71 research outputs found
New Perspectives and Approaches to Language-based Research
This book sets new trajectories for language-sensitive business and management research and pedagogy. The existence of language plurality characterises these. Empirical studies have been established as important and relevant for contemporary research. It has shifted language-sensitive research from the periphery to the centre of international management research. However, this field is rapidly changing, and new thematic approaches have begun to emerge. By addressing this, the book offers genuine and more nuanced insights into existing themes and comes with applications of emergent conceptual developments in different settings. The second part of the book covers methodologies and gives examples and cutting-edge insights into the role of translation in the execution of empirical research and theorising arising from it. Finally, the book draws together innovative ways of how to address the challenges of a multilingual teaching classroom and how to innovate in order to incorporate such diversity through pedagogic practice
Englishization and the Politics of Translation
Purpose – This study aims to investigate the treatment of translation within the international business and
management (IBM) literature to highlight colonialist assumptions inscribed in this treatment as a result of the
hegemonic status of English.
Design/methodology/approach – This investigation takes the form of a systemic literature review to
examine the treatment of translation in the IBM literature through a postcolonial lens.
Findings – The findings demonstrate that despite growing interest in language in international
business, matters of translation have received comparatively little attention. However, those articles that
do address translation matters tend to do so in five key ways, including epistemological/methodological
considerations, exploring translator agency, the investigations of the discursive void/conceptual fuzziness
between languages, and approaches that discuss translation as social practice.
Research limitations/implications – Despite the authors’ critique of English-language hegemony, this
literature review is restricted to English-language journals, which the authors acknowledge as problematic
and discuss within the article.
Practical implications – In exposing the limited treatment of translation within the literature, the authors
provide a call to action for IBM scholars to be more explicit in their treatment of translation to ensure representation
of cultural and linguistic Others, rather than providing domesticated accounts of multilingual research.
Originality/value – Although there have been other articles that have examined translation in the past,
this paper is the first to do so through a postcolonial lens, demonstrating from a linguistic perspective the
colonialist assumptions that are still prevalent in IBM knowledge production, as evidenced by the treatment
of translation in the field
Association of Researchers in Construction Management
A positive safety culture among construction firms is known to be an invaluable means by which accident prevention and employee safety on sites can be improved. Workers of small construction firms strive to create and maintain safe working environments for each other and for the safety of stakeholders. Based on the organisational and safety cultures developed within small construction firms, the workers have been known to incorporate informal and situational practices in order to improve site and project safety. This paper investigates the safety cultures found in small construction firms including workers' informal practices in relation to hazard identification and accident prevention. The paper is based on a research project that has an overall aim of investigating 'good' safety practices of workers of small construction firms in the East Midlands region of the United Kingdom. In this qualitative research, rich data was acquired through semi-structured interviews and non-participant observations from five construction sites. Findings from the empirical work suggest that owners and experienced workers of small construction firms significantly shape the outcome of the firms' safety cultures. For example, when they show initiative for producing safe working environments, other workers are compelled to follow suit and vice-versa. Furthermore, workers of small construction firms undertake 'informal' practices that help improve safety on site including informal risk assessment and subsequent management of hazardous events. In addition, new and less experienced worker receive effective guidance and vital onthe-job training in a way that is not documented. Unlike much research in the field, this project seeks to identify and encourage activities and approaches that help workers of small construction firms create working attitudes and environments
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Targeted RNAi of BIRC5/Survivin Using Antibody-Conjugated Poly(Propylene Imine)-Based Polyplexes Inhibits Growth of PSCA-Positive Tumors
Delivery of siRNAs for the treatment of tumors critically depends on the development of efficient nucleic acid carrier systems. The complexation of dendritic polymers (dendrimers) results in nanoparticles, called dendriplexes, that protect siRNA from degradation and mediate non-specific cellular uptake of siRNA. However, large siRNA doses are required for in vivo use due to accumulation of the nanoparticles in sinks such as the lung, liver, and spleen. This suggests the exploration of targeted nanoparticles for enhancing tumor cell specificity and achieving higher siRNA levels in tumors. In this work, we report on the targeted delivery of a therapeutic siRNA specific for BIRC5/Survivin in vitro and in vivo to tumor cells expressing the surface marker prostate stem cell antigen (PSCA). For this, polyplexes consisting of single-chain antibody fragments specific for PSCA conjugated to siRNA/maltose-modified poly(propylene imine) dendriplexes were used. These polyplexes were endocytosed by PSCA-positive 293TPSCA/ffLuc and PC3PSCA cells and caused knockdown of reporter gene firefly luciferase and Survivin expression, respectively. In a therapeutic study in PC3PSCA xenograft-bearing mice, significant anti-tumor effects were observed upon systemic administration of the targeted polyplexes. This indicates superior anti-tumor efficacy when employing targeted delivery of Survivin-specific siRNA, based on the additive effects of siRNA-mediated Survivin knockdown in combination with scFv-mediated PSCA inhibition
Metaphorical and interlingual translation in moving organizational practices across languages
Organizational scholars refer to translation as a metaphor in order to describe the transformation and movement of organizational practices across institutional contexts. However, they have paid relatively little attention to the challenges of moving organizational practices across language boundaries. In this conceptual paper, we theorize that when organizational practices move across contexts that differ not only in terms of institutions and cultures but also in terms of languages, translation becomes more than a metaphor; it turns into reverbalization of meaning in another language. We argue that the meeting of languages opens up a whole new arena for translator agency to unfold. Interlingual and metaphorical translation are two distinct but interrelated forms of translation that are mutually constitutive. We identify possible constellations between interlingual and metaphorical translation and illustrate agentic translation with published case examples. We also propose that interlingual translation is a key resource in the discursive constitution of multilingual organizations. This paper contributes to the stream of research in organization studies that has made translation a core aspect of its inquiry
When is a bed not a bed? Exploring the interplay of the material and virtual in negotiating home-work boundaries
© 2017, © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Working from home is often associated with possibilities of anytime-anyplace working and with a fusion of work and home. In this empirical paper, we explore how the sociomaterial contexts of home-working define and tether what is possible for home-workers in their negotiations with others. Drawing on qualitative data sets, Wengerian concepts are used by exploring the role of boundary objects and brokering in negotiating temporal and spatial boundaries around and across work and home. The home-workers’ bodies are shown to be the key boundary objects, through which technology objects and furniture objects are sometimes fused. Yet, such fusion is shown to be only temporary, always precariously situated and also mediated by identity-regulating norms and values of home-workers. The contribution of the paper is to highlight the limits of what is technologically possible by emphasising the role of the body and material objects in the home-working context
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