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1 – 10 of over 10000Tjandra Börner and Bernard Verstegen
In accounting literature, there is a strand of thought that is founded on the old institutional economics. One of the problems is that institutional theory can demonstrate…
Abstract
Purpose
In accounting literature, there is a strand of thought that is founded on the old institutional economics. One of the problems is that institutional theory can demonstrate resistance to change, not the formation of change. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to theory formation, in particular to enrich the institutional framework for understanding change, by showing how medical specialists in hospitals, in particular urologists, shape change processes in organizations as reflected in behavioral routines. The results will also contribute to the empirical understanding of medical specialists' behavior. This could generate dynamic accounts of organizational change and help to find a way towards an enhanced framework.
Design/methodology/approach
In Dutch hospitals a new management control tool is implemented, which is the diagnose treatment combinations (DTC) system. A DTC is a way to describe the required medical procedures for a specific illness in a hospital. Here, an investigation is carried out on how and if the behavior of medical specialists changes because of this introduction.
Findings
After analyzing interviews with urologists, four common themes are distinguished and scripted behavior is described. The individual tracks in scripts can be distinguished, but there is more. This is the story that gives coherence to the various behaviors and shows how the arrangement of behavioral routines in an organizational context forms organizational change through time.
Research limitations/implications
This research was based on the institutional perspective. Another view on management control would emphasize other aspects of behavior. In addition, this was only based on one specialism in three hospitals, so generalizability of the results will be low.
Practical implications
The results contribute to empirical understanding of medical specialists' behavior.
Originality/value
The results will contribute to the empirical understanding of medical specialists' behavior and it will contribute to theory formation in management control literature, in particular by enriching the institutional framework for understanding change.
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Gary R. Weaver and Jason M. Stansbury
Religious institutions can affect organizational practices when employees bring their religious commitments and practices into the workplace. But those religious commitments…
Abstract
Religious institutions can affect organizational practices when employees bring their religious commitments and practices into the workplace. But those religious commitments function in the midst of other organizational factors that influence the working out of employees’ religious commitments. This process can generate varying outcomes in organizational contexts, ranging from a heightened effect of religious commitment on employee behavior to a negligible or nonexistent influence of religion on employee behavior. Relying on social identity theory and schematic social cognition as unifying frameworks for the study of religious behavior, we develop a theoretically informed approach to understanding how and why the religious beliefs, commitments and practices employees bring to work have varying behavioral impacts.
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“Scripted behaviour” underpins many repetitive and routine tasks, such as grocery shopping, where it is observed that some shoppers take a list and others do not. The notion of …
Abstract
“Scripted behaviour” underpins many repetitive and routine tasks, such as grocery shopping, where it is observed that some shoppers take a list and others do not. The notion of “scripts” is used to examine the underlying reasons for the presence and absence of grocery shopping lists on major weekly or two‐weekly shopping trips to supermarkets. Little if any current information exists in marketing literature to fully explain the reasons for the presence or absence of lists, though it is known that such behaviour affects purchase activity in supermarkets. Set in New Zealand, this exploratory and preliminary study examines the shopping list being a moderator of purchase behaviour. It confirms previous research into the differences between list and non‐list grocery shoppers and suggests that far more planning occurs amongst all grocery shoppers than might be expected. The study reveals that some grocery shoppers, regardless of the presence or absence of a written shopping list, have a flexible approach to grocery shopping that is part of their overall shopping script. It is suggested that supermarket retailing planners could act on this intelligence in such a way as to support shoppers' pre‐planning, and thereby protect or increase their share of custom.
