bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Politicians versus managers: roles and interactions in accounting cycles
Authors: Liguori Mariannunziata , Sicilia Mariafrancesca , Steccolini Ileana 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to contribute to the new public management (NPM) literature by investigating how politicians and managers perceive their relationships and respective roles during the accounting cycle and using multiple cases of Italian local government (LGs).Design/methodology/approachDrawing on public administration and public management literature, the paper depicts models of interaction between managers and politicians through the analysis of the cases of five Departments in three Italian LGs.FindingsResults show that, in contrast with NPM claims, no model of neat separation between politicians and managers can be depicted in the analyzed cases. Rather, alternatively patterns of sequential or reciprocal integration emerge, together with some cases of “confusion”.Research limitations/implicationsFurther research is needed in order to investigate the factors that can explain the types of interactions and roles.Originality/valueThe paper fills the gap in NPM literature that gives scant importance to the political dimension and its relationship with management in public organizations. It addresses the diversity in the perceptions of politicians and managers as to their roles and relationships.
A case study into planning and change management within the UK National Health Service
Authors: Drummond‐Hay Robin , Bamford David 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present an empirical case study which was undertaken to examine planning and change management within a UK National Health Service (NHS) multi‐site hospital.Design/methodology/approachA case study was undertaken within a UK‐based NHS hospital trust. Having reviewed the available literature, the research collated and analysed existing planning and change implementation within the hospital using multiple collection methods. This culminated in specific recommendations.FindingsIt was established that the following were all factors of influence: articulating change in the NHS; preparing for the 18‐week patient pathway; choose and book: managing patient demand; and payment by results: financial accountability at all levels. These were all high profile issues requiring specific and immediate attention, if the proposed plans and changes were to be implemented according to the objectives set.Research limitations/implicationsThe case study methodology applied was appropriate, generating data to facilitate discussion and to draw specific conclusions. A perceived limitation is the single case approach; however, Remenyi et al. argue that this can be enough to add to the body of knowledge.Practical implicationsFrom the research, a number of key influences were identified to have a significant impact on planning and managing change within the NHS. Specific recommendations are made.Originality/valueThe core contribution of the research adds to the body of knowledge about planning and the management of organisational change within healthcare.
An exploratory study of competitive strategies among hotels in a small developing Caribbean state
Authors: Jönsson Cristina , Devonish Dwayne 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine a typology of competitive strategies, which has not been extensively researched in the context of the accommodation sector in Barbados, a small developing island state in the Caribbean.Design/methodology/approachData is collected through self‐administered questionnaires from 51 per cent of the hotels in Barbados. Respondents are Human Resource Managers, General Managers or Managing Directors.FindingsHotels in the five‐star and higher category place substantial strategic focus in the area of defining service standards and performance, as compared with hotels in the one‐star category. This study suggests that hoteliers should focus on a combination of different strategies advanced by Vandermerweet al.as a means of securing a competitive advantage. Changes in strategy should be accompanied by training employees as the service and the quality of hotels change. As their customers' demands change, and as the competition changes, the competitive strategies of hotels will change.Research limitations/implicationsDue to cultural differences among the islands in the Caribbean, the findings in this study need to be confirmed by undertaking similar investigations in other islands. Future research should consider the use of a more qualitative approach to better understand the nature of these competitive strategies in the hotel sector. Future research should examine the link between these strategies and company performance in order to determine the best combination of competitive strategies needed for maximum organisational performance.Practical implicationsThis study highlights many challenges to be met and opportunities to be seized by managers in Barbados's accommodation sector. Systematically linking different strategies highlighted by Vandermerweet al.and proactively managing the hotel is one way to do both.Originality/valueFew studies in this area have been undertaken in small developing island states in the Caribbean. This study attempts to fill this gap by comparing and contrasting the competitive business strategies employed by hotels in Barbados.
