bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Teaching qualitative research methods: I'm beginning to see the light
Authors: Humphreys Michael 
Published: January 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore some of the problems of teaching qualitative research methods to large culturally‐mixed groups of postgraduate business school students.Design/methodology/approachAfter a consideration of some current relevant pedagogical issues the author presents an autoethnographic account of his own parallel experiences of teaching qualitative research methods and learning to play a musical instrument. Emotional aspects of teaching and learning are highlighted in an analysis of the dynamic interaction between the two activities. This is presented as an example of how the “use of learning stories” can increase sensitivity to the anxieties of students.FindingsFinds that the core of the argument lies in the value of self‐reflexivity to the business school teacher and that looking inward at personal learning experiences is invaluable for informing current and future teaching practice. Recent learning experiences seem to have the most potential and learning something that is found difficult may be the richest source of empathy and insight.Practical implicationsIt is argued that reflexive analysis by research‐methods lecturers of their own learning experiences can develop synergies which would not only improve the effectiveness of their teaching but also enrich the learning experience of their students.Originality/valueThe paper is an attempt to generate some original ideas about teaching research methods in business schools via a mix of autoethnography and music. The core of the argument lies in the value of self‐reflexivity to the business school teacher.
On the edge of social constructionism
Authors: Shotter John 
Published: January 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to outline a distinctive kind of qualitative inquiry, strongly influenced by Wittgenstein's very practical philosophical investigations.Design/methodology/approachThe paper describes how there is a very clear, but not yet fully recognized, difference between (at least some crucial forms of dialogically‐structured) qualitative research and current more quantitative forms – a difference that is not fully captured in characterizing it as more focussed on subjective experience and as context‐oriented.FindingsCentral to this approach is a kind of poetic writing that requires a special kind of slow reading that leads us, not to a referential‐representational understanding of the text, but to a relationally‐responsive understanding of it, a shift from being concerned with the extra knowledge or information that one is left with after reading a text to a concern with what can happen during one's reading of it. Its focus is thus on the provision of detailed portrayals rather than on accurate representations, and with how ‘striking’ expressions remembered from our reading of such portrayals can come to in‐form our ways of perceiving, acting, talking, thinking, and evaluating events occurring around us.Originality/valueThrough this way, the seemingly merely descriptive inquiries of the kind Wittgenstein advocates can be applied, for example, in making sense of knowledge creation and innovation in organizations.
A therapeutic journey?
Authors: Haynes Kathryn 
Published: January 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of undertaking research on both participants and researcher.Design/methodology/approachTaking an auto/ethnographic approach, the paper provides a reflexive account of the impact of research on identity construction, especially in relation to the specific areas of the accounting profession and motherhood.FindingsThere are potential therapeutic effects of undertaking and participating in research.Originality/valueThe paper provides an analysis of a little considered area in qualitative research, namely the effects of the research on those involved.
Analysis of flexibility requirements under uncertain environments
Authors: Pramod M. , Garg Suresh 
Published: January 2007

PurposeIn the complex environment of manufacturing system, it is proper to design a production system which meets the market requirements in the most economical and competitive manner. Flexible manufacturing system (FMS) is one of the options to meet the uncertainty in demand and high variety of products. This paper aims to review the definition, classification, and measurement of manufacturing flexibility concerned with manufacturing flexibility management.Design/methodology/approachThe selection process consists of the synthesis and critical evaluation of the concepts put forward in the extant literature. As a consequence of this process, three primary flexibility dimensions are identified: volume, variety and machine. Simulation approach is used to study the behavior of FMS under different demand scenarios and levels of flexibility.FindingsFour hypotheses are tested in five different flexibility levels. The following conclusions are obtained from the study. For any flexibility level, as the traffic density (TD) increases, the system utilization increases; as the TD increases, the throughput time increases; and as the number of part type increase, the system utilization decreases. A comparison between five flexibility levels showed that flexibility level 4 is best in terms of system utilization and throughput time. Flexibility level 2 perform second best, better than flexibility level 3 and flexibility level 5 which is not in line with initial assumption. Lastly, from the above results it is concluded that partial flexibility is better as compare to no flexibility and total flexibility.Originality/valueIt is felt that the contribution of the paper lies in demonstrating the usefulness of simulation technique in quantifying the aspects related to FMS. The effect that a specific design variable has on a specific system level flexibility type can change with the level of part processing flexibility present and flexibility trade‐off in manufacturing systems is not inevitable. This would help the planners of FMS to think and design FMS in a holistic manner.
An actor‐dependency technique for analyzing and modeling early‐phase requirements of organizational change management due to information systems adoption
Authors: Misra Subhas C. , Kumar Vinod , Kumar Uma 
Published: January 2007

