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1 – 10 of 323
Article
Publication date: 1 January 1986

Don Julien and Beverly Owen

The widespread commercial videocassette market has opened to the world and to libraries a grab bag of viewing choices. Library response to the feast has varied throughout the…

Abstract

The widespread commercial videocassette market has opened to the world and to libraries a grab bag of viewing choices. Library response to the feast has varied throughout the country, resulting in different emphases from collection to collection. One is the educational or cultural collection, intended not for recreational viewing but for specific training or general self‐development. Another is the esoteric collection of tapes generally produced for mass‐market consumption but not readily available through commercial outlets. This type of collection emhasizes film classics, classic television series, and how‐to‐do‐its. A third is the entertainment collection, composed primarily of mass‐marketed features and shorts. Each approach has its special problems in following the videocassette industry and finding reviews.

Details

Collection Building, vol. 7 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0160-4953

Article
Publication date: 15 October 2008

Dana Landau and Israel Drori

While conventional wisdom suggests that sensemaking is targeted towards consensual understanding of the organization's intent and action, the objective of this study is to explore…

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Abstract

Purpose

While conventional wisdom suggests that sensemaking is targeted towards consensual understanding of the organization's intent and action, the objective of this study is to explore a different angle of sensemaking, namely, a situation of change and crisis in which the sensemaking process focuses on presenting the organization's members with an alternative understanding of its worldview, norms, and values.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on a three‐year ethnographic field study. Data collection was based on the principles of qualitative research: participant observation, induction, interpretation, close proximity and unmediated relationships with the subjects investigated. The ethnographic method enabled collection of rich data, mainly by viewing the organizational context from its members' perspective, essential for studying.

Findings

The paper presents multiple cultural sensemaking accounts and the varied ways that the subjects use their diverse cultural resources and repertoires – ranging from intense ideological commitment to pure science to opportunistic views of their scientific work – in promoting their own, as well as their organization's survival. The study indicates that variations of conflict‐oriented sensemaking accounts can serve management's strategic quest for hegemony.

Research limitations/implications

Qualitative research approaches position the researcher to learn through participative observation. The researcher acts as a participant in the activities under study and instead of attempting to control procedures and measure qualities of outcomes, the researcher becomes part of the target of study itself.

Practical implications

This paper shows that conflict and power relations are ubiquitous to sensemaking, and that multiple accounts can be inherent in sensemaking work. We suggest that the study of sensemaking should also consider conflict as an alternative sensemaking mechanism.

Originality/value

Sensemaking is usually described as positive and consensual in nature. Yet, as our study shows, when evolving from conflicting viewpoints, accounts and actions sensemaking can support dissension.

Details

Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 21 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0953-4814

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 July 2010

Alexander Styhre

Professional communities are capable of maintaining their social status and role in society on the basis of a blend of technical and formal expertise, know‐how, and an…

Abstract

Purpose

Professional communities are capable of maintaining their social status and role in society on the basis of a blend of technical and formal expertise, know‐how, and an understanding of the non‐professional's demands and expectations. In architectural work, professional expertise largely centres on the visual capacities of the architect, his or her ability to extract useful information and communicate objectives and ideas on the basis of visual artifacts. However, this professional vision must always be double in terms of alternating between professional and non‐professional ways of seeing. The purpose of this paper is to address these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

The research was based on a case study of a Scandinavian firm of architects, Blue Architects (a pseudonym).

Findings

The findings suggest that practising architects are highly aware of the societal role of their profession and the fact that there are a number of routines and mechanisms instituted by the firm which help the architect, newcomers as well as the more seasoned members of that community, to bridge and combine these two elements of their professional vision.

Originality/value

The study suggests that professional vision is a key term when examining visually‐oriented professions. However, this capacity to “see as an architect” does need to be a kind of split vision; both seeing as and seeing beyond the visual artifact produced. The study thus contributes toward understanding visually‐oriented professions and their relationship with lay knowledge.

Details

The Learning Organization, vol. 17 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-6474

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 23 July 2014

Gervase R. Bushe and Robert J. Marshak

Extending the argument made in Bushe and Marshak (2009) of the emergence of a new species of Organization Development (OD) that we label Dialogic, to differentiate it from the…

Abstract

Extending the argument made in Bushe and Marshak (2009) of the emergence of a new species of Organization Development (OD) that we label Dialogic, to differentiate it from the foundational Diagnostic form, we argue that how any OD method is used in practice will be depend on the mindset of the practitioner. Six variants of Dialogic OD practice are reviewed and compared to aid in identification of a Weberian ideal-type Dialogic Mindset, consisting of eight premises that distinguish it from the foundational Diagnostic Mindset. Three core change processes that underlie all successful Dialogic OD processes are proposed, and suggestions for future research offered.

