Antenarrative and managerial practice

An antenarrative approach to organizational communication acknowledges the fragmented, collective, situated, and performative nature of organizational stories and storytelling. Adopting an antenarrative approach to managerial practice focuses our attention on the ways individuals manage the multi‐voiced nonlinear character of organizfitional life. Antenarrative theory and its significance for managerial practice is overviewed followed by an explication of how an organizational consultancy firm has developed systemic story making as a core practice for managing the multiple, often conflicting stories comprising organizational experience. Systemic story making raises significant issues regarding how antenarrative theory may consider the relationships among stories, inquiry, and change.     

Land degradation,government subsidy,and smallholders’ conservation decision: the case of the loess plateau in China

Land degradation is one of the severe environmental problems in China. In order to combat land degradation, a soil conservation program was introduced since 2000 to reduce soil erosion by converting slope-cultivated land into forestry and pasture. This paper represents the first systematic attempt to investigate the impact of the soil conservation program on land degradation in the loess plateau. The results indicate that the soil conservation program to convert slope fields into forest or pasture is an effective way to combat soil erosion. However, a subsidy that is higher than profit of land use activity of slope fields before their conversion into forest and pasture is needed to encourage farmers to join the conservation program. A policy measure to encourage and assist farmers to develop sedentary livestock by using crops produced from fields as well as fodder and forage grass from the converted slope fields might contribute to combat soil erosion. Increase in off-farm job opportunities may encourage households to reduce cultivation in slope fields. That implies a policy measure to encourage rural urbanization might contribute to combat soil erosion.     

The long-term athlete development model: physiological evidence and application

Within the UK, the "Long Term Athlete Development" (LTAD) model has been proposed by a variety of national governing bodies to offer a first step to considering the approach to talent development. The model, which is primarily a physiological perspective, presents an advancement of understanding of developing athletic potential alongside biological growth. It focuses on training to optimize performance longitudinally, and considers sensitive developmental periods known as "windows of opportunity". However, it appears that there are a number of problems with this theoretical model that are not necessarily transparent to coaches. Principally, the model is only one-dimensional, there is a lack of empirical evidence upon which the model is based, and interpretations of the model are restricted because the data on which it is based rely on questionable assumptions and erroneous methodologies. Fundamentally, this is a generic model rather than an individualized plan for athletes. It is crucial that the LTAD model is seen as a "work in progress" and the challenge, particularly for paediatric exercise scientists, is to question, test, and revise the model. It is unlikely that this can be accomplished using classical experimental research methodology but this should not deter practitioners from acquiring valid and reliable evidence.     

To be genuine in artificial circumstances: evaluating the theatre analogy for understanding teachers’ workplace and work

This paper provides teachers and teacher educators with food for thought by developing a broad, contemporary re-evaluation of the often-used analogy between teaching and the theatre. It does so by synthesizing insights from scholarly works in education with insights from writing about theatre, including both historical work and published interviews with practicing stage actors. This approach throws into relief particular ways in which teaching does and does not resemble acting as described by its present-day practitioners. A key parallel is observed between the central challenges faced by teachers and actors: acting requires being truthful in imaginary circumstances, while teaching requires being genuine in artificial circumstances. Using work on bildung, the nature of this challenge is examined, and a call is made to help teachers and students better appreciate the intimate, reciprocal and shared nature of good teaching – a challenge in a culture where corporate interests aggressively promote personalized and “anytime, anywhere” learning. The paper also addresses the phenomenon of massive online courses, which enthusiasts like to believe teach themselves. This idea, I suggest, is as absurd as the notion that a great theatre building could obviate the need for a strong cast. .     

Reactivity without legitimacy? Online consumer reviews in the restaurant industry

In recent years, web sites where individual consumers can rate and review goods and services have mushroomed all over the Internet. Restaurants are particularly affected by online reviewing. If the impact of online consumer reviews (OCRs) on the demand side of markets is now well understood and measured, few studies examine the reception of this new evaluation method by those who are assessed. Based on interviews with French restaurant managers, our research shows that OCRs systems reconfigure relations of accountability in the restaurant industry. We use the notion of reactivity to describe the mechanisms through which the new evaluation system transforms the activity of restaurants. We also examine the affects surrounding the reception of ratings and reviews by restaurant managers and the moral criteria that accompany their discourses on online reviews. Many restaurants consider online reviews as a brutal and hypocritical mode of judgment. The judgment produced by online ratings and reviews is not easily borne by restaurant managers, because it challenges the conventions of quality they had previously internalized as legitimate, that is, those produced by professional experts. We interpret this ambivalent reception as the unfinished movement of transforming a performative reputation device into a legitimate evaluation institution.     

Talent,Schmalent: An Instructional Design/Action Research Framework for the Professionalization of Teaching in Academic Libraries

When myths become canonical beliefs within a professional culture, they can have a profound impact on professional practice. In this paper we identify as a pernicious educational myth the belief that the ability to teach well is a naturally occurring innate talent or skill. The first two sections of the paper aim to demonstrate (i) that the concept of the naturally gifted teacher is a myth based on factually incorrect assumptions about expertise development and (ii) that this myth has several major negative implications for professional practices around teaching in academic libraries. We then we draw on the education literature to offer an alternative model for the cultivation of teaching excellence, an instructional design/action research framework that prioritizes ‘deliberative’ practice over innate talent. We close with suggestions for how academic librarians and library administrators can implement this framework within their institutions.     

Deciding to provide a 'reader' in examinations for the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE): questions about validity and 'inclusion'

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) was designed as an 'inclusive' qualification, access to which has been supported by providing a 'reader' to some candidates during examinations. A candidate reading age criterion of ten years has been employed by the GCSE awarding bodies to determine eligibility for this provision. In this paper, Kevin Woods, a member of the Educational Support and Inclusion Research and Teaching Group in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manchester, examines the rationale and evidence for adopting this criterion and describes an investigation of the reading needs of a cross-sectional sample of 38 GCSE examination candidates in trial examinations. The investigation found a low level of candidate need for a reader, with candidate reading age and self-prediction being unreliable indicators of this need. Kevin Woods highlights the implications for the assessment process used to determine eligibility for a reader in GCSE examinations and pays particular attention to the feasibility and validity of including all students as eligible.     

Student attitudes toward science-technology-society resulting from visitation to a science-technology museum

Are student attitudes toward science-technology-society (TSS) affected by visitation to science-technology museums? The purpose of this study was to determine whether such visitations affected student STS attitudes, and in what ways particular factors of the visitation impacted these attitudes. Factors examined included prior classroom experience with STS, instructional methodology employed by teachers, grade level, socioeconomic status, school type (public or private), and gender. The subjects involved in the study were 194 Kansas students in grades 6-8, and their 13 classroom teachers. Data were collected via a pretest-posttest control group design by using study-specific questionnaires and the Moore-Sutman Scientific Attitudes Inventory. Results indicated that significant differences in attitudes were present between visiting and nonvisiting students and between grade levels. No significant differences were found between other factors. One possible conclusion is that sound pedagogy should be used prior to and during museum visitations as well as in the classroom.