6,151 research outputs found
Serving to secure "Global Korea": Gender, mobility, and flight attendant labor migrants
This dissertation is an ethnography of mobility and modernity in contemporary South Korea (the Republic of Korea) following neoliberal restructuring precipitated by the Asian Financial Crisis (1997). It focuses on how comparative âservice,â âsecurity,â and âsafetyâ fashioned âGlobal Koreaâ: an ongoing state-sponsored project aimed at promoting the economic, political, and cultural maturation of South Korea from a once notoriously inhospitable, âbackwardâ country (hujinâguk) to a now welcoming, âadvanced countryâ (sĆnjinâguk). Through physical embodiments of the culturally-specific idiom of âsuperiorâ service (sĆbisĆ), I argue that aspiring, current, and former Korean flight attendants have driven the production and maintenance of this national project.
More broadly, as a driver of this national project, this occupation has emerged out of the countryâs own aspirational flights from an earlier history of authoritarian rule, labor violence, and xenophobia. Against the backdrop of the Korean stateâs aggressive neoliberal restructuring, globalization efforts, and current âHell Chosunâ (HelchosĆn) economy, a group of largely academically and/or class disadvantaged young women have been able secure individualized modes of pleasure, self-fulfillment, and class advancement via what I deem âservice mobilities.â Service mobilities refers to the participation of mostly women in a traditionally devalued but growing sector of the global labor market, the âpink collarâ economy centered around âfeminineâ care labor. Korean female flight attendants share labor skills resembling those of other foreign labor migrants (chiefly from the âGlobal Southâ), who perform care work deemed less desirable. Yet, Korean female flight attendants elude the stigmatizing, classed, and racialized category of âlabor migrant.â Moreover, within the context of South Koreaâs unique history of rapid modernization, the flight attendant occupation also commands considerable social prestige.
Based on ethnographic and archival research on aspiring, current, and former Korean flight attendants, this dissertation asks how these unique care laborers negotiate a metaphorical and literal series of sustained border crossings and inspections between Korean flight attendantsâ contingent status as lowly care-laboring migrants, on the one hand, and ostensibly glamorous, globetrotting elites, on the other. This study contends the following: first, the flight attendant occupation in South Korea represents new politics of pleasure and pain in contemporary East Asia. Second, Korean female flight attendantsâ enactments of soft, sanitized, and glamorous (hwaryĆhada) service help to purify South Koreaâs less savory past. In so doing, Korean flight attendants reconstitute the historical role of female laborers as burden bearers and caretakers of the Korean state.U of I OnlyAuthor submitted a 2-year U of I restriction extension request
A Design Science Research Approach to Smart and Collaborative Urban Supply Networks
Urban supply networks are facing increasing demands and challenges and thus constitute a relevant field for research and practical development. Supply chain management holds enormous potential and relevance for society and everyday life as the flow of goods and information are important economic functions. Being a heterogeneous field, the literature base of supply chain management research is difficult to manage and navigate. Disruptive digital technologies and the implementation of cross-network information analysis and sharing drive the need for new organisational and technological approaches. Practical issues are manifold and include mega trends such as digital transformation, urbanisation, and environmental awareness.
A promising approach to solving these problems is the realisation of smart and collaborative supply networks. The growth of artificial intelligence applications in recent years has led to a wide range of applications in a variety of domains. However, the potential of artificial intelligence utilisation in supply chain management has not yet been fully exploited. Similarly, value creation increasingly takes place in networked value creation cycles that have become continuously more collaborative, complex, and dynamic as interactions in business processes involving information technologies have become more intense.
