Dynamics of Intra-Party Organisation in the Digital Age: A Grassroots Analysis of Digital Adoption

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharine Dommett ◽  
Luke Temple ◽  
Patrick Seyd
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Digital Age ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
Digital Tools ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Party Organisation ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Insight Into

Abstract Over recent decades, scholars have explored political parties’ adoption of digital technology. Tracing successive eras of change, scholarship has examined the degree to which digital disrupts or embeds traditional power structures—with many studies finding evidence of ‘controlled-interactivity’. In this article, we revisit debates around the adoption of digital tools from a bottom-up perspective. Moving beyond attempts to categorise elite strategies for digital adoption, we consider practices on the ground to document how, in practice, digital technology is being taken up and used. Using a case study of the UK Labour Party, we categorise a range of different practices, highlighting and theorising the presence of digital adherents, laggards, entrepreneurs, renegades and refuseniks. Discussing the drivers of these practices, we offer new insight into variations in digital adoption and consider the significance of these trends for our understanding of party organisation.

scholarly journals A Case Study of a Negotiated Tender within a Small-to-Medium Construction Contractor: Modelling Project Cost Variance

Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 260
Author(s):  
James Ellis ◽  
David John Edwards ◽  
Wellington Didibhuku Thwala ◽  
Obuks Ejohwomu ◽  
Ernest Effah Ameyaw ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Review Literature ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Open Book ◽  
Competitive Tendering ◽  
Construction Contractor ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Insight Into

This research explores the failure of competitively tendered projects in the UK construction industry to procure the most suited contractor(s) to conduct the works. Such work may have equal relevance for other developed nations globally. This research seeks to teach clients and their representatives that “lowest price” does not mean “best value”, by presenting a case study of a successfully negotiated tender undertaken by a small-to-medium enterprise (SME) contractor; SME studies are relatively scant in academic literature. By applying the “lessons learnt” principle, this study seeks to improve future practice through the development of a novel alternative procurement option (i.e., negotiation). A mixed philosophical stance combining interpretivism and pragmatism was used—interpretivism to critically review literature in order to form the basis of inductive research to discuss negotiation as a viable procurement route, and pragmatism to analyse perceptions of tendering and procurement. The methods used follow a three-stage waterfall process including: (1) literature review and pilot study; (2) quantitative analysis of case study data; and (3) qualitative data collection via a focus group. Our research underscores the need to advise clients and their representatives of the importance of understanding the scope of works allowed within a tender submission before discounting it based solely on price. In addition, we highlight the failings of competitive tendering, which results in increased costs and project duration once the works commence on site. These findings provide new contemporary insight into procurement and tendering in the construction industry, with emphasis on SME contractors, existing relationships, and open-book negotiation. This research illustrates the adverse effects of early cost estimates produced without first securing a true understanding of project buildability and programming. Our work concludes with a novel insight into an alternative procurement option that involves early SME contractor involvement in an open-book environment, without the need for a third-party cost control.

Agricultural Multifunctionality and Care Farming: Insight from the UK

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-86
Author(s):  
Paul Custance ◽  
Keith Walley ◽  
Gaynor Tate ◽  
Goksel Armagan
Keyword(s):  
Learning Material ◽  
Multifunctional Agriculture ◽  
Economic Support ◽  
International Audience ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Generic Points ◽  
Care Farming ◽  
Compare And Contrast ◽  
Insight Into

The purpose of the article is to provide insight into care farming and the role that it may play in agriltural multifunctionality. The paper outlines three case studies of care farming in the UK to compare and contrast the roles that such organizations may play in multifunctional agriculture. Although the work has the obvious limitation of being based on case-study care farms that are based in the UK, the findings are sufficiently generic to serve as valuable learning material for those interested in the subject and located anywhere in the world. The main finding from this study is that care farming can take many different forms but still contribute to agricultural multifunctionality. The study also confirms the important roles that economic support and favourable legislation play in successful care farming. The paper concludes that care farming is a legitimate form of agricultural multifunctionality but reminds those interested in setting up or promoting care farms of the need for a supportive economic and legislative environment. The paper provides contemporary insight into the concept of care farming as a form of agricultural multifunctionality. A number of generic points are made that should be of value to an international audience of academics researching in this area as well as students studying care farming and agricultural multifunctionality, farmers considering diversifying into care farming and politicians working to create a political and economic environment that may support care farms.

