bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Focus on Practice: Raising reading standards — the Reading Partners approach: cross‐age peer tutoring in a special school
Authors: Nugent Mary
Published: March 2003

This article, written by Mary Nugent, an educational psychologist working with the National Educational Psychology Service in Dublin, reviews the work done in a special school, in the Dublin area, to develop a Reading Partners Scheme. The school involved in the project, which will be referred to as St Mark's, is a special school for children with moderate learning difficulties (in Ireland described as mild learning difficulties). The Reading Partner's Scheme involved cross‐age peer tutoring in reading, working with students in the 8 to 18 age range. The training, organisation and management of the scheme are outlined here. Evaluation studies indicate multiple benefits of the scheme, accruing to both the learners and the helpers. These benefits include progress in reading, enhanced feelings of self‐worth and more positive attitudes to school. Ideas for further development of the scheme are described, as well as future research opportunities.
Experiment for the Future?
Authors: Williams G. , Heller Harold , Copley R.E. , Tucker K.G.
Published: March 2003

Are the present 10 statutory categories of handicap likely to be abolished in the next year or two? A DES experiment with summaries that introduce five wider areas of handicap than the existing category suggests that a number of important changes may lie ahead, related to the assessment and placement of handicapped children.
Specialist Teachers for Pupils with Learning Difficulties? A Survey of Headteachers in Schools and Units
Authors: Julian Georgina , Ware Jean
Published: March 2003

Georgina Julian, a third year undergraduate, and Jean Ware, a lecturer in the Psychology of Education and Special Educational Needs, at the University of Wales, Cardiff, report on research into the current position on the relevant qualifications of teachers, and intending teachers, in schools and units for pupils with moderate to profound learning difficulties. They suggest that there has been little consistent progress in the preparation of teachers for this work since the ACSET (Advisory Committee on the Supply and Education of Teachers) Report in 1984.
Comorbidity, or Coexistence, Between Dyslexia and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Authors: Knivsberg Ann‐Mari , Reichelt Karl‐L. , Nødland Magne
Published: March 2003

Anni‐Mari Knivsberg, Karl‐L. Reichelt and Magne Nødland outline the problems resulting from comorbidity (the simultaneous occurrence of two or more disorders) in children, the effects of which tend to be more serious than those resulting from a single disorder. Two of the most common developmental disorders are dyslexia and ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), which frequently co‐occur and affect almost all developmental areas. It is, therefore, important to identify comorbidity before planning and implementing educational programs. In considering the implications of comorbidity, a comprehensive review of the international literature is provided.
Teachers and speech and language therapists: a shared framework
Authors: Miller Carol
Published: March 2003

Carol Miller, a speech and language therapist in the School of Education at The University of Birmingham, identifies the different perspectives of speech and language therapists and teachers in looking at language and language difficulties and suggests that they can be combined to ensure a morecollaborative language practice.
Focus on Practice: Access to numeracy: a case study
Authors: Germain Ruth
Published: March 2003

More and more pupils with learning difficulties are being taught in mainstream settings but how inclusive is the teaching they experience? In this illustrative case study, Ruth Germain, a teacher in a mainstream primary school, looks at how Paul, a pupil with Down’s syndrome, is supported during ‘dedicated numeracy time’. She examines the relationships between whole‐class, group and individual teaching; the nature of the support Paul receives; and his educational and behavioural responses. The article closes with a call for further research into the implications for teaching and learning of the inclusion of pupils with learning difficulties in mainstream contexts.
Student–authored Hypermedia in Veterinary Anatomy: Teaching and Learning Outcomes of Group Project Work
Authors: Garvin Anthony , Carrington Stephen
Published: March 2003

The Directed–Self Education programme (DSE) in the first year undergraduate course in veterinary anatomy seeks to support students in developing personal study and information technology skills. It also aims to move computer–assisted learning (CAL) towards offering tools for students to create a variety of computer–based materials of their own which subsequently can be repurposed by staff as teaching resources. This aspect addresses the issue that many British academics have little incentive to devote time to improving teaching through CAL methods, as innovation and excellence in teaching is not rewarded in career terms on par with excellence in research. The programme seeks to integrate a modest type of “problem–based learning” (PBL) methodology without demanding the total integration of pre–clinical with clinical teaching advocated by full–scale PBL. Since 1993 the outcomes of the programme have been that lectures in the first year veterinary anatomy course have been reduced by a third, with a slight change in the mean value of the final grades in the first year final examination in veterinary anatomy during 1994–5, as compared to the years 1991–3. Other benefits have included the rapid creation of a library of student–produced CAL which is recycled by staff into other forms of computer–based teaching. It has also led to involvement in the use of CAL by lecturers hitherto resistant to applying technology to teaching, and the vacation employment of current BVSc undergraduates from the programme in university and national projects producing CAL for medical teaching.
Remote Teaching with Digital Video: A Trans‐national Experience
Authors: Jacobs Gabriel , Rodgers Catherine
Published: March 2003

