Month: June 2020

Posted on

What makes a source “scholarly”?

Note that the Unit 1 assignment calls for you to choose a source from a scholarly or professional journal. As I’m reviewing your summaries, it’s clear that not all of you have done this. Read on if you’re not sure what I mean by “scholarly,” or if you’d just like a little refresher, and then see my next post (linked below) for some more pointers about crafting your draft.

Scholarly journals are different in some important respects from popular magazines, the kind that you see at the checkout line at the grocery store or on the display in a bookstore. You can see some of those differences just at a glance–

  • non-flashy covers (really the opposite of flashy–like this: )Image result for journal of management
  • few to no advertisements (and those that are present are typically announcements about various professional conferences and publications)

Those visual differences are just the tip of the iceberg. Here are some other critical differences between scholarly publications and popular magazines:

  • authors published in scholarly journals are credentialed experts in their respective fields who typically specialize in certain topics–as opposed to professional journalists who might write about a range of topics that they haven’t spent years studying, maybe a different topic every week or every month
  • articles in scholarly journals are aimed at a fairly narrow audience of other scholars/professionals in that field who will understand the often highly-specialized jargon they employ (and who can make sense of their various graphs, charts, formulae, etc.)–as opposed to popular magazines that aim for a broad readership to increase circulation/sales
  • authors of scholarly articles must demonstrate the legitimacy and solidity of their research to their readers, and so you’ll see in-text citations for their detailed data and analysis–as opposed to popular publications that are not so focused on clarifying their research methods and giving readers access to all of their sources
  • articles in scholarly journals have been peer-reviewed, read by a panel of other experts in the field who have endorsed their methodology as sound and their findings as important contributions to the field of study before agreeing that it should be published–as opposed to popular magazines where there is not such a rigorous process of critical review

Professional journals are a bit less stodgy in terms of their visual appearance and a bit less rigid in their review process, but are nonetheless going to feature work by practitioners who are experts in their field, as opposed to journalists who may be more free-range in their topics. And they will typically utilize a pretty research-heavy approach to share information with their readers, other practitioners in the field, who are intent on staying on top of the latest news and research. They may be a bit flashier in appearance than scholarly journals (more images, more reader-friendly formatting), but are still going to have very visible research in the form of footnotes or in-text citations/links and a references list.

You’ll find easy access (and some research assistance) on the SU library website. 

Your focus for this Unit 1 canon addition needs to be on scholarly or professional literature. If that’s not what you had in your first draft, it’s not too late–please keep searching, contact Karen with questions, and re-submit a new summary by the end of the day on Wednesday. You can then take an extra day to assemble your draft, and submit that by the end of the day on Thursday. That way you can make a truly valuable contribution to our growing body of knowledge.

Please see this post for some more guidance on assembling your draft:

Drafting your Unit 1 blog post

Posted on

Dan Summary of article

The title of the article that I chose was “Bridging the gap in the workplace: How I learned to stop worrying and love working with the millennial generation.” This was written by Dr. Thanakorn Jiresevijinda at Weill medical College through Cornell University. The purpose of the article was to explain to the reader how to create a more connected work environment through acceptance of the millennial generation.

Dr. Thanakorn uses examples from his own personal experience to elucidate the frustrations that many folks of Generation X have with the millennial group on-the-job. Some of the frustrations included their use of technology and different preferences of communication. Another topic he discusses is the craving for the feedback that Gen Y desires. He poses the problem of how their desire for feedback may be misconstrued as the students caring more about their grade than their education and ability to help the patients in need. Dr. Thanakorn then explains how even though he could relate with the frustrations, he was able to identify a multitude of positive traits that this new generation possesses. He was then able to leverage these positive characteristics to create a workplace of synergy between multiple generations.

