Showing papers on "Culture change published in 2007"

Cultural Transmission Theory and the Archaeological Record: Providing Context to Understanding Variation and Temporal Changes in Material Culture

Abstract: Cultural transmission (CT) is implicit in many explanations of culture change. Formal CT models were defined by anthropologists 30 years ago and have been a subject of active research in the social sciences in the ensuing years. Although increasing in popularity in recent years, CT has not seen extensive use in archaeological research, despite the quantitative rigor of many CT models and the ability to create testable hypotheses. Part of the reason for the slow adoption, we argue, has been the continuing focus on change in central tendency and mode in archaeology, instead of change in dispersion or variance. Yet archaeological research provides an excellent data source for exploring processes of CT. We review CT research in the anthropological sciences and outline the benefits and drawbacks of this theoretical framework for the study of material culture. We argue that CT can shed much light on our understandings of why material technology changes over time, including explanations of differential rates of change among different technologies. We further argue that transmission processes are greatly affected by the content, context, and mode of transmission and fundamentally structure variation in material culture. Including ideas from CT can provide greater context for explaining and understanding changes in the variation of artifacts over time. Finally, we outline what we feel should be the goals of CT research in archaeology in the coming years.

Culture Change in Three Taxation Administrations: From Command‐and‐Control to Responsive Regulation

Abstract: Law and policy is one thing, but their implementation and administration is affected by organizational cultures. Meidinger has argued that knowledge of regulatory and organizational cultures assists understanding of how law and policy work in practice. This article examines three revenue administrations that are moving from a command-and-control style of regulation to a more persuasive and responsive style of regulation. The central argument is that there is a determining step in the process of clarification, reconciliation, responsiveness, and design of a tax system. That step is the extent to which organizational culture can be changed to embrace inclusive discussion and creative solutions to the administration of tax law and policy.

Chapter 1 – Climate and culture change: exploring Holocene transitions

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter attempts to explore the climatic and cultural changes and transitions that have occurred in past 10,000 years. Responding successfully to climate change and its likely impacts on human culture is one of the great scientific challenges of the 21st century and a major test for global civilization. Various studies have been conducted in this regard, and various papers have been presented. This study explores how past human cultures have responded to changes in climate and consequent changes in vegetation and precipitation patterns. It documents research that offers many lessons of value to scholars, politicians/planners, and the general public. Scientific literature, archaeological research, and paleobiological evidence can be critical for identifying human presence and impact on the landscape; so, too, can geoarchaeological/geophysical analyses. Under this light, this chapter demonstrates that the reconstruction of both past climate change and past human cultural systems is best accomplished by using data from multiple sources, or proxy records, and by specialists from different disciplines working together. The development of the radiocarbon calibration curve has profound implications for archaeological and paleoenvironmental research. Furthermore, this study describes the possible causes of Holocene climate change, also rationalizing the need to study climate and culture change, and particularly events and processes occurring during the Mid-Holocene from ca. 9000 to 5000 years ago to help in the modern world. The basis for such studies lies in the relationship between climate and cultural change, which is elucidated in this chapter.

The cultural turn? Culture change and what it means for spatial planning in England

Abstract: Too often the culture of planning is reactive and defensive. We want a culture which promotes planning as a positive tool: a culture which grasps the opportunities to improve the experience of plan...

Managing the Psychological Contract: Using the Personal Deal to Increase Business Performance

Abstract: The psychological contract lies at the heart of your relationship with the organisation you work for. It is the deal you make with your employer and colleagues at work; it is about your mutual expectations and their fulfilment. Too often this contract is implicit and left to chance, resulting in misunderstanding, stress, lower commitment and performance. The author demonstrates how to use the psychological contract to raise the business game and increase personal fulfilment. Managing the Psychological Contract is the first book which shows how the psychological contract can be used in practice. In it Michael Wellin advocates going beyond the traditional static view of the psychological contract between the organisation and its employees. He shows how to create unique and dynamic customised Personal Deals between people and teams. He does this by showing how to make personal deals explicit and mutual, and provides practical tips for leaders, employees and HR professionals. Separate chapters are devoted to leadership, culture change and strategic HR management. There is also a chapter of practical ideas for individuals who want to change their personal deal at work. The author's ideas are based on his own research and consultancy experience as well as the latest business school research. The book has a number of case studies showing how different organisations use the psychological contract. This is an important and extremely readable book for all those concerned with the improved performance of people and organisations.

