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FLOW, LIMINALITY, AND EUDAIMONIA: PAGAN RITUAL PRACTICE AS A GATEWAY TO A LIFE WITH MEANING
Get PDFPaganism is a term applied to a number of nature religions based on traditional indigenous practices. Paganism is practiced through rituals designed to facilitate a flow state that allows practitioners to use magic to achieve their aims. Since the introduction of Wicca to mainstream society in the 1950s, many other Pagan traditions have developed. Similarly, the number of people identifying as Pagan has also increased; in 2011 the number of people identifying as Pagan in the UK census reached 80,153. Despite this growth, Paganism is a topic that is under researched in Psychology.
This paper uses Ryff’s theory of Psychological well-being as a frame work through which to explore the ways in which Paganism may be particularly conducive to eudemonic well-being as a result of the flow experiences inherent in its practice. This theory posits six key dimensions of eudaimonia; personal growth, self-acceptance, positive relation with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, and purpose in life. The ways in which each of these dimensions is elicited through Paganism is elucidated
Scientific management, the US Civil Communications Section (CCS) training system and their impacts on contemporary management thinking
Get PDFPurpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of Scientific Management on General Douglas MacArthur's Civil Communications Section (CCS) training system and subsequently on contemporary management thinking.
Design/Methodology/Approach: The design and methodology of this paper is to synthesise archival twentieth-century literature on Scientific Management and the CCS course using a combination of business history and social science methods. The approach taken was interpretative and the paper narrative in style.
Findings: The research demonstrates that very advanced theories coming from Taylorism and Scientific Management would not be out of place in operations management today. While Taylorism has generally been vilified, this research shows that there is enough evidence to suggest that some of the theoretical underpinnings of Scientific Management are still being used today in theories and concepts that underpin Quality, Lean, Agile and Operational Excellence, and will be expanded to explain the development of Industry 4.0.
Research limitations/implications: While the CCS course is mostly forgotten and under-researched outside of Japan, the importance of the course to the Japanese and to the industrialisation of the Japanese electronics industry is acknowledged (Goto, 1999). The contribution of this research is to challenge some of the accepted views in business history on the origins of Japanese manufacturing.
Originality/value: This paper provides a comprehensive review of General Douglas MacArthur's Civil Communications Section (CCS) training system, its influencers and its impact. It contains previously unpublished archival material and insights from the original authors and commentators of that period
Failure demand: An evaluation of concept in UK Primary Care
Get PDFPurpose: Our purpose was to assess failure demand as a lean concept that assists in waste analysis during quality improvement activity. We assess whether the concept's limited use is a missed opportunity to help understand improvement priorities, given that a UK Government requirement for public service managers to report failure demand has been removed.
Design/methodology/approach: We look at the literature across the public sector and then apply the failure demand concept to the UK's primary healthcare system. The UK National Health Service (NHS) demand data are analysed and the impact on patient care is elicited from patient interviews.
Findings: The study highlighted the concept's value, showing how primary care systems often generate failure demand partly owing to existing demand and capacity management practices. This demand is deflected to other systems, such as the accident and emergency department, with a considerable detrimental impact on patient experience.
Research implications: More research is needed to fully understand how best to exploit the failure demand concept within wider healthcare as there are many potential barriers to its appropriate and successful application.
Practical implications: We highlight three practical barriers to using failure demand: (i) poor general understanding of demand within the healthcare system; (ii) limited understanding of systems improvement; and (iii) need to apply the concept for improvement and not just for reporting purposes.
Originality/value: We provide an objective and independent insight into failure demand that has not previously been seen in the academic literature, specifically in relation to primary healthcare
The disappearance of traditions: the use of geographical indication and collective marks to prevent the loss of culture in South America
No full textThe paper examines the role that geographical indications (GIs) and collective marks may play in the protection of traditional knowledge (TK) and traditional cultural expressions (TCEs). In the case of TK and TCEs, it is noticeable that although GIs and collective mark’s explicit objectives do not aim per se to safeguard and preserve TK and TCEs, they may do so consequently. The rationale is that by preventing the disappearance of collective knowledge, tradition and culture, GIs and collective marks can safeguard cultural identities by enhancing diversity and maintaining community life. Aside countries having national policies that aim specifically to preserve cultural heritage, this paper argues that GIs and collective marks may also support this strategy, either as a positive or defensive protection or both, in the preservation of culture
A Multifactorial Model of Visual Imagery and its Relationship to Creativity and the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire
Get PDFVisual imagery vividness (VIV) quantifies how clearly people can ‘conjure up’ mental images. A higher VIV reflects a stronger image, which might be considered an important source of inspiration in creative production. However, despite numerous anecdotes documenting such a connection, a clear empirical relationship has remained elusive. We argue that (a) a misunderstanding of visual imagery as unidimensional and (b) an overreliance on Marks’ Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ), are responsible.
Based on both the proximal/distal imagination framework and the distinction between the ventral/dorsal visual pathways, we propose a new Multifactorial Model of Visual Imagery (MMVI). This argues that visual imagery is multidimensional and that only certain dimensions are related to creativity: inventive combinatorial ability, story-boarding, and conceptual expansion (all distal); together with the quasi-eidetic recall of detailed images (proximal).
Turning to the VVIQ, a factor analysis of 280 responses in Study 1 yielded a three-factor solution (all proximal): episodic/autobiographical imagery; schematic recall; and controlled animation. None of these factors overlap with the creative dimensions of the MMVI. In Study 2, 133 participants had to remember non-verbalizable detail of unfamiliar pictures for later recall: performance on this quasi-eidetic task again did not correlate with any VVIQ factors.
We have thus demonstrated that the VVIQ is not unidimensional and that none of its factors appear suitable for probing imagery-creativity connections. The MMVI model is currently theoretical, and future research should confirm its validity, permitting a new, better targeted measure of VIV to be established which fully reflects its multidimensionality
Corporate governance mechanisms and risk-taking in South Africa
No full textAbstract: This study examines the relationship between the quality of corporate governance score and the risk-taking behaviour of firms using data from 120 companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) from 2010 to 2016. More specifically, this study analyses the way in which:
1) compliance to corporate governance; 2) percentage of non-executive directors on the board; 3) total number of board members; 4) percentage of debt; 5) firm size affect risk-taking behaviour in South African firms. Using a dynamic panel data regression model, the research found that corporate governance score and leverage are significant and negatively related with risk. This contradicts prior studies in other markets. Furthermore, the percentage of
NEDS, board size and firm size, though positively related, were found to be insignificant risk factors. This can have useful implications for managers in assessing risk behaviour of South African firms