Modes Of Organization Research Articles

Do sunk costs nip worker-owned firms in the bud?

In this article the author analyzes the interaction effect of the sunk cost of physical capital and of human capital on the entry of worker-owned firms (WOFs) and conventional firms (CFs). The author estimates a logit model and uses a comprehensive dataset of new French firms in manufacturing sectors with proxies of sunk costs defined at the sector level. The results show that the likelihood of WOF entry is the highest when the sunk cost of human capital is dominant while the sunk cost of physical capital is negligible, as predicted by Kazuhiko Mikami and Satoru Tanaka in their 2010 article. The interaction effect between the types of sunk costs is stronger for worker buyouts than for newly created WOFs. These results are robust to different estimation methods and to endogeneity concerns. These results contribute to the general understanding of the rarity of WOFs in manufacturing sectors and are relevant to policy initiatives supporting cooperative modes of firm organization.

‘Give us the numbers!’: sovereign capture and the undermining of shared situational awareness in the UK’s COVID-19 response

ABSTRACT Shared situational awareness is advanced as a solution to the problem of collaborative decision-making in multi-agency emergency responses. By harnessing information and communication technologies to construct and distribute a common understanding of the event, shared situational awareness promises to optimise, distribute and devolve decision-making, thus improving the overall speed and efficiency of emergency responses. However, in the context of actual emergencies shared situational awareness is found to routinely breakdown. This paper draws upon 41 interviews conducted with emergency responders on their experience of using ResilienceDirect to manage shared situational awareness in the UK COVID-19 response. We argue that while shared situational awareness attempts to technologise the problem of sovereign decision-making in emergencies, UK emergency response frameworks contain a latent potential for sovereign capture. As the COVID-19 response demonstrates, an atmosphere of distrust; desire for secrecy and control; and the ubiquity of hierarchies throughout UK Civil Contingencies permitted the reactualisation of sovereign modes of control to frustrate and displace bottom-up modes of emergency organisation meant to guide UK emergency responses. Elucidating the impediments to achieving shared situational awareness within actual response raises urgent questions regarding the robustness of shared situational awareness to political interference within major emergency events.

Distancing skills in remote work: narratives about HRD managers support organisations

Purpose This paper aims to identify the essential skills required by Human Resource Development (HRD) professionals to effectively respond to the various modes of labour organisation implemented due to the mandatory lockdown imposed by the Portuguese government in March 2020 as well as implications for learning and development (L&D) issues. Design/methodology/approach Data is based on 34 semi-structured interviews with HRD professionals from companies in different activity sectors. Findings The results reveal that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought out the development of socio-emotional skills among HRD professionals such as creativity, improvisation, self-exploration, innovation, collaboration, team spirit, resilience, flexibility, problem-solving, adaptability, priority management, emotional intelligence, social influence, social contact, interpersonal relationships, communication and online learning development. Research limitations/implications It will be interesting for future research to explore “what” and “how” HRD managers are planning, organising and implementing training and development plans to improve the skills of remote workers, which tend to grow in a post-pandemic COVID-19 phase. Practical implications This research emphasises the importance of HRD managers’ role in better coordinating the work of employees who are physically distant from the company. It also highlights the need for different skills required for effective digital HRD, support and monitoring of remote employees. The results provide important inputs to design and implement effective L&D programs for professionals working remotely and to reinforce the HRD role in organisations. Originality/value The research is original for twofold reasons: 1) HRD professionals are usually not trained to manage remote workers, which also means that they probably lack the skills to take the most out of remote working models; and 2) HRD professionals and the HRD function need to address the skills required to successfully implement flexible forms of work organisation as well as to implement adequate L&D policies to answer remote work practices.

Was Grand Duchy of Lithuania a Federation?

