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The purpose of this conceptual paper is twofold, i.e. first, to elevate an assumption of Motivating Language Theory (MLT) – walk and talk congruence – to the level of antecedent variable serving as a prerequisite to the implementation of Motivating Language (ML) and second, to explore the components of walk and talk congruence (Behavioral Integrity and Credibility) to understand how they are vital in the establishment of trust at the organizational level which is the key lever for ML to be strategically implemented.

The approach is cross-disciplinary, as it utilized MLT from the field of business; applied in the field of education with research from educational researchers; and for the purpose of utilization by organizations, leaders, and scholars from all fields.

The findings are leadership communication matters and is how leadership gets done, ML makes a difference to employees and organizations, trust is a critical factor in organizational success, Credibility is all that stands between a leader’s believability or not, and Behavioral Intergrity is the key determiner in walk and talk alignment.

The implications for researchers are new research opportunities in the ML field.

The implications for practitioners are clear in terms of how to maximize leader effectiveness and organizational trust/citizenship, increase employee and organizational outcomes and drive leadership development.

The value of this paper is to both the practitioner and scholar in terms of application and deepening of the field.

Describes research into managers′ experiences of significant organizational change attempts. The research project was aimed at developing frameworks which: describe, illuminate and enable a better understanding of managers′ journeys through organizational change; serve as a template for bringing together the very diverse and fragmented literature relating to individuals experiencing change; highlight issues and pointers for the design and facilitation of effective organizational change initiatives. The first part describes the context, spirit, intentions, sample and methodology of the research. Also, reviews a broad range of literature which can inform our understanding of individuals in change. Propounds the need to open up the “real world” of organizational change, as perceived and experienced by managers, rather than any “ideal” view of how that world is desired or supposed to be. Presents and discusses research findings on the sensed and initiating “primary” triggers for change‐that is, the formal and communicated organizational change objectives; and the perceived and felt “secondary” triggers for change‐that is, the issues raised by, and the implications of, the organizational changes for individual managers. The second part presents a framework depicting the phases and components of managers′ journeys through organizational change. On the framework, the experience of managers can be located, in terms of their thoughts, feelings and behaviours, as the processes of change unfold. While each manager′s journey was found to be unique, the framework proved to be ubiquitous in enabling the mapping of all the managers′ journeys, and it also accommodates literature on phenomena as diverse as learning, personal transition, catastrophe and survival, trauma and stress, loss and “death”, and worry and grief. The findings emphasize the profoundness and deeply felt emotionality of many managers′ experiencing of change in organizations. Finally, identifies the outcomes of managers′ journeys through significant attempts at organizational change. Also presents the reported helping and hindering factors to those journeys. Implications of these findings are pursued, particularly in terms of the leadership and development roles and behaviours required, if the organization and its management are to move beyond simply requiring change towards actively facilitating its achievement.

The construction industry in Australia is characterised by a long work‐hours culture, with conditions that make it difficult for staff to balance their work and non‐work lives. The objective of this paper is to measure the success of a work‐place intervention designed to improve work‐life balance (WLB) in an alliance project in the construction industry, and the role the project manager plays in this success.

The paper focuses on an alliance case study. Interviews were conducted at two points in time, several months apart, after the interventions were implemented.

Results showed that staff on the whole were more satisfied with their work experience after the interventions, and indicated the important role that managers' attitudes and behaviours played.

Managerial support for work‐life initiatives is a critical element in achieving WLB and satisfaction with working arrangements. The fact that the manager “talked the talk and walked the walk” was a major contributing success factor, which has not previously been demonstrated.

Behavioral integrity is the perceived fit between espoused and enacted values. We propose that the maintenance of behavioral integrity is a highly problematic and consequential element of the successful management of change. Support for this view is drawn from the literatures on management fads, transformational leadership, trust and source credibility. Practical implications are developed.

The purpose of this study is to examine how corporate communication of their social programs on their websites affects the ratings of those programs by independent rating agencies. Firms expend resources on corporate social programs (CSPs) to promote their corporate social responsibility and sustainability credentials. Stakeholders, however, often respond to such “self-promotion” with skepticism because they believe that there are inconsistencies between corporate claims and actions. This research draws on attribution theory as a framework to examine how the perceived CSP performance of firms by uncontrollable sources are affected when firms disseminate CSP information on firm websites, i.e. a controllable source, where their claims may not be verifiable.

This study uses a two-step, mixed method study for the analysis using data from Fortune 500 companies. A qualitative content analysis process identifies the interfaces of CSP and their communications on firms’ website. The process allows the authors to collect CSP data systematically from firm websites and to identify relevant variables through the patterns that emerge from the analysis. The findings are used in a quantitative analysis to study how the patterns underlying CSP communication on their websites affect the ratings of firms’ CSP by independent rating agencies.

Results show that the location, the manner, the content and the scope of CSP information dissemination on firm websites, as well as perceived commitment to CSP identified on the website are important drivers of perceived CSP performance. A robustness check using an alternative independent rating of CSP also provides results that are supportive of the findings. In addition, the effects are found to differ by sector of operation, firm age and profitability.

