The effects of varying forms and degrees of government intervention upon the effective competitiveness of UK small businesses

This doctoral thesis responds to the need for greater understanding of small businesses and their inherent unique problem-types. Integral to the investigation is the theme that for governments to effectively influence small business, a sound understanding of the factors they are seeking to influence is essential. Moreover, the study, in its recognition of the many shortcomings in management research and, in particular that the research methods and approaches adopted often fail to give adequate understanding of issues under study, attempts to develop an innovative and creative research approach. The aim thus being to produce, not only advances in small business management knowledge from the standpoints of government policy makers and `lq recipient small business, but also insights into future potential research method for the continued development of that knowledge. The origins of the methodology lay in the non-acceptance of traditional philosophical positions in epistemology and ontology, with a philosophical standpoint of internal realism underpinning the research. Internal realism presents the basis for the potential co-existence of qualitative and quantitative research strategy and underlines the crucial contributory role of research method in provision of ultimate factual status of the assertions of research findings. The concept of epistemological bootstrapping is thus used to develop a `lq partial research framework to foothold case study research, thereby avoiding limitations of objectivism and brute inductivism. The major insights and issues highlighted by the `lq bootstrap, guide the researcher around the participant case studies. A novel attempt at contextualist (linked multi-level and processual) analysis was attempted in the major in-depth case study, with two further cases playing a support role and contributing to a balanced emphasis of empirical research within the context of time constraints inherent within part-time research

Do we need permission to play in public? The design of participation for social play video games at play parties and ‘alternative’ games festivals

Play is a fundamental to being Human. It helps to make sense of the self, to learn, to be creative and to relax. The advent of video games challenged traditional notions of play, introducing a single player experience to what had primarily been a communal social activity. As technology has developed, communal play has found both online and real-world spaces within video games. Online streaming, multiplayer games and built-in spectator modes within games underpin online communal play experiences, whilst ‘alternative’ games festivals, play parties and electronic sports, provide real world spaces for people to meet, play and exchange knowledge relating to both playing and making video games. This article reports the study of social play events which bring people together in the same space to explore video games making and playing. Expert interviews with curators, and event facilitators provides qualitative data from which design processes are formalised into a ‘model of participation’ of social play. Four key areas of balance are proposed as core considerations in supporting participation in event design. The study of these events also suggests that their design and fostering of participation has the potential to evoke cultural change in game making and playing practices

Rethinking communication in innovation processes: creating space for change in complex systems

Abstract: In innovation studies, communication received explicit attention in the context of studies on the adoption and diffusion of innovation that dominated the field in the 1940-1970 period. Since then, our theoretical understanding of both innovation and communication has changed markedly. However, a systematic rethinking of the role of communication in innovation processes is largely lacking. This article reconceptualises the role of everyday communication and communicative intervention in innovation processes, and discusses practical implications. It is argued that we need to broaden our perspective on the types of (communicatively supported) intermediation that an innovation process includes and requires. Keywords: innovation, communication, discursive space, intermediaries, everyday tal

Exploring social music behaviour: An investigation of music selection at parties

This paper builds an understanding how music is currently listened to by small (fewer than 10 individuals) to medium-sized (10 to 40 individuals) gatherings of people— how songs are chosen for playing, how the music fits in with other activities of group members, who supplies the music, the hardware/software that supports song selection and presentation. This fine-grained context emerges from a qualitative analysis of a rich set of participant observations and interviews focusing on the selection of songs to play at social gatherings. We suggest features for software to support music playing at parties

Elaboration of the Model of Formation of Readiness of Future Primary School Teachers to the Use of Learning-playing Technologies

The study characterizes the structural-functional model of formation of readiness of students of the specialty “Primary education” to using learning-playing technologies in the educational process. Among general modeling forms there was chosen the combined model (graphic descriptive scheme) of the structural-functional type. There was substantiated the main idea of modeling of the process of formation of future primary school teachers' readiness to using learning-playing technologies, especially, elaboration of such structural-functional model that would allow to improve the effectiveness of this process, to make it correspondent to social requirements and expectations from realization of New Ukrainian school principles. It was determined, that the object of modeling is the process of formation of readiness to using learning-playing technologies, realized within the general system of the professional training of future primary school teachers. The aim of the model creation was formulated: elaboration of the schematic construction that embodies the abstract structure and the real projected process and result. The theoretical-methodological approaches to the model projecting process were separated, namely: system, activity, personally oriented, competence. The main blocs of the elaborated structural-functional model were separated, especially, target, content, procedural and resulting

The SBIRT Method for Alcohol Misuse Screening and Treatment

Heavy episodic drinking, or “binge drinking”, is a significant behavioral health problem on American college campuses. It is associated with numerous physical, social, and legal consequences in this population, including but not limited to intoxicated driving, physical and sexual assault, accidents, alcohol poisoning, compromised academic performance, criminal justice system involvement, exclusion from athletic competition, and expulsion from student housing. The Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment method, or “SBIRT”, has gained increasing recognition in recent years as an effective, validated tool for screening for and intervening in behavioral health problems generally and problematic alcohol use in particular. The purpose of this project was to deliver an educational presentation on the use of SBIRT to staff members, primarily clinicians, of a local college that does not currently use SBIRT as a routine part of patient care. A PowerPoint presentation was created and presented during a staff meeting for healthcare providers at the Bergeron Wellness Center at Saint Michael’s College, and an editable screening tool was created and disseminated to the staff for use in their clinic in the event that they decide to adopt SBIRT. A post-presentation quiz and survey was administered, which demonstrated that respondents had gained knowledge from the presentation and had found it useful for their practice

Culture change in a professional sports team: Shaping environmental contexts and regulating power

Although high performing cultures are crucial for the enduring success of professional sport performance teams, theoretical and practical understanding of how they are established and sustained is lacking. To develop knowledge in this area, a case study was undertaken to examine the key mechanisms and processes of a successful culture change programme at English Rugby Union’s Leeds Carnegie. Exploring the change process from a 360 degree perspective, semi-structured interviews were conducted with team management, one specialist coach, six players, and the CEO. Analysed and explained through decentred theory, results revealed that culture change was effectively facilitated by team management: a) subtly and covertly shaping the physical, structural, and psychosocial context in which support staff and players made performance-impacting choices, and b) regulating the ‘to and fro’ of power which characterises professional sport performance teams. Decentred theory is also supported as an effective framework for culture change study

Collaborative Practices that Support Creativity in Design

Design is a ubiquitous, collaborative and highly material activity. Because of the embodied nature of the design profession, designers apply certain collaborative practices to enhance creativity in their everyday work. Within the domain of industrial design, we studied two educational design departments over a period of eight months. Using examples from our fieldwork, we develop our results around three broad themes related to collaborative practices that support the creativity of design professionals: 1) externalization, 2) use of physical space, and 3) use of bodies. We believe that these themes of collaborative practices could provide new insights into designing technologies for supporting a varied set of design activities. We describe two conceptual collaborative systems derived from the results of our study