According to received wisdom in the historiography of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL), going back to M. Dovnar-Zapolski, M. Liubavski, O. Halecki, the territorial form of government in the GDL was federal in the late XV-early XVI century. The paper critically reviews the arguments advanced in favor of this thesis and argues that the concept of empire describes the territorial organization of GDL in a more accurate way. The criticism of the federalist theory is grounded in the conceptual analysis of the state forms provided by the distinguished Lithuanian historian and law theorist Mykolas Rėimeris (1880-1945). In his analysis, M. Rėimeris draws the distinction between a unitary state and three types of state compounds: federation, confederation, and empire. While federation and empire share the principle of subordination as the mode of organization, in the empire this is the subordination to a privileged metropole territory and cultural-ethnic group, while in federation all territories are subordinated to the federal center on parity grounds, all participating in federal government. Supplementing M. Rėimeris' ideas with those from the contemporary comparative sociological research on empires and imperialism (S. Eisenstadt, M. Doyle, A. Motyl, Ch. Tilly), the author argues that GDL was an empire because relations between Lithuania in the strict sense (including also some Russian lands annexed by the early XV century) and Polotsk, Vitebsk, Smolensk, Volynia, Kiev, Samogitia, etc. were those of subordination of the periphery to the imperial metropole. The proponents of the federalist thesis mistake as federalism what in reality was a system of indirect rule characteristic for premodern empires. The historiographical tradition was blind to imperial features of GDL because it implicitly or explicitly compared GDL with the Moscow state, considering it as a paradigmatic case of empires. However, the Moscow empire represents only one specific type of empire - Westphalian empire, distinguished by the early application of direct rule. While most medieval polities were transformed into sovereign territorial states and Westphalian empires in the early modern time, GDL was unique in following the path of federalization. However, GDL was transformed into a federation only on the eve of the Lublin Union in 1569, while in the XIV-first half of the XVI century it was a traditional empire, including metropolitan military agrarian domains and indirectly ruled peripheral areas shading into areas of mere hegemony.

Under the Smokescreen of Horizontality: Gendered Leading Tasks within the Yellow Vest Movement

There is little scholarship on how gender impacts the construction of leadership in supposedly leaderless, horizontal social movements. In this study, I expand the concept of leading tasks, to get at the ways in which gender intersects with the critical organizing work of maintaining horizontal movements. Drawing on comparative data from 7 months of fieldwork conducted with two grassroots groups in the French Yellow Vest movement, I argue that horizontal organizing in the Yellow Vests (YVM) functions as a gendered structure which opens possibilities for women to take on important leading tasks: caring management, attentive listening, and superintendence. These analytically constructed, gendered leading tasks point to a tension inherent in horizontality: It creates leeway for women’s participation, while also functioning as a smokescreen for a process where group members reproduce traditional gendered expectations of women to do a “third shift” in organizing, characterized by nurturing and caring for participants and activist spaces. The study documents how women can be disadvantaged by this mode of organization. Thus, the concept of gendered leading tasks contributes to investigating how leadership is a gendered construct shaped by those who enact it, and the social structure that surrounds it.

The exploration and practice of the virtual teaching and Research Section of Western Economics

In the information age, the traditional teaching and research section of western economics is faced with various development difficulties, and the virtual teaching and research section of the new teaching and research organization mode has unique advantages. Zhanjiang Institute of Science and Technology has carried out the exploration and practice of the virtual teaching and Research section of Western economics, and achieved good results, in order to provide reference for the virtual teaching and research section of various colleges and universities.

Systematic review: Comparative analysis of international approaches to the organisation of emergency departments at the primary health care level

The study aims to review the different systems of emergency care in North American, European, and Pan-Asian countries and to perform a comparative analysis of these modes of organisation. The emergency care systems of Kyrgyzstan, Germany, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates were analysed, and it was determined that the Anglo-American and Franco-German model of emergency care is currently dominant in the world. The main difference with the system built in Kazakhstan is that ambulance brigades in the above countries consist of nursing staff, in these countries there is a double triage of patients at the stage of call and the stage of distribution of patients in the emergency department, and the last main difference is that the emergency department in Kazakhstan is organised based on an emergency room and does not include intensive care, dynamic observation, there is no diagnostic unit and palliative care unit. Another difference is the training of non-medical services in the comparison countries, such as police and firefighters, who have the necessary basic skills to provide emergency care. This study will help in the future to use foreign experience in the organisation of emergency care in the Republic of Kazakhstan, which may have a positive impact on the quality and speed of emergency care