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The presence of a written shopping list on a major grocery buyingtrip to the supermarket is tangible evidence of out‐of‐store planning bythe shopper. This pre‐planning may…
Abstract
The presence of a written shopping list on a major grocery buying trip to the supermarket is tangible evidence of out‐of‐store planning by the shopper. This pre‐planning may influence both time spent in store and grocery expenditure, two factors of importance to supermarket retailers. Set in a New Zealand city, examines the extent to which a written grocery shopping list affects these two factors by comparing the behaviour of two matched samples, one with lists and one without. The findings are conclusive: written shopping lists significantly reduce average expenditure; the presence of children accompanying the shopper significantly increases expenditure and time spent in store. While supermarket retailers cannot dissuade customers from bringing a written shopping list to the store, they can encourage customers to spend more time in‐store, and to shop with someone else, thereby increasing average expenditure.
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Ivo De Loo, Peter Nederlof and Bernard Verstegen
The research goal was to trace behavioural patterns of management accountants, comprising activities and courses of action, in order to enhance understanding of the management…
Abstract
Purpose
The research goal was to trace behavioural patterns of management accountants, comprising activities and courses of action, in order to enhance understanding of the management accounting profession.
Design/methodology/approach
Protoscripts were derived, using interview techniques and a research method called “interpretive interactionism”. These protoscripts depict observable, recurrent activities and patterns of interaction characteristic for a group of persons, and can be used in various types of situations.
Findings
The paper describes the procedure and outcome of the collection of behavioural protoscripts used by management accountants and controllers, as well as their possible ordering.
Research limitations/implications
The findings enlarge understanding of the controller profession, but are limited solely to controller activities. The protoscripts collected are stereotypical, at least for the controllers interviewed. Of course, all human experience is interpretation and it should be acknowledged that interpretations are never complete.
Practical implications
The control mechanisms and instruments that emerge in an organisation are the result of several interrelated factors and processes. Of special interest here is the behaviour of management accountants and controllers in shaping, maintaining and exerting control. Behavioural protoscripts can show how management accountants give contents to their role and structure their daily work.
Originality/value
Scripted behaviour of management accountants has received little prior research attention, especially in combination with the research method of interpretive interactionism.
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The paper sets out to provide a better understanding of the interfaces between second‐order change initiation by the “initiator” and the organizational contexts. It is an…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper sets out to provide a better understanding of the interfaces between second‐order change initiation by the “initiator” and the organizational contexts. It is an individual level study, and hence involves the dynamics experienced by the “initiator”. The type of second‐order change initiation under consideration is the book‐keeping model of cognitive replacement, i.e. a gradual and incremental replacement of the old cognitive framework.
Design/methodology/approach
A framework was developed using principles of complexity science to crystallize the thinking of the dynamics involved at the individual level initiation and organizational contexts. This formed the basis for the development of four research questions, explored using seven real world individual cases, taken from a variety of industry backgrounds.
Findings
The framework was refined using the case studies. The “initiator” goes through several stages in the gradual and incremental replacement of their cognitive framework. Four specific stages were observed: “embedded”, “embedded discomfited”, “scripted”, and “unscripted”. In each of the stages, issues in the interface with the organizational context were observed.
Research limitations/implications
Although saturation was reached after five individual cases, the research is limited by the number of individual cases.
Practical implications
Four practical avenues to nurture creativity in an organizational context are discussed: nurturing appropriate levels of contradiction in the organization, nurturing and encouraging creativity in others, developing self‐containment in individuals, and forming “opportunity‐finding teams” at middle level management.
Originality/value
The understanding of the interfaces between individual level initiation and organizational context is limited. This research provides insights into this phenomenon.
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Stacey Kent, Peter J. Jordan and Ashlea C. Troth
The impact that workplace aggression has on organizations and its members has become a focal point for organizational research. To date, studies have primarily examined the…
Abstract
The impact that workplace aggression has on organizations and its members has become a focal point for organizational research. To date, studies have primarily examined the perpetrator of workplace aggression, specifically their personality traits. In this chapter, we draw on Institutional Theory to better understand a specific form of workplace aggression, indirect (covert) aggression. We specifically present a model that shows how the normative pressures and social roles within an institution influence the aggressive actions by employees as well as the scripts employees utilize in response to indirect aggression. We assert that an examination of how scripts are used to respond to indirect aggression will be especially helpful in understanding how institutional pressures influence this type of workplace aggression within organizations.
