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Àngels Dasí and Torben Pedersen
Language commonality and barriers are often taken as exogenous given variable and independent of the context; however in this chapter we investigate the factors determining…
Abstract
Language commonality and barriers are often taken as exogenous given variable and independent of the context; however in this chapter we investigate the factors determining perception of language barriers. As such we are responding to the question of when do managers perceive language barriers and which business contexts foster the perception of language barriers and which do not? Language serves different purposes and entails different communicative requirements depending on the context in which it is used. In addition, language has multiple dimensions and we argue that the different dimensions of language vary in their importance depending on the specific context, where the contextual variation in this case is related to the operation mode chosen in the foreign market. More specifically, we argue that language distance (relatedness in language) matters when the firms conduct business abroad through their own employees, while language incidence (accuracy in language) is critical when operating through a local agent. The different use of language implies a need for different language skills. The combination of the operation mode and the availability of people with the needed language skills will affect managers’ perception of language barriers. The hypotheses are tested on a large data set encompassing 390 multinational corporations headquartered in Finland, South Korea, New Zealand, and Sweden that have undertaken a business operation in a foreign country.
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– The purpose of this paper is to propose a model to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of metaphor when used in financial news media reporting.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose a model to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of metaphor when used in financial news media reporting.
Design/methodology/approach
Theory in Cognitive Linguistics, Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Frame Semantics are used to demonstrate metaphor’s central role shaping human thought and understanding, producing conceptual frameworks used to understand abstract concepts in not only financial news media but also all human discourse. The deontological principles of the major financial news sources are presented which demonstrate a commitment to common core principles, such as “balance” and “accuracy”, yet few consider the potential role of metaphor toward achieving them. This research presents a minimum source domain model for describing stock market phenomenon to increase “interpretation reliability” based on the concepts of communicative efficiency and effectiveness.
Findings
This research presents a model for communicative efficiency and effectiveness of metaphor and metonymy (CEEMM) in financial reporting by presenting a minimum source domain model for describing stock market phenomenon to increase “interpretation reliability” when metaphor is used in financial news media sources.
Research limitations/implications
While evidence for the role of metaphor and metonymy on behavior has been provided and in economic contexts, more research into the role that it plays in financial news media and the dynamics of how it influences consumer decisions is necessary.
Practical implications
CEEMM provides news media sources with a tool for standardizing the modes they use to semantically create and communicate knowledge of the stock market and stock market phenomenon. Reporting on stock market phenomenon will have, for the first time, objective parameters for using metaphor toward the fulfillment of journalism deontological principles.
Social implications
CEEMM has the potential to increase clarity in the metaphors used, as they require less creative exploration on the part of readers. This results in greater levels of trust in news media sources and permits news consumers to make more well-informed financial decisions, as their perceptions of events will be less subjective to creative interpretation. This research should urge news media companies to publicly declare principles for metaphor and metonymic practice in their communication of financial data.
Originality/value
The paper presents the first model for increasing the communicative efficiency and effectiveness in the use of metaphor in financial news media.
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There are many beliefs about how additional languages are learned, several of which have informed some of the most tenacious pedagogical constructs. In this chapter, additional…
Abstract
There are many beliefs about how additional languages are learned, several of which have informed some of the most tenacious pedagogical constructs. In this chapter, additional language teachers working with additional language students in high schools are asked to challenge some widely accepted beliefs about language learning and methods of teaching language, and consider a technique that better aligns with constructivist theories of learning and the inquiry-based learning (IBL) approach. This chapter includes a brief discussion on IBL, its constructivist roots, and its many permutations. It also explores some constructivist-based additional language teaching approaches and discusses to what extent they align with IBL. Also provided is a six-step inquiry language-learning process, specifically designed to teach additional languages, with discussion on how each stage builds upon the other, optimizing language learning. In addition, a series of lessons are described which show how the inquiry language-learning process can be employed to teach additional languages to students who are not yet fully proficient in the school’s language of instruction. The chapter concludes with a discussion on some of the challenges of using IBL with additional language students, citing some of the psychological, cultural, and cognitive needs often present in these students. The chapter ends with a call for further research into the use of IBL to teach additional languages.
Elham Rostami, Fredrik Karlsson and Shang Gao
This paper aims to propose a conceptual model of policy components for software that supports modularizing and tailoring of information security policies (ISPs).
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to propose a conceptual model of policy components for software that supports modularizing and tailoring of information security policies (ISPs).
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a design science research approach, drawing on design knowledge from the field of situational method engineering. The conceptual model was developed as a unified modeling language class diagram using existing ISPs from public agencies in Sweden.
Findings
This study’s demonstration as proof of concept indicates that the conceptual model can be used to create free-standing modules that provide guidance about information security in relation to a specific work task and that these modules can be used across multiple tailored ISPs. Thus, the model can be considered as a step toward developing software to tailor ISPs.
Research limitations/implications
The proposed conceptual model bears several short- and long-term implications for research. In the short term, the model can act as a foundation for developing software to design tailored ISPs. In the long term, having software that enables tailorable ISPs will allow researchers to do new types of studies, such as evaluating the software's effectiveness in the ISP development process.
Practical implications
Practitioners can use the model to develop software that assist information security managers in designing tailored ISPs. Such a tool can offer the opportunity for information security managers to design more purposeful ISPs.
Originality/value
The proposed model offers a detailed and well-elaborated starting point for developing software that supports modularizing and tailoring of ISPs.
