- Table View
- List View
Understanding Strategic Analysis: A Simple Guide to Choosing, Developing and Implementing Business Strategy
by Tom ElsworthUnderstanding Strategic Analysis is a concise and practical guide for organisational strategic analysis, strategy development, decision-making, and implementation. The book takes the reader step by step through the background of strategic management and the process of developing a new strategy. It considers how to assess the strategic capabilities and context of the organisation, how to identify and choose between the various strategic options, and how to successfully implement the change in strategy. Mini-case studies and reflective questions provide stimuli for class discussion, whilst chapter objectives and summaries structure and reinforce learning. The final chapter sets out a complete worked example to illustrate the process as a whole. Refreshing and concise, this text provides valuable and practical reading for postgraduate, MBA and executive education students of strategic management, as well as practising managers in organisations of all sizes. Online resources include a short Instructor’s Manual, chapter-by-chapter PowerPoint slides, and a test bank of exam questions.
Understanding Street-Level Bureaucracy
by Michael Hill And Aurélien Buffat Peter HupeThis wide-ranging edited volume provides a state of the art account of theory and research on modern street-level bureaucracy, gathering internationally acclaimed scholars to address the varying roles of public officials who fulfill their tasks while interacting with the public. These roles include the delivery of benefits and services, the regulation of social and economic behavior, and the expression and maintenance of public values. Questions about the extent of discretionary autonomy and the feasibility of hierarchical control are discussed in depth, with suggestions made for the further development of research in this field. Hence the book fills an important gap in the literature on public policy delivery, making it a valuable text for students and researchers of public policy, public administration and public management.
Understanding Stress in Doctors’ Families (Developments In Nursing And Health Care Ser. #Vol. 22)
by Usha R. RoutThis title was first published in 2000: The first book to examine stress in doctors’ families in the United Kingdom, this book outlines the results of both qualitative and quantitative research data and a thorough literature review of stress in the medical profession. It has been organised in five chapters beginning with medical students, junior doctors and consultants’ stress. Chapter two focuses on specific problems experienced by general practitioners. The content of the third chapter outlines the experiences of women doctors and their family lives. In chapter four overseas doctors, their spouses and their children talk about their experiences which are characterised by cultural diversities. Chapter five focuses on the experiences of non-doctor spouses and children’s point of view. The final chapter reviews issues raised by the doctors, their spouses and their children. Approaches to the problems of different groups are suggested and some individual and organisational stress management strategies are outlined. This book is aimed at medical students, hospital doctors and their spouses, general practitioners and their spouses, other health care professionals and students in medicine, social sciences and allied health professions. It will also be of value to counsellors helping doctors and their families suffering from emotional problems.
Understanding Stuart Hall
by Helen Davis'This is the most lucid and engaged account of Stuart Hall's work. Meticulously, and with an exemplary generosity, Helen Davis patiently unravels the threads of Hall's intellectual history. The result is a most useful and thoughtful book, which could prove to be indispensable for students of cultural studies' - Graeme Turner, University of Queensland Understanding Stuart Hall traces the development of one of the most influential and respected figures within cultural studies. Focusing on Stuart Hall's writings over a period of nearly fifty years, this volume offers students and academics a cogent and exploratory route through complex and overlapping areas of analysis. In her critical assessment of Hall's most important contributions to academic and public debate, Davis shows the extent to which his analyses of race and ethnicity have been informed by early studies of Marxism, class and 'societies structured in dominance'. Davis offers fresh insight into the formation of one of the most prolific, charismatic and controversial intellectuals of his generation. Despite having been branded a 'cultural pessimist', Stuart Hall has long been associated with encouraging new, cutting-edge scholarship within the field. This volume concludes with a discussion of Hall's most recent political and academic interventions and his continuing commitment to innovation within the visual arts.
