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    Survey reveals two-thirds of NZ employees want more work-life flexibility – How should employers respond?
    (The Conversation Media Group Ltd, 2022-09-16) Macpherson W; Tootell B; Scott J; Kobayashi K
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    Exploring business students' ability to think in an economic way : a study in an introductory economics course at one New Zealand tertiary institution : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education (Adult Education) at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2014) Turvey, Janet Linda
    The teaching of economics at an introductory level in the tertiary sector is fraught with challenges. Students arrive from a wide variety of backgrounds. Some have little more than a lay person’s understanding of the economic world, whilst others have studied the subject previously and are familiar with the language, techniques and models embedded within it. These techniques are usually described collectively as the ‘economic way of thinking’ by economists. Most students are also studying the subject as part of a wider business qualification and therefore it is not their main focus during their studies. This problem has been researched extensively by many teachers of economics over the past forty years, but students still appear to emerge from their fast paced courses with only the rudimentary understandings of the subject. The aim of this study was designed to investigate whether students, studying a one semester introductory course in economics at an Institute of Technology and Polytechnic (ITP) in New Zealand, could demonstrate that they were beginning to ‘think like economists’. The data used as evidence were the reflective journals or diaries of the students’ learning. The study further aimed to discover whether the construct of threshold concepts could contribute to an understanding of the problems and challenges that many students demonstrated within their journals. The sample group for study was taken from three introductory economics courses at one ITP in New Zealand. Students were studying this course either as a compulsory component of their Bachelor of Business Studies or part of a core of subjects for New Zealand Diploma in Business. Thirty seven students’ journals provided valid data for the study. The design employed a constructivist epistemology and an interpretivist theoretical perspective, using a qualitative research approach. The journals were analysed for evidence of students’ understanding by means of tables developed specifically for this purpose. An analysis was further carried out of students’ quotations from the reflective journals to establish evidence of the ‘economic way of thinking’ through nineteen foundation aspects within their journals. ii The findings of this study showed that from 703 observations of 37 students’ journal entries 206 had demonstrated a sophisticated level of the ‘economic way of thinking’ (categorised as level 3), 338 showed they were transitioning in their thinking (level 2), and 159 demonstrated negligible understanding of the ‘economic way of thinking’ (level 1). Four propositions and recommendations were developed. A substantial group of students did demonstrate evidence of a sophisticated understanding of certain foundation aspects of the ‘economic way of thinking’ and the reflective journals provided evidence of this. Some of the foundation aspects appeared to create greater challenges for all students, but they were not all necessarily threshold concepts by themselves. It was also proposed that the literature on threshold concepts could assist in targeting the gaps students had in their understanding, whilst a web developed of the foundation aspects of the ‘economic way of thinking’ might assist students to appreciate the integrative nature of these aspects. Other avenues of further research might be the importance of teaching about threshold concepts to target specific troublesome areas, and the significance of the type of activities carried out in the journal that most contributes to the students’ understanding. The perceptions students have of the use of reflective journals for their learning and teacher feedback during the writing of the journal could be further possibilities in the future.
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    An examination of kaizen drift in Japanese genba : implications for business in the anglosphere : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Business and Administration at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2013) Macpherson, Wayne Gordon
    In attempting to decode the industrial competitive success of Japan, researchers in the Anglosphere have predominantly identified with the highly visible tools and methods of the quality management philosophy of kaizen. However, due to data collection methodologies and significant cross-cultural limitations kaizen appears to have been largely misinterpreted and misunderstood. This ‘gap’ has resulted in literature riddled with deterministic models of mechanical methodologies promoted to pursue business excellence. Further, there has been a plethora of attempts at transplanting Japan-centric tools and techniques, with little – if any – regard for the country’s individual and indigenous social characteristics. To deepen understanding of kaizen a phenomenological study was conducted in middle-to-large sized industrial companies in Japan to investigate Japanese workers’ perspectives of kaizen. Two parallel and complementary philosophies of the pursuit of business excellence were identified. The Japanese thread explored how Japanese workers acknowledge and exercise kaizen; and, the Anglosphere thread examined how workers in the Anglosphere attempt to adopt and practise kaizen. In the Japanese context, society is identified as being highly bounded with little opportunity for individual creativity. Many Japanese industrial organisations, being active kaizen environments, channel worker creativity and expressions of individuality into bounded environments, or kaizen audiences, providing a counter-point to social and cultural requirements. In addition to Japanese-style management, this has resulted in the production of tangible kaizen tools and methods, as easily identified by Anglosphere researchers and practitioners. The primary contribution to knowledge this research presents is the development of understanding of the utility of the kaizen phenomenon. Kaizen in industrial settings in Japan is found to be both culturally bounded and contextually dependent, and far beyond continuous improvement; differences in the perceptions of older and younger workers are seen to exist as kaizen drifts across generational boundaries; active programmes are maintained to ensure that kaizen remains embedded in both the individual and the organisation; and, the simplistic diffusion of kaizen to Anglosphere organisations is observed to be an unlikely guarantee to sustainable business excellence over the longer term, as it has in Japan. This research reports that the only likely viable means to sustainably diffuse kaizen in Anglosphere domains is for business leaders to return to square one and instil an implicit, comprehensive understanding and appreciation of kaizen; and, acquire and develop recipient-organisation-centric tools and methods. Such a new approach could provide practitioners in the Anglosphere the means to adopt and sustain kaizen thinking and practice, and a gateway to sustainable competitive advantage.