People and culture in construction: Contexts and challenges

Abstract: Recently, there appears to have been an acknowledgement that the way in which people are managed and developed is limiting the industry’s ability to improve its performance. As such, the industry has been challenged to address its poor performance on people management and cultural issues. Unfortunately, the accepted improvement agenda too often abounds with simplistic exhortations that the construction industry must ‘change its culture’. Indeed, as will be examined later in this chapter, the discourse of culture change within the industry appearsstrangely disconnected from the broader defining literature. This book begins to address this failing by presenting a broad range of critical and empirical insights on construction employment and culture within a single volume. Although eclectic in terms of their coverage and philosophical standpoints with regard to industry practice, together they offer a set of different lenses through which the current failings of the industry can be examined critically. The authors, who are all prominent researchers within their respective fields, share a common approach in that they all aim to be critical but pragmatic. Rather than seek simple normative performance-enhancing solutions to ingrained problems, they explore the implications of the industry’s approaches for both research and practice. By locating salient issues within a wider theoretical framework, they provide the reader with a set of thought-provoking perspectives on the challenges confronting the construction sector and how they might be viewed differently in the future.

Personalisation and CRM

Abstract: Personalisation has been utilised by various companies in the electronic marketplace. Gartner research stated that by 2004, 80 per cent of content-rich IT applications (eg news sites, e-tailers and corporate intranets) will incorporate personalisation. Personalisation is becoming more of an increasing segment of the internet economy. Customer relationship management (CRM) has been an accepted strategy of companies in order to improve their performance. The concept of personalisation and CRM has expanded in scope to emphasise a much broader notion of benefits to a company. The focus of this paper is to determine whether companies can increase the return generated by their electronic commerce strategy by utilising ‘personalisation’ in executing CRM in the electronic marketplace. A case-study approach was utilised to identify personalisation strategies and its benefits. Lessons learned from the cases examined revealed that companies should approach personalisation from an inter-functional as opposed to a ‘silo’ implementation to reap maximal benefits. Our research found that competitive pressures and cost savings helped to spurn the use of personalisation. Personalisation requires ‘anticipating relevant intent’ of customers in order to increase benefits. Other key findings identified that companies, both business to business (b2b) and business to consumers (b2c), employing personalisation improves the benefits of CRM.

The Complexity of Integrity Culture Change: A Case Study of a Liberal Arts College

Abstract: The concept of academic integrity has been resurrected in both literature and practice in response to a perceived problem of student academic dishonesty. Most specifically, academic integrity advocates suggest changing the student academic culture to normalize academic integrity and reduce occurrences of academic dishonesty. Theories of organizational culture and change (e.g., Schein, 1992) suggest, however, that such a change process will be complex. This study fills a void in the literature by providing an examination of the integrity culture change process at one case institution and offering considerations for the facilitation and empirical investigation of integrity culture change.

Old Age in a New Age: The Promise of Transformative Nursing Homes

Abstract: decision to leave home should experience a seamless transformation into a continuum care facility Beth Baker's new book, Old Age in a New Age: The Promise of Transformative Nursing Homes, provides a clear picture of how such a conversion should look It is a challenge to change the medical model of nursing homes into a social model that is full of choices, independence, and, most importantly, one that nurtures interpersonal relationships Yet, this book shows this change can occur Through many success stories, Baker provides a framework from where to begin Plus, it presents a detailed history of how nursing homes evolved and a strong argument as to why they must continue to evolve into homes that respect each individual as a unique human being The three-part book opens with "The Last Resort," helping readers understand how each decade in the United States provided its own set of services and prejudices toward those who were in need of care, especially the poor elderly "Decades of disordered actions by state and federal legislators, entrepreneurs, nonprofit agencies and, eventually, large corporations produced nursing homes" (p 10) Baker explains the thinking and history of each decade, which outlines the necessity of culture change in all providers The second part of the book, "Stories from the Front Lines of Change," takes the reader along many paths highlighting the importance of honoring individual choices that help residents find meaning in life, create sustainable relationships with family and community members, and understand the importance of living in the present This section reminds the reader how important it is to educate all caregivers on appropriate end-of-life care "Making the Case for Change" is the final part It prepares the reader to overcome resistance to culture change by examining the various reasons often cited for maintaining the status quo Baker OidAae via Age in a New Aae i !