Multi-granularity spatiotemporal object modelling of waterborne traffic elements

The electronic navigational charts are crucial carriers for representing the multi-source heterogeneous data of Waterborne Traffic Elements (WTEs). However, their layer-based modelling method has some shortcomings in expressing the multi-granularity features, complex relationships, and dynamic evolution of elements. This paper proposes an objectification modelling method for WTEs based on the concept of multi-granularity spatiotemporal object modelling. A classification system for waterborne traffic objects is developed based on the relevance of behavior to elements; combining characteristics of waterborne traffic, a data model for waterborne traffic objects is constructed from eight aspects: spatiotemporal reference, spatiotemporal position, spatial form, basic information, attributes, behavioral ability, structure, and associative relationships. An object extraction function is also established, extracting object attributes and relationships between objects according to different element classes. Taking the Jiashan section of the Hangzhou-Shanghai Line in Zhejiang Province as the experimental subject, the multi-granularity spatiotemporal characteristics, dynamic evolution, and relationship expression of channel class objects are tested. The experimental results show that the proposed method provides the theoretical basis and data organization mode for the multi-granularity expression of WTEs.

Trade fair activity and sustainable urban development, through the lens of Thessaloniki International Fair

ABSTRACT This paper explores a new perspective on trade fairs, examining their expected impact on the sustainable development of the host city. To study this impact, the paper examines the annual fair of Thessaloniki, Greece, which has a long history and strong connection with the city. Methodologically, mix research method is used, combining quantitative and qualitative methods. The findings challenge the focus of trade fairs’ benefits in terms of sustainability on the economic aspect. Thessaloniki citizens believe that the fair contributes positively to sustainable urban development, possibly due to their emotional attachment with it and its crucial economic benefits. Stakeholder interviews, however, reveal concerns. Some attribute limitations to outdated fair infrastructure, claiming that a planned redevelopment could address sustainability issues. Others, more critical of the fair, argue that achieving truly balanced development is difficult within the existing mode of socio-economic organisation.

Impaired 40-Hz and intact hierarchical organization mode of auditory steady-state responses among individuals with clinical high-risk for psychosis

BackgroundImpaired gamma band oscillation, specifically 40-Hz auditory steady state response (ASSR) has been robustly found in schizophrenia, while there is relatively little evidence characterizing the ASSR before full-blown psychosis. ObjectiveTo characterize gamma-band ASSR in populations at clinical high-risk for psychosis (CHR). MethodsOne hundred and seven CHR subjects and sixty-five healthy control (HC) subjects were included and completed clinical assessments, the ASSR paradigm of electroencephalography (EEG) and cognitive assessments. Both indices of event-related spectrum perturbation (ERSP) and intertrial coherence (ITC) in response to 20-Hz, 30-Hz and 40-Hz click sounds were respectively qualified and compared between these two groups, as well as the relationship to clinical psychopathology and cognitive function was assessed. ResultsAt 40-Hz click sounds, ERSP in HC group (1.042 ± 0.047) was statistical significantly increased than that in CHR group (0.873 ± 0.036) (p = 0.005)；at 30-Hz, ERSP in HC group (0.536 ± 0.024) was increased than that in CHR group (0.483 ± 0.019), but the difference was trend statistical significance (p = 0.083)；at 20-Hz, ERSP in HC group (0.452 ± 0.017) was not different significantly from CHR group (0.418 ± 0.013) (p = 0.104).ERSP of the HC group was the highest at 40-Hz click sounds, followed by 30-Hz, and the lowest at 20-Hz. The difference between any two of the three ERSP showed statistical significance (30-Hz vs. 40-Hz: p < 0.001; 20-Hz vs. 40-Hz: p < 0.001；20-Hz vs. 30-Hz: p = 0.003). Similarly, ERSP of the CHR group was the highest at 40-Hz click sounds, followed by 30-Hz, and the lowest at 20-Hz. The difference between any two of these three ERSP showed statistical significance (30-Hz vs. 40-Hz: p < 0.001; 20-Hz vs. 40-Hz: p < 0.001；20-Hz vs. 30-Hz: p = 0.002).A statistically significant small positive correlation of 40-Hz ERSP with signal processing speed score was observed in the HC group (ρ = 0.27, p = 0.029). A statistically significant small negative correlation of 40-Hz ERSP with visual learning score was observed in the CHR group (ρ = −0.22, p = 0.023). ConclusionImpaired 40-Hz but undamaged hierarchical organization mode of auditory steady state presented in the CHR populations. Abnormal 40 Hz ASSR for CHR might be associated with cognitive functions, such as information processing speed and visual memory.

