Search results

The purpose of this paper is to explore the idea of expatriate adjustment through naturally occurring data. Specifically, through an investigation of three e‐mails sent to the author by a friend, Doug, the paper explores the notion that adjustment is a fluid concept and that through qualitative research methods it is possible to appreciate the expatriate experience in the context of an expatriate's “whole life” of experiences. This is in contrast to positivist approaches to the study of adjustment which offer limited snapshots of adjustment at particular moments in time.

The paper investigates three e‐mails sent by Doug to the author. The e‐mails constitute a form of naturally occurring data, and through forms of narrative analysis the e‐mails are able to be examined to throw light on the process of expatriate adjustment.

The paper highlights ways in which qualitative research methods generally, and specifically when used in relation to expatriates, enable a fuller understanding of the processes of “adjustment” that expatriates experience and its relationship to their life as a “work in progress”. This type of research approach and analysis complements the more positivist study of expatriates. In some aspects it supports research findings on adjustment, but it serves to humanize the independent expatriate and their experience.

The research is a case study of only a single subject. The paper suggests the potential for using naturally occurring data in the study of expatriates and independent expatriates in particular.

Stories of the experiences of expatriation offer insightful and “real” access to the lived experience of the expatriate. In this sense, they can be much more powerful than other forms of cross‐cultural training.

The paper highlights the importance of naturally occurring data and the need to consider “whole lives” in the past and present, of research “participants”.

The purpose of this paper consists in rethinking today's management systems in order to look for ways of management which are better adapted to human life. It is assumed that a management practice which takes into consideration the characteristics of human life must be accepted by a large number of people and would be effective and sustainable. Today, the overdevelopment of science and capitalism forget individuals and condemn them to alienation. To cope with this problem, the paper tries to identify ways of management which respect human life more.

To do this, the paper studies the phenomenology of life of Michel Henry and Zen Buddhism in order to understand the profound sense of life, knowledge and community developed by their philosophy. It then examines Toyotism and Fordism under the two dimensions of knowledge and community to illustrate how their management system considers human life.

The phenomenology of life and Zen share some common ground as both consider the importance of experienced life which constitutes the individual's subjectivity. Living experience generates embodied and tacit knowledge for men. The system of Kaizen which enables Toyota to develop significantly is based on its workers' tacit knowledge. In this dimension, Toyotism is a management system which recognizes better than Fordism the importance of living experiences and as such is better suited to human nature. The paper then discusses Toyotism, Fordism and post‐Fordism in the light of the concept of community. Toyotism appears as a constraining “total community,” whereas attempts to reintroduce a sense of community into the post‐Fordist model reveal its limits due to the fact that such a sense of community does not exist at a company level.

The originality of this paper lies in its comparison of the phenomenology of life with Zen in order to understand the importance of life and also in the introduction of the consideration of living workers in managerial performance.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of superior support, in the presence of a range of work role stressors, on both conflict and enrichment aspects of work-life interface simultaneously. The paper frames the research narrative of superior support by contextualizing it within superior’s dichotomous and opposing roles of organizational performance driver and support provider.

Survey data was collected from Malaysian work adults. Drawing on a sample of 1,051 cases, structural equation modeling technique is used to examine the effect of superior support, with the presence of work role stressors, on individuals’ work-life experience. Three alternate models are compared: superior support as moderator of stressors-strain relationship; both superior support and work stressors as direct antecedents of work-life experience; and superior support as indirect antecedent (mediated by work role stressors) of work-life experience.

Findings evidence the favorable model of superior support as indirect antecedent (mediated by work role stressors) of work-life experience. In addition, superior support has significant impact on work role ambiguity and work-life enrichment, however, its effect on work role conflict, work role overload and work-life conflict is not significant. Findings of the study also demonstrate the distinct effect of work role stressors on work-life experience in terms of direction and strength of impact.

While superior support promotes greater work-life enrichment, its effect on work-life conflict is limited. Therefore, instead of superior support, employers have to identify alternate resources to assist employees to deal with conflict and interference of work-life interface. Distinctiveness of various work role stressors and interaction between these work role stressors offer practical implications to employer that all stressors at workplace should not be treated as identical and common to each other. Distinct effort should be taken to address different forms of work role stressors so that work-life conflict (resource depletion) can be minimized while work-life enrichment (resource gaining) can be enhanced.

The research investigates superior support in relation to work stressor and work-life experience by scrutinizing the role of supervisors from the vantage point of supervisors as performance drivers as well as support providers. This provides a balanced narrative as compared to previous research focussing solely on either the support perspective or the employee effort extraction perspective. In its execution, the research incorporates enrichment aspect of work-life experience, in addition to the conflict and negative effect. Drawing on the Conservation of Resources Theory, the study teases out important implication for employers and researchers to show that superior support and work role stressors come together to shape individuals’ work-life experience by depleting resources (work-life conflict) and gaining resources (work-life enrichment) simultaneously, as well as drawing out the dilemma of supervisors as performance drivers and support providers at the same time.

