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1 – 10 of over 1000Larry W. Isaac, Daniel B. Cornfield and Dennis C. Dickerson
Knowledge of how social movements move, diffuse, and expand collective action events is central to movement scholarship and activist practice. Our purpose is to extend…
Abstract
Knowledge of how social movements move, diffuse, and expand collective action events is central to movement scholarship and activist practice. Our purpose is to extend sociological knowledge about how movements (sometimes) diffuse and amplify insurgent actions, that is, how movements move. We extend movement diffusion theory by drawing a conceptual analogue with military theory and practice applied to the case of the organized and highly disciplined nonviolent Nashville civil rights movement in the late 1950s and early 1960s. We emphasize emplacement in a base-mission extension model whereby a movement base is built in a community establishing a social movement school for inculcating discipline and performative training in cadre who engage in insurgent operations extended from that base to outlying events and campaigns. Our data are drawn from secondary sources and semi-structured interviews conducted with participants of the Nashville civil rights movement. The analytic strategy employs a variant of the “extended case method,” where extension is constituted by movement agents following paths from base to outlying campaigns or events. Evidence shows that the Nashville movement established an exemplary local movement base that led to important changes in that city but also spawned traveling movement cadre who moved movement actions in an extensive series of pathways linking the Nashville base to events and campaigns across the southern theater of the civil rights movement. We conclude with theoretical and practical implications.
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Larry W. Isaac, Daniel B. Cornfield, Dennis C. Dickerson, James M. Lawson and Jonathan S. Coley
While it is generally well known that nonviolent collective action was widely deployed in the US southern civil rights movement, there is still much that we do not know about how…
Abstract
While it is generally well known that nonviolent collective action was widely deployed in the US southern civil rights movement, there is still much that we do not know about how that came to be. Drawing on primary data that consist of detailed semistructured interviews with members of the Nashville nonviolent movement during the late 1950s and 1960s, we contribute unique insights about how the nonviolent repertoire was diffused into one movement current that became integral to moving the wider southern movement. Innovating with the concept of serially linked movement schools – locations where the deeply intense work took place, the didactic and dialogical labor of analyzing, experimenting, creatively translating, and resocializing human agents in preparation for dangerous performance – we follow the biographical paths of carriers of the nonviolent Gandhian repertoire as it was learned, debated, transformed, and carried from India to the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) and Howard University to Nashville (TN) and then into multiple movement campaigns across the South. Members of the Nashville movement core cadre – products of the Nashville movement workshop schools – were especially important because they served as bridging leaders by serially linking schools and collective action campaigns. In this way, they played critical roles in bridging structural holes (places where the movement had yet to be successfully established) and were central to diffusing the movement throughout the South. Our theoretical and empirical approach contributes to the development of the dialogical perspective on movement diffusion generally and to knowledge about how the nonviolent repertoire became integral to the US civil rights movement in particular.
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Managers and executives joining an organisation represent asignificant investment, yet few organisations have developed processesthat help an executive move successfully into the…
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Managers and executives joining an organisation represent a significant investment, yet few organisations have developed processes that help an executive move successfully into the new role. Why allocating resources to integrating a newly hired executive is imperative is explored, together with key steps in the integration process; and a series of critical questions on which newly hired executives should reflect. Also a comprehensive model of the executive integration process is outlined. The latter covers the three basic stages in the integration: reality testing; building rapport; and defining success, as well as the critical constituencies; boss, team, organ‐isation, and wider community. The author′s experience of working with senior executives, initially as a consultant and currently as Vice President, Management Development, for the Lawson Mardon Group, a billion‐dollar international printing and packaging conglomerate based in Toronto, Canada is also drawn upon.
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Tom Bourner, Liz Beaty, John Lawson and Suzanne O’Hara
Questions where and for whom action learning might not work and seeks to find the limits of the method. Suggests that by better understanding the situations in which action…
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Questions where and for whom action learning might not work and seeks to find the limits of the method. Suggests that by better understanding the situations in which action learning works least well, its more effective use will be more fully understood.