This paper analyses the psychological, technical, administrative, organisational, institutional and general pedagogical problems encountered during Phase 1 (the trial phase) of a trans‐European distance‐learning project. Using basic‐rate ISDN videoconferencing for remote interactive tutorials, Phase 1 involved the University of Wales Swansea and HEC Liège (Belgium), and provided practice in business English for Belgian students and business French for UK students of French and Business. The difficulties which have arisen during the phase have been many and varied, and not all could have been easily predicted from a review of the research literature. Solutions to some of them are suggested.
The relationship between cognitive style and academic achievement
Authors: Luk Suet Ching
Published: March 2003

Field independent students are generally expected to perform better academically than those who are field dependent, and this is particularly marked in distance learning where students learn without the traditional support offered in conventional instruction. In this paper two studies of the relationship between field dependence and academic learning in the context of distance learning are reported with Bachelor of Health nursing students in Hong Kong. In both studies field independent nurses performed significantly better than field dependent ones. Some implications of these findings for distance learning are discussed.
An Evaluation of a Multi‐sensory Speaking‐computer based System (Starcross–IDL) Designed to Teach the Literacy Skills of Reading and Spelling
Authors: Scrase Richard
Published: March 2003

The “Indirect Learning” (IDL) system is a speaking‐computer based multi‐sensory system for teaching literacy skills. The IDL system has several unique features: these are the facility to independently adjust the colour of the monitor screen and the text colour, the masking of incorrect typed responses, the incorporation of a touch‐typing course into a remedial programme, the echoing back of children's spoken responses by the computer, and the integration of all these features into over one thousand carefully graduated exercises.

This evaluation describes the system and measures how effectively the system remediated the reading and spelling in a sample of 150 children and adults. The effectiveness of the IDL system for different individuals varied between the extremes of having no significant effect and improving reading age at a rate of 6 months for one month of the programme, and spelling age by 6.6 months/month so that normal reading and spelling abilities were quickly attained. The average rates of improvement for the group in reading and spelling were 2.15 and 2.17 months/month respectively. These results demonstrate that this learning system is effective, especially when it is considered that this sample had previous rates of reading gain of on average 0.58 months/month, and 0.49 months/month for spelling. This shows an average improvement in the rate of learning to read and spell by a factor of about 4 times. The resilience of the system is demonstrated by the fact that the sample group were supervised by different tutors in different teaching centres, and that the sample group had different needs. The variation of responses within the sample group to the IDL programme were found to be correlated to factors that are known to contribute to poor reading skills, eg, having poor phonological skills and/or Meares‐Irlen Syndrome (Wilkins, 1996), the age of the subject, and the quantity of exercises completed.

Consideration is given to the IDL system's suitability for inclusion into mainstream educational and training provision. The results demonstrate this system's effectiveness at improving literacy; consequently decisions on its use would be made on the basis of value‐for‐money when compared to other remedial systems.
Students' rating of Speak Out television programme
Authors: Moses Stephen Ogu
Published: March 2003

This study is an evaluation of Speak Out television programme in Lagos State. A total of 300 junior secondary school students of Lagos State participated in the study: 150 class I and 150 class II students randomly selected from the six secondary schools in the two environment settings (200 urban and 100 rural).

Two groups of subjects featured—Experimental: representing students taught using the instructional television programme approach, and Control: representing those taught the same subject matter of the instructional television programme using the group activity (socio‐drama) without the stimulus of the television programme.

The research tested three hypotheses. The findings revealed that there were significant differences found in the performance of the Experimental groups that were taught with the instructional television programme approach. In addition, there was a significant difference found between location and instructional method. The classes' performances were not significant. The article discusses the findings and makes some recommendations
Modern Languages and CD‐ROM‐based Learning
Authors: Pawling Elaine
Published: March 2003

This article investigates the nature of language learning using CD‐ROM packages. The research explores cognitive processes and alternative learning experiences which contrast with conventional delivery modes in foreign language teaching. The article concludes that CD‐ROM can promote vocabulary acquisition, pronunciation and independent learning and has a major contribution to make to the development of language teaching and learning.
Designing for Differences: Cultural Issues in the Design of WWW‐Based Course‐Support Sites
Authors: Collis Betty
Published: March 2003

