Stance In Relation Research Articles

Research Strategies for Organizational History: A Dialogue Between Historical Theory and Organization Theory

If history matters for organization theory, then we need greater reflexivity regarding the epistemological problem of representing the past; otherwise, history might be seen as merely a repository of ready-made data. To facilitate this reflexivity, we set out three epistemological dualisms derived from historical theory to explain the relationship between history and organization theory: (1) in the dualism of explanation, historians are preoccupied with narrative construction, whereas organization theorists subordinate narrative to analysis; (2) in the dualism of evidence, historians use verifiable documentary sources, whereas organization theorists prefer constructed data; and (3) in the dualism of temporality, historians construct their own periodization, whereas organization theorists treat time as constant for chronology. These three dualisms underpin our explication of four alternative research strategies for organizational history: corporate history, consisting of a holistic, objectivist narrative of a corporate entity; analytically structured history, narrating theoretically conceptualized structures and events; serial history, using replicable techniques to analyze repeatable facts; and ethnographic history, reading documentary sources “against the grain.” Ultimately, we argue that our epistemological dualisms will enable organization theorists to justify their theoretical stance in relation to a range of strategies in organizational history, including narratives constructed from documentary sources found in organizational archives.

Truth and Knowledge in Postmodernism

What is knowledge, according to postmodernism: re-cognition or creation? Does accepting all the existing synchronic and diachronic viewpoints weaken the need to undertake responsibility and become involved? Is putting things into perspective synonymous of no longer feeling responsible? What does the specificity of knowledge consist of in postmodernism? These are all questions to which our paper means to provide an answer by putting the relativist stance of postmodernism opposite the need of feeling it is incumbent upon oneself to play a part in creating the truth. In the author's opinion, while rejecting the idea of a preexisting truth and the solutions based on the existence of incompatible truths, knowledge means assuming an attitude denoting confidence in the truth of a committing skepticism. Situated somewhere between Rorty and Popper, this paper militates for the truth recovery.

Effect of Weighted Boots Used with Different Shoeing Styles on Limb Movement and Ground Reaction Forces in Icelandic Horses at Walk, Tölt and Trot

IntroductionWeighted boots and unnaturally high and long hooves (SH) are used to improve the 4‐beat rhythm of the tölt and enhance forelimb action.MethodsThe effect of these methods on loading and movement of the limbs was investigated in thirteen Icelandic horses at walk, tölt and trot on an instrumented treadmill. Vertical ground reaction forces and kinematic data of fore‐ and hindlimbs were measured. Four conditions were differentiated: SN (standard shoeing) and SH, without and with weighted boots of 240 g (WB240), respectively. Differences were tested using one‐way repeated measures ANOVA, separately for each gait (P<0.05).ResultsAt the tölt, in both shoeing styles, WB240 increased protraction height of the forelimbs by about 13%. The weight gain of 273 g at the distal limb induced by changing SN to SH had a similar and cumulative effect. Hoof length alone was also positively, but not significantly, associated with protraction height; the combination of SH and WB240 resulted in an increase of up to 35%. Lateral coupling (pace‐like rhythm) in tölt was reduced only with a combination of SH and WB240. Stride impulse increased with a change of hoof conformation alone at tölt, and combined with weight at all three gaits. Shorter relative stance durations in the forelimbs particularly at faster speeds resulted only in a minor increase of peak forces (+1.4%) due to an impulse shift to the hindlimbs.ConclusionsWeight, particularly in combination with SH, improved gait performance and marginally increased limb peak forces. However, enhanced inertial forces during swing might additionally stress internal distal limb structures.Ethical Animal ResearchThe experiment was carried out with the approval of the Animal Health and Welfare Commission of the Canton of Zurich (No. 206/2010). Owner written informed consent was obtained. Sources of funding: Stiftung Forschung für das Pferd, the Haldimann Stiftung, the Swiss Metall Union, the Stiftung Temperatio, the Swiss Veterinary Office (FVO) and the Islandpferde‐Vereinigung Schweiz. Competing interests: none.

