Shared Understanding Research Articles

Customer transformation in services: conceptualization and research agenda

PurposeCustomer transformation is currently overlooked in service research. This article aims to conceptualize customer transformation and develop a research agenda to encourage more exploration in this area.Design/methodology/approachThis conceptual article builds on the literature on transformation and related topics in psychology, sociology, education and anthropology.FindingsThe presented definition of customer transformation distinguishes itself from other related concepts such as minor change. The research agenda, structured around five themes, reveals four distinctive attributes of customer transformation that warrant academic investigation. These include the inability of businesses to guarantee transformations, the potential tension between transformational aspirations and immediate needs and well-being, the imperative of cultivating long-term engagement and the likelihood of encountering customer resistance. This highlights the criticality of embracing a customer-centric approach in transformational services.Research limitations/implicationsGiven the vastness of the topic, the literature review is limited and the research agenda could be widened. Furthermore, the dynamic nature of the subject introduces the possibility that the conceptual framework and research agenda may become outdated. Lastly, the universal applicability of the findings and the proposed conceptual framework are uncertain, necessitating potential validation across diverse contexts. The practical implications may also fall short of addressing the specific challenges encountered by different industries or businesses.Practical implicationsThe article provides insights on customer transformation and strategies for businesses to support ongoing transformations, emphasizing personalized engagement and co-creating value to meet evolving customer aspirations.Social implicationsThe need for development and growth is more pressing and decisive than ever. This need is often not well understood and, as a result, is not addressed by either scholars or companies. This paper helps address that social need.Originality/valueThe research enriches the service literature by paving the way for a crucial subfield in service research. Additionally, it establishes a shared understanding of customer transformation by highlighting its distinct characteristics and analyzing their implications for service management, proposing a conceptual framework and research agenda.

Shared semantics: Exploring the interface between human and chimpanzee gestural communication

Striking similarities across ape gestural repertoires suggest shared phylogenetic origins that likely provided a foundation for the emergence of language. We pilot a novel approach for exploring possible semantic universals across human and nonhuman ape species. In a forced‐choice task, n = 300 participants watched 10 chimpanzee gesture forms performed by a human and chose from responses that paralleled inferred meanings for chimpanzee gestures. Participants agreed on a single meaning for nine gesture forms; in six of these the agreed form‐meaning pair response(s) matched those established for chimpanzees. Such shared understanding suggests apes' (including humans') gesturing shares deep evolutionary origins.

Learning About Resilience from Rural Interprofessional Healthcare Teams: Insights from the “First Wave” of COVID-19

Building resilience is a key concern for adult educators today as we face unprecedented global challenges such as the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). Nowhere is this more apparent than in educational initiatives with health professionals who experience many stressors in their work, now amplified by the pandemic. This paper reports the results of focus groups with three interprofessional primary healthcare teams in rural Nova Scotia, Canada, in the fall of 2021. The aim was to learn about their lived experience during the first year of the pandemic, as a basis for considering how resilience could be nurtured and supported in rural team-based collaborative practices settings. Findings reveal that, while each collaborative team experienced recognized COVID-19 workplace stressors, they leveraged a store of collective resilience to navigate the pandemic. The trust, sense of purpose, and shared problem-solving skills they derived from working in collaborative structures over time enabled them to regain equilibrium and to adapt to new norms, and to transform thier practices. The study highlights the power of collaborative learning to strengthen overall ability for resilient performance, and the adaptive capacity that is required to deliver and sustain quality healthcare. The study highlights the need for continuing professional education that values naturally occurring practice-based learning. Adult educators are well positioned to support health professionals and health systems to nurture and support resilient action. They bring an understanding of effective collaborative tools and processes that foster dialogue and collective awareness that leads to a shared identity and understanding. As this study reveals, it is this shared identity and capacity arising within a group that enables them to draw on their collective sources of support to deal with adversity.

'Selling their souls?' Nurses' understanding of addiction and recovery in acute hospital settings.

Nursing disciplines do not currently have a shared understanding of addiction or recovery to address their contribution to their patients' needs. Recent developments of addiction nursing models, alongside an international move to standardise language, is slow to be reflected in nurses' perceptions in acute hospital settings. To explore nurses' understanding of addiction and recovery in acute general hospitals. A qualitative study with semi-structured open-ended questions informed by a prior literature review was undertaken with nurses working in an acute general hospital in Dublin, Ireland. The identified themes were the knowledge of addiction, including physical and psychological needs, and the understanding of recovery, patient-centred services and the impact of the individual's environment. Standardising language for addiction and recovery and improving addiction education will give nurses a better understanding of the chronic nature of substance use and the importance of this in providing high-quality health care.

