bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Patient satisfaction in Japan
Authors: Elleuch Amira 
Published: October 2008

PurposeTo extend existing knowledge about health care quality and patient satisfaction by exploring Japanese context having a different health care system and a different culture from the USA and Europe.Design/methodology/approachA structural equation model is used to explore links between quality perception and patient satisfaction as well as between patient satisfaction and intentional behavior relying on 159 Japanese outpatient replies.FindingsJapanese healthcare service quality is evaluated using its process characteristics (patient‐provider interaction) and physical attributes (settings and appearance). Process quality attributes were found to be patient satisfaction antecedents. Satisfaction in turn predicts patient intentional behavior (to return and to recommend). Japanese society cultural specificity seems to be an interesting background to understand Japanese evaluation when patients assess health service quality.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample investigated is relatively small. The study relied on a linear approach to assess patient satisfaction and intentional behavior. However, the non‐linear model should yield a better reality fit.Practical implicationsTo improve Japanese patient satisfaction, cultural values such as courtesy, empathy and harmony should be emphasized when delivering medical services. Satisfied consumers are an important asset for the healthcare provider as they intend to reuse the service and to recommend it to their families and friends. Both foreign and Japanese providers should adopt a consumer perspective to enhance the service quality and then to maintain long‐term relationships with their customers.Originality/valueThe study used structural equation analysis to assess patient satisfaction in a scarcely investigated context. Moreover, the study relies on Japanese society's cultural characteristics to explain and understand results.
Reconsidering the role of conversations in change communication
Authors: Jabri Muayyad , Adrian Allyson D. , Boje David 
Published: October 2008

PurposeThe purpose is to inspire a more Bakhtinian perspective of conversations in change communication. Inspiration is drawn from Bakhtin and argue that change management has, for too long, focused on monologic implementation of predetermined change, i.e. how to develop the “best plot”. Change agents need to consider their anthropology are argued and ask themselves whether the people in their organizations are the objects of communication or subjects in communication. Furthermore, the argument about one's anthropology and one's espoused communication theory are intrinsically intertwined: how one communicates depends entirely on whether one views people as participating subjects in the process or as objects of the process.Design/methodology/approachConsensus‐as‐monologue and consensus‐as‐dialogue are distinguished. Under the former, the notion of a single speaker is emphasized (expectations of response are low). But under the latter, consensus becomes saturated with the self as the other (polemic, but born between people).FindingsChange agents need to consider their anthropology are argued and ask themselves whether the people in their organizations are the objects of communication or subjects in communication.Originality/valueSeeing conversation among people as a never‐ending process. A different perspective on participation – a perspective whereby one person's message joins with that of another and one person's meaning joins with that of another is offered.
Ambiguity and ambivalence
Authors: Randall Julian , Procter Stephen 
Published: October 2008

PurposeImposed change at work can present individuals with ambiguous events about which they experience ambivalence in their interpretation of meaning. This paper seeks to examine the dimensions of ambivalence as defined by Piderit among a group of managers in the public sector.Design/methodology/approachThe research is based on a group of 20 Band 11 senior managers responsible for collecting tax and between them covering the UK in a business restructured into a large business group. The authors adopted a qualitative approach involving semi‐structured interviews seeking to uncover individual accounts of imposed change, allowing subjects to reflect on their experience of change and its meaning to them.FindingsThe findings suggested that long‐service civil servants and private sector managers draw on their previous experience to interpret the changes they experience, giving rise to different perceived ambiguity between rhetoric and reality. Each group either comes to terms with ambiguity by interpreting the meaning of change to fit in with their expectancies of change, or, in one case, do not reconcile the change which then becomes a point of resistance.Practical implicationsThe case highlights the need for change agents to understand the full complexity of employee attitudes. Not only can a variety of attitudes be identified, but each set of responses can be understood in variety of ways.Originality/valueThe devil in the detail of imposed change offers both researchers and managers of change a significant source of information about likely individual and group responses to imposed change at work. Piderit's framework offers three dimensions of ambivalence which clarify different individual responses to imposed change.
Narratives as sensemaking accounts: the case of an R&D laboratory
Authors: Landau Dana , Drori Israel 
Published: October 2008

