Reflexivity in practice : tools and conditions for developing organizational authorship

In this article, we build on the results of a participatory action research project in healthcare to discuss a number of methods that can strengthen the link between reflexive work and authoring in organizational contexts. We argue that, from an organizational point of view, the challenge is to devise new ways to configure (and consider) people as the authors of their work. This means assuming responsibility for, and constructively contributing to, the goals of the organizations to which they belong. Combining insights from theoretical reflection and experience from the field, the article discusses the tools, process and material conditions for fostering practical reflexivity and organizational authorship. We conclude that much is to be gained if we distinguish between authorship and authoring. Authorship is the general process whereby managers and organizational members contribute to the reproduction of organizational realities. Authoring is constituted by the special circumstances whereby authorship is brought to critical consciousness and becomes open to deliberate reorientation

“Opportunità e rischi della professione insegnante. Leve per lo sviluppo del benessere nella Scuola”

La professione dell’insegnante è da sempre uno snodo cruciale nella nostra società, dal momento che formazione e apprendimento, innovazione e circolazione delle conoscenze sono i fattori centrali per lo sviluppo dei giovani, dei cittadini e dei professionisti del futuro. Nonostante la rilevanza del mestiere, non sempre la scuola riesce ad accompagnare e mettere nella condizione ideale il lavoro congiunto di insegnanti e studenti. Centrali sono i temi di motivazione, qualità ed efficacia dell’insegnamento, così come aspetti riguardanti il clima e il benessere nei contesti educativi. Il presente capitolo affronta alcuni elementi di scenario per leggere la condizione della scuola oggi, sottolineandone alcuni elementi di rischio che ricadono sulla professione di insegnante, influenzando il benessere di questa categoria di professionisti. Dopo aver tracciato gli elementi principali connotanti il costrutto di benessere, il capitolo traccia alcuni possibili interventi per promuoverlo e migliorare le condizioni del vivere l’organizzazione scuola

The video production of space : how different recording practices matter

This article examines how video recording practices excert an influence on the ways in which an organizational phenomenon—in our case organizational space—becomes available for analysis and understanding. Building on a performative and praxeological approach, we argue that the practical and material ways of conducting video-based research have a performative effect on the object of inquiry and do not simply record it. Focusing in particular on configurations of camera angle and movement—forming what we call the Panoramic View, the American-Objective View, the Roving Point-of-View, and the Infra-Subjective View—we find that these apparatuses privilege different spatial understandings both by orienting our gaze toward different analytical elements and qualifying these elements in different ways. Our findings advance the methodological reflections on video-based research by emphasizing that while video has a number of general affordances, the research practices with which we use it matter and have an impact both on the analytical process and the researcher’s findings

Patient Centredness, Values, Equity and Sustainability: Professional, Organizational and Institutional Implications

The concept of “patient centredness”, or “patient-centred care”, has been studied so far as an umbrella term including a variety of declinations, perspectives, and concrete care practices [...

Patient Centredness, Values, Equity and Sustainability: Professional, Organizational and Institutional Implications

The concept of “patient centredness”, or “patient-centred care”, has been studied so far as an umbrella term including a variety of declinations, perspectives, and concrete care practices [...

Innovation, Participation and Tutoring as Key-Leverages to Sustain Well-Being at School

Background: Well-being at school is a recurrent hot topic within the educational field as a crucial issue for societies. Teachers often face tension with pupils and colleagues. Well-being is very often considered an individual achievement requiring individual measurement and support. This paper, in contrast, applies an approach that supports an ecological perspective of school well-being, implying a complex and multi-dimensional development investment. Methods: The paper investigates an innovative program initiative aimed at providing support to 50 Italian schools that have been deemed as critical for specific aspects (pupils’ levels of learning, discomfort among teachers, scarce innovativeness, etc.) through evaluative qualitative research. Results: This work sheds light on well-being as a dynamic construct created through an integrative effort in which many factors can play a role. These factors are the possibility of professional tutoring to help engage the school management and involve teachers in a bottom-up involvement, the development of creative initiatives and innovative projects to respond to context-based challenges and pupils’ needs, and the availability of space and time for collective sharing of ideas among teachers. These processes are closely related to the concept of well-being, which appears to be a systemic construct, rather than an issue related to the single individual. Conclusions: Focusing on the representation of schools’ managers and tutors involved in the program, this research illustrates the application of an ecological perspective that creates well-being through social and productive sustainability processes

Lavorare con la ricerca-azione tessendo il filo con il passato

This article analyses a case study of an action research project conducted by the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, London, for the NHS. Aim of the paper is to analyse the action research through two main aspects: first of all the link with the past and the tradition of the Tavistcok Institute, and secondly through the specific characteristics played in an action research project, that make it different from other types of organizational interventions