Decision Sciences Research in China: A Critical Review and Research Agenda—Foundations and Overview*

This article focuses on decision sciences research in China, providing an overview of current research and developing a foundation for future China‐based research. China provides a unique research opportunity for decision sciences researchers, owing to its recent history, rapid economic development, and strong national culture. We examine recent economic reforms and their impact on the development of research questions in the decision sciences, as well as discuss characteristics of the diverse regions in China and their potential as sites for various types of research. We provide a brief overview of recent China‐based research on decision sciences issues relating to national culture, supply chain management, quality management, production planning and control, operations strategy, and new product development and discuss some of the unique methodological challenges inherent in China‐based research. We conclude by looking forward to emerging research opportunities in China.     

Social development strategies of a non-governmental grassroots women's organisation in Nigeria

Social development initiatives of rural and poor urban women in Africa are efforts that redress the post-colonial economic development planning oversights of many African nations. Grass roots movements are responsive initiatives that have provided rural women with bottom-up management and planning opportunities focused on quality of life issues for themselves, their families, the community, and, ultimately, the nation. Since 1982, Country Women's Association of Nigeria (COWAN), a non-governmental organisation, has addressed the needs of rural and urban poor women through economic activities that have empowered them and increased their levels of self-sufficiency. With COWAN's emphasis on popular participation and indigenous leadership, macro-community development practices are employed, as is the recognition of individual and collective skills and talents. Social workers of today should be aware of commonalities that exists in the struggles of these and other Third World women, for their struggles are not unlike those of oppressed groups found in the USA and other developed countries.     

Media, ‘Fat Panic’ and Public Pedagogy: Mapping Contested Terrain

Discourses regarding a ‘global obesity crisis’ and alternative frames (e.g. weight‐inclusive approaches to health) have proliferated through various media of communication. These media range from traditional print and visual formats (e.g. newspapers and television shows) to digital media (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube), which enable different publics to produce, and not just consume, text, images and other data relating to the body. Reflecting a sociological understanding of educational practices as extending beyond formal schooling, mediated obesity discourse and counter‐movements have also been conceptualised as public pedagogies, which instruct people how to relate to their own and other's bodies, health and subjectivities. This article examines what is critically known about various media at a time when governments and agencies are reinvigorating the global war on obesity, with populations being ‘advised’ to become and remain conscientious weight watchers. In conclusion, the article underscores the salience of social studies of the media when seeking to rethink obesity, incorporating critical reference to moral panic theory and the need to better understand what media can ‘do’ as enactments of public pedagogy.     

Police control during a national political convention: A four perimeter strategy

The article examines types of role strategies utilized by police to gain control over perceived oppositional group activity. Literature in the area of formal organizations and police structures are viewed as deficient in terms of examining the combined effect of presenting multiple images of an organization to an oppositional group. Boundary-spanning roles are conceptualized as varying in terms of discretion, penetration and secrecy. Data from the 1976 Republican Convention are used to identify four types of boundary-spanning roles utilized to gain control over demonstrator activity. While each of these roles served an important control function, in combination the roles presented an inconsistent and contradictory image of the police to demonstrators. The effect of this strategy was to create confusion in the strategies and tactics of the oppositional group.Partial support for this research was obtained through an L.E.A.A. grant, Evaluation of the 1976 Republican National Convention, awarded to Midwest Research Institute (MRI). Patricia E. Erickson and James Flynn were employed as consultants to MRI for the grant period. Special thanks are extended to Bruce B. Morgan who served as project director.     

Extended structures of mediation: Re-examining brokerage in dynamic networks

In this paper we revisit the concept of brokerage in social networks. We elaborate on the concept of brokerage as a process, identifying three distinct classes of brokerage behavior. Based on this process model, we develop a framework for measuring brokerage opportunities in dynamic relational data. Using data on emergent inter-organizational collaborations, we employ the dynamic brokerage framework to examine the relationship between organizational attributes and coordination in the evolving network. Comparing the findings of our process-based definition with traditional, static approaches, we identify important dimensions of organizational action that would be missed by the latter approach.     

Predictors of organizations’ crisis communication approaches: Full versus limited disclosure

This study investigates predictors of the public relations (full disclosure) versus legal (limited disclosure) approaches that may be used by organizations during a preventable crisis. Both tangible and intangible aspects of an organization were explored. The results reveal that degree of crisis preparation, public relations influences, and the perception of crisis as an opportunity were significant predictors that determine full versus limited disclosure selection.     

Retirement Planning Among Hispanics: In God’s Hands?

We conducted a qualitative study on retirement preparedness among middle-aged and older low-income Hispanics in Los Angeles. Data were derived from four focus groups conducted in the greater Los Angeles area. Findings demonstrate how behavioral and cultural factors—family experiences, religiosity, and denial of retirement—explain the lack of savings and preparedness for retirement. Findings also indicate that the majority of participants want to be economically independent and to keep working until they are unable to do so. Participants helped their parents financially but did not feel comfortable asking their own children for help. Instead, participants placed their survival in retirement “in God’s hands.”     

Trafficked children and child protection systems in the European Union

Child trafficking is a significant social problem across the European Union (EU). A discourse has emerged of state services failing trafficked children, who are portrayed as especially vulnerable. Less attention is paid to the socio-political conditions within the EU that result in exclusion. Such exclusion adds to the situational vulnerability that many children on the move experience and it may lead to exploitation. This paper is based on a review of 20 multi-national European Commission funded projects about child trafficking. The projects addressed the child trafficking priorities outlined in the EU Anti-Trafficking Strategy [(2012). Strategy towards the Eradication of Trafficking in Human Beings 2012–2016, COM (2012) 286, final. Retrieved from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52012DC0286&;from=EN]. Projects were reviewed via in-depth reading. Protective services for children in origin, transit and host countries contribute to the conditions that sustain child trafficking. Systems do not have the capacity to manage the consequences of globalisation. Consequently, exclusionary criteria are applied on the basis of gender, form of exploitation and ethnicity. In this review, being an EU citizen did not result in any guarantees of protection. Better protection requires commitment and investment in preventative programmes.