PurposeWhile conventional wisdom suggests that sensemaking is targeted towards consensual understanding of the organization's intent and action, the objective of this study is to explore a different angle of sensemaking, namely, a situation of change and crisis in which the sensemaking process focuses on presenting the organization's members with an alternative understanding of its worldview, norms, and values.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on a three‐year ethnographic field study. Data collection was based on the principles of qualitative research: participant observation, induction, interpretation, close proximity and unmediated relationships with the subjects investigated. The ethnographic method enabled collection of rich data, mainly by viewing the organizational context from its members' perspective, essential for studying.FindingsThe paper presents multiple cultural sensemaking accounts and the varied ways that the subjects use their diverse cultural resources and repertoires – ranging from intense ideological commitment to pure science to opportunistic views of their scientific work – in promoting their own, as well as their organization's survival. The study indicates that variations of conflict‐oriented sensemaking accounts can serve management's strategic quest for hegemony.Research limitations/implicationsQualitative research approaches position the researcher to learn through participative observation. The researcher acts as a participant in the activities under study and instead of attempting to control procedures and measure qualities of outcomes, the researcher becomes part of the target of study itself.Practical implicationsThis paper shows that conflict and power relations are ubiquitous to sensemaking, and that multiple accounts can be inherent in sensemaking work. We suggest that the study of sensemaking should also consider conflict as an alternative sensemaking mechanism.Originality/valueSensemaking is usually described as positive and consensual in nature. Yet, as our study shows, when evolving from conflicting viewpoints, accounts and actions sensemaking can support dissension.
Professional identity – product of structure, product of choice
Authors: Hotho Sabine 
Published: October 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to extend the discussion of the recursive relationship between the identity of a profession and the professional identity of individuals in the context of change.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws on qualitative data collected as part of a pilot study into change in the NHS. It draws on structuration theory and insights from social identity theory (SIT) to propose that the relationship between the collective level of the profession and the individual level of the professional is recursive.FindingsThe data suggest that individual professionals use and rewrite scripts of their profession but also draw upon new scripts as they engage with local change. To that extent they contribute from the local level upwards to the changing identity of their profession. Further more detailed micro level studies are required.Research limitations/implicationsThe argument is based on a limited data set and points towards the need for further microlevel studies which examine the recursive relationship between professionals' identity and the identity of a profession.Practical implicationsFurther research can contribute to better understanding of local variance as professionals engage with change.Originality/valueThe paper fuses structuration theory and SIT and examines the agency/structure nexus in a specific change context.
Dominant, emergent, and residual culture: the dynamics of organizational change
Authors: Bryson Jane 
Published: October 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to introduce a practical conceptual tool for analysing the dynamics of cultural change in organizations. In so doing it seeks to address two concerns in the organization culture literature: issues of time and perspective which underlie the contested nature of culture; and limitations of existing analytical frameworks to cater for differing perspectives in a manner which is accessible to academics and practitioners.Design/methodology/approachWilliams' notion of culture as a constant negotiation between the dominant, the emergent, and the residual cultures mediated by the processes of selective tradition and incorporation is discussed. For illustrative purposes this model is then used to analyse material collected in a case study of a growing IT organization.FindingsThe analysis framework identifies the paradoxes and potential tensions in the ongoing development of this organization. As a result it promotes questioning, and clarifies where choices are to be made.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper shows how this framework can be used to assist investigation. Although the usual limitations of case study research apply, the framework facilitates a wider view of change over time.Practical implicationsThe paper provides an accessible reflective framework that affords a more dynamic, contextual, evolutionary, and nuanced view of organizations. It accommodates multiple perspectives within an organization and facilitates their exploration.Originality/valueThe paper introduces the ideas of Raymond Williams to a wider organizational audience, and demonstrates how they can be adapted to make complex accounts of culture and organization more accessible.
Constructing the legitimate buyer of management consulting services
Authors: Bäcklund Jonas , Werr Andreas 
Published: October 2008

