Into the Big Wide World: Sustainable Experiential Education for the 21st Century

2009 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Higgins
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Experiential Education ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Independent Learning ◽  
Direct Experience ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Outdoor Educators ◽  
Personal Decision

This paper considers the complexity of learning and decision-making in modern society and argues that experiential education should embrace this complexity. It argues that experiential programmes should provide independent learning experiences that address the capacities of learners, the value contexts in which they learn, and that taking responsibility for actions should be an important programme focus. Furthermore, realising the limitations to learning through direct experience recognises the role of critical reflection on knowledge, understanding, and personal decision-making. To make experiential education relevant to the needs of modern society, a focus on education about and action on the big issues of the day, (e.g., global climate change) is an imperative that outdoor educators are well equipped to address. However, action requires knowledge, and therefore programmes require content. Such an approach may prove attractive to educational policy makers and represents an opportunity for experiential education to contribute meaningfully to mainstream education.

How financial systems and firm strategy impact the choice of innovation funding

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-272
Author(s):  
Jaime Sierra
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Firm Strategy ◽  
Alternative View ◽  
Illustrative Case ◽  
Strategic Decisions ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Investment Theory ◽  
Innovation Characteristics

Purpose The funding of innovation is explained by typical cost-based financial approaches. This paper breaks away from such tradition, and the purpose of this paper is to propose an alternative view where innovation funding decisions are strategic and concern interactions between actors – each with their own characteristics and strategic intentions – project features, and traits of the setting in which interactions take place. Design/methodology/approach This paper builds up an alternative framework to understand how innovation is financed by considering the interplay of innovation characteristics, the strategic reasons of project owners and funders, and the role of the matching environment and conditions. This proposal includes explanatory elements overlooked by extant theories. An illustrative case is presented to support the need for this proposal. Findings The framework proposed proves useful to better understand innovation funding cases where the traditional financial theory does not suffice. Practical implications Innovative companies may improve decision making about resource allocation to innovation; innovation funders may refine their decision-making criteria and implementation; and policy makers and practitioners need to devise better supporting strategies for innovative companies. Originality/value This proposal considers a continuum of funding options where supply/demand will match on the grounds of strategic decisions made during the interaction itself, under certain contextual conditions. Hence, it enriches the understanding of strategic decisions regarding firm capital structure and investment theory when it comes to funding innovation.

Let’s Perform and Paint! The Role of Creative Mediums in Enhancing Management Research Representation

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lakshmi Balachandran Nair ◽  
Pauline Fatien Diochon ◽  
Reka Anna Lassu ◽  
Suzanne G. Tilleman
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Management Research ◽  
Business Professionals ◽  
Missed Opportunities ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Multisensory Experience ◽  
Research Representation

The limited reach of management research results in missed opportunities to support the decision-making processes of business professionals and policy makers. To strengthen the impact of management research and overcome barriers posed by text-heavy representation, we advocate for the use of creative mediums (e.g., collage, film, poetry) to showcase the product of an inquiry, either alone or as a supplement to traditional reporting. We provide a rationale for how these mediums trigger interest, foster a multisensory experience, convey complex meaning, and spark contemporary, inclusive dialogues. Each of the four rationales is discussed by showing an example of previous use, and explaining how the respective barrier to research representation is overcome. We finally offer recommendations for how management researchers can employ creative mediums to enhance the fertility of their work.

Calculative Practices in International Environmental Governance: In (Partial) Defence of Indicators

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-321
Author(s):  
Jaye Ellis
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
International Environmental Governance ◽  
Environmental Regimes ◽  
Human World ◽  
Calculative Practices ◽  
Critical Literature

AbstractThe role of calculative practices such as goals and indicators in international environmental governance causes concern among many observers, who view them as promoting a reductivist approach to the non-human world and privileging economic understandings of environmental governance above all others. Yet they possess enormous potential to provide insights into the non-human world that could be of great benefit to governance. This article takes seriously critical perspectives of calculative practices, while exploring a weakness in much of the critical literature, namely a failure to examine assumptions about the nature of scientific knowledge and the manner in which it is, and ought to be, taken up by policy makers. I contend that both the design of environmental regimes and critical analyses of these regimes bear the marks of the influence, albeit indirect, of early 20th century views on the superiority of scientific knowledge and its unique capacity to ground decision making. I argue that a richer, more nuanced account of the co-production of ecological metrics such as goals and indicators and their potential contributions to ecosystem governance and sustainability is necessary. With such accounts, scholars and political authorities would be in a better position to address the very real pitfalls and dangers of calculative practices while not feeling compelled to forego these potentially powerful approaches.

