bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Ombudsman in developing democracies: the Commonwealth Caribbean experience
Authors: Abedin Najmul 
Published: April 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to critically examine the working of the Ombudsman offices in six developing democracies in the Commonwealth Caribbean in order to assess/evaluate the degree or extent of effectiveness of these offices. It aims to look at them from both contemporary and evolutionary perspectives. Although it focuses on the Commonwealth Caribbean, some references to other parts of the world are also made for a better and comparative understanding of the Ombudsman institution.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based mainly on archival research. Original/primary as well as secondary sources – old, recent and contemporary – have been used. Random interviews and observation have also been useful sources of information.FindingsOn the one hand, this study identifies various factors and related issues that make the performance of the Ombudsman institution difficult and problematic in the Commonwealth Caribbean; and, on the other, it also identifies some remedial measures for effectively dealing with these problems. Although the Ombudsman office has a number of inadequacies, it plays a fairly useful role in protecting and promoting human rights, in redressing grievances especially of the “small” people, and thus in contributing to good governance, transparency and democratic values.Research limitations/implicationsThere is considerable dearth of literature on this institution in the Caribbean. This study, at least partially, fills the gap.Practical implicationsThe adoption of the remedial measures identified will improve the performance and the effectiveness of this institution in varying degrees. These measures/recommendations will also facilitate the reform efforts of the policy makers who will find them useful.Originality/valueThe paper, based on original research, makes a significant contribution to the understanding of the Ombudsman institution.
Stakeholder salience and accounting practices in Tanzanian NGOs
Authors: Assad Mussa J. , Goddard Andrew R. 
Published: April 2010

PurposeThis paper seeks to investigate the influence of stakeholders on accountability relationships and the development of accounting practices and processes within two Tanzanian non‐governmental organisations (NGOs).Design/methodology/approachStakeholder analysis is employed to evaluate the positions of stakeholder groups in terms of Mitchell et al.'s attributes of power, legitimacy and urgency. Data analysis was undertaken using a grounded theory approach.FindingsThe research found that overseas donors were the stakeholders with the highest salience as a result of which they significantly influenced accountability relationships and accounting processes and practices within NGOs. Despite the often proclaimed NGOs' objective of improving welfare of beneficiary groups there appeared to be little accountability by NGOs to beneficiaries. Differences in the accounting functions in the NGOs were explained by the influence of dominant stakeholders, the credibility of the organisation and its managers and the varied ways through which the organisations negotiated and accounted for funding. Moreover, accounting was virtually unemployed in internal decision‐making processes indicating that it was largely a tool for satisfying claims of the highly salient stakeholders.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper makes a contribution to the literatures of both stakeholder theory and NGO accounting. From the grounded theory analysis it is suggested that the stakeholder framework of Mitchell et al. could be usefully extended in the three areas of power asymmetries of definitive stakeholders, stakeholder salience asymmetries across organisational phenomena and asymmetries across time.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the empirical accounting literature by seeking a deeper understanding of how and why accounting and accountability relationships develop within NGOs. It sheds light on a type of organisation that has not been extensively studied in the public sector management literature.
Defining and measuring productivity in the public sector: managerial perceptions
Authors: Linna Paula , Pekkola Sanna , Ukko Juhani , Melkas Helinä 
Published: April 2010

PurposeThis paper aims to identify what productivity means in the public sector, how it is measured and how it should be measured and improved, according to municipal authorities in managerial positions.Design/methodology/approachThe approach is both theoretical and empirical. The first part is a literature review of research concerning public sector productivity. The second part presents findings of empirical research that is based on interviews and workshops with municipal authorities representing: special healthcare services; basic healthcare and social services, and educational services. The research was carried out in the Päijät‐Häme region, Finland.FindingsAccording to the results, there is a certain mismatch between perceptions concerning productivity and the potential that lies in this concept as a functional tool in the public sector's development efforts. Public sector productivity cannot be developed and discussed without taking into consideration the issue of effectiveness.Practical implicationsDeeper common understanding concerning productivity and effectiveness and their measurement are likely to facilitate municipal decision making and service processes in individual workplaces as well as within and among different spheres of authority – and thus facilitate mutual learning.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to development and application of productivity and effectiveness thinking in the public sector. It is linked to service excellence, performance measurement and management systems, creativity in process delivery and deployment of improvement techniques in the public sector. It is of interest both to researchers and practitioners.
