scholarly journals Activity Theory used as an Analytical Lens for Business Research

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Raphael Kamanga ◽  
Patricia (Trish) M Alexander ◽  
Fredrick Kanobe
Keyword(s):  
Activity Theory ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Mobile Network ◽  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Accounting Information System ◽  
Predictor Of Success ◽  
Mediating Tools ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Network Organisations

Activity Theory is used in this paper to demonstrate the process of critical analysis of qualitative data from two case studies. The paper explains the elements of an activity system (the subject, object, outcome, mediating tools, rules, community and division of labour). Thereafter, practical examples from the work of two recent PhD students are used to show the importance of identifying and analysing activities that are found either in the introduction or the current use of information systems in business organisations. These examples highlight the applicability of Activity Theory in analysing data from projects of interest to Business Management whose topics and contexts are very different. The first focusses on the introduction of an Accounting Information System to microbusinesses in a low‑income community in South Africa and the second focusses on Information Security Management in Mobile Network Organisations in Uganda. The examples illustrate the value of Activity Theory as a lens and as a way of stimulating critical analysis. Activity Theory is known for its ability to identify reasons for failure or disappointing performance in existing situations by highlighting contradictions either between different activities, between an earlier version of an activity and a later version as the activity evolves, or within an activity (between the elements of that activity). However, as shown in the first example, it can also be seen as a useful tool when proposing a new project as a predictor of success. Despite the fact that data is typically qualitative, the analytical process related to Activity Theory can be structured, which assists novice researchers or those unaccustomed to interpretivist analysis to uncover insights that are not immediately obvious. Activity Theory is said to act as a lens in data analysis and is particularly useful in organisational sciences for the theorization of technology‑mediated organizational change.

Planification: Potential and role in XXI century market economy

2016 ◽  
pp. 63-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Buzgalin ◽  
A. Kolganov
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Market Economy ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
New Economy ◽  
Real Socialism ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Planning Institutions

The authors, basing on a critical analysis of the experience of planning during the 20th century in a number of countries of Europe and Asia, and also on the lessons from the economics of "real socialism", set out to substantiate their conclusions on the advisability of "reloading" this institution. The aim is to create planning mechanisms, suited to the new economy, that incorporate forecasting, projections, direct and indirect selective regulation and so forth into integral programs of economic development and that set a vector of development for particular limited spheres of what remains on the whole a market economy. New planning institutions presuppose a supersession of the forms of bureaucratic centralism and a reliance on network forms of organization of the subject and process of planning.

WHO DO WE THINK WE ARE? COMPARING INTERSECTIONAL IDENTITY TRENDS IN ASEE AND CEEA-ACEG USING NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING AND REVIEW OF PROCEEDINGS

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela Rogalski ◽  
Eric Mikulin ◽  
Deborah Tihanyi
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language Processing ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
Activity Theory ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Cultural Historical Activity Theory ◽  
Original Question ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Historical Activity ◽  
Cultural Historical Activity

In 2018, we overheard many CEEA-AGEC members stating that they have "found their people"; this led us to wonder what makes this evolving community unique. Using cultural historical activity theory to view the proceedings of CEEA-ACEG 2004-2018 in comparison with the geographically and intellectually adjacent ASEE, we used both machine-driven (Natural Language Processing, NLP) and human-driven (literature review of the proceedings) methods. Here, we hoped to build on surveys—most recently by Nelson and Brennan (2018)—to understand, beyond what members say about themselves, what makes the CEEA-AGEC community distinct, where it has come from, and where it is going. Engaging in the two methods of data collection quickly diverted our focus from an analysis of the data themselves to the characteristics of the data in terms of cultural historical activity theory. Our preliminary findings point to some unique characteristics of machine- and human-driven results, with the former, as might be expected, focusing on the micro-level (words and language patterns) and the latter on the macro-level (ideas and concepts). NLP generated data within the realms of "community" and "division of labour" while the review of proceedings centred on "subject" and "object"; both found "instruments," although NLP with greater granularity. With this new understanding of the relative strengths of each method, we have a revised framework for addressing our original question.  

Determinants of Abuse of the Bodies of the Dead

2019 ◽  
pp. 71-77
Author(s):  
Margarita Khomyakova
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Criminal Code ◽  
Value Judgments ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Medical Institutions ◽  
Specific Object ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Dead ◽  
High Level

The author analyzes definitions of the concepts of determinants of crime given by various scientists and offers her definition. In this study, determinants of crime are understood as a set of its causes, the circumstances that contribute committing them, as well as the dynamics of crime. It is noted that the Russian legislator in Article 244 of the Criminal Code defines the object of this criminal assault as public morality. Despite the use of evaluative concepts both in the disposition of this norm and in determining the specific object of a given crime, the position of criminologists is unequivocal: crimes of this kind are immoral and are in irreconcilable conflict with generally accepted moral and legal norms. In the paper, some views are considered with regard to making value judgments which could hardly apply to legal norms. According to the author, the reasons for abuse of the bodies of the dead include economic problems of the subject of a crime, a low level of culture and legal awareness; this list is not exhaustive. The main circumstances that contribute committing abuse of the bodies of the dead and their burial places are the following: low income and unemployment, low level of criminological prevention, poor maintenance and protection of medical institutions and cemeteries due to underperformance of state and municipal bodies. The list of circumstances is also open-ended. Due to some factors, including a high level of latency, it is not possible to reflect the dynamics of such crimes objectively. At the same time, identification of the determinants of abuse of the bodies of the dead will reduce the number of such crimes.

