Understanding Cowering between typology and contradiction

La globalizzazione e i cambiamenti tecnologici hanno portato a importanti trasformazioni nel mercato del lavoro. Questi cambiamenti enfatizzano le dimensioni democratiche e collaborative del lavoro e si basano su processi di lavoro simultanei, multidirezionali e reciproci, in contrapposizione alle forme di lavoro e organizzazione che si realizzano attraverso una consolidata divisione del lavoro, comunità e sistemi formali e informali di regole altamente definiti. Il coworking sta emergendo in questo attuale scenario sociale e organizzativo come componente chiave delle trasformazioni. Compare come fenomeno emergente nei primi anni del 2000, sottolineando il suo potenziale collaborativo nella promozione dei cambiamenti sociali nel mercato del lavoro e promuovendo valori quali l'accessibilità, l'apertura, la sostenibilità, la creazione di comunità e la collaborazione. Questa tesi è incentrata sull'analisi qualitativa di spazi di coworking in Italia. Lo scopo del presente lavoro è quello di mettere in discussione e di discutere criticamente potenzialità e vantaggi del coworking. Attraverso l'utilizzo di un approccio critico, la tesi offre una comprensione articolata del coworking e discute le sfide e i rischi del fenomeno e della sua potenziale evoluzione. Nella tesi si fa riferimento all'approccio teorico dell'Activity Theory e viene si presentano i due studi qualitativi per l'analisi del coworking, attraverso cui si giunge alla presentazione di una tipologia di coworking e all'individuazione di tensioni storiche e contraddizioni locali che caratterizzano il fenomeno nella sua evoluzione.In recent decades, globalization and technological changes have brought about important transformations in the labor market. These changes emphasize the democratic and collaborative dimensions of labor, and they are based on simultaneous, multi-directional, and reciprocal work as opposed to forms that take place in organizations with an established division of labor, demarcated communities, and formal and informal sets of rules. Coworking has been emerging in this current social and organizational scenario as a key component of the unfolding transformations. It started in the early years of the 2000s, emphasizing its collaborative potential in promoting social changes in the labor market and promoting values related to accessibility, openness, sustainability, community, and collaboration (Kwiatkowsky, 2011). This thesis is focused on the analysis of the kinds of spaces that are defined as coworking spaces and that, generally speaking, are said to be focused on the promotion of a collaborative approach to work. The aim of this work was to question and critically discuss various potentials and benefits of coworking. by evaluating coworking from a critical perspective, the dissertation offers an articulated understanding of coworking and discusses the challenges and risks of coworking and its potential evolution. In order to provide a foundation for fruitful discussion of the logic of the thesis that can be supported by the theoretical framework, the idea of moving from the history of coworking to its classification and to its dynamic contradictions is implemented. Given these premises, in the thesis, I problematize coworking using the Activity Theory approach in an effort to counter the optimistic views, which are emphasized in the existing literature. In the dissertation, a sequential, qualitative and mixed-methods research design is proposed that is aimed at improving the available information concerning coworking and enhancing the understanding of its implications, contradictions, potentials, and risks that coworking presents as a way of work and organization inside the current complex and quickly developing social and labour market

Translating Sustainability into Action : A Management Challenge in FabLabs

In recent years, the number of new organizations aiming to accomplish principles of sustainability has rapidly grown, leading analysts and scholars to announce almost a new industrial revolution. An example of this is the proliferation of the so-called fabrication laboratories (FabLabs) that nowadays are perceived as being forerunners in innovative and sustainable high-tech production through peer-to-peer collaborative practices and sharing. However, the challenges managers face in translating these promotional aims into organizational action is vastly understudied. To address this research gap, we have studied the management of two FabLabs, in Italy and Finland. In this study, we draw from a psycho-sociological framework applying cultural-historical activity theory, and especially from the concepts of activity system and contradiction. According to this perspective, a sustainable organization is based on promotion, enrichment, regeneration, and flexible change efforts, and it is related to the managerial and ability to bring internal and external stakeholders together to recognize and solve tensions and contradictions collectively. Through our case studies, we have provided new research knowledge on how managers make an effort to translate sustainability into action in the complex context of FabLabs, involving multiple, often competing stakeholders and activity systems. Our analysis reveals multiple tensions in the collective activity, stemming from system level contradictions, which represent a challenge for the daily work of the FabLab managers. In the paper we also suggest how an engaged management orientation towards sustainably can be promoted, and we discuss future research topics.Peer reviewe

Multi-parasite infection in an immigrant from Ghana: potential for new epidemic foci.