Patient safety in women's health-care: professional colleges can make a difference. The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada MOREOB program

Abstract: The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada has played a leadership role in advancing patient safety at the national level with the launching of their obstetric patient safety program 'Managing Obstetric Risks Efficiently' (MORE(OB)). Developed over a 2-year period and launched as a pilot in 2002, the program has extended to 126 hospitals in five provinces that provide care for 48% of the births in Canada. The end-point for the program is to change the culture of blame to a focused and sustained patient safety culture, where patient safety is everyone's responsibility, with observed reductions in events and improved quality of care. The program has integrated the principles of high reliability organizations (HROs), systems error theory, team function, and communities of practice (CoPs) as values for the work environment. In this chapter we describe how the program was developed, the role of the national specialty society in the development, and the funding, structure and implementation of the program, and we report on the impact of the program over the first 3 years. In these first 3 years, knowledge enhancement in all disciplines and in all practice environments, with a significant reduction in variance among the disciplines, has been demonstrated. Culture change has occurred in all practice settings and has continued to improve over time. Using liability claims information from the hospitals, a reduction trend has been observed in liability carrier (hospital) incurred costs.

Climbing the Educational Mountain: A Metaphor for Real Culture Change for Indigenous Students in Remote Schools

Abstract: The history of remote school education in the Northern Territory can best be summarised as years of lost opportunities, pedagogies of discrimination, and diminished lives for those parents and children who trusted and responded to the government's invitation to come to school. From late 2001 to 2005 historic educational change occurred in the remote Community Education Centre of Kalkaringi and Daguragu in the Northern Territory, the site for the delivery of the Northern Territory's first Year 12 Indigenous graduates studying in their own community school. At the heart of the historic achievement was a radical change in thinking about education for Indigenous students. This paper discusses some of the policy parameters and educational circumstances that prevented significant change in the delivery model of education for the Community Education Centres in addition to a conceptualisation of how that school circumvented the policy parameters and instituted real change from the ground up. The paper examines, through a critical lens, the nature of the culture change that was crafted and built upon within Kalkaringi School and its communities, despite an initial and significant sense of powerlessness felt by families and to some extent the teachers and principal within the school. Through the development and embrace of a metaphor of possibility and hope - the challenge of climbing the educational mountain formed the foundation for a dedicated and committed enactment of an equitable educational entitlement for remote Indigenous students.

Viewpoint: infusing professionalism into a school of medicine: perspectives from the dean.

Abstract: In 2000, leaders at Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) consciously set out to incorporate professionalism into the culture of the school. The dean of IUSM offers his personal perspective of the state of professionalism at his institution before the culture change, explaining the inspiration for the leadership's efforts toward pursuing a culture of professionalism. The author describes specific actions taken at IUSM to foster professionalism, including crafting a Core Values and Guiding Principles document that explicitly stated the institution's ideals and that was circulated to and eventually approved in 2001 by every member of the IUSM faculty, graduate trainees, and student body; explicitly incorporating professionalism into faculty recruiting and student admissions processes; integrating professionalism into the IUSM curriculum; and employing a Relationship-Centered Care Initiative, which encourages members of the IUSM community to acknowledge and reflect on their personal experiences as caregivers, to cultivate an appreciation for what is best about medicine. To underscore the importance of the culture change, IUSM leadership have been involved in every step of the process and have committed to rewarding professional behavior among faculty members. The author encourages other institutions to strive for similar culture change to promote professionalism across medicine.

Human Resource Management in an International Context

Abstract: Introduction Employment in a Global Context Human Resource Management Work Organisation and Flexibility Culture Change Management Recruitment and Selection Learning and Development Managing Performance Reward Employee Voice Employment Law Corporate Social Responsibility and Human Resource Management Business Ethics and Organisational Justice Employment Equality Themes and Reflections

Managers' work-life balance and health: the case of UK managers

Abstract: The paper explores the effects of organisational change on UK managers' perceptions of their organisation and on their well-being. Cost reduction is the prime driver for change and has been implemented using delayering, redundancy, downsizing and off-shoring often supported by culture change programmes. These changes have resulted in work intensification, have not delivered productivity gains and have had a negative effect on managers' well-being. The effects of change were perceived differently by directors and other managers. Despite continuous cost reduction, productivity in the UK remains below that of European competitor nations. This calls into question the prevailing cost reduction ethos as a means of delivering increased productivity in the UK.

