Frontiers in Management Research

15

Authors: Frank Lorne, Roy Lai, Rimjhim Rosalin, NikhilDnyandev Kurundvade, Himanshu Ratra

India has a huge population, with 70% of the labor force engaged in agriculture. A social experiment is proposed in this paper for a focus study of the problem and the remedy for the Indian farmers suicide phenomenon. As a deep rooted problem in rural India, this paper suggests the need for bringing psychological consultation for the farmers, as suicide is an impulsive act that cannot be solely solved by long term infrastructure investment aiming for improvement of productivity and technology. The paper argues that the social experiment should be conducted in small scale in a remote rural setting as a small step, ideally by suitable NGOs, to more effectively isolate factors that contribute to the cause, as well as to experiment with more cost effective ways to provide remedies. Wireless technology provides the “in-the-moment” intervention for an impulsive act of selfdestruction. Although this intervention will not solve intermediate and long term infrastructure problems on the needs of farmers in rural India, it can be used as a spring board to promote other innovative initiatives of using wireless and digital technology. When farmers in primitive remote areas start using wireless technology and embrace the use of it as a habit, it will allow an easier integration with the many smart village initiatives already started and on-going in India. Promoting lifestyle is as important as promoting productivity. The social experiment will enhance sustainable development for India.

11

Authors: Luciano Fanti, Domenico Buccella

This paper investigates the effects of public environmental policies on the market structure in a Cournot context. It is shown that when the Government fixes upper limits to emissions, higher environmental social concerns favour entry of a firm. On the other hand, the abatement technology may act as a barrier or an incentive to entry depending on the government’s environmental sensitiveness; however, a more efficient technology tends to disfavour entry. In addition, if the size of the fixed costs is relatively high, the duopoly market structure will lead to social welfare level lower than in the presence of monopoly. On the other hand, an improvement of the efficiency of the abatement technology may, in the presence of a low social interest for controlling pollution, play the role of a barrier to entry. The empirical and policy implications of these results are discussed.

9

Authors: Dimitra Skoumpopoulou

Workplace coaching is growing rapidly and many organisations use it as a way to motivate and support their employees in their careers. This paper is a theoretical paper that draws upon the authors' experiences of workplace coaching. The author discusses the main aspects of successful workplace coaching while it summarises the most important behaviours and attitudes of an effective workplace coach.

19

Authors: David Edgar, Estrella Bernal, García Campayo

The global economic crisis has caused governments and charities to be squeezed in term of resources to meet social and environmental needs. In parallel, social enterprises, volunteering and the “big society” have stepped in to help fill the void. However, this is a smoke screen that covers a bigger problem – the lack of true social responsibility by large corporations. Too often, mention is made of the economic crisis recovery but the crisis is greater than this, it includes social and environmental crisis which quite simply is not recovering nor is it receiving the attention it deserves. This paper explores this contention and through a literature review proposes a holistic approach to better inform business as to its responsibility and how to meet a more responsible management agenda. We propose this through a model based on responsible management and mindful leadership and provide a brief description of a case study as to how mindfulness is starting being used by an Iberian Multi-national to recast the social responsibility agenda and move towards a more responsible management approach to business. Different coaching techniques combined with Nominal Group Technique were used to identify underlying deep values of participants (CEOs). The resultant values can be used by the multinational to construct a theoretical model of responsible management and mindful leadership. One outcome of this model applied to this multinational is the current strategy being developed by the company. This strategy embeds our thinking and considering the high influence of the case multinational in its sector, we believe the use of the Responsible Management and Mindful Leadership Model will be a tool which increases the multinational´s capacity to influence crisis recovery in the true sense, considering social and environmental aspects.

6

Authors: Mahadi Hasan Miraz, Mohammad Ismail Majumder, Md. Mamun Habib

Information Technology (IT) is seen as an important tool in knowledge management processes. However, the existence of IT neither assurances knowledge creation, knowledge supply nor knowledge usage. In addition to IT, a job environment and a culture that inspire sharing and incessant learning should also be created and maintained by management. This paper delivers empirical evidence of the relationship between IT and learning in small businesses as well as their impact on organizational performance. Additionally, the level of sector knowledge-intensity is taken into consideration. Outcomes shows that specific learning along with separate and collaborative information technologies have a positive and significant effect on organizational learning. On the other hand, unlike individual and collaborative information technologies, specific and organizational learning have exposed important and positive effects on organizational performance. Therefore, IT has an important impact on outcomes only when in a proper context of learning is in place. Small businesses in sectors with high knowledge intensity levels are more likely to use of IT.

9

Authors: Michael Featherstone, Mary Angela Duffy, Michael Marker

This is a case study that explores the difficult transition that the IBM e-Business Innovation Center in Atlanta experienced when it was finally fully integrated into IBM’s Global Services Division. Although there has been much conjecture as to why this fusion failed, this paper explores lack of cultural fit between IBM and its fledgling Innovation Centers as the primary factor in their demise. Though the article examines an event which happened nearly twenty years ago, it offers a unique insight into a thoroughly current phenomenon, corporate sponsored entrepreneurship. Much of the information for this case was gleaned through interviews with participants in the event.