Insanity and Divorce

1892 ◽  
Vol 38 (162) ◽  
pp. 378-382
Author(s):  
A. Wood Renton
Keyword(s):  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Law

In view of the interest which the subject is at present arousing, a critical analysis of the historical development of the law of insanity in its relation to divorce may be neither inopportune nor uninstructive.

Critical Analysis of Methods for Assessing the Innovation Potential of an Enterprise

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-35
Author(s):  
Mariya Podshivalova ◽  
S. Almrshed
Keyword(s):  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Graphical Representation ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Classification Model ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
Innovation Potential ◽  
Economic Statistics ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Innovative Capacity

The starting point of research on assessing the innovative capacity of an enterprise is the question of definitions. In this regard, authors initially turned to review of scientific literature on the subject of definitions variety for the term "enterprise innovative capacity". These data show that the wording of this term by both foreign and Russian researchers differs significantly. Authors propose a systematization of approaches to the definition and a corresponding graphical classification model, which highlights the evolutionary, resource, functional and process approaches. Further, a critical analysis of approaches to assessing enterprise innovative capacity is carried out. At the first stage, the content of modern assessment methods was studied, and at the second stage, the mathematical tools used were studied. Authors have formed a graphical representation of critical analysis results and based on it, they have concluded that among the approaches to assessing enterprise innovative capacity, the evolutionary approach should be recognized as promising, and among the methods of quantitative assessment – tools of economic statistics.

scholarly journals The Role of Al3+-Based Aqueous Electrolytes in the Charge Storage Mechanism of MnOx Cathodes

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Véronique Balland ◽  
Mickaël Mateos ◽  
Kenneth D. Harris ◽  
Benoit Limoges
Keyword(s):  
Manganese Oxide ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Charge Storage ◽  
Aqueous Electrolytes ◽  
Storage Mechanism ◽  
Main Charge ◽  
Charge Storage Mechanism ◽  
The Subject

<p>Rechargeable aqueous aluminium batteries are the subject of growing interest, but the charge storage mechanisms at manganese oxide-based cathodes remain poorly understood with as many mechanisms as studies. Here, we use an original <i>in situ</i> spectroelectrochemical methodology to unambiguously demonstrate that the reversible proton-coupled MnO<sub>2</sub>-to-Mn<sup>2+</sup> conversion is the main charge storage mechanism occurring at MnO<sub>2</sub> cathodes over a range of slightly acidic Al<sup>3+</sup>-based aqueous electrolytes. In Zn/MnO<sub>2</sub> assemblies, this mechanism is associated with high gravimetric capacity and discharge potentials, up to 560 mAh·g<sup>-1</sup> and 1.76 V respectively, attractive efficiencies (<i>CE</i> > 98.5 % and <i>EE</i> > 80%) and excellent cyclability (> 750 cycles at 10 A·g<sup>-1</sup>). Finally, we conducted a critical analysis of the data previously published on MnO<sub>x</sub> cathodes in Al<sup>3+</sup>-based aqueous electrolytes to conclude on a universal charge storage mechanism, <i>i.e.</i>, the reversible electrodissolution/electrodeposition of MnO<sub>2</sub>.<i></i></p>

scholarly journals Metaphysical Anthropocentrism, Limitrophy, and Responsibility: An Explication of the Subject of Animal Rights

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Jan-Harm De Villiers
Keyword(s):  
Animal Rights ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
De Novo ◽  
Social Regulation ◽  
Traditional Model ◽  
Conceptual Level ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Metaphysical Tradition ◽  
Point Of Departure

