Regina A. Greenwood

Attitudes towards Women and Values in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report results from an exploratory, empirical research study that describes personal values and attitudes toward women, two themes that strongly impact employment relations and a wide variety of management issues.Design/methodology/approach – Well‐established measures for the major themes for this paper were used in constructing a questionnaire. Data collection instruments were vetted for content, translated and back‐translated, and applied by native researchers, who also contributed local expertise to the paper.Findings – Female respondents across all four countries were more egalitarian in their attitudes towards women in the workforce than were men. Additionally, Colombian respondents had more egalitarian attitudes towards women scores, followed by Brazilians and Argentineans; Mexicans exhibited the least egalitarian attitudes toward women.Originality/value – This is the first empirical study that links two well‐validated constructs (personal values and attitud...

C. Bertrand Thompson and Management Consulting in Europe

Purpose – This paper aims to highlight myriad accomplishments of C. Bertrand Thompson, who is perhaps most well known as a scientific-management bibliographer and a Taylor disciple, in the belief that his contributions as a pioneer management theorist and consultant in Europe deserve to be more widely known and more deeply appreciated. Design/methodology/approach – Archival, primary and secondary sources were used in the research. Findings – Thompson was among the first to bring management consulting to Europe. He understood the importance of adapting scientific-management principles to meet the diverse needs of each client for whom he consulted. Thompson’s strong belief and value system remained constant throughout his life. Practical implications – Understanding the needs of customers or clients and adapting systems to meet those needs is essential in achieving success as a consultant. Originality/value – By drawing on rarely accessed published and unpublished materials, this paper discusses Thompson’s ...

Louis J. DeLamarter: can he save a dying industry?

Purpose – This paper aims to acquaint readers with Louis J. DeLamarter and the innovative strategies he used to extend the profitability of the street railway in the USA.Design/methodology/approach – Initially the researchers were interested in street railways (trolleys) and why they had flourished in Grand Rapid, Michigan when they were failing in other parts of the USA. Extensive research in local and national newspapers, business journals and trade publications of the time led to the story of Louis J. DeLamarter. His innovative approach to running the street railway in Grand Rapids MI emerged as the cause of the Grand Rapids Railway Companys unique, though temporary, success.Findings – DeLamarter conceived and implemented a number of innovative marketing practices which were rooted in a differentiation strategy: he focused on the customer whereas other transportation companies did not. His strategy made the company successful after others became bankrupt. His ideas were lauded in the industry, adopted...

Millennials and organizational citizenship behavior: The role of job crafting and career anchor on service

Purpose n n n n nGrowing up in the technology era and heavily invested in longer full-time education, the millennial workforce holds unique characteristics that may influence important job outcomes. Building on the recent research on workforce generations, this paper aims to investigate not only the overall effect of the millennial generation on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) but also the nuanced effect of how workforce generations may interact with two factors in career development (i.e. job crafting and career anchor) in predicting OCB. n n n n nDesign/methodology/approach n n n n nAn online survey was conducted among full-time workers in the USA, 321 (64 per cent) of whom were millennials. Hierarchical regression was used to test the hypotheses. n n n n nFindings n n n n nResults indicated that millennials appeared to be less interested in OCB compared to earlier generations in the workforce. Nevertheless, some dimensions of OCB increased when millennials conducted resource-related job crafting or when they held a career anchor on service. In addition, both of these career development factors were positively correlated with OCB. n n n n nResearch limitations/implications n n n n nThis study offers important implications to researchers as well as practitioners and highlights the significance of career development factors in motivating millennials toward desired job outcomes. n n n n nOriginality/value n n n n nThis research is among the initial attempts to assess the impact of job design and career factors on OCB among millennial workers. The findings highlight millennials’ unique perspectives toward OCB and how job crafting and career anchor may play influencing roles on OCB. With millennials becoming the largest generation in the workforce, such knowledge is critical.

Individual adoption of HR analytics: a fine grained view of the early stages leading to adoption

Abstract High performing organizations are using analytics for evidence-based decision-making. However, the human resource (HR) function in many organizations has been slow to adopt this innovation. This study applies innovation theory, informed by the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), to examine the individual’s decision to adopt HR Analytics in an effort to identify why the adoption rate is lagging. We examined early stages of the individual decision process beginning from Stage 1 (knowledge) and leading to Stage 3, (the decision) to adopt or not to adopt the innovation. We found several points in the process that can act as barriers or facilitators. Organizations and champions of this innovation wishing to facilitate HR analytics adoption can take action to remove as many of these barriers to the individual’s decision as possible. Further research should focus on the best way to remove these barriers.

The Origins of Captive Pricing: Electric Lamp Renewal Systems

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of electric lamp renewal systems, an early, successful program to encourage the adoption of new technology, electric lighting. Design/methodology/approach – Much material for the research comes from a variety of archival sources and publications of the early part of the twentieth century. Findings – The free lamp renewal system was brilliant and effective: its high level of customer service and human contact dispelled fear raised by the new energy source, increasing the acceptance and use of electric lighting and thereby electricity. Lighting, in the absence of electrical appliances, was one of the few users of electricity. Thus, the electric companies created a marketing strategy that encouraged adoption of the new technology. Research limitations/implications – We examined the electric lighting industry at the turn of the twentieth century. Other examples of technology adoption could generalize our findings. Practical implications – Our ...