Initiation, organizational modes and environmental conditions of severe convective wind events during the warm season over North China

Initiation, organizational modes and environmental conditions of severe convective wind events during the warm season over North China

Metro Stations as Catalysts for Land Use Patterns: Evidence from Wuhan Line 11

Urban rail transit systems significantly influence land use patterns in newly developed areas, yet their impact on spatial organization and functional characteristics remains understudied. This research examines Wuhan Metro Line 11, analyzing land use within an 800 m radius of stations using Point of Interest data, ArcGIS spatial analysis, and locational entropy methods. The study reveals three station types, i.e., single-function, mixed-function, and underdeveloped, each exhibiting distinct spatial differentiation patterns. On this basis, a novel “core-diffusion” model emerges, with the highest density of functional elements observed at approximately 600 m from station centers, challenging conventional proximity assumptions. Three spatial organization modes are identified: single-core independent in two-level axis, single-core continuous in single-level axis, and double-core continuous in two-level axis. These findings contribute to the Transit-Oriented Development literature, offering sustainable insights into optimizing land use around metro stations in rapidly urbanizing contexts. This study also provides a methodological framework applicable to similar urban environments, enhancing the understanding of the complex relationships between metro development and surrounding land use patterns. These results have significant implications for urban planning and policy-making, particularly in emerging economies seeking to balance transit efficiency with sustainable urban growth.

Novel approach for forest road maintenance using smartphone sensor data and deep learning methods

ABSTRACT High costs primarily pose challenges to forest management in planning and executing the repair of forest roads. With budget limitations and inadequate oversight, it has become critically essential to monitor the state of these roads. Monitoring the condition of forest roads has become imperative, driven by budget constraints and a lack of effective supervision. While smartphones have proven effective in detecting road defects on public roads, their application on forest roads is hindered by the absence of suitable indices and software infrastructure. Addressing this gap, this research focuses on the development of the Forest Road Pavement Condition Index (FRPCI) to facilitate smartphone-based monitoring. We collected and compared data from 4 kilometers of forest roads, employing two traditional harvesting methods alongside smartphone sensor data. Utilizing deep learning methods, including Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM), and CNN-LSTM, we processed the collected data. Signal processing using GPS data, coupled with wavelet transformation, demonstrated promising results with an accuracy and recall exceeding 80%. The proposed system functions as a distributed information system, transitioning data from organizational mode to field mode. It measures damage, assesses forest road conditions, and leverages image processing and GPS technologies. This monitoring system technology offers capabilities for preparing, storing, updating, maintaining, and analyzing diverse information. Importantly, adopting this method can significantly reduce operating costs, making forest road monitoring for maintenance purposes more feasible.

Core functions, visitor friendliness and digitalisation: a comparative analysis of corporate museums’ performance

We exploit a rich dataset on Italian museums to investigate whether corporate museums’ service provision is quantitatively different from the provision by the rest of private museums and by the three different types of Italian publicly owned museums (whose classification is by organisational mode: traditional, autonomous, and outsourced). We consider service provision in the dimensions of core museum functions (research, collection management, dissemination) and visitor friendliness, and we also focus on digital services. We use count data models estimation methods and include controls referring to museums’ characteristics and contextual factors to account for possible confounding effects. Our analysis reveals that corporate museums do not provide more core services than other museums, as expected given the public good component of this category of services. Contrary to expectations, we find that corporate museums are not among the museums providing the largest number of services enhancing visitor friendliness. Finally, corporate museums provide more digital services than traditional public museums and private museums owned by churches, and not less than other museum types. We argue that this latter evidence may come from their interaction with the parent firm. Corporate museums’ higher levels of digitalisation may be seen as the effect of a knowledge spillover between the more profit-oriented business world and the non-profit cultural sector.

"I Heard of PrEP-I Didn't Think I Needed it." Understanding the Formation of HIV Risk Perception Among People Who Inject Drugs.

