A talent for living:exploring Ghana's 'new' urban childhood

This paper considers the lives of children living in a large informal settlement in central Accra, Ghana. Its contention is that children remain largely absent from the renewal of interest in slums and that where they do feature it is largely as objects of risk and vulnerability. Such an exclusive focus, it is argued, risks effacing the ways in which children are capable of actively confronting the terrible constraints posed by slum environments and the 'talent for living' that this involves. Drawing upon the findings of a small qualitative exploratory research project, the paper examines sources of support and cooperation between children and how their decisions to work are perceived as a strategy to actively support mothers and families struggling for a subsistence. © 2011 The Author(s). Children and Society © 2011 National Children's Bureau and Blackwell Publishing Limited.

Current issues in international HRM:alternative forms of assignments, careers and talent management in a global context

This special issue is dedicated to examining some current issues in international HRM; it contributes mainly to the field of HRM in the multinational enterprise. However, it clearly also draws on knowledge from cross-cultural IHRM. The guest editors have identified three topics that have gained tremendous importance due to the increasing globalisation of the world economy and the war for internationally qualified talent. This not only applies to multinational enterprises, but also to small and medium-sized enterprises, as senior managers are challenged to attract, retain, and motivate global talent: global assignments, global careers and global talent management. While all fields are not new and have partly been subject to prominent publications (e.g., Scullion & Collings, 2011; Cascio, 2013) new and highly relevant research questions continue to emerge and there is still a lack of empirical research in these areas.

Women in management in the new economic environment:the case of India

Liberalization of the Indian economy has created considerable employment opportunities for those, including women, who possess marketable skills and talent. Historically, women in India have not enjoyed a good status in workplace settings whether in managerial or operative roles. This traditional positioning of women has restricted the intensity of their efforts towards realizing the benefits of the globalisation process. An attempt has been made in this contribution to highlight the important issues relating to women in management in the Indian context. The messages from a review of the literature are analysed. Research evidence from various sources is presented to highlight the dynamics of developments in the status of Indian women managers. The contribution discusses the main aspects of the historical, socio-cultural and economic factors influencing women managers: issues concerning gender-based stereotypes; the main barriers to women's movement to top managerial positions; the impact of developments in information technology (IT) on women managers; and the way forward. Results from two research projects are also presented. The analysis has important messages for practitioners and contributes to women's studies and management in the Indian context. © 2005 Taylor & Francis Ltd.

People management issues in Indian KPOs

Purpose: The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in India is evolving rapidly, and one of the key characteristics of this industry is the emergence of high-end services offered by knowledge processing outsourcing (KPO) organizations. These organizations are set to grow at a tremendous pace. Given the people-intensive nature of this industry, efficient employee management is bound to play a critical role. The literature lacks studies offering insights into the HR challenges involved and the ways in which they are addressed by KPOs. The purpose of this paper is to attempt to fill this gap by presenting findings from an in-depth case study of a KPO organization. Design/methodology/ approach: To achieve the research objective we adopted an in-depth case study approach. The research setting was that of a KPO organization in India, which specialises in offering complex analytics, accounting and support services to the real estate and financial services industries. Findings: The results of this study highlight the differences in the nature of work characteristics in such organizations as compared to call centres. The study also highlights some of the key people management challenges that these organizations face like attracting and retaining talent. The case company adopts formal, structured, transparent and innovative human resource practices. The study also highlights that such enlightened human resource practices stand on the foundations laid by an open work environment and facilitative leadership. Research limitations/implications: One of the key limitations is that the analysis is based on primary data from a single case study and only 18 interviews. The analysis contributes to the fields of KPO, HRM and India and has key messages for policy makers. Originality/value: The literature on outsourcing has in general focused on call centres established in the developed world. However, the booming BPO industry in India is also beginning to offer high-end services, which are far above the typical call centres. These KPOs and their people management challenges are relatively unexplored territories in the literature. By conducting this study in an emerging market (India) and focusing on people-related challenges in KPOs, this study attempts to provide a fresh perspective to the extant BPO literature. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Language against the odds, or rather not:the weak central coherence hypothesis and language

