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The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers
to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is
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Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
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The organization and practice of banking in Cornwall, 1771-1922 : motivations and objectives of Cornish bankersDirring, John William January 2015 (has links)
The subject of this study is the period of independent banking in Cornwall, from the formation of the Miners’ Bank in Truro in 1771 to the absorption of Dingley’s Launceston Bank by the National Provincial in 1922. Undertaken within the perspectives of the `New’ Cornish Studies, it aims to provide an assessment of the objectives, strategies, and operational decision-making of banking institutions in Cornwall. A comprehensive analytical narrative of their development forms the core of the study, building on the existing literature and augmented from a range of fragmentary primary and secondary sources, much of it from family archival papers. The nature of this material, and the general lack of quantitative financial data relating to individual institutions, has made a qualitative sociological approach the most appropriate. With the careers of individual bankers predominant, the narrative is also strongly biographical in content and emphasis. An analytical technique based on thick description has been used to enlarge upon the possibilities contained in the often meagre evidence. Both the historical narrative and the subsequent theoretical analysis are conducted from a standpoint situated within a Cornish bank; established in Geertzian fashion from the author’s own long commercial experience in a traditionally-minded business. This experience is aligned with that of contemporaneous writers on nineteenth-century banking practice. In similar manner, a theoretical standpoint within the contemporaneous sociological thought of Tönnies and Weber has been adopted, as being the most appropriate to the consideration of the forms of organization under investigation. From this standpoint, the analysis is projected forwards into the growing corporatism and branch expansion of the amalgamation era. This is undertaken through a game-theoretic evolutionary assessment of decision processes; and a consideration of the roles of path creation and path dependency in institutional development.
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Power and narrative in project management : lessons learned in recognising the importance of phronesisRogers, Michael David January 2014 (has links)
A component part of modern project management practice is the ‘lessons learned’ activity that is designed to transfer experience and best practice from one project to another, thus improving the practice of project management. The departure point for this thesis is: If we are learning lessons from our experiences in project management, then why are we not better at managing projects? It is widely cited in most project management literature that 50–70% of all projects fail for one reason or another, a figure that has steadfastly refused to improve over many years. My contention is that the current rational approach to understanding lessons learned in project management, one entrenched in the if–then causality of first-order systems thinking where the nature of movement is a ‘corrective repetition of the past in order to realise an optimal future state’ (Stacey 2011: 301), does not reflect the actual everyday experience of organisational life. I see this as an experience of changing priorities, competing initiatives, unrealistic timescales, evaporation of resources, non-rational decisions based on power relations between actors in the organisations we find ourselves in; and every other manner of challenge that presents itself in modern large commercial organisations. I propose a move away from what I see as the current reductionist view of lessons learned, with its emphasis on objective observation, to one of involved subjective understanding. This is an understanding rooted in the particular experience of the individual acting into the social, an act that necessarily changes both the individual and the social. My contention is that a narrative approach to sense making as first-order abstractions in the activity of lessons learned within project management is what is required if we are to better learn from our experiences. This narrative approach that I have termed ‘thick simplification’ supports learning by enabling the reader of the lessons learned account to situate the ‘lesson learned’ within their own experience through treating the lessons learned as a potential future understanding .This requires a different view of what is going on between people in organisations – one that challenges the current reliance on detached process and recognises the importance of embedded phronesis, the Aristotelian virtue of practical judgement. It is an approach that necessarily ‘focuses attention directly on patterns of human relating, and asks what kind of power relations, ideology and communication they reflect’ (Stacey 2007: 266).
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Interpretace reklam založená na využití metafor / Interpretation of advertising based on using metaphorsHoráková, Miroslava January 2015 (has links)
This thesis deals with metaphors in the conception of George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. Metaphor is one of the fundamental principles anchored in our conceptual system and in our relationship to the world. Metaphors reveal how the world is saved in our language. This thesis illustrates a method of forming metaphors on the example of advertisements. It closely focuses on the cultural differences.
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Reading Autistic ExperienceTrice, Natalie Collins 17 April 2008 (has links)
Within the field of Disability Studies, research on cognitive and developmental disabilities is relatively rare in comparison to other types of disabilities. Using Clifford Geertz's anthropological approach, "thick description," autism can be better understood by placing both fiction and non-fiction accounts of the disorder into a larger theoretical context. Applying concepts from existing works in Disability Studies to the major writings of Jacques Derrida, Julia Kristeva, Jacques Lacan, and Donna Haraway also proves to be mutually enlightening. This ethnographic approach within the context of analysis of literary texts provides a model by which representations of individuals who are cognitively or developmentally disabled can be included in the academy.
