Using ICT to support public and private community memories: case studies and lessons learned

Information communication technologies (ICTs) enable the development of memories across a variety of communities. We identify a spectrum of deployment from private through to open public spaces. As we move along this spectrum key variables change including mechanisms of trust and accountability and the definition of ownership, authorship and readership. Some challenges however, remain constant such as designing for sustainability and the need to align research and community goals. Private spaces can be created to enhance existing interactions, develop bonding capital and build shared memory. Such spaces allow a defined membership the opportunity to explore new ideas away from the public gaze, using language which may not be intelligible to outsiders. ICTs may be used to bridge internal and external audiences, repurposing content for a wider public. The original content may require alternative presentation, organisation or navigation methods to support its effective use by an external audience. Increasingly, community memories are being developed using social software within the public sphere, however this raises issues of authority, reputation management, and conflict resolution. Unexpected innovation may occur, and issues of sustainability must be addressed. In our analysis we will draw on three ICT initiatives in which we have participated: Bletchley Park Guides’ Forum, Bletchley Park Text and Milton Keynes Open Guide

Conceptualizing customer-company patronizing behavior: Nostalgia-charged experiences driving prosocial behavior and commitment

Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study is to examine customer-company patronization i.e. the phenomenon in which customers decide to voluntarily patronize, support and promote companies. Currently the phenomenon of customer-company patronization is not well understood nor conceptualized in the marketing and consumer research disciplines. Our study aims to extend the current literature of extra-role behaviors by exploring this phenomenon from the perspectives of customers' experiences as well as identity-construction processes, outlining the main motivations for customers' patronizing behavior as well as explore how it occurs in their behavior and choices. In order to better understand the phenomenon, it is essential to explore the different underlying motivations that drive this kind of consumer behavior by analyzing the meanings that customers attach to their patronizing experiences. Research Method The research was conducted using qualitative methods. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were used as a data collection technique for studying consumers' underlying motivations and experiences relating to their patronizing behavior in attempting to understand the real meanings of this kind of committed behavior. Data was analysed through content analysis to gain deeper insights and describe the meanings that patrons hold regarding their patronizing experiences. Findings Customer-company patronization can be conceptualized as being a constructive consumer behavior that contributes to patrons' senses of identities of who they are or who they aspire to be. As such, patronizing represents a behavior that functions as a mechanism to construct one's self-concept. More specifically, the patrons' pursuit for security was identified as the main underlying motivator for patronization behavior. Through various different mechanisms, such as through nostalgic consumption and routinizing visits, the patrons unconsciously strove to maintain stability and identity continuity, especially under the cicumstances of dealing with the life changing events. In a broader sense, nostalgically charged patronizing experience can be seen as a way to cope with the insecurities of the modern world by creating a psychological shelter and meaningfulness into one's life

Information systems and organizational memory: a literature review

The advancement of technologies and Information Systems (IS) associated with the search for success in the competitive market leads organizations to seek strategies that assist in acquisition, retention, storage, and dissemination of knowledge in the organization in order to be reused in time, preserving its Organizational Memory (OM). The Organizational Memory Information Systems (OMIS) rises as an enhancer of the OM, providing effective support and resources for the organization, assisting on decision-making, in the solution of problems, as well as in quality and generation of products and services. This article is an analysis of some OMIS selected from a literature review about its features and functionality in order to understand how these information systems are seen by the organizations. With this research, we realized that it is still inexpressive this relationship between OM and IS, even with the existence of some cases of success in the use of OMIS in the literature. The literature reveals that the individuals' knowledge is not integrated on information systems management process in most organizations, getting much of the knowledge of individuals generated in the organization retained in own individual. It is easy to see that there is a need for strategies and mechanisms in the organization to stimulate and provide a better knowledge sharing between individuals which, when associated to IS, allow greater control and effective use of the Organizational Memory.This work was supported by CAPES Foundation, Ministry of Education of Brazil and by FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology within the Project Scope UID/CEC/00319/2015.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A lived experience theory of schism (LETS): Exploring the complex social dynamics powering factionalised conflict in nonprofit organisations

