bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Examining the career plateau among police officers
Authors: Burke Ronald J. , Mikkelsen Aslaug 
Published: January 2007

PurposeThis study aims to examine the career plateau by comparing police officers having 15 or more years of service who had been promoted with police officers having 15 or more years of service who had not.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 389 police officers in Norway using anonymously completed questionnaires, a 62 percent response rate.FindingsPlateaued officers were younger, had less police tenure and were more educated than were non‐plateaued officers. Plateaued officers also reported less favorable work outcomes and greater cynicism. The two groups of officers indicated generally similar levels of psychological health suggesting that potential negative consequences of the career plateau were limited to the workplace.Research limitations/implicationsAll data collected using self‐reports raising the possibility of common method bias. Study needs to be replicated in police forces in other countries.Practical implicationsSuggestions for reducing the negative effects of the career plateau are offered.Originality/valueThe study extends research on the career plateau to police organizations
The influence of organizational socialization on police officers' acceptance of community policing
Authors: Moon Byongook 
Published: January 2007

PurposeThe study aims to examine the effect of organizational socialization into police culture on officers' attitudes toward community policing in South Korea.Design/methodology/approachThe study sampled 694 Korean police officers. Policy implication and direction for future research is discussed.FindingsThe results indicate a positive relationship between the degree of organizational socialization and police officers' attitudes toward community policing, contrary to hypothesized directions. Police officers who report higher levels of socialization into police culture are more likely to support the philosophy of community policing and line officers' autonomy/participation, and to perceive a positive relationship with citizens. The findings may indicate that police culture in Korea is fundamentally different from those of other countries, even though the Korean police share some common characteristics of police culture (i.e. machismo, isolation, or conflict with citizens) with its counterparts.Originality/valueThe study provides useful information on the effect of organizational socialization into police culture on officers' attitudes toward community policing.
Organizational commitment and perceived organizational support in the NSW police
Authors: Currie Paul , Dollery Brian 
Published: January 2007

PurposeAn embryonic empirical literature on Australian policing has established that commitment levels of police officers are comparatively low. This paper seeks to add to this literature.Design/methodology/approachThe paper applies Allen and Meyer's three‐component model of organizational commitment, in conjunction with the Eisenberger et al.'s model of perceived organizational support, to a sample of 351 sworn police officers and student officers.FindingsThe results seem to confirm earlier Australian findings since organizational commitment among the sample of respondents was also found to be low. It is suggested that additional skills training and tuition subsidies for officers could enhance organizational commitment.Originality/valueThe paper provides useful information on levels of commitment among Australian police officers and suggestions on how organizational commitment can be enhanced.
Following the leader: front‐line narratives on police leadership
Authors: Rowe Michael 
Published: January 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to consider junior officers' attitudes towards those in senior positions, and the implications that this has for current debates on improving police leadership.Design/methodology/approachAn ethnographic study of policing underpins the article and theoretically the notion of police culture is used to consider the various ways in which frontline police officers are able to resist or circumvent reforms to which they do not subscribe.FindingsThe article finds that frontline officers place great value on being led by senior officers who have considerable direct experience of street level policework. Those officers who have rapidly climbed the promotion ladder, without “serving their time” on the streets, are regarded with some suspicion.Research limitations/implicationsFurther analysis of the attitudes of junior officers towards their senior colleagues would be useful, to build on this study to consider the extent to which the attitudes identified here apply to various roles completed by senior officers.Practical implicationsThe current agenda of police reform emphasises the benefits to be had from employing leaders who are from outside the British police service. While the suspicion with which such individuals are likely to be greeted by frontline staff is not, in itself, reason to reject such proposals it does indicate that efforts need to be made to bridge the “credibility gap” that seems likely to surround them. The article identifies a number of situations in which junior police officers did not accept the legitimacy of requests made by those of senior rank. It is not argued that leaders and managers were necessarily betraying ignorance of the realities of police work or that they were misguided. However, it is argued that given the continuing high levels of discretion available to police officers in terms of how they interpret their role and operationalise their diverse duties it is important for proponents of police reform to understand the cultural factors that, in part, will determine the ways in which frontline officers will respond to change.Originality/valueThe article presents valuable and original insight into a neglected aspect of debates on police leadership; namely, the perspectives of those who are “followers”. Since British policing has continued to eschew officer‐level entry, the issues raised are vitally important to those seeking to transform police leadership by introducing those from outside the service to senior positions.
Connecting work and learning: design engineers' learning at work
Authors: Collin Kaija 
Published: January 2007

