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Discursive resources: top managers' identities and the long-term survival of their organisations
This paper represents an attempt to understand the dynamics of the identity work in the context of the challenges top managers have to address. Managers' discursive resources influence what they notice and also the interpretation of what is noticed. Their ability to understand and challenge their discursive resources is crucial because the persistence of categories and metaphors that depicts a globalized world where they do not have capacity to react may explain the decline of their organizations. The stories they tell ground their emotions and their identities and then they see the world and themselves through them. Hence, their discursive resources and their emotions impact on the long-term survival of their organizations through the strategic exchange between top managers and organizations. The paper raises queries about the discursive resources that top managers use to define their identities, and how these identities may affect the long-term survival of organizations. The findings from this study add to the theoretical knowledge of the sense-making literature. They have practical consequences for the textile sector in Portugal and how strategic issues are addressed. This is in allowing an understanding of the influence that discursive resources have in managers' identity construction and the effects of their identities on the long-term survival of their organizations
Perceptions and Profiles of Young People Regarding Spa Tourism: A Comparative Study of Students from Granada and Aachen Universities
The APC and translation into English was funded by Research Group "Socio-space dynamics territory planning in Andalusia" Ref: HUM355. University of Granada.Spa tourism has undergone important changes in recent decades, actively embracing
wellness and wellbeing. However, this transition is taking place in different ways in Europe, and
this has led to varying perceptions of thermalism that have little to do with its original conception.
The main aim of this study was to analyse current perceptions of spa tourism amongst university
students, so as to identify profiles and compare the differences between two study cases: Granada
(Spain) and Aachen (Germany). For this purpose, we applied a methodology that combines artificial
intelligence techniques with questionnaires containing both quantitative and qualitative variables.
This enabled us to identify and characterize a series of profiles, so as to acquire detailed knowledge
of the perceptions of these students regarding spa tourism in Granada and Aachen. On the basis
of the results, the interviewees were grouped together into seven profiles from which we deduced
that young Germans from Aachen visit spas more frequently and have a more realistic perception
of the thermal sector than young Spanish people from Granada. This situation could limit present
and future demand for spas in southern Spain. With this in mind, in this paper we present an
updated assessment of the demand for spas amongst university students, in order to design effective
geomarketing strategies in two cities with long spa traditions.Research Group "Socio-space dynamics territory planning in Andalusia", University of Granada HUM35
From collection to reflection : on designing Freed, a tool for free and flexible organization of designers' digital work
Designers collect a lot of information during the design process, such as background research, ideas, notes, sketches, photos, videos and feedback from various stakeholders. A large part of this information gets lost in folders on individual computers, inside documents and presentations, or on pages in designers' notebooks. This is wasteful, because this information can be used for reflection. Reflection enables designers to give meaning to their experience and to develop. When reflecting designers think about what, how and why they design, or more specifically: It allows them to gain overview of, gain insight in and give direction to their design process, ideas, designs, skills, knowledge, interests, ambitions, identity and community. Reflection concerns integration, i.e., to explore relations, and diversity, i.e., to explore new perspectives. Reflection has a dual nature. On the one hand, it is an explicit action that requires designers to step out of the flow of designing. On the other hand, it is an implicit process that happens automatically while designing. This dual nature also holds true for how reflection can be supported. On the one hand, one can specifically dedicate time for reflection. On the other hand, reflection can be captured Âżin the action', during or right after other activities that are part of the design process. This project adopts a Research-through-Design approach: By designing and evaluating a software application called Freed, insight is gained in how designers' reflection can be supported by means of their digital collections. Freed is discussed and evaluated with design students and designer-researchers at the department of Industrial Design at the Eindhoven University of Technology. This context, which has strongly inspired and influenced this work, is introduced in the first chapter. In the second chapter, the foundations, goals and approach of this research are outlined. Based on the goal of supporting both integration and diversity, the case is made for free and flexible organization. Freedom is defined as the possibility to let structure and meaning emerge during interaction, instead of being imposed by the structure of the application. It can also be referred to as the openness of the application, or its ability to be appropriated and used in diverse situations. Flexibility is defined as the possibility to easily reorganize and reuse design work and to switch between perspectives on this work. Related work concerning reflection, design and collection, is discussed in the third chapter. This chapter ends with the conclusion that design is about action and exploration, and that reflection cannot be seen independent from action. Opportunities for reflection can be provided by a flexible person- and context- dependent design process that allows for many switches between activities, and regular reframing of the design situation. A system for supporting reflection should fit this flexible nature, and give designers