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1 – 10 of 73The purpose of this paper is to apply experiential learning theory to discuss a UK project-based knowledge transfer partnership (KPT) project between a university and a third…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to apply experiential learning theory to discuss a UK project-based knowledge transfer partnership (KPT) project between a university and a third sector organisation offering outdoor and experiential education for around 32,000 inner city children annually. It uses different models to critically consider how different experiential paradigms or world-views support different understandings of project experience in the real world. It examines the nature of experiential learning through project experience, applying a phenomenological inquiry to reflect on how experiential learning is valued academically and culturally. It considers environmental influences to balance the relational practices that represent intangible experiential elements in partnership work.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a postmodern qualitative methodology, this paper applies different frameworks to narrative, a synthesis of data from the project, an interview, literature and reflection to present a critical consideration of experiential learning constructs. It foregrounds the academic value of ethical subjectivity and as such also presents a reflective Feminist auto-ethnographic praxis grounded in the project.
Findings
Experiential learning is critical for human inquiry. Valuing experiential learning methods differently offers ethical applications for facilitating project work and partner relationships.
Practical implications
Applied experiential learning theory supports organisational understanding in project work. An ethics of subjectivity places equal value on expertise in its own environment leading to a facilitated rather than a hierarchical transfer of knowledge, critical for project success. The project is financially successful and has wide reaching social and environmental impact. Thinking differently about provision means a substantial number of children beyond those physically visiting the organisation will benefit through teacher training.
Social implications
The UK government no longer funds outdoor education. This paper demonstrates the importance of fostering environmental relationships for human identity, to support education for sustainable development and wider societal and environmental understandings.
Originality/value
Developed through project process this is a new values-based, environmental, organisational and educational transformational approach to partnership. It is useful in education, working in partnership with businesses and ESD.
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Asif Ur Rehman, Pedro Navarrete-Segado, Metin U. Salamci, Christine Frances, Mallorie Tourbin and David Grossin
The consolidation process and morphology evolution in ceramics-based additive manufacturing (AM) are still not well-understood. As a way to better understand the ceramic selective…
Abstract
Purpose
The consolidation process and morphology evolution in ceramics-based additive manufacturing (AM) are still not well-understood. As a way to better understand the ceramic selective laser sintering (SLS), a dynamic three-dimensional computational model was developed to forecast thermal behavior of hydroxyapatite (HA) bioceramic.
Design/methodology/approach
AM has revolutionized automotive, biomedical and aerospace industries, among many others. AM provides design and geometric freedom, rapid product customization and manufacturing flexibility through its layer-by-layer technique. However, a very limited number of materials are printable because of rapid melting and solidification hysteresis. Melting-solidification dynamics in powder bed fusion are usually correlated with welding, often ignoring the intrinsic properties of the laser irradiation; unsurprisingly, the printable materials are mostly the well-known weldable materials.
Findings
The consolidation mechanism of HA was identified during its processing in a ceramic SLS device, then the effect of the laser energy density was studied to see how it affects the processing window. Premature sintering and sintering regimes were revealed and elaborated in detail. The full consolidation beyond sintering was also revealed along with its interaction to baseplate.
Originality/value
These findings provide important insight into the consolidation mechanism of HA ceramics, which will be the cornerstone for extending the range of materials in laser powder bed fusion of ceramics.
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Discusses the changing organization of higher education in the USA as the universities cope with mass education for all and provides statistics for the female population and their…
Abstract
Discusses the changing organization of higher education in the USA as the universities cope with mass education for all and provides statistics for the female population and their areas of preference. Covers Title X and affirmative action programmes before looking at recent anti‐affirmative campaigns. Concludes that substantial progress has been made but there is still disparity in salary, rank and promotion which can not be explained by any other argument.
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Jennifer Wheeler-Webb and Sandra L. Furterer
The purpose of this study was to improve the quoting, scheduling, invoicing and paying for campus office moves at a university. The Lean Six Sigma project goal was to improve the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to improve the quoting, scheduling, invoicing and paying for campus office moves at a university. The Lean Six Sigma project goal was to improve the campus office move process by making it less complicated, free-up program managers’ time and pay the vendor on time.
