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1 – 10 of 186
Article
Publication date: 6 November 2007

Sarah E.A. Dixon and Marc Day

The purpose of this paper is to identify critical success factors for the management of change in transition economies.

2703

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify critical success factors for the management of change in transition economies.

Design/methodology/approach

Four longitudinal case studies of Russian oil companies covering a ten‐year period from 1995, based on 71 in‐depth interviews. Examines organisational change from a resource‐based and organisational learning perspective.

Findings

Explains how top managers firstly, break with administrative heritage to increase absorptive capacity and secondly, leverage administrative heritage for rapid implementation of change. Intra‐ and cross‐case analyses demonstrate that absorptive capacity increases and organisational change occurs where the top management team has radically different skills and mindsets from the dominant logic of the post‐Soviet organisation, an entrepreneurial orientation and the capability to drive through change due to a top‐down management style.

Research limitations/implications

The research is restricted to four case studies. However, the critical success factors identified could apply to any large, conservative and bureaucratic organisation undergoing change. This represents an interesting avenue for research on organisational turnaround in the West.

Practical implications

An understanding of the critical success factors for dealing with administrative heritage will assist managers in transition economies and in turnaround situations in the West.

Originality/value

The speed of change in the Russian oil industry provided a unique setting for research into organisational change in transition economies. On the basis of cross‐case analyses, a new theoretical framework was developed to explain the change process.

Details

Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 28 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7739

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 May 2007

Sarah E.A. Dixon and Anne Clifford

The purpose of this paper is to extend research into social and ecological entrepreneurship. It aims to examine how ecopreneurs can create an economically viable business whilst…

13344

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to extend research into social and ecological entrepreneurship. It aims to examine how ecopreneurs can create an economically viable business whilst retaining their core environmental and social values.

Design/methodology/approach

An exploratory approach within the phenomenological research paradigm. Single case study of Green‐Works triangulating data collection – semi structured interviews, micro‐ethnography and document analysis. Inductive approach.

Findings

A strong link is identified between entrepreneurialism and environmentalism. The entrepreneurial flair of the CEO enables the pursuit of environmental, social and economic goals. The success of the Green‐Works business model stems from the business's symbiotic relationships: firstly with large corporate bodies, which are keen to quantify their CSR efforts; secondly, with the community and social partners, who provide employment and training for disadvantaged people and a route to relatively risk free growth; and thirdly, with government and social institutions, which provide special concessions and support. The strong economic foundations of the model provide sustainability for the environmental and social objectives of the organisation.

Research limitations/implications

Research restricted to one UK case study – a model that has evolved in part through policies and business trends specific to the UK. Further research should compare this business model with other social enterprises within the UK and other countries.

Practical implications

Provides a practical framework for social and green entrepreneurship. Of interest to ecopreneurs and social enterprises seeking economic sustainability; to governments, wishing to promote CSR, environmentalism and social enterprise; and to corporate organisations wishing to demonstrate a quantitative contribution to the environment and society.

Originality/value

Demonstration of natural fit between environmentalism and entrepreneurialism. Presentation of business model offering economic sustainability for environmental and social enterprises.

Details

Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 20 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0953-4814

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 October 2008

Martha Mador, Kent Springdal and Sarah Dixon

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the usefulness and relevance of a four stage model of privatisation, based in institutional theory, to quasi‐privatised organisations.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the usefulness and relevance of a four stage model of privatisation, based in institutional theory, to quasi‐privatised organisations.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper studies a UK organisation with changing ownership, governance, and boundaries. Historic Royal Palaces is intrinsically interesting, and resembles many quasi‐privatised organisations placed within charitable frameworks. Application of the process model reveals the governance challenges HRP faces.

Findings

The study suggests that the model is holistic and dynamic, and useful as an analytic template. It is inclusive of competitor, behavioural, and resource‐based views of the firm, and recognises that firms and their governance change over time.