Understanding Suffering in Schools: Shining a Light on the Dark Places of Education
by Joseph Polizzi William C. FrickDrawing inspiration from Dr. Willi Schohaus’s classic text The Dark Places of Education, this book contributes to the discussion by defining suffering in schools and providing a survey of the American school system’s inadequacies in the early twenty-first century. Through testimonies from former students on the ways they experienced suffering in school, this volume demonstrates how suffering can profoundly affect one’s academic growth and development—or worse. By analyzing the findings within a multidisciplinary ethical and educational framework, this volume presents a moral vision for understanding the role that suffering plays in school. Drawing on research in medicine, psychology, social sciences, religion, and education, this text weaves together many strands of thinking about suffering. This book is essential reading for academics, researchers, and postgraduate students in the fields of educational leadership, foundations of education, and those interested in both the history of education and critical contemporary accounts of schooling.
Understanding Survey Methodology: Sociological Theory and Applications (Frontiers in Sociology and Social Research #4)
by Philip S. BrennerThis volume ambitiously applies sociological theory to create an understanding of aspects of survey methodology. It focuses on the interplay between sociology and survey methodology: what sociological theory and approaches can offer to survey research and vice versa. The volume starts with a focus on direct connections between sociological theories and their applications in survey research. It further presents cutting-edge, original research that applies the “sociological imagination” to substantive concerns important to sociologists, survey methodologists, and social scientists and includes issues such as health, immigration, race/ethnicity, gender and sexuality, and criminal justice.
Understanding System Change in Child Protection and Welfare (Routledge Advances in Social Work)
by John Canavan, Carmel Devaney, Caroline McGregor and Aileen ShawThis book provides an account of the experience of a multifaceted system-change programme to strengthen the capacity of Ireland’s statutory child protection and welfare agency in the areas of prevention, early intervention and family support. Many jurisdictions globally are involved in system change processes focused on increasing investment in services that seek to prevent children’s entry into child protection and welfare systems, through early intervention, greater support to families, and an increased emphasis on rights and participation. Based on a four-year in-depth study by a team of University-based researchers, this text adds to the emerging knowledge-base on developing, implementing and evaluating system change in child protection and welfare. Study methodological approaches were wide ranging and involved a number of key stakeholders including children, parents, social workers and social care workers, service managers, agency leaders and policy makers. Since the change process involved an agency-university partnership encompassing design, technical support and evaluation, the book also contributes to understandings of the potential and limits of such partnerships in the child protection and welfare field. Uniquely, the book gives voice to the experience of both agency personnel and academic in the accounts provided. It will be of interest to all scholars, students and practitioners in the areas of child protection and welfare.
Understanding the Chinese City (Published in association with Theory, Culture & Society)
by Li ShiqiaoThis book teaches us to read the contemporary Chinese city. Li Shiqiao deftly crafts a new theory of the Chinese city and the dynamics of urbanization by: exploring the rise of stories of labour, finance and their hierarchies examining how the Chinese city has been shaped by the figuration of the writing system analyzing the continuing importance of the family and its barriers of protection against real and imagined dangers demonstrating how actual structures bring into visual being the networks of safety in personal and family networks. Understanding the Chinese City elegantly traces a thread between ancient Chinese city formations and current urban organizations, revealing hidden continuities that show how instrumental the past has been in forming the present. Rather than becoming obstacles to change, ancient practices have become effective strategies of adaptation under radically new terms.
Understanding the City: Contemporary and Future Perspectives (IJURR Studies in Urban and Social Change Book Series #47)
by John Eade Christopher MeleThis cutting-edge, multi-disciplinary analysis looks ahead to the direction which urban studies is likely to take during the twenty-first century.
