Organizational Closure Research Articles

The Role of the Press in Free and Fair Elections in Uganda: A Case Study of Daily Monitor News Paper

The media is an essential component of any democratic election. This is illustrated in a way that keeps voters informed about the policies and agendas of different political parties and contenders. Until voters are aware of each candidate's position on every issue, they will not be able to completely exercise their right to vote. Conversely, the media can aid voters in their self-education by providing a comparative analysis of important issues. Numerous individuals have viewed the media's above-mentioned job as idealistic and unachievable, asserting that regular reporting on events is rife with "fake news" and falls short of the criteria of superior journalism. Descriptive statistics were used to examine the coded data, and information was generated and presented in the form of graphs, tables, and charts exhibiting frequencies and percentages. The study suggests that false news has existed since the internet's prehistory and is prevalent today. It highlights the negative impact of false news on media organizations, leading to credibility loss and costly investigations. Despite ethical journalism rules, media organizations face threats of closure or censorship. The general population is a significant source of fake news. False news in Uganda leads to various consequences, such as media organization closure, damage to brand reputation, and mistrust of news industries. It can also cause underdevelopment, increased demonstrations, hatred, and even innocent deaths. Despite adhering to ethical journalism rules, media organizations face threats of closure or censorship. False news in media organizations can lead to credibility loss, costly investigations, and threats of closure or censorship, while the general population is a significant source, causing incidents like demonstrations, hatred, deaths, and celebrity reputation damage. Key words: Media, Democracy, Citizenship, Marketization, Election.

Ecosystem health and malfunctions: an organisational perspective

A recent idea of “ecosystem health” was introduced in the 1970s and 1980s to draws attention to the fact that ecosystems can become ill because of a reduction of properties such as primary productivity, functions and diversity of interactions among system components. Starting from the 1990s, this idea has been deeply criticized by authors who argued that, insofar as ecosystems show many differences with respect to organismic features, these two kinds of systems cannot share a typical organismic property such as health. In recent years, an organisational approach in philosophy of biology and ecology argued that both organisms and ecosystems may share a fundamental characteristic despite their differences, namely, organisational closure. Based on this kind of closure, scholars have also discussed health and malfunctional states in organisms. In this paper, we examine the possibility of expanding such an organisational approach to health and malfunctions to the ecological domain. Firstly, we will see that a malfunction is related to a lower effectiveness in the functional behaviour of some biotic components with respect to other systemic components. We will then show how some introduced species do not satisfactorily interact in an organisational closure with other ecosystem components, thus posing a threat to the self-maintenance of the ecosystem in which they are found. Accordingly, we will argue that an ecosystem can be said to be healthy when it is a vital environment organisationally grounded on its intrinsic capacity to ensure, under favourable conditions, appropriate functional behaviours for ecosystem components and ecosystem self-maintenance.

Bridging the parochial divide: Outsider brokerage in mafia families

How do groups maintain internal solidarity and closure without compromising their access to diverse networks? A long line of previous research suggests focusing on the boundary-spanning activities of “brokers” who bridge gaps in social structure. In many contexts, however, brokers are viewed with suspicion and distrust rather than rewarded for their diversity of interests. This article examines groups in which the theoretical deck is seemingly stacked against brokerage and toward parochialism: American-Italian mafia families. Through an institutional analysis of the mafia organization, I trace how ethnic and organizational closure led marginalized actors to seek alternative paths to enrichment beyond the family-controlled networks and industries. Using a historical network data set, I document a division of network labor in which ethnic outsiders— more than other actors—benefited as bridges between parochial organizations. This illuminates a broader paradox of social organization: while social closure is typically thought important because it increases the group's power over individual members and reinforces boundaries, it can also undermine those same boundaries by pushing marginal actors to seek opportunities and connections outside the group.

Significant variation in air quality in South Indian cities during COVID-19 lockdown and unlock phases.