Design/methodology/approach
The team used the Lean Six Sigma Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control methodology to improve the process.
Findings
The average time from the campus move to when the invoice was paid improved by 27%, with an improved median of 16%. The standard deviation was greatly reduced by 51%. The average invoiced date to paid date remained statistically the same, and the median increased from 20 to 30 days, due to a policy change to move the target from 20 to 30 days. The standard deviation of the invoice to paid date was greatly reduced by 38%. This was a successful project because the sponsors were on-board from the beginning and included the process owners in the improvement effort.
Originality/value
Other higher education institutions or other industry areas with a similar process can implement this methodology and processes outlined in this case study to improve efficiency and cost effectiveness and as a guide for improving other processes within institutions.
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Cherise M. Burton, Chrissa Mayhall, Jennifer Cross and Patrick Patterson
Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to review the existing literature on multigenerational teams, to evaluate the maturity of the research area, identify key themes, and…
Abstract
Purpose
Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to review the existing literature on multigenerational teams, to evaluate the maturity of the research area, identify key themes, and highlight areas for future research. Generational differences in the workforce are becoming a critical factor, as four generations (Veterans/Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y/Millennials) currently co-exist, and a fifth generation (Generation Z) stands poised to enter the workforce. To manage these differences effectively, organizations must first understand the various generations and, ultimately, their interaction and engagement with each other. Whereas some literature on the differences between the generations and how they pertain to the organizational work environment exists, currently, it is unclear what is known about how these differences impact the performance of multigenerational teams.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents a systematic literature review on teams and generational differences. A total of 7 platforms were included, resulting in 121 articles in the final paper set.
Findings
The review confirmed a low presence of literature related to generational differences and teams, implying the knowledge area is currently immature; however, despite this, there is an upward trajectory in publications and citations over the past few years, and existing publications and citations span a number of countries, suggesting a likelihood of significant growth in the research area in the near future. Further, key themes were identified in the current literature relating to commitment, leadership, team dynamics, conflict and wages and work environment.
Research limitations/implications
Only seven platforms were included in this review, although the seven platforms chosen are believed to provide comprehensive coverage of the field. The search strings used were “generation” and “team,” which was the word combination found to produce the largest number of results in preliminary trials; however, it is possible that using additional word combinations might have yielded some additional papers. Finally, the review was limited to English-language articles (or their translations); although, ultimately, only two articles were eliminated because of lack of an English language version.
Practical implications
The findings can be used by organizations to identify factors of interest in managing multigenerational teams, as well as what is currently known about influencing those factors to achieve more positive team outcomes.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this appears to be the first systematic literature review on generational differences in teams. Given the importance of this topic, this review is critical to provide a baseline on what is currently known in the field and existing research and practice gaps.
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Markus Wohlfeil, Anthony Patterson and Stephen J. Gould
This paper aims to explain a celebrity’s deep resonance with consumers by unpacking the individual constituents of a celebrity’s polysemic appeal. While celebrities are…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explain a celebrity’s deep resonance with consumers by unpacking the individual constituents of a celebrity’s polysemic appeal. While celebrities are traditionally theorised as unidimensional semiotic receptacles of cultural meaning, the authors conceptualise them here instead as human beings/performers with a multi-constitutional, polysemic consumer appeal.
Design/methodology/approach
Supporting evidence is drawn from autoethnographic data collected over a total period of 25 months and structured through a hermeneutic analysis.
Findings
In rehumanising the celebrity, the study finds that each celebrity offers the individual consumer a unique and very personal parasocial appeal as the performer, the private person behind the public performer, the tangible manifestation of either through products and the social link to other consumers. The stronger these constituents, individually or symbiotically, appeal to the consumer’s personal desires, the more s/he feels emotionally attached to this particular celebrity.
Research limitations/implications
Although using autoethnography means that the breadth of collected data is limited, the depth of insight this approach garners sufficiently unpacks the polysemic appeal of celebrities to consumers.
Practical implications
The findings encourage talent agents, publicists and marketing managers to reconsider underlying assumptions in their talent management and/or celebrity endorsement practices.
