Search results

Public relations (PR) research has given little space to the opinions, innovations and experiences of those working in marginalised or ‘dirty’ roles or occupations. To ensure that the worlds of these ‘others’ are represented this chapter explores the lives and work of women working in PR and communication roles in the ‘adult’ industry (worth an estimated $15 billion worldwide). Tibbals notes that ‘the voices and experiences of women working in the adult film industry are often overlooked’ (2013, p. 21) and dismissing a highly profitable but ‘dirty’ sector is to overlook and denigrate the people who work in it and the experiences and knowledge created therein. To explore my research questions I gathered informal interview data from women working in PR and combined this with published literature which recorded the lives of women who carried out PR and communications roles in the adult industry. My research demonstrates that high quality PR work is carried out within the adult industry and that the industry attracts women from diverse backgrounds, many of whom progress quickly within a meritorious environment. Nonetheless, these women often feel difficulty in explaining or justifying their work to family and friends and have strategies to avoid discussing their work to those outside the industry. They also have to work within a media environment where adult industry issues are not well or correctly reported.

Meetings with colleagues are an essential activity in workplace collaboration. The iterative nature of collaborative work demands spaces that team members can access quickly and easily. Creating suitable meeting spaces will become more critical if the hybrid work model continues and the workplace environment becomes the hub for face-to-face collaborative time, learning and training. Workspace and fit-out is expensive so it is crucial that the investment in meeting spaces supports employees’ collaboration activities.

This paper presents a case study of a corporate organisation undertaken in New Zealand to investigate how employees from two business units use their workspace to collaborate within their own team and across other teams in their organisation. The study uses ethnographic techniques, including participant observation and in-depth face-to-face interviews.

The findings show that the frequency and nature of small group work in collaboration was underestimated in the initial planning of the new workspace. Although participants found the design and fit-out of the formal meeting rooms supportive of collaborative work, the meeting rooms were in high demand, and it was difficult to find a room at short notice. The breakout spaces were confusing because they lacked key design attributes identified by the participants as conducive to small group work. Design shortfalls together with fit-out features perceived as supportive of collaborative work are identified.

The research reports on employees’ perceptions and experiences across two functionally diverse business units, reflecting their different needs and concerns.

Middle leaders are educators whose practices of building relational trust are critical for generating the kind of strong and sustainable professional learning communities necessary for leading productive site-based education development in their school. This chapter specifically focuses how building an ethic of relational trust, experienced in five interrelated dimensions, aligns with establishing core foundational conditions for building community. Building trust and communities of professional learners are not mutually exclusive – in fact, each reciprocally facilitates, progresses, supports, and sustains the development of the other. The foundations for community building, described as cornerstones, form over time and progressively involve, and achieve, contextuality, commitment, communication, collaboration, criticality, and collegiality. Reflection questions are provided throughout; these are designed to directly focus the attention of middle leaders towards understanding and developing their own trust practices, that with time, create conditions for generating strong viable communities of professional practice.

This chapter explores the potential impact of middle leaders on their learning environments and on learning outcomes, focusing primarily on authenticity in leadership in schools. In outstanding schools, middle leaders are very active and visible in their curriculum areas, as well as more broadly around the school. They work together to build leadership capacity through the promotion of shared leadership practices based on a collective ethic of responsibility. They actively influence others to break down silos between departments and teams within a school. It is through the quality of their engagements that they project, maintain, and sustain their presence and influence with and on others. The work of authentic middle leaders is transformational insofar as they promote and support transformational teaching and learning for their students.

The purpose of this study is to establish whether all the dimensions of entrepreneurship skills matter for sustainable business start-up among the youths, using evidence from a developing economy.

This was cross-sectional study which utilized a quantitative approach. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire from 254 youths who undertook skills training at the various government-supported business skills training centers in the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area (GKMA), that is to say, Kampala, Mukono and Wakiso. Data collected were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) to derive descriptive, correlational and hierarchical regression.

Study findings indicate that unlike entrepreneurial skills, management, technical and personal maturity skills matter for the sustainability of business start-up of youths in Uganda. However, when all skills are compared, management skills matter most as compared to technical and personal maturity skills.

This study strengthens the existing literature on the sustainable business start-up of youths in Uganda. It is also relevant for policy decision-making and policy reversal because it demonstrates that skilling is pertinent and should be encouraged and rolled out across the country to encourage sustainable youth business start-ups. To increase sustainable business start-up among youths, management skills should be prioritized, together with technical and personal maturity skills, compared to entrepreneurial skills, which should only be emphasized at the idea generation, planning, resource mobilization and business implementation stages.

The purpose is to conduct a systematic review of circular water management and its role in improving water availability amid increased demand and decreased supply.

A systematic literature review was implemented, which helped in the identification, selection and critical appraisal of the various research to answer the research question. It was guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews (PRISMA) statement. The review was conducted mainly on Web of Science and Scopus databases between November 20 and December 8, 2022, with search strategies involving free-text searching, phrase searching, truncation and Boolean operators.

The search process yielded 46 articles exploring circular water management. The findings reveal that circular water management offers more promise than linear or business-as-usual approaches. There are various circular water management models, although most of them emphasize a shift from the “take, make, consume and waste” principles. Contrarily, the success of the circular water management framework hinges on its ability to embrace resilience based on changing environmental conditions. Furthermore, the model focuses on improving inclusiveness with various stakeholders working together to improve water management.

The research is the first of its kind as it identifies a critical gap, the imperative need to develop a universal framework that can significantly advance the comprehension of circular water management.