Public Memory, Architectural Language, and Its Configurational Relationship in the Memorial Museum: A Case Study of the War Memorial of Korea Using Space Syntax and Movement Tracking

Memorial museums serve as a record of the past and provide evidence of the past; moreover, they are a place for remembering the past and healing the present. In particular, their architectural language, such as movement through space, is actively involved in fostering public memory that implies a shared understanding of the past. However, it is hardly explained how public memory is configured in memorial museums, and how it is experienced by the act of moving around within the places. This study, hence, aims to investigate the configurational relationship between public memory and movement through space throughout an in-depth case study using visibility graph analysis as one of space syntax techniques, and movement tracking analysis. By examining the War Memorial of Korea, which is dedicated to commemorate sacrifices during the Korean War in memorial halls and chronologically describes wars in the Korean Peninsula, it was found out that a memorial museum works in a bifurcated way. Its spatial layout leads to a locally focused experience along a strongly structured commemorative sequence. On the contrary, it allows globally dispersed spatial experiences to take place along the integration core, suggesting both specific and wide-ranging themes and contents throughout their various exhibitions. Therefore, the locally focused paths elicit a commemorative experience by adding depth, whereas the globally dispersed paths bring about informal itineraries that start from their integration cores. It concludes that spatial configurations, as a non-verbal language, plays a role in transmitting the public memory.

Exploring stakeholders’ perceived problems associated with the care and support of children and youth with mental ill health in Sweden: a qualitative study

BackgroundCare and support for children and youth with mental ill health have become more specialized and are provided by an increasing number of stakeholders. As a result, services are often fragmented, inefficient and unco-ordinated, with negative consequences for the service user and their family. Enhanced collaboration could lead to improved care and support but requires a shared understanding and a joint problem formulation between involved stakeholders to commence. The aim of this study was to explore different stakeholders’ perceived problems associated with delivering care and support to children and youth with mental ill health and to discuss how the perceived problems relate to collaboration.MethodsA qualitative descriptive study was conducted, using short statements of perceived problems written by stakeholders involved in the care and support of children and youth with mental ill health during an inter-organizational workshop. The 26 stakeholders represented school and student health, primary health care, specialist care, social services, and different service user organizations. Data were collected during February 2020. Inductive content analysis with a summative approach was used when analysing the data.ResultsThe perceived problems were summarized in a model consisting of four main categories: Resources and governance; Collaboration and co-ordination; Knowledge and competence; and Stigma and confidence, containing 24 subcategories. These categories and subcategories were distributed over three levels: Societal level, Organizational level and Individual level. The perceived problems were shared on the category level but to some extent varied between stakeholder groups on the subcategory level. The perceived problems were either directly or indirectly related to collaboration.ConclusionsThe perceived problems often acted as barriers to achieving successful collaboration. The problems were distributed on all three levels in the developed model, indicating a complex problem. Even though the perceived problems were shared by stakeholders on an overall level, the findings indicate that the stakeholders did not have a completely shared understanding of the perceived problems, as they tended to focus on aspects most relevant to their own organization or perceptions. The challenge is to find which perceived problems are appropriate for inter-organization problem-solving and which can be solved within individual organizations.

DEVELOPING A STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP MODEL FOR INCLUSIVE VIRTUAL WORK TEAMS: A RESPONSE TO COVID-19 AND THE CHANGING NEEDS OF THE GLOBAL WORKFORCE

This article examines the useful strategies that will help leaders effectively lead members of virtual work teams. Research suggests that the greatest challenges for work team leaders are in the areas of cultural awareness, clarity of group roles and the choice of communication technology. Effective leaders might better prepare their team members for success when working in virtual teams by training them in each of these three areas and by encouraging a shared understanding of cultural differences, the clear communication of member roles and expectations, and by utilizing the most appropriate communication technology based on specific team member needs. Encompassing each of these elements, The Strategic Leadership Model for Inclusive Virtual Work Teams is presented as a viable strategic approach for virtual team leaders.
 Keywords: Strategic Leadership, Culture, Virtual Teams.

Indigenizing and co-producing the ACGME anesthesiology milestone in Taiwan: a Delphi study and subgroup analysis.

