The aims of this (mainly) conceptual paper are twofold: first, to define “capability” as used within Bioss (what used to be the Brunel Institute of Organization and Social…
Abstract
Purpose
The aims of this (mainly) conceptual paper are twofold: first, to define “capability” as used within Bioss (what used to be the Brunel Institute of Organization and Social Studies), which is referred to as “complexipacity” elsewhere in this issue – and second, to describe the capability of two young people whose teachers and parents did not recognise their strengths.
Design/methodology/approach
Presents examples of conditions that make the expression of capability difficult, and typically include rules applied too rigidly or too bureaucratically, irrespective of the capability of the person, and also when there is a mismatch between the capability of the person wielding authority (teacher, boss, head of family) and the person who is the object of that authority (pupil, subordinate, children). That mismatch occurs when the capability of the authority‐holder is less than that of the people for whom she/he is responsible.
Findings
What is meant by “capability” is the ability to handle complexity, to juggle many variables at once, and to handle uncertainty and risk. It is clear that the potential level of capability is set at an early age, although that level may not be reached until the individual is past retirement age. The theory, evidence and practice all suggest that people vary in their capability; they develop at different rates; they mature to different levels. But everyone's capability continues to develop over time.
Originality/value
The paper shows that capability certainly exists in young people, whereas wisdom develops later. Capability cannot be taught, but that one can create conditions that allow it to be expressed, and thereby enhanced.
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Michael Dudley, Peter Young, Louise Newman, Fran Gale and Rohanna Stoddart
Indefinite immigration detention causes well-documented harms to mental health, and international condemnation and resistance leave it undisrupted. Health care is non-independent…
Abstract
Purpose
Indefinite immigration detention causes well-documented harms to mental health, and international condemnation and resistance leave it undisrupted. Health care is non-independent from immigration control, compromising clinical ethics. Attempts to establish protected, independent clinical review and subvert the system via advocacy and political engagement have had limited success.
The purpose of this study is to examine the following: how indefinite detention for deterrence (exemplified by Australia) injures asylum-seekers; how international legal authorities confirm Australia’s cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment; how detention compromises health-care ethics and hurts health professionals; to weigh arguments for and against boycotting immigration detention; and to discover how health professionals might address these harms, achieving significant change.
Design/methodology/approach
Secondary data analyses and ethical argumentation were employed.
Findings
Australian Governments fully understand and accept policy-based injuries. They purposefully dispense cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and intend suffering that causes measurable harms for arriving asylum-seekers exercising their right under Australian law. Health professionals are ethically conflicted, not wanting to abandon patients yet constrained. Indefinite detention prevents them from alleviating sufferings and invites collusion, potentially strengthening harms; thwarts scientific inquiry and evidence-based interventions; and endangers their health whether they resist, leave or remain. Governments have primary responsibility for detained asylum-seekers’ health care. Health professional organisations should negotiate the minimum requirements for their members’ participation to ensure independence, and prevent conflicts of interest and inadvertent collaboration with and enabling systemic harms.
Originality/value
Australia’s aggressive approach may become normalised, without its illegality being determined. Health professional colleges uniting over conditions of participation would foreground ethics and pressure governments internationally over this contagious and inexcusable policy.
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Begins by considering whether the economic theory of the supply, nature and demand for biographies developed by James M. Buchanan and Robert Tollison might apply to this…
Abstract
Begins by considering whether the economic theory of the supply, nature and demand for biographies developed by James M. Buchanan and Robert Tollison might apply to this autobiography. Outlines Tisdell’s experiences in his pre‐school years (1939‐1945), at school (1946‐1956) and as a university student (1957‐1963). Covers the period of his first appointment as a temporary lecturer at the Australian National University (1964) and of his postdoctoral travelling scholarship (1965) which took him to Princeton and Stanford and the period of his employment from 1966 onwards. His family and its history are given particular attention.
In this chapter, I utilize insights from symbolic interaction to analyze the identity work processes of larp subculture participants to construct and perform their in-game…
Abstract
In this chapter, I utilize insights from symbolic interaction to analyze the identity work processes of larp subculture participants to construct and perform their in-game identities. I extend the research on larp subcultures in two ways. First, I place larping within the larger context of leisure subcultures and society by arguing that larping is representative of changes in leisure and subcultures in postmodern society. Second, I draw upon ethnographic data collected among the New England Role-playing Organization (NERO) to analyze larpers character identity performances. RPG and Larp researchers have developed several theories about the relationship between larp participants and their character performances. While these concepts provide a helpful framework for understanding the participant-character relationship, they undertheorize the in-game constructed performance of identity. Using symbolic interaction theory, I analyze the identity work processes larpers use to construct and perform their larp identities extending our understanding of the similarities between everyday identity and larpers' character identity performances.