PurposeThe paper seeks to investigate design engineers' and product developers' learning through their work. The aim was to approach designers' work practice and their learning in the course of it as perceived by the designers themselves. The aim is also to examine their learning through the various individual and social processes, which take place in the workplace.Design/methodology/approachThe ethnographic approach in this paper, with its use of combined and qualitative data gathering and analytical methods, was selected to approach the aim described above. Observations in two Finnish high‐tech companies and interviews with 18 designers were conducted. The observations and interviews were analysed with help of combined methods of analysis, such as phenomenographic, narrative and ethnographic analysis.FindingsThe findings in this paper suggest that in redefining designers' work and learning, four central themes are important: design practice is learning in itself; there is a close relationship between formal and practical knowledge in designers' learning at work; previous work experience plays an essential role in learning; and design practices and learning should be seen as shared, situated and contextualized.Practical implicationsIn the paper general suggestions concerning the guidance of workplace learning are given, and the challenges of guiding and assessing workplace learning in the vocational education context are examined. There is a clear need for more effective integration between education and working life.Originality/valueThe paper illustrates that individual and social practice and learning in the workplace should be analysed as interdependent and intertwined.
You are who I say you are: the rhetorical construction of identity in the operating theatre
Authors: Bleakley Alan 
Published: January 2007

PurposeThe paper seeks to show that narrative close call reporting is one strand of an ongoing collaborative inquiry project with 300 staff aiming to improve teamwork in operating theatres in a large UK hospital. How teams deal with close calls (“accidents waiting to happen”) reveals resourcefulness but exposes flaws, including resistance to basic safety practices such as briefing and debriefing.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper over 400 issues from close call reports over two years have been thematically analysed to map a variety of (mis)communications. This paper goes beyond this descriptive level of data analysis to a deeper level, where close calls are read textually. The most common rhetorical strategies are reported, shown in around a quarter of all reports.FindingsThe paper finds that accounts are neither transparent nor objective, but offer a medium for the exercise of rhetorical strategy, a main function of which is construction and management of identity. Practitioners maintain traditional boundaries between professions by stereotyping the “other” professional in the team, serving to stabilise identity. Work is typically presented as on the edge, close to collapse, serving to shape an identity of “heroic survivors” for team members.Practical implicationsIn the paper habitual practices that impede teamwork are challenged, such as stereotyping. Reporting can encourage “fearless speech” – regardless of position on the traditional hierarchy – that is an empowering form of “plain speaking” underpinned by moral courage.Originality/valueThe paper shows that close calls are typically treated instrumentally. A deeper, aesthetic and ethical reading is offered. Education in “fearless speech” in close call reports may offer a reflexive stance and new context for identity construction.
Contextuality and cultural texts: a case study of workplace learning in call centres
Authors: Crouch Margaret 
Published: January 2007

PurposeThe paper seeks to show the contextualisation of call centres as a work‐specific ethnographically and culturally based community, which, in turn, influences pedagogical practices through the encoding and decoding of cultural texts in relation to two logics: cost‐efficiency and customer‐orientation.Design/methodology/approachThe paper includes a qualitative, interpretive research‐based case study involving three Australian incoming customer service call centres and seven call centre managers.FindingsThe paper finds cultural texts with high management structure and control and low workplace socialisation and semiotic literacy favour constructions of meaning which prioritise qualitative (customer‐orientated logic) performance by a customer service representative (CSR) at early cultural junctures. This position subsequently transitions to favour the prioritisation of quantitative (cost‐efficient logic) performance as the CSR progresses. The shift occurs through a process of relayered knowledge constructs wherein a corresponding reduction in management control and structure of the texts is counter‐balanced by an increase in workplace socialisation and semiotic literacy.Practical implicationsThe paper includes enriched understandings of call centre contextuality and shows that fresh perspectives on contextually influenced pedagogical practices have the potential to direct and harness more informed approaches to call centre teaching and learning, particularly in relation to the logics of cost‐efficiency and customer‐orientation.Originality/valueA thought‐provoking paper for call centre managers and human resource learning and development professionals which foregrounds the concepts of work‐specific ethnographic community, cultural texts, encoding and decoding, socialisation and semiotic literacy as influential workplace teaching and learning conduits.
Experience, competence and workplace learning
Authors: Paloniemi Susanna 
Published: January 2007