scholarly journals Epistemic and ethical responsibility during the pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 117-125
Author(s):  
Andrea Klimková
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Moral Philosophy ◽  
Ethical Responsibility ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
Actual Content ◽  
Political Decisions

Abstract Intellectual (specialised) knowledge is omnipresent in human lives and decisions. We are constantly trying to make good and correct decisions. However, responsible decision-making is characterised by rather difficult epistemic conditions. It applies all the more during the pandemic when decisions require not only specialised knowledge in a number of disciplines, scientific consensus, and participants from different fields, but also responsibility and respect for moral principles in order to ensure that the human rights of all groups are observed. Pandemic measures are created by politicians, healthcare policy-makers, and epidemiologists. However, what is the role of ethics as a moral philosophy and experts in ethics? Experts in ethics and philosophy are carefully scrutinising political decisions. Levy and Savulescu (2020) have claimed that Ethicists and philosophers are not epistemically arrogant if they question policy responses. They played an important role in the creation of a reliable consensus. This study analyses epistemic and moral responsibility, their similarities, analogies, and differences. Are they interconnected? What is their relationship and how can they be filled with actual content during the pandemic?

scholarly journals Countries Embracing Maternal Employment Have Opened Schools Sooner after COVID-19 Lockdowns

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ansgar Hudde ◽  
Natalie Nitsche
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Maternal Employment ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Time Pressure ◽  
Gender Ideology ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
School Closure ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Policy Measures

During and after the first wave of COVID-19 lockdowns, the timing and the intensity of school reopenings have varied across countries. We show that societal gender ideology likely has affected school closure and opening policies. Societies that are more supportive of maternal employment have reopened schools significantly sooner than societies less supportive of maternal employment, relative to other opening measures and net of infection rates. Our study contributes novel evidence on the role of attitudes on policy-decision making, and unveils the presence of a potential gender ideology bias in policy-makers’ ad-hoc decision-making under time pressure. The epidemic threat remains high and questions about the operation of schools continue to be a pressing matter. Considering this bias in decision-making can improve further policy-measures during the remainder of the pandemic, and beyond.

scholarly journals PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION FROM THE STANDPOINT OF DETERMINISTIC SOCIAL SENSE (ARCHETYPAL APPROACH)

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (14) ◽  
pp. 124-131
Author(s):  
Aleksej Valentinovich Dovgan’
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Natural World ◽  
The People ◽  
Social Adaptability ◽  
Relevant Role ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Moment

The features and the role of deterministic social sense in the context of the archetypical approach are considered in the article; the specifics of the existence of the above-mentioned phenomenon in relation to public administration are presented. The nature, principles of the functioning of archetypes as a direct, pragmatic decision-making factor of the personality are represented. It is argued that archetypes are significantly different from those historically established or transformed by human characters, whose senses are not mentally inherited, but transmitted from generation to generation. The emphasis is placed on the relevance of the archetypal approach for research in the management sector in general and deterministic social sense — in particular. The author emphasizes that the archetype is a direct pragmatic factor in personal decision-making, acting as a created internal complication that ensures the course of certain socially deter mined processes in the human brain. Attention is focused on the continuity of the concepts of “sense” and “culture”: from the moment of alienation of a person from the surrounding natural world, all thoughts, created things, found and used means and methods of actions are given meanings. Thus, the decision, that is, the choice, appears to be the natural basis for an individual’s being in ontological reality, acting as a necessary precondition for structuring his administrative, legal and so on needs in modern society. Further investigation of the archetypal approach to the study of the phenomenon of deterministic social sense is seen in the study of the features of citizens’ reflection on the images and symbols created by the government in order to achieve some behavioral manifestations in the latter, allowing more deeply and clearly understand the needs of the people, and also to update the relevant role of public administration in his life. At the same time, from the standpoint of social, psychological, culturological pragmatics etc., the archetype is the primary form of sense stratified according to the types described by Jung. This differentiation of this phenomenon is natural, due to its universalism, which allows us to speak about the degree of social adaptability of the latter.

scholarly journals The Role of Vegetation on the Dynamics of Water and Fire in the Cerrado Ecosystems: Implications for Management and Conservation

Plants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 1803
Author(s):  
Carlos A. Klink ◽  
Margarete N. Sato ◽  
Giovanna G. Cordeiro ◽  
Maria Inês M. Ramos
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Environmental Conservation ◽  
Vegetation Recovery ◽  
Watershed Scale ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Management And Conservation

