Organizational discourse as a creative space for play: the potential of postmodernist and surrealist forms of play

In recent times there have been a number of calls in the organizational discourse to consider entertaining the notion of ‘play’. Not overt physical play such as having a game of golf among work mates or team building through rock climbing, but intellectual play. These calls have generally arisen in the work of those scholars championing a postmodernist or post-structuralist perspective. These calls, however, are seldom accompanied by a coherent appraisal of why and how play is productive of something that non-play cannot or has difficulty in producing. In particular, what has been left out of much of this discourse is an appraisal of the underlying psychodynamics that are involved. This paper argues that play takes place in a space created to enhance illusion and that space, and the illusion itself, need careful handling at a variety of levels. Just as the space for play is created for the child to exercise their imagination and as a learning environment, it can equally be the space occupied by the neurotic - indeed, some postmodernists, intent upon play, have been charged with aiding, abetting and creating individuals who become delusional, have fragmented identity and may become schizophrenic. While this latter critique may seem somewhat harsh, it should prompt us to consider the idea of the attributes of a ‘safe’ space in which to play. Much of the organizational discourse on play has also asked us to take play ‘seriously’ as way of enhancing our theory development. This paper does not accept the ‘serious’- ‘non-serious’ dichotomy, but instead argues that play is a differentiated level of reality. This differentiated level of reality is inhabited by much in the way of paradox and irony that are essential for play to occur. These paradoxes and ironies are identified in an effort to enhance the outcome of play. In identifying some of the underlying psychodynamics of play, what emerges is an appreciation of how play is an activity that has the potential to help in our theory development of organizations. In the context of discussing the emergence of a new postmodern theory movement in the organizational discourse, various forms of postmodernist play are identified. In this discussion it will also be noted that these postmodernist forms of play have parallels in other fields. In the realm of art, for example, surrealism engages in similar forms of play. These forms of play are identified in the quest to better understand the dynamics of intellectual play and how we might better draw upon such dynamics to enhance the theoretical grounding of our own field. It is also intended, by examining the notion of intellectual play in a manner outlined in this paper, that basic aspects of postmodernist theorizing might also be better understood.     

Assessing the Imprint of the Long-gone Hapsburg Empire's Border on the Romanian Students' Migration Intentions

This article aims to identify if belonging to one side or another of the former Hapsburg Empire's border matters in relation to migration intentions. Based on a survey of 3,051 students enrolled at three Romanian universities, and using geo-referencing, data mining tools, logistic regressions and prediction nomograms, we found that students who have their homes in different parts, depending on this historical border, manifest different sensitivity levels towards recognition of their own value and the poor quality of public institutions and services, as they have different perceptions concerning the role of individual freedom, parental role models, the work ethic and interpersonal trust. These differences further generate opposite migration intentions for the two sub-samples. Therefore, students who have their homes in the former Empire's area have lower migration intentions than those outside it, despite their proximity to the western borders. The results suggest various economic and non-economic determinants as important predictors of migration intentions.     

Scalar politics,language ideologies,and the sociolinguistics of globalization among transnational Korean professionals in Hong Kong

This paper argues that the sociolinguistics of globalization is accompanied by a constitutive scalar politics. Based on ten interviews with Korean professionals in Hong Kong, we report that Korean migrants’ use and experience of English is characterized by competing language ideologies we identify as: Pragmatic English/Perfect English, Multilingualism/English Only, and Global Language/Local Language. Tensions within these ideologies were revealed as respondents referenced the contexts of their daily lives as intersecting sets of geographic, temporal, and social scales. We discuss how sociolinguistic relations associated with the transnational lifecourse, hybridizing identity, and racialization were imagined in ways that re‐negotiated these scales to serve the interests of the participants and provide coherence to their communicative practices. Sociolinguistic relations both reference scales and constitute them. We conclude that attending to scales and scalar politics provides a better explanatory framework for the ways the uneven linguistics markets of globalization are negotiated by transnational subjects.     

Modeling uncertainty in macroeconomic growth determinants using Gaussian graphical models

Model uncertainty has become a central focus of policy discussion surrounding the determinants of economic growth. Over 140 regressors have been employed in growth empirics due to the proliferation of several new growth theories in the past two decades. Recently Bayesian model averaging (BMA) has been employed to address model uncertainty and to provide clear policy implications by identifying robust growth determinants. The BMA approaches were, however, limited to linear regression models that abstract from possible dependencies embedded in the covariance structures of growth determinants. The recent empirical growth literature has developed jointness measures to highlight such dependencies. We address model uncertainty and covariate dependencies in a comprehensive Bayesian framework that allows for structural learning in linear regressions and Gaussian graphical models. A common prior specification across the entire comprehensive framework provides consistency. Gaussian graphical models allow for a principled analysis of dependency structures, which allows us to generate a much more parsimonious set of fundamental growth determinants. Our empirics are based on a prominent growth dataset with 41 potential economic factors that has been utilized in numerous previous analyses to account for model uncertainty as well as jointness.     

Galaxy cutsets in graphs

Given a network G=(V,E), we say that a subset of vertices S⊆V has radius r if it is spanned by a tree of depth at most r. We are interested in determining whether G has a cutset that can be written as the union of k sets of radius r. This generalizes the notion of k-vertex connectivity, since in the special case r=0, a set spanned by a tree of depth at most r is a single vertex.     

COMMON FACTORS ACROSS THEORIES OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPY: A MODIFIED DELPHI STUDY

The Delphi methodology was used to explore common factors across theories of marriage and family therapy (MFT). Leading clinicians and researchers from the American Family Therapy Academy and select faculty members from MFT training programs accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education were asked to achieve consensus regarding common factors. Respondents were asked to report on commonalities across the various MFT theories, as well as what they personally considered to be the core ingredients of change. A final profile of items was created from the responses. Qualitative interviews were conducted with selected panelists to clarify discrepancies as well as to add meaning to the data. Implications for the training and practice of MFTs as well as direction for future research are discussed.     

Prompting Depression Treatment Seeking among Smokers: A Comparison of Participants from Six Countries in an Internet Stop Smoking RCT

Websites containing information and advice about health are increasingly common and popular. It is important to understand whether the material these sites contain can positively influence individual behavior, and whether populations differ in their response to that material. Participants in an international web-based stop smoking randomized controlled trial (RCT) were screened for major depression; participants whose history and/or depression symptoms were deemed of concern were offered one of two prompts (Strong and Mild) to seek treatment, depending on depression history. Participants from 3 predominantly English-speaking and 3 predominantly Spanish-speaking countries were analyzed. Individuals given a Strong prompt were more likely to seek treatment for depression than those given a weak prompt (16.6% vs. 10.2% of previously untreated individuals reported seeking treatment), controlling for symptom level and other variables. Country-specific differences were observed, with participants from South Africa and Spain departing from the common pattern of Strong prompt leading to higher likelihood of treatment seeking. Older age and female gender, but not symptom level predicted higher likelihood of seeking treatment following a prompt. The results suggest that information provided by the health websites can promote help seeking in affected individuals.