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Article
Publication date: 10 April 2017

Research on innovation in family businesses: are we building an ivory tower?

Elena Fuetsch and Julia Suess-Reyes

One of the central requirements of research is that the knowledge acquired should not only be academically rigorous, but also socially useful. If an article fails to…

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Abstract

Purpose

One of the central requirements of research is that the knowledge acquired should not only be academically rigorous, but also socially useful. If an article fails to address practical relevance, the audience will question its value and respond with “so what?”. Due to recent criticism regarding the practical relevance of innovation research, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether a similar “ivory divide” prevails in research on innovation in family businesses. More specifically, this paper investigates to what extent and at what depth researchers generate practical implications for innovation in family businesses. Furthermore, different strategies to bridge the “ivory divide” are discussed.

Design/methodology/approach

This literature review systematically analyses the findings of 50 journal articles focusing on innovation in family businesses published between 2004 and 2015. Based on this, the articles are classified according to their degree of practical relevance.

Findings

Although the findings unanimously show the relevance of innovation for strengthening business’s performance, only a minority of articles offer in-depth implications for practitioners in terms of practical guidance for action and application-oriented recommendations. A number of reasons for the development of this “ivory divide” are discussed and suggestions for how the connection between research and practice could be strengthened are provided.

Originality/value

This paper attempts to provide an impulse toward more practically oriented family business research in order to increase its interestingness to academics and its value to practitioners.

Details

Journal of Family Business Management, vol. 7 no. 1
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JFBM-02-2016-0003
ISSN: 2043-6238

Keywords

  • Family business
  • Innovation
  • Family firm
  • Practical implications
  • Practical relevance
  • Rigor-relevance gap

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Article
Publication date: 3 December 2019

Reintegrating prâxis, practices, phrónêsis and sustainable action for the relationship between business and society

Wendelin Kuepers

This paper aims to propose to rehabilitate prâxis and revive possibilities of practical wisdom (phrónêsis) and a reinterpret excellence as an ethically committed way for…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to propose to rehabilitate prâxis and revive possibilities of practical wisdom (phrónêsis) and a reinterpret excellence as an ethically committed way for responsible and sustainable form of living, while operating in the midst of a systematically constrained world of neoliberal regimes.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a literature review, this essay first presents some basic understandings of prâxis, practices and its architecture as well as phrónêsis and its interconnection. Further, possibilities for integrating excellence in prâxis and success in poiêtic practice are suggested in form of a critical poiêtic phrónêsis, and some implications are outlined in conclusions.

Findings

Considering the systemic constrains of contemporary neoliberal regimes, this paper has shown the significance of a reviving the inter-relational nexus between prâxis, embodied practices, phrónêsis and sustainable action. An integral holonic approach of constrained prâxis was discussed, by which the macro-level is holonically connected to meso-level of likewise constrained practices to micro-level of action and vice versa. In particular, constrained excellence-oriented practical wisdom was connected with constraining result- and success- poiesis in a critical poietic phrónêsis and creative actions in inter-practices as part of inter-prâxis discussed.

Research limitations/implications

The paper is a meta-reflective paper and view point, but links to “prâxis-related research” are offered.

Practical implications

Some practical and political implications are provided.

Social implications

Some links to social and societal implications are discussed.

Originality/value

The proposed integration of prâxis, embodied practices, sustainable actions and practical wisdom for organisation and in relation to society is genuine and critical. It is orginal in that it provides possibilities to re-assess, re-vive and further investigate the relevance of embodied forms of an integral prâxis, practicing, phronesis and action in and through organizations as well as stakeholder towards a flourishing unfoldment.

Details

Society and Business Review, vol. 14 no. 4
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/SBR-09-2018-0090
ISSN: 1746-5680

Keywords

  • Practice
  • Action
  • Phronesis
  • Practical wisdom
  • Prâxis
  • Sustainabiility

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Article
Publication date: 28 March 2020

Relationships and networks as a chiasmic mirroring of ideas/images translated in context through ritual embodied activities

Sid Lowe

The purpose of this study is to enhance and further an understanding of business to business (B2B) contexts in relation to sensemaking “translations” between “performing”…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to enhance and further an understanding of business to business (B2B) contexts in relation to sensemaking “translations” between “performing” and “representing” of meanings that evolve within an interacting duality. The implications for research are outlined and a need for a corresponding duality in research methods is emphasised.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a conceptual paper exploring some of the main implications for indistrial marketing & purchasing group (IMP) and other B2B research of abandoning Cartesian privileging of generalised cognitive ideas over embodied activities in context.

