Strategic planning as communicative process

This paper looks at how a strategic plan is constructed through a communicative process. Drawing on Ricoeur’s concepts of decontextualization and recontextualization, we conceptualize strategic planning activities as being constituted through the iterative and recursive relationship of talk and text. Based on an in-depth case study, our findings show how multiple actors engage in a formal strategic planning process which is manifested in a written strategy document. This document is thus central in the iterative talk to text cycles. As individuals express their interpretations of the current strategic plan in talk, they are able to make amendments to the text that then shape future textual versions of the plan. This iterative cycle is repeated until a final plan is agreed. We develop our findings into a model of the communication process that explains how texts become more authoritative over time and, in doing so, how they inscribe power relationships and social order within organizations. These findings contribute to the literature on the purposes of largely institutionalized processes of strategic planning and to the literature on organization as a communications process.

Strategic planning as communicative process

This paper examines the construction of a strategic plan as a communicative process. Drawing on Ricoeur’s concepts of decontextualization and recontextualization, we conceptualize strategic planning activities as being constituted through the iterative and recursive relationship of talk and text. Based on an in-depth case study, our findings show how multiple actors engage in a formal strategic planning process which is manifested in a written strategy document. This document is thus central in the iterative talk to text cycles. As individuals express their interpretations of the current strategic plan in talk, they are able to make amendments to the text, which then shape future textual versions of the plan. This cycle is repeated in a recursive process, in which the meanings attributed to talk and text increasingly converge within a final agreed plan. We develop our findings into a process model of the communication process that explains how texts become more authoritative over time and, in doing so, how they inscribe power relationships and social order within organizations. These findings contribute to the literature on strategic planning and on organization as a communication process.

El género (para)traducido:pugna ideológica en la traducción y paratraducción de 'O curioso incidente do can á media noite'

Los discursos teóricos de la actualidad conciben la traducción como un acto ideológico de mediación intercultural. De este modo, rechazan la supuesta neutralidad y fidelidad al texto original o a la intención autorial de antaño, subvirtiendo al mismo tiempo la tradicional jerarquía entre original y traducción. Sin embargo, en el presente artículo sostengo que estos discursos teóricos por lo general desatienden otras relaciones de poder jerárquicas que afectan a la traducción situándola en una posición de inferioridad respecto a la paratraducción (Garrido Vilariño 2005), definida ésta como un acto de mediación por el cual se decide la presentación final del libro traducido en la sociedad meta. Para ilustrar las implicaciones de esta nueva jerarquía recurro al conflicto ideológico originado a partir de la traducción y paratraducción del género en dos reescrituras en gallego de la novela de Mark Haddon The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Current theoretical debates on Translation Studies define translation as an ideological act of intercultural mediation. In this way, notions such as neutrality or fidelity to the original text or to the author’s intent prove untenable, challenging the traditional hierarchy between the original text and its translation. However, it is my contention that these theoretical discourses tend to disregard other hierarchical power relationships that also affect translation, placing it in a position of inferiority against paratranslation (Garrido Vilariño 2005), the latter being an activity that determines crucially the final presentation of the translated book in the target society. I will illustrate the implications of this new hierarchy through an analysis of the ideological struggle that emerged from the translation and paratranslation of gender in two rewritings into Galician of the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon.

Implementing restorative justice practice in schools: what pedagogy reveals

In the ongoing pursuit for creating safe, nurturing and relational school cultures, educators continue to turn to restorative justice (rj) principles and practice. Predominantly, schools begin to engage with rj in an effort to address harm done, causing its discourse to be situated in literature tied to classroom management and behaviour. However, in this location, the effectiveness of rj can be limited because the power relationships underlying the original punitive, managerial structures maintain their grip. Drawing on a qualitative study that examines the experiences of educators committed to implementing rj principles, this article explores how placing rj in the context of engaged, productive pedagogies better nurtures the hoped for relational and peaceful school culture.

