The discretionary role of the line manager in inspiring work engagement and innovative behaviour:a study of social exchange and job resources in the public sector

This thesis is about the discretionary role of the line manager in inspiring the work engagement of staff and their resulting innovative behaviour examined through the lens of Social Exchange Theory (Blau, 1964) and the Job Demands-Resources theory (Bakker, Demerouti, Nachreiner & Schaufeli, 2001). The study is focused on a large British Public Sector organisation undergoing a major organisational shift in the way in which they operate as part of the public sector. It is often claimed that people do not leave organisations; they leave line managers (Kozlowski & Doherty, 1989). Regardless of the knowledge in the literature concerning the importance of the line manager in organisations (Purcell, 2003), the engagement literature in particular is lacking in the consideration of such a fundamental figure in organisational life. Further, the understanding of the black box of managerial discretion and its relationship to employee and organisation related outcomes would benefit from greater exploration (Purcell, 2003; Gerhart, 2005; Scott, et al, 2009). The purpose of this research is to address these gaps with relation to the innovative behaviour of employees in the public sector – an area that is not typically associated with the public sector (Bhatta, 2003; McGuire, Stoner & Mylona, 2008; Hughes, Moore & Kataria, 2011). The study is a CASE Award PhD thesis, requiring academic and practical elements to the research. The study is of one case organisation, focusing on one service characterised by a high level of adoption of Strategic Human Resource Management activities and operating in a rather unique manner for the public sector, having private sector competition for work. The study involved a mixed methods approach to data collection. Preliminary focus groups with 45 participants were conducted, followed by an ethnographic period of five months embedded into the service conducting interviews and observations. This culminated in a quantitative survey delivered within the wider directorate to approximately 500 staff members. The study used aspects of the Grounded Theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) approach to analyse the data and developed results that highlight the importance of the line manager in an area characterised by SHRM and organisational change for engaging employees and encouraging innovative behaviour. This survey was completed on behalf of the organisation and the findings of this are presented in appendix 1, in order to keep the focus of the PhD on theory development. Implications for theory and practice are discussed alongside the core finding. Line managers’ discretion surrounding the provision of job resources (in particular trust, autonomy and implementation and interpretation of combined bundles of SHRM policies and procedures) influenced the exchange process by which employees responded with work engagement and innovative behaviour. Limitations to the research are the limitations commonly attributed to cross-sectional data collection methods and those surrounding generalisability of the qualitative findings outside of the contextual factors characterising the service area. Suggestions for future research involve addressing these limitations and further exploration of the discretionary role with regards to extending our understanding of line manager discretion.

The role of the undergraduate work placement in developing employment competences:results from a 5 year survey of employers

School examine the role of the work placement in developing ‘soft’ competences among management undergraduates. They draw upon a five-year survey in which students and their employers are asked about the personal development and performance of the students during their placement year. The authors’ findings provide confirmation of the value of the placement year, particularly as an opportunity for building self confidence, and for developing the inter-personal competences necessary to integrate effectively in a collaborative environment. In contrast, competences necessary for the effective performance of individual roles, and in particular competences relating to leading, persuading and influencing others, are less highly rated. Whilst not wholly conclusive, these findings provide some important pointers to the need for further research into the complementary roles played by university-based and work-based learning in developing the competences needed to enhance graduate employability.

Role of the middle school teacher

DUE TO COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS ONLY AVAILABLE FOR CONSULTATION AT ASTON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SERVICES WITH PRIOR ARRANGEMENT

The role of the general practice pharmacist in community health care

DUE TO COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS ONLY AVAILABLE FOR CONSULTATION AT ASTON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SERVICES WITH PRIOR ARRANGEMENT

Study of the potential role of the community pharmacist in health promotion

DUE TO COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS ONLY AVAILABLE FOR CONSULTATION AT ASTON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SERVICES WITH PRIOR ARRANGEMENT

Regional responses to recession:the role of the West Midlands regional taskforce

Bailey D. and Berkeley N. Regional responses to recession: the role of the West Midlands Regional Taskforce, Regional Studies. Regional taskforces were set up across the English regions in late 2008 in response to the most severe recession since the Second World War. This paper examines the role of one such body, the West Midlands Regional Taskforce, as an example of regional response to recession, and offers potential lessons for the future in dealing with such situations. In so doing it reflects on the contested concept of regional 'resilience' and its relevance for policy actions at the regional level. Understanding how the region responded in this way could help in maintaining a 'permanent capacity' to deal with shocks, especially in the context of the abolition of regional development agencies (RDAs) in England from 2012 and their replacement with local enterprise partnerships (LEPs). © 2014 © 2014 The Author(s). Published by Taylor & Francis.

