scholarly journals Bridging the relevance-ranking chasm: mission impossible?

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 128-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judy Zolkiewski

Purpose This paper aims to debate the challenges related to balancing relevance and ranking in management research. Design/methodology/approach This is a commentary on and review of challenges faced by twenty-first century management academics. Findings There is a chasm between managerial relevance and current managerial research; however, with academic buy-in, there are ways in which the chasm can be crossed. Research limitations/implications The implications of this are wide reaching for management researchers. They are challenged to consider different methodologies, strategies and dissemination avenues for their research. Practical implications Researchers need to consider not only collaboration with practitioners, as they pursue solutions to managerial problems, but also more inter-disciplinary research that addresses the wicked problems of management in practice. Social implications Solving the challenge of managerial relevance of business research has the potential to allow the contribution of business academia to be fully appreciated by practitioners. Originality/value The value of this thought-piece is that it challenges business and management academics to challenge the status quo and fight to make their research relevant to and valued by the business world.

2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (7) ◽  
pp. 17-19

Purpose – Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach – This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings – The core ideas behind corporate social responsibility (CSR) have been with us for the best part of a century, and certainly in the latter decades of the twentieth century, it became one of the hottest topics in both business and management research and practice. Since the start of the twenty-first century, the topic has matured, and also faced severe scrutiny with challenges such as the global financial crisis and widespread globalization. So after all these years how has it roared, and is it still relevant or merely now part of the furniture. Practical implications – Provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations. Originality/value – The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.


2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 10-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Q. Yang

Purpose – This study aims to ascertain the trends and changes of how academic libraries market and deliver information literacy (IL) on the web. Design/methodology/approach – The author compares the findings from two separate studies that scanned the Web sites for IL-related activities in 2009 and 2012, respectively. Findings – Academic libraries intensified their efforts to promote and deliver IL on the web between 2009 and 2012. There was a significant increase in IL-related activities on the web in the three-year period. Practical implications – The findings describe the status quo and changes in IL-related activities on the libraries’ Web sites. This information may help librarians to know what they have been doing and if there is space for improvement. Originality/value – This is the only study that spans three years in measuring the progress librarians made in marketing and delivering IL on the Web.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alistair M. Brown

Purpose Using the theory of sensibility and McClelland et al.’s (2013) metaphorical analysis, this study aims to analyse the accounting metaphors and meta-metaphor of The Hollow Men, a poem written by T. S. Eliot. Design/methodology/approach The analysis uses McClelland et al.’s (2013) five-step procedure to ascertain the poem’s metaphor use. Findings The Hollow Men depicts accountants as ritualistic and accounting voices as quiet and meaningless while its meta-metaphor conveys accounting as rites and shadows. Research limitations/implications Although The Hollow Men’s use of Form 4 metaphors, where neither figurative nor literal source term is named, places an onus on the reader to infer meaning from accounting metaphor use, the analysis provides readers with a valuable structure for evincing accounting metaphors that present pervasive accounting issues facing the modern world. Practical implications Accountants, according to The Hollow Men, are hollow, devotees to plunderers and property and rain dancers. The Hollow Men situates the quest for accounting as a ritual for order and the preservation of the status quo. Social implications The Hollow Men’s mages of accounting immersion in rites and shadows accord with the conceptual metaphors of accounting as magic and accounting as history. Originality/value The originality of this study rests in its introduction to McClelland et al.’s (2013) metaphorical analysis of accounting research.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Poole

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) programmes currently offered by UK universities are appropriate to the needs of all stakeholders, including those of the experienced business and management professionals who enrol on them. Design/methodology/approach The paper proceeds to its conclusions by scrutinising DBA programme descriptors on UK university websites, by critically reviewing the content of recent academic papers on doctorates in the fields of business and management, and by considering current provision in the light of ongoing debates about the nature of “doctorateness” taking place in the field of doctoral education as a whole. Findings On the basis of a detailed review of relevant scholarly literature and of UK university website material, the paper concludes by suggesting, among other things, three possible futures for the DBA: one in which essentially the status quo prevails; a second in which all doctorates carry the award title PhD (though with two variants); and a third in which, in response to views expressed elsewhere in Europe, the current “professional doctorate” in business administration is no longer referred to as a “doctorate” but takes on a new title. Originality/value This paper is an original contribution to the debate about the value and purpose of professional doctorates (and, in particular of the DBA) to the professional development of experienced managers and to their skills in research and workplace problem solving and decision making.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony Wall

