Introduction to G.W.F. Hegel

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Teaching research methods: Introducing a psychogeographical approach

This paper explores teaching business students research methods using a psychogeographical approach, specifically the technique of dérive. It responds to calls for new ways of teaching in higher education and addresses the dearth of literature on teaching undergraduate business students qualitative research methods. Psychogeography challenges the dominance of questionnaires and interviews, introduces students to data variety, problematizes notions of success and illuminates the importance of observation and location. Using two studies with undergraduate students, the authors emphasize place and setting, the perception of purpose, the choice of data, criteria of success and the value of guided reflection and self-reflection in students’ learning. Additionally the data reflect on the way students perceive research about management and the nature of management itself. The paper concludes that the deployment of psychogeography to teach business research methods although complex and fraught with difficulty is nevertheless viable, educationally productive and worthy of further research

A Day in the Life of ... Ulysses in Dublin

The purpose of this paper is to show how Joyce’s Ulysses can be used to illuminate the complexities in a chaotic yet ordered day in the life of an organization. It draws on the concepts of apophenia, sensemaking, ordinariness, the everyday, the mythical, identity and context. The paper thereby explores the complex relationships between author, narrator and reader, and the apparent conundrums of structuring a non-plot. The approach is based on Sliwa and Cairns’ (2007) treatment of the novel as a resource, a surrogate case and vehicle for organization analysis. We find that through grappling with Joyce’s play on time and place, which is related to narrator and authorial voice, we come to an understanding of how the effort to make sense of mundane diurnal organizational life must allow for indeterminant, undetermined and at times even unidentifiable “voices”

My colleagues and my filing cabinet: insider research access for part-time post-graduate students

Access is described as “one of the key and yet most difficult steps” in organizational research (Bryman and Bell, 2007:444). Typical definitions of business research access in the methods literature emphasise physical entry to premises and the establishment and maintenance of relationships with gate-keepers and potential respondents (Bryman and Bell, 2007:444; Coffey, 2006:1). This implies that the part-time student conducting insider research at their own workplace has nothing more to do to achieve the necessary access

Learning from longitudinal research into women's experience of business ownership

This paper describes a research project in which the careers of a sample of women business owners in a variety of business sectors were tracked in a series of three interviewing phases between 1995 and 2006. Longitudinal research in the field of women’s business ownership is extremely rare. Previous longitudinal studies that have been conducted have taken place over much shorter periods of time or have used statistical, secondary data rather than qualitative methods. The data captured in the first interviews include motivations to go into business, previous work experience, domestic responsibilities, business financing, business problems and employment policies. A typology was constructed according to the women’s attachment to their businesses and to other activities. The second and third interviews focus on changes in a number of areas. Learning from this data includes correction of erroneous data, new perspectives on aspects described in the first interviews, the developments that had taken place, and a greater understanding of issues that had arisen in the first interviews. Reforming of groups in the typology demonstrates that the experience of individuals may change but that the overall experience of women business owners within this study remains constant. Despite the impossibility of re-assembling the entire sample, longitudinal qualitative research offers the advantage of great opportunities to learn about the experiences of women business owners. This learning includes an understanding of the changes that take place in their businesses and what might provoke these. It also provides insights into what factors might lead to business survival and success. The deepening of the women’s own understanding of their situation over time and the improvement of the relationships between the researcher and the participants lead to the enrichment of the data with each subsequent wave of interviews

Incorporation of cytochrome oxidase into cardiolipin bilayers and induction of nonlamellar phases.

Cytochrome oxidase from beef heart has been lipid-substituted with beef heart cardiolipin. The lipid phase behavior and protein aggregation state of the reconstituted complexes have been studied with 31P NMR, freeze-fracture electron microscopy, and saturation-transfer ESR of the spin-labeled protein. In the absence of salt, the lipid has a lamellar arrangement, and the protein is integrated and uniformly distributed in the membrane vesicles and undergoes rapid rotational diffusion. The presence of the protein stabilizes the cardiolipin lamellar phase against salt-induced transitions to the inverted hexagonal phase. The threshold salt concentration becomes higher and the extent of conversion becomes lower with decreasing lipid:protein ratio. In high salt, lamellar-phase lipid with integrated protein coexists with hexagonal-phase lipid free of protein, and the rotational diffusion of the protein is drastically reduced as a result of the high packing density