Picking on vulnerable migrants: precarity and the mushroom industry in Northern Ireland

This article examines precarious employment in the context of the mushroom industry in Northern Ireland. Migrant workers engaged in mushroom picking were interviewed in the context of wider research investigating forced labour in Northern Ireland. The research found that, while the boundaries between exploitation and forced labour are complex and difficult to discern, there was some evidence of borderline forced labour, according to ILO definitions. However, workers found themselves on a ‘continuum of exploitation’, where initial engagement with the prospect of decent work was superseded by increasing endurance of exploitative practices, brought about by unequal power relationships with employers originating in immigration status. This is examined in the wider theoretical context of precarity, of which precarious employment comprises a part.

A Arte de Governar: o exercício do poder pelo saber segundo Michael Foucault

As obras de Michel Foucault exercem influencia em várias áreas das ciências humanas. O mesmo fato se repetiu em teoria das organizações, onde as idéias foucaultianas estão sendo empregadas fundamentalmente para trazer novas luzes para as discussões sobre poder nas organizações. A despeito da influência significativa na área, não há discussões sobre como as obras de Michel Foucault estão sendo utilizadas. A presente dissertação de mestrado tem por objetivo sistematizar os estudos que utilizaram as idéias de Michel Foucault em teoria das organizações, problematizá-los e indicar alguns caminhos para o desenvolvimento desse tipo de análise. De uma forma geral, percebemos que a produção acadêmica em teoria das organizações baseadas nas obras de Michel Foucault tratam majoritariamente das disciplinas e deixam de lado outros aspectos da analítica do poder. Ademais, percebemos que há uma adoção simplificada da analítica do poder e uma junção acriteriosa de conceitos e noções oriundas de diferentes matrizes epistemológicas, além da inadequação da designação “pósmoderno” para classificar as obras de Michel Foucault e suas utilizações em teoria das organizações. Como possíveis desenvolvimentos, indicamos as possibilidades de análise que podem ser abertas na teoria das organizações pelo uso das noções de biopolítica e governamentalidade. / The works of Michel Foucault exert influence in various areas of the humanities. The same thing happened in organization theory, Foucauldian where ideas are being used primarily to bring new light to the discussions about power in organizations. Despite the significant influence in the area, there are discussions about the works of Michel Foucault are being used. This dissertation aims to systematize the studies that used the ideas of Michel Foucault in organization theory, problematize them and indicate some directions for developing this type of analysis. In general, we find that the academic production in the theory of organizations based on the writings of Michel Foucault deal mostly of disciplines and leave out other aspects of analytical power. Moreover, we realize that there is an adoption of simplified analytical power of an indiscriminate and a junction of concepts and notions from different epistemological matrices, besides the inadequacy of the term "postmodern" to classify the works of Michel Foucault and its uses in organizational theory. As possible developments, indicate the possibilities of analysis that can be opened in organization theory by using the notions of biopolitics and governmentality.

Standardizing Minzu: A Content Analysis of the Depiction of Shaoshu Minzu in Three Chinese Elementary Curriculum Standards and Textbooks

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08

Gênero e relações de poder no Pentecostalismo: estudo comparativo entre a Igreja de Cristo no Brasil e a Comunidade Evangélica Sara Nossa Terra

Based on the empirical comparative study between two churches from Pentecostal guidance - both located in Parnamirim/RN - and supported on a dialogic interaction between my interlocutors and theoretical references, I proposed me to reflect about how this protestant segment represents and articulates questions such as gender and power relationships, and the daily impact of that in their followers life. In other words, this dissertation aims to understand the reason of the asymmetry attributed to male and female, especially in what concerns the distribution of ecclesiastic works and the authority given to male, as well as the implication of this reality in the reconfiguration of morality and religious praxis in daily life of individuals and involved groups. From this perspective, this work was divided in three chapters, in which I investigate the tension/relationship between faith and secularism, for from this question on concessions and/or prohibitions related to the limits and involvement of the followers with the world and with the very Pentecostal ethos arise. I also analyze here aspects concerning to both ecclesiastic hierarchy and power, with the objective of elucidating how it occurs, what kind of criteria and implications they consider as well as about the nature of the religious labor division between men and women and, finally, I try to understand how the conversion/adhesion of members is reflected in the redefinitions of gender and its relationship between the ecclesiastical and domestic spaces. The diligence and energy spent in this work is in the hope that its fruits can corroborate in the expansion of anthropological knowledge which, in this particular case, involves the Brazilian Pentecostal phenomenon

