Ian Ashman

“Comment Is Free, but Facts Are Sacred”: User-generated Content and Ethical Constructs at the Guardian

This case study examines how journalists at Britains Guardian newspaper and affiliated Web site are assessing and incorporating user-generated content in their perceptions and practices. A framework of existentialism helps highlight constructs and professional norms of interest. It is one of the first data-driven studies to explore how journalists are negotiating personal and social ethics within a digital network.

Theorizing leadership authenticity: A Sartrean perspective

Authenticity, a growing area of interest in leadership studies, is an important concept within existentialist thinking. Currently it is largely untheorized. Here the concept is examined using Sartre’s work. Current literature implies authenticity as relating to an ‘inner’ or ‘true’ self which existentialist thinking rejects, opening the way for a different approach to theorizing authenticity. There is a need to consider context, and subjective and inter-subjective experience to understand and to practice authentic existential leadership.

Lean towards learning: connecting Lean Thinking and human resource management in UK higher education

From its origins in the automotive industry, Lean Thinking is increasingly being seen as a solution to problems of efficiency and quality in other industries and sectors. In recent years attempts have been made to transfer Lean principles and practice to the higher education sector, with indications of mixed consequences and debate over its suitability. This paper contributes to the debate by drawing evidence from 34 interviews conducted across two UK universities that have implemented Lean in some of their activities, and we pay particular attention to the role of the human resource function in facilitating its introduction. The findings suggest that there are problems in understanding, communicating and transferring Lean Thinking in the higher education context; despite human resource systems being vital facets of Lean, human resource professionals are excluded from participation; and as a consequence the depth and breadth of Lean application in the two institutions is very limited.

An investigation of the British organizational commitment scale: A qualitative approach to evaluating construct validity

Purpose – At a general level, this article is concerned with the mechanisms through which constructs important to organizational analysis are identified, operationalized and validated. Specifically, the purpose of this paper is to consider the construct of organizational commitment, investigating the validity of a popular tool for its measurement – the British Organizational Commitment Scale (BOCS).Design/methodology/approach – Problems in defining organizational commitment are discussed before tracing the development of the BOCS from its American precursor (the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire) and linking it with more general criticisms of self‐report measures. The BOCS is subjected to a qualitative evaluation drawing from 23 semi‐structured interviews with employees from three organizations; the evidence from which suggests considerable doubts surrounding its construct validity.Finding – The conclusion drawn is that the psychometric approach to construct validation may be inadequate on its own. ...

Existentialism and Leadership: A Response to John Lawler with Some Further Thoughts:

As the title indicates this article aims to explore and develop some of the issues introduced by John Lawlers recent article for this journal on existentialism and leadership. The intention is to offer further insight into how existentialist ideas and principles can be used to invigorate and reorientate research into leadership. Thus, after an initial re-examination of some of the concepts introduced by Lawler, attention turns to some new themes, including nothingness, being-for-others and bad faith, before subsequently demonstrating their application to a number of fundamental concerns associated with debates on leadership, including trait theory, the laissez-faire ‘style’, following, strategic choice and research methodology.

The Face-to-Face Delivery of Downsizing Decisions in UK Public Sector Organizations: The envoy role

In the wake of current UK public sector retrenchment, this article introduces a role that may be important to successful restructuring management, referred to here as the ‘downsizing envoy’. It involves delivering the news of downsizing decisions, face to face, with the victims and then dealing with the repercussions. After a review of the relevant, but limited, literature the findings are presented from interviews with twenty-four envoys drawn from public sector organizations. They indicate that the envoy role is emotionally demanding and that the public sector context invokes additional pressures that may not occur in other sectors.

Deep acting and bad faith: a Sartrean treatment of emotion work

This paper explores emotion work from a Sartrean perspective. It argues that a Sartrean explanation of emotions may offer a novel approach to analysing emotions at work by countering the deterministic and somewhat negative emphasis that pervades the mainstream. The efficacy of Hochschilds distinction between deep and surface acting is questioned with particular attention being paid to its links with authenticity. Sartres concept of bad faith is introduced as a means of highlighting the limitations of the distinction and a way of influencing future research. Conclusions are drawn as to how a Sartrean perspective may influence important emotion work themes.

Should we expect commitment

Abstract And I, who felt my head surrounded by horrors, Said: Master, what then is it that I am hearing? And what people are these, so crushed by pain?

Downsizing: Managing Redundancy and Restructuring

Employee downsizing is a term used widely to describe processes that result in the elimination of jobs from an organization and that are often accompanied by the dismissal of the job incumbents. A typical definition is ‘a planned set of organizational policies and practices aimed at workforce reduction with the goal of improving firm performance’ (Datta et al. 2010: 282). Downsizing is often treated as synonymous with terms such as redundancy or layoff but, while frequently including those processes, it can be achieved through a wide variety of alternative or accompanying restructuring activities including outsourcing, redeployment, natural wastage, recruitment freezes, short-time working, sabbaticals and pay freezes or cuts (CIPD 2015).