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Simon Gérard, David Legg and Thierry Zintz
The purpose of this paper is to explore the multi-level mechanisms of institutional formation and change and, in particular, how this occurs through the interplay of multi-level…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the multi-level mechanisms of institutional formation and change and, in particular, how this occurs through the interplay of multi-level mechanisms? This is answered with a processual analysis of the International Paralympic Committee which is the international governing body of sports for people with an impairment.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a case-study approach based upon archival records, collected in relevant national and international sport organizations. More than 2,700 pages of archives were gathered, some of them being accessible to researchers for the first time. Embargo was also successfully lifted on recent and sensitive documents.
Findings
This study highlights multi-level mechanisms involved in institutional change processes triggered by a shifting institutional logic at the organizational field level. This paper also shows how field logic shifted at the moment of alignment between the societal, field and organizational levels. Moreover, it underlines how societal discourses influenced processes of institutional change by shaping the range of organizational actions available at the organizational and field levels.
Originality/value
This paper proposes a rare account of institutional change processes in which interplay between the societal, field, and organizational levels is analyzed. Furthermore, this paper provides a longitudinal investigation of an under-researched empirical setting, the Paralympic movement. Finally, this study integrates insights from the disability studies’ research field, which significantly deepens this analysis.
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This paper aims to inform and improve the quality of electronic products and services by outlining an approach to ethically grounded design.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to inform and improve the quality of electronic products and services by outlining an approach to ethically grounded design.
Design/methodology/approach
A number of design disciplines were investigated using desk research and also learning from experience in commercial design practice in the mobile phone, Internet and software industries.
Findings
It is suggested that design “scripts” specific behaviours with either good or bad results. Scripts have a behavioural element and they define the physical, social and individual impact of products and services. This suggests that designers should be aware of the impact design decisions have throughout the product lifecycle. In order to achieve this, three ethical design principles (situated research, reflexivity and participation) are proposed to frame ethical design practice.
Research limitations/implications
It is suggested that measuring impact alone is insufficient to minimise harm caused by electronic products and services. Instead, research should focus on positively informing design through actionable results in the participatory design tradition. Conversely, design needs to accommodate research into measuring the impact of products in order to deliver long‐term benefits to users rather than perpetuating passive consumption.
Practical implications
The paper provides an overview of methods for value‐centred interaction design based on the analysis of alternative approaches to ethical design.
Originality/value
The research in the paper spans a number of related but heretofore separate disciplines pertinent to deepening design thinking. These disciplines are critiqued on the basis of their appropriateness and applicability to an ethical design approach and the concept of scripting, used in traditional design, is applied to interactivity. Lastly, three new principles are proposed for ethically grounded design.
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Lucie Drdová and Adéla Mölzer Hrabáková
In the last decade, much has been debated about the topic of BDSM in various scientific fields. With the slow and steady blending of BDSM with mainstream culture, which escalated…
Abstract
In the last decade, much has been debated about the topic of BDSM in various scientific fields. With the slow and steady blending of BDSM with mainstream culture, which escalated rapidly with the appearance and extreme popularity of Fifty Shades of Grey, BDSM has become a current topic of discussion in a broad variety of contexts. Moreover, with the recent change in medical classification of BDSM practices in ICD-11 (World Health Organization, 2018), which strictly clinically separated the sexological diagnosis of nonconsensual sadism from consensual SM practices, BDSM has also become a hot issue in the community of diagnostic experts. This chapter explores three aspects of the evolution of BDSM subculture in the postcommunist Czech Republic in the context of the continuous worldwide development of BDSM subculture – (1) role-play, (2) unification, and (3) commodification in the BDSM subculture – situating them within the broader context of the development of society in the postcommunist environment and the development of the BDSM scene worldwide.
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