Culture change in long-term care.

Abstract: The American long-term care (LTC) system, based on a medical model, regards residents as sick patients, unable to care for themselves. Routines are organized for the efficient operation of the facility, rather than the needs of residents. The focus of care is to treat the residents’ weaknesses, not to develop their strengths. Culture change is a movement that departs from the traditional institutionalized care model, towards “person-centered” care. This change places the residents and their direct care workers at the center of the organizational structure. Residents are allowed to determine their own care and daily experiences. Culture change promotes quality of life and quality of care. LTC facilities’ “pioneer practices” have implemented this change, and several “care-models” have emerged. The “individualized care” model helps residents return to familiar routines: residents decide what is important to them, and how they want to live out the rest of their lives. The “regenerative community” model downplays illness and builds upon residents’ strengths, helping residents flourish despite declining health. The “resident-directed care” model separates facilities into small home-like neighborhoods, with resident choice at the heart of the community. Each neighborhood has a permanently assigned, cross-trained staff team. (Table 1) The Wellspring model is based on a charter group of 11 freestanding not-forprofit homes in eastern Wisconsin (The Wellspring Alliance). This model developed in 1994 in response to managed care oversight. This model seeks both to enhance quality of resident care and to enhance the quality of work-life for staff. The Wellspring model has hired geriatric nurse practitioners, and given employees necessary skills and a voice in how their work should be performed. The Wellspring homes share staff training, comparative data on resident outcomes and multidisciplinary resource teams. 5 The Eden Alternative is the most recognized model of successful culture change. Dr. William Thomas created The Eden Alternative in 1991 to alleviate the three “plagues” of LTC: loneliness, helplessness, and boredom. This community-centered approach seeks to “create a human habitat where life revolves around close and continuing contact with plants, animals, and children.” 2 Seeing the animals, children and gardens of an Eden facility, many onlookers erroneously equate “Edenizing” with these elements. However, “Edenizing” includes a change in philosophy. Much like resident-directed care, Eden emphasizes community and neighborhoods, with staff organized into interdisciplinary teams. The major tenets of the Eden philosophy are: 6

An Occupational Perspective on Cultural Evolution

Abstract: Culture has received increasing attention in recent occupational science research. The emphasis has been on the influence of culture on occupational choice, yet individuals’ occupational choices influence culture through the process of cultural evolution. Culture initially emerged as activities that successfully addressed basic needs were transformed into rituals. Cultural evolution occurs when some aspects of a culture change or disappear. This can happen as a result of chance, or change in the surrounding world, through social unrest or planned intervention. It is important to recognize the possibility that occupational choices have broad societal implications, and to address that possibility in a thoughtful and planned fashion.

A descriptive study of nursing home organizational culture, work environment and culture change from the perspectives of licensed nurses

Abstract: Licensed nurses are often identified as a major barrier to the successful implementation of nursing home culture change initiatives, but there is little knowledge of their perceptions of the culture change experience. This study was designed to explore licensed nurses' perceptions of organizational culture and work environment, as well as perceptions of factors that influence the adoption of a specific culture change initiative, the Wellspring Program. All licensed nurses ≥.25 FTE from two nursing homes were invited to complete surveys. Overall response rate was 57% (N=47): 55% from Facility One (n=27) and 61% from Facility Two (n=20). A subset of 13 respondents, targeted for their increased length of tenure in their nursing home, was invited to participate in an interview. Data were triangulated to determine complementarity. Three themes emerged from the data: Confusion over culture change and the role of the licensed nurse, Conflict over the integration of traditional care models with a resident-centered model and Commitment to the resident as an individual and to providing quality nursing care. What is perceived by administrators as nurses' "resistance to change" may, in fact, be a struggle by licensed nurses to make sense of the motivation and reasoning for changes or to understand the actual changes and their roles in the change process. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Nursing First Advisor Lois K. Evans

Communicating During Emergencies: Toward Interoperability and Effective Information Management