Ground reaction force adaptations to tripedal locomotion in dogs

To gain insight into the adaptive mechanisms to tripedal locomotion and increase understanding of the biomechanical consequences of limb amputation, this study investigated kinetic and temporal gait parameters in dogs before and after the loss of a hindlimb was simulated. Nine clinically sound Beagle dogs trotted on an instrumented treadmill and the ground reaction forces as well as the footfall patterns were compared between quadrupedal and tripedal locomotion.Stride and stance durations decreased significantly in all limbs when the dogs ambulated tripedally, while relative stance duration increased. Both vertical and craniocaudal forces were significantly different in the remaining hindlimb. In the forelimbs, propulsive force increased in the contralateral and decreased in the ipsilateral limb, while the vertical forces were unchanged (except for mean force in the contralateral limb). Bodyweight was shifted to the contralateral and cranial body side so that each limb bore ~33% of the dog's bodyweight. The observed changes in the craniocaudal forces and the vertical impulse ratio between the fore- and hindlimbs suggest that a nose-up pitching moment occurs during the affected limb pair's functional step. To regain pitch balance for a given stride cycle, a nose-down pitching moment is exerted when the intact limb pair supports the body. These kinetic changes indicate a compensatory mechanism in which the unaffected diagonal limb pair is involved. Therefore, the intact support pair of limbs should be monitored closely in canine hindlimb amputees.

Behavioral Objectives and Standards Movement Revisited

The present paper sparks a complementary argument that the development of standards movement must not be at the expense of sacrificing the achievement of behavioral objectives. Furthermore, due to the systemic and dynamic nature of standards, standards need to be revised off and on. Besides, the present writers taking a more or less relativist stance maintains that if and only if the goal of education is to change one's behavior, the behavioral objectives seem to be plausible; however, it is less than a realistic wish because classroom as a dynamic setting cannot be accomplished within the framework of feed-forward planning, where ends are classified before means are selected.

Relativism—a Pervasive Feature of the Contemporary Western World?

What is relativism? Why should we (or should we not) adopt a relativistic stance towards what we and others hold to be true about the world? And how did relativism come to be such a pervasive feature of the contemporary Western world? These are questions which I address in this paper. To relativize is to maintain that what is true—and not merely what is taken to be true—is dependent upon (is relative to) group, community, society, culture and the like and is not simply true in a universal way; that is, the same everywhere and for everyone. This is the Relativist Thesis. This thesis, in combination with some of the other theses concerning relativism, in particular the Expansionist Thesis—the idea that the scope of what is relative is significantly greater than what has previously been thought—makes the refutation of relativism much harder than philosophers in general have commonly assumed.

Chinese engagement for Global Governance: aiming for a better room at the table?

The text defends the thesis that China is aware that its process of modernization is still recent and needs more growth, maturation and consolidation to assume the role and responsibilities of a regional or even a global leader. This text pursues an understanding about the Chinese stance in relation to the negotiations for the redefinitions of the International Order and the International System (and, hence, Global Governance) and, secondly, seeks to perceive the reactions of non-developed and developed countries in relation to Chinese strategies.

Alison Kafer, Feminist Queer Crip (Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2013), pp. 258, ISBN: 9780253009340, £16.99, paperback.

In Feminist Queer Crip, Alison Kafer endeavours to re-politicise disability and its relations to gender and sexuality. This entails a thorough examination of the ways in which time can be or become 'crip' – a critical term for 'imagining bodies and desires otherwise' – with a focus on those bodies that won't grow, age, labour or reproduce according to normal standards of growth and productivity. Kafer also examines bodies that are visually reproduced, or omitted, to facilitate the production of a political agenda, and how the continual reproduction of the able-bodied norm may be challenged or undone. She writes with an acute awareness of intersectionality and her understanding of reproductive politics repeatedly challenges ableist notions of care, future, and productivity. She first identifies problems with the medical model of disability, which constructs a timeline that can only lead to cure or failure, and with the social model, which risks ignoring the lived realities of pain until 'cure becomes the future no self-respecting disability activist or scholar wants' (p. 7). Kafer then arrives at a political and relational stance, one which prioritises coalition over diagnosis and which recognises that disability 'does not occur in isolation' (p. 8). Her relational model takes into account partnerships with carers and attendants and assisting animals, and a focus on political allegiance allows room for Robert McRuer's theory of a 'non-disabled claim to crip': an expansive identity politics which extends beyond diagnostics and towards the deconstructive principle that everyone is, has or will be disabled, and so has a stake in dismantling the ablebodied ideal. The bounds of these relations move from the social to the temporal – Feminist Queer Crip suggests that disability occurs in time, or out of it, and is often marked by a rupture in the rhythm of ableist lifetimes.

