A dialogical model for collaborative decision making based on compromises

Abstract. In this paper, we deal with group decision making and propose a model of dialogue among agents that have different knowledge and preferences, but are willing to compromise in order to collaboratively reach a common decision. Agents participating in the dialogue use internal reasoning to resolve conflicts emerging in their knowledge during communication and to reach a decision that requires the least compromises. Our approach has significant potential, as it may allow targeted knowledge exchange, partial disclosure of information and efficient or informed decision-making depending on the topic of the agents' discussion

Rhetorical Invention, Leadership, And Dialogue: Dorothy Day\u27s Extemporaneous Encounters

Dorothy Day, the co-founder and pragmatic leader of The Catholic Worker Movement, delivered extemporaneous speeches from the inception of the movement in 1933 until her death in 1980. Selected digitized, archival copies of her public discourse are analyzed for the first time through a newly developed framework for rhetorical communication and leadership entitledEncounter Rhetoric. A hybrid model synthesizing the theory of invitational rhetoric, transformational leadership theory, and social movement theory is developed and employed to conduct a critical analysis of 17 speeches delivered by Day between 1958 and 1975. This analysis reveals the rhetorical strategies employed by Day as a social movement leader. The framework is comprised of five constructs: (1.) principled persuasion as an ethical means to communicate and to lead, (2.) unconditional regard for the value of process, mutuality, and voice, (3.) tentativeness in understanding and concluding, (4.) acknowledgment of paradox in perceptions and conditions, and (5.) collaborative action. These constructs inform Dorothy Day\u27s charismatic eloquence and leadership. Even as a self-admitted apprehensive speaker, Dorothy Day\u27s public discourse reveals The Catholic Worker Movement\u27s communication strategy as well as a discernible format for extemporaneous dialogical exchange. As an analytical framework and as a rubric for communication practitioners and leaders in other settings, encounter rhetoric is offered as a means for dismantling binary positions and potentially providing relief to otherwise marginalized voices and communities. In addition, the potential relevance of the framework is considered in relation to new and social media, including reflections upon those parties unwilling or unable to respectfully or safely engage in encounters of mutual regard. The usefulness of encounter rhetoric may be further considered as a tool for analyzing the rhetorical acumen of communicators as leaders and leaders as communicators, especially those orators, reluctant or charismatic, who traditionally have not been included as subjects for study in academic scholarship

Online epistemic communities: theoretical and methodological directions for understanding knowledge co-elaboration in new digital spaces

This paper presents, illustrates and discusses a generic framework for studying knowledge co-elaboration in online epistemic communities (“OECs”). Our approach is characterised by: considering knowledge co-elaboration as a design activity; distinguishing discussion and production spaces in OECs; characterising participation via the notion of role; fine-grained analyses of meaning, content and communicative functions in interactions. On this basis, three key issues for ergonomics research on OECs are discussed and illustrated by results from our previous studies on OSS and Wikipedia. One issue concerns the interrelation between design (task) and regulation. Whereas design task-oriented activity is distributed among participants, we illustrate that OCEs function with specialised emerging roles of group regulation. However, the task-oriented activity also functions at an interpersonal level, as an interplay of knowledge-based discussion with negotiation of competencies. Another issue concerns the foci of activity on the (designed) knowledge object. Based on a generic task model, we illustrate asymmetry and distinctiveness in tasks’ foci of participants. The last issue concerns how design-use mediation is ensured by specific forms of mediation roles in OECs. Finally we discuss the degree of generality of our framework and draw some perspectives for extending our framework to other OECs

The SLIM (Social learning for the integrated management and sustainable use of water at catchment scale) Final Report

Background: SLIM stands for 'Socuak Learning for the Integrated Management and Sustainable Use of Water at Catchment Scale'. It is a multi-country research project funded by the European Commission (DG RESEARCH - 5th Framework Programme for research and technological development, 1998-2002). Its main theme is the investigation of the socio-economic aspects of the sustainable use of water. Within this theme, its main focus of interest lies in understanding the application of social learning as a conceptual framework, an operational principle, a policy instrument and a process of systemic change

Developmental Pedagogy in Marriage and Family Therapy Education

New practice domains are opening up for practitioners of family therapy in the medical, organizational, and human relations fields. In this new environment, family therapy educators and supervisors are required to cross the epistemological spaces of scientist-practitioner, postmodernism, and critical theory. These new possibilities require that family therapist educators become comfortable moving between multiple epistemologies. This poses increasing challenges that will require a hybridization of knowledge and practice approaches in MFT education. Through focus groups consisting of 34 participants, all of who were in their first quarter of a Master’s degree program in Marriage and Family Therapy. We found a rich set of themes that reflect the experiences of students in their first quarter of learning multiple, potentially contradictory theories. The data that emerged reflect both the deep and varied student experiences that took place as they were introduced to multiple perspectives in their first quarter, as well as student desires that they would have liked to have had met during their experience. The results in each of these areas uniquely inform potential future MFT pedagogical practices

Lived Experiences of Indian Women Technology Professionals Working Temporarily in the United States