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Miguel M. Torres and L. Jeremy Clegg
This paper aims to seek to demonstrate that a non-scientific approach to policy design causes policymakers to persist in the development and use of conventional and inefficient…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to seek to demonstrate that a non-scientific approach to policy design causes policymakers to persist in the development and use of conventional and inefficient “top-down” policies. This paper takes the case of the design of official pro-internationalization policy, intended to promote internationalization through outward investment, to reveal inadequacies and inefficiencies in policy design. Through an analysis of the merits of introducing a “bottom-up” approach, it also aims to show how policy redesign would better yield the desired specific and effective impacts sought by policymakers.
Design/methodology/approach
A framework was developed, comprising a set of real policy measures, two indexes to quantify the alignment between government policies and firms’ strategies and a regression model to test the impact of the misalignment on firm performance. This framework uses primary empirical data.
Findings
The results are obtained through an item-by-item comparison between use and revealed, or perceived, importance of each type of public support and then, through the indexes, which rank the different types of incentives according to their importance and use. Analysis of these suggests that some measures could be more efficient, and that firms with higher levels of foreign market commitment tend to be more aligned with public policy, and benefit from it most, while those firms with a lower degree of internationalization are the least well served by policy support measures.
Originality/value
These results identify systematic weaknesses in policy design and point to the reasons for these weaknesses. The findings suggest that governments tend to craft “top-down” policy, based on high-level presumptions about the nature of all firms’ strategies towards internationalization and international expansion. We propose that these presumptions result from flawed evaluations of policy effectiveness overly influenced by existing foreign investors, to the detriment of the true and intended strategies of the actual target group of the least internationalized firms. It is concluded that to improve both the efficiency and the effectiveness of policy actions, the traditional “top-down” intervention paradigm of policy-making should be complemented by policy designed from the “bottom-up”, making use of reliable information about all firms’ strategies, and taking care to better identify natural target groups of firms according to their existing or potential resources and capabilities.
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Stephen Young, Duncan Ross and Brad MacKay
The purpose of this paper is to undertake an analysis of the implications of potential Scottish independence for inward foreign direct investment (FDI), multinational enterprise…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to undertake an analysis of the implications of potential Scottish independence for inward foreign direct investment (FDI), multinational enterprise strategies and the local economy.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper takes a multidisciplinary approach drawing on literature and evidence in the international business and management, political economy and economic geography fields to analyse the role and impact of inward FDI in Scotland following possible Scottish independence.
Findings
Scotland continues as an attractive location for FDI, with greater diversity than hitherto. While the country’s comparative advantages in immobile natural resources provide some protection from uncertainty, weak embeddedness is a risk factor irrespective of independence. A range of transition costs of independence are identified, which could be high and of indeterminate duration, and some will be sector-specific. There are also new possibilities for tailoring of policies and potential reindustrialization opportunities in renewable technologies. The foreign investors most vulnerable to political risks and uncertainties are those whose market scope is the rest of the UK (rUK) either as exporters or value-chain integrators, in addition to the high political risk industries of energy, banking and financial services and defence. Scottish subsidiaries’ significance within their parent MNE groups will also be a major factor in determining responses to political risks and uncertainties.
Originality/value
Specific focus on the impact of potential independence on the foreign-owned sector as a major contributor to the Scottish economy.
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Patrick Hopkinson, Peter Bryngelsson, Andrew Voyce, Mats Niklasson and Jerome Carson
The purpose of this study is to mirror the late guitarist Peter Green’s life experiences through insights from Andrew Voyce, who recovered from mental illness, and expertise from…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to mirror the late guitarist Peter Green’s life experiences through insights from Andrew Voyce, who recovered from mental illness, and expertise from Peter Bryngelsson, a Swedish professional musician and author.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used a mixed method of collaborative autoethnography, psychobiography and digital team ethnography.
Findings
Despite having not previously attracted academic interest, Peter Green’s experiences of mental health problems and his return to recording and performance provide a rich data source when mirrored and compared to the lives and experiences of Andrew Voyce and Peter Bryngelsson.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation of this piece of work is that Peter Green died in 2020. During the process of writing, the authors have had to follow different, mostly unacademic, sources that have described various parts of Peter Green’s life. The authors have given examples and drawn conclusions from their own lives as well as from academic sources, which they have found appropriate.
Practical implications
Both Andrew Voyce and Peter Bryngelsson’s stories would be helpful when it comes to a deeper understanding as to why Peter Green “took a left turn”, i.e., turned his back on an accepted lifestyle.
Social implications
Acid casualty is a problem connected to both mental distress and to the music industry. Peter Bryngelsson’s story tells us that one can remain sane and drug free and still be an influential and creative musician.
Originality/value
The analysis has brought together two stories of mental distress in combination with insights.