This research aims to contribute to a better understanding of strategic collaborations between work-integration social enterprises (WISEs) and for-profit enterprises (FPEs) with the joint objective to improve labour market opportunities for vulnerable groups. We find that most collaborations strive towards integration or transformation in order to make more social impact.
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This paper is about the political imbalance in the EU when it comes to attracting European agencies. Over the years, mainly due to the Brexit negotiations and for cost-efficiency reasons, many EU agencies moved from the UK to elsewhere, finding a new sea for headquarters functions or other departments. Whenever such a move is announced, EU countries and their candidate host cities jump into the breach to make a beneficial offer. The way these processes take place is a vector of the politicization of European integration. Nevertheless, these new locations of the EU agencies have won the bidding contest, is a process that usually takes place under the radar. The decision-making of these kinds of processes rests with the member states of the agency. Instead of choosing the most strategic place and ensuring an equal distribution among EU countries, which is the deal, often the highest bidder or the state contributing the most wins the agency. Interestingly, these processes have hardly been studied in the light of the increased politicization. This paper is an attempt to fill this research gap, by focusing on three cases and the processes of decision-making. The cases are the Collège européen de police (European Police College, CEPOL) which moved from the UK to Budapest in 2014, the European Medicine Agency (EMA) moving from London to Amsterdam in 2019, and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) which moved its EU-funded program to Bonn and Helsinki mid-2021. The research strategy is as follows: the cases and the lobbying processes are described, then the main political actors are described, and the outcomes are described. The main research question is: How do these processes of political decision-making work out in practice? By answering this question, this study contributes to the discussion on globalized decision-making across the EU and the politicized imbalance which is the result of this.
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In the following paper I investigate several factors of integration and their influence on students’ success in higher education derived from leading pedagogical theories. Furthermore the use of Facebook by first year students, in the Department of Media, Communication and Information at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences is discussed as a possible new influential factor of student success in contemporary society. The differences in the purpose of Facebook use by students are measured and compared with factors of integration, which were proven in previous studies, to be of influence to the success of students in higher education. Because this study is part of a broader (PhD) research wherein I investigate the influence of media literacy and its possible effect on students’ success, I will embed the results in a more theoretical discussion into integration in higher education and compare the results with previous studies conducted among the same population as part of previous mentioned research. All variables are measured using digital surveys and analysed with the help of statistical tests. This paper will ultimately investigate the relation between the variables derived from Tinto’s integration theory in contemporary society, Facebook use by students and its possible influence on students’ success.
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Purpose This study aims to enhance understanding of the collaboration between chairs of nurse councils (CNCs) and members of executive hospital boards (BM) from a relational leadership perspective. Design/methodology/approach The authors used a qualitative and interpretive methodology. The authors study the daily interactions of BM and CNCs of seven Dutch hospitals through a relational leadership lens. The authors used a combination of observations, interviews and document analysis. The author’s qualitative analysis was used to grasp the process of collaborating between BM and CNCs. Findings Knowing each other, relating with and relating to are distinct but intertwined processes that influence the collaboration between BM and CNC. The absence of conflict is also regarded as a finding in this paper. Combined together, they show the importance of a relational process perspective to understand the complexity of collaboration in hospitals. Originality/value Collaboration between professional groups in hospitals is becoming more important due to increasing interdependence. This is a consequence of the complexity in organizing qualitative care. Nevertheless, research on the process of collaborating between nurse councils (NCs) and executive hospital boards is scarce. Furthermore, the understanding of the workings of boards, in general, is limited. The relational process perspective and the combination of observations, interviewing and document analysis proved valuable in this study and is underrepresented in leadership research. This process perspective is a valuable addition to skills- and competencies-focused leadership literature.
