Researching Prison - a Sociological Analysis of Social System

The assumption that society is a complex system is a common and trivial in sociology. Most of the great sociological theories treat society as a complex system explicitly or implicitly. Because social system is always multidimensional it is easier to build such a theory than to apply it to practice. Therefore, it is still not fully explored issue, especially when theory meets empirical data. The aim of this article is to examine the complexity of a social system on the example of prison. The main issues discussed here are: the interplay of elements of the system and its consequences, dynamics of social process, influence of social change and interdependence of microsystem and macrosystem. The article presents the sociological perspective on social system

Driving and sustaining culture change in professional sport performance teams: A grounded theory

Objectives As part of the recent upsurge of work on management and organizational factors in elite sports teams, researchers have focused on the team management-led creation and regulation of high performing cultures. The purpose of this study was to therefore add to a recently developed model of culture change best practice in Olympic sports teams, as led and perceived by incoming performance directors, and conceptualize culture change best practice in professional sports teams, as led and perceived by incoming team managers. Design and method A pragmatic research philosophy and corresponding grounded theory methodology were used to generate a practically-meaningful model of this culture change process from the perspective of UK-based professional team managers. Results Perceived best practice in team manager-led culture change was found to involve a finite phase of initial evaluation, planning, and impact adjoined to the enduring management of a holistic, integrated, and dynamic social system. With the former process acting as the catalyst for successful change, this model revealed that optimal change was felt to primarily rely on the constant acquisition, negotiation, and alignment of internal and external stakeholder perceptions. Conclusions Based on the model's principles, the optimization of professional team culture is defined by a manager's initial actions and never definitively achieved but rather constantly constructed and re-constructed in complex social and power dynamics. Beyond providing a conceptual backdrop for continued research in this area, the model is also a tool on which the practice of professional team managers and their supporting sport psychologists can be based

Researching Prison - a Sociological Analysis of Social System

The assumption that society is a complex system is a common and trivial in sociology. Most of the great sociological theories treat society as a complex system explicitly or implicitly. Because social system is always multidimensional it is easier to build such a theory than to apply it to practice. Therefore, it is still not fully explored issue, especially when theory meets empirical data. The aim of this article is to examine the complexity of a social system on the example of prison. The main issues discussed here are: the interplay of elements of the system and its consequences, dynamics of social process, influence of social change and interdependence of microsystem and macrosystem. The article presents the sociological perspective on social system

Modes of production, metabolism and resilience: toward a framework for the analysis of complex social-ecological systems

The field of environmental sociology has undergone drastic change in recent decades, in context of a broader reconfiguration of the terrain of sociological theory and practice. Systems-based approaches to the study of human society, located at the interface between the natural and social sciences have since yielded to a fragmentary body of theory and practice. Subsequent developments such as the emergence of actor network theory, linguistic constructivism and epistemic relativism, have sought not only to question the status of scientific discourse as immutable authority, but also the legitimacies of positivism and macro-theoretical modeling as tenable research programs. This thesis suggests that much of this critique is misdirected, informed as it is by false dichotomies of theory and method which empahsise the separatism of the social, and the difficulty of normative analysis. Over the past twenty years, sociologists have begun to re-engage with systemic theory, albeit with a plethora of new anti-reductionist informants rooted in epistemologies of emergentism, complexity and critical realism. Parallel developments in Marxian ecological thought and human ecology offer further conceptual complementarities and points of dialogue, with which to develop new methodologies for the study of human collectives as ‗social-ecological systems‘. The objectives of this work are thus twofold; (1) to advance an alternative basis for theory and practice in environmental sociology, drawing upon the informants of complexity theory, resilience-based human ecology, and Marx‘s concepts of mode of production and metabolic rift; (2) to contribute to this largely theoretical body of knowledge, by operationalising the preceding informants within a specific case study; that of communal farming, or the 'rundale system‘, in nineteenth century Ireland. The ecological dynamics of the rundale system are thus explored through the imposition of a range of quantitative, archival and comparative methods, as an exercise in the explanatory capacities of the investigative framework developed throughout this work. This methodology rejects existing explanatory models which emphasise the role of 'prime movers‘ in the generation of differential ecological outcomes, toward an account which emphasises both macro-structural complexity, and the augmentation of adaptive capacity from below

