Arguing over Argo
The film ‘Argo’ won an Oscar (Academy Award) for ‘Best Picture’. I watched it and researched it, as I wanted to know the different perspectives of the film. It seems that Canadian effort wasn’t adequately represented, Britain’s role wasn’t mentioned and New Zealand’s reputation was put in discredit because...
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Becoming more business-like? Marketization and its impact on the construction of NPO identity in South Africa
We (Frederik Claeye and I) submitted a paper to Academy of Management that investigates the impact of the trend of managerialism on the construction of organizational identity in non-profit organizations in South Africa drawing on the more critical traditions within both Development and Management Studies. 35 semi-structured interviews were...
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Pseudo science, faking it and cheating
There have been several articles circulating on Twitter and Facebook about pseudo (neuro) science, academic cheating by academics themselves and the ongoing challenges of cheating students. It is certain that this isn’t a recent thing. The tools have become more sophisticated but the actions of some to take a short...
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Connecting the dots part II
The lecture with the panel of entrepreneurs from ParcelGenie, MotorMate/MOT2U and Iconiq was recorded and can now be viewed via the links below. The session took an hour so there are 4 videos of 15 mins each approximately. The first two videos feature me lecturing the final lecture: The Future. The...
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Connecting the dots – Part I
Last Monday was Cross Cultural Management’s final lecture, The Future. It reviews the two scenarios our future generation of decision makers face when it comes to globalisation: Will we have enough innovative thinkers and technological development to remedy the issues that threaten our existence or Is one planet really...
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To help or not to help?
The debate related to Invisible Children and Kony 2012 has gone viral. The discussion on the conceptualisation of ‘humanity’ (to help or not to help) is complex – whether rationally or emotionally argued. It also links in with any of the other current debates on foreign intervention: Syria, Bahrein,...
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Controversial HRM Practices in the Context of Developing Countries
We are working on a study that examined employees perception of ethically controversial Human Resources Management (HRM) practices in the context of multinational companies (MNCs) that operate in developing countries and emerging economies (DCEEs). We tested the predictive validity of individuals ethical reasoning as well as their cultural values in terms of ethically...
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Playing the game
If you’re ever stuck for a bit of entertainment among a group of friends or family, give this (courtesy of my friend Dave) a go: Get each player a book, preferably a novel. Write down all the names of the players on a piece of paper and give each...
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Practice what’s preached
Since my last post, which was on the riots, I decided to actually get involved. After watching an interview on the BBC, I emailed the CEO of London Youth who put me in touch with one of his excellent team members to discuss ways of collaborating. London Youth is...
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The riots: The Psychology and its management
Much of the discussion focuses on the legitimacy of the riots. But the situation is more complex than that. Why assume that if there is discontent among a community, a lash out will be ‘intelligently’ executed? Yes, looting and mugging and burning is awful (support brave clean up)...
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