Continuity and change - The planning and management of long distance walking routes in Scotland

In recent years a number of changes have taken place in Scotland in respect of issues of land management, access and the natural environment. These include the creation of Scotland’s first National Parks in 2002 and the introduction of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, which has enshrined in legislation the principle of responsible access in the countryside. The aim of this study was to consider the implications of these changes for a specific type of recreational land use in Scotland, Long Distance (Walking) Routes (LDRs). Using semi-structured interviews with representatives of a number of agencies and with other individuals closely involved with LDRs, the research considered the extent to which these changes have or may alter the rationale for the provision of LDRs, their funding and their management. The research indicates a need and a willingness to build on existing stakeholder approaches to management with a view to engaging a broader range of communities of interest. The main challenge for those involved with LDRs is how to fund future development of these routes. One aim of a more participatory stakeholder management approach is to help route managers to use public funds to lever funds from other source

The Ethics of Corporate Governance

How should corporate directors determine what is the right decision? For at least the past 30 years the debate has raged as to whether shareholder value should take precedence over corporate social responsibility when crucial decisions arise. Directors face pressure, not least from ethical investors, to do the good thing when they seek to make the right choice. Corporate governance theory has tended to look to agency theory and the need of boards to curb excessive executive power to guide directors' decisions. While useful for those purposes, agency theory provides only limited guidance. Supplementing it with the alternatives - stakeholder theory and stewardship theory - tends to put directors in conflict with their legal obligations to work in the interests of shareholders. This paper seeks to reframe the discussion about corporate governance in terms of the ethical debate between consequential, teleological approaches to ethics and idealist, deontological ones, suggesting that directors are - for good reason - more inclined toward utilitarian judgments like those underpinning shareholder value. But the problems with shareholder value have become so great that a different framework is needed: strategic value, with an emphasis on long-term value creation judged from a decidedly utilitarian standpoint

The implications of service quality gaps for strategy implementation

This article addresses the problem of service quality strategy implementation and proposes three interrelated models: a static model of the organisation; a comprehensive dynamic model of the implementation process, both synthesised from the literature; and a mixed model, which integrates static and dynamic models. The mixed model is combined with the service quality gaps (SQGs) model, drawn at a previous congress paper, to propose a map of the pattern of SQGs occurring at each implementation stage; the organisational variables that can be manipulated to eliminate SQGs; and several implications to practising managers

Universal Rights and Wrongs

This paper argues for the important role of customers as a source of competitive advantage and firm growth, an issue which has been largely neglected in the resource-based view of the firm. It conceptualizes Penrose’s (1959) notion of an ‘inside track’ and illustrates how in-depth knowledge about established customers combines with joint problem-solving activities and the rapid assimilation of new and previously unexploited skills and resources. It is suggested that the inside track represents a distinct and perhaps underestimated way of generating rents and securing long-term growth. This also implies that the sources of sustainable competitive advantage in important respects can be sought in idiosyncratic interfirm relationships rather than within the firm itself

Weak signals in healthcare: The case study of the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust

Most organisational disasters have warning signals prior to the event occurring, which are increasingly appearing in accident reports. In the case of the Mid-Staffordshire Disaster, the disaster was not as a result of component failure or human error but rather an organisation that drifted into failure with precursory warning signals being ignored. It has been estimated that between 400 and 1200 patients died as a result of poor care between 2004 and 2009. The aim of this study was to identify the precursory signals and their rationalizations that occurred during this event. Qualitative document analysis was used to analyse the independent and public inquiry reports. Signals were present on numerous system levels. At a person level, there were cases of staff trying to make management aware of the problems, as well as the campaign “Cure the NHS” started by bereaved relatives. At an organisational level, examples of missed signals included the decrease in the trust’s star rating due to failure to meet targets, the NHS care regulator voicing concern regarding the unusually high death rates and auditors’ reports highlighting concerns regarding risk management. At an external level, examples included negative peer reviews from various external organizations

Is complexity leadership theory complex enough? A critical appraisal, some modifications and suggestions for further research

Scholars are increasingly seeking to develop theories that explain the underlying processes whereby leadership is enacted. This shifts attention away from the actions of ‘heroic’ individuals and towards the social contexts in which people with greater or lesser power influence each other. A number of researchers have embraced complexity theory, with its emphasis on non-linearity and unpredictability. However, some complexity scholars still depict the theory and practice of leadership in relatively non-complex terms. They continue to assume that leaders can exercise rational, extensive and purposeful influence on other actors to a greater extent than is possible. In effect, they offer a theory of complex organizations led by non-complex leaders who establish themselves by relatively non-complex means. This testifies to the enduring power of ‘heroic’ images of leader agency. Without greater care, the terminology offered by complexity leadership theory could become little more than a new mask for old theories that legitimize imbalanced power relationships in the workplace. This paper explores how these problems are evident in complexity leadership theory, suggests that communication and process perspectives help to overcome them, and outlines an agenda for further research on these issues