scholarly journals Co-production and the third sector: A comparative study of England and France

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlin McMullin
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Third Sector ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Institutional Logics ◽  
Production Theory ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
The Third ◽  
Documentary Analysis

This thesis explores co-production between citizens and third sector professionals in England and France. I focus on five community regeneration organisations in Sheffield, England, and five in Lyon, France, followed by an analysis of comparator organisations in two further sectors of activity – parents’ organisations, and projects to reduce older people’s loneliness. The research is based on 57 semi-structured interviews, as well as event observations and documentary analysis. I employ an analytical framework of institutional logics to explore the ways in which the rules, practices and narratives of the case study organisations are specific to their city and national contexts and how these in turn drive and shape co-production practices.The study finds that while the Sheffield organisations are characterised by an assimilation of the state, community and market logics, the Lyon organisations demonstrate a blend of a ‘Napoleonic state’ logic, and a ‘local solidarity’ (rather than community) logic. These different combinations of logics illuminate two approaches to co-production. In France, co-production is informed by notions of citizenship, solidarity and participative democracy, leading to a greater focus on citizen involvement in organisational governance and greater influence of rules as an enabler and constraint to co-production. In Sheffield, co-production is seen as a way to improve communities, services and outcomes, and we therefore see more pragmatic attention to co-design and co-delivery activities. This thesis provides an important contribution both to co-production theory as well as to policy and practice, by demonstrating some of the cultural and contextual subjectivity of co- production, which has been overlooked in previous studies. In addition, employing institutional theory to study co-production enables me to produce evidence of meso and macro level factors that influence co-production behaviour.

scholarly journals Resilient resistance? The third sector in the London Borough of Newham at a time of ‘post-racial’ politics

2020 ◽  
pp. 026101831989817
Author(s):  
Lindsey Garratt ◽  
Bridget Byrne ◽  
Bethan Harries ◽  
Andrew Smith
Keyword(s):  
Racial Politics ◽  
Third Sector ◽  
Symbolic Power ◽  
London Borough ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
The Third ◽  
Local Populations ◽  
Documentary Analysis ◽  
The Third Sector

This article engages with the shift towards an emphasis on ‘resilience’ in local government discourses. Using the London Borough of Newham as a case study, it will argue that contradictory definitions of the term have, until recently, been used to justify the erosion of the third sector in the borough, specifically groups who support religious and linguistic minorities. Interviews and documentary analysis are used to consider how the concept of resilience had a racializing effect in this borough, and we argue that as a facet of policy resilience risks treating plurality as a threat rather than a strength. This is highlighted through an examination of how the third sector was characterised as retarding individuals’ resilience and promoting ‘ethno-centrism’ in official resilience discourse. We offer three distinctive insights on the problem of resilience as a feature of policy, firstly, that resilience has a symbolic power that makes it difficult to securitize; secondly, resilience discourses risk instituting racism within policy; and thirdly, that resilience is built against collective forms of resistance and is therefore incapable of harnessing the resources and capacities of local populations. To conclude, we discuss the evolving political situation in the borough and the demise of the administration promoting resilience, through collective forms of resistance.

scholarly journals Developing an analytical framework for understanding the emergence of de‑professionalisation in health, social care and education sectors

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nigel Malin
Keyword(s):  
Social Care ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Job Insecurity ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Professional Status ◽  
Junior Doctors ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Professional Control ◽  
Specialist Knowledge

This article aims to develop an analytical framework for understanding the context in which a process of de-professionalisation exists within an employment culture dominated by capitalism, globalisation and inequality. It specifically focuses upon experiences arising in health, social care and education sectors typifying that found within the British Welfare State during late modernity. Different theoretical definitions are presented to introduce an argument for a multi-dimensional approach. For example de-professionalisation may cover the removal from professional control, influence, manipulation or a destabilisation of a conventional mode of professionalisation and professional ties. Alternatively it may embody causation to appear unprofessional; or to discredit or deprive of professional status; also privately may be experienced as a weakening of status, respect or tendency away from a position of strength or equal status and be associated with measures for lessening the need for specialist knowledge and expertise. This analysis is based on a review of recent policy and practice evidence to support the notion that de-professionalisation may be defined through a lens of ‘cuts to services’ and job insecurity. It includes a case study covering the strike by NHS junior doctors which it is argued has had an impact on the image of ‘doctors as professionals’, resulting in a potential loss of public trust. De-professionalisation may be defined by financial cuts to staff training and through critiquing models of current training; or by a lowering of morale, a demoralisation or pervasive denigration of the workforce. Lastly this process may be considered as an outcome of low productivity in the workplace where a rise in low-skilled jobs becomes blamed for static wages. Increases in productivity come about as a result of deploying better raw materials, better trained or educated labour or better machines. Ordinary workers seem to have enjoyed few of the benefits of economic growth. Keywords: ideological roots of de-professionalisation; neo-liberalism, Taylorism/Post-Fordism; health, social care and education providers; service cutbacks; reductions in training; workforce morale and productivity