Findings

Dualities of general structures and contextual practices are mutually constituted by performing and representing translations. They are described as “chiasmic” or “polyphonic” and regarded as polyvalent, dynamic and non-linear. Embodied contextual activities are described as of equal importance to de-contextual cognitive structures in meaning-making.

Practical implications

Practical actors within business networks are encouraged to continue relying upon practical improvisational coping skills that enable them to be effective, embodied “bricoleurs” within complex, often unpredictable and regularly unmanageable, eventful B2B contexts.

Originality/value

A post-Cartesian focus upon ideas and activities, structure and agency as dynamically evolving multiple dualities promotes an appreciation that contextual practices and decontextualised structures are mutually constituted; supporting a practical and pragmatic turn towards polyvalent and ephemeral, contextualised solutions to a diverse multiplicity of problems and issues. A post-Cartesian focus upon ideas and activities, and structure and agency as dynamically evolving multiple dualities promotes an appreciation that contextual practices and decontextualised structures are mutually constituted and a practical and pragmatic “turn” towards polyvalent and ephemeral, contextualised solutions to diverse problems and issues involving business relationships and interaction.

Details

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JBIM-05-2019-0174
ISSN: 0885-8624

Keywords

  • Duality
  • Images
  • Embodied activities
  • Ideas

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Article
Publication date: 30 September 2014

A delivery model for embedding functional skills on vocational courses in offender learning

Sunil Naphray

The purpose of this paper is to develop a delivery model for embedding Functional Skills in a prison environment, i.e. HMP Oakwood, to promote Functional Skills (FS) on…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a delivery model for embedding Functional Skills in a prison environment, i.e. HMP Oakwood, to promote Functional Skills (FS) on vocational courses, i.e. Maths and Plumbing at Level 1, establish a research culture in a brand new organisation and raise standards in teaching, learning and outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

The design/methodology of this research included the implementation of a qualitative approach based on classroom research, a focus group with seven students on the Level 1 Plumbing course, joint Practice Development meetings with FS and vocational staff, the development of key principles for creating an embedded model for vocational courses, the creation of lesson plan/bespoke resource developments, lesson observations of the new model followed by teacher and learner evaluation, a practical task (fitting a bathroom suite) undertaken by learners, initial maths exercises drawn from practical task which were vocationally relevant, associations made with real jobs and work, use of IT/video for added interest, highlighting of transferable skills and users undertook dedicated functional maths exercises.

Findings

A delivery model/logical sequence was agreed that worked for the teacher and learners – practical task/contextualised maths/transferable skills focus/situated maths. Targeted questions generated interest – will a litre of bath water hold if you use four in joists? The study allowed learners to reflect on maths elements from the practical task. The delivery model is implemented by vocational, not FS tutors. IT/video was used to introduce further maths for transferability to other related plumbing areas, i.e. fitting an outside garage tap. Constant links with use of maths for real job activity need to be made/reinforce relevance. Good tutor subject knowledge in maths is strongly recommended. Learners are ready to do dedicated/situated maths once they have built up their confidence.

Research limitations/implications

This delivery model can be used across all other vocational courses at HMP Oakwood, i.e. bricklaying, multi-skills, painting and decorating, site carpentry, horticulture, industrial cleaning, catering, horticulture, etc. A framework/pedagogical guide can be developed for vocational tutors to implement this delivery model in their own subject areas as a basis for continued research. Bespoke CPD sessions for vocational staff can be run to share good practice in session plans and resources relevant to the delivery model. Peer observations can be arranged across the vocational department and the impact of the model on lesson observation grades and success rates can be analysed.

Practical implications

Practical implications can include the development of a two-year Learning and Skills Research Strategy with a focus on embedded pedagogy. A senior team leader in FS can become the research lead for the Education Department, and an extensive embedded learning audit across 35 courses can be undertaken by July 2013.