The Lived Experience of Associate Degree Nursing Directors A Qualitative Phenomenology Study

This study explored the lived experience of associate degree nursing directors. Utilizing a qualitative, descriptive phenomenological approach, the study examined 14 practicing Minnesota associate degree nursing directors employed by the Minnesota State system. The purpose of this study was to understand what it will take to recruit and retain associate degree nursing directors. Transformational leadership theory, Mead’s theory of symbolic interactionism, Goffman’s dramaturgical social theory, and Kegan’s adult identity theory formed the framework for the study. Six themes were identified in this research: role complexity, nursing identity, personal integrity, role ambiguity, organizational culture, and structure dynamics. In role complexity, it was how the nursing leaders perceived their role that increased or decreased their job satisfaction. In nursing identity, the directors empowered followers and nurtured them through change by using their nursing nature. Personal identity was challenging for leaders when transitioning from the practice setting into the leadership role. Role ambiguity was effected by leadership turnover causing instability, as well as, lack of mentoring for incoming directors. An organizational culture that was supportive and perceived transparency from administration, provided security for directors in their role. Structure dynamics that left director’s feeling marginalized was more likely to cause attrition for nursing leaders. The nursing leaders multiple role responsibilities and increasing budget challenges within the Minnesota State system, continued to generate concern from nursing directors. This study holds implications for understanding nursing leadership from participants currently immersed in this journey

A lived experience theory of schism (LETS): Exploring the complex social dynamics powering factionalised conflict in nonprofit organisations

Schism is a widespread phenomenon of social groups which has persisted over centuries. An intense form of factionalised conflict, schism can be distressing for people to experience and challenging for groups to navigate. Schism research has roots in anthropology, organisation studies, and social psychology, and has been studied in societies, religions, social movements, political parties, nonprofit organisations, and other contexts. Despite broad and enduring relevance to social organising, schism research is surprisingly scant. Across disciplines and contexts, findings are disjointed and contradictory. No widely accepted definition or theory of schism was found in the literature. The aim of the current research was to gain insight into the social dynamics powering the incidence, progression, and lived experience of schism. The goal was to increase human agency and control in schism based on emerging theoretical knowledge, and thereby improve experiences and outcomes for people and organisations. A qualitative study of schism in nonprofit organisations in Western Australia was undertaken using an exploratory qualitative research design and a lived experience lens. Participant-centred interviews were conducted, typically of 1 hour, with 41 people who described schisms in 24 organisations. Sampling was initially by convenience then purposive snowball sampling, enabling a range of organisations, roles, and experiences to be represented. Interviews were transcribed to form a rich primary data set. Systematic coding and thematic analysis complemented immersion in individual stories. Data collection, data analysis, and theory development were iterative and interdependent. Emerging themes forced problematisation of prior knowledge. The ongoing process of theory construction employed both inductive and abductive reasoning. A novel conceptualisation of schism emerged from this research project, representing schism as a complex social construction in an open system rather than a linear process in a bounded system, and privileging the human experience over the organisation as the entity of concern. A new definition of schism is proposed which provides a foundation for the lived experience theory of schism (LETS) presented in this thesis. Together, the definition and theory contribute to knowledge of schism in organisations and other social systems, and provide a foundation for future schism research. Findings from this project have implications for nonprofit sector policy and practice, especially in group leadership and governance

Organizations as users in sustainability transitions: embedding vehicle-to-grid technology in the United Kingdom