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Nic Beech, Linda de Caestecker, Robert MacIntosh, Peter McInnes and Michael Ross
This paper seeks to problematize the role(s) that lay‐workers can play and the nature of their relationship with other, well‐established professional groups. Views are extracted…
Abstract
This paper seeks to problematize the role(s) that lay‐workers can play and the nature of their relationship with other, well‐established professional groups. Views are extracted from the literature on how best to manage the introduction of lay‐workers into professional settings and the paper examines the experience of attempting this in national health demonstration project funded by the Scottish Executive Health Department. Whilst the literature argues that the use of lay‐workers will enhance flexibility and challenge some of the bureaucratic/hierarchical problems of traditional organizations, the empirical evidence presented here suggests that phenomena such as hierarchy are persistent and that individual and collective identities are constantly renegotiated in a complex and dynamic process which recreates hierarchy albeit in an unintentional way. This paper offers a series of observations from the project study then generalise in terms of implications for management practice and management theory.
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This study explores how nurses working in a large, metropolitan hospital make sense of the managed care change. Findings from 24 nurse interviews suggest that nurse sensemaking…
Abstract
This study explores how nurses working in a large, metropolitan hospital make sense of the managed care change. Findings from 24 nurse interviews suggest that nurse sensemaking has generated interpretations of managed care change that are grounded in the caregiving role. Study results show that nurses view managed care with ambiguity. Nurses understand managed care change as instrumental in encouraging collaboration and affecting patient care quality. Implications are drawn regarding the importance of identity construction to the sensemaking process and illustrate the paradox of change in the managed care era. Although nurses view collaboration and professional empowerment as positive outcomes of managed care, further analysis reveals that these values function ideologically, promoting managed care concerns over worker interests. Concertive control – a team‐based process which shifts organizational control from management to employees – is explored as a way that workers act in accordance with management decisions and uphold traditional power structures.
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This study aims to explore the use of a Computer‐mediated Communication (CMC) system in‐group conflict management, with specific attention directed toward analyzing the task…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the use of a Computer‐mediated Communication (CMC) system in‐group conflict management, with specific attention directed toward analyzing the task effect on conflict management patterns of groups in CMC interaction.
Design/methodology/approach
Two tasks are used in experimental design to analyze interactions and conflict management patterns within e‐mail communication environment. Group composition and communication medium were kept constant. The group working relations coding system (GWRCS) was used to examine group interaction patterns that characterize the conflict management process.
Findings
The results demonstrate that task type influences the group conflict management process and the extent to which a group employs different levels of confrontiveness strategy in its interaction and conflict management patterns. Specifically, intellective task conflict is best handled by a high confrontiveness while cognitive task conflict is best handled by a moderate confrontiveness strategy.
Research limitations/implications
The study used small group size and did not take into account variation in group size. Thus, the degree to which a larger size groups might affect the results is unknown. The study showed that group effectiveness requires different conflict management and interaction patterns for different tasks even within the same communication medium.
Originality/value
The study outlined the importance of task types in conflict management within the same group and within the same communication technology. It also stressed the fact that individuals apply technology differently to negotiate conflict based on tasks.
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This paper aims to propose to rehabilitate prâxis and revive possibilities of practical wisdom (phrónêsis) and a reinterpret excellence as an ethically committed way for…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to propose to rehabilitate prâxis and revive possibilities of practical wisdom (phrónêsis) and a reinterpret excellence as an ethically committed way for responsible and sustainable form of living, while operating in the midst of a systematically constrained world of neoliberal regimes.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a literature review, this essay first presents some basic understandings of prâxis, practices and its architecture as well as phrónêsis and its interconnection. Further, possibilities for integrating excellence in prâxis and success in poiêtic practice are suggested in form of a critical poiêtic phrónêsis, and some implications are outlined in conclusions.
Findings
Considering the systemic constrains of contemporary neoliberal regimes, this paper has shown the significance of a reviving the inter-relational nexus between prâxis, embodied practices, phrónêsis and sustainable action. An integral holonic approach of constrained prâxis was discussed, by which the macro-level is holonically connected to meso-level of likewise constrained practices to micro-level of action and vice versa. In particular, constrained excellence-oriented practical wisdom was connected with constraining result- and success- poiesis in a critical poietic phrónêsis and creative actions in inter-practices as part of inter-prâxis discussed.
Research limitations/implications
The paper is a meta-reflective paper and view point, but links to “prâxis-related research” are offered.
Practical implications
Some practical and political implications are provided.
Social implications
Some links to social and societal implications are discussed.
Originality/value
The proposed integration of prâxis, embodied practices, sustainable actions and practical wisdom for organisation and in relation to society is genuine and critical. It is orginal in that it provides possibilities to re-assess, re-vive and further investigate the relevance of embodied forms of an integral prâxis, practicing, phronesis and action in and through organizations as well as stakeholder towards a flourishing unfoldment.
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Sarah Parsons, Laura Millen, Sara Garib‐Penna and Sue Cobb
This paper outlines the participatory design processes adopted within the COSPATIAL project which is developing interactive, collaborative technologies for children and young…
Abstract
This paper outlines the participatory design processes adopted within the COSPATIAL project which is developing interactive, collaborative technologies for children and young people on the autism spectrum to support collaboration and social conversation skills. The project has involved a ‘core design team’ of teachers in a series of design workshops from the start. Groups of typically developing children and those on the autism spectrum have also been regularly involved in design and feedback activities to inform the development of our technology prototypes. Initial impressions from pilot testing suggest that children have enjoyed using the prototypes and teachers have found them useful; we suggest that our participatory design methods have strongly contributed to this positive response.
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