Institutional Work Research Articles

Results of research work on forming the readiness of future bachelors of physical culture and sports to provide pre-medical care

The article is devoted to the problem of forming the readiness of future bachelor’s of physical culture and sports to provide pre-medical care in the conditions of the educational process of a higher education institution. Readiness to provide pre-medical care is presented as a professional quality that ensures the compliance of future bachelor’s of physical culture and sports with the requirements of professional activity in situations of injuries and emergencies in athletes and consumers of physical culture and sports services. Based on the analysis of scientific sources, it has been proven that the issue of preparing future bachelor’s of physical culture and sports to provide pre-medical care is insufficiently developed. On this basis, a conclusion was made about the expediency of conducting a scientific study aimed at checking the effectiveness of innovative approaches and means of teaching students of the specialty 017 "Physical culture and sports" actions in situations of injuries and emergencies in the course of professional activity. The research work on checking the effectiveness of innovative methodological developments in training students to provide pre-medical assistance in professional activities is described. In particular, this characteristic is: dependent and independent variables; experimental and control samples; research design; methods of data collection, including a knowledge test, situational tasks, simulation tasks for providing pre-medical assistance in typical situations of sports activities). The results of research work in experimental and control institutions of higher education are highlighted. Cross-tabulation of data and histograms of their distribution, results of data comparison according to the Mann- Whitney test are presented. On the basis of the interpretation of the results of the research work, a conclusion was formulated about the effectiveness of the author's methodical studies in the context of the formation of the readiness of future bachelors of physical culture and sports to provide pre-medical care.

Get organized? Creating an organizational context for civil society activities in urban sustainability transitions

The paper addresses tensions in organizing civil society activities in urban sustainability transitions. It argues that these activities need focus to be impactful while also demanding flexibility to remain adaptive. The latter can hardly be achieved by individual organizations alone but requires closer examination of the ecology of organizations in which civil society actors operate. This paper contributes to the literature on the governance of urban sustainability by systematically analyzing this organizational context and its long-term dynamics. Adopting a neo-institutional lens, the paper scrutinizes civil society activities with the ‘institutional work’ approach and sheds light on how the organizational context enables changes therein. The longitudinal case study of the Local Agenda 21 in Augsburg reveals, via a mixed-method approach, how civil society actors navigate tensions by altering their organizational context. Increasing its diversity and complexity in a bottom-up process allowed them to engage in more transformative work.

Harmony in Dispute: The Role of Anywaa's Traditional Institutions in Conflict Resolution

This paper explores the traditional institutions and conflict resolution mechanisms among the Anywaa community, shedding light on their intricate structures and practices. The Anywaa people, located in Ethiopia and South Sudan, have developed indigenous governance systems centered on institutions such as Nyieya (nobleship), Kwaaro (headmanship), and the spiritual leadership of Nyibur, along with family councils. These institutions play vital roles in maintaining social order and resolving conflicts within the community. The study elucidates the processes of conflict resolution, involving mediation by various officials and councils within the traditional governance system. Whether dealing with inter-village disputes, intra-village conflicts, or homicide cases, the Anywaa employ a combination of customary practices and indigenous knowledge to address conflicts effectively. The involvement of neutral parties underscores the community's commitment to fair and just resolution processes. Furthermore, the research highlights the significance of compensation and purification rituals in restoring harmony and reconciliation within the community. Through restitution and traditional ceremonies, the Anywaa aim to mend relationships and reintegrate offenders back into society, emphasizing the importance of forgiveness and community cohesion. Overall, the findings contribute to a deeper understanding of indigenous governance systems and their relevance in contemporary society. By documenting the intricate workings of traditional institutions and conflict resolution practices among the Anywaa people, the research underscores the importance of preserving and respecting indigenous knowledge for sustainable peace and social cohesion in diverse cultural contexts.

Creative futures for cultural heritage: a typology of creative practice in the GLAM sector – towards a creative heritage approach

ABSTRACT This article seeks to develop a non-prescriptive typology of creative practice and its role in GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) institutions through an examination of published research. Highlighting key issues and perspectives on integration and intent in each approach it examines practice through five categories: (1) demonstration; (2) programmed performance; (3) historically informed creativity and performance; (4) institutional preservation of creativity; and, (5) creative heritage. The first four categories subsume creativity as reproduction, in the pursuit of claims to originality or use GLAM spaces as a simple stage or backdrop. Creative heritage, on the other hand, is characterised by the use of creativity as an integrated practice that intentionally produces integrated and authentic outcomes allied to the repertoire and work of GLAM institutions. We conclude with suggestions about how creative innovation offers opportunities for institutions to meet and enhance strategic priorities and overcome challenges to sustainability relative to a wider cultural economy.