Culture is a critical influence on the acceptance, use of, and impact of learning resources. WWW‐based course‐support sites are becoming an increasingly familiar type of learning resource in higher education. How might different aspects of culture be predicted to affect the institution's, instructor's, and student's reactions to WWW‐based course‐support sites? How can such sites be designed to adapt to different expectations and learner preferences, especially those related to culture? This article analyses various of these cultural aspects, and argues that WWW‐based course‐support sites should be designed to be adaptable to different types of cultural differences through the application of a set of ten design guidelines. An example illustrating the design guidelines, the TeleTOP Method from the University of Twente, is described and evaluated relative to the design guidelines. Important considerations related to feasibility as well as to conceptual and strategic choices are included in the scope of the guidelines; the instructor's cultural ecology requires particular attention. But WWW sites and guidelines in themselves are not enough for cultural flexibility; sensitivity and appropriate responsiveness remain human activities.
Distance learning in a multimedia networks project: main results
Authors: Ruokamo Heli , Pohjolainen Seppo
Published: March 2003

This paper discusses a goal‐oriented project called Distance Learning in Multimedia Networks (ETÄKAMU) that was a part of the Finnish Multimedia Programme (FMP). The project started in February 1996 and lasted until January 1999. The project combined the efforts of Finnish telecommunication companies, content providers, publishing houses, hardware companies and educational institutions in the field of distance learning.

This paper describes the background, the goals and part of the results of the ETÄKAMU project as well as the project's organisation. The main goals of the ETÄKAMU project were to research, develop and evaluate open learning environments using computer networks and computers in learning.

The pedagogical background of the project is based on seven qualities of meaningful learning that are applicable to lifelong learning independent of time and place. The ETÄKAMU project arranged teaching experiments and user trials for various learners in different content areas and in different learning environments. Feedback and data were gathered via an investigation of how various pedagogical and technical solutions function in practice. This paper presents some pilot areas of the ETÄKAMU project and main results received in the project.
Teleconferencing tools in enterprises—constraints and opportunities
Authors: Forcheri Paola , Molfino Maria Teresa , Quarati Alfonso
Published: March 2003

This paper presents an experimental approach for devising training measures to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) avail themselves of the new opportunities offered by teleconferencing tools.

The approach includes 1) an analysis of training needs, carried out by means of interviews, so as to propose methodologies and tools that will encourage SMEs to create the conditions under which they can make the most of the opportunities that tele‐cooperation offers for raising productivity; and 2) a controlled experiment that seeks to analyse the conditions under which the experimental use of teleconferencing systems may become a valuable vehicle for helping SMEs to construct active awareness about the potential of these tools.
Submission of student assignments on compact discs: exploring the use of audio, images and video in assessment and learning in higher education
Authors: Shephard Kerry
Published: March 2003

This paper explores the use of multimedia in assignments that are submitted on compact discs (CD). The storage capacity of the CD allows students to use a wide range of memory‐intensive sources that could not be incorporated into conventional or web‐based formats. The paper examines the sources of media available; techniques for editing and incorporating media files; the technology of the CD, and copyright. The paper also discusses assessment criteria, equal opportunity considerations and a range of pedagogical issues involved in the use of the CD for submission of assignments. Today's technology should enable students to incorporate a range of memory‐intensive media into their assignments and research reports and this process may be highly beneficial to learning and assessment. Widespread use of this technology, however, is likely to depend on solutions to difficult copyright restrictions, adequate training of students and staff as well as access to suitable hardware.
Group interactive learning with group process support technology
Authors: Jones Catherine , Connolly Michael , Gear Anthony , Read Martin
Published: March 2003

An effective seminar is about discussion, exchanges of ideas and developing understanding: but is this always achieved? This paper evaluates a pilot study into whether group process support technology has the potential to improve the learning experience of students in seminar groups by increasing participation and focusing debate. The trial involved 86 undergraduate students. The technology consists of wireless handsets, a PC and data projector. The use of the technology was varied to increase our understanding of how it could be used effectively. The Pilot Study received a positive evaluation by both the tutor and the student group. The results are encouraging, and the paper concludes by establishing further research issues, how this application of technology can be developed and briefly describes how the technology has been subsequently used in the University of Glamorgan Business School.
Toward constructivism for adult learners in online learning environments
Authors: Huang Hsiu‐Mei
Published: March 2003

