International project teams as innovation hubs: power and politics in the knowledge change process

The aim of this investigation is to understand how international project teams enable mature multinational enterprises (MNEs) to cope with knowledge diversity and political activity, two well-known disruptive organizational phenomena, in order to leverage their innovative potential and competitive capabilities. To answer this question a longitudinal multi-case study has been designed to collect in-depth qualitative data from three large-scale international projects conducted by a focal MNE and an array of its subsidiaries. In a dialectic way, data collected has been used both to enhance the dynamic knowledge change framework provided by contemporary sociology and to explain the complex mechanisms that make international project teams an increasingly used organizational tool. As a result, knowledge change (and thus innovation) has been found to hinge on a dynamic balance between power and politics which is favored by conditions that are inherent to these organizational settings. Finally, a model describing the mechanisms that enable international project teams to drive knowledge diversity and political activity towards innovation and knowledge change within MNEs has been developed.L'objectiu d'aquesta investigació és entendre com els equips de projectes internacionals permeten a les empreses multinacionals madures fer front a la diversitat de coneixements i l'activitat política, dues reconegudes fonts de problemes organitzacionals, amb la finalitat de potenciar les seves capacitats d'innovació i potencial competitiu . Per respondre a aquesta pregunta un estudi longitudinal embolicant casos múltiples s'ha desenvolupat per recollir dades qualitatives en profunditat des de tres grans projectes internacionals a càrrec d'una empresa multinacional focal i una gran varietat de les seves filials. D'una manera dialèctica, les dades recollides han estat utilitzats tant per millorar el marc del canvi dinàmic del coneixement proposat per la sociologia contemporània i explicar els complexos mecanismes que fan que els equips de projectes internacionals en una eina cada vegada més utilitzada per aquestes organitzacions. Com a resultat, es mostra que el canvi d'un determinat coneixement depèn d'un equilibri dinàmic entre poder i política afavorit per les condicions que són inherents a aquests formats organitzacionals. Finalment, es desenvolupa un model que detalla els mecanismes que permeten als equips de projectes internacionals impulsar la diversitat de coneixements i l'activitat política cap a la innovació i el canvi del coneixement dins de les empreses multinacionals madures.El objetivo de esta investigación es entender cómo los equipos de proyectos internacionales permiten a las empresas multinacionales maduras hacer frente a la diversidad de conocimientos y la actividad política, dos reconocidas fuentes de problemas organizacionales, con el fin de potenciar sus capacidades de innovación y potencial competitivo. Para responder a esta pregunta un estudio longitudinal envolviendo casos múltiplos se ha desarrollado para recoger datos cualitativos en profundidad desde tres grandes proyectos internacionales a cargo de una empresa multinacional focal y una gran variedad de sus filiales. De una manera dialéctica, los datos recogidos han sido utilizados tanto para mejorar el marco del cambio dinámico del conocimiento propuesto por la sociología contemporánea y explicar los complejos mecanismos que hacen que los equipos de proyectos internacionales en una herramienta cada vez más utilizada por estas organizaciones. Como resultado, se muestra que el cambio de un determinado conocimiento depende de un equilibrio dinámico entre poder y política favorecido por las condiciones que son inherentes a estos formatos organizacionales. Por fin, se desarrolla un modelo que detalla los mecanismos que permiten a los equipos de proyectos internacionales impulsar la diversidad de conocimientos y la actividad política hacia la innovación y el cambio del conocimiento dentro de las empresas multinacionales maduras

Bodies as Evidence

From biometrics to predictive policing, contemporary security relies on sophisticated scientific evidence-gathering and knowledge-making focused on the human body. Bringing together new anthropological perspectives on the complexities of security in the present moment, the contributors to Bodies as Evidence reveal how bodies have become critical sources of evidence that is organized and deployed to classify, recognize, and manage human life. Through global case studies that explore biometric identification, border control, forensics, predictive policing, and counterterrorism, the contributors show how security discourses and practices that target the body contribute to new configurations of knowledge and power. At the same time, margins of error, unreliable technologies, and a growing suspicion of scientific evidence in a “post-truth” era contribute to growing insecurity, especially among marginalized populations