Understanding the Cost of Welfare: What Welfare Costs And How To Pay For It (Understanding Welfare: Social Issues, Policy and Practice)
by Howard GlennersterThe challenge of meeting the growing cost of welfare is one of the most pressing issues facing governments of our time. Glennerster’s authoritative Understanding the cost of welfare assesses what welfare costs and how it is funded sector-by-sector. The book is written in a clear, accessible style, ideally suited to both teaching and study, and the general reader. This substantially revised third edition includes: • Discussion of the many funding issues now facing welfare states, such as demographic change, tax resistance, slow growth and austerity programmes • The theory and practice of devolved tax and budgetary responsibilities between UK nations and in comparison with other countries • New chapters on pensions and post-16 education • More regular and extensive comparative analysis Divided into 3 sections, covering Principles, Service funding, and The Future, the book Includes questions for discussion and suggestions for further reading, making it an easy-to-use, essential resource for both undergraduate and post-graduate students of Social Policy, Sociology, Politics and Public Administration.
Understanding the Dynamics of Global Inequality
by Alexander Lenger Florian SchumacherDespite the fact that the globalization process tends to reinforce existing inequality structures and generate new areas of inequality on multiple levels, systematic analyses on this very important field remain scarce. Hence, this book approaches the complex question of inequality not only from different regional perspectives, covering Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin and Northern America, but also from different disciplinary perspectives, namely cultural anthropology, economics, ethnology, geography, international relations, sociology, and political sciences. The contributions are subdivided into three essential fields of research: Part I analyzes the socio-economic dimension of global exclusion, highlighting in particular the impacts of internationalization and globalization processes on national social structures against the background of theoretical concepts of social inequality. Part II addresses the political dimension of global inequalities. Since the decline of the Soviet Union new regional powers like Brazil, China, India and South Africa have emerged, creating power shifts in international relations that are the primary focus of the second part. Lastly, Part III examines the structural and transnational dimension of inequality patterns, which can be concretized in the rise of globalized national elites and the emergence of multinational networks that transcend the geographical and imaginative borders of nation states.
Understanding the Emotions of Second Language Writing Teachers: A Chinese Tertiary Educational Context (English Language Education #40)
by Shulin Yu Feng GengThis book incorporates both practice-based information and research to underpin teachers' emotions in the teaching and learning settings of second language (L2) writing, in the Chinese tertiary educational context. It introduces and validates a new conceptual framework for evaluating the causes and effects of the emotions of L2 writing teachers and investigates their emotional experiences in the context of the classroom. Additionally, it demonstrates the mediating effect of emotion-regulation strategies on L2 writing teachers’ pedagogical practices, writing assessment practices, teacher–student relationships, and well-being. Finally, this book provides theoretical, practical, and pedagogical implications of emotion regulation and management in order to implement the L2 writing curriculum.
Understanding the Energy Transition: Civil society, territory and inequality in Italy
by Natalia Magnani Giovanni CarrosioThe transformation of the dominant model of centralized energy production from fossil fuels to renewable energies is at the center of the public and scientific debate, as well as the subject of national and European policies, as it is connected to highly topical issues such as climate change, emissions reduction and natural disasters, security of supply and sustainability of the current economic development model.Up to now this topic has been mainly addressed by the economic and engineering sciences, with a research focus on the hardware rather than on the human and social software.However, energy systems, and the possibilities of change, are not only economic or technological but involve also patterns of social life, representations, organizational models and relational structures. In order to generate the social preconditions for the transition to a low-emission society, focused on a growing production of energy from renewable sources and on a greater sustainability of consumption, it is therefore urgent to reaffirm the centrality of a sociological approach to energy.This book focused on three core research areas which are crucial to understand what is at stake with the energy transition: conflicts over the construction and location of renewable energy production plants; collective action on renewable sources that promote a new model of energy system in which consumers are also producers; and the social-territorial impact of energy policies.
