Doris Hamner, Allison Cohen Hall, Jaimie Ciulla Timmons, Heike Boeltzig and Sheila Fesko
This paper seeks to highlight the systemic conditions that facilitate the emergence, longevity, and effectiveness of bridge‐builders across organizations.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to highlight the systemic conditions that facilitate the emergence, longevity, and effectiveness of bridge‐builders across organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
Researchers conducted longitudinal case studies in six One‐Stop Career Centers across the USA over four years. Interviews were conducted with approximately 20 people in various positions at each of the sites visited. The data analyzed spanned the four years of the study.
Findings
Researchers uncovered particular characteristics present in individual bridge‐builders that enabled them to accomplish their goals. This research indicates that, when the right conditions intersected with the right type of person, champions emerged who helped move the organization in new and innovative directions.
Originality/value
This paper provides an outline of the organizational change that can happen in the disability field. By delineating bridge‐builders and the context in which they operate, others can identify the conditions within organizations to help them move forward.
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Alexandra Sewell, Anastasia Kennett, Rebecca Williams and Harry South
Mental ill health is on the rise amongst undergraduate students and has been investigated using both positivist/quantitative and exploratory/qualitative research methods. However…
Abstract
Purpose
Mental ill health is on the rise amongst undergraduate students and has been investigated using both positivist/quantitative and exploratory/qualitative research methods. However, the lived experiences of mature students who have mental ill health have not been directly investigated. A limited research literature suggests that challenges particular to mature undergraduate students can cause mental ill health or exacerbate existing needs. Further research exploring the lived experiences of mature undergraduate students with mental ill health is thus warranted.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative approach was adopted to explore lived experiences of mental ill health for mature students in higher education. The interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) explores the experience of higher education mature students who self-identify as having mental ill health. Five participants were interviewed about their personal stories and perceptions.
Findings
The study found that participants interpreted the experience of mental ill health as very difficult with no redeeming features reported. A lack of control over mental ill health experiences was contrasted with attempts to control mental ill health, whether successful or not, in order to progress with their learning. Participants conceptualised being mature undergraduate students as a last chance succeed in life, education or a career. This increased stress that interacted with their mental ill health symptoms.
Research limitations/implications
IPA calls for a small, homogenised participant sample. This limits generalisation of the research findings. Recruitment criteria welcomed participants who self-identified as experiencing mental ill health, leading to potential bias in reported lived experiences.
Practical implications
The research findings highlight the value of considering the lived experience of students experiencing mental ill health whilst studying. Whilst general approaches to support can be successful, this research demonstrates how higher educational professionals must orient towards an ideographic perspective when considering how to provide individualised, inclusive support for students experiencing mental ill health. A discussion on how this can be actualised is provided.
Social implications
The research provides impetus to the perspective that students have unique lived experiences of mental ill health, and that this is particularly so for mature undergraduate students. A key social implication of this is that, whilst positive based, one-size fits most, interventions for students experiencing mental ill health are useful, higher education educators must also be cognizant of unique, dynamic experiences each student will have. As such, there is a need to move towards a relational, dialogic approach when considering and designing tailored support.
Originality/value
Mature undergraduate students who experience mental ill health are at risk of not reaching their potential. Yet despite this, exploration of mature undergraduate student's experiences of mental ill health is nascent in the academic literature. Research considering their unique perspectives as an avenue to develop joint compassionate understandings and interactions between students and educators are additionally scant. The current study begins to address this dearth of exploration and commentary. It provides an idiosyncratic, novel inquiry into this important issue.
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Tinashe Timothy Harry, Nicole Dodd and Willie Chinyamurindi
South Africa has witnessed an increase in self-initiated academic expatriates (SIAEs) coming into the country from all over the world. This movement of labour can result in South…
Abstract
Purpose
South Africa has witnessed an increase in self-initiated academic expatriates (SIAEs) coming into the country from all over the world. This movement of labour can result in South Africa performing better than any other African country. However, expatriation is accompanied by several challenges which affect both work and non-work scopes. Given that more is needed to understand the lived experiences of the expatriates, especially self-initiated expatriates from and in Africa, the purpose of this paper is to provide the basis for interventions to assist the expatriates in overcoming challenges by understanding their lived experiences.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used an interpretivist approach to understand the lived experiences of SIAEs. The data were collected through the use of unstructured interviews of 25 expatriate academics within South Africa. The individual narratives were analysed through structural and thematic analysis to develop themes.
Findings
Through the stories and narratives, the expatriation experience was one framed to be a challenging process. The lived experiences can be grouped into life and career experiences. The life experiences consist of immigration difficulties, family separation, social adjustment difficulties and unavailability of accommodation. Career experiences include remuneration differences, gender discrimination, limited professional development opportunities and communication difficulties, which affect both work and non-work experiences. Person–environment fit did not play a significant role in the experiences of the academic expatriates.
Practical implications
The findings showed that the lived experiences of SIAEs in Africa were mostly negative. Higher education institutions looking at hiring academic expatriates should assist the expatriates to have better experiences not only for individual benefit but for institutional benefit as well. However, this role is not only placed in the hands of the organisation but may also require individual effort.
Originality/value
The findings outlined in this study provide a picture of the lived experiences of SIAEs in an African context. The findings are fundamental in understanding this neglected sample group in the extant literature. They also assist in advancing literature and proposing possible solutions. All this is important, given global talent shortages which have warranted the need for highly skilled employees in countries like South Africa.