Following a design science research approach this cumulative thesis comprises the development and discussion of four artefacts for the analysis and advancement of smart and collaborative urban supply networks. This thesis aims to highlight the potential of artificial intelligence-based supply networks, to advance data-driven inter-organisational collaboration, and to improve last mile supply network sustainability. Based on thorough machine learning and systematic literature reviews, reference and system dynamics modelling, simulation, and qualitative empirical research, the artefacts provide a valuable contribution to research and practice
AnuĂĄrio cientĂfico da Escola Superior de Tecnologia da SaĂșde de Lisboa - 2021
Ă com grande prazer que apresentamos a mais recente edição (a 11.ÂȘ) do AnuĂĄrio CientĂfico da Escola Superior de Tecnologia da SaĂșde de Lisboa. Como instituição de ensino superior, temos o compromisso de promover e incentivar a pesquisa cientĂfica em todas as ĂĄreas do conhecimento que contemplam a nossa missĂŁo. Esta publicação tem como objetivo divulgar toda a produção cientĂfica desenvolvida pelos Professores, Investigadores, Estudantes e Pessoal nĂŁo Docente da ESTeSL durante 2021. Este AnuĂĄrio Ă©, assim, o reflexo do trabalho ĂĄrduo e dedicado da nossa comunidade, que se empenhou na produção de conteĂșdo cientĂfico de elevada qualidade e partilhada com a Sociedade na forma de livros, capĂtulos de livros, artigos publicados em revistas nacionais e internacionais, resumos de comunicaçÔes orais e pĂłsteres, bem como resultado dos trabalhos de 1Âș e 2Âș ciclo. Com isto, o conteĂșdo desta publicação abrange uma ampla variedade de tĂłpicos, desde temas mais fundamentais atĂ© estudos de aplicação prĂĄtica em contextos especĂficos de SaĂșde, refletindo desta forma a pluralidade e diversidade de ĂĄreas que definem, e tornam Ășnica, a ESTeSL. Acreditamos que a investigação e pesquisa cientĂfica Ă© um eixo fundamental para o desenvolvimento da sociedade e Ă© por isso que incentivamos os nossos estudantes a envolverem-se em atividades de pesquisa e prĂĄtica baseada na evidĂȘncia desde o inĂcio dos seus estudos na ESTeSL. Esta publicação Ă© um exemplo do sucesso desses esforços, sendo a maior de sempre, o que faz com que estejamos muito orgulhosos em partilhar os resultados e descobertas dos nossos investigadores com a comunidade cientĂfica e o pĂșblico em geral. Esperamos que este AnuĂĄrio inspire e motive outros estudantes, profissionais de saĂșde, professores e outros colaboradores a continuarem a explorar novas ideias e contribuir para o avanço da ciĂȘncia e da tecnologia no corpo de conhecimento prĂłprio das ĂĄreas que compĂ”e a ESTeSL. Agradecemos a todos os envolvidos na produção deste anuĂĄrio e desejamos uma leitura inspiradora e agradĂĄvel.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
On the Mechanism of Building Core Competencies: a Study of Chinese Multinational Port Enterprises
This study aims to explore how Chinese multinational port enterprises (MNPEs) build
their core competencies. Core competencies are firmsâspecial capabilities and sources
to gain sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) in marketplace, and the concept led
to extensive research and debates. However, few studies include inquiries about the
mechanisms of building core competencies in the context of Chinese MNPEs.
Accordingly, answers were sought to three research questions:
1. What are the core competencies of the Chinese MNPEs?
2. What are the mechanisms that the Chinese MNPEs use to build their core
competencies?
3. What are the paths that the Chinese MNPEs pursue to build their resources bases?
The study adopted a multiple-case study design, focusing on building mechanism of
core competencies with RBV. It selected purposively five Chinese leading MNPEs
and three industry associations as Case Companies.
The study revealed three main findings. First, it identified three generic core
competencies possessed by Case Companies, i.e., innovation in business models and
operations, utilisation of technologies, and acquisition of strategic resources. Second,
it developed the conceptual framework of the Mechanism of Building Core
Competencies (MBCC), which is a process of change of collective learning in
effective and efficient utilization of resources of a firm in response to critical events.
Third, it proposed three paths to build core competencies, i.e., enhancing collective
learning, selecting sustainable processes, and building resource base.
The study contributes to the knowledge of core competencies and RBV in three ways:
(1) presenting three generic core competencies of the Chinese MNPEs, (2) proposing
a new conceptual framework to explain how Chinese MNPEs build their core
competencies, (3) suggesting a solid anchor point (MBCC) to explain the links among
resources, core competencies, and SCA. The findings set benchmarks for Chinese
logistics industry and provide guidelines to build core competencies
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Co-design As Healing: Exploring The Experiences Of Participants Facing Mental Health Problems
This thesis is an exploration of the healing role of co-design in mental health. Although co-design projects conducted within mental health settings are rising, existing literature tends to focus on the object of design and its outcomes while the experiences of participants per se remain largely unexplored. The guiding research question of this study is not how we design things that improve mental health, but how co-designing, as an act, might do so.
