Search results

Mentalization-based treatment (MBT) is a psychotherapeutic approach that aims to increase mentalizing capacity. The purpose of this meta-ethnography was to synthesize the available qualitative literature on MBT to allow for a more thorough understanding of the lived experience of those who have undergone this therapy.

A systematic search of seven databases was carried out. The Critical Appraisal Skills Programme was used to appraise the papers suitable for inclusion. The data were synthesized using a meta-ethnographic approach in which the second-order constructs from each paper were translated and reinterpreted creating a line of argument synthesis.

A total of 11 studies were included in the meta-ethnography. Three overarching themes were identified within the included papers which outlined that participant experience of MBT consisted of three different developmental stages. Navigating the therapeutic process describes the participant’s experience of the therapeutic process of MBT. The processes of change in MBT outlined participant reports of mechanisms of change experienced in MBT. Mentalizing self and others described the experience of generalizing new knowledge and skills to the world outside of therapy and unveiled the impact that engaging in MBT had on participants.

This meta-ethnography offers new insights into how clients experience MBT as a therapeutic process and offers suggestions for implementation in clinical practice as well as areas of focus for research of this therapeutic approach.

This paper describes a model of “Learning to care” derived from a study exploring how care workers in care homes learn to care for people living with dementia. The “Learning to care” model is primarily informal in nature in which influences such as formalised training and organisational culture impact care outcomes indirectly rather than directly.

This study used a focused, critical ethnographic approach in two care homes in England resulting in 63 h of observation of care of people living with advanced dementia, 15 semi-structured interviews and 90 in-situ ethnographic interviews with care staff.

The findings reveal a three-level model of learning to care. At the level of day-to-day interactions is a mechanism for learning that is wholly informal and follows the maxim “What Works is What Matters”. Workers draw on resources and information within this process derived from their personal experiences, resident influences and care home cultural knowledge. Cultural knowledge is created through a worker’s interactions with colleagues and the training they receive, meaning that these organisational level influences affect care practice only indirectly via the “What Works is What Matters” mechanism.

This study makes an original contribution by explaining the nature of day-to-day informal learning processes as experienced by care workers and those living with dementia in care homes. In particular, it illuminates the specific mechanisms by which organisational culture has an effect on care practice and the limitations of formal training in influencing such practice.

Organizations remain a vital sociological topic, but organizational sociology, as a subfield, has evolved significantly since its inception. In this paper, I argue that organization sociology is becoming increasingly disconnected from organizational theory, as currently conceived. The focus of sociological research on organizations has become more empirically grounded in the study of social problems and how organizations contribute to them. Sociologists continue to see organizations as important actors in society that play a role in shaping social order and as contexts in which social processes play out. I propose two main sociological approaches for organizational research, which I describe as “organizations within society” and “society within organizations.” The first approach examines the role of organizations as building blocks of social structure and as social actors in their own right. The second approach treats organizations as platforms and locations of social interactions and the building of community. These approaches are somewhat disconnected from the sort of grand theorizing that characterizes much of organizational theory. I argue that the problem-oriented sociology of these two approaches offers a vital way for organizational scholars to expand and theoretically revitalize the field.

The extant organizational leadership literature acknowledges the utility of pursuing meaningful leadership, yet the scarcity of meaningful leaders persists. This paper compares two cases to elicit the factors distinguishing successful and unsuccessful meaningful leadership.

This paper delves into the strategies and practices of leaders in two organizations, and data are collected in the form of field notes of participant observations, and informal conversations with the members of both organizations. It seeks to unveil the defining characteristics of a leader who fosters member meaningfulness (Organization X) compared to one who does not (Organization Y).

The paper highlights distinct strategies that contribute to meaningful leadership. Effective leaders emphasize broader objectives, align values, adopt participatory leadership, mitigate meaninglessness, and promote continuous learning and growth. Conversely, ineffective leaders prioritize short-term goals, overlook value alignment, and lack participative engagement; together, these factors enable leaders to inspire, engage, and guide their teams with a sense of meaning.

By acknowledging that meaningful leaders may not be easily developed, organizations can shift focus towards identifying and nurturing such leaders, enhancing their capacity to foster genuine meaning among members and thereby improving overall organizational effectiveness.

This paper’s unique contribution lies in its comparative analysis of real-world cases, illuminating the specific practices that underlie meaningful leadership. By delineating the critical factors contributing to meaningfulness, this research lays a foundation for organizations to locate and cultivate leaders capable of engendering authentic meaning within their teams.

The purpose of this multi-voiced paper is to propose a prosocial paradigm for the field of performance management and management control systems. This new paradigm suggests cultivating prosocial behaviour and prosocial groups in organizations to simultaneously achieve the objectives of economic performance and sustainability.

The authors share a common concern about the future of humanity and nature. The authors challenge the influential assumption of economic man from neoclassical economic theory and build on evolutionary science and the core design principles of prosocial groups to develop a prosocial paradigm.

Findings are based on the premise of the prosocial paradigm that self-interested behaviour may outperform prosocial behaviour within a group but that prosocial groups outperform groups dominated by self-interest. The authors explore various dimensions of performance management from the prosocial perspective in the private and public sectors.

The authors call for theoretical, conceptual and empirical research that explores the prosocial paradigm. They invite any approach, including positivist, interpretive and critical research, as well as those using qualitative, quantitative and interventionist methods.

This paper offers implications from the prosocial paradigm for practitioners, particularly for executives and managers, policymakers and educators.

Adoption of the prosocial paradigm in research and practice shapes what the authors call the prosocial market economy. This is an aspired cultural evolution that functions with market competition yet systematically strengthens prosociality as a cultural norm in organizations, markets and society at large.

Goffman’s (1961) work on total institutions has been relatively neglected in the fields of organizational research. This paper compares the conceptions of obedience to authority in two different types of voluntary total institutions and how such conceptions affect interaction contrary to the aims of the organizations. Consequently, by addressing how conceptions of authority and constructions of the obedient self shape conditions for underlife, the analysis provides knowledge about the variety of ways in which total institutional authority works and contributes to the understanding of the mechanisms of organizational underlife.

The COVID-19 lockdown severely impacted organizations in the cultural and tourist business as their products all of a sudden “disappeared”. This study aims to explore if and how the unexpected and disruptive nature of the pandemic accelerated the development of new communication strategies on their social media.

The study draws on data from 24 midsize cultural institutions and tourist attractions in Denmark over the first two months of the lockdown in 2020. Approximately 900 posts on Facebook were collected and analyzed through the netnographic method. The analysis followed a two-layered qualitative approach. First, open coding to identify typologies and enable a comparison with established strategies from the literature review. Then, an exploratory examination was conducted across the typologies.

Nine different content categories were identified in the data and subsequently assessed and discussed in relation to the literature on strategies and dialogic intentions. This resulted in the emergence of two new overarching strategies: hope and host.

While hope is particularly relevant in crisis situations, the utilization of employees in the host role presents an opportunity for further development and engagement. Further, the results call for future research that breaks with the traditional quest for ideal strategies for the benefit of exploring the notion of “strategic doers”.

The identification of the hope and host strategies, along with the analysis of content categories and their alignment with various strategic intentions, contributes to the existing knowledge in this field. Further, the classic perception of engagement as driven by explicit interaction and dialogue is also challenged.