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Book part
Publication date: 16 October 2018

Antonio Francesco Maturo and Veronica Moretti

The chapter critically analyzes the concepts and the practices of surveillance in modern and postmodern societies along with their consequences. We show the changes in the…

Abstract

The chapter critically analyzes the concepts and the practices of surveillance in modern and postmodern societies along with their consequences. We show the changes in the systems, which are used to monitor individuals, and emphasize the transition toward soft surveillance systems, probably stimulated by digital technologies. This switch from top-down control to “lateral” monitoring systems encloses surveillance practices with suggestive names like interveillance, synopticon, and dataveillance. The dark side of digital health has a bright start. According to Topol’s (2016) vision of the future, we will soon be the “consumers,” the real protagonists, of the management of our health – thanks largely to the practically endless data about our bodies, behaviors, and lifestyles we will be able to collect and analyze. We will share our health information in real time with the doctors whom we will choose based on their score in clinical rankings (here, too, quantification rears its head). Yet, this simplified version of health makes it seem that there are always some solutions, which the algorithm can supply as long as it has enough information. Moreover, in the United States, some health-insurance companies have started to offer a discount on premiums to the members who agree to collect and share self-tracking data with them. Clearly, the discount is given only to the workers who have healthy habits. At first sight, this can seem as a win-win trade-off; however, what today is presented as an individual option can easily become a requirement tomorrow.

Details

Digital Health and the Gamification of Life: How Apps Can Promote a Positive Medicalization
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78754-366-9

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Article
Publication date: 1 April 2005

Yvon Pesqueux and Salma Damak‐Ayadi

Those who use stakeholder theory as a reference are both underlining the correlation between facts and a certain conceptualization thereof, and trying to make the necessary shift…

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Abstract

Those who use stakeholder theory as a reference are both underlining the correlation between facts and a certain conceptualization thereof, and trying to make the necessary shift from a “panoptic” analysis akin to a panoramic vision of texts and positions, to an “in‐depth” one geared towards an understanding of their foundations. As a “theory of organizations”, stakeholder theory helps to nourish a relational model of organizations by revisiting questions about “who” is actually working with (and in) the firm. Stakeholder theory is part of a comprehensive project that views the organization‐group relationship as both a foundation and a norm.

Details

Corporate Governance: The international journal of business in society, vol. 5 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1472-0701

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Content available
Book part
Publication date: 16 October 2018

Antonio Francesco Maturo and Veronica Moretti

Abstract

Details

Digital Health and the Gamification of Life: How Apps Can Promote a Positive Medicalization
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78754-366-9

Book part
Publication date: 19 August 2016

Brian Ott

Service work is often differentiated from manufacturing by the interactive labor workers perform as they come into direct contact with customers. Service organizations are…

Abstract

Service work is often differentiated from manufacturing by the interactive labor workers perform as they come into direct contact with customers. Service organizations are particularly interested in regulating these interactions because they are a key opportunity for developing quality customer service, customer retention, and ultimately generation of sales revenue. An important stream of sociological literature focuses on managerial attempts to exert control over interactions through various techniques including routinization, standardization, and surveillance. Scripting is a common method of directing workers’ behavior, yet studies show that workers are extremely reluctant to administer scripts, judging them to be inappropriate to particular interactions or because they undermine their own sense of self. This paper examines a panoptic method of regulating service workers, embodied in undercover corporate agents who patrol employee’s adherence to scripts. How do workers required to recite scripts for customers respond to undercover control? What does it reveal about the nature of interactive labor? In-depth interviews with interactive workers in a range of retail contexts reveal that they mobilize their own interactional competence to challenge the effects of the panoptic, as they utilize strategies to identify and adapt to these “mystery shoppers,” all the while maintaining their cover. The paper shows the limits on control of interactive workers, as they maintain their own socialized sense of civility and preserve a limited realm of autonomy in their work.

Details

Research in the Sociology of Work
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78635-405-1

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Abstract

Details

The Spectacle of Criminal Justice: Mass Media and the Criminal Trial
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83982-823-2

Abstract

Details

The Spectacle of Criminal Justice: Mass Media and the Criminal Trial
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83982-823-2

Article
Publication date: 27 May 2014

Roger Clarke

– The purpose of this paper is to document the development path of a specific concept during its first 20 years.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to document the development path of a specific concept during its first 20 years.

Design/methodology/approach

Evidence was extracted of the citation-counts of relevant articles, uses of the term in other articles that do not cite the original articles, and uses of terms with similar meanings. Examination of the data took into account insights from epidemiology, memetics and diffusion of innovations theory.

Findings

The concept has had insufficient impact to overcome the weaknesses in theory and practice that it was intended to address. It has lacked champions. It has proven to be sufficiently fit to survive, but not to flourish.

Research limitations/implications

Google Scholar has a wide catchment area, and hence provides a basis for tracking the path of development of new ideas. However, the tools remain fairly blunt, and do not, for example, enable efficient extraction of patterns of citation over time, or the nature of the uses made of terms by the citing articles.