The thesis presents two projects that were organized in collaboration with the mental health charity Islington Mind and the Psychosis Therapy Project (PTP) in London.
The project at Islington Mind used a structured design process inviting participants to design for wellbeing. A case study analysis provides insights on how participants were impacted, summarizing key challenges and opportunities.
The design at PTP worked towards creating a collective brief in an emergent fashion, finally culminating in a board game. The experiences of participants were explored through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), using semi-structured interview data. The analysis served to identify key themes characterising the experience of co-design such as contributing, connecting, thinking and intentioning. In addition, a mixed-methods analysis of questionnaires and interview data exploring participants' wellbeing, showed that all participants who engaged fairly consistently in the project improved after the project ended, although some participants' scores returned to baseline six months later.
Reflecting on both projects, an approach to facilitation within mental health is outlined, detailing how the dimensions of weaving and layered participation, nurturing mattering and facilitating attitudes interlace. This contribution raises awareness of tacit dimensions in the practice of facilitation, articulating the nuances of how to encourage and sustain meaningful and ethical engagement and offering insights into a range of tools. It highlights the importance of remaining reflexive in relation to attitudes and emotions and discusses practical methodological and ethical challenges and ways to resolve them which can be of benefit to researchers embarking on a similar journey.
The thesis also offers detailed insights on how methodologies from different fields were integrated into a whole, arguing for transparency and reflexivity about epistemological assumptions, and how underlying paradigms shift in an interdisciplinary context.
Based on the overall findings, the thesis makes a case for considering design as healing (or a designerly way of healing), highlighting implications at a systems, social and individual level. It makes an original contribution to our understanding of design, highlighting its healing character, and proposes a new way to support mental health. The participants in this study not only had increased their own wellbeing through co-designing, but were also empowered and contributed towards healing the world. Hence, the thesis argues for a unique, holistic perspective of design and mental health, recognizing the interconnectedness of the individual, social and systemic dimensions of the healing processes that are ignited
Embodying entrepreneurship: everyday practices, processes and routines in a technology incubator
The growing interest in the processes and practices of entrepreneurship has
been dominated by a consideration of temporality. Through a thirty-six-month
ethnography of a technology incubator, this thesis contributes to extant
understanding by exploring the effect of space. The first paper explores how
class structures from the surrounding city have appropriated entrepreneurship
within the incubator. The second paper adopts a more explicitly spatial analysis
to reveal how the use of space influences a common understanding of
entrepreneurship. The final paper looks more closely at the entrepreneurs within
the incubator and how they use visual symbols to develop their identity. Taken
together, the three papers reject the notion of entrepreneurship as a primarily
economic endeavour as articulated through commonly understood language and
propose entrepreneuring as an enigmatic attractor that is accessed through the
ambiguity of the non-verbal to develop the ânewâ. The thesis therefore contributes
to the understanding of entrepreneurship and proposes a distinct role for the non-verbal in that understanding
'Exarcheia doesn't exist': Authenticity, Resistance and Archival Politics in Athens
My thesis investigates the ways people, materialities and urban spaces interact to form affective ecologies and produce historicity. It focuses on the neighbourhood of Exarcheia, Athensâ contested political topography par excellence, known for its production of radical politics of discontent and resistance to state oppression and eoliberal capitalism. Embracing Exarcheiaâs controversial status within Greek vernacular, media and state discourses, this thesis aims to unpick the neighbourhoodsâ socio-spatial assemblage imbued with affect and formed through the numerous (mis)understandings and (mis)interpretations rooted in its turbulent political history. Drawing on theory on urban spaces, affect, hauntology and archival politics, I argue for Exarcheia as an unwavering archival space composed of affective chronotopes â (in)tangible loci that defy space and temporality. I posit that the interwoven narratives and materialities emerging in my fieldwork are persistently â and perhaps obsessively â reiterating themselves and remaining imprinted on the neighbourhoodâs landscape as an incessant reminder of violent histories that the state often seeks to erase and forget. Through this analysis, I contribute to understandings of place as a primary ethnographic âobjectâ and the ways in which place forms complex interactions and relationships with social actors, shapes their subjectivities, retains and bestows their memories and senses of historicity
GENDERED EMBODIMENT, STABILITY AND CHANGE: WOMENâS WEIGHTLIFTING AS A TOOL FOR RECOVERY FROM EATING DISORDERS
This thesis explores the everyday embodied experiences of women who use amateur weightlifting as a vehicle for recovery from eating disorders. Within online spaces and on social media, women frequently share their experiences of using weightlifting to overcome issues relating to disordered eating, body image, and mental health. In particular, women with a history of eating disorders credit weightlifting to be integral to their recovery journey. However, there is a dearth of research on womenâs experiences with exercise during eating disorder recovery and no research that identifies weightlifting as beneficial to this process. To the contrary, discursive links are drawn between the practices of self-surveillance exercised by both eating disorder sufferers and weightlifters alike. In this regard, engagement with weightlifting during eating disorder recovery may signal the transferal of pathology from one set of behaviours to another. That is, from disordered eating to rigid and self-regulatory exercise routines. This thesis examines how women subjectively navigate and make sense of this pathologisation.