To implement the ACGME Anesthesiology Milestone Project in a non-North American context, a process of indigenization is essential. In this study, we aim to explore the differences in perspective toward the anesthesiology competencies among residents and junior and senior visiting staff members and co-produce a preliminary framework for the following nation-wide survey in Taiwan. The expert committee translation and Delphi technique were adopted to co-construct an indigenized draft of milestones. Descriptive analysis, chi-square testing, Pearson correlation testing, and repeated-measures analysis of variance in the general linear model were employed to calculate the F values and mean differences (MDs). The translation committee included three experts and the consensus panel recruited 37 participants from four hospitals in Taiwan: 9 residents, 13 junior visiting staff members (JVSs), and 15 senior visiting staff members (SVSs). The consensus on the content of the 285 milestones was achieved after 271 minor and 6 major modifications in 3 rounds of the Delphi survey. Moreover, JVSs were more concerned regarding patient care than were both residents (MD = - 0.095, P < 0.001) and SVSs (MD = 0.075, P < 0.001). Residents were more concerned regarding practice-based learning improvement than were JVSs (MD = 0.081; P < 0.01); they also acknowledged professionalism more than JVSs (MD = 0.072; P < 0.05) and SVSs (MD = 0.12; P < 0.01). Finally, SVSs graded interpersonal and communication skills lower than both residents (MD = 0.068; P < 0.05) and JVSs (MD = 0.065; P < 0.05) did. Most ACGME anesthesiology milestones are applicable and feasible in Taiwan. Incorporating residents' perspectives may bring insight and facilitate shared understanding to a new educational implementation. This study helped Taiwan generate a well-informed and indigenized draft of a competency-based framework for the following nation-wide Delphi survey.

“We Never Say We Are Integrating People!” Interpretative Repertoires of Integration Among Local Stakeholders in Sweden

This article examines how local stakeholders in Scania, the southernmost county of Sweden, talk about integration. Drawing on 28 qualitative interviews, we use the theoretical concept of interpretative repertoires to analyze perceptions and conceptualizations among those who work closely with migrant integration. We identify two interpretative repertoires that stakeholders draw upon to make sense of the concept on the ground: the separation and de-migranticization repertoires. The repertoires display a shared understanding among the stakeholders of integration as a failure, although they do not agree on the extent or cause of the perceived failures of integration, or even how the problems should be defined or tackled locally. Within the separation repertoire, integration is failing in terms of processes where primarily migrants are seen as accountable and responsible for their (in)ability to adapt to the Swedish society. Within the de-migranticization repertoire, integration is differently perceived as something that is plagued with misdirected or even false boundaries between groups (in this case “migrants” and “non-migrants”), and authorities are held accountable for problems beyond migrants and migration, such as inequality, racism, and discrimination. The findings reflect the contested field of integration on the ground and contribute to ongoing critical debates on the concept of integration within migration research, by providing snapshots from a bottom-up perspective of local stakeholders’ acceptance of, or resistance to, present-day integration discourses.

Inhibitors and Supporters of Policy Change in the Regulation of Unhealthy Food Marketing in Australia.

Evidence on the impact of policies that regulate unhealthy food marketing demonstrates a need for a shift from pure industry self-regulation toward statutory regulation. Institutional rules, decision-making procedures, actor practices, and institutional norms influence the regulatory choices made by policy-makers. This study examined institutional processes that sustain, support, or inhibit change in the food marketing regulation in Australia using the three pillars of institutions framework - regulatory, normative, and cultural cognitive pillars. This was a qualitative study. Twenty-four in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with industry, government, civil society, and academic actors who are involved in nutrition policy in Australia. The regulatory pillar was perceived to inhibit policy change through the co-regulation and self-regulation frameworks that assign rulemaking, monitoring and enforcement to industry bodies with minimal oversight by regulatory agencies and no involvement of health actors. The normative pillar was perceived to provide pathways for comprehensive statutory regulation through institutional goals and norms for collaboration that centre on a whole-of-government approach. The framing of food marketing policies to highlight the vulnerability of children is a cultural cognitive element that was perceived to be essential for getting support for policy change; however, there was a lack of shared understanding of food marketing as a policy issue. In addition, government ideologies that are perceived to be reluctant to regulate commercial actors and values that prioritize economic interest over public health make it difficult for health advocates to argue for statutory regulation of food marketing. Elements of all three pillars (regulatory, normative, and cultural-cognitive) were identified as either inhibitors or pathways that support policy change. This study contributes to the understanding of factors that inhibit policy change and potential pathways for implementing comprehensive statutory regulation of unhealthy food marketing.