Introduction: Imported parasitosis, which do not require an invertebrate vector, are extremely dangerous and can lead to the occurrence of disease in currently parasite free areas. In the present study we report a case of multi-parasitic infection in a young immigrant from Ghana to Italy caused by filaria, Schistosoma sp. and Strongyloides sp. Case presentation: A 27-year-old Ghanaian man attended the Hospital of Nuoro (Sardinia), Italy, at the end of August 2015, claiming pain to the kidney and hypertensive crisis; the patient presented with dyspnea and epistaxis, chronic itchy skin of the back, shoulders, arms and legs, anuria and high creatinine, metabolic acidosis and hypereosinophilic syndrome. Serological test for parasitic infections were done, and showed a marked positivity for filaria, Schistosoma sp. and Strongyloides sp. The patient started the treatment immediately with two doses per day of Bassado Antibiotic (tetracycline) for twenty days and then with a single dose of 3 mg of ivermectin that was repeated after 3 months. Conclusions: Immigrant patients from endemic areas who show clinical signs, such as a general itching on the back, shoulders and arms and legs, should have a thorough history in order to make early diagnosis and prevent further complications. Therefore, general practitioners and doctors in Europe and in other parasitosis non-endemic countries, should consider to test for parasites in any immigrant from endemic countries to aid in establishing the final diagnosis and prevent further complications

"Delirium Day": A nationwide point prevalence study of delirium in older hospitalized patients using an easy standardized diagnostic tool

Background: To date, delirium prevalence in adult acute hospital populations has been estimated generally from pooled findings of single-center studies and/or among specific patient populations. Furthermore, the number of participants in these studies has not exceeded a few hundred. To overcome these limitations, we have determined, in a multicenter study, the prevalence of delirium over a single day among a large population of patients admitted to acute and rehabilitation hospital wards in Italy. Methods: This is a point prevalence study (called "Delirium Day") including 1867 older patients (aged 65 years or more) across 108 acute and 12 rehabilitation wards in Italian hospitals. Delirium was assessed on the same day in all patients using the 4AT, a validated and briefly administered tool which does not require training. We also collected data regarding motoric subtypes of delirium, functional and nutritional status, dementia, comorbidity, medications, feeding tubes, peripheral venous and urinary catheters, and physical restraints. Results: The mean sample age was 82.0 ± 7.5 years (58 % female). Overall, 429 patients (22.9 %) had delirium. Hypoactive was the commonest subtype (132/344 patients, 38.5 %), followed by mixed, hyperactive, and nonmotoric delirium. The prevalence was highest in Neurology (28.5 %) and Geriatrics (24.7 %), lowest in Rehabilitation (14.0 %), and intermediate in Orthopedic (20.6 %) and Internal Medicine wards (21.4 %). In a multivariable logistic regression, age (odds ratio [OR] 1.03, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 1.01-1.05), Activities of Daily Living dependence (OR 1.19, 95 % CI 1.12-1.27), dementia (OR 3.25, 95 % CI 2.41-4.38), malnutrition (OR 2.01, 95 % CI 1.29-3.14), and use of antipsychotics (OR 2.03, 95 % CI 1.45-2.82), feeding tubes (OR 2.51, 95 % CI 1.11-5.66), peripheral venous catheters (OR 1.41, 95 % CI 1.06-1.87), urinary catheters (OR 1.73, 95 % CI 1.30-2.29), and physical restraints (OR 1.84, 95 % CI 1.40-2.40) were associated with delirium. Admission to Neurology wards was also associated with delirium (OR 2.00, 95 % CI 1.29-3.14), while admission to other settings was not. Conclusions: Delirium occurred in more than one out of five patients in acute and rehabilitation hospital wards. Prevalence was highest in Neurology and lowest in Rehabilitation divisions. The "Delirium Day" project might become a useful method to assess delirium across hospital settings and a benchmarking platform for future surveys

