Claudio Baccarani

What does ethical behaviour mean in management activities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to revaluate the concept of ethics in management activity.Design/methodology/approach – The approach is a literature analysis and case study.Findings – From previous research, it has been inferred that the practice of ethics in management assures the vitality and the competitiveness of the firm. But during the last years, the word ethics has been used to explain too many situations, as a magic word, useful to solve any kind of problem. This excessive use has turn ethics into a word “full of emptiness” and now people try not to use it any more. On the contrary, it is believed that ethics is a fundamental concept in management, even though people often ascribe different meanings to this word.Research limitations/implications – The paper is the start up stage of this new approach.Originality/value – On the basis of a recent work developed in an Italian firm, the paper answers the following questions: What does ethics really mean in management activity? How can managemen...Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to revaluate the concept of ethics in management activity.Design/methodology/approach – The approach is a literature analysis and case study.Findings – From previous research, it has been inferred that the practice of ethics in management assures the vitality and the competitiveness of the firm. But during the last years, the word ethics has been used to explain too many situations, as a magic word, useful to solve any kind of problem. This excessive use has turn ethics into a word “full of emptiness” and now people try not to use it any more. On the contrary, it is believed that ethics is a fundamental concept in management, even though people often ascribe different meanings to this word.Research limitations/implications – The paper is the start up stage of this new approach.Originality/value – On the basis of a recent work developed in an Italian firm, the paper answers the following questions: What does ethics really mean in management activity? How can managemen...

A five-senses perspective to quality in hospitals

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on research on the sensory perceptions that patients and bystanders experience during hospitalisation. Sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch influence both clinical outcomes and satisfaction. The paper offers suggestions to hospital management on ways to improve receivers’ sensory perceptions. Design/methodology/approach – Considering services as social interactions, a subjectivist view of reality is adopted and, accordingly, a qualitative research approach implemented. Data are collected through participant observation. Desk activity includes reasoned literature review, categorisation and model adaptation. Findings – A simplified system model for service provision in the hospital ward is proposed. A management tool is provided in the form of a check list that the ward management can employ to assess its service-provision system from a five-senses perspective. Research limitations/implications – The paper is affected by judgements subject to cultural biase...

Effective public speaking: a conceptual framework in the corporate-communication field

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of effective public speaking (EPS), and its antecedents and effects to provide a conceptual framework for the study of EPS in the field of corporate communication. Design/methodology/approach – This is a conceptual paper whose analytical approach draws heavily on theoretical evidence published mainly in the corporate-communication literature. Findings – Public speaking means communicating with rather than to the audience: it does not denote a one-way broadcasting of information but a conversation between the speaker and audience. Strong arguments (logos) presented in a credible (ethos) and exciting (pathos) manner form the basis of EPS. Delivering an interesting, appealing and engaging presentation (i.e. the antecedents of EPS) requires that public speakers combine skills of logic (i.e. public speaking as science) with an “outside-the-box” approach (i.e. public speaking as art). EPS produces positive effects in the professional growth of an org...

Zen and well-being at the workplace

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate connections between the practice of mindfulness meditation and individual and organisational well-being. Design/methodology/approach – A direct randomised study conducted on a groups of persons involved in various work activities through a programme of Zen meditation courses and a comparison between the situation of well-being found before and after taking part in the courses, assessed in the light of results obtained from a control group that had not taken part in the courses. Findings – The comparison and analysis of results showed that the group of participants taking part in the meditation training obtained a significant increase in certain indicators relating in particular to subjectively perceived well-being, as regards attention and concentration as well as in a physiological indicator measuring stress reduction. Originality/value – The study brought to the place of business a tool traditionally used almost exclusively in relation to the personal s...

Crisi, ovvero il tempo dell’egoismo generoso

Se dovessimo condurre un’indagine sulla parola piu diffusa nelle analisi politico-economiche degli ultimi quattro anni, con ogni probabilita ci imbatteremmo nella parola crisi. E se proprio non risultasse la piu diffusa in assoluto starebbe di certo ai primi posti. Il suo significato e dato cosi per scontato che quasi infastidisce continuare a incontrare questa parola nelle nostre letture e riflessioni. Abbiamo pero deciso di sfidare questo possibile fastidio perche crediamo che la parola crisi abbia in se qualcosa di semi-nascosto che stenta ad emergere e che come tale merita di essere esplorato. Proviamo cosi a camminare su questo sentiero. Sappiamo che la crisi e un momento nel quale si registra la separazione tra un modo di essere conosciuto e un altro differente che si profila. Nella sua etimologia greca il termine porta con se i concetti di separazione e decisione: separazione, ovvero passaggio tra uno stato ed un altro, e decisione, ovvero scelta della direzione nella quale si desidera procedere.

