The purpose of this paper is to take a critical look at anti‐bullying initiatives at work. It questions current prescriptive thinking about effective ways of tackling workplace…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to take a critical look at anti‐bullying initiatives at work. It questions current prescriptive thinking about effective ways of tackling workplace bullying, illuminating neglected contextual conditions and organizational constraints that affect attempts to develop and sustain pre‐emptive management programmes.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative case approach was employed for a comparative analysis of two anti‐bullying initiatives: one each in the public and private sectors.
Findings
The case results challenge the popular belief that business needs provide an impetus to coherent action against mistreatment at work, revealing the significance of local reactions and the mediating influence of competing subcultures and group identities on the “working out” of formal initiatives.
Research limitations/implications
This research underlines the importance of extending bullying research to include more in‐depth and applied work on the problems of enacting and sustaining anti‐bullying initiatives.
Practical implications
Effective action against bullying involves more than policy making, rule forming and guideline setting. It is important to cultivate the resilience of those at the sharp end of anti‐bullying projects, and engage with managers and employees who experience difficulties or confront unpalatable changes to their work situation as anti‐bullying initiatives develop.
Originality/value
This article casts light on an under‐researched area, since available literature concentrates on the underlying causes and consequences of workplace bullying. Prescriptions for tackling the problem tend to be drawn out of causal and impact studies with limited empirical evidence about their viability, or analysis of possible constraints on their implementation.
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Chris Awre, Jim Baxter, Brian Clifford, Janette Colclough, Andrew Cox, Nick Dods, Paul Drummond, Yvonne Fox, Martin Gill, Kerry Gregory, Anita Gurney, Juliet Harland, Masud Khokhar, Dawn Lowe, Ronan O'Beirne, Rachel Proudfoot, Hardy Schwamm, Andrew Smith, Eddy Verbaan, Liz Waller, Laurian Williamson, Martin Wolf and Matthew Zawadzki
The purpose of this paper is to explore the usefulness of the concept to thinking about Research Data Management (RDM). The concept of “wicked problems” seeks to differentiate…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the usefulness of the concept to thinking about Research Data Management (RDM). The concept of “wicked problems” seeks to differentiate very complex, intractable challenges from tamer issues where approaches to problem solving are well-understood.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on and co-authored by a collaboration of practitioners from libraries, information technology and research administration, with facilitators from the Sheffield Information School. Participants worked together in two-day-long workshops to understand the wicked problem concept and advice on leadership in wicked problem contexts.
Findings
Participants concurred that RDM had many features of a wicked problem and most of Grint’s advice on leadership for wicked problems also resonated. Some elements of the issue were simple; participants were optimistic about improving the situation over time. Participants were resistant to the more negative or fatalistic connotations of the phrase “wicked problem”. Viewing RDM as a wicked problem is an interesting way of looking at it as a challenge for support professionals.
Practical implications
The notion of a wicked problem is a generative concept that can be usefully added to professional vocabulary.
Originality/value
The paper captures an in-depth response from practitioners to the notion of wicked problems as a lens for examining RDM.
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Margaret Hodgins, Sarah MacCurtain and Patricia Mannix-McNamara
Bullying affects at least one-third of the workers through either direct exposure or witnessing, both of which lead to compromised health, and as a result, reduced organizational…
Abstract
Purpose
Bullying affects at least one-third of the workers through either direct exposure or witnessing, both of which lead to compromised health, and as a result, reduced organizational effectiveness or productivity. However, there is very little evidence that organisations provide effective protection from bullying, and in fact, the converse appears to the case. The purpose of this paper to explore the role of both individual and organisational power in the creation and maintenance of the problem. Such an approach moves away from the specific practice of identifying “bullying” that typically engages targets and perpetrators in a dance that is really just around the edges (Sullivan, 2008) of a larger problem; a culture that permits the abuse of power and ill-treatment of workers, in both practices and through organisational politics.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper elucidates key problems with organisational response as identified in the literature and critically examines weak organisational response to workplace bullying using the power theory, arguing that while overt approaches to addressing bullying appear to be underpinned by a simplistic, functionalist understanding of power, practices on the ground are better explained by more sophisticated “second-dimension” theorists.
