David Weir

The international protean career: four women's narratives

Purpose – Using narratives from four women following international careers in France, this paper seeks to offer an insight into the depth and complexity of career issues for women working in a foreign country.Design/methodology/approach – This is a qualitative hermeneutic inductive research undertaking on international protean careers, using in‐depth interview data together with contextual information regarding the specificity of the location in question.Findings – The concept of the protean career is highlighted in the findings. This concept is described as “having an ability to reform oneself” also referred to as “morphing”. The findings in this study demonstrate how the women in the sample had the proven capability of morphing their professional role over time due to circumstance.Research limitations/implications – The findings are limited as they cannot be generalised to a wider population due to the small sample size. However, the aim was not to generalise, but to share an in‐depth collection of real...

Trust, Inter-Partner Conflicts, Cultural Distance, Commitment and Joint Venture Performance: An Empirical Analysis of International Joint Ventures in Turkey

ABSTRACT Despite the increasing popularity of international joint ventures and strategic alliances, experiences and observations of businessmen and managers alike suggest that this type of organisation is not complication-free. These complications may cause some distinct disadvantages; such company marriages may even end up with divorce, if they are overlooked or ignored. This research is based on an in-depth study of manufacturing joint ventures with Turkish partners. This article discusses trust/forbearance, cultural distance, inter-partner conflicts, commitment, and their impact on joint venture performance. Through the path analysis, the paper offers a model as to the sequencing of the various component factors and puts them in a usable framework. Thus, the paper develops the notion that trust/forbearance is a key dimension for under standing the performance of international joint ventures and strategic alliances alike.

When will they ever learn? The conditions for failure in publicly funded high technology projects: the R101 and Challenger disasters compared

Governments of all political complexions seek economic advantage through supporting high profile projects in the field of high technology. “High tech” becomes a mantra, comprising activities with a wide range of possible outcomes, inevitably demanding large investments, and promising high rewards. It is a relative term and every generation defines its “leading edge” projects in a similar way; although the substantive technology differs, building on the learning previously achieved and assimilated into the paradigm of “normal science”. Some of these projects work, but many do not: some end in spectacular and catastrophic failure. The resulting disasters are subsequently ascribed to exogenous causes, such as “Acts of God”, or are explained as due to the inherently risky consequence of working at the frontiers of new technology and of the dangerous but none the less essential choices made at the political level, without which “progress” would not be achieved. Politicians, technologists and managers bear specific and local responsibilities for the failure of systems on their watch but it is arguably the failure of the academic theorists of disaster to contribute in a more socially engaged way that most supports the ability of society not to hear the messages it wishes to evade.

Some Sociological, Philosophical and Ethical Underpinnings of an Islamic Management Model

We often treat the values of “management” to be universal and from our ethno-centric perspectives in business education we tend to assume that these are based on those of western capitalism. But as there is in the global world of management a diversity of cultures and differing norms of behaviour, so there is more than one “culture of management.” Little attention has been paid to the ethical and philosophical bases of other paradigms than those with which we are familiar. Where other philosophical and ethical systems are encountered, they are often dismissed with the demeaning discourse of “traditionalism” or “underdevelopment” or stigmatised as inconsistent with the requirements of business efficiency. Nonetheless many of these systems of ethics are embodied in older cultural traditions yet in contemporary societies these traditions are evolving radically, perhaps towards, perhaps away from those of western capitalism.

Communication Factors in System Failure or Why Big Planes Crash and Big Businesses Fail

Contrasts two types of disaster: natural and man‐made. Examines the aetiology of both. Suggests that unless disasters are approached with a programme of interdisciplinary research, our understanding and dealing with the complex symptomatology of crisis and catastrophe will be impaired.

Alternative financial rationalities in managing corporate failure

Most studies of crisis management and business failure are based on research in western economic situations and assume western institutional patterns and attitudes. These assume that certain fundamental elements of financial rationality guide the intervention of banks and financial institutions in situations of incipient business failure. This study is based on an empirical analysis of companies in the GCC region of companies which are clients of banks which operate within the frameworks of the Islamic Banking System in the Arab Middle East. A “sharp‐bending” orientation rather than a “business failure” model is used and conclusions are reached about the role of the banks and other financial institutions and their methods of managing difficult client situations. Some typical situations relating to problem loans, loan officers’ responses and behaviour and out comes are reviewed. The role of the bank in triggering early problem‐recognition is described and the response of the bank, subsequent actions and the sequence of recovery are described. Procedures and actions which would be regarded as “irrational” in a western cultural context are interpretable as “rational” within different cultural frameworks. We argue that there is no one universally‐accepted frame work of business rationality, and that “financial rationalities” are the product of deeply‐embedded cultural frames of reference.

Islamic Perspectives on Management and Organization

The dynamics of the global business environment necessitate that organizational assumptions and underpinnings are understood in their socio-cultural context. This pioneering book covers issues related to Islamic assumptions about organization and management, enabling readers to understand the challenges in managing corporations that operate in an Islamic environment.