Chen Schechter and Niv Feldman
The notion of organizational learning (OL) has reached the forefront of both school change discourse and academic inquiry. However, this notion has not yet undergone deliberate…
Abstract
Purpose
The notion of organizational learning (OL) has reached the forefront of both school change discourse and academic inquiry. However, this notion has not yet undergone deliberate thinking and research within the special education domain. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap in the literature by empirically investigating OL through a structural concept – organizational learning mechanisms (OLMs) – as embedded into the learning values (culture) of special education.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study of three student's functioning levels (low, intermediate, and high) in a special education school provided the context for studying OLMs and the learning values (culture) influencing their productivity.
Findings
This paper supports the existence of and the capacity for systematic learning through institutionalized structures and procedures in a special education school. This paper also illuminates the effect of learning values (culture) on the effectiveness of OLMs in a special education school.
Research limitations/implications
Generalizing from this case study (a special education school comprising three levels of student functioning) is quite problematic. However, this paper supports the merit of empirically researching OL in special education schools through the structural‐cultural framework.
Originality/value
This paper provides a useful conceptual and empirical framework to evaluate special education schools as learning organizations.
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Karine Gaudreault, Joël Tremblay and Karine Bertrand
Those who care for people with schizophrenia and substance use disorders (PLS-SUD) are faced with the complex demands of a long journey to recovery. For the carers, this…
Abstract
Purpose
Those who care for people with schizophrenia and substance use disorders (PLS-SUD) are faced with the complex demands of a long journey to recovery. For the carers, this translates into specific needs related to various areas of their lives. However, few studies have contributed to the understanding of these carers’ needs. The purpose of this qualitative evaluative study is to identify, understand and prioritize the needs of PLS-SUD carers in the context of intervention design from the viewpoint of carers themselves (n = 9), those they were accompanying (n = 5) and other key actors involved (n = 10).
Design/methodology/approach
A design of action research was employed. Data analysis was done in three phases: concept map analysis, thematic analysis and transversal analysis of the results from two focus groups, 28 interview transcriptions and a logbook.
Findings
Over 60 needs were identified. After review, 39 of those were selected for prioritization. For needs related to the carers’ role as clients of the health-care system, the committee prioritized the needs for support, sharing with other carers and improving their own well-being. For the role of supporter, knowledge about substance use disorders and their interactions with psychotic disorders as well as skills such as communication and problem resolution were considered priorities. Needs to be prioritized relating to the role of partner were fewer.
Research limitations/implications
The results of this study highlight the diversity and complexity of the needs experienced by carers.
Originality/value
This is among the first needs surveys carried out by stakeholders to describe the needs of PLS-SUD carers.
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Salim Khubchandani, Preetha Menon and Ramakrishnan Raman
Sustainable consumption has far-reaching implications globally, with promotion of sustainable consumption also identified as one of the sustainable development goals (SDGs)…
Abstract
Purpose
Sustainable consumption has far-reaching implications globally, with promotion of sustainable consumption also identified as one of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Hence, there is a need for relevant information to guide consumer buying decisions. Eco-labels have been created to serve as one of the key communication platforms for this purpose, but studies indicate low levels of comprehension. Hence this paper proposes a conceptual framework using established neuroscience theories and principles to address this topic of significance.
Design/methodology/approach
The “Simplicity Principle” propagates that simpler explanations find place over complex ones. Also, the Dual System Theory focuses on the two systems, intuitive System 1 and cognitive System 2, used by the brain to process information. We spotted a research gap here and leveraged these theories and drew from several earlier studies to propose a framework that presenting information in a “simple” manner on eco-labels would accelerate sustainable consumption.
Findings
System 1 works to reduce cognitive process and load on System 2, influencing overall choice and purchase decision. System 2 capacity requires the need to minimize cognitive load through processing simpler messages. Quick processing of information by System 1 generates impressions, attention and attitude. Once accepted by System 2, these often remain unchanged unless necessary and invariably turn into beliefs and voluntary action. Simplicity leverages speed and effortless processing ability of System 1, reducing effort of cognition by System 2 and enabling a decision (to purchase “green”).
Practical implications
Sustainability and sustainable consumption are matters of social and environmental concern and significance. This framework proposes the need for policymakers and businesses to consider adopting the “simplicity” approach in promoting sustainable consumption through bridging the vital gap in the understanding of eco-labels by consumers. There are implications and opportunities for researchers to conduct empirical research across different categories to validate this framework.
Originality/value
While several methods have been explored and implemented, given the significance of sustainability and sustainable consumption, eco-labels suffer from lack of comprehension, thus affecting adoption by consumers. Applying fundamental neuroscience principles of “simplicity” seems to have been overlooked so far toward addressing this gap. This framework proposes that applying “simplicity” to stimuli such as eco-labels and communications be considered to address and correct the situation and help to accelerate sustainable consumption.