Social implications

Further pedagogical research into embedded learning across the whole department including employability/PSD/IT/business courses can be conducted.

Originality/value

This study offers a simple, practical and ready to use delivery model which will help particularly non-specialist FS maths and English tutors working in vocational areas (i.e. construction, catering, etc.) to embed the teaching of maths and English in their subject areas.

Details

International Journal for Lesson and Learning Studies, vol. 3 no. 3
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLLS-06-2013-0034
ISSN: 2046-8253

Keywords

  • Vocational education
  • Functional skills
  • Embedded functional skills
  • Embedded learning
  • Offender learning

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Article
Publication date: 13 November 2017

Inter-play(ing) – embodied and relational possibilities of “serious play” at work

Wendelin Küpers

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of embodied dimensions and relational possibilities of (serious) play at work. It shows how a phenomenological and…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of embodied dimensions and relational possibilities of (serious) play at work. It shows how a phenomenological and processual approach can help in developing an integral understanding of (serious) play and its paradox in relation to work and practical wisdom and professional artistry in organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the literature review and phenomenology, the role of embodied dimension, and the nexus of playful practitioners, practices and playgrounds are discussed. Systematically, then the concept of “inter-playing” is proposed as a specific embodied and processual practice. Subsequently, the in-between is shown to be a medium and transrelational nexus for (serious) play that allows a more comprehensive understanding and implications.

Findings

Based on the phenomenological and relational approach, the concept of (inter-)play allows an extended understanding of serious play and its paradox as a form of an inter-practice. The mediating in-(ter-)between is revealed as decisive for playful practices and playgrounds in organizations. Serious play is linked to practical wisdom and professional artistry in organizations.

Research limitations/implications

Specific theoretical and methodological implications for exploring and enacting play are offered. It is suggested to take research itself as a form of inter-practice and to enact a more integral epistemology and methodological pluralism, including body-related and art-based approaches and critical issues.

Practical implications

Some specific practical implications are provided that facilitate and enable embodied play and play-spaces in an ongoing, arts-based learning and development process in organizational and educational contexts.

Social implications

The corporeality of responsive inter-play is seen as connected to sociality and social interaction as self and others are considered as a nexus. In particular, poetic phrónêsis in professional playful practice is linked to social creativity that includes attention and recognition of others and otherness as well as social inclusivity.

Originality/value

By extending the existing discourse and using an embodied approach, the paper proposes a novel orientation for re-interpreting serious play. Equally, it offers the new processual concepts of inter-play and inter-practice that allow more explorations and connections to discourses and practices of phronesis and art(istry).

Details

Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 30 no. 7
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JOCM-12-2016-0267
ISSN: 0953-4814

Keywords

  • Phenomenology
  • Practice
  • Embodiment
  • Merleau-Ponty
  • Wisdom
  • Play

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Article
Publication date: 13 April 2012

Reverse logistics disposition decision‐making: Developing a decision framework via content analysis

Benjamin T. Hazen, Dianne J. Hall and Joe B. Hanna

The purpose of this study is to identify the critical components of the reverse logistics (RL) disposition decision‐making process and suggest a decision framework that…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to identify the critical components of the reverse logistics (RL) disposition decision‐making process and suggest a decision framework that may guide future investigation and practice.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors utilized a problem‐driven content analysis methodology. RL literature from 2000 through 2010 was content analyzed to determine which components may impact a firm's RL disposition decision.

Findings

The authors extrapolated seven RL disposition decision components from a compilation of 60 variables identified in the literature. Practical implications and suggestions for future research are offered, and a RL disposition decision‐making framework is presented.

Research limitations/implications

Although methodological techniques were carefully followed, the nature of a content analysis may be subject to author bias. Future investigation and use of the framework presented will verify the findings presented here.

Practical implications

This study identifies seven components that should be considered when deciding which RL disposition alternative should be adopted and integrates these components into a decision‐making framework. Supply chain professionals who refer to this framework during the decision process will benefit from a more comprehensive analysis of potential RL disposition alternatives.

