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As competitive pressures persist and global economic influences continue to present new challenges, businesses need to be able to respond to emerging circumstances. Goal-setting and planning are key mechanisms contributing to organizational competitive success, yet organizations underappreciate the role of competency and capacity building factors that contribute to successful planning. This paper integrates three theoretical models enabling an investigation into the positive relationships between managerial activities generating information feedback, training in planning and skills and organizational performance outcomes, while exploring the positive mediating roles of goal-setting and planning.

A unique organizational sample of agribusiness producers (n = 499) in Canada is examined. A structural equation path analysis model is used to evaluate the main relationships.

The results suggest that organizations are finding that managerial and training activities should not be considered in isolation, but rather as supports for goal-setting, planning and performance outcomes. Thus, the implications are that managers can find organizational value enhanced through the building of human resource competency (e.g. management activities and training) with these emerging capacities aiding goal setting and planning activities.

This study makes three main contributions: first, by adopting a rational-design perspective and integrating theoretical frameworks focusing on (a) planning-performance and (b) goal-setting-planning. This extended model goes beyond previous studies by including managerial activities, training, goals, planning and performance outcomes. Second, this study uniquely accounts for a more comprehensive set of key confounding factors such as operational activities, organizational strategy and organizational size in the integrated framework. Finally, as far as the authors are aware, there has not been a survey study at the organizational level that has explored the role of managerial activities and training in planning within a similarly comprehensive model.

This article problematizes the concept of freedom rooted in liberalism, examining the detention of historian Ilan Pappe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at Detroit Airport in the United States as an emblematic case study.

The research adopts a methodological triangulation approach, based on an analysis that combines data about the event and theories about the concept of freedom, problematizing authors who focused on the relationship between the individual and society in a liberal context, where individualism serves as the basis for specific conceptions of social relations.

Through the use of authors such as John Stuart Mill and John Locke, as well as the contributions of authors like Norbert Elias, it is argued that true freedom is relational, rooted in social interdependencies and the social construction of an individuality that is not individualistic but intrinsically linked to collective aspects.

Pappe’s case illustrates the tensions between individual freedom and collective interests, highlighting the need to reassess freedom of expression in complex political and social contexts.

This article proposes a more inclusive and interconnected view of human freedom, where individual and collective interests are negotiated within a dynamic web of social relations.

In this viewpoint article, the authors recognize the increased focus in health systems on co-design for innovation and change. This article explores the role of leaders and mangers in developing and enhancing a culture of trust in their organizations to enable co-design, with the potential to drive innovation and change in healthcare.

Using social science analyses, the authors argue that current co-design literature has limited focus on interactions between senior leaders and managers, and healthcare staff and service users in supporting co-designed innovation and change. The authors draw on social and health science studies of trust to highlight how the value-based co-design process needs to be supported and enhanced. We outline what co-design innovation and change involve in a health system, conceptualize trust and reflect on its importance within the health system, and finally note the role of senior leaders and managers in supporting trust and responsiveness for co-designed innovation and change.

Healthcare needs leaders and managers to embrace co-design that drives innovation now and in the future through people – leading to better healthcare for society at large. As authors we argue that it is now the time to shift our focus on the role of senior managers and leaders to embed co-design into health and social care structures, through creating and nurturing a culture of trust.

Building public trust in the health system and interpersonal trust within the health system is an ongoing process that relies upon personal behavior of managers and senior leaders, organizational practices within the system, as well as political processes that underpin these practices. By implementing managerial, leadership and individual practices on all levels, senior managers and leaders provide a mechanism to increase both trust and responsiveness for co-design that supports innovation and change in the health system.