With the spread of COVID-19 pandemic worldwide, the Government of India had imposed lockdown in the month of March 2020 to curb the spread of the virus furthermore. This shutdown led to closure of various institutions, organizations, and industries, and restriction on public movement was also inflicted which paved way to better air quality due to reduction in various industrial and vehicular emissions. To brace this, the present study was carried out to statistically analyze the changes in air quality from pre-lockdown period to unlock 6.0 in South Indian cities, namely, Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, and Hyderabad, by assessing the variation in concentration of PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and SO2 during pre-lockdown, lockdown, and unlock phases. Pollutant concentration data was obtained for the selected timeframe (01 March 2020-30 November 2020) from CPCB, and line graph was plotted which had shown visible variation in the concentration of pollutants in cities taken into consideration. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to determine the mean differences in the concentration of pollutants during eleven timeframes, and the results indicated a significant difference (F (10,264) = 3.389, p < 0.001). A significant decrease in the levels of PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and SO2 during the lockdown phases was asserted by Tukey HSD results in Bangalore, Coimbatore, and Hyderabad stations, whereas PM10 and NO2 significantly increased during lockdown period in Chennai station. In order to understand the cause of variation in the concentration of pollutants and to find the association of pollutants with meteorological parameters, the Pearson correlation coefficient was used to study the relationship between PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and SO2 concentrations, temperature, rainfall, and wind speed for a span of 15months, i.e., from January 2020 to March 2021. At a significant level of 99.9%, 99%, and 95%, a significant correlation among the pollutants, rainfall had a major impact on the pollutant concentration in Bangalore, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, and Chennai followed by wind speed and temperature. No significant influence of temperature on the concentration of pollutants was observed in Bangalore station.

Who benefits from (Human Resource Management) professionalization? The moderating role of gender on professionalization effects in organisations

AbstractProfessionalization aims at closure, that is, having the monopoly protection of expertise for an occupation on the labour market and in organizations. Role congruity theory suggests that the translation of professionalization into organizational closure and reaching board membership is likely to be moderated by gender at the individual and the occupational level. We test this proposition focusing on Human Resource Management (HRM), an occupation with a long history of professionalization attempts. Using a sample of 3276 organizations embedded in 34 countries with varying professionalization levels between countries, results show that professionalization of HRM at the country level is positively related to closure in organizations. The positive relationship is weaker for female HR directors and high proportions of women in the HRM occupation in a country. Organizational closure, in contrast, is negatively related to board representation but increases the likelihood of board membership in countries with high proportions of women in the HRM occupation.

Formal autopoiesis: Solutions of the classical and extended functional closure equations

Formalization of autopoiesis is an ongoing effort among theoretical biologists. In this field, Letelier and co-authors proposed that Robert Rosen’s (M,R)-systems theory be used as a formalism for autopoiesis. In (M,R)-systems theory, Rosen proposes that one solve a set of functional closure equations (FCEs) which account for all of the components of the system as coming from within the system itself. A key part of the functional closure equations is the repair of the metabolism component of the system. Rosen’s theory gives the organizational closure of the components as well as their products, as found in autopoiesis. However, according to Razeto-Barry (M,R)-systems leaves out some of the messiness and approximation that we find in autopoiesis as he reformulates it. A related problem is that though FCEs have a long history, they are difficult in practice to solve due to their mathematical formulation. In this paper we give a novel exact solution for the FCEs for continuous real vector-valued functions which is nevertheless difficult to compute. In addition we propose an extended form of FCEs which both captures more of the messiness of autopoiesis and also helps to make the FCEs more solvable. Finally, we use our solution for the extended FCEs to give an extended repair function for a metabolism taken from a representative class of biological dynamics for gene expression (the repressilator). More generally we show that one can use our solution for the extended FCEs to get an extended repair function for continuous real vector-valued functions.