Originality/value

Congruent with recent assertions suggesting that RL research is evolving from an operational‐level focus to a holistic business process approach for maximizing value recovery, this study synthesizes operational‐level research to develop a practical framework for RL disposition decision‐making.

Details

International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, vol. 42 no. 3
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/09600031211225954
ISSN: 0960-0035

Keywords

  • Reverse logistics
  • Returns
  • Disposition
  • Content analysis
  • Decision making

Content available
Article
Publication date: 31 December 2020

How can practical wisdom manifest itself in five fundamental management and leadership practices?

Maria Jakubik

Practical wisdom (PW; phronesis), as one of the human virtues, is experiencing a renewal in the contemporary management literature. The aim of this conceptual paper is…

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Abstract

Purpose

Practical wisdom (PW; phronesis), as one of the human virtues, is experiencing a renewal in the contemporary management literature. The aim of this conceptual paper is first, to explore the core practices of managers and leaders in the literature and second, to demonstrate how PW can manifest itself in these practices.

Design/methodology/approach

The research follows the interpretivist research philosophy, inductive approach, qualitative method and the theory-building research strategy. The data collection method is a literature review. The practice ecosystem framework is applied to demonstrate the presence of PW in the core practices of managers and leaders.

Findings

The paper proposes a practice-based paradigm of management and leadership. From the literature study, envisioning, enabling, energizing, engaging and executing as five fundamental practices are identified.

Research limitations/implications

The most significant literature was selected based on decisions of the author. Therefore, it might be that important sources were overlooked. The paper proposes future research questions, and it calls for an empirical validation of the proposed conceptual model in management and leadership practices context.

Practical implications

The practical implications for managers and leaders are in applying the framework developed in this paper as a tool or guidelines to cultivate PW in their practices. The paper offers implications for management education, traditional educational institutions and educational practitioners because they are the key influencers of wise thinking and actions of future managers and leaders.

Originality/value

The novelty of this paper is in making explicit how the eight features of PW can manifest themselves in the everyday actions of managers and leaders. Applying the practice ecosystem framework for this purpose is an original contribution.

Details

Vilakshan - XIMB Journal of Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/XJM-08-2020-0078
ISSN: 0973-1954

Keywords

  • Leadership
  • Management
  • Practical wisdom (phronesis)
  • Practice ecosystem framework
  • Practice-based management and leadership paradigm

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Article
Publication date: 31 October 2020

Are you talkin' to me?: the role of culture in crisis management sensemaking

W. Scott Sherman and Katherine J. Roberto

This paper considers the role of culture in crisis management narratives. The importance of sensemaking and sense-giving to crisis management is expanded by exploring how…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper considers the role of culture in crisis management narratives. The importance of sensemaking and sense-giving to crisis management is expanded by exploring how understanding organization culture may affect the plausibility of sense-giving narratives in crises.

Design/methodology/approach

The crisis management, sensemaking, sense-giving and organizational culture literature studies are briefly reviewed. The paper then explores how plausibility may be dependent on organizational culture and how different cultures may create different dependencies. Propositions are developed and the potential organizational interventions based on these propositions in the action research tradition are offered, as they are potential practical and research implications.

Findings

Organizational cultures as shared sensemaking mechanisms provide leaders with the framework for constructing crisis management messages. A plausible message must resonate within the shared cultural experiences of members to shape and direct behaviors during a crisis while maintaining necessary flexibility to evolve as the crisis progresses.

Research limitations/implications

Potential avenues of future research include empirically testing the effects of cultural alignment on crisis management messaging employing action research or other methods, how strength of culture affects the process and the malleability of plausibility.

Practical implications

Practical implications include an organization's understanding of how culture affects not only the messages sent but also how employees might receive the sense-giving narratives. The paper also highlights the importance of flexibility in sense-giving narratives to allow evolution of the message as the crisis changes. Additional practical implications are provided.

Originality/value

This manuscript considers the role of culture in crisis management sense-giving narratives, a topic that has received little research attention. The manuscript argues that aligning the narrative within the organization's shared cultural understanding will increase employee acceptance and adherence to the message. The paper further discusses the importance of flexibility in the sense-giving narratives as the crisis changes.

