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Book part
Publication date: 6 May 2003

Mary Jane Rootes

Robert Hauptman first raised awareness about the ethical issues of reference service in 1976. Hauptman, a library school student at the time, did a study on the culpability, or…

Abstract

Robert Hauptman first raised awareness about the ethical issues of reference service in 1976. Hauptman, a library school student at the time, did a study on the culpability, or lack thereof, in reference service provided by librarians. In his study, Hauptman posed as a library patron seeking potentially dangerous information. The behavior examined was how librarians respond to the request for material on how to build a bomb that would be powerful enough to blow up a house. Hauptman tried to present himself as a person of questionable character. He used six public and seven academic libraries in this study. Hauptman first made sure that he was speaking to the reference librarian. He then requested information for the construction of a small explosive, requesting specifically the chemical properties of cordite. He then asked for information on the potency of such an explosive, whether or not it could blow up a suburban house (Hauptman, Wilson Library Bulletin, 1976, p. 626).

Details

Advances in Library Administration and Organization
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-206-1

Article
Publication date: 29 May 2009

Matthew Jones

The purpose of this paper is to respond to previous scholarship by providing a framework for a post‐modern policing organization that maximizes the police/community relationship…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to respond to previous scholarship by providing a framework for a post‐modern policing organization that maximizes the police/community relationship while still controlling discretion.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper provides a model of police administration by expanding upon previous work through a discussion on police bureaucracy, organizational governance, and police effectiveness.

Findings

Police organizations have the ability to transform themselves into institutions deemed as legitimate legal authorities providing effective service to their recipients through: limiting the arbitrary exercise of power; establishing institutional arrangements for successful social problem solving; and cultivating the appropriate character for those who carry out the institutional responsibilities. Through this process, the police organization can find the right balance between a theory of governance and modern policing.

Practical implications

The community policing philosophy advocates a strong relationship between the police and the community it serves. However, if the police forces do not have the institutional capacity and tools of governance to be deemed a legitimate and effective law enforcement body by the community, this philosophy of policing is sure to fail.

Originality/value

A different perspective that integrates principles of good governance, public administration, and political theory that tie into an effective and efficient relationship between police organizations and those they serve is taken. Further, the traditional concept of community policing that has overlooked some important structural features needed to carry out this philosophy is argued.

Details

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, vol. 32 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-951X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 26 August 2020

David Ellerman

This paper will discuss two problems that have plagued the literature on the Ward-Domar-Vanek labor-managed firm (LMF) model, the perverse supply response problem and the horizon…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper will discuss two problems that have plagued the literature on the Ward-Domar-Vanek labor-managed firm (LMF) model, the perverse supply response problem and the horizon problem. The paper also discusses the solution to the horizon problem and the alleged “solution” of a membership market.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a conceptual paper so it analyzes the two problems and shows how they can be resolved. It also shows how one alleged “solution” (membership market) is based on several conceptual mistakes about the structure of rights in a democratic firm.

Findings

The perverse supply response is based on the assumption that the members of a democratic firm can expel for no cause some members when it would benefit the remaining members. It is shown that the same perverse behavior happens conceptually and historically in a conventional firm under the same assumptions. The horizon problem is resolved by the system of internal capital accounts (ICAs) that has been independently invented at least four times.

Research limitations/implications

The idea of a democratic firm is quite often dismissed by conventional economists: “At first it seems like a good idea but unfortunately it is plagued by structural problems such as the perverse supply response and the horizon problem.” Hence it is important to see that the first is not a problem under ordinary assumptions and that the second is a solved problem.

Practical implications

The perverse supply response problem can be reproduced in a conventional firm under similar assumptions, and the horizon problem is real problem for social or common ownership firms but is solved in the Mondragon-type worker cooperatives by the system of ICAs. This has been known and published since the early 1980s, but conventional economists ignore the solution and still cite it as an inherent structure problem of a democratic firm.

Originality/value

It has not been previously shown in the LMF literature that the perverse supply response can be reproduced in a conventional corporation under similar assumptions since the maximand for the conventional firm is not total market value but that value per current shareholder. The solution to the horizon problem using ICAs has long been “known” but never acknowledged in the conventional literature as if it was a necessary feature of workplace democracy. The idea of a membership market is analyzed and criticized.

