Cultural Ergonomics in Ghana,West Africa: A Descriptive Survey of Industry and Trade Workers’ Interpretations of Safety Symbols

Globalization and technology transfer have led to the diffusion of risk communications to users from cultures that were not initially viewed as the target users. This study examined industry and trade workers’ overall impressions of symbols used to convey varying degrees of hazardousness. Six symbols, including symbols from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Z535 Standard (ANSI, 1998) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 3864:1984 Standard (ISO, 1984) were selected. With the exception of the SKULL symbol, results showed wide discrepancies between users’ perceptions of the symbols and their intended meanings. Implications for cross-cultural research on warning components and risk communications are discussed.     

国际旅游组织介入背景下山岳型景区治理演化路径研究

景区治理是旅游研究的重要内容。伴随着全球一体化发展,国际旅游组织在景区治理中的地位和作用逐渐凸显。以路径创造理论为基础,综合运用文献分析、参与式观察和深度访谈等质性研究方法,以黄山风景区为例,构建了旅游发展的路径创造分析框架,探讨在国际旅游组织介入背景下,山岳型景区治理模式的演化过程及其影响。研究发现:（1）国际旅游组织介入改变了景区治理主体和治理结构,为黄山风景区治理创造了新的路径,也是推动其治理模式演化的重要力量。（2）从申报主体、作用路径、涉及范围、影响内容与介入成效等5个维度具体分析,黄山风景区加入国际旅游组织后经历了三次路径创造,并产生了明显的不同效应。（3）国际旅游组织介入对黄山风景区内部治理、毗邻社区参与治理经验输出三个方面均产生了显著的影响。     

Evolution of co-management: Role of knowledge generation,bridging organizations and social learning

Over a period of some 20 years, different aspects of co-management (the sharing of power and responsibility between the government and local resource users) have come to the forefront. The paper focuses on a selection of these: knowledge generation, bridging organizations, social learning, and the emergence of adaptive co-management. Co-management can be considered a knowledge partnership. Different levels of organization, from local to international, have comparative advantages in the generation and mobilization of knowledge acquired at different scales. Bridging organizations provide a forum for the interaction of these different kinds of knowledge, and the coordination of other tasks that enable co-operation: accessing resources, bringing together different actors, building trust, resolving conflict, and networking. Social learning is one of these tasks, essential both for the co-operation of partners and an outcome of the co-operation of partners. It occurs most efficiently through joint problem solving and reflection within learning networks. Through successive rounds of learning and problem solving, learning networks can incorporate new knowledge to deal with problems at increasingly larger scales, with the result that maturing co-management arrangements become adaptive co-management in time.     

Conservation and Adaptation to Climate Change

Abstract: The need to adapt to climate change has become increasingly apparent, and many believe the practice of biodiversity conservation will need to alter to face this challenge. Conservation organizations are eager to determine how they should adapt their practices to climate change. This involves asking the fundamental question of what adaptation to climate change means. Most studies on climate change and conservation, if they consider adaptation at all, assume it is equivalent to the ability of species to adapt naturally to climate change as stated in Article 2 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Adaptation, however, can refer to an array of activities that range from natural adaptation, at one end of the spectrum, to sustainability science in coupled human and natural systems at the other. Most conservation organizations deal with complex systems in which adaptation to climate change involves making decisions on priorities for biodiversity conservation in the face of dynamic risks and involving the public in these decisions. Discursive methods such as analytic deliberation are useful for integrating scientific knowledge with public perceptions and values, particularly when large uncertainties and risks are involved. The use of scenarios in conservation planning is a useful way to build shared understanding at the science–policy interface. Similarly, boundary organizations—organizations or institutions that bridge different scales or mediate the relationship between science and policy—could prove useful for managing the transdisciplinary nature of adaptation to climate change, providing communication and brokerage services and helping to build adaptive capacity. The fact that some nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are active across the areas of science, policy, and practice makes them well placed to fulfill this role in integrated assessments of biodiversity conservation and adaptation to climate change.     

Leading indicators of safety in virtual organizations

A primary purpose in measuring safety is to develop intervention strategies to avoid future accidents. Recognizing signals before an accident occurs offers the potential for improving safety, and many organizations have sought to develop programs to identify and benefit from alerts, signals and prior indicators. In this paper, we address the challenge of identifying and evaluating leading indicators of safety in virtual organizations–organizations comprised of multiple, distributed members, temporarily linked together for competitive advantage, that share common value chains and business processes supported by distributed information technology. We begin by discussing risk propensity in virtual organizations and leading indicators of safety. We then describe a pilot study to identify leading indicators for one safety-critical system, and use the results of that study and the literature just described to propose an approach to developing leading indicators in virtual organizations.     

