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The Godfather theory of management is a power and control model of leadership. Explains a process whereby leaders can move a dysfunctional and subversive organization into the realm of a quality organization. Although the theme of the article is based on the Godfather series of motion pictures, the reality of the management style focuses on principles of organizational behaviour. The author continually stresses that Godfather Management is transitional management and cannot sustain itself over an extended period of time. Provides a model to assist leaders in the retention, the selection, and the elimination of individuals within either the organizational structure or the leadership team. Discusses a systematic method for new leaders to initially assess the organizational culture and to make the changes necessary for long‐term success.

The purpose of this paper is to theorize the theory-practice gap and to provide examples of how it currently expresses itself and how it might be addressed to better integrate between the worlds of thought and praxis.

Two empirical examples exemplify how the theory-practice gap is an institutionally embodied social reality. Cultural-historical activity theory is described as a means for theorizing the inevitable gap. An example from the airline industry shows how the gap may be dealt with in, and integrated into, practice.

Cultural-historical activity theory suggests different forms of consciousness to exist in different activity systems because of the different object/motives in the world in which we think and the practical world in which we live. A brief case study of the efforts of one airline to integrate reflection on practice (i.e. theory) into their on-the-job training shows how the world in which pilots think about what they do is made part of the world in which pilots live.

First, in some cases, such as teacher education, institutional arrangements can be made to situate education/training in the workplace. Second, even in the training systems with high fidelity, high validity (transferability) cannot be guaranteed.

The approach proposed provides a theory not only for understanding the theory-practice gap but also the gap that exists even between very high-fidelity (“photo-realistic”) training situations and the real-world praxis full of surprises.

The authors summarise developments in Polish real estate markets in the post‐Communist era, commenting on the lack of professional infrastructure to support corporations opening or expanding their businesses in the country. They explain the artificial restrictions on supply and the lack of uniform standards in the early stages of the market. These issues are illustrated by a case study in relation to office premises in Warsaw.

This study aims to contribute to current research on team learning patterns. It specifically addresses some negative perceptions of the job performance learning pattern.

Over a period of three years, qualitative and quantitative data were gathered on pilot learning in the workplace. The instructional modes included face-to-face classroom-based training; pilots assessing pre-recorded videos in classroom-based training; pilots assessing videos with fellow pilot of similar rank (paired training); pilots undertaking traditional 4-hour simulator session with 1-hour debriefing using a variety of technologies for replaying the simulator session; and pilots undertaking 2-hour simulator sessions with extended 3-hour debriefing utilizing simulator replay video.

Although traditional classroom-based, face-to-face instruction was viewed as acceptable, pilots who critically assessed the practice of other pilots in pre-recorded videos felt empowered by transferring classroom instruction to the workplace. The study also establishes a need to determine the correct balance between high-workload simulator training and low-workload debriefing.

A move towards developing a typology for workplace learning patterns was viewed negatively if job performance was the focus. However, pilot practitioners felt empowered when provided with the right mix of performance-oriented learning opportunities, especially when these provided an appropriate mix of high-fidelity simulations with time for reflection on practice.

By focusing on one learning pattern – job performance – the paper demonstrates the benefits of learning via a variety of instructional modes. Whereas aviation has a unique workplace environment, many other high- and low-risk industries are acknowledging the impact of technical and non-technical skills on job performance. This may suggest that findings from this study are transferable across a broader range of workplace settings.

The findings demonstrate that broadening research across many professional workplace settings may assist in developing a more robust framework for the micro-organization of each workplace learning pattern.

The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 shook the Soviet Union to the core and provided the West with the iconic image of the freedom fighter willing to risk all for the cause of freedom. The pathos of the lost cause provided Hungarians with a new set of heroes akin to those of the failed 1848 Revolution, the best known being Prime Minister Imre Nagy who was executed for siding with the revolutionaries in their bid to establish a sovereign republic. His belated funeral on June 16, 1989 undermined the moral and political authority of the communist regime that had attempted to consign Nagy and his confederates to oblivion and seemed to mimic Emile Durkheim's analysis of piaculum and the conscience collective. But the spectacle of Nagy's funeral only temporarily shrouded significant differences between and within those factions demanding pluralist society, most recently revealed in the acrimonious celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution. These debates are rooted in Hungary's deeply troubled past that strongly questioned republican values in contrast to the authoritarian values of the Hapsburg monarchy, alliance with the Axis, genocide, and its relationship to communism in the wake of the disaster of World War II. Jacques Derrida tells us that it is not easy to exorcise our ghosts; instead, we are prompted to reconstruction. Memory studies, stimulated by studies of the Holocaust, transformed the sociological imagination (especially Friedlander, 1993; LaCapra, 1998a, 1998b, 1998c, 1998d). There has been what Michael Roth referred to as “a turning of oneself so as to be in relation to the past” as an act of witness. The traumatic memory of the 1956 Revolution provides yet another case in which a traumatic past is still salient to the political actors in the contemporary arena. This chapter immerses itself in the emergence of historical sociology and with it “memory studies,” that is: (1) the relationship between identity, memory, and embodiment; and (2) the relationship between historical circumstance and collective memory formation (described in diverse approaches such as Adorno, 1959; 1997; Nora, 1989; Postone, Martha, & Kobyashi 2009). In particular, there is in historical sociology an emergent interest in (1) commemorative practices, memorializing addresses, memento; and (2) the struggles over memory, remembering, and forgetting.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight some methodological problems concerning the neglect of participants' voices by workplace ethnographers and neglect of the highly interactional and co‐constructive nature of research interviewing. The study aims to use discourse analysis, to show the phenomena of workplace learning and expertise to be constituted in participants' talk.