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    Self-determination and entrepreneurship : personal values as intrinsic motivators of entrepreneurial behaviour : a thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2010) Kirkley, William Walton
    The study of entrepreneurs has often led to conflicting views about what motivates an individual to engage in entrepreneurship. The historic focus on the traits and characteristics of specific individuals perceived by others to be entrepreneurs, has yielded results that are, at best, speculative and difficult to substantiate. This study has taken a different approach by isolating entrepreneurial behaviour and examining its antecedent components. Specifically, the study sought to discover the internal loci of causality that motivate an individual to engage in entrepreneurial behaviour. The study was based on an inductive and interpretive research design within a constructivist paradigm. A small quantitative survey was conducted initially to screen an appropriate sample, the results of which were later used as an aide memoire during indepth interviews, with thirty New Zealand entrepreneurs. The bulk of the data sourced in this study originated through the interview process. These focused specifically on the meaning individuals attributed to certain fundamental values associated with entrepreneurial behaviour. The resulting narrative was subjected to discourse analysis and categorised into relevant themes. Four fundamental values are believed to be critical to entrepreneurial behaviour, namely, independence, creativity, ambition and daring. These values were expressed as psychological needs and act as intrinsic motivation for entrepreneurial behaviour. Only twenty three percent of the sample (7 out of 30), however, could demonstrate consistent motivation through these four principles. The balance of the participants acknowledged the importance of these four principles to entrepreneurial behaviour. However, the majority admitted that there had been a shift in their behaviour toward management, which placed more emphasis on independence and ambition in the value-set. Creativity and daring were accorded much lesser attention as the individual focused on growing their business. This shift in emphasis in the value-set is perceived to be one cause for the episodic and inconsistent occurrence of entrepreneurial behaviour amongst New Zealand business people.
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    A transformational model to understand the impact of enterprise systems for business benefits : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Information Technology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2010) Mathrani, Sanjay
    Over the years many organizations have implemented an enterprise system (ES), also called enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, to streamline the flow of information and improve organizational effectiveness to produce business benefits which justify the ES investment. The effectiveness of these systems to achieve benefits is an area being proactively researched by both professionals and academia. However, most of these studies focus on ‘what ESs do’ rather than ‘how ESs do it’. The purpose of this study is to better understand how organizations derive benefits from utilization of an ES and its data. This study utilizes a transformational model of how ES data are transformed into knowledge and results to evaluate the impact of ES information on organizational functions and processes and how this can lead to business benefits. The linkage between expected outcomes, utilization of ES data in decision-making processes, and realized or unrealized benefits provides the reason for this study. Findings reveal that the key benefits commercial firms seek from an ES include improving information flow and visibility, integration and automation of functions, cost reductions by reducing inventory, and achieving process efficiencies for both internal and external operations. The various tools and methods businesses use for transforming ES data into knowledge include the use of data warehouses and business intelligence modules that assist in extraction and manipulation of data, and reporting on particular data objects. Web portals are actively utilized to collaborate between stakeholders and access real-time information. Business tools such as KPI reporting, balanced scorecards and dashboards are used to track progress towards realizing benefits and establishing analytical decision making. Findings emphasize that benefit realization from an ES implementation is a holistic process that not only includes the essential data and technology factors, but also includes other factors such as business strategy deployment, people and process management, and skills and competency development. Findings reveal that business organizations generally lack in producing value assessments that often lead to weak business cases and insufficient benefit models which cannot be used for benefit tracking. However, these organizations are now realizing that it is not enough to put in an ES and expect an automatic improvement. Organizations are now establishing analytical and knowledge-leveraging processes to optimize and realize business value from their ES investment.
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    Partnering for progress: Business partnership with non-profits in New Zealand
    (Massey University. Department of Management and International Business, 2008) Eweje, Gabriel; Palakshappa, Nitha
    This paper examines partnerships between business organisations and non-profits in New Zealand. Collaboration is becoming increasingly essential as organisations grow in both size and influence, and public pressure intensifies for organisations to address pressing social and environmental concerns. An increasing number of businesses have responded by engaging in corporate citizenship programmes to resolve social problems. Social partnerships between business and non-profits are widely promoted as important new strategies which will bring significant benefits to wider stakeholders. A key concern in business/non-profit collaboration is how organisations might collaborate to achieve mutually beneficial objectives and align with the organisations corporate social responsibility. This research seeks to develop an understanding of what the objectives of such relationships might be and to what extent these objectives are achieved.
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    Impact of social media usage on performance of construction businesses (CBs) in Abuja-Nigeria
    (Emerald Publishing Limited, 27/07/2021) Oyewobi LO; Olorunyomi OS; Jimoh RA; Rotimi JOB
    Purpose Many construction businesses are currently building and keeping social media pages for their enterprises to be visible to the public to improve their social interaction, promote business interest, build trust and relationships with their targeted audience on social media. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of social mediausage on performance of construction businesses (CBs) in Abuja, Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach This study used a quantitative research approach by identifying constructs that reveal three aspects of organisation’s physiognomies that impact the process of espousing, implementing and using technological innovations in conducting businesses. Well-structured questionnaire was used to obtain data from 113 purposively sampled building materials’ merchant operating in Dei-Dei Market, Abuja, Nigeria. This study used partial least squares structural equation modelling technique to establish the relationship among the constructs. Findings The results of this study indicated that technology has significant relationship with social media adoption, whereas social media adoption has a very strong positive impact on organisation’s performance (P < 0.001) with respect to improved customer relations and services and enhanced information accessibility. Research limitations/implications This study has implications for CBs that wish to adopt social media to promote their businesses by presenting to them the opportunity to understand the impact of technology, environment and organisational potential in improving business performance. This study is cross-sectional in nature, and this calls for caution in interpreting the results. Originality/value This paper developed and tested a conceptual framework presented to understand the interrelationships amongst the constructs, which would be of great significance to business owners in developing their social interaction and promote business interest via social media. The outcome of this research is beneficial to researchers to further study how the different social media tools could help in influencing business decisions.