This research suggests that communication of CSPs at controllable sources of firm information dissemination can have a significant effect on the evaluation of CSP at uncontrollable sources when such communication facilitates the assessment of other information from a firm to determine the motive underlying a firm’s CSP.

The findings show that firms and managers can influence the perceived ratings, rankings or scores of their CSP by stakeholders when they put the right information at the right place on their corporate websites. One of the findings shows that even moderate levels of CSP commitment demonstrated on firm websites result in positive perceptions of CSP, which has marked practical implications.

The findings show that integrating even a medium level of commitment to CSP increases the positive perceptions of a firm’s CSP. Thus, society benefits from the firm’s action without a substantial impact on the firm’s profits.

This research shows that firm-controlled sources of CSP information dissemination to stakeholders can affect uncontrollable sources of CSP information evaluation.

The purpose of this article is to report on case study research conducted in a German hospital and describe the implications that the “Management by walking about” approach had on healthcare employees. “Management by walking about” is widely seen as one of the favoured procedures for increasing employee commitment and shared understanding as well as supporting high trust work relations.

This case study set out to examine the actual labour processes and the concrete experiences of healthcare employees behind the “Management by walking about” approach in a German hospital. This was achieved by means of a six month field study of day‐to‐day life in the hospital's nursing division.

In this case study, the popular initiative of “Management by walking about” was used as a means of managerial control and, as such, the internal promotion of soaring values and path‐finding visions was met with both scepticism and cynicism.

Pre‐commitment and motivation levels were high among healthcare employees, they were passionate about their healthcare work and they actively engaged in open communication and organisational development. But all this had little to do with “Management by walking about”, and its implications raise questions about its influence on high trust work relations more generally.

The paper concludes that a more critical analysis is necessary to challenge the way in which “Management by walking about” is examined by healthcare management academics and practitioners.

In good or bad times, training plays an important part in the development of knowledge and skill in all sectors of the economies around the world. Just as the successful sportsperson must train to keep on winning, so too must any organisation. Whilst the effectiveness of the sportsperson's coach is reflected by success in winning events, it is often more difficult to evaluate the success or effectiveness of the organisational trainer. Many other factors come into play in determining individual and organisational performance — methods of work used; efficient supply of materials; adequate equipment; attitudes of senior management, and of customers; the whims of the market place, government policy and the world economic situation. With so many variables involved it may seem futile to bother to study effectiveness.

The purpose of this paper is to explore refugees’ experiences of the barriers and facilitators involved in finding a regular family doctor.

Hermeneutic phenomenology was used to produce an integrated description sensitive to the lifeworlds of refugees who came from multiple cultural perspectives. Participants consisted of refugees from Iran, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Latin America who arrived in Canada between 2005 and 2007. Texts for analysis came from first language focus group discussions and interviews with the interpreters for those groups.

The principal themes that emerged from the experience of barriers were “futility,” “dependence,” and “relevance.” Themes related to the experience of facilitators were “inclusion,” “congruence,” and “benefit to family.” These themes provide key messages about sources of patient decisions to seek or not seek care, not comply, attend irregularly, and not disclose symptoms, which can be used by doctors and other health providers to enhance care planning.

The factors that facilitate refugees’ access to a regular family doctor have implications for the development of culturally appropriate healthcare information, policies that support adequate interpreter services, and cultural sensitivity training for physicians.

Previous research documents barriers such as lack of language access, differences in health beliefs, and lack of knowledge about western healthcare systems. However, little is known about how refugees experience these barriers, nor how they overcome them. This study contributes a rich and deeper understanding of how refugees experience these barriers and elucidates factors that facilitate their process of obtaining a regular family doctor.

This study aims to examine the actions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) at a national business context that is firmly defined by prolonged financial crisis. It does so by using a critical view on CSR disclosures in an attempt to get to the heart of the real matter of CSR, from both a thematic content and strategic orientation perspective.

This study is based on a sample of 50 firms that operate in the Greek market and belong to the most significant sectors of the national economy. Their CSR disclosures are content-analyzed, providing a body of 836 pragmatic CSR actions.

The key findings of the study denote differences among the examined sectors, with banks and financial services being the most active in terms of CSR actions. Regarding the thematic content, firms choose mainly to implement actions with a societal character, while in terms of strategic orientation, they opt for CSR actions that serve existing cause-related programs without any brand presence. Moreover, profound interest appears for the external business environment, whereas the number of CSR actions with employees’ participation is limited.

The study offers a descriptive account of the actual CSR engagement in Greece amid a prolonged downturn, thus shedding light on the current CSR trends and deficits and helping decision makers embed CSR as an integral part of their business operation.

During adverse economic conditions, this study captures potential discrepancies between the “walk” (doing) and the “talk” (self-reporting) of CSR. In so doing, it contributes to CSR literature by exploring both the “what” and the “how” these actions are implemented.

To reflect on the matter of self‐consciousness.

The purpose is achieved through the process of answering four questions presented to me by Heinz von Foerster in the course of our many conversations.

It is not possible to understand the nature of self‐consciousness without understanding the operation of human beings as living systems that exist as emotional languaging living systems: self‐consciousness is a manner of living.

We human beings can become more aware of our responsibility in the design of robots that imitate us.

Reflects on what makes us humans special, on subjective experience, and on the world we bring forth.