Search results for "Agency"
showing 10 items of 578 documents
(A)moral Agents in Organisations? The Significance of Ethical Organisation Culture for Middle Managers’ Exercise of Moral Agency in Ethical Problems
2017
This paper investigates qualitatively the significance of different dimensions of ethical organisation culture for the exercise of middle managers’ moral agency in ethical problems. The research draws on the social cognitive theory of morality and on the corporate ethical virtues model. This study broadens understanding of the factors which enable or constrain managers’ potential for moral agency in organisations, and shows that an insufficient ethical organisational culture may contribute to indifference towards ethical issues, the experiencing of moral conflicts, lack of self-efficacy and morally disengaged reasoning. In contrast, a healthy ethical culture can contribute to motivation to …
A Neofunctionalist Perspective on the ‘European Refugee Crisis’: The Case of the European Border and Coast Guard
2017
Initial literature on the ‘European refugee crisis’ discerned intergovernmental tendencies in its management. This paper examines whether neofunctionalism may be able to explain a major case of ‘European refugee crisis’ policy-making, the negotiations on the European Border and Coast Guard regulation. We argue, somewhat counterintuitively, that the theory considerably furthers our respective understanding. The crisis acted as a catalyst exposing the weaknesses of a system that pitted a supranational Schengen against a largely intergovernmental external border regime, notwithstanding a developing Frontex. These dysfunctionalities have been widely fostered by both national and supranational d…
The multiple roles of national exams in the certification, governing and support of learning and instruction in Norwegian secondary education.
2018
Hvilke roller har eksamen i norsk grunnopplaering? I Forskrift til opplaeringslova framgar det blant annet at eksamenskarakteren skal fastsette kompetansen til eleven ved slutten av opplaeringen i faget. Denne artikkelen viser imidlertid at policydokumenter og policyutviklere har en rekke forventninger til hva man skal oppna ved a ha eksamen og hva man skal kunne benytte eksamensresultater til. I et samspill mellom teori og empiri identifiser artikkelen tre roller for vurdering: a sertifisere, styre og stotte laering og undervisning. Dette begrepsapparatet brukes til a analysere bade eksamens formelt definerte formal, og tilsiktede og utilsiktede funksjoner ved eksamenssystemet. Artikkelen …
Seeking New Perspectives on the Development of Teacher Education – A Study of the Finnish Context
2013
Studies show that changes in teacher education around the world occur slowly and are difficult to implement. This study aims to contribute to the discussion on the major resources for and obstacles to developing teacher education and finding novel solutions to overcome the obstacles. Resources and obstacles were investigated in the context of academic and university-based teacher education in Finland. Findings revealed three major challenges: (a) obstacles in renegotiating professional identity, (b) internal competition between subject-matter groups within the department, and (c) discrepancies between individual agency and organizational development. Based on the findings, this study argues…
The professional agency of teacher educators amid academic discourses
2012
Agency has been seen as fundamental in the renegotiation of professional identities. However, it is unclear how teacher educators exercise their professional agency in their work, and how multiple discourses frame and restrict the practice of their professional agency. This study examines how teacher educators practise agency in negotiating their professional identities amid the multiple discourses emerging from the academic context of their work. The aim was to investigate educators’ locally expressed professional agency in the context of the more global discourses that may construct teacher educator identities. The analysis made use of applied thematic discursive analysis to address patte…
An analysis of e-business adoption and its impact on relational quality in travel agency–supplier relationships
2010
Abstract This study analyzes how managers of retail travel agencies perceive the antecedents and consequences of adopting e-business in their supplier relationships. A comprehensive model integrating its antecedents and relational effects is developed and empirically tested using SEM. The study surveyed 101 travel agents in Spain. Research findings indicate that customer pressure has a strong influence on e-communication practices. E-communication with the travel agency's supplier and the pressure exerted by the sector are the main antecedents for e-procurement. Effects of e-business on relational quality are contradictory. E-procurement influences negatively on trust. Conversely, e-communi…
Comparing and Contrasting the Studies Reported: Lessons Learnt
2016
This volume, with its title Beliefs, Agency and Identity in Foreign Language Learning and Teaching and the seven empirical studies reported in Chapters 3–9, has explored the phenomena of believing, acting, and identifying (or identity construction), and the interconnectedness of these phenomena in the learning and teaching of English or other foreign languages.
The Performance Evaluation of Polytechnic Higher Education Institutions: Tensions and Reconfigurations Resulting from the Adoption of Specific Metrics
2017
Aligned with the binary structure of the higher education system in Portugal, divided into universities and polytechnics, the Government acknowledged, in 2014, the need to identify distinct performance indicators/metrics aiming at a more accurate assessment of the effect and quality of the action developed by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). For the Polytechnic Higher Education Institutions (PHEIs) it was necessary to define «(...) performance indicators that address the production, transfer and diffusion of knowledge» (FCT, 2014: 1), aiming to measure «(...) the applied research and the cultural production activities as well as their impact on the region where they [PHEIs] are located…
Citizens as Actors in the Development Field: The Case of an Accidental Aid-Agent’s Activities in Aid-Land
2017
AbstractThis article explores a so far little researched aspect of the Norwegian development aid – the privatised, personalised aid giving. Elsewhere in Europe, researchers have explored this phenomenon, which they refer to as citizen initiatives (CIs) for global solidarity [Pollet, I., R. Habraken, L. Schulpen and H. Huyse, 2014, The Accidental Aid Worker: A Mapping of Citizen Initiatives for Global Solidarity in Europe, Nijmegen: KU Leuven/HIVA and CIDIN]. This phenomenon coincides with a generalised crisis in the established state-sponsored international aid industry reflecting the extended financial crisis. Against the background of a first exploratory mapping of CIs in Norway, we discu…
A comparison of two innovative customer power devices for Smart Micro-Grids
2015
The paper presents a comparison of two prototypes of innovative Customer Power Devices designed for applications in Smart Micro-Grids. The devices are both equipped with Energy Storage Systems, consisting in Lithium batteries and have been assembled, independently, by the DIAEE of the University of Rome 'La Sapienza' and the DEIM of the University of Palermo in collaboration with the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA). In the paper, the characteristics and the operating modes of the devices are examined and some consideration on their application in Low Voltage Smart Micro-Grids are provided. © 2015 IEEE.