This study explores organizations as users of innovations in sustainability transitions. Existing literature concentrates on organizations that are producers in energy-intensive sectors. And yet, transitions also greatly affect organizations as users of innovations in everyday contexts. We develop a lens on organizational embedding of technological innovations during transitions using social practice theory and neoinstitutional theory. In this view, innovation embedding involves dynamics between innovation, organization and wider context. Empirically, the study considers how Vehicle-to-Grid Electric Vehicles (V2G-EVs) can be embedded in the fleet management practices of organizations. V2G-EVs deliver electricity back to the grid, and could provide an important contribution to a future electricity grid based on intermittent renewables. The study draws on interviews with fleet sector practitioners, conducted as part of a trial project to explore the potential role and uptake of V2G-EVs in organizational fleets in the United Kingdom. The findings highlight how, in innovation embedding, developments in everyday practices and organizational environments are inherently linked. During embedding, organizations follow different pathways. A sustainability pathway, a market-sustainability pathway and a professional-sustainability pathway are identified, and are shown to enhance and hinder embedding with and through their particular dynamics. The paper demonstrates the added value of jointly considering everyday organizational practices and wider system-level developments when studying innovation embedding during transitions

The Resilience of Property

Resilience is essential to the ability of property to face transforming social and environmental change. For centuries, property has responded to such change through a dialectical process that identifies emerging disciplinary perspectives and debates conflicting values and norms. This dialectic promotes the resilience of property, allowing it to adapt to changing conditions and needs. Today the mainstream economic theory dominating common law property is progressively being intertwined with constitutionally protected property, undermining its long-term resilience. The coupling of the economic vision of ordinary property with constitutional property embeds the assumptions, choices, and values of the economic theory into both realms of property without regard for property’s other relational planes. A real-life theory of property—one based on a theory–practice link—sees the property landscape as a function of interactions among possible property arrangements and other perspective-based systems, including natural systems. Understanding property as a function of those relational planes is important to preserving its resilience. Research on the dynamics of change in social–ecological systems provides important insight into how institutions, like property, that manage resources can promote resilience. The mainstream economic theory lacks the openness and interdisciplinary inclusion needed to handle complex disturbances, ignoring conflicting perspectives and alternative visions that have played a significant role in the evolution of property. Often presented as involving either/or choices, the mainstream theory takes a singular perspective that overlooks important dialectical interactions. As subsystems of larger natural systems, complex societies need a resilient property system open to different perspectives and new knowledge if they are to handle the serious challenges of the future

Metamodern Strategy: A System Of Multi-Ontological Sense Making

Multi-ontological sense making in irreducible social systems requires the use of different worldviews to generate contextually appropriate understandings and insights for action in different systems states. While models exist for describing complex dynamics in social systems, no frameworks or aids exist to explain the system of worldviews. This dissertation developed a conceptual scheme that will aid in multi-ontological sense making in social systems. This conceptual scheme has both theoretical and practical implications for visualizing, understanding, and responding to social systems and ultimately to complexity. To develop this new conceptual scheme, a qualitative meta-synthesis approach was adopted to develop theory and to develop a framework for classifying management approaches, tools and techniques to corresponding worldviews for use in dynamic and complicated social systems. The research design was sequential, with four phases. In phase one a content analysis of 16 worldviews was conducted to develop a classification framework for worldviews. In phase two the worldview classification framework was then applied to 35 strategy consulting approaches to categorize the approaches to differing underlying worldviews and to understand the ontological mapping of the differing approaches. Phase three was analyzing the data, the results of which showed that strategy consulting engagements cast sense making in social systems primarily into three simplified quadrants: the simple, complex, and complicated. The results further showed that only the process consulting approaches adopted a multi-dimensional, worldview-driven approach to social systems, an approach that moved beyond the simplified states of the expert, doctor-patient, and emergent approaches to strategy consulting. In phase four a new theory of sense making was developed: the aspectus system. The aspectus system stresses the importance of segregating sense making activities in social systems into two distinct worldview-driven categories: (a) simplified sense making which informs and is followed by (b) metamodern sense making. In doing so, the Aspectus system separates worldview-driven sense making in social systems into a separate domain, emphasizing that social systems must be considered as both complex and complicated and also as distinct from other types of systems. The aspectus system application in shared sense making was then tested in a thought experiment to demonstrate how it should be applied in practice. The results indicate that a worldview-driven, metamodern approach to multi- ontological sense making in irreducible complex and complicated social systems generates contextually appropriate models for understanding, insights, and actions