Details

Journal of Participation and Employee Ownership, vol. 3 no. 2/3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2514-7641

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 10 February 2015

Elisabeth Clemens

Regardless of whether “elite” is defined with respect to social status, economic wealth, or professional accomplishment, these sources of advantage are blunted by democratic

Abstract

Regardless of whether “elite” is defined with respect to social status, economic wealth, or professional accomplishment, these sources of advantage are blunted by democratic political commitments to equality. This durable dilemma has shaped the institutional development of the American polity and the economy, as those with extra-political advantages have sought new forms of political influence, at times subverting rules or advancing cultural projects that elaborate an image of corporations as moral actors or the development of a “business creed.” American elites have also worked at the margins of the formally democratic policy to construct fields of public action that are accepted as public, legitimate, and admirable, but not strictly democratic. Corporate philanthropy has been central to these efforts. Organizations like the Community Chest can be understood as practical responses to the constraints of ideological commitments to political egalitarianism. This line of response to the democratic dilemma is “constructive” in the nonnormative sense that it produces new fields of social action and reconfigures institutional arrangements. By linking economic position to civic influence, organizations of this type translate economic power into elevated influence over public affairs through the constitution and stabilization of partially hybridized forms or fields.

Details

Elites on Trial
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-680-5

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 December 2016

Simone Bruschetta and Raffaele Barone

The purpose of this paper is to present a model of democratic therapeutic community (DTC) for people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and psychotic disorder, namely the…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a model of democratic therapeutic community (DTC) for people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and psychotic disorder, namely the Group-Apartment (GA). The authors will describe it in more detail, discussing the ideas which lie behind it, considering the relative cost of treating people in larger residential DTCs and in GAs, outlining findings from the first data gathered on a GA and looking at the usefulness of this model in post-modern societies, with particular reference to Sicily.

Design/methodology/approach

In brief a GA is a flat, located in an urban apartment building, inhabited by a small group of people. In this paper the authors consider an apartment inhabited by a group of three or four patients with the presence of clinical social workers who work in shifts for several hours a day on all or most days of the week (Barone et al., 2009, 2010). GA is also inspired by the pioneering work of Pullen (1999, 2003), in the UK tradition of the apartment post TC for psychosis.

Findings

GAs in Italy have become one of the main methods of support housing in recovery-oriented treatment, because it allows the empowerment of the users and fights against the stigma of mental illness (Barone et al., 2014; Bruschetta et al., 2014). The main therapeutic activities provided in the GA depend on the type of recovery route being supported, on the level of autonomy being developed and on the level of participation in the democratic life of the local community.

Originality/value

GAs appear better, cheaper and a more appropriate treatment for mental problems in the current financial and social climate than larger institutions. Where they have been tried out, they have been found to be effective, by users and by stakeholders. They exemplify the advantages of the DTC for encouraging recovery, but cost less to run. In accordance with DTC principles, the social democratic process is used not only to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of GAs, but also to build a network to support the development of innovative mental health services and new enabling environments (Haigh et al., 2012).

Details

Therapeutic Communities: The International Journal of Therapeutic Communities, vol. 37 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0964-1866

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 November 2021

Laia Colomer

This paper aims to analyse the key Faro notions of “heritage community” and “democratic participation” as defined in the Faro Convention, and how they challenge core notions of…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to analyse the key Faro notions of “heritage community” and “democratic participation” as defined in the Faro Convention, and how they challenge core notions of authority and expertise in the discipline and professional practice of cultural heritage.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper examines notions of “heritage community” and “democratic participation” as they are framed in the Faro Convention, and it briefly introduces two cases (Finland and Marseille) to explore their application. It then focusses on the implications of these two notions for heritage administration (expertise) in terms of citizen agency, co-creation of knowledge and forms of decision-making processes.

Findings

The Faro Convention favours an innovative approach to social, politic and economic problems using cultural heritage. To accomplish this, it empowers citizens as actors in developing heritage-based approaches. This model transforms heritage into a means for achieving socioeconomic goals and attributes to the public the ability to undertake heritage initiatives, leaving the administration and expert bodies as mediators in this process. To bring about this shift, Faro institutes the notion of “heritage communities” and fosters participative governance. However, how heritage communities practise participation may follow different paths and result in different experiences due to local and national political circumstances.

Originality/value

The Faro Convention opens up a window by framing cultural heritage within the realm of social and democratic instrumentality, above and beyond the heritage per se. But it also poses some questions regarding the rationale of heritage management (authority in governability), at least as understood traditionally under official heritage management discourses.

Details

Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development, vol. 13 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2044-1266

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 9 June 2016

Lisa Ariemma and Judith Burnside-Lawry

The tendency to utilize transnational organizations (TNO), with the tacit support of transnational institutions such as the European Union, to realize mega projects affecting…

Abstract

The tendency to utilize transnational organizations (TNO), with the tacit support of transnational institutions such as the European Union, to realize mega projects affecting local populations and territories distant from decision-making boardrooms, may result in increasing democratic alienation between those who are charged with implementing these projects and local citizens.