The Sparta and the Athens Of Our Age At Daggers Drawn: Polities, Perceptions, and Peace

While historically notions of democracy have varied widely, democratic peace theory has generally defined it in procedural terms. This article takes a close look at the Anglo-French confrontation of 1840. I show that while leaders on both sides were prepared to risk war to gain bargaining advantages, only the French left really wanted to fight. Why? By today's criteria, Britain was incontestably more democratic, with its monarch's powers far more restricted and its suffrage several times as large. Nevertheless, both sides considered France more democratic, with French republicans despising Britain as an aristocratic oligarchy. While Spencer Weart is right to argue that democratic republics may be hostile to oligarchic ones, they will not necessarily define each other according to modern procedural criteria. Instead, they may judge regimes by the broader social structures that shape power relationships and by outcomes, possibly explaining wars or near misses between democracies.

Adaptability, Transformation and Complex Changes in Namibia and Tanzania: Resilience and Innovation System Development in Local Communities

This thesis is a research about the recent complex spatial changes in Namibia and Tanzania and local communities’ capacity to cope with, adapt to and transform the unpredictability engaged to these processes. I scrutinise the concept of resilience and its potential application to explaining the development of local communities in Southern Africa when facing various social, economic and environmental changes. My research is based on three distinct but overlapping research questions: what are the main spatial changes and their impact on the study areas in Namibia and Tanzania? What are the adaptation, transformation and resilience processes of the studied local communities in Namibia and Tanzania? How are innovation systems developed, and what is their impact on the resilience of the studied local communities in Namibia and Tanzania? I use four ethnographic case studies concerning environmental change, global tourism and innovation system development in Namibia and Tanzania, as well as mixed-methodological approaches, to study these issues. The results of my empirical investigation demonstrate that the spatial changes in the localities within Namibia and Tanzania are unique, loose assemblages, a result of the complex, multisided, relational and evolutional development of human and non-human elements that do not necessarily have linear causalities. Several changes co-exist and are interconnected though uncertain and unstructured and, together with the multiple stressors related to poverty, have made communities more vulnerable to different changes. The communities’ adaptation and transformation measures have been mostly reactive, based on contingency and post hoc learning. Despite various anticipation techniques, coping measures, adaptive learning and self-organisation processes occurring in the localities, the local communities are constrained by their uneven power relationships within the larger assemblages. Thus, communities’ own opportunities to increase their resilience are limited without changing the relations in these multiform entities. Therefore, larger cooperation models are needed, like an innovation system, based on the interactions of different actors to foster cooperation, which require collaboration among and input from a diverse set of stakeholders to combine different sources of knowledge, innovation and learning. Accordingly, both Namibia and Tanzania are developing an innovation system as their key policy to foster transformation towards knowledge-based societies. Finally, the development of an innovation system needs novel bottom-up approaches to increase the resilience of local communities and embed it into local communities. Therefore, innovation policies in Namibia have emphasised the role of indigenous knowledge, and Tanzania has established the Living Lab network.