Disturbing visual working memory:electrophysiological evidence for a role of the prefrontal cortex in recovery from interference

Single cell recordings in monkeys support the notion that the lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) controls reactivation of visual working memory representations when rehearsal is disrupted. In contrast, recent fMRI findings yielded a double dissociation for PFC and the medial temporal lobe (MTL) in a letter working memory task. PFC was engaged in interference protection during reactivation while MTL was prominently involved in the retrieval of the letter representations. We present event-related potential data (ERP) that support PFC involvement in the top-down control of reactivation during a visual working memory task with endogenously triggered recovery after visual interference. A differentiating view is proposed for the role of PFC in working memory with respect to endogenous/exogenous control and to stimulus type. General implications for binding and retention mechanisms are discussed.

New lecturers' beliefs about learning, teaching and assessment in higher education:the role of the PGCLTHE programme

This study was carried out with new lecturers on a two year Post Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education programme in a UK university. The aim was to establish their beliefs about how studying on the programme aligned with their teaching and learning philosophy and what, if anything, had changed or constrained those beliefs. Ten lecturers took part in an in-depth semi-structured interview. Content analysis of the transcripts suggested positive reactions to the programme but lecturers’ new insights were sometimes constrained by departments and university bureaucracy, particularly in the area of assessment. The conflicting roles of research and teaching were also a major issue facing these new professionals.

The Role of the National Library in Preserving National Written Heritage

The first part presented at the meeting by A. Dipchikova is a brief report of the role of the National library as an institution in collecting, preserving and making accessible the national written heritage. Problems of digitization are examined from the point of view of the existing experience in cataloguing. Special attention is paid to the history and the significance of international standards, the experience in the field of development and maintenance of authority files on national and international level as well as in markup languages. Possibilities of using MARC and XML in the library are discussed. The second part presented here by E. Moussakova is giving an overview of the latest activities of the Library in the sphere of digitisation of the old Slavic manuscripts which are component of the national cultural heritage. It is pointed out that the current work is rather limited within the scope of preparation of metadata than being focused on digital products.

Education in Computer Science and the Role of the Teacher in the Environment of Open Educational Resources

Report published in the Proceedings of the National Conference on "Education in the Information Society", Plovdiv, May, 2013

Leader trustworthy behavior and organizational trust:the role of the immediate manager for cultivating trust

Drawing from both trust-building theory and interpersonal trust literature, we investigate how trust between a leader and follower may be leveraged to influence organizational trust. We also explore the mediating mechanisms of this link and test a potential moderator. A cross-sectional, multi-foci design was adopted and participants were 201 employees within a public sector organization. Leader trustworthy behavior was found to predict organizational trust, mediated by trustworthiness perceptions and trust in the leader. Support for the boundary condition was found; namely, when leaders were more senior, the relationship between trustworthy behavior and organizational trust was stronger. The findings suggest that leaders can meaningfully influence organizational trust perceptions through the enactment of trustworthy behavior, although the strength of this effect varied as a function of their position.

A kutatási és fejlesztési tevékenység lehetőségei és korlátai a kkv szektorban A vezető szerepe az innovációban és az innováció értelmezése a kkv szektorban = Opportunities and constrains in the r&d activities of the SMEs: The role of the entrepreneur in the innovation processes and how it is manifasted in their everyday activities

Jelen tanulmány arra keresi a választ, hogy a vállalkozónak milyen szerepe van az innovációban, és az innovációnak milyen különböző értelmezési lehetőségei fedezhetőek fel kis- és középvállalkozási szektorban. Kiindulási pontja a vállalkozó vezető személye és innovatív magatartása, mellyel folyamatosan keresi a fejlődés új lehetőségeit. A vállalkozó az erőforrások kreatív felhasználása és vállalkozói magatartása révén a vállalkozás motorjának tekinthető. A tanulmány alapját kvalitatív mélyinterjúkon alapuló, 14 interjúból álló kutatás képezi, melyek mélyreható elemzése alátámasztotta, hogy az innovációs hajlandóság erősen összefügg a vállalkozói magatartással, és mindkét tényező szorosan köthető a vállalkozás vezetőjéhez. / === / This paper focuses on the entrepreneur’s role in the innovation process and on the way the entrepreneurs interpret the phenomena of innovation and they perceive their role in this process. The paper begins with the presentation of different entrepreneurial models, focusing especially on entrepreneurial management and its linkages to variable forms of innovation. Based on the deep examination of 14 interviews made with Hungarian entrepreneurs, the paper identifies the entrepreneur’s decisive role in the innovation process, furthermore the article confirms the importance of entrepreneurial and risk-taking behavior in innovative organizations.