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The current chapter outlines the process through which New Religious Movement (NRM) membership is conceptualized as facilitating the development of increased reflexivity, in particular the development of an increased ability to connect to others. Based on the narratives of a subsample of 11 former members of NRMs for whom membership signified a desire for an increased ability to emotionally connect to others, a number of factors that are understood as having facilitated or inhibited this type of change were identified and are discussed. The findings extend previous theorizing of NRM as facilitating changes in the behaviors and beliefs of their members, and conceptualizes NRMs as possible avenues through which self-change at an emotional level can occur.

After Papua New Guinea’s contact with the western world several western scholars turned their attention toward the indigenous population and showed a special interest in the cults that were formed afterward as well as the (following) conversions of almost all indigenous population to the Christian faith. While the majority of the literature focuses on this process either as an act of desperation or as one of calculation, this chapter focuses on the practices in the actual process of “becoming a Christian,” viewing them as expressions of self-change and thus offering a new perspective for understanding those changes. Drawing on and expanding interactionist ideas of dramatic self-change, this chapter identifies the practices used to portray that a change of identity has occurred. Data was gathered through the analysis of existing anthropological and ethnological work, which provides information about a broad range of tribes, yet is limited to the information provided by the respective researcher. The practices found are divided into practices which need not be secured, which demonstrate the acceptance of the new religion in a way that is usually not challenged (like public confessions, verbal denigration of the old tradition, integration into the new structure, adopting new symbols, and destroying the old) and practices that need to be secured, ones which might be regarded as odd (like dramatizing enlightenment) and thus need another way of accounting to secure them from being challenged.

The purpose of this paper is to present a set of strategies for effective managerial self‐change within the substantive setting of a cleaned‐up bureaucracy.

Using inductive methodology, data have been collected and analysed from a large Australian public‐sector bureaucracy by means of 26 personal interviews conducted between 2000 and 2002.

A conceptual model of managerial self‐change is presented stressing the importance of both cognitive and behavioural strategies within the context of an “awareness‐understanding‐accomplishment” feedback loop and learning process. The model incorporates and extends some of the major concepts in the extant literature on thought self‐leadership and learned optimism by incorporating attributional analysis into managerial cognitive thought patterns. The findings also suggest refinements to the concept of managerial credibility within cleaned‐up bureaucracies.

Findings are derived on the basis of a substantive case study of one cleaned‐up bureaucracy in a particular country. Further research needs to expand this base to encompass other organizations in a wider range of countries across different cultures.

The model draws attention to how the behaviour of organisational subordinates within cleaned‐up bureaucracies is significantly affected by the attitudes and actions of their immediate manager. By adopting a set of strategies contained with the conceptual model, managers can learn how to change themselves.

The paper departs from the prevalent tendency of the extant literature to employ laboratory or experimentally derived data by using systematically gathered and grounded empirical data in a naturalistic organisational setting. Additionally, the findings have more to say about the nuances of a particular organisational context rather than generalising across numerous contextual environments.

The purpose of this paper is to identify psychosocial benefits that the race participants gained from participating in an adventure race (AR). The sample studied were participants of the Patagonian Expedition Race (PER), a multi-day AR that takes place in Chilean Patagonia.

Data were collected in the 2012 prior to, during, and after the event. Observations and semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven four-member teams. Video material and open-ended questionnaires from 2010 to 2012 editions of the event were analysed for validating the findings from the 2012 race study. Interview and observation data were analysed in four steps, including preparation phase (transcription of interviews), exploration phase (searching for themes), reduction phase, and interpretation. Notes from observations and other sources were added to the data during phase 2.

Six different types of psychosocial benefits of the PER participants emerged from the data analysis: the “flow” experience including immersion into the nature; the play state and changes between telic and para-telic meta-motivational states; exploration and tourist aspects; the creation of “communitas”, friendships, trust, and other social aspects; felt self-change; and the transferability of the benefits acquired to daily life.

The conclusions are limited by the sample size and the case study design. Hence, the study should be repeated in other adventure and expedition race settings and contrasted to studies in shorter ARs as well as in other types of small team sports.

The ARs gives opportunities for unique experiences of coping with nature in extreme conditions, thus developing personal insight and outdoor survival skills. The skills and personal development were applicable to everyday life. Moreover, similar races may be organized in different settings to provide varied options for athletes to participate in such races.

