Making Phenomenology Accessible to a Wider Audience

2002 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steen Halling

AbstractPhenomenological research is of great value to clinicians, policy makers, and ordinary persons because of its distinctive emphasis on making human behavior and experience intelligible with reference to the point of view of the actor. Unfortunately, the phenomenological tradition is not readily accessible to readers who are unfamiliar with it. This article discusses specific ways that researchers within this tradition can reach more of the readers who might benefit from their findings without compromising the integrity of their scholarship.

2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-100
Author(s):  
Yashwant Kumar Vaid ◽  
Vikram Singh ◽  
Monika Sethi

Finance plays a key role in the growth of developed as well as developing nations. A financially well included society leads to stronger growth. Financial inclusion aims at providing easy and affordable access to financial products and services. The main concern for any developing nation from a growth point of view is advancement of low-income rural population just as much as the high-income population. Taking a note of this, identifying the key determinants that would lead to successful financial inclusion of low-income rural population is equally, if not more, important. The inclusion strategies have to be built around these determinants to promote inclusion and thus, a clear picture of these determinants is a must have for strategy and policy makers. Though the factors may be somewhat similar across the nation, but their significance and impact on financial inclusion varies greatly from one geographical area to other. In line with this, the purpose of this study is to identify the dimensions of successful financial inclusion in the low-income rural segments with special reference to Raipur, Chhattisgarh. The study uses factor analysis to identify the determinants and path analysis to analyse the significance of these factors in financial inclusion.


Author(s):  
E. Kharitonova

The article focuses on the task of measuring and evaluating a state's soft power. While the soft power concept developed by Joseph Nye is currently widely accepted and used, its theoretical understanding and practical application remains challenging. Both international relations scholars and those responsible for soft power in governmental and non-state agencies are looking for the tools to assess their work and the country's standing in the world in terms of soft power. As the author of the concept and other researchers noted, evaluation and measurement may be difficult due to the number of influencing factors including the use of hard power that can overshadow soft power efforts, and also because soft power efforts can bring results only in a distant period of time. However, in response to the researchers' and policy makers' need to evaluate, measure and compare soft power related parameters, a number of international ratings evolved during the past several years, such as various ratings of soft power, nation brands, countries' reputation and presence. At the same time, such rankings have several weaknesses. First of all, they present mainly the western point of view which focuses on the parameters important for western audiences and may overlook characteristics important for other, non-western cultures. They also may be subjective due to financial reasons. Besides that, while some of the ratings aim to evaluate resources or assets of nations' soft power, other focus on results like influence or reputation. Evaluation of instruments used to enhance a country's soft power and their effectiveness is also important. In many cases, even significant resources of soft power do not guarantee strong positions in this context. Comparing certain countries' positions in different ratings helps to understand a country's standing in terms of soft power, identify strong sides and analyze whether a state's soft power potential transforms into the desired outcomes.


Author(s):  
Kong Qingjiang

China is upgrading its bilateral investment treaties (BITs), and in the meantime embracing free trade agreements (FTAs), which can be accommodated to offer international investment rules (IIRs). A specific question in this regard will be: shall the investment issues be left to the upgraded BIT or proposed FTA? Given the trend that the investment rules embodied in the FTAs are increasingly intended to replace BITs between contracting states, this question, which poses a preliminary issue to the trade policy-makers of China and its partners, must be addressed from the public policy choice point of view. The paper argues for a sequencing of bilateral investment rule-making and proposes that unless the proposed FTA with investment rules is to leave policy space for the government, the BIT shall be given a due role to play in the course of economic integration between China and its partners.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ercan Özen

The concept of trust is considered as a psychological and sociological phenomenon. Numerous theories have been developed to achieve economic development and to increase the level of welfare. The theories have not always revealed the expected results due to ignoring human behavior. Behavioral models addressing human behavior have gained importance in recent years. Thus, it was seen that emotions and thoughts were effective in creating different economic decisions. One of the factors affecting decisions is also trust. The aim of the study is to clarify the effects of the concept of trust on socio-economic life with different perspectives. When the literature is examined; There are concepts such as (i) social trust and (ii) economic trust. These concepts are related closely with some topics such as marketing and business, finance and economics. Some positive results are expected from the climate of trust. (i) With the establishment of appropriate communication between individuals, some social problems and their costs are reduced. (ii) The development of business-customer relations is beneficial for both sides. (iii) With the positive relations between fund providers and fund seekers in financial markets, financial institutions work more effectively and the markets grow. (iv) Financial growth also triggers economic growth and development. (v) Economic trust, as a measure of future assessments, increases economic activities. The study collectively evaluates the effect of the concept of trust in different areas. The findings show what kind of legal arrangements should be made by policy makers in different areas in order to increase the trust of people.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 44
Author(s):  
Badr Almalki ◽  
Adel Zakaria ◽  
Mansour A. Balkhyour ◽  
Ijaz Ahmad

