Joint Enterprise Research Articles

CoPs facing rationalization: the politics of community reproduction

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the relationship between the contemporary forms of manufacturing rationalization and the reproduction of communities of practice (CoPs) centred on tasks and craft. Building on critical literature highlighting the tensions between CoPs and rationalization, this paper aims to develop a nuanced account of how CoPs are reproduced in the context of rationalization.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative case study of a CoP involved in the production of automotive components was conducted. Following a change in ownership, the company was instructed to rationalize production according to the principles of lean production. Data were collected through participant observation and semi-structured interviews.FindingsThe CoP of the case study reinterpreted, resisted and redefined the lean production practices according to the established norms and values. In collusion with local management, workers protected the integrity of the community by engaging in hypocritical reporting. While lower-level managers buffered the rationalization pressures, workers would “get the work done” without further interference.Research limitations/implicationsThe critical research approach may be applied to a wide range of cases in which informal or professional work organization collides with change programmes driven by management. Future research is encouraged to investigate more closely how CoPs gain access to formal and informal power by enrolling lower-level managers in their joint enterprise and world view.Practical implicationsManagers should be aware that attempts to rationalize community-based work forms may lead to dysfunctional patterns of organizational decoupling.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first to empirically examine the relationship between CoPs and manufacturing rationalization.

Word problems and make-believe: Using frame analysis and ethnomethodology to explore aspects of the culture of schooling

AbstractThe paper applies Goffman’s frame analysis and ethnomethodology to student performance on mathematical word problems. In educational research, frame analysis has usually been limited to primary frames. Instead, in this paper I focus on the kind of secondary frame that Goffman calls ‘utilitarian make-believe’. The data consist of a fragment of verbal interaction between a teacher and a 12-year-old pupil during an oral mathematics exam. By evoking the idea of ‘as-ifness’, word problems introduce pupils to a make-believe world. The text consists only of ‘filler words’ because what really matters are the figures. Word problems and possibly other aspects of schooling can be interpreted in terms of a utilitarian make-believe key. Readiness to adopt this make-believe frame when required may be the difference between school success and failure. I argue that maths achievement takes more than just ‘being good with numbers’. It is a joint enterprise of people interacting within a culturally-shaped setting, organized so as to make some phenomena stand out rather than others. Finally, I argue that ‘word problems and possibly other ‘school genres’ could be added to the list of utilitarian make-believe frames provided by Goffman.

Prosecuting Complicity: The CPS Legal Guidance on Secondary Liability

The CPS has revised its “legal guidance” on secondary liability (previously titled “Joint Enterprise”), following the decision of the Supreme Court in R. v. Jogee; Ruddock v. The Queen and has called a consultation on the revised guidance. The guidance sets out the core principles of secondary liability, as stated in R. v. Jogee and the subsequent Court of Appeal cases on secondary liability, R. v. Johnson & Others and R. v. Anwar. It is probably not surprising that the CPS has issued a consultation, because the law has changed very substantially. The decision in Chan Wing-Siu v. The Queen not only resulted in later courts interpreting the mental element in complicity as mere foresight, but also in those courts developing a doctrine of extended joint enterprise. R. v. Jogee held that the mental element in complicity prior to Chan Wing-Siu was intention and that the doctrine that became known as the extended joint enterprise doctrine did not exist at common law in England and Wales prior to that decision. The effect of the decision in R. v. Jogee is that factual scenarios involving collateral crimes now have to be brought within the purview of section 8 of the Accessories and Abettors Act 1861 where the conduct element is assistance or encouragement. In this paper I attempt to respond to some of the questions raised by the CPS in its consultation concerning its new legal guidance on this subject. I shall try to make some substantive points about how prosecutors should approach charging decisions post-Jogee. The CPS has published an interim guidance, which it has sought views on as the basis of its consultation. It reports: “If the consultation results in changes being made to this interim guidance, the legal guidance will be updated accordingly.” The CPS consultation document provides guidance on how it currently thinks prosecutors should approach charging decisions in cases of secondary liability including those rare cases where conditional intent might be an issue. It is important for barristers to have clear guidance since it is arguable the Chan Wing-Siu doctrine emerged from the High Court of Australia’s decision in John v The Queen, which itself took a wrong path due to the way counsel argued the case in the Supreme Court of New South Wales before it went up to the High Court.

Lammy Review: will it change outcomes in the criminal justice system?

