“It Made Me Want to be that Spark”: A Case Study of the Experiences of College Student Group Exercise Instructors

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 144-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Armand Buzzelli

While recent research has focused on leadership and development in collegiate club and intramural sports participants, many of the findings and suggestions may be deemed applicable to student roles within college fitness and group exercise programs. The purpose of this exploratory case study was to learn about the leadership experiences, motivations, benefits, and perceived limitations to group fitness instruction for students at a small, private, Mid-Atlantic university, and to discover potential influences of these experiences on the overall collegiate experience. The researcher was interested in insights of both current and recently graduated students who serve as group fitness instructors at their college. The researcher interviewed eight participants from one institution selected through convenience sampling. While this study used a small sample from one institution, interviewee responses were consistent, relevant, and may be expanded upon in future research. Participants reported that they improved leadership skills, public speaking, conflict resolution, and developed a campus identity as a result of teaching group exercise. The majority of the participants had not considered the benefits of their experiences in terms of professional development, and relationship building before their participation in the study. These findings demonstrate that campus recreation departments need to provide evidence to students and university administration that their programs not only provide enjoyment and health benefits for participants, but also a litany of “soft skills” and professional experiences that employers will look for after graduation.

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 189-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian O’Boyle ◽  
David Shilbury ◽  
Lesley Ferkins

The aim of this study is to explore leadership within nonprofit sport governance. As an outcome, the authors present a preliminary working model of leadership in nonprofit sport governance based on existing literature and our new empirical evidence. Leadership in nonprofit sport governance has received limited attention to date in scholarly discourse. The authors adopt a case study approach involving three organizations and 16 participant interviews from board members and Chief Executive Officers within the golf network in Australia to uncover key leadership issues in this domain. Interviews were analyzed using an interpretive process, and a thematic structure relating to leadership in the nonprofit sport governance context was developed. Leadership ambiguity, distribution of leadership, leadership skills and development, and leadership and volunteerism emerged as the key themes in the research. These themes, combined with existing literature, are integrated into a preliminary working model of leadership in nonprofit sport governance that helps to shape the issues and challenges embedded within this emerging area of inquiry. The authors offer a number of suggestions for future research to refine, test, critique, and elaborate on our proposed working model.


Author(s):  
Charlotte Baker ◽  
Sylwia Ciuk

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the work-family interface of two non-traditional forms of expatriation. The paper contributes to existing research by comparing and contrasting the experiences of international business travellers and rotational assignees, pointing out the similarities in their experiences but also showing considerable differences in how the work-family interface plays out in these two groups. Design/methodology/approach – In line with the exploratory nature of the research, the authors carried out a qualitative case study drawing on interview data with rotators and international business travellers (n=20). In order to get more in-depth insights into the experiences of these two groups of assignees, the authors also used the photo-elicitation technique, which corresponds with the recent recognition that the evolving nature of international assignments requires alternative methods of inquiry to enhance the understanding of the challenges faced by them. Findings – The study points to four major factors affecting the work-family interface: time spent away, unpredictability of work schedules, limited ability to exercise control over it as well as limited availability of organisational support. The findings illustrate that while these factors impact international business travellers and rotators alike, their intensity varies considerably in the experiences of these two groups. Research limitations/implications – The research is based on a single case study and a small sample which needs to be considered when discussing the implications of the findings. Future research can valuably extend and build on the here reported observations. Practical implications – A number of practical implications are discussed, notably pertaining to the ways in which organisations can mitigate the challenges encountered by international business travellers and rotators. Originality/value – The papers focuses on two groups of assignees that are underrepresented in the expatriate literature despite their increasing empirical significance in international business.