Research limitations/implications

The report adds validity to the model developed by case studies from a different national context. The small number of cases is a limitation. Future research could include other types of quasi‐privatised organisation, and organisations in different national settings.

Practical implications

The model provides a helpful template for interpreting and explaining the changes enacted by organisations and their members through privatisation. Further, although largely descriptive, the model also has some predictive power. It can help policy makers and managers predict some of the key limitations of the privatisation process of a particular organisation based on the specific nature of its context and settings.

Originality/value

The detailed discussion of a quasi‐privatised organisation – an increasingly common, but little researched organisational type is significant. The development of a holistic approach for understanding organisational changes is also significant.

Details

Corporate Governance: The international journal of business in society, vol. 8 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1472-0701

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 29 May 2007

Slawomir Magala

408

Abstract

Details

Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 20 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0953-4814

Article
Publication date: 21 July 2022

Sarah Barriage

This study aims to explore young children’s information practices within the context of their individual interests, examining children’s interest-related information activities…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore young children’s information practices within the context of their individual interests, examining children’s interest-related information activities, challenges encountered and enablers received.

Design/methodology/approach

Participants included 18 children between five and seven years of age and their parents. Data were collected using a multi-stage participatory approach. Children shared their experiences via a book discussion, poster activity, participant-generated photography and a photo-elicitation interview. Parents provided information about family demographics and their perceptions of their children’s individual interests, information practices and digital media use via questionnaires. Data were analyzed using the constant comparative method.

Findings

Young children seek information via print and digital objects, other people and experiences, and use information by applying it to their activities and sharing information with others. Challenges to information activities include children’s own capabilities and skills, constraints of information sources and parental restrictions on their activities. Enablers include affordances of technology and parental support.

Originality/value

This study takes a holistic approach to understanding young children’s perspectives of their information activities, examining information use and sharing activities in addition to information seeking.

Details

Information and Learning Sciences, vol. 123 no. 7/8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2398-5348

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 1 May 2013

John Churchley is the Assistant Superintendent-Human Resources for the Kamloops/Thompson School District in British Columbia, Canada. He has a background in both arts education…

Abstract

John Churchley is the Assistant Superintendent-Human Resources for the Kamloops/Thompson School District in British Columbia, Canada. He has a background in both arts education and educational leadership. These two fields are reflected in his work as a practitioner and leader and in his academic research. He has taught music at elementary, secondary, and university levels and has worked as a fine arts curriculum consultant and as a school principal and district administrator. John holds a Doctor of Education degree from the University of Nottingham and keeps connected academically through an appointment as Adjunct Professor at Thompson Rivers University and through his involvement in the Arts, Aesthetics, Creativity, and Organization Research Network. His research interests include: the aesthetic experience; integrated arts/aesthetic education; leadership development and its intersection with aesthetic education; and public education issues in human resources management, labor law, and labor relations. E-mail: jchurchley@sd73.bc.ca

Details

Understanding the Principalship: An International Guide to Principal Preparation
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78190-679-8

Article
Publication date: 29 April 2014

Hugo Canham

The purpose of this paper is to foreground non-conformity in organisational life as it relates to black female managers. My intervention here is to problematise organisational…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to foreground non-conformity in organisational life as it relates to black female managers. My intervention here is to problematise organisational theory in relation to its limited ability to engage with affect and to point to a more generative framework. Through centering the body, the author also seeks to offer a counter narrative to the field of Positive Organisation Scholarship and its drive to primarily engage with happy feelings and harmony.

Design/methodology/approach

The author gives a close reading of four black women's interview-based narratives to engage with the ways in which they refuse to conform to organisational scripts of happiness. The author makes a case for using both critical discourse-based and affective readings of everyday experience which social science readings cannot readily account for.

