The psychosocial consequences of an environmental disaster: Selected case studies of the Bhopal gas tragedy

The present study deals with the psychosocial problems which the Bhopal gas victims are facing. These problems were examined through selected case studies, which reveal that there have been changes in the intrafamilial relationships in the area. There are households where the social status of the women has gone up as they have become the earning members of the family, while on the other hand some women are being ill treated as they are unable to conceive and bear children.     

Dynamic Capability Building in Service Value Networks for Achieving Service Innovation

Service organizations increasingly create new service offerings that are the result of collaborative arrangements operating on a value network level. This leads to the notion of “elevated service offerings,” our definition of service innovation, implying new or enhanced service offerings that can only be eventuated as a result of partnering, and one that could not be delivered on individual organizational merits. Using empirical data from a large telecommunications company, we demonstrate through structural equation modeling (SEM) that higher‐order dynamic capabilities in services are generated as a result of collaboration between stakeholders. Furthermore, it is through collaboration and education of the stakeholders that additional higher‐order capabilities emerge (customer engagement [CuE], collaborative agility [CA], entrepreneurial alertness [EA], and collaborative innovative capacity), all of which influence the service innovation outcome. Our study also reveals empirical evidence for an ongoing process of continuous dynamic capability building in accordance with the changing dynamics of business. Managers of service organizations should recognize the potential embedded in these higher‐order skill sets, starting from collaboration, learning, and management of creative ideas for both strategic and operational benefits. Moreover, the capabilities of CA, EA, and CuE are even more important in managing the flexibility, timely delivery, and reliability of service offerings. Managers should take measures to inculcate, promote, and manage these dynamic capability skill sets to foster innovation in services.     

Combined array approach for optimal designs

Robust parameter design, originally proposed by Taguchi ( 1987 ) is an offline production technique for reducing variation and improving product's quality To achieve this objective Taguchi proposed the use of product arrays. However. the product array approach, results in an exorbitant number of runs To overcome the drawbacks of the product array Welch, Wu, Kang and Sacks ( 1990 ), Shoemaker, Tsui and Wu ( 1991 ) and Montgomery ( 1991a ) proposed the use of combined arrays, where the control factors and noise factors are combined in a single array. In this paper we study the concept of combined array for an intermediate class of designs where n = 1 (mod4), n = 2 (mod4) and n = 3 (mod4). The designs presented in this paper, though not orthogonal, offer a great reduction in the run-size.     

Most and Least Meaningful Learning Experiences in Marriage and Family Therapy Education

Marriage and family therapy educators increasingly emphasize training competencies. What we know less about is what makes family therapy education meaningful to marriage and family therapy (MFT) graduate students and what does not. In this study, through an Internet survey, we explored the most and least meaningful learning experiences of 68 MFT graduate students and recent graduates of Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education—accredited programs. We used thematic analysis to identify and illustrate resulting themes, which included the importance of experiential and personal components to learning, the professor‐student alliance, tying theory to practice, and the experiences of students with their clients, among others. We discuss the implications of these findings to support family therapy education and offer tentative suggestions for formative discussions both within and across programs. Video Abstract is found in the online version of the article .     

The Indian Diaspora in Africa: The Commodification of Hindu Rashtra

A new approach to India’s diaspora has taken place within the wider context of the adoption, in 1991, of a neoliberal economic policy framework. In recent years, Indian private business enterprises have led the way in Africa and this has had an important impact on the state’s conceptualization of the diaspora. New Delhi’s elites actively seek to embrace an objectified ‘globalization’ as a means to benefit powerful externally oriented fractions and the diaspora’s value is measured in its contribution to this project. There has been a determined attempt to commodify the diaspora to serve particular Indian economic interests. However, the current government’s Hindu chauvinism makes the very question of what constitutes a genuine Indian rather narrow. Two factors thus dominate current policy: commodification and categorization. The diaspora in South Africa is discussed as an example where these dynamics can be acutely observed.     

Discursive and institutional intersections: women,health and law in modern India

While important foci of feminist legal jurisprudence have highlighted the patriarchal bias in the areas of legal theory, sexuality, race, and violence, an important area that has received little attention is the interface between health law, gender, and power, particularly in the context of post-colonial societies. This paper explores these concepts in contemporary India, the underlying idea being that health is as much an issue of violence as violence is an issue of health, and both carry critical implications for the gender power configurations in society. This discussion is framed in the interstices between the Indian state and the women's movement that have interfaced in fashioning law as a critical instrument of social change and women's empowerment. Several assumptions foreground this paper: Firstly, culture is the ground upon which gender and power dynamics play out in any society. Secondly, law is also taken to be one of the sites of cultural engagement and is very much embedded in and the product of prevailing values, norms, and practices; it is not outside culture. And lastly, although this paper is India-specific, it raises issues which have cross-national resonance, particularly in the South Asian context.