Recycling Stories: Mantras, Communication, and Organizational Materialization

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boris H. J. M. Brummans ◽  
Jennie M. Hwang ◽  
Pauline Hope Cheong

Religious non-governmental organizations (RNGOs) are becoming powerful organizational actors, but how are these organizations enacted through the communicative practices of their members? To address this question, this article offers a conceptual framework for investigating how the terse retelling of an inspirational organizational story, encapsulated in a mantra, contributes to materializing a Buddhist NGO’s ethos and worldview. The value of this framework is subsequently demonstrated through an in-depth naturalistic case study of a mantra’s constitutive force in the enactment of a large international Buddhist NGO that is increasingly focused on environmental protection. By showing how a mantra acts as a textualization, substantiation, and invocation device in mass, social media, and face-to-face communication, this study makes important contributions to the literature on the intersection between religion and organization as well as the communicative constitution of organizations.

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Robyn Gulliver ◽  
Kelly S. Fielding ◽  
Winnifred Louis

Climate change is a global problem requiring a collective response. Grassroots advocacy has been an important element in propelling this collective response, often through the mechanism of campaigns. However, it is not clear whether the climate change campaigns organized by the environmental advocacy groups are successful in achieving their goals, nor the degree to which other benefits may accrue to groups who run them. To investigate this further, we report a case study of the Australian climate change advocacy sector. Three methods were used to gather data to inform this case study: content analysis of climate change organizations’ websites, analysis of website text relating to campaign outcomes, and interviews with climate change campaigners. Findings demonstrate that climate change advocacy is diverse and achieving substantial successes such as the development of climate change-related legislation and divestment commitments from a range of organizations. The data also highlights additional benefits of campaigning such as gaining access to political power and increasing groups’ financial and volunteer resources. The successful outcomes of campaigns were influenced by the ability of groups to sustain strong personal support networks, use skills and resources available across the wider environmental advocacy network, and form consensus around shared strategic values. Communicating the successes of climate change advocacy could help mobilize collective action to address climate change. As such, this case study of the Australian climate change movement is relevant for both academics focusing on social movements and collective action and advocacy-focused practitioners, philanthropists, and non-governmental organizations.


2021 ◽  
pp. 146144482110357
Author(s):  
Sarit Navon ◽  
Chaim Noy

This article offers a conceptual framework of Facebook’s sub-platforms: Profiles, Groups, and Pages. We demonstrate the crucially different affordances that these sub-platforms possess, and the various resulting social practices and dynamics that they enable. With mourning and memorialization as a case study, our findings point at emergent practices ranging along a personal-to-public spectrum of communicative functions and media uses: Profiles offer a personal quality, albeit differently for the bereaved’s Profile and the deceased’s Profile; Groups possess a hybrid nature, combining self-expression alongside public aspects, reviving thus premodern bereaved communities; and Pages possess a distinctly public quality, serving as online memorialization centers where the deceased becomes an icon and a resource for mobilizing broad social change. This comparative and integrated approach may be applied productively to other contexts and other social media (sub-)platforms.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 372-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Aboramadan

Purpose From one year to another, more researchers join in the ever-growing field of interest of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Nevertheless, the literature on NGOs management is not as rich as what has been developed for private companies and bodies in the business world. The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework for managing NGOs effectively. Design/methodology/approach Reviewing the literature on NGOs management from different areas, the paper proposes a conceptual framework. Findings The paper provides a conceptual framework on how different management functions are involved in a mutual framework for managing NGOs. Research limitations/implications The author needs to empirically test the suggested framework using qualitative and qualitative techniques. Originality/value The author’s perspective on NGOs management is a subject of great interest for different NGOs stakeholders including: donors, communities, volunteers, managers and policy-makers.


