bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Postponement and supply chain structure: cases from the textile and apparel industry
Authors: Chaudhry Hassan , Hodge George 
Published: February 2012

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the applications of postponement strategy in the textile and apparel industry, with a particular focus on the supply chain structure, relationships and enabling activities supporting postponement strategy across the supply chain.Design/methodology/approachFor this research, a case study approach, supported by structured interviews, was adopted. The purpose was to explore the application of postponement with the objective of gathering considerable data from an organization or multiple organizations to develop the clearest possible picture of the phenomenon.FindingsThe nature of product, downstream demand and the supply chain structure impacts the choice of postponement strategy. Companies operating with manufacturing and logistics postponement share data across their supply chain extensively, while companies adopting purchasing postponement work towards enhancing suppliers’ capabilities and fostering relationships across their supply chains.Research limitations/implicationsThe case study method limitations include lack of rigor and statistical generalization, small sample size and convenience sampling and lack of establishment of causal relationship. However a thorough study design and process can make case‐based research more rigorous and reliable, but caution still needs to be exercised while applying findings on differing scenarios.Originality/valueThe case studies depict the application of postponement and the enabling supply chain structures. Previous studies have either looked on the organizational perspective or supply chain perspective with regards to the power and dependence attributes. These cases look at the interaction routines and structures among the supply chains.
An examination of Florida policies on force continuums
Authors: Hough Richard M. , Tatum Kimberly M. 
Published: February 2012

PurposeThis paper aims to examine Florida law enforcement agency policies to determine whether they contain language from the International Associations of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Model Policy on use of force. Consistency of policy content is instructive.Design/methodology/approachData for this study include written policies of Florida law enforcement agencies (n=160) which were collected through e‐mail requests to all agencies in the state (n=323). Content analysis was used to analyze the policies.FindingsFindings suggest that 74 percent of all agencies include language that refers to a use of force continuum, including 90 percent of sheriffs' offices and 70 percent of police departments.Research limitations/implicationsThe research suggests that the majority of agencies continue to include a use of force continuum. Only Florida agencies were surveyed, and the response rate was 50 percent.Practical implicationsThe research suggests that a majority of agencies adhere to the principle that clear use of force policies can reduce liability concerns, and shows that written policies can be effective training tools.Social implicationsUse of force remains the chief public concern in law enforcement's discretionary actions. Therefore, agencies must address use of force issues comprehensively.Originality/valueThere is no research that examines the content of current use of force policies. This paper adds to the literature on force policy and examines such policies in the nation's fourth largest state. The paper suggests areas for future research and offers a normative model of a force policy.
The alcohol‐related workload of patrol officers
Authors: Myrstol Brad A. 
Published: February 2012

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to detail the prevalence and nature of patrol officers' alcohol‐related workload.Design/methodology/approachA systematic social observation (SSO) methodology was used to collect data pertaining to the alcohol‐related activities and encounters of patrol officers. A fully randomized sampling procedure was used to select the days, times, and geographic areas of observation sessions. Observational data were obtained for 65 separate observations sessions ‐ totaling approximately 650 hours, 480 police‐citizen encounters, with 766 citizens, and 2,009 non‐encounter activities.FindingsApproximately 26 percent of encounters and 10 percent of non‐encounter activities involved citizen alcohol use. Roughly 15 percent of patrol officer time is dedicated to alcohol‐related encounters and their associated activities. Alcohol‐related encounters were of a substantively different type than those in which there was no alcohol involvement. In sum, alcohol‐related encounters were more likely to involve a crime, occur in emotionally volatile situations, elicit a multiple‐officer response, and to take place out of the public sphere.Practical implicationsThe paper demonstrates the utility of police‐researcher collaboration. The findings can make a direct contribution to academy and in‐service training.Originality/valueUnlike previous SSO studies, this research used data obtained from a representative sample of police patrols. The use of a SSO protocol provides a level of detail about the nature of police‐citizen interactions within the context of alcohol‐related encounters not previously seen in the literature.
A case study on localising foresight in South Africa: using foresight in the context of local government participatory planning
Authors: Karuri‐Sebina Geci , Rosenzweig Lee 
Published: February 2012

