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1 – 10 of 17Christopher J. Coyne, Courtney Michaluk and Rachel Reese
US military contracting has been plagued by systematic corruption, fraud, and waste during both times of peace and war. These outcomes result from the inherent features of the US…
Abstract
Purpose
US military contracting has been plagued by systematic corruption, fraud, and waste during both times of peace and war. These outcomes result from the inherent features of the US military sector which incentivize unproductive entrepreneurship. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on the insights of Baumol (1990) as their base theoretical framework, the authors explore how the industrial organization of the US military sector creates incentives for unproductive entrepreneurship. Evidence from US government reports regarding US efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq is provided to illustrate the central claims.
Findings
The military sector is characterized by an entangled network of government bureaus and private firms whose existence is dependent on continued government spending. These realities, coupled with a dysfunctional procurement processes, reward unproductive behaviors during peacetime. During wartime these incentives are intensified, as significant emergency resources are injected into an already defective contracting system. The recent experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq illustrate these dynamics.
Originality/value
The authors make three main contributions. First, contrary to common treatments by economists, much military spending fails to meet the definition of a public good. Second, waste, fraud, and abuse in military contracting is a result of rules and the incentives those rules create. Third, the only way to change the situation is to change the overarching rules governing the people operating in the military sector.
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The purpose of this paper is to encourage librarians to teach digital archiving practices to journalists as a way of giving journalists the skills they need to save their work for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to encourage librarians to teach digital archiving practices to journalists as a way of giving journalists the skills they need to save their work for future use and to facilitate the preservation of journalism for posterity.
Design/methodology/approach
The author has reviewed the personal digital archiving literature and analyzed how it might be specifically tailored to the unique needs of journalists.
Findings
Daily journalism has traditionally been preserved by libraries in the form of newspapers and magazines housed in library periodicals departments. Now that nearly all journalism is published online and libraries generally only have access via temporary subscriptions, libraries are prevented from doing any kind of traditional preservation work (e.g. storing copies locally). In the future, this lack of local preservation may lead to a shortage of early twenty-first century primary source material for historians.
Research limitations/implications
The needs of journalists do vary greatly based on the nature and format of their work and its publication venue, making it difficult to offer a single set of standards or recommendations.
Originality/value
While personal digital archiving advocates have generally interpreted the word “personal” to be synonymous with “private,” this paper points to the need to expand the concept to include professional activities, particularly in light of the prevalence of telecommuting and freelance work arrangements, and the lack of support and training received by remote workers and independent contractors.
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From the point of view of reference service, the crucial fact about my desert island is that I am its sole human resident: I am therefore the sole potential recipient of any…
Abstract
From the point of view of reference service, the crucial fact about my desert island is that I am its sole human resident: I am therefore the sole potential recipient of any service I may manage to create, hence the sole subject of whatever user study seems called for. One Finding of the latter being, by the way, that I can meet my life‐survival needs simply by exploiting, thoughtlessly and effortlessly, my island's resources. Its climate is mild, it harbors nothing immediately or remotely dangerous to me, and it offers me a never failing and perfectly balanced diet.
From the point of view of reference service, the crucial fact about my desert island is that I am its sole human resident: I am therefore the sole potential recipient of any…
Abstract
From the point of view of reference service, the crucial fact about my desert island is that I am its sole human resident: I am therefore the sole potential recipient of any service I may manage to create, hence the sole subject of whatever user study seems called for. One finding of the latter being, by the way, that I can meet my life‐survival needs simply by exploiting, thoughtlessly and effortlessly, my island's resources. Its climate is mild, it harbors nothing immediately or remotely dangerous to me, and it offers me a never failing and perfectly balanced diet.
Bijaya Mishra and Jagan Mohan Reddy
This paper aims to provide an overview of the Organization Learning and Learning Organization concepts obtaining the perspectives of Professor Mary M. Crossan and presents an…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide an overview of the Organization Learning and Learning Organization concepts obtaining the perspectives of Professor Mary M. Crossan and presents an evolution of her immense contribution to the field over the past two decades.
Design/methodology/approach
A conversation with thought-leader, Professor Mary M. Crossan.
Findings
How different “character configurations” and “processes” enhance organization learning across levels in the organization.
Originality/value
The discussion with Professor Mary M. Crossan reveals her take on the evolution of the organizational learning framework and the significant role of the “Leader’s Character” in shaping organizational learning. Exploring this evolution provides the context and impetus to researchers and practice leaders to verify.
