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1 – 10 of 15Jon Pemberton, Sharon Mavin and Brenda Stalker
This paper seeks to surface less positive aspects of communities of practice (CoPs), regardless of emergent or organisationally managed, grounded in political‐power interactions…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to surface less positive aspects of communities of practice (CoPs), regardless of emergent or organisationally managed, grounded in political‐power interactions. Examples are provided from the authors' experiences of a research‐based CoP within UK higher education.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is primarily theoretical with empirical examples drawn from a descriptive CoP case study.
Findings
The paper discusses the following themes: the impact of timing on CoP development; the impact of CoP leaders and managers in “managed” CoPs; the power‐political interrelationship between emergent CoPs and formal organisation; the impact of dominant actors with position power; emotional containment and emotion work within CoPs; power implications of novices and masters and the implications when CoP practices diverge from organisational practices. It finds that to ignore such issues of power within CoPs is to limit the knowledge creation process.
Research limitations/implications
Further empirical research is necessary to investigate micro and macro power‐political issues of CoPs. In particular, emotional containment and emotion work of CoP members and the impact of this on knowledge creation is worthy of future research.
Practical implications
The paper has significant implications for CoPs in practice as the quest for pragmatic mechanisms to develop individual and organisational learning and knowledge creation for competitive advantage.
Originality/value
While there is an implicit assumption that CoPs are “good” and benefit individuals and organisations, this paper highlights less positive power‐political issues relating to CoPs which are under researched in the extant literature.
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Sharon Mavin, Philip Wilding, Brenda Stalker, David Simmonds, Chris Rees and Francine Winch
The purpose of this paper is to report on a Forum for HRD initiative to proactively engage with HRD practitioners to develop “new commons” in the research‐practice nexus…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report on a Forum for HRD initiative to proactively engage with HRD practitioners to develop “new commons” in the research‐practice nexus. Researchers joined a community of UK university HRD practitioners, negotiated a research project mapping the terrain of HRD practice, explored how research informed these are and identified future practice relevant HRD research.
Design/methodology/approach
The research process is described as grounded in relationship building and collaboration. Researchers utilized qualitative research methods to develop small‐scale empirical research and explore HRD practice in four case study universities and the UK Leadership Foundation for Higher Education.
Findings
Findings are presented in the following themes: organizational approaches to HRD; underpinning philosophies and interventions as research informed and contracting and evaluating external providers and identifies opportunities to develop new commons between theory and practice via collaborative partnerships between the Forum for HRD and UK university HRD practitioners.
Research limitations/implications
Future empirical research which is practice relevant is necessary in the area of evaluation of non‐accredited HRD interventions, the challenges of developing leadership and management in UK HE and the HRD research‐practice nexus.
Practical implications
The paper has valuable implications for bridging the space between HRD research and practice; it surfaces the practitioners' “lack of voice” within the profession and field of HRD and the lack of opportunities for the development of individual HRD practitioners.
Originality/value
The link between practice and theory within universities should be more developed, as HRD academics, a theoretical resource, are also “clients” of a University's HRD approach in practice. The research highlights how the reverse is the case, with the link between theory and practice under developed.
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John Blenkinsopp and Brenda Stalker
The phenomenon of current practitioners moving into academia is generally welcomed in terms addressing recruitment problems and the perceived benefit of bringing practical…
Abstract
The phenomenon of current practitioners moving into academia is generally welcomed in terms addressing recruitment problems and the perceived benefit of bringing practical experience into the academic setting. Yet the individual practitioner may encounter considerable difficulties with this career transition. This paper identifies the different sources and discourses of credibility – management experience versus academic knowledge – as particularly relevant, and considers the ways in which these “emergent management academics” manage their self‐identities in their day‐to‐day interactions.
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One of the newest crimes to be put on the books is stalking, usually defined as repeatedly being in the presence of another person with the intent to cause emotional distress or…
Abstract
One of the newest crimes to be put on the books is stalking, usually defined as repeatedly being in the presence of another person with the intent to cause emotional distress or bodily harm after being warned or requested not to do so. Stalking must be done over a period of time to indicate a pattern or continuity of purpose. Threats against a person or person's family may be stated or implied in stalking. Stalking victims are followed and harassed at work, at school, and at home. Stalking can also be done electronically, either using computers to send harassing e‐mail messages or by jamming telefacsimile machines with unwanted transmissions. There have been numerous high‐profile stalking cases that gained a great deal of publicity and focused attention on stalking. “Celebrity stalking” cases came to the public's attention in 1982 when actress Theresa Saldana was stabbed by a stalker. In 1989 actress Rebecca Schaeffer was shot and killed by a man who had stalked her for two years. In the 1990s the assault on skater Nancy Kerrigan, television talk shows and movies, and nonfiction works on stalking, including cases that ended with the death of the stalking victim, have focused public attention on this issue.
This article brings a new, broad conceptual framework to the quest for understanding dynamic capability in organizations (i.e., “managing on the edge of chaos”). This approach…
Abstract
This article brings a new, broad conceptual framework to the quest for understanding dynamic capability in organizations (i.e., “managing on the edge of chaos”). This approach rests on two major ideas: (i) a duality–paradox perspective and (ii) new typologies of organizational learning (OL) and individual action/thinking. A case of radical innovation at Microsoft provides a multilevel stimulus. Understanding it requires a focus on two dualistic challenges. For use in future ODC research and practical assessment, this broad new conceptual framework includes: (i) collaboration as a central concept; (ii) duality–paradox as a key source of conflicts that can threaten collaboration; (iii) five types of OL, (iv) four types of individual action/thinking, including paradoxical thinking, and (v) the proposition that “golden dualities” can be created from once-troubling duality situations (where critical collaboration was in danger) which have been transformed from the metaphorical “odd (contentious) couple” into a “productive (collaborative) partnership.”
Reed E. Nelson and Eduardo Vasconcellos
This paper describes an empirically derived typology of the verbal networks of 66 organizations from diverse industrial environments in Brazil and the United States and speculates…
Abstract
This paper describes an empirically derived typology of the verbal networks of 66 organizations from diverse industrial environments in Brazil and the United States and speculates about the possible origins and dynamics of network configurations across organizations. We identified three distinct configurations of verbal networks: high‐density, low‐factionalism, weak‐tie networks; low‐density, high‐factionalism, strong‐tie networks; and an intermediate category with high factionalism in frequent ties but a preponderance of weak ties and intermediate density. The different types were associated with different degrees of volatility and munificence in industrial environment and with different proportions of Brazilian and U.S. firms.
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Disabled people are a neglected issue in criminology. This article discusses the extent of the population affected, social reactions to impairment and the disadvantages faced by…
Abstract
Disabled people are a neglected issue in criminology. This article discusses the extent of the population affected, social reactions to impairment and the disadvantages faced by disabled people, including higher risk of victimisation. Links that have been made between disability and offending behaviour are also critically assessed. Finally, some practical solutions to include disabled people in community safety strategies are outlined.
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