How has Japan become a major economic power, a world leader in the automotive and electronics industries? What is the secret of their success? The consensus has been that, though the Japanese are not particularly innovative, they are exceptionally skilful at imitation, at improving products that already exist. But now two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hiro Takeuchi, turn this conventional wisdom on its head: Japanese firms are successful, they contend, precisely because they are innovative, because they create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. Examining case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, 3M, GE, and the U.S. Marines, this book reveals how Japanese companies translate tacit to explicit knowledge and use it to produce new processes, products, and services.

The knowledge-creating company : how Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation

What is Qualitative Interviewing? is an accessible and comprehensive ‘what is’ and ‘how to’ methods book. It is distinctive in emphasizing the importance of good practice in understanding and undertaking qualitative interviews within the framework of a clear philosophical position. Rosalind Edwards and Janet Holland provide clear and succinct explanations of relevant philosophies and theories of how to know about the social world, and a thorough discussion of how to go about researching it using interviews. A series of short chapters explain a range of interview types and practices. Drawing on their own and colleagues’ experiences Edwards and Holland provide real research examples as informative illustrations of qualitative interviewing in practice and the use of creative interview tools. They discuss the use of new technologies as well as tackling enduring issues around asking and listening, and power dynamics in research. Written in a clear and accessible style the book concludes with a useful annotated bibliography of key texts and journals in the field. What is Qualitative Interviewing? provides a vital resource for both new and experienced researchers across the social science disciplines.

What is Qualitative Interviewing

What makes organizations so similar? We contend that the engine of rationalization and bureaucratization has moved from the competitive marketplace to the state and the professions. Once a set of organizations emerges as a field, a paradox arises: rational actors make their organizations increasingly similar as they try to change them. We describe three isomorphic processes-coercive, mimetic, and normative—leading to this outcome. We then specify hypotheses about the impact of resource centralization and dependency, goal ambiguity and technical uncertainty, and professionalization and structuration on isomorphic change. Finally, we suggest implications for theories of organizations and social change.

The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields (Chinese Translation)

Symposium Review: 25th Anniversary of Moral Boundaries by Joan Tronto

The third way: the renewal of social democracy

The draw and write technique is increasingly popular in health education research with children. It is generally employed in the setting of the school classroom and is promoted as a ‘bottom-up’ approach which enhances participation by children. In this paper we critically appraise the use of this method. Against the background of a consideration of carrying out qualitative health promotion research with children we examine the origins and use of children’s drawings in a number of disciplines and practice environments. We argue that, although the draw and write technique has made an important contribution to health education research, it fails to reflect the processes involved in the construction and collection of such data. A range of methodological, analytical and ethical issues are raised. We conclude that health education research with children must involve taking children seriously as social actors and query the assumption that drawing enables children to communicate their thought any more than does conversational language. We suggest that the development of research should be premised upon an appreciation of the social context and the world of the child.

A critical appraisal of the draw and write technique

affects us all and with which we work. As is often the case, beginnings are vague and theoretical. This hook is a welcome addition to other resources that assist us in understanding the pervasive yet vague phenomena of relationships. Both of these books are worthwhile because of the attention they bring to common, yet seldom explored, themes. They are not “how-to” books or guides for working with clients. They are, however, resources for conceptualizing factors that are close to the core of problems readers may encounter.

Families in Society

In this article we explore temporal and spatial frameworks for analysing the experience of combining caring for children with participation in paid work. We highlight the pressure to undertake paid...

Shadow Times: The Temporal and Spatial Frameworks and Experiences of Caring and Working

The Disabled People’s Movement (DPM) and the Feminist Movement appeal to incompatible meanings of ‘care’. For the DPM the word ‘care’ is to be resisted. The emotional connotations implicit in the c...

Love’s Labours Lost? Feminism, the Disabled People’s Movement and an Ethic of Care

In this article we examine the tensions between feminist and disability studies perspectives on care.We argue that an emancipatory model of care is one that must address these tensions. In developing this model we consider the notions of (inter)dependence and need across the lifecourse. Drawing on the work of Fraser (1989), we propose that the notion of ‘needscape’ can be used to construct a ‘discourse bridge’ that will mediate between the disability studies and feminist perspectives on care. Notions of care and caring have been subject to criticism by feminist and disability theorists.There is a presumption by some that care is an activity to which women are naturally suited and this forms a starting point for the claim associated with the feminist view that care is a source of women’s exploitation. For disability activists notions of care are dis-empowering.The person in receipt of care is often assumed to be passive and dependent. This is exemplified in the limited access of disabled people to choices ...

Linda McKie

Papers

A critical appraisal of the draw and write technique

Families in Society

Shadow Times: The Temporal and Spatial Frameworks and Experiences of Caring and Working

Love’s Labours Lost? Feminism, the Disabled People’s Movement and an Ethic of Care

(Inter)Dependence, Needs and Care The Potential for Disability and Feminist Theorists to Develop an Emancipatory Model