Once upon a time
Authors: Flory Marja , Iglesias Oriol 
Published: April 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present and discuss a critical review of the role of rhetoric and narratives in management research and practice.Design/methodology/approachConceptual implications are drawn from the analysis and discussion of the papers of this special issue, as well as from previous literature.FindingsManagers and researchers will be unable to explore the potential of narratives and stories fully if, at the same time, they do not deeply comprehend the underpinnings of rhetoric.Originality/valueThe paper further discusses the role of rhetoric and narratives in management research and practice and also explores the relationships between rhetoric and narratives.
Rhetoric in management and in management research
Authors: Bonet Eduard , Sauquet Alfons 
Published: April 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present a critical view of rhetoric, science, scientific research, and management that discloses the role of rhetoric in these fields and that offers a conceptual framework for this special issue of the Journal of Organizational Change Management.Design/methodology/approachThe approach taken is a critical and historical analysis.FindingsThe following main topics are uncovered: first, even if we think on scientific theories in terms of the classical concept of proven knowledge by empirical evidence and logical deduction, they are constituted by propositions accepted by reasonable rhetorical arguments, which depend on the paradigm of each scientific community. Second, even if we consider that scientific research is a strictly rational activity that follows precise methods, it continuously involves rhetorical reflections, judgements, arguments and debates. Third, even if management sciences usually conceptualize management as activities led by rational arguments and decisions, management constantly involves rhetorical conversations, in which managers use language for achieving their aims.Originality/valueBeyond the scope of many research papers and books that emphasize the role of rhetoric in science and in management, the paper offers a systematic approach on the foundations of the functions of rhetoric in science and in management.
Management – decision and interpretation
Authors: Siggaard Jensen Hans 
Published: April 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present the main characteristics of the model of persuasive management, comparing it with the model of scientific management and the model of rational management. The paper also offers a model of management education based on the education of leaders in the classical world, which involves three kinds of abilities: skills of persuasion (rhetoric), knowledge and practice of virtues (protreptics), and knowledge of science, society and conceptual and practical instruments.Design/methodology/approachThe approach taken is a conceptual and historical analysis.FindingsThe paper finds the identification of the characteristics of persuasive management, and the skills that it requires.Originality/valueBeyond the scope of many research papers, the paper offers a systematic view of the aspects of management that involve persuasion.
Autopoeisis and meaning: a biological approach to Bakhtin's superaddressee
Authors: Goosseff Kyrill A. 
Published: April 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the connections between autopoiesis, as described by Maturana and Varela, and Bakhtin's work on dialogue in understanding successful organizational rhetoric.Design/methodology/approachThis paper reviews two foundational texts in order to see the connection between them.FindingsThe concept of “organizational closure” will govern the domain of communication and therefore also any act in rhetoric.Originality/valueThis is a first attempt to link “organizational closure” as it exists in autopoiesis to Bakhtin's notion of a superaddressee.
Slumdog Millionaire
Authors: Magala Sławomir 
Published: April 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to reinterpret rhetorical inventions in global multimedia and to re‐conceptualize the theoretical analysis of processes of sentimental representation of global inequalities, unfair terms of exchange and attempts to balance them (“Bollywood” of Mumbai vs Hollywood of LA).Design/methodology/approachPhilosophical and qualitative analysis of the rhetoric of communication forged by global power games and applied to symbolic strategies of resistance, with a case study of a particular highly successful movie in global multimedia network, namely Slumdog Millionaire, which had been coproduced jointly by professionals from the former “colonial power” (the UK) and from the former “conquered colony” (India) in order to challenge the latest superpower (Hollywood and the USA).FindingsYesterday's underdogs are talking back and winning the symbolic game of multimediated communications by inserting a new professionally shaped response to the international inequalities laid bare and exposed to a growing critique. However, the ironies of the international division of labor and local cultural contexts can turn “sweatshops” into “boudoirs” subverting the rhetoric of Western domination. More Bollywood‐like strategies are needed to redress the imbalance.Originality/valueApart from the very specialist studies in the aesthetics of the film as an art form, this is the first attempt to demonstrate the common theme of resistance to the dominant rhetoric of multimedia industries on the level of coding symbolic meanings and disseminating them through aesthetically successful cultural commodities by groups and regions “cast” in subordinate roles by cultural industries.
