Uncertainty,story-telling and transformative learning: An instructor’s experience of TEFI’s Walking Workshop in Nepal

ABSTRACT

This article recounts three stories from TEFI’s walking workshop in Nepal: the construction of a road through what was once a trekking path; a dance-floor encounter at a Himalayan party; and the arrival of one participant, fatigued by jet lag and disoriented by the new surroundings. These stories of confusion, discomfort and fear are linked by one common theme: the potential of uncertainty to foster deep reflection and nuanced conclusions. The premise that uncertainty is to be valued and even cultivated has been explored in educational theory, spiritual traditions, and research on transformative learning. These sources affirm the role of uncertainty in the process of knowledge creation. However, accepting this role can be challenging for educators because it requires they assume a new identity, one which they may perceive as being at odds with their status as “teacher” the identity of learner. One way for the educator to address this challenge may be through recounting their own stories of uncertainty. Stories of being immersed in unfamiliar situations that challenge, confuse and even frighten – stories, in other words of being a tourist – can foster reflection on an intellectual, emotional and spiritual level, engaging the “whole” person, and thus initiating the educator/learner’s transformative journey.     

Consumer behaviour and the purchasing of dental services: Influences on selection and evaluation of health care services

This paper examines the process of interaction between consumers and providers of dental services in terms of the key selection and evaluation criteria employed by consumers. Focusing on the United Kingdom, it examines the impact of changes in both pricing and provision on the utilisation and evaluation of dental services. Based on a questionnaire survey of dental patients, in the context of the evolving body of literature concerned with consumer behaviour in respect of services, the paper attempts to improve the current understanding of the key factors shaping consumer choice in respect of professional services. Specifically, it argues that the highly complex nature of professional services impacts on patterns of consumer behaviour, resulting in the relationship between the individual service professional and the consumer being the focus of consumer evaluation. This in turn has significant implications for the effective marketing of such professional services.     

Urbanisation and urban management in KwaZulu Natal

Urbanisation and population movements in KwaZulu Natal from 1980 to 1991 and their implications for urban management are examined. People moved out of Natal rural areas and most small towns and into urban and rural KwaZulu areas. The most rapid growth has been in the Durban Functional Region, especially its KwaZulu districts. There has been movement into KwaZulu rural areas, both around urban centres and in outlying areas. A number of the larger towns have experienced population in‐migration even where employment and growth in output have been static or have declined. These trends raise questions about the explanatory value of urban transition models and suggest rather more complex patterns of movement.     

Comparing the impacts of Internet technology and national culture on online usage and purchase from a four-country perspective

The Internet has successfully generated an ever-expanding cohort of users for all its major concomitant activities, including information gathering, communications and transactions. So far no attempt has been made to validate whether such a success is so deep as to transcend national cultures. Nor any work has been conducted to compare the internationalisation¹ performances between online usage activities. The current study addresses these two research gaps from the perspective of four countries, i.e. Britain, Germany, Japan and Taiwan. Results show that although the technological forces have been quite successful in internationalising overall online usage activities, they succumb to the cultural forces as far as only the transactions activity, or more colloquially online purchase, is concerned. This indicates the relative difficulty in internationalising online purchase vis-à-vis other online usage activities. Further research on locating a series of step functions or kick-off time points regarding the development of online purchase is suggested.     

Corporate environmental policy and abnormal stock price returns: An empirical investigation

This paper examines the correlation between the excess stock market returns and the adoption of an environmental protocol by companies. The underlying hypothesis that I test is whether evidence of the adoption of environmental policy, prosecution by an environmental agency or the routinized training of staff in environmental protocols, which proxies for the willingness of managers to invest for the long term, is associated with superior economic returns to shareholders. I find that both the adoption of an environmental policy and prosecution for breach of environment standards have significant explanatory power in an analysis of excess returns. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment     

Gender Earnings and Part-Time Pay in Australia, 1990–1998

This paper studies the effects of enterprise bargaining on the pay position of women and other target equity groups. Contrary to a priori expectations the paper shows a convergence in full‐time and part‐time gross gender pay gaps following the adoption of decentralized wage bargaining. Convergence in the latter reflects compositional (human capital) effects: the entry of less qualified and less experienced males into part‐time employment. Overall the results show a deterioration in the pay position of men employed full‐time relative to women and part‐timers (men and women) brought about by slower wage growth amongst men in full‐time employment.     

In at the deep end: Conducting processual research on organisational change

This article provides a series of reflections on the practice of carrying out processual research on organisational change. At a broad level, some of the main tasks associated with conducting company case studies are described and the benefits of this approach for dealing with complex change data are outlined. At a more specific level, the article addresses three main areas tied to the actual “doing” of processual research. First, the notion of tacit knowledge and “getting your hands dirty” by engaging in ongoing in-depth fieldwork. Second, the design and implementation of a longitudinal case study research programme. Third, the advantages and concerns of combining a range of different data collecting techniques in carrying out processual studies. Overall, the main intention is to provide some useful reflections and practical insights, as well as providing something of the flavour of carrying out this type of research.     

A microfoundation for increasing returns in human capital accumulation and the under-participation trap

This paper considers educational investment, wages and hours of market work in an imperfectly competitive labour market with heterogeneous workers and home production. It investigates the degree to which there might be both underemployment in the labour market and underinvestment in education. A central insight is that the ex post participation decision of workers endogeneously generates increasing marginal returns to education. Although equilibrium implies underinvestment in education, optimal policy is not to subsidise education. Instead it is to subsidise labour market participation which we argue might be efficiently targeted as state-provided childcare support.     

Life histories in housing research: the case of Pakistanis in Glasgow

The discussion centers on three key criticisms of life history techniques, which are reviewed and evaluated with reference to data from research on Pakistani housing histories in Glasgow. Firstly, the problem of bias is reframed as an issue of reflexivity, which enhances research findings. Secondly, awareness of the cultural construction of life histories allows greater depth of analysis. And thirdly the problem of the relationship between the life history and wider social forces is argued to increase awareness and understanding of social actor agency. In conclusion, we argue that life history techniques can develop research on housing careers, particularly of Pakistanis, provided certain of their properties are recognised in the process of analysis.