Grant J. Rich and Freda Gonot-Schoupinsky
The purpose of this paper is to invite Dr. Grant J. Rich, a positive psychologist influenced by humanistic and existential psychology, to tell his story and to share his research…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to invite Dr. Grant J. Rich, a positive psychologist influenced by humanistic and existential psychology, to tell his story and to share his research in the field including his insight on mental health and peace.
Design/methodology/approach
A positive autoethnographic case study approach is used to enable Dr. Rich to narrate his story while also addressing topics within a Q and A format.
Findings
Dr. Rich narrates how his life and work has been enriched by intercultural, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research. Mental health and peace can be closely related, and Rich narrates a range of ways he honed his peacemaking skills which he views as requiring a kind and gentle approach, but also courage.
Research limitations/implications
This case study narrates the experiences, perspectives and insight of one person, and these cannot be generalized.
Practical implications
As Dr. Rich states, “the world aches for peace now”. Peace psychology can enable us to understand how to induce inner and inter-relational peace, and reduce conflict and violence, for better mental health. This involves a practitioner/activist approach, albeit the authors have much to explore and investigate as to how best to do this.
Social implications
Social needs and outcomes are fundamental to advancing peace psychology’s insights. A focus on multi-disciplinary collaborations, including with educators, social psychologists and sociologists, and the public is recommended.
Originality/value
Dr. Rich is a psychologist with a positive psychology orientation who has called for more qualitative and mixed-methods research in positive psychology. Here, he shares with us multiple insights and his research including in the areas of mental health and peace.
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Keywords
Robin Roberts, Valerie Denney and Jim W. Marion
Researchers have investigated best practices for forming groups capable of completing projects cohesively for years. Online group formation has increased in recent years, peaking…
Abstract
Purpose
Researchers have investigated best practices for forming groups capable of completing projects cohesively for years. Online group formation has increased in recent years, peaking scientific interest in the sentiment that characterizes group cohesion from the point when the group is established to the stage where specific outcomes are produced. This research contributes to understanding online group dynamics by analyzing the sentiment of university students completing multiple nine-week group course projects with implications for workplaces.
Design/methodology/approach
Over eight nine-week terms, sentiment analyses were conducted on students' online reflection assignments, targeting their views on group interactions during group project completion. The assignment's context was to assess individual sentiment about the group experience that could build group sentiment implications for workplaces. Adult students from diverse academic and industry disciplines at a single university were participants. Four group models were considered possible drivers of student sentiment about their group experiences.
Findings
Punctuated Equilibrium, a classic group model, defined influences like remote distances and external obligations steering student sentiment outcomes. Instructors' active facilitation of group formation and development motivated students’ positive sentiments. Findings are akin to online organizational groups’ attempts to manage remote work and other responsibilities.
Originality/value
This study reinforced the importance of leveraging online students' collective sentiment to inform group dynamics in professional settings. Few studies have focused on the latter directly and exclusively. The results highlighted the sentiment kinship of online academic and organizational groups, validating the focused investigation of this study.
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Ali Hassan Ali, Ahmed Farouk Kineber, Ahmed Elyamany, Ahmed Hussein Ibrahim and Ahmed Osama Daoud
This study aims to identify the most significant barriers and the stationary barrier to modular construction (MC) implementation and promote MC widespread use. By doing so, the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to identify the most significant barriers and the stationary barrier to modular construction (MC) implementation and promote MC widespread use. By doing so, the construction industry can leverage the benefits of MC, such as faster construction times, improved quality control, reduced waste and increased sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a Gini’s mean analysis approach to identify the stationary barriers hindering the MC adoption in residential projects. The research focuses on the Egyptian context and uses a questionnaire survey to gather data from professionals in the construction industry.
Findings
According to the survey findings, the top five significant MC barriers are inability to modify the design; contractors asking for high bidding prices (higher initial cost); scepticism, conservation and resistance of clients to innovation and change; transportation restrictions; and lack of a one-size-fits-all tool for the design. In addition, Gini’s mean of dispersion demonstrated that the stationary barrier that faces MC adoption is the apprehension that architectural creativity will suffer because of MC.
Practical implications
The identified obstacles could be useful for decision makers in countries that have not yet adopted MC and may aid in the planning process to manage the risks associated with MC projects. The paper stresses the significance of devising techniques to overcome these barriers and proposes several methods to tackle these challenges.
Originality/value
This study fills the knowledge gap by identifying the stationary barrier and emphasising the potential risks associated with MC barriers. Furthermore, it suggests several strategies for overcoming and reducing these barriers in developing countries residential projects.
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This study aims to demonstrate that in the latter years of his life, Frederick Winslow Taylor embraced union participation in management decision-making and that interwar US…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to demonstrate that in the latter years of his life, Frederick Winslow Taylor embraced union participation in management decision-making and that interwar US Taylor Society members and organized labor extended his support for this endeavor.
Design/methodology/approach
This study engages with primary materials not previously present in the management history literature and secondary works generated by researchers in disciplines commonly ignored by management scholars.
Findings
This study contests the claim that the scientific managers reached out to unions only after Taylor’s death and demonstrates Taylor welcomed union participation in the management of enterprises, held it was necessary to “show” and not merely “tell” unions that scientific management could be “good” for them, that his inner circle and organized labor jointly promoted these propositions within F.D. Roosevelt’s New Deal administration, and that the US union movement was eventually compelled to settle for a form of industrial relations pluralism that limited their participation to bargaining over the conditions of employment and consequently doomed them to a disastrous future.
Practical implications
This study might support trade unionists develop strategies that may dampen employer hostility and thus revitalize the labor movement and assist management studies rediscover insights that once enabled the discipline to evolve beyond the enterprise. The latter is necessary for this study to live in an age when an increasing number of liberal market economies are characterized by austerity and retrenchment.
Originality/value
This study provides new evidence that demonstrates that Frederick Taylor embraced union participation in enterprise management and also that Taylor Society members actually made a significant contribution to Roosevelt’s New Deal labor policies.