A forensic analysis from a criminal justice expert on the weaknesses in the findings and recommendations of the Lammy Review into Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic disproportionality in the UK’s criminal justice system. It comments on the remit (which excludes policing), the lack of real action over police gang databases and the joint enterprise ‘charge’, the inadequate understanding of plea bargaining and influence of charging, the need for a deeper understanding of outcomes particularly at the Crown Court, and the weaknesses in merely asking for more Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic representation in the system. The statistical review, the author concludes, produces snapshots of marginal disproportionality at selected stages in the process and hence an episodic analysis of criminal justice, rather than looking at the overall system’s effect in producing differential outcomes for the various ethnic groups. See also Liz Fekete, ‘Lammy Review: Without racial justice, can there be trust?’ ( Race & Class, doi: 10.1177/0306396817742074).

Identification of factors affecting individual industries

En el mundo moderno de hoy, el alto conocimiento y la tecnología se están convirtiendo rápidamente en una ventaja competitiva. Las industrias individuales son consideradas como uno de los sectores clave en la industria del país. Clasificar los factores que afectan a este tipo de industrias nos hace estar más familiarizados con su efectividad y, por tanto, tomar acciones para mejorarlos en las empresas basadas en el conocimiento. Con el fin de alcanzar este objetivo, tras revisar las investigaciones que se han realizado en el área de industrias individuales, a través del método de campo y utilizando un cuestionario aplicado por el investigador, el presente estudio investiga y clasifica los factores que afectan al establecimiento de estas industrias.En cuanto a su finalidad, se trata de una investigación aplicada, y en términos de recogida de datos, se considera una encuesta descriptiva. Utilizando el método censal se recolectaron 60 cuestionarios. Los factores efectivos se clasificaron utilizando el software SPSS y técnica TOPSIS.Los resultados de este estudio sugieren que los factores de contenido ocupan el primer lugar y los factores contextuales y estructurales, el segundo y tercer lugar, respectivamente. Por lo tanto, se recomienda a ejecutivos y gerentes en industrias individuales enriquecer las normas de empresa conjunta y los valores y creencias dominantes en las empresas basadas en el conocimiento, con el fin de lograr el crecimiento y el desarrollo de este tipo de industrias.

Whose Speech Is It Anyway? Ownership, Authorship, and the Redfern Address

Whose Speech Is It Anyway? Ownership, Authorship, and the Redfern Address

Unlawfulness’s Doctrinal and Normative Irrelevance to Complicity Liability

In this essay I shall try to show that there is normative nor doctrinal foundation for the extended joint enterprise doctrine. I shall argue that the “unlawfulness” justification that has been invoked to justify the extended joint enterprise has no doctrinal basis in English law and is also normatively vacuous. Almost every case concerning common purpose complicity scenarios where unlawfulness has been an issue hinge on the doctrine of constructive crime, so I shall attempt to show that those who are invoking that doctrine of unlawfulness to support their normative case for extended joint enterprise liability are working from a mistaken doctrinal premise, because the doctrine of constructive crime in the development of the law of complicity was limited to homicides, whereas complicity’s doctrine of common intent applied to all unlawful joint enterprises. Furthermore, it is contended that unlawful agreements (conspiracies) in themselves do not supply a normative justification for this sort of complicity, even when the agreement is consummated, because the accessory does not take an equal normative position in an unintended collateral crime that is merely foreseen as a possibility.

Análise de vídeos de aula na promoção de reflexões sobre o ensino exploratório de Estatística em uma comunidade de professores

This study aims to understand the nature of the reflections that stand out in the Video Analysis of a Statistics Lesson (AVAE) joint enterprise, about inquiry-based teaching, within a Community of Practice of mathematics teachers. The analyzed lesson was held in a ninth grade class of elementary school, in Brazil, addressing the central tendency measures. Based on a qualitative and interpretative analysis of the audiotaped transcriptions of teachers’ interactions in the AVAE course, the results highlight descriptive, grounded, and critical reflections, with different levels of occurrence, within a hierarchical and interrelated relation, about characteristics, actions, and interactions associated with an inquiry-based teaching in statistics. We conclude that the joint enterprise that focused on video-based lesson analyses along with the teacher educator’s intentional and planned actions favored teachers to understand, contextualize and justify complex teaching practice, and at the same time it promoted the recognition by the teachers of their practice as a reflexive reference and, thus, creating conditions for possible future changes.

The Role of Autobiographical Memory in the Development of a Robot Self.