The data for this research comes from longitudinal semi-structured interviews and photo elicitation with 19 women, living in the United Kingdom, who engaged in weightlifting during their eating disorder recovery. In addition, to build up a holistic picture and to explore how this phenomenon also âtakes placeâ online, I conducted a netnography of the overlapping subcultures of female weightlifting and eating disorder recovery on Instagram. Womenâs standpoint theory and interpretative phenomenological analysis are combined to form the underpinning theoretical and analytical tools used to engage with these three rich data sets. Moreover, throughout I draw on an eclectic range of disciplinary perspectives, in order to bring together multiple fields of research and develop novel theoretical frameworks.
In the findings, I argue that womenâs experiences using weightlifting as a tool for recovery from eating disorders manifests in an embodied sense of multiplicity. In this sense, understandings of the body that are often viewed as ontologically distinct (muscularity/thinness/fatness) hang-together at once in the lived experience of a single individual.
I argue that women, particularly those who have previously struggled with an eating disorder, are too readily positioned as vulnerable to media and representation. To theoretically combat these ideas regarding womenâs assumed passivity, I develop the concept of âdigital pruningâ to account for womenâs agency in relation to new media.
I contend that weightlifting offers women in recovery from eating disorders a new framework for approaching eating and exercise. Specifically, weightliftingâs norms and values legitimate occupying a larger body, which gives women in recovery permission to eat and gain-weight in a way that is both culturally sanctioned and health-promoting.
Finally, I explore identity transformation as a specific tenet of recovery from eating disorders. I argue that, on social media, recovery identities are characterised by personal empowerment, resilience, and independence. While offline, quieter and less culturally glorified aspects of recovery (such as relationships of care) are central to womenâs accounts of developing a new sense of self as they transition away from an eating disorder identity.
In summary, this thesis is an examination of the ways in which women strategically navigate pathology in relation to their bodies, social media, food/exercise practices, and identity. I argue that women develop a set of âDIYâ recovery practices that allow them to consciously channel and draw on their negative experiences with eating disorders, to develop new ways of living that serve their overall wellbeing. Weightlifting is integral to this process, as it provides women transitioning out of this difficult phase in their lives with new ways of relating to their bodies and of being in the world. I situate this phenomenon within a neoliberal socio-political climate in which individuals are required to take personal responsibility for their mental health and wellbeing, despite living within conditions which are not conducive to recovery
Management controls, government regulations, customer involvement: Evidence from a Chinese family-owned business
This research reports on a case study of a family-owned elevator manufacturing company in China, where management control was sandwiched between the state policies and global customer production requirements. By analysing the role of government and customer, this thesis aimed to illustrate how management control operated in a family-owned business and to see how and why they do management control differently. In particular, it focused on how international production standards and existing Chinese industry policies translated into a set of the management control practices through a local network within the family-owned business I studied.
Based on an ethnographic approach to research, I spent six months in the field, conducted over 30 interviews, several conservations, and reviewed relevant internal documents to understand how management control (MC) techniques with humans cooperated in the company. I also understood how two layers of pressure have shaped company behaviour, and how a company located in a developing country is connecting with global network. I also found there is considerable tension among key actors and investigated how the company responded and managed it.
Drawing on Actor Network Theory (ANT), I analysed the interviews from key actors, examined the role of government regulations and customer requirements to see how management control being managed under two layers of pressure, i.e., the government regulations (e.g., labour, tax, environment control) and customer requirement (e.g., quality and production control). Management controls were an obligatory passage point (OPP), and transformation of those elements of Western production requirements and government requirements arrived at the Chinese local factory and influenced management control and budgeting.