Navigating Cross-Cultural Challenges: A Phenomenological Study on Strategies for International Faculty in Higher Education to Support Local Students

Dealing with local challenges and providing effective support for students as an international faculty member can be both challenging and rewarding. This phenomenological study delved into the intricate dynamics of cross-cultural encounters within higher education settings, focusing on the experiences of international faculty in supporting local students. Using semi-structured focus group meetings, the researchers explored how their lived experiences as full‐time international faculty working in institutions of higher learning in the United States could be applied in providing support for students. This process required intricate navigation to acquire some level of cultural understanding of the local culture and traditions and build relationships with native faculty, staff, and students. The study was based on firsthand experiences of how the authors, international scholars from various parts of the world, navigated through these hurdles to become effective educators. The researchers constructed generalizations, noting that the institutions whose policies include embracing cultural diversity, fostering inclusivity, and providing targeted support are better positioned to enable their international faculty members to address local challenges and empower students to succeed effectively.

Ensuring quality higher education in Ukraine in times of war

This study focuses on exploring the issue of ensuring quality higher education in the conditions of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It synthesizes and analyzes literature sources, legal documents, secondary data, original (survey) data, and the author’s experiences with enhancing the quality of higher education. Using analysis of the legal documents, such as the National Doctrine of the Development of Education, the Law of Ukraine ‘On education’, and the Law of Ukraine ‘On higher education’, I study the legal framework for Ukrainian higher education. Using secondary data obtained from online sources, I find irrefutable evidence of mass destruction from Russian military aggression on educational institutions of Ukraine and the educational process in general, and specific initiatives from the Ukrainian state, Ukrainian universities, and international institutions to support the Ukrainian higher education system in wartime conditions. Using original data collected through surveys, I present first-hand information on the processes of changes in higher education in Ukraine under the conditions of Russia’s ongoing military aggression and the issue of ensuring quality higher education through the prism of the experience of students at the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv. Using the author’s personal teaching experience in the implementation of joint global classrooms, I analyze the possibilities of developed partnerships for motivating students and ensuring quality higher education in the conditions of war. Based on the analysis and synthesis of secondary data, I identify the main responses of the higher education system of Ukraine which enable it to maintain the quality of higher education as the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals during the war, namely (i) improvement and wider implementation of an online education system; (ii) organization of work of higher education institutions relocated from the occupied territories to territories controlled by Ukraine; (iii) support of international institutions; and (iv) partnership programmes with partner universities. The analysis of the results of the survey of students highlighted that the top priority of a Ukrainian university during wartime should be the safety of all participants in the educational and research process and high-quality education, and the most serious problems that create obstacles to ensuring the quality of education are the distressed psychological states of the participants in the educational process and organizational issues in the conditions of military aggression. By analyzing the experience of the implementation of joint global classrooms format, I also highlight that this format can be an effective additional measure in motivating students and ensuring the quality of higher education in the difficult conditions of war, and a developed partnership plays a crucial role in its implementation.

Institutional Work in Global Supply Chains: Insights from Agri-Food Supply Chains

Institutional Work in Global Supply Chains: Insights from Agri-Food Supply Chains

Institutional Work and the Creation of New Organizational Forms in Contested Fields

Institutional Work and the Creation of New Organizational Forms in Contested Fields

Exploring Performativity in Institutional Work: Towards a Strong Process Framework

Exploring Performativity in Institutional Work: Towards a Strong Process Framework

From Assimilation to Inclusion: The Role of Institutional Work

From Assimilation to Inclusion: The Role of Institutional Work

‘National Interest’ Rhetoric in Defensive Institutional Work

‘National Interest’ Rhetoric in Defensive Institutional Work

Sticking Together to Remain Unique: Institutional Work Practices for Cooperation Resilience

Sticking Together to Remain Unique: Institutional Work Practices for Cooperation Resilience

Saving Bees: Understanding Cross-Field Institutional Work of Swiss Beekeepers

Saving Bees: Understanding Cross-Field Institutional Work of Swiss Beekeepers

Institutional Coadaptation Work: How Refugees and Provisioning Institutions Coadapt in Pursuit of Consumption Adequacy