Abstract: The suboptimal state of communications technology used by public safety agencies has emerged as a high profile political issue. In most cases, public safety agencies are able only to communicate using antiquated networks, engineered solely for providing voice communications and unable to interoperate beyond a select number of users. This type of system fails to provide the type of economies of scale, network flexibility, or the broader functionalities routinely used by the military and private sector enterprises. The challenge facing policymakers is thus how to develop a next generation architecture for public safety and spur adoption of a new set of technologies that provide far greater functionality than today's systems as well as interoperate with a broad array of organizations involved in emergency response. To change the culture and realities of public safety communications, this Article calls on policymakers to develop a new architecture for the use of information and communications technologies and provide a framework for leadership to transition to a next generation system for public safety communications. Such a culture change would include not only an embrace of new technologies, but a new framework for technology leadership - at the state or regional level - that spurs decisionmaking in a coordinated fashion (and not through ad hoc decisions by over 50,000 different local agencies). In short, this Article explains what new technologies can transform public safety communications and what intergovernmental relations strategy will be necessary to facilitate the implementation of such technologies.

Leveraging organisational cultural capital

Abstract: Organisational culture discourse mandates a linear approach of diagnosis, measurement and gap analysis as standard practice in relation to most culture change initiatives. Therefore, a problem solving framework geared toward “fixing�? and/or realigning an organisation’s culture is usually prescribed. The traditional problem solving model seeks to identify gaps between current and desired organisational cultural states, inhibiting the discovery of an organisation’s unique values and strengths, namely its cultural capital. In pursuit of discovering and leveraging organisational cultural capital, a descriptive case study is used to show how an Appreciative Inquiry process can rejuvenate the spirit of an organisation as a system-wide inquiry mobilises a workforce toward a shared vision.

Communicating During Emergencies: Toward Interoperability and Effective Information Management

Abstract: The suboptimal state of communications technology used by public safety agencies has emerged as a high profile political issue. In most cases, public safety agencies are able only to communicate using antiquated networks, engineered solely for providing voice communications and unable to interoperate beyond a select number of users. This type of system fails to provide the type of economies of scale, network flexibility, or the broader functionalities routinely used by the military and private sector enterprises. The challenge facing policymakers is thus how to develop a next generation architecture for public safety and spur adoption of a new set of technologies that provide far greater functionality than today's systems as well as interoperate with a broad array of organizations involved in emergency response. To change the culture and realities of public safety communications, this Article calls on policymakers to develop a new architecture for the use of information and communications technologies and provide a framework for leadership to transition to a next generation system for public safety communications. Such a culture change would include not only an embrace of new technologies, but a new framework for technology leadership - at the state or regional level - that spurs decisionmaking in a coordinated fashion (and not through ad hoc decisions by over 50,000 different local agencies). In short, this Article explains what new technologies can transform public safety communications and what intergovernmental relations strategy will be necessary to facilitate the implementation of such technologies.

Action research as culture change tool

Abstract: Purpose – To report experiences of changing cultures in three Lithuanian schools by means of action research.Design/methodology/approach – This took the form of action research in the schools. Culture change measured by a culture survey (developed by Harrison and Stokes) in the beginning and towards the end of the three‐year change project.Findings – The cultures of the primary and vocational schools have clearly changed towards the general total quality management culture traits of achievement and individual problem solving during our project. The culture of the secondary school has not changed similarly. A possible explanation for this may lie in the very strong power orientation of this third school; in our discussions, some teachers state that some are forcefully against change out of fear of losing their power position. However, even here the power orientation has weakened and the respondents generally are in preference of an achievement culture.Research limitations/implications – Only three case sch...

Understanding Cultural Change: The Return of Core Anthropological Concepts

Abstract: Core anthropological concepts like culture and society have become vacated categories. The four books reviewed here all represent important efforts to return these concepts to anthropology. Among the key issues discussed here is the importance of such concepts for an understanding of cultural change. What is culture? How does culture change? How is agency related to the process of change?

The impact of e-government on the organization of local authorities

Abstract: is a paper for the 6 th Twente Student Conference on IT of February the 2 nd, 2007. The track for the paper is technology, organization and innovation. The problem statement is how the local authorities cope with the organizational change when integrating e-government into their business processes. To maximize the benefits of e-Government local authorities have to change their processes. e-Government requires organization- wide solutions, opening-up of processes, a culture change, clear responsibilities and good quality control.