PurposeThis paper aims to examine employees' conceptions of the meaning of experience in job‐competence and its development in workplace context. The aim is to bring out the variety of conceptions related to experience, competence and workplace learning.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on interview data from six Finnish small and medium sized enterprises. The data were collected as a part of a larger European Union research project, Working Life Changes and Training of Older Workers (WORKTOW) during spring 1999. The approach chosen for the analysis presented in this paper was phenomenography.FindingsThe findings in the paper show the importance accorded to experience in competence and in workplace learning. The employees valued work experience as the main source of their competence. They also developed their competence mainly through learning at work. The role of social participation in work communities and learning through experiences was emphasized.Practical implicationsThe paper shows that differentiating employees' conceptions paves a way to more specific perspectives on the development and utilisation of experience‐based competence in work communities and organisations.Originality/valueIn this paper the findings are discussed in the light of construction and development of older workers' job‐competence in working life. It is argued that experience serves several kinds of purposes in workplace learning also among experienced workers.
Recognising current competencies of volunteers in emergency service organisations
Authors: Catts Ralph , Chamings Dave 
Published: January 2007

PurposeThe paper seeks to show the relationship between organisational structure and flexibility of training has not been well researched. Focusing on the role of recognition of current competencies, this study provides evidence of the effects of the former on the latter.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper evidence was obtained by comparing six emergency service organisations using comparative case study. Data were collected through individual and group interviews and from document searches. Organisations were categorised as organistic or mechanistic based on volunteer experiences and published organisational structures. The flexibility of curriculum, delivery of training, and recognition of current competence were assessed and compared with organisational structure.FindingsThe paper finds that mechanistic organisations had high levels of insular trust and relied on training as a means of socialising new volunteers into the norms and practices of the organisation. They required all recruits to undertake the same training and did not recognise competencies acquired outside the organisation. In contrast, those organisations with a more, organic structure, had more flexible training strategies and used holistic assessment to recognise current competencies that volunteers brought to their roles.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper could be replicated in other industries to examine the generalisabilty of the findings. The implications for the wider issues of flexibility and responsiveness of some emergency service organisations could be an area for further investigation.Practical implicationsThe paper shows that achieving greater flexibility in training in emergency service organisations may require organisational change in order to build trust within a work context that can involve extreme risks.Originality/valueThe paper concludes that, while it was the fire services that were the more mechanistic of the organisations included in the study, there was sufficient diversity in their structures to allow one to conclude that across these four cases the more organic the organisation, the more flexible was the approach to training. It is concluded therefore that an inflexible approach to training is not an essential feature of the fire service industry.
Learning to make changes: democratic dialogue in action
Authors: Kalliola Satu , Nakari Risto , Pesonen Ilkka 
Published: January 2007

PurposeThe theoretical aim of the research in this paper is to conceptualize learning in the context of communicative action research, specifically in the context of democratic dialogue. The empirical aim is to show how and in which conditions action research projects, based on democratic dialogue, work.Design/methodology/approachIn the paper, first, a conceptual synthesis is made by combining organizational and learning approaches to action research interventions based on the principles of democratic dialogue. Second, the new frame of reference is used to make a content analysis of two public sector cases from Finland, which will be presented as chance narratives.FindingsThe paper finds that the conceptualization of action research interventions first, as development organizations, and second, as learning spaces, sharpens the empirical analysis of the impact of the interventions. The article will point out how the action research interventions enhance collaborative learning among the participants. In cases where democratic dialogue is adopted as a regulative rule, desired organizational changes are likely to happen. In these cases, democratic dialogue diffuses from development organizations to the production and bargaining organizations.Practical implicationsThe paper shows that the level of the conceptualization of the research makes it relevant also in other western countries that are experiencing a transformation of the public sector towards managerialism.Originality/valueThe paper combines theories of learning and organizations in the framework of communicative action research in a way that makes explicit the role of workplace democracy. The paper gives a strong theoretical and empirical evidence of the potential of the dialogue methods in the intentional changes of working life.
VET practitioners working with private enterprises: a “third space”?
Authors: Harris Roger , Simons Michele 
Published: January 2007

