A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Link Between Professional Culture and Organisational Culture

Purpose – Despite the fundamental role of culture in an organisational setting, little is known of how organisational culture can be sometime determined/influenced by professional culture, particularly in the global south. Using Nigeria as a research focus, this article uses critical discuss analysis to examine the link between professional and organisational culture. Design/Methodology/Approach – This study uses qualitative research approach to establish the significance of professional culture as a determinant of organisational culture among healthcare organisations. Findings – We found that the medical profession, in Nigeria, is replete with professional duties and responsibilities, such as professional values and beliefs, professional rules and regulations, professional ethics, eagerness to fulfil the Hippocratic Oath, professional language, professional symbols, medicine codes of practice, and societal expectations, all of which conflate to form medical professionals’ values, beliefs, assumptions, and the shared perceptions and practices upon which the medical professional culture is strongly built. Thus, making the medical professional culture stronger and more dominant over the healthcare organisational culture. Research Limitations/Implications – The extent to which the findings of this research can be generalised is constrained by the limited and selected sample of the research. Practical Implications – The primacy of professional culture over organisational culture may have dysfunctional consequences for HRM, as medical practitioners are obliged to stick to medical professional culture over human resources practices. Hence, human resources departments may struggle to cope with the behavioural issues that arise due to the dominant position taken by the medical practitioners. This is because the cultural system (professional culture), which is the configuration of beliefs, perceived values, code of ethics, practices, etc. shared by medical doctors, subverts the operating system. Therefore, in the case of healthcare organisations, HRM should support and enhance the cultural system (the medical professional culture) by offering compatible operating strategies and practices. Originality/Value – This article provides valuable insights into the link between professional culture and organisational culture. It also enriches debates on organisational culture and professional culture. We therefore contend that a strong professional culture can overwhelm and eventually become an organisational culture

Freedom and Flexibility: The Work-Family Balance of Single Female Entrepreneurs in Nigeria

Purpose – Work-family research has mainly focused on nuclear families, neglecting other types of families, such as single self-employed parents. To what extent does the freedom and flexibility attached to being single and self-employed hinder or enhance single parents’ work family balance? Using role theory as a theoretical lens, this study examines single self-employed parents’ work-family balance. Methodology – Drawing on the accounts of 25 single self-employed parents in Nigeria, the article uses semi-structured interviews to examine how this group achieves work-family balance. Findings – We found that the freedom and flexibility associated with being single and self-employed form a double-edged sword that increases the spate of singlehood and intensifies commitments to work, altogether preventing the participants in the study from achieving work-family balance. The findings also indicate that singlehood and a lack of spousal support cause and exacerbate work-family imbalance for this group. The findings further indicate that the reconstruction of functions, and the recreation of the traditional masculine gender role overwhelm single self-employed women in their entrepreneurial activities, thereby causing a lack of time and the energy required to function well in a family role, thus creating imbalance between the different spheres of life. Research limitations – The extent to which the findings of this research can be generalised is constrained by the limited sample and scope of the research. Practical implications – While literature espouses freedom and flexibility as important ingredients needed to achieve work-family balance, this study shows that they enhance inter-role role conflict. The study suggests creation of private or family time, devoid of work or entrepreneurial engagements, for single female entrepreneurs. This will ensure quality time and energy for the family and for fresh relationship – all of which will impact business positively. Originality/value – Rather than enhancing work-family balance, the freedom and flexibility attached to being single and self-employed remain the main source of work-family imbalance for Nigerian single self-employed parents

A Constrained Proper Orthogonal Decomposition Model for Upscaling Permeability

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Temiloluwa A. Onimisi would like to acknowledge Petroleum Development Trust Fund Nigeria, for funding this PhD research project. Research Funding Petroleum Development Trust Fund NigeriaPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Impact of Leadership Styles on Employee Engagement and Conflict Management Practices in Nigerian Universities

This study explores how leadership styles impact work engagement and conflict management practices in Nigerian universities. It utilises a qualitative research design, focusing on 40 semi-structured interviews with senior university management staff comprising Vice-Chancellors, Registrars, Bursars, Deans of Faculties and senior non-teaching staff (i.e. chief librarians) of some selected institutions. The findings reveal cultural values shaping the choice of authoritative, transactional and transformational leadership styles were commonly adopted. Results further indicate how Nigerian academic institutions and processes are considered as being overly bureaucratic and transactional. Additionally, some context-specific norms were found to influence leadership functions impacting work engagement and conflict management practices. In summary, the study suggests practice and policy implications that can enhance the direction and development of effective leadership in this context

Changes in the visceral functions of Plasmodium berghei-infected and-uninfected rats following administration of artemether.