Uptake of pre-exposure prophylaxis medication (PrEP) to prevent HIV among people who inject drugs (PWID) remains extremely low in the United States. West Virginia's rising HIV incidence and highest drug overdose rate in the nation makes it an important locus for opioid use and HIV risk interaction. In this pilot study we pioneered the use of Cultural Theory among PWID to understand HIV-related risk perception arising from four contrasting modes of social organization. Carried out during an HIV outbreak, we explored PrEP uptake qualitatively as a window onto risk perception. Of the 26 interviewees, 18 were HIV- and despite the medication's free availability from the health center where recruitment took place, none had taken PrEP, half considering they were not at risk. Intimate couples who showed characteristics of 'enclaves' considered the boundary around themselves protective against HIV, creating a safe space or 'invisible risk group'. Higher HIV risk was perceived among those who were housed compared to those living homeless. Beliefs about the causation of the local HIV outbreak and the validity of scientific research corresponded with characteristics of the contrasting modes of social organization and the approach is promising for informing public health interventions among PWID.

Dénètem Touam Bona, Fugitive, where are you running?

Fugitive, Where are you Running? is a collection of essays, most of which were previously published in French, by writer, philosopher and curator Dénètem Touam Bona. The author's inclination to straddle geographic and conceptual lines is reflected in the scope, exuberance and poetic verve of the volume. The first three chapters ('Return of the Maroni', 'The Art of the Fugue', 'Manhunt') lay the conceptual foundation by foregrounding categories of marronage, fugitivity and fugue. The fugitive slave is presented as the figure that haunts the establishment of capitalist modernity and the only possible 'line of flight' from it. The fugue is the art of subtle evasion from the prisons of racialised capitalism and an alternative to the triumphalist politics of armed liberation struggles. Touam Bona proposes an impressionistic, rhapsodic and allegorical travel through the various incarnations of the maroon community - with its spontaneous and horizontal modes of organisation and accretion - and capitalism's death drive to surveil and suppress them. The following two chapters track the iterations and repression of fugitivity in the present, by engaging with technologies of migrant surveillance at the border ('Heroic Land', which mixes critique and fiction) and the space of Mayotte, a French department in the heart of the Indian Ocean, increasingly securitised and excised from the histories of flux that characterise this region ('The Impossibility of an Island'). The sixth chapter ('Cosmo-poetics of the Refuge') returns to the book's central theme of the maroon rebellion, connecting it to Afro-diasporic spirituality and performance. The final extended chapter ('Liana Dreaming') turns to environmental concerns, by foregrounding the figure of the liana as the point of resistance to colonial penetration and weapon of maroon resistance. In Caribbean cultures, the liana and the vine bring together collective bodies and communities. Against colonial tropes of taming, erasure and penetration, the power of the forest itself generates plant-induced visions of unsubmission.

A Radar-Based 10-Year Climatology of Convective Snow Events in Central Pennsylvania

Abstract Convective snow (CS) presents a significant hazard to motorists and is one of the leading causes of weather-related fatalities on Pennsylvania roadways. Thus, understanding environmental factors promoting CS formation and organization is critical for providing relevant and accurate information to those impacted. Prior research has been limited, mainly focusing on frontal CS bands often called “snow squalls”; thus, these studies do not account for the diversity of CS organizational modes that is frequently observed, highlighting a need for a robust climatology of broader CS events. To identify such events, a novel, radar-based CS detection algorithm was developed and applied to WSR-88D radar data from 10 cold seasons in central Pennsylvania, during which 159 cases were identified. Distinct convective organization modes were identified: linear (frontal) snow squalls, single cells, multicells, and streamer bands. Each algorithm-flagged radar scan containing CS was manually classified as one of these modes. Interestingly, the most-studied frontal mode only occurred &lt;5% of the time, whereas multicellular modes dominated CS occurrence. Using the times associated with each CS mode, synoptic and local environmental information from model analyses was investigated. Key characteristics of CS environments compared to null cases include a 500-hPa trough in the vicinity, lower-tropospheric conditional instability, and sufficient moisture. Environments favorable for the different CS modes featured statistically significant differences in the 500-hPa trough axis position, surface-based CAPE, and the unstable layer depth, among others. These results provide insights into forecasting CS mode, explicitly presented in a forecasting decision tree. Significance Statement Convective snow events such as snow squalls are a leading cause of weather-related deaths on Pennsylvania roads. Research into these events is limited, thus negatively impacting forecast skill. To better understand convective snow event frequency of occurrence, inter- and intra-annual variability, and their supporting environments, we performed a 10-yr radar-based climatology of these events. We report the results of this climatology and on the statistically significant differences in their supporting environments. The latter are used to propose a forecasting framework for convective snow, which may improve the predictability of convective snow in an operational setting.