Prior research on refugee migration documents the acculturation processes through which refugees adapt to the cultural context of the host society. In this research, the authors complement the insights from prior research by uncovering how the host society's provisioning institutions coadapt in response to the consumption adequacy needs of refugees. To understand these coadaptation practices, they gather qualitative data from low-income Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who were repatriated to India in the face of violent ethnic conflict. The data aid in theorizing the concept of institutional coadaptation work, defined as the dyadic coadaptation of refugees and a host society's provisioning institutions, to serve the consumption adequacy needs of refugees. This coadaptation perspective envisages change as a collective process in which agency is distributed among multiple actors in society. More specifically, this research provides focused policy recommendations explaining how the government, market, and community can work collaboratively to address consumption adequacy needs of refugees.

Reimagining energy infrastructure for justice: Power, politics, and institutional work in India’s 2.05 GW Pavagada solar park

India has positioned itself as a leader in transitioning its energy sector to renewable sources, with ambitious targets and policies in place. Large-scale grid-integrated renewable energy plants have been identified as the most efficient option. Scholarly arguments differ regarding the impacts of renewables-led transitions, with some emphasizing positive environmental, economic, and social outcomes, while others highlight the potential for reinforcing asymmetrical power relations and unjust outcomes. Viewing the energy transition as a socio-technical process, we utilize a recent conceptualisation of the relationship between institutional work and infrastructures to analyze the unfolding power dynamics and its influence on socially just outcomes. Theoretically, we draw on the ‘Triple-Re’ framework, which distinguishes three interrelated domains of institutional work in socio-technical transitions: reimagining, recoding, and reconfiguring of infrastructures. Through a process tracing approach, we study the planning and realization of India's Pavagada Solar Park to understand the interactions among actors, institutions, policies, and material contexts at various spatial and temporal scales. Field observations, interviews, and archival research reveal how discursive dynamics and the recoding of rules and policies have facilitated land and resource mobilization, resulting in changes to ownership models, local infrastructure, land use, ecosystems, and occupational structures. We argue that recognizing and understanding these outcomes are crucial for achieving socially just outcomes in the context of renewable energy infrastructure.

An Examination of Social Work Interventions for Female Survivors of Sexual Abuse: Example of Türkiye

This study explores the life experiences of young women in northwest Türkiye, who were subjected to childhood sexual abuse. It considers the social services provided during their time in institutional care and their subsequent life experiences. The research adopts a holistic approach, encompassing the young women’s childhood experiences, the disclosure of abuse, the care received from statuary services, and the post-care challenges based on their narratives. The key research questions are: "How do institutional social work interventions affect the long-term recovery of young women who experienced childhood sexual abuse?" and "How effective is institutional care in preparing these women for life thereafter?" Employing a qualitative research methodology, semi-structured interviews were carried out with 12 women to retrospectively analyze their life experiences through the life history method. Furthermore, focus group discussions were conducted with social workers and representatives from non-governmental organizations. The findings emphasize that although institutional care caters to the immediate needs of children, it inadequately supports their development into well-adjusted adults capable of informed decision-making across different life contexts. Consequently, this deficiency leads to new and persisting challenges in family relationships, housing, partner choice, marriage, and motherhood, exacerbating the trauma resulting from sexual abuse. Results suggest a need to restructure social services in the field of child protection system in Türkiye to better address the long-term effects of trauma of child sexual abuse. Further research should assess the interventions for families of these children’s in care, to identify and meet specific needs, thereby enhancing intervention strategies.

Assessment of the level of herd immunity to measles virus, chickenpox and hepatitis B among medical workers in an infectious diseases hospital