PurposeThis paper aims to analyse, through the lens of learning network theory, ways in which external VET practitioners work within private enterprises to promote learning within these organizations.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on analyses of six case studies in two Australian States, each comprising a vocational education institute and an enterprise. In total, 34 interviews were held with four groups of participant – TAFE managers and practitioners, enterprise personnel and worker‐learners – from different industries.FindingsThe paper finds that the overlaying of an external learning system on existing learning systems brings inevitable tensions that need to be carefully managed. VET practitioners working in industry operate in two worlds with very different cultures. They need to learn how to work within different power structures, how to build around existing work and learning networks, and how to mesh in with the flow of enterprise work. In the process of working with company staff, and crossing boundaries, they may well be creating a “third space” in which new meanings can be, and have to be, constructed that go beyond the limits of either site.Practical implicationsThe paper shows that understanding these ways of working has practical implications for VET managers and practitioners, company staff and policy‐makers in terms of how human resources are managed and how different parties work together.Originality/valueThe paper shows two objectives: a relatively new focus in the research literature and an extension of learning network theory in terms of external learning systems.
Transformative learning in joint leadership
Authors: Wilhelmson Lena 
Published: January 2007

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to show what the leaders themselves regard as the working ingredients in their mutual work situation that help to facilitate personal development.Design/methodology/approachIn the paper data were collected through semi‐structured interviews with 14 leaders at low and middle management levels in different lines of business within the private and public sector. The analysis of the learning processes draws on the theory of transformative learning.FindingsThe paper revealed that joint leadership, according to the leaders, could provide the leaders themselves with a basis of personal development and learning. This depends on common core values, a supportive relationship and common work processes as well as complementarity, joint sense making and critical reflection.Research limitations/implicationsThe implies that joint leadership provides possibilities of transformative learning through examination of different points of view, through explicitly talking about habits of mind, and through stepwise changes of existing frames of reference. The results indicate that joint leadership offers the possibility of a deepened learning process in daily work in a communicative relationship where profound values and ways of acting are openly shared and critically‐reflected upon. Joint leadership should however not be forced on to managers.Originality/valueThe paper provides insights into learning processes for leaders, based on the possibilities, which can be created through joint leadership.
Upward feedback and its contribution to employees' feeling of self‐determination
Authors: Bauer Johannes , Mulder Regina H. 
Published: January 2007

PurposeThe paper seeks to show that self‐determination is a widely regarded motivational variable in educational research that relates to intrinsically motivated, self‐directed learning at work. This study aimed to find out whether the possibility to provide upward feedback to supervisors contributes to employees' feelings of self‐determination. This should only be the case if the subordinates perceive the possibility to provide feedback as a serious possibility of influence and improvement.Design/methodology/approachThe paper finds that in a cross‐sectional case study, 76 employees from a high‐tech industry enterprise were surveyed for their perception of upward feedback and their feeling of self‐determination by questionnaire. Self‐determination was measured by the support of the intrinsic needs of autonomy, competence and social relatedness at the workplace.FindingsThe paper finds that, as expected, the perceived quality of the upward feedback is related positively to self‐determination. Employees who perceive the upward feedback as a chance for improving their working conditions also perceive more support of autonomy, competence and social relatedness at their workplace.Research limitations/implicationsIn the paper the correlative design allows no conclusions about the direction of causality between the perceived quality of the upward feedback and self‐determination. Further, due to the design the results are limited to the specific field.Originality/valueThe paper delivers a new aspect of the role of feedback for learning in organisations by casting light on beneficial effects for the provider of the feedback, not the receiver. It emphasises the role of empowerment and participation for establishing an organisational climate that fosters motivation and learning, and shows the possible contribution of upward feedback in this process.