Live and (Let) Die – Shifting Legitimacies and Organizational Mortality in American Higher Education, 1944–2018

AbstractSociologists of U.S. higher education have emphasized the sector’s historical expansion, which has limited the attention given to the dynamics of organizational closure. Drawing on an original dataset comprising colleges and universities across all sectors and tiers, we show how general expansion is tempered by 354 organizational closures between 1944 and 2018. Closures cluster in time between 1964 and 1974 and after 2008 reflecting shifting causes of and responses to legitimacy loss. Analyses provide support for hypotheses drawn from institutional theory, and, while controlling for a number of variables, identify two main causes of college mortality. These are demographic exclusivity, i.e., women’s and (historically) Black college status, and accreditation. Mortality of exclusionary institutions is further associated with social activism and the system-wide diffusion of related group-differentiated study programs, particularly in the period 1944–1979. By contrast, accreditation becomes more important in the post-1980 period.

Parental decision-making on summer program enrollment: A mixed methods Covid-19 impact study

BackgroundThe closure of childcare organizations (e.g. schools, childcare centers, afterschool programs, summer camps) during the Covid-19 pandemic impacted the health and wellbeing of families. Despite their reopening, parents may be reluctant to enroll their children in summer programming. Knowledge of the beliefs that underlie parental concerns will inform best practices for organizations that serve children. MethodsParents (n = 17) participated in qualitative interviews (October 2020) to discuss Covid-19 risk perceptions and summer program enrollment intentions. Based on interview responses to perceived Covid-19 risk, two groups emerged for analysis- “Elevated Risk (ER)” and “Conditional Risk (CR)”. Themes were identified utilizing independent coding and constant-comparison analysis. Follow-up interviews (n = 12) in the Spring of 2021 evaluated the impact of vaccine availability on parent risk perceptions. Additionally, parents (n = 17) completed the Covid-19 Impact survey to assess perceived exposure (Range: 0–25) and household impact (Range: 2–60) of the pandemic. Scores were summed and averaged for the sample and by risk classification group. ResultsParents overwhelmingly supported the operation of summer programming during the pandemic due to perceived child benefits. Parent willingness to enroll their children in summer programming evolved with time and was contingent upon the successful implementation of safety precautions (e.g. outdoor activities, increased handwashing/sanitizing of surfaces). Interestingly, parents indicated low exposure (ER: Avg. 6.3 ± 3.1 Range [2–12], CR: Avg. 7.5 ± 3.6 Range [1–14]) and moderate family impact (ER: Avg. 27.1 ± 6.9 Range [20–36], CR: Avg. 33.7 ± 11.4 Range [9–48]) on the impact survey. ConclusionChildcare organizations should mandate and evaluate the implementation of desired Covid-19 safety precautions for their patrons.

The ‘Is’ and the ‘Ought’ of the Animal Organism: Hegel’s Account of Biological Normativity

This paper investigates Hegel’s account of the animal organism as it is presented in the Philosophy of Nature, with a special focus on its normative implications. I argue that the notion of “organisation” is fundamental to Hegel’s theory of animal normativity. The paper starts by showing how a Hegelian approach takes up the scientific image of organism and assigns a basic explanatory role to the notion of “organisation” in its understanding living beings. Moving from this premise, the paper turns to the group of accounts in contemporary theoretical biology known as “organisational accounts” (OA), which offer a widely debated strategy for naturalizing teleology and normativity in organisms. As recent scholarship recognizes, these accounts explicitly rely on insights from Kant and Post-Kantianism. I make the historical and conceptual argument that Hegel’s view of the organism shares several basic commitments with OAs, especially regarding the notion of “organisational closure”. I assess the account of normativity that such accounts advance and its implications for how we approach Hegel. Finally, I argue that the notion of “organisation” is more fundamental to Hegel’s theory of animal normativity than the Aristotelian notion of “Gattung” or “species”, which by contrast appears derivative – at least in the Philosophy of Nature and the Lectures – and does not play the central role in his account maintained by some scholars.

Sustainability of global and international business operations during the adversity and hardship

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the way business is conducted. The widespread closure of commercial organizations presents opportunities to reset the way business activities are conducted. Regardless of the organization’s size or its status as a domestic or international firm, due diligence is required to find solutions that will allow firms to sustain their business activities in uncertain times. This study addresses this issue and attempts to identify issues that require urgent attention so that organizations can be effective and efficient in their global operations. In this context, the study proposes three imperatives for global/international businesses to sustain their operations in the long term. These imperatives include having a strong reserve fund, access to a local mutual fund, and networking to form alliances in host countries. Other implications are discussed, and we identify areas for future research.