Revista Trace ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 111
Author(s):  
Cristina Amescua Chávez

En este artículo se analizará el tema de la violencia como causa y consecuencia del secuestro virtual buscando integrar sus dimensiones tanto individuales o personales, como familiares y colectivas. Desde una perspectiva social se dará cuenta de las diversas interacciones entre los factores que se entrelazan en este nuevo fenómeno. La violencia será entendida aquí como un ciclo continuo que se reproduce a sí mismo en forma de espiral. Para el análisis se utilizarán datos cuantitativos recabados tanto en instancias gubernamentales como a través de organismos de la sociedad civil, así como información cualitativa proporcionada por un estudio de caso de un secuestro virtual.Abstract: This article analyzes violence both as a cause and as a consequence of virtual kidnapping seeking to integrate individual and collective dimensions. From a social perspective, visibility will be given to the several interactions present in this new phenomenon. Violence will be understood as a continuous cycle reproducing itself constantly but in a spiral form. The analysis will draw from quantitative data collected among official sources as well as non governmental organizations, but it will also include a qualitative perspective build a case study of a specific virtual kidnapping.Résumé : Cet article analyse la violence comme cause et effet du kidnapping virtuel, en prenant en compte ses dimensions individuelles et collectives. Dans une perspective sociale, nous examinons les diverses interactions et facteurs en jeu dans ce nouveau phénomène. La violence est ici comprise comme un cycle continu qui se reproduit luimême sous la forme d’une spirale ascendante. L’analyse part de données quantitatives provenant aussi bien d’institutions gouvernementales que d’organismes de la société civile, ainsi que de données qualitatives fournies par une étude de cas d’un kidnapping virtuel.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 416
Author(s):  
Hristina Bancheva-Preslavska ◽  
Jochen Dallmer

The European Environment Agency warns that Europe consumes too many resources and causes environmental degradation all over the world. This leads to growing demands on natural systems for food, water and energy. To achieve sustainability and ecological resilience it is necessary to complement technology-focused measures with approaches addressing consumption behaviors, changing lifestyles, enhancing knowledge and education. There are environmental communication approaches stimulating responsible consumption and ecofriendly behaviors, conducted by science and educational institutions, non-governmental organizations and others. Among them, originating from Germany, are the alternative city tours, spread also in other western countries. The aim of this case study is to design and verify urban eco tours for an eastern country - Bulgaria in order to increase young people's sensitivity to sustainability through responsible consumption and to encourage them for ecofriendly alternatives of everyday goods and services. An approach for their implementation in Bulgaria is developed and proved through qualitative and quantitative analysis, involving two different groups of youth – multipliers leading the tours and teenagers taking part. The case study presents urban eco tours as an environmental protection tool, using information about environmental impact of consumption, combined with motivational activities, to change attitudes and encourage young people for ecofriendly lifestyles.  Keywords: environmental communication, education for sustainable development, eco tour, consumption, ecology


Author(s):  
Divonna M. Stebick ◽  
Mary L. Paxton

In this chapter, the researchers used an ethnographic stance to demonstrate how conversation evolved within a social media platform. They investigated the online discussions and face-to-face dialogues between teacher educators and pre-service teachers. They compared the participants’ reciprocal conversations within this case study to analyze patterns in the language used in each forum in order to identify the affordances and constraints of perceived understanding. Through this discourse analysis the authors sought to identify indicators of each participant’s metacognitive development while engaging in an online book discussion through a social media platform. Data analysis indicated that there was metacognitive growth when comparing the initial reciprocal conversations with the final conversations.


Author(s):  
Mete Yildiz ◽  
Kamil Demirhan

This chapter examines the social media use by local governments, and other policy actors (government agencies, non-governmental organizations and citizens) after the 2011 Van Earthquake in Turkey. This study is different from others examining social media use of just one policy actor after a disaster; as it compares and contrasts the performance of different policy actors with that of local governments. To this end, contents of the messages posted on selected Facebook pages after the earthquake are analyzed. The findings include examples of effective social media use for disaster relief and recovery, as well as detailed information about the nature and functioning of “multiple/parallel systems of public service/information delivery”, more than one electronic channel of communication and coordination simultaneously connecting people and organizations. The findings suggest that, if institutional arrangements conducive to collaborations are present, social media platforms can be effective means of disaster relief and recovery, especially for communication among citizens after a disaster.


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