Slow and Fast: An experiential storytelling dialogue about festivals

Speed has a long history of usage in managerial discourse, both as a metric of efficiency and as a point of resistance. In this text we explore its validity as a category for organizing experience, through autoethnographic exploration of participation in experience economy events. We present slow and fast as distinct modes of experiencing the same festivals, and explore the possibility of arriving at a syzygic mode uniting the two oppositions (while preserving their inherent contradictions). Finally, we reflect on the possibility of utilizing ethnographic bursts of experience as a tool for more nuanced management education

spotlight no. 5, 2018 - #SmartHealthSystems Digitalization requires an effective strategy, compelling political leadership and a coordinating institution with a national mandate

In terms of digitalizing its healthcare sector, Germany trails far behind several other countries as the potential for quality and efficiency in German healthcare remains untapped ●● Countries that are succeeding in digitalizing their healthcare systems feature an effective strategy, political leadership and a coordinating institution with a national mandate ●● Taking pragmatic steps that are driven by the expected benefits for patients and the healthcare stem alike is key to shaping digital transformation positively ●● Promoting acceptance through strategies such as co-design measures is essential to success ●● German health politics must take on a stronger pro-active role and strengthen its leadership in this are

Templates of Ideas: The charm of storytelling in academic discourse

In this text, we argue that the stereotypical, traditional way of academic writing may be disempowering and inhibit the development of new ideas and practices. We characterize the stereotypical template for academic writing, ref ecting on how expression and communication works in relationship to such templates. We illustrate our argument with students’ images of fiction versus academic writing, and an own attempt at “cross-template” translation. The discourse can be enriched, we believe, by colorful, engaging storytelling – a development which is taking place with the growing interest in narrative knowledge

The Body in the Library: An investigative celebration of deviation, hesitation, and lack of closure

The unexpected, if still clichéd, discovery of a body in the library introduces Agatha Christie’s plot starring the genius amateur detective, elderly Miss Marple. We will use the same situation as the starting point of our article and investigation, promising both the unmasking of the culprit and the departure from the currently standard form of an academic text. In a self-consciously rambling and digressive text, we will touch on various issues relevant to writing what we consider good social science, and the difficulties in doing so. Firmly reaffirming the need for writing organization studies and social science in the narrative mode, we trace what we see as the decline in quality and joyousness of contemporary management journal articles, and attempt to demonstrate, both through narrative means and by more traditional academic reasoning, how and why it is important to embrace variety in the ways knowledge in the social sciences is constructed and communicated

Sherlock Holmes and the adventure of the rational manager: Organizational reason and its discontents

Rationality has since long been one of the central been issues in the discourse of management. Among the classics voices propagating a reductionist rationalism dominated and there are still many contexts where such a view is taken for granted. On the other hand, critics since the times of classics have been arguing for a less linear approach to management and management thinking. However, little attention has been paid to some of the different dimensions of management rationality, such as imagination. This paper sets out to address this gap in knowledge through presenting a narrative study focused on a literary character well known for his rationality, Sherlock Holmes, and revealing that this, to many, very epitome of rationality is actually an example of an extended type of rationality, including imagination. Following the fictional protagonist of our study, we consider some aspects of its relevance for management thought and practice. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd

Grand plots of management bestsellers: Learning from narrative and thematic coherence

Barbara Czarniawska and Carl Rhodes have argued that managers and entrepreneurs often learn from popular culture. The dominant plots offer the accepted interpretations and guide for actions, whereas alternative plots, available but not most prominent, provide schemes for possible departures from the common wisdom. In this article, we propose that not only works of fiction serve this purpose; powerful ideas derive also from popular management books, not only in terms of explicit content but also as what we term, in homage to Lyotard, the grand plots: structures of meaning not usually seen as the overt message of this article. We present the results of our classificatory reading of popular management books, interpreting them in terms of the tacit notions of narrative development and cohesion, emplotted in the background. The contribution of this article is to show the ways in which the grand plots of popular management books are used to achieve coherence in presenting the books’ total solutions for a variety of organizational problems and contexts. What their readers learn is not so much (or not just) how to manage but how to make narrative sense of management regarded as part of wider cultural context

La santé, « nouvelle frontière » de l’intégration européenne ?