Systematic management of occupational safety and health (OSH) issues requires attention in many aspects like regulatory, technical, organizational and managerial. Approaching OSH from an organizational culture perspective can also facilitate achieving sustainable improvements in organizational OSH performance. OSH culture helps in seeing and organizing safety from different perspectives and should not be reduced to a matter of culture only. The knowledge, information and data gathered is expected to be very useful in the process of improving OSH-related procedures, practices and policies, eventually leading to enhanced OSH performance. This paper attempts to describe a cultural approach towards understanding organizational OSH. It will help the readers, professionals, authorities, and policy makers in understanding OSH from a cultural point of view, and how to assess this OSH culture as part of the of organizational improvement process. The aim is to disseminate latest information on this complex topic, trying to build a bridge between practice and research. The scientific literature shows these two terms, safety climate and safety culture, are often interchangeable, but they are distinct but related concepts. The word "safety culture" is a complex and persistent feature reflecting fundamental assumptions, expectations, norms and values, which are also represented by societal culture while "safety climate" best pronounces attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions of employees classically measured by surveys and observations. Safety culture measurement requires detailed investigation of how members in an organization interact to form a shared view of safety. This paper explores the ideas of an organization’s safety climate and culture for the purpose of determining which is more advantageous for accurately describing a "state of safety”. Preliminary results of a case study from a water and power project from Saudi Arabia has been added. 


1986 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick Stoutland

AbstractThe reasons-causes debate concerns whether explanations of human behavior in terms of an agent's reasons presuppose causal laws. This paper considers three approaches to this debate: the covering law model which holds that there are causal laws covering both reasons and behavior, the intentionalist approach which denies any role to causal laws, and Donald Davidson’s point of view which denies that causal laws connect reasons and behavior, but holds that reasons and behavior must be covered by physical laws if reasons explanations are to be valid. I defend the intentionalist approach against the two causalist approaches and conclude with reflections on the significance of the debate for the social sciences.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marija Mitrovic ◽  
Igor Tomasevic ◽  
Ilija Djekic

Purpose:This research shows how the perception of quality differs through the table egg chain and highlights the main quality characteristics for each studied chain participant (farm, retail, consumer).Design/methodology/approach:Observing the change in perception starts from the farm, through retail to the end consumer using the customer–supplier interaction, while looking back from the consumer to the farm, the application of the quality function deployment (QFD) was used. The study included 30 farms, 50 retail stores, 1,000 customers and 300 households.Findings:The farm–retail comparison highlights the type of production as the dominant factor affecting egg quality for both of these participants, followed by hen diet and the type of laying hen hybrid from the farmer's point of view, while retail focuses on packaging and egg damage. Egg quality aspects from the retail–household perspective emphasize the shell appearance and the origin of the eggs, while shelf life and egg class are equally important characteristics for both participants. The application of the QFD throughout the entire egg chain emphasizes quality vs price as the most important characteristic.Originality/value:This study could serve to food policy makers as an introduction to further research and production orientation in relation to the set of quality requirements associated with the egg supply chain.


Author(s):  
Dzaharudin Mansor ◽  
Dzaharudin Mansor ◽  
Mohd. Rosmadi Mokhtar ◽  
Azlina Azman

This chapter provides insights into interoperability from the point of view of delivering government services. It shows that today, technology and the industry have progressed to such an extent that the technical barriers to interoperability can be overcome in many ways. The real challenge is to address business interoperability that involves the interplay of technical, architectural, strategic, organizational, policy, and legal dimensions. This, in turn, has influenced the evolution of government interoperability frameworks, where some governments have incorporated Enterprise Architecture approaches. Today, new socio-economic challenges require policy makers to rethink their approaches in ways that will enable them to constantly improve and evolve citizen-centric services powered by an ICT-enabled Connected Transformational Government.


2019 ◽  
pp. 480-499
Author(s):  
Syed Abidur Rahman ◽  
Noor Hazlina Ahmad ◽  
Seyedeh Khadijeh Taghizadeh

Entrepreneurship has been deliberated as multidimensional and multidisciplinary study. From the economic point of view entrepreneurship is the central force for economic development for any nation. Scholars and policy makers now have started to see entrepreneurship as panacea for inclusive growth. Entrepreneurships are most widely popular and discussed area. Study on small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) has been maturing for the last decade as it has been regarded as significant player for the social development along with the economic development. In Bangladesh, SMEs account for a large proportion of the total establishments in various sectors. Considering the importance of the SME sector in Bangladesh, this study intends to explore and sketch-out the landscape of current SME setting in Bangladesh. With this aim the study has extensively carried out literature review, observed and understood the secondary data obtained from various organizations, and finally presented a policy driven recommendation (micro and macro level) which would enable to develop the SME sector in a developing country like Bangladesh.


Author(s):  
Rob White

This chapter examines the consequences of climate change from the point of view of disasters and their consequences for specific interest and population groups. A key focus is the social intersections that become apparent in such events. For example, the climatic and weather events that form the backdrop to present conflicts in places such as Syria are discussed, as are the gendered vulnerabilities evident in disaster situations such as cyclones and tsunami. Social conflicts stemming from climate change are then elaborated as a more general and increasingly likely scenario. In response to real and perceived threats and risk linked to climate change, issues of security are already generating angst among policy-makers and military planners. Indeed, the securitisation of natural resources, to the detriment of others, is emerging as an important climate-related issue, especially in regard to food, water, land, and air quality.


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