The case for trust as the foundation for restoring growth
Authors: Deutsch Lynette 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThis paper aims to advance the view that trust has emerged as fundamental to business survival in the current turbulent times. It also aims to examine why trust breaks down and what can be done to rectify this.Design/methodology/approachThe paper reveals the results of research, commissioned by the author's company, among organizations employing more than 500 people in the UK. More than 5,114 employees participated and the results were released at a conference in January 2009 by keynote speaker and global authority on trust, Stephen M.R. Covey.FindingsThe study indicates that almost half of UK employees do not trust their chief executive, and a similar proportion does not trust other senior management either. It examines the reasons behind this decline in trust and suggests strategies to help to reverse this trend. The paper catalogues the 13 behaviors of highly‐trusted leaders.Originality/valueThe paper examines key areas in organizations that can cause a breakdown in trust as well as how to foster a trust culture and/or rebuild trust where it has been diminished.
Find out what your people really think
Authors: Lusty David 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThis paper aims to describe the ways in which employers can maximize responses to their employee‐satisfaction surveys.Design/methodology/approachThe paper deals, in turn, with each of the factors that determine response rates: engagement; involvement; relevance; experience; expectation; method; convenience; anonymity/confidentiality; the questionnaire itself; contentment; despair; incentives; urgency; reminders; and coercion.FindingsThe paper provides examples of good and bad practice, while revealing that there is no single “best way”.Practical implicationsThe paper looks, in particular, at the differences between web‐based and paper questionnaires.Originality/valueThe paper provides plenty of useful information for employers to gain an accurate picture of employees' feelings about their experience at work.
Hiring and firing with ethics
Authors: Hussein Magdy 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThis paper aims to highlight the benefits to the organization and its workforce of having human resource (HR) specialists who act ethically.Design/methodology/approachThe paper considers the ways in which the changing role of HR – particularly in an era of outsourcing and globalization – puts a premium on ethical behavior.FindingsThe paper shows that strategically, the way a company manages its human capital significantly affects its financial performance.Practical implicationsThe paper draws attention to the increasingly strategic role HR can play in helping the organization to reach the right decisions on outsourcing.Originality/valueThe paper advances the view that, when HR specialists treat employees with dignity and compassion, they help to create a trusting and inclusive work environment free of harassment, intimidation and unlawful discrimination.
Searching for competitive advantage with the aid of the brand potential index
Authors: Vukasovič Tina 
Published: May 2009

PurposeIn recent years, the world food market has undergone an accelerated process of concentration and consolidation. These intensive processes increase the competitive advantage of operating activities on the global market and are the result of numerous changes in the period of new economy. What is the meaning of brand management and how is it dealt with in practice? What is the importance of positioning in the light of brand image and identity? Which are the ways to measure the brand strength with the aid of the brand potential index (BPI) and to identify the characteristics (key drivers) which have the greatest influence on brand strength? All these are questions for which this paper seeks to provide answers.Design/methodology/approachThe answers to the research questions were gained using the GFK target positioning research with which a brand analysis of high‐volume products was carried out in the light of its key characteristics: brand as a product, opportunities and risks involved in the brand on the market, competition analysis, analysis of brand's personality, target group analysis (market segmentation), and marketing cluster analysis.FindingsBased on the case study, the paper demonstrates the applicability of the research in the process of brand evaluation, determining the positioning and communication guidelines on the example of food products brands.Originality/valueThe paper is important in identifying the sources of brand value.
Exploring brand sabotage in retail banking
Authors: Wallace Elaine , de Chernatony Leslie 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThis paper aims to explore managers' and employees' views about service brand sabotage at the front line in retail banking. The current literature emphasises the role of the employee in service delivery, and advocates the cultivation of brand ambassadors – employees who support the service brand through their performance. Yet there also exist saboteurs – employees who actively work against the brand, and there is a dearth of literature exploring the nature of this group. Moreover, much of the extant literature explores service performance from the perspective of the consumer and little is known about employees' views. This paper seeks to present managers' and employees' views about service performance, and service sabotage.Design/methodology/approachThe study incorporates findings from in‐depth interviews with bank managers, and a survey of 438 branch employees reveals sabotage drivers in the “job for life” banking environment in Ireland.FindingsThe paper identifies employee fear, overwork and compliance demands as issues which influence job dissatisfaction, consumer resentment and employee insecurity.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is exploratory. The paper advocates further research to confirm the components of service sabotage, and test the influence of these components on consumers' perceptions of the service.Practical implicationsThe paper offers suggestions to help managers to better manage sabotage in this sector, and recommend future research in other highly structured services sectors.Originality/valueThe paper provides new insights into the constraints on the banking employee that may lead to service sabotage. It also offers advice to managers that may help them better harness employees as brand ambassadors.