Schism is a widespread phenomenon of social groups which has persisted over centuries. An intense form of factionalised conflict, schism can be distressing for people to experience and challenging for groups to navigate. Schism research has roots in anthropology, organisation studies, and social psychology, and has been studied in societies, religions, social movements, political parties, nonprofit organisations, and other contexts. Despite broad and enduring relevance to social organising, schism research is surprisingly scant. Across disciplines and contexts, findings are disjointed and contradictory. No widely accepted definition or theory of schism was found in the literature. The aim of the current research was to gain insight into the social dynamics powering the incidence, progression, and lived experience of schism. The goal was to increase human agency and control in schism based on emerging theoretical knowledge, and thereby improve experiences and outcomes for people and organisations. A qualitative study of schism in nonprofit organisations in Western Australia was undertaken using an exploratory qualitative research design and a lived experience lens. Participant-centred interviews were conducted, typically of 1 hour, with 41 people who described schisms in 24 organisations. Sampling was initially by convenience then purposive snowball sampling, enabling a range of organisations, roles, and experiences to be represented. Interviews were transcribed to form a rich primary data set. Systematic coding and thematic analysis complemented immersion in individual stories. Data collection, data analysis, and theory development were iterative and interdependent. Emerging themes forced problematisation of prior knowledge. The ongoing process of theory construction employed both inductive and abductive reasoning. A novel conceptualisation of schism emerged from this research project, representing schism as a complex social construction in an open system rather than a linear process in a bounded system, and privileging the human experience over the organisation as the entity of concern. A new definition of schism is proposed which provides a foundation for the lived experience theory of schism (LETS) presented in this thesis. Together, the definition and theory contribute to knowledge of schism in organisations and other social systems, and provide a foundation for future schism research. Findings from this project have implications for nonprofit sector policy and practice, especially in group leadership and governance

Measuring workplace bullying

Workplace bullying is increasingly being recognized as a serious problem in society today; it is also a problem that can be difficult to define and evaluate accurately. Research in this area has been hampered by lack of appropriate measurement techniques. Social scientists can play a key part in tackling the phenomenon of workplace bullying by developing and applying a range of research methods to capture its nature and incidence in a range of contexts. We review current methods of research into the phenomenon of bullying in the workplace. We examine definitional issues, including the type, frequency, and duration of bullying acts, and consider the role of values and norms of the workplace culture in influencing perception and measurement of bullying behavior. We distinguish methods that focus on: (a) inside perspectives on the experience of bullying (including questionnaires and surveys, self-report through diary-keeping, personal accounts through interviews, focus groups and critical incident technique, and projective techniques such as bubble dialogue); (b) outside perspectives (including observational methods and peer nominations); (c) multi-method approaches that integrate both inside and outside perspectives (including case studies). We suggest that multi-method approaches may offer a useful way forward for researchers and for practitioners anxious to assess and tackle the problem of bullying in their organizations.CIFPEC/CIEC - Centro de Investigação em Estudos da Criança, UM (UI 644 e 317 da FCT)

Careers of their own: Role-identity negotiation among Air Force officers' wives.

The purpose of this study is to explore how a military officer's wife, one foot on each meandering path, might navigate simultaneously her careerist and traditional wife roles. Specifically, this study asks the following: In their own words, how do Air Force officer wives define "career"? How does the military lifestyle impact the careers of these women? What obstacles and opportunities do they perceive? By what adaptive processes might career-oriented Air Force officer wives achieve both career satisfaction and commitment to their traditional military role? Finally, what does it mean to be a careerist-traditional wife, and how do such career trajectories proceed over time and multiple relocations?Drawing on a symbolic interactionist perspective and on respondents' personal definitions of "career, " this research details the strategies, innovations, and explorations some career-seeking wives have employed over the course of their affiliations with the military. Data include 93 preliminary survey responses and 15 in-depth, oral life history interviews gathered from Air Force officer wives. Each interview respondent claims a careerist identity, participates in traditional military activities, and has experience living overseas. Each semi-structured, retrospective interview, then, explores the career trajectory of the respondent, the contextual obstacles and opportunities she perceives, the behavioral strategies and cognitive adjustments she employs, and the individualized identity meanings she attaches to her self-defined role. Analysis explores the military lifestyle as it is perceived by these careerist-traditional wives, the behavioral and cognitive adaptations they undertake, and the implications of their recollections. Substantive findings outline strategies for career-seeking spouses and suggest some future directions for advisement, policy, and research. Theoretical implications support and expand the principles of sociological identity control theory. Specifically, the experiences of these women indicate that individuals act to verify identity meanings not only through behavioral adjustments but through cognitive and definitional adjustments as well. As such, this research extends identity control theory. It clarifies both how role-identity definitions change over time at the individual level and, in the interactionist perspective, how those meanings are behaviorally negotiated at the social level, cumulatively affecting normative change

Corporate Foresight : A Systematic Literature Review and Future Research trajectories

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