Search results

1 – 10 of 102
Article
Publication date: 23 September 2024

Giambattista Bufalino

The purpose of this article is to investigate the educational and developmental benefits of silence in organizations. It aims to demonstrate how silence can be employed as a…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to investigate the educational and developmental benefits of silence in organizations. It aims to demonstrate how silence can be employed as a pedagogical tool to foster deeper learning, support personal and professional growth, and enhance communication. By redefining silence as a constructive element rather than an absence, the article provides educators and organizational leaders with practical strategies to create more reflective, innovative, and effective learning environments, ultimately contributing to a more harmonious organizational culture.

Design/methodology/approach

This article adopts a pedagogical approach to examine the role of silence in organizational settings. The methodology involves a comprehensive literature review and analysis of case studies that illustrate the effective use of silence as a tool for learning and development. Practical strategies for incorporating silence into educational and organizational practices are explored, providing leaders with actionable insights to enhance reflective thinking, creativity, and communication within their environments.

Findings

The findings reveal that silence is a powerful educational tool that enhances learning and development in organizations. Silence fosters creativity and deep reflection, supporting cognitive processing and idea generation. It promotes personal and professional growth through mindfulness and emotional regulation. Additionally, silence improves communication by encouraging active listening and thoughtful dialogue.

Originality/value

This article contributes to the existing literature by focusing on the pedagogical and developmental role of silence within organizational contexts. It highlights the often-overlooked value of silence as a multifaceted tool for enhancing creativity, learning, and communication. The insights presented challenge conventional notions of silence, positioning it as a valuable and strategic resource in achieving a more reflective and effective organizational culture.

Details

Development and Learning in Organizations: An International Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7282

Keywords

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

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 17 July 2024

Amanda Curry

This paper analyzes the ways in which accounting enables operations managers to enter and perform multiple roles in their interplay with organizational groups on the shop floor…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper analyzes the ways in which accounting enables operations managers to enter and perform multiple roles in their interplay with organizational groups on the shop floor and in management, and the associated negotiations that operations managers have with “the self.”

Design/methodology/approach

Using field-based studies in a mining organization, the study draws on Goffman’s backstage–frontstage metaphor to analyze how operations managers enter and perform several roles with the aid of accounting.

Findings

The findings show that accounting legitimizes operations managers when they cross organizational boundaries, as accounting gives them an “entry ticket” that legitimizes their presence with the group. Accounting further allows operations managers to embrace more than one role by “putting on a mask” to become an outsider or insider in relation to a group. In performing their roles, operations managers exhibit varying attributes and knowledge. Accounting can thereby be withheld from, or shared with, organizational groups. The illusion of accounting as deterministic presented frontstage is not necessarily negotiated that way backstage. Rather, alternatives discussed backstage often become silenced in the frontstage performance. The study concludes that operations managers cross boundaries, embrace roles and exert agency as they navigate with accounting, enrolling it into their performance simultaneously as they backstage reflect upon accounting and its role for their everyday work.

Originality/value

This study relies on the frontstage/backstage metaphor to visualize the discrepancies in how accounting is enrolled into role performances and how seemingly categorical fronts do not necessarily share that dominant position backstage.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 37 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 September 2024

Jiping Niu, Salih Zeki Ozdemir and Young Un Kim

The timeliness and quality of information provided to board members are crucial for them to effectively monitor and advise a firm. This study examines the influence of board…

Abstract

Purpose

The timeliness and quality of information provided to board members are crucial for them to effectively monitor and advise a firm. This study examines the influence of board composition and structure on (1) the board’s actions to mitigate the information asymmetry problem by implementing enterprise information systems (EIS) and (2) the board of directors’ awareness of information asymmetry, their perception of its causes and their efforts to address it.

Design/methodology/approach

Our research employs a mixed-methods approach. First, using data from 115 publicly listed Chinese companies, we empirically assess the likelihood of top-level EIS modules adoption at the firm level. Subsequently, through 23 semi-structured interviews, we aim to gain deeper insights into the behavioral motivations behind directors’ attempts to reduce information asymmetry.

Findings

The study reveals that boards with a higher number of independent directors or with a strategy committee – indicative of a greater concern regarding information asymmetry problems – are more inclined to adopt top-level EIS modules. Additionally, we identify three primary sources of information asymmetry that directors consider significant in prompting the adoption of top-level EIS modules to alleviate perceived information asymmetry.

