Christine Cross

The motivation of nurses to participate in continuing professional education in Ireland

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to review the extant literature on CPE amongst nurses and concentrate on discovering the factors that motivate and inhibit participation in CPE for nurses in Ireland.Design/methodology/approach – A review of the literature was carried out on continuing professional development amongst nurses in Ireland, the UK, the USA and Australia. From this, research hypotheses were developed. The primary research concentrated on a cohort of practicing registered nurses participating in a CPE course at a third‐level institution in Ireland. A questionnaire was used that contained both open and closed‐ended questions.Findings – The main barriers to participation in CPE were lack of employer support and the difficulty of balancing home‐life, work and study. The main motivators for participation in CPE were improving self‐esteem and confidence and the expectation of increased opportunities for promotion for those with higher educational qualifications.Research limitations/implicatio...

Barriers to advancing female careers in the high‐tech sector: empirical evidence from Ireland

Purpose – This paper sets out to examine the experiences of female managers in order to enhance our understanding of why there is a relative scarcity of senior female managers in one of the newest sectors of the Irish economy, the high‐tech sector. Because this sector has effectively only emerged in Ireland in the last 15 years, it had been expected to provide a unique genderless environment in which female managers would emerge in equal numbers to their male counterparts.Design/methodology/approach – This paper takes a qualitative approach. A series of interviews were carried out with 20 female junior and middle managers in this industry segment.Findings – The results of the interviews illustrate that a combination of formal and informal organizational policies and procedures, together with a “self‐imposed” glass ceiling hamper women in junior and middle management positions from advancing to senior managerial roles in this important segment of the Irish economy.Research limitations/implications – One of...

Critically challenging some assumptions in HRD

This paper sets out to critically challenge five inter-related assumptions prominent in the HRD literature. These relate to: the exploitation of labour in enhancing shareholder value; the view that employees are co-contributors to and co-recipients of HRD benefits; the distinction between HRD and HRM; the relationship between HRD and unitarism; and, the relationship between HRD and organisational and learning cultures. From a critical modernist perspective, it is argued that these can only be adequately addressed by taking a point of departure from the particular state of the capital-labour relation in time, place and space. HRD, of its nature, exists in a continuous state of dialectical tension between capital and labour—and there is much that critical scholarship has yet to do in informing practitioners about how they might manage and cope with such tension.

Mapping the Context and Practice of Training, Development and HRD in European Call Centres.

Purpose – Utilising data from 18 in‐depth case studies, this study seeks to explore training, development and human resource development (HRD) practices in European call centres. It aims to argue that the complexity and diversity of training, development and HRD practices is best understood by studying the multilayered contexts within which call centres operate. Call centres operate as open systems and training, development and HRD practices are influenced by environmental, strategic, organisational and temporal conditions.Design/methodology/approach – The study utilised a range of research methods, including in‐depth interviews with multiple stakeholders, documentary analysis and observation. The study was conducted over a two‐year period.Findings – The results indicate that normative models of HRD are not particularly valuable and that training, development and HRD in call centres is emergent and highly complex.Originality/value – This study represents one of the first studies to investigate training an...

Understanding the Role of Networks in Collective Learning Processes: The Experiences of Women

The problem and the solution. Despite the rapid increase of women in both junior and middle management positions in organizations globally, women comprise a very small percentage of senior executives. One explanation for the scarcity of senior women in organizational life is that women tend to lack access to the relevant networks, which are often biased toward male membership.To reach senior executive positions, women need to either bypass or establish a way into these networks.Within these networks, the learning tends to begin as individualized incidental learning, but develops into collective learning, as women form their own networks and learn from each other in an anticipatory fashion.The authors believe that through efforts to provide more direct access to formal female networks, collective learning can take place in a more structured and efficient fashion. Providing such structured opportunities for knowledge sharing among female managers could form the lynchpin of a successful collective learning strategy.

