Bücher der Reihe Emerald Points

Eating disorders do not only affect women and girls; men and boys get them too but remain mostly invisible. This book gives insight into this neglected problem through a comparative and transnational analysis of autobiographical accounts written by men with experience of living with eating disorders.

Shared Service Centers (SSCs) support the management of administratively complex enterprises. Originating in the private sector, SSCs have increasingly been adopted in the public sector in an effort to reduce administrative costs, improve the quality of public services, reduce the risk of management error and make better use of human resources.The first book to thoroughly examine the organization, development and effectiveness of the shared service market in local governments across Poland, this study explores the process of creating SSCs, the key elements of unit management, the barriers and threats to both the creation and operation of SSCs, and the strategic technological solutions that local governments have utilized in shared service provision.The author argues that the implementation of SSCs represents the initial stage on the way to improving the effectiveness of public and local government administration, while stressing that further organizational changes and standardization processes are needed to achieve greater effectiveness, in a conclusion which makes essential reading for both practitioners in local government and scholars across the fields of public management, administration and economics.

Since 2013, company boards in India have been legally required to have at least one female director. However, gender diversity in boardrooms across India remains below the global average, and a number of the women who do serve on boards were appointed largely because they are related to a founder or owner of a company. Since India is recognised as one of theworld's fastest growing emerging economies, it is important to study in detail why gender diversity at board level remains so low. Is this a result of workplace bias, a pipeline issue, or due to other reasons?Gender Equity in the Boardroom: The Case of India offers just this sorely needed study. Drawing upon interviews with board members and executives of both public and private companies, as well as with aspiring female leaders who are currently at mid-management level, and supplementing this with the authors' own survey of the make-up of 305 Fortune India 500 companies, this book offers incisive insights into questions about board-level gender representation across industries.Offering both rigorous research and analysis as well as suggestions for practical policy changes, this book is essential reading for HRM and leadership scholars, and is also of keen interest to policymakers throughout the world.

Spatial Justice and Informal Settlements links the discourses of informal urbanism with spatial justice in the context of in situ governmental programmes oriented around public open space and designed to upgrade informal settlements in Latin America.

Traditional educational approaches are increasingly ineffective for the needs of today's learners and society more generally. A new personalised learning solution is required which incorporates an expanded view of education incorporating human rights and capabilities, alongside the traditional human capital educational model. This book considers the policies, pedagogy and practice required to achieve this critical transformation. It extends traditional functional learning approaches, based on behavioural, experiential, dialogic and participatory learning, to place the learner at the centre of their learning. By defining the principles of personalised learning and mapping out future opportunities, Ward makes a captivating argument for a new way of learning, based on improved teacher and learner agency, self-regulated learning, personalised learning and metalearning.This book considers a broad range of educational concepts involving the learning person. By combining our learning environment, performance, capabilities and expertise with discussions of personalised learning design, technology and policy, it equips readers to reflect on how they learn currently, and how we might all learn in the future.

This study investigates barriers to developing enterprise in deprived communities, highlights trade-offs local authorities face and offers guidance that contributes to a model for developing a community-centered enterprise culture that is critical for reinvigorating disadvantaged groups. Alex Avramenko and Nikolai Mouraviev focus on deprived communities where entrepreneurship traditionally was extremely difficult to conceive and offer insights on under-researched issues, such as enablers of entrepreneurship by local government's integrated approach that blends opportunity generation with capacity and skill building, complemented by support services. They also focus on the formation of an enterprise culture that should become a foundation of policy, enablers and tools for revitalizing deprived communities.Chapters explore range of issues and examples, including rethinking the dynamics of micro enterprise, rural entrepreneurship, senior entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship in a cosmopolitan city, civic/community-centered entrepreneurship and lifestyle entrepreneurship.

There is no shortage of books on qualitative research methods, but none effectively equips researchers and practitioners for the interdisciplinary and increasingly complex, interconnected, and contested field of global development research. How can we choose the best method to answer our research question? How can we align disciplinary expectations of what good qualitative research is? How do we avoid pitfalls of extractive research practices amidst calls to decolonise global development? Interdisciplinary Qualitative Research in Global Development provides this sorely needed practical introduction, and it does so in a concise format that can easily be taken into the field. Drawing on over a decade of experience in interdisciplinary education, research, and policy-relevant work, Marco J. Haenssgen fills these chapters with examples and exercises that feature real-life material from current interdisciplinary global development research projects. In the process, he addresses the common concerns of practitioners and students and primes readers for the discussions that are likely to arise when the social and natural sciences meet.For its practical approach, its wealth of real-world examples, and its unique focus on interdisciplinary work, this book is a must-have for anyone who is engaging in interdisciplinary qualitative research, and especially for those doing so for the first time.