PurposeBecause of the competitive economy, organizations today seek to rationalize, innovate and adapt to changing environments and circumstances as part of business process reengineering (BPR) efforts. Irrespective of the process reengineering program selected and the technique used to model it, BPR brings with it the issues of organizational and process changes, which involves managing organizational changes (also called “change management”). Change management is non‐trivial, as organizational changes are difficult to accomplish. Though some attempt has been made to model change management in enterprise information systems using conventional conceptual modeling techniques, they have just addressed “what” a change process is like, and they do not address “why” the process is the way it is.Design/methodology/approachThe approach presents an actor‐dependency‐based technique for analyzing and modeling early‐phase requirements of organizational change management that provides the motivations, intents, and rationales behind the entities and activities.FindingsA case study illustrates this approach.Originality/valueThis approach is novel in the sense that there is no similar intentional modeling approach for change management to the best of our knowledge. The approach is expected to be valuable because using this approach one can reason about the opportunities and changes that are associated with BPR and can incorporate prominently the issues related to change in the process of system analysis and design.
Modeling customer support performance in Indian IT hardware industry
Authors: Shankar R. , Vijayaraghavan P. , Narendran T. 
Published: January 2007

PurposeCustomer support assumes strategic importance in India for branded IT‐hardware products. An authorized service center and a stream of specialized service centers undertake field services and represent a sale‐territory's support network. “Time constrained” service men have to deliver customized service meeting a promised time‐standard. The stochastic demand for support services severely mars the customer response resulting in poor service quality. A manufacturer has to address the following decisions under these conditions: what is the ideal staffing level in a territory considering restricted server availability? What will be the impact of changing the staffing levels on customer service level? This study develops an analytical model to address these decisions.Design/methodology/approachThe study identifies the variables underlying stochastic service demand through a field survey and determines the demand distribution. Applying stochastic principles the study derives relation between field staffing level and customer response considering server time constraint. Study performs statistical analysis to validate this model with real time data on variables collected from the field survey.FindingsThe outcomes of analysis reveal the following findings: this model can be applied in service systems where a time constrained server has to deliver expected level of performance (research implication); and increasing field staffing levels obscures the significant difference between the customer waiting times under very high levels of uncertain demand (practical implication).Originality/valueThe study derives relation between the staffing levels and customer waiting time considering uncertain demand with restricted working hour conditions.
Moral cover for capitalism
Authors: Gerde Virginia W. , Goldsby Michael G. , Shepard Jon M. 
Published: January 2007