Author(s):  
Aleksandra Sus ◽  
Michał Organa

Purpose – the main scientific purpose of this article is to conceptualise the categories of dynamics of interorganisational networks strategy. The scientific problem presented in the article concerns initially identified connections between three major elements (based on literature studies and authors’ previous experiences), describing the dynamism of the strategy as mentioned above. Those elements were named by the authors as the Triangle of Dynamics Factors (TDF), and are (1) propensity of taking the risk and real ability to accurately assess opportunities, (2) skills, and processes of opportunities identification, creation, and exploitation, as well as (3) leadership skills of contemporary managers. Basing on those connections, the article concerns on clarifying research hypotheses in the areas of the three mentioned differentiating factors. Research methodology – in order to achieve the main goal of the article both quantitative (survey research) and qualitative (case study) methods were chosen for future research. Findings – the conducted research is focused on positioning previously mentioned categories in the micro-scale strategy, as well as on determining variables constituting the dynamics of inter-organisational networks strategies. The article presents research hypotheses that will be verified. Research limitations – the limitations are primarily related to a variety of factors influencing the dynamics of interorganisational network strategies, observed both inside and outside the networks. The article focuses on those factors that decision-makers in networks can influence, which is tantamount to omitting most factors within the networks' environment. At the same time, the article focuses on selected types of inter-organisational networks – both decentralised and centralised. The article is conceptual; therefore, it does not contain the results of empirical research directly oriented on all three identified factors, which is its specific limitation. Partial results of the previously conducted research indicated in the article relate only to one of the identified elements. It is the area of skills, and processes of opportunities identification, creation, and exploitation. Practical implications – the practical business implications concern mostly the necessity of organisational adaptation to changing environmental conditions, the imperative of being flexible and striving for the success by inter-organisational networks. The article identifies those factors being under the actual influence exerted by networks' representatives. Originality/Value – this article is the authors' third joint work, and hitherto in the examined literature, there were no publications dedicated to the study of strategy dynamics and dynamism of the inter-organisational networks' strategy, researched in the triad: risk – opportunities – leadership. This creates a wide interpretative and research area for the indicated topic


Media Watch ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 273
Author(s):  
Jessica D. Bertapelle ◽  
Deborah Ballard-Reisch

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas James Rowark

Depression has been associated with poor social cognitive functioning, including impaired performance on measures of theory of mind. However, the association between depression and theory of mind performance has been removed when controlling for differences in executive functioning, which is also impacted by depression. Among these executive functions, inhibition of prepotent response has been demonstrated as enabling success on theory of mind tests. In the context of these findings, the current investigation tested whether a relationship could be found between depressive traits and theory of mind in a non-clinical sample, and whether this relationship was mediated by differences in executive control of inhibition. Theory of mind was assessed in 31 healthy individuals using an audio-presented false-belief reasoning task, which also tested baseline performance in non-mental-state reasoning. Inhibition of prepotent response was assessed with interference measures on a Stroop colour-word task, and depressive traits were self-reported through the second version of the Beck Depression Inventory. Mediation analysis revealed that executive control of inhibition did not significantly mediate an indirect effect of depressive traits on theory of mind. It was interpreted that relationships previously found between major depression, executive and social-cognitive functions do not generalise beyond clinical boundaries. However, these findings are discussed in terms of the small sample size, limiting statistical power, and several methodological limitations. Future research should assess the relationship between depressive traits and theory of mind using alternative measures of mental representation, or include a neurocognitive battery assessing executive functions other than inhibition.


Author(s):  
Hyojin Kim ◽  
Daesik Hur ◽  
Tobias Schoenherr

Supplier development has been a critical supply management practice since the 1990s. In many instances, it has even become imperative for buyer firms to support and prepare their supply bases for uncertain economic and market environments, socially and environmentally conscious customers, advances in digital technologies, and increasing competition. Yet, research that approaches supplier development with the objective to advance all these dimensions in an integrated fashion is scarce. This study fills this void by exploring how a buyer firm may address these emerging challenges in its supply base. Specifically, an in-depth case study of LG Electronics explores how the firm designs and operates multidimensional supplier development activities to foster the stability and sustainability of its supply base while enhancing its core suppliers’ competitive capabilities. This chapter illustrates how supplier development can be taken to the next level, presents implications for managerial practice, and outlines promising future research avenues.


