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Purpose: This chapter examines the resurgence of femininity among Euro-American women who do so under the guidance of a dating coach for success in heteronormative relationships. I set this analysis against Sheryl Sandberg’s concept of “leaning in” at the workplace and older strains of feminist theory in order to analyze, contextualize, and situate the dating group’s engagement with and resistance to feminist theory.

Methodology/Approach: My argument comes from a narrative and content analysis of the dating coach’s blog, public access forum, and data from following the group’s Facebook members-only group from January 2016 to January 2017.

Findings: Katarina Phang’s dating group both rejects and engages with feminist theory. It is very similar to the neoliberal vision of female embodiment in three key ways. The group’s techniques also reference older variants of feminist theory, specifically Virginia Woolf’s and second wave feminist proponents of “consciousness-raising.”

Research Implications: In a “postfeminist” period, researchers have reported a contradiction of a conception of feminism co-existing with a desire for a traditional heteronormative relationship. Phang’s dating philosophy fills and outlines this space neatly.

Social Implications: The cultural resurgence of femininity re-inscribes the gender binary and re-invokes polarized conceptions of gender within heteronormative relationships as well as re-invokes older variants of feminist theory.

Originality/Value: No such study of this dating group has been conducted, nor attention to the resurgence of femininity among Euro-American women with desire as the prime motivator.

The authors examine the role of CEO political ideology in the credit rating process.

This study adopts a quantitative method with panel data regressions using a sample of 5,211 observations from S&P 500 firms from 2001 to 2012.

The authors find that firms run by Republican-leaning CEOs, who tend to have conservative political ideologies, enjoy more favorable credit ratings than firms run by Democratic-leaning CEOs. In addition, the association between CEO political ideology and credit ratings is more pronounced for firms with high operating uncertainty, low capital intensity, high growth potential, weak corporate governance and low financial reporting quality. Finally, the authors find that CEO political ideology affects a firm's cost of debt incremental to credit ratings, consistent with debt investors incorporating CEO political ideology in their pricing decisions.

Leveraging CEO political ideology, the authors document that credit rating agencies incorporate managerial conservatism in their credit rating decisions. This finding suggests that CEO political ideology serves as a meaningful signal for managerial conservatism.

The study suggests that credit rating agencies incorporate CEO political ideology in their credit rating process. Other capital market participants such as auditors and retail investors can also use CEO political ideology as a proxy for managerial conservatism when evaluating firms.

The paper carries practical implications for practitioners, firm executives and regulators. The results on the association between CEO political ideology and credit ratings suggest that other financial institutions could also incorporate CEO political ideology in their evaluation in their evaluation of firms. For example, when evaluating audit risk and determining audit pricing, auditors may add CEO political ideology as a risk factor. For firms, especially those that have Democratic-leaning CEOs, the authors suggest that they could reduce the unfavorable effect of CEO political ideology on credit ratings by improving their corporate governance and financial reporting quality, as demonstrated in the cross-sectional analyses. Finally, this study shows that CEO political ideology, as measured by CEOs' political contributions, is closely related to a firm's credit ratings. This finding may inform regulators that greater transparency for CEOs' political contributions is needed as information on contributions could help capital market participants perform risk analyses for firms.

Credit rating agencies release their research methodologies for determining corporate credit ratings and identify managerial conservatism as an important factor that affects their risk assessments. The extant literature, however, has not empirically investigated the relation between credit ratings and managerial conservatism, which, according to behavioral consistency theory, can be proxied by CEO political ideology. This study provides novel empirical evidence that identifies CEO political ideology as an important input factor in the credit rating process.

The purpose of this paper is two-fold: to describe how Lean methodology can be used, during the COVID-19 pandemic, to enhance the learning experience for non-traditional adult learners (NALs) and to explore attitudes and perceptions of students toward the integration of Lean methodology in online classes.

Qualitative semi-structured interviews were used to collect data for the study. NALs were invited to participate in 60–75 min semi-structured interviews. These interviews allowed researchers to gain an in-depth understanding of a participant’s experience. A six-step thematic analysis framework was used to conduct the data analysis.

This paper presents a Lean model that can be implemented in an online medium of instruction. The core concepts of Lean methodology: jidoka, just-in-time, customer-centered approach, team involvement and standardization and how these can be used in online learning have been described in-depth. In total, 40 students participated in the semi-structured interviews. Four themes emerged from the data analysis: work-life balance; lack of standardization; learning online classes and connection to the workplace.

These findings could help academic institutions, instructors and course designers as they work on implementing new teaching and learning strategies for NALs.

There is extremely limited evidence on the usage of Lean methods for NALs in a public health crisis. As academic institutions move to the online medium of instruction to contain public health problems, this project can provide important practical tips to instructors.

The purpose of this paper is to present an insider ethnographic account of a series of social confrontations between two mutually opposed groups of officers that took place in an officers’ mess in a remote military garrison in the 1980s. The identity of one of these groups was expressed in a particular song that was sung frequently and noisily in the mess. The analysis of these incidents and their precursors provides an understanding of the social processes in which they were embedded, and the conclusions drawn are generalized into the wider context.

The paper is based on insider ethnography, using rich description to present the incidents and their background. Analysis is conducted using other research by the author on the organizational culture of Service officers and wider scholarship not specifically related to the Military.