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Organizational research missed managerial ignorance concealment (MIC) and the low-moral careerism (L-MC) it served, leaving a lacuna in managerial stupidity research: MIC serving…
Abstract
Purpose
Organizational research missed managerial ignorance concealment (MIC) and the low-moral careerism (L-MC) it served, leaving a lacuna in managerial stupidity research: MIC serving L-MC was not used to explain this stupidity. The purpose of this paper is to remedy this lacuna.
Design/methodology/approach
A semi-native longitudinal multi-site ethnography of automatic processing plants, their parent inter-kibbutz co-operatives (I-KC-Os) and their kibbutz field context enabled a Strathernian ethnography that contextualized the prevalence of MIC and L-MC.
Findings
I-KC-Os’ oligarchic context encouraged outsider executives’ MIC and L-MC that caused vicious distrust and ignorance cycles, stupidity and failures. A few high-moral knowledgeable mid-managers prevented total failures by vulnerable involvement that created virtuous trust and learning cycles. This, however, furthered dominance by ignorant ineffective L-MC executives and furthered use of MIC.
Practical implications
As managerial know-how portability is often illusory and causes negative dominance of ignorant outsider executives, new CEO succession norms and new yardsticks for assessing fitness of potential executives are required, proposed in the paper.
Social implications
Oligarchic contexts encourage MIC and L-MC, hence democratization is called for to counter this negative impact and promote efficiency, effectiveness and innovation.
Originality/value
Untangling and linking the neglected topics of MIC and L-MC explains, for the first time, the prevalence of these related phenomena and their unethical facets, particularly among outsider executives and managers, emphasizing the need for their phronetic ethnographying to further explain the resulting mismanagement.
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A surface view of monotheistic or “Western” religions might lead some to infer a singularity to truth that is inconsistent with paradoxical thinking. The author explores a key…
Abstract
A surface view of monotheistic or “Western” religions might lead some to infer a singularity to truth that is inconsistent with paradoxical thinking. The author explores a key Biblical narrative common to both Judaism and Christianity – the story of origins that unfolds in the Garden of Eden. The author posits that the foundations of those belief systems, and particularly those of Christian theology, are paradoxical as evidenced in their historic texts (i.e., the Old and New Testaments of the Bible). A foundational paradox of an “ought versus is” (ideal vs. actual) tension that underlies or intertwines in knot-like fashion with other paradoxes is identified in ways that account for a current world view marked by temporality (in tension with eternality) and becoming (in tension with being). These tensions are made salient as humans continually work toward ideals that seem always just out of reach. Paradox conceptualization is also expanded to propose the notion of mutual embeddedness rather than mutual exclusivity of opposites. Implications for organizational paradoxes are explicated, along with directions for future research based on novel insights provided by the juxtaposition of religion and paradox.
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This chapter looks into unpleasant affective states, or rather “dreaded emotions,” in leadership. Specifically, the adaptive roles and functions of fear, anger, and sadness are…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter looks into unpleasant affective states, or rather “dreaded emotions,” in leadership. Specifically, the adaptive roles and functions of fear, anger, and sadness are reviewed and discussed in a leadership context.
Design
The social functions of fear, anger, and sadness are first presented. Following each emotion, the target of emotional expression – both other-directed (i.e., targeting followers and/or emotion-eliciting events) and self-directed (i.e., targeting leader) – is further discussed.
Findings
A symmetrical assumption has emerged over recent years that positive emotions result in positive outcomes and negative emotions lead to negative outcomes. In practice, the realities of organizational life and leader–follower interactions do not reflect such a neat juxtaposition. Positively valenced emotions can yield negative outcomes, and negatively valenced emotions can bring about positive outcomes.
Research Implications
Unpleasant emotions – fear and sadness, in particular – remain understudied in organizational and leadership literature, even though leaders experience these emotions just like the rest of us. This review offers ideas, through the combination of psychological and leadership research, on how social functions of dreaded emotions, including fear, anger, and sadness, can yield desirable leadership outcomes.
Originality/Value
This chapter provides a review on unpleasant emotions (i.e., fear, anger, and sadness) that are rarely discussed and underresearched in leadership literature.
If we want to improve managerial cognition, we need to capture the full spectrum of cognitive functions and the complex processes through which they unfold. I propose two very…
Abstract
If we want to improve managerial cognition, we need to capture the full spectrum of cognitive functions and the complex processes through which they unfold. I propose two very different methods (one older and low-tech, one newer and high-tech) that allow us to observe cognitive functions and processes directly in real time.