bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Finding a philosophical framework in support of “Presence”
Authors: Branson Christopher M. 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a coherent, comprehensive and complete philosophical framework that can not only validate but also guide the implementation of the organisational development strategies proposed inPresence: Exploring Profound Change in People, Organizations and Society.Design/methodology/approachFirst, the paper situates the processes presented in the text within the overall context of current organisational development theory. Then, since no current widely supported philosophical framework can provide validation and support to the fundamental assumptions inherent within the text's proposals, a new philosophical framework is described. Finally, the unique insights gained from this new philosophical framework are used to offer prerequisite considerations for employing the processes proposed here.FindingsUnless explicit and individualised attention is directed to helping each employee first develop deeply self‐reflective processes, the organisational insights and practices, as presented in the work cited above, cannot be attained.Practical implicationsThrough applying the theoretical insights gained from the particular philosophical framework presented herein, the paper provides very clear and specific guidelines for the professional development of employees so that they can act according to the precepts presented in the work cited above.Originality/valueThe paper provides a unique perspective on the key understandings presented in the work cited above. It also provides practical ways for successfully engendering these within an organisation's culture.
Distinguishing between transformational and servant leadership
Authors: Parolini Jeanine , Patterson Kathleen , Winston Bruce 
Published: May 2009

PurposeAlthough transformational and servant leadership has been in existence since the 1970s and theoretical assumptions about the differences began in the 1990s, this paper seeks to relate the first empirical investigation distinguishing between the two leaders, which was conducted recently by the first author.Design/methodology/approachThrough a review of the literature, the first author established 19 semantic differential scales and two self‐typing paragraphs to differentiate between the two leaders. The scales and paragraphs were formed into an online survey, reviewed by an expert panel, and distributed to 56 randomly selected contacts where 514 participants responded.FindingsThrough discriminant analysis, five statistically significant (p=0.000) discriminant items were found that differentiated between transformational and servant leadership.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper proposes that the five statistically significant items revealed by the first author's research be brought into future definitions, discussions, and research on transformational and/or servant leadership.Practical implicationsThe five items proposed should also be integrated into leadership and organizational development practices, the literature, and future research.Originality/valueThe paper discusses the first empirical research study investigating the distinctions between transformational and servant leaders, two leadership styles that have existed and been discussed by scholars and theorists since the 1970s.
Control methods for exoskeleton rehabilitation robot driven with pneumatic muscles
Authors: Xiong Caihua , Jiang Xianzhi , Sun Ronglei , Huang XiaoLin , Xiong Youlun 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present the control methods of the exoskeleton robotic arm for stroke rehabilitation.Design/methodology/approachThe robotic arm is driven by the pneumatic muscle actuators. The control system provides independent control for the robot. The joint axes of the robotic arm are arranged to mimic the natural upper limb workspace.FindingsFindings are the classification of training modes and control methods of rehabilitation training, and the characters of both the instant spasm and the sustaining one.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper is a preliminary step in the control system and the kinematical characteristics should be analyzed to achieve high precision of movement.Originality/valueBased on a hierarchical structure, the control system allows the execution of sequence of switching control methods: position, force, force/position and impedance. Patient‐active‐robot‐passive and patient‐passive‐robot‐active (PPRA) training modes are also presented in this paper. In PPRA mode, the robotic arm can provide pre‐specified resistances on the patient's arm. Both instant and sustaining spasms are taken into account for safety.
The call of the city: using design methods to attract families
Authors: Buschmann Kristian , Coletta Carol 
Published: May 2009

PurposeFor the first time in 50 years, young people are coming back to cities. But what happens when they have children? Convention seems to dictate they move to the suburbs where they can find big houses, big yards and good schools. This paper aims to describe how CEOs for Cities and students from the Illinois Institute of Technology's Institute of Design took a fresh look at how cities can better serve families.Design/methodology/approachBy studying the behavior of pioneering urban parents in Chicago, New York and Philadelphia, the research team uncovered ways they overcame obstacles to living in the city. Using these insights, they developed ways for urban leaders to leverage inherent city strengths in three key areas of safety, space and schools.FindingsPioneering urban parents showed the research team that a small shift in thinking could turn a city into a backyard bigger than any found behind a house, that busy streets create a feeling of safety, and that the vibrancy of cities is an important factor in education their children. Surprisingly, the research even uncovered suburban parent fears in isolating their children from the culture and diversity of urban areas.Originality/valueThere is a growing number of parents who want to raise families in cities. They are coming back, but slowly. Urban leaders have an opportunity to accelerate this new market of city dwellers using the natural assets their cities already possess.
