scholarly journals Innovations from the Margins: Creating Inclusive and Equitable Academic-Community Research Collaborations

Author(s):  
Michael J. McNamara ◽  
Sara J. Cumming ◽  
Jessica Pulis

How does one build a Request for Proposals (RFP) process that allows for bottom-up participation while simultaneously being pragmatic and adept enough to manoeuvre the complexities of a multi-stakeholder environment defined by differing interests, objectives, mandates, and power dynamics? This article showcases the findings from participatory work with stakeholder groups working in the area of food security in Southern Ontario’s Halton Region. It demonstrates a process designed with the specific intent of increasing the engagement of beneficiaries and service providers in the RFP process. Finally, the article seeks to shed additional light on theory and practice of “participatory approaches” in the context of philanthropy. It is important to be realistic in not reifying participation itself in this context. In both theory and practice, this means adopting lenses and models that openly consider the complex realities, political obstacles, and trade-offs that occur when negotiating participation in this environment.RÉSUMÉCet article aborde la question suivante: comment créer un processus de demande de propositions (DP) permettant une participation ascendante tout en étant suffisamment pragmatique et suffisamment habile pour gérer les complexités d’un environnement multipartite défini par des intérêts, objectifs, mandats et dynamiques de pouvoir différents? La question est répondue en présentant les résultats d’un projet de travail participatif intégrant des intervenants travaillant dans le domaine de la sécurité alimentaire dans la région de Halton, dans le sud de l’Ontario. L’article illustre un processus conçu qui a le but spécifique d’accroître la participation des bénéficiaires et des fournisseurs de services au processus de demande de propositions. Enfin, l’article cherche à apporter une réflexion additionnelle sur la théorie et la pratique des « approches participatives » dans le contexte de la philanthropie. Il met de l’avant l’importance d’être réaliste dans ses attentes pour ne pas réifier les bienfaits de la participation dans ce contexte. En théorie et en pratique, cela signifie d’adopter des objectifs et des modèles qui tiennent compte ouvertement des réalités complexes, des obstacles politiques et des compromis qui se produisent lors de la négociation de la participation un tel environnement.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Severin ◽  
Joanna Chataway

AbstractPeer review of manuscripts is labour-intensive and time-consuming. Individual reviewers often feel themselves overburdened with the amount of reviewing they are requested to do. Aiming to explore how stakeholder groups perceive reviewing burden and what they believe to be the causes of a potential overburdening of reviewers, we conducted focus groups with early-, mid-, and senior career scholars, editors, and publishers. By means of a thematic analysis, we aimed to identify the causes of overburdening of reviewers. First, we show that, across disciplines and roles, stakeholders believed that the reviewing workload has become so enormous that the academic community is no longer able to supply the reviewing resources necessary to address its demand for peer review. Second, the reviewing workload is distributed unequally across the academic community, thereby overwhelming small groups of scholars. Third, stakeholders believed the overburdening of reviewers to be caused by (i) an increase in manuscript submissions; (ii) insufficient editorial triage; (iii) a lack of reviewing instructions; (iv) difficulties in recruiting reviewers; (v) inefficiencies in manuscript handling and (vi) a lack of institutionalisation of peer review. These themes were assumed to mutually reinforce each other and to relate to an inadequate incentive structure in academia that favours publications over peer review. In order to alleviate reviewing burden, a holistic approach is required that addresses both the increased demand for and the insufficient supply of reviewing resources.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 639-640
Author(s):  
Jyoti Savla ◽  
Karen Roberto ◽  
Aubrey Knight ◽  
Rosemary Blieszner ◽  
Brandy Renee McCann ◽  
...  

Abstract An extensive body of literature documents correlates of and barriers to health service use, yet much less is known about satisfaction with home- and community-based services for persons with dementia (PwD). Daily diary data from 122 rural caregivers (CG) of PwD (814 daily diaries) were used to assess everyday service use experiences. At the last diary interview, CG identified areas where service use expectations were and were not being met. CGs reported problems with services used on fewer than 5% of study days (e.g., service provider was delayed because of car trouble). In contrast, 82% of CG identified areas where service expectations were not being met. Their most common concerns were lack of control over service availability and lack of adequate training among service providers. Recommendations for alternative ways for capturing service use satisfaction will be offered, and implications for theory and practice will be discussed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandra M. Libunao ◽  
Reneepearl Kim P. Sales ◽  
Jaifred Christian F. Lopez ◽  
Ma. Rowena H. Alcido ◽  
Lester Sam A. Geroy ◽  
...  