This article briefly reviews research in cognitive development concerning the nature of the human self. It then reviews research in developmental robotics that has attempted to retrace parts of the developmental trajectory of the self. This should be of interest to developmental psychologists, and researchers in developmental robotics. As a point of departure, one of the most characteristic aspects of human social interaction is cooperation—the process of entering into a joint enterprise to achieve a common goal. Fundamental to this ability to cooperate is the underlying ability to enter into, and engage in, a self-other relation. This suggests that if we intend for robots to cooperate with humans, then to some extent robots must engage in these self-other relations, and hence they must have some aspect of a self. Decades of research in human cognitive development indicate that the self is not fully present from the outset, but rather that it is developed in a usage-based fashion, that is, through engaging with the world, including the physical world and the social world of animate intentional agents. In an effort to characterize the self, Ulric Neisser noted that self is not unitary, and he thus proposed five types of self-knowledge that correspond to five distinct components of self: ecological, interpersonal, conceptual, temporally extended, and private. He emphasized the ecological nature of each of these levels, how they are developed through the engagement of the developing child with the physical and interpersonal worlds. Crucially, development of the self has been shown to rely on the child's autobiographical memory. From the developmental robotics perspective, this suggests that in principal it would be possible to develop certain aspects of self in a robot cognitive system where the robot is engaged in the physical and social world, equipped with an autobiographical memory system. We review a series of developmental robotics studies that make progress in this enterprise. We conclude with a summary of the properties that are required for the development of these different levels of self, and we identify topics for future research.

Collaborative talk in mathematics – contrasting examples from third graders

ABSTRACTThere is a substantial body of knowledge on the importance of language for learning in general, and for learning mathematics in particular. Hence, language skills and collaborative learning are emphasised in the Norwegian curriculum. Even so, we have few studies on what supports and what impedes mathematical progress in authentic learning situations. In this article, we investigate contrasting dialogues between two pairs of eight-year-old pupils solving mathematical tasks. The analysis in our video-based study shows that both communication skills and use of tools have a profound impact on third graders’ potential to solve tasks as a joint enterprise.

Joint enterprise in the wake of the Jogee verdict

Joint enterprise in the wake of the Jogee verdict

Managing social and human capital in organizations

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of communities of practice in organizations and their most beneficial effects for both individual and collective development.Design/methodology/approachBased on a literature review, from the first authoritative texts by Lave and Wenger until the most recent critiques, the paper has attempted to conciliate the individual and the organizational perspectives about this precious tool for knowledge management and creation.FindingsBecause of their distinctive features, a joint enterprise, a mutual engagement and a shared repertoire, if strategically managed, might resort to individual and organizational positive outcomes. From an individual perspective, communities could be beneficial in developing professional skills, a stronger sense of identity and finding continuity even during discontinuity and change. From an organizational perspective, communities of practice could help drive the strategy, start new lines of business, solve problems quickly and transfer best practices.Research limitations/implicationsMany limitations about this conceptualization have been presented. Therefore, future research should try to focus on communities within different socio-cultural contexts and within different kinds of organizations.Practical implicationsPractical implications about the use of communities of practice within organizational contexts are mainly linked to the enhancement of human and social capital seen as a strategic, although intangible, asset.Social implicationsThe social implications of this paper are connected to the contribution to the discussion on the theme which is quite uncommon in human resource management research.Originality/valueThe value of this paper is the attempt to connect the communities of practice to human and social capital.

