Old and New Timings in a High-Tech Firm

Author(s):  
Pauline Gleadle

We use a lens of organizational time and timings in a recent historical study of high-tech engineers in one leading U.S. firm, Techco. Our aim is to arrive at a nuanced account of whether such engineers emerge as being either highly privileged knowledge workers or as being “caught in the middle” between management and labor with no shelter from the harshest dynamics of capitalism. At the time being studied, senior management had introduced a range of measures, the effect of which was to disrupt existing organizational timings and so to threaten both the work and the self-identity of engineers. However, we argue that such disruption does not originate solely from management action. Instead the speed of technological change itself threatens to swamp the engineers, the very architects of such progress at the same time as new notions of organizational space render them more visible to senior management gaze.

Hypatia ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-125
Author(s):  
Margaret A. McLaren

Organization ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 425-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Whittle ◽  
Frank Mueller ◽  
Anita Mangan

In this article we examine the role of stories in the temporal development of images of the self at work. Drawing on an in-depth case study of technological change in a UK public-private partnership, we highlight the role of stories in the construction, maintenance and defence of actors' moral status and organizational reputation. The analysis focuses on the development of one `character' as he shifted from the role of innocent victim to implied villain to heroic survivor within the stories constructed during routine work conversations. We argue that stories are intimately linked to the forms of `moral accounting' that serve to deal with the challenges to `face' and social positioning that accompany `failed' organizational change. Stories, we suggest, are likely to be invoked when an interactional encounter threatens the participants' sense of social worth. Stories in which we present ourselves in a positive light—for instance as virtuous, honourable, courageous, caring, committed, competent— comprise a key component of face-saving strategies designed to maintain our social positioning: processes that are often intensified during periods of organizational change.


2011 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-210
Author(s):  
John Parratt

AbstractKatsume Takizawa (1909–1984) was one of the most innovative of twentieth-century Japanese philosophical theologians. His study with Barth (1935) led him to attempt to bring together aspects of Barth's theology with concepts derived from Jodo-shin and Zen. He found in both religions a basic relationship between God and man which transcended both identity and distinction, which he expressed in Nishida's concept of the self-identity of the absolute contradiction. This relationship he called ‘Emmanuel 1’. The fulfilment of the relationship is ‘Emmanuel 2’ and is reflected for Christians in Jesus.


2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (8) ◽  
pp. 12-14
Author(s):  
Sue Perry

Purpose – The article aims to convey the experiences of installing an Espresso Book Machine (tm) into Windsor Public Library. It relates how an extremely high-tech, mechanical and new process was received in a very traditional field. Design/methodology/approach – Windsor Public Library acquired an Espresso Book Machine, and built around it a Self-Publishing Centre which included iMacs loaded with software, a scanner, a comfortable area and a dedicated staff member. Findings – The creativity that arose from the Self-Publishing Centre was not limited only to individual, solitary authors who wanted just to produce their own works. A network of like-minded people formed to give encouragement and support developed, increasing the opportunities for elevating literacy in our community. Research limitations/implications – Limitations are obviously that we are one small community enjoying the benefits of this machine. It is impossible to predict if other communities and geographic locations would enjoy the same success. Practical implications – Practical implications are that even with the advancing tide of ebooks and non-print matter, patrons are still very eager to consume and produce printed materials. Social implications – The technological marvels of the high-tech gear that have been installed would be lost without the people forming communities around the technology. Originality/value – The results of installing the Self-Publishing Centre were very different from what we anticipated. The products and community established here are as awe-inspiring as the machine at the heart of the Centre.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Bestina Nindy Virgiani

The self-concept of PLHIV is a decisive factor in interpersonal communication, because everyone behaves as much as possible according to his concept. The results of interviews with 10 PLWHA showed that the respondents still felt ashamed and felt that they were not useful for this life and felt excluded by their family and environment. The purpose of the study is to describe the concept of self (PLWHA). The design used in this study is quantitative with a descriptive approach. The sampling method uses accidental sampling as many as 188 respondents. The data collection tool uses a questionnaire. The results showed 113 respondents (60.1%) had a positive self-concept. 98 respondents (52.1%) had a positive body image, 116 respondents (61.7%) had an ideal positive self, 96 respondents (51.1%) had negative self-esteem, 167 respondents (83.5%) had an appearance negative role and 98 respondents (52.1%) had a positive self-identity. Conclusion in this study more than half the number of respondents have a positive self-concept, the respondent has accepted what happened to him and is ready to face life in the future and considers that life is a process of discovery. Keywords: PLWHA, self concept.


2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birgitte Johansen

It is by now well known that the modern category of religion has evolved as part of a certain trajectory of Western history. Among its many aspects, this trajectory is about how religion became part of a definitive relationship with the category of the secular – a relationship that implies an understanding of religion as something distinct – and ideally # – from other categories such as science, politics, and law. The place of the category of religion as part of this semantic as well as institutional landscape of separations makes it relevant to probe the possible consequences for sociology, if we are, as some scholars have argued, living in contexts which are increasingly post-secular. What happens, then, to the object – as well as the self-identity – of the study of religion? This article discusses some of the possible epistemological shifts inherent in the idea of a movement from secular to post-secular and it will reflect upon the possible avenues they open up for the sociological study of religion.


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