PurposeThis paper aims to present the process and results of a local‐level South African action research project on introducing foresight methods into a local government planning process.Design/methodology/approachThe paper outlines the evolutionary process followed, and documents the practical insights gained and lessons learnt in relation to the concept of pro‐poor foresight.FindingsPositive outcomes in the King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) foresight process included a high level of stakeholder engagement and senior management buy‐in, supported by positive evaluations by diverse participants. The learning was subsequently incorporated into long‐term development plans and proposals such as the ten‐year development plan for the region. The experience yielded key lessons about the recruitment of participants, policy alignment, communication in diversity, active participation, facilitation as learning, the influence of technical inputs, and the importance of integration.Research limitations/implicationsFurther academic research could build upon this case study to investigate longer‐term impacts of the initiative in KSD, tracking replications and adaptations of the KSD experiment, comparative research between contexts where foresight is used and where it is not in development policy and planning processes, enquiry into how foresight might be formally incorporated in the routine development policy and planning processes of municipalities, and undertaking more theoretical enquiry on the “localising foresight” concept and experience, including the development of guiding criteria and indicators for procedural and outcome success.Practical implicationsThe case focuses on learning in a developing world context where foresight is less advanced than in other contexts. The results of the exercise in KSD suggest that it is possible to embed pro‐poor foresight in a large‐scale policy programme to enhance the resilience of communities, supported by appropriate plans and budgets.Social implicationsThe long‐term nature of foresight can create a “safe” platform for an otherwise difficult engagement, as is this case where three levels of government and various segments of civil society are to be beneficially engaged.Originality/valueThis was a unique action research project in South Africa, where foresight has tended to be mainly at a top or central level – that being the level of corporate executives, national government, or national‐level stakeholders.
Assessing immediate learning impacts of large foresight processes
Authors: Schartinger Doris , Wilhelmer Doris , Holste Dirk , Kubeczko Klaus 
Published: February 2012

PurposeForesight often encompasses participative approaches for decision making. This paper aims to give a first overview of the authors’ research on immediate learning and networking in the context of foresight. The paper seeks to introduce a practical concept for an accompanying social research of a participatory foresight process for empirically identifying and mapping impacts; and to present empirical results from the study of a specific foresight process.Design/methodology/approachThe authors apply three approaches to analyze impacts. Accordingly data were gathered in moderated workshops for process analysis; structured telephone interviews for qualitative analysis; and surveys for social network analysis.FindingsThe accompanying social research produced direct insights on experiences and knowledge acquisition of participants in a large, complex foresight process, as well as a measurable increase of personal ties in this process. This research shows that the perception of the wider spectrum of actors in a social system, as well as their rationales and approaches, are one identifiable and crucial achievement of participative foresight processes.Research limitations/implicationsThis research focuses on immediate learning impacts, while additional impacts of mid‐ or longer‐term scales were not captured in this study. Accompanying social research (e.g. longitudinal studies) of broader scale would be beneficial to foresight research and process design.Originality/valueThe authors use a specific foresight process to analyze its immediate impacts. They introduce and demonstrate ways forward to use practical concepts for impact description, empirical data acquisition, and how it relates to underlying process design. The results are relevant for foresight project managers, process counselors and accompanying social research.
Digitized government best practices in country web sites from 2003 to 2008
Authors: Calista Donald J. , Melitski James 
Published: February 2012