Gen Y in Uncertain Times of Remote Working: From the Employees’ Perspective

Objective: The purpose of this article is to identify the experiences of Generation Y employees of remote work and to identify the key factors that, in their opinion, develop or limit its effectiveness and efficiency. Research Design &amp; Methods: The authors carried out a questionnaire (CAWI) which was filled in by 304 respondents from Generation Y who worked remotely during COVID-19. Descriptive statistics measurements were used in the analysis. The original questionnaire was based on two measurement scales: ordinal on the Likert scale and nominal (binary and categorical). Then, the two-way data analysis method was used. Due to the nominal nature of the variables, frequency and percentage statistics were used in the statistical evaluation. For variables on the Likert scale, measures of descriptive statistics were used. In addition, hierarchical clustering analysis was used as part of the conducted research. Quantitative research was supplemented by unstructured interviews, conducted with eight HR Business Partners. Findings: The obtained results made it possible to conclude that workers from Gen Y have adapted quite well to remote work and were very involved in the workplace when working remotely. Unfortunately, they were also overworked and tired. Gen Y strive to effectively perform their duties, regardless of whether they work on location or from home. Implications / Recommendations: The experience of remote work gained by organisations and employees during the pandemic was an opportunity to implement innovative solutions, suitable for pandemic and post-pandemic conditions of the functioning of enterprises in the remote work era. Contribution: The article recognises and analyses the experiences of employees from the Y Generation who are professionally active, working remotely during COVID-19. The value of the study is the presentation of two perspectives on the experience of switching to a different mode of work organisation – remote mode. Conclusions drawn from the empirical research have an application value primarily for leaders, managers, and supporting departments, such as HRM.

“Not even if I worked seven days a week, 24 hours a day”: the health of teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic

In this paper, we contemplate the well-being of higher education faculty during the Covid-19 pandemic, a period marked by the adoption of Emergency Remote Teaching. We conducted a predominantly quantitative study concerning the health of professors in Higher Education Institutions in Brazil. Data were collected through the administration of a questionnaire comprising 52 questions pertaining to the working conditions and health of educators in the second semester of 2021. In addition to the analysis of aspects quantified through the questionnaire on the daily work of teachers, we highlight some of the dissertative answers given by teachers to an open-ended item of the questionnaire. The results suggest a close association between working conditions, the intensification and extension of work hours, and instances of illness. In the conclusions, we highlight the need for a continuous evaluation of the work models that genuinely incorporates educators, valuing their experiences and perceptions. This approach aims to facilitate transformations in the conditions and modes of management and organization of work. Despite the societal significance of technological and digital resources, we assert that ongoing changes are occurring within social and economic contradictions that warrant attention and necessitate proactive resolution.

Intersectional and Decolonial Perspectives on an Incorporeal Materialism: Towards an Elemental Philosophy of Art Education

AbstractConsidering art and its educative potentials as a living experiment with the body's elemental constitution and modes of organisation, this article engages water, earth, air, and fire as milieus through which a body learns to sense, move, and act in the world differently. This leads to a series of propositions for an elemental philosophy of arts education, which recognises the intersectional and decolonial potentials of bodies, and strives to amplify and proliferate these potentials through creative pedagogic practices. If, as Elizabeth Grosz (2017) proposes, “the chain of evolutionary emergence is unbroken not only materially but also conceptually” (p. 250), then arts education offers an expression of the body's incorporeal and material potentials as they change and evolve through time. Further to this position, we argue that arts education has the potential to radically reframe relationships with water, earth, air, and fire in ways that resist their co‐option as tools of colonialism and intersecting categories of oppression.