Israeli Historiography on American Jewry

Israeli Historiography on American Jewry Gur Alroey (bio) On Rosh Hashanah Eve in 1969, a three-volume set on the history of the Jewish people from biblical times to the mid-twentieth century was published in Israel. In the foreword, the editor, Haim Hillel Ben-Sasson, wrote that “the work offered here to readers is the joint enterprise of a number of historians. Despite the differences in their fundamental historical outlooks and research approaches, the different sections merge into a continuous view of the history of Israel from the beginnings to the present day.”1 For a generation, these volumes were the most important textbooks on the subject for Israeli universities and high schools. They sketched the lineaments of the long history of the Jewish people, highlighted key events and processes in its life, and served as a roadmap for understanding the annals of the Jews in different periods and on different continents. The volume on the modern age was written by Samuel Ettinger of the Hebrew University, one of the country’s leading historians at the time. It begins with the Jews’ migrations and economic activity in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and concludes with the establishment of the State of Israel and the challenges it faced in its first two decades. The focus is Europe, Western and Eastern; only a few pages are dedicated to the Jews of the United States. In his immensely influential book, Ettinger almost totally ignored the largest Jewish community in the world. In this he faithfully reflected the attitude of Israeli academia and historians about American Jewry. These attitudes were deep-rooted decades before Ettinger. The historian and bibliographer Getzel Kressel noted that Israeli research into the Jews of the United States was sparse and inadequate. It was difficult to say that in the recent talk about American Jewry, and even more so in journalistic writing, one can find some background knowledge—even limited—about this Diaspora community.… Our widespread ignorance about everything associated with American Jewry and its history … is unforgivable, [End Page 501] given that that community has played such a decisive role in these decisive years for us, such that we must not ignore it.2 Kressel’s article was written to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the American Jewish Historical Society and the appearance of the fortieth volume of its publication series. Kressel called Hebrew readers’ attention to the fact that the AJHS had been founded in 1892 to conduct basic and methodical research into the history of the Jews of the United States. He noted that the manifesto issued by its founding convention in the late nineteenth century resulted in the collection of many documents that made it possible for historians to study American Jewry thoroughly and intensively. As for the publication series, he wrote that its volumes were rich and extensive and shed “new light on the previously unknown episode that is the emergence of the largest Jewish community of our time. The scholarly meticulousness that typifies the hundreds of studies and articles that have been published in its dozens of volumes provides solid support for any scholar or historian who deals with this story.”3 Kressel was aware of American Jewry’s importance for the new state and for Israeli society, and emphasized the need to study this important Jewish community. He added that one reason for Israelis’ unfamiliarity with the history of American Jews was the absence of accessible scholarly literature in Hebrew for readers living in Israel: There is no doubt that the fault rests with publishers, both public and private, who have taken pains to offer us volumes about every corner of the world, from India to Ethiopia—and only American Jewry has remained beyond the pale. Consequently the vast and abundant literature created in America about the history of the Jews on the American continent in general and the United States in particular is a closed book for our reading public.4 In the present article I examine Israeli historiography’s treatment of American Jewry, and try to understand why Israeli historians, born and educated in Israel, hardly studied the American Jewish community until the 1990s and early years...

Young People’s Use of New Media: Learning Through Participation in Communities of Practice

This study explored young people’s use of new media and the learning that they experience through participation in shared online practices such as web browsing, using social media and gaming. The findings of this study revealed that the research participants have rich new media access and they engage in a variety of digital practices at an extended period of time at home. Their use of new media often involves other associates. The research participants’ mutual engagement with other associates based on the shared digital practices that they participate in, the joint enterprise and shared repertoire indicate their belonging to communities of practice (COPs). Learning occurs as result of the research participants’ active participation in shared new media practices with their associates. This kind of learning is social, and it takes place with or without them noticing it.

Accounting Community of Practice pedagogy: a course management invention for developing personal competencies in accounting education

ABSTRACTThis paper reports the findings of an exploratory qualitative study using the implementation of Wenger’s [(1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press; Wenger, E. (2000). Communities of practice and social learning systems. Organization, 7(2), 225–246] Theory of Communities of Practice to develop an Accounting Community of Practice (ACOP) pedagogy. Students from eight accounting courses who participated, in the120 narratives and 280 surveys used as data, practice and develop critical real-world professional accounting competencies by linking three structural foundations: (1) accountability to joint enterprise, (2) mutual engagement, and (3) shared repertoire of communal resources. Competencies promoted by the AICPA [(1999). Core competency framework of entry into the accounting profession. Retrieved from http://www.aicpa.org/edu/corecomp.htm; AICPA. (2006). Core competency framework of entry into the accounting profession. Retrieved from http://www.aicpa.org/edu/corecomp.htm); International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). (2003). International education standard No. 3, professional skills. Retrieved from www.ifac.org; IFAC. (2015). Meeting future expectations of professional competence: A consultation on the IAESB’S future strategies and priorities. Retrieved from www.iaesb.org; ICAEW. (1996). Added value professionals: Chartered accountants in England and Wales. London: Author], and other professional bodies include problem-solving, leadership, project management, and interaction. ACOP strategy is effective in maintaining dynamic learning environments, increasing students’ awareness of trust, open communication, and creative thinking. Meaning and knowledge are owned in ACOP where the focus of the class shifts from instructor to students. This study adds to limited empirical research in communal forms of learning in accounting.

Impact of Neuroradiology-Based Peer Review on Head and Neck Radiotherapy Target Delineation.

