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The paper aims to explore the problematics of validity that are inherent to the conduct of an action research project because of the disparate language games of both practitioners and academics.

An exploration is offered of the tensions between different understandings of a research setting at different stages of the research process.

In each phase of the research there are a number of tensions between different epistemological assumptions about the “reality” of the research setting. Validity is not, therefore, about capturing a singular objective picture of the organisation, but rather it is produced through the negotiation of a temporary intersection of language games.

The paper provides a framework for understanding the role of the researcher in the research process and the issues underlying validity claims made from different epistemological positions.

The paper provides insights in to the mechanisms through which practitioners and academics come to understand each other and the limitations of this knowledge.

The article raises awareness of the different normative assumptions at play within a variety of action research contexts.

This paper seeks to problematize the role(s) that lay‐workers can play and the nature of their relationship with other, well‐established professional groups. Views are extracted from the literature on how best to manage the introduction of lay‐workers into professional settings and the paper examines the experience of attempting this in national health demonstration project funded by the Scottish Executive Health Department. Whilst the literature argues that the use of lay‐workers will enhance flexibility and challenge some of the bureaucratic/hierarchical problems of traditional organizations, the empirical evidence presented here suggests that phenomena such as hierarchy are persistent and that individual and collective identities are constantly renegotiated in a complex and dynamic process which recreates hierarchy albeit in an unintentional way. This paper offers a series of observations from the project study then generalise in terms of implications for management practice and management theory.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the ways in which narratives of collaborations tagged as successful may be constructed around common characterizations of participants, in order to provide insights to the ways in which stories may be constructed as vehicles for the adoption or adaptation of good or promising practices.

Qualitative interview data from three collaborative situations are analysed through a narrative‐centred procedure with a particular focus on micro‐stories.

The paper provides a set of recurring characterizations observed within narratives of successful collaboration and their employment within the stories offered by collaborating partners. It also suggests the relationship that these characterizations might have to the stimulation or retardation of good collaborative practices.

The paper is derived from interviews in the UK context and extrapolation to other contexts seems plausible but should be conducted cautiously and with reflection.

The particular style of narrative analysis conducted in this work has not been employed to the consideration of collaborative accounts and the characterizations derived may have utility as anchoring elements in stories of collaboration, helpful in both the elicitation and interpretation of such accounts.

The purpose of this review was to explore the literature for evidence of the impact of interprofessional practice models on health service inequity, particularly within community care settings for diverse ageing populations.

An integrative systematic literature review was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework combined with the EndNote reference management system. Following the collection and comprehensive screening process completion, a thematic analysis of the included articles occurred utilising within NVivo 12 software.

The review found that there was a paucity of evidence related to the relationship between interprofessional practice models (IPM) and health service equity for ageing populations. There is a need to improve collaborative practices between social care, public health care and health service providers to more clearly define team member roles. Key aspirations included the need for future innovations in health service delivery to place health service equity as a goal for interprofessional practice. There is a need to find ways to measure and articulate the impact for vulnerable populations and communities.

The review offers insight into the need for health care delivery models to place health service equity at the centre of the model design. In practice settings, this includes setting interprofessional team goals around achieving equitable care outcomes for, and with, vulnerable populations. Implications for practice relate to improving how interprofessional teams work with communities to achieve health care equity.

There is a consensus across the literature that there continues to be health service inequity, yet IPE and interprofessional collaborative practice (IPC) have been growing in momentum for some time. Despite many statements that there is a link between interprofessional practice and improved health service equity and health outcomes, evidence for this is yet to be fully realised. This review highlights the urgent need to review the link between education and practice, and innovative health models of care that enable heath care professionals and social care providers to work together towards achieving health equity for ageing populations. It is clear that more evidence is required to establish evidence for best practice in interprofessional care that has the mitigation of health care inequity as a central objective.

This chapter contributes to building empirical evidence in the field of positive intercultural management (PIM) of new technological changes and diversity in transnational organizational settings. Findings from a study conducted at a transnational engineering company are presented, showing how managers manage technological innovation in the organization through PIM and leadership. A Four-Stage I4.0 Management Model is proposed.

This study explores working mothers’ perceptions of fairness in work and home environments through real-world social media discussions. It examines how these perceptions shifted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Using a naturalistic approach, we analyzed 13,560 comments from 4,076 unique users on Reddit to convert qualitative data into quantitative variables. A nonparametric factorial ANOVA was employed to assess the relationship between fairness perceptions and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on these perceptions in both work and home settings.

The analysis revealed that working mothers predominantly express negative perceptions of fairness in both environments. Contrary to initial expectations, the pandemic did not exacerbate these perceptions. However, conversations involving both work and home contexts showed a more positive tone, suggesting the benefits of remote work scenarios introduced by the pandemic.

This study uniquely applies sentiment analysis to naturalistic social media data, offering real-time insights into how working mothers discuss fairness. Unlike traditional survey methods, this approach captures daily lived experiences, particularly in a crisis context, revealing new aspects of the work–family conflict.

The purpose of this paper is to adopt the perspective of personal construct theory to conceptualise employability. The study explores differences in the implicit employability theories of those involved in developing employability (educators) and those selecting and recruiting higher education (HE) students and graduates (employers).

A repertory grid technique (RGT) was employed to uncover the implicit theories of 22 employers and 14 educators across the UK.

A total of 717 constructs were elicited. A differential analysis of data gathered demonstrated several areas of consensus among employers and educators (including emotional management, confidence, professionalism), as well as divergence in representations of commitment, proactivity, interpersonal competencies and vision to the conceptualisation of employability.

Findings from this analysis indicate a need to integrate group process assessments within undergraduate programmes and recruitment procedures.

This study represents a personal construct approach to employability, utilising the unique value of RGT to further inform our understanding of employability within an HE context. This study contributes to an understanding of employability as a continually re-constructed concept. This study provides insights to its nature via two information rich cases that have extensive knowledge on the topic.

Gender inequality and age discrimination persist in the Higher Education (HE) sectors. The significance of gendered health at middlescence, including peri/menopause, is often negated. This article explores women’s lived experiences of gendered health issues at middlescence in the neoliberal academy through an intersectional lens.

Two female academics engaged in dialogic narrative using duoethnography addressing their experiences of gendered health issues in a UK Higher Education Institution (HEI). They recorded intentional written reflections and met to explore their experiences over a four month period. Thematic analysis was applied to analyse their responses.

Both women considered how they self-advocated for their own care at the stage of middlescence whilst seeking health support and in accessing accommodations in the HE workplace. This process impacted on the construction of their professional identity and on their self-concept as social work academics at the dynamic intersection of age, gender, ethnic, social and professional status.

This article uniquely foregrounds two female academics’ lived experiences of middlescence in a UK HEI conceptualised through an intersectional lens. Their experiences are explored in the context of gendered age discrimination in HE sectors that are perpetuated through masculinized forms of career progression and management. The concept of the ideal academic, a white male, unencumbered by domestic responsibilities, is contested through consideration of care ethics. We acknowledge that forms of epistemic injustice silence women’s narratives in the neoliberal academy but highlight recommendations to enable their stories of gendered health discrimination to be heard.