On becoming irrelevant:an analysis of charity workers’ untold epic stories

While the nature, character and function of stories are variously theorized in organizational storytelling literature, little research has tried to unpack how organizational narrative domain may transform over time. Attending to the contextual transformation of organizational story space can reveal how popular stories at one epoch could be reformulated, ignored, or forgotten all together during another epoch. Drawing on ethnographic data of a children’s charity in UK, which experienced a stage of rapid professionalization, specialization, and bureaucratization, I examine the influence of this restructuring initiative on the organizational narrative domain. It was shown that the professionalization of the charity starved the old stories of the oxygen of relevance. The memories of the old pioneers, from the days of stress and violence, became less welcome as the organization turned increasingly managerial in character. The notion of ‘irrelevancy’ is further developed drawing on the work of Maurice Halbwachs, and its implications are elaborated building on storytelling research

Enhancing Seismic Resiliency of Steel Buildings through Three-Dimensional Modeling of Diaphragm System Interaction with Braced Frame

The design objectives of early seismic codes were mainly achieved by using acceptable construction materials, and minimum levels of strength and stiffness largely derived based on roughly estimated demands. Early seismic design provisions resulted in sometimes adequate levels of performance for buildings, efficient and reliable building performance was not accomplished with the simplistic demand-based design process adopted. Consequently, capacity-based design approaches and later performance-based design approaches have been adopted and developed for new seismic design provisions. To achieve a certain performance level for conventional steel buildings during seismic events, all the members should be designed to meet the component deformation and force capacities. The lateral-force resisting system, key for developing successful seismic performance, has two main parts: 1) the Vertical Lateral-force resisting system (VLFRS) of which a common example in steel buildings is the braced frame, and 2) the Horizontal lateral-force resisting system (HLFRS) consisting of the floor and roof diaphragm. The floor diaphragm acts as a critical element that distributes the demands developed in a building during an extreme event to the vertical lateral-force resisting systems and eventually to the building foundation. Compared to the VLFRS, far less attention has been paid to the role of the diaphragm in seismic building response, particularly for steel framed buildings. The first part of this dissertation contributes to developing fundamental understanding of steel deck diaphragms as structural systems integrated within the overall building performance and improved strategies for accurate modeling of floor systems within three-dimensional building models to enhance the overall structural resilience of a building. In this study, the effect of different diaphragm designs on the behavior of steel buildings is investigated using three-dimensional computational building models that consider nonlinear behavior in both the vertical and horizontal elements of the seismic force resisting system. Different diaphragm design scenarios based on ASCE 7-16, are investigated for a series of 1, 4, 8, and 12-story archetype buildings with special concentrically braced frames (SCBFs) as the vertical lateral force resisting system: 1) traditional design, 2) alternative design with Rs = 1.0, 3) alternative design with Rs = 2.0 or 2.5, and 4) alternative design with Rs = 3.0 are all considered. For the studied buildings first, modal analyses were conducted to study their basic dynamic properties. Second, nonlinear pushover analyses were investigated to analyze their static overstrength and ductility. Third, nonlinear response history analyses were conducted to evaluate building seismic performance. Finally, the FEMA P-695 methodology is used to assess the seismic performance and propose a reasonable Rs values for conventional SCBF steel buildings. The second part of this dissertation addresses rod bracing, which has a wide application in metal buildings as a truss diaphragm including the sidewalls to provide the lateral stiffness in longitudinal direction, and also the roof by providing the lateral bracing for the rafters in the out-of-plane direction. In this part of the dissertation, an experimental program is conducted to establish the stiffness, strength and applicable limit states for rod bracing. Twelve rod brace assemblages with differing details related to the geometry of the primary frame members, anchorage of the rod into the frame member, and angle of the rod relative to the framing member were tested in tension until failure. Finally, a framework is presented for future evaluation of seismic performance for rod-braced metal buildings by implementing the experimentally established stiffness and strength values and three-dimensional computational modeling of metal building systems

Collective memories as a vehicle of fantasy and identification: founding stories retold

This paper builds on recent calls for a polyphonic approach to study rhetorical uses of the past, to account for multiple and diverse voices that take part in the construction of collective memories. To this end, I explore (multiple) collective memories of a charity’s founding story by tracing how this story was retold in the organization. My findings demonstrate that these recollected stories were localized and embellished within two specific mnemonic communities. I show that two different renditions of the founding story projected social fantasies shared by members of respective mnemonic communities, who used the telling of the story to reaffirm what they thought is the core purpose of the organization and their role. This finding is used to discuss how multiple collective memories sustain different identities in organizations. The research further discusses the mutual role of social fantasies in maintaining collective memories in organizations and vice versa

Leadership in a post-truth era : a new narrative disorder?