Articles like these are important as they strive to improve the interpersonal relationships between generations in our organizations. This will inevitably become more important as a new generation enters the workplace. Generation Z, Millennials, and Gen X will have to continue to find ways to accept the abilities and differences of each other to succeed in a rapidly changing world

 

http://web.b.ebscohost.com.libezproxy2.syr.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=3f573b22-f813-4df1-92b5-75c0702fe802%40pdc-v-sessmgr06

Posted on

Expanding the Canon, Week of 6/1 [Toni]

In this article, Janice Gassam reports in Forbes magazine on Ben & Jerry’s and how they created a new flavor last September to highlight racism and criminal justice reform called Justice ReMix’d. Gassam efficiently displays action Ben & Jerry’s takes to demonstrate commitment to diversity and inclusion and provides examples your company can learn from. A quick peruse of Ben & Jerry’s website will reveal several different social issues they’ve been vocal about over the years, and a large part of their three-part mission is aiming to create linked prosperity for everyone that’s connected to their business: suppliers, employees, farmers, franchisees, customers, and neighbors alike. For Justice ReMix’d they partnered with Advancement Project National Office, which uses innovative tools and strategies to strengthen social movements and achieve high impact policy change. Gassam illuminates how Ben & Jerry’s encourages companies to consider being outspoken about their corporate stances on social justice issues; to be mindful of alliances and partnerships, acknowledging relationships based on profitability alone may not be the wisest, and looks into Ben & Jerry’s proven and long history of partnerships with social advocacy groups, all while making ice cream just for the sake of ice cream!

https://www.forbes.com/sites/janicegassam/2019/09/04/ben-jerrys-creates-new-flavor-to-highlight-racism-and-criminal-justice-reform/#798be21e44b4

Posted on

Discussion prompts for Week of 6/8

This week you will be watching three TED talks and reading another article that all intersect with our big umbrella topic of organizational culture. (Think of this like a Venn diagram:

Venn diagram

I think this can be a helpful analogy because it is much the same tactic that we take in research: we are not simply looking for the one “perfect” source but rather for a source that interacts with our ideas in someway that move them forward. And the more voices we hear from in that research (the more perspectives we incorporate), the more likely we will arrive at a fuller understanding of the topic we’re examining.

For this week’s discussion I would ask that each of you respond to question #1 and then either #2 or #3. Please categorize your list as “Discussions/ Homework” and tag it with “week of 6/8,” “unit 1,” and [your name].

  1. We use the term “rhetoric” to discuss how we make arguments (what we do and how and why, not just what we say). Since a hefty portion of your work in this upcoming Expanding the Canon blog post hinges on rhetorical analysis, let’s do some practice–working with one of the TED talks for this week (Heffernan’s, Fried, or Salecl), talk to us about what you find interesting in their rhetorical approach. How do they engage the audience? What kinds of strategies do they use to explain their ideas? What do you think is interesting or significant about the way that they present their arguments and appeal to their listeners?
  2. Choose one of the talks that you watched this week and examine how this speaker works with evidence. What kind of evidence do they use? How do they explicate the connections between their evidence and their claims?  Be specific. How do they walk the audience through their argument? What are some of their argumentation tactics that you find effective? Note that you will need to watch the talk at least a second time, and take notes while you are doing it; you can also access a full transcript of the talk on the TED website.
  3. Choose one of the talks, and discuss how this presenter adds to our body of knowledge around organizational culture. Who is the speaker/author, and what kind perspective do they contribute? (You may need to do a quick Google search to get a sense of who they are.)  What kind of connections do you see between this take and other things we have been learning about organizational culture? If you were to make a Venn diagram (or a few) articulating the connections between this text and other ones that we’ve read, what would it look like? You can have some fun with this using an online Venn creator like this one or by sketching it out by hand and incorporating the image(s) into your post):

    Venn Diagram Maker Landing Page

    Please post your responses by the end of the day on Wednesday, 6/10, and respond to at least 2 of your classmates’ posts by the end of the day on Saturday, 6/13.

Posted on

Overview of Week of 6/8

We’ll be closing out Unit 1 this week, so that means your first Unit assignment deadline is approaching (Sunday, 6/14).

