Organizational Magic and the Making of Christmas: On Glamour, Grottos and Enchantment

Drawing on qualitative research into the design, delivery and organization of Christmas grottos this paper offers a critical understanding of the role that a functional belief in organizational magic plays in their manufacture and operation. Utilising classic anthropological research into the cultural production of magical belief systems, I attend to how such magic is produced through a network of sociomaterial practices conducive to the commercial values of the Anglo-American Christmas. I additionally draw on contemporary literature on aesthetic and atmospheric organization in order to analyse the practical accomplishment of organizational magic as a mode of captivation and re-enchantment. The article concludes by emphasizing the increasingly commercial utility of a functional belief in magic as an organizational resource, highlighting the need for further empirical scrutiny, as well as conceptual and theoretical analysis

Employee Recognition Programmes: An Immanent Critique

In this article I present a critical reading of employee recognition programmes. I utilize an immanent approach, drawing on the same principles that it is claimed underpin such programmes, namely the desire of needful subjects for recognition in the form of self-respect and esteem, and anticipation of the organizational relations prerequisite for such recognition. These principles are articulated through a reading of Axel Honneth’s critical theory of intersubjective recognition as a necessary condition for what he refers to as fulfilled self-realization and social freedom. In doing so, I suggest that, rather than facilitating the conditions and benefits of intersubjective recognition, internal tendencies towards reification, disrespect and compelled identification result in such programmes displaying pathologies that undermine the ontological conditions necessary for recognition to flourish, threatening both individual and organizational harm

Modelling the wind energy resources in complex terrain and atmospheres. Numerical simulation and wind tunnel investigation of non-neutral forest canopy flows

A series of experiments have been conducted in a stratifiable Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) wind tunnel, using neutral and stable conditions, in which a forest canopy has been represented by use of architectural model trees. These experiments have been replicated in Computation Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulations using a previously validated methodology. Both the numerical simulations and the experimental data show that atmospheric stability has a significant effect on the development and extent of the forest wake and on the prevalence of the canopy flow features such as the sub-canopy jet. The analysis shows that it is possible to include both forestry and buoyancy effects in numerical simulations using two sets of source and sink terms and achieve satisfactory convergence. However, it is shown that the numerical simulations overestimate the effects of thermal stratification when using the standard configuration

Recognition and change: Embracing a mobile policing initiative

Radical notions of recognition at work have not been considered widely in respect of organizational change. This article examines the introduction of a change programme across two UK police departments, during which front-line officers were actively involved and consulted throughout its pilot phase. The purpose of this article is to consider the question of whether or not a perceived sense of recognition amongst officers contributed to the success of this initiative. The research utilises qualitative data derived from individual interviews, focus groups, and observations, gathered over one-year, within two UK police departments. The data was analyzed thematically. Reflection, and an ongoing discussion with officers, led to a theoretical exploration of recognition, in order to explore the apparent success of the programme. Recognition, consisting of a sense of love, respect and esteem, appears to offer a notable impetus to the acceptance of a change programme within a traditionally change averse organization. Resistance to organizational change may be better addressed through a strategy that seeks to actively promote the claims to recognition of organizational members, particularly through the extension of a right to participate within the context of a supportive and protective culture of engagement. The article utilises the novel, but increasingly utilized, theory of recognition to analyse and explain positive employee involvement in a change programme within the police. This approach helped to achieve change in a widely acknowledged change resistant organization

Live performers’ experiences of precarity and recognition during Covid-19 and beyond

Covid-19 devastated the ability of self-employed and freelance live performers working in the UK’s live entertainment industries to sustain a living in an already precarious sector of employment. It also exposed the inadequacies of existing conceptualisations of precarity in allowing a complete understanding of performers’ experiences of precarious employment, particularly during such a crisis. Combining research into precarity, recognition theory, and qualitative data on how such performers experienced and responded to the pandemic, this article identifies two forms of precarity they experienced: socioeconomic and recognitive. In doing so, it contributes to the sociology of work by demonstrating how these two modes of precarity generated considerable operational and existential challenges for performers while extending the conceptualisation of precarity in such a way as to offer a more nuanced understanding of its impact, not only on the livelihoods of those undertaking it but also on their work identities and sense of self