Issues Negotiation™ – investing in stakeholders

Consumers are increasingly demanding and less tolerant of organisations that fail to live up to their expectations. Organisations are expected to change their approach to business, giving the same priority to all stakeholders, with integrity and commitment. This means that the traditional approach to issues management where organisations “decide” on their plans, “dictate” them to stakeholders, and prepare their “defence”, will no longer be adequate. Issues Negotiaion™ offers business leaders a powerful alternative that builds trusting relationships, turning potentially negative issues into competitive advantage. It is a process that supports the organisation in its long-term growth

The Nature of attachment:An Australian experience

Throughout the world, protected area management regimes typically separate cultural and natural heritage in legislation, policy, administrative structures, disciplinary expertise, and on-ground practice. Within settler colonial nations, including Australia, cultural heritage is itself habitually separated into indigenous heritage and 'historic' (or non-indigenous) heritage. A consequence of these multiple binaries and disconnected regimes is that they work across rather than with one another. In this chapter, I use the frame of place-attachment to consider issues arising from the separation of natural and cultural heritage in the management of protected areas. The case examples are homestead gardens within protected areas, and my concern is for the recognition of Anglo-Australian place-attachment to domestic gardens.</p

The Munitions Challenge in Albania

Political controversy, economic chaos and increasing criminality have faced Albania since its democratic revolution in late 1990. Anti-government demonstrations erupted into violence, which took the form of attacks against state facilities including public offices, schools, factories and military depots. Of particular concern were the attacks against ammunition and weapons storage areas. Over 600,000 weapons and several thousand tons of ammunition and explosives were looted and some 16 ammunition storage areas, known as Hot Spots, were set ablaze resulting in massive unexploded ordnance contamination of the sites and surrounding areas

Mine Action - The Management of Risk

The examination of Standards and Measures of Success at the recent Humanitarian Demining Conference, hosted by James Madison University (JMU) demonstrated that there must be fundamental changes in the approach to Mine Action if the global influence of land mines is to be successfully challenged. In addressing the need to measure the effectiveness of Mine Action we are acknowledging that the current situation is untenable, particularly if we are to get anywhere near the eradication of the problem by 2010

ESOL, emancipation and “comfort radicalism”:perceptions of ESOL practitioners in the Scottish further education sector

Situated within the context of unprecedented levels of inward migration to the UK and Ireland bringing with it all the complexities of integration, this volume focuses on a key aspect of this - language provision. Through the voices of stakeholders in the field of teaching English to speakers of other languages (ESOL), this volume critically examines models of language provision and integration, the relationship between language and identity, developing ESOL practices and ESOL policy. A distinctive feature is the diversity of contributions, ranging from research studies to vignettes presenting living portraits of ESOL practice on the ground. The volume fills an urgent gap in this area, offering a snapshot of the ‘state of the art’ of ESOL in the UK and Ireland and projections of how the needs of new migrants can be addressed into the future

Material matrixes: Building on a history of improvisational developments in print technology

Brown gave the paper ‘Material matrixes’ at the international biennial printmaking conference ‘Impact 8’, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, University of Dundee (2013). The conference aimed to confirm the cultural diversity, historical significance and future potential of print, highlighting the inherently experimental and interdisciplinary nature of print practices. Brown’s paper considered the theme of multiple identity in printmaking by exploring the intersection between print and other disciplines, including ceramics and glass, while drawing similarities between the principles of printmaking and other technologies that embrace replication, such as mould casting. It proposes that the development of technology is not driven by single Gestalt moments, but instead comes from continual unhindered thinking, which eschews preconceived boundaries in order to creatively exploit pre-existing subsets of technology. Brown argues that acceptance of such an open model for technological development can be a useful tool for avoiding an inhibitory stasis in the cycle of development. The paper draws on a number of critical writers (e.g. Lewis Day, Henri Focillon, Charles Jencks and John Man) who discuss technology and support the case for regenerative open systems. Brown proposed two cases where practice-led research has led to the development of open-system technology. He argues that these offer unique methodological approaches for interdisciplinary practice that successfully cross the boundaries of ceramics, glass and print in order to enable rethinking of classifications of technology

Promoting teacher–learner autonomy through and beyond initial language teacher education

With the growing international market for pre-experience MA in ELT/TESOL programmes, a key curriculum design issue is how to help students develop as learners of teaching through and beyond their formal academic studies. We report here on our attempts at the University of Warwick to address this issue, and consider wider implications for research and practice in initial language teacher education. At the Centre for Applied Linguistics at the University of Warwick, we run a suite of MA programmes for English language teaching professionals from around the world. Most of these courses are for students with prior teaching experience, but our MA in English Language Studies and Methods (ELSM) programme is designed for students with less than two years’ experience and, in fact, the majority enrol straight after completing their undergraduate studies in their home countries