Read on for an overview of how we’ll be moving toward that:

Look for feedback from me in the next couple of days on the summary of your article that you submitted yesterday. You’ll work with that feedback to finalize your summary, which will become part of your Unit 1 blog post (along with your commentary on how this article would enrich our understanding of the specific organizational culture issue/area you’re exploring). Be sure to review the unit 1 assignment sheet. Consider your purpose carefully.

show & tell

While you’re waiting for that feedback, start thinking about and looking at your options for a media component (link, video clip, image, etc.) to incorporate into your post. You’ve got a lot of latitude to work with here. I suggest using the assignment’s purpose as your starting point. Here’s what I mean: while you’ve read this article (probably multiple times by now), your classmates probably haven’t. You’re suggesting that this text ought to be part of our canon, that looking at it would enrich our knowledge and understanding of this important issue. You need to show and tell us how that’s the case. You’ll be offering summary, analysis, and commentary. The media element is there to round that out. For example, your media component might:

  • provide some background knowledge that would be crucial to our understanding (i.e. through a link or a video)
  • contain some visual context for the scope or complexity of the issue (i.e. an infographic) or assist with our understanding of change over time or comparison (i.e. graph, chart)
  • offer an opportunity to explore this issue further (i.e. through a link) for those who want to learn more

You may incorporate more than 1 element if you would like; just make sure you have at least 1. Also be sure to attend to the following:

  • if using a link, make sure it is functional–use the “Add Media” button in the +New Post window to “Insert from url”
  • if using an image, make sure it is high-resolution so that it’s legible–again you’ll use the “Add Media” button to “Upload files” and “Insert into post”
  • if using an image, provide a caption that includes the source information (where you found the image–the actual web page, not just “Google search”)
  • whatever your media component, be sure that you explain its relevance in your post–don’t leave your reader to draw their own conclusions about its significance. Walk us through what you want us to learn from this item.

Here’s the other work on tap for this week:

  • draft of your blog post (let’s extend the deadline here to the end of the day on Wednesday, 6/10)
  • a few TED talks to watch (linked from Blackboard) for more perspectives on diversity and organizational culture (and in preparation for this week’s discussion)
  • discussion work on the blog–see the prompt here:

    Discussion prompts for Week of 6/8

I’ll be reading your drafts (due Wednesday) and getting you feedback by the end of the day on Friday. Your final version of the blog post is due by the end of the day on Sunday, 6/14.

Posted on

Expanding the canon

The article I chose is called “Gifted Ethnic Minority Students and Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analysis”. It is a study conducted to explore the prevalence of minority students in gifted programs and the lack of equal representation and valuable learning. Gifted minority students are often overlooked for excelerated  programs and teachers have trouble identifying students that qualify for the programs. In an effort to not single out each student or provide different variations of the curriculum they propose a teaching method that is adequate for all students.  When minority students are placed in predominately white areas they are less likely to succeed and are behind when they enter college courses. This study proposes conducting a meta analysis that will test the effectiveness of the gifted programs and the students activeness/ ability. Their academic achievement after participating in the programs is recorded and compared to those not given the same opportunities and are behind in their studies. The study was created and  carried out by 3 PhD professors who study identity and inclusion within minority students.

https://journals-sagepub-com.libezproxy2.syr.edu/doi/full/10.1177/0016986216674556?utm_source=summon&utm_medium=discovery-provider

Posted on

Article Summary

An ebook I found on EBSCO, titled “Religion and the Workplace: Pluralism, Spirituality, and Leadership” by Douglas A. Hicks is composed of 3 parts totaling 9 chapters, so I decided to focus my reading on Part II called “Mapping religion and the workplace.” Chapters 5 and 6 explore topics like how advocates of secular workplace views try to block all religious speech or actions from entering the office, but then it goes on to discuss the interpretations of the First Amendment and accepting any religion in the workplace. It is said that in a free market economy, companies do not hold monopolistic power over their employees. In fact, it is difficult for many employees to completely leave their religious and spiritual beliefs behind in the office, and workplaces that accomodate this statement are able to address the needs of their employees more efficiently and and humanely. Additionally, public life impacts the workplace as the article explains. Religion plays many roles in American society, and many employees who are Christians have admitted that they receive or have received preferential treatment at work and in society. These current discussions of spirituality tend to marginalize those who are atheists or adherents of many religious backgrounds, causing those who feel pressured by society to divorce their religious / spiritual commitments from all aspects of their public lives.