Long-term prognosis of metacarpal and metatarsal fractures in dogs

Lameness after metacarpal and metatarsal fractures in dogs is reported to occur with an incidence of 18% to 70%. On the basis of long-term results, the prognosis of these injuries was re-evaluated retrospectively. Medical records of 100 dogs with complete clinical and radiographic follow-up examinations after an average of four years (4 months - 14 years) were evaluated. According to their treatment, patients were allocated to three groups (Group 1=conservative, Group 2=surgical, Group 3=combined). Assessment included complications during the healing period and the final radiographic and functional outcome, which was statistically compared for differences between groups (Fisher exact test, exact Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test). Further, risk factors for each bone were analyzed (stepwise, multiple logistic regression model). In 15 dogs, kinetic data (relative stance phase, peak vertical force and impulse) were investigated by computed gait analysis. Complications were observed in 11 of 67 (16%) conservatively, in three of 25 (12%) surgically, and in three of eight (37%) conservatively and surgically treated dogs. Overall frequency of lameness evaluated by visual clinical assessment was three percent. Frequency of osteoarthritis and nonunion was also low, accounting for three percent and one percent respectively, although healing of mainly single-bone fractures resulted in malunions in 14% radiographically. Synostoses were found in 19% of patients, and significantly more frequent in surgically treated dogs. A higher risk of complications was identified for metatarsal compared to metacarpal fractures. Further, an increased risk for complications was detected for a higher degree of displacement and instability. According to the long-term results found in this study, the prognosis for metacarpal and metatarsal fractures is better than reported in the literature to date. With the reservation that more severe injuries are generally treated surgically, and these fractures more frequently developed synostosis, no significant difference could be detected between conservative and surgical treatment.

Addressing Ethical Non-Sequiturs in Botswana's HIV and AIDS Policies: Harmonising the Halo Effect

Like many African countries, Botswana is adversely affected by HIV and AIDS. However, from the onset of the epidemic there was an inimical expectation, both internally and externally, that the country would effectively address the problem. The paper posits that this expectation was a partial result of the halo effect emanating from Botswana's successful history on many social, economic, and political fronts. However, whilst the country's HIV and AIDS strategy is one of the success stories of the African continent insofar as the state's commitment is concerned, it is afflicted by ethical impediments that continue to negatively impact the effectiveness of related policies and programmes. The paper examines the loopholes in the Botswana Government's HIV and AIDS response from the perspective of missed opportunities for addressing relevant ethical issues. These include anomalies regarding the lack of targeted sexual health and wellness programmes for prison inmates, sex workers, and sexual minorities. Strategies requiring urgent attention are concerned with provision of HIV prevention, treatment, and care for these populations. The authors contend that inclusive policies, legislation, and programmes to achieve a holistic and ethical response to the epidemic are urgently needed to harmonise the halo effect of Botswana's otherwise positive stance in relation to HIV and AIDS in Africa.

The conundrum of C/cheerleading

The growth of cheerleading as a popular school-based physical activity for people of both genders in the UK poses a challenge for physical education teachers in particular and educators in general. This paper draws on theoretical concepts and empirical research on gender, performance and cheerleading to highlight the multilayered, diverse, even contradictory meanings that can ‘attach’ to this imported cultural activity. Some of the ambiguity is caused by the distance between the idea of ‘Cheerleading’ that carries some global connotations and the sorts of ‘cheerleading’ which may be adapted versions within local contexts. Through a brief exploration of the translation of the activity and of teachers' descriptions of its practice in the UK, we hope to highlight the inherent ambiguity of cheerleading and thus, the potential and pitfalls that accompany it. The paper suggests that educators in the UK will need to recognise the diversity of meanings associated with this activity, its cultural import and the implications of this for their practice to cultivate a critically informed stance in relation to introducing and teaching cheerleading in schools.

Combining Process Consultation and Structural Interventions

This article explores the compatibility of a process consulting stance with structural interventions intended to promote significant organizational redesign. Much of the existing literature on process consultation implies that this capacity‐building approach is best suited to relational or process concerns. However, Edgar Schein and other recent commentators have observed that structural issues are not precluded from its purview. Through a case study involving a process consulting stance in relation to a shifting range of structural concerns, this paper argues that the latter offers a feasible way of pursuing structural change. We also show that models focusing on structure allowed us to generate questions for our inquiry process. However, the paper also suggests that it is important to underpin the intervention with a sound grasp of the purpose and affordances of specific structural theories and to be watchful for the significant reserves of resistance that can be aroused when structural issues are tackled. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Search for Pluralism in the Writings of Said Nursi and John Courtney Murray: Prophetic Pluralism in Islam and Roman Catholicism

