Reflections on Multiple Perspective Problem Framing

The researchers have developed a system of value innovation modelling founded on the application of a multiple perspective problem framing theory (English 2008). This approach has been used to map the attributes of 43 businesses in order to reveal untapped value in these organisations, as described in a previous paper (2010). The system considers both the attributes of a company and the experience of the researchers as parameters in a design problem. This paper aims to show how the process can reveal value by taking the reader through a step-by-step guide, incorporating case studies to demonstrate the relationship between concepts and the development of the researcher’s awareness. An integrated mapping activity provides a clear overview of the company and describes relationships between technology, intellectual property and commercialisation. This mapping process is used to reveal patterns and disharmonies, enabling the researchers to identify gaps and make connections that can lead to new business opportunities. This paper describes the mapping process in detail and the researchers reflect on the way that insights have been revealed through their development of new perspectives on each company

Towards Best Practice Framing of Uncertainty in Scientific Publications: A Review of Water Resources Research Abstracts

Uncertainty is recognized as a key issue in water resources research, amongst other sciences. Discussions of uncertainty typically focus on tools and techniques applied within an analysis, e.g. uncertainty quantification and model validation. But uncertainty is also addressed outside the analysis, in writing scientific publications. The language that authors use conveys their perspective of the role of uncertainty when interpreting a claim —what we call here “framing” the uncertainty. This article promotes awareness of uncertainty framing in four ways. 1) It proposes a typology of eighteen uncertainty frames, addressing five questions about uncertainty. 2) It describes the context in which uncertainty framing occurs. This is an interdisciplinary topic, involving philosophy of science, science studies, linguistics, rhetoric, and argumentation. 3) We analyze the use of uncertainty frames in a sample of 177 abstracts from the Water Resources Research journal in 2015. This helped develop and tentatively verify the typology, and provides a snapshot of current practice. 4) Provocative recommendations promote adjustments for a more influential, dynamic science. Current practice in uncertainty framing might be described as carefully-considered incremental science. In addition to uncertainty quantification and degree of belief (present in ~5% of abstracts), uncertainty is addressed by a combination of limiting scope, deferring to further work (~25%) and indicating evidence is sufficient (~40%) – or uncertainty is completely ignored (~8%). There is a need for public debate within our discipline to decide in what context different uncertainty frames are appropriate. Uncertainty framing cannot remain a hidden practice evaluated only by lone reviewers

Communicating Resilience: A Discursive Leadership Perspective

In this essay we challenge whether current conceptions of optimism, hope, and resilience are complete enough to account for the complexity and nuance of developing and maintaining these in practice. For example, a quick perusal of popular outlets (e.g., Forbes, Harvard Business Review) reveals advice to managers urging them to “be optimistic,” or “be happy” so that these types of emotions or feelings can spread to the workplace. One even finds simple advice and steps to follow on how to foster these types of things in the workplace (McKee; Tjan). We argue that this common perspective focuses narrowly on individuals and does not account for the complexity of resilience. Consequently, it denies the role of context, culture, and interactions as ways people develop shared meaning and reality. To fill this gap in our understanding, we take a social constructionist perspective to understand resilience. In other words, we foreground communication as the primary building block to sharing meaning and creating our worlds. In so doing, we veer away from the traditional focus on the individual and instead emphasise the social and cultural elements that shape how meaning is shared by peoples in various contexts (Fairhurst, Considering Context). Drawing on a communication, discourse-centered perspective we explore hope and optimism as concepts commonly associated with resilience in a work context. At work, leaders play a vital role in communicating ways that foster resilience in the face of organisational issues and events (e.g., environmental crises, downsizing). Following this lead, discursive leadership offers a framework that positions leadership as co-created and as the management of meaning through framing (Fairhurst, Power of Framing). Thus, we propose that a discursive leadership orientation can contribute to the communicative construction of resilience that moves away from individual perspectives to an emphasis on the social. From a discursive perspective, leadership is defined as a process of meaning management; attribution given by followers or observers; process-focused rather than leader-focused; and as shifting and distributed among several organizational members (Fairhurst Power of Framing). By switching from the individual focus and concentrating on social and cultural systems, discursive leadership is able to study concepts related to subjectivity, cultures, and identities as it relates to meaning. Our aim is to offer leaders an alternative perspective on resilience at the individual and group level by explaining how a discursive orientation to leadership can contribute to the communicative construction of resilience. We argue that a social constructionist approach provides a perspective that can unravel the multiple layers that make up hope, optimism, and resilience. We begin with a peek into the social scientific perspective that is so commonplace in media and popular portrayals of these constructs. Then, we explain the social constructionist perspective that grounds our framework, drawing on discursive leadership. Next, we present an alternative model of resilience, one that takes resilience as communicatively constructed and socially created. We believe this more robust perspective can help individuals, groups, and cultures be more resilient in the face of challenges

Prospect Theory or Skill Signaling?

