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This paper discusses a collaboration between sociologists and optometrists that involved, first, an investigation of communication and interaction in eye examinations and, second, a transformation of the findings into assessable impact. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how from the start of this project close cooperation between academics and practitioners has paved the way for the generation of academic contributions and impact on the teaching and training of optometrists. The authors also briefly discuss how their cooperation has continued since the original research and impact projects to address further issues of relevance to both academics and practicing optometrists.

This research project was developed to maximise the impact of the research by creating a cooperative relationship between social scientists and optometrists. As the research produced its first findings, the team began to create teaching and training material to help optometrists improve their communication skills. The research project was followed by an college of optometrists ESRC (College of Optometrists co-funded) funded Knowledge Exchange project (KEP) that involved members of the research team, the College of Optometrists (CoO) and practicing optometrists. Together, the authors discussed the research finding and how they could be turned into practical impact, such as educational material, of use for optometrists and those teaching and training optometrists.

The focus of our research has been on the opening of eye examination and on the production of a small number of tests conducted to assess patients’ vision. Future research will include a broader variety of tests and particularly explore the closing of eye examinations as here optometrists who are primarily concerned with clinical questions begin to hand over patients to the commercial arm of the practice. Findings from the extension of the collaboration of social scientists and academics will lead to the advancement of teaching and training material published in professional magazines and offered online to the members of the CoO.

The assessable impact developed from the research findings includes articles and assessments published in professional magazines, workshops delivered at optometry conferences, courses on communication in eye examinations taught at university and an online course for members of the CoO. These activities allow practicing optometrists to collect professional development points (CPD) required to continue practicing as optometrists. Based on the KEP, the authors continued to produce CPD material and together with the CoO developed a credit-bearing online course for the College’s members that within the first year had an enrolment of almost 600 optometrists nine months after its publication.

The research and impact case have been used to develop teaching and training material that practicing optometrists use to improve their communication and interaction with patients. Thus, the cooperation between social scientists and optometrists has been effective in contributing to the improvement of a critical health service. Moreover, the project has demonstrated how the close cooperation between social scientists and practitioners in the development and undertaking of a research project can be a powerful way to ensure the practical and social impact of research.

The originality of this paper is grounded in the close cooperation between social scientists and practicing optometrists already at inception of the research project. This cooperation underpins the generation of contributions to academic discourse in the social sciences, such as discussions on interaction in health services, and of practical and social implications. The authors have experienced the cooperation between social scientists and (practicing) optometrists not only as beneficial to the development of assessable impact but also as a project utterly enjoyable and rewarding to all members of the team.

The purpose of this is to add both to the development of complex systems thinking in the subject area of operations and production management and to the limited number of applications of computational models and simulations from the science of complex systems. The latter potentially offer helpful decision‐support tools for operations and production managers.

A mechanical engineering firm was used as a case study where a combined qualitative and quantitative methodological approach was employed to extract the required data from four senior managers. Company performance measures as well as firm technologies, practices and policies, and their relation and interaction with one another, were elicited. The data were subjected to an evolutionary complex systems (ECS) model resulting in a series of simulations.

The findings highlighted the effects of the diversity in management decision making on the firm's evolutionary trajectory. The CEO appeared to have the most balanced view of the firm, closely followed by the marketing and research and development managers. The manufacturing manager's responses led to the most extreme evolutionary trajectory where the integrity of the entire firm came into question particularly when considering how employees were utilised.

By drawing directly from the opinions and views of managers, rather than from logical “if‐then” rules and averaged mathematical representations of agents that characterise agent‐based and other self‐organisational models, this work builds on previous applications by capturing a micro‐level description of diversity that has been problematical both in theory and application.

This approach can be used as a decision‐support tool for operations and other managers providing a forum with which to explore: the strengths, weaknesses and consequences of different decision‐making capacities within the firm; the introduction of new manufacturing technologies, practices and policies; and the different evolutionary trajectories that a firm can take.

With the inclusion of “micro‐diversity”, ECS modelling moves beyond the self‐organisational models that populate the literature but has not as yet produced a great many practical simulation results. This work is a step in that direction.

This paper aims to develop an approach for improving linguistic skills to enhance work collaboration.

A framework has been developed using principles of complex systems thinking, cultural‐historical activity theory and theories of intercultural communication in an action research setting.

Organisational development and change are never a straightforward task, which the case clearly demonstrates. These are tension‐filled processes of continuously changing power relationships and distances between people. The development of shared sense making is an iterative learning process. Co‐developing shared communication strategies enhances dialogue and collaboration.

A single and in practice unsuccessful case has been the basis of the research findings. Although saturation of data was therefore never reached, typical inhibiting factors were brought to the surface. Controversy and underlying inhibitions may not always be easy to detect in successful cases. The understanding from this unsuccessful case may therefore be helpful for further research.

Collaboration and change in the workplace are complex processes and are therefore difficult to implement. Collective approaches for developing communication strategies are highly dependent on including all affected actors.

The realisation of the complexity of organisational change processes is important. This creates an awareness of a need and responsibility for everyone affected to try and co‐develop the practices for change. It is the bringing together of the diverse experiences into learning processes through dialogue that facilitates these changes. There must be an appreciation that the outcome is still unpredictable in a process of change. Collective ownership of the changes is essential for success.