Since online learning has a different setting from the conventional classroom, online educators need to use some special techniques and perceptions to lead to success. Moreover, adults have special needs and requirements as learners compared with children and adolescents, thus online educators should know how adults can learn best because of their special characteristics. Philosophical and methodological shifts also affect instruction. Many researchers have suggested that constructivism should be applied in distance education. Thus, this paper attempts to examine the impact of constructivism in online learning environments when focusing on adult learners. The author develops the connection between constructivism and adult learning theory. In addition, the paper proposes instructional guidelines using the constructivist approach in online learning for adults.
The educational use of videoconferencing in the arts faculty: shedding a new light on puppetry
Authors: Badenhorst Zuanda , Axmann Mandi
Published: March 2003

It is important for learners to be exposed to the real working world during their training in order to prepare them for their professional lives. The Department of Entertainment Technology, under the leadership of Zuanda Badenhorst, conducted a very exciting project with the Handspring Puppet Company while also making use of the newest learning technologies made available by the Department of Telematic Education, with Instructional Designer Mandi Axmann and Technical Manager Anette Sadie, at the Technikon Pretoria. This article reviews the educational use of videoconferencing as well as various considerations when implementing this medium
Paper–based versus computer–based assessment: key factors associated with the test mode effect
Authors: Clariana Roy , Wallace Patricia
Published: March 2003

This investigation seeks to confirm several key factors in computer–based versus paper–based assessment. Based on earlier research, the factors considered here include content familiarity, computer familiarity, competitiveness, and gender. Following classroom instruction, freshman business undergraduates (N = 105) were randomly assigned to either a computer–based or identical paper–based test. ANOVA of test data showed that the computer–based test group outperformed the paper–based test group. Gender, competitiveness, and computer familiarity were NOT related to this performance difference, though content familiarity was. Higher–attaining students benefited most from computer–based assessment relative to higher–attaining students under paper–based testing. With the current increase in computer–based assessment, instructors and institutions must be aware of and plan for possible test mode effects.
Rising Wage Inequality, Returns to Education and Labour Market Institutions: Evidence from Ireland
Authors: Barrett Alan , Callan Tim , Nolan Brian
Published: March 2003

Institutional factors and increased supply of skilled labour have been advanced in an effort to explain why some countries have experienced smaller increases in earnings dispersion and in returns to education than the USA and the UK. Ireland has had a highly centralized wage bargaining structure and the supply of skilled labour has increased sharply in recent years; hence, relatively little change in earnings dispersion might be expected. We compare the distribution of earnings in Ireland in 1987 and 1994 and find a surprisingly large growth in earnings dispersion. In addition, using a decomposition technique, we find that much of this is accounted for by increasing returns to measured.
Collective Contracts in Chinese Enterprises: A New Brand of Collective Bargaining under ‘Market Socialism’?
Authors: Warner Malcolm , Sek‐Hong Ng
Published: March 2003

As China reforms its legislation and institutions to best fit the requirements of an emerging labour market, it has instituted both individual and collective contracts in a range of industrial enterprises. We describe the ‘benchmarks’ against which such nascent Chinese collective bargaining may be compared, followed by a detailed examination of contracts and the context in which they are found. We conclude that collective contracts have been more widely implemented in state‐owned enterprises than in foreign‐funded ones and that such contracts may need to be made more ‘user‐friendly’ to the latter if they are to become more generally adopted.
Measuring Trade Union Democracy: The Case of the UK Civil and Public Services Association
Authors: Morris Huw , Fosh Patricia
Published: March 2003

The Civil and Public Services Association (CPSA) has experienced a substantial number of organizational changes over the last 25 years, both as a voluntary response to membership concerns and to comply with legislative demands. Have these changes made the CPSA more or less ‘democratic’? An answer to this question must acknowledge that individuals interpret ‘trade union democracy’ in different ways. This paper evaluates the changes in the CPSA’s organizational structure and internal decision‐making procedures according to the emphasis of four models of trade union democracy: liberal pluralism, grass‐roots activism, individual accountability and consumer trade unionism.
Putting Partnership into Practice in Britain
Authors: Brown William
Published: March 2003

The paper reviews industrial relations developments in Britain during 1999 by assessing how New Labour’s policy commitment to encouraging ‘partnership’ is developing in practice. After a discussion of the Employment Relations Act, it considers the wider influence of European legislation. It then describes how partnership approaches have been developing in trade union policy and industrial practice. This leads to an analysis of the operation of two explicit ‘social partnership’ institutions, ACAS and the Low Pay Commission. The paper ends with a consideration of the developing arguments at the ILO and WTO over international labour standards.
Employees and High‐Performance Work Systems: Testing inside the Black Box
Authors: Ramsay Harvie , Scholarios Dora , Harley Bill
Published: March 2003

