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1 – 10 of 40Melissa Stoffers, Tia Navelene Barnes, Lauren Strickland, Joanne Jung, Kira Branch, Danika Perry and Danielle Hatchimonji
This study aims to understand the impact of a pilot of the actions against racism (AAR) intervention, aimed at enhancing educators’ multicultural efficacy and attitudes in a…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to understand the impact of a pilot of the actions against racism (AAR) intervention, aimed at enhancing educators’ multicultural efficacy and attitudes in a mid-Atlantic K-8 charter school.
Design/methodology/approach
AAR included eight sessions delivered over one school year. Experienced facilitators led these sessions, focusing on combating racism, prejudice and discrimination. Of the 84 school staff, 56 completed a baseline survey and 33 completed a postintervention survey.
Findings
Paired sample t-tests revealed a significant increase in multicultural attitudes, t(29) = 2.55, p = 0.016, whereas the increase in multicultural efficacy was not significant, t(28) = 1.93, p = 0.063. The authors examined cultural and emotional intelligence as moderators of the intervention’s impact. Higher baseline cognitive reappraisal scores (an indicator of emotional intelligence) were linked to a larger increase in multicultural efficacy from pre- to postintervention, B = −0.59, t (27) = −2.20, p = 0.037. The number of sessions attended was unrelated to the intervention’s impact.
Research limitations/implications
This study was a single-site, uncontrolled pilot of AAR with a small sample size. Further research in additional settings with appropriately powered samples is needed to validate these results and extend findings to examine the impact of AAR on the student experience.
Originality/value
The study demonstrates the promising potential of AAR in improving teachers' multicultural attitudes and efficacy. Exploratory findings highlight the role of cognitive reappraisal in enhancing multicultural efficacy, contributing valuable insights for designing effective teacher training programs. This research supports the implementation of critical, identity-centered and asset-based pedagogies in education.
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Keywords
- Anti-racist education
- Multicultural teacher training
- Teacher professional development
- K-8 educators
- Cultural competency
- Diversity and inclusion
- Cognitive reappraisal
- Emotional intelligence in teaching
- Reducing educational prejudice
- Combating discrimination in schools
- Identity-focused pedagogy
- Asset-based educational practices
Erik Døving and Irene Martín‐Rubio
The purpose of this paper is to analyze how team management affects team‐learning activities.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze how team management affects team‐learning activities.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors empirically study 68 teams as they operate in the natural business context of a major Spanish bank. Quantitative research utilizing multiple regression analyses is used to test hypotheses.
Findings
The leadership behaviour (consideration, initiation of structure) displayed by the team leader plays a key role in facilitating team learning. Team leader behaviour characterised by consideration and in particular by initiation of structure are both positively related to team‐learning activities. Cross‐training of team members also contributes to team‐learning behaviour.
Research limitations/implications
A specific setting may limit the generalizability of findings. Further research may accordingly investigate to what extent these results can be generalized to other settings or other aspects of team learning.
Practical implications
The leadership style adopted by the team leader, as well as cross‐training of members, affect team‐learning activities. These results link leadership theory to collective learning in teams and organizations, and suggest ways leaders can contribute to improved learning.
Originality/value
The study provides new insight into how management of teams facilitates team‐learning activities. While consideration is somewhat related to team learning, initiation of structure as well as cross‐training appear as key variables.
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Keywords
Patrick Lo, Robert Sutherland, Wei-En Hsu and Russ Girsberger
Peter Docherty, Mari Kira and Abraham B. (Rami) Shani
A work system may be said to exhibit social sustainability if it utilizes its human, social, economic, and ecological resources with responsibility. This entails using these…
Abstract
A work system may be said to exhibit social sustainability if it utilizes its human, social, economic, and ecological resources with responsibility. This entails using these resources in a non-exploitive way, regenerating them, and paying due attention to the needs and ambitions of its stakeholders in the short- and long-term. For most presently existing organizations attaining and maintaining sustainability requires a midcourse correction, a transformation process. This chapter reviews the main concepts regarding sustainability and previous research of organizational development in this context. It presents a four-phase model for this transformation process and illustrates the model's application in four different contexts. The results are discussed and directions for further research are presented.
Michael S. Mulvey and Beena E. Kavalam
The purpose of this paper is to gain deeper insight into the meanings that structure and impel consumer choice by overlaying findings from a metaphor elicitation study onto the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to gain deeper insight into the meanings that structure and impel consumer choice by overlaying findings from a metaphor elicitation study onto the results of a traditional means‐end laddering study.
Design/methodology/approach
First, laddering interviews were conducted to elicit the reasons that structure the college choice decision of students. A second study using metaphor elicitation techniques surfaced additional meanings that constitute and connect students' thoughts and feelings about their experiences at the college. Together, the two modes of interviewing yield deeper insight into personal relevance and consumer choice than offered by either alone.
Findings
Combining two modes of interviewing provides views at various levels of detail. Whereas laddering interviews use direct questioning to identify consumers' choice criteria, projective techniques rely on indirect questioning to surface the enduring and ephemeral feelings that charge consumer beliefs. Panning and zooming from the general structural overview provided by means‐end research to the nuance and detail surfaced by metaphor elicitation provides uncommon insight into the drivers of consumer choice.