The article sets out the possible impact and the consequences that a growing Europeanization of national healthcare systems will have for European integration once a decision has been made for a real European approach to healthcare. The article does not try to show how and why certain political tensions have emerged between the European and the national level concerning the nascent Europeanization of the healthcare sector. It rather imagines a step ahead, the "new frontier" of European integration: it is a plea for a coherent and sustainable European approach to healthcare which would embody a systematic and practical exploration of a Europe-wide notion of solidarity.Et si la relance de l’intégration européenne passait par la mise en place de vraies politiques publiques en matière de santé ? Cet article cherche à démontrer l’impact que peut avoir l’européanisation naissante des systèmes de santé nationaux – ainsi que ses conséquences sur l’intégration européenne d’une manière générale – à compter du moment où l’on ferait le choix résolu d’avancer vers une Europe de la santé, véritable et approfondie. Cet article ne vise pas à montrer ni comment, ni pourquoi certaines tensions sont nées entre l’Union européenne et le national, du fait de l’européanisation embryonnaire du secteur sanitaire, mais d’imaginer l’étape d’après, la «nouvelle frontière ». À ce titre, il s’agit d’un plaidoyer pour une Europe de la santé cohérente et durable, signe de l’exploration méthodique et pratique du principe de solidarité à l’échelle du « vieux continent »

Postępowanie terapeutyczne w miastenii

Miastenia jest autoimmunologiczną chorobą złącza nerwowo--mięśniowego, której przebieg kliniczny charakteryzuje dużazmienność objawów. Nasilenie objawów waha się od łagodnychobjawów ocznych, po zagrażający życiu stan, jakim jest przełommiasteniczny. Na miastenię choruje w Polsce około 6000 pacjentów,od wczesnego dzieciństwa do późnej starości. Prawidłowoleczona miastenia jest chorobą o dobrym rokowaniu dla ponad90% pacjentów. Decyzje terapeutyczne powinny uwzględniaćnasilenie objawów klinicznych, obecność patologii grasicy orazwiek i inne problemy zdrowotne pacjenta

Elektromiografia pojedynczego włókna u chorych na klasterowy ból głowy

Background and purpose Mutations of CACNA1A, which encodes a neuronal P/Q Ca2+ channel, are present in patients with familial hemiplegic migraine, and possibly in other types of migraine as well. This calcium channel is also involved in neuromuscular transmission. In our previous study we confirmed that the single-fibre electromyography (SFEMG) method can demonstrate a neuromuscular transmission deficit in migraine with aura. The aim of our present study was to estimate the neurotransmitter dysfunction in cluster headache and to compare the results between patients with cluster headache and those with migraine with aura. Material and methods We selected 6 patients with cluster headache and 6 patients with migraine with typical aura. SFEMG of the voluntarily activated extensor digitorum communis muscle was performed. Results The SFEMG results were in the normal range in the cluster headache group and in the healthy controls. Slight neuromuscular transmission disturbances were present in patients with migraine with aura. Conclusions The abnormal neuromuscular transmission detectable by SFEMG may reflect a genetically determined dysfunction of the P/Q Ca2+ channels in a group of migraineurs with aura. Conversely, absence of neuromuscular abnormalities in cluster headache patients could be explained by different aetiology not resulting in channelopathy. Single-fibre electromyography could be a helpful tool in clinically questionable cases in differentiating between cluster headache and migraine with aura.Wstęp i cel pracy U chorych na migrenę rodzinną połowiczoporaźną, a także z innymi postaciami migreny z aurą stwierdzono mutację w genie CACNA1A dla kanału wapniowego P/Q. Z uszkodzeniem tego kanału wapniowego związane są zaburzenia przewodzenia nerwowo-mięśniowego. We wcześniejszej pracy autorzy opisali badanie za pomocą elektromiografii pojedynczego włókna (SFEMG) zaburzeń przewodzenia nerwowo-mięśniowego u osób z migreną, stwierdzając ich obecność u części pacjentów z migreną z aurą. Celem niniejszego badania jest odpowiedź na pytanie, czy u pacjentów z klasterowym bólem głowy występują podobne zaburzenia, i porównanie wyników otrzymanych u osób z klasterowym bólem głowy z wynikami pacjentów z migreną z aurą. Materiał i metody Elektromiografię pojedynczego włókna wykonaną z mięśnia zginacza długiego palców przeprowadzono u 6 pacjentów z klasterowym bólem głowy i zestawiono ją z wynikami 6 chorych na migrenę z aurą. Wyniki Wyniki SFEMG w grupie chorych na klasterowy ból głowy mieściły się w prawidłowych granicach, podobnie jak w grupie kontrolnej zdrowych osób. W grupie pacjentów z migreną z aurą stwierdzono łagodne zaburzenia transmisji nerwowo-mięśniowej. Wnioski Nieprawidłowe wyniki SFEMG mogą wskazywać na genetycznie uwarunkowaną dysfunkcję kanału wapniowego w grupie chorych na migrenę z aurą w przeciwieństwie do chorych na klasterowy ból głowy, u których najprawdopodobniej etiologia choroby ma inne podłoże. Badanie SFEMG może być badaniem pomocniczym w różnicowaniu niepewnych przypadków klasterowego bólu głowy imitujących migrenowy ból głowy