This article undertakes a critical analysis of subjectivity and exposes the metaphysical and anthropocentric quasi-transcendental conditions that give rise to the construct(ion) of the Subject. I locate a critical moment for the metaphysical Subject in the work of Martin Heidegger which, whilst sadly not sustained in his later writings, provides a point of departure for an examination of the significance that animality plays in the metaphysical tradition and its constitutive relation to the construct of subjectivity. I discern this relation to be violent and sacrificial and draw on Jacques Derrida's nonanthropocentric ethics against the background of Drucilla Cornell's ethical reading of deconstruction to construct a critique of approaches that assimilate animals to the traditional model of subjectivity in order to represent their identity and interests in the legal paradigm. The main argument that I seek to advance is that such an approach paradoxically re-constructs the classical humanist subject of metaphysics and re-establishes the subject-centred system that silences the call of the animal Other, thereby solidifying and extending the legitimacy of a discourse and mode of social regulation that is fundamentally anthropocentric. I examine how we can address, incapacitate and move beyond this schemata of power through a rigorous deconstruction of the partitions that institute the Subject and how deconstruction clears a space for a de novo determination of the animal "subject" that can proceed from different sites of nonanthropocentric interruption. What follows is a call to refuse the mechanical utilisation of traditional legal constructs and I argue in favour of an approach to the question of the animal (in law) that identifies and challenges anthropocentrism as its critical target. I ultimately propose a critical engagement with the underlying metaphysical support of animal rights at a conceptual level, rather than simply utilising the law pragmatically as an instrument of immediate resolution.    

scholarly journals Society 5.0: a Self-Devouring System

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 4001-4004 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Development Strategy ◽  
Coming Out ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Human Person ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
Global Problems ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Linear And Nonlinear ◽  
Principle Of Complementarity

The subject matter of the paper is a philosophical analysis of the civilization-cultural development strategy Society 5.0. The strategy emerged from the idea of the Japanese government formulated in 2016. A critical analysis shows that this development program contains systemic contradictions and risks. Nevertheless, the idea seems to be achieving the goals of modern humanism in the conditions of information civilization development. The research methodology stems from the principles of consistency, complementarity, fractality and the dialectics of the concepts which are as follows: culture and civilization, linear and nonlinear development, etc. There is much evidence that today the integration of mankind has become global. The process leads to, firstly, the changes in the scales of human subjectivity, and secondly, the attitude of man to chance and need. All these characteristics are fraught with threats to the holistic existence of mankind, and the possibility of people’s coming out of the crisis to the new levels of development. Private culture, which previously served as a powerful integrator of society, is losing the opportunity to carry out an ideological, and as a result, educational function in the conditions of an informational civilization. The transition of humanity from the monocultural to the multicultural way requires of relations between culture and civilization being based on the principles of complementarity. The construction of humanity as a self-organizing system is possible only through the management of civilization processes through culture, i.e., through the spiritual improvement of the human person. Evidence suggests that the principles laid down in the Society 5.0 development program do not meet these requirements. The program aims to implement the principle of positive feedback, as it tries to solve global problems of civilization with civilization practices. Theoretically, the achievement of harmonious relations between civilization and culture becomes possible on condition of the principle of complementarity. However, this principle also implies the rule of negative feedback

scholarly journals Why Is There Learning Disabilities? A Critical Analysis of the Birth of the Field in Its Social Context

2010 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Sleeter
Keyword(s):  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Low Achievers ◽  
Social Conditions ◽  
Minority Children ◽  
Degree Of Protection ◽  
White Middle Class

This chapter presents an interpretation of why the category of learning disabilities emerged, that differs from interpretations that currently prevail. It argues that the category was created in response to social conditions during the late 1950s and early 1960s which brought about changes in schools that were detrimental to children whose achievement was relatively low. The category was created by white middle class parents in an effort to differentiate their children from low-achieving low-income and minority children. The category offered their children a degree of protection from probable consequences of low achievement because it upheld their intellectual normalcy and the normalcy of their home backgrounds, and it suggested hope for a cure and for their ability eventually to attain higher status occupations than other low achievers.

Low‐income consumers' reactions to low‐involvement products

2009 ◽  
Vol 27 (7) ◽  
pp. 882-899 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayantunji Gbadamosi
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Women Consumers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Marketing Environment ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Low Income Women ◽  
Grocery Products ◽  
Low Income Consumers ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Is Value

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the attitudes and behaviour of low‐income women consumers in respect of low‐involvement grocery products.Design/methodology/approachOne focus group and 30 in‐depth interviews on the subject‐matter are conducted with low‐income women in Salford (Northwest England). Given the nature of the topic and the target respondents involved, the subjects are recruited through the use of purposive and snowballing sampling methods.FindingsThe findings suggest that low‐income women consumers' purchases of low‐involvement grocery products are based on habit. They do not show strong loyalty to brands of these products, and do not perceive price as an indication of their quality. Their key motivation underlying their purchases of these products is value‐for‐money. Also they are very sensitive to sales promotional stimuli, albeit in varying degrees according to the respective attractiveness of these tools. However, while they indicate a positive attitude towards buy‐one‐get‐one‐free (BOGOF), free samples, discount and coupons, BOGOF stands out as their best preference; but they are not positively inclined towards gifts and competition.Originality/valueThe paper explores the motivation, attitudes and behaviour of a special group of consumers (low‐income women) in respect of low‐involvement grocery products. It indicates the directions of their sensitivity in terms of marketing stimuli. Hence, it will be valuable for marketing decision making towards providing this group of consumers with the utmost satisfaction needed in this increasingly complex marketing environment.

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