Learning teaching in the sustainability classroom

This article analyzes the experience of a particular sustainability learning classroom model, examining the classroom composition, structure, positioning, and atmosphere components in an experimental course on the topic of sustainable buildings. The course, called Angles on Green Building, offered as the second in a suite by the Learning City sustainability in higher education collaborative, experimented with content, which concerned the emerging practice and policy of green building, and with form, exploring the most appropriate pedagogical methods for the advancement of sustainability learning and action. The course took as its practical focus the green building industry in Vancouver, Canada, with an initial case study of the new Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS), a green building and research facility planned for completion in 2009. This article uses evidence drawn from the instructors, students and visiting professionals in the course, together a diverse and interdisciplinary group from four different higher education institutions in Vancouver. Our findings contain lessons about the careful attention needed for instructors to design, run and implement courses in sustainability topics that enable students from widely different backgrounds and levels of self-directedness to engage with, take responsibility for, and transform their behaviours in favour of sustainability.     

On the Role of Social Media in the ‘Responsible’ Food Business: Blogger Buzz on Health and Obesity Issues

To contribute to the debate on the role of social media in responsible business, this article explores blogger buzz in reaction to food companies’ press releases on health and obesity issues, considering the content and the level of fit between the CSR initiatives and the company. Findings show that companies issued more product-related initiatives than promotion-related ones. Among these, less than half generated a substantial number of responses from bloggers, which could not be identified as a specific group. While new product introductions led to positive buzz, modifications of current products resulted in more negative responses, even if there was a high fit with core business. While promotion-related press releases were received negatively in general, particularly periphery promotion (compared to core promotion) generated most reactions. Our exploratory study suggests that companies can increase the likelihood of a positive reaction if they carefully consider the fit between initiatives and their core business, while taking the notion of ‘controversial fit’, relating to the unhealthy nature of original products, into account. Further research avenues and implications, as well as limitations, are discussed.     

Stock vesting conditions,control benefits and managerial replacement

This article considers the effect of vesting conditions of stock‐based compensation on firms’ decisions to replace managers. I indicate that firms may excessively replace managers with both long‐ and short‐term vested stock‐based compensation, while excessive retention can be caused only by short‐term vested options. If the discount factor is sufficiently small, I also show that short‐term vested stock‐based compensation is the equilibrium contract. The study also has implications for regulations concerning mandatory deferral and clawback of executive pay.     

Expanding Childminding Provision in Areas of Deprivation

This paper suggests that Government plans to increase childminding provision in areas of deprivation may be seen as an entrepreneurial opportunity for lone parents in receipt of welfare benefits. But if it is to offer a route out of poverty, they will need integrated, specialist and continuing assistance to negotiate the fragmented systems currently associated with business and personal finances, and to understand the inter-connections between them. The findings from a small-scale feasibility project are presented as the starting point for the development of a recruitment and support strategy which foregrounds the financial aspects of childminding.     

Marketing collaborations in the voluntary sector

This paper examines the current status of marketing collaborations in the voluntary sector, within the context of the overall charity marketing environment. It compares the incidence and scope of collaborations in the voluntary sector with those of the commercial sector; while being mindful of some important inherent differences between the two milieus. The findings are illustrated with examples of charity collaborations, both past and present. The paper concludes with some possible ways forward for both practitioners and policy makers. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications     

Downsizing and the hyper-effective manager: The shifting importance of managerial roles during organizational transformation

This article describes how managerial roles change in importance during periods of significant organizational transition. An interdisciplinary approach reveals that (1) the competing values framework is a useful framework for examining this question; (2) the transformational roles increase as expected during downsizing; (3) three of four transactional roles also increase during downsizing. This last counterintuitive finding is illuminated by the interdisciplinary model developed. Overall, managers show significant evidence of hyper-effectivity—a state of high performance that is likely to be unsustainable in the long term. Implications for human resource practitioners and researchers are discussed. © 1996 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.