Diversity in Construction - The Gamechangers

Diversity in Construction - The Gamechangers
Author: Bianca Christina Weber-Lewerenz
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2024-12-11
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9783658453077

The book explains why innovation and new digital technologies in the construction industry and beyond are largely dependent on a new culture of thinking. Personal experience reports from user practice and insights into research show the many human and technical potentials that have so far been insufficiently utilised. The book provides examples of how digital change can be shaped in a meaningful and constructive way. It looks back at the historical development of diversity in construction and highlights entrepreneurial paths towards a more diverse working culture, but also identifies the problem areas that hinder the innovation process. A variety of calls for action are derived from the inventory ‘Where do we stand?’ and the question ‘Where do we want (need) to go?’. Diversity is the key to success. This realisation is important in order to set the course for an innovative, sustainable construction industry now. The book identifies the key factors and core competences at all levels that are decisive for promoting diversity and innovation. If it utilises these consistently, the construction industry can take on a pioneering role at home and abroad.

China's Belt and Road: A Game Changer?

China's Belt and Road: A Game Changer?
Author: Alessia Amighini (a cura di)
Publisher: Edizioni Epoké
Total Pages: 110
Release: 2017-07-11
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 8899647631

Officially announced by Xi Jinping in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has since become the centrepiece of China’s economic diplomacy. It is a commitment to ease bottlenecks to Eurasian trade by improving and building networks of connectivity across Central and Western Asia, where the BRI aims to act as a bond for the projects of regional cooperation and integration already in progress in Southern Asia. But it also reaches out to the Middle East as well as East and North Africa, a truly strategic area where the Belt joins the Road. Europe, the end-point of the New Silk Roads, both by land and by sea, is the ultimate geographic destination and political partner in the BRI. This report provides an in-depth analysis of the BRI, its logic, rationale and implications for international economic and political relations.

INTEGRATING DIVERSITY, COOPERATION, AND INNOVATION: a framework for modern management

INTEGRATING DIVERSITY, COOPERATION, AND INNOVATION: a framework for modern management
Author: Michał Jasieński
Publisher: Societas Vistulana
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2020-01-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 8365548666

When writing this book I aim to accomplish several goals. First, I would like to show that building a cooperative environment for a diverse workforce is a crucial antecedent to any attempts at building innovativeness. Diversity expresses itself in various forms. It may be the fact that men and women may have different creative sensitivities (Chapter 11), or that the employees differ in their views on the importance of various components of the business model (Chapter 3), or that different employee groups or different companies employ different strategies with respect to innovation management (Chapter 7). Being aware of these sources of diversity may be of practical importance for thoughtful managers. Second, the heuristic methods described in Chapters 4, 10, and 11 are well suited for managerial practice, since they are the tools ready to be implemented in everyday work, when the need arises to stimulate employees’ innovativeness. Several hundred original examples provided in these chapters are meant to serve either as direct triggers of creativity (Appendix to Chapter 11) or potentially useful cases to enrich one’s thinking about their problems to be solved (examples of the TRIZ method in Appendix to Chapter 4 and examples of the SCAMPER method in Appendix to Chapter 10). Third, modeling innovation dynamics using game theory (Chapter 7) and quantifying within-organization diversity with methods that are borrowed from community ecology, open novel opportunities for researchers in the area of management (Chapter 3). The existence of team roles creates a natural organizational setting through which plurality of employee views on the main business model of the organization are expressed. Since each team role has a unique view on the importance of particular components of the business model, an informal but very dynamic diversity of business models co-existing in the organization arises. I adopt quantitative concepts and methods from ecology to show how the diversity of team-role views can be assessed. Furthermore, the same method can be used to capture the diversity of views on business models among individual employees, especially at managerial and executive level. In a turbulent business environment an organization’s flexibility may be improved by internal diversity of the ways its business model is implemented. Finally, several topics may be used in the educational context, with very low barriers to entry for the student users. Reciprocity as a mechanism promoting cooperation and building trust (Chapters 2 and 3) is, in my view, a fundamental concept when teaching about organizational behavior. Game theory is useful in strategic management. The heuristic methods mentioned above are key to implementing a very effective approach in creative thinking and innovation management courses.

Female Voices from the Worksite

Female Voices from the Worksite
Author: Marquita R. Walker
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2020-11-24
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1793628750

This collection analyzes women’s narratives on the workplace. These narratives speak to the daily struggles women face in the workforce, such as inflexible and long work hours, masculine workplace cultures, employers’ stereotypical attitudes, and the absence of work-life balance initiatives. Viewed from a sociological perspective, the authors emphasize the reoccurring themes of devaluation, exploitation, and dehumanization of female workers resulting from unconscious or implicit bias and which directly impacts women’s quality of life.

