Sustainable Marketing: Philosophies, Economies and Strategies for a New Consumer Metabolism

Sustainable marketing is a subset of the sustainable development field recently formed in 1992. Both fields are complex and development elusive, but diverse bodies of knowledge are involved including, philosophy, economics, social sciences, business strategy, marketing, and environmental. The concern is about our ravenous, consumer demands or metabolism, with the world population increasing by 50% in the next forty-five years. This necessitates change in our economic structures, consumer pricing and goods, social responsibility and long-term business viability. In short, sustainable marketing stands to become an imperative for businesses seeking to have or maintain their competitive advantage

Measuring IT Contribution to Company\u27s Competitive Advantages

The objectives of this research are to detail the history of business-IT alignment and develop a model to measure business-IT strategic alignment. The methodology involved defining and developing measures for the predictor variables of environmental uncertainty and importance of IT to the firm. A conceptual framework or strategic alignment model integrating key practices espoused by academics and practitioners regarding strategic alignment was developed. Measures for the strategic alignment model were defined and developed, and the relationships of the predictor variables with the degree of alignment as well as technology’s contribution to organizational performance assessed

Competency Implications of Changing Human Resource Roles

[Excerpt] The present study examines which competencies will be necessary to perform key human resource roles over the next decade at Eastman Kodak Company. This project was a critical component of an ongoing quality process to improve organizational capability. The results establish a platform that will enable Kodak to better assess, plan, develop, and measure the capability of human resource staff

TQM implementation: An empirical examination and proposed generic model

Total quality management (TQM) is considered by many as an important quality and business performance improvement tool. The popularity of the concept has led to an explosion of TQM related literature. A careful review of the literature suggests that most publications recount the experiences or perceptions of the authors or deal with single case organisations. Furthermore, there is a dearth of empirical research and literature dealing with TQM's implementation process. This paper reports the findings of a research project that empirically examined the process of TQM implementation in a sample of organisations widely regarded as leading exponents of TQM. The paper presents a non-prescriptive model of the TQM implementation process derived from the findings and proposes an "outcome driven" approach as an alternative to the more commonplace TQM implementation strategies

Corporate governance and financial constraints on strategic turnarounds

The paper extends the Robbins and Pearce (1992) two-stage turnaround response model to include governance factors. In addition to the retrenchment and recovery, the paper proposes the addition of a realignment stage, referring specifically to the re-alignment of expectations of principal and agent groups. The realignment stage imposes a threshold that must be crossed before the retrenchment and hence recovery stage can be entered. Crossing this threshold is problematic to the extent that the interests of governance-stakeholder groups diverge in a crisis situation. The severity of the crisis impacts on the bases of strategy contingent asset valuation leading to the fragmentation of stakeholder interests. In some cases the consequence may be that management are prevented from carrying out turnarounds by governance constraints. The paper uses a case study to illustrate these dynamics, and like the Robbins and Pearce study, it focuses on the textile industry. A longitudinal approach is used to show the impact of the removal of governance constraints. The empirical evidence suggests that such financial constraints become less serious to the extent that there is a functioning market for corporate control. Building on governance research and turnaround literature, the paper also outlines the general case necessary and sufficient conditions for successful turnarounds

Through A Prism: A Reflection of the Culture of Leadership

Leadership in education presents from both an informal and formal change agent perspective. An exploration of how an informal leader from a constructivist leadership stance could effect change through Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) in a hierarchical organization was undertaken. Using Bolman and Deal’s (2013) theoretical frames to develop an understanding of the lens through which people view the workings within an educational institute, I chose to use Cawsey, Deszca, and Ingles’ (2016) Change Path Model to develop an organizational change plan. The plan is to attempt to effect change through Professional Learning Communities. Using the Provincial Education Program of Studies, the school board’s Three Year Plan and the individual school’s School Development Plan as a starting point, I look to understand the structure and the philosophy of the organization that I work within. As an informal leader, it is through PLCs and the following of an examination protocol that change can be effected. Assessment of teacher instruction and practice through and a study of student artifacts leads to critical reflection. The deliberateness of the analysis will play a role in the change agent’s success. As an informal leader attempting to move practice forward, there are limitations to what can be achieved. Being able to impact other teachers’ practice ultimately depends on the individual teachers, as well as the formal leadership within the school. What is significant about this OIP is the journey involved in understanding the impact that stakeholders have on educational practice, how an informal leader can effect change in a hierarchically organized system, and the value in understanding the purpose of work being done in PLCs

