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1 – 10 of 945Simon C. Darnell and Robert Sparks
This paper critically examines the processes of meaning creation and transfer in sports celebrity endorsements. It uses findings from a qualitative case study that investigated…
Abstract
This paper critically examines the processes of meaning creation and transfer in sports celebrity endorsements. It uses findings from a qualitative case study that investigated how Canadian journalists covered Simon Whitfield's gold medal win in the inaugural men's triathlon Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, and how sponsors subsequently capitalised on his media image. The results highlight key factors that influence Olympic sports reporting and their implications for leveraging an Olympic athlete's media image as part of a product endorsement strategy.
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PETER WHITFIELD and CHRIS GRAHAM
In the March issue, John Wellens reviewed Roberts, White and Parker's study of THE CHARACTER‐TRAINING INDUSTRY. One of the statements in the book with which issue may be taken was…
Abstract
In the March issue, John Wellens reviewed Roberts, White and Parker's study of THE CHARACTER‐TRAINING INDUSTRY. One of the statements in the book with which issue may be taken was that course organisers ‘proved rather ambivalent about having their schemes assessed by outsiders.’ In the first part of the following article, Peter Whitfield, a recent graduate from the MA course in Organisational Psychology at the University of Lancaster, presents some of the findings of just such an outside assessment of the Brathay Hall Month Course which was initiated at Brathay's request in 1973. The main findings of this specific assessment are at variance in many instances with the general conclusions drawn by the Roberts team, and a more detailed report is being prepared for publication elsewhere. In the second part, Chris Graham, Brathay's Development Tutor, reviews key issues determining current and future developments at the centre in the light of Peter Whitfield's work and in the context of Roberts, White and Parker's conclusions.
At a meeting of the Barnstaple Rotary Club on November 5th, Mr. Percy Penhale, Borough Veterinary Inspector, read a paper upon bovine tuberculosis. Mr. Penhale said he wished to…
Abstract
At a meeting of the Barnstaple Rotary Club on November 5th, Mr. Percy Penhale, Borough Veterinary Inspector, read a paper upon bovine tuberculosis. Mr. Penhale said he wished to speak with particular regard to a pure milk supply, which was a vital topic to them all. With consumption so rife as it was among human beings, veterinary surgeons marvelled that “the powers that be” apparently continued to regard the present state of affairs with apathy, and it was high time sweeping measures were adopted. There were various methods of infection, but cohabitation and inhalation were by far the most frequent, and almost always in a cow shippen or other confined space where tubercle bacilli had been voided from the bodies of previous subjects of the disease. In the early stages there were no appreciable symptoms, and the general condition of the animal might afford no information. Following a technical description of the disease, Mr. Penhale passed to its importance on the health of the general public. It did not stretch one's imagination far to see that the dairy herd was likely to be far more affected with tuberculosis than other cattle, as these were more often confined together in buildings. It was estimated by many eminent authorities that at least 33 per cent. of the dairy herd to‐day were tuberculous. In support of that he would say that in 56 herds tested around the Birmingham district 37 per cent. were found to be affected. It then became necessary to show that bovine tuberculosis was transmissible to mankind. This had been completely proved over and over again, but to what degree the general public was in total ignorance. In 1912 Mitchell, working in Edinburgh, discovered that 90 per cent. of cases of tuberculosis in the human being were bovine in origin. Those figures raised considerable criticism in the medical profession, but some time later Beng, working in the same city, confirmed Mitchell's experiences. It might, therefore, be taken as a fact that bovine infection was responsible for the majority of cases of tuberculosis in the human being. And bovine infection was but another name for milk infection. In the early days of life, when resistance to the disease was at its lowest, and cows' milk was the staple article of diet, the child was brought into contact with the constantly‐recurring possibilities of infection. To analyse the methods suggested for our protection, Pasteurization and boiling of milk had been the reiterated cry of many, and it was true that milk heated to 85 degrees centigrade (or 185 degrees Fahrenheit) would destroy all the tubercle bacilli or spores that the milk contained. But scientists were about equally divided. One half said that Pasteurization or boiling destroyed some of the necessary vitamines and salts that raw milk should contain. In any case, such methods should be unnecessary, and to his mind it was merely condoning an evil. Then microscopical examination of milk was very uncertain, and was not the safeguard so many would have them believe. Where could they look for the salvation? He unhesitatingly replied to the tuberculin test—the safest and surest test they were ever likely to know. He would have it applied to every milk‐bearing cow. In his view the milk of re actors should be forthwith condemned, or Pasteurized and used for calves.