PurposeHiring management consultants as external support in organizational change is in the literature described as a socially and emotionally stressful activity for managers. Management consultants need to deal with these threatening aspects of their service. This paper aims to explore the subject positions management consultants offer managers in their self‐presentations on the World Wide Web.Design/methodology/approachThe paper studies the self‐presentations on the www of four large management consultancies–Accenture, BCG, KPMG, and McKinsey & Co. Using a Foucault inspired discourse analytical framework, we analyze the subject positions offered to client‐managers in these self‐presentations and how these subject positions relate to the management regimes of bureaucracy and post‐bureaucracy.FindingsThe study identifies two different discursive practices–one normalizing practice, constructing the use of management consultants as a natural aspect of management and a second practice rationalizing the use of management consultants, providing arguments aimed at reducing the pressures on the manager. The normalizing discourse which draws on a post‐bureaucratic regime was found in Accenture and KPMG. The rationalizing discourse was found in McKinsey and BCG and draws on the bureaucratic regime.Originality/valueThis work highlights how consultants deal with the pressures their presence puts on managers. It illustrates how managerial truth regimes contribute to shaping the conditions for management consulting and the consultant‐client relationship.
The evolution of biotechnology in hostile financing environments
Authors: Patzelt Holger , Audretsch David B. 
Published: October 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the development of the biotechnology industry at the industry and firm level when the financing environment becomes hostile and assess the reasons for this development.Design/methodology/approachAn organizational evolution perspective to analyze the case of the German biotech sector was applied and its response to the hostile financing environment in the years 2002‐2004, which followed the burst of the high‐tech bubble at the stock markets. Population ecology and data from biotech reports to investigate the pattern of external adaptation processes at the industry level were used. The evolutionary economics perspective, multiple case studies of bioventures, and biotech reports to study internal adaptation processes at the firm level was employed.FindingsThe assumption of both external and internal adaptation processes was found in parallel is necessary to explain the evolution of the biotech industry in a hostile financing environment. Although external adaptation takes place to some extent through insolvencies and a reduced rate of new firm foundations, many bioventures adapt internally by downsizing, changing their business models, and entering into strategic alliances and M&As. This results in surprisingly weak consolidation at the industry level.Originality/valueThis paper provides an explanation why the consolidation of the German biotech industry in 2002‐2004 was much weaker than expected by experts. Moreover, the paper shows that application of population ecology and evolutionary economics in parallel well describes industry evolution and organizational change. Finally, the paper demonstrates how bioventures can adapt their financing strategies to hostile environments.
Management theory and practice: bridging the gap through multidisciplinary lenses
Authors: Brownlie Douglas , Hewer Paul , Wagner Beverly , Svensson Göran 
Published: October 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue that critically examines topics informing long‐standing disputes concering the status of theory and practice in management studies. Contributions explore the character of the imputed relationship between theory and practice.Design/methodology/approachThe editorial introduction sets the discussion of topics in the context of institutional change influencing the production, circulation and consumption of knowledge products in the economy of relevance and reputation. It also presents an overview of the papers included in the special issue.FindingsThe main themes addressed in the papers represent a call for change; a call to radicalize the approaches to understanding ways of knowing; a call to re‐evaluate relations with practitioners; and a call to reimagine ways of representing knowledge to various constituencies, including fellow academic practitioners, management practitioners, students, and policy‐makers and other opinion‐formers.Research limitations/implicationsThe key message is one of the importance of encouraging broad discussions concerning the direction and impact of flows of knowledge and the various products in which that knowledge is embedded. It calls for a more market‐oriented approach to understanding the knowledge economy and the mediating role of various institutional players, including the academy, in the circulation, creation and destruction of knowledge products.Practical implicationsThat a more‐market oriented approach to arrangements for the distribution of research resources in management studies calls for the development of more market‐oriented institutions capable of shaping relationships of collaboration, involvement and accountability.Originality/valueContributions expand the understanding of the problems and opportunities of imputing links to theory and practice.
Producing and socializing relevant management knowledge: re‐turn to pragmatism
Authors: Fendt Jacqueline , Kaminska‐Labbé Renata , Sachs Wladimir M. 
Published: October 2008

PurposeManagement practice is progressing at unprecedented pace and often academia is lagging behind, if not totally irrelevant, both in management research and in education. This paper strives to show how principles of pragmatism and action research are likely to increase the relevance of management research and education.Design/methodology/approachA reflection based on a broad review of ontological and epistemological issues leads to a call for philosophical re‐foundation of management academia.FindingsPragmatism defines truth seeking as reducing doubt, and therefore necessarily includes the notion of a client for the research effort. Action research is a practical embodiment of this approach and deserves a more prominent role.Research limitations/implicationsThe research limitations and implications are inherent in the chosen methodology/approach: a viewpoint that hopefully stimulates others.Practical implicationsThis paper makes concrete suggestions as to how to bring research and education closer to the client to permit cross‐fertilization and improve problem‐solving processes.Originality/valueThe paper offers a meta‐synthesis of ontological and epistemological approaches to the theory‐praxis gap. It outlines the imminent pertinence of pragmatism as a philosophy and as a practice of management science and relates pragmatism to theory of action, purporting pragmatist paradigms of management knowledge socialization.
Exploring metaphor as an alternative marketing language
Authors: Fillis Ian , Rentschler Ruth 
Published: October 2008