Details

Research in Organizational Change and Development
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78350-312-4

Book part
Publication date: 17 October 2018

Kari Kantasalmi and Juha Tuunainen

Close interaction between universities, industries, and governments has given rise to hybrid organizations incorporating economic development alongside scientific research and…

Abstract

Close interaction between universities, industries, and governments has given rise to hybrid organizations incorporating economic development alongside scientific research and higher education. We will approach this phenomenon and the related organization-theoretical problems by looking at two cases of discipline making to discuss the potential of the concept of organizational field introduced by the neoinstitutionalist school of organization theory. As this concept presumes the Bourdieusian theory of social fields, we will consider possibilities of reflective contesting of the states of doxa in discipline making in regard to organizational aspects of disciplinary boundaries in the university-centered system of higher education, its demarcation to business and schooling, as well as to the related ideology of professionalism and science policy. We will also comment on the Bourdieusian conceptuality inscribed in the neoinstitutionalist metaphor of organizational field from the perspective of systems theory inspired by Luhmann. This is because we believe that further development of the semantic focus in the problem of disciplinary boundaries would benefit from Luhmannian tools designed to grasp organizations as social systems that facilitate interrelations of differentiated function systems relevant for discipline making in current technoscience.

Details

Toward Permeable Boundaries of Organizations?
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78743-829-3

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 May 1994

N. Brännberg and J. Mackerle

This paper gives a review of the finite element techniques (FE)applied in the area of material processing. The latest trends in metalforming, non‐metal forming and powder…

1437

Abstract

This paper gives a review of the finite element techniques (FE) applied in the area of material processing. The latest trends in metal forming, non‐metal forming and powder metallurgy are briefly discussed. The range of applications of finite elements on the subjects is extremely wide and cannot be presented in a single paper; therefore the aim of the paper is to give FE users only an encyclopaedic view of the different possibilities that exist today in the various fields mentioned above. An appendix included at the end of the paper presents a bibliography on finite element applications in material processing for the last five years, and more than 1100 references are listed.

Details

Engineering Computations, vol. 11 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-4401

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 2003

Mairead McCoy and Owen Hargie

This paper considers the implications of mass communications theory on public relations (PR) evaluation and briefly reviews mass communication effects, persuasion, and cognition…

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Abstract

This paper considers the implications of mass communications theory on public relations (PR) evaluation and briefly reviews mass communication effects, persuasion, and cognition, attitude and behaviour change theories. The implications for evaluation are then examined. Reliance on domino models is shown to be too simplistic. It is suggested that claims of PR behavioural effects may be unrealistic and it is argued that more moderate and/or alternative goals are needed if preordained failure is to be avoided. Evaluation results must be interpreted cautiously so that further significance that is not supported by theory is not assumed. This paper shows how the concept of PR evaluation could be widened to include formative evaluation and broad environmental monitoring, which are especially important in identifying and understanding why and how communication works, what its effects are, what factors restrict or facilitate effectiveness and under what conditions success can be maximised.

Details

Journal of Communication Management, vol. 7 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-254X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1985

Beverly Feldman

Directories of online databases vary in content and quality. Here, Beverly Feldman reviews nine publications, including comprehensive guides and basic introductions for users of…

Abstract

Directories of online databases vary in content and quality. Here, Beverly Feldman reviews nine publications, including comprehensive guides and basic introductions for users of home computers.

Details

Reference Services Review, vol. 13 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0090-7324

Abstract

Details

Intellectual Disability Nursing: An Oral History Project
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83982-152-3

Book part
Publication date: 10 December 2013

Stefan Schaltegger and Dimitar Zvezdov

Accountants’ involvement in environmental and sustainability management has merely been investigated to date. With the continuous take-up of sustainability issues by companies and…

Abstract

Purpose

Accountants’ involvement in environmental and sustainability management has merely been investigated to date. With the continuous take-up of sustainability issues by companies and with the growing experience companies gain in dealing with this topic, this chapter raises the question whether accountants are involved in a way different than previously reported and if yes, what their role is in social accounting practice.

Methodology

Based on 58 interviews with corporate practitioners, this chapter firstly explores the roles involved in the social accounting practice in companies which are considered to be leading in sustainability reporting in the United Kingdom and Germany. Secondly, the role of professional accountants is analysed from a power theory perspective.

Findings

The main findings suggest that professional accountants are partially involved in social accounting practice but mainly exert a gatekeeping role between sustainability managers and higher management.

Practical implications

Investigating the observed behaviour empirically can help improve social accounting. Should it turn out that the accountants have no other option but to act like gatekeepers, accounting education will play a major role in overcoming this deficiency in the pursuit of improved sustainability knowledge and performance. If, on the other hand, it is the defensive stance of accounting professionals and the fear of losing power in corporate structures which motivates them to act as gatekeepers, mechanisms to motivate them to cooperate should be researched.

Value of chapter

The chapter empirically investigates and discusses the accountant’s contribution to sustainability information management. This can help overcome organisational challenges impeding companies to successfully implement sustainability measures.

Details

Accounting and Control for Sustainability
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78052-766-6

Keywords

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