This essay, and the speical issue it introduces, seeks to explore leadership in a post-truth age, focusing in particular on the types of narratives and counter-narratives that characterize it and at times dominate it. We first examine the factors that are often held responsible for the rise of post-truth in politics, including the rise of relativist and postmodernist ideas, dishonest leaders and bullshit artists, the digital revolution and social media, the 2008 economic crisis and collapse of public trust. We develop the idea that different historical periods are characterized by specific narrative ecologies, which, by analogy to natural ecologies, can be viewed as spaces where different types of narrative and counter-narrative emerge, interact, compete, adapt, develop and die. We single out some of the dominant narrative types that characterize post-truth narrative ecologies and highlight the ability of language to ‘do things with words’ that support both the production of ‘fake news’ and a type of narcissistic leadership that thrive in these narrative ecologies. We then examine more widely leadership in post-truth politics focusing on the resurgence of populist and demagogical types along with the narratives that have made these types highly effective in our times. These include nostalgic narratives idealizing a fictional past and conspiracy theories aimed at arousing fears about a dangerous future

Enhancing Seismic Resiliency of Steel Buildings through Three-Dimensional Modeling of Diaphragm System Interaction with Braced Frame

The design objectives of early seismic codes were mainly achieved by using acceptable construction materials, and minimum levels of strength and stiffness largely derived based on roughly estimated demands. Early seismic design provisions resulted in sometimes adequate levels of performance for buildings, efficient and reliable building performance was not accomplished with the simplistic demand-based design process adopted. Consequently, capacity-based design approaches and later performance-based design approaches have been adopted and developed for new seismic design provisions. To achieve a certain performance level for conventional steel buildings during seismic events, all the members should be designed to meet the component deformation and force capacities. The lateral-force resisting system, key for developing successful seismic performance, has two main parts: 1) the Vertical Lateral-force resisting system (VLFRS) of which a common example in steel buildings is the braced frame, and 2) the Horizontal lateral-force resisting system (HLFRS) consisting of the floor and roof diaphragm. The floor diaphragm acts as a critical element that distributes the demands developed in a building during an extreme event to the vertical lateral-force resisting systems and eventually to the building foundation. Compared to the VLFRS, far less attention has been paid to the role of the diaphragm in seismic building response, particularly for steel framed buildings. The first part of this dissertation contributes to developing fundamental understanding of steel deck diaphragms as structural systems integrated within the overall building performance and improved strategies for accurate modeling of floor systems within three-dimensional building models to enhance the overall structural resilience of a building. In this study, the effect of different diaphragm designs on the behavior of steel buildings is investigated using three-dimensional computational building models that consider nonlinear behavior in both the vertical and horizontal elements of the seismic force resisting system. Different diaphragm design scenarios based on ASCE 7-16, are investigated for a series of 1, 4, 8, and 12-story archetype buildings with special concentrically braced frames (SCBFs) as the vertical lateral force resisting system: 1) traditional design, 2) alternative design with Rs = 1.0, 3) alternative design with Rs = 2.0 or 2.5, and 4) alternative design with Rs = 3.0 are all considered. For the studied buildings first, modal analyses were conducted to study their basic dynamic properties. Second, nonlinear pushover analyses were investigated to analyze their static overstrength and ductility. Third, nonlinear response history analyses were conducted to evaluate building seismic performance. Finally, the FEMA P-695 methodology is used to assess the seismic performance and propose a reasonable Rs values for conventional SCBF steel buildings. The second part of this dissertation addresses rod bracing, which has a wide application in metal buildings as a truss diaphragm including the sidewalls to provide the lateral stiffness in longitudinal direction, and also the roof by providing the lateral bracing for the rafters in the out-of-plane direction. In this part of the dissertation, an experimental program is conducted to establish the stiffness, strength and applicable limit states for rod bracing. Twelve rod brace assemblages with differing details related to the geometry of the primary frame members, anchorage of the rod into the frame member, and angle of the rod relative to the framing member were tested in tension until failure. Finally, a framework is presented for future evaluation of seismic performance for rod-braced metal buildings by implementing the experimentally established stiffness and strength values and three-dimensional computational modeling of metal building systems