture in the last several decades, both the social structure and ideology have been changing. The consumption conception of dwelling has also shifted from physical substance to some invisible items, such as knowledge and service. Therefore, open building, as an architectural design method, should adapt to this situation in its future development. This paper firstly describes the characteristics of the post-industry society. Based on analyzing and summarizing the theories and some examples, this paper tries to re-explain the definition of “flexibility” in the context of the post-industrial society. It concludes that the possible tendency of open building is to establish a service system for future occupants to adapt to the changing living environment in addition to physical changeability of the building.

Details

Open House International, vol. 36 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0168-2601

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 May 2012

Gianfranco Minati

The purpose of this research is to make evident the inadequateness of concepts and language based on industrial knowledge still used in current practices by managers to cope with…

11864

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to make evident the inadequateness of concepts and language based on industrial knowledge still used in current practices by managers to cope with problems of the post‐industrial societies characterised by non‐linear process of emergence and acquisition of properties. The purpose is to allow management to use language and concepts more appropriate to deal with complexity, i.e. to represent, induce and orient processes of chance, and second, to outline a theory of practice guiding their efforts. The purpose is also to underline the urgency of a new general management education.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology is based on contrasting concepts and their linguistic representations of the industrial age to the related post‐industrial ones. The approach is based on representing processes by using a more appropriate language, cultural aspect of science of complexity, able to deal with processes of emergence.

Findings

Suitable, appropriate and open linguistic representations allow effective management of complex social systems where processes of emergence, i.e. acquisition of properties, occur. Current educational process for managers should be rethought. Learning relates to design new suitable models.

Research limitations/implications

One limit of this approach is given by the fact that it is not easy to implement, it cannot be considered a tool and imbalances are inevitable due to differences and inhomogeneous assumption of this new thinking.

Practical implications

It is a potential guide in helping practitioners in recognizing, inducing and managing complexity of processes and change.

Originality/value

The paper presents a new way to recognise and see reciprocal‐relational forces within a cultural‐social‐political context by using suitable translations of concepts and approaches introduced in science of complexity, such as in physics, mathematics, biology, and chemistry.

Details

The Learning Organization, vol. 19 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-6474

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 February 2010

Antonio Giangreco, Andrea Carugati and Antonio Sebastiano

This paper aims to advance the debate regarding the use of training evaluation tools, chiefly the Kirkpatrick model, in reaction to minimal use of the tools reported in the…

5912

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to advance the debate regarding the use of training evaluation tools, chiefly the Kirkpatrick model, in reaction to minimal use of the tools reported in the literature and the economic changes that have characterised the industrialised world in the past 20 years.

Design/methodology/approach

The main argument – the need to design new evaluation tools – emerges from an extensive literature review of criticism of the Kirkpatrick model. The approach is deductive; the argument emerges from extant literature.

Findings

The main findings of the literature review show that the major criticisms of the Kirkpatrick model, though rigorous, are not relevant in today's post‐industrial economy. Issues of complexity, accuracy and refinement, which are relevant in stable industrial organisations, must be revised in the new economic world.

Research limitations/implications

This paper is based on a literature review and presents a call for new research. As such, it is not grounded in original empirical evidence, beyond that presented in the cited articles.

Practical implications

The paper calls for training evaluation tools that align better with modern organisational reality. If the research community responds to this call, the results will benefit practitioners directly. This paper also presents practical advice about the use of existing evaluation techniques.

Originality/value

A new angle on criticisms of existing training evaluation systems does not reiterate classic criticisms based on logic and mathematics but rather takes a pragmatic and economic approach. Thus, this paper offers evidence of theoretically grounded paradoxes of the consequences of existing criticisms of training evaluation.

