Reflections on the labyrinth: Investigating Black and Minority Ethnic leaders’ career experiences

Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) employees appear to experience more difficulty reaching senior leadership positions than their white counterparts. Using Eagly and Carli’s (2007) metaphor of the labyrinth our aim was to give voice to black and minority ethnic managers who have successfully achieved senior management roles, and compare their leadership journeys with those of matched white managers. This paper used semi-structured interviews and attribution theory to examine how 20 black and minority ethnic and 20 white senior managers, from a UK government department made sense of significant career incidents in their leadership journeys. Template analysis was used to identify facilitators and barriers of career progression from causal explanations of these incidents. Although BME and white managers identified four common themes (visibility, networks, development, and line manager support), they differed in how they made sense of formal and informal organisational processes to achieve career progression. The findings are used to theorise about the individual and organisational factors that contribute to the leadership journeys of minority ethnic employees

A Mathematical model for Astrocytes mediated LTP at Single Hippocampal Synapses

Many contemporary studies have shown that astrocytes play a significant role in modulating both short and long form of synaptic plasticity. There are very few experimental models which elucidate the role of astrocyte over Long-term Potentiation (LTP). Recently, Perea & Araque (2007) demonstrated a role of astrocytes in induction of LTP at single hippocampal synapses. They suggested a purely pre-synaptic basis for induction of this N-methyl-D- Aspartate (NMDA) Receptor-independent LTP. Also, the mechanisms underlying this pre-synaptic induction were not investigated. Here, in this article, we propose a mathematical model for astrocyte modulated LTP which successfully emulates the experimental findings of Perea & Araque (2007). Our study suggests the role of retrograde messengers, possibly Nitric Oxide (NO), for this pre-synaptically modulated LTP.Comment: 51 pages, 15 figures, Journal of Computational Neuroscience (to appear

Assessing the performance of domestic heating controls in a whole house test facility

The energy consumed by domestic space heating systems represents a considerable share of the energy consumed in the UK. At the same time up to a quarter of English homes have inadequate controls on the central heating systems. Current modelling tools, and results from the limited field trials that have been carried out, are problematic due to the influence of the behaviour of occupants and variability of weather conditions. The Salford Energy House is a full-sized end terrace house built within a climate controlled laboratory. This allows a house of typical construction to be extensively analysed while completely disconnected from the unpredictability of weather conditions and human behaviour. This paper presents a series of tests carried out in the Salford Energy House into the effectiveness of installing room thermostats and thermostatic radiator valves. Savings of 40% in terms of energy consumption, cost and CO2 were achieved. The results should be regarded with caution in terms of their extent and application to real homes, but represent a significant contribution to the gap in current knowledge due to the ability to isolate the performance of homes from uncooperative variables, and a potential base for the development of more effective modelling tools

Expatriate assignment, adjustment and effectiveness: an empirical examination of the big picture

This study extends the international literature by empirically testing a model of expatriate adjustment that examines the relationships between organizational antecedents (i.e., reasons for assignment), a more comprehensive set of adjustment behaviors, self-reported performance, and subordinate-rated managerial effectiveness. Using data from 194 expatriate managers and 505 subordinates working in the multinational hotel industry, structural equations modeling results supported the hypothesized model. The conceptual and empirical contributions of this study as well as the managerial implications are discussed. Journal of International Business Studies (2004) 35, 216–232. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400081

How companies motivate entrepreneurial employees: the case of organizational spin-alongs

This paper investigates how high-profile employees with entrepreneurial abilities can be attracted, retained, and nurtured in order to foster companies’ corporate entrepreneurship through innovations. We find that the spin-along design provides entrepreneurial employees with a combination of flexibility and security (flexicurity), corporate management, and control. Based on five in-depth case studies within an innovative company, our results show that the organizational spin-along structure supports and enhances entrepreneurial employees’ motivation and leads to the attraction, nurturing, and retention of such employees. We also find that senior management has a critical leadership role in enabling such an organization design by balancing flexibility and security with control