bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Strategizing from the middle in radical change situations
Authors: Besson Patrick , Mahieu Christian 
Published: July 2011

PurposeResearch has recognized the importance of middle management in the strategy process. Nonetheless, two questions raised by the involvement of middle management remain largely unexplored; they are central to this study. The first question concerns the conditions of this involvement. Before the 1970s, middle managers were subjected to operational processes. During the 1980s and 1990s they often embodied bureaucratic unwieldiness. How, then, has an actor in an organization migrated from a position excluded from the strategy process to a key position in this process? The second question concerns the functioning of the strategy process itself: what are the conditions of strategic creativity in this type of expanded process? This paper aims to address these issues.Design/methodology/approachThe approach taken is that of a longitudinal case study.FindingsOn the basis of a seven‐year longitudinal case study of strategy practices in a firm facing radical change, this article pinpoints two research results. The first result shows that becoming a strategist is not the simple result of training in strategy techniques. Involvement in the strategy process goes beyond the cognitive dimension; it entails the construction of new systems of roles and identities, along with development of appropriate dialogue modes. The second result is more interesting, and was largely unpredicted. The observations indicate that to achieve the necessary strategic creativity, the strategizing process itself must be transformed. If strategy is envisioned as an emerging social reality made up of strong situations and interactions between strategists, in a dynamic context structured by role systems, spatial and temporal conditions and discourse, developing a new strategy necessitates transformation of its social fabric.Practical implicationsUnderstanding the microprocesses at play in the inclusion of middle managers in the strategy process is important to help companies better conceive and apply their policy of including middle managers in the strategy process. This entails the definition of activity content and new skills required, along with career and loyalty building, and of the forms of organization in which middle managers evolve and develop. In this sense, the approach we proposed can be practical for companies and their stakeholders facing these challenges.Originality/valueThe longitudinal and very detailed case study over a long period of middle managers doing strategy during a radical change situation.
Exploring integration approach in related mergers
Authors: Weber Yaakov , Tarba Shlomo 
Published: July 2011

PurposeIn mergers and acquisitions (M&As) the culture of the acquired organization often represents a counterculture for the acquiring firm. The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of an acquisition of German FAST by the Israeli firm Aladdin, and exemplifies the post‐merger integration issues that arose as a result of the culture clash between amalgamating entities in the high‐tech industry.Design/methodology/approachThe study used a qualitative research design because of the need for in‐depth understanding of the processes, local contextualization, causal inference, and the necessity to expose the points of view of the participants. Triangulation was one of the important means of increasing construct validity and substantiating findings and propositions.FindingsThe case study analysis covers the processes that affect M&A performance and elucidates a significance of the post‐merger integration approach that is implemented in cross‐border M&As.Practical implicationsThe examination sheds light on the pre‐ and post‐merger processes and provides new insights into both.Originality/valueThe case study describes two international high‐tech companies before their merger, the negotiation process, and the post‐merger integration approach adopted by the acquiring firm. The study extends the existing limited knowledge about integration approach in implementation of international high‐tech mergers.
Whether task satisfaction mediates the effect of fair procedures on citizenship
Authors: Zoghbi‐Manrique‐de‐Lara Pablo 
Published: July 2011