Originality/value

This study contributes to both the corporate governance and information systems literature. The implementation and utilization of EIS at the board level have not been extensively explored previously. Moreover, while the issue of information asymmetry at the board level is recognized as a critical governance challenge, the ways in which directors perceive and address this issue remain largely unknown. Our research seeks to illuminate this relatively less-explored area.

Details

Industrial Management & Data Systems, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-5577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 September 2024

Mark Aldous Vicars, Tanya Manning-Lewis, Frances Macapagal Maddalozzo, Dima Zaid-Kilani and Raymond Savage

Within minutes, our group, who had no prior introduction, began to learn the value of emerging from a relational space of (re)presenting and (re)storying our experiences. “I”…

Abstract

Purpose

Within minutes, our group, who had no prior introduction, began to learn the value of emerging from a relational space of (re)presenting and (re)storying our experiences. “I” became “We”, which became “Us”

Design/methodology/approach

Recently, the seventh bi-annual conference of the World Federation for Teacher Education 2023 focused on the theme of “Re-imagining Teacher Education: From Words to Action.” During the session on métissage as methodology, participants from four different countries, three ethnic backgrounds and gender and sexual differences were invited into dialogue to explore the nuances of our identities, academic positions and life experiences.

Findings

Doing métissage as novices, our subsequent discussion problematized the perpetuation of procedural narratives that contested the Cartesian cuts of methodological normalcy.

Originality/value

Sharing our stories of self in our group we referenced how institutional frameworks had shaped and were reconstructing contexts for our being and belonging in the academy. In our narrating vulnerability we were once again located in telling relations to do with identity, power and social being. Jones (2015, p. 8) has asked. “Other than dry academic reports, how can we retell these stories in sensitive and ethical ways to wider audiences? How do the stories themselves inspire creativity in retelling them? How can we involve participants in the retelling of their stories?”

Details

Qualitative Research Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1443-9883

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 2 September 2024

Elina Weiste, Melisa Stevanovic, Inka Koskela, Maria Paavolainen, Eveliina Korkiakangas, Tiina Koivisto, Vilja Levonius and Jaana Laitinen

An “open communication culture” in the workplace is considered a key contributor to high-quality interaction and providing means to address problems at work. We study how the…

Abstract

Purpose

An “open communication culture” in the workplace is considered a key contributor to high-quality interaction and providing means to address problems at work. We study how the ideals of “open communication” operate in healthcare.

Design/methodology/approach

We use discourse analysis to investigate the audio-recorded data from 14 workshop team discussions in older people services.

Findings

We found four imperatives concerning the interactional conduct of their colleagues in problematic situations that nursing professionals prefer: (1) Engage in direct communication and avoid making assumptions, (2) Address problems immediately, (3) Deal directly with the person involved in the matter and (4) Summon the courage to speak up. Through these imperatives, the nursing professionals invoke and draw upon the “open communication” discourse. Although these ideals were acknowledged as difficult to realize in practice and as leading to experiences of frustration, the need to comply with them was constructed as beyond doubt.

Practical implications

Workplace communication should be enhanced at a communal level, allowing those with less power to express their perspectives on shaping shared ideals of workplace interaction.

Originality/value

The expectation that an individual will simply “speak up” when they experience mistreatment by a colleague might be too much if the individual is already in a precarious position.

Details

Journal of Health Organization and Management, vol. 38 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7266

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 18 September 2024

Richard D. Sawyer

In this study, I use currere to examine excessive entitlement in my own high school education. By “excessive entitlement,” I emphasize teachers' actions and systemic conditions…

Abstract

In this study, I use currere to examine excessive entitlement in my own high school education. By “excessive entitlement,” I emphasize teachers' actions and systemic conditions related to an excessive educational mindset justifying (and manifesting) self-infallibility. Teachers displaying excessive entitlement might take for granted, for example, the correctness of their actions, closing self-awareness, and more equitable relations with others (especially students). On a structural level, it includes, for example, societal norms, school policies, educational traditions, and often laws. Specifically, I present findings examining three levels of curriculum – the formal or explicit, the implicit or hidden, and the null or present/absent. I offer my own story as a case study of how schools and teachers may silence and erase student identity and culture as well as how more inclusive and dialogic teaching approaches (and methods of inquiry) can counteract and offer alternatives to such oppressive forces. My framework includes professional ethics, moral ethics, and social justice ethics. Looking back at my history as a gay high school student, I discovered that my school's explicit curriculum provided teachers with a safe haven for bigotry and hostility toward LGBTQ students (as well as female students and students of color), and its hidden curriculum projected messages that privileged such a curriculum (and denigrated epistemologies more on the margin). It was only in the null curriculum that I began to experience a sense of liberation and inclusion and an awareness of the multiplicity of epistemology and ontology.

