“I can't remember them ever not doing what I tell them!” : Negotiating face and power relations in ‘upward’ refusals in multicultural workplaces in Hong Kong

This paper explores how refusals are constructed and negotiated in multicultural workplaces in Hong Kong. A particular focus is on the ways in which Hong Kong Chinese subordinates negotiate issues of face and power relations when refusing their expatriate superiors. Despite abundant research on refusals in a variety of contexts across cultures, there are very few studies of multicultural workplaces. This is particularly surprising considering that refusals have been described as a frequent “ ‘sticking point’ in cross-cultural communication” (Beebe et al. 1990). This paper addresses this gap by drawing on more than 80 hours of authentic audio- and video-recorded spoken workplace discourse and a corpus of emails collected in multicultural workplaces in Hong Kong. Findings of this exploratory study indicate that refusals are complex communicative activities that are carefully negotiated among participants. We argue that in contrast to earlier studies, participants' socio-cultural backgrounds do not appear to be the main determining factor of how issues of face and power relations are negotiated in upward refusals. Rather, a range of other factors, including media of communication, normative ways of interacting in a workplace, the relationship between interlocutors, as well as the content of the refusal, are more relevant for explaining participants’ communicative behavior

μ4-Orthothio­carbonato-tetra­kis­[tri­carbonyl­iron(I)](2 Fe—Fe)

The fused bis-butterfly-shaped title compound, [Fe4(CS4)(CO)12], possesses an orthothio­carbonate (CS4 4−) ligand that acts as a bridge between two Fe2(CO)6 units. A short intra­molecular S⋯S contact [2.6984 (8) and 2.6977 (8) Å] occurs in each S2Fe2(CO)6 fragment

Soil structure, organic matter and earthworm activity in a comparison of cropping systems with contrasting tillage, rotations, fertilizer levels and manure use

Abstract In order to assess long-term effects on productivity, environmental impacts and soil fertility of contrasting farming practices, six cropping systems, ranging from conventional arable without livestock to organic mixed dairy farming with few arable crops, have been compared since 1989 on a loam soil. A decline in soil structure quality was found in a conventional arable system with annual ploughing with no rotational grass. This system had higher bulk density and mean aggregate size than other systems, and lower levels of plant available water and aggregate stability. Opposite trends were related to the proportion of grass leys in the other systems and to their levels of soil organic matter. The latter declined markedly over 15 years in the conventional arable system, and there were smaller declines in most other systems. In an arable system without ploughing, but with rotary tillage in spring, organic matter was maintained and high structural stability was found. This system had high bulk density, but the proportion of small aggregates equalled that found in systems with ley. There were overall increases in earthworm density (84%), earthworm biomass (80%) and the density of earthworm channels (132%) in the topsoil between 1994 and 2004. Most of these increases were found in systems with 1–3 years of ley in the 4-year rotation. Low values of all earthworm parameters, and only minor changes over the period studied, were found in two non-organic arable systems without ley, indicating high pressure on soil fauna. Lower earthworm activity was found in the non-organic arable system with reduced tillage as compared to the non-organic arable system with annual ploughing. Thus, 50% leys in the rotation appeared desirable for the maintenance of satisfactory soil structure and earthworm activity. Though the deterioration of soil structure in the conventional arable system was not extreme, as the soil was well structured initially, the results may have implications for the sustainability of stockless arable systems on soils with a less favourable initial structure