Reducing the need for child welfare interventions through additional income support: a qualitative analysis of Finnish social workers’ views

ABSTRACT Previous studies have found a link between the social disadvantage of families and child welfare involvement. Through financial support, a range of psychosocial problems in the families (or their escalation) can be prevented, although social disadvantage is a multifaceted phenomenon. This article examines Finnish social workers´ views on the significance of financial support in reducing the need for child welfare interventions. The study analyses the fundamental assumptions and issues of social work that social workers refer to when justifying their views on the matter. The study is based on a qualitative analysis of data collected by interviewing 23 social workers in different parts of Finland. Through the interviews, a diverse view of the significance of additional income support and child welfare services emerges. The interviewees raised matters related to concrete practices, family dynamics, and the principles of social work. The question of the use of additional income support as a means for preventing child maltreatment and the need for child welfare intervention appears to be controversial in the data. However, a shared understanding of the fundamental assumptions and issues of social work can be seen behind the different viewpoints. In particular, a shared view of the intertwining of families’ economic and psychosocial challenges, and the hidden nature of child maltreatment and social problems in families with children emerges. Overall, the research serves to emphasize the importance of professional discretion and long-term support in social work.

A design team’s perspective-mixing for shared empathic understandings

ABSTRACT Empathic design involves two social practices – collaboration with users and intra team collaboration forshared empathic understandings. This study is focused on the latter phenomenon, aiming to characterise a social mechanism underlying it. To achieve this objective, we used a framework of perspective-mixing in empathic design, including three distinct perspectives: first, second, and third-person perspectives. With this framework, we traced how team members share and integrate individuals’ user knowledge and insights to develop and apply their shared empathic understandings. We conducted conversation analysis to examine one design team’s conversations over a design journey from need-finding to initial ideation to prototyping and testing. To characterise this team’s perspective-mixing during their conversations, we analysed how team members took and combined the three perspectives within and between their utterances (perspective transitions). Our analysis revealed that the team used the third-person perspective as an underlying mechanism for perspective-mixing. In addition, the nature of perspective-mixing was distinct for specific design activities – the transitions involving the first and second-person perspectives were prominent during need-finding and initial ideation, while the third-person perspective was predominant during prototyping and testing. Based on these findings, we discuss what and how perspective-mixing can support intrateam collaboration for shared empathic understandings.

Sustaining learning study: perspectives of the curriculum leaders

PurposeThe aim of this study is to illuminate the perceptions of the essential factors for sustaining Learning Study of the curriculum leaders who have led Learning Study in schools over a sustained period.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted a case study research approach to explore the perspectives of the curriculum leaders regarding the sustainability of Learning Study. Data were collected through interviews, observations and document analysis. To analyse the data, thematic analysis was conducted to identify themes related to the research aim.FindingsFour themes were deemed crucial by the curriculum leaders for sustaining Learning Study: (1) integrating Learning Study into the overall development plan of the school, with milestones recognisable by all stakeholders; (2) developing a shared understanding of and patience towards the different developmental needs of stakeholders; (3) developing a sustained programme of professional development for teachers regarding variation theory of learning, which underpins Learning Study; and (4) creating an improvement culture and a safe environment for sustaining professional development. We argue that Learning Study models should be flexible that they fit various school contexts while retaining the aim of enabling learning.Originality/valueSustaining Learning Study in schools becomes a challenge if support in the form of government funding and research involvement from tertiary institutions is withdrawn. This study is the first to voice the opinions of school curriculum leaders regarding this complex issue, who play a key role in initiating, implementing and sustaining Learning Study.

System effects mapping: a tool for promoting collaborative community ecological action

Across Indigenous scholarship and environmental sciences there is a growing recognition that community and stakeholder partnerships must underpin and guide the co-production of knowledge to better resolve the complex socio-political issues responsible for the production, and ultimately the mitigation, of pollution. This article reports work that aimed to support shared understanding within community stakeholder partners as part of two larger environmental science projects to understand and reduce pollution within an urban waterway. Utilizing participatory action research, transdisciplinary and translational ecology approaches, the research used System Effects Mapping to visualize a networked understanding of people’s connections to, and valuing of, their local water ways. This led to discussions on ways that community stakeholders felt they could act to improve the environmental conditions, taking into account how actions may interact. While actions identified were not necessarily novel, the approach supported shared understanding between researchers and community stakeholders and shared investment in the knowledge produced. Systems Effects Mapping was a useful method, with the social network output allowing for deeper exploration of transdisciplinary systems change.