Research limitations/implications
The time, effort, skill, and expense required for data collection, analysis, and interpretation are non‐trivial and may limit adoption of the two study approach.
Practical implications
The superimposition of metaphoric meanings onto consumer decision maps provides tremendous added value to managers aiming to enhance the creativity, relevance, and effectiveness of their marketing initiatives.
Originality/value
Melding two interview methods adds depth to means‐end research and lends structure to projective associations. The deeper insights into personal relevance and choice benefit academics and practitioners alike.
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Keywords
Irene Lopatovska, Tiffany Carcamo, Nicholas Dease, Elijah Jonas, Simen Kot, Grace Pamperien, Anthony Volpe and Kurt Yalcin
In an effort to advance visual literacy (VL) education, the purpose of this paper is to develop and test a VL instruction program for 2.5-4-year-old children in a public library…
Abstract
Purpose
In an effort to advance visual literacy (VL) education, the purpose of this paper is to develop and test a VL instruction program for 2.5-4-year-old children in a public library setting.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was designed as a series of VL workshops for young public library visitors. Each workshop collected information about children’s existing VL knowledge, introduced them to new visual concepts, and measured their engagement and comprehension of the newly acquired material. The study data were collected via questionnaires and observations.
Findings
Most of the children who participated in the study workshops showed a solid baseline knowledge of colors, lines, shapes and textures and were actively engaged in instruction. After the instruction, children generally showed an improved understanding of the newly introduced VL concepts and were able to answer questions related to the new concepts, recognize them in images, and apply them in art projects.
Research limitations/implications
The study relied on a relatively small sample of library visitors in an affluent neighborhood. The findings are influenced by variations in the topics and delivery methods of instruction. The study findings might not be generalizable beyond the US context.
Practical implications
The study methods and findings would be useful to VL educators who work with children.
Social implications
As information continues to proliferate in non-textual contexts, VL is becoming an increasingly important educational goal. The study advances a VL agenda and advocates for introducing VL early in life.
Originality/value
The authors are not aware of any other study that tested VL instruction on a group of very young children in a public library.
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Kira Strandby and Søren Askegaard
This chapter builds on Georges Bataille’s analysis of waste as a constitutive element of social life. We argue that two separate but intertwined dimensions included in the idea of…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter builds on Georges Bataille’s analysis of waste as a constitutive element of social life. We argue that two separate but intertwined dimensions included in the idea of waste, waste as sacrifice and waste as competition, can enhance our understanding of the role of the lavish wedding in contemporary consumer society. We suggest four categories of waste as constitutive of the meanings of the wedding universe: pure waste, lavish waste, simulated waste and anti-waste.
Methodology
We use a combination of netnography and long interviews to explore notions of waste in Danish weddings. The netnography was conducted in a Danish wedding forum, where informants for the long interviews were also recruited among the members.
Findings
We find that the four dimensions of waste suggested in our theorization are indeed found in the way consumers plan and enact their weddings. In particular, the notion of sacrificial expenditure – what we call “pure waste” in our context – is indeed present in contemporary weddings.
Research limitations/implications
This research is undertaken in a Danish context, which represents a particular historical and cultural framing of the wedding ceremony and its types of expenditure. We encourage research in other cultural contexts to elaborate on our findings.
Originality/value of chapter
Without denying the fundamental symbolic character of consumption activities, we argue that, more generally, a Bataillean perspective on consumption and waste can further our understanding of the limits of the symbolic character in consumer research, since it underlines the more corporeal experience of certain consumption rituals.
Hanne Vesala and Seppo Tuomivaara
The rise of knowledge work has entailed controversial characteristics for well-being at work. Increased intensification, discontinuities and interruptions at work have been…
Abstract
Purpose
The rise of knowledge work has entailed controversial characteristics for well-being at work. Increased intensification, discontinuities and interruptions at work have been reported. However, knowledge workers have the opportunity to flexibly adjust their work arrangements to support their concentration, inspiration or recuperation. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the experienced well-being of 46 knowledge workers was subject to changes during and after a retreat type telework period in rural archipelago environment.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a longitudinal survey among the participants at three points in time: one to three weeks before, during, and two to eight weeks after the period. The authors analyzed the experienced changes in psychosocial work environment and well-being at work by the measurement period by means of repeated measures variance analysis. In the next step the authors included the group variable of occupational position to the model.
Findings
The analysis showed a decrease in the following measures: experienced time pressure, interruptions, negative feelings at work, exhaustiveness of work as well as stress and an increase in work satisfaction. There were no changes in experienced job influence, clarity of work goals and work engagement. Occupational position had some effect to the changes. Private entrepreneurs and supervisors experienced more remarkable effects of improvement in work-related well-being than subordinates. However, the effects were less sustainable for the supervisors than the other two groups.
Originality/value
This paper provides insights into how work and well-being are affected by the immediate work environment and how well-being at work can be supported by retreat type telework arrangements.
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