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Theresa Hammond, Christine Cooper and Chris J. van Staden
The purpose of this paper is to examine the complex and shifting relationship between the Anglo American Corporation (Anglo) and the South African State (“the State”) as reflected…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the complex and shifting relationship between the Anglo American Corporation (Anglo) and the South African State (“the State”) as reflected in Anglo’s annual reports.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper builds on research on the role of annual reports in ideological conflict. To examine the ongoing relationship between Anglo and the State, the authors read all the annual reports published by Anglo American from 1917 to 1975, looking for instances in which the corporation appeared to be attempting to address, criticise, compliment, or implore the State.
Findings
During the period under study, despite the apparent struggles between the South African State and Anglo American, the relationship between the two was primarily symbiotic. The symbolic confrontation engaged in by these two behemoths perpetuated the real, physical violence perpetrated on the oppressed workers. By appearing to be a liberal opponent of apartheid, Anglo was able to ensure continued investment in South Africa.
Social implications
The examination of decades’ worth of annual reports provides an example of how these supposedly neutral instruments were used to contest and sustain power. Thereby, Anglo could continue to exploit workers, reap enormous profits, and maintain a fiction of opposition to the oppressive State. The State also benefited from its support of Anglo, which provided a plurality of tax revenue and economic expansion during the period.
Originality/value
This paper provides insights into the ways the State and other institutions sustain each other in the pursuit of economic and political power in the face of visible and widely condemned injustices. Although they frequently contested each other’s primacy, both benefited while black South African miners suffered.
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This chapter explains pedagogical content knowledge as a narrative way of knowing. It describes how narratives serve as a means of explaining that understanding to others. It…
Abstract
This chapter explains pedagogical content knowledge as a narrative way of knowing. It describes how narratives serve as a means of explaining that understanding to others. It discusses two San Francisco (California) high school teachers’ use of narrative in teaching. It concludes that, because teaching is like writing a story, understanding teaching is like interpreting a story.
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This chapter looks at the methodology, benefits and accessibility of circle processes in the context of building resilience amongst women (and men) in high violence communities in…
Abstract
This chapter looks at the methodology, benefits and accessibility of circle processes in the context of building resilience amongst women (and men) in high violence communities in South Africa. It examines the methodology and effectiveness of circles in two communities (Manenberg and Lavender Hill) where pilot projects are being undertaken.
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Michael Jay Polonsky, Harry Brooks, Philip Henry and Craig Schweizer
This paper is an exploratory examination into the purchase of recycled paper within large Australian organizations. In‐depth interviews were held with 11 purchasing agents (PAs)…
Abstract
This paper is an exploratory examination into the purchase of recycled paper within large Australian organizations. In‐depth interviews were held with 11 purchasing agents (PAs). The findings of the study tend to support earlier research in this area, which suggests that organizations can be classified into four categories of environmentally responsible purchasing behavior: founder’s ideas; symbolism; opportune; and restraint. Understanding the influence of PA’s attitudes and perceptions toward environmental product attributes can assist organizations who are marketing such products to become more effective. This study found that while environmental attributes are important, PAs are also concerned with traditional marketing mix variables such as price, delivery and quality. The emphasis marketers give to products’ environmental attributes will therefore depend on the firm and PA’s environmental involvement.
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Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are…
Abstract
Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.
In recent years the Thai economy has performed extremely well. The growth rate in 1987 was almost 7%, the highest of the Asian countries at that time, and in 1988, 1989 and 1990…
Abstract
In recent years the Thai economy has performed extremely well. The growth rate in 1987 was almost 7%, the highest of the Asian countries at that time, and in 1988, 1989 and 1990, the growth rates in G.D.P. were even more spectacu‐lar, 10.9%, 13.2% and 10% respectively, or an 11.7% average over the three years, making Thailand the fastest growing economy in the world over this period.
Tshinakaho Relebogile Seaba and Raymond Mompoloki Kekwaletswe
The purpose of this paper is to argue that an e‐collaboration environment, driven by awareness of social presence, may provide the just‐in‐time learning support needed by…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to argue that an e‐collaboration environment, driven by awareness of social presence, may provide the just‐in‐time learning support needed by postgraduate students. The academic challenges faced by students may be alleviated if a correct electronic platform is provided for them to be able to consult with each other or their instructors, regardless of time or their locations. Thus, the paper conceptualises how awareness of social presence may help address the challenges by facilitating e‐collaboration of postgraduate students.
Design/methodology/approach
The interpretive paradigm was followed in the study, where a university of technology, located in the city of Pretoria, South Africa, was used as a case study. Selective sampling, specifically purposive sampling was then used to select participants. This kind of sampling is suitable for qualitative case studies and focuses on sample selection based on relevance to the context and problem.
Findings
The limited and inconsistent learning support hinders a smooth learning experience, often leading to delayed or incomplete learning tasks, including research works. The alternative for students is then to seek support from knowledgeable peers, who are often dispersed in varied geographical locations. Thus, it is important that the framework for e‐collaboration amongst postgraduate students be developed cognizant of the social presence awareness indicators that would help students to establish sense of togetherness during e‐collaboration.
Originality/value
Social presence and e‐collaboration literature inadequately addresses both, with respect to graduate candidates. This paper looks at how awareness of social presence and context effects e‐collaboration.