PurposeThe main aim of this paper is to stimulate more relevant and critical ideas about marketing and the wider management field by exploring the actual and potential contribution of metaphor to marketing theory and practice. The subsequent connections made can help contribute towards understanding and coping with the theory/practice gap.Design/methodology/approachTo date, the majority of metaphor application has tended to be literal and surface‐level rather than theoretically grounded. This paper interrogates the literature surrounding metaphor in marketing and management fields, while also examining the contribution of other areas such as art. The paper constructs and debates the conceptual notion of the marketer as an artist.FindingsIncorporation of theoretically grounded metaphors into marketing theory can help develop a form of marketing which is capable of dealing with ambiguity, chaotic market conditions, creative thinking and practice.Originality/valueAdoption of a metaphorical approach to marketing research helps to instil a critical and creative ethos in the research process. Marketers are concerned with identification and exploitation of opportunities. Metaphor assists in the process by enhancing visualisation of these future directions. We live out our lives to a large degree through the making of metaphorical connections. We should therefore embrace more qualitative, creative associations in marketing theory, as well as practice.
Theory and practice across disciplines: implications for the field of management
Authors: Brennan Ross 
Published: October 2008

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to contribute to the debate about the existence and nature of a “gap” between theory and practice in management.Design/methodology/approachThe putative theory/practice “gap” in management is investigated by examining the theory/practice debate in three cognate fields–economics, nursing and marketing.FindingsThe relationship between theory and practice is actively debated in all three of the fields. In economics, criticism has been directed at the implicit ontological assumptions made in formal mathematical methods employed by orthodox neoclassical economists. In nursing the debate has centred on the practical issues associated with implementing evidence based practice; in particular identifying and seeking to overcome barriers to implementation. In marketing, managers find most academic theory difficult to read and irrelevant; this may be because the goals of academics and the goals of practitioners are different.Research limitations/implicationsPotentially fruitful topics for further research are identified at the pragmatic, epistemological and ontological levels.Originality/valueThe paper identifies lessons for the field of management research from economics, nursing and marketing. Each of these three areas provides a unique lens through which to view the research/practice “gap” in management.
Education for practice
Authors: Baker Michael J. 
Published: October 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this short opinion piece is to focus on the role of marketing, its theory and practice, and its relevance now and in the future.Design/methodology/approachThe article analyses the present situation – which is not new – the perceived divide between marketing theory and marketing practice and, therefore, the issue of what academics should research and teach that might be of relevance to practitioners.FindingsThe article shows that if marketers – both academic and practitioner – are to meet and resolve the present challenges then they need to be customer focused, build long‐term relationships with customers, and think of their life‐time value as opposed to their short‐term profitability.Originality/valueThe article highlights issues of relevance to those involved with marketing theory and practice.
A case of mistaken identity: theory, practice and the marketing textbook
Authors: Ardley Barry 
Published: October 2008

PurposeOne field in business where there is a purported gap between theory and practice is in marketing. This paper aims to examine one area of the debate, the degree of congruence between the established textbook theories of marketing and the practical activity of marketing managers.Design/methodology/approachPhenomenological interviews were carried out with senior marketing managers from a diverse range of organisations. The aim was to establish what types of factors inform manager's approaches to practice. Meaningful comparisons were made possible, as a range of marketing texts were also examined.FindingsTextbook theories represent a flawed view of the practitioner's world. Many texts are very similar, based on an implicitly systems based paradigm. Universal truths are seen as indispensable modes of representational language. In contrast, the interviews with managers show that marketing is a locally contingent activity, occupying a discursive space separate from that of textbook theory.Research limitations/implicationsScholars desire to reduce real world activity to over arching explanations has led to the simplification of theory. Textbooks should embrace an approach based on interpretative insights into the realities of marketing practice. Moves away from the “one size fits all” theory need to occur, to a situation where marketing is recognised as being about a socially mediated, multifaceted approach to business activity.Originality/valueSubstantial attention has been paid to what many commentators regard as an academic practitioner divide in marketing. Most of this concerns the status of research into marketing. Considerably less attention is devoted to the position of the marketing textbook. This paper helps to remedy the situation. Ideas are offered up for the development of marketing knowledge and ways are suggested to help close the theory practice gap in the discipline, through the medium of the textbook.