Author(s):  
Anuj Dixit ◽  
Srikanta Routroy ◽  
Sunil Kumar Dubey

Purpose This paper aims to review the healthcare supply chain (HSC) literature along various areas and to find out the gap in it. Design/methodology/approach In total, 143 research papers were reviewed during 1996-2017. A critical review was carried out in various dimensions such as research methodologies/data collection method (empirical, case study and literature review) and inquiry mode of research methodology (qualitative, quantitative and mixed), country-specific, targeted area, research aim and year of publication. Findings Supply chain (SC) operations, performance measurement, inventory management, lean and agile operation, and use of information technology were well studied and analyzed, however, employee and customer training, tracking and visibility of medicines, cold chain management, human resource practices, risk management and waste management are felt to be important areas but not much attention were made in this direction. Research limitations/implications Mainly drug and vaccine SC were considered in current study of HSC while SC along healthcare equipment and machine, hospitality and drug manufacturing related papers were excluded in this study. Practical implications This literature review has recognized and analyzed various issues relevant to HSC and shows the direction for future research to develop an efficient and effective HSC. Originality/value The insight of various aspects of HSC was explored in general for better and deeper understanding of it for designing of an efficient and competent HSC. The outcomes of the study may form a basis to decide direction of future research.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Xiaoyan Wang ◽  
Jianbin Sun ◽  
Qingsong Zhao ◽  
Yaqian You ◽  
Jiang Jiang

It is difficult for many classic classification methods to consider expert experience and classify small-sample datasets well. The evidential reasoning rule (ER rule) classifier can solve these problems. The ER rule has strong processing and comprehensive analysis abilities for diversified mixed information and can solve problems with expert experience effectively. Moreover, the initial parameters of the classifier constructed based on the ER rule can be set according to empirical knowledge instead of being trained by a large number of samples, which can help the classifier classify small-sample datasets well. However, the initial parameters of the ER rule classifier need to be optimized, and choosing the best optimization algorithm is still a challenge. Considering these problems, the ER rule classifier with an optimization operator recommendation is proposed in this paper. First, the initial ER rule classifier is constructed based on training samples and expert experience. Second, the adjustable parameters are optimized, in which the optimization operator recommendation strategy is applied to select the best algorithm by partial samples, and then experiments with full samples are carried out. Finally, a case study on a turbofan engine degradation simulation dataset is carried out, and the results indicate that the ER rule classifier has a higher classification accuracy than other classic classifiers, which demonstrates the capability and effectiveness of the proposed ER rule classifier with an optimization operator recommendation.


Author(s):  
Seiyeong Park ◽  
Junhye Kwon ◽  
Chiyoung Ahn ◽  
Hae-Sung Cho ◽  
Hyo Youl Moon ◽  
...  

Previous studies have identified that a behavior can occur through the strongest predictor intention, but there is a gap between intention and behavior. Dopamine receptor D2 (DRD2) is known to account for a variance in sporting behaviors in human and animal subjects. However, the relationship between DRD2 and sport participation has been poorly studied, and the limited available reports are inconsistent. The present study was performed to examine the impact of DRD2 on sport participation among Korean university students based on the integrated behavioral model (IBM). Data were collected from enrolled university students in Seoul (N = 45). Participants answered survey questions first, and then they gave investigators their hair to provide DNA information (i.e., the A1 allele of DRD2). DRD2 had a significant effect on sport participation, but only in male students. Male students who carried the A1 allele of DRD2 significantly participated in 105.10 min more sporting activities than male students who did not. Moreover, the effect of intention on sport participation was significantly decreased when considering DRD2. Despite the small sample size, the results of this study could be a preliminary case for a larger study and indicate the direction of future research. Our results suggest that DRD2 may have played an important role as the “actual skill” shown in the IBM.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (13) ◽  
pp. 5956
Author(s):  
Elena Parra ◽  
Irene Alice Chicchi Giglioli ◽  
Jestine Philip ◽  
Lucia Amalia Carrasco-Ribelles ◽  
Javier Marín-Morales ◽  
...  

In this article, we introduce three-dimensional Serious Games (3DSGs) under an evidence-centered design (ECD) framework and use an organizational neuroscience-based eye-tracking measure to capture implicit behavioral signals associated with leadership skills. While ECD is a well-established framework used in the design and development of assessments, it has rarely been utilized in organizational research. The study proposes a novel 3DSG combined with organizational neuroscience methods as a promising tool to assess and recognize leadership-related behavioral patterns that manifest during complex and realistic social situations. We offer a research protocol for assessing task- and relationship-oriented leadership skills that uses ECD, eye-tracking measures, and machine learning. Seamlessly embedding biological measures into 3DSGs enables objective assessment methods that are based on machine learning techniques to achieve high ecological validity. We conclude by describing a future research agenda for the combined use of 3DSGs and organizational neuroscience methods for leadership and human resources.


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