Carol Munn‐Giddings, Melanie Boyce, Lesley Smith and Sarah Campbell
This article gives an overview and selected findings from a study funded by the Mental Health Foundation in 2007, which was collaboratively carried out by researchers at Anglia…
Abstract
This article gives an overview and selected findings from a study funded by the Mental Health Foundation in 2007, which was collaboratively carried out by researchers at Anglia Ruskin University and two freelance researchers. The research team included members with direct and indirect experience of mental distress. The findings add to our knowledge of an under‐studied part of the voluntary sector: organisations run for and by people who share the same health or social condition. The reported study explored and identified the innovative organisational features and funding arrangements of four mental health user‐led organisations, as well as assessing service users' perceptions of the role that such organisations play in promoting social inclusion and recovery from their mental health problems.
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Melanie Boyce, Carol Munn‐Giddings, Lesley Smith and Sarah Campbell
Despite the recent growing interest in user‐led organisations (ULOs), they remain an under‐researched area of volunteer sector activity, with the majority of the literature…
Abstract
Despite the recent growing interest in user‐led organisations (ULOs), they remain an under‐researched area of volunteer sector activity, with the majority of the literature emanating from North America. This article attempts to redress this imbalance by reporting on the innovatory features and challenges facing mental health ULOs in England, particularly in light of recent government policy prioritising generic pandisability ULOs. In‐depth qualitative interviews were undertaken with a purposive sample of 48 service users and staff from four geographically dispersed mental health ULOs in England. Innovatory features identified by staff running and service users attending mental health ULOs were: being user‐led; their non‐hierarchical organisational structures; and community‐inclusive activities. The challenges identified were: maintaining a user‐led ethos; managing the tension between being user‐led or user‐managed; and relationships with funders. Recent policies that recognise and promote the development of ULOs are encouraging, although the emphasis on generic, pan‐disability ULOs may impede the innovatory ethos and development of mental health ULOs.
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Stewart Ranson, Peter Ribbins, Lesley Chesterfield and Tony Smith
Five questions about the careers service are asked—do we need it, what is its function, what is its role, how can its influence be extended, and where should it be located? Issues…
Abstract
Five questions about the careers service are asked—do we need it, what is its function, what is its role, how can its influence be extended, and where should it be located? Issues raised in the report, “The Management of Change in the Careers Service”, are also raised.
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Teresa Grafton, Martin Vegoda, Lesley Smith and Richard Whitfield
Topics concerned with key areas of personal life, like marriage, parenthood and personal relationships, occur in a wide range of subjects across the secondary school curriculum…
Abstract
Topics concerned with key areas of personal life, like marriage, parenthood and personal relationships, occur in a wide range of subjects across the secondary school curriculum. What these topics are and, in particular, how teachers deal with them in the classroom has been studied in the course of a three‐year research project which has looked at school‐based education for parenthood. Over one hundred teachers representing ninety subjects in five schools identified aspects of their work as relevant to the theme of the research. On the basis of this, teachers were interviewed, usually more than once, in order to learn as much as possible about their perceptions of concepts like marriage, the family and parenthood, and their approach tho this area of their teaching.
This article proposes that by placing an emphasis on dialogue within the organization and between customers and suppliers, organizations will achieve increases in creativity…
Abstract
This article proposes that by placing an emphasis on dialogue within the organization and between customers and suppliers, organizations will achieve increases in creativity, adaptability, job satisfaction and hence productivity. By integrating dialogue into the lives and work of employees, they gain a greater understanding of their colleagues, resulting in improved working relationships ‐ emphasis is placed on the importance of non‐work‐related dialogue. They also gain a greater understanding of the organization as a whole, considering where they can assist, improve and even refocus the organization. The article discusses ways of enabling dialogue groups within the author’s own organization.
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Amy L. Brownlee and Britt Isaac Beda
Lauren Tate began a new career at a new organization. Based on information she learned in a recent MBA Leadership course, Lauren approached her new workplace with the goal of…
Abstract
Case description
Lauren Tate began a new career at a new organization. Based on information she learned in a recent MBA Leadership course, Lauren approached her new workplace with the goal of being more strategic in her interpersonal interactions. She focussed on identifying and building sources of power in this new career and proactively managed her evolving relationships. At some levels, she was very successful and effective but some relationships were characterized by stress. The case asks students to analyze Lauren's actions to determine which were effective and how her actions could have been even more effective.
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Sonnette Smith, Adelia Carstens and Lesley Stainbank
This paper aims to explore the individual and social learning experiences of first-year accounting students studying in English as an additional language. The challenges of these…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the individual and social learning experiences of first-year accounting students studying in English as an additional language. The challenges of these students relating to listening, reading, speaking and writing in English, and the impact of these on their academic outcomes, are examined.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative case study design was used. Face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 students, both academically successful and unsuccessful, who had completed the first year. A thematic analysis of the data was conducted and a hybrid approach of deductive and inductive coding was used to interpret the data. This entailed the application of a language skills-based framework of teaching and learning to the first-order process of coding. An iterative and reflective process allowed themes to emerge from the data. These themes, in turn, triggered second-order codes that resonated with aspects of the interactionist approach to second language acquisition (SLA).
Findings
The themes that emerged indicated that students’ ability to interact with their study material, and their exposure to positive verbal interaction opportunities in both formal and informal contexts, may have contributed to their academic success.
Practical implications
It is recommended that an interactionist perspective be considered when designing curriculum resources and accounting language learning activities for first-year accounting students.
Originality/value
It is anticipated that the results will contribute towards building a bridge between accounting education and SLA research and provide a more informed linguistic foundation for incorporating language skills into the accounting curriculum.
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Liz McDonnell, Lesley Murray, Tamsin Hinton-Smith and Nuno Ferreira
‘Living together apart’ (LTA) is the practice of remaining in close domestic proximity following the ending of an intimate relationship. Using the conceptual framework of families…
Abstract
‘Living together apart’ (LTA) is the practice of remaining in close domestic proximity following the ending of an intimate relationship. Using the conceptual framework of families in motion, in which families are re-envisioned as in flow, responding to all kinds of disruptions, chosen and unchosen, by ‘holding on’, adapting, adjusting and redirecting, this chapter explores the family practices involved in LTA. Using collaborative autoethnography – a research process in which the authors jointly explored data from their own lives – the authors were able to develop an understanding of LTA that was attentive to everyday life and the interconnections of time and space within families. The authors found that when families are living within less normative constellations, there are fewer scripts to rely upon and the potential for non-legitimacy and anxiety increases. The data also showed how deeply families are embedded in practices that are always in relation to an experienced past and imagined future. The importance of having a family story to tell that ‘works’ socially and emotionally, as well as having a home that can spatially encompass such new flows in family lives, is crucial.
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Lesley Murray, Liz McDonnell, Katie Walsh, Nuno Ferreira and Tamsin Hinton-Smith
This chapter introduces the argument that pervades the collection that families are in motion both conceptually and in practice. It articulates the motion of family and families…
Abstract
This chapter introduces the argument that pervades the collection that families are in motion both conceptually and in practice. It articulates the motion of family and families, which are made through space and time, and explains the ways in which the book develops current thinking on family. It also situates the concept and practices of family within wider debates and contexts. The chapter then details the contribution of each of the chapters to this argument, which are organised around three thematic parts: moving through separation and connection; uneven motion and resistance; and traces and potentialities. The chapter draws out six conclusions from the chapters in the collection.