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Mobile phones' contributions to socio-economic development according to Sen : corn growers' perceived impact in the CongoCibangu, Sylvain January 2016 (has links)
Research questions: This research was focused on exploring the impact of communication technologies on rural populations in the Congo. In particular, this research posed two questions: 1. Do mobile phones produce development in rural areas of the Congo? 2. Do mobile phones improve the living conditions of people? The questions helped examine ways in which mobile phones were or were not engendering development among these populations. Methods: The research was undertaken using four methods: 1. Phenomenology, 2. Sen's capability approach, 3. Participatory method, and 4. Ecological method. Phenomenology aimed to cater to the experiences and meanings of mobile phone uses. Sen's capability approach allowed the interviews to be focused on the basic needs of the poor. Participatory method provided a greater participation of respondents in discussion groups, and ecological method helped achieve a higher inclusion of key players in the targeted area. Major findings: The major findings of this study included: 1. Much of the literature on mobile phones and development was not representative or inclusive of key players and their day-to-day lives. 2. Studies have tended to present snapshots or single-focused accounts of mobile phone and development. 3. Authors of mobile phone research have tended to see rural populations with an urban-led bias, leaving aside the actual characteristics of rural areas. 4. Mobile phones were not limited to a person and her properties, but rather mobile phones were owned and shared by the community. 5. Participants expressed a need for technical skills and means to be available to the community and their members. 6. Households were not separated, but rather they were connected to allow people take care of one another. 7. People were connected through collective solidarities in order to come to the aid of those with special needs. 8. Literature and mobile phone sponsors or companies were disseminating mobile phones with an extractive and commercial tendency, focused principally on fees of batteries, chargers, and prepaid cards. Major contributions: The major contributions of this research revolved around the focus on: 1. technology to enhance the needed technical skills among concerned populations. 2. shared ownership of mobile phones to cater to both users and non-users of mobile phones among concerned populations. 3. connected households to capitalize on the dynamics of family among concerned populations. 4. collective solidarities to accommodate the processes of aiding one another among concerned populations. 5. capabilities, from a commercial or extractive aspect to capabilities to enhance the capabilities of people to afford mobile phones fees. 6. capabilities, from a corporate or business aspect to capabilities to enhance the capabilities of people who did not and could not own a business. 7. human basic needs to enhance the capabilities of mobile phone users with regard to human basic needs. 8. outliers or the marginalized to attend to those left out among concerned populations. 9. mobile phone-centric libraries to enhance the storage and retrieval of needed information among concerned populations.
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Globální poruchy klimatu - studánky a paměť krajiny / Global Climate Change - Water Springs and Landscape MemoryŠvancárová, Rebeka January 2019 (has links)
The subject of this master thesis is the tradition of creating human - made water springs and caring for them in the research area of protected landscape areas Kysuce (in Slovakia) and Beskydy (in Czech Republic). Both areas are characterized by the occurrence of numerous natural springs of water. People from both places have been enhancing surroundings of these springs for a long time. The creation and care of these objects have become over time a form of tradition, coupled with respect for water and nature as a whole. The aim of the thesis is to identify the shift in this tradition and what it signalizes to people. It is also about bringing the context of changes in traditions with global climate change and with changes in the human relationship and management of landscape. In order to analyze this problem, the methods characteristic for the qualitative type of research were used, such as interviews and observation, which were subsequently evaluated by means of a framework analysis. The work is a kind of microetnographic study that deals with a close group of people who are carying for such water springs in mentioned research areas. Key words: water springs, landscape memory, invention of tradition, global climate change, nature protection, thick description, Beskydy, Kysuce
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VISUAL ETHNOGRAPHY: UNDERSTANDING VENEZUELA’S HUMANITARIAN DISASTER THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHYCASTRO-PEÑA, DAVID FRANCISCO January 2018 (has links)
Venezuela faces today an unprecedented social and political collapse that extends beyond the critical economy and the violence; a deadly combination of severe shortages of food and medicine which makes it extraordinarily difficult for most Venezuelans to obtain essential medical care and the adequate minimal nutritional intake to ensure survival. The primary concern of this research is to answer the question of how do visual representations of Venezuela’s humanitarian disaster elucidate the deterioration of the quality of life of its younger citizens? This study aims to examine and better understand the effects and implications of Venezuela’s humanitarian crisis on its citizenry through the use of photography as a method of qualitative research, by paying particular attention to young Venezuelans and their role as social and political agents. The study of young people’s reali- ties through photographs provides an unique opportunity to appraise and comprehend real processes of social exchange; the ways in which visual images can be understood differently by different sub- jects in different socio-cultural spheres in the context of a humanitarian disaster. However, in order to enlarge the possibilities of conventional empirical research and withstand the intrinsic subjectivi- ty of qualitative research, these visual representations were inserted into photo-interviews. Both the photographs and the photo-interviews of this study were analysed and interpreted by using the ana- lytical approach of thick description. In this regard, this dissertation seeks to examine the length and complexity of an emergency situation by seeking to raise awareness and procure critical understanding about the colossal dimension of Venezuelan’s humanitarian crisis and its disastrous consequences on more than 30 million people.