Commons Movements: Old and New Trends in Rural and Urban Contexts

Over the past few years, studies in political ecology and environmental justice have been increasingly connecting the commons and social movements empirically, giving shape to a new, distinctive body of research on commons movements. In our review, we first organize and synthesize empirical lessons from this body of literature. We then highlight recent theoretical efforts made by scholars to both bridge and transcend the gap between the theory of the commons and social movement theory. As we illustrate, movements can help create and strengthen commons institutions and discourses, as well as rescale them horizontally and vertically. This is particularly evident in the context of rural community-rights movements in the global South, as well as in new water and food commons movements and community energy movements in both the global South and North. Commons institutions, in turn, can serve as the basis of social mobilization and become a key frame for social movements, as shown in the context of local environmental justice and livelihoods conflicts and anti-privatization struggles. Tensions and contradictions of commons-movement dynamics also exist and reflect trade-offs between diversity versus uniformization and organizational closure versus expansion of discourses and practices. Theoretically, there is an opportunity to cross boundaries from the theory of the commons to social movementtheory and vice versa, e.g., by highlighting the role of political opportunities and framing, and biophysical factors and polycentricity, respectively. More importantly, a new commons movements theory is emerging focusing on cross-scalar organizations, the virtuous cycles between commons projects and mobilization, and the processes of commons-making.

Unequal Inclusion: The Production of Social Differences in Education Systems

The article raises the question of whether and how education systems produce social differences internally rather than reproducing pre‐existing “external” inequalities. Linking Niklas Luhmann’s theory of inclusion/exclusion with Charles Tilly’s theory of categorical inequalities, and based on empirical data from various qualitative studies, the article identifies an “observation regime” epistemically constituting the social classification of students and legitimising organisational closure mechanisms in the school system. As an alternative to the “reproduction paradigm,” a research approach guided by differentiation theory is proposed that takes into account that educational inequality operationally arises on the “inside” of the educational system and is caused by unequal inclusion processes.

Resiliency tactics during financial crisis: The nonprofit resiliency framework

AbstractThe ability of nonprofits to weather hard times is a popular theme in the literature, yet most of the research is spent on predicting organizational closure. Unfortunately, this offers little guidance to nonprofits attempting to both survive and deliver services during crises. We use the lived experiences of 31 nonprofits—a mix of umbrella groups and direct human service providers—during the Illinois state budget impasse to understand nonprofit organization resilience in times of crisis. We establish the Nonprofit Resiliency Framework using qualitative analysis, mapping tactics in five areas: financial, human resources, outreach, program and services, and management and leadership. This study not only provides further empirical investigation of organizational resilience, but also useful advice for nonprofits on how to weather a complex financial crisis.

ДОБРОВОЛЬНЫЕ СЕЛЬСКОХОЗЯЙСТВЕННЫЕ ОБЩЕСТВА В УСЛОВИЯХ СОЦИОКУЛЬТУРНОЙ ТРАНСФОРМАЦИИ И ЭТАТИЗАЦИИ ПРАВОВОЙ И ПОЛИТИЧЕСКОЙ СИСТЕМЫ СОВЕТСКОГО ГОСУДАРСТВА

