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1 – 10 of 307States that experiential learning, action learning and action research have long been recognized as among the most effective means of acquiring professional education and…
Abstract
States that experiential learning, action learning and action research have long been recognized as among the most effective means of acquiring professional education and training. Few tertiary programmes, however, choose to give attention to such “learning by doing”, giving emphasis instead to traditional lecturing and information gathering (highly analytical) approaches. One programme which takes a strong experiential learning approach is the postgraduate project management course conducted at the Queensland University of Technology. The project management course recognizes and aims to develop the technical, financial and legal knowledge and skills, and the specialist people knowledge and practical process skills required to practise effectively as a project manager. Shared expertise comes from the host School of Construction Management and from the School of Social Science. Describes the course and indicates a balance given in training to the academic analytical requirements and to the use of experiential learning and self‐development exercises. These include indoor exercises aimed at developing knowledge of options, the use of questionnaires and the use of outdoor exercises at off‐campus camps aimed at developing self‐ and other‐awareness. Roughly 40 per cent of the course is taught through a mix of experiential and lecturing presentation; the remaining 60 per cent is more traditional in the teaching of the legal and other technical and financial requirements. Discusses the success of the experiential approach for teaching the people side of project management.
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Kuldeep Kumar, Sukanto Bhattacharya and Richard Hicks
Recent research has confirmed an underlying economic logic that connects each of the three vertices of the “fraud triangle” – a fundamental criminological model of factors driving…
Abstract
Purpose
Recent research has confirmed an underlying economic logic that connects each of the three vertices of the “fraud triangle” – a fundamental criminological model of factors driving occupational fraud. It is postulated that in the presence of economic motivation and opportunity (the first two vertices of the fraud triangle), the likelihood of an occupational fraud happening in an organization increases substantially if the overall organization culture is perceived as being slack toward fraud as it helps potential fraudsters in rationalizing their actions (rationalization being the third vertex of the fraud triangle). This paper aims to offer a viable approach for collecting and processing of data to identify and operationalize the key factors underlying employee perception of organization culture toward occupational frauds.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reports and analyses the results of a pilot study conducted using a convenience sampling approach to identify and operationalize the key factors underlying employee perception of organization culture with respect to occupational frauds. Given a very small sample size, a numerical testing technique based on the binomial distribution has been applied to test for significance of the proportion of respondents who agree that a lenient organizational culture toward fraud can create a rationalization for fraud.
Findings
The null hypothesis assumed no difference in the population proportions between those who agree and those who disagree with the view that a lenient organizational culture toward fraud can create a rationalization for fraud. Based on the results of the numerical test, the null hypothesis is rejected in favor of the alternative that the population proportion of those who agree with the stated view in fact exceeded the proportion of those who disagreed.
Research limitations/implications
The obvious limitation is the very small size of the sample obtained because of an extremely low rate of response to the survey questionnaires. However, while of course a much bigger data set needs to be collected to develop a generalizable prediction model, the small sample was enough for the purpose of a pilot study.
Practical implications
This paper makes two distinct practical contributions. First, it posits a viable empirical research plan for identifying, collecting and processing the right data to identify and operationalize the key underlying factors that capture an employee’s perception of organizational culture toward fraud as a basis for rationalizing an act of fraud. Second, it demonstrates via a small-scale pilot study that a more broad-based survey can indeed prove to be extremely useful in collating the sort of data that is needed to develop a computational model for predicting the likelihood of occupational fraud in any organization.
Originality/value
This paper provides a viable framework which empirical researchers can follow to test some of the latest advances in the “fraud triangle” theory. It outlines a systematic and focused data collection method via a well-designed questionnaire that is effectively applicable to future surveys that are scaled up to collect data at a nationwide level.
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Richard C. Hicks, Ronald Dattero and Stuart D. Galup
This paper aims to examine the current thoughts on knowledge management (KM) and to develop a metaphor to combine these thoughts in a new way that effectively conveys the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the current thoughts on knowledge management (KM) and to develop a metaphor to combine these thoughts in a new way that effectively conveys the different types of knowledge and ways of managing it.
Design/methodology/approach
The literature on the transition of data to knowledge is reviewed. A popular paradigm in KM states that data are integrated to create information and information is integrated to create knowledge. This paradigm is represented as a pyramid‐shaped hierarchy with knowledge at the top, information in the middle, and data on the bottom. Why this paradigm is a simplistic and limited view of knowledge and KM is discussed.
Findings
The “explicit islands in a tacit sea (EITS)” metaphor is explained and discussed in the context of knowledge and knowledge management (KM).
Practical implications
The EITS metaphor more accurately and completely describes knowledge in the context of KM. The practical implications of this metaphor are its flexibility and transparency of the transitional actions that affect the evolution of data to knowledge.
Originality/value
The EITS metaphor is an evolution of the prevailing frameworks and removes the apparent limitations in earlier frameworks. The paper provides a paradigm shift in the discussion of KM.