Official chronicles of corporate globalization and unofficial stories of international mobility
Authors: Gaggiotti Hugo 
Published: April 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse contradictions, similarities, and differences between official corporate chronicles and individual stories of international managers of a multinational company.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis was made following methodological and technical approaches of critical analysis of narratives and organizational discourse of an ethnography conducted in a multinational corporation.FindingsIt is suggested that contradictions, similarities, and differences are ways that managers have to resist patronage and imposition of meanings. Implications for organizations are suggested.Originality/valueThe discursive manipulation of the meaning of time as a way of organizational patronage is considered.
Narratives: a powerful device for values transmission in family businesses
Authors: Jose Parada Maria , Viladás Helena 
Published: April 2010

PurposeThis paper seeks to shed light on how core values are successfully transmitted in family businesses via narratives.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative‐interpretive approach is used. Data were collected through in‐depth interviews made to 17 family members from three family businesses of different ages, sizes, industries, and generations in control. The richness of these interviews, besides its depth and length, emerges from the complete picture formed by the comparison of the stories told by different generations.FindingsResults suggest that narratives are a powerful device for transmitting values through generations. By telling stories, family businesses are able to build identity and shared meanings which led to successful performance in terms of revenues, reputation, shared identity, and continuity of the family business history.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper is exploratory. Further studies focusing on failure in transmitting values could enhance and expand emerging results. Deepening on values transmission may be a key research opportunity for general conceptualization.Originality/valueThe paper raises interesting issues for the family business literature within the context of values, an important yet understudied topic in the field. It also contributes to narrative theory by highlighting the usefulness of narratives as a vehicle for values transmission.
Socialization into modernity: on organizational enculturation in infantocracies
Authors: Czarniawska Barbara , Kunda Gideon 
Published: April 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand the persistent ambiguity of socialization practices in US and Swedish organizations, which promote a mature work identity while infantilizing their employees.Design/methodology/approachApplication of the insights from modernist authors' analysis of modernity as experienced by a human subject within professional organizations (Gombrowicz and Musil) and as responsible for proliferation of layers of reality (Eco), to contemporary practices of socialization.FindingsThe conflict between the need to conform to the corporate culture and the temptation to subvert them for creative or destructive purposes results in production of a “person without qualities,” and in the rise of the contemporary form of hyperreal infantocracy, which requires sophisticated irony in order to deal with organizational practices.Research limitations/implicationsPaying more attention to literary analysts of contemporary condition such as Gombrowicz, Musil, Eco, and Kundera will allow to understand paradoxes of contemporary organizing beyond the limits of traditional social sciences.Practical implicationsCombating apathy and disillusion among both employees and human resource management practitioners requires a reconceptualization of the programs of organizational socialization in terms of a sustainable and responsible corporate citizenship.Originality/valueFew authors have managed to mine the humanist heritage in order to salvage insights, which might have practical implications for a more balanced, sustainable, and humane organizational reality.
Examining the effects of website‐induced flow in professional sporting team websites
Authors: O'Cass Aron , Carlson Jamie 
Published: April 2010

PurposeThis paper seeks to contribute to the internet marketing literature by examining the impact of flow on consumers' satisfaction, aroused feelings, website loyalty and word‐of‐mouth behaviours.Design/methodology/approachA self‐administered online questionnaire was used for data collection through a market research firm which randomly selected individuals of its online panel. Participants were asked to recall a recent encounter with their preferred professional sport website and refer to that website regarding their answers. Data were gathered from 400 consumers from a variety of professional sporting teams. The variables under investigation in the study were measured using established scales from the marketing literature and adapted to the context of the study.FindingsThe results indicate that a compelling online experience related to sporting team websites as represented by flow experiences appears to be a driver of positive aroused feelings, higher satisfaction levels, as well as website loyalty and positive word‐of‐mouth of sport consumers.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample of the study is restricted to consumer evaluations from a specific website‐service context being the professional sport sector. The empirical relationships between flow, aroused feelings, consumer satisfaction, website loyalty and word of mouth reported in the study are tentative in the sense that they are based on cross‐sectional data.Practical implicationsThe study provides important implications for flow theory development and implications for internet marketing strategy, especially for professional sporting teams.Originality/valueThe paper adds to the literature by investigating the relationship between flow and consequent outcomes of encounters and experiences of sporting team websites. Little research has addressed flow, and its effect on aroused feelings, consumer satisfaction and website‐related loyalty intentions, especially in the domain of professional sport websites.