Who is considered an ‘older worker'? Extending our conceptualisation of ‘older’ from an organisational decision maker perspective

A refinement of the construct of age, specifically ‘older’, is recognised as a critical measurement concern for experts in both ageing research and policy formation. In this context, we set out to both chronologically define an ‘older worker’ and to identify on what basis the age of ‘older’ is determined. In doing so, we draw on open-ended survey data (collected in 2011) from a sample of 407 organisational decision makers across all industries in Ireland. Our focus was specifically on the perspective of organisational decision makers because these individuals will be instrumental in facing the challenges associated with workforce ageing. The results show that workers are considered as ‘older’ at a younger age than might be expected and that decision makers conceptualise workers as ‘older’ using various approaches in the organisational context. Our findings contribute to the literature in three ways: firstly, by providing an important empirically derived understanding of the term ‘older worker’; secondly, by empirically examining previously suggested ‘possible’ indicators of age; and thirdly, by demonstrating that these indicators are conceptually and empirically distinct, advancing theory on the concept of age in the workplace.

Barriers to the executive suite: evidence from Ireland

Purpose – While the question regarding the low numbers of senior female managers has been posed for decades, it is of particular significance in the Irish context, as a result of the emergence of the Celtic Tiger and the associated rise in female labour force participation. This paper aims to investigate the impact of both individual and organisational barriers on female managerial career progression in Ireland, in an effort to increase understanding of why there are still so few senior female managers. The focus in this study is women in middle level management positions, as it is individuals at this organisational rank who are the natural successors to the executive suite.Design/methodology/approach – In‐depth interviews were conducted with 30 female managers, from across a wide range of industry sectors in Ireland.Findings – The results highlight that the collision of managerial career stage with family life demands is resulting in many female managers feeling pressurized into remaining at middle manag...

The Psychological Contract in Call Centres: An Employee Perspective

The call centre industry is a relatively recent phenomenon, which has changed the face of the service sector (Frenkel et al., 1998). For a comparatively new contender it has created a large share of internal human resource problems. Common issues of contention for call centres include high levels of churn, high levels of absenteeism, issues with motivation and commitment, lack of career progression opportunities and loss of agents following investment in training and development (Bain and Taylor, 2000). Many of these issues may be attributed to both a lack of understanding and violation of the psychological contract. This article specifically examines the psychological contract, through the use of a case study and analysis of interviews conducted with call centre agents. A number of interesting issues arose with regard to the formation, causes and consequences of their psychological contracts. The main finding is that two types of psychological contract coexisted. While everyone interviewed for this research was employed to perform the same role, the terms of their employment contracts differed greatly and this carried through to the type of psychological contract on offer to them. Permanent employees generally enjoyed relational psychological contract with expectations, content and consequences that reflect this model of the contract. While contract workers were subject to a transitional model with minimal mutual obligations. Implications for practice and further research are explored in light of these findings.

Polish Workers in Ireland A Contented Proletariat

Since 1990, Ireland has experienced rapid economic growth and a corresponding increase in immigrant workers, particularly of Polish origin. On the basis of survey evidence, the relatively low level of unionization among Polish workers is examined. Although attitudes to trade unions are positive, there is a high level of satisfaction generally with work, pay, and conditions among Polish immigrant workers. A sense of injustice or grievance appears to be largely absent with regard to either pay and working conditions or their treatment by employers, supervisors, and immediate Irish workers. The general picture is one of a relatively contented proletariat.

Gender equality in the accounting profession: one size fits all

Purpose – This study aims to examine both male and female accountants’ perceptions of female career progression in the Accounting Profession in Ireland. This study is set in the context of a steady rise in the total proportion of female members across the seven accountancy bodies worldwide and the recent acknowledged failure of larger accountancy firms to promote women to senior levels in equal measure compared to male colleagues. Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative study (with a qualitative component) was undertaken to gather the opinions and perceptions of Irish accounting professionals on their career progression, gender-related barriers and obstacles, the “glass ceiling”, networking and flexible work arrangements. The sample of respondents reflected the diversity of accounting disciplines and gender divide in the wider population. Findings – Evidence of a divergence between the perception and the reality of the lived experience of female accountants, across the gender divide, was found. While...