The research focuses on the place and role of public organizations in Soviet Russia in the 1920s. The empirical basis of the research is archival materials and normative legal acts on the activities of agricultural societies. The author notes that agricultural societies, like other voluntary societies, were liquidated in the late 1920s. This circumstance allows concluding that all the processes that took place with other public organizations at this time were reflected in the functioning of agricultural societies. From 1917 to the early 1920s, pre-revolutionary agricultural societies were involved in the work of Soviet bodies. In 1922, the NKVD began to register agricultural societies. In 1923, an attempt was made to provide special legal regulation of their activities. Placing agricultural societies in a separate category of public organizations, in fact, continued the pre-revolutionary tradition since these societies again received separate legal regulation. However, this approach was soon abandoned, and agricultural societies were again subject to general regulation. In the late 1920s, the process of Sovietization of the public sector began. The reasons for the liquidation of agricultural societies were: poor cultural work; poor financial condition; lack of all-Russian coverage, and others. Similar reasons for the closure were contained in other resolutions on the closure of public organizations of this period. Important in this time is the general attitude of the Soviet government to establish control over agriculture. The creation of local land departments, the Michurin Movement, propaganda work in the village, collectivization - all these activities displaced the public initiative. The state and the party aspired to the sole leadership of agriculture. Thus, the liquidation of agricultural organizations became a reflection of two interrelated processes. On the one hand, it was a process of suppressing civil initiative and identifying state and party interests with public ones. On the other hand, it was the process of building an administrative and command management system in agriculture. For this reason, peasants lost creativity in their work and their interest in the result. Agricultural societies lost their target audience: the initiative peasant. Therefore, in the conditions of socio-cultural transformation and etatisation of the legal and political system of the Soviet state, voluntary agricultural societies were simply not needed.

Engaging Immigrant and Racialized Communities in Community-Based Participatory Research During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Challenges and Opportunities

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) approaches have been important avenues for addressing community vulnerability during pandemics and times of crises. There has been little guidance, however, on how to approach CBPR within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic where physical distancing and closure of essential community organizations became the norm. This study discusses challenges and possibilities of using CBPR during a pandemic to address the needs of immigrant and racialized older adults in Alberta, Canada. Two case studies of active research projects that aim to engage immigrant and racialized older adults are presented. Three key challenges are identified related to research activities during the pandemic: (a) pivoting as new foci emerge, (b) recognizing inequity in research participation, and (c) reflecting on well-being in the research team. Approaches to addressing these challenges are highlighted with recommendations for future considerations in CBPR research within vulnerable communities.

Локдаун как способ реагирования на пандемию COVID-19: анализ в контексте Европейской конвенции о защите прав человека

During the COVID-19 pandemic public authorities have to implement a variety of measures to counter the spread of the disease, many of which involve human rights restrictions. One of the most common and at the same time sensitive way to respond to a pandemic is so-called lockdown. This term does not have a strict legal meaning; it covers a system of measures aimed at reducing social interactions between people. These measures include the requirement to maintain a “social distance” and not to leave home unless necessary, strict isolation for certain population groups, prohibition of various mass events and closure of many organizations, restriction of transport links between states and regions within the country. Based on the analysis of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, the author discusses the problems of compatibility of these restrictions with the provisions of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Most of these measures can be justified in accordance with the Convention if they are taken in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus and protect public health, if they are lawful and reasonable in the context of epidemiological situation and proportionality (not excessiveness). Moreover, the implementation these measures can be considered as the fulfilment of the positive obligations by the countries-members of the Convention to protect the lives of persons under their jurisdiction.

E-learning: A way out in COVID-19 Crisis

COVID-19 pandemic has not only negatively impacted the socio-economic attributes worldwide1 but also led to the confrontation of the education system with enormous challenges. This necessitated the immediate transition from face-to-face teaching to e-learning.2 This abrupt shift was primarily attributed to the need for social distancing due to the contagiousness of this disease and hence was intended to save humanity from coronavirus infection.3&#x0D; Availing the e-learning alternatives for academic continuity in response to pandemic was the only solution. The teachers shared educational resources in the form of presentations, audio-visual videos, and documents, etc. by using assorted modalities like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Webinar.4 Although this exercise demanded stringent efforts of our teachers this bestowed them with an exhilarating opportunity to modify their pedagogical strategies.5&#x0D; Lockdown imposition and abrupt closure of academic organizations considerably impacted the domain of higher studies. Everybody adapted to deliver their services remotely. The lectures, practicals, tutorials, examinations all were suspended with immediate effect amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.6 Although most of our students managed to attend online classes this modality was perceived inefficient in coverage of the whole curriculum in terms of acquisition of practical skills.7 No doubt synchronous and asynchronous teachings were done by using diverse instructional methods but adjustment of teaching pace, constructive feedback to the students’ assignments, and activation of students’ prior knowledge were reported to be immensely deficient.8&#x0D; Resource-constrained countries profoundly faced problems in the smooth execution of virtual learning.9 Considerable uncertainties pertinent to COVID-19 along with limited facilities in the execution of prosperous e-learning academia made the scenario quite cumbersome. Tutors implicated in e-learning universally were dealt with issues of online connectivity, capacity building for proficient content delivery, and efficient interactivity with students.10 Designing an appropriate framework to bridge the gaps in e-learning conduction is deemed necessary for the provision of quality education without compromising the established standards amidst rampant outbreaks.

