Research on Non-verbal Signs of Lies and Deceit: A Blind Alley

Values of individuals, culture of groups, ethics of communities, and the resulting influential norms (i.e. VCEN) are interdependent. VCEN tend to crucially influence development and application of knowledge, skills, talents, and other resources. In the current very competitive and increasingly global economy, organizations and countries become more successful if their economic culture is innovation friendly. Economic culture reflects itself in the economic part of VCEN of nations as well, because organizations, such as enterprises, play a crucial role in a nation’s life. National resources are no longer enough, neither is investment, if it is not innovation enhancing. Thus, a new concept of economic VCEN is going to become necessary for people to find a new positive direction beyond the worrisome blind alley of the current economic crisis. The innovation of VCEN is, again, becoming more important than the technological innovation for development of countries and, indeed, for humankind. The contribution discusses two theses: (1) VCEN in organizations is importantly interdependent with the economic culture, and (2) the change of the economic culture in an organization is connected with the changes of the organizing methods and their management.

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Facing a blind alley - Experiences of stress-related exhaustion: a qualitative study

BMJ Open ◽

10.1136/bmjopen-2020-038230 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (9) ◽

pp. e038230

Author(s):

Sara Alsén ◽

Lilas Ali ◽

Inger Ekman ◽

Andreas Fors

Keyword(s):

Mental Illness ◽

Qualitative Study ◽

Sick Leave ◽

Personal Identity ◽

Healthcare Professionals ◽

Careful Consideration ◽

Blind Alley ◽

Existential Issues ◽

Frequent Reason ◽

Improve Health

IntroductionMental illness is a major concern in many countries. In Sweden, stress-related mental illness is currently the most frequent reason for sick leave.ObjectiveThis study aimed to explore patients’ experiences of stress-related exhaustion.DesignA qualitative study with interview data analysed using a phenomenological hermeneutic method.SettingParticipants were selected from public primary healthcare centres in a larger city in western Sweden.ParticipantsSeven women and five men on sick leave from work due to stress-related exhaustion were included in the study.FindingsStress-related exhaustion was experienced as a loss of access to oneself and one’s context and feelings of being trapped and lost in life. The condition had a significant impact on personal identity, raised existential issues and was interpreted as facing a blind alley. Participants described a mistaken direction in life, being forced to stop, change direction and act differently.ConclusionStress-related exhaustion is a challenging, life-changing existential experience that involves a crisis with an opportunity for new insights. Careful consideration of patients’ narratives together with the expertise of healthcare professionals can be combined to improve health and optimise recovery based on individual’s situation.

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The illusion of technique: sustained enterprise innovation as an aspirational problem

International Journal of Innovation Science ◽

10.1108/ijis-06-2017-0057 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 162-176

Author(s):

Thomas Duening

Keyword(s):

Category Mistake ◽

Blind Alley ◽

Content Type ◽

Operational Problem ◽

The Face ◽

Enterprise Innovation ◽

Increasing Demand ◽

Research Frameworks ◽

The Impact ◽

Category Mistakes

Purpose This paper is based on insights from philosophy of science, centered in Gilbert Ryle’s notion of “category mistakes”. A category mistake occurs in a science when scholars have been thinking of a phenomenon as of a certain sort, when it is really nothing of the kind. This paper aims to claim that regarding sustained enterprise innovation (SEI) as a strictly operational problem commits such a category mistake. Instead, SEI is an aspirational problem and thus requires scholars to examine it from that perspective as well. Design/methodology/approach This paper begins by explicating Ryle’s notion of a category mistake. It develops the suggestion that innovation scholars have made such a mistake by thinking of innovation as a strictly operational problem. In reality, it is as much an aspirational problem. The paper then builds on the metaphor made famous by Isaiah Berlin, distinguishing between hedgehogs and foxes. A hedgehog is a leader who copes with the non-predictive nature of innovation. The paper builds on the findings from positive psychology and virtue epistemology to highlight how humans can act rationally in the face of non-predictive outcomes. Four virtues of hedgehog leadership are proposed and defined. Findings The paper concludes that hedgehog leadership is necessary for sustained enterprise innovation. It also concludes that hedgehogs can act rationally in pursuit of non-predictive outcomes by practicing a set of governing virtues. Research limitations/implications Further research needs to be conducted to validate the proposed governing virtues, to illuminate the optimal hedgehog/fox balance within the enterprise, and to validate through longitudinal work the impact of hedgehogs on sustained enterprise innovation. Practical implications Based on the continuing interest in innovation expressed by enterprise leaders around the world, hedgehogs are in increasing demand. Fortunately, hedgehogs can be made (and self-made) via deliberate practice of the governing virtues. Aspiring and current hedgehogs can be confident that practicing these virtues and becoming increasingly adept at their application will promote and effect enterprise innovation. Originality/value Very little research has been conducted on the aspirational aspect of SEI. This is an insidious gap in the literature, as it affects scholars and practitioners alike. Scholars are trapped in the “normal science” paradigm that treats the innovation problem as if it can be solved through operational techniques. This paper contends that this ubiquitous category mistake has led scholars down a blind alley. Instead, it is important for scholars and practitioners alike to view SEI as an aspirational problem that requires vastly different research frameworks and practitioner prescriptions.

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Narrative Turn or Blind Alley?

Qualitative Health Research ◽

10.1177/104973239700700302 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 7 (3) ◽

pp. 325-344 ◽

Cited By ~ 191

Author(s):

Paul Atkinson

Keyword(s):

Blind Alley

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NATO and European Integration

World Politics ◽

10.2307/2009542 ◽

1958 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 219-231

Author(s):

Lincoln Gordon

Keyword(s):

European Integration ◽

North Atlantic ◽

Blind Alley ◽

The North ◽

Economic Collaboration ◽

The North Atlantic

Despite the oft-quoted language of Article II of the North Atlantic Treaty, NATO was not designed as an institution for economic collaboration among its members. It has not in fact acted as such an institution. Every initiative toward investing it with direct economic functions has run into a blind alley.

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