Professional capital contested: A bourdieusian analysis of conflicts between professionals and managers

Although Bourdieu paid scant attention to (and in fact discredited) the notion of professionalism, his social theory is well-equipped to understand the evolution of professional work. Professionalism can be conceived as a set of symbolic resources that (re)produce an occupational order, favoring expertise and craftsmanship. In neo-liberal economies this order is contested and professional powers are distrusted; professional work is seen as closed-off and conservative. Managers have become important vehicles for rationalizing and innovating production, and improving "value for money." In fact, managerial "fields" are created, and conflicts between managerial and professional fields are well documented. These conflicts are ironic, as new classes of managers seek classic strategies of professionalization as well as classic forms of professional capital for securing managerial positions. They form professional associations, for instance, and invest in schooling, credentials and work codes. This paper explores conflicts between professionals and managers as "contests over symbolic capital." We argue that professional capital is appropriated by managers in order to distinguish "new" from "old" professional work in larger economized fields of power

Post-observation conversations in the museum: using the self-evaluation of the supervisee as the starting point

Post-observation conversations are often used to discuss the quality of teaching and education; however, little is known about the use of this method for the evaluation of teaching in museums. Drawing on interviews, in the first research question, we explored how museum guides (n = 14) and educators (n = 8) perceived a post-observation conversation when they used the guide's self-evaluation as the starting point. This is in contrast to the educator (observation) directed conversations that currently prevail in the participating museums, all located in the Netherlands. For the second research question, we coded seven conversations in order to investigate the guides’ and educators’ actual participation. Results indicate that guides felt a sense of ownership; furthermore, the participants evaluated the conversations as more equally balanced. Analysis of the conversations confirmed that there was a balanced interaction and that the guides greatly influenced the conversation's content

Employer Attitudes towards Peak Hour Avoidance

Peak Hour Avoidance is a relatively new Dutch mobility management measure. To reduce congestion frequent car drivers are given a financial reward for reducing the proportion of trips that they make during peak hours on a specific motorway section. Although previous studies show that employers are not eager to support mobility management measures, employers are nevertheless an important stakeholder. They can provide their employees with alternatives such as other travel times, work locations or travel modes and encourage their use. This paper investigates the attitudes of Dutch employers towards Peak Hour Avoidance. Exploring the factors that influence these attitudes may help to fully utilise employer support. The data from 103 employers were collected through a web questionnaire. A structural equation model on the employer support for Peak Hour Avoidance was estimated. The results demonstrate that the size of the organisation and sector only have an indirect effect on the support for Peak Hour Avoidance. Results reveal that most support for Peak Hour Avoidance can be expected from organisations who feel responsible for influencing the commuting behaviour of employees, that have human resource managers with a positive attitude towards Peak Hour Avoidance, with flexible working times and that have already implemented mobility management measures. The largest contribution to PHA that can be expected from employers is providing employees with flexible working times and encouraging employees to fully utilise this option as an alternative for driving in peak hours. This would not only be beneficial for PHA but for a wide range of mobility management initiatives as well

Nineteen-port photonic lantern with multimode delivery fiber

We demonstrate efficient multimode (MM) to single-mode (SM) conversion in a 19-port photonic lantern with a 50 μm core MM delivery fiber. The photonic lantern can be used within the field of astrophotonics for coupling MM starlight to an ensemble of SM fibers in order to perform fiber-Bragg-grating-based spectral filtering. An MM delivery fiber spliced to the photonic lantern offers the advantage that the delivery fiber guides the light from the focal plane of the telescope to the splitter. Therefore, it is no longer necessary to have the splitter mounted directly in the focal plane of the telescope. The coupling loss from a 50 μm core MM fiber to an ensemble of 19 SM fibers and back to a 50 μm core MM fiber is below 1.1 dB.3 page(s

Instruments of value: using the analytic tools of public value theory in teaching and practice

The tools of public value management - such as the strategic triangle and the public value account,– are increasingly used by scholars and practitioners alike. At the same time, some confusion remains regarding their functionality in action. Based on our experiences with these tools in classrooms and boardrooms, we analyze how these instruments help to explore and structure different dimensions of public management challenges. We propose a set of ‘principles of application’, detailing under what conditions public value tools are most likely to be helpful, and suggest a course of action for strengthening, connecting and extending the current tool box