Understanding the High Performance Workplace: The Line Between Motivation and Abuse (SIOP Organizational Frontiers Series)
by Neal M. Ashkanasy Rebecca J. Bennett Mark J. MartinkoThis book asks the crucial question: When does high performance supervision become abusive supervision? As more organizations push to adopt high performance work practices (HPWP), the onus increasingly falls on supervisors to do whatever it takes to maximize the productivity of their work teams. In this rigorous, research-based volume, international contributors offer insight into how and when seemingly-beneficial workplace practices cross the line from motivation to abuse. By reviewing critical issues in both high performance work practices and abusive supervision, it illuminates the crossover between these two modes of work, and forges a path for future scholarship.
Understanding the Horizontal and Vertical Nature of Africa Migration in Contemporary Times (Africa's Global Engagement: Perspectives from Emerging Countries)
by Stanley Osezua Ehiane Mfundo Mandla Masuku Kekgaoditse SupingThe book project strives to establish and interpret the experiences and realities of African migration using African epistemology and philosophy. The significance of this book is triggered by an observation that seeks to propound the Eurocentric paradigm as not being the only dominating, acceptable, or legitimate approach to knowledge in explaining the evolution and dynamics of African migration. Africans have a long history of migration, both involuntary and voluntary. Contemporary African migrants have experienced three (3) types of migration, namely labour migration, forced migration or refugee movement, and skilled professional migration. These types of migration take place within the continent and between Africa and other continents. The book seeks to explore and cover a wide array of issues experienced by contemporary African migrants. This includes, but is not limited to, what and who a contemporary African migrant is; factors that influence contemporary African migration; the role and impact of regional institutions and other transnational entities on contemporary African migration; the challenges of contemporary African migrants; the impact of contemporary African migrants in national, regional, international politics and economy; the role of a contemporary African migrant on regional integration.
Understanding the Impact of INSET on Teacher Change in China
by Ming LiThis pivot considers the impact of INSET courses on EFL teachers practicing under the national curriculum reform in China. Providing context-specific findings on the policy and implementation of INSET as well as its impact on teacher education initiatives in both China and similar contexts, it explores the limitations of one off training events such as INSET and the inconsistency between teacher learning results and their classroom practices. The book argues that teachers, when returning to pre-INSET teaching, are influenced by their prior deeply-rooted beliefs largely considered more powerful than newly-learnt theories. Addressing the rarely discussed fact that the complex and dynamic characteristics of teacher learning change over time and support the construct of teacher learning as a social event rather than a one-off event, the book also offers practical solutions on how to improve teacher education and enhance the long-term INSET impact on teacher development, with the ambition of promoting education reform for both teachers and students alike.
Understanding the Impact of Social Research on the Military: Reflections and Critiques (Cass Military Studies)
by Eyal Ben-AriThis book seeks to chart and evaluate the impact of social research on the military itself. By ‘impact’, the authors in this volume simply mean that which has a marked effect or influence on changing military policy, practices, knowledge, skills, behaviour, or living conditions. The book comprises a series of reflective contributions from scholars who have conducted research on the military as external scholars with no formal ties to the armed forces, as 'native' researchers formally linked to them, as well as various kinds of contracted social scientists enabled by the military to carry out their investigations. The authors were asked to make the question of the impact of social scientific research on the armed forces an object of study in itself and to situate their reflections in terms of wider analytical questions. As a result, the chapters can be divided, broadly speaking, into two types of orientation: some are centered on theoretical and analytical issues, while others focus on the researchers’ lived experiences. This book will be of interest to students of military studies, sociology, organisational studies, psychology and political science.
