Beyond Consortia, Beyond Standardization? Redefining the Consortium Problem

Author(s):  
Tineke M. Egyedi

This chapter analyzes the rhetoric that surrounds the problem of consortia, that is, the supposed lack of democratic procedures. The social shaping of the standardization approach is applied. Two cases are used to illustrate what is at stake in consortium standardization, namely, the standardization of Java in ECMA, and XML in W3C. The findings show inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the way the consortium problem is defined: The dominant rhetoric underestimates the openness of most industry consortia and overestimates the practical implications of formal democratic procedures. This unbalanced portrayal and sustained ambiguity about what is meant by democracy are part of the meaning of negotiation at work in the actor network. Implicitly, the European network still predominantly defines standardization as an instrument of regulatory governance. This marginalizes the role of consortia. The chapter offers several suggestions to redefine the consortium problem.

Author(s):  
Kai Jakobs

This chapter discusses the influence individuals have in the ICT standards development process. The chapter draws upon ideas underlying the theory of the Social Shaping of Technology (SST). Looking through the SST lens, a number of non-technical factors that influence ICT standards development are identified. A literature review on the role of the individual in ICT standards setting and a case study of the IEEE 802.11 Working Group (WG) show that in a standards body's WG, the backgrounds, skills, attitudes, and behaviour of the individual WG members are crucially important factors. Yet, the case study also shows that in most cases employees tend to represent the ideas and goals of their respective employer. The chapter observes that the non-technical factors are ignored all too often in the literature. It argues that a better understanding of the impact and interplay of these factors, specifically including the skills and attitudes of the WG members, will have significant implications both theoretical and managerial.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bindu Gupta ◽  
Karen Yuan Wang ◽  
Wenjuan Cai

PurposeManaging tacit knowledge effectively and efficiently is a huge challenge for organizations. Based on the social exchange and self-determination theories, this study aims to explore the role of social interactions in motivating employees' willingness to share tacit knowledge (WSTK).Design/methodology/approachThe study used a survey approach and collected data from 228 employees in service and manufacturing organizations.FindingsInteractional justice and respectful engagement are positively related to WSTK. The perceived cost of tacit knowledge sharing (CostTKS) partially mediates the relationship between interactional justice and WSTK. Respectful engagement moderates the negative relationship between interactional justice and the perceived CostTKS.Research limitations/implicationsThe study advances the understanding of the role of social interaction in facilitating employee WSTK by integrating the direct and intermediate relationships involving the effect of supervisor's interactional justice and peers' respectful engagement and employee perceived CostTKS on WSTK.Practical implicationsThe findings have important practical implications for organizations as these suggest how organizations can help tacit knowledge holders experience less negative and more supportive behaviors when they engage in voluntary TKS.Originality/valueThis study examines the effect of both vertical and horizontal work-related interactions on perceived CostTKS and sequentially on WSTK, thereby extending existing literature.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Lambert ◽  
Edmund Goh

PurposeThis industry viewpoint paper provides a comprehensive overview and critical viewpoint on the use of collectable toy premiums via instant reward programs (IRP) within the retail industry as a marketing tool.Design/methodology/approachThis paper draws upon the uses of a “free” collectable toy premium promotion with a fixed purchase spend (via an IRP) in the supermarket industry as a marketing instrument to increase customer basket spend and repeat visits. Reflections on the recent use of toy premiums by Australian supermarket retailers are also utilised to highlight the ingredients for a successful promotion but also the controversies associated with such promotions.FindingsOne of the key findings suggest that the role of toy premiums is a successful marketing tool by retailers to increase customer total basket spending. However, notable points of caution regarding offering IRPs incorporating collectable toy premiums promotions are established, including environmental concerns and the social, ethical dilemma as to whether these promotions are indirectly targeted at children rather than adult consumers.Practical implicationsThe findings have important implications for retailers to attract customer attention, increased market spend and repeat purchases through a desired collectable premium promotion (via an IRP).Originality/valueThis is the first paper to critically review the usage of collectable toy premiums within the supermarket retail industry.