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Meeting sizing needs in today's clothing is an important aspect of customer satisfaction. Based on the critical incident and grounded theory techniques, data from focus groups…
Abstract
Meeting sizing needs in today's clothing is an important aspect of customer satisfaction. Based on the critical incident and grounded theory techniques, data from focus groups with parents are analysed to establish consumer satisfaction/dissatisfaction with children's garment sizing. While results revealed that parents were dissatisfied with garment sizing, the study focuses on specific causes of dissatisfaction. The centrality of efficient sizing in creation of consumer satisfaction is underscored.
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Assesses the place of Heinrich von Stackelberg in the history of ideas as reflected in the literature of economics. Uses evidence from three main sources: histories of economics…
Abstract
Assesses the place of Heinrich von Stackelberg in the history of ideas as reflected in the literature of economics. Uses evidence from three main sources: histories of economics, the periodical literature and doctoral dissertations to support the conclusion that Stackelberg already has an important and lasting place in the history of economic thought. Points out that the use of Stackelberg’s ideas and techniques is now as general and common as the use of those of Cournot, Walras, Pareto and Nash. Presents a short section devoted to his views on state control because these are so often misunderstood. Speculates on possible reasons why Stackelberg is not ranked more highly than he usually is.
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Once the third largest port in the country, the London ‘overspill’ town of King's Lynn has been revitalized in the last decade. Richard Brooks examines this once rather sleepy…
Abstract
Once the third largest port in the country, the London ‘overspill’ town of King's Lynn has been revitalized in the last decade. Richard Brooks examines this once rather sleepy market town, which now has one eye on Europe and the other on the Midlands and South‐East. Photographs by Colin Porter.
Richard C. Hicks, Ronald Dattero and Stuart D. Galup
Many terms commonly used in the field of knowledge management (KM) have multiple uses and sometimes conflicting definitions because they are adapted from other research streams…
Abstract
Purpose
Many terms commonly used in the field of knowledge management (KM) have multiple uses and sometimes conflicting definitions because they are adapted from other research streams. Discussions of the various hierarchies of data, information, knowledge, and other related terms, although of value, are limited in providing support for KM. The purpose of this this paper is to define a new set of terminology and develop a five‐tier knowledge management hierarchy (5TKMH) that can provide guidance to managers involved in KM efforts.
Design/methodology/approach
The 5TKMH is developed by extending the knowledge hierarchy to include an individual and an innovation tier.
Findings
The 5TKMH includes all of the types of KM identified in the literature, provides a tool for evaluating the KM effort in a firm, identifies the relationships between knowledge sources, and provides an evolutionary path for KM efforts within the firm.
Research limitations/implications
The 5TKMH has not been formally tested.
Practical implications
The 5TKMH supports a KM life‐cycle that provides guidance to the chief knowledge officer and can be employed to inventory knowledge assets, evaluate KM strategy, and plan and manage the evolution of knowledge assets in the firm.
Originality/value
In this paper, a new set of terminology is defined and a 5TKMH is developed that can provide guidance to managers involved in KM efforts and determining the future path of KM in the firm.
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How to select suitable entrants for programmes emphasizinginterpersonal and counselling skills is a question faced by manytertiary training institutions. Discusses special…
Abstract
How to select suitable entrants for programmes emphasizing interpersonal and counselling skills is a question faced by many tertiary training institutions. Discusses special selection procedures used by the School of Social Science at the Queensland University of Technology, over a four‐year period, to identify suitable students for its undergraduate degree programme, the Bachelor of Social Science (Human Services) degree. The process differs for school‐leavers and non‐school‐leavers or mature entrants. For school‐leavers, expressed preference and academic merit are used as the basis for selection. For non‐school‐leavers, expressed preference, questionnaires, group processes and interviews are used. Discusses issues concerning the use of the different school‐leaver versus non‐school‐leaver procedures, including questions of discrimination, problems in administering the programmes and perceptions of the successes and failures in the processes to date.
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Outlines a methodology of measuring personal preferences to improveproductivity. Quantitative (QN) and qualitative (QL) preferences are twodimensions providing a unique frame of…
Abstract
Outlines a methodology of measuring personal preferences to improve productivity. Quantitative (QN) and qualitative (QL) preferences are two dimensions providing a unique frame of reference through which we can make up our minds about all manner of things – careers, lifestyles, partners, social activities, and many others.
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While Christian social principles harmonize with certain premissesof microeconomic theory, private property and freedom of behaviour forinstance, deep‐rooted differences call for…
Abstract
While Christian social principles harmonize with certain premisses of microeconomic theory, private property and freedom of behaviour for instance, deep‐rooted differences call for recasting certain foundations and pieces of analysis. Broad dissent concerns positive versus normative approach, the holistic character of Christian thought, and the latter′s view of human behaviour as flawed and often sinful. Discusses six more specific areas of dissent: consumer behaviour; the firm; income distribution; welfare economics; market failure and government, and public choice. The Christian mind requires revision of conventional treatments, since present microeconomic discussion is subversive of a religious interpretation of life.
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