Pluralism and development are concepts that often produce confusion and, for some, fear. Every tradition must develop since even settled truths need to adjust to fit new facts and contexts. Understanding this and the means of interpretation used to explain such applications can go a long way to approach change in ways that honour tradition and the nature of human communities. Pluralism and diversity, properly understood, need not threaten religious associations that believe their tradition has the fullest insights about truth. This paper examines the search for pluralism in the writings of two people -- one Muslim and the other Roman Catholic -- Said Nursi (1877-1960) and John Courtney Murray S.J. (1904-1967). The paper also touches briefly on contemporary Jewish writings on pluralism. The goal of the analysis is to show, first, that developments of the understanding of pluralism within Roman Catholicism were slow and controversial and that the man who took a prophetic stance in relation to that work, John Courtney Murray, suffered for it with exclusion and censorship before his ideas became central to foundational documents of the Second Vatican Council on religious liberty. Second, within Islam, Said Nursi develops an understanding of pluralism by taking a prophetic stance that led, in his case, to close to three decades of exile, imprisonment and censorship. Viewing the work of both writers side by side can lead to insights about the nature of prophecy and pluralism within great religious traditions and insights about living together with respect for the beliefs of others. In this task religions can play an important role and this paper hopes to contribute to this by quoting from key documents within the Roman Catholic tradition that show the developed insights within that religious faith community about living together with respect for those who have other faiths (religious and non-religious).

Slow ethics: A sustainable approach to ethical care practices?

Recent UK reports have revealed extensive evidence of unethical care practices. Older and vulnerable patients in some British health services have experienced appalling and avoidable suffering. Explanations for, and solutions to, these care failures have been proposed with wide-ranging recommendations. Many of these have direct implications for clinical ethics with additional frameworks for ethical values proposed, a heightened awareness of the moral culture of organisations acknowledged and a renewed interest in the ethics component of professional education debated. In this paper, I suggest that we integrate insights from the slow movement into clinical ethics practice. Distinctions are made between fast and slow healthcare practice and between fast and slow ethics. I argue that, whilst there is a place for both, slow ethics enables us to assume a more positive stance in relation to ‘crisis’, and requires that we learn from past accounts and scholarship and consider the role of clinical ethics in sustaining caring cultures.

‘Islam does not change’: young people narrating negotiations of religion and identity

There is growing interest in how diasporic Islam may be embraced by young people as a way of carving out space and identity in migratory contexts. Islamic identity may facilitate a critical stance in relation to both the ‘host’ society and also to parental authority and ‘traditional’ ethnic practices. However, there have been recent critiques of the tendency to oversimplify and exaggerate the extent of homogeneity in diasporic Islamic beliefs. This paper draws on lively focus group narratives of young people in London to explore the interactive presentation of Islamic selves. While on the surface these young people present themselves through ‘true’, ‘universal’ Islamic identity, on closer reading subtleties of difference and contingency become more apparent. By bringing together young people who practise Islam in different ways, this paper offers a deeper insight into how claims to a universal identity are actively constructed and contested through particular social relationships and interactions in specific structural contexts. In so doing, the paper takes up recent calls for more research on the personal meaning of religion for Muslim youngsters. I conclude by considering how religious identities can be understood as processes of youth identity formations.

Enfermagem no processo de esterilização de materiais

O estudo teve como objetivo analisar o processo de trabalho dos profissionais de enfermagem atuantes no Centro Cirúrgico e Centro de Material e Esterilização quanto à esterilização de material cirúrgico em um hospital público de Porto Alegre-RS. Trata-se de uma pesquisa descritiva, exploratória, com abordagem qualitativa, realizada com 18 profissionais, sendo estes enfermeiros, técnicos e auxiliares de enfermagem. Para análise e interpretação dos dados optou-se pela categorização temática. Os resultados mostram a descrição dos procedimentos envolvidos no processo de esterilização, as dificuldades no processo de trabalho e a educação permanente em saúde como meio possível de superar as dificuldades. Concluiu-se que os trabalhadores têm conhecimento incipiente das etapas do processo de esterilização, encontrando na educação permanente em saúde a possibilidade da redução de falhas no processo de trabalho, assim como da adoção de uma postura reflexiva acerca da importância de seu trabalho.