The findings suggest that management control systems are not only a set of technical procedures, but it is also about managing tensions. This understanding shows a linear perspective on MC practices rather than a social perspective. However, when we use ANT as a theoretical perspective, we see those actors who, being obliged and sandwiched, and controlled by external forces for them to follow. Consequently, human actors must work in an unavoidable OPP. This is the tension they face which constructed mundane practices of MC. Hence, MCs are managing such tensions. This study contributes to management control research by analysing management controls in terms of OPP, extends our understanding by illustrating the role of the government and customers, and our understanding of family-owned business from a management controls perspective in a developing country
A Consideration of Cooperative Learning to Enhance Pre-service Teachersâ Achievement in Tertiary English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Classrooms in Thailand
Cooperative learning has become a popular instructional practice around the world. It requires students working together in small groups to help support each other in maximising their own learning as well as that of others to accomplish a shared goal. A cooperative learning method, especially, Student Teams Achievement Divisions (STAD) developed by Slavin (1982) was implemented in the study. The study investigated the effectiveness of cooperative learning to enhance the English achievement of EFL (English as a foreign language) students in tertiary teacher education in Thailand. It also examined participantsâ attitudes towards cooperative learning.
The study began with a structured review of existing empirical studies to establish whether STAD could be a promising method to use in developing English proficiency in EFL and ESL (English as a second language) contexts. The review also helped identify the challenges and barriers to implementing the method and informed the primary research in terms of achievement tests, instructor training, time allowance for team study and material preparation. The review and synthesis of 28 studies revealed several beneficial suggestions regarding cooperative learning implementation in normal educational settings. However, the credibility of the overall evidence was weak, with most studies involving key methodological flaws.
To examine the effectiveness of the method, a cluster randomised controlled trial (RCT) at the university level was used. The participants were 13 instructors and 614 students from 13 universities (forming 13 clusters). A total of eight universities that agreed to participate in the intervention were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups with four universities in each group. Another five universities agreed to complete the pre-test and post-test and are described in this thesis as an additional comparison group. The participating instructors were 13 Thai university instructors of English language from 13 Rajabhat Universities in Thailand. Their students were first-year pre-service teachers who were majoring in English in the Faculty of Education. The trial was carried out in one term consisting of 16 class sessions. The research instruments consisted of two parallel standardised English achievement tests, two attitude questionnaires (teacher and student) and classroom observations with ad hoc interviews.
The results showed that the use of cooperative learning in tertiary EFL classrooms in Thailand is feasible. In terms of attitudes, both instructors and students were generally positive towards cooperative learning and supported its activities.
Students in the treatment group did slightly better (ES = +0.09) when compared to all comparator groups. However, when considering the randomised experimental and control groups, the control group improved their post-test score (+0.26) while the experimental group declined (-0.20). Overall, cooperative learning showed no clear benefit for studentsâ English language achievement.
The process evaluation revealed the key factors that facilitated the implementation were teacher training and support, preparation and availability of teaching resources and materials, teachersâ positive attitudes and the duration of cooperative learning instruction. Some barriers were also found, including studentsâ negative attitudes, inappropriate classroom settings and facilities, and instructorsâ workload.
Unfortunately, since the study was carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic, none of the universities were able to complete the course of 16 classes as planned. The number of classes students could meet in their normal classroom conditions was approximately 8 to 12. Different modes of lesson delivery (face-to-face, online and hybrid) were also reported. A replication of the study is needed for a more accurate assessment of the STAD method.
Both the structured review and the cluster RCT suggest no strong evidence that the cooperative learning method, namely STAD, led to improved pre-service teachersâ English language achievement in Thailand. However, this does not necessarily mean the method does not work. The lack of impact might be due to the challenges faced in the delivery of the intervention during the pandemic. This was compounded by the lack of complete randomisation used in the study. It is, therefore, difficult to draw more definite conclusions about the effectiveness of STAD. It might be wise to conduct further robust evaluations involving a large number of educational institutions before any considerable investment can be made to introduce this method in higher education institutions in Thailand. In the meantime, there may be other approaches with a more promising evidence base which may enhance studentsâ English language achievement
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