Most work on high‐performance work systems has examined only the direct relationship between a set of management practices and performance outcomes. This presumes that any connection operates through the incentive and motivational effects captured as ‘high‐commitment’ or ‘high‐involvement’ employee outcomes. No attempt has been made to examine the alternative, Labour Process conceptualization, which expects performance gains from new management practices to arise instead from work intensification, offloading of taskcontrols, and increased job strain. Using data from WERS98, we tested models based on high‐performance work systems and labour process approaches. Both were found wanting, and we consider the possible implications of these failures.
‘Worth So Appallingly Little’: A Workplace‐Level Analysis of Low Pay
Authors: McNabb Robert , Whitfield Keith
Published: March 2003

Using Britain’s 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey, this paper investigates the characteristics of establishments paying low wages immediately prior to the introduction of the UK’s National Minimum Wage in April 1999. It demonstrates that a range of personal, oragnizational and environmental factors are related to the incidence of low pay. These relationships are more complex than previously suggested. In particular, that between establishment size and low pay is moderated by whether the establishment is part of a larger organization; the incidence of low pay is high in single establishments and low in small establishments that are part of large organizations.
Beyond the High‐Performance Paradigm? An Analysis of Variation in Canadian Managerial Perceptions of Reform Programme Effectiveness
Authors: Godard John
Published: March 2003

Proponents of the high‐performance paradigm often argue that the variable success of new forms of work organization is explained primarily by a failure to implement them comprehensively and to adopt complementary HRM practices. This paper argues that these explanations are inadequate and develops an alternative, political economy approach which accounts more fully for how conflicts embedded in the employment relation limit the effectiveness of reforms. It draws on a unique longitudinal data set representing 78 Canadian workplaces to analyse the extent to which reform programme content, pre‐existing HRM conditions and workplace context variables are associated with reform programme effectiveness.
Updating the Determinants of Firm Performance: Estimation using the 1998 UK Workplace Employee Relations Survey
Authors: Addison John T. , Belfield Clive R.
Published: March 2003

We examine the determinants of establishment performance in the UK, using cross‐sectional data from the 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey to replicate research by Fernie and Metcalf (1995) who used data from the 1990 Workplace Employee Relations Survey; specifically, we test whether employee representation, contingent pay and efforts to boost employee participation affect a set of economic and industrial relations outcome indicators in the manner they suggest. We also re‐estimate the influential WERS90‐based study of Machin and Stewart (1996) on the links between union status and financial performance. In both cases we report very different results.
The Organization of Organized Discontent: The Case of the Postal Workers in Britain
Authors: Gall Gregor
Published: March 2003

The case of the postal workers in Britain is examined in order to develop our knowledge of intra‐union oppositional groupings. Such groupings within the postal workers are shown to have influence as the result of the ‘strategy’ of a small number of activists within largely conducive circumstances of internal strife and worker combativity. However, they do not accord to our normal understanding of factions, being better characterized as shifting and temporary networks and alliances.
Management Research and Literary Criticism
Authors: Easton Geoff , Araujo Luis
Published: March 2003

This paper is concerned with analysing the role of rhetoric and literary criticism in research and scholarship. It is argued that critical debate and dialogue are the hub of the process of research and scholarship and that social science and literature have more in common than is normally recognized. Most of these debates are carried out in writing and involve elaborate writing and reading of texts – or literature as we prefer to call it. We argue the case that management researchers may have something to learn from literary criticism. A model of literary criticism comprising four different modes of criticism – mimetic, expressive, pragmatic and objective – is described and the implications for management research are suggested. The paper concludes with a number of reflections on what can be gained from this type of analysis and on the role of reflexivity in the research process.
Task‐related and Partner‐related Selection Criteria in UK International Joint Ventures
Authors: Glaister Keith W. , Buckley Peter J.
Published: March 2003

This paper identifies partner selection criteria in a sample of UK international joint ventures with Western European, US and Japanese partners. Rankings of selection criteria are derived for the sample using a typology that distinguishes between task‐related and partner‐related selection criteria. The most important task‐related criteria are found to be access to knowledge of local market, access to distribution channels, access to links with major buyers and access to knowledge of local culture. The most important partner‐related selection criteria are trust between the top management teams, relatedness of partner's business and reputation. A parsimonious set of selection criteria for the sample is provided by means of factor analysis. Hypotheses are tested on the relationship between the relative importance of selection criteria and a number of characteristics of the sample—partner nationality, industry of the joint ventures, joint‐venture purpose, geographical location of the venture, initial approach for joint‐venture formation and relative partner size. The greatest variation in the relative importance of selection criteria occurs with the geographic location of the joint venture.
Critical Realism, Managers and Information
Authors: Mutch Alistair
Published: March 2003