Understanding the Japanese Mind
by James Clark MoloneyExplore the intricate layers of Japanese culture and psychology with James Clark Moloney's insightful work, Understanding the Japanese Mind. This illuminating book delves deep into the unique characteristics and complexities that define Japanese thought and behavior, offering readers a comprehensive guide to understanding the cultural and psychological underpinnings of one of the world’s most fascinating societies.James Clark Moloney, an expert in East Asian studies, combines his extensive research with firsthand experiences to provide a nuanced analysis of the Japanese psyche. Understanding the Japanese Mind covers a wide array of topics, including social norms, communication styles, and the values that shape daily life in Japan. Moloney’s clear and engaging writing makes complex cultural concepts accessible to a broad audience.Key themes in the book include the importance of harmony and group cohesion, the concept of face (tatemae and honne), and the intricate social rituals that govern Japanese interactions. Moloney also explores the historical and philosophical roots of these cultural traits, drawing connections to Zen Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shintoism.This book is an essential resource for students, scholars, business professionals, and anyone interested in gaining a deeper understanding of Japanese culture. Moloney’s balanced approach and thorough analysis offer readers a valuable perspective on the factors that influence Japanese behavior and thought processes.Join James Clark Moloney on a journey into the heart of Japanese culture, and gain a deeper appreciation for the complexities and nuances of the Japanese mind. Understanding the Japanese Mind is a timeless exploration of cultural psychology that continues to resonate with readers seeking to bridge the gap between East and West.
Understanding the Male Hustler
by Sam StewardThis book is a serious study of male hustlers using experiential dialogue to introduce the reader to real-life concepts and experiences that otherwise could not be effectively conveyed. An intriguing attempt to get into the mind and personality of the male hustler through a largely imagined series of dialogues between a well-known fictional hustler and his so-called amanuensis, Samuel Steward, this unique book covers all aspects of the hustler’s motivations, activities, life style, adjustments, advantages, and disadvantages. It accomplishes this dispassionately, without prejudgment, moral censure, approbation, or more than cursory involvement. Therapists and counselors in all fields of sexual functioning will find here some understanding of the causes and impulses (beyond the popular “broken home syndrome”) that lead young males into prostitution. It signals some of the signposts to danger and serious threats to health that accompany the profession of prostitution and also explains to counselors some of the activities and practices of the male prostitute, enabling them to have a better understanding of the fascination and peril of the hustler’s life. The brevity of success in such a calling is also considered, with some consideration for the necessity of long-range planning for the hustler’s future.Important contents: interview of a well-known hustler brief look at early male prostitution--Greek, Roman, Burton’s theory the peacock period and youth as a prerequisite for hustling lures of the profession--money, power, other motivations paths and mechanisms leading to hustling characteristics of different types of hustlers types of clients patronizing hustlers literary illuminations the modus operandi of the male hustler extraordinary dangers confronting the male hustler today the attractiveness of the “seeing-through” of a hustler to past clients quo vadis for the hustler after youth passes Readers will be amazed by the daily hazards and drawbacks as well fascinated by the curiosities and rewards of the hustler’s profession. Especially of interest to therapists and counselors, Understanding the Male Hustler is also valuable for sociologists, anthropologists, medical specialists, psychiatrists, psychologists.
Understanding the Mixed Economy of Welfare (second edition)
by Martin PowellAs the state withdraws from welfare provision, the mixed economy of welfare – involving private, voluntary and informal sectors – has become ever more important. This second edition of Powell’s acclaimed textbook on the subject brings together a wealth of respected contributors. New features of this revised edition include: • An updated perspective on the mixed economy of welfare (MEW) and social division of welfare (SDW) in the context of UK Coalition and Conservative governments • A conceptual framework that links the MEW and SDW with debates on topics of major current interest such as ‘Open Public Services’, ‘Big Society’, Any Qualified Provider’, Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and ‘Public Private Partnerships’ (PPP) Containing helpful features such as summaries, questions for discussion, further reading suggestions and electronic resources, this will be a valuable introductory resource for students of social policy, social welfare and social work at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.