Practical implications

Neologisms take on a life of their own, losing the associations that they were intended to have with other ideas, and shedding their embedment in a body of theory. For a new term to successfully project a meme, its proponent must enthuse a critical mass of early adopters to apply it, and to generate a further round of adopters.

Originality/value

Concepts are seldom tracked over time. This paper shows that a new term and its associated body of theory require more than publications in top-level journals if they are to have significant impacts on academic research and industry practice.

Details

Information Technology & People, vol. 27 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-3845

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Article
Publication date: 28 September 2010

Mildred Golden Pryor and Sonia Taneja

Fayol's theories were the original foundation for management as a discipline and as a profession. Also Fayol was the first to advocate management education. Yet he has critics who…

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Abstract

Purpose

Fayol's theories were the original foundation for management as a discipline and as a profession. Also Fayol was the first to advocate management education. Yet he has critics who revile him (or at least disparage his work) as well as followers who respect and revere him. This paper intends to enlighten today's practitioners and academicians about the relevance and value of Fayol's theories today.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper addresses Fayol's contributions as well as the disparagement and the reverence. It compares Fayol's work with that of Follett, Mintzberg, Taylor, and Porter. In addition, it demonstrates the original and current interpretation and application of his theories. Finally, it indicates the alignment of Fayol's theories with strategic leadership and management.

Findings

Fayol's theories are valuable and relevant for organizational leaders because Fayol was a practitioner who documented theories that worked best for him and his co‐workers. While there are those who criticize Fayol's theories, there are many others who respect them and find them useful as academicians and as practitioners. The theory of management functions aligns well with strategic leadership and management models and theories.

Originality/value

The paper is the first to integrate Fayol's theories with a strategic leadership model.

Details

Journal of Management History, vol. 16 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1751-1348

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Article
Publication date: 29 April 2014

James C. Sarros, Elvira Luca, Iain Densten and Joseph C. Santora

– The purpose of this paper is to use Motivating Language Theory (MLT) as a framework in determining leader use of different language styles during times of dynamic change.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to use Motivating Language Theory (MLT) as a framework in determining leader use of different language styles during times of dynamic change.

Design/methodology/approach

This exploratory study of executive members of the Australian Institute of Management examined how MLT may provide a mechanism for analyzing what leaders say in the context of a work setting. Written transcripts of interview data were analyzed to determine leaders’ use of three language styles: meaning-making (locutionary), direction giving (perlocutionary), and empathetic (illocutionary) language. The software program NVivo was used to help aggregate themes emerging from written and interview data into discrete modules to enable more robust and comprehensive analysis of the data.

Findings

A range of issues pertinent to the way executives lead and manage their businesses, both in private and not-for-profit organizations, was identified in this study. Direction giving language was most prominent in management activities and leadership that was strategic or people related, followed by meaning-making and empathetic language. The findings suggest that business leaders could develop a repertoire of language approaches in order to achieve organizational outcomes.

Research limitations/implications

More research of the language of leadership and its implications for organizational outcomes is warranted. For instance, the strategic integration of motivating language with a compatible set of leader behaviors, organizational objectives, and cultures may reveal mechanisms as yet unknown for achieving outcomes. Research is needed to determine the content and construct of these behaviors, objectives, and cultures. Some questions also remain regarding the appropriateness of using the Motivating Language Scale to examine the types of language used by managers and leaders in the work place. The authors recommend further application of MLT through the Motivating Language Scale in order to help clarify these queries.

Originality/value

This paper used MLT as a framework for identifying leader use of different language styles during times of dynamic change. MLT has been used to identify the speech patterns of leaders during verbal communication exchanges with staff and work colleagues, but this study is the first example of the use of MLT when examining leader responses to interviews and in their written responses to survey questions.

Details

Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 35 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7739

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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 21 March 2024

Alessandra Sossini and Mats Heide

This study problematizes the prevailing normative and managerial-dominated view of self-initiated employee ambassadorship on social media from a power perspective. The aim is to…

Abstract

Purpose

This study problematizes the prevailing normative and managerial-dominated view of self-initiated employee ambassadorship on social media from a power perspective. The aim is to provide a more nuanced and critical understanding of the negative aspects of this phenomenon.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical material encompasses qualitative interviews with employees from 14 organizations and Foucault’s concept of disciplinary discursive power to analyze which and how discourses exert power over employee communication on social media and what role visibility plays in it.

Findings

This study indicates that employee ambassadors’ social media communication is governed by two discourses that create complex tensions, where ambassadors constantly must negotiate between self-branding requirements and an authenticity paradox. These tensions intensify through visibility on social media, where employees strategize and situationally silence their communication through self-monitoring and self-surveillance practices. Conclusively, the findings also outline the need for further critical research to offer a deeper understanding of power relations that influence the communication practices of organizational members.

Research limitations/implications

The paper contributes to a more nuanced understanding of self-initiated employee ambassadorship on social media and highlights disciplinary power relations that go beyond organizational borders.

Practical implications

The findings underscore that organizations need to address the critical aspects of self-initiated employee ambassadorship and act as facilitators to support employees in their navigation process.

Originality/value

This paper contributes a new critical power perspective on employee ambassadorship on social media.

Details

Corporate Communications: An International Journal, vol. 29 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1356-3289

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