Herd immunity is formed through vaccination in a certain group of people, the purpose of which is to prevent infection and spread of infectious diseases. Thanks to vaccination, the incidence of some infections has decreased several times, especially among risk groups. We consider medical personnel who are in constant contact with patients of various diseases to be one of the risk groups. The study analyzed data from 250 employees of an anti-tuberculosis dispensary, among whom the proportion of women was 86.0 %. The mean age was 51 ± 7.8 years. Among those surveyed, the share of doctors was 16.4 %, paramedical personnel — 37.2 %, junior medical personnel — 24.0 %, general non-medical personnel — 22.4 %. A selection was made from medical documentation on vaccination of dispensary employees (sanitary records, extracts from outpatient cards, vaccination certificates). The data was entered into the database, analysis was carried out using licensed software version Statistica 13. The purpose of our study was to study collective immunity against measles, chickenpox and viral hepatitis B among employees of an anti-tuberculosis hospital. All employees were found to have high titers of post-vaccination immunity to measles (3.1±4.1 IU/ml) and chickenpox (9.1±0.8 mIU/ml). Post-vaccination immunity to hepatitis B differed among those examined. 18.1 % of employees did not have postvaccination protective antibodies. In 16.4 %, the level of anti-HBsAg was low, which made it possible to immediately formulate and carry out revaccination against viral hepatitis B among these employees. In the majority of medical personnel, the titer of anti-HBs was sufficient. Preventive measures and high-quality work of epidemiologists are an extremely important link in the work of all medical institutions. Where the infection spreads spontaneously, where human will does not interfere, the level and collective susceptibility of the population are the main limiting factors of the epidemic process.

Measuring Quality Work-Life of Teachers in Higher institutions – An Indian Perspective

The research paper attempts to reveal the work-life balance among faculty working in educational institutions around rural Bengaluru. It also examines the factors affecting their work and personal life during their life span. The present study will bring new insights and their relationship between these factors and quality of work life (QWL). The variables taken for the study are organization support, job enrichment, job satisfaction, work domain, stress and work life. An exploratory and descriptive research design technique is adopted—the primary data collected through a structured questionnaire using Google forms. A five-point Likert-scale is used to measure the QWL variables. Among the five dimension of QWL, it is evident from the results that organizational support (R square value 0.67) is highly associated with QWL followed by Work condition (R2 = 0.58). Through this study, the management can identify the variables that influence the QWL and try to overcome the issues, leading to employee performance, job satisfaction, retaining, and reduction in overhead. The main purpose of the study is to measure the Quality of Work Life of teachers of private institutions located at Bengaluru Rural region. Also, we analysed the Quality of Work Life across various variables among teaching employees of the private colleges/universities.

Principles of an economic sociology of innovation

AbstractAlthough innovation is a core element of capitalist dynamics, it turns out that, to date, there is no coherent Economic Sociology of innovation, leaving the discipline oblivious to explaining fundamental economic dynamics. Nor has the enormous importance of novelty and innovation in current societal transitions evoked a corresponding research program in Economic Sociology, meaning that Economic Sociology struggles to grasp contemporary societal change. The article reviews the rather disparate diversity of approaches that could speak to a remedy, stepwise assembling and integrating them to establish the principles of an Economic Sociology approach to innovation. First, resonating with ‘embeddedness’ as the core paradigm of Economic Sociology, it spells out the embeddedness of innovation processes in social institutions. Next, it reviews innovation in relation to the diversity of normative, cultural‐cognitive, regulative, and relational institutions, carving out the relevance of the combination of institutions in ‘fields.’ It then determines ‘valuation’ as the overarching mechanism of how institutional frameworks interact with innovation processes. Eventually, discussing ‘institutional work’ as a major property of institutional frameworks, it raises awareness for the mechanisms of the ‘co‐evolution’ of institutions and innovations.

Shaping the future of work: how labour market intermediaries (LMIs) use institutional work to transition to triadic, project-based employment relationships

PurposeThis paper identifies how the operations of labour market intermediaries (LMIs) transform dyadic employment relationships into triadic ones. It reveals the change dynamics that LMIs engage in to bring about this transformation and that contribute to the projectification of work.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on an institutional-work lens and using interview data from both TempX, a German-based staffing service provider, and its client organizations, the analytical framework details the dynamics by which LMIs appropriate various HR tasks and different labour-market-organizing roles and thus create these triadic employment relationships.FindingsTempX assumes a powerful position between its client organizations and workers by increasingly taking over HR tasks from its client organizations, alternating between profiting from market transactions and engaging as a buyer and seller of labour. This powerful position, gradually created through four distinct, sequential, institutional work dynamics, allows it to transform dyadic employment relationships into triadic ones and to promote project-based work.Originality/valueBy showing how LMIs capitalize on the multiple services they offer, and how they use these services to establish a powerful position in both the labour market and in their relations with client organizations, this paper contributes to research on how LMIs change their institutional environment. Second, by showing that LMIs switch between different labour-market organizing roles and HR tasks, this paper reveals how essential this switching is for LMIs to establish triadic employment relationships and to drive the projectification of work, and thus it also contributes to research on LMIs’ role in the projectification of work.