The benefits gained by the participants are considered useful for coping with demands in working life. This applied especially to enhanced self-insights, attitudes towards hindrances and obstacles, and teamwork skills. The race might be used as parts of training for leaders in organizations of all kinds.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research paper applying the concept of psychosocial benefits when exploring the outcomes that athletes gain from their AR participation.

Previous difficulties were identified with the evaluation of violence interventions, resulting in gaps in the literature regarding the effectiveness of violence interventions. This study aims to contribute towards addressing the gap in the evaluation of violence interventions, by exploring the experience of prisoners who completed the self-change programme (SCP) during a 24-month period in HMP Shotts.

Five prisoners who completed the SCP at HMP Shotts were interviewed via a semi-structured interview to explore their experiences of engaging with this violence intervention. The data was analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), allowing the exploration and understanding of the subjective meanings of the experiences from the individual participants.

Interpretation of the data resulted in the identification of three superordinate themes that were relevant to participant experience: change as a process, supportive group environment and perceived outcomes.

These findings provide insight into prisoner experiences on SCP and contribute towards the evaluation of violence interventions. As prison-based interventions undergo a process of continued evaluation and re-accreditation, it is useful to understand the programme processes that enhance participant engagement and their learning experience, while also understanding the processes that may impede participant engagement and successful completion of violence interventions.

Although there has been substantial research conducted on violence interventions, this research has aimed to address some of the gaps and previous difficulties experienced within the evaluation of violence interventions.

This study aims to use pre‐treatment assessment scores to predict the drop out of 103 incarcerated male violent perpetrators undertaking a long‐term aggression programme, namely the Cognitive Self Change Programme (CSCP), in six English prisons. A hierarchy of best predictors of attrition in this sample is developed. Results found eight out of the 46 assessment variables analysed had a significant association with treatment drop out. Further to this, discriminant function analysis predicted group membership with 80% accuracy, successfully distinguishing perpetrators who dropped out of the programme from those who completed it. The findings support the use of identifying risk factors pre‐treatment to predict drop out and offer a practical way to identify group members who are likely to drop out of the CSCP in addition to identifying markers for programme improvement. The need for further research to increase our understanding of the underlying causal explanations that link specific assessment items to treatment dropout is discussed.

In this chapter, we assume the following: (1) the root cause of most organizational problems is culture and leadership, (2) executives seldom want to deal with these root causes, (3) because life is uncertain, organizational change is an emergent process, (4) most change processes unfold by reconstructing social reality, (5) the change process is inherently relational, (6) effective change efforts are enhanced by increasing the virtue of the actors, (7) change is embedded in the learning that flows from high-quality relationships, and (8) change agents may have to transcend conventional, economic exchange norms in order to demonstrate integrity and to build trust and openness. Drawing on the field of positive organizational scholarship, we focus on the change agent. We review the literature on self-change and offer several paths for becoming a positive leader.

Purpose – Whilst everyday consumption, such as of cosmetics, creates meanings for our being-in-the-world, these meanings appear to be easily over-looked and conceal untapped significance from the experiencing individuals. This study addresses this opportunity for exploring selves in daily transformation, studying cosmetics consumption across key developmental phases of everyday life.

Design/methodology/approach – Phenomenological interviews were employed to investigate individuals' feelings, perceptions and experiences of cosmetics consumption. An iterative process of hermeneutical interpretation was adopted to identify the constellation of past-present-future relations that have underscored the individuals' intentions, motives and purposes.

Findings – This chapter highlights the intricacies of how the self changes on a daily basis. We illustrate how consumers use cosmetic consumption, at a transformational level, to create, redefine and defend aspects of the self and, strategically, to manipulate and even attack others.

Research limitations/implications – Beyond cosmetics consumption, we provide ‘food for thought’ on this very complicated subject-how does mundane consumption potentially address issues of sense of self, and vice versa?

Originality/value – The study highlights an individual's challenges in defining the self and how cosmetics function as a coping mechanism, responding to changes occurring at varying stages of life.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

European researchers have investigated the influence of positive change orientation on perceived change uncertainty and behavioral change support at two large IT companies. The results of the study of employees and supervisors indicate that self-change efficacy and attitudes towards change partially mediate the negative relationship between perceived change uncertainty and behavioral change support.

The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.