Image in the Making

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Thomson-Jones
Keyword(s):  
Digital Technology ◽  
Digital Age ◽  
Digital Art ◽  
Digital Tools ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Video Installation ◽  
Art Form ◽  
Fundamental Distinction ◽  
Net Art ◽  
Do So

Human beings have always made images, and to do so they have developed and refined an enormous range of artistic tools and materials. With the development of digital technology, the ways of making images—whether they are still or moving, 2D or 3D—have evolved at an unprecedented rate. At every stage of image making, artists now face a choice between using analog and using digital tools. Yet a digital image need not look digital; and likewise, a handmade image or traditional photograph need not look analog. If we do not see the artist’s choice between the analog and the digital, what difference can this choice make for our appreciation of images in the digital age? Image in the Making answers this question by accounting for the fundamental distinction between the analog and the digital; by explicating the technological realization of this distinction in image-making practice; and by exploring the creative possibilities that are distinctive of the digital. The case is made for a new kind of appreciation in the digital age. In appreciating the images involved in every digital art form—from digital video installation to net art to digital cinema—there is a basic truth that we cannot ignore: the nature and technology of the digital expands both what an image can be as an image and what an image can be for us.

6. The party system

UK Politics ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 121-143
Author(s):  
Andrew Blick
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Party System ◽  
Conservative Party ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
The Political ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
System P ◽  
Political Approach ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Uk

This chapter switches the focus to political parties. It looks at their individual roles and how they operate. The chapter discusses the parties that constitute the ‘party system’. It considers the two main parties operating at the UK level: the Conservative Party and the Labour Party. It also looks at the smaller parties, such as the Liberal Democrats. The chapter considers the political approach of the various parties and the type of support they attract. It also looks at how parties are funded. The chapter provides a number of theoretical perspectives to help with an analysis of political parties. These are: the extent to which parties pursue values or power; the respective roles of their members and leaders; groupings within parties; how far the UK has a two-party system or whether our definition of the party system should be revised; and the relationships between the various parities. The chapter then gives examples of how these ideas play out with specific focus on recent events involving the Conversative and Labour parties. The chapter asks: do members have too much influence over their parties? The chapter ends by asking: where are we now?

Digital media as a driver of change in political organisation: 2010 and 2015 UK general elections

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 1343-1359
Author(s):  
Anthony Ridge-Newman
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Organisational Change ◽  
Conservative Party ◽  
General Elections ◽  
Run Up ◽  
The Impact

In Britain, by 2015, Web 2.0 had become a more widely accepted and established mode of civic engagement of which political e-participation became an observable extension. However, in the run-up to 2010, social media were newer, less understood and largely associated with younger generations. These changes present questions about how wider technocultural developments impacted political engagement between the 2010 and 2015 UK general elections. This article aims to go some way in examining this question with a theoretical focus on the role of Facebook as a driver of change in political organisation. Using the British Conservative Party as a case study, the article analyses and compares events, observations and shifting power relations associated with digital technology and organisational change observed over two election cycles spanning from 2005 to 2015. A focal aim is to examine changes in Conservative Party campaigns and organisation in order to contribute to wider debates about the impact of digital technology in changing the organisation and activities of actors, like political parties and political participants, in democratic contexts. The article concludes that a complex combination of internal and external, technological and human, and grassroots and centralised factors played roles in changing the Conservative Party.

Women in Rebellion

2018 ◽  
pp. 488-500
Author(s):  
Zoe Marks
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Leone ◽  
The Political ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
Political Entrepreneurship ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Intimate Partnerships ◽  
Experiences Of Women ◽  
Insight Into

A key objective for the women, peace, and security agenda going forward is to disaggregate the experiences of women as a group, and to understand how gender functions in conflict contexts. This chapter focuses on the diverse roles of female combatants in rebel groups to gain insight into how power is distributed, not only between men and women, or combatants and civilians, but within groups. Rebel groups are characterized by military and political apparatuses that are built side by side and often entangled. Organizational power structures are often dominated by men, but not exclusively so. Using interviews and archival data from the Sierra Leone Civil War case study, this chapter delivers an analysis of women’s experiences in rebel movements. It explores the individual trajectories of mobilization and victimization in Sierra Leone. Next, it examines the unique experiences of female combatants, before situating them in the broader political context. Finally, the chapter considers cases of sexual violence, intimate partnerships, conflict among women, and the political entrepreneurship of elite women to understand female participation in rebellion in its entirety.