2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florence Stinglhamber ◽  
Marc Ohana ◽  
Gaëtane Caesens ◽  
Maryline Meyer

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether a focal employee’s perception of organizational support (POS) is shaped by the social context or, more specifically, by his/her coworkers’ POS. The authors further aim to identify the conditions under which coworkers’ POS may have more influence or, on the contrary, less or even no influence. Design/methodology/approach Data were obtained from questionnaires distributed among a sample of 195 employees and among their supervisors. Findings Coworkers’ levels of POS are positively related to the focal employee’s POS with positive consequences in terms of job satisfaction and, finally, organizational citizenship behaviors. This influence of coworkers’ POS is strengthened when the focal employee experiences low voice in the workplace. Research limitations/implications Overall, this research contributes to organizational support theory by showing that POS may also develop based on a socially constructed process and not only on an individual-level psychological process. Practical implications Our findings have practical implications for HR policies employed by practitioners to socialize newcomers and to manage perceived support in a context of organizational change. Originality/value Building on a few recent studies suggesting that the social context may influence employees’ perceptions of organizational support, the present study is the first to show that the influence of the social context is more likely to occur under specific conditions, i.e. when employees experience low voice.


2020 ◽  
pp. 016224392097408
Author(s):  
Mareike Smolka ◽  
Erik Fisher ◽  
Alexandra Hausstein

Reports from integrative researchers who have followed calls for sociotechnical integration emphasize that the potential of interdisciplinary collaboration to inflect the social shaping of technoscience is often constrained by their liminal position. Integrative researchers tend to be positioned as either adversarial outsiders or co-opted insiders. In an attempt to navigate these dynamics, we show that attending to affective disturbances can open up possibilities for productive engagements across disciplinary divides. Drawing on the work of Helen Verran, we analyze “disconcertment” in three sociotechnical integration research studies. We develop a heuristic that weaves together disconcertment, affective labor, and responsivity to analyze the role of the body in interdisciplinary collaborations. We draw out how bodies do affective labor when generating responsivity between collaborators in moments of disconcertment. Responsive bodies can function as sensors, sources, and processors of disconcerting experiences of difference. We further show how attending to disconcertment can stimulate methodological choices to recognize, amplify, or minimize the difference between collaborators. Although these choices are context-dependent, each one examined generates responsivity that supports collaborators to readjust the technical in terms of the social. This analysis contributes to science and technology studies scholarship on the role of affect in successes and failures of interdisciplinary collaboration.


2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 99-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Blackburn

AbstractKarl Marx and Abraham Lincoln held very different views on the ‘social question’. This essay explores the way in which they converged in their estimation of slavery during the course of the Civil War; Marx was an ardent abolitionist, and Lincoln came to see this position as necessary. It is argued that the rôle of runaway slaves – called ‘contraband’ – and German-revolutionary ’48ers played a significant rôle in the radicalisation of Lincoln and the direction of the War.


1979 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asghar Fathi
Keyword(s):  

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of a group of‘rebels’ (in Iran they are called looties) who made significant contributions to the Iranian Constitutional Movement in 1908–1909. A discussion of the norms and values of this group and the way they fit the social situationand events of that period in Iran, serves to explain their involvement in the Constitutional Movement.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 185-190
Author(s):  
E. G. Zheludkova

The research features the speech stereotype at the stage of its formation. The author observes the way stereotype of socially approved behavior are formed with the help of speech stereotypes united by the concept of "product waste". An analysis of "gaspillage alimentaire" social advertising revealed some speech stereotypes, stereotyping mechanisms, as well as the way they influence the recipient of the social advertising discourse. The author states the key role of the speech stereotype that address the recipient to the existing models of behavior and in the formation of new models that are in demand in the French society. The results of the research contribute to a better understanding of the speech behavior in different cultures and can be used in the courses of cultural linguistics, French language stylistics, and discourse analysis. 


2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-94
Author(s):  
Christian Clausen ◽  
Wendy Gunn

This paper addresses recent developments within the social shaping perspective, specifically the forward-looking and political dimensions of intervening in processes of innovation. With a focus on the concept of ‘temporary spaces’ as an analytical framework we present a study of a case on participatory innovation concerned with indoor climate practices in the building sector. Based on an analysis of the travel and uptake of narratives derived from fi eld studies in industrial and research environments, we discuss the role of intermediaries such as ethnographic provocations concerning user practices in the staging of these temporary spaces. While the direct uptake of qualitative knowledge on user practice in the engineering worlds of indoor climate is limited, the paper highlights the role of staging temporary spaces and intermediary objects in collaboration with stakeholders as a way of reframing conceptions of indoor climate practices.


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