title: The Symbiotic Existence of Interorganizational and Interpersonal Networks in Collaboration

authors: Ekanayake, Kankanamalage Chamila Samanthi

subjects: Social network perspective

abstract: Most traditional theories adopted to explain collaboration in interorganizational relationships (IOR) have failed to adequately address the micro and macro dynamics of the phenomenon. Collaboration theory developed within the mainstream of public administration research views leveraging structure, processes, and people as the key to successful collaboration. Yet, the applicability of the theory’s principles and abstractions in the private sector remains unexplored. Social network theory also presumes that IOR arise out of ongoing interaction at both micro and macro levels. However, the field is fragmented, with the interpersonal and interorganizational networks being studied separately. Thus, an opportunity exists to combine collaboration theory with social network perspective and to view interorganizational collaboration from a multilevel lens.
An exploratory case study methodology informed by an interpretivist epistemological stance was used to address this gap. An egocentric network of a third party logistics company that covers six relationships provided a rich context for the study. 
The study finding expands our understanding of the distinction between the two types of networks: the interorganizational and the interpersonal and their corresponding elements - which are the structural and processual ties and the workflow and commercial friendship ties rspectively. By proposing a new conceptualization ─ ‘a symbiotic existence’ to explain the interdependent nature of these four elements, the study goes beyond the traditional micro and macro divide to consider the multiplexity of networks in IOR.The major practical implication of this study is that the decision makers should pay attention to the changes in both micro and macro elements and their knock-on effects to ensure a symbiosis of the four elements for collaborative synergies. Practitioners’ attention should also centre significantly on the effects of interpersonal networks on collaboration and how mechanisms at macro level could be set effectively to benefit from the emerging community of practices within the collaboration.

text: The Symbiotic Existence of Interorganizational and Interpersonal Networks in Collaboration Most traditional theories adopted to explain collaboration in interorganizational relationships (IOR) have failed to adequately address the micro and macro dynamics of the phenomenon. Collaboration theory developed within the mainstream of public administration research views leveraging structure, processes, and people as the key to successful collaboration. Yet, the applicability of the theory’s principles and abstractions in the private sector remains unexplored. Social network theory also presumes that IOR arise out of ongoing interaction at both micro and macro levels. However, the field is fragmented, with the interpersonal and interorganizational networks being studied separately. Thus, an opportunity exists to combine collaboration theory with social network perspective and to view interorganizational collaboration from a multilevel lens.
An exploratory case study methodology informed by an interpretivist epistemological stance was used to address this gap. An egocentric network of a third party logistics company that covers six relationships provided a rich context for the study. 
The study finding expands our understanding of the distinction between the two types of networks: the interorganizational and the interpersonal and their corresponding elements - which are the structural and processual ties and the workflow and commercial friendship ties rspectively. By proposing a new conceptualization ─ ‘a symbiotic existence’ to explain the interdependent nature of these four elements, the study goes beyond the traditional micro and macro divide to consider the multiplexity of networks in IOR.The major practical implication of this study is that the decision makers should pay attention to the changes in both micro and macro elements and their knock-on effects to ensure a symbiosis of the four elements for collaborative synergies. Practitioners’ attention should also centre significantly on the effects of interpersonal networks on collaboration and how mechanisms at macro level could be set effectively to benefit from the emerging community of practices within the collaboration.

year: 2015

title: Trash aesthetics and the sublime: Strategies for visualising the unrepresentable within a landscape of refuse

authors: Snake-Beings, Emit

abstract: Living in a technology-dependent society, it seems inevitable that our vision of the world is mediated and extended through our interactions with technology. We often realize the extent of technological mediation when our machines cease to function correctly. When a machine fails, we leave the predictably functioning world and enter into another realm. Think of the primitive magic of lighting candles during a power cut, where there is the potential of experiencing something sublime—something beyond the order and structure that technology imposes on us. On the other hand, when technology breaks it is also an opportunity to experience a myriad of emotions such as frustration, rage, loss, or boredom. In the face of technological failure, our ingrained response is to obtain a replacement, an upgrade, that promises greater freedom and a new way of visualizing the world. The old piece of technology turns to trash and falls silently and invisibly from our consciousness, as new technological vistas take command of our attention. The failure of machines can also be an intentional consequence of industry, such as the kind of in-built redundancy that drives the production and sale of new products, as discussed in Vance Packard’s book The Waste Makers or Slavoj Žižek’s commentary in Astra Taylor’s 2008 documentary Examined Life. While, in this sense, trash is intentional, there is also something about trash which has moved beyond function and human purpose: this is the link between trash and the realm of the sublime that I wish to explore in this essay.

