The owner-manager’s role as a facilitator of informal learning in small businesses

Few studies have examined the owner-manager as a facilitator of learning in small businesses. Furthermore, these studies are typically not framed by distinctive characteristics of small businesses. These limitations of the literature stimulated us to ask: How do the situational opportunities and constraints that emanate from the distinctive characteristics of small businesses affect the small business owner-manager’s role as a facilitator of learning? To address this question, we first conducted a narrative review of existing research on the owner-manager as facilitator of learning in small businesses (10–49 employees). Four themes emerged from our analysis of research findings, including a theme that owner-managers are seldom directly involved in facilitating employees’ learning. Next, we conducted an integrative review of literatures that discuss (a) indirect approaches managers can adopt to facilitate learning; and (b) small business characteristics. We focussed on four high-impact indirect approaches owner-managers can use and examined how employment of each approach might be enabled or constrained by distinctive characteristics of small businesses. The integrative review generated ten research propositions. We also synthesized a conceptual framework that illustrates the main variables to be studied and presumed relationships among them. Based on our analysis of literature, implications for policy and practice are proposed

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Abstract: The article shows that human resource management (HRM) and human resource development (HRD) activities play a potentially important role in facilitating innovation in organisations. Based on previous research, a conceptual model is presented that displays how an organisation's human resource (HR) function can facilitate innovation by securing and developing the HR supply chain to ensure the healthy and continuous flow of personnel and competence into, within, and out of the organisation (i.e., by securing the appropriate competences for the job and the organisation, by developing and retaining existing competences, and by transferring competences from employees who are leaving to those who remain in the organisation). This article argues that HR practitioners can set the stage for innovations by actively and strategically implementing HR activities that support the creation of an expansive learning environment in which both adaptive and developmental learning can occur

Understanding factors that enable and inhibit assessment of outcomes of competence development

© The Author(s) 2020. Employee participation in formal and informal learning is essential for the economic viability and competitive advantage of organizations. Therefore, assessing outcomes of competence development activities is important. However, this domain of human resources (HR) practice is often neglected because of factors that are not well understood. Accordingly, this article addresses the question: What factors enable and inhibit HR professionals in assessing outcomes of competence development activities and initiatives? To answer this question, we conducted a review of articles that examine assessment of outcomes of competence development activities. The primary purpose of the review was to identify and categorize enabling and inhibiting factors so that the factors can be better understood by researchers and HR professionals. We also call upon voices from the field, using quotations from HR professionals to illustrate enabling and inhibiting factors. Analysis and synthesis of the literature informed the development of propositions to guide future research

The household effect on electoral participation:A contextual analysis of voter signatures from a French polling station (1982-2007)

We use electoral participation data coded from signature lists to show that patterns of voter turnout, be they related to average participation, versatility or precise moments of voting, are strongly related to what we call “electorate households”, i.e. groups of voters registered in the same polling station and living together. Each household tends to be homogeneous, at levels much higher than chance would explain, so that modelling individual participation without taking this household effect into account ignores much of what actually happens. The status in the household also plays an important role among individual factors of voter participation. Not only do people who live together often participate together, but the precise shape of their relationships influences their behaviour

Player Discipline in Professional Sports: The Antitrust Issues

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to revisit data from a previous study of leadership in an industrial company that was in the process of implementing a process-oriented, team-based form of organisation. Based on these data, it aims to explore the assumption that process-orientation implies “new” leadership behaviours and relationships with co-workers. More specifically, it aims to focus on analysing how the managers and co-workers understood and practised the ideas about leadership for learning and development that were introduced in connection with the new production organisation. The purpose is also to determine what factors constrained and facilitated these leadership practises. Design/methodology/approach – The study was conducted with a large industrial company using case study methodology. The empirical material consists of 35 qualitative interviews with production managers (n=4), first-line managers (n=14), and operators (n=17). Findings – The results indicate that performance-oriented leadership with a focus on facilitating adaptive learning is emphasised more than development-oriented leadership, which facilitates critical reflection and innovative learning. Furthermore, the study suggests that the administrative workload greatly limits the potential for development-oriented leadership. Overall, first-line managers appear to have more in common with system administrators than leaders. Practical implications – This study highlights the need to find a balance between performance and development in organisations. Specifically, there is a need for leaders to create opportunities and support for increased developmental learning at work. It is also necessary to emphasise critical reflection both in connection with daily operations and in the formal education of co-workers and leaders. Originality/value – This study demonstrates the gap between the rhetoric of new leadership and the organisational realities that leaders experience in their daily work. At the same time, the study points to the dual nature of leadership for learning and the constraints on its realisations in practise

Pulmonologists-Level lung cancer detection based on standard blood test results and smoking status using an explainable machine learning approach

Lung cancer (LC) remains the primary cause of cancer-related mortality, largely due to late-stage diagnoses. Effective strategies for early detection are therefore of paramount importance. In recent years, machine learning (ML) has demonstrated considerable potential in healthcare by facilitating the detection of various diseases. In this retrospective development and validation study, we developed an ML model based on dynamic ensemble selection (DES) for LC detection. The model leverages standard blood sample analysis and smoking history data from a large population at risk in Denmark. The study includes all patients examined on suspicion of LC in the Region of Southern Denmark from 2009 to 2018. We validated and compared the predictions by the DES model with diagnoses provided by five pulmonologists. Among the 38,944 patients, 9,940 had complete data of which 2,505 (25\%) had LC. The DES model achieved an area under the roc curve of 0.77$\pm$0.01, sensitivity of 76.2\%$\pm$2.4\%, specificity of 63.8\%$\pm$2.3\%, positive predictive value of 41.6\%$\pm$1.2\%, and F\textsubscript{1}-score of 53.8\%$\pm$1.1\%. The DES model outperformed all five pulmonologists, achieving a sensitivity 9\% higher than their average. The model identified smoking status, age, total calcium levels, neutrophil count, and lactate dehydrogenase as the most important factors for the detection of LC. The results highlight the successful application of the ML approach in detecting LC, surpassing pulmonologists' performance. Incorporating clinical and laboratory data in future risk assessment models can improve decision-making and facilitate timely referrals.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure