Daniel Bergquist, Christine A. Hempel and John Lööf Green
This paper aims to describe an exploratory research and design process that uses illustrative techniques to bridge the gap between theoretical principles of systems ecology…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to describe an exploratory research and design process that uses illustrative techniques to bridge the gap between theoretical principles of systems ecology, stakeholder input and a workable physical planning strategy for Ultuna Campus in Uppsala, Sweden.
Design/methodology/approach
Stakeholder interviews provide the empirical basis for this exploratory design process, in conjunction with landscape analysis, and review of previous proposals for campus development. Central principles of self-organizing systems are selected and concretized as visionary hypotheses in a physical context. Preliminary design concepts and plans illustrate sustainable systems while supporting new functional programmatic requirements: housing, industry-research collaboration, transportation and community-integrated landscapes.
Findings
The result is a proposal based on regenerative landscape design, envisioning campus Ultuna as a coherent whole.
Research limitations/implications
A large-scale modern building program is already underway at Ultuna, and rapid urbanization in the surrounding region coupled with projected growth on campus suggests future intensification of university lands. A master plan to be implemented until 2040 is now in the preliminary design phase. Ultuna is home to significant cultural and ecological landscapes, and a holistic approach is called for.
Practical implications
Illustrative techniques suggest ways to synthesize knowledge by creating future scenarios that are workable in practice.
Social implications
Global challenges call for designs that enhance environmental and human resources and their capacity to regenerate over time. Sustainability objectives are particularly crucial when envisioning university campuses; the environment serves as a laboratory for researchers, teachers, students and residents of the surrounding community.
Originality/value
This paper describes an innovative process for bridging ecological principles, stakeholder perspectives and practical design strategies for sustainable campuses.
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Describes how an institution in Canada attempted to broaden staff understanding of two telecommunications media, videoteleconferencing and telecourse delivery, by establishing…
Abstract
Describes how an institution in Canada attempted to broaden staff understanding of two telecommunications media, videoteleconferencing and telecourse delivery, by establishing provisional systems or opportunities to trial new ideas based on the temporary educational systems (TES) typology, suggested by Bergquist (1992), and the Concerns‐Based Adoption model (CBAM), following Hall and Hord (1987). Referencing the case examples, contemporary literature and in the light of the UK National (Dearing) Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education’s report (1997), deduces implications for implementing future projects and identifies factors to consider in the development of communications and information technology (C&IT) strategies for learning and teaching.
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Wietze A. de Vries and Robert A. Fleck
Conversion to client/server systems from host‐centric systems can be accomplished with careful attention to planning and development procedures. A key component in a successful…
Abstract
Conversion to client/server systems from host‐centric systems can be accomplished with careful attention to planning and development procedures. A key component in a successful conversion is a customized definition of client/server which complements the organization’s mission. Another key component is the development of an infrastructure which includes hardware, software and people. The training of users and design personnel is crucial to successful conversion. Discusses definitions, strategies, hardware, software, and the pitfalls to be avoided.
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The underrepresentation of African-American faculty in the US professoriate has persisted for some time. Relatedly, adjunct faculty remain a fast-growing sector of the…
Abstract
The underrepresentation of African-American faculty in the US professoriate has persisted for some time. Relatedly, adjunct faculty remain a fast-growing sector of the professoriate. Adjunct faculty include “experts” and “specialists” who teach postsecondary courses with a narrow focus and with content tailored to their full-time employment. Using a qualitative narrative approach, I delineate ways I construct meaning for myself as a part-timer. I develop a cultural interpretation of adjunct teaching that provides alternative view of professional socialization to counter the ongoing challenge of increasing the number of Black faculty in higher education. In doing so, three themes from the data (ideal worker as adjunct, historical role models, and clinical value of course content) suggest the identity of part-time faculty is situated in personal, professional, and cultural experiences.
Huda Khan, Richard Lee and Zaheer Khan
Obesity leads to increased mortality and morbidity among children, as well as when they turn adults. Melding marketing theories in social influence and message framing, this study…
Abstract
Purpose
Obesity leads to increased mortality and morbidity among children, as well as when they turn adults. Melding marketing theories in social influence and message framing, this study aims to examine how compliance versus conformance social influence, each framed either prescriptively or proscriptively, may guide children’s choice of healthy versus unhealthy food.
Design/methodology/approach
This study conducted two experiments in a Pakistani junior school. Experiment 1 exposed children to either a prescriptive or a proscriptive compliance influence. Experiment 2 involved a 2 (prescriptive vs proscriptive compliance influence) × 2 (supportive vs conflicting conformance-influence) between-subjects design. Participants in both studies answered an online survey after being exposed to the social-influence messages.
Findings
Experiment 1 showed proscriptive was stronger than prescriptive compliance influence in nudging children to pick fruits (healthy) over candies (unhealthy). However, frequency of fruits dropped as susceptibility to compliance strengthened. Experiment 2 found that a proscriptive compliance influence reinforced by a supportive conformance-influence led to most children picking fruits. However, a conflicting conformance influence was able to sway some children away from fruits to candies. This signalled the importance of harmful peer influence, particularly with children who were more likely to conform.
Research limitations/implications
Childhood is a critical stage for inculcating good eating habits. Besides formal education about food and health, social influence within classrooms can be effective in shaping children’s food choice. While compliance and conformance influence can co-exist, one influence can reinforce or negate the other depending on message framing.
Practical implications
In developing countries like Pakistan, institutional support to tackle childhood obesity may be weak. Teachers can take on official, yet informal, responsibility to encourage healthy eating. Governments can incentivise schools to organise informal activities to develop children’s understanding of healthy consumption. Schools should prevent children from bringing unhealthy food to school, so that harmful peer behaviours are not observable, and even impose high tax on unhealthy products or subsidise healthy products sold in schools.
Originality/value
This study adopts a marketing lens and draws on social influence and message framing theory to shed light on children’s food choice behaviour within a classroom environment. The context was an underexplored developing country, Pakistan, where childhood obesity is a public health concern.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore and describe how research on quality management (QM) has evolved historically. The study includes the complete digital archive of three…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore and describe how research on quality management (QM) has evolved historically. The study includes the complete digital archive of three academic journals in the field of QM. Thereby, a unique depiction of how the general outlines of the field as well as trends in research topics have evolved through the years is presented.
Design/methodology/approach
The study applies cluster and probabilistic topic modeling to unstructured data from The International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, The TQM Journal and Total Quality Management & Business Excellence. In addition, trend analysis using support vector machine is performed.
Findings
The study identifies six central, perpetual themes of QM research: control, costs, reliability and failure; service quality; TQM – implementation and performance; ISO – certification, standards and systems; Innovation, practices and learning and customers – research and product design. Additionally, historical surges and shifts in research focus are recognized in the study. From these trends, a decrease in interest in TQM and control of quality, costs and processes in favor of service quality, customer satisfaction, Six Sigma, Lean and innovation can be noted during the past decade. The results validate previous findings.
Originality/value
Of the identified central themes, innovation, practices and learning appears not to have been documented as a fundamental part of QM research in previous studies. Thus, this theme can be regarded as a new perspective on QM research and thereby on QM.
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This study drew on the core concerns framework (CCF) and communication accommodation theory (CAT) to examine the direct and indirect effects of manager core concerns…
Abstract
Purpose
This study drew on the core concerns framework (CCF) and communication accommodation theory (CAT) to examine the direct and indirect effects of manager core concerns accommodativeness on employee integrative (i.e. cooperative) intention through the mediating role of positive emotional change and manager credibility (i.e. competence, trustworthiness and goodwill). Core concerns accommodativeness refers to the degree to which one responds to another’s socio-psychological needs.
Design/methodology/approach
A quasi-experimental design was used. A total of 339 working adults from various industries in the USA took an online questionnaire composed of manipulations, closed-ended and open-ended questions. Quantitative data was analyzed using a series of mediation analyses and triangulated with qualitative data.
Findings
The results showed that both accommodating and overaccommodating manager messages significantly improved employees’ emotional state, perception of manager credibility and integrative intention more than the underaccommodating message. Importantly, the manager communication accommodativeness increases employees’ positive emotional change which heightened the employees’ perception of manager trustworthiness which then stimulated employees’ integrative intention. Qualitative data surprisingly revealed that the overaccommodating message was regarded predominantly positively.
Originality/value
The mixed-methods approach of this study added deeper insight into the role of communication accommodation and emotion in supervisor-subordinate conflict negotiation, extending both the CCF and CAT literature. The findings also inform managers about how to effectively use the core concerns.
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Given the immense variety of organizations and their purposes, is there some shared underlying reason for their existence? That is, is there a prime directive behind all of this…
Abstract
Given the immense variety of organizations and their purposes, is there some shared underlying reason for their existence? That is, is there a prime directive behind all of this variety? This paper argues that there is such a prime directive: to ensure the welfare of the commons. A commons is the organization, itself, and as such, it produces and yields resources shared by the members in a dynamic interplay of its characteristics. There is a commons‐level set of factors involving its environments, its strategic direction, its implementing commons processes, its resources and technologies, and the results it produces. There is also a member level set of factors involving the member's orientation to the commons, the member's position means of participation, and the results for the members. These eight characteristics must be consistent to ensure the welfare of the commons. These characteristics are continually in flux and the prime directive becomes, in practice, the attaining and sustaining of the dynamic congruency among them. Dynamic congruency implies specific sets of relationships that require balancing in the midst of change. Dynamic congruency can be employed to both assess and improve an organization. The expression of the prime directive has been evolving along with our understanding of organizations. Seeking to attain and sustain dynamic congruency provides a framework for ensuring the welfare of the commons.