text: Trash aesthetics and the sublime: Strategies for visualising the unrepresentable within a landscape of refuse Living in a technology-dependent society, it seems inevitable that our vision of the world is mediated and extended through our interactions with technology. We often realize the extent of technological mediation when our machines cease to function correctly. When a machine fails, we leave the predictably functioning world and enter into another realm. Think of the primitive magic of lighting candles during a power cut, where there is the potential of experiencing something sublime—something beyond the order and structure that technology imposes on us. On the other hand, when technology breaks it is also an opportunity to experience a myriad of emotions such as frustration, rage, loss, or boredom. In the face of technological failure, our ingrained response is to obtain a replacement, an upgrade, that promises greater freedom and a new way of visualizing the world. The old piece of technology turns to trash and falls silently and invisibly from our consciousness, as new technological vistas take command of our attention. The failure of machines can also be an intentional consequence of industry, such as the kind of in-built redundancy that drives the production and sale of new products, as discussed in Vance Packard’s book The Waste Makers or Slavoj Žižek’s commentary in Astra Taylor’s 2008 documentary Examined Life. While, in this sense, trash is intentional, there is also something about trash which has moved beyond function and human purpose: this is the link between trash and the realm of the sublime that I wish to explore in this essay.

year: 2015

title: Genealogical Violence: Mormon (Mis)Appropriation of Māori Cultural Memory through Falsification of Whakapapa

authors: Simon, Hemopereki

subjects: whakapapa

abstract: The study examines how members of the historically white possessive and supremacist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the United States (mis)appropriated Māori genealogy, known as whakapapa. The Mormon use of whakapapa to promote Mormon cultural memory and narratives perpetuates settler/invader colonialism and white supremacy, as this paper shows. The research discusses Church racism against Native Americans and Pacific Peoples. This paper uses Anthropologist Thomas Murphy’s scholarship to demonstrate how problematic the Book of Mormon’s religio-colonial identity of Lamanites is for these groups. Application of Aileen Moreton-Robinson’s white possessive doctrine and Hemopereki Simon’s adaptation to cover Church-Indigenous relations and the salvation contract is discussed. We explore collective and cultural memory and discuss key Māori concepts like Mana, Taonga, Tapu, and Whakapapa. A brief review of LDS scholar Louis C. Midgley’s views on Church culture, including Herewini Jones’s whakapapa wānanga, is followed by a discussion of Māori cultural considerations and issues. The paper concludes that the alteration perpetuates settler/invader colonialism and Pacific peoples’ racialization and white supremacy. Genetics science and human migration studies contradict Mormon identity narratives and suggest the BOM is spiritual rather than historical. Finally, the paper suggests promoting intercultural engagement on Mormon (mis)appropriation of taonga Māori.

text: Genealogical Violence: Mormon (Mis)Appropriation of Māori Cultural Memory through Falsification of Whakapapa The study examines how members of the historically white possessive and supremacist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the United States (mis)appropriated Māori genealogy, known as whakapapa. The Mormon use of whakapapa to promote Mormon cultural memory and narratives perpetuates settler/invader colonialism and white supremacy, as this paper shows. The research discusses Church racism against Native Americans and Pacific Peoples. This paper uses Anthropologist Thomas Murphy’s scholarship to demonstrate how problematic the Book of Mormon’s religio-colonial identity of Lamanites is for these groups. Application of Aileen Moreton-Robinson’s white possessive doctrine and Hemopereki Simon’s adaptation to cover Church-Indigenous relations and the salvation contract is discussed. We explore collective and cultural memory and discuss key Māori concepts like Mana, Taonga, Tapu, and Whakapapa. A brief review of LDS scholar Louis C. Midgley’s views on Church culture, including Herewini Jones’s whakapapa wānanga, is followed by a discussion of Māori cultural considerations and issues. The paper concludes that the alteration perpetuates settler/invader colonialism and Pacific peoples’ racialization and white supremacy. Genetics science and human migration studies contradict Mormon identity narratives and suggest the BOM is spiritual rather than historical. Finally, the paper suggests promoting intercultural engagement on Mormon (mis)appropriation of taonga Māori.

year: 2024