The impact of intra‐brand platform sharing on brand attractiveness
Authors: Olson Erik L. 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThis paper aims to empirically examine the brand impact of intra‐brand platform sharing.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses two real platform‐sharing examples from the automobile and consumer electronics industries in an experimental setting.FindingsThe study finds that intra‐brand platform sharing caused no damage to brand equity in either setting.Research limitations/implicationsThe study uses a student sample, although all product classes and brands tested are popular with this demographic which is a key target market for the tested industries. The study also tests intra‐brand platform sharing where the price differences are 20 percent between higher and lower level platform applications, and the findings may not hold for larger price gaps.Practical implicationsPlatform sharing has been shown to damage brand equity in inter‐brand applications, but the current findings suggest that intra‐brand platform sharing is safe for the brand, and allows managers to also benefit from the cost savings in product design, manufacturing and servicing that have made the technique popular.Originality/valueThe paper builds on earlier platform‐sharing research and shows where the technique can be safely practised from the standpoint of protecting brand equity.
Crisis management
Authors: Medeiros Norm 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe the challenges presented by the global economic crisis.Design/methodology/approachThe paper focuses on effects as they pertain to the author's institution as well as the larger library community.FindingsThe paper suggests libraries and library associations must develop new ways of performing business.Originality/valueThe paper describes an initiative of the International Coalition of Library Consortia to work with publishers to contain costs, placing in context the challenges noted above.
Applied digital library project management
Authors: Cervone H. Frank 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to define and describe Pareto analysis as a method for identifying and addressing the factors that have the most impact in a digital library project's success.Design/methodology/approachUsing theory and example, the author relates the use of Pareto analysis to the successful completion of a digital library project.FindingsPareto analysis is useful to project managers and project teams alike as a means for identifying, prioritizing and addressing the factors that have the most impact in a digital library project. It is particularly useful to a web redesign team as a mechanism for prioritizing changes and improvements that need to be made to a web site.Originality/valueThis paper fills a gap in the digital library project management literature by providing an overview of a useful tool in identifying and prioritizing the steps and factors in a project that most contribute to its success.
Understanding and teaching future consciousness
Authors: Lombardo Tom 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe the main forms and components of future consciousness, to identify the important values for enhancing future consciousness, and to describe a variety of educational strategies for heightening future consciousness.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents a historical review of the development of future consciousness and a psychological review of recent theory and research on its components and benefits, and argues for a teaching philosophy and strategy based on positive psychology and the development of virtues and wisdom.FindingsFuture consciousness is multi‐dimensional and involves all the major capacities of the human mind. A set of different forms of future consciousness has evolved over time, encompassing practical and social intelligence, mythic narrative, rationality and emotionality, science fiction, and future studies. Psychologically, future consciousness involves human emotion and motivation, learning and memory, all major forms of cognition, and self‐identity. Psychological processes that contribute to expansive, optimistic, and creative future consciousness can be effectively taught. The development of virtues necessary for enhanced future consciousness can be facilitated through future‐focused self‐narrative activities.Originality/valueThis paper provides a succinct and comprehensive review of the major historical forms of future consciousness and its basic psychological components, and develops an educational approach to teaching future consciousness based on this comprehensive review. The approach is unique in that it is grounded in comprehensive historical research, contemporary psychology, and recent thinking in the study of the future, and creates a virtue and wisdom based approach to teaching future consciousness that subsumes and transcends all traditional educational approaches.
