Patronen van communicatie en hun organisatorisch verband bij de landbouwvoorlichting in Suriname

Agricultural extension in Surinam: communication patterns and their organizational structure.This empirical research in Surinam was designed to study socio-economic variables that influence communication and change resulting from extension work in two rural areas. The study focusses on environmental factors that may accelerate or retard the adoption of innovations by small rice farmers. It was found that farmers operating within an irrigated area were more inclined to employ new practices for rice cultivation that those within an area lacking such facilities. Farmers of different ethnic origin contrasted sharply in communication behaviour with extension workers. The hypothesis that farmers with large holdings (8-20 ha) make more use of information sources than smallholders (1 - 2 ha) could be extended to a hypothesis on socio-economic status.A separate study of internal communication within the extension service showed that little useful knowledge reached the fieldworker isolated on the periphery of his organization. A goal displacement had taken place, whereby the collection of agricultural data predominated over advisory work with farmers. The communication network with the agricultural station did not function because of perceived differences in educational level, task components and work conditions. The author specified a number of recommendations on organizational change within the agency concerned.<p/

Favouritism: exploring the 'uncontrolled' spaces of the leadership experience

In this paper, we argue that a focus on favouritism magnifies a central ethical ambiguity in leadership, both conceptually and in practice. The social process of favouritism can even go unnoticed, or misrecognised if it does not manifest in a form in which it can be either included or excluded from what is (collectively interpreted as) leadership. The leadership literature presents a tension between what is an embodied and relational account of the ethical, on the one hand, and a more dispassionate organisational ‘justice’ emphasis, on the other hand. We conducted 23 semi-structured interviews in eight consultancy companies, four multinationals and four internationals. There were ethical issues at play in the way interviewees thought about favouritism in leadership episodes. This emerged in the fact that they were concerned with visibility and conduct before engaging in favouritism. Our findings illustrate a bricolage of ethical justifications for favouritism, namely utilitarian, justice, and relational. Such findings suggest the ethical ambiguity that lies at the heart of leadership as a concept and a practice

A neo-institutional perspective on ethical decision-making

Drawing on neo-institutional theory, this study aims to discern the poorly understood ethical challenges confronted by senior executives in Indian multinational corporations and identify the strategies that they utilize to overcome them. We conducted in-depth interviews with 40 senior executives in Indian multinational corporations to illustrate these challenges and strategies. By embedding our research in contextually relevant characteristics that embody the Indian environment, we identify several institutional- and managerial-level challenges faced by executives. The institutional-level challenges are interpreted as regulative, normative and cognitive shortcomings. We recommend a concerted effort at the institutional and managerial levels by identifying relevant strategies for ethical decision-making. Moreover, we proffer a multi-level model of ethical decision-making and discuss our theoretical contributions and practical implications