Speaker Eyebrow Raises in the Transition Space

In this article, we examine a distinctive multimodal phenomenon: a participant, gazing at a recipient, raising both eyebrows upon the completion of their own turn at talk – that is, in the transition space between turns at talk (Sacks, Schegloff and Jefferson, 1974). We find that speakers deploy eyebrow raises in two related but distinct practices. In the first, the eyebrows are raised and held as the speaker presses the recipient to respond to a disaffiliative action (e.g. a challenge); in the second, the eyebrows are raised and quickly released in a so-called eyebrow flash as the speaker invites a response to an affiliative action (e.g. a joke). The former practice is essentially combative, the latter collusive. Although the two practices differ in their durational properties and in the kinds of actions that they serve, they also have something in common: they invoke a shared knowledge or understanding between speaker and recipient.

Co-Leading Class with Students: Shared responsibility and understanding

Providing opportunities for students to lead and shape class, alongside an instructor, takes into account the unique cultures, needs, and experiences of each student. A co-leading model was used during a blended Instructional Technology course and findings revealed that this model was engaging and gave students an opportunity to share their own experience. Student reflections also indicated some challenges, such as group collaboration and technical issues.

Ethical preparedness in genomic medicine: how NHS clinical scientists navigate ethical issues

Much has been published about the ethical issues encountered by clinicians in genetics/genomics, but those experienced by clinical laboratory scientists are less well described. Clinical laboratory scientists now frequently face...

Minding the gap: towards a shared clinical reasoning lexicon across the pre-clerkship/clerkship transition

ABSTRACT Teaching and learning of clinical reasoning are core principles of medical education. However, little guidance exists for faculty leaders to navigate curricular transitions between pre-clerkship and clerkship curricular phases. This study compares how educational leaders in these two phases understand clinical reasoning instruction. Previously reported cross-sectional surveys of pre-clerkship clinical skills course directors, and clerkship leaders were compared. Comparisons focused on perceived importance of a number of core clinical reasoning concepts, barriers to clinical reasoning instruction, level of familiarity across the undergraduate medical curriculum, and inclusion of clinical reasoning instruction in each area of the curriculum. Analyses were performed using the Mann Whitney U test. Both sets of leaders rated lack of curricular time as the largest barrier to teaching clinical reasoning. Clerkship leaders also noted a lack of faculty with skills to teach clinical reasoning concepts as a significant barrier (p < 0.02), while pre-clerkship leaders were more likely to perceive that these concepts were too advanced for their students (p < 0.001). Pre-clerkship leaders reported a higher level of familiarity with the clerkship curriculum than clerkship leaders reported of the pre-clerkship curriculum (p < 0.001). As faculty transition students from the pre-clerkship to the clerkship phase, a shared understanding of what is taught and when, accompanied by successful faculty development, may aid the development of longitudinal, milestone-based clinical reasoning instruction.

What is (quantitative) system dynamics modeling? Defining characteristics and the opportunities they create

AbstractA clear definition of system dynamics modeling can provide shared understanding and clarify the impact of the field. We introduce a set of characteristics that define quantitative system dynamics, selected to capture core philosophy, describe theoretical and practical principles, and apply to historical work but be flexible enough to remain relevant as the field progresses. The defining characteristics are: (1) models are based on causal feedback structure, (2) accumulations and delays are foundational, (3) models are equation‐based, (4) concept of time is continuous, and (5) analysis focuses on feedback dynamics. We discuss the implications of these principles and use them to identify research opportunities in which the system dynamics field can advance. These research opportunities include causality, disaggregation, data science and AI, and contributing to scientific advancement. Progress in these areas has the potential to improve both the science and practice of system dynamics. © 2024 The Authors. System Dynamics Review published by John Wiley &amp; Sons Ltd on behalf of System Dynamics Society.

‘I’m pretty sure we did every idea’: teachers’ experiences with external coaches and their relation to transformative learning

ABSTRACT In this interview study, the authors examined the process of coaching in the context of a year-long professional development initiative designed to support teachers’ expertise in implementing culturally and linguistically responsive practices. Using transformative learning as a theoretical and analytical frame, they investigated 20 teachers’ experiences with external coaches and identified relational and resource aspects of coaching that supported or hindered teachers’ growth. In addition, data analysis showed how collaborative coaching relationships were related to teachers’ movement through the phases of transformative learning. This study has implications for how external coaches work with teachers as part of professional learning and illustrates the importance of rooting the coach–teacher relationship in a shared understanding of teachers’ context and lived experiences.