The Cerrado is the richest savanna and is undergoing one of the planet’s most rapid land transformations for pasture and agriculture; around 45% of the biome has been deforested. Agriculture is of strategic importance to Brazil, but it also modifies ecosystems and jeopardizes habitats and biodiversity. Well-managed agricultural lands can have a favorable impact on environmental conservation. In this paper, we reviewed our current knowledge about water ecology and fire management to show that an ecosystem services perspective can bring about a conciliation of agriculture production with conservation by supporting effective land use decision-making and the optimization of public policy. The landscape/watershed scale seems to be the most relevant for decision-making on how to achieve production and conservation results. This scale appears to be an appropriate level for engaging with stakeholders. Fire frequency and timing (season) combination are determinant of individuals’ survivorship. The combination determines vegetation recovery, and it is important to maintain high biodiversity, especially for the herbaceous layer, but it is a limitation to woody vegetation recovery. A pragmatic and conciliatory land use agenda must be based on scientific knowledge and support innovative decision-making solutions for policy-makers and stakeholders, particularly farmers and donors.

Do Children Influence Parents Purchase ? A Study on Holiday Decision

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Suchita Vishwakarma ◽  
Ranjanabh Chatterjee
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Indian Children ◽  
Demographic Differences ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Set Up

This paper attempts to understand the role of Indian children in the modern society, who despite of having undergone multiple socio-economic changes, are still trapped in the patriarchal grip. The paper tries to understand the difference in role of children owing to the cultural and demographic differences. In different cultural set up, children are perceived differently. Hence demographic characteristics of children become a basic parameter to evaluate the consumerism behavior of children. Thus this paper tries to investigate the level of influence that children have on parent’s decision making through the mode of literature review. The paper concludes that there is a difference in level of influence owing to the demographic factors, which in turn is expressed and exerted differently on parents to finally get the purchase done in their favor.

scholarly journals Understanding the Role of Values in Health Policy Decision-Making From the Perspective of Policy-Makers and Stakeholders: A Multiple-Case Embedded Study in Chile and Colombia

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcela Vélez ◽  
Michael G. Wilson ◽  
Julia Abelson ◽  
John N. Lavis ◽  
Guillermo Paraje
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Key Informants ◽  
Multiple Case

Background: Chile and Colombia are examples of Latin American countries with health systems shaped by similar values. Recently, both countries have crafted policies to regulate the participation of private for-profit insurance companies in their health systems, but through very different mechanisms. This study asks: what values are important in the decision-making processes that crafted these policies? And how and why are they used? Methods: An embedded multiple-case study design was carried out for 2 specific decisions in each country: (1) in Chile, the development of the Universal Plan of Explicit Entitlements -AUGE/GES - and mandating universal coverage of treatments for high-cost diseases; and (2) in Colombia, the declaration of health as a fundamental right and a mechanism to explicitly exclude technologies that cannot be publicly funded. We interviewed key informants involved in one or more of the decisions and/or in the policy analysis and development process that contributed to the eventual decision. The data analysis involved a constant comparative approach and thematic analysis for each case study. Results: From the 40 individuals who were invited, 28 key informants participated. A tension between 2 important values was identified for each decision (eg, solidarity vs. individualism for the AUGE/GES plan in Chile; human dignity vs. sustainability for the declaration of the right to health in Colombia). Policy-makers used values in the decisionmaking process to frame problems in meaningful ways, to guide policy development, as a pragmatic instrument to make decisions, and as a way to legitimize decisions. In Chile, values such as individualism and free choice were incorporated in decision-making because attaining private health insurance was seen as an indicator of improved personal economic status. In Colombia, human dignity was incorporated as the core value because the Constitutional Court asserted its importance in its use of judicial activism as a check on the power of the executive and legislative branches. Conclusion: There is an opportunity to open further exploration of the role of values in different health decisions, political sectors besides health, and even other jurisdictions.

A Consideration of the Role of People's Conceptions in the Australian Educational System by Reference to the Williams Report

1981 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-54
Author(s):  
Roger B. King
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Educational System ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Policy Makers

It is sometimes claimed that policy makers in the Australian educational system do not give adequate attention to the conceptions and interests underlying and involved with the numbers used in decision making. Can we find an account that maintains the bureaucratic approach while enabling people's conceptions and interests an adequate role? By outlining the theoretical framework of the Williams Report and by considering the roles of people's conceptions in the relationships between the educational system and economic growth, in changes in the educational system and in accounts for understanding and planning the educational system, it is argued that one can find such an account in the form of a peg-board model of rational social action.

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