Details

Management Decision, vol. 58 no. 10
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-08-2020-1017
ISSN: 0025-1747

Keywords

  • Crisis management
  • Organizational culture
  • Attraction–similarity–attrition (ASA) model
  • Individualism–collectivism
  • Sense-giving narratives
  • Action research

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Article
Publication date: 14 September 2015

Safety learning, organizational contradictions and the dynamics of safety practice

Silvio Carlo Ripamonti and giuseppe scaratti

The purpose of this paper is to explore the enactment of safety routines in a transshipment port. Research on work safety and reliability has largely neglected the role of…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the enactment of safety routines in a transshipment port. Research on work safety and reliability has largely neglected the role of the workers’ knowledge in practice in the enactment of organisational safety. The workers’ lack of compliance with safety regulations represents an enduring problem that often involves first-level managers, who are willing to turn a blind eye toward divergent practices. The CHAT conceptual vocabulary and theoretical model is used to explore this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

A grounded, empirical study in a large transshipment port in the Mediterranean area is conducted. Ethnographic methods including participant observation and interviews are used, and emerging data are analyzed through an interpretive methodology. The paper explores 30 employees’ narrated accounts of how safety rules are enacted or infringed while living and working in the field in a transshipment port. Data obtained through organisational shadowing provided secondary data. Interview data were analyzed using content analysis, using a CHAT framework. Constant comparison and theoretical sensitivity were pursued through an iterative analysis process.

Findings

This study documented the critical role the workers’ knowledge played in practice in ensuring the efficient functioning of the port, and evidenced that the disconnect between safety procedures and technical productivity standards is the most important factor determining the erratic compliance with prescribed procedures. The selective application of safety norms was deliberate in nature, collectively shared and culturally regulated.

Research limitations/implications

This contribution fails to address probably the most important aspect of the activity theoretical approach: its developmental orientation. The initial analysis intervention was meant to lead to a longitudinal process of expansive learning and development in the activity system. The authors had planned to initiate a cycle of expansive learning laboratories involving representatives of the dockworkers, the port management and the safety certification firm, but this had to be postponed to an undefined time due to the significant changes occurred in the international maritime cargo industry and the decision of the multinational company who owns the transshipment port to cut down its cargo traffic and privilege other ports in the Mediterranean area.

Practical implications

The practical implications of the case study concern the conception and design of safety training and management for the port organisation. By acknowledging the disconnect between espoused safety routines and the constraints and affordances of the workers’ everyday work practice, it is suggested that safety training could be more effective if it engaged the workers (or first-level supervisors) in the fine tuning of safety regulations. Workplace learning opportunities could enable the workers to learn and construct situated safety practices.

Social implications

This paper seeks to highlight how the consideration of local knowledge and context-dependent practices can achieve better comprehension of situated application of safety norms.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to understanding the complexity of enacting and translating safety procedures into everyday work practices.

Details

Journal of Workplace Learning, vol. 27 no. 7
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JWL-01-2014-0007
ISSN: 1366-5626

Keywords

  • Case studies
  • Corporate culture
  • Learning processes
  • Health and Safety

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Article
Publication date: 3 October 2016

Moral dilemmas in migration policy: economic and commercial implications

Ronald D. Francis and Heath S. Grow

The purpose of this paper is to alert commercial enterprises, and politicians, of the moral implications of policy decisions.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to alert commercial enterprises, and politicians, of the moral implications of policy decisions.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is a review of some moral issues of migration policy, and their commercial implications.

Findings

This paper concluded that strict attention be paid to the commercial implications of migration policy.

Research limitations/implications

As this is a review paper, it does not have research limitations. Rather, it considers the wider implications of migration policy.

Practical implications

The practical implication is for a more serious consideration of the commercial implications of policy decisions.

Social implications

The wider social benefit should be to include the existing populace in such debates and policy formulation.

Originality/value

This paper is an original look at the moral implications of migration policy decisions with regard to the economy and commerce.

Details

Journal of Financial Crime, vol. 23 no. 4
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JFC-06-2015-0031
ISSN: 1359-0790

Keywords

  • Policy
  • Migration
  • Dilemmas
  • Commerce
  • Morals

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