An existence theorem for solutions to a model problem with Yamabe-positive metric for conformal parameterizations of the Einstein constraint equations

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2016We use the conformal method to investigate solutions of the vacuum Einstein constraint equations on a manifold with a Yamabe-positive metric. To do so, we develop a model problem with symmetric data on Sn⁻¹ x S¹. We specialize the model problem to a two-parameter family of conformal data, and find that no solutions exist when the transverse-traceless tensor is identically zero. When the transverse traceless tensor is nonzero, we observe an existence theorem in both the near-constant mean curvature and far-from-constant mean curvature regimes.Chapter 1: Introduction and Background -- 1.1 Motivation -- 1.2 Overview of Relativity -- 1.3 Geometric Formulation of General Relativity -- 1.4 The Constraint Equations -- 1.5 Conformal Parameterizations -- Chapter 2: Symmetric Data on Sn⁻¹ x S¹ -- Chapter 3: Solutions of the Constraint Equations -- 3.1. Summary of Results -- 3.2. Reduction to Root Finding -- 3.3. Solutions of F(b) = 1 -- 3.3.1. Elementary Estimates for F -- 3.3.2 Proof of Theorem 1 (Near-CMC Results) -- 3.3.3 Proof of Theorem 2 (Existence) -- Chapter 4: Conclusion and Future Work -- References

Claiming the streets: feminist implications of psychogeography as a business research method

This paper is intended to establish a claim that the techniques of psychogeography may be advantageously employed in business and management research in order to provide a new perspective on how organisations are experienced. It examines this practice for its possibilities as a research approach for women and its compatibility with feminist research methods. Psychogeography offers an approach to gaining an understanding of the ways that human behaviour is shaped by the geographical environment (Coverley, 2006). It constitutes a style of collecting a variety of qualitative data using complementary methods, which gives a textured view of the real world in a particular environment. Psychogeography is primarily a literary tradition. However, its constituent parts are academic disciplines rooted in real world experience. The attraction of psychogeography to a business researcher is many layered. It invites the researcher to observe the environment slowly and painstakingly, whilst “strolling”, and to construct meanings in a number of ways. Walking is celebrated by psychogeographers as a cultural act and an important way to understand the world, yet the male-as-norm character of psychogeographers is well established (Solnit, 2001). The masculine tradition of psychogeography may operate to challenge woman researchers to examine the possibility of using this approach in conjunction with feminist perspective research methods as a way of exploring and questioning women’s place in a patriarchal culture (Acker et al, 1983). Feminist research methods seek to address the "invisibility" of women's experience in academic studies (Roberts, 1990:7), to overturn the male-as-norm perspective, and to highlight the possibilities for women to engage in 'male-preserve' activities. In the case of the male preserve of psychogeography these intentions would apply not only to the subject of the study but also to the practice of the research method itself

Crisis as a plague on organisation: Defoe and A Journal of the Plague Year

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to enrich the understanding of current models of organisational response to crises and offer additional perspectives on some of these models. It is also intended to confirm the value of fiction as a truth-seeking and hermeneutic device for enriching the imagination. Design/methodology/approach – The study uses Daniel Defoe’s 1722 novel A Journal of the Plague Year to draw parallels between his portrayal of the London Great Plague of 1665 and the management of modern-day crises. Defoe uses London’s ordeal of the Great Plague to advise those subjected to future crises. Through his representation of plague-ridden streets, Defoe shows stakeholders acting in ways described in current crisis management literature. Findings – The authors note how the management of the Plague crisis was unsuccessful and they challenge the very idea of managing a true crisis. The authors are able to illustrate and offer refinements to the Pearson and Clair (1998) and Janes (2010) models of crisis management as well as confirming the value of their constructs across a lapse of centuries. Research limitations/implications – Although it is an examination of a single novel, the findings suggest value in conceptualising organisational crises in innovative and more imaginative ways. Originality/value – It confirms the heuristic value of using fiction to understand organisational change and adds value to current model