Paradox as a Metatheoretical Perspective

Organizations are rife with tensions – flexibility vs. control, exploration vs. exploitation, autocracy vs. democracy, social vs. financial, global vs. local. Researchers have long responded using contingency theory, asking “under what conditions should managers emphasize either A or B?” Yet increasingly studies apply a paradox perspective, shifting the question to: “how can we engage both A and B simultaneously?” Despite accumulating exemplars, commonalities across paradox studies remain unclear, and ties unifying this research community weak. To energize further uses of a paradox perspective, we build from past reviews to explicate its role as a metatheory. Contrasting this lens to contingency theory, we illustrate its meta-theoretical nature. We then dive deeper to sharpen the focus and widen the scope of a paradox perspective. Identifying core elements viewed from a paradox perspective – underlying assumptions, central concepts, nature of interrelationships and boundary conditions – offers a guide, informing the practice of paradox research. Next, we illustrate diverse uses of this lens. We conclude by exploring implications and next steps, stressing the rising need for paradox research, as complexity, change and ambiguity intensify demands for both/and approaches in theory and practice

Looking Through Old Lenses to Understand the Emerging New World Order: Implications for Education Reform in Small Island States

There is an increasing pressure on small island states to reconceptualize education policies, education management practices and curriculum to address the emerging issues caused by global economic, social and cultural changes. It has generated increasing demands on limited available resources which is further confounded by the often contradictory yet legitimate advice provided by international and local experts. This paper reflects on the changing expectations to provide a critical analysis of the challenges facing education planners in small developing countries. It challenges them to move beyond the stereotypical ways of thinking about education development while acknowledging the role, played by previous educational development models

Comparative Sustainability Assessment of Starch Nanocrystals

Fossil energy depletion and growing environmental concerns have brought up increasing interest in bio-based eco-efficient and high technology materials. Among them, starch nanocrystals (SNC) consist of crystalline nano-platelets produced from the hydrolysis of starch and mainly used as nano-fillers in polymeric matrix. New applications have brought up the need for scaling-up the SNC preparation process. However, for this new bio-based nano-material to be sustainable, its preparation and processing should have limited impacts on the environment. Thus, together with analyzing and making recommendations for the scaling-up of SNC production process, it is worth identifying “environmentally sensitive” steps using life cycle analysis (LCA). To that purpose, different scenarios have been proposed and compared according to different environmental impacts. Also, a comparison to its main competitor, i.e. organically modified nanoclay (OMMT), is proposed. From a LCA point of view, SNC preparation requires less energy than OMMT extraction, but global warming and acidification indicators were higher than for OMMT. However, SNC have the added advantages to be renewable and biodegradable contrary to OMMT which contribute to non-renewable energy and mineral depletion. Thus, used as filler, SNC have a positive impact on the end of life of the filled material. From these observations, recommendations for the scaling-up of the SNC preparation process are made and deal mainly with the use of land and water

Sustainability in the built environment

This introductory chapter sets the scene for the book, providing an overview of sustainability in the built environment. With a bias towards buildings and the urban environment, it illustrates the range of issues that impinge upon global carbon reduction and the mechanisms available to help bring about change. Climate change, and its impact on built environment, is briefly introduced and sustainability in the built environment and associated factors are described. The specific topics relating to sustainable design and management of the built environment, including policy and assessment, planning, energy, water and waste, technology, supply and demand, occupants’ behaviour and management have been highlighted. This chapter emphasises the importance of a systemic approach in delivering a sustainable built environment