How tangible is your strategy? How design thinking can turn your strategy into reality
Authors: Holloway Matthew 
Published: May 2009

PurposeImproving your company's ability to execute its strategy requires increase alignment, greater agility and a singular clarity regarding the desired outcomes. This paper aims to describe how the SAP Design Services Team uses design thinking and its principles to improve the organization's ability improve its ability to execute strategy and even evolve the way SAP identifies and defines its strategic vision.Design/methodology/approachThis paper examines both the value of the design thinking approach as well as the organizational practices employed to insure its success.FindingsThe study has found a number of best practices for the development of artifacts to make strategies tangible, as well as the organizational requirements for the wide spread adoption of design thinking as an approach for the entire organization. Applying the principles of design thinking the Design Services Team has developed the means to analyze, refine and convey business strategies in the form of artifacts or prototypes. While demonstrating what the final offering will be from a customer's point of view, these objects also express the strategic planning as well as external market forces and risks within their narrative. Going beyond traditional communication channels this approach not only expresses the vision and intent behind the strategy but also an eventual end‐state; in short this method allows everyone across the organization to understand the real meaning of your strategy by knowing what success will look like when its achieved.Originality/valueBy reexamining both how they identify and develop their strategies as well as how those strategies are communicated and refined in implementation, organizations can increase their effectiveness and decrease time to execution. Today most strategies are conveyed as broad visions that lack any specifics regarding how the goals are to be achieved allowing it to be disintegrated at the point of execution. Combining the aspirational message with tangible examples of the end‐state makes the message and the mission clear and actionable.
Cultural innovation in software design: the new impact of innovation planning methods
Authors: Bernard Chris 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe innovation planning methods used at Microsoft.Design/methodology/approachThe paper examines the cultural environment and changes that needed to occur to implement these methods and looks at a selection of product development efforts at Microsoft that used these methods and were successful.FindingsThis paper shares the steps taken to enable innovation planning methods to be successful organizationally and describes the specific approaches that were most successful from a product development perspective.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings demonstrate that innovation in the large enterprise is a repeatable and reproducible process when the right environment and methods are utilized.Practical implicationsBecause enterprises are increasingly being called on to provide breakthrough and disruptive innovations innovation planning methods are increasingly becoming a necessary core discipline that is required in the enterprise.Originality/valueThis paper is valuable to all readers and organizations that want to enable innovation planning methods in large enterprises.
The discipline of product discovery: identifying breakthrough business opportunities
Authors: Melanie Joh Jooyun , Mayfield Matthew 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThis paper aims to cover the authors' experience with applying the latest methodologies in identifying and articulating product opportunities within a large, global corporation and dynamic marketplace.Design/methodology/approachThe study conducts a course of multiple explorations in identifying and articulating product opportunities within a large, global corporation and dynamic marketplace.FindingsThe paper finds that identifying product opportunities is a large and at times fuzzy activity. As experts bring insights and improvements to light, the application of those within a large corporate context can be daunting. Over the course of multiple explorations key lessons emerge to improve the reliability of such endeavors. Building a repeatable process to identify new product opportunities requires the use of multiple methods from a range of fields to minimize blind spots that each inevitably have. The process also requires a non‐linear approach to allow the company's context and data at hand to shape the exploration. And finally, the process requires discipline and follow through from managing bias to “actionable” documentation to ensure effectiveness.Originality/valueBy reflecting on the application of theory to practice, this paper articulates improvements and field tested techniques that can make the activity of identifying product opportunities more reliable and ultimately more valuable.
