People-centric Approach Research Articles

PhotoBox focuses on employees' strengths

Purpose – Reveals how line managers who play to their strengths and are noted for their positive leadership qualities are fostering a positive and energizing culture with high levels of accountability and performance at PhotoBox, a UK online photo service. Design/methodology/approach – Explains that PhotoBox managers took part in workshops combining a focus on personal growth and relevant skills development, in which core modules included a positive-leadership master-class and workshops on strengths coaching for results and engaging one-to-ones. Findings – Reveals that the master-class helped people to identify their unique strengths as a set of personal qualities that energize and lead to productive habits. The session also helped people to move from simple awareness of strengths to applying them in the role of manager. In turn, the groups created a shared vision for a more people-centric approach to leading across PhotoBox. Research limitations/implications – Explains that the new accent on personal strengths has benefited teamwork at the company, too. Originality/value – Spotlights how playing to individuals' strengths improves teamwork, communication and organizational performance.

Investigating the exploitation of web 2.0 for knowledge management in the Greek tourism industry: An utilisation–importance analysis

The paper investigates the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and specifically of the web 2.0 in supporting knowledge management (KM) processes. A literature review analyses how the web 2.0 transforms the implementation of KM by supporting conversational and collaborative KM processes that in turn divert KM from a technology-centric to a people-centric approach. The discussion also reveals how different ways of exploiting web 2.0 reflect different levels of technology supported KM practices. The study also investigated the type and the level of web 2.0 exploitation for KM purposes in the Greek tourism industry by collecting empirical data from tourism professionals. The data was analysed by performing an utilisation–importance analysis that compared data measuring the actual utilisation of web 2.0 with the perceived utilisation importance of web 2.0 for KM purposes. The analysis identified several gaps and opportunities in relation to web 2.0 exploitation for KM purposes. The paper concludes by providing practical and theoretical implications for enhancing the exploitation of web 2.0 for KM purposes.

Enhancing the case for Electronic Government in developing nations: A people-centric study focused in Saudi Arabia

Abstract The pace of implementing Electronic Government (E-Gov) is rapidly increasing. However, despite high levels of investment, a broad range of applications, and various methods of access relatively low levels of various methods of access, relatively low levels of usage (and even familiarity with e-gov) are still common. For example, in Canada, long recognized as a leader in implementing e-gov, less than 27% of Canadians used E-Gov during the past 12 months and 81% of c non-users report a low level of familiarity with either federal or provincial governmental services available through e-gov ( Canada, 2004 ). Or, consider the showcase e-gov Gyandoot project in the Dhar district in central India, whose population is estimated at 1.7 million. Even after implementing e-gov in a showcase project for the rural poor, a study by the Center for Electronic Governance, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad concluded that this model of “government to citizen” service delivery has serious sustenance problems ( World Bank, 2004 ). The research reported in this paper takes a step back and focuses on the acceptability of e-gov by individuals. It is a people-centric approach to determine the overall acceptability of e-gov to people in a developing country, Saudi Arabia. Although this research may be generalizable to other situations, the primary intention of this project is to shed light on how to approach and manage implementation projects in developing nations.