Information overload : the differences that age makes

Information overload has long been studied as a phenomenon that causes problems at the personal, social and organisational level. This study investigates overload from a new angle, that of the influence of age on perceptions of information overload. A combination of questionnaires, interviews and diaries were used to gain insight into people’s perceptions towards information overload. It was found that people of all ages suffer from information overload but young people are primarily affected by information literacy levels while older people are affected by technology. There was evidence of a link between age and technology use. A link was also found between job role and information overload and the impact technology has had on the quantity of information available. This research will benefit anyone, either individually or within an organisation, looking for ways to combat information overload. It identifies the influence of age on various factors and recommends actions that may be taken to reduce information overload. In particular, recommendations were made for further training in technology and information literacy. The paper is based on an approach not seen before in the literature as it investigates the effects of age on information overload by seeking to understand how perceptions towards information overload may differ between different age groups. It is anticipated that this paper will trigger further studies that could focus on the effect of job role on information overload and the likelihood of information addiction becoming a future concern

A Professional Ethics for Researchers?

Historical research has shown that, at its inception, research ethics was conceived as distinct from existing discourses of professional ethics. Subsequently, this distinction has been maintained and, as a result, the discourse of research ethics appears to be an external to and independent of the practices it normatively analyses and comments upon. This chapter challenges these founding preconceptions and considers if research ethics can be understood as a professional ethics. Therefore, this chapter examines the criteria sociological research identifies as constitutive of a profession, and while one might conclude that research is obviously not formally instantiated as a profession, some of the sociological criteria have significant relevance. In this light it is argued that we might rethink the notion of research ethics in terms of a professional ethics. To do so would be to more clearly embed ethical discourse in the practice(s) of research, something that is consistent with the current turn to integrity

Beyond the university : higher education institutions across time and space

This chapter makes the case for a history of higher education institutions which looks beyond the university. Building on recent historiographical developments, it argues that the history of higher education must not be limited to the history of the university, an institution fixed in space and time, but must rather adopt a transnational and transhistorical approach. It also argues for a broader definition of “institution” which includes concepts, ideas, and practices which have become “institutionalized” alongside traditional understandings of institutions as sites with fixed locations and physical forms. Beginning with an exploration of higher education and learning across the globe in the ancient world, it goes on to study significant developments in higher education during the medieval, Renaissance, Enlightenment, and modern periods. While considerable attention is paid to the development of the university in Europe and around the world, the role and significance of other higher education institutions are stressed throughout. Particular weight is placed on the importance of learned societies and academies as sites of research development and training in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The chapter concludes with reflections on the ways in which the prominence of the research university since the Second World War has shaped the writing of the history of higher education in recent years, most notably, the dominant position given to the university as institution. Potentially fruitful directions for future research are also discussed, in particular, the need to focus on alternative higher education institutions

Management education and the theatre of the absurd

In this paper we adopt a humanities perspective to reflect on the nature of business schools and management education (Vargish, 1991; March & Weil, 2005; Adler, 2006; McAuley & Sims, 2009). Business schools have been criticised for becoming the “hired hands” of business (Khurana, 2007) to the detriment of a higher purpose, institutions that champion a utilitarian morality, the shallowness and indeed the dangers of which are revealed in various business scandals and especially the financial crisis of 2007-8, the effects of which cast a long shadow over today’s economic and social landscape. This has led to the criticism that business schools have lost part of their essential “philosophic connection” to issues of humanity and human identities (Augier & March, 2011: 233-4). We argue that one way to encourage philosophical reconnection is to expand management education’s engagement with the humanities (Czarniawska & Gagliardi, 2006)