Symptom control is a key aim of advanced cancer and palliative care. Yet, wellbeing in this context is complex, highly contextual, and contested. The World Health Organisation’s (WHO, 2021, p. 10) recent definition of wellbeing, for example, emphasises ‘meaning and purpose’. Models of care – such as the biopsychosocial model – aim to attend to this complexity. And such models matter: if assessments of an intervention lowlight effects relating to psychological and social domains, the potential benefits of these interventions may go unrecognised. In this chapter, the authors provide the results of a review of symptom assessment scales used in advanced cancer and palliative care settings. Combining the analytic strengths of a critical review with the brevity of a rapid review (Grant & Booth, 2009), this critical rapid review asks: to what degree do scales measuring the impacts/effects of symptoms on wellbeing in advanced cancer contexts incorporate the three components of the ‘biopsychosocial’ model: biological, psychological, and social? Findings – considered in the context of conflicting evidence on the effectiveness of medicinal cannabis in supporting patient wellbeing – show that only five of the eleven scales identified through the review attend to social aspects of wellbeing. These findings reinforce critiques of the biopsychosocial model and demonstrate the dominance of dualistic, biomedical conceptualisations of wellbeing. Drawing on Barry et al.’s (2008) scholarship on interdisciplinarity, the findings underscore the limitations of numeric measures of wellbeing conducted in isolation and support calls for an ontological reimagination of wellbeing in advanced cancer and palliative care contexts.

In Theory of Moral Sentiments, Adam Smith reasons about how a change in one thing, A, is attended by a change in another thing, B. In expounding on such bivariate relationships, Smith sometimes seems to go out of his way to posit a state of the world in which the relationship would break down. That feature suggests an irony about knowing how a change in B attends a change in A. We might think we understand the bivariate relationship, but it holds only for certain states of the world. The relationship is circumstanced. The more one studies the Moral Sentiments, the more one realizes that circumstantiality suffuses its teachings. My discussion arrives at a place of doubt about the most important bivariate relationship – that between approval from our conscience and doing good. Smith seems to suggest, particularly at the end of his life, that a person can best know the relationship between his conscience’s approval and his doing good under circumstances of his having frank and open friendships. The implication for politics is that we want that kind of government that best conduces to frank and open friendships.

This chapter focuses on the nuanced interplay between celebrity culture, fashion, and gender norms, examining how the sartorial choices of actors Timothée Chalamet, Paul Mescal, and Barry Keoghan challenge and redefine traditional constructs of masculinity. Through a detailed analysis of their appearances at high-profile events and in fashion editorials, the chapter analyses the implications of their fashion choices. By focusing on the actors’ deliberate deviation from conventional menswear, the analysis illuminates the evolving landscape of gender expression within the realm of celebrity influence. The exploration begins by considering the technological aspects of photography that spotlight the actors, emphasising their attire over other elements within the image. The compositional modality reveals a deliberate challenge to gender norms, as evidenced by Chalamet’s gender-bending ensembles, Mescal’s avant-garde choices, and Keoghan’s playful engagement with traditionally feminine aesthetics. The social modality contextualises these choices within broader societal and cultural trends, highlighting the role of celebrity culture in shaping public perceptions of gender and fashion. Ultimately, this chapter argues that these celebrities’ fashion decisions not only reflect personal style but also contribute to a cultural shift towards more fluid and inclusive expressions of masculinity. By straddling the line between personal expression and societal influence, their public appearances offer a rich site for examining how contemporary celebrity culture both challenges and perpetuates traditional gender hierarchies. The analysis underscores the potential of celebrity-driven fashion to serve as a catalyst for redefining masculinity in the modern age, suggesting a gradual, yet significant, shift in societal norms and expectations.

This chapter focuses on the complex dynamics of how photographs, particularly those related to celebrity fashion that challenge traditional gender norms, navigate the spaces from production to reception. By focusing on the processes of circulating and audiencing, the chapter examines the transformations images undergo and the varying interpretations they elicit as they move across different platforms and audiences. The study foregrounds the notion that photographs are not merely passive visual objects but active participants in the negotiation of cultural meanings and identities, especially concerning masculinities. Through an analysis of public appearances of Timothée Chalamet, Paul Mescal, and Barry Keoghan, the chapter explores the technological, compositional, and social modalities that influence these images’ circulation and reception. It highlights how alterations in the context of circulation can subtly or significantly affect audience interpretation, highlighting the role of viewers in constructing meanings around masculinities. This exploration illustrates the broader implications of visual culture in contemporary discussions on gender, revealing how circulating images and audiencing practices contribute to shaping and challenging societal norms and expectations of masculinity. By navigating the intersections of technology, composition, and society, this chapter contributes to a deeper understanding of the power dynamics at play in the visual representation of gender.

