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The purpose of this paper is to explore academic library leadership behaviors and the methods for integrating the democratic and transformational leadership styles.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore academic library leadership behaviors and the methods for integrating the democratic and transformational leadership styles.
Design/methodology/approach
Eleven structured interviews were conducted with academic deans and directors. A thematic content analysis was conducted on their responses, analyzing the frequency of certain topics and identifying emergent themes. These themes were then used to construct a democratic communication model.
Findings
The interview responses were grouped into five general leadership themes: participation in decision-making, relationship building, frequent and honest communication, equality and knowing the environment.
Research limitations/implications
The structured interview format did not permit for unplanned follow-up questions, and some topics may not have come up in every interview unless specifically asked by an interview question. Due to the qualitative nature of this study, the perspectives of the participants may not be generalizable to the larger population.
Practical implications
This study identifies core themes of leadership practice that extend beyond the focus of transformational leadership alone. It suggests a democratic communication model to assist in integrating democratic leadership methods with transformational practices and goals.
Social implications
This study suggests a greater emphasis on the communication and engagement practices of democratic leadership. In doing so, it suggests that the American Library Association's emphasis on transformational leadership alone should be reconsidered and that library science schools should increase focus on democratic leadership practices.
Originality/value
Most library leadership style studies emphasize transformational leadership. While there are some studies that explore elements of democratic leadership such as engagement and a flattening of organizational hierarchy, there is limited research on the integration of democratic and transformational leadership practices.
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The chapter presents a novel account of a key concept in John Dewey’s reconstructionist theory specifically related to the nucleus underlying his idea of democracy…
Abstract
The chapter presents a novel account of a key concept in John Dewey’s reconstructionist theory specifically related to the nucleus underlying his idea of democracy: intersubjective communication, what Dewey called the ‘democratic criterion’. Many theorists relate democracy to a form of rule. Consequently, discussions of democracy tend to be limited to functionalist theories. Dewey’s idea of democracy establishes an important distinction from conventional theories by developing its radical, critical, evolutionary, and intersubjective potential. I argue that Dewey anticipated Jürgen Habermas’s Paradigm of Communication in his reconstructionist social theory with potential to de-reify institutions and to empower human beings democratically.
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This paper explores the relationship between workplace democracy, the improvement of internal communication and the implications for organizational transformation and competitive…
Abstract
This paper explores the relationship between workplace democracy, the improvement of internal communication and the implications for organizational transformation and competitive advantage. The internal communication function in a large South African organization was decentralized to cost center level, where communication champions were democratically elected. Survey research among two internal populations confirmed the importance of workplace democracy for the improvement of trust, information flow, face‐to‐face, and superior and subordinate communication. To a limited extent it also reduced fear to communicate. These results could theoretically be linked to an organization's ability to change, which would increase its competitive advantage.
John De Nobile, John McCormick and Katherine Hoekman
– This paper reports two related studies of relationships between organizational communication and occupational stress of staff members in Catholic primary schools.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper reports two related studies of relationships between organizational communication and occupational stress of staff members in Catholic primary schools.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from both studies were obtained using survey questionnaires. Participants were staff members of Catholic diocesan primary schools in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Queensland, Australia. Research hypotheses were tested using correlation and multiple regression analyses.
Findings
Ten organizational communication factors and four occupational stress domains were identified. Several organizational communication variables were found to be predictors of occupational stress in four identified domains.
Practical implications
The findings provide implications for school administrators in relation to staff member access to formal communication channels, openness and approachability of principals, and support giving between school administration and staff, as well as among staff.
Originality/value
The studies used a conceptual framework of organizational communication that is unique and comprehensive. The paper contributes new knowledge in an area that has received little attention, namely, communication in schools.
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Linh Chi Vo and Mihaela Kelemen
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to bridging the gap between researchers and practitioners. It does so by comparing the various models of academic-practitioner…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to bridging the gap between researchers and practitioners. It does so by comparing the various models of academic-practitioner collaboration and introducing Dewey’s democratic experimentalism as a promising alternative.
Design/methodology/approach
The conceptual implications are drawn from an analysis and discussion of the literatures in the field of organizational knowledge production, co-production and Deweyan studies.
Findings
Democratic experimentalism offers a much needed platform for a collaborative relationship between academics and practitioners that leads to knowledge that is rigorous and relevant to practice.
Originality/value
While the current models of academic-practitioner collaboration provide mechanisms for knowledge co-production, the Dewey’s democratic experimentalism goes further to emphasize the nature of the relationship between academics and practitioners in such common endeavor to ensure that all of them are equal co-creators of knowledge.
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Relies on critical theories of technology and democratic disclosureto construct normative communication principles for the development ofthe national information infrastructure…
Abstract
Relies on critical theories of technology and democratic disclosure to construct normative communication principles for the development of the national information infrastructure. Suggests that efforts to privatize the information highway, which are currently underway, undermine the network′s long‐range potential to encourage citizen‐to‐citizen discussion of public issues.
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Dina Sebastião and Susana Borges
The purpose of the paper is to reflect on the conditions of referenda as an EU input legitimacy, on the era of social media microtargeting campaigns. Taking the case of Brexit as…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to reflect on the conditions of referenda as an EU input legitimacy, on the era of social media microtargeting campaigns. Taking the case of Brexit as an example, it takes conclusions for the democracy as an inherent value of the EU multilevel polity and opens prospects for possible solutions.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is interdisciplinary based, complementing political science approaches on EU democratic legitimacy and communication studies on social media and political communication. These are the theoretical frameworks for analysing the case of Brexit referendum campaign, which is based on an empirical tracing of strategies and contents used. This empirical assessment is supported by official reports of the House of Commons and of the UK Information Commissioner’s Office and media news on the case. Analysis and discussion of it allows to come to conclusions.
Findings
Primary finding is that manipulation and disinformation occurred in Brexit campaign, creating a biased, fake and unbalanced information. Second main finding is that microtargeting and suppression of public debate enhances the typical polarisation of binary options on a referendum, and in the case of Brexit deepened the social cleavage that already shaped voter’s preferences, once information consumed by citizens functioned as “eco-chambers”, strengthening preconceptions. The ultimate conclusion in this case is a sign that social media can deepen the historical gap between elites and voters in the EU, with negative consequences for democracy and social legitimacy of the EU political system.
Research limitations/implications
The almost impossible access to the digital microtargeted adverts used in campaigns, to allow a more detailed analysis of the EU content issued.
Practical implications
Conclusions of this research are useful for politicians and advisers of policy-making to reflect on the future of the political system of the EU in terms of democracy, and the Europe as a whole and think about measures to be taken either on the level of improving legitimacy processes or regulation of digital media.
Social implications
If practical implications are taken from conclusions of this study, enhancing democratic processes, avoiding privacy data manipulation and providing accurate, impartial and trustworthy information to citizens public can be a social benefit achieved mainly through regulation.
Originality/value
Despite some studies have been released on Brexit referendum, they have mainly been single-disciplinary. This study innovates because it conciliates political science theoretical views with communications studies’ ones, to produce strengthened reasoning ground on the purposed of this research: to search evidence that new political communication strategies within the social media landscape can be of special negative influence in EU referenda and for the future of the multilevel polity.
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