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Students and lecturers share educational experiences, each in their role: Students as part of their learning context and lecturers as part of their work environment. But how much of their experiences are similar? A questionnaire was developed to provide insight into the experiences of research integration of undergraduate students (N = 2336) and lecturers (N = 379). For measurements, the Research Attitudes in Vocational Education Questionnaire (RAVE-Q), and Experience in Research Integration scale were applied to the student survey design. For lecturers, all items of the student surveys were rephrased into items related to lecturers’ perceptions of their students’ attitudes and experiences. The findings show that students and lecturers share perceptions about the role of research in their related vocational field and about research integration. However, important cognitive and affective differences were found between students and lecturers regarding research practice. Implications for further research and educational design will be discussed.
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Often research, education and professional practice are positioned as different activities. Researchers, students and professionals are defined in subject-object relations. For my Phd. thesis I applied another perspective. In dialogue with School Social Workers, Bachelor Social Work students during their internship, Vocational High School (VHS) Teachers and other involved actants I worked on activities to improve the financial health of VHS students. We explored in a relational spacial ethnography the roles of all above mentioned actants as learning professional and inquirer. During this long term project a mixed method participatory approach was applied. However in this ethnography these activities where integral part of developing of a whole set of interventions. It gave us the opportunity to develop new perspectives at developing interventions and learning in a relational dialogue
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In this chapter, we first summarise the findings from the country chapters on the multiple meanings of SA, documenting terms, translations and contrasting understandings between citizens and public officials. Second, we highlight how civil mobilisation tends to be cyclical over time and is often mediated by brokers. Strategies to spur stakeholders into action rely on a delicate balance of both collaboration and confrontation. Third, we examine the responses from authorities to SAIs, finding that reactions are uneven and that all civic innovators fear appropriation or co-optation by officials. Fourth, we assess overall outcomes of Arab SAIs and highlight that the transformative potential of SAIs exists especially at municipal level, if four conditions for success are present (trust, proximity, endorsement, evaluation). We also point out that the actual outcomes of SAIs in Arab societies have, so far, been limited due to design deficiencies (emphasising short-term objectives and limited context sensitivity) or because of officials’ resistance in active or passive forms. We characterise SAIs as a discursive action format that is best understood with a relational approach to power. In a final section, we formulate recommendations for activists, officials and donors on how to make SAIs more effective.
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Talk by members of executive hospital boards influences the organizational positioning of nurses. Talk is a relational leadership practice. Using a qualitative‐ interpretive design we organized focus group meetings wherein members of executive hospital boards (7), nurses (14), physicians (7), and managers (6), from 15 Dutch hospitals, discussed the organizational positioning of nursing during COVID crisis. We found that members of executive hospital boards consider the positioning of nursing in crisis a task of nurses themselves and not as a collective, interdependent, and/or specific board responsibility. Furthermore, members of executive hospital boards talk about the nursing profession as (1) more practical than strategic, (2) ambiguous in positioning, and (3) distinctive from the medical profession. Such talk seemingly contrasts with the notion of interdependence that highlights how actors depend on each other in interaction. Interdependence is central to collaboration in hospital crises. In this paper, therefore, we depart from the members of executive hospital boards as leader and “positioner,” and focus on talk— as a discursive leadership practice—to illuminate leadership and governance in hospitals in crisis, as social, interdependent processes.
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In the following paper I compare the use of Facebook by first year students, in the Department of Media, Communication and Information at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences in 2011-2012 and 2012-2013. Opposed to previous years, in 2012 and 2013 the use of Facebook was incorporated in the student career-counselling course and mandatory to create and join a class page on Facebook. The differences in whether or not students use (self-created) Facebook-groups were measured for both groups of first year students and compared with each other. Furthermore, because this study is part of a broader (PhD) research wherein I investigate the influence of media literacy and its possible effect on students’ success, I will also incorporate other variables derived from Tinto’s integration theory. In previous studies it was proved that these variables were influential factors of students success. All variables are measured using digital surveys and analysed with the help of statistical tests. This will explore the possible differences in Facebook use between the two groups. Furthermore it will investigate the relation between the variables derived from Tinto’s integration theory and Facebook use. Ultimately it will provide a valuable insight in the opportunities of Facebook in an educational setting.
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