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Od kláštera k člověku. Význam klášterní architektury a umění v Novém Španělsku 16. století. / From monasteries to men. The significance of monastic architecture and its art in the New Spain of 16th centuryBrenišínová, Monika January 2017 (has links)
In my dissertation, I inquire into the phenomenon of monastic architecture and its plastic decoration in 16th century New Spain. The aim of this work is to present Mexican monasteries and their artistic significance. In my analysis, I build on the interpretation of monastic architecture from the perspective of early colonial society, I also reflect on the individual level, assessing its impact on the conquest and colonization of America. The methodology of this research project combines analysis of historical (e.g. study of historical sources) and art historical processes (iconological analysis of E. Panofsky) with analysis of anthropological concepts (e.g. rituals of transition of A. van Gennep, thick description of Cl. Geertz, concepts of liminality, structure and communitas of V. Turner). During my PhD studies, I conducted a field trip in Central Mexico (2013), supported by a grant from the Government of Mexico. I visited and documented one hundred and sixteen monasteries and the photographic documentation is the main empirical source of my analysis which further draws from the study of historical sources and academic literature. My research primarily focuses on three aspects: 1. the monastic architecture and art; 2. the role of the monastery in the process of European conquest and colonization...
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Truth-telling in aged care: a qualitative studyTuckett, Anthony Gerrard January 2003 (has links)
This thesis argues that truth-telling in high level (nursing home) aged care is a undamentally important aspect of care that ought to reside equally alongside instrumental care. The health of the resident in a nursing home, as with individuals in other care contexts, is directly linked to care provision that allows the resident to be self determining about their care and thus allows them to make reasonable choices and decisions. This qualitative study explores the meaning of truth-telling in the care providerresident dyad in high level (nursing home) aged care. Grounded within the epistemology of social constructionism and the theoretical stance of symbolic interactionism, this study relied on oral and written text from care providers (personal care assistants and registered nurses) and residents. Thematic analysis of data relied on practices within grounded theory to determine their understanding and the conditions and consequences of their understanding about truth-telling in the nursing home. Through an understanding of the relationship-role-residency trinity, truth-telling in high level (nursing home) care comes to be understood. It has been determined that the link between truth-telling and the nature of the care provider-resident (and residents' families) relationship is that both personal carers and nurses in this study premise their understanding of truth disclosure on knowing a resident's (and resident's family's) capacity for coping with the truth and therefore catering for the resident's or family's best interests. The breadth and depth of this knowing and how the relationship is perceived and described determine what care providers will or will not tell. That is, the perceptions both personal carers and nurses have about the relationship - how they describe themselves as 'family like', 'friend' and 'stranger', has implications for the way disclosure operates and is described. Additionally, how care providers perceive and understand their role determines what care providers will or will not tell. That is, the perceptions both carers and nurses have about their own and each other's role - how they describe themselves for example as 'hands-on' carer and 'happy good nurse' has implications for the way disclosure operates and is described. Furthermore, care providers' meaning and understanding of truth-telling in aged care is not possible in the absence of an appreciation of how the care providers give meaning to and come to understand the care circumstance - residency, the aged care facility, the nursing home. That is, the perceptions both personal carers and nurses have about the aged care facility - how they describe residency as 'Home away from Home' (and what this means), as a place of little time and a plethora of situations have implications for the operation of truth-telling as a whole. Recommendations from the study include the implementation of a telling audit to better serve the truth-telling preferences of residents and the reorientation of care practices to emphasise affective care (talk rather than tasks). Furthermore, it is recommended that changes occur to the care provider roles, that care providers define themselves as facilitators rather than protectors, and education be ongoing to improve communication with and care of residents with dementia and those dying. Finally, the language of residency as 'home' needs to capture an alternate philosophy and attendant practices for improved open communication.