Gênero e relações de poder no Pentecostalismo: estudo comparativo entre a Igreja de Cristo no Brasil e a Comunidade Evangélica Sara Nossa Terra

Based on the empirical comparative study between two churches from Pentecostal guidance - both located in Parnamirim/RN - and supported on a dialogic interaction between my interlocutors and theoretical references, I proposed me to reflect about how this protestant segment represents and articulates questions such as gender and power relationships, and the daily impact of that in their followers life. In other words, this dissertation aims to understand the reason of the asymmetry attributed to male and female, especially in what concerns the distribution of ecclesiastic works and the authority given to male, as well as the implication of this reality in the reconfiguration of morality and religious praxis in daily life of individuals and involved groups. From this perspective, this work was divided in three chapters, in which I investigate the tension/relationship between faith and secularism, for from this question on concessions and/or prohibitions related to the limits and involvement of the followers with the world and with the very Pentecostal ethos arise. I also analyze here aspects concerning to both ecclesiastic hierarchy and power, with the objective of elucidating how it occurs, what kind of criteria and implications they consider as well as about the nature of the religious labor division between men and women and, finally, I try to understand how the conversion/adhesion of members is reflected in the redefinitions of gender and its relationship between the ecclesiastical and domestic spaces. The diligence and energy spent in this work is in the hope that its fruits can corroborate in the expansion of anthropological knowledge which, in this particular case, involves the Brazilian Pentecostal phenomenon

Changing dynamics of the interinstitutional relationships between executive and legislature power in Colombia (2002/2006)

This paper describes the relationship between the executive and legislative branches during the first government of Alvaro Uribe Vélez. We will focus on reviewing the legislative output of each branch of power, along with the effectiveness and efficiency they showed as promoters of this production. We will review the impact they had on the legislative agenda setting and on the control of the legislative process  itself, making a diachronic analysis in which each legislature is used as a unit. Thus, we will try to identify the presence (or not) of some kind of pattern interactions,  and we will evaluate, at one hand, the existence of hierarchical and transactional trends, and, on the other, the different types of balances produced  between them.

The Magnetism of Power in Helping Relationships. Professional Attitude and Asymmetry

What makes helping relationships - or social interventions in general - so sensitive to abuse? These problems are directly related to the nature of the helping relationship. The core of this relationship is the inequality, the asymmetry, between the helper and the person being helped, and the dependence of the latter. Asymmetry is the driving force behind every social intervention and at the same time its weakest point. Handling asymmetry in an appropriate manner constitutes a major part of the work of the intervening party. This asymmetry makes heavy demands on the professional attitude of the intervening party i.e. the helper. Is s/he capable of dealing with dependence in an acceptable way? Is s/he well-versed in her/his profession? This article contains a comprehensive sketch of many of the possible dangers and pitfalls which beset asymmetric intervention relations. At the end it will be argued that, for a better understanding, the proximity of helping and power has to be taken into account.

Some useful information for the design of air-core solenoids. Part I: Relationships between magnetic field, power, ampere-turns and current density. Part II: Homogenous magnetic fields,

"AFOSR-1525."

Power and influence in joint venture relationships and their impact on performance

The purpose of this research was to apply the concepts of power and influence tactics to the joint venture context by examining how they relate to venture performance. In addition, culture and the expectations of future cooperation were examined for their association with influence tactic use and joint venture performance. Data were collected from 58 parent firms of U.S.-based domestic and international joint ventures about their relationships with their partners.^ Under the theories of social exchange and power dependence, a parent's level of power is based on its partner's dependence on the relationship. The statistical results indicated that: (1) the greater the total of power of both parents in an equal power relationship, the greater the joint venture's performance; and (2) the greater the inequality between each parent's level of power, the lower the joint venture's performance. It was also found that the way in which a parent firm tried to influence its partner was related to joint venture performance. Specifically, the use of references to a partner's legitimate authority was negatively related to performance, while the use of rational arguments and compromises was positively related.^ Contrary to expectations, the cultural backgrounds of the parents were not shown to have a relationship to influence tactic use or joint venture's performance. On the other hand, greater expectation of future cooperation had a positive association with performance, and a significant relationship with influence tactic use. The greater the expectation, the less partners used more confrontational tactics such as pressure or legitimate authority. ^