Communitarian governance in social enterprises: case evidence from the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation and School Trends Ltd

Purpose: Prevailing concepts of corporate governance that are based on external shareholder interests have been challenged by a number of authors over the last three decades. In this paper, the core assumptions of communitarian philosophy and values are outlined, together with the way writers imagine these might be enacted in a social enterprise context. These assumptions are then explored using two case studies. Design/Methodology: The study was conducted using participatory action research which involves parties examining current actions together and seeking to improve on them. The value of this approach is based on the plausible, authentic and critical insights it generates into management practice. Findings: Case evidence suggests that companies are able to adopt and operate effectively while deploying communitarian values, and that these values lead to alternative business objectives expressed through new forms of corporate governance. Nevertheless, the adopting of common language does not necessarily mean that social enterprises share a common philosophy. Originality/Value: The key contribution of this paper is to evaluate the institutionalisation of governance and consider the relationship between the form and substance of practice. By considering the link between words and actions, the study concludes that the adoption of a governance framework, or particular language, matters less than the capacity of company members to participate in the development of governance norms that enable them to act congruently with their own beliefs and values

Disruptive design innovation: reflections on the relationship of design, science and art

The title of designer conveys a large number of historical, cultural, philosophical drivers and working practises that effectively range from the traditional engineer through to the individual interested in personal expression. The considerable differences originate and have evolved for a variety of reasons. The range is from capitalist necessity through to social inclusion. Today, the designer needs to have the ability to understand significant changes in technology, art and science as well as being an astute observer of human behaviour. Ultimately, the designer will need to convert ideas into objects and systems that people can understand and use. It is important to consider serendipitous design and disruptive design as it often involves risk taking and may be unpredictable in character. Disruptive design innovation can improve a design in ways that the customer or a market does not expect. The authors suggest a refreshing approach to design that is inclusive in purpose to enrich the act of designing and advocate a greater correlation between the art, sciences and design in reflecting the values, virtues and methods of working and the principles that guide the methodologies and processes which can be correlated into a coherent whole and with a clearer focus

Comfort zone: Model or metaphor?

The comfort zone model is widespread within adventure education literature. It is based on the belief that when placed in a stressful situation people will respond by overcoming their fear and therefore grow as individuals. This model is often presented to participants prior to activities with a highly perceived sense of risk and challenge which arouses strong emotional and physical responses to novel tasks (e.g., ropes courses or rock climbing activities). Students are encouraged to think about ‘stretching themselves’ by moving outside their comfort zone, to expand their preconceived limits and by inference learn (and become better people). This paper explores theories from cognitive and social psychology, based on the work of Piaget and Festinger respectively, that underpin the comfort zone model. The perpetuation of this model which uses risk to promote situations of disequilibrium/dissonance does not find strong support in educational literature. It is therefore suggested that the comfort zone model be reframed as a metaphor, for possible discussion post activity, rather than being used as a model to underpin programming and pedagogy in adventure education settings

Improving retention for all students, studying mathematics as part of their chosen qualification, by using a voluntary diagnostic quiz

This case study demonstrates the issues and advantages in encouraging students to take responsibility for their learning and to be better prepared both in terms of knowledge and expectations for their study. The study outlines the improvement in retention achieved when students were encouraged to use a voluntary diagnostic quiz on a first year university mathematics module. Initially the power of the diagnostic quiz, in predicting future success on the module, was identified using predictive analytics. Students were contacted by experienced Education Guidance staff who encouraged them to take the quiz prior to course start with the aim of using their results to steer them to start on the “right” course. The diagnostic quiz total score was made available to the student’s course tutor prior to course start to enable further tailoring of support to individual students. Early indications show an improvement in early module retention. The module in this case study was for distance learning students on an open access mathematics course

Dynamics of organizational culture: Individual beliefs vs. social conformity

The complex nature of organizational culture challenges our ability to infers its underlying dynamics from observational studies. Recent computational studies have adopted a distinct different view, where plausible mechanisms are proposed to describe a wide range of social phenomena, including the onset and evolution of organizational culture. In this spirit, this work introduces an empirically-grounded, agent-based model which relaxes a set of assumptions that describes past work - (a) omittance of an individual's strive for achieving cognitive coherence, (b) limited integration of important contextual factors - by utilizing networks of beliefs and incorporating social rank into the dynamics. As a result, we illustrate that: (i) an organization may appear to be increasingly coherent in terms of organizational culture, yet be composed of individuals with reduced levels of coherence, (ii) the components of social conformity - peer-pressure and social rank - are influential at different aggregation levels.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figure

A randomized trial of a lab-embedded discourse intervention to improve research ethics.

We report a randomized trial of a research ethics training intervention designed to enhance ethics communication in university science and engineering laboratories, focusing specifically on authorship and data management. The intervention is a project-based research ethics curriculum that was designed to enhance the ability of science and engineering research laboratory members to engage in reason giving and interpersonal communication necessary for ethical practice. The randomized trial was fielded in active faculty-led laboratories at two US research-intensive institutions. Here, we show that laboratory members perceived improvements in the quality of discourse on research ethics within their laboratories and enhanced awareness of the relevance and reasons for that discourse for their work as measured by a survey administered over 4 mo after the intervention. This training represents a paradigm shift compared with more typical module-based or classroom ethics instruction that is divorced from the everyday workflow and practices within laboratories and is designed to cultivate a campus culture of ethical science and engineering research in the very work settings where laboratory members interact

Graduate student dissonance: Graduate students of color in a U. S. research university

This qualitative investigation examined the experiences of a population of graduate students - graduate students of color - in a U. S. research university (a) to indicate reasons for their dilemmas, ambiguities, and decisions about choosing an academic career, and (b) to identify the practices of one research university's graduate programs that have considerable influence upon graduate students' decisions about pursuing an academic career. For graduate students of color, professional and social identity alignment is a significant condition for decisions about academic career choices, and the institution's norms and behavioral patterns have considerable influence on graduate students' experiences and career choices. © 2013 National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education

Affordances, constraints and information flows as ‘leverage points’ in design for sustainable behaviour

Copyright @ 2012 Social Science Electronic PublishingTwo of Donella Meadows' 'leverage points' for intervening in systems (1999) seem particularly pertinent to design for sustainable behaviour, in the sense that designers may have the scope to implement them in (re-)designing everyday products and services. The 'rules of the system' -- interpreted here to refer to affordances and constraints -- and the structure of information flows both offer a range of opportunities for design interventions to in fluence behaviour change, and in this paper, some of the implications and possibilities are discussed with reference to parallel concepts from within design, HCI and relevant areas of psychology

Wearable Computing for Health and Fitness: Exploring the Relationship between Data and Human Behaviour

Health and fitness wearable technology has recently advanced, making it easier for an individual to monitor their behaviours. Previously self generated data interacts with the user to motivate positive behaviour change, but issues arise when relating this to long term mention of wearable devices. Previous studies within this area are discussed. We also consider a new approach where data is used to support instead of motivate, through monitoring and logging to encourage reflection. Based on issues highlighted, we then make recommendations on the direction in which future work could be most beneficial