Many accounts of contemporary management raise the issue of the effective use of information, but little is said about how this is to be achieved. This paper sets notions of ‘information literacy’, drawn from higher education, against the reflections of a small group of managers. This indicates that there are a number of dimensions, notably the relationship of information use to organizational power, that are not adequately catered for in current conceptions of information literacy. It is argued that existing accounts focus excessively on the construction of meaning without taking into account the constraints on such construction. Drawing on resources from critical realism, these constraints are taken to relate both to the individual's embodied nature and to the structural dimensions of their practice. Exploration of these constraints is felt to require attention to the temporal dimension of social analysis and to an examination of the interrelationships between structure and agency.
Verandah Discourses: Critical Management Education in Organizations
Authors: Perriton Linda
Published: March 2003

The small but thriving Critical Management Studies community has so far confined its interest in education to that delivered in university settings. This paper identifies a framework for recognizing and understanding critical education as it is enacted within organizational settings. It analyses a portion of the data collected for a research study into alternative identities within organizational management education in order to suggest that critical management education (CME) fails to take account of the individualistic conventions that shape critical practice in organizations. The organizational version of CME works through a disruption of the ability of the manager to sustain managerialist narratives of the self. Two types of alternative practice are used to illustrate the ways in which this operates and are compared to an ‘orthodox’ performance of management education.
Development of a Self‐Report Instrument for Exploring Team Factor, Leadership and Performance Relationships
Authors: Rickards Tudor , Chen Ming‐Huei , Moger Susan
Published: March 2003

Claims have been recently made for a seven‐factor model that ndifferentiated performance levels in project teams. We have tested the model with results from a self‐report inventory. Forty‐four opportunities for data collection were taken and a total of 1103 useable inventories collected from participants across European, Asian and African locations. Teams reported on were predominantly work‐related. All seven factors correlate as predicted with leadership and team‐performance criteria. We report results supporting the original proposition that team effectiveness, including its creativity, can be interpreted as arising through leadership interventions of a transformational kind, which impact on a set of theoretically‐derived team factors.
Nostalgia and the Narrativization of Identity: A Turkish Case Study
Authors: Brown A. D. , Humphreys M.
Published: March 2003

This paper offers an interpretation of the collective identity‐narrative of a Turkish faculty of vocational education. Particular attention is focused on the importance of nostalgia in acts of collective self‐authorship. Nostalgia, it is argued, is key to the understanding of the dynamics of individual and organizational identity‐construction in several ways: it can be a means of maintaining a collective sense of socio‐historic continuity, a source of resistance to hegemonic influence and a defence against anxiety. The research contribution of this paper is threefold. First, it illustrates how groups assemble shared storylines that subjectively constitute their collective identity. Second, it analyses the different ways in which acts of collective nostalgia can inform the stories by which individuals and groups understand their present circumstances, preserve self‐esteem, and react to perceived threats. Third, it theorises nostalgia as giving access to a shared heritage of apparently authentic and identity‐relevant values and beliefs, as an emotional support during periods of organizational change, and as a form of uniqueness claim central to processes of individual‐organization identification.
The Content of the Psychological Contract
Authors: Herriot Peter , Manning W. E. G. , Kidd Jennifer M.
Published: March 2003

The perceived obligations of the two parties to the employment relationship, the employee and the organization, were explored using the critical incident technique. Incidents were elicited which exceeded or fell below the treatment which each party might reasonably expect from the other; obligations were then inferred from these incidents. Respondents were a representative sample of UK employees (n=184), and a sample of UK managers (n=184) (the organization group).

Twelve categories of organization obligation and seven of employee obligation were inferred from these data. While the two groups identified the same content categories as each other, they did so with different relative frequency. The organization group quoted more relational than transactional forms of organizational obligation, the employee group the reverse. This finding was attributed to a lack of trust of the organization by employees, and to their job insecurity. The groups, however, did not differ in terms of the frequency of the most commonly cited employee obligations; timekeeping, good work and honesty. This was taken to indicate the prevalence of a traditional and input‐oriented view of employee obligations. Examples were discovered of a reciprocal element to the contract. It was concluded that, despite the level of agreement between the two parties regarding the elements of the psychological contract, they were in danger of holding different perceptions of its balance; and that organizations should only expect employee commitment if they themselves have fulfilled their side of the contract.
Situated Knowledge and Learning in Dispersed Teams
Authors: Sole Deborah , Edmondson Amy
Published: March 2003

