This doctoral thesis describes three case studies of service engineers participating in organizational change, interacting with managers and consultants. The study investigates the role of differences in professional discourse and culture when these three professional groups interact in organizational change, and how this affects the change result. We bring together two scientific fields, first change management and second, linguistics. The intersection represents the overlapping field of professional discourse and culture. The research design was an explorative multiple case study using qualitative linguistic analyses. The study found that successful organizational change is the result of interaction between professional culture, the organizational culture and the organization/change context. The differences between the professional cultures and discourses can hamper the change process. The practical contribution of this study might be the increased awareness among professionals about their own professional, and often implicit, assumptions. Managers, consultants and service engineers have to be aware of the group dynamics and the specific role of their own typical professional discourse and culture in a change project setting.
BackgroundRefugees encounter texts such as course books, pamphlets and exams during mandatory integration in the Netherlands. Texts present explicit or implicit messages to refugees on “successful” integration and citizenship.The What’s the Problem Represented to Be? (WPR) approach from Carol Bacchi, allows us to understand how texts are a presentation of governments see problems, and what is needing to be fixed. Applying an occupational lens facilitates identification of occupations promoted as desirable or discouraged towards those striving for citizenship.Relevance:Discourse in integration programs can be considered as a tool of governance, aiming to promote “acceptable” everyday occupations during the transition to citizenship.Aim:This presentation aims to present findings of an initial analysis for discussion. The main aim of the research project, is to explore the impact of differing discourses in integration programs in the Netherlands, including government and citizen programs, to understand the consequences of these discourses on the lives of refugees.Identify Gaps: This research addresses important gaps in current integration research. Firstly, this research focuses on texts in practice, while previous research has largely focused on the policy texts. Secondly, this research program will focus on not only government integration programs, but also those who are being initiated and facilitated by citizens in the Netherlands’.Theoretical Foundation:Theoretical approach inspired by Foucault governmentality. Critical analysis of discourse in texts is informed by Bacchi’s WPR approach. Concept of citizenship will be framed with Isin’s concept of acts of citizenship. Theories from occupational science, such as occupational possibilities, will facilitating understanding of how occupations are promoted in practice.Conclusion:Textual documents, utilized in practice, are important to include when exploring the relationship between discourse and everyday doing. It is important to consider discourse as a tool of governance and how it impacts on the occupational engagement of refugees.
This article traces the emergence of one particular genre of discourse, the genre of "new realism" in the Dutch public debates on multicultural society from the early 1990s till Spring 2002. The focus upon different "genres" implies an interest in the performative power of discourse, i.e. the way in which any discourse, in or by its descriptions of reality, (co)produces that reality. Four distinctive characteristics of "new realism" are detected in three subsequent public debates, culminating in the genre of "hyper-realism", of which the immensely successful and recently murdered politician Pim Fortuyn proved to be the consummate champion. Cet article explique le développement d'un genre particulier de discours, le "nouveau réalisme", au sein du débat public sur la société multiculturelle aux Pays Bas. La période étudidée s'étale du début des années 1990 jusqu'au printemps 2002. L'importance attribuée aux différents "genres" reflète un intérêt pour le pouvoir performatif du discours, notamment la facon dont le discours (co)produit la réalité qu'il décrit. On décèle quatre traits distinctifs du "nouveau réalisme" dans trois débats publics qui débouchent sur le "hyper-réalisme" genre dont Pim Fortuyn, homme politique ayant connu un grand succès et victime récente d'un meurtre,s'était fait le champion attitré.
This project covers multiple avenues of work on regional, national, and international policy discourse around the entertainment and creative (e.g. artistic) video game sector. Historically, policy makers have been wary of supporting the video game industry, but the diverse and modern video games industry deserves support and investment to build its presence in education, society, and business. Directing this support for the greatest impact requires informed decisions.This work continues the successful research of the Gaming Horizons project and its publications and activities.
GAMING HORIZONS is a multidisciplinary project that aims to expand the research and innovation agenda on serious gaming and gamification. The project is particularly interested in the use of games for learning and cultural development. Gamification - and gaming more broadly – are very important from a socio-economic point of view, but over the past few years they have been at the centre of critical and challenging debates, which highlighted issues such as gender and minority representation, and exploitative game mechanics. Our project’s key contention is that it is important for the European ICT community to engage with design trends and social themes that have affected profoundly the mainstream and ‘independent’ game development cultures over the past few years, especially because the boundaries between leisure and serious games are increasingly blurred. GAMING HORIZONS is a direct response to the official recognition by the H2020 programme of work that multidisciplinary research can help to advance the integration between Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) and the Social Sciences and the Humanities (SSH). The project’s objective is to enable a higher uptake of socially responsible ICT-related research in relation to gaming. This objective will be achieved through a research-based exchange between communities of developers, policy makers, users and researchers. The methodology will involve innovative data collection activities and consultations with a range of stakeholders over a period of 14 months. We will interrogate the official ‘H2020 discourse’ on gamification – with a particular focus on ‘gamified learning’ - whilst engaging with experts, developers and critical commentators through interviews, events, workshops and systematic dialogue with an Advisory Board. Ultimately, GAMING HORIZONS will help identify future directions at the intersection of ethics, social research, and both the digital entertainment and serious games industries.EU FundingThe 14-month research project 'Gaming Horizons' was funded by the European Commission through the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.
This project researches risk perceptions about data, technology, and digital transformation in society and how to build trust between organisations and users to ensure sustainable data ecologies. The aim is to understand the user role in a tech-driven environment and her perception of the resulting relationships with organisations that offer data-driven services/products. The discourse on digital transformation is productive but does not truly address the user’s attitudes and awareness (Kitchin 2014). Companies are not aware enough of the potential accidents and resulting loss of trust that undermine data ecologies and, consequently, forfeit their beneficial potential. Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica-situation, for instance, led to 42% of US adults deleting their accounts and the company losing billions. Social, political, and economic interactions are increasingly digitalised, which comes with hands-on benefits but also challenges privacy, individual well-being and a fair society. User awareness of organisational practices is of heightened importance, as vulnerabilities for users equal vulnerabilities for data ecologies. Without transparency and a new “social contract” for a digital society, problems are inevitable. Recurring scandals about data leaks and biased algorithms are just two examples that illustrate the urgency of this research. Properly informing users about an organisation’s data policies makes a crucial difference (Accenture 2018) and for them to develop sustainable business models, organisations need to understand what users expect and how to communicate with them. This research project tackles this issue head-on. First, a deeper understanding of users’ risk perception is needed to formulate concrete policy recommendations aiming to educate and build trust. Second, insights about users’ perceptions will inform guidelines. Through empirical research on framing in the data discourse, user types, and trends in organisational practice, the project develops concrete advice - for users and practitioners alike - on building sustainable relationships in a resilient digital society.