Knowledge management expert Jon-Arild Johannessen presents a comprehensive exploration of tacit knowledge based on the research problem: How can tacit knowledge be used to improve organizational performance in practice?

Emotional Self-Management in Academia draws on new empirical research from academics' own personal accounts of emotional experiences from their everyday practice to illustrate how their emotional work is adapting in response to a constantly changing workplace.Marilena Antoniadou and Mark Crowder re-examine Hochschild's notion of emotional labour and combine it with emotion regulation strategies and emotional boundaries as utilised into the everyday practices of modern academics. Using illuminating accounts from academics working in the UK, US, Australia, Denmark, Greece and Cyprus, Emotional Self-Management in Academia emphasises that it is emotion - complex, messy and opaque - that drives academics' self-management, as shaped by contextual factors, such as organisational climate.Aimed at academic researchers and professionals, the chapters establish the context of contemporary emotion work and examine it specifically in higher education settings.This is a timely and engaging exploration of the emotional labour of academics today, set against a backdrop of managerial challenges and economic pressures of working in this sector.

Public Value Co-Creation: A Multi-Actor & Multi-Sector Perspective addresses a fundamental gap in the scholarly field of Public Management relating to the advice and strategies available on what public managers can and/or should do to co-create public value.Alessandro Sancino offers a timely and unique approach providing a map with the main actors and their relative domains (public organization; inter-organizational; civic/community) to help guide the strategic thinking of a public manager for designing and leading processes of public value co-creation. The book discusses the concept of public value co-creation from a multi-actor and multi-sector perspective as an opportunity for transforming the public sector, for transitioning business models towards sustainable development and for rejuvenating democracy.Public Value Co-Creation: A Multi-Actor & Multi-Sector Perspective is a great aid to researchers and practitioners committed to achieve public value.

Greenwashing is an emerging trend that seeks to overemphasize the sustainability practices by companies to their customers. In a comprehensive analysis of this widespread marketing and corporate communication practice, Agostino Vollero examines the understanding of greenwashing, provides a systematic review of available literature review, and reflects on theoretical approaches and research trends. Additionally explored are specific case studies that offer lessons in avoiding the greenwashing trap and a build a look to the future in this context.Greenwashing: Foundations and Emerging Research on Corporate Sustainability and Deceptive Communication showcases fascinating insights and new perspectives in this field, which will be of great interest to scholars of Management, Marketing Communications, Corporate Communication, Accounting and Business Ethics.

Research and development infrastructures are a critical success factor in the platform of science and technology. In turn, an R&D preliminary feasibility study is essential to establish fairness and social credibility of a plan, including expert review, information disclosure and alternative setting.Preliminary Feasibility for Public Research & Development Projects explains how to evaluate R&D business by exploring the five key features of policy implication, policy improvement, preliminary feasibility study, R&D evaluation, and R&D strategy. Presenting policy measures to ensure the sustainability of R&D projects, Preliminary Feasibility for Public Research & Development Projects will help develop strategic measures for R&D preliminary feasibility studies while proposing ways to enhance the effectiveness of these studies, promote efficiency in public investment projects, and enhance the financial efficiency of large investment projects.

Transhumanism is an international cultural movement which seeks to fundamentally transform the human condition through radical technological enhancement. Transhumanists claim that we are already in transition to a new phase of humanity where the limitations of mortality, ignorance, and suffering will soon be altered or even completely erased. The Philosophy of Transhumanism: A Critical Analysis presents the central ideas of transhumanist philosophy and offers a lens through which to reflect on the meaning of being human in anticipation of radical technology. The radical technologies in question variously include greater-than-human machine intelligence, mind-computer interfaces, gene-editing, and nanotechnology. The continued funding and interest generated by those associated with these projects suggest transhumanism is continued migration from a fringe concern to a central way of conceiving the future. Though a variety of positions exist within transhumanism, the unifying theme is a belief that the techno-engineering of a new type of upgraded human is both beneficial and inevitable. These ambitions raise serious questions about the appearance of a transhuman or even posthuman being, and warrants a critical analysis from alternative philosophical and religious perspectives. This book seeks to present the philosophy of transhumanism in a way that is both timely and accessible, and to challenge what will be seen as the core argument of transhumanist philosophy: that there is nothing about human beings that cannot be reconceived as a technical problem.