This original and topical qualitative study explored the lived experiences of ten Indian women technology professionals working in the U.S. on non-immigrant H-1B visas. This study examined the role of cultural socialization and acculturative processes in the development of cultural identity. Narratives of the participants were interpreted using the Voice-Relational Listening Guide (Brown & Gilligan, 1992; Gilligan, 1982, 2015; Gilligan, Spencer, Weinberg, & Bertsch, 2006). The first theme of negotiated compromises explored the impact of gender role expectations associated with cultural socialization on career and marriage options, relational interdependence, and adaptation to changing sociocultural environments. The second theme of cultural plasticity interpreted ways in which the participants adapted their ethnic identity and cultural values in keeping with gender role expectations of their heritage culture as well as adaptations to global exposure. Concepts of the Acculturation model (Berry, 1997, 2005, 2010, 2013; Sam & Berry, 2010), Relational-Cultural Theory (Jordan, Kaplan, Miller, Stiver, & Surrey, 1991), and Third Space Theory (Bhabha, 2004) were used to present a rich discussion of acculturation, familial and cultural connection, cultural conformity and cultural adaptation. The findings revealed that these lived experiences of work-related relocation of a temporary nature were associated with cultural anchoring as well as global exposure, and it enabled these women to develop cultural hybridity (Bhabha, 2004)

The Interplay of Institutional Logics in IT Public–Private Partnerships

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) offer a popular means by which the public sector can obtain infor-mation technology (IT) innovations and management know-how from private firms. However, these IT PPPs are extremely difficult to realize, especially considering the divergent interests of public- and private-side stake-holders. Our case study of an IT PPP reveals public- and private-side differences that initially impeded the establishment of a partnership; using institutional logics theory as meta-theoretical lens, we propose a model that explains how public and private parties managed to negotiate their mode of collaboration by balancing their competing institutional norms and practices which ultimately resulted in the convergence of the two divergent logics. Our paper contributes to theory and practice by (1) elucidating the theoretical foundations and role of institutional logics for IT project management that we found dominated by public and private norms and practices, (2) explaining why collaboration in IT PPPs is so diffi-cult, and (3) how eventually an IT PPP can be estab-lished. We discuss theoretical and practical implica-tions in the paper.</jats:p

Dialogical intentions and customization of recommendations for the assessment of medical deliberation

UIDB/00183/2020 UIDP/00183/2020 PTDC/FER‐FIL/28278/2017 PTDC/MHC-FIL/0521/2014Dialogue moves are a pragmatic instrument that captures the most important categories of “dialogical intentions.” This paper adapts this tool to the conversational setting of chronic care communication, characterized by the general goal of making reasoned decisions concerning patients’ conditions, shared by the latter. 7 mutually exclusive and comprehensive categories were identified, whose reliability was tested on an Italian corpus of provider-patient encounters in diabetes care. The application of this method was illustrated through explorative analyses identifying possible correlations between the dialogical structure of medical interviews and one of the indicators of personalized decision-making, namely the specificity of the recommendations given by the provider (“customization”). The statistical analyses show a significant correlation between the exchange of personal information and very specific and customized recommendations for change. It suggests how the creation of common ground, exceeding the boundaries of the paternalistic or patient-centered models, can lead to highly effective communication.authorsversionpublishe

Technical assistance, neo-colonialism or mutual trade? The experience of an Anglo/Ukrainian/Russian social work practice learning project

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union there has been a steady stream of Western consultants ready to work in Eastern Europe and Russia and share professional and academic expertise and experience. Social work, unknown as a discrete discipline or profession in the Soviet Union, has been a growth area with funding from a variety of sources to help promote East-West partnerships.Social work theory and practice emphasises critical appraisal of policy and embraces issues of power, discrimination and oppression. Social work educators should therefore be especially alert to the complex ethical questions which these kinds of collaborations raise, and adept at finding practical solutions or workable compromises. This article explores these ethical and political issues with reference to a project to develop social work practice learning in a Russian oblast' (region). The project was an ambitious partnership of British, Ukrainian and Russian educators, involving numerous Russian social work and related agencies, and four Russian universities and colleges in one oblast'. The authors use a series of vignettes to help the reader achieve insights into these East-West transactions. The article concludes with a discussion of different interpretations of these dealings, using three prisms: technical assistance, neo-colonialism and mutual trade

Teammind: A Case Study of Collective Synergism, Team Development, and Decision-Making under Time Constraints

Advances in technology are challenging our concept of time and cognitive abilities to process and digest information in a dynamic environment. To develop a quality product that meets user\u27s needs and to perform within budget and program milestones, requires the expertise and shared understandings of an intact multidisciplinary team in design decision making. Collaboratively team members need to communicate on solutions for integrated product development, from their different disciplinary perspectives. To survive in today\u27s global competition, time-to-market gives research and development organizations the competitive edge in new product development, using emerging technologies. Therefore, there is a need for qualitative research on teams in the workplace making real decisions under time constraints. This qualitative case study examined the decision making strategies an intact multidisciplinary team used in the workplace to develop the user interface for an information system originating from a concept. The unique feature about this team is that the customer and contractor team members were co-located, involved in the daily decision making activities of new product screen design. The analysis indicated that during the decision making process communication provided the conduit for mutual adaptation and collective learning. Through cross-fertilization, team members had to integrate their fragmented bits of tacit and experiential knowledge to create a teammind or a collective mind to ensure that the product meets the needs of the customer and the contractor. In a complex environment of ambiguity and creativity, the team engaged in a collaborative relationship using dialogue to resolve conflicts, take risks, and negotiate based on requirements. They made decisions from their different disciplinary and organizational affiliation perspectives to produce the required design documentation. A significant implication of this study is that an organizational repertoire of a structured decision making process with feedback loops, provided a methodology to bring closure on design decisions. Although the time constraints and the size of the task were a challenge, through leadership based on expert power and collective learning, the team achieved their objectives. The recommendations include guidelines for program management and the need for research on collectivist cultures to identify how to train teams in new product development