Innovation is good, fitness is better
Authors: Hackett James P. 
Published: May 2009

PurposeAcademic journals and the popular business press are filled with articles praising innovation. But innovation is not enough. This paper proposes a higher purpose – that survival of our business systems relies on achieving a new level of fitness – and aims to suggest that design thinking is one of the keys to becoming more fit.Design/methodology/approachEver since Darwin argued “survival of the fittest,” social scientists have worked to determine winners and losers in a wide range of complex systems. The paper asserts that there is value in applying the concept to the survival of business systems and provides examples of how successful companies have worked to overcome inertia and reinvent portions of their business model.FindingsThe paper finds that dominant systems have a hard time accepting the need for change, even though the very attributes that made them successful now threaten to drag down their long‐term fitness. Design thinking is a framework that provides the opportunity to study all aspects of complex issues, and instead of driving for simplicity, design thinking requires that we embrace the richness that complexity provides.Originality/valueBy considering the need to move beyond innovation, the paper provides insight into the critical thinking needed to drive for a higher level of fitness in a business system and offers a brief look at the model used by one industry‐leading company.
International income distribution: comparing new ICP and the existing data
Authors: Ram Rati 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a comparison of data on real (purchasing‐power‐parity – PPP) gross domestic product (GDP) per capita recently released by International Comparison Program (ICP) with the numbers reported in World Development Indicators (WDI) and Penn World Tables (PWT) which have been used by hundreds, perhaps thousands, of researchers over many years.Design/methodology/approachA descriptive comparison is first provided by listing cases of largest absolute and percentage differences between ICP and WDI and PWT numbers. Second, well‐recommended measures of cross‐country inequality in real GDP per capita are computed, and inequality in terms of ICP data are compared with that based on WDI and PWT data.FindingsFirst, there are huge differences for numerous countries between the ICP numbers and the WDI and PWT data. Second, many of these differences are much larger than the highly publicized cases of China and India. Third, since ICP numbers are more accurate, existing WDI and PWT data are noted to substantially understate intercountry income inequality. Fourth, comparison of ICP with WDI shows a pattern which is similar to that indicated by a comparison of ICP and PWT. Fifth, the huge discrepancies in data provided by highly reputed sources, and used by numerous researchers, in such a prime indicator of economic and social well‐being seem to reflect a notable phenomenon.Originality/valueFirst, this is apparently the only attempt to provide a comparison of the new ICP data on country‐level real GDP per capita with that reported in the highly reputed and widely used WDI and PWT. Second, the enormous differences for numerous countries should suggest much caution to researchers in using the existing WDI and PWT data series. Third, the substantial understatement of intercountry income inequality by WDI and PWT data should be noteworthy. Fourth, although authors of WDI and PWT will probably identify reasons for the differences and reformulate their PPP data series, the present study may suggest need for some reflections on the context in which such large‐scale discrepancies in a variable of primary economic and social significance have existed for many years.
Policy ethnography and conservative transition from plan to market
Authors: Fforde Adam 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to illuminate change processes in Vietnam, China, and the USSR.Design/methodology/approach“Policy ethnography” may be used to examine the emergence of policy rationalities that may or may not be locally feasible. Through the use of a conceptual heuristics to interpret practice, this paper contrasts approaches in the development of “conservative” transition rationalities suited to the shift from plan to market whilst retaining a ruling Communist Party in power. Comparison is made between Vietnam, where a successful “conservative” transition occurred, and a failed policy experiment in the Soviet Union. The discussion extends to China, where, as in the case of Vietnam, a policy‐oriented policy rationality of transition may be observed.FindingsThrough the use of a conceptual heuristics to interpret practice this paper, contrasts approaches in the development of “conservative” transition rationalities suited to the shift from plan to market whilst retaining a ruling Communist Party in power. Comparison is made between Vietnam, where a successful “conservative” transition occurred, and a failed policy experiment in the Soviet Union. The discussion extends to China, where, as in the case of Vietnam, a policy‐oriented policy rationality of transition may be observed.Research limitations/implicationsFurther research into the development of conservative policy rationalities in other context is advised.Practical implicationsThe paper concludes that attaining a successful heuristics amongst policy consumers is likely a necessary condition of a managed conservative transition, and that this heuristics does well to define system changes as a process, rather than a discrete step, in constructing a cognitive basis for policy rationality.Originality/valueThe paper consistently avoids realist arguments about policy, which would suggest judgments as to whether policy is “correct” or “incorrect”, and focuses upon the creation of policy rationalities.