EV is a child with a talent for learning language combined with Asperger syndrome. EV’s talent is evident in the unusual circumstances of her acquisition of both her first (Bulgarian) and second (German) languages and the unique patterns of both receptive and expressive language (in both the L1 and L2), in which she shows subtle dissociations in competence and performance consistent with an uneven cognitive profile of skills and abilities. We argue that this case provides support for theories of language learning and usage that require more general underlying cognitive mechanisms and skills. One such account, the Weak Central Coherence (WCC) hypothesis of autism, provides a plausible framework for the interpretation of the simultaneous co-occurrence of EV’s particular pattern of cognitive strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, we show that specific features of the uneven cognitive profile of Asperger syndrome can help explain the observed language talent displayed by EV. Thus, rather than demonstrating a case where language learning takes place despite the presence of deficits, EV’s case illustrates how a pattern of strengths within this profile can specifically promote language learning.

Morphology in autism spectrum disorders:local processing bias and language

We conducted a detailed study of a case of linguistic talent in the context of autism spectrum disorder, specifically Asperger syndrome. I.A. displays language strengths at the level of morphology and syntax. Yet, despite this grammar advantage, processing of figurative language and inferencing based on context presents a problem for him. The morphology advantage for I.A. is consistent with the weak central coherence (WCC) account of autism. From this account, the presence of a local processing bias is evident in the ways in which autistic individuals solve common problems, such as assessing similarities between objects and finding common patterns, and may therefore provide an advantage in some cognitive tasks compared to typical individuals. We extend the WCC account to language and provide evidence for a connection between the local processing bias and the acquisition of morphology and grammar.

"Crack down on the celebrity junkies": does media coverage of celebrity drug use pose a risk to young people?

This study analysed news media content to examine the role played by celebrity drug use in young people's perceptions of drug use. We know that young people have access to discourses of drug use through music and other media which may emphasise short term gains (of pleasure or sexual success) over longer term health and social problems. This study goes beyond a simple modelling approach by using Media Framing Analysis (MFA) to take an in-depth look at the messages themselves and how they are 'framed'. New stories about Amy Winehouse's drug use were used and we conducted focus groups with young people asking them questions about drugs, celebrity and the media. Frames identified include: 'troubled genius', 'losing patience' and 'glamorization or gritty realism'. Initially, the press championed Winehouse's musical talent but soon began to tire of her recklessness; the participants tended to be unimpressed with Winehouse's drug use, characterising her as a promising artist who had 'gone off the rails'. Young people were far more critical of Winehouse than might be expected, demonstrating that concerns about the influence of celebrity drug use and its impact on future health risk behaviour among young people may have been over-simplified and exaggerated. This study illustrates the need to understand young people and their frames of reference within popular culture when designing drug awareness information relevant to them. Furthermore, it indicates that critical media skills analysis may contribute to health risk education programmes related to drug use.

Data envelopment analysis model for the appraisal and relative performance evaluation of nurses at an intensive care unit

The appraisal and relative performance evaluation of nurses are very important and beneficial for both nurses and employers in an era of clinical governance, increased accountability and high standards of health care services. They enhance and consolidate the knowledge and practical skills of nurses by identification of training and career development plans as well as improvement in health care quality services, increase in job satisfaction and use of cost-effective resources. In this paper, a data envelopment analysis (DEA) model is proposed for the appraisal and relative performance evaluation of nurses. The model is validated on thirty-two nurses working at an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at one of the most recognized hospitals in Lebanon. The DEA was able to classify nurses into efficient and inefficient ones. The set of efficient nurses was used to establish an internal best practice benchmark to project career development plans for improving the performance of other inefficient nurses. The DEA result confirmed the ranking of some nurses and highlighted injustice in other cases that were produced by the currently practiced appraisal system. Further, the DEA model is shown to be an effective talent management and motivational tool as it can provide clear managerial plans related to promoting, training and development activities from the perspective of nurses, hence increasing their satisfaction, motivation and acceptance of appraisal results. Due to such features, the model is currently being considered for implementation at ICU. Finally, the ratio of the number DEA units to the number of input/output measures is revisited with new suggested values on its upper and lower limits depending on the type of DEA models and the desired number of efficient units from a managerial perspective.