PurposeDespite the large number of empirical studies on employee attitudes and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), the amount of research on the possible role of concurrent fairness and satisfaction in citizenship behaviors (OCBs) has been quite limited. Since it has been suggested that fair systems in an organization could indicate satisfaction, the purpose of this study is to propose using task satisfaction as a mediating variable in the relationship between procedural justice (PJ) and citizenship OC behaviors directed at the organization as a whole (OCBOs).Design/methodology/approachData were collected from a sample of non‐teaching staff at a university, and structural equation modeling was to be used for testing the relationships. The author argues that when organizational procedures are fairly implemented, they may lead employees to feeling happier about their tasks. Ths task satisfaction, in turn, would create a context prone to encouraging employees' compliance with the organization (conscientiousness) and active interest (civic virtue) in it, as well as tolerance to less than ideal circumstances (sportsmanship). The author suggests that it is in this satisfactory context where citizenship behaviors helping the organization (OCBOs) really occur.FindingsSequentialχ2difference test results indicated that PJ positively influenced task satisfaction and had a positive effect on citizenship directed at the organization (OCBOs) through its effect on employee task satisfaction.Research limitations/implicationsThe study could suffer from mono‐method/source bias, and the university that supplied the sample has certain job conditions similar to those found in the public sector, thus raising concerns about the generalizability of the results.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that the scenario presented in our study leads to new and better understanding of how to promote citizenship directed at the organization (OCBOs). Since PJ predicts citizenship behaviors by eliciting task satisfaction, preparing the workplace with actions designed to “gain” task satisfaction, promote a fair system, and provide fair ways to establish tasks appears to be an efficient satisfaction‐producing strategy in promoting citizenship behaviors (OCBs).Originality/valueAlthough fairness and satisfaction have been found to be significant attitudinal predictors of OCBs, no previous empirical studies have examined and supported the mediating role task satisfaction plays in explaining why PJ is able to predict citizenship behaviors directed at the organization (OCBOs).
Corporate online reporting in 2010: a case study in Jordan
Authors: Al‐Htaybat Khaldoon 
Published: July 2011

PurposeThe objective of this study is to investigate the current status quo of online reporting in 2010. Further, this study seeks to explain corporate online reporting in Jordan by using companies' characteristics as explanatory factors for any variations in disclosure. Finally, the current findings are set in the context of prior studies in order to determine the existence of disclosure transformation.Design/methodology/approachListed Jordanian companies were investigated to explore the current status of corporate online reporting. An un‐weighted index comprising 70 un‐weighted financial and non‐financial items was employed.FindingsA total of 175 of 272 companies were found with accessible and active websites. The overall average level of corporate online reporting was 70 percent, as measured by the mean of the overall items of the current index. Variations in corporate online reporting were associated with size, performance, foreign ownership and online company familiarity.Research limitations/implicationsThis study provides a comprehensive online disclosure index that can be used to inform Jordanian companies about the format and the content of corporate online reporting. It also offers a solid ground for future research on corporate online reporting. Furthermore, the results of this study indicate that corporate online reporting had been moved forward but there is plenty of room to further explore the field.Originality/valueThis paper provides evidence on the current status quo of online reporting in Jordan as one of the emerging economies in 2010 as a year with great expectations and predictions. This paper is the first to examine several companies' characteristics by using multivariate analyses. This paper also examines the online companies' familiarity for the first time as a potential factor affecting corporate online reporting in the literature. Moreover, the trend analysis shows corporate online reporting has steadily risen over the past few years, which is evidence of disclosure transformation theory in Jordan as it is in other emerging economies.
Optimizing employee time in a purchasing department: a Six Sigma case study
Authors: Martinez Deisell , Gitlow Howard S. 
Published: July 2011

PurposeThis paper aims to resolve a staffing solution for a purchasing department at the University of Miami to expand a service request bulk purchasing program that generates savings for the university and respective departments.Design/methodology/approachThe well‐known lean Six Sigma methodology is applied to yield consistent results and eliminate unnecessary actions (steps/tasks) by the staff.FindingsThe university is able to reduce processing time for a service request from 168 hours to 2.27 by streamlining communication and service request and automating lengthy process steps using a proprietary built workflow intelligence system.Research limitations/implicationsThere are limited publications in the field of lean Six Sigma as an approach to staffing solutions.Originality/valueThis paper provides an unexplored practical application of lean Six Sigma to yield a staffing solution.
Determinants of different accounting methods choice in Tanzania
Authors: Waweru Nelson M. , Prot Ntui Ponsian , Mangena Musa 
Published: July 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that determine the choice of multiple accounting methods in Tanzania. The study investigates managers' decisions to choose accounting methods in a positive accounting theory perspective using panel data covering 60 years from 15 companies listed on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange.Design/methodology/approachData were extracted from the companies' annual reports. Possible determinants of the choice of accounting methods are identified based on the positive accounting theory, including firm size, leverage, internal financing, proportion of non‐executive directors, ownership dilution, and labour force intensity. The study then utilises multiple regression analysis to determine the significant factors influencing the manager's choice of accounting methods.FindingsThe results show that the significant factors are company size, internal financing, proportion of non‐executive directors, and labour force. Contrary to the outcome of prior studies, the authors found that company size and internal financing are positively related with income strategy. The study proves statistically that there is a strong association between choice of accounting methods and income strategy.Originality/valueThe paper makes several contributions to the body of knowledge. First, in the Tanzanian context, it determines the factors which affect choice of accounting methods. Second, the study identifies the proportion of non‐executive directors as a new factor impinging on the choice of accounting policies. Finally, this study shows for the first time that the use of ratio of income‐increasing accounting policies to total number of accounting policies can be used as a dependent variable.
Deconstructing workplace “know how” and “tacit knowledge”
Authors: Flint Kevin J. 
Published: July 2011