Details

Personnel Review, vol. 39 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0048-3486

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 January 2011

David M. Rosch, Dana L. Joseph and Daniel A. Newman

A sample of 276 students enrolled in campus leadership programs completed the Emotional Competence Inventory-University Edition (ECI-U) and the Socially Responsible Leadership…

Abstract

A sample of 276 students enrolled in campus leadership programs completed the Emotional Competence Inventory-University Edition (ECI-U) and the Socially Responsible Leadership Scale (SRLS) as a means to determine the relatedness in college students of emotional intelligence (EI) to the practice of post-industrial leadership skills. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported current use of subscales within the SRLS and showed that EI and post-industrial leadership skills represent distinct, yet related, constructs. Results also suggest the ECI-U may better represent one overall concept of Emotional Competence rather than four distinct areas of EI. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Details

Journal of Leadership Education, vol. 10 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1552-9045

Article
Publication date: 20 July 2012

Myfanwy Trueman, Nelarine Cornelius and James Wallace

The aim of this research is to investigate how local company web sites can contribute towards the value and characteristics of city brands online, particularly where…

5670

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this research is to investigate how local company web sites can contribute towards the value and characteristics of city brands online, particularly where post‐industrial cities are concerned, and to establish a predictive model for this.

Design/methodology/approach

Interviews were conducted to gain an understanding of how post‐industrial city brands can be influenced by local companies, leading to the notion of a “constructed” city brand. An overarching brand model was developed based on the works of Christodoulides et al. and Merrilees and Fry and a survey of company web sites conducted. Structural equation modelling was then fitted to these data.

Findings

Trustworthiness, responsiveness, online experience and emotional connection were confirmed as dimensions of company online brand value. It was further shown that company brand and constructed city brand are influenced by customer perceptions of brand value. Company brand was not, however, related to constructed city brand for the case study of Bradford, UK, which has a pervading negative reputation.

Originality/value

A model incorporating company brand and city brand has been developed and validated for a typical post‐industrial city that is in decline. The influence that local companies can exert on these brands via their web sites and behaviours was established. It is further demonstrated that company brands become disassociated from a city if it has a negative brand image.

Article
Publication date: 31 August 2010

Mari Kira, Frans M. van Eijnatten and David B. Balkin

The aim of this paper is to conceptualize employees' sustainable work abilities, or their long‐term adaptive and proactive abilities to work, farewell at work, and contribute…

5495

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to conceptualize employees' sustainable work abilities, or their long‐term adaptive and proactive abilities to work, farewell at work, and contribute through working. Sustainable work is defined as to promote the development in personal resources leading to sustainable work ability.

Design/methodology/approach

The conceptual paper distinguishes vital personal resources underlying an employee's sustainable work ability and categorizes these resources with the help of integral theory. Collaborative work crafting was outlined as a tool to promote the development of personal resources and sustainable work ability.

Findings

Sustainable work ability depends on personal resources relating to our human nature as both individual and communal beings with both interior and exterior worlds. Work crafting may create sustainable work in which existing personal resources are benefited from, developed further through learning, or translated into novel resources.

Practical implications

When formal job descriptions and preplanned job design do not work in post‐industrial work, traditional job design can be replaced by collaborative work crafting, which allows development in both work and employees.

Originality/value

The paper synthesizes different types of personal resources needed for sustainable working and outlines their development processes, rather than adds one more theory to explain some specific aspect of well‐being, development, and functioning. The paper offers one of the first definitions of sustainable work.

Details

Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 23 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0953-4814

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1997

David Collins

Analyses, critically, the interest in “knowledge work” and the “knowledge age”. Arguing that definitions of “knowledge work” and predictions regarding the future trajectories of…

1546

Abstract

Analyses, critically, the interest in “knowledge work” and the “knowledge age”. Arguing that definitions of “knowledge work” and predictions regarding the future trajectories of knowledge organizations are characterized by confusion and ambiguity, calls for a quite different form of analysis. Argues that energy should be directed away from the study of “knowledge work” ‐ the privilege of a minority élite ‐ and redirected to acknowledge the extent of working knowledge across the workforce as a whole.

Details

Employee Relations, vol. 19 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

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