Le relazioni tra impresa e mercato: una questione di potere e di rispetto

Qualcosa sta mutando nella relazione tra impresa e mercato, anche se in forme a volte non ancora ben delineate. Si possono scorgere molteplici “segnali di fumo” di tali cambiamenti, che assieme delineano una condizione di complessificazione crescente delle relazioni impresa-mercato. L’orientamento al cliente e l’orientamento al mercato sembrano non essere piu in grado assicurare energie competitive all’azienda, poiche non colgono la complessita delle richieste che il cliente rivolge all’impresa come persona e come membro di una collettivita. La sfida per l’impresa e quella di riuscire a convivere olisticamente con gli stakeholder secondo un approccio “comunitario”. La sfida per l’imprenditore e riuscire ad immaginare un progetto che travalica il profitto per contribuire alla crescita della comunita interna ed esterna all’impresa, alzando gli occhi verso l’orizzonte e il lungo periodo.

Gli studi di management tra muri e ponti

“Gli uomini costruiscono troppi muri e mai abbastanza ponti”, questo pensiero di Isaac Newton potrebbe suonare come monito per la nostra comunita di studiosi che sta vivendo un momento di vivace e profondo cambiamento. E chiaro che il pensiero si propone come metafora. Nessuno mette in discussione l’importanza dei muri, che se di fatto separano pero anche proteggono. Tuttavia, se costruissimo solo muri trascurando i ponti, come potremmo incontrare gli altri e il loro pensiero? Come potremmo procedere sulla via del progredire? Ma nei momenti di radicale trasformazione - come quelli che stanno attraversando il nostro modo di proporci nel confronto degli studi manageriali e il nostro ruolo nelle interazioni con l’azienda, a sua volta alla ricerca di un nuovo senso del proprio essere parte della societa nella direzione della sostenibilita e del benessere - accade di frequente che si erigano barriere. Veri e propri muri, i quali separano chi difende il vecchio cercando di opporsi in tutti i modi al cambiamento e chi tenacemente propugna il nuovo isolando chi non si adegua.

Riflessioni sulla comunicazione aziendale

Se volessimo definire il significato del verbo comunicare, potremmo dire, scomodando Dante, che comunicare significa trasmettere ad altri il proprio pensiero. Trasmettere, non trasferire, perche il trasmettere implica il recepimento del messaggio, quando, invece, il trasferire implica solo il raggiungimento del soggetto cui il messaggio e indirizzato. E chiaro, quindi, che trasmettere un pensiero significa renderlo comune ad almeno un altro soggetto. Ovviamente questo nulla ha a che vedere con la possibile condivisione del contenuto del messaggio. (to be continued ...)

What do you Think Creativity is and Where can We Find it

Creativity can be defined as an art, the art of finding new solutions to old and emerging problems. Creativity’s driving force may be a structured or a non structured process, though in either case intuition plays a major role. This particular art in this field is the product of employees’ thought processes. By its nature, thinking is a free process. In the world of business, creativity is best able to express itself where people do their work with pleasure. Everybody is capable of being creative but organisations can stem the tide of creativity by putting various obstacles in its path. Creative organisations are characterised by particular values, organisational forms and a conducive internal atmosphere.

Evaluating the outcomes of service ecosystems: The interplay between ecosystem well-being and customer well-being

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand how the resource integration processes that occur within service ecosystems affect both the well-being of the entire ecosystem and the well-being of specific focal actors (i.e. customers) in the ecosystem. Specifically, this paper considered cases in which customers’ well-being results from simultaneous participation in a multiplicity of service ecosystems. Design/methodology/approach An illustrative example, taken from the tourism context, was used to develop a conceptual framework (of which customers were the focal actors) to evaluate service ecosystem outcomes. Findings The results showed that the well-being of focal actors (i.e. customers) should be evaluated by considering the outcomes that arise in the interlocking service ecosystems in which the customers simultaneously participate. Further, in relation to these interlocking service ecosystems, high levels of well-being within a single ecosystem did not necessarily cause focal actors to experience high levels of well-being. Research limitations/implications To ensure the creation of positive customer experiences, the co-creating actors (e.g. the service providers) must first identify each of the interlocking service ecosystems in which customers simultaneously participate and then establish interactions with other relevant actors. Originality/value By considering the complex relationships between the well-being of a service ecosystem as a whole and the well-being of specific focal actors (e.g. customers) in an ecosystem, this study advances knowledge about evaluations on the performance of service ecosystems.