Unpacking the Resource Curse and Realism Challenges on Economic Development in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

2022 ◽  
pp. 318-336
Author(s):  
Germain Miteu Tshinu
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Resource Curse ◽  
Mineral Resources ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Access To Education ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Third

The third theme of the book seeks to understand the role of mineral resources in the African continent's socio-economic development. The case study of the DRC is used to understand the role played by the state-owned mining company Gecamines to socio-economic conditions of employees and the country's development at large. Resource curse and realism theories are utilised in this case study to unpack the role of mineral resources to Gecamines employees' access to education and healthcare in particular and to the entire country in general. The chapter employed a case study design with a qualitative approach research in its endeavour of exploring Gecamines' socio-economic contribution to its employees. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with Gecamines' managers, unskilled mine workers, and the Provincial Department of Mines' officers.

Transmitting competencies at universities in Kazakhstan: intellectual capital of teachers

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gulbakhyt Sultanova ◽  
Serik Svyatov ◽  
Nurzhan Ussenbayev
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Capital ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Optimal Level ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Documentary Analysis ◽  
Minimisation Problem

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to measure individual intellectual capital (IC) of academic staff as well as to test its impact on the employability readiness of future graduates and the reduction of the discrepancy between competencies developed and grades obtained with the help of two indicators, i.e. intellectual capital indicator (ICI) and employability readiness indicator (ERI). While ICI measures the level of a teacher’s competencies to be transmitted in the education process, ERI measures the level of a student’s competencies developed after completing relevant courses. Design/methodology/approach This is an empirical research carried out in the form of a case study. Regression model is applied to find the influence of ICI on ERI. The minimisation problem is set with relevant constraints to decrease the discrepancy between ERI and traditional grade point average (GPA). Findings The data were collected at one Kazakh university and from experts from academia and industry by means of documentary analysis, specialised tests and structured interviews. The direct impact of ICI on ERI is confirmed and the optimal level of ICI that permits an effective decrease in the discrepancy between ERI and GPA is identified. Research limitations/implications A longitudinal study covering more programmes is necessary to draw conclusions concerning causality. The application of ICI as a university’s management tool is shown. Originality/value The novelty of this study lies in providing a consistent and simple approach for calculating a teacher’s IC and its impact on a student’s employability readiness.

scholarly journals Uncovering Recovery: The Resistible Rise of Recovery and Resilience

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Harper ◽  
Ewen Speed
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Emotional Distress ◽  
Identity Politics ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Mental Health Policy ◽  
Third Sector ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Deficit Model ◽  
Documentary Analysis ◽  
Health Service Providers

Discourses of recovery and resilience have risen to positions of dominance in the mental health field. Models of recovery and resilience enjoy purchase, in both policy and practice, across a range of settings from self-described psychiatric survivors through to mental health charities through to statutory mental health service providers. Despite this ubiquity, there is confusion about what recovery means. In this article we problematize notions of recovery and resilience, and consider what, if anything, should be recovered from these concepts. We focus on three key issues, i) individualization, ii) the persistence of a deficit model, and iii) collective approaches to recovery. Through documentary analysis we consider these issues across third sector organizations, and public and mental health policy. Firstly, definitional debates about recovery reflect wider ideological debates about the nature of mental health. The vagueness of these concepts and implicit assumptions inherent in dominant recovery and resilience discourses render them problematic because they individualize what are social problems. Secondly, these discourses, despite being seen as inherently liberatory are conceptually dependent on a notion of deficit in that talk of “positives” and “strengths” requires the existence of “negatives” and “weaknesses” for these concepts to make sense.  We argue that this does little to substantially transform dominant understandings of psychological distress. Thirdly, these issues combine to impact upon the progressive potential of recovery. It comes to be seen as an individualistic experiential narrative accompaniment to medical understandings where the structural causes of distress are obscured. This in turn impacts upon the potential for recovery to be used to explore more collective, political aspects of emotional distress. Drawing on the work of Fraser, we use this critique to characterize “recovery” as a “struggle for recognition,” founded on a model of identity politics which displaces and marginalizes the need for social, political and economic redistribution to address many of the underlying causes of emotional distress. We conclude by stating that it is only when the collective, structural experiences of inequality and injustice are explicitly linked to processes of emotional distress that recovery will be possible. 