Phosphorylation and acylation transfer reactions: Clues to a dual origin of metabolism

Many theories of the origin of life focus on only one primitive polymer as an archetype of a world paradigm. However, life would have emerged within more complex scenarios where a variety of molecules and diverse polymers interconnected by a few similar chemical reactions. Previous work suggested that the ancestors of all major biopolymers would have arisen from abiotic template independent replication processes. They would have been organized in two closed sets of polymerization cycles: polysaccharides, polyribonucleotides and polyphosphates on one site; and peptides, fatty acids and polyhydroxyalkanoates on the other site. Then, these polymerization reaction cycles integrated into a minimal organization closure. Here, the purpose was to explore which kind of reactions could have supported the chemical networks that led to the early (bio)polymers. As a result, the proposed overview suggests that phosphorylation and acylation transfer reactions would have arisen independently and forged two distinct chemical systems that provided the phosphorylated and carboxylated intermediates used for the synthesis of the corresponding polymers. In this sense, modern metabolism may still reflect its dual nature, probably relying on these two reaction networks from the beginnings.

Social network influences on employee responses to organizational withdrawals

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a more detailed understanding of how embedding in different social networks relates to different types of action that individuals choose in the context of organizational closures, downsizing or relocations. To develop such insights, this paper focuses on three particular types of social networks, namely, intra-organizational; external professional and local community networks. These three types of networks have been frequently related to different types of action in the context of closures and relocations. Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual paper. The authors develop the argument by integrating relevant recent literature on the salience related to embedding in different types of social networks, with a particular focus on responses to organizational closure or relocation. Findings The authors argue that at times of industrial decline and closure: embeddedness in intra-organizational networks can favor collective direct action; embeddedness in professional networks is likely to favor individual direct action and embeddedness in community networks can lead to individual indirect action. The authors then add nuance to the argument by considering a range of complicating factors that can constrain or enable the course (s) of action favored by particular combinations of network influences. Originality/value On a theoretical level, this paper adds to understandings of the role of network embeddedness in influencing individual and collective responses to such disruptive events; and direct or indirect forms of response. On a practical level, the authors contribute to understandings about how the employment landscape may evolve in regions affected by organizational demise, and how policymakers may study with or through network influences to develop more responsible downsizing approaches.

Glycemia Regulation: From Feedback Loops to Organizational Closure.

Endocrinologists apply the idea of feedback loops to explain how hormones regulate certain bodily functions such as glucose metabolism. In particular, feedback loops focus on the maintenance of the plasma concentrations of glucose within a narrow range. Here, we put forward a different, organicist perspective on the endocrine regulation of glycaemia, by relying on the pivotal concept of closure of constraints. From this perspective, biological systems are understood as organized ones, which means that they are constituted of a set of mutually dependent functional structures acting as constraints, whose maintenance depends on their reciprocal interactions. Closure refers specifically to the mutual dependence among functional constraints in an organism. We show that, when compared to feedback loops, organizational closure can generate much richer descriptions of the processes and constraints at play in the metabolism and regulation of glycaemia, by making explicit the different hierarchical orders involved. We expect that the proposed theoretical framework will open the way to the construction of original mathematical models, which would provide a better understanding of endocrine regulation from an organicist perspective.