La valutazione e l'apprendimento nell'ambito della psicologia del lavoro

La valutazione è elemento fondamentale, imprescindibile e costitutivo della vita organizzativa. Il presente contributo propone una lettura della valutazione come processo in grado di promuovere riflessione critica, nonché leva di apprendimento e cambiamento a livello individuale e organizzativo. Vengono presentati sia i presupposti teorici alla base di tale concezione sia le implicazioni metodologiche e operative che possono concretamente sostenere l’attivazione di percorsi di valutazione in tale direzione.Evaluation is a fundamental, unavoidable and constitutive element of organizational life. This paper proposes an interpretation of evaluation as a process able to promote critical reflection, as well as a learning and development at both individual and organizational levels. Both the theoretical assumptions, underlying this conception of evaluation, and the methodological and operational implications that can concretely support the activation of evaluation process, are presented

Il coworking tra generatività e contraddizione

Il coworking è un modo di organizzare il lavoro che genera un nuovo modo di concepire la professionalità? Non si può dare una risposta univoca a questa domanda, giacché il fenomeno è multiforme. A partire dalle tensioni evolutive che caratterizzano le diverse concezioni di coworking se ne possono identificare quattro tipologie. All’interno di questo spettro il coworking appare, ad un estremo, come una concreta opportunità per sviluppare una nuova professionalità, all’altro, come una forma di lavoro imposta ai lavoratori dalle esigenze produttive

Manager on the ground. A practice based approach for developing management education: Lessons from complex and innovative organizations

Il paper presenta un caso di studio situato delle competenze manageriali innovative. L’enfasi è posta sulla rilevanza delle conoscenze situate nella prospettiva di realizzare approcci di ricerca adeguati allo studio di peculiari oggetti di indagine. Il contesto analizzato (un consorzio di imprese sociali in situazione di forte trasformazione evolutiva) si presta a evidenziare le caratteristiche emergenti degli attuali scenari organizzativi, e le conseguenti sfide che le figure in posizione manageriale sono chiamate ad assumere. Il contributo evidenzia sia la metodologica adottata per la ricognizione dei profili di competenza, sia i dispositivi utilizzati per consentire processi di circolazione dei saperi e di apprendimento organizzativo.The paper describes a case study that presents a situated approach for detecting, analysing, and developing managerial competence inside innovative and uncertain organizational contexts. To this aim, the paper seeks to underline the importance of local knowledge production and sharing (related to professional practices and organizational culture) for competency recognition and assessment. The research question addresses the need for a context dependent driven research in order to detect and enhance real innovate and situated competences. The paper initially describes the new and innovative organizational scenario characterized by uncertainty, precariousness, rapid evolution, and progressive pressure required of organizational subjects in terms of adaptability, performativity, and orientation toward results. The second part of the paper presents the research method adopted for the inquiry and analysis of managerial situated competence to promote organizational learning and development. The third part focuses on the situated paths used to transfer and share the produced knowledge. The paper discusses the main results, describes the prospects for using the acquired knowledge within the considered experience, and highlighting the strengths and limitations of the considered approach. The discussion focuses on the epistemological, methodological, and process implications related to the type of research adopted

Competenze manageriali e costruzione sociale di conoscenza. Una ricerca sul campo

Through the description of a case study the paper presents a local and situated approach for the analysis and recognition of professional competences. The paper explores how the identification of competences recognized as significant by the organizational players, depends on specific modes of circulation of knowledge about professional practices and organizational cultures. The main objective is to highlight that the situated knowledge is the outcome of a social construction process, aimed at creating a profile of manager competences and evaluating of the skills generated by the situated processes. The paper initially describes the new and innovative organizational scenario, characterized by uncertainty, precariousness, rapid evolution and progressive pressure required to the organizational subjects in terms of adaptability, performativity and orientation towards results. The study then presents the research adopted method, in accordance with an approach of knowledge producing oriented to highlight repertoires of typical managerial practices and the negotiated symbolic order that emerges in the various situations recognized by the organizational actors as appropriate. The paper discusses the main results , describing the prospects for using the acquired knowledge within the considered experience and highlighting strengths and limitations of the considered approach. The discussion focuses on the epistemological, methodological and process implications related to the type of research adopted