Insurance company dividend policy decisions
Authors: Puleo Victor A. , Smith Frank S. , Casey K. Michael 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between good corporate governance and dividend payment in the regulated insurance industry.Design/methodology/approachA modification of Rozeff's transaction cost/agency cost trade‐off model was estimated on a sample of 55 firms in the insurance industry. Data cover a five‐year period ending in 2006.FindingsConsistent with an agency view of dividends functioning to reduce the need for firm monitoring, it was found that there is no relationship between good corporate governance and dividend policy in a regulated industry. In other words, regulation appears to supplant the need for most corporate governance mechanisms and dividend distribution to provide information.Research limitations/implicationsOne data point used in this study, the corporate governance quotient (CGQ), is a relatively new metric created in 2001. Therefore limited use of this variable has appeared in previous research. Additional work is needed to fully evaluate the effectiveness of CGQ as a true measure of corporate governance.Practical implicationsRegulated firms in the insurance industry do not need to be subjected to the external monitoring forced by high dividend payments. Regulators perform that function instead.Originality/valueThis study is the first to evaluate the impact of good corporate governance on regulated firms’ dividend policy.
Explanatory factors of bank dividend policy: revisited
Authors: Theis John , Dutta Amitabh S. 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the Dickens et al. model of bank holding company dividend policy. They identified five explanatory factors in a sample of bank holding companies (BHCs). Banking companies typically pay larger dividends and more often than industrial firms. Investors often look at the dividends as being important return variables.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, a sample of 99 firms with 2006 data from governmental reports and Yahoo is used in regression equations to test the relationship of the five identified variables with dividend yields. The analysis is extended to investigate non‐linearities between dividend yield and insider ownership.FindingsThe paper finds that the original model is robust, but not all variables keep their significance. Insider holdings have a non‐linear relationship with dividend yields.Practical implicationsThe significant factors affecting bank dividend policy help dividend seeking investors find BHCs that return higher dividend yields.Originality/valueThis paper reveals a non‐linear link between insider holdings and dividend yields among BHCs.
Migrant workers and the changing psychological contract
Authors: Morgan Arthur , Finniear Jocelyn 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThe influx of migrant workers in the UK has widespread interest. This group's experience of the British work place has evoked considerable debate ranging from the potential to be exploited through unscrupulous practices to allegations about taking away jobs from British workers. The purpose of this paper is to extend knowledge about the workplace experiences of migrant workers and discuss the implications this may offer for human resource management practice.Design/methodology/approachThe method uses an interpretive approach as the principal method of inquiry. Insights are presented through the use of descriptive vignettes to preserve the contextual richness in participant's descriptions.FindingsThe dynamics of the psychological contract has been fundamentally affected by increasing numbers of migrant workers in the workplace. There is clear potential for a dual system to exist where migrant workers are treated differently in terms of recruitment, training and deployment. The ability to ensure employees work safely and are equipped to undertake their job roles is a key concern.Research limitations/implicationsThe research reports an initial study and as such the findings, although representative of the group reported, may be atypical.Practical implicationsEmployers and HR practitioners are missing an opportunity to recruit and deploy well motivated highly skilled individuals. Earlier research which focuses on quantitative‐based approaches may possess methodological problems which this research aims to highlight.Originality/valueThe use of in‐depth interviews allows a better informed understanding of the philosophical (and cultural) tensions to emerge. Such an approach offers insights which until now have eluded research focused upon more quantitatively oriented studies.