Background. Social dynamics, specifically personalities, power dynamics, and emotions, have been shown to influence the methods, outputs, and quality of multi-stakeholder processes, especially the development of a national health research agenda. Objective and Methods. Using a case analysis approach utilizing related conceptual frameworks, the paper determined how personalities, power dynamics, and emotions affected the research priority-setting exercise, identified lessons learned, and recommended how to effectively manage these social dynamics in consultations. Data gathering methods were participant observation and process documentation, results of which were codified and analyzed. Results. Dominant personalities, stakeholders with power, and stakeholders that openly expressed dissatisfaction were most likely to attempt to change the methods and final outputs of the consultation, with varying level of success. Other dominant personalities used their power constructively for a smooth flow of generating and agreeing on ideas. Conclusion. In this case, social dynamics was shown to heavily influence the decision-making process, thus underlining its importance in organizing multisectoral representation. Effectively managing social dynamics may thus have to consider building trust and respect between participants, mediating discussions, reaching a mutually beneficial solution, and establishing and implementing mutually agreed house rules. The significant role of facilitators in developing a climate for truly inclusive participation must also be recognized.


2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 164-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyunju Shin ◽  
Alexander E. Ellinger ◽  
David L. Mothersbaugh ◽  
Kristy E. Reynolds

Purpose Services marketing research continues to be largely focused on firms’ reactive interactions for recovering from service failure rather than on proactive customer interactions that may prevent service failure from occurring in the first place. Building on previous studies that assess the efficacy of implementing proactive interaction in service provision contexts, the purpose of this paper is to compare the influences of proactive interaction to prevent service failure and reactive interaction to correct service failure on customer emotion and patronage behavior. Since proactive interaction for service failure prevention is a relatively underexplored and resource-intensive approach, the authors also assess the moderating influences of customer and firm-related characteristics. Design/methodology/approach The study hypotheses are tested with survey data from two scenario-based experiments conducted in a retail setting. Findings The findings reveal that customers prefer service providers that take the initiative to get to them before they have to initiate contact for themselves. The findings also identify the moderating influences of relationship quality, situational involvement, and contact person status and motive. Originality/value The research contributes to the development of service provision theory and practice by expanding on previous studies which report that proactive efforts to prepare customers for the adverse effects of service failure are favorably received. The results also shed light on moderating factors that may further inform the exploitation of resource-intensive proactive interaction for service failure prevention. An agenda is proposed to stimulate future research on proactive customer interaction to prevent service failure in service provision contexts.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-153
Author(s):  
Manuel J. De Vera ◽  
Jose Enrique R. Corpus ◽  
Donn David P. Ramos

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences gained by participants of youth leadership development (YLD) programs that introduce multi-stakeholder processes as part of its training within the last five years. Moreover, the study delves into how participants are able to apply leadership and multi-stakeholder processes in their everyday lives and in their communities. Design/methodology/approach A perception survey of 41 respondents was conducted to examine leadership concepts identified and youth leadership practices in different social reform contexts. Findings Diverse challenges in terms of multi-stakeholder mobilization were evident in youth leaders’ engagement in communities. In spite of this, the YLD programs’ emphasis on multi-stakeholder process is very much embedded in the current youth leaders’ practice. Research limitations/implications The study contributes to the conduct of YLD programs, as well as on stakeholder engagement. Moreover, it contributes to advancing public leadership theory and practice by demonstrating how it extends to youth leadership experiences. Practical implications Multiple dimensions of YLD, especially in the realm of multi-stakeholder engagement, are discussed that may contribute to YLD programs. Originality/value To the best of knowledge, the authors provide the first study that investigates the contribution of the Bridging Leadership Framework that utilizes a multi-stakeholder approach in a YLD program using empirical data.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Hauser ◽  
Annmarie Ryan