Originality/value
While prior research on celebrity appeal has tended to enshrine celebrities in a “dehumanised” structuralist semiosis, which erases the very idea of individualised consumer meanings, this paper reveals the multi-constitutional polysemy of any particular celebrity’s personal appeal as a performer and human being to any particular consumer.
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Douglas J. Ernest, Joan Beam and Jennifer Monath
Telephone directories have been an integral part of most public and academic libraries for nearly a century. Telephone directories represent an anomaly among library collections;…
Abstract
Telephone directories have been an integral part of most public and academic libraries for nearly a century. Telephone directories represent an anomaly among library collections; known to virtually all users, they nevertheless often go unrecognized when librarians discuss reference sources. The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to examine the history of telephone directory collections; second, to describe and analyze a survey of telephone directory collection use.
Jennifer Shelby, Georgia Lindsay and Claire Derr
Iconic buildings, especially museums, are often enrolled in creating an identity for cities, yet cities and museums have been sometimes uneasy partners in using architecture to…
Abstract
Purpose
Iconic buildings, especially museums, are often enrolled in creating an identity for cities, yet cities and museums have been sometimes uneasy partners in using architecture to shape city identity. This paper examines the negotiations of place identity amid the conflicting influences of global design trends and local cultural nostalgia through the case of a single development in Aspen, Colorado.
Design/methodology/approach
In this case study, using discourse analysis and grounded theory methods, the authors analyzed interviews, planning documents and critical opinions in the press to reveal the ways in which complex identities and contradictory planning directives shape a single building in a hyper-glocal Western town.
Findings
This analysis presents a place with complex and at times conflicting identities: residents have intense local concerns in parallel with global allegiances. The Aspen Art Museum building by Shigeru Ban similarly reflects a complex and contradictory identity with its bold design which confronted notions of local identity expressed in the built environment. Despite engaged citizenry and carefully crafted planning directives, the resulting design did not reflect locally produced culture but instead revealed the influence of international capital in the urban fabric.
Originality/value
This study examines the tension between hyper-local concerns and international status enacted on a single site in a small yet metropolitan place in the American West offering insights regarding the emplacement of buildings and the subsequent impacts on a place. As cities and institutions move beyond placeless iconic architecture, architecture and urban planning practice will need to adapt to the new paradigm where buildings can be at once global yet also local, drawing on innovative design practices and local culture in the construction of place.
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Judith Pettigrew, Katie Robinson, Brid Dunne and Jennifer O' Mahoney
Major gaps exist in the documented history of occupational therapy in Ireland. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to filling these gaps by providing an overview of three…
Abstract
Purpose
Major gaps exist in the documented history of occupational therapy in Ireland. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to filling these gaps by providing an overview of three major transitions in Irish occupational therapy in the century preceding the opening of St. Joseph?s College of Occupational Therapy in 1963. Research on occupational therapy’s past is valuable not only for recording and commemorating key events and individuals but also for allowing reflection on and questioning of contemporary practice and assumptions.
Design/methodology/approach
This descriptive paper draws on multiple documentary sources to present an overview of the first 100 years of the use of occupation as therapy/occupational therapy in Ireland from 1863 to 1963.
Findings
Three major transitions in occupational therapy in Ireland are presented: from moral treatment and the use of occupation as therapy to medical patronage of occupational therapy, from medical patronage to the early/pre-professional era and finally from the pre-professional era to the era of professionally qualified occupational therapists. To illustrate these transitions, a small number of individuals and their contributions are discussed including Dr Eamon O’Sullivan, Dr Ada English, Donal Kelly, Olga Gale and Ann Beckett.
Originality/value
This paper charts the foundations upon which the currently thriving profession of occupational therapy are built. The Association of Occupational Therapists of Ireland recently celebrated their 50th anniversary (AOTI, 2015a), and in 2017, it is 100 years since occupational therapy was formalised in Clifton Springs, New York, USA. Occupational therapy is a relatively young profession, and great opportunities exist to research its history in Ireland to capture the memories and experiences of the pioneers who laid the foundation of the profession as well as to situate the development of the profession in the broader social, cultural and scientific contexts within which it developed.
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