Keith Whitfield, Andrew Pendleton, Sukanya Sengupta and Katy Huxley
A range of studies have shown that performance is typically higher in organisations with employee share ownership (ESO) schemes in place. Many possible causal mechanisms…
Abstract
Purpose
A range of studies have shown that performance is typically higher in organisations with employee share ownership (ESO) schemes in place. Many possible causal mechanisms explaining this relationship have been suggested. These include a reduction in labour turnover, synergies with other forms of productivity-enhancing communication and participation schemes, and synergies with employer-provided training. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper empirically assesses these potential linkages using data from the 2004 and 2011 British Workplace Employment Relations Surveys, and provides comparisons with earlier analyses conducted on the 1990 and 1998 versions of the survey.
Findings
Substantial differences are found between the 2004 and 2011 results: a positive relationship between ESO and workplace productivity and financial performance, observed in 2004, is no longer present in 2011. In both years, ESO is found to have no clear relationship with labour turnover, and there is no significant association between turnover and performance. There is, however, a positive moderating relationship with downward communication schemes in 2004 and in 2011 in the case of labour productivity. There is no corresponding relationship for upward involvement schemes.
Research limitations/implications
The results are only partially supportive of extant theory and its various predictions, and the relationship between ESO and performance seems to have weakened over time.
Originality/value
The study further questions the rhetoric offered in support of wider ESO.
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Examining the process of job mobility and its effect on earnings, the authors find that this particular labour market is characterised by a high incidence of specific training…
Abstract
Examining the process of job mobility and its effect on earnings, the authors find that this particular labour market is characterised by a high incidence of specific training, that upward mobility is largely experienced within the same organisation and is mainly of the osmotic type. It is felt that a technique must be devised to measure osmotic mobility accurately.
Jed DeVaro and Fidan Ana Kurtulus
Using data from a large cross-section of British establishments, we ask how different firm characteristics are associated with the predicted benefits to organizational performance…
Abstract
Using data from a large cross-section of British establishments, we ask how different firm characteristics are associated with the predicted benefits to organizational performance from using team production. To compute the predicted benefits from using team production, we estimate structural models for financial performance, labor productivity, and product quality, treating the firm's choices of whether or not to use teams and whether or not to grant teams autonomy as endogenous. One of the main results is that many firm characteristics are associated with larger predicted benefits from teams to labor productivity and product quality but smaller predicted benefits to financial performance. For example, this is true for union recognition as measured by the number of recognized unions in an establishment. Similarly, when a particular firm characteristic is associated with lower benefits from teams to labor productivity or product quality, the same characteristic is frequently associated with higher predicted benefits to financial performance. This is true for the degree of financial participation and employee ownership and also for establishment size and a number of industries. These results highlight the advantages of analyzing broader measures of organizational performance that are more inclusive of the wide spectrum of benefits and costs associated with teams than the labor productivity measures frequently studied in the teams literature.
The Hull City of Culture 2017 volunteer programme is widely celebrated and remains a key legacy of the designation. A 2019 master's project found that volunteers experienced a…
Abstract
Purpose
The Hull City of Culture 2017 volunteer programme is widely celebrated and remains a key legacy of the designation. A 2019 master's project found that volunteers experienced a multitude of intangible personal benefits from their time volunteering with the programme. Taking an interpretivist stance, this article aims to capture these sentiments; what volunteering has meant to the volunteers themselves and what legacy it has left them, both as individuals and as residents of the city.
Design/methodology/approach
To investigate legacy over a longer period, the original qualitative research was supplemented with a similar number of interviews taken in 2021.
Findings
The 2019 focus groups were largely positive towards Hull City of Culture, and the effect it had on the volunteers and the city of Hull overall. Participants highlighted various intangible benefits and legacies, namely, personal well-being, perceptions of the city and a sense of community. The world in which the 2021 interviews took place is almost inconceivably different, yet the volunteers' feelings about their time with Hull City of Culture and its later iterations are remarkably similar to the earlier findings. Despite the changing circumstances, they too expressed positivity about the programme and its effect on them individually, and the city more widely.
Originality/value
The continued experience of intangible benefits from volunteering with the programme demonstrates an important legacy of Hull City of Culture 2017.
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This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.
Design/methodology/approach
This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.
Findings
Using financial and non-financial indicators in combination represents the most effective approach to identifying emerging problems within companies.
Originality/value
The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.
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