This chapter presents Stage 2 of a study to examine democratic participation and communicative action between a transnational organization, governing bodies, and the citizens affected by a high-speed rail project in Susa Valley, Italy. Findings related to potential democratic alienation between citizens and decision-makers are presented. Societal factors which contribute to this alienation, such as a communication deficit, are considered, as well as the strategies adopted to counter this participatory gap – including a reliance on electronic media for disseminating information and the creation of transnational resistance networks.

Results suggest that the emergence of transnational resistance networks such as the Forum Against Unnecessary and Imposed Mega Projects – spearheaded by members of the No TAV social movement, may provide new avenues for democratic participation and citizen engagement.

Details

Protest, Social Movements and Global Democracy Since 2011: New Perspectives
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78635-027-5

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 December 2020

Jan Lees, Rex Haigh, Simone Bruschetta, Anando Chatterji, Veronica Dominguez-Bailey, Sandra Kelly, Aldo Lombardo, Shama Parkhe, Joāo G. Pereira, Yousuf Rahimi and Barbara Rawlings

This paper aims to describe a method of training for practitioners in democratic Therapeutic Communities (TCs) which has been used in several settings across the world over the…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to describe a method of training for practitioners in democratic Therapeutic Communities (TCs) which has been used in several settings across the world over the past 25 years: the “Living-Learning Experience” (LLE) workshop. It goes on to consider the cross-cultural implications of the work.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on the experience of running exactly the same programme in different countries and cultures, the paper examines the cross-cultural adaptability and describes necessary adaptations for local circumstances. It also contains original ethnographic research in UK and Italy; further study is planned for other countries.

Findings

The workshops are readily transferable to different cultures and are appreciated for their democratic and relational way of working.

Research limitations/implications

The ethnographic study examines the workshops in some depth, in UK and Italy, and could usefully be replicated in other countries. No quantitative, outcome or follow-up studies have yet been done, and this paper could contribute to the design of useful quantitative studies.

Practical implications

The paper demonstrates that the LLE is a useful experiential learning tool in widely different settings. It could be developed in different ways, such as for developing relational practice or establishing therapeutic environments in different settings.

Social implications

The workshops' acceptance in widely different cultures indicates that the open and non-didactic format addresses essential and fundamental qualities required for therapeutic engagement and human relatedness.

Originality/value

This is the first description of the principles of democratic TCs being applied across different international settings. Its value extends beyond the TC field, to the use of democratic and relational principles' applicability in therapeutic pedagogy and training.

Details

Therapeutic Communities: The International Journal of Therapeutic Communities, vol. 42 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0964-1866

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 February 2021

Sam Kris Hilton, Helen Arkorful and Albert Martins

The purpose of this study is to investigate the moderating effect of contingent reward on the relationship between democratic leadership and organizational performance.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the moderating effect of contingent reward on the relationship between democratic leadership and organizational performance.

Design/methodology/approach

Explanatory and cross-sectional survey designs were used. A quantitative research approach was also adopted to collect the data from 476 employees in the telecommunication industry. Using statistics package for social science, the data was analyzed via descriptive statistics, correlation and hierarchical regression techniques.

Findings

The results reveal that both democratic leadership and contingent reward have a significant positive relationship with organizational performance. Furthermore, contingent reward significantly augments and moderates the relationship between democratic leadership and organizational performance. Thus, the combination of democratic leadership and contingent reward would more likely produce higher organizational performance.

Originality/value

This study has made a significant contribution to leadership and organizational literature by establishing the effectiveness of contingent reward as a moderator on the relationship between democratic leadership and organizational performance in a telecommunication industry.

Details

Management Research Review, vol. 44 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-8269

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 10 October 2007

Bidhya Bowornwathana

This chapter proposes a cultural perspective towards understanding the nature and outcomes of governance reforms. The argument is that “culture” is a promising, though somehow…

Abstract

This chapter proposes a cultural perspective towards understanding the nature and outcomes of governance reforms. The argument is that “culture” is a promising, though somehow neglected, explanatory factor. There are three major roles that the cultural factor can play. First, governmental culture acts as the intervening variable. Many reform attempts around the world failed because governmental culture obstructed reform success by producing perverse or ugly reform hybrids. When reform innovations were chosen, the cultural factor was not seriously taken into consideration. Second, governmental culture can become the dependent variable. The basic objective of governance reform is to ultimately change the governmental culture of the society. Therefore, reform cannot become successful until the reform initiatives eventually change the basic cultural traits of government. Since changing governmental culture takes a long time, there is a feeling of hopelessness in conducting reform. The more reforms are introduced, the more things remain the same. Third, governmental culture performs the role of an independent variable that affect the processes and outcomes of governance reform. There are other competing independent variables in the explanatory equation, and the cultural factor becomes a less visible factor for political scientists who prefer to highlight other variables, such as power and institutions.

Details

Cultural Aspects of Public Management Reform
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-7623-1400-3

21 – 30 of over 18000