PANDEMIC AND EMPLOYEE COMMUNICATION. Unprecedented Changes in Employee Communication and Organizational Processes

This chapter addresses the topic area of pandemic and employee communication, focusing on the unprecedented changes brought about by the COVID-19 global health crisis. While the COVID-19 pandemic represented an exogenous, high-magnitude crisis for organizations, its severe consequences were an internal problem, and indeed, employees were among the most affected stakeholders. This chapter reviews the international research on employee communication that has emerged from the pandemic experience to delve into the following core themes: the cross-situational factors of crisis history and relationship quality; employee communication approach and the situational antecedents of its quality; leadership communicative role and sensegiving; employee crisis sensemaking and communication behaviors; and tensions in pandemic communication management. Overall, the findings from the COVID-19 research on employee communication show how the pandemic disruption triggered a significant renewal of employee communication, for example, more relational, based on ethical and strategic listening, guided by empathetic and democratic leaders, more sensitive to employees’ psychophysical health and communication behaviors. This chapter draws on these findings to develop theoretical and practical implications for pandemic and employee communication. It concludes with reflections on how (pandemic) employee communication of the future might benefit from adopting a processual, paradoxical perspective on crises and communication that could better prepare organizations for any “unimaginable” critical event

Scrooge McDuck: Caricature or Manifesto of the American Capitalist?

Scrooge McDuck, born out of the genius of Carl Barks in 1947, is perhaps among the best known representation of the capitalist in popular culture ever. He originally appeared as a miser anti-hero, pretty much in the same vein as his namesake, and was conceived by Barks as an antagonist for Donald Duck. Later in time, however, Scrooge McDuck, though never abandoning the original traits of wealth, frugality, thrift, and a tendency to seek even more money through treasure hunting, became a positive figure: an adventure-capitalist, who made his money by effort and overcoming difficulties of all kind. This transformation can be traces in the comic book series The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, written and illustrated by Don Rosa, and, perhaps even more so, in the TV cartoon series Duck Tales. My chapter seeks to examine different phases in the development of the character of Scrooge McDuck across the decades from the late 1940s to the early 1990s. More specifically, my analysis of a selection of Barks’s and Rosa’s stories will uncover different visions of the businessman: from a cartoonish critique of the capitalist, that is, the owner of capital who pursues wealth qua wealth, to a more balanced portrait of the businessman consistent with the traditional American myth of the frontier and of enrichment through effort

The Post-War Construction of a Sense of Belonging in Italian Film Criticism (1943–53)

The immediate post-war years in Italy were characterized by a dual focus: on the one hand, the phase of reconstruction and economic revival, and on the other, a vibrant debate surrounding the ‘defascization’ of politics and culture, which ultimately led to a process of self-absolution. During this time, periodicals underwent significant turmoil, marked by a revival of pre-war models alongside the emergence of new publications. In the realm of film criticism, there was a resurgence of old specialized magazines, along with the creation of new ones, reflecting a growing recognition of the importance of film critics in the dissemination and interpretation of cinema. Intense discussions arose as film critics sought to distance themselves from the fascist era, positioning themselves around three pivotal themes: navigating Italy’s complex socio-political landscape, addressing the evolution of Italian cinema during a transformative period marked by the birth of neorealism, and responding to the influx of foreign films — particularly Hollywood productions — that returned to theaters following the era of autarky. This article aims to analyze how a sense of belonging among film critics in post-war Italy was constructed by examining editorials from popular magazines such as Oggi (resuming publication in 1945) and Tempo (resuming in 1946), as well as specialized film magazines like Star (1944), Film d’oggi (1945), Film, and Bianco e Nero (both resuming in 1946), Cinema (resuming in 1948), Filmcritica (1950), and Cinema Nuovo (1952). Initially, the Years following the war fostered a spirit of collaboration among film critics; however, by the late 1940s, the onset of the Cold War and differing ideological affiliations contributed to a cultural confrontation that gave rise to militant film criticism

Intelligenza artificiale e sostenibilità: Una via nell'inferenza attiva

The thesis investigates how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can integrate sustainability principles by leveraging the cognitive model of active inference (AIF). This is done by analysing current sustainable AI practices and the potential of cognitive architectures (CA) for sustainability and validating these concepts through a simulation implemented in a dynamic environment. The main objectives of this work are three: to provide a critical and interdisciplinary reflection on the limitations and opportunities associated with the use of cognitive models for environmentally and socially sustainable AI, fostering dialogue between philosophy of mind, cognitive sciences and AI; to explore the potential of AIF as a tool for designing sustainable AI; and to demonstrate, through a proposed simulation, the ability of an AIF-based system to balance immediate needs with long-term sustainability in dynamic contexts

Schermi di cartone e plastica: uno studio sulla relazione tra giochi da tavolo e televisione

The study analyzes the relationship between television and board games through the lens of remediation, addressing a gap in media studies. The research develops an analytical framework based on three dimensions (material, iconarrative, and ludomechanical) and identifies seven relational configurations: Branding, Simulation, Analogy, Adaptation, Refunctionalization, Enactment, and Recovery. The analysis reveals a deeper reciprocity than previously acknowledged, operating at both formal and cultural levels. The study highlights how remediation processes are influenced by technological and cultural factors, especially in the context of digitalization and OTT platforms

A New Inception: Reintroducing Film Genres in 1980s People’s Republic of China Cinema

Genre filmmaking was on the rise in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) at least since the 1980s, when a positive attitude towards commercial films took root in the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution. This chapter investigates the film-genre tradition in PRC cinema of the 1980s, which was arguably prompted by the unexpected success of three movies distributed in 1980, the martial arts film The Mysterious Buddha (Shenmi de dafu, Zhang Huaxun), the thriller Murder in 405 (405 Mousha an, Shen Yaoting), and the melodrama Romance on Lushan Mountain (Lushan lian, Huang Zumo). Proceeding in parallel to the rise of the Fifth Generation, and obscured by their international success, which claimed the central stage in the critical discourse, these films laid a foundation for a commercial and genre undercurrent in Chinese mainstream cinema that continued in the following decades