Challenges and solutions for marketing in a digital era

Internet usage continues to explode across the world with digital becoming an increasingly important source of competitive advantage in both B2C and B2B marketing. A great deal of attention has been focused on the tremendous opportunities digital marketing presents, with little attention on the real challenges companies are facing going digital. In this study, we present these challenges based on results of a survey among a convenience sample of 777 marketing executives around the globe. The results reveal that filling "talent gaps", adjusting the "organizational design", and implementing "actionable metrics" are the biggest improvement opportunities for companies across sectors. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Handbook of human resource management in emerging markets

Bringing together a diverse set of key HRM themes such as talent management, global careers and employee engagement, this remarkably wide ranging work on managing human resources in more than 20 emerging markets is written by world-leading experts in HRM in emerging markets and based on leading-edge research and practice.

Human resource management in China and India

The first decade of the twenty-first century has witnessed further growth in emerging markets, which is significantly influencing the global economic landscape. For the first time in almost two hundred years, it is in this decade that the emerging economies have caught up with, and raced ahead of, the developed ones in terms of gross domestic product. This is a trend that is likely to continue for some time as many of the developed economies struggle to recover from the global financial crisis. In particular, China and India as two fast growing economies are significantly contributing to the world economic growth and are the flag bearers of this transformation. Acknowledged as favourite destinations for global manufacturing (China) and services (India) related outsourcing, both nations offer huge growth opportunities in most products and services. However, in order to sustain their phenomenal economic growth of the past decades, both countries are facing a number of challenges to their human resource management (HRM). From a macro perspective, these issues tend to appear similar (e.g., attraction and retention of talent), but given the significant sociocultural, institutional, political, legal and other differences between the two nations, the logics underpinning the approaches to managing human resources issues appear somewhat different. This chapter therefore aims to highlight the key forces determining the nature of HRM in China and India. The chapter consists of three main sections, in addition to the Introduction and Conclusions.

Manoeuvring towards research decline:the RAE and the decline of Britain's international research standing

Purpose: This research paper aims to examine the global trends in publishing in the leading marketing journals between 1964 and 2008, focusing on how public policy intervention in the assessment and funding of academic research has influenced Britain's relative productivity in the world's leading marketing journals. Design/methodology/approach: The method was an audit of contributions to the leading journals based on the authors' affiliation, country of origin and country in which they obtained their doctoral training. Findings: The results show that the proportion of leading marketing publications by authors affiliated to British universities have held steady at about 2 per cent, while the productivity of several other countries has accelerated past Britain. However, to retain that share, Britain has increasingly depended upon importing people whose PhD is not British. This contrasts with some other European countries that are now more productive than Britain, but mainly recruit locals with local PhDs. The pattern of decline in the UK is related to the impact of Britain's research assessment exercise and the continuation of relatively weak social science research training. Research limitations/implications: The analysis is limited by only looking at one academic discipline and only the top few academic journals in the field. Practical implications: The findings have implications at several levels. At a national policy level it questions the value of the research assessment exercises that appear to have presided over a decline in research productivity. For institutions, it questions the value in investing in developing local talent when success has come to those who buy talent internationally. Perhaps, the major implication arises from Britain's academic productivity declining while neighbouring countries have grown in international excellence. Originality/value: At a time when the continuation of expensive university research assessments is being questioned the research findings add value to the current debate in showing how that very process has accompanied academic decline. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Engaging future engineers:pedagogy, policy & practice

Despite being frequently misrepresented as outdated or old fashioned (IMechE, 2009, p1), engineering is increasingly called upon to deal with some of societies biggest challenges including those associated with climate, infrastructure and security. In order to meet such challenges there needs to be a supply of engineering talent able to turn its collective mind to what is required. Yet at a time when demands for engineers able to provide innovative solutions to contemporary problems is possibly at its highest, the profession is plagued by shortages and an inability to attract young people (DIUS, 2008; RAE 2008; NSF, 2009). Although the current situation appears critical, potential future shortages of engineers means that unless action is taken urgently, matters will get worse during the next 20 to 30 years. For higher education, the challenge is how to change young peoples perceptions of engineering in such a manner that it is seen as a worthwhile and rewarding career. This paper considers this challenge, looking in detail at why young people fail to view engineering positively. A theoretical framework outlining the various real-life barriers and drivers is proposed. A critical analysis of current policy and practice suggests that in order to promote engineering as a profession that young people want to enter, both pedagogic and policy grounded solutions need to be found. By bringing together pedagogy and policy within an engineering framework the paper adds to current debates in engineering education whilst providing a distinctive look at what seems to be a recurring problem. © 2009 Authors.