“Can politics really be beneficial?” Toward a model for positive politics through consensus

PurposeThis article wants to propose deeper insights and clarifications into the effects of organizational politics which have been at the center of many debates in decision-making literature. For a long time, the debate focused on the negative effects of organizational politics and how to avoid them. This article wants to explore the positive effects of organizational politics and see how this impacts the consensus process in teams moderated by organizational change.Design/methodology/approachThe article model and propositions are grounded in the organisational politics literature. The analysis builds on the “positive” politics literature which has been gaining steam in the last two decades and links this with the consensus literature.FindingsThe article proposes an integrated model which clearly shows how the three core concepts influence each other through the four proposed hypotheses. Organizational politics can help to create more consensus in a team decision-making process, and this can have a positive effect on team performance.Originality/valueThe article aims to expand insights of organizational politics on decision-making by putting the light on possible positive effects of organizational politics. The article addresses the theoretical gap of how organizational politics can impact the consensus process.

Fissures in EU Citizenship

This book argues that core concepts in EU citizenship law are riddled with latent fissures traceable back to the earliest case law on free movement of persons, and that later developments simply compounded such defects. By looking at these defects, not only could Brexit have been predicted, but it could also have been foreseen that unchecked problems with EU citizenship would potentially lead to its eventual dismantling during an era of widespread populism and considerable challenges to further integration. Using a critical constructivist approach, the author painstakingly outlines the 'temple' of citizenship from its foundations upwards, and offers a deconstruction of concepts such as 'worker', the role of non-economic actors, the principle of equal treatment, and utterances of citizenship. In identifying inherent fissures in the concept of solidarity and post national identification, this book poses critical questions and argues that we need to reconstruct EU citizenship from the bottom up.

Teaching international comparative public management through a development lens

The article tackles the question, how to provide students with a comparative orientation to public administration. We eschew the older tradition of comparing major systems such British parliamentary system or French bureaucratic approaches to organizations’ structure. Rather, we seek to understand public administration in countries with different cultures, histories, and political regimes by focusing on international development. Our students are drawn from the Master of Public Administration degree program and the Master of International Affairs degree program. What unites them is an interest in international affairs and the desire to work internationally; international students take what they learn and apply it in their home countries. We ground the course on a model of international development with a strong focus on development in governance. We spend the first third of the class creating a development lens for understanding global practices in public management in which they use what they learned in the first part of the course to analyze a range of public management issues within governmental institutions and/or in working in the nongovernmental organizations and intergovernmental organization sectors. We use detailed case studies drawn from several case data banks to apply some of the core concepts of public administration such as leadership, stakeholder analysis, complexity, and implementation to development challenges such as fiscal issues, poverty alleviation, interorganizational collaboration, and human rights. We do this with a range of in-class exercises and assignments that students do out of class. One goal we have is to provide students with knowledge and skills to enhance their ability to work internationally since many have gone on to work for donor and various implementing organizations in international development. We believe that this is a reasonable measure of success of the approach we have taken to comparative public administration.

Human rights education and the conscience of mankind: developing didactics of perplexity

The Preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states that ‘disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind’. From this point of departure, we argue that philosophical, political, and religious reflections on core concepts such as conscience, freedom, equality, dignity, justice, and peace can help to create an appropriate balance between a normative framework and a non-affirmative approach to human rights education. Teacher students can benefit from philosophical reflection, critical thinking, and individual judgement, as this will enhance the authoritativeness and self-determination of both teachers and learners. In terms of didactics, we consider the potentials of a concept-based approach inspired by the political philosophy of Hannah Arendt and her critical discussion of the perplexities of the rights of man.

Pediatric Resident Education in Pediatric Cardiology – A Needs Assessment

Background: Although congenital heart disease is the most common human birth defect, the scope and breadth of pediatric cardiology is far more diverse. Additionally, there continues to be rapid advancements in the field with educators becoming increasingly sub-specialized. As such, determining the topics general pediatric residents are taught must be selected based on numerous factors including resident career goals, core topics for board exams, and educator preferences. This study aimed to determine if the educational needs of general pediatric residents are met while on a pediatric cardiology rotation. Methods: All PL-2 and PL-3 residents in the Children’s National Hospital pediatrics residency program who had completed a required cardiology rotation as well as all pediatric cardiology fellows and pediatric cardiology attendings were asked to complete a survey. Participation in the study was voluntary. Respondents were asked to answer questions related to the perceived effectiveness and applicability of the currently administered cardiology curriculum, specifically inquiring about methods of teaching, the level taught, and the utility of topics selected. Results: Twenty-four (31%) of the 77 eligible residents completed the survey. Fourteen (82%) of the eligible attendings and nine (75%) of the cardiology fellows completed the survey. Seventeen unique topics in pediatric cardiology were ranked. The highest rated topics based on both perceived needs and wants included congenital heart disease, murmurs, cardiac physiology, ECG interpretation, and syncope/dizziness. Participants reported the highest satisfaction for whiteboard and bedside teaching. Conclusions: Overall, general pediatrics residents were satisfied with the current educational design of the inpatient cardiology rotation. These data provide a framework, both in teaching modalities and core concepts, for continued development and reassessment of inpatient pediatric cardiology rotations to optimally prepare pediatric residents with a strong foundation in pediatric cardiology.

Educational Innovation to Address Climate Change Issues

In recent years, we have seen an emerging trend: the application of recreational escape rooms to educational purposes to engage students in their learning environment. This trend also applies to higher education and to the complex issue of climate change. The objectives of this chapter are to revise literature in this domain and to share a case study for a digital and educational escape room related to climate change: “Escape Global Warming.” This digital escape room integrates the core concepts of climate change and global warming into a game to familiarize participants with this topic and with actions that can be taken to reduce and counteract the effects of climate change while entertaining. After playing, students acknowledge to being more knowledgeable about the issue and more motivated to learn.

EFFECTIVE DECISION SUPPORT IN THE BIG DATA ERA

This study conducts a review and synthesis of the Business Intelligence and Analytics (BI&A) evolution, applications, frameworks and emerging trends with the aim to provide a summary of core concepts, a succinct but valuable description of main applications and frameworks, and an account of main recommendations for addressing the Big Data challenges and opportunities. It develops an integrated and organized view on the BI&A evolution process and presents an integrated BI&A application framework to help organizations adopt or develop the appropriate BI&A solutions to derive the desired impact in the Big Data era. This paper also elicits a set of practical recommendations to executives and leaders in organizations worldwide for interpreting the BI&A literature and applying the rich body of knowledge for IT practitioners. It traces the BI&A evolution to data-driven discovery and highly proactive and creative decision-making utilizing advanced analytical techniques with unstructured and massive data sources to cope with a highly dynamic global business environment in the Big Data era.