While standard guidelines assist in target delineation for head and neck radiation therapy planning, the complex anatomy, varying patterns of spread, unusual or advanced presentations, and high risk of treatment-related toxicities produce continuous interpretive challenges. In 2007, we instituted weekly treatment planning quality assurance rounds as a joint enterprise of head and neck radiation oncology and neuroradiology. Here we describe its impact on head and neck radiation therapy target delineation. For 7 months, treatment planning quality assurance included 80 cases of definitive (48%) or postoperative (52%) head and neck radiation therapy. The planning CT and associated target volumes were reviewed in comparison with diagnostic imaging studies. Alterations were catalogued. Of the 80 cases, 44 (55%) were altered, and of these, 61% had clinically significant changes resulting in exclusion or inclusion of a distinct area or structure. Reasons for alteration included the following: gross or extant tumor, 26/44 (59%); elective or postoperative coverage, 25/44 (57%); lymph nodes, 13/44 (30%); bone, 7/44 (16%); skull base, 7/44 (16%); normal organs, 5/44 (11%); perineural, 3/44 (7%); distant metastasis, 2/44 (5%); and eye, 1/44 (2%). Gross tumor changes ranged from 0.5% to 133.64%, with a median change in volume of 5.95 mm3 (7.86%). Volumes were more likely to be increased (73%) than decreased (27%). A collaborative approach to head and neck treatment planning quality assurance has an impact. Cases likely to have challenging patterns of infiltrative, intracranial, nodal, orbital, or perineural spread warrant intensive imaging-based review in collaboration with a diagnostic neuroradiologist.

Stretching the Joint Criminal Enterprise Doctrine to the Extreme: When Culpability and Liability Do Not Match

Joint criminal enterprise (jce) has caused a lot of concern amongst international criminal law practitioners and academics since its first appearance at the ad hoc Tribunals. A recent landmark decision, by the uk Supreme Court in Jogee, that overruled 30 years of common law development on joint enterprise, stimulates further discussions on whether jce in its current form fairly reflects the balance between culpability and corresponding liability of the defendant. This article explores this issue by suggesting that the level of culpability of defendants does not match the degree of liability they incur under jce iii. The article dissects the jce iii mode of liability by considering it a ‘two-crime liability’: a common purpose crime and a foreseeable crime, and compares it with aiding/abetting. This article argues that the level of culpability of defendants under jce iii is much lower than their liability for the crimes they are convicted of.

Strategic partnerships in local public transport

We present a rationale for the delegation of regulatory functions in public transport to a partnership that rebalances social and commercial interests according to an agreed and predetermined objective function. This allows for the improvement of economic efficiency providing a constructive commitment to tariff and subsidy policies. Using a simple model, we determine the optimal corporate structure for such a partnership between the local government and any regulated monopoly. The government's strategic option of using its stake in the partnership to generate budget revenue from sale proceeds and/or dividends encourages the relevant authorities to increase the commercial attractiveness of the joint enterprise by setting appropriate tariffs. We show that such a strategic partnership can lead to improvements in welfare if the local cost of public funds is relatively high. These theoretical findings are then examined through the prism of suburban railway transport reform in Russia.

Exploring Agroecological Sustainability: Unearthing Innovators and Documenting a Community of Practice in Southeast Australia

ABSTRACTIn this article we describe a movement to regenerate and sustainably use native grasslands using innovative grazing and cropping strategies. We find that this movement has the essential characteristics of a “community of practice” (COP) and is a strong example of a bottom-up transition toward a sustainable agroecological farming system. This COP was identified and described using participatory rural appraisals followed by biophysical and sociocultural studies with active COP members. Using these multiple mixed-method approaches helped characterize the COP’s many layers, revealing how and why it is driven and fashioned by innovators who collaborate via joint enterprise, mutual engagement, and shared repertoire. Holistic Management, Grazing for Profit, and Stipa Native Grasses Association were the key enabling programs/associations for the COP, which, like other agroecological movements, exists on the margins of conventional agri-innovation systems and endures with little public acknowledgment or support. It is a potent grass-roots example of adaptive farm management that generates optimism in the farming families involved, and challenges existing research and extension paradigms regarding both innovation and practice change.

Afterword: Where are we now?

Labov recapitulates his view of linguistics when he entered the field in 1961, and what he hoped to achieve. He acknowledges Meyerhoff's stress on the convergence of methods and Coupland's view of the vernacular as an ‘overdetermined’ concept which is simultaneously undervalued. The value of new methods for the study of variation has been tested by their application to other cultures (Gal), to African American Vernacular English (Rickford), and to indigenous and endangered languages (Stanford). Thomas indicates how the Atlas of North American English builds on traditional methods of American dialect geography. Johnstone's account of Labov's approach to narrative links sociolinguistic work to broader areas in the humanities. Cornips and Gregersen see Labov's contribution to general linguistic theory as a joint enterprise in which intuitions and observations form a harmonious database.