A case study and interview with Jill McDonald CEO and President of McDonald's Northern Europe Division

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abby Ghobadian ◽  
Nicholas O’Regan
Keyword(s):  
Chief Executive ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Strategic Decision ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
Continuous Change ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Global Organization ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Insight Into

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how strategy is developed and implemented within a subsidiary of a global organization, the relationship between subsidiary and headquarters and the need for continuous change and adaption to remain relevant. Furthermore, this case study describes a successful process of invention and adoption. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on documentary evidence and a semi-structured interview with Jill McDonald CEO and President of McDonald's Northern Europe Division with responsibility for the UK, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and the Republic of Ireland. Management research rarely captures the views of the top executive, yet the top executives have a broad picture and are key strategic decision makers. Findings – The case study and interview offers a unique insight into factors contributing to McDonald's unprecedented success (it has paid an increased dividend for the past 37 years). It also sheds light on its successful internationalization strategy. Originality/value – The case study draws on published material and augments this with an in-depth interview with the Chief Executive. Very few case studies offer insight into the thinking of a Chief Executive managing a subsidiary of a global organization. Its value lies in the lessons that managers and students of management can draw on the approach adopted by a highly successful global organization.

Improvisation in Dance and the Movement of Everyday Life

2019 ◽  
pp. 52-64
Author(s):  
Libby Worth
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Development ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
The Us ◽  
Dance Improvisation ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Insight Into

Dance improvisation, as developed in the UK and the US in particular, has become associated with a number of tropes that apparently offer means of best practice. By attending to a few of these, I examine how they might offer insight into dance improvisation. This incorporates research into ways in which improvisation is a part of everyday life, as demonstrated most clearly in examples of infant movement and cognitive development. Taking Henry Montes and Marcus Coates’s dance film A Question of Movement as a case study example, I consider how their innovative way of dancing responses to life questions connects with the infant’s reliance on ‘thinking in movement’, a term offered by Maxine Sheets-Johnstone. Finally, I consider what dancers can learn from people living with chronic dementia-related diseases who forge ways to live in a perpetual present and, conversely, what insight dancers might offer through integration of dance improvisatory processes in caregiving.

A practical guide to e-journal and e-book supply – a UK perspective

2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Kluzek
Keyword(s):  
Journal Articles ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Document Delivery ◽  
King's College ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Library Professionals

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on current interlending and document delivery of e-books and e-journals in the UK and analyse the challenges encountered in such practices, using the experiences at King's College London as an example. Design/methodology/approach – The author uses a case study approach. Findings – Most UK libraries and higher education institutions negotiate the usage terms for their e-resources through Jisc's NESLI2 model license agreement. While the terms of this agreement work relatively well for document delivery of e-journal articles, allowing for secure electronic document transmission under prescribed circumstances, the interlending of e-books remains problematic. Research limitations/implications – The paper provides insight into how UK document supply services can better use electronic holdings to offset the costs of requesting. It discusses the dilemma of e-books and potential solutions. Practical implications – This will enable UK library professionals to better use e-resources in a legally compliant way for the purpose of document delivery. It will explain to non-UK library professionals how supplying from e-resources works in the UK. Originality/value – The paper provides insight into how UK document supply services can better use electronic holdings to offset the costs of requesting. It discusses the dilemma of e-books and potential solutions.

scholarly journals Developing your own graduate employees

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 378-383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Antcliff ◽  
Sue Baines ◽  
Elizabeth Gorb
Keyword(s):  
Early Stage ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Bachelor's Degree ◽  
Content Type ◽  
University Support ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University ◽  
Ongoing Dialogue ◽  
Insight Into

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to offer an employer perspective on the value of degree apprenticeships (DAs) less than a year after the first apprentices commenced their studies for a bachelor’s degree in September 2015. Design/methodology/approach This case focusses on one of the first DAs in the UK. It draws on evidence from interviews with HR professionals responsible for the DA in two contrasting companies, an international PLC and a smaller, fast growing enterprise. Findings Both employers consider that the DA meets recruitment needs in ways that other options do not. They particularly value the ability of apprentices to make an immediate contribution in the workplace. For the smaller employer the university support structures are a significant advantage. Only the larger employer formally input into the curriculum prior to validation but both feel they can tailor content to suit their needs. Both see investing in the DA as excellent value for money. Practical implications The value of strong relationships, trust and ongoing dialogue between partners emerges as a key component in fulfilling the need of employers. Originality/value The DA model recasts employers as the purchasers of higher education and affords them a key role in developing provision tailored to their needs. Implications of this new model for employers, universities and learners are potentially profound and hard to predict. This case study is based on part of the early stage of a three-year research programme. It provides a unique, early insight into two employers’ rationales for engaging with the DA programme and their initial experiences.

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