This chapter explores the interaction between celebrity culture and contemporary masculinities, introducing the public appearances of actors Timothée Chalamet, Paul Mescal, and Barry Keoghan that are under examination in the following chapters. The chapter sets the context of hegemony, heterosexuality, and masculinity, which will be the basis of the examination that is offered in the following chapters of these books where a showcase of their sartorial choices is presented to analyse whether they challenge traditional norms of gender and masculinity. The present chapter begins by setting a theoretical framework that draws on key theorists like Butler, Foucault, and Gramsci, emphasising the role of hegemony in reinforcing heteronormative standards. The analysis then moves to celebrities with attention to how they through their sartorial choices, particularly at high-visibility events like award shows, engage with and potentially subvert expected masculine norms. Despite being heterosexual men conforming to cisheteronormative societal norms in their personal lives, their public fashion choices serve as a form of cultural commentary that challenges rigid boundaries around male attire and behaviours. Furthermore, the chapter reviews relevant literature on the social construction of gender, the concept of hegemonic masculinity, and the performative nature of gender, drawing on established studies to frame the actors’ public presentations within broader societal and cultural dynamics. This chapter aims to provide a comprehensive overview of how gender norms are maintained and challenged within the sphere of celebrity culture.

This chapter focuses on the interplay between visual culture and the construction of masculinities, focusing on the mediated representations of promotional appearances of actors Timothée Chalamet, Paul Mescal, and Barry Keoghan. The chapter examines the site of production of these images and argues that understanding the nuanced production of masculinities extends beyond mere aesthetics, requiring a critical examination of the external narratives and conditions underpinning image creation. The chapter situates these visual representations within the broader politics of their production, offering a lens through which to interrogate the decision-making processes and contextual factors that shape our appreciation of these images. The chapter explains how traditional gender norms are challenged and queered, thereby subverting conventional expectations of cisgender heterosexual masculinity. It critically examines the technological, compositional, and social modalities inherent in image production, revealing how camera technology, stylistic expression, and the symbiotic relationship between images, celebrity culture, and capitalist imperatives influence narrative authenticity and the portrayal of gender. By unpacking the motives behind image production and consumption, this inquiry unveils the complex dynamics of identity, queerbaiting practices, and the commodification of gender and sexuality within media representations. It prompts reflection on the emancipatory potential of visual artefacts against their entanglement with profit-driven agendas and normative constructs, advocating for a vigilant approach to the consumption of visual culture. This critical examination not only challenges existing gender norms but also highlights the susceptibility of images to co-option by dominant discourses, urging a deeper understanding of masculinity in contemporary visual culture.

Knowledge of how social movements move, diffuse, and expand collective action events is central to movement scholarship and activist practice. Our purpose is to extend sociological knowledge about how movements (sometimes) diffuse and amplify insurgent actions, that is, how movements move. We extend movement diffusion theory by drawing a conceptual analogue with military theory and practice applied to the case of the organized and highly disciplined nonviolent Nashville civil rights movement in the late 1950s and early 1960s. We emphasize emplacement in a base-mission extension model whereby a movement base is built in a community establishing a social movement school for inculcating discipline and performative training in cadre who engage in insurgent operations extended from that base to outlying events and campaigns. Our data are drawn from secondary sources and semi-structured interviews conducted with participants of the Nashville civil rights movement. The analytic strategy employs a variant of the “extended case method,” where extension is constituted by movement agents following paths from base to outlying campaigns or events. Evidence shows that the Nashville movement established an exemplary local movement base that led to important changes in that city but also spawned traveling movement cadre who moved movement actions in an extensive series of pathways linking the Nashville base to events and campaigns across the southern theater of the civil rights movement. We conclude with theoretical and practical implications.