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine best practices of worldwide country web sites, evaluated in 2003, 2005 and 2008 by the United Nations (UN).Design/methodology/approachThe paper employs statistical analysis to determine whether the electronic innovation (digitized government) exhibits linear (unitary) or curvilinear (S‐type) processes in relation to four theories of information technology (IT) and social change.FindingsThe findings are bifurcated between 2003 and 2008. In the aggregate (highest scores), worldwide countries are responding to the value‐added qualities of digitized government, defined as the transactions of e‐government and the interactions of e‐governance. Yet, the disaggregate (first adopter) best practices data reveal significant downward trends between those survey years, especially, among Organization for Economic Cooperation (OECD) countries. The findings indicate that neither electronic dimension predicts the other's course. They also suggest that dual curvilinear processes explain e‐government and e‐governance.Research limitations/implicationsIt is customary to employ random samples to verify the integrity of significance tests. In this research, however, the study population is a given (all UN members). The study universe (the whole subset) – that represents countries with the largest number of electronic offerings – and the study sample (the best practices subset) are virtually the same. It is not possible to attribute any of the outcomes to a sampling error (miscalculation). Nor is it likely to confuse conflating (mistaking) sample size and effect size (relationship strength) of the distributions.Originality/valueLongitudinal (over time) studies of country web site best practices are almost non‐existent. Support for a dual curvilinear relationship between e‐government (transactions) and e‐governance (interactions) opens the way for a fuller treatment of digitized government best practices. Questioning the premise that a sustained electronic (democratizing) transformation is underway, notably, among first adopters is a compelling and critical outcome.
Architectural support for business intelligence: a push‐pull mechanism
Authors: Hua Jing‐Shiuan , Huang Shi‐Ming , Yen David C. 
Published: February 2012

PurposeAs business globalisation and internet usage continue to grow, the internet‐based version of data warehouse systems (DWS) is expected to improve traditional DWS. However applying the web‐based interfaces to client‐server‐based DWS structures may cause problems such as inflexibility, inefficiency, loss of scalability, and threats to security. These arise due to the complexity of manipulation and management of heterogeneous data with various categories of decisional tasks. This paper seeks to develop a flexible mechanism by applying Extensible Markup Language as a foundation for an internet‐based DWS and to overcome the weaknesses of solely client‐server‐based DWS architecture.Design/methodology/approachFor better control and security the proposed architecture utilises an embedded pull‐push mechanism to propagate the distributed decision information. This research also justifies the feasibility of the proposed mechanism by implementing a prototype, evaluating its performance, and conducting a real business case study.FindingsThe results indicate that the mechanism can not only improve DWS scalability and efficiency, but also enhance security.Originality/valueThe proposed architecture provides a support mechanism for business intelligence to efficiently and flexibly help companies make the right decisions in real time, grasp business opportunities and gain competitive advantage.
The emotional profiles triangle: working with leaders under pressure
Authors: Sandler Catherine 
Published: February 2012

PurposeThis article aims to use a new model and three case studies to illustrate what takes place when the emotional pressures on leaders become too great. The author seeks to argue that a level of anxiety is triggered that tips them into unskillful or dysfunctional behavior. Even the most seasoned leaders are prey to this process, which has potentially destructive and far‐reaching consequences for themselves and their organizations. By illustrating how anxious leaders can be helped to retain or regain their most effective selves through coaching, the article aims to contribute to best practice in leadership development.Design/methodology/approachThe emotional profiles triangle (EPT) model emerged from the author's first‐hand experience over 20 years in the field of leadership development. A senior executive coach, she observed a clear pattern among her clients, which showed that when leaders feel anxious or threatened, their behavior changes in one of three specific and consistent ways. The EPT draws on psychodynamic psychology, which emphasizes the importance of emotion in driving behavior, often unconsciously. It also draws on neuroscience which explains the hardwiring that drives the human response to “danger signals”.FindingsThe EPT identifies and describes three emotional profiles, which comprise a related set of functional and dysfunctional leadership behaviors. Through exploring their profile, individual leaders can learn to play to their strengths while managing their anxiety and behavior more effectively. The EPT has been extensively tested since 2009 with coaching clients and boards, and at conferences and on leadership development programs. This article includes three brief case studies that illustrate its application.Originality/valueThis original model has received consistently positive feedback from leaders, coaches and HR professionals. Users have particularly valued its clarity, accessibility and practical value as a development tool.
Transforming business leaders into talent champions
Authors: Ellehuus Christoffer 
Published: February 2012

