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Article
Publication date: 4 June 2020

Jacky Hong

This paper aims to identify the ethical foundations and principles underpinning the learning organization (LO) concept.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to identify the ethical foundations and principles underpinning the learning organization (LO) concept.

Design/methodology/approach

By interviewing one thought leader in the field, Professor Robin Snell, this paper traces how his early days in academia shaped the development of an ethics-driven research agenda on LO.

Findings

An ethical perspective advocates the importance of establishing a covenant or constitutional foundation of rights that would enable and empower organizational members at all levels to enact the processes of LOs, thus signifying the importance of employee development and a more sustainable approach for developing LO.

Originality/value

A personal reflection of Robin Snell on his own academic career development and research trajectory offers some insights into how an ethical perspective of LO evolved and flourished as a field of study.

Details

The Learning Organization, vol. 27 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-6474

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 July 2018

Tracy X.P. Zou, Robin S. Snell, Maureen Y.L. Chan and Amy L.Y. Wong

The purpose of this paper is to identify attributes and practices that are salient for effectiveness in middle- and senior-level service leadership positions.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify attributes and practices that are salient for effectiveness in middle- and senior-level service leadership positions.

Design/methodology/approach

Critical incident interviews were conducted with 17 key informants, who were service leaders in various service sectors in Hong Kong, and with ten stakeholders.

Findings

Grounded theory analysis generated a 7 Cs model with seven categories of service leadership attributes and practices: character, choreography, care, creativity, charisma, collaborating and competence self-improvement, and 24 constituent concepts. There was concordance between pairs of key informants and stakeholders.

Research limitations/implications

Further research could investigate the impact on frontline service leaders’ performance if one or more of the 7 Cs are perceived to be absent or deficient among leaders at more senior levels, and whether there are acceptable substitutes for particular Cs.

Practical implications

The 7 Cs model identifies service leadership attributes and practices across diverse sectors.

Originality/value

The 7 Cs model provides a map for orienting the developmental preparation of individuals, who are aspiring to become middle- and senior-level leaders in economies that have become highly dependent on service.

Details

Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 39 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7739

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 August 2024

Tiffany Cheng Han Leung, Robin Stanley Snell and Daisy Lee

We identify lessons from a project sponsored by a large charitable trust, which sought to build capability for end-of-life (EOL) care in Hong Kong through interdisciplinary and…

Abstract

Purpose

We identify lessons from a project sponsored by a large charitable trust, which sought to build capability for end-of-life (EOL) care in Hong Kong through interdisciplinary and multi-agency collaboration.

Design/methodology/approach

An in-depth case study drawing on 21 in-depth interviews with diverse stakeholders was conducted. Lyman et al.’s (2018) model of organisational learning (OL) in healthcare settings was applied to analyse the relative emphasis on particular contextual factors and mechanisms, and to identify outcomes perceived to have been achieved.

Findings

Infrastructure such as materials for assessment and education received the most emphasis among the contextual factors and deliberate learning such as training sessions received the greatest attention among the mechanisms. While perceptions indicated that desired outcomes were being achieved in terms of social impact, there were relatively few mentions of “soft” factors such as enhanced motivation, leadership or OL skills among staff.

Originality/value

This study extends the literature on how to create valuable social impact through OL. While prior studies have examined social impact in terms of solutions for social and environmental problems, ours is one of the few that examines how improvements are made to organisations’ capability to deliver such impacts in the context of healthcare.

Details

Journal of Health Organization and Management, vol. 38 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7266

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 May 2022

Sabar, Badri Munir Sukoco, Robin Stanley Snell, Ely Susanto, Teofilus, Sunu Widianto, Reza Ashari Nasution and Anas Miftah Fauzi

This study investigates how, in the context of organizational change initiatives, the adoption of empowering leadership can foster positive social exchange relationships between…

Abstract

Purpose

This study investigates how, in the context of organizational change initiatives, the adoption of empowering leadership can foster positive social exchange relationships between leaders and subordinates, in turn, neutralizing cynicism about organizational change (CAOC) and allowing follower championing behavior (FCB) to emerge.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors analyzed data from 908 faculty members from 11 top-rated public universities in Indonesia. The data used in this research are multisource, so the data processing steps are rwg and ICC tests, data quality testing, and hypothesis testing.

Findings

The authors found that CAOC among these members had a negative effect on their FCB, but this negative effect was buffered by the presence of empowering leadership.

Research limitations/implications

The authors' research captures perceptions at one point in time. Future research could adopt a longitudinal approach to simulate empowering leadership stimuli and investigate the impacts of FCB.

Practical implications

This study contributes to Indonesian business management, which exhibits a culture of high power distance. The findings suggest that managers should improve managers' interpersonal communication with subordinates and consider managers' feelings toward change in the organization so that managers' subordinates will provide feedback in the form of decreasing cynicism and will exhibit FCB.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the understanding of why CAOC may not be expressed explicitly in Asian countries due to Asian collectivist and high power-distance values that discourage subordinates from voicing their disagreement with change initiatives.

Details

Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 43 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7739

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 September 2020

Carry Mak, Robin Stanley Snell and Jacky Hong

The purpose of this paper is to investigate Peter Senge’s ideas from the perspective of the spiritual ideal of harmony/He (和).

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate Peter Senge’s ideas from the perspective of the spiritual ideal of harmony/He (和).