This qualitative field study explores how geographically dispersed teams learn and accomplish challenging work by drawing on knowledge situated in the multiple physical locales they span. We propose the construct of situated knowledge as important for understanding the learning process in dispersed teams. Data collected on seven development projects, each spanning multiple sites, reveal that situated knowledge is at the same time a valuable resource and a source of communication difficulty for dispersed teams. We find that, because their members understand and participate in locale–specific practices, dispersed teams can easily access and use unique locale–specific knowledge resources to resolve problems that arise in those same locales. However, when dispersed teams need knowledge situated at a site other than where the problem occurred, they must first recognize and adjust for locale–specific practices within which that knowledge is embedded before they can use it. The paper reports on analyses of 44 learning episodes that involved identifying and engaging situated knowledge, and draws from these data to identify implications for research and practice.
The State of Liberal Sovereignty
Authors: Prokhovnik Raia
Published: March 2003

This paper outlines the features of a reconceptualised sovereignty. It offers an alternative to the view of sovereignty which has been pronounced dead, diminished or redundant. Two points in particular represent a contribution to the contemporary debate on sovereignty. First, the paper details the liberal character of orthodox state sovereignty. It identifies the correspondence between liberal principles and the features of state sovereignty and extends a critique of liberalism to those features. It then becomes possible to indicate the liberal basis of several intractable problems with state sovereignty. Second, the paper brings together aspects of the work of an important and heterogeneous group of writers, whose insights are employed to develop an alternative conceptualisation of sovereignty and to highlight some of the lacunae of the liberal conception.
How Not to Use Evolutionary Theory in Politics: A Critique of Peter John
Authors: Dowding Keith
Published: March 2003

In a recent issue of this journal Peter John (1999) suggests we can use an evolutionary account to explain policy change. In particular he suggests we should see the battle of ideas about policy formation as an evolutionary process and gives as an example the introduction and abolition of the poll tax. John is correct in two claims in his article. First, traditional models of policy-generation tend to ignore the role of ideas, concentrating attention upon the bargaining and power struggles between different sets of competing interests. Secondly, he is right that evolutionary explanation has a place in the social sciences. But these two thoughts are best kept apart and the way he packages them suggests a poor understanding of evolutionary explanation and of the role ideas may play within it. There are at least three problems with his account. First, the object at which he directs explanation —in his example the poll tax—is misspecified. Secondly, he fails to specify a mechanism for the natural selection of ideas, leaving his claim about the promise of evolutionary accounts vague and unsatisfactory. Finally, he fails to distinguish learning as an intentional process from selection as an evolutionary one.
The Discipline of International Relations: Still an American Social Science?
Authors: Smith Steve
Published: March 2003

This article reviews the state of the discipline of international relations. It starts from statements made by the editors in their editorial published in the first issue of this journal. The editors noted that there seemed to have been less adherence to positivism in international relations than in other areas of political science and that there was both more opposition to positivism and more methodological and epistemological openness in international relations than in political science generally. The article outlines the current state of the field, focusing on the rationalist mainstream and then on the reflectivist alternatives, before looking at social constructivism, seeing it as the likely acceptable alternative to rationalism in the mainstream literature of the next decade. It then turns to examine whether international relations is still an American social science, before looking at the situation in the United Kingdom. It concludes that the editors' comments were indeed accurate, but that the fact that there is both more opposition to positivism in international relations and more openness in the UK academic community does not mean that the mainstream US literature is anything like as open or pluralist. The UK community is indeed more able to develop theory relevant to the globalised world at the new millennium, but the US academic community still dominates the discipline.
The Ideological Composition of the Parliamentary Conservative Party 1992–97
Authors: Heppell Timothy
Published: March 2003

With the emphasis on loyalty and unity and an aversion to ideological disputation the Parliamentary Conservative Party (PCP) has traditionally been described as a party of tendencies, rather than factions. The Cowley and Norton study of the ideological and factional basis of rebellion argues that the 1992–97 PCP adhered to the party of tendencies definition. However, through the development of a new three-dimensional, eight-fold typology of Conservatism, that involves behavioural and attitudinal mapping, it can be demonstrated that between 1992 and 1997 the PCP did display evidence of factionalism.
Saved from Extinction: Evolutionary Theorising, Politics and the State
Authors: Kerr Peter
Published: March 2003