Details

After Excessive Teacher and Faculty Entitlement
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83797-877-9

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 February 2024

Sanja Pupovac and Mona Nikidehaghani

The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which using accounting as a multidimensional practice that encompasses technical, social and moral dimensions facilitates the…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which using accounting as a multidimensional practice that encompasses technical, social and moral dimensions facilitates the instigation and advancement of a culture of sustainable development.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative approach was used to analyse the case of Waratah Coal Pty Ltd vs Youth Verdict Ltd – a dispute over a lease to establish a coal mine. The study draws on Carnegie et al.’s (2021a, 2021b) multidimensional definition of accounting and the Carnegie et al.’s (2023) framework for analysis to explore how different parties drew on accounting concepts to support their position over the sustainability of the mining lease proposal.

Findings

A multidimensional perspective on accounting appears to have clear transformative potential and can be used to champion a culture of sustainable development. This approach also has broad societal, environmental and moral implications that transcend Western financial metrics. This study shows that relying solely on accounting as a technical practice to pursue economic benefits can result in contested arguments. Overall, this analysis illustrates how the wider public, and notably First Nations communities, might challenge accounting methodologies that marginalise cultural and social narratives.

Originality/value

This paper expands accounting research by demonstrating how fully embracing accounting’s capacities can create a space for hearing multiple voices, including those silenced by Western accounting practices. Specifically, this study presents a unique case in which the authors incorporate the voices and views of those affected by accounting-based decisions.

Details

Meditari Accountancy Research, vol. 32 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2049-372X

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 16 September 2024

Maggie Webster

Children's film and fiction often portray a witch as either an evil hag or an incompetent older woman yet when the male witch is within the narrative, he is named Sorcerer or…

Abstract

Children's film and fiction often portray a witch as either an evil hag or an incompetent older woman yet when the male witch is within the narrative, he is named Sorcerer or Wizard, suggesting therefore that (unlike the hag) age and gender is not a factor when performing witchcraft. Moreover, the male witch identity is introduced from the position of empowerment and competency rather than prejudice. Witch identities are gendered, and the male witch is underappreciated and overlooked by the historical identity of the female witch.

This chapter analyses how the male witch is presented in selected children's film and fiction through the frameworks of Hegemonic, Hybrid, and Mosaic Masculinity. Hegemonic Masculinity demonstrates the toxic performance of the male witch, indicating to readers and audiences that to be male and a witch, a heterosexual man must be cruel and manipulative. Hybrid Masculinities relate to some patriarchal behaviours such as violent outbursts, that also blend with more empathetic and emotional behaviours. Mosaic Masculinity presents the male witch in a way that is fluid and disrupts the binary of Hegemonic and Hybrid Masculinity.

This chapter acknowledges the absence of presence of the male witch and encourages a more authentic representation of the male witch that is akin to those who practice witchcraft. There are non-toxic examples of masculinity that challenge the potential for stereotyping, hence there is a need for a better representation of what it means to be a witch within popular culture.

Details

Gender and the Male Character in 21st Century Fairy Tale Narratives
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83753-789-1

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 18 September 2024

Marie-Christine Deyrich

This chapter investigates the experiences of doctoral students and supervisors in the doctoral process, focusing on the potential impact of imbalances in the distribution of…

Abstract

This chapter investigates the experiences of doctoral students and supervisors in the doctoral process, focusing on the potential impact of imbalances in the distribution of power. In this respect, there are troublesome manifestations of excessive faculty entitlement that appear to be a source of inequality and injustice. These phenomena call into question the crucial relationship of support expected of doctoral students, as thesis supervisors have a fundamental role to play in guiding them towards the doctorate and ensuring their successful entry into the research community. Looking at the issue from the angle of the theory of social fields, I examine instances of dysfunction in supervisory experiences. Such problematic practices tend to conform to the relationships and traditions that sustain and (re)produce the practices of the academy, constraining the establishment of what Bakhtin describes as a dialogical relationship, between doctoral students and supervisors. I examine this problem from my own experience, both as a doctoral student and as a supervisor. I approach the question by combining self-study and narrative inquiry to make use of the data from my experience to analyse the issues raised during the supervision of doctoral programmes. I connect accounts drawn from literature, real-life testimonies and a corpus of discussions and notes to explore the manifestations of excessive faculty entitlement in the form of asymmetries and difficulties that can negatively impact the quality of supervision.

Details

After Excessive Teacher and Faculty Entitlement
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83797-877-9

Keywords

1 – 10 of 102