Understanding the Olympics
by John Horne Garry WhannelThe Olympic Games is unquestionably the greatest sporting event in the world, with billions of viewers across the globe. How did the Olympics evolve into this multi-national phenomenon? How can the Olympics help us to understand the relationship between sport and society? What will be the impact and legacy of the 2016 Olympics in Rio? Now in a fully revised and updated new edition that places Rio 2016 in the foreground, Understanding the Olympics answers all these questions by exploring the social, cultural, political, historical and economic context of the Games. This book presents the latest research on the Olympics, including new material on legacy, sustainability and corruption, and introduces the reader to all of the key themes of contemporary Olympic Studies including: the history of the Olympics Olympic politics access and equity the Olympics and the media festival and spectacle the Olympic economy urban development Olympic futures. The most up-to-date and authoritative introduction to the Olympic Games, this book contains a full Olympic history timeline as well as illustrations, information boxes and ‘Olympic Stories’ in every chapter. Understanding the Olympics is essential reading for anybody with an interest in the Olympics or the wider relationship between sport and society.
Understanding the Olympics
by John Horne Garry WhannelHow did the Olympics evolve into a multi-national phenomenon? How can the Olympics help us to understand the relationship between sport and society? What will be the impact and legacy of the Olympics after Tokyo in 2020? Understanding the Olympics answers all these questions by exploring the social, cultural, political, historical and economic context of the Games. This thoroughly revised and updated edition discusses recent attempts at future proofing by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in the face of growing global anti-Olympic activism, the changing geo-political context within which the Olympics take place, and the Olympic histories of the next three cities to host the Games – Tokyo (2020), Paris (2024) and Los Angeles (2028) – as well as the legacy of the London (2012) Olympics. For the first time, this new edition introduces the reader to the emergence of &‘other Games&’ associated with the IOC – the Winter Olympics, the Paralympics, and the Youth Olympics. It also features a full Olympic history timeline, many new photographs, refreshed suggestions for further reading, and revised illustrations. The most up-to-date and authoritative textbook available on the Olympic Games, Understanding the Olympics is essential reading for anybody with an interest in the Olympics or the wider relationship between sport and society.
Understanding the Psychology of Diversity
by B. Evan Blaine Kimberly J. BrenchleyThe updated Third Edition of this best seller presents a highly readable examination of diversity from a unique psychological perspective to teach students how to understand social and cultural differences in today’s society. By exploring how individuals construct their view of social diversity and how they are defined and influenced by it, author B. Evan Blaine and new coauthor Kimberly J. McClure Brenchley present all that psychology has to offer on this critically important topic. The new edition features chapters on traditional topics such as categorization, stereotypes, sexism, racism, and sexual prejudice, in addition to chapters on nontraditional diversity topics such as weightism, ageism, and social stigma. Integrated throughout the text are applications of these topics to timely social issues.
Understanding the Psychology of Diversity
by B. Evan Blaine Kimberly J. BrenchleyThe updated Third Edition of this best seller presents a highly readable examination of diversity from a unique psychological perspective to teach students how to understand social and cultural differences in today’s society. By exploring how individuals construct their view of social diversity and how they are defined and influenced by it, author B. Evan Blaine and new coauthor Kimberly J. McClure Brenchley present all that psychology has to offer on this critically important topic. The new edition features chapters on traditional topics such as categorization, stereotypes, sexism, racism, and sexual prejudice, in addition to chapters on nontraditional diversity topics such as weightism, ageism, and social stigma. Integrated throughout the text are applications of these topics to timely social issues.
Understanding the Psychology of Diversity
by Bruce E. Blaine Kimberly J. BrenchleyUnderstanding the Psychology of Diversity offers a highly accessible examination of diversity to show students how to understand social and cultural differences in today’s society. Taking a psychological perspective, authors B. Evan Blaine and Kimberly J. McClure Brenchley explore how individuals construct their view of social diversity and how they are defined and influenced by it. The book covers traditional topics like categorization and stereotypes, sexism, racism, and social stigma, as well as non-traditional topics like sexual orientation-based prejudice, weight and appearance-based prejudice, diversity on television, and age stereotypes and ageism. The Fourth Edition confronts the credibility crisis that has surfaced in the academic psychological research community by following parameters for the research that is presented.