This chapter explores the ways in which cybernetics influenced the works of F. A. Hayek from the late 1940s onward. It shows that the concept of negative feedback, borrowed from cybernetics, was central to Hayek’s attempt to explain the principle of the emergence of human purposive behavior. Next, the chapter discusses Hayek’s later uses of cybernetic ideas in his works on the spontaneous formation of social orders. Finally, Hayek’s view on the appropriate scope of the use of cybernetics is considered.

With three credited scriptwriters and five credited directors, the 1967 release of Casino Royale saw a gang of multifaceted James Bond 007s facing off against an army of beautiful, hypersexualised, personality-less female spies, headed by the real James Bond’s neurotic, insecure, American nephew Jimmy. Perhaps this wasn’t Fleming’s intended storyline for Bond’s first outing at Casino Royale, but the resulting parodic outing absorbed and commented upon some of the inherent gendered archetypes of Fleming’s work. What the 1967 Casino Royale accomplishes is a narrative which contrasts varieties of masculinity which are segmented forms of the masculinity defined by Fleming’s Bond. This chapter compares the masculinity of Bond developed in Fleming’s novel, before examining the representations of masculinity inherent within the four key male characters: Sir James Bond (David Niven), Evelyn Tremble (Peter Sellers), Cooper (Terence Cooper) and Dr Noah/Jimmy Bond (Woody Allen). By showing the depictions of masculine elements each of these characters embodies, along with the metanarrative elements of each performer’s persona, this chapter aims to identify how the 1967 Casino Royale both faithfully depicts the masculine elements of Bond while at the same time satirizing Bond’s particular brand of masculinity. This examination ultimately argues that this segmentation of Bondian masculinity is the core point of cohesion in a deeply incoherent, parodic film adaptation of Fleming’s novel.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

This chapter provides an introduction both to some major issues and concerns in the area of population health and major health problems, especially chronic health problems, and to the overall volume. The topic of population health is reviewed, beginning with the more public health approach of Kindig and that attempt to define the term and the outcomes of interests. The chapter will then move to an examination of the linkages between population health from a more specifically sociological perspective, and especially to relationships between social structure, including socioeconomic status, and health. The last part of this introductory chapter briefly discusses the other sections in the book and each of the chapters within those sections.

The purpose of this paper was to examine the definitions of global leadership and indigenous leadership, identify leadership capacities inherent in human resource development (HRD) and determine relationships of the three as a means to develop a model to aid and guide opportunities for future research.

Following a two-stage integrative literature review of HRD, global and indigenous leadership literature, the grounded theory constant comparative method established 31 positive and 1 negative leadership domains, and respective capacities, and compare domains from literature.

The Global Leadership Capacity Wheel informs researchers of strengths and areas for additional research, has resulted in a more complete model of global leadership and calls for increased clarity for leadership capacity model development, especially for complex, global environments and local constructs and theories.

Although the literature had adequate representation in the business and organizational acumen and managing people and relationships central global leadership domains, more research and reporting is required for managing self and indigenous leadership capacity development subdomains.

Leadership development is a high priority and core function of HRD. The Global Leadership Capacity Wheel provides a tool for scholars and practitioners to guide global leadership development programs and research.

Understanding the relationships of leadership capacities from global and indigenous perspectives is helpful to examine cultural, identity and macro-contextual dimensions and their influence on leadership.

The Global Leadership Capacity Wheel provides a type of road-map, a holistic representation, in the context of developing global leaders in today’s complex environment.

Interest in employee mindfulness has increased dramatically in recent years, fueled by several important conceptual articles, numerous studies documenting the benefits of mindfulness for employee outcomes, and the adoption of mindfulness-based practices in many Fortune 500 organizations. Despite this growing interest, the vast majority of research on employee mindfulness has taken an intrapersonal focus, failing to appreciate the ways in which mindfulness may enhance work-related relational processes and outcomes. The authors explore possible associations between mindfulness and relationally oriented workplace phenomena, drawing from interdisciplinary scholarship examining mindfulness in romantic relationships, child–parent relationships, patient–healthcare provider relationships, and student–teacher relationships. A framework is proposed that links mindfulness to three distinct relationally oriented processes, which are expected to have downstream effects on work-related relational outcomes. The authors then take the proposed framework and discuss possible extensions to a variety of unique workplace relationships and discuss critical next steps in advancing the relational science of mindfulness.

The aim of this chapter is to investigate the context dependence of the implications of telework for work–family conflict. It examines whether and how the implications of telework for strain-based and time-based work–family conflict depend on work–family-supportive and high-demand workplace cultures. Based on a sample of 4,898 employees derived from a unique linked employer–employee study involving large organizations in different industries in Germany, multilevel fixed-effects regressions were estimated.

The results show that telework is associated with perceived higher levels of both time-based and strain-based work–family conflict, and that this is partly related to overtime work involved in telework. However, teleworkers experience higher levels of work–family conflict if they perceive their workplace culture to be highly demanding, and lower levels if supervisor work–family support is readily available.

Future research is required to investigate how the conclusions from this research vary between heterogonous employees and how work–family-supportive and high-demand workplace cultures interrelate in their implications on the use of telework for work–family conflict.

The findings show how important it is to implement telework in a way that not only accommodates employers’ interest in flexibilization, but that it also makes it possible to reconcile work with a family life that involves high levels of responsibility.

This is the first study which examines whether telework is either a resource that reduces or a demand that promotes work–family conflict by focusing on whether this depends on perceived workplace culture.