It is widely accepted that interactions between adults and infants change over time and babies play a dynamic role in their interactions with those who care for them. Acknowledging that their sense of self is moulded by these experiences, and reflected in their own behaviours later in life, this book focuses on the development of an infant's sense of self from the moment of birth, into school, and beyond. In the first part of the monograph, the author weaves together both theoretical speculation and empirical research on the topic. Studies from across the last century are tracked and reinforced with 21st century contemporary research. Moving on from this foundation, the second section presents an observation study of four three-year old children in their homes and first term in school, providing a real-life practical illustration of the theoretical background.Drawing on analysis of children in their home environments and in school, including transcripts of conversations engaged in at home, and notes based on classroom observations, the author presents a cutting-edge insight into the adjustment and adaptation of the study participants' first experience of school, reflected against the background of their home lives.

Efficient waste management is crucial for a sustainable future. However, due to population growth and the threat of global climate change, systems of urban waste management are under increasing pressure. For the waste sector, the prospect of transitioning to a circular economy presents an opportunity to promote organizational changes and improve performance, as well as contribute to a more sustainable world.Through the examination of case studies of municipalities and waste management firms across Europe, this book provides an overview of the most innovative best practices in urban waste management. The authors analyze the development and results of collection methods, tariff-setting systems, collaborations with partners and providers, recycling policies, and employees' and stakeholders' engagement programs. Given the complexity of urban waste management procedures, analysis is multidisciplinary, encompassing management, environmental and sociological perspectives.Providing an overview of opportunities for knowledge sharing and transfer among firms and municipalities to help them promote best practice, this book is a valuable reference for managers and policy makers in urban waste management.

Communication as Social Theory: The Social Side of Knowledge Management develops a social theory at micro level, with communication as the essential social mechanism within the theory. From leadership expert Johannessen, this book examines how we can advance communication as social theory.

Exposing hidden trends and systemic flaws and debunking myths, The Digital Renminbi's Disruption contributes to revealing China's digital disruption and leads to a better understanding of upcoming potential volatility in the wake of the unfolding digital revolution.

In light of a history of legislative actions in the United States to encourage collaborative R&D, this book characterizes U.S. collaborative R&D through the eyes of the National Research Joint Venture Database. Facilitating a fresh statistical look at collaborative R&D as a purposive strategy in the light of existing public policies, this book also provides a critical evaluation of the effectiveness of those attendant policies. Through an original project-based micro database, the author reveals the patterns of competitive behavior associated with collaborative R&D. Accompanied by follow-up statistical and econometric analyses, readers are not only confronted with what might be the most complete picture of U.S. collaborative R&D to date, but they are also provided with key indications of the effectiveness of U.S. legislative actions which is set to inspire further collaborations in research.

This book adopts a highly critical approach to the ways in which organisations have been analysed by orthodox theories and offers instead a perspective on elements of organisational behaviour including leadership and its failures, structures, cultures, bullying and the denial of individual voice, firmly rooted in the critical understanding of power and control. Professor Fenwick draws from international examples of practice and finds grounds for optimism in the distinctive positive values of the public sector organisation.This book is an invaluable source for those with an interest in organisational behaviour in the public sector, designed for many audiences including students embarking upon study of how such organisations work, researchers who wish to assess aspects of the topic in greater depth, or readers with a practical interest or involvement with the organisations in question.