RIVER BASIN WATER PLANNING ORGANIZATIONS IN THE 60's1

ABSTRACT: The 15 federal-state interagency river basin studies (designated as Type 2 or Level B in the planning program of the Water Resources Council) of the 1960's brought together in each of the study regions, in many cases for the fist time, state and federal water resources agencies, and afforded an opportunity for coordination. Examination of the studies, however, reveals that many organizational problems remain to be solved in preparing truly comprehensive plans that effectively integrate and balance the diverse values held by study participants and concerned citizens. Burgeoning changes in state and federal laws, in planning concepts, and in public attitudes influenced the studies. Increased interest in the environment and greater emphasis on a multiple objective approach to planning for example, had significant effect. The type of organization used for carrying out these studies was a coordinating committee with one of the agencies - in most cases, the Corps of Engineers, - serving as lead agency. Some of the observed weaknesses of this arrangement were the lack of an effective mechanism for screening individual agency project proposals; unbalanced participation of agencies - for example, construction vs. non-construction, state vs. federal; agency representatives without sufficient delegated authority; insufficient control of the planning organization over individual agency participation and punctuality; and lack of emphasis on plan formulation and public participation. Suggested improvements, some of which are already being implemented in more recent studies include centralized planning staff and funding, formalized work agreements, a dynamic and continuous planning process with mechanisms for monitoring technological and social changes and evaluating planning effectiveness, planning guidelines and evaluative criteria, and a formalized training program for planners.     

Variations in public and private employees’ perceptions of organizational preparedness for natural disasters

Studies have demonstrated that public and private organizations differ in many respects (e.g. funding mechanisms and risk-taking capabilities). Based on this scholarship, we expect to see differences in their disaster preparedness levels. Hence, we propose the following research question: Are there variations in public and private employees’ perceptions of organizational preparedness for natural disasters? We answer this question by employing the theories of publicness and social identity. We define publicness through the core approach arguing that public and private organizations are uniquely different based on their legal status or ownership and social identity as an individual’s feeling of oneness or belongingness to a particular group or organization. Using data gathered in 2014 from a nationally representative sample of 1634 public and private employees in the United States, we posit that employees of private organizations will report higher preparedness levels in comparison to employees of public organizations. Our proposition is based on scholarship that found a negative relationship between publicness and organizational identification and a positive relationship between organizational identification and organizational performance. Contrary to our proposition, but in line with the disaster literature, the results showed that in general, employees of public organizations reported a higher preparedness level than employees of private organizations.     

Is there a role for not‐for‐profit or for‐purpose organizations in supporting governance professionals to engage with climate‐related opportunities and risks?

Climate change in Australia has become a political risk (for political parties) and a physical, transitional, and regulatory risk for businesses. Not‐for‐profits (NFPs) and for‐purpose (FPs) organisations, for example, Climate Alliance Limited, have acted in the absence of national climate risk policy, to support businesses to become better informed to manage their exposure to this risk, and helping them to set their own commitments and pathways to low and net zero carbon businesses. The objective of this article is to demonstrate, through the case study method, how one Australian NFP/FP has influenced the business sector and regulation. Climate Alliance Limited has done this through its interventions of (1) sharing case studies (best practices) on successful transitions to a low carbon business model and linking climate risk to business risk; (2) bringing thought leaders (advocacy) from the Bank of England and UK Prudential Regulator into the Australian finance and business sector; and (3) by offering a program (reward and recognition), showcasing how business leaders have and are adapting to climate risks and capturing business value.     

安全生产中介组织参与安全生产事故应急管理研究

在工业企业安全生产事故应急管理中,安全生产中介组织能为政府和企业提供重要的科技服务与支撑。为了更好地发挥安全生产中介组织科技中介的作用,研究了安全生产中介组织如何利用技术与知识优势参与工业企业安全生产事故应急管理。在事故应急预防与准备阶段,通过参与应急预案编制与演练、隐患排查与风险控制、应急技术研究,为企业和政府提供人才与技术支持;在事故应急响应阶段,从信息和处置技术方面协助事故现场应急处置;在事故后的恢复与重建阶段,参与事故信息分析整理、协助恢复企业经营活动、协助设计监督与评估机制等。通过加强自身能力建设参与应急管理的全过程,真正发挥专业科技型中介组织的作用。