1,720,962 research outputs found
Employee stress and the implication of high-power distance culture: empirical evidence from Nigeria’s employment terrain
Get PDFPurpose:
This paper explores the link between employee stress and the high-power distance (HPD) culture in Nigeria. The study context is the banking and manufacturing sectors in Nigeria, which have a history of exploitation, unconducive work environments to productivity, work-life imbalance, work overload, burnout and employee stress.
Design/methodology/approach:
Using a qualitative, interpretive methodology, this article adopts a thematic analysis of data drawn from semi-structured interviews with 24 managerial and non-managerial workers to explore the process by which Nigerian manufacturing and banking sectors' work (mal)practices go unchallenged, thereby triggering and exacerbating employees' stress levels.
Findings:
The study found that the high power distance culture promotes a servant-master relationship type, making it impossible for employees to challenge employers on issues relating to stressors such as work overload, unconducive work environments, work-life imbalance and burnout, thereby exacerbating their stress levels in a country in which stress has become a way of life.
Research limitations/implications:
Research on the relationship between employee stress and HPD culture is relatively underdeveloped. This article sheds light on issues associated with stressors in Nigeria's human resource management (HRM) and employment relations practices. The link between the inability of employees to challenge these stressors (which are consequences of an HPD culture) and increased employee stress has substantial implications for employment and work-related policies and practices in general. The study is constrained by the limited sample size, which inhibits the generalisation of its findings.
Originality/value:
The article adds to the scarcity of studies underscoring the relationship between high-power distance and the inability of employees to challenge work-related stressors as a predictor of employee stress and a mediator between workplace practices and employee stress, particularly in the emerging economies
Exploring compassionate managerial leadership style in reducing employee stress level during COVID-19 crisis: the case of Nigeria
Get PDFPurpose – This study explores how compassionate managerial leadership style can help to mitigate workplace stressors and alleviate stress experiences among employees — particularly in an extreme situation,
such as the current global COVID-19 pandemic. The study’s context is Nigeria’s banking, manufacturing and healthcare sectors, which have a history of high employee stress levels.
Design/methodology/approach – Using a qualitative, interpretive methodology, the study adopts the thematic analysis process (TAP) to draw and analyse data from semi-structured telephone interviews with 10
banking, 11 manufacturing and 9 frontline healthcare workers in Nigeria.
Findings – It was found that a compassionate managerial leadership can drive a considerate response to employees’ “fear of job (in)security”, “healthcare risk” and concerns about “work overload, underpayment and delayed payment”, which respondents considered to be some of the key causes of increased stress among employees during the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Research limitations/implications – The study is limited to exploring the relationship between compassionate managerial leadership and an organisation’s ability to manage employee stress in the COVID-19 situation, using 30 samples from organisations operating in three Nigerian cities and sectors. Future studies may involve more Nigerian cities, sectors and samples. It may also possibly include quantitative combination to allow generalisation of findings.
Practical implications – In order to survive in extreme situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, organisations are forced to take drastic and often managerialist-driven work measures which can trigger high
stress levels, low productivity and absenteeism among employees. Hence, organisations would benefit from implementing compassion-driven policies that are more inclusive and responsive to the workplace stressors
facing employees.
Originality/value – Employee stress has been widely explored in many areas, including definitions, stressors, strains, possible interventions and coping strategies. There remains, however, a dearth of scholarship on how management-leadership compassion can help to reduce employee stress levels in extreme conditions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic — particularly in emerging economies
Weathering the Storm: Talent Management in Internationally Oriented Greek Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
Get PDFThe file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Purpose – Based on a study of internationally oriented Greek small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and using the lens of institutional theory, this article extends our understanding of the extent to which Greece’s institutional context influences talent management (TM). In so doing, we focused on key TM practices employed by SMEs to enhance and sustain TM: talent acquisition, development and retention. We also explore how these practices are shaped by the Greek institutional context.
Design/methodology/approach - Employing a multiple case-study approach, we conducted 18 interviews in six distinctive SMEs operating in north, central and southern Greece. The data was thematically analysed to identify patterns across all SMEs.
Findings - We found that unlike multinational corporations (MNCs), internationally oriented Greek SMEs adopt a more inclusive approach to TM practices as well as that the country’s institutional context presented important yet not deterministic hurdles. We also found that SMEs adopt an opportunistic approach to talent acquisition by utilising appropriate available sources to reach out for available talent. We provided evidence that SMEs adopt a hybrid approach to talent development in addressing talent scarcity. Finally, we reported that talent retention is significantly appreciated by SMEs, who offer a range of intrinsic and extrinsic incentives to retain their talented workforce.
Originality - In a context of reforms, we report on TM practice in internationally oriented Greek SMEs. We also add to the literature on TM in SMEs by providing evidence on the conceptualisation and management of global talent in this context
Lean manufacturing and employee working conditions in organisations operating in Nigeria:the managers’ and supervisors’ perspective
Get PDF
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Exploring compassionate managerial leadership style in reducing employees stress level during Covid-19 crisis: The case of Nigeria
Get PDFopen access articlePurpose – This study explores how compassionate managerial leadership style can help to mitigate
workplace stressors and alleviate stress experiences among employees — particularly in an extreme situation,
such as the current global COVID-19 pandemic. The study’s context is Nigeria’s banking, manufacturing and
healthcare sectors, which have a history of high employee stress levels.
Design/methodology/approach – Using a qualitative, interpretive methodology, the study adopts the
thematic analysis process (TAP) to draw and analyse data from semi-structured telephone interviews with 10
banking, 11 manufacturing and 9 frontline healthcare workers in Nigeria.
Findings – It was found that a compassionate managerial leadership can drive a considerate response to
employees’ “fear of job (in)security”, “healthcare risk” and concerns about “work overload, underpayment and
delayed payment”, which respondents considered to be some of the key causes of increased stress among
employees during the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Research limitations/implications – The study is limited to exploring the relationship between
compassionate managerial leadership and an organisation’s ability to manage employee stress in the COVID19 situation, using 30 samples from organisations operating in three Nigerian cities and sectors. Future studies
may involve more Nigerian cities, sectors and samples. It may also possibly include quantitative combination to
allow generalisation of findings.
Practical implications – In order to survive in extreme situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic,
organisations are forced to take drastic and often managerialist-driven work measures which can trigger high
stress levels, low productivity and absenteeism among employees. Hence, organisations would benefit from
implementing compassion-driven policies that are more inclusive and responsive to the workplace stressors
facing employees.
Originality/value – Employee stress has been widely explored in many areas, including definitions,
stressors, strains, possible interventions and coping strategies. There remains, however, a dearth of
scholarship on how management-leadership compassion can help to reduce employee stress levels in extreme
conditions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic — particularly in emerging economie
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
- …