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to examine how organizations can support their leaders in taking on the challenges of their leadership roles, including how to effectively manage talent on a larger scale as they move up the ranks. The author aims to discuss the findings of a study by Corporate Executive Board (CEB) into the support required to move from being a business leader to a talent champion. This study built upon previous CEB research, which had shown that the way managers manage their teams can have a significant impact on key business outcomes. It aimed to explore practical ways for organizations to support executives in making the leap from managing an individual team to facing the challenge of leading a business unit or business function comprising a broad portfolio of talent effectively.Design/methodology/approachIn 2009, CEB undertook a 360‐degree survey of more than 8,000 business leaders based in North America, Europe, Asia, and South Africa exploring managers' skills, their knowledge, the proportion of time they spent on tasks related to their role and their attitude towards talent management. The survey was also opened up to their own managers and their direct reports. CEB followed this by interviewing hundreds of heads of HR globally, to determine how involved business leaders are in succession planning and their accountability for talent and business outcomes.FindingsThe research found that there are four distinct types of managers when it comes to talent management, ranging from those who are committed and effective talent managers to those who are neither. The data showed that while strong talent management can raise employee effort levels by 25 per cent above average, less than a fifth of senior executives have the required levels of commitment to talent management alongside the effectiveness in delivering talent management practices required to drive these outcomes.Practical implicationsThe research led to three key steps for organizations to take in order to encourage their business leaders to become effective talent managers. They are: forging a closer link between a strategic and business plan and its talent plan; supporting leaders to identify, develop and manage high‐potential employees; and establishing a culture of “soft” accountability practices for talent outcomes such as ranking and publicizing managers' effectiveness at retaining talent. The author concludes with two case studies of organizations supporting leaders in developing leadership skills.Originality/valueThis paper studies how organizations can support their leaders in taking on the challenges of their roles. The research identified four distinct types of managers when it comes to talent management and led to the formulation of three key steps for organizations to take to encourage their leaders to become effective talent managers.
Leadership by design
Authors: Tamkin Penny 
Published: February 2012

PurposeThis paper aims to explore how the characteristics of outstanding leaders promote dispersed leadership through the beliefs and experience of leaders in some of the UK's best known organizations.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on in‐depth qualitative interviews with 70+ leaders, interviews with direct reports and interviews with more senior leaders carried out between 2008 and 2010, the paper contrasts the approaches to leadership that distinguish high performing leaders from their peers and how these approaches create the climate for devolved leadership.FindingsThe paper highlights the key differences that distinguish outstanding leaders and explores how these differences create climates of empowerment that enable dispersed and devolved leadership to flourish. The paper argues that devolved leadership is not a haphazard process but involves leaders in deliberately creating the right conditions.Practical implicationsThe paper presents the core characteristics of outstanding leaders and how they can not only produce better performing organizations, but also create more robust organizations with more capable, autonomous and innovative employees to help identify and develop leadership populations.Originality/valueThere is a clash between a focus on the leader and a concern for dispersed leadership in organizations. They seem to be opposing views of leadership – one focused on the individual, the other the collective. This paper assimilates these two perspectives and shows how a certain style of leader embeds leadership.
A unified model for integral city design
Authors: Ferguson Bruce K. 
Published: February 2012

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to contribute to the coherent and purposeful design of dense urban districts, by presenting a unified model for the multifunctional nature of urban streets, and illustrating its application in urban design.Design/methodology/approachUrban technologies and design analyses developed in recent years make a radical combination of environmental and human functions possible in compact urban districts. With these tools in hand, it is possible to organize our understanding of the components of street design.FindingsThe kind of street that can be constructed today can be considered an ecosystem in two senses: first, in the conventional sense of a biophysical landscape which participates in rain, sun, and living things; second, in the sense of a resident human community that evolves as does an ecosystem, through interacting of beings with each other and with their environment. Both human and natural systems develop with the same dynamic attributes of openness, self‐regulation, storage, and diversity; from these come the systems’ self‐maintenance, resilience, and adaptation. This is a unified model that encompasses a street's multiple functions and their connections to transportation, land use, and global environmental processes.Practical implicationsIllustrations are given of design practice applying this type of model by articulating and integrating rain gardens, permeable pavements, trees, pedestrian behavior settings, vehicular movements, and land use connections, in integrated forms in the midst of dense urban structures.Originality/valueIn contrast with previously proposed models of street design, the present model is functionally specific and complete, and applicable to streets with diverse features and contexts. With it there need not be antagonism, as there has been in the past, between transportation and the local human community, nor between nature and human welfare.