Search results

The purpose of this paper is to measure polychronicity in Spain, traditionally typified as having a polychronic culture, characterized by a multifocused working environment.

A sample of 134 executives from 19 organizations in Madrid completed a questionnaire on polychronicity (working on more than one task at a time), time tangibility (precision in time use and performance), context (direct or indirect communication) and attention to people (whether people are dealt with spontaneously or in a more scheduled manner).

Contrary to what was expected in light of the traditional image of Spain, results indicate a tendency towards monochronicity. Gender and age did not show a relation with polychronicity. Time tangibility and context were also unrelated to polychronicity. A previously unmeasured variable, implied in Hall's original work, the spontaneous attention to people in establishing and maintaining good work relations, was positively related to polychronicity. Having worked for a multinational was also positively related to polychronicity.

The study was undertaken in Madrid only and focused on differences within a Spanish sample and no cross‐cultural comparison was made.

As far as the authors are aware, this is the first study of polychronicity in Spain. Social interaction, coined previously as an explanation for polychronic behavior, was added in this paper.

This issue is a selected bibliography covering the subject of leadership.

Purpose – This chapter problematizes the concept of the “American Dream” – important for Messner and Rosenfeld’s Intuitional Anomie Theory (IAT).

Design/methodology/approach – The author uses work from political science, specifically Adcock and Collier in conversation with Gerring to consider if the American Dream concept is “good.” The author continues by contending that the work on the state, its power and reach, can assist with the reconceptualization of IAT and the American Dream concept theoretically and methodologically.

Findings – The author finds that the American Dream concept, while not completely inadequate, significantly departs from Adams’ original definition in The Epic of America while also being associated with mixed findings as it relates to race and the likelihood of violence. The author concludes that through critical work (e.g., Moten’s “The Case for Blackness” and Ahmed’s “Phenomenology of Whiteness”) that in order to better develop this basis of desire in the American Dream concept there is a need to integrate a growing body of work that critically engages with the legacy of racial violence and racialized social conditioning. The author concludes that by studying the ontology/phenomenon of race, understandings of cultural desire may be understood in order to inform IAT.

Originality/value – This chapter provides a framework for evaluating concepts with interdisciplinary conversations with political science. The author’s findings also add to a body of work that, through cross-disciplinary conversations, work to tease out the socio-ecological and historical conditions that influence the interaction of structure and culture that lead to anomie and ultimately deviance.

This chapter reviews empirical studies into the relationship between management control, strategy and sustainability.

The review explores the theoretical frameworks and models used in previous empirical research as well as the research questions and methods applied to empirically explore this emerging research area.

Even if a growing body of empirical research has emerged over the last decade, our knowledge of how companies design or use management control to support sustainability strategy appears to be limited, providing considerable scope for further research.

This review structures the state of our empirical knowledge in the area of management control, strategy and sustainability and makes suggestions for future research paths.