the freedom to use the system for their own purposes. This desired combination of freedom and flexibility is not found in existing tools and systems. For example, existing tools and systems include elements that may inhibit free and flexible organization of the collection, such as similarity criteria, IBIS notations, and hierarchical relations. The main process of design and evaluation is discussed chronologically in chapters four to seven. The fourth chapter introduces initial design concepts, and argues for a focus on software. A first software prototype called ÂżThe Magnetic Collage Software' is discussed, along with a personal reflection on the use of it. From this reflection is concluded that the initial prototype works well for gaining overview quickly, but that it needed to be improved in order to support more active exploration of relations and perspectives. In chapter five the initial version of Freed is discussed. The main elements of Freed are a zoomable unconstrained canvas, a forcebased layout, and the possibility to create multiple organizations of the same content. The purpose of the force-based layout, in which related content attracts each other and non-related content repulses each other, is to encourage the exploration of relations and different spatial organizations. These organizations, or Âżviews', can for example be used for a specific design activity or project phase (e.g. presenting, mapping related work), for creating an overview of the entire design process, for a portfolio of multiple projects, or for explaining the perspective of a given designer or stakeholder. The chapter concludes with a discussion of first feedback from design students and a case study in which the software was used for building a presentation and collection of the research group in which this research is carried out. The case study showed how the activities of building a presentation and collection can support each other and how this active, integrated use can lead to reflection. Chapter six focuses on the use of Freed during the design process. It discusses a design iteration, an introductory workshop and questionnaire, and a semester-long evaluation during student design projects. This evaluation showed that Freed was valued as a tool for gaining overview of and revisiting design work and process. Additionally, it showed that in order to support more exploration and reflection during and after the design process, the threshold for documentation and communication needed to be lowered, a better balance between organization and visualization needed to be obtained, and the integration and overview of views needed to be improved. Chapter seven focuses on using Freed as a tool for exploring relations and perspectives. It discusses a final design iteration, an evaluation during which students used Freed to explore their personal views on design theory, a case study of designerresearchers using the software for organizing student projects, and a reflection on personal use of Freed. These cases showed how Freed provides the freedom to be used differently by various design students and how multiple views can help to integrate work and to explore relations and perspectives. They also showed that both freedom and structure are needed for reflection, and how Freed can be used complementary to other activities such as physical diagramming or clustering. For example, physical clustering (e.g. of Post-it notes or printed images) helps to quickly gain consensus among a group and to make decisions, while Freed provides input for more dynamic discussions, allows for personal exploration (i.e. to temporarily loose the group consensus), and allows for insight to develop gradually. Chapter 8 concerns a reflection on this research as a whole, and discusses Âżconditions for collection and reflection', future work, and Research-through-Design. The main conclusions are that reflection builds on active use of a digital collection, that active use benefits from having a rich, visual, integrated collection, that reflection requires both freedom and structure, that structure emerges from direct, expressive local interaction, and that using a digital collection for reflection requires time and skill. In future work, there's a need to move beyond the confinements of a single software application, and to explore how to design for systems that integrate diverse products and applications. Additionally, there's a need to explore the integration of collection and reflection in a collaborative setting (and) in design practice
The interplay between cognitive, conative, and affective constructs along the entrepreneurial learning process
Purpose: Although the role of reflections in entrepreneurship education is undeniable, the research has focused mainly on their advantages and consequences for learning process, whereas their dynamics and interrelations with other mental processes remain unexplored. The purpose of this paper is to better understand how personality and intelligence constructs: cognition, conation, and affection evolve and change along the learning process during entrepreneurship education. Design/methodology/approach: To better understand reflective processes in entrepreneurial learning this paper adopts the tripartite constructs of personality and intelligence. By employing longitudinal explorative research approach and self-organizing map (SOM) algorithm, the authors follow studentsâ reflections during their two-year learning processes. First, the authors try to identify how the interplay between the cognitive, conative, and affective aspects emerges in studentsâ reflections. Then, the authors investigate how this interplay evolves during the individual learning process and finally, by looking for similarities in these learning pathways, the authors aim to identify patterns of studentsâ reflective learning process. Findings: All constructs are present during the learning process and all are prone to change. The individual constructs alone shed no light on the interplay between different constructs, but rather that the interplay between sub-constructs should be taken into consideration as well. This seems to be particularly true for cognition, as procedural and declarative knowledge have very different profiles. Procedural knowledge emerges together with emotions, motivation, and volition, whereas the profile of declarative knowledge is individual. The unique profile of