From excerpts of natural talk and research interviews by fish culturists speaking about their learning in a salmon hatchery, discourse analysis is used to analyze how workplace learning and expertise are rhetorically performed.

The paper finds that fish culturists drew on two discursive repertoires/resources – school‐ and workplace‐based learning – to account for their learning and expertise. The main participant affirmed the primacy of interest and practical workplace experience in his job just as he presupposed a weak correlation between school‐based (theoretical) and workplace (practical) knowing. However, both kinds of learning were deemed important though articulating this view depended on the social contexts of its production.

Discourse analysis does not establish immutable truths about workplace learning and expertise but rather it is used to understand how these are made accountable through talk in real‐time, that is, how the phenomenon is “done” by participants.

There is increased sensitivity when using ethnographic and interview methods. No method can avoid being theory‐laden in its conduct and reporting but discourse analysis perhaps does it better than its alternatives.

While some contributors to this journal have also approached workplace learning from a discursive perspective, this paper attempts to understand the phenomenon solely from participants' categories and interpretations.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the contradictions in the current maritime education and training system (MET), which is based on competency‐based education, training and assessment, and to theorize the failure to make the training useful.

A case study of education and training in the international maritime domain was conducted. Data sources include historical documents, rules and regulations concerning MET, syllabi, handouts, sample questions, field notes, an ethnographic study in a maritime college and interviews conducted with experienced mariners and course lecturer.

There are contradictions in the education and training system that do not allow the targeted objectives to be fulfilled. Fundamentally, the assessment system has changed the objectives of the education and training practices from learning skills and knowledge required on‐board ships to passing competency examinations.

The practical implication of this research is valuable for the International Maritime Organization, marine administration and maritime training institutes to think over the competency‐based system in practice today and how to improve the present maritime training and assessment system in order to achieve its authentic objectives.

This research identified and bridged the gap in literature and research of competency‐based training and assessment in the maritime domain and provides practical solutions for improving this system.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the transitions practitioners undergo as they move from dental school to their first job in a dental clinic and their learning in the workplace. The paper aims to investigate their use of ethical principles as they engage in practice, providing a theoretical explanation for the gap practitioners experience when moving from the school to the workplace, and also suggesting some viable alternatives for dental education.

The database for this study consists of videotaped interviews with dentists. To analyze our data we followed the principles of interaction analysis, analyzing the data both individually and collectively, until some hypotheses were generated. Then, discourse analysis was used to analyze the interviews.

From an activity theoretical perspective, the results show that dentists can and do learn ethical principles when working in their dental clinics, interacting with patients, and the findings and suggestions are of especial interest for curriculum planning and development in educational institutions.

This study suggests that theoretical discussions about ethics are not enough to provide practitioners with the skills necessary to work ethically when interacting with patients. From the findings a complementary approach to teach ethics in dental schools is suggested.

Workplace learning has become a preferred topic within many disciplines, such as, for example, sociology, education, and anthropology. However, although there is an established field of medical sociology, little if any attention on workplace learning has been paid to the health sciences in general and dentistry in particular.

Agricultural yield and commodity prices are very sensitive to weather patterns such as drought, excessive rain, or frost. Consequently, unseasonable weather can cause major losses for players in the agricultural value chain, including input providers, farmers, commodity traders, and food processors. In this paper information recorded by PriceWaterhouseCoopers on behalf of the Weather Risk Management Association is complemented by Swiss Re’s market intelligence to examine demand patterns for weather risk transfer solutions. There is a particular focus on the evolution of demand from the energy sector compared to the agricultural sector as a means of identifying the critical success factors needed for a prospering market. Our findings show that recent growth in the weather risk transfer market is mainly related to speculative trading in the energy sector. Stakeholders in the agricultural sector around the world are growing increasingly interested in weather risk transfer products. However, the lack of exchange‐based instruments in this field, the relatively high basis risk between weather indexes and agricultural markets are still highly regulated, and inadequate information and training are all impeding the growth of this business.