PurposeOver the past two decades across a number of sectors of the economy there has been an ever increased interest in attempting to understand the mediation of “tacit knowledge” in developing professional expertise. Much thought has been invested in studies which attempt to resolve the difficulty of revealing tacit knowledge and finding ways of transferring it within institutions and across organisations. But, in general these recent studies, and the approaches they have adopted, do not take sufficient account of the phenomenology of human being, Dasein, which is essentially temporal: the purpose of this paper is to address this issue.Design/methodology/approachThe approach here is based on a phenomenological and deconstructive study of two small–scale comparative cases of the mediation of tacit knowledge in the development of professional expertise in Higher Education, within the context of social practice and educational practice. The cases will each serve to provide a focus upon professional expertise in teaching in each of these domains of professional practice.FindingsDeconstruction will serve to illuminate the essential differences between what is observed and re‐presented as episodes of teaching and the complex interplay of temporality that in each case is unique to the individual human being.Originality/valueIn the field of work‐based learning this paper adopts a novel approach. The deconstruction of tacit knowledge against indications drawn from Heidegger's ontology serves to bring into sharp relief the unfolding of essential forms of technology. By focusing the analysis upon the language in which the knowledge is generated and the phenomenology of human being, Dasein, the study will seek to explore some of the implications of attempting to convert “tacit knowledge” into a technology that can be transferred across organisations and institutions. It will illuminate the situation‐specific nature of tacit knowledge as grounds for professional expertise.
Project: a trainee‐oriented training method, an empirical approach
Authors: Brinia Vasiliki 
Published: July 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose a new trainee‐oriented teaching method: “The Project Method”. The aforementioned method highlights the important role of the experience of the training process and the links between training and the trainees' social life.Design/methodology/approachThis method draws its origin from the American Pragmatism and the German “Project Education”, while it is based on the principles of Gestalt and cognitive psychology. The application of the Project Method in vocational training is examined through the emotional intelligence skills, that a group of people has developed — and claimed so in a relevant questionnaire — in a seminar concerning the subject of Marketing.FindingsThrough the Project Method's application, the trainees have developed their emotional intelligence skills, and have instilled new pedagogical ideas; providing long‐run benefits to themselves, the enterprises, the society and the economy in general. Research contends that this method is efficient when there are no time constraints.Practical implicationsWhile the focus is vocational training, the implications have a broader focus, enabling the Project Method to be applied to adults' education.Originality/valueThis paper provides empirical results of the Project Method application in vocational training. The Project Method training provides the effective cooperation of the human resources that is of high importance for the efficiency and the profitability of the enterprises.
Critical social marketing: definition, application and domain
Authors: Gordon Ross 
Published: July 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the nature and role of the critical dimension social marketing and its place within marketing scholarly thought. It is posited that such activity can be defined as “critical social marketing” and a formal definition is offered.Design/methodology/approachThe ability of critical social marketing to inform the research and evidence base, as well as upstream and downstream activity is discussed. Scholarly debate on the role of critical social marketing within the social marketing and critical marketing paradigms, both of which heavily inform the concept, are reviewed. The application of a critical social marketing framework to the study of the impact of tobacco and food marketing is examined.FindingsThe paper demonstrates the utility of a critical social marketing framework in real‐world environments. Important considerations on who critical social marketers are and where the concept is located within marketing thought are addressed. The paper concludes by arguing that critical social marketing is a valid and established sub‐set of marketing thought within its own right, and should henceforth be regarded as such.Originality/valueOffering a definition of critical social marketing formalises its position within marketing thought. Discussing the tensions surrounding the critical dimension of social marketing within the social marketing and critical marketing paradigms demonstrates the difficulty in locating concepts within existing literature. A review of the application of critical social marketing demonstrates its validity. Positing that critical social marketing should be located as a sub‐set within social marketing contributes to the marketing discipline and the organisation of marketing ideas and concepts.
Preventing game over
Authors: Cronin James M. , McCarthy Mary B. 
Published: July 2011