Inclusive Leadership\u27s Evolving Context: Organizational Climate and Culture Connect

Conventional forms of leadership that are prominent in organizational life today are seemingly antithetical to the landscape of our dynamic, global society. The continued focus on traditional hierarchies with leadership that functions in a “chain of command” manner begs the question of how organizations can reshape routines and relationships to reflect processes of inclusion and collaboration that have the capability of provoking progressive change in organizations. Diversity and Inclusion scholars have identified the newer construct of inclusive leadership as apt to advance climates and cultures of inclusion through social processes that encourage inclusive practices and behaviors. These fluid aspects of inclusive leadership strengthen how organizations foster the engagement of organizational members across groups, functions, and/or levels to stimulate change within work settings. While scholars have ascertained the necessity of expanding our knowledge of the inclusion construct by examining inclusion in more depth, inclusive leadership remains an anomaly as it positions leadership as a collective, social process. The complexities associated with research in this area were instrumental in my choice to pursue an exploratory critical (single) case study with grounded theory for this dissertation research to better understand the social processes associated with inclusive leadership within a contained work environment. This multiple method qualitative study utilized intensive interviewing, field observations, and document reviews to explore inclusive leadership in a K-12 school district. Thematic, content, and dimensional analyses elicited findings associated with human connection, change, and evolving contexts associated with inclusive systems. The overlapping case study and grounded theory findings served as the basis for the development of an inclusive leadership model. The research provided empirical evidence of inclusive leadership’s effect on organizational climates and cultures eliciting four theoretical propositions that expand scholarship in the areas inclusive leadership, inclusive practices and behaviors, and climates and cultures of inclusion. Recommendations for future research invite further exploration of inclusive leadership with inquiry across multiple organizations and/or different sectors with the use of different research designs to build on this study’s findings. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA, http://aura.antioch.edu/ and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.ed

Gamification at Workplace: Theories, constructs and conceptual frameworks

Gamification has been an active area of interest for both academicians and practitioners for the last decade. Gamification has extended its application to many areas, including the workplace. This study aims to shed light on the theoretical scenario of the gamification literature at the workplace. The article reviews the recent literature on gamification in this context and analyses the theories, constructs, and frameworks used to study the phenomenon. There is a lack of focus on the theoretical framework in the existing reviews. We create a broad taxonomy of theories used in the literature of gamification of the workplace. Further, we also propose a causal-chain framework to explain how gamification influences employees in the workplace. The results indicate that gamification at the workplace is still in its nascent stage and requires more rigorous and in-depth research. We believe that the insights generated provide research avenues for future research studies

A model for customer-focused culture change in the speculative house-building industry : executive summary

The UK house-building industry is increasingly criticised for the quality of its products. Its business drivers are less focused on the needs of customers compared with much of the manufacturing sector. Recent surveys have revealed considerable dissatisfaction among buyers of newly built homes, particularly with the finished product and after-sales service quality. However, this cannot be viewed in isolation from the general business culture that prevails. In light of increasing calls for industry-wide changes, this research uses Westbury Homes as a typical example to examine existing practices in the industry that act as barriers to a change in culture. In determining a way forward, a review of extant change management models including Total Quality Management, Business Process Re-engineering, Balanced Scorecard and Hoshin Kanri provides new insight into the relative strengths of each and the role they can play in the formation of a holistic approach to successful customer-focused culture change. A four stage Strategy Deployment Maturity Journey for culture change is proffered that guides the deployment of policy through the introduction of i) a balanced set of headline performance measures, ii) operational performance indicators as drivers for change, iii) a participative programme for change, and iv) mechanisms for development, feedback and review of strategy. Early results indicate that implementation will lead to successful deployment of long-term objectives; specifically, a customer-focused culture that views service and product quality as contributing to future sales and profitability, instead of simply in terms of costs