The monograph analyzes international relations in the Arctic from two perspectives: cooperation and competition. The following question was asked: does rivalry outweigh cooperation in the Arctic or is it the other way round; do the entities manage to gain the benefits of cooperation? The authors pose the hypothesis that States and the Arctic actors should cooperate with each other in the light of the prisoner's dilemma of obtaining tangible benefits, but the more probable, and definitely more possible variant of absence of such a cooperation or breaking the cooperation is rivalry, which in the short-term gives an advantage over other players, but in the long-term causes losses.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound and potentially ever-lasting impact on our economy, society, and the way that we live. In response to this pandemic there has been a plethora of research published about COVID-19. However, within this fast-growing body of literature there are only scant references made to the impact that this pandemic has had on autistics, their families, and the healthcare professionals who support autistics. Autism and COVID-19 is a concise summary of the research, bridging the gaps in our knowledge about autism and the COVID-19 pandemic.Bennett and Goodall address vaccine hesitancy among autistics and parents raising autistic children, the experiences of autistics living with COVID-19 disease and parenting an autistic child during the COVID-19 pandemic, synthesising the data about the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of autistic, their families, and those that provide autistics with medical assistance.Autism and COVID-19 both reviews the existing literature and presents new findings from a survey distributed to autistics and parents of autistics during the pandemic, all of which offer a unique and timely contribution to researchers, academics, practitioners, and those working with autistics and their families.

The Reflective Leader brings together theory and core concepts through reflective practice, reflexivity, and experiential learning to crystallize current thinking regarding introspection and contextual intelligence in understanding and improving the effectiveness of leaders.

Visual pollution is an emerging, multi-dimensional, subjective, and under studied area of manmade environments that has recently received researchers' focus. Visual Pollution: Concepts, Practices and Management Framework offers the first substantial cutting-edge exploration of visual pollution in urban settlements, uncovering the conceptualisation, geography-specific visual pollutants, methods of visual pollution assessment and management frameworks.Nawaz and Wakil dive into the contrasting prevalence of visual pollution geographically and the connection of human behaviour with urban aesthetics, urban management, measurement tools, information systems and regulatory frameworks. This novel contribution fills the international knowledge gap to generate dynamic and practical solutions for the mitigation in regulatory and enforcement frames.Providing a holistic picture to a diverse multi-dimensional readership interested to explore the phenomena of visual pollution, Visual Pollution: Concepts, Practices and Management Framework is an essential read for those working and researching in the fields of urban design, property management, planning, building, and policymakers confronted with a rapidly urbanising planet.

While the metaverse is often marketed as a future utopia, the vision of the metaverse represents an attempt for private corporations to control the code of the real. In the hands of companies that established and maintain the surveillance capitalism model, the ability to build a persistent, all-compassing environment means all activity in that world can be metricized and commodified, making the metaverse worthy of critical examination.Significant parts of life are already conducted in a digital place that combines various aspects of digital culture. Likewise, digital worlds for socializing already exist, and in a form akin to the VR metaverse, just as VR worlds based on play now coexist with online worlds of user generated content. These discreet private "e;microverses"e;, as we refer to them, are spaces which can model the tensions that would be inherent in the metaverse.From Microverse to Metaverse: Modelling the Future through Today's Virtual Worlds examines the place attachments, world-feeling and dwelling of several "e;microverses"e; to assess the possibilities of the metaverse as a realistic proposition. Critically analyzing the phenomenological feeling of place, the political economy of emerging tech, the mechanisms of identity and self along with the behavioral constraints involved, the authors map what a metaverse might be like, whether it can happen, and just why some companies seem so determined to make it happen.

The Spatial Grasp Model suggests uses beyond the theoretical, including the examination of hurricanes and forest fires. Investigating group behaviour of ocean animals, discovery of unknown terrain features, and path-findings in large transport networks truly demonstrates the real-world application of SGL.

Social Justice Case Studies: Interdisciplinary and Non-Traditional Interdisciplinary Approaches provides individuals interested in social justice the ability to discuss and engage in interdisciplinary and non-traditional interdisciplinary team processes.

Providing a much-needed de-Westernising perspectives of Dubai's social media influencing industry within the broader context of global platform capitalism, Zoe Hurley offers an important contribution to the field of social media through illustrating visible economies in a city circuited by social media influencing.

Enabling Strategic Decision-Making in Organizations through Dataplex breaks down the role of data in strategic decision making, examining the organizational benefits but also utilising real-world examples of limitations and challenges and how these can be overcome.

As businesses, consumers, and investors make key financial decisions amid Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU), there is the danger that many might freeze investment projects and hiring, leading to contractions of the economy. This book examines this and makes important recommendations.