scholarly journals Tag analysis as a tool for investigating information behaviour: comparing fan-tagging on Tumblr, Archive of Our Own and Etsy

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ludi Price ◽  
Lyn Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Information Behaviour ◽  
The Third ◽  
Fan Communities

PurposeThis article describes the third part of a three-stage study investigating the information behaviour of fans and fan communities, the first stage of which is described in the study by Price and Robinson (2017).Design/methodology/approachUsing tag analysis as a method, a comparative case study was undertaken to explore three aspects of fan information behaviour: information gatekeeping; classifying and tagging and entrepreneurship and economic activity. The case studies took place on three sites used by fans–Tumblr, Archive of Our Own (AO3) and Etsy. Supplementary semi-structured interviews with site users were used to augment the findings with qualitative data.FindingsThese showed that fans used tags in a variety of ways quite apart from classification purposes. These included tags being used on Tumblr as meta-commentary and a means of dialogue between users, as well as expressors of emotion and affect towards posts. On AO3 in particular, fans had developed a practice called “tag wrangling” to mitigate the inherent “messiness” of tagging. Evidence was also found of a “hybrid market economy” on Etsy fan stores. From the study findings, a taxonomy of fan-related tags was developed.Research limitations/implicationsFindings are limited to the tagging practices on only three sites used by fans during Spring 2016, and further research on other similar sites are recommended. Longitudinal studies of these sites would be beneficial in understanding how or whether tagging practices change over time. Testing of the fan-tag taxonomy developed in this paper is also recommended.Originality/valueThis research develops a method for using tag analysis to describe information behaviour. It also develops a fan-tag taxonomy, which may be used in future research on the tagging practices of fans, which heretofore have been a little-studied section of serious leisure information users.

scholarly journals Calculative measures of organising and decision-making in developing countries: the case of a quasi-formal organisation in Ghana

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Agyemang ◽  
Kelum Jayasinghe ◽  
Pawan Adhikari ◽  
Abongeh Tunyi ◽  
Simon Carmel
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Documentary Analysis ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Traditional Setting

PurposeThis paper examines how a “quasi-formal” organisation in a developing country engages in informal means of organising and decision-making through the use of calculative measures.Design/methodology/approachThe paper presents a case study of a large-scale indigenous manufacturing company in Ghana. Data for the study were collected through the use of semi-structured interviews conducted both onsite and off-site, supplemented by informal conversations and documentary analysis. Weber's notions of rationalities and traditionalism informed the analysis.FindingsThe paper advances knowledge about the practical day-to-day organisation of resources and the associated substantive rational calculative measures used for decision-making in quasi-formal organisations operating in a traditional setting. Instead of formal rational organisational mechanisms such as hierarchical organisational structures, production planning, labour controls and budgetary practices, the organisational mechanisms are found to be shaped by institutional and structural conditions which result from historical, sociocultural and traditional practices of Ghanaian society. These contextual substantive rational calculative measures consist of the native lineage system of inheritance, chieftaincy, trust and the power concealed within historically established sociocultural practices.Originality/valueThis paper is one of a few studies providing evidence of how local and traditional social practices contribute to shaping organising and decision-making activities in indigenous “quasi-formal” organisations. The paper extends our understanding of the nexus between “technical rational” calculative measures and the traditional culture and social practices prevailing in sub-Saharan Africa in general, and Ghana in particular.

scholarly journals PRINCIPAL'S ACTIONS THROUGH DISTRIBUTED LEADERSHIP DIMENSIONS: A CASE STUDY OF TWO PUBLIC SPANISH SCHOOLS

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-110
Author(s):  
Ingrid del Valle García
Keyword(s):  
Research Design ◽  
Distributed Leadership ◽  
Change Processes ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
Documentary Analysis ◽  
Management Functions ◽  
Leadership Dimensions

Experience has shown that the attitude of the person assuming the management functions in the school is a key and decisive element in the quality of the change processes in the school. Of these ideas is born, the concept of distributed leadership (DL). The research design is a case study. The main objective is to understand the four dimensions of DL and the actions of the Principal through representative cases of two schools. The techniques used to collect information were documentary analysis, questionnaires, in-depth semi-structured interviews, and observation. An analysis of the data and conclusions are provided.

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