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The paper's aim is to suggest a new micro‐thermonuclear reactor for aerospace.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper's aim is to suggest a new micro‐thermonuclear reactor for aerospace.
Design/methodology/approach
Methods of the thermonuclear physics are used for the research.
Findings
The result is new micro‐thermonuclear reactor with very small fuel pellet that uses plasma confinement generated by multi‐reflection of laser beam or its own magnetic field. The Lawson criterion increases by hundreds of times. The author also suggests a new method of heating the power‐making fuel pellet by outer electric current as well as new direct method of transformation of ion kinetic energy into harvestable electricity. These offered innovations dramatically decrease the size, weight and cost of thermonuclear reactor, installation, propulsion system and electric generator.
Practical implications
The author is researching the efficiency of these innovations for two types of the micro‐thermonuclear reactors: multi‐reflection reactor (inertial confinement fusion) and self‐magnetic reactor (magnetic confinement fusion).
Originality/value
The author offers several innovations. Results may be used for the design of thermonuclear aerospace engines, propulsion and electric generators.
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As organizations strive to do more with less, the external consultingmarket is becoming an invaluable corporate resource. Outlines thedifficulties of moving into the competitive…
Abstract
As organizations strive to do more with less, the external consulting market is becoming an invaluable corporate resource. Outlines the difficulties of moving into the competitive and overcrowded consulting market. Suggests four critical areas of development for the novice or the consultant struggling to find his/her feet. Argues that each of these consulting competences is integral to the whole learning cycle of becoming a consultant. But concludes that success still depends on innate curiosity, determination, a willingness to ask tough questions and a will to win.
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Norma Raynes, Pat Margiotta, John Lawson and Dimitrios Pagidas
The importance of providing clear, relevant information and advice for older people has been recognised by health care professionals, politicians and policy makers. Key policies…
Abstract
The importance of providing clear, relevant information and advice for older people has been recognised by health care professionals, politicians and policy makers. Key policies (Better Government for Older People, 1998; Better Care Higher Standards, 2000; National Service Framework for Older People, 2001) have restated the importance of such provision specifically in relation to older people. A literature search and an examination of local authority websites were key sources of information for the study designed to explore the elements of guidelines for good practice. In addition we examined the websites of three major providers of information and advice for older people. Older people's views as to what constitutes good quality information and advice were explored in three focus groups. These four sources of data are the basis for the findings reported in this paper. This paper reports the limitations in the existing provision of information and advice for older people. Key features emerging from the research were that the involvement of older people in every stage of the process of design, production, dissemination and monitoring of information and advice was necessary. Older people valued face‐to‐face contact in the provision of information and advice.
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Describes the approach to replacement and succession planningsuccessfully used by the human resource function of a Canadian packaginggroup. The approach is based on the evaluation…
Abstract
Describes the approach to replacement and succession planning successfully used by the human resource function of a Canadian packaging group. The approach is based on the evaluation of seven essential behavioural characteristics for managers as criteria separately for replacement (today) and succession (three to five years on). Advocates the development of both generic and job‐focused behavioural competences and the institutionalization of succession/replacement planning.
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The fast food industry has become a focus of media criticism forits apparent lack of interest in environmental and nutritional issues.Demonstrates the scale of the industry′s…
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The fast food industry has become a focus of media criticism for its apparent lack of interest in environmental and nutritional issues. Demonstrates the scale of the industry′s response and provides an objective assessment of current initiatives which have been specifically designed to improve the image of fast food companies. The greatest momentum for change has inevitably been associated with the major American fast food chains which are introducing more environmentally‐friendly packaging, accessory‐recycling and lower fat products. In the process they are gaining a competitive advantage over smaller domestic fast food companies and this fact alone will ensure the introduction of more initiatives in the future. Care for the environment and for consumer health have consequently become high‐profile marketing concerns.
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