Findings

Non-conformity has a number of local effects including negotiating the present from a position of alternative histories of struggle and cultural values, and holding different and conflicting realities and subject positions. Moreover, a reading of these women's accounts suggests that affect is both personal and social and can manifest in multiple, embodied, transformative, and potentially destructive ways. The author comes to new ways of understanding organisations and resistance when the author uses affect as an investigative lens.

Research limitations/implications

By virtue of the close reading necessitated by the nature of the study, the sample of this research is small. While the intention is not generality, the findings of the research have to be understood in context and applied within different settings with caution. The implications of this research are that there remains an urgent need for critical-orientated research which centers affect in order to counter the growing positive psychologies which relegate asymmetries to the margins.

Social implications

In South Africa where black women constitute the numerical majority, there is an urgent need to understand and reverse their status as a minority in management and social life. This research goes some way in explicating this process.

Originality/value

While there is well-developed body of feminist research which seeks to study black women in South Africa, there is a dearth of research into black women in the workplace. This paper therefore presents an original look at black female managers by applying international theoretical tools to a context that is under theorised. This research presents new methodological and theoretical tools and analysis to the South African workplace.

Details

Gender in Management: An International Journal, vol. 29 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-2413

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 January 2019

Alex Opoku and Sarah A. Mills

As part of the UK Government’s strategy to address the current shortage of primary school places is the construction of standardised designed schools. The UK Government has been…

Abstract

Purpose

As part of the UK Government’s strategy to address the current shortage of primary school places is the construction of standardised designed schools. The UK Government has been facing an uphill battle to meet the demand for the ever-increasing number of school places it requires. This paper aims to explore the use of standardised school design in addressing the problem of primary school places in the UK.

Design/methodology/approach

Due to the exploratory nature of this investigation, a pragmatic research philosophy is utilised and mixed-method data collection techniques are used. Quantitative data collection is in the form of a survey involving 306 construction professionals and stakeholders; this has been consolidated using qualitative data collection in the form of nine purposefully selected semi-structured interviews.

Findings

The research highlighted the influence that people and their perceptions have on the successful implementation of standardisation. The results show that a high level of misunderstanding exists around the concept of standardisation and its definition. Standardised design has shown to have a remarkable influence in reducing the cost and time required for delivering the construction of new schools.

Research limitations/implications

Due to the exploratory nature of this research, the results obtained have not been wholly conclusive but have instead provided a contribution to the area of standardisation in construction.

Originality/value

The research has uncovered that, to truly promote and drive standardisation in the delivery of schools, a joint approach is required with designers, contractors, clients and manufacturers, working in partnership to develop successful solutions. The paper will, therefore, help the key stakeholders delivering standardised schools in UK to fully understand the concept and turn the challenges into opportunities.

Details

Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology, vol. 17 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1726-0531

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1901

At a recent inquest upon the body of a woman who was alleged to have died as the result of taking certain drugs for an improper purpose, one of the witnesses described himself as …

Abstract

At a recent inquest upon the body of a woman who was alleged to have died as the result of taking certain drugs for an improper purpose, one of the witnesses described himself as “an analyst and manufacturing chemist,” but when asked by the coroner what qualifications he had, he replied : “I have no qualifications whatever. What I know I learned from my father, who was a well‐known ‘F.C.S.’” Comment on the “F.C.S.” is needless.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 3 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Article
Publication date: 8 October 2018

Anna Marie Johnson, Amber Willenborg, Christopher Heckman, Joshua Whitacre, Latisha Reynolds, Elizabeth Alison Sterner, Lindsay Harmon, Syann Lunsford and Sarah Drerup

This paper aims to present recently published resources on information literacy and library instruction through an extensive annotated bibliography of publications covering all…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to present recently published resources on information literacy and library instruction through an extensive annotated bibliography of publications covering all library types.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2017 in over 200 journals, magazines, books and other sources.

Findings

The paper provides a brief description for all 590 sources.

Originality/value

The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.

Details

Reference Services Review, vol. 46 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0090-7324

Keywords

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