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how deeper psychosocial structures can be examined utilising a contemporary provocative theory within workplace reflection to generate more radical insights and innovation. Design/methodology/approach This paper outlines a provocative theory and then presents case examples of how deeper structures can be examined at the micro, meso and macro levels. Findings Deeper psychosocial structures are the forces that keep the status quo firmly in place, but deeper examination of these structures enable radical insights and therefore the possibility of innovation. Research limitations/implications Deep psychosocial structures shape and constitute daily action, and so work-based and practitioner researchers can be tricked into thinking they have identified new ways of working, but may be demonstrating the same workplace behaviours/outcomes. Workplace behaviours, including emotional responses to apparent change, are key indicators of deeper structures. Practical implications Ideas and processes for examining deeper structures can be integrated into daily reflective practices by individuals, within organisational processes, and wider, system processes. However, because deeper structures can appear in different forms, we can be tricked into reproducing old structures. Social implications Examining deeper structures increases the possibilities for more radical insights into workplace structures, and therefore, how to potentially mobilise innovations which may better serve people and planet. Originality/value This paper is the first to examine the work of Slavoj Žižek in the context of work-based learning.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 80-82

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings Resilient organizations are better positioned to manage major crises and restore the status quo or achieve levels of performance that exceed pre-disruption standards. Successful navigation of a crisis situation can be achieved if key resilience drivers are identified and the firm is equipped with sufficient social and human capital and has an open culture. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.


Author(s):  
Lotte Holck

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to critically reflect on the affective entanglement of both researcher and practitioners in a study of workplace diversity with a transformative agenda.Design/methodology/approachEvents and experiences related to interventions in a municipal center are presented. The study is embedded in critical diversity research and applies engaged ethnographic methods.FindingsThe researcher reflects on how interventions designed to challenge the status quo faced difficulties while considering the impact of the research entry point, efforts to mobilize organizational members in favor of a diversity agenda and the micro-politics of doing intervention-based research.Practical implicationsThe study reflects on how “useful” research with an allegedly emancipatory agenda might not be considered favorable to neither majority nor minority employees. The notion of affectivity is applied to deal with the organizational members’ multi-voiced response to the change efforts, as well as how the researcher’s position as researcher-change agent critically shaped the fieldwork experiences and their interpretation.Originality/valueFew critical diversity scholars engage with practitioners to produce “useful” research with practical implications. In doing so, this paper contributes to critical diversity methods by exploring why presumably emancipatory initiatives apparently did not succeed, despite organizational goodwill. This involves questioning the implied assumption of the inherent “good” of emancipation, as well as notions of “useful research.”


2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 40-45
Author(s):  
Kenneth Alan Grossberg

Purpose – After years of financial success with consumers in Japan, the Häagen-Dazs brand suffered accelerating sales declines. This case study presents the three significant reasons and the solutions developed to successfully reinvent the brand. Design/methodology/approach – The key to this challenge was the vision and strength of the leader who was tasked with the turnaround and the case looks at his problem assessment, insights and solutions. Findings – Even a strong and popular brand needs good leadership to retain its position in the marketplace. Practical implications – As your market evolves you need to reinvent your brand constantly, but that does not mean churning the product. In Japan, product churn is an occupational hazard of consumer marketing and, as in this case, resisting such a tendency was the best strategy. Originality/value – This case shows that it takes leadership qualities to get innovative strategic initiatives past the marketing gatekeepers who are best at monitoring the status quo but not quick to sense the need for change.


2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (8) ◽  
pp. 29-31

Purpose Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings The problem with developing a reputation of being something of an oracle in the business world is that all of a sudden, everyone expects you to pull off the trick of interpreting the future on a daily basis. Like a freak show circus act or one-hit wonder pop singer, people expect you to perform when they see you, and they expect you to perform the thing that made you famous, even if it is the one thing in the world you don’t want to do. And when you fail to deliver on these heightened expectations, you are dismissed as a one trick pony, however good that trick is in the first place. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.


2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 423-433
Author(s):  
Paul B. Spooner

Purpose – For over a 100 years, Macau’s Pataca has been tied to Macau’s identity, its independent financial existence and its links to the Lusophone world. Its role as a supporter of the Macau identity relies upon the strength and capabilities of its financial institutions, the Macau Monetary Authority and banking institutions that issue its currency (Banco Nacional Ultramarino and Bank of China). The paper aims to discuss the above issue. Design/methodology/approach – The author uses statistics and data from the Macau Monetary Authority. Findings – There are three possible scenarios that could emerge: first, retired in favor of the RMB, the HK dollar; second, maintained with its use expanding as Macau’s revenues and investment funds grow, or third, become a force for stronger economic cohesion and identity among the Lusophone nations. Practical implications – Which of these scenarios will offer Macau the highest possibility of maintaining its international network of relationships and representation, diversifying its economy into new growth markets and playing a unique role in China’s twenty-first century destiny? Originality/value – This paper studies a rarely discussed topic and focuses on a core component of Macau’s existence.


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