Link:

http://libezproxy.syr.edu.libezproxy2.syr.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=120536&site=ehost-live&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_162

Citation:

Hicks, D. A. (2003). Religion and the Workplace : Pluralism, Spirituality, Leadership. Cambridge University Press.

Posted on

Expanding the Canon

The article I choose is “Disability and employment – overview and highlights” “from the European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology” by Katharina Vornholt, Patrizia Villotti, Beate Muschalla, Jana Bauer, Adrienne Colella, Fred Zijlstra, Gemma Van Ruitenbeek, Sjir Uitdewilligen & Marc Corbière. From the authors, many specialize in Social Psychology along with other focuses. This article discusses disability in regards to employment to conclude from research, what disability is, how it is seen in the workplace, and how the inclusion of disability is being promoted in different countries. The text outlines the research on disability and employment, beginning with the complexity of defining disability. They then include the legislation behind the integration of people with disabilities into the workplace followed by the barriers of hiring and maintaining workers with disabilities. In conclusion, they bring light to the fact that around the world there still contuse to be a low percentage of disabled workers, even with legislation and programs made to encourage them to be hired. The researchers acknowledge that disability emerges from the interaction of person and environment, and as a result encourage that more research about defining disability and accommodating for those with disabilities needs to be done, for an increase in inclusion.

https://doi.org/10.1080/1359432X.2017.1387536

Posted on

Expanding the Canon Summary

Historically, people within the LGBT community have faced drastic prejudice and discrimination in the workplace.  While it has gotten better over the years, it has not changed  however in collegiate and pro sports. Using the Syracuse Library, I have found an article entitled “Between Homohysteria and Inclusivity: Tolerance Towards Sexual Diversity in Sport,” talking about diversity in sports and specifically sexual diversity. It was published in 2018 by Joaquin Piedra, Rafael Garcia-Parez and Alexander G. Channon. The article states how sports have always been an area of male dominance where gender and sexual diversity has been obscured. Leaving it harder for women and people in the LGBT community harder to get into the field and ultimately play play at the pro level. Many individuals have been told at a young age that sports wasn’t for them due to them being LGBT. Studies have shown a wide range of types of discrimination with people not fitting these stereotypes and forced to be silent under the weight of heteronormativity and straight up discrimination. However, research has shown that that some women who “came out” on team showed manifold positive effects on not only the team, but the individuals as well.  Homohysteria helps to explain how gendered patterns of behavior, both within and outside of sport settings, play out in relation to shifting levels of homophobia. The article goes further in explaining what this means and how they studied it. how they studied this, and the rustles it had.

Link: https://link-springer-com.libezproxy2.syr.edu/article/10.1007/s12119-017-9434-x

Posted on

article summary, Isaac Haseltine 6/1

The article titled “Racial Diversity: There’s More Work to be Done in the Workplace” highlights the disadvantages that continue to diminish minority groups morale in the workplace, and categorizes the individual issues and their potential resolutions. Terri Williams is an African-American freelance journalist, in the article she shares her stance against the typical homogeneous organizational culture that is disabling many businesses across the globe.  Her approach towards unconscious bias and microaggressions could certainly have a positive effect, and she addresses issues that go unspoken quite frequently. Tokenizing people of color as a PR move to seem like a more diverse organization can torment a person with the stress that is placed on a person, only because they differ racially, ethnically or sexually. The quotes Williams uses help solidify the idea that more diversity will always lead to a more perceptive and positive workplace, and boosting the morale of the minority groups in business culture will help the entire companies growth and outlook.

https://execed.economist.com/blog/industry-trends/racial-diversity-theres-more-work-be-done-workplace