A novel attribute‐based dynamic content area layout for internet newspapers
Authors: Haktanirlar Ulutas Berna , Attila Islier A. 
Published: April 2010

PurposeA layout problem may deal with the assignment and arrangement of buildings in a green field, location and/or relocation of machines/departments in manufacturing facilities, and so on. If multi‐periods are considered, the problem is called a dynamic layout problem in manufacturing environments. Designing web pages, especially internet newspaper layouts, might also be considered dynamic layout problems. This study aims to introduce a layout procedure for the front page of internet newspapers.Design/methodology/approachThe news contents are ranked and selected based on their characteristic attributes. Then they are assigned to locations on dynamic content area of the front page. Layout optimization is made by use of Clonal Selection Algorithm (CSA). Finally, an illustrative example is provided and concepts for real life applications are discussed. The proposed method is based on CSA, which is a nature‐inspired technique. The novel heuristic is applied to a simulated system to depict how the news content layouts can be optimized in dynamic environments.FindingsThe capacity for addition of new news contents and removal of the old turns the internet newspaper environment into a dynamic structure. A systematic layout method for internet newspapers is developed to fill the gap.Practical implicationsThe results are encouraging for real life applications of internet newspapers. The study has also introduced a new site for the manufacturing area. In the classic dynamic layout model, the machine locations and the number of available machines are assumed to be fixed. But the concept of introducing/removing news contents can be adapted to the machines at the manufacturing facilities.Originality/valueThe paper's value lies in showing that the front page layout is not considered to optimize the locations of the articles. Also, the proposed algorithm is applied to solve these kinds of problems.
User acceptance of a G2B system: a case of electronic procurement system in Malaysia
Authors: Sambasivan Murali , Patrick Wemyss George , Che Rose Raduan 
Published: April 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to determine the factors that influence the intention to use and actual usage of a G2B system such as electronic procurement system (EPS) by various ministries in the Government of Malaysia.Design/methodology/approachThe research uses an extension of DeLone and McLean's model of IS success by including trust, facilitating conditions, and web design quality. The model is tested using an empirical approach. A questionnaire was designed and responses from 358 users from various ministries were collected and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM).FindingsThe findings of the study indicate that: perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, assurance of service by service providers, responsiveness of service providers, facilitating conditions, web design (service quality) are strongly linked to intention to use EPS; and intention to use is strongly linked to actual usage behavior.Practical implicationsTypically, governments of developing countries spend millions of dollars to implement e‐government systems. The investments can be considered useful only if the usage rate is high. The study can help ICT decision makers in government to recognize the critical factors that are responsible for the success of a G2B system like EPS.Originality/valueThe model used in the study is one of the few models designed to determine factors influencing intention to use and actual usage behavior in a G2B system in a fast‐developing country like Malaysia.
Emotional intelligence and learning in teams
Authors: Clarke Nicholas 
Published: April 2010

PurposeThis paper seeks to investigate the potential role of emotional intelligence (EI) abilities within learning in teams. The research focuses on examining how EI abilities are enacted within team contexts and how these are associated with critical reflection and team processes associated with learning.Design/methodology/approachA phenomenological approach to the investigation of EI abilities was adopted using a diary methodology to capture how EI abilities were enacted over a 14‐week team project by 80 MBA students from a range of international backgrounds. Such an approach is advocated to offer insights into the internal processes by which social action is perceived “in situ”.FindingsThe two EI abilities, emotional awareness and emotional management, were found to influence the three critical reflection processes: problem analysis, theorising cause and effect relationships, and action planning, as well as processes associated with team learning including team identification, social engagement, communication and conflict management.Practical implicationsEI may offer insights into how differences in the nature, direction and depth of critical reflection can occur in team learning contexts. Developmental initiatives that aim to improve the emotional abilities of team members may help individuals to better manage the emotional context of learning in teams.Originality/valueDespite the increasing recognition of the role emotions play in learning, very little is known to date about how differences in the way in which emotional information is processed within social learning contexts can influence critical reflection or other learning processes. The paper fills some of the gaps.