This study aims to examine how life events, philosophy and spirituality contribute to the development of gastronomy experiences for competitive advantage.

Drawing on a qualitative case study approach, interviews were conducted with the owner/chef, employees and customers of Moksa – a plant-based restaurant in Bali, Indonesia.

The integration of life events (change in health, relationship journey and residential relocation), life philosophy (healthy lifestyle, sustainability and cuisine for the soul) and spirituality (religious values and spiritual fulfillment of life purpose) can facilitate the creation and management of an improved gastronomy experience.

There are key elements of life that can help in the creation of a unique, memorable and holistic gastronomy experience. Restaurant owners and managers should embed these elements in their strategy.

This research adds to the scant knowledge on life courses and gastronomy experiences in the hospitality sector. It also contributes to enhancing understanding of the psychological factors that lead to better experiences.

In this study, the life experiences of Canadian non-refugee immigrant women were studied to understand their pre-migration lives, the process of decision making about migrating to Canada, and their experiences after resettlement in Canada.

A qualitative methodology involving repeated in-depth person-centred interviewing (n=14) engaged five recent Canadian immigrant women. “Word of mouth” was used to recruit participants. Thematic analysis was applied to the qualitative data set.

Loneliness became manifest given the loss of social networks and support systems immigrant women enjoyed in their home countries. Second, the presence of young children and absence of job opportunities for these women had them spending most of their time at home. Third, in some cases, the lack of professional employment opportunities forced the husband leaving Canada to find jobs – resulting in a deeper level of loneliness experienced by the immigrant women. Loneliness and isolation, and mental health issues associated with such isolation are potentially substantial, especially during the initial settlement years.

Given the small sample size, the generalizability of the study findings are limited and cannot represent the entirety of experiences of all Canadian immigrant women. The sample diversity in this study was also limited. The participants were highly educated and had professional careers in their home countries. The experience of less educated women can be different. Further research with a large sample size and diverse sample is needed.

The study offers deeper insights to the day-to-day challenges associated with the journey of migration. Understanding these concerns is important for mental health professionals, counsellors, and social service workers to offer effective treatment, counselling, and emotional support for immigrant women.

The findings further the understanding of immigrant women's experiences and the need to address relational aspects of their immigration journeys. Examining the experiences of immigrants in relation to their lives before and after coming to Canada is important to gain insight about the contemporary daily lives of individuals. A holistic understanding of immigration experiences can assist service providers, professionals, and policy makers to recognize the obstacles faced by immigrants. Suggestions for future research are also addressed in this study.

This paper aims to draw on the analysis of instruction and student work in an English Language Arts classroom to discuss how teachers may support dispossessed students’ journeys toward radical healing (Ginwright, 2010) by using critically caring pedagogies – pedagogies grounded in teachers’ deep understanding of the systemic inequalities faced by their students and a strong commitment to contributing to social justice. Radical healing involves naming and redefining individual experiences of oppression as collective struggle to express desire and hope (Winn, 2012; 2013; Tuck, 2009).

The data used for this paper included video data from a two-week writing unit and fieldnotes from preceding lessons, classroom documents and handouts and final work from students. Data were analyzed through a process of open and focused coding (Coffey and Atkinson 1996; Miles and Huberman, 1994).

Three major practices emerged from the analysis of instruction: affirming student experience, connecting individual and community struggles and using writing as a space for expressing desire and hope. Student work showed how students used their writing to engage in the kind of analysis that autoethnographies encourage – reflection on individual lives as collective experiences and the expression of hope – which the author aligns with the goals of radical healing. Students wrote about enduring difficult life circumstances. They also found connections between their experiences and the lives of their peers and communities. Finally, they used their writing to express desire and hope.

The teacher’s pedagogy provides an illustration of teaching critically caring literacies (Camangian, 2010) that may lead to radical healing (Ginwright, 2010) – a pedagogy that seeks justice and encourages resilience, particularly for youth who have experienced great injustices. This kind of pedagogy requires not only the willingness to feel critical hope (Duncan-Andrade, 2009) with students but also a commitment to challenging disciplinary canons by allowing students’ lives to enter the classroom. In her classroom, the teacher created a space for her students to reflect on their lives and experience radical healing by encouraging them to contextualize their experiences within socio-historical processes and social, economic and political structures that were designed to create and sustain inequity. The autoethnography unit provided an opportunity for students to evaluate their own histories, come to terms with the past and begin to express desire and imagine hopeful futures (Tuck, 2009; Winn, 2012; 2013).