PurposeIn The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Max Weber chronicled how seventeenth‐century religious tenets expounded by John Calvin inadvertently laid the ideological groundwork for the flourishing of eighteenth‐century capitalism. In this early work on the rise of capitalism, Weber examined the changes in attitudes of business and accepted ethical business behavior and the transition of justification from religious tenets and guidance to more secular, yet rational explanations. The purpose of this paper is to contend this transition from religious to secular moral cover for business ethics was aided by the harmony‐of‐interests doctrine, which provided moral, but secular, cover for the pursuit of self‐interest and personal wealth with an implicit, secular rationalization of promoting the public good.Design/methodology/approachAlthough Weber used Benjamin Franklin as an exemplar of the earlier Calvinist Protestantism and spirit of capitalism, advocates a case study of Robert Keayne, a seventeenth‐century Boston Puritan Merchant, as being more appropriate for Weber's thesis. The paper uses passages from Keanye's will to illustrate the seventeenth‐century Protestant ethic and spirit of capitalism, Franklin's writings to illustrate the eighteenth‐century Protestant ethic and spirit of capitalism, and various historical prose to demonstrate the legitimation of the harmony‐of‐interests doctrine which allowed for the secular moral cover for the pursuit of capitalism in the following centuries.FindingsThe original (seventeenth‐century) spirit of capitalism identified by Weber is reflected in the rational way in which Keayne conducted his business affairs and in the extent to which his business behavior mirrored Calvinist tenets.Originality/valueThis earlier spirit of capitalism is important in setting the stage for the emergence of the eighteenth‐century spirit of capitalism embodied in Franklin as seen through his writings of acceptable and moral behavior without the use of explicit religious explanations.
The ethos of business in H.G. Wells' novel The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman (1914)
Authors: Costea Bogdan , Amiridis Kostas 
Published: January 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the way in which H.G. Wells' 1914 novel The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman might be interpreted as an “essay” illustrating some key aspects in the articulation of the ethos of business and management in the cultural context of early twentieth century capitalism.Design/methodology/approachApproaching the novel as a piece of cultural history, the paper analyzes its characters and themes, as well as its form and style, to investigate fundamental ethical aspects of business as an occupation and form of organization. The novel (one amongst countless examples in the last century) stimulates reflection upon the purposes of “businesses” (as institutions) and of “business people”.FindingsH.G. Wells explores, in the rich form of a tragic novel, the relationship between the pursuit of profit, family life, and social integration. This problematic is not simply of historical interest. It has become intensified over the last century, yet is poorly represented in recent texts of “business ethics” which “hide” its complexity behind a search for simplistic, transcendental frameworks.Originality/valueThis is a new source for a wide historical contextualization of key aspects of business ethics by relating domestic life, entrepreneurial behavior, and social responsibility at the beginning of the twentieth century.
The whistle‐blowing zone: applying Barnard's insights to a modern ethical dilemma
Authors: Nam Dae‐il , Lemak David J. 
Published: January 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to apply Chester Barnard's ideas about authority in organizations to the modern phenomenon of “whistle‐blowing” and highlight insights that can advance contemporary theory in business ethics. The paper coins a new term “the whistle‐blowing zone,” and uses it as a way to capitalize on Barnard's insights and to offer a conceptual framework that can help business ethics scholars explain the phenomenon.Design/methodology/approachBy comparing and contrasting Barnard's ideas with contemporary research, the authors argue that he provides a number of insights that can advance modern business ethical theory and research. Implications about the origin and mechanism of whistle‐blowing are discussed.FindingsFirst, it is found that Barnard's theory of authority, specifically the notion of a “zone of indifference” is applicable to the modern phenomenon of whistle‐blowing. Second, the paper coins a new term “the whistle‐blowing zone,” to explain why and how whistle‐blowing occurs. Finally, the paper develops a conceptual framework to capitalize on Barnard's insight to explain the phenomenon of “whistle‐blowing.”Originality/valueThis paper is the first paper to examine Barnard's writings in the context of the modern business issue of whistle‐blowing. It is believed that the study of business ethics can be enhanced by applying Barnard's work. His concept of authority in formal organizations actually provides the theoretical foundation to examine and understand the phenomenon of whistle‐blowing in ways that have not appeared in the literature to date.
Corporate social responsibility in the 1920s: an institutional perspective
Authors: Hoffman Richard C. 
Published: January 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to better understand the origins of modern corporate social responsibility. The paper seeks to examine some factors that enabled the new industrial corporation to expand its role in society.Design/methodology/approachUsing institutional theory, this paper describes how some of the institutional characteristics of the modern corporation itself provided some opportunities or challenges in terms of gaining social legitimacy.FindingsThe institutional features of the corporation, its technology and management created new demands on the corporation by society. These in turn led to the development of such concepts of corporate social responsibility as: public relations, service, trusteeship, and public welfare.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research on social legitimacy should focus on demands placed by the institutional characteristics of new organizations. Other research might include comparative studies of corporate legitimacy in Europe or Asia or an examination of the evolving role of managers from the role of welfare capitalist to trusteeship.Practical implicationsInstitutions that adapt to changing demands have the best chance to survive. Firms that adopt new social activities are likely to have to sustain them in the long run.Originality/valueThis study is the first to argue that the features of the modern corporation itself stimulated some of the social activities it undertook. Contributions of scientific management scholars to the shaping of the emerging corporate role are also noted.
Integrity: a systems theory classification
Authors: Nelly Trevinyo‐Rodríguez Rosa 
Published: January 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a meaningful framework for the classification of the integrity trait in the moral context (ethics), offering an understandable conceptualization of a notion that although identified as central in the literature has is not been defined in a clear and conventional way.Design/methodology/approachGrounding ideas on the person‐situation historical debate, and drawing on the insights of Luhmann's General System Theory, this paper develops a multileveled framework that categorizes the view of integrity.FindingsThe integrity framework presents three categories (levels) of integrity: personal integrity, moral integrity and organizational integrity (OI). This classification serves as a bridging mechanism when trying to link different academic areas (e.g. psychology and ethics) since it provides some agreement on the different meanings and perspectives of the concept of integrity present in the literature.Practical implicationsPractical application of the framework is foreseen within the organizational context, where managers could use it for articulating some of the more intangible aspects that compose their organizational cultures, and which in turn, impact their employees' behavior. In addition, the framework is useful to detect possible/future conflicts of interests that may arise due to different personal (employees) and organizational (company) views of integrity.Originality/valueThis paper alerts scholars and practitioners to the need of a sound classification of the concept of integrity, plus an agreement on its meaning, scope and uses. Consequently, it develops a multileveled framework to show an understandable conceptualization of the trait, paving the road for multidisciplinary research on the topic.
Strategy implications of business culture differences between Japan and China
Authors: Li Xinjian , Putterill Martin 
Published: January 2007