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Insights, Ideen und Innovationen: Ethnografische Nutzerforschung als Methode der InnovationsentwicklungSchulz, Jörn 17 October 2017 (has links)
Ein Blick in die Innovationsabteilungen international agierender Konzerne wie z.B. Intel, Google, Nokia, IBM oder die Deutsche Telekom verrät: große Unternehmen setzen auf ethnografische Forschung bei der Innovationsentwicklung. Unter Fachbezeichnungen wie Business Anthropology, Corporate Ethnography, Commercial Ethnography und anderen ist dabei ein Wissenschaftszweig der Ethnologie und Kulturanthropologie entstanden, der sich mit dem Einsatz von Ethnografie im privatwirtschaftlichen Bereich auseinandersetzt. In diesem Diskurs über Ethnografie im Dienste der Privatwirtschaft ist diese Dissertation zu verorten. Dabei geht es um Ethnografie, die eingesetzt wird, um latente Bedürfnisse und Wünsche sowie Alltagsprobleme von Nutzern zu identifizieren und daraus Ideen für innovative Produkte und Services entwickeln zu können, die in die Lebenswirklichkeiten der Nutzer passen. Anhand der Fallstudienbeschreibung einer ethnografischen Nutzerforschung für das Projekt FLEX 2.0 beim Team User Driven Innovation (UDI) in den Telekom Innovation Laboratories (T-Labs) soll exemplarisch illustriert werden, wie Ethnografie in der Privatwirtschaft verstanden wird und wie sie durchgeführt werden kann. Einer der zentralen Aspekte dieser Dissertation ist es zu erörtern, ob der Einsatzkontext Auswirkungen auf die Ethnografie hat und welche das gegebenenfalls sind.
Entstanden ist dabei eine Dissertation, die dreierlei Punkte erfüllen soll: 1. Der Text möchte eine bei UDI durchgeführte ethnografische Nutzerforschung möglichst transparent und nachvollziehbar machen und durch eine szenische Darstellung Schritt für Schritt zeigen, wie ethnografische Forschung in der Privatwirtschaft aussehen kann. 2. Diese Arbeit ist auch als eine Anleitung für das Durchführen einer eigenen ethnografischen Nutzerforschung zu lesen. Praxistipps, Kontextinformationen und einige Dokumentenvorlagen sollen helfen, die Organisation einer ethnografischen Nutzerforschung zu vereinfachen. 3. Auf methodologischer Ebene erörtert der Text, was der Einsatz von Ethnografie in der Privatwirtschaft für die Methodologie bedeutet und welche Implikationen dies hat. / A look at the innovation divisions of internationally active corporations such as Intel, Google, Nokia, IBM or Deutsche Telekom reveals that large companies rely on ethnographic research for their innovation development. Under names such as Business Anthropology, Corporate Ethnography, Commercial Ethnography, and others, a branch of ethnology and cultural anthropology has emerged, dealing with the use of ethnography in the private sector. This dissertation is situated in the discourse on ethnography in the service of the private economy. It is about ethnography that is used to identify latent needs and desires as well as everyday problems of users and to develop ideas for innovative products and services that fit into the life experiences of the users. With the help of the case study of an ethnographic user research for the project FLEX 2.0 at the team User Driven Innovation (UDI) in the Telekom Innovation Laboratories (T-Labs), an example is presented of how ethnography is understood in the private sector and how it can be carried out. One of the central aspects of this dissertation is to discuss whether the use in this context has an impact on ethnography.
The dissertation covers three major points: 1. The text aims to make the ethnographic user research carried out at UDI as transparent and comprehensible as possible and to show step by step how ethnographic research can look in the private economy. 2. The text can also be read as a how to guide for carrying out ethnographic user research. Practical advices, contextual information, and some document templates will help to simplify the conduction of ethnographic user research. 3. At the methodological level, the text discusses what the use of ethnography in the private economy means for the methodology and what implications this has.
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