Multiple Perspectives on the Challenges for Knowledge Transfer between Higher Education Institutions and Industry

YesKnowledge transfer (KT) has been identified as an essential element of innovation, driving competitive advantage in increasingly knowledge-driven economies and as a result recent UK Government reports have sought to increase awareness of the importance of KT within higher education institutions (HEIs). There is therefore a need for relevant empirical research that examines, from multiple perspectives, how KT policy is translated into practice within HEI contexts. This paper responds to this need by presenting an in-depth qualitative case study based on over 50 semi-structured interviews with university-based academic and non-academic participants and representatives of small firms involved in InfoLab21, a high profile `centre of excellence¿ for research, development and commercialisation of ICT in Northwest England, UK. The study considers what the key practices of KT are and what promotes and/or hinders their development. Four overarching themes are identified: i) motivation and reward mechanisms; ii) process management and evaluation; iii) clustering and brokerage; and iv) trust and bridge building. Each theme is considered from multiple perspectives and areas for further research are suggested

Chest auscultation; easy to learn hard to say: Learning auscultation through multimedia

Teaching physical assessment in clinical science courses is a challenge under most circumstances. Access to suitable patients is not always possible in the time frames available. Evidence suggests that chest auscultation, while considered important, is not being learnt as part of the pre-service training of nurses and medical practitioners. Rather it is being left to on the job acquisition in an ad hoc manner. This paper discusses the implementation of one approach to meeting the challenges of teaching chest auscultation in such an environment. The Physical Assessment: Practical Chest Auscultation CD-ROM (Kerr 2001) is based on andragogy, enhancing motivation and flexibility in skills acquisition. Authentic heart and lung sounds are used to make a seemingly formidable challenge, easy

When the political becomes (painfully) personal: Org-studying the consequences of Brexit

This ‘Speaking Out’ essay contributes to debates over Brexit and populism by suggesting how we, as management and organisation studies scholars, might approach ‘org-studying’ Brexit. First, as UK-based European Union citizens working in UK business schools, we clarify our own position(s) in relation to Brexit. Second, we position ourselves more specifically as management and organisation studies academics by considering how we might begin to analyse the organisational consequences of Brexit through seeing it as part of a continuing global crisis – or series of crises – including and going beyond those affecting American and European societies and economies, as well as their political and other social fields and organisations. We highlight the salience of emotions with regard to Brexit, and in particular ressentiment in relation to populism as a political methodology. We also note the importance of identity and how political and personal identities are being reconstituted in the United Kingdom in light of the Brexit vote. We put forward suggestions for how management and organisation studies scholars might integrate these insights into an overarching approach to researching the organisational consequences of Brexit based on the works of Pierre Bourdieu and Gisèle Sapiro on the transposition of crisis. Our final remarks address the way that Brexit crisis continues to challenge our own established identities

When the political becomes (painfully) personal: Org-studying the consequences of Brexit

This ‘Speaking Out’ essay contributes to debates over Brexit and populism by suggesting how we, as management and organisation studies scholars, might approach ‘org-studying’ Brexit. First, as UK-based European Union citizens working in UK business schools, we clarify our own position(s) in relation to Brexit. Second, we position ourselves more specifically as management and organisation studies academics by considering how we might begin to analyse the organisational consequences of Brexit through seeing it as part of a continuing global crisis – or series of crises – including and going beyond those affecting American and European societies and economies, as well as their political and other social fields and organisations. We highlight the salience of emotions with regard to Brexit, and in particular ressentiment in relation to populism as a political methodology. We also note the importance of identity and how political and personal identities are being reconstituted in the United Kingdom in light of the Brexit vote. We put forward suggestions for how management and organisation studies scholars might integrate these insights into an overarching approach to researching the organisational consequences of Brexit based on the works of Pierre Bourdieu and Gisèle Sapiro on the transposition of crisis. Our final remarks address the way that Brexit crisis continues to challenge our own established identities

What can health care professionals in the United Kingdom learn from Malawi?

Debate on how resource-rich countries and their health care professionals should help the plight of sub-Saharan Africa appears locked in a mind-set dominated by gloomy statistics and one-way monetary aid. Having established a project to link primary care clinics based on two-way sharing of education rather than one-way aid, our United Kingdom colleagues often ask us: "But what can we learn from Malawi?" A recent fact-finding visit to Malawi helped us clarify some aspects of health care that may be of relevance to health care professionals in the developed world, including the United Kingdom. This commentary article is focused on encouraging debate and discussion as to how we might wish to re-think our relationship with colleagues in other health care environments and consider how we can work together on a theme of two-way shared learning rather than one-way aid

Mechanisms of micro-terror? Early career CMS academics’ experiences of ‘targets and terror’ in contemporary business schools

In this article, we apply the concept of ‘targets and terror’, previously used in the healthcare sector, to the audit culture within business schools. We explore to what extent terror, or the inculcation of fear through processes of domination, is identifiable in the micro-level experiences of early career academics. Drawing on an international study of 38 Critical Management Studies early career academics from 15 countries, we develop a theoretical framework combining Bourdieu’s modes of domination and Meyerson and Scully’s Tempered Radicalism, which helps us identify top-down and horizontal processes of micro-terror and bottom-up processes of micro-terrorism, specifically self-terrorisation and counter-terrorisation. In extending the study of ‘targets and terror’ cultures to contemporary business schools, we develop a clearer understanding of how domination plays out in the everyday processes of management and self-management. From Bourdieu’s modes of domination, we discern a dark picture of institutional and interpersonal overt and symbolic violence in the name of target achievement. The Tempered Radicalism lens helps us to understand early career academic challenges that can lead to self-terrorisation but also brings possible ways forward, showing early career academics how to resist mechanisms of micro-terror through their own small acts of counter-terrorisation, providing some hope specifically as the basis for collective resistance