Wonder, education, and human flourishing:Theoretical, empirical, and practical perspectives

The premise that underlies this volume is that there are strong interconnections between wonder, education and human flourishing. And more specifically, that wonder can make a significant difference to how well one’s education progresses and how well one’s life goes. The contributors to this volume – both senior, well-known and beginning researchers and students of wonder – variously explore aspects of these connections from philosophical, empirical, theoretical and practical perspectives. The three chapters that comprise Part I of the book are devoted to the importance of wonder for education and for human flourishing. Part II contains four chapters offering conceptual analyses of wonder and perspectives from developmental psychology and philosophy (Spinoza, Wittgenstein, philosophy of religion). The seven chapters that form Part III contain a wealth of ideas and educational strategies to promote wonder in education and teacher education. This volume not only underlines and articulates the importance of wonder in education and in life but also offers fresh perspectives, allowing us to look with renewed wonder at wonder itself

Institution of the museum in the early twenty-first century in Scotland

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, cultural policy in Scotland was dominated by the political ideas and priorities of New Labour. Post-devolution government in Scotland, in line with wider British policy, encouraged a new role for the heritage and culture sector, with a new insistence on the language and implementation of a ‘social inclusion’ agenda. However, more than a decade after devolution, changes in government and economic crisis have reconfigured the priorities of the Scottish museum sector. Central questions posed in this thesis are: Has the Scottish museum’s societal role (as promulgated by Labour) been disrupted and altered by recent political and economic shifts and by the threat of future upheavals? And if so, how? What is the current direction of reform within the Scottish museum sector? What are the current narratives of education promulgated within the sector? What symbolic traits are projected by the contemporary museum in Scotland? Building on previous research and theory in museological studies, this thesis offers a fresh perspective on the educational and social role of the contemporary museum in Scotland. Following on from Hewison (1987), I argue that museums in Scotland are responding to post-industrial malaise and fear of decline. Unlike Hewison, however, I argue that this response carries little nostalgia or naïve adoration of the past, but instead seeks to position the museum as an exemplar of stability, business sense and creative thinking in a context of societal anxiety. The National Galleries of Scotland provides an appropriate case study to explore the role and response of the Scottish museum sector to the economic and political uncertainty of the modern era. NGS is one of Scotland’s most prominent and oldest ‘heritage’ institutions, attracting over one million visitors a year. It is also a multisited, national institution, directly supported by government and closely aligned to official cultural policy. This thesis uses archival research and ethnographic methods such as interviews and observation to reveal shifts in educational and reform narratives within the Scottish museum sector as well as underlying ideas that shape these narratives. Conducted over the course of three years, from 2011 to 2013, this research is situated at an interesting time for the Scottish museum sector, as Scottish society wrestles with the economic uncertainty of the early twenty-first century

Abstract Leanest Quasi-Orderings

A convenient method for defining a quasi-ordering, such as those used for proving termination of rewriting, is to choose the minimum of a set of quasi-orderings satisfying some desired traits. Unfortunately, a minimum in terms of set inclusion can be non-existent even when an intuitive “minimum ” exists. We suggest an alternative to set inclusion, called “leanness”, show that leanness is a partial order on quasiorderings, and provide sufficient conditions for the existence of a “leanest ” member of a set of total well-founded quasi-orderings. Key words: Quasi-ordering, well-quasi-ordering, lexicographic path ordering

Leanest Quasi-orderings Preliminary Version

In my poor, lean lank face nobody has ever seen that any cabbages were sprouting. -Abraham Lincoln Abstract. A convenient method for defining a quasi-ordering, such as those used for proving termination of rewriting, is to choose the minimum of a set of quasi-orderings satisfying some desired traits. Unfortunately, a minimum in terms of set inclusion can be non-existent even when an intuitive "minimum" exists. We suggest an alternative to set inclusion, called "leanness", show that leanness is a partial ordering of quasi-orderings, and provide sufficient conditions for the existence of a "leanest" ordering