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

Manageable creativity

This article notes a perception in mainstream management theory and practice that creativity has shifted from being disruptive or destructive to 'manageable'. This concept of manageable creativity in business is reflected in a similar rhetoric in cultural policy, especially towards the creative industries. The article argues that the idea of 'manageable creativity' can be traced back to a 'heroic' and a 'structural' model of creativity. It is argued that the 'heroic' model of creativity is being subsumed within a 'structural' model which emphasises the systems and infrastructure around individual creativity rather than focusing on raw talent and pure content. Yet this structured approach carries problems of its own, in particular a tendency to overlook the unpredictability of creative processes, people and products. Ironically, it may be that some confusion in our policies towards creativity is inevitable, reflecting the paradoxes and transitions which characterise the creative process

Making judgements about students making work : lecturers’ assessment practices in art and design.

This research study explores the assessment practices in two higher education art and design departments. The key aim of this research was to explore art and design studio assessment practices as lived by and experienced by art and design lecturers. This work draws on two bodies of pre existing research. Firstly this study adopted innovative methodological approaches that have been employed to good effect to explore assessment in text based subjects (think aloud) and moderation mark agreement (observation). Secondly the study builds on existing research into the assessment of creative practice. By applying thinking aloud methodologies into a creative practice assessment context the authors seek to illuminate the ‘in practice’ rather than espoused assessment approaches adopted. The analysis suggests that lecturers in the study employed three macro conceptions of quality to support the judgement process. These were; the demonstration of significant learning over time, the demonstration of effective studentship and the presentation of meaningful art/design work

A co-design approach to service improvement resulted in teams exhibiting characteristics that support innovation

This paper analyzes a subset of data from a project that sought to transfer knowledge and skills around design led approaches for service improvement to teams working in Health and Social Care in the United Kingdom. Through this analysis the authors sought to understand the range of responses that individual participants had to undertaking service improvement work in a design led project. This was a qualitative study using interviews to gain reflections from participants. These interview transcripts were analyzed using framework analysis. Participants were recruited from three disparate organizations, a public health team of a local authority, a mental health charity and a UK National Health Service mental health initiative. Six main themes were identified, namely; design practice, collaborative working, creating an environment for innovation, team skills and attitudes and transfer of knowledge. The findings suggest that the design approach can contribute to a range of factors that have been identified as valuable for innovative teams. The paper adds to the evidence base and supports further exploration of the use of design in Service improvement and wider innovation endeavours

Sistemas agroflorestais para as pequenas propriedades rurais da região dos cerrados.

Trabalhos apresentados na I Mostra de Resultados de Pesquisa da Embrapa Cerrados

Envisioning innovation:Does visionary leadership engender team innovative performance through goal alignment?

Visionary leaders paint an image of the future with the intention to persuade others to contribute to the realization of that specific future. In the current study, we test the hypothesis that visionary leadership stimulates team creativity and innovation because visionary leadership promotes goal alignment amongst team members which, in turn, facilitates team creativity and innovation. In an experimental study (N = 50 groups), we found that goal alignment indeed mediated the relationship between visionary leadership and team creativity, but not between visionary leadership and team innovation. In a field study (N = 308 respondents) we found visionary leadership to be related to both team creativity and innovation through goal alignment. Moreover, the field study also showed that communication quality strengthened the relationship between goal alignment and team innovation. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of visionary leadership in teams where creativity and innovation are desirable team performance outcomes

Males With Patellofemoral Pain Have Altered Movements During Step-Down and Single-Leg Squatting Tasks Compared to Asymptomatic Males: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background and Aims Patellofemoral pain (PFP) is common in males, causing reduced physical activity and chronic pain. One proposed cause of PFP is aberrant biomechanics during tasks loading the patellofemoral joint. Consistent evidence exists for females with PFP, but it is uncertain if males with PFP have altered biomechanics. This study investigated the kinematics of males with PFP compared to pain-free males during forward step-down (StDn) and single-leg squat (SLSq). Methods A cross-sectional study including 40 males aged 20–39 years (28.28 ± 5.46) was conducted (20 PFP, 20 pain-free). Participants performed StDn and SLSq while motion was captured with a video-based motion capture system (Motion Analysis Corporation). Triplanar peak angles and angular ranges of motion (ROM) of the trunk, pelvis, and weight-bearing hip, knee, and ankle were dependent variables. Mixed-model ANOVA tests were used to determine the presence of significant interactions and main effects of group and task. Results Males with PFP had significantly lower peak knee adduction angles compared to pain-free males (p = 0.01). Significant group x task interactions were found for hip and pelvis ROM (p \u3c 0.05). PFP participants had increased hip and pelvis ROM during StDn in the frontal and transverse planes but reduced or nearly equal ROM for these variables during SLSq. Peak hip adduction, hip internal rotation, contralateral pelvic drop and anterior tilt, trunk flexion, and ankle dorsiflexion were greater during StDn compared to SLSq (p \u3c 0.05). ROM of the hip, pelvis, trunk, and ankle were greater during StDn compared to SLSq (p \u3c 0.05). Conclusion Males with PFP had reduced peak knee adduction angles in StDn and SLSq. Males with PFP demonstrated increased hip and pelvis ROM during StDn versus SLSq, particularly in the frontal and transverse planes. Clinicians should consider StDn as a clinical test since aberrant movement may be easier to detect than in SLSq