PurposeTo identify characteristics of Japanese business culture that differ from China, particularly in the dimensions of ‘high context’ versus ‘low context’’ and collectivism versus individualism.Design/methodology/approachApplication of the concepts in cross‐culture research suggested by Hall (1976), Hofstede (1980) and Trompenaar and Hampden‐Turner (1998) and on the base of comprehensive field visits and observation undertaken in China and Japan over the past several years.FindingsThe Japanese culture can be characterized as highly tacit and group‐centered, whereas Chinese culture is more explicit and individualistic.Research limitations/implicationsArguably the absence of a large body of supporting data represents a limitation in the methodology of this article. Future survey based research and further conceptualization on different kinds of collectivisms and individualisms will supplement this article.Practical implicationsVery useful advice in aspects of communication, human relations management, recruitment, and management control systems for international business management developing business opportunities in Japan and China.Originality/valueThis article elucidates the differences in business culture between Japan and China and shows to the global business community that a differentiated view of international business management in Japan and China is necessary.
Pursuing three horizons of growth – three cases: Bombardier (Canada), Disney (US) and Hutchison Whampoa (China)
Authors: Matheson Connell Carol 
Published: January 2007

PurposeThe article looks at how companies pursuing a three‐horizon growth strategy weathered the last economic downturn and what became of their growth initiatives.Design/methodology/approachThe paper examines the financial performance and continued investment of three growing companies from 1996‐2004: Bombardier (Canada), Hutchison Whampoa (Hong Kong/China) and Disney (US).FindingsThe Bombardier, Disney and Hutchison Whampoa cases teach a powerful lesson about the importance of using investment in growth to manage uncertainty and limit downside risk.Research limitations/implicationsWhile the focus of this article is on three companies only, the financial performances of a dozen other growing firms are examined over the same period for purposes of comparison.Practical implicationsFollowing the last downturn, companies sought to preserve the core and outsource non‐critical functions to reduce the cost of business. Some chose to sideline growth initiatives during this period. This article analyzes the outcomes for three companies that continued to invest in growth during and after this period.Originality/valueThis article addresses a series of questions. Is a three‐horizon growth strategy sustainable in a downturn? Have companies that pursued a three‐horizon strategy actually grown? Do they continue to finance the growth of horizon two and horizon three businesses? Have any viable options matured?
Growth through mergers and acquisitions: how it won't be a loser's game
Authors: Papadakis Vassilis 
Published: January 2007

PurposeDuring the 1990s we have seen an unprecedented wave of mergers and acquisitions (M&As). Despite managerial over‐optimism, research consistently showed that 50‐75 percent of M&As fail to live up to expectations. The article, drawing from both academic evidence and accumulated experience of companies that seem to have mastered the game of M&As, aims to offer managers and understandable and practical set of tips on what to seek and what to avoid when making such major strategic moves.Design/methodology/approachThe article draws from relevant research evidence.FindingsAlthough there is no “one size fits all” solution to the effective management of M&As, past research has offered us an extensive body of knowledge. The article draws attention not only to mistakes that take place after the merger, but also to mistakes that usually take place before the merger. It seems that in many cases the seeds of an unsuccessful merger have been sown well before the deal is signed.Practical implicationsThe article presents a series of questions managers should honestly answer themselves in order to avoid these mistakes.Originality/valueFinally, the article ends with an optimistic view. In future more successful M&As will be seen, due to both the nature of current deals, as well as to the active involvement in the process by boards of directors and other stakeholders.