Suchergebnisse

Uns alle verbindet ein fundamentaler Wunsch nach Interaktion mit unseren Mitmenschen. Wir haben ein tief verwurzeltes Bedürfnis zu kommunizieren, und je größer unsere Fähigkeit in dieser Hinsicht ist, umso befriedigender und lohnenswerter verläuft unser Leben. Dass kompetente interpersonale Kommunikation einen großen Beitrag zum Erfolg im privaten wie auch beruflichen Bereich leistet, gilt mittlerweile als allgemein anerkannt und ist umfassend erforscht. So gesehen ist die Kenntnis der verschiedenen Arten von kommunikativen Fertigkeiten und ihrer Auswirkungen auf die soziale Interaktion für ein erfolgreiches Beziehungserleben von entscheidender Bedeutung.

This paper analyses the testimony of four banking CEOs to the Banking Crisis Inquiry of the Treasury Committee of the UK House of Commons in 2009. We explore the root metaphors they employed as they sought to explain the banking failures that had occurred. Our analysis identifies four such metaphors. First, 'the wisdom of the crowd', in that bankers were influenced by the behaviour of significant others. Second, the bankers depict themselves as at times being forced to be passive observers of events. Third, they characterize themselves as victims of the crisis, sharing in the widespread pain it produced. Fourth, they are penitent learners, able and willing to improve. The main intent seems to be to frame public discussion of the crisis in terms which diminishes their responsibility for what happened. We also argue that the bankers' discourse had limited impact in terms of framing public debate, while the metaphors they employed have the potential to minimize learning from failure. The study of the metaphors of failure that they employed is therefore also the study of the failure of metaphor as an explanatory trope and an aid to organizational learning. In addition, we suggest that the impact of metaphors can be reconsidered in terms of what we term 'the exclusion principle'. This suggests that, while they achieve some of their effects by a process of comparison between adjacent domains, and a consideration of differences between them, they also can exclude categories of meaning from consideration. Our paper therefore contributes to the literature on metaphor, as well as those considering organizational failure and associated attempts to draw lessons from the banking crisis.

PurposeThe aim of this piece of research was to detail the scope and nature of sectarianism as experienced by employees, managers and those with trade union responsibilities, in the Northern Ireland workplace.Design/methodology/approachFour large organizations, two from the private and two from the public sector, were recruited to take part in this qualitative study. In‐depth interviews were carried out with managers and trade union personnel. Focus groups were run with employees.FindingsData were submitted to thematic analysis. The major themes to emerge included: the extent of experienced sectarianism, sources of sectarianism, the nature of sectarian harassment, "tolerable" sectarianism, and the management of difference.Research limitations/implicationsShort‐comings of the study include the possibility that social desirability effects could have operated to underplay sectarian attitudes. Again the limitations of a qualitative methodology in providing estimates of the extent of sectarianism in the broader population are acknowledged.Practical implicationsPractical implications of the findings for controlling sectarianism and managing diversity are discussed in terms of organizational formalization, the promotion of a common ingroup workforce identity, and the informal procedures used by employees to manage difference on a day‐to‐day basis.Originality/valueThe study is particularly pertinent, given that there has been little attempt to capture the experiences of sectarianism in workplaces from the perspective of managers, employees and trade union personnel.

This paper draws upon participant observation data conducted before and after all 10 qualifying matches for the 2016 UEFA European Football Championship to explore the dynamics underpinning the Northern Irish Green and White Army (GAWA) football carnival. Supplemented by interviews with Northern Ireland fans themselves and informed by the dramaturgical perspectives of Erving Goffman, the paper contends that the anti-sectarian 'norms' of GAWA football fandom are dominant in public spaces before matches when the GAWA 'performance team' are visible to one another and their audience within a geographically circumscribed space. In a post-match evening context however, various 'cliques' of supporters enact their own social rules within a 'back-stage' environment of more relaxed peer-to-peer surveillance. These at times transgress the established norms of GAWA fan behaviour. The paper acknowledges that inappropriate supporter behaviour, even within small groups, can damage the wider image of football teams and their supporters in 'impression management' terms. But rather than imposing top-down 'solutions' which are often devised with limited input from supporters, we suggest that football governing bodies, associations and clubs should look to work in partnership with supporters to identify creative ways in which supporters can be resourced to proactively become 'norm entrepreneurs' and challenge inappropriate behaviour from within.