Purpose This paper aims to propose a framework to map partnerships as practiced in higher education institutions (HEIs) and trace the current mode of engagement between HEIs and their partners. This paper reflects on the alignment between current practices and what is understood in the literature as “true” partnerships. We are interested in the different modes of engagement that are labeled by the HEIs as partnerships and consider the plasticity of the term. The interest is in how the term is operationalized by HEIs and how variations in approach can be accounted for while still maintaining some stability and common understanding of the term partnership. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on extant literature in the field of cross-sector partnerships, a three-dimensional framework is proposed to map partnerships as practiced in HEIs. Furthermore, this paper draws on insights gained from the partnership stories of 13 leading principles of responsible management education (PRME) signatories to evidence examples of how this framework can help us to categorize the different types of engagement that the HEIs call partnerships. These case stories were gathered in the fall of 2019, based on a brief inquiry form sent to the 39 PRME signatories who were part of the PRME Champions Cycle 2018–2019. Findings This paper sees cases where faculty drive interaction on sustainable development goal-related issues with external stakeholders, but where the impact of these interactions seems to reside within the main business of the HEI (teaching and research). In contrast, much partnering work addresses broader social impacts. Of particular, interest in partnerships that seek to address a specific local issue, first and foremost and doing so in such a way as to apply the unique resources of the HEI working in multi-stakeholder networks. This paper also notes important variation between individual faculty-driven initiatives and initiatives where the school provides a strategic framework to support these efforts. Research limitations/implications By focusing on the academic sector and its stakeholder partnerships, this paper contributes to the literature on cross-sector partnerships. In particular, the specifics of this context and the importance of, for example, academic freedom have been under-researched in this field. Furthermore, the framework presented is novel in that it helps us to grasp the nuances of external university partnerships that can form out of individual, programmatic and other institutional levels. Practical implications From a practice perspective, the framework offers a useable tool for HEI partnership managers to position themselves and their activities and reflect more on how they organize external partnerships. Further, this tool offers a more precise framework for the discussion on partnerships within the PRME to sharpen the partnership instrument and bring more clarity about what is meant by the partnership for the goals. Originality/value The paper offers a novel partnership portfolio framework that contributes both to theory and practice. The framework aids in mapping the locus of benefits/outcomes and the material and affective commitments made by the HEI to bring these collaborations about. In dimensionalizing partnerships in this way, this paper can conceptualize a balanced portfolio in an HEI’s partnerships for the goals.


Author(s):  
Ashley M. Purpura

This chapter offers a cumulative reflective analysis of power as indicated by the Byzantines to identify authentic power with divinity, describe this divine power as paradoxical in nature, and construct hierarchy as the appropriate means of mediating and participating in true power. The four authors suggest that giving priority to divinely originated (thearchical) power—rather than providing an additional over-idealized framework of ecclesiastical administration—provides a foundation for rereading the power dynamics of Orthodox Christianity. The synthesis offered in this chapter suggests that the hierarchical discontinuities between ideology and practice are paradoxically complicated and ameliorated when hierarchy is constructed as the only means of mediating divine power. The Byzantine theologians suggest that authentic hierarchy mediates, produces, and ascribes power to its participants in a way that is believed to be uniquely communicative of, and conducive to, divine similitude. This conception of hierarchy, power, and authority poses challenges for contemporary power theorists and historians as well as theologians.


Author(s):  
Deepti Jog

Sustainability as a phrase is used differently in a number of frameworks and perspectives and is associated in a different manner by various people. The sensitivity of the sustainability paradigm is appraised due to the industry's juxtaposition to natural assets and closer association with the socio-cultural makeup at an attraction/destination. In the past studies, there is very little consideration given to understanding the stakeholder responsibilities taking into consideration all the stakeholders at an attraction/destination. However, a number of multi-stakeholder studies have supported the fact that there should be unidirectional planning of sustainable practices at an attraction/destination by all the stakeholder groups involved.


2019 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Karam ◽  
May Ghanem

Purpose The #MeToo movement against sexual harassment (SH) has sparked a sense of familiarity, and collective anger among women, highlighting it as a pervasive and common experience across the globe. The purpose of this paper is to argue that despite shared experiences and such transnational movements, the ways in which SH is actually understood and combated are likely to be different in disparate National Business Systems (NBS). Through the analysis, the authors unpack these differences by paying specific attention to the multilevel power dynamics shaping how employers and their key stakeholders understand and respond to SH in Lebanon. Design/methodology/approach Against the backdrop of the complex and inefficient Lebanese NBS, the authors adopt a cross-cultural feminist analytic framework and engage in an iterative qualitative analysis of over 208 pages of transcriptions from relevant multisector, multi-stakeholder interactive sessions. Based on the analysis, the authors propose a series of first- and second-order concepts and themes that help us to trace how power shapes local SH understandings and related efforts. Findings The findings highlight the simultaneous influence of power through geopolitical forces external to Lebanon (i.e. power over through North-centricism and othering; power to through comparative perspectives and SDG regulations), combined with local forces embedded within the specific NBS (i.e. power over through negative attitudes and NBS specificities; power to through positive business efforts and local multistakeholder mobilizing). Originality/value The findings demonstrate the importance of paying attention to the interaction between power, contextual embeddedness and geopolitical considerations in attempts to advance SH theorization.


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