Evolutionary theorising has a long history in social scientists' attempts to interrogate processes of change. However, for many years evolutionary theory has been damaged by its association with teleological and reductionist reasoning. Nevertheless in the past two decades, a new breed of neo-evolutionary perspective has emerged within a variety of social science sub-disciplines. This recent literature has attempted to revise the theory in order to emphasise that change is a contingent process which can take multiple paths and is underpinned by a constant interplay between agents and their environment. Although much of this literature has failed largely to impact upon the work of political scientists, recent years have also seen various attempts to apply an evolutionary conception of change to both the state and political change in general. This review article examines some of the key themes to have emerged from the renewed interest in evolutionary theorising, whilst particular attention is paid to attempts to develop the concept of political evolution.
Sovereign Nations and Global Markets: Modern British Conservatism and Hyperglobalism
Authors: Baker David , Gamble Andrew , Seawright David
Published: March 2003

In this article we seek to trace through the major stands of British Euroscepticism and concentrate, in particular, on the importance of a powerful ‘hyperglobalist’ Eurosceptical strand within British Conservatism. We investigate the British Conservatives' recent divisions over European integration, against the background of the party's increasingly marginal status in British party politics. The piece also draws on findings from two recent surveys of the attitudes of British parliamentarians to European integration, carried out by the Members of Parliament Project for the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). We explore how Conservative divisions of opinion are related in part to particular understandings of globalisation and regionalisation and attempt to show how globalist ideology has unexpectedly re-emphasised and bolstered the traditional nationalism of the Tory party and caused an increasingly hostile attitude amongst many British Conservatives towards the European project as it is presently constituted. We also examine recent attempts to map British Conservative Euroscepticism on to continental varieties using a mixture of ideological positioning and party system (Taggart 1998), arguing that this ignores the extent to which British Eurosceptics advance unique (in EU member state terms) hyperglobalist (rather than isolationist or protectionist) arguments in objecting to further European integration.
Movin’ On Up: Interpreting The Earnings–Experience Profile
Authors: Manning Alan
Published: March 2003

Human capital theory provides the generally accepted interpretation of the relationship between earnings and labour market experience, namely that general human capital tends to increase with experience. However, there are other plausible interpretations. Search models, for example, generally predict that more time in the labour market increases the chance of finding a better match and hence tends to be associated with higher earnings. This paper shows how a simple search model can be used to predict the amount of earnings growth that can be assigned to search with the residual being assigned to the human capital model. A substantial if not the larger part of the rise in earnings over the life‐cycle in Britain can be explained by a simple search model, and virtually all the earnings gap between men and women can be explained in this way. Overall, the evidence suggests that we do need to reinterpret the returns to experience in earnings functions.
Retraining the Unemployed in a Model of Equilibrium Employment
Authors: Masters Adrian
Published: March 2003

An equilibrium model of search and matching is developed to analyse the effects of retraining the unemployed on the market for skilled (or semi‐skilled) workers. Versions of the model with free entry of vacancies and fixed numbers of jobs are considered. The latter environment exhibits multiple equilibria. While subsidized training (and enforced participation) is justified on employment grounds, it cannot be justified on efficiency grounds. Policies that, ceteris paribus, lower unemployment, also reduce the incentive to train. When such policies are introduced to a training economy, training may cease and unemployment can rise.
Segmentation of Rural Labour Contracts: Some Further Evidence
Authors: Pal Sarmistha
Published: March 2003

The paper offers an explanation of labour tying commonly observed in seasonally agricultural economies. Employers may either hire regular labourers in the slack season to satisfy all or most of the labour demand in the high season but have underutilised labour in the low–demand season or rely on casual labourers only. Thus farmers hiring regular labour may also hire some casual labour as and when needed to minimise the hoarding costs of regular labour. Secondly, daily regular wages are usually lower than daily casual wages, but regular labourers usually get some wage–advance as well. Thus asset–poor workers have incentives to choose regular labour with interest–free wage advance because they face high marginal costs of credit in the segmented credit markets. The optimum hoarding costs decrease with increase in farm size, but increase with increase in spot market wages. However with improved availability of alternative employment opportunities and/or cheaper credit facilities to the asset–poor labourers, the supply of regular labour is likely to decline. Empirical evidence from the ICRISAT villages in south India seems to be consistent with the primary propositions of the model.
Indirect Re–employment Wage Discrimination
Authors: Mavromaras Kostas G.
Published: March 2003

This paper looks at unemployed individuals and investigates wage differences generated by re–employment selection. It shows that discriminatory re–employment selection can result, indirectly, in discriminatory re–employment pay. A Heckman two–stage selection model is combined with an extension of Gomulka–Stern non–linear decompositions to explain how re–employment selection generates indirect discrimination. The paper uses data from pre–unification Germany in the late 1980s and finds that female human capital suffers more from unemployment and that the market is harsher to males for becoming unemployed. New policies should encourage a regime where the hiring process is more transparent and hiring decisions are monitored on a regular basis.