MONEY Master the Game

MONEY Master the Game
Author: Anthony Robbins
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 688
Release: 2016-03-29
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1476757860

"Bibliography found online at tonyrobbins.com/masterthegame"--Page [643].

Against Democracy

Against Democracy
Author: Jason Brennan
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 309
Release: 2017-09-26
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1400888395

A bracingly provocative challenge to one of our most cherished ideas and institutions Most people believe democracy is a uniquely just form of government. They believe people have the right to an equal share of political power. And they believe that political participation is good for us—it empowers us, helps us get what we want, and tends to make us smarter, more virtuous, and more caring for one another. These are some of our most cherished ideas about democracy. But Jason Brennan says they are all wrong. In this trenchant book, Brennan argues that democracy should be judged by its results—and the results are not good enough. Just as defendants have a right to a fair trial, citizens have a right to competent government. But democracy is the rule of the ignorant and the irrational, and it all too often falls short. Furthermore, no one has a fundamental right to any share of political power, and exercising political power does most of us little good. On the contrary, a wide range of social science research shows that political participation and democratic deliberation actually tend to make people worse—more irrational, biased, and mean. Given this grim picture, Brennan argues that a new system of government—epistocracy, the rule of the knowledgeable—may be better than democracy, and that it's time to experiment and find out. A challenging critique of democracy and the first sustained defense of the rule of the knowledgeable, Against Democracy is essential reading for scholars and students of politics across the disciplines. Featuring a new preface that situates the book within the current political climate and discusses other alternatives beyond epistocracy, Against Democracy is a challenging critique of democracy and the first sustained defense of the rule of the knowledgeable.

Transmodal Communications

Transmodal Communications
Author: Margaret R. Hawkins
Publisher: Multilingual Matters
Total Pages: 294
Release: 2021-09-06
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1788926382

This book examines semiotics, meaning-making and the co-construction of relations in transmodal communications. Through the lens of transpositioning – the multiple and interwoven layers of emplacements and positionings that are entailed in communications which cross and transcend the boundaries that have historically shaped our thinking about the world and its inhabitants – the chapters interrogate digital languaging and literacies, and how transmodal communications shape identities, belongings and relationships, with particular attention paid to issues of equity and social justice. The chapter authors consider both transmodalities and critical cosmopolitanism as they analyze empirical data from youth, adults and researchers participating in a project that digitally connects youth to share their lives across diverse and under-resourced global communities. In offering this multi-perspectival, multi-voiced volume, the authors portray and address methodological issues in researching transglobal transmodal communications.

A Framework for K-12 Science Education

A Framework for K-12 Science Education
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2012-02-28
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0309214459

Science, engineering, and technology permeate nearly every facet of modern life and hold the key to solving many of humanity's most pressing current and future challenges. The United States' position in the global economy is declining, in part because U.S. workers lack fundamental knowledge in these fields. To address the critical issues of U.S. competitiveness and to better prepare the workforce, A Framework for K-12 Science Education proposes a new approach to K-12 science education that will capture students' interest and provide them with the necessary foundational knowledge in the field. A Framework for K-12 Science Education outlines a broad set of expectations for students in science and engineering in grades K-12. These expectations will inform the development of new standards for K-12 science education and, subsequently, revisions to curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional development for educators. This book identifies three dimensions that convey the core ideas and practices around which science and engineering education in these grades should be built. These three dimensions are: crosscutting concepts that unify the study of science through their common application across science and engineering; scientific and engineering practices; and disciplinary core ideas in the physical sciences, life sciences, and earth and space sciences and for engineering, technology, and the applications of science. The overarching goal is for all high school graduates to have sufficient knowledge of science and engineering to engage in public discussions on science-related issues, be careful consumers of scientific and technical information, and enter the careers of their choice. A Framework for K-12 Science Education is the first step in a process that can inform state-level decisions and achieve a research-grounded basis for improving science instruction and learning across the country. The book will guide standards developers, teachers, curriculum designers, assessment developers, state and district science administrators, and educators who teach science in informal environments.

Global Trends 2030

Global Trends 2030
Author: National Intelligence Council
Publisher: Cosimo Reports
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2018-02-07
Genre:
ISBN: 9781646797721

This important report, Global Trends 2030-Alternative Worlds, released in 2012 by the U.S. National Intelligence Council, describes megatrends and potential game changers for the next decades. Among the megatrends, it analyzes: - increased individual empowerment - the diffusion of power among states and the ascent of a networked multi-polar world - a world's population growing to 8.3 billion people, of which sixty percent will live in urbanized areas, and surging cross-border migration - expanding demand for food, water, and energy It furthermore describes potential game changers, including: - a global economy that could thrive or collapse - increased global insecurity due to regional instability in the Middle East and South Asia - new technologies that could solve the problems caused by the megatrends - the possibility, but by no means the certainty, that the U.S. with new partners will reinvent the international system Students of trends, forward-looking entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades will find this essential reading.