Findings
There is a need for organisations to move beyond the current individualistic understanding of bullying towards a more nuanced understanding of how anti-bullying policies and procedures are themselves an exercise in institutional power protecting and reinforcing dominant power structures.
Research limitations/implications
The literature from which this paper is drawn is limited to studies published in English.
Practical implications
The authors advocate a realistic assessment of the role of both individual and organisational power in the creation and maintenance of workplace bullying, as a way forward to plan appropriate intervention.
Social implications
Workplace bullying is problematic for organisations at several levels, and therefore for society.
Originality/value
That power is relevant to workplace bullying has been apparent since the work of Brodsky in 1976 and Einarsen's early work, this paper builds on a the more nuanced work of McKay (2014), D'Cruz and Noronha (2009), Liefooghe and MacDavey's (2010) and Hutchinson et al. (2010), exploring the organisational response to the raising of bullying issues by individual employees as an exercise of power.
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This chapter addresses evidence-informed teaching in the English context. The chapter makes the case for considering England as having elements of both high and low social…
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This chapter addresses evidence-informed teaching in the English context. The chapter makes the case for considering England as having elements of both high and low social cohesion, with an increasingly narrow role for Local Authorities (districts) alongside the growth of more powerful but smaller Multi-Academy Trusts. Within the context of a highly regulated accountability regime, this places England in the hierarchist, with elements of fatalist, quadrant of the cohesion/regulation matrix. England has a well-developed infrastructure for supporting research use, including the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), a very well-resourced charity acting as the What Works Centre for school education. Despite this, use of research evidence amongst teachers is low, and this has changed little since the mid-2010s. The chapter draws on institutional theory to explain this finding. The following explanations are provided: a lack of resources, coupled with a strong, politicised accountability system and a hollowed out middle tier to support schools, contributing to a lack of prioritisation amongst school leaders. However, England's well-developed infrastructure has enabled the EEF to play a significant and evidence-led role in supporting schools in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The chapter concludes by suggesting a series of suggestions to improve use of research in England. These include alignment of policy with research evidence; support for school leaders; work to explicitly link research to the evidence forms and supporting research brokerage.
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Amar Kanekar, Janea Snyder and Bennie Prince
Recent decades have shown a great increase in online and blended learning and teaching practices in higher education. The purpose of this book chapter is to explore and assess the…
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Recent decades have shown a great increase in online and blended learning and teaching practices in higher education. The purpose of this book chapter is to explore and assess the existing literature on best practices in online and hybrid teaching and learning in the field of health education/promotion. Additionally, emerging practices Post-COVID-19 related to online and hybrid teaching as applicable to the field of health education/promotion were also explored.
In order to collect the materials for the study, a Boolean search of CINAHL, MEDLINE, and ERIC, Education Research Complete databases was carried out using the terms and headings such as “online teaching,” “hybrid teaching,” “health education,” “health promotion,” and “public health” for the time period 2010–2020. The criteria for inclusion of the studies were: (1) publication in English language, (2) full-text peer-reviewed publications between 2010 and 2020, and (3) location of studies anywhere in the world Exclusion criteria were publications in languages other than English and studies published prior to 2010. Using the key terms “online teaching” and “public health” yielded 10 results and “online teaching” and “health education” yielded 19 results. This review highlighted the scant published literature (as gauged by studies published in the last decade) on efficacy and application of online and hybrid teaching and learning in the field of health education/promotion.
We encourage health education professionals to conduct experimental and quasi-experimental studies for assessing efficacy of online and hybrid teaching and learning particularly using evidence-based frameworks such as Quality Matters (QM) or Online Learning Consortium (OLC) quality scorecard as mentioned earlier.
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Emily Bouck and Rajiv Satsangi
Mathematics can be a challenging content area for all students and especially for students with disabilities. Assistive technology can support the access, participation and…
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Mathematics can be a challenging content area for all students and especially for students with disabilities. Assistive technology can support the access, participation and achievement of students with disabilities in mathematics in general and in inclusive mathematics settings in particular. In this chapter, assistive technology to academic and functional mathematics will be discussed; particularly, manipulatives, calculators and other technology-mediated mathematics interventions (e.g., apps or computer programs) will be highlighted.