The paper finds that in-groups and out-groups in joint Service populations do not necessarily run along traditional, Service, lines, and that cultural change in the groups concerned was associated with the rapid turnover of their members as they were replaced in the normal postings cycle. It demonstrates that a socially powerful shared cultural element can, if only temporarily, bring unity between rival groups. It also contributes to the scholarship on the power of song as a proclamation of group identity and the intensification of that identity.

The main strength of this paper is that it provides an insider’s view of a British military social group, which is extremely rare in the literature, describing social processes that connect to the wider scholarship on song, in-group and out-group behaviour, and cultural change.

The purpose of this paper is to present a case study that considers the links between cost avoidance, lean design, and sustainability in relation to two different library projects at University of Alberta Libraries (UAL) – the design of the Research and Collections Resource Facility and the development of new fee-based library services at UAL’s John W. Scott Health Sciences Library.

This case study describes the analysis of each project’s workflows in relation to lean design in order to enhance processes and service delivery.

Findings to date in both of these ongoing projects suggest that consideration of the lean philosophy has already led to process and service improvements. With regard to the new building design project, revised task design is already resulting in significant savings in staff time, and work space. And the staffing model for fee-based specialized services has already been redesigned, an alignment with lean principles.

While this paper does discuss and define lean design, it does not provide a comprehensive summary of research in this area.

This paper highlights the value of lean design as a framework for designing, developing, and reviewing academic library buildings, services, processes, and workflows to ensure they are sustainable.

Lean is considered as a major management approach for improving operational productivity and organizational performance. It is a systemic philosophy that emphasizes on fulfilling customer needs, waste minimization, and a commitment to a culture of continual improvement. In recent years, many higher education institutions (HEIs) have leveraged on the use of technology to provide flexibility in learning and just-in-time training for learners in the efforts to improve both the internal processes of course delivery and enhance the provisions of education quality. In recognizing these trends in HEIs, the purpose of this paper is to identify the key factors that facilitate the conversion of printed learning resources to e-learning resources in a HEI.

This study used a qualitative exploratory case study approach and examined a unique case of a HEI that is undergoing the transformation process from printed learning resources to digital sources to simplify the processes involved in educational service delivery and operational complexity. Data sources include semi-structured interviews with key personnel directly involved in the project of converting printed learning resources to digital sources, notes taken from informal discussions, and secondary data such as minutes of meetings, learning resource archives, and relevant literature. A retrospective perspective was adopted in the case analysis since the HEI has already completed 50 percent of the conversion phase when this study was carried out.

Abductive reasoning approach and well-established lean principles were used to make sense of the digital transformation process of the HEI. Based on the retrospective case analysis, the authors found evidence that characterizes lean management principles and identifies the critical factors (CFs) that have facilitated the HEI to achieve the key milestones in the conversion journey. These include common vision, top management support and leadership, timely information sharing, and relationship management with key stakeholders in the transformation processes.

Since this research is an exploratory case study, the results obtained cannot be generalized. Future research can be conducted to provide an impact analysis of the potential risk factors of a system that employs only the use of e-study materials. In addition, future studies can also assess the quality of the learning services that is supported by the e-resources by gathering student feedback on their e-learning experience that is supported by the online digital learning resources and learning management system.

This study provides managerial insights into the levers to engender the transformation from a traditional print learning resources model to leaning with digital e-learning resources. The insights into the CFs aid education managers to introduce process innovations and encourage behavioral changes that will benefit learners, instructors, and administers.

The study is one of the first to apply lean management principles in making sense of the transformation processes involved in the use of digital innovation in higher education context. The findings provide a holistic view of the process transformations.

This paper aims to present an analysis of the effectiveness of lean techniques and their applications in the supply chain using a survey administered across multiple industries. The objective of this research is to assess the performance of lean based on the specific techniques and implementation methods used, analyze strategies for implementing lean into the supply chain, and to analyze the reasons for both their success or failure.

Through a survey administered across multiple industries to individuals familiar with lean concepts and techniques, lean performance is assessed both within the organization and their supply chain based on the specific techniques and strategies for implementation.

Organizations indicated that training their suppliers in lean methodologies provided significant time and financial benefits.

Some implications for deploying lean in the supply chain in a variety of industries are discussed. A more extensive survey with a larger respondent pool will provide greater insight and a more statistically significant quantitative analysis.

Prior research has focused mainly on the effect of continuous improvement practices on performance. In contrast, this research collected data through a survey administered across multiple industries and analyzed the effectiveness of specific lean techniques and their application in the supply chain.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the lean Six Sigma method can be applied to procurement, processes where there is an extensive use of information technology and communication (ICT) systems. The paper defines a method to streamline, digitize and reduce waste in procurement processes by using the “lean Six Sigma and digitize” methodology.

A framework was developed and applied to the procurement processes, based on the analysis of best practices and on several implementations.

It was found that the digitization of a procurement process which is not streamlined can generate problems. A process must be mapped to highlight waste and low quality. Only when the new process is improved, taking into account also that it will be possible to use ICT supports, can it be digitized. The new process will digitize only value‐added activities recognized by the users and by the organization.

The paper should be of interest to the academic world, as well as to management working in all types of organizations.

Within the field of lean Six Sigma and information and telecommunication technology, there has been a continuous debate as to whether both approaches are complementary or contradictory. This paper fulfils an identified need to study the interactions between a modern example of information technology and its role within procurement, making a valid contribution within this field of research.