Tales of adventure and change: academic staff members' future visions of higher education and their professional development needs
Authors: Tynan Belinda , Lee Mark J.W. 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore future consciousness, in particular the desire for adventure and change, in light of the literature and ideas around academic development in higher education teaching and learning, and with a particular focus on supporting staff in their engagement with technologies in new ways.Design/methodology/approachThe article builds on and extends recent work by the authors Barnes and Tynan; and Tynan, Lee and Barnes, as well as that of other researchers and theorists. A case study approach is adopted, in which the narratives or “stories” of academics at an Australian university relating to issues surrounding learning technologies are analysed. The themes that emerge from the preliminary analysis are synthesised to draw out barriers and potential solutions from the participants' perspectives, especially with regard to their self‐identified future professional development needs, and particularly in relation to their adoption and sustainable use of educational technologies.FindingsThe authors believe that successfully engaging with the goals of innovation and sustainable futures in the age of Web 2.0, the networked society and the millennial learner depends on a concerted effort at all levels of the tertiary/higher education sector.Research implications/implicationsWhile the preliminary findings of the study may have limitations in terms of their generalisability to institutions and countries beyond the context of the case study, they will no doubt provide a starting point for further research.Originality/valueIt is hoped that the study will serve as a think piece for educational leaders interested in facilitating long‐term initiatives and strategies aimed at cultivating a desire for change and adventure among academic staff, to “reinforce proactive behavior, self‐efficacy, and internal locus of control” in encouraging them to engage with their own futures.
Online personal learning environments: structuring electronic portfolios for lifelong and life‐wide learning
Authors: Barrett Helen C. , Garrett Nathan 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to outline a vision for digital stories of development, or online personal learning environments, which may eventually replace what we currently call “electronic portfolios” in education.Design/methodology/approachThis is a conceptual article that provides a lifelong, life‐wide perspective on electronic portfolios based on the authors' research, focusing on some of the issues that need to be addressed to make this vision a reality.FindingsBased on the concept of “lifetime personal web space,” this online archive of a life's collection of reflections, memories, digital artefacts and memorabilia, both personal and professional, has the potential to change the current paradigm of electronic portfolios, mostly institution‐bound, and focus instead on the individual or the family as the center for creating a digital archive, which can be used in a variety of contexts across the lifespan, from schools to universities to the workplace. Finally, this archive can be used to develop personal histories and reflective narratives to preserve our stories for future generations. A possible scenario is followed by the challenges faced when developing this service for widespread dissemination. This is not a formal research paper with analysis, discussion or results. The paper is meant to provide a vision or future direction for electronic portfolios that could be stored in the internet “cloud” for a lifetime and beyond.Practical implicationsThis paper encourages individuals as well as institutions to explore new ways to construct electronic portfolios in the Internet “cloud” so that the owner of the portfolio has access across their lifespan. This paper could also be used by Web 2.0 developers to improve the development of tools, making them more useable and accessible across the lifespan, from early readers to the elderly.Originality/valueThis paper provides a future vision of the potential for cloud computing to be used as a lifetime store of memories and digital memorabilia, as well as a broader vision of the electronic portfolio process across the lifespan.
The education of a transcendent generation
Authors: Chowdhury Debashis 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to introduce a conceptual framework for understanding and integrating future consciousness at a global level.Design/methodology/approachThis paper makes a case for transcendence beyond routine ways of teaching and learning by developing a holistic framework to examine educational practices and means.FindingsBased on the ancient Indian Ashrama system, and borrowing from Taoist philosophy, a four segment Tao cycle framework is proposed to engage people across a transcendent learning arc.Originality/valueThis integrative conceptual framework is a possible lens through which the individual may project their own development throughout the life cycle. It offers a potential alternative, non‐Western diaspora for enhancing future consciousness.
Are US consumers ready to adopt mobile technology for fashion goods?
Authors: Kim Jihyun , Jin Ma Yoon , Park Jihye 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of ease of use, usefulness, and enjoyment, and subjective norm regarding the use of mobile phones on US consumers' attitudes toward mobile communication and mobile commerce, and mobile technology use intention for shopping.Design/methodology/approachThis work integrates the technology acceptance model of Davis and Fishbein and Ajzen's theory of reasoned action for its theoretical framework. In total, 341 college students in two large US universities provided usable responses. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the proposed model and research hypotheses.FindingsThe results showed that the perceived ease of use, usefulness, and enjoyment, and subjective norm were the significant predictors of attitudes toward mobile communication and mobile commerce as well as mobile technology use intention for shopping. The findings also suggested that attitude toward mobile communication positively influenced attitude toward mobile commerce, which in turn positively influenced mobile technology use for shopping.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample of this study is slightly biased by gender and age. However, this demographic segment is meaningful to examine consumer attitudes and mobile technology use intentions for fashion goods due to its extensive usage of mobile services.Originality/valueThis study offers an integrated theoretical framework for future studies investigating consumer behavior in a technologically advanced retail environment.