The effects of artemether (12.5, 25.0 and 50.0 mg/kg per day, i.m.), administered to different groups of Plasmodium berghei‐infected and ‐uninfected adult Wistar rats for 1 week, were investigated. The parameters evaluated were the feeding, drinking and urinating patterns of the rats and these were compared with those of rats that received normal saline. Artemether caused a significant dose‐dependent reduction in food consumption of both P. berghei‐infected and ‐uninfected rats (P < 0.05). Food intake in infected rats was reduced by approximately 7 g/24 h. This reduction in food intake was further reduced during drug treatment with artemether. Artermether also reduced food intake in uninfected rats. The food consumption of rats that received 12.5 and 25.0 mg/kg artemether was restored after stopping treatment, in contrast with rats that received 50.0 mg/kg, in which the significant reduction in food consumption persisted 1 week after drug administration. During treatment with artemether, the water intake of infected rats was significantly lower than that of uninfected rats in the 12.5 mg/kg artemether‐treated group, but was significantly higher in infected rats than in uninfected rats dosed with 25.0 and 50.0 mg/kg artemether. For all doses of artemether tested, a significant increase in urine output was observed in infected rats during treatment and 1 week after treatment, whereas in uninfected rats a significant increase in urine output was observed only following 25.0 and 50.0 mg/kg artemether 1 week after drug administration. The present study confirms the anorexic activity of a high dose of artemether in both P. berghei‐infected and ‐uninfected rats. It also indicates that high doses of the drug could cause impaired renal function in rats and that the significant increase in urine output could also be due to other effects of artemether, namely those on thirst, anti‐diuretic hormone output and the osmotic pressure of the blood

The Influence of Organisational Culture on Leadership Style in Higher Education Institutions

Purpose – This study aims to explore the impact of organisational culture on leadership styles in Nigerian universities. The study utilises cultural dimensions theory (Hofstede’s insights) and the social exchange concept as theoretical lenses to examine the phenomena. Design/methodology/approach – Using a qualitative approach, 40 interviews were conducted with senior academics and non-teaching staff working in Nigerian universities. Findings – The findings reveal hierarchical, patriarchal, servile, and interdependent values as the underlying characteristics of organisation culture, shaping the choice of leadership styles in the management of Nigerian universities. As a result, it emerged from the study that positional, formalised exchanges, paternalism, relational approach, and gendered reactions to leadership were typically adopted in university administration in this context. Limitations/implications – The study relies on a small qualitative sample size, which makes the generalisation of findings difficult. However, the study provides a good understanding of cultural hegemony, framing leadership styles different to those of western cultures. Originality/value – The findings of this study help to bridge the research gap concerning the implications of organisational culture, and its influence on leadership behaviours in the Sub-Saharan African context. Research within this subfield in Africa is rare. Specifically, the study also enriches our understanding of cultural dimensions, informing the leadership methods adopted in higher education institutions

The impact of COVID-19 on the work–life balance of working mothers: evidence from Nigerian academics

Purpose: Given the limiting gender role conditions arising from the prevalence of patriarchy in Nigeria and the shift to workers staying at home due to the deadly spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), this article aims to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the work–life balance of professional mothers using the work–home resources model as a conceptual lens. Design/methodology/approach: The qualitative data is based on telephone interviews with 28 married female university academics with children. Findings: The findings reveal that the confinement policies enforced due to the need to combat the spread of COVID-19 and patriarchal norms deeply embedded in the Nigerian culture have exacerbated stress amongst women, who have needed to perform significantly more housework and childcare demands alongside working remotely than they did prior to the pandemic. The thematic analysis showed a loss of personal resources (e.g. time, energy, and income) resulting in career stagnation, health concerns, and increased male chauvinism due to the abrupt and drastic changes shaping the “new normal” lifestyle. Research limitations/implications: The study relies on a limited qualitative sample size, which makes the generalisation of findings difficult. However, the study contributes to the emerging global discourse on the profound negative consequences of COVID-19 on the lives and livelihoods of millions, with a focus on the stress and work–family challenges confronting women in a society that is not particularly egalitarian – unlike Western cultures. Originality/value: The article provides valuable insights on how the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically affected professional working mothers in the sub-Saharan African context, where literature is scarce