PurposeAn effective means to promote optimal nutrition for any group of consumers is to expand nutrition professionals' understanding of the cohort's food choice processes. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the situated food choice influences of the videogames subculture; a known consumption enclave for calorie dense low nutrient foods. The investigation is conducted by application of an abbreviated version of Furstet al.'s model of the food choice process as a conceptual framework.Design/methodology/approachThis investigation uses an interpretive research strategy and adopts a qualitative approach to data collection and analysis. In total, 14 purposively sampled semi‐structured, in‐depth interviews were carried out with members of the videogames subculture.FindingsInformants' food choices and preferences during social gameplay were strongly influenced by beliefs related to appropriate food behaviour and ideal characteristics of foods suitable for grazing. All informants described some constraints imposed by the physical surroundings and environmental nature of gameplay such as issues of messiness and inability to eat with utensils while gaming. Social structure played an important role in informants' food choices, and much of this structure was built around the hedonic intersection of food and gameplay. Informants' food choices were also influenced by poor cooking abilities and unwillingness to devote much effort to meal preparation during gameplay.Practical implicationsUsed in conjunction with theories of behavioural change, the insights gathered here should help inform interventions and communications strategies. Both commercial and social marketing domains have a role to play in positively influencing gamers' diets.Originality/valueThe paper offers social marketers insight into the influences that underpin unhealthful food choices within the videogames subculture and how to positively bring about change.
Conflict analysis study for public engagement programme in infrastructure planning
Authors: Tam C.M. , Tong Thomas K.L. 
Published: July 2011

PurposeStakeholder management in the form of public engagement in urban planning and infrastructure project impact assessments have become increasingly prevailing. However, the exercise may involve some complex socio‐economic considerations and critical conflict analysis/resolution scenarios. Without a scientific approach, it is difficult to distil a resolution from the chaotic public opinions, especially in those highly controversial issues. This paper proposes the use of conflict analysis to screen out the resolution in a scientific manner.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a case of harbor‐front design in Hong Kong to illustrate how the analysis was carried out to accomplish the objectives.FindingsThe example has illustrated that the conflict analysis has helped resolve a set of major issues in the Hong Kong harbor‐front redevelopment.Originality/valueThe introduction of a structured conflict analysis framework for the government to systematically deal with the conflicting viewpoints from different parties (such as general public and other stakeholders) has been demonstrated, which can be used to map systematically the different viewpoints collected in the public engagement exercise. The results are more convincing and more likely to be acceptable by all the stakeholders.
Effectiveness of infrastructure asset management: challenges for public agencies
Authors: Schraven Daan , Hartmann Andreas , Dewulf Geert 
Published: July 2011

PurposeThe aim of this research is to better understand the decisions in infrastructure asset management at public agencies and the challenges of these agencies to improve the effectiveness of their decision making.Design/methodology/approachBased on a literature review on asset management at public agencies, a case study was used to investigate the decision making of a provincial agency in The Netherlands. A total of 12 semi‐structured interviews with employees of the agency were conducted, amended by an analysis of policy documents, maintenance contracts, inspection reports, and planning documents.FindingsThe research revealed that key challenges to achieving effective infrastructure asset management are: the establishment of alignment between infrastructure objectives, situation and intervention; the formulation of infrastructure objectives; and the management of multiple actors with different interests.Practical implicationsPublic agencies should pay more attention to clearly defined infrastructure objectives which are consistent with the agencies' strategic policy goals and interests of multiple stakeholders. That also includes that public agents need to develop new skills and knowledge to cope with the various challenges of effective infrastructure asset management.Originality/valueThe research clustered decisions in infrastructure management into three decision areas and showed that effectiveness of the decision making is constituted through the interrelationship of these areas and depends on clearly defined objectives.