declarative knowledge in studentsâ reflections is an important finding as declarative knowledge is regarded as the center of current pedagogic practices. Research limitations/implications The study broadens the understanding of reflective practices in the entrepreneurial learning process and the interplay between affective, cognitive, and conative sub-constructs and reflective practices in entrepreneurship education. The findings clearly indicate the need for further research on the interplay between sub-constructs and studentsâ reflection profiles. The authors see the study as an attempt to apply an exploratory statistical method for the problem in question. Practical implications: The results are able to advise pedagogy. Practical implications concern the need to develop reflective practises in entrepreneurial learning interventions to enhance all three meta-competencies, even though there are so far no irrefutable findings to indicate that some types of reflection may be better than others. Originality/value: The results of the analysis indicate that it is possible to study the complex and dynamic interplay between sub-constructs of cognitive, conative and affective constructs. Moreover, the research succeeded in identifying both individual variations and general reflection patterns and changes in these during the learning process. This was possible by adopting a longitudinal explorative research approach with SOM analyses.Peer reviewe
Examining manifestations of power in couples: influence tactics, self-concept, and wellbeing across time
Doctor of PhilosophySchool of Family Studies and Human ServicesAmber V. VennumThe purpose of this study was to examine how various influence tactics (hostility, dominance, interrogation, lecture/moralizing, denial, and assertiveness) were linked with decision-making power and individual and relationship outcomes over a four-year span of couplesâ relationships. Using actor-partner interdependence mediation path modeling, I examined the use of these six observed influence tactics in a sample of 182 heterosexual dyads and found that a partnerâs self-concept â particularly self-worth and perception of how much oneâs partner respects them â tends to mediate the relationship between multiple influence tactics and wellbeing outcomes (depression, relationship quality, decision-making influence and satisfaction). Dominance (positive and negative forms), interrogation, hostility and lecture/moralizing related more often to individual and relational outcomes than the other influence tactics. Male lecturing/moralizing was linked with higher levels of female depression in and through lowering female self-worth, while potentially having a reverse effect for male depression and self-worth. Males feeling like their female partner respects their competencies and skills fully mediated the relationship between assertiveness and relationship quality for males and females; therefore, it may be that the male ego is a central organizing factor for heterosexual couples in established, committed relationships. Couples therapists can promote fairness in heterosexual couple relationships by assessing for, and intervening in, lecturing/moralizing and interrogation behaviors, as well as promoting affirming self-concepts and positive forms of dominance. When working with couples to promote positive communication such as assertiveness, therapists should ensure that male and female assertive behaviors serve to promote both male and femalesâ perception that their partner respects them, as it may be that males feeling respected may come at the expense of female relationship quality or decision-making influence
Start With a Girl: A New Agenda for Global Health
Examines how social factors shape the health issues adolescent girls face in developing countries. Calls for a health agenda for girls, including focused HIV prevention and maternal health advocacy; elimination of child marriage; and secondary education
Religion, Spirituality and Addiction Recovery: Introduction
Religion, spirituality, non-religion, and the secular (Lee 2014, 2015) are unstable categories that are nonetheless routinely reified by academics, clinicians and practitioners alike, and positioned as fundamental to experiences of addiction recovery. For instance, addiction is often framed, dramatically, as a spiritual malady, yet, just as often, as simply a poor moral choice. While ideas associated with religion or spirituality play out differently in those contrasting diagnoses, the role of religion and spirituality in their aetiology is evident. We (Wendy Dossett and Liam Metcalf-White) argue that the categories of religion, spirituality, and non-religion, as they to relate to addiction recovery, need further analysis than they receive in the clinical literature. This literature frequently presents them as extra âtechnologies of the self â (Foucault 1988); either functionally worthwhile or not (Szalavitz 2017); rather than as embedded in the very culture and discourses in which addiction and recovery are named and experienced. We argue for a focus on the latter as more productive for an understanding of the field
Effects of moment of inertia on restricted motion swing speed
In many sports, the maximum swing speed of a racket, club, or bat is a key performance parameter. Previous research in multiple sports supports the hypothesis of an inverse association between the swing speed and moment of inertia of an implement. The aim of this study was to rigorously test and quantify this relationship using a restricted swinging motion. Eight visually identical rods with a common mass but variable moment of inertia were manufactured. Motion capture technology was used to record eight participants' maximal effort swings with the rods. Strict exclusion criteria were applied to data that did not adhere to the prescribed movement pattern. The study found that for all participants, swing speed decreased with respect to moment of inertia according to a power relationship. However, in contrast to previous studies, the rate of decrease varied from participant to participant. With further analysis it was found that participants performed more consistently at the higher end of the moment of inertia range tested. The results support the inverse association between swing speed and moment of inertia but only for higher moment of inertia implements
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