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Mary Tomsic and Claire Marika Deery
The purpose of this paper is to examine how the contemporary “refugee crisis” is being presented to children through picture books and teaching materials. It uses the concept of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how the contemporary “refugee crisis” is being presented to children through picture books and teaching materials. It uses the concept of refugeedom as an approach that takes into account the multiple facets involved in the forced movement of people in the past and present and seeks to show the value of historical understandings in educational contexts when framing resources for teachers and students.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper examines a sample of high-profile English language picture books about children’s stories of forced displacement and the most prominent freely available teaching materials connected to the books. A critical discursive analysis of the books and educative guides considers the ways in which ideas and information about forced displacement is framed for child readers and children in primary school classrooms. The context for the authors’ interest in exploring these books and educational resources is that in response to the numbers of children who are part of the current “refugee crisis” alongside a public call for the “crisis” to be explained to children.
Findings
The paper argues that picture books open up spaces for children to explore refugeedom through experiences of forced movement and various factors involved in the contemporary “refugee crisis”. In contrast, in the teaching resources and some peritextual materials, the child in the classroom is addressed as entirely disconnected from children who are forcibly displaced, students in classrooms are positioned to learn from the refugee “other”. When links are made between students in classroom and children who have been forcibly displaced it is through activities that position students in classrooms to imagine themselves as forcibly displaced, or to suggest they act within a humanitarian framework of welcoming or helping refugees. The authors believe that if teaching resources were more directly informed by discipline specific tools of historical concepts, more nuanced approaches to past and present histories of forced movement could be considered and from that more fruitful learning opportunities created for all students.
Practical implications
This research provides ideas about how materials to support the use of picture books in educational settings could be developed to promote historical thinking and contextualisation around key social and political issues in the world today. It also makes the case for historians to be involved in the creation of teaching materials in a collaborative way so that academic insights can be brought to teachers and students at all levels of education.
Originality/value
The value of this research is to understand how children are positioned in reading and learning about forced displacement and query the impact of decontextualised approaches to learning. It argues for the critical interpretative value that historical understanding can bring to present day issues which are history in the making.
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LET'S VARY LITERACEE with a little bibliographic burglaree. If you suddenly feel like humming The Pirates of Penzance or recollecting Gilbert and Sullivan, you are closely attuned…
Abstract
LET'S VARY LITERACEE with a little bibliographic burglaree. If you suddenly feel like humming The Pirates of Penzance or recollecting Gilbert and Sullivan, you are closely attuned to the bibliographic thoughts in my mind. Literary allusions are the rich overtones that make reading and writing a grand collaboration and a happy pursuit. An author may conscientiously write to convey ideas, but if a cut above the average, he always strives as did H. L. Mencken to express his ideas ‘in suave and ingratiating terms, and to discharge them with a flourish, and maybe with a phrase of pretty song’. His creative efforts will be mostly wasted, however, if his readers lack the requisite literary background and sophistication that would enable them to join in his game and share his earnest effusions. Literacy is never enough; a young child can read and understand the six one‐syllable words ‘who steals my purse, steals trash’, but that same child can grow to be a mighty old man without ever fully comprehending the sentence unless he reads Othello and studies Iago's presumptuous remarks on ‘Good name in man and woman’.
Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are…
Abstract
Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.
Shaw Tearle, Sam S. and Rachel R. Holt
There is a need to evaluate an adapted Equipping Youth to help One Another (EQUIP) programme for people with intellectual disabilities and forensic needs. The purpose of this…
Abstract
Purpose
There is a need to evaluate an adapted Equipping Youth to help One Another (EQUIP) programme for people with intellectual disabilities and forensic needs. The purpose of this paper is to explore a service user’s experience of completing the intervention as part of their transition into the community.
Design/methodology/approach
A collaborative case report was used. Following hospital discharge and completion of the adapted EQUIP programme, one service user with mild intellectual disability was supported to share their treatment experiences using participatory action research.
Findings
Findings suggest that while the adapted community EQUIP group can support skills acquisition (e.g. problem-solving), discharge processes and community reintegration, professionals need to maintain a person-centred approach mindful of participants’ complex emotional journeys.
Research limitations/implications
The design allows for tentative conclusions to be made about the service user’s journey and is not necessarily generalisable.
Practical implications
There is a pressing need to develop the evidence base for interventions offered in the community to people with intellectual disabilities and a history of offending. This report provides some evidence that EQUIP can be adapted to support this population.
Originality/value
This is the first coproduced publication exploring the experience of a service user with intellectual disability who completed an adapted EQUIP programme.
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