Failure is embarrassing. In gambles involving both skill and chance, we show that a strategic desire to avoid appearing unskilled generates behavioral anomalies that are typically explained by prospect theory’s concepts of loss aversion, probability weighting, and framing effects. Loss aversion arises because losing any gamble, even a friendly bet with little or no money at stake, reflects poorly on the decision maker’s skill. Probability weighting emerges because winning a gamble with a low probability of success is a strong signal of skill, while losing a gamble with a high probability of success is a strong signal of incompetence. Framing matters when there are multiple equilibria and the framing of a gamble affects beliefs, e.g., when someone takes a “dare” rather than admit a lack of skill. The analysis is based on models from the career concerns literature and is closely related to early social psychology models of risk taking. The results provide an alternative perspective on the existence of prospect theory behavior in economic, financial, and managerial decisions where both skill and chance are important. We identify specific situations where skill signaling makes opposite predictions than prospect theory, allowing for tests between the strategic and behavioral approaches to understanding risk.prospect theory, career concerns, probability weighting, loss aversion, framing effects, dare taking, embarrassment aversion

The Tuareg: between armed uprising and drought

he recent Tuareg uprising in Mali under the banner of the MNLA has raised concerns over stability and safety in the region, with much attention focussed on the Libya and AQIM (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) ‘connections’. The framing of the conflict in terms of international security and political (in)stability elsewhere obscures the causes, considerations and implications on a local level. Here we will try to discuss the conflict from a Tuareg perspective, estimating the impact of local, international and national concerns on the chances for peace or lasting conflict

Do CEOs Ever Lose? Fairness Perspective on the Allocation of Residuals Between CEOs and Shareholders

In this study we introduce a justice perspective to examining the result of bargaining between CEOs and boards over the allocation of firm residuals that ultimately determines CEO compensation. Framing CEO pay as the result of bargaining between CEOs and boards focuses attention on the power of CEOs to increase their share of firm residuals in the form of increased compensation, and the diligence of boards of directors to constrain CEO opportunism. Framing this negotiation through a theory of justice offers an alternative perspective to the search for pay-performance sensitivity. We predict and find that as board diligence in controlling opportunism declines and CEO power increases, CEOs are increasingly able to capture a larger portion of firm residuals relative to shareholders. This finding supports critics who charge that CEO pay violates norms of distributive and procedural justice

Value innovation modelling: Design thinking as a tool for business analysis and strategy

This paper explores the use of multiple perspective problem framing (English 2008) as a tool to reveal hidden value and commercial opportunity for business. Creative thinking involves the interrelationship of parameters held open and fluid within the cognitive span of the creative mind. The recognition of new associations can create new value that can lead to innovation in designed products, intellectual property and business strategy. The ‘Ideas-lab’ process is based on the proposition that a company’s capacity for innovation is dependent on the way the business is able to see its problems and opportunities. In this process the attributes of a company and the experience of the researchers are considered as the parameters of a design problem. It is therefore important to acknowledge the commercial experience of the project researchers, all of whom have a proven track record in helping businesses develop, exploit and protect their know how. Semi structured interviews were carried out with key individuals in 34 companies. The resulting data was assessed on a company-by-company basis through a process of multiple perspective problem framing, enabling key nodes, patterns and relationships to be identified and explored. A ‘Cornerstones of Innovation’ report was prepared to inform each company of the observations made by the researchers. The paper describes the methods adopted and summarises the feedback from participating companies. Case studies are highlighted to demonstrate ways in which the process influenced the actions of particular businesses, and the commercial outcomes that resulted. Finally the researchers reflect on the structure of the Ideas-lab process

Colonial engagements in the global Mediterranean Iron Age

The application of globalization theory to colonial contexts in recent years has emphasized articulations of the colonized and the colonizers. For the Mediterranean Iron Age, focus has been upon expressions of local (colonized) identities, and of regional variabilities of the overseas Greeks and Phoenicians; any attention to the engagements that the Greeks and Phoenicians had with one another during this time has been solely contrapositive in the framing of arguments. The present study examines the background to this circumstance before addressing specifically the engagement between these global cultures on a Mediterranean-wide scale during the period of their overseas foundations. Regarded from the perspective of a globalization framework, the common sets of practices and shared bodies of knowledge reveal a deep complexity of intercultural contact during the Iron Age, reminding us that cultures should never be considered in isolation.The application of globalization theory to colonial contexts in recent years has emphasized articulations of the colonized and the colonizers. For the Mediterranean Iron Age, focus has been upon expressions of local (colonized) identities, and of regional variabilities of the overseas Greeks and Phoenicians; any attention to the engagements that the Greeks and Phoenicians had with one another during this time has been solely contrapositive in the framing of arguments. The present study examines the background to this circumstance before addressing specifically the engagement between these global cultures on a Mediterranean-wide scale during the period of their overseas foundations. Regarded from the perspective of a globalization framework, the common sets of practices and shared bodies of knowledge reveal a deep complexity of intercultural contact during the Iron Age, reminding us that cultures should never be considered in isolation

Framing injustice in green criminology : activism, social movements and geography

Injustice is perceived, experienced and articulated. Social movements, and their constitutive parts, frame and re-frame these senses of injustice. Two often-overlapping accounts of social movements are in focus in this chapter. Human geography has been flooded with movement-based analyses of environmental justice (EJ). Sociology (more appropriately political sociology) has provided insight into social movements in the form of ‘contentious politics’ (CP). Building on both sets of literature, this chapter seeks to advance thought in human geography through a detailed exploration of master and collective action framing. It argues, firstly, that framing analysis challenges activist researchers to retain ‘spatial constructs’ as their central focus, rather than discourse. It calls, secondly, for us to unbind injustice as much as justice in our analysis of framing. And lastly, it demands a multi-spatial perspective on framing beyond simply scalar accounts.PostprintPeer reviewe