When could new ‘potent small states’ emerge? A study of the recent metamorphosis of Czech human rights foreign policy

Human rights have featured among the foreign policy priorities of both big and small countries for several decades. Smaller countries, constrained by the lack of political and economic power, sometimes seem to be more effective and achieve more recognition than bigger ones facing intensive clashes between traditional, political and economic interests and value-based requirements. However, not every small state that begins promoting human rights in its foreign policy succeeds. This article summarises key capabilities that have to be proven by small states attempting to create successful human rights foreign policy agendas and qualify as ‘potent small countries’. It addresses the issue both theoretically, with the use of the adapted ‘potent small state’ concept, and empirically in a case study of the recent metamorphosis of Czech human rights foreign policy. It argues that the Czech Republic aspires to ‘potent small-state’ status, though it is prevented from achieving this both because of several instances of incoherence between its human rights foreign policy agenda and its other but related policy stances and to shortfalls in its ability to promote a positive perception of its past accomplishments.

The Political Economy of Extraterritoriality

Near the end of the 2009 Term the Supreme Court decided Morrison v. Australia National Bank, Ltd., the strongest anti-extraterritoriality opinion it has produced in modern times. Not only is Congress presumed generally to prefer only territorial regulation, but lower courts that had carved out exceptions from this principle over a long period of time must now revisit their positions. Again this year in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Shell Co. the Court relied on an aggressive use of the presumption against extraterritoriality to cut back on an important field of private litigation. The Court appears to have embraced two related stances: The imposition of barriers to extraterritorial regulation generally advances welfare, and the lower courts cannot be trusted to determine those instances where an exception to this rule might be justified. Implicit in the Court's position are intuitions about the political economy of both legislation and litigation. I want to use the occasion of the Morrison and Kiobel decisions to consider the political economy of extraterritorial regulation by the United States. International lawyers for the most part have analyzed state decisions to exercise prescriptive jurisdiction over extraterritorial transactions in terms of a welfare calculus that determines the likely costs and benefits to the state as a whole. Fewer studies have considered the political economy of the decision whether to regulate foreign transactions. No work of which I am aware has considered the political economy of deciding the extraterritorial question through litigation. This paper seeks to fill these gaps by sketching out what political economy suggests both about extraterritoriality and the role of courts as arbiters of extraterritoriality.

Compensatory load redistribution in walking and trotting dogs with hind limb lameness

This study evaluated adaptations in vertical force and temporal gait parameters to hind limb lameness in walking and trotting dogs. Eight clinically normal adult Beagles were allowed to ambulate on an instrumented treadmill at their preferred speed while the ground reaction forces were recorded for all limbs before and after a moderate, reversible, hind limb lameness was induced. At both gaits, vertical force was decreased in the ipsilateral and increased in the contralateral hind limb. While peak force increased in the ipsilateral forelimb, no changes were observed for mean force and impulse when the dogs walked or trotted. In the contralateral forelimb, the peak force was unchanged, but the mean force significantly increased during walking and trotting; vertical impulse increased only during walking. Relative stance duration increased in the ipsilateral hind limb when the dogs trotted. In the contralateral fore and hind limbs, relative stance duration increased during walking and trotting, but decreased in the ipsilateral forelimb during walking. Analysis of load redistribution and temporal gait changes during hind limb lameness showed that compensatory mechanisms were similar regardless of gait. The centre of mass consistently shifted to the contralateral body side and cranio-caudally to the side opposite the affected limb. These biomechanical changes indicate substantial short- and long-term effects of hind limb lameness on the musculoskeletal system.

An Evaluation of Critical-Reflection on Service-Users and Their Families' Narratives as a Teaching Resource in a Post-Graduate Allied Mental Health Program: An Integrative Approach

In this article, the author argues for the need for students to have opportunities to dialogue with service users in social work education. Through such conversations spaces for critical-reflection are created in which individual, team, and professional discourses can be safely critiqued among a community of learners. Within professional courses of study the constructed nature of distinctions between service users and the professionals who “treat” them become apparent when consumers and their families tell their narratives of recovery to an audience of allied health students who are in their first year of hospital-based practice. The author proposes that social workers need to take a critical-reflective stance in relation to the teams and the professional discourses they work within. A critical-reflective approach enables students to analyze their practice within their organization's policies to look beyond the boundaries while paradoxically learning to work within them. This perspective is evoked by the use of service user narratives in educational programs of professional development. The implications for integrating consumer perspectives in social work education are discussed.