Design/methodology/approach

Following a literature review of the conceptualization of Senge’s fifth discipline and harmony, an appreciative case study of Alibaba is adopted to demonstrate the role of harmony in guiding the transformative application of the five disciplines of the learning organization.

Findings

In developing as a learning organization, Alibaba is portrayed as having embraced three levels of harmony: person-within-oneself, person-to-others and person-to-nature harmony. The authors identify three equivalencies between Senge’s disciplines and the traditional Chinese ideal of harmony. First, personal mastery and metal models correspond to developing person-within-oneself harmony. Second, team learning and shared vision entail developing person-to-others harmony. Third, systems thinking aligns with person-to-nature harmony.

Practical implications

The case study demonstrates various approaches that can be used to foster the development of person-within-oneself, person-to-others and person-to-nature harmony within an aspiring learning organization.

Originality/value

This paper shows how core values of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, distilled into the Chinese ideal of harmony, can encourage the cultivation of learning organizations.

Details

The Learning Organization, vol. 27 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-6474

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 1992

Robin Snell

Argues that the ways in which managers learn experientially areunnecessarily painful and will remain so without significant change inthe shape and patterning of organizations and…

Abstract

Argues that the ways in which managers learn experientially are unnecessarily painful and will remain so without significant change in the shape and patterning of organizations and the wider socioeconomic infrastructure. First identifies distinct sets of experiential learning patterns from interviews with managers and administrators in three organizations. Then discusses the barriers preventing the widespread adoption of these patterns in day‐to‐day managerial practice.

Details

Personnel Review, vol. 21 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0048-3486

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 June 1992

Robin Snell

Argues that the ways in which managers learn experientially areunnecessarily painful and will remain so without significant change inthe shape and patterning of organizations and…

Abstract

Argues that the ways in which managers learn experientially are unnecessarily painful and will remain so without significant change in the shape and patterning of organizations and the wider socioeconomic infrastructure. First identifies distinct sets of experiential learning patterns from interviews with managers and administrators in three organizations. Then discusses the barriers preventing the widespread adoption of these patterns in day‐to‐day managerial practice.

Details

Management Decision, vol. 30 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0025-1747

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 13 May 2022

Maureen Yin Lee Chan and Robin Stanley Snell

As background information, the authors describe the Service Leadership Initiative (SLI), which provided pump-priming funding for government-funded universities in Hong Kong to…

Abstract

As background information, the authors describe the Service Leadership Initiative (SLI), which provided pump-priming funding for government-funded universities in Hong Kong to develop educational programmes preparing students to become service leaders. The universities were expected to create opportunities for students to develop requisite task competencies, character strengths and caring dispositions through experiential learning. The authors also describe how, prior to the SLI, Lingnan University (LU) had already been building networks and systems for service-learning projects to benefit the community while furthering academic development, and this platform was helpful for service leadership development.

In the core of this chapter, the authors explain how faculty and staff members at LU have designed, structured and supported course embedded service-learning projects that were undertaken by teams of undergraduate students as vehicles for developing their attributes as emerging service leaders.

Based on our prior research into students’ accounts of negative and positive experiences, the authors identify and explain some unfavourable and favourable contextual factors for undergraduates’ development as emerging service leaders. The favourable factors are based on three preconditions: genuine service leadership responsibilities; community partner representatives as co-educators; and the students’ own readiness to practice as service leaders (as opposed to learning passively).

Based on students’ descriptions, the authors provide illustrations of how students practiced ten service leadership attributes in the context of service-learning projects conducted at local kindergartens, and about the further self-developmental needs they identified. This chapter concludes with the observation that the discrete service leadership attributes the authors identified appear in practice to be mutually supporting.

Details

Developing Leaders for Real: Proven Approaches That Deliver Impact
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80071-365-9

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 September 1996

Robin S. Snell, Almaz M‐K Chak and Keith F. Taylor

The moral ethos profiles (MEPs) of six Hong Kong companies were investigated via questionnaires and in‐depth qualitative interviews and analyzed according to the Kohlberg stages…

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Abstract

The moral ethos profiles (MEPs) of six Hong Kong companies were investigated via questionnaires and in‐depth qualitative interviews and analyzed according to the Kohlberg stages model. In five of the companies, the MEPs obtained via interviews were consistent with those obtained from the questionnaires. Interviews and questionnaires were also used to investigate how managers in these companies tackled ethical dilemmas (both real work‐based ones of their own and hypothetical ones). In the company with the consistently least virtuous MEP, managers used more lower‐stage ethical reasoning to tackle ethical dilemmas. There was, however, no difference between managers in companies with the most virtuous and moderately virtuous MEPs in terms of the stage‐level of ethical reasoning they used to tackle ethical dilemmas. The study helped to refine a moral ethos questionnaire.

Details

Management Research News, vol. 19 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0140-9174

Article
Publication date: 1 May 1993

Robin Snell

Identifies four separate and distinct patterns through whichmanagerial and micropolitical styles may be acquired by means ofmodelling. Each of these patterns is illustrated by…

Abstract

Identifies four separate and distinct patterns through which managerial and micropolitical styles may be acquired by means of modelling. Each of these patterns is illustrated by examples drawn from research in two British‐based organizations, which invited managers to describe how they had learned and developed in the workplace. Discusses the plausibility of each pattern along with its potential advantages and disadvantages. Concludes by pointing out that the choice and use of particular patterns of modelling is imbued with an ethical stance, and that there is a need for greater clarity about what is entailed in learning through modelling.

Details

Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 14 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7739

Keywords

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