Business Commons^™

Pichet Restaurant, Pichet Restaurant

Menus of the 21st Century

A modern take on the classic bistro. The restaurant offers a quality dining experience in relaxed and informal surroundings with a fresh, vibrant and varied menu offering food of the highest quality.

The Elm Tree, Glounthaune, The Elm Tree, Glounthaune

Menus of the 20th Century

No abstract provided.

Elm Tree Restaurant Glounthaune, Morning Menu, 28th August 2014, Elm Tree Restaurant

Menus of the 21st Century

No abstract provided.

Conference Presentation: The Power Of Words In Tension: Enterprise/Strategy As A Dilemma In Neoliberalism’S Persistence., Brendan O'Rourke

Conference papers

We address how enterprise is related to, another important discourse, strategy. From a discourse analysis of the talk of small firm owner-managers, emerges a view of strategy and enterprise as a single, integrated entity, bound together by some commonalities but more importantly by paired opposites reminiscent of ideological dilemmas (Billig, Condor, Edwards, Gane, Middleton & Radley, 1988). This dilemmatic nature of enterprise/strategy discourse adds to explanations for the persistence of the neoliberal form of enterprise, with the entrepreneur as the heroic saviour of all, based on the entrepreneur as an empty signifier (Jones & Spicer, 2009; Kenny & …

The Power Of Words In Tension: Enterprise/Strategy As A Dilemma In Neoliberalism’S Persistence., Brendan O'Rourke

Conference papers

We address how enterprise is related to, another important discourse, strategy. From a discourse analysis of the talk of small firm owner-managers, emerges a view of strategy and enterprise as a single, integrated entity, bound together by some commonalities but more importantly by paired opposites reminiscent of ideological dilemmas (Billig, Condor, Edwards, Gane, Middleton & Radley, 1988). This dilemmatic nature of enterprise/strategy discourse adds to explanations for the persistence of the neoliberal form of enterprise, with the entrepreneur as the heroic saviour of all, based on the entrepreneur as an empty signifier (Jones & Spicer, 2009; Kenny & …

Knowledge Creating Routines: Dialogical Exchanges To Guide Repertoires Of Potential Action, Conor Horan, John Finch

Conference papers

We substantiate how generative routines, from a dialogical exchange perspective, guide repertoires of potential actions. Research on generative and emergent qualities of organisational routines, and their ability to assist actors arriving at new distinctions in practice, remains underdeveloped. Researchers have established that routines have the qualities of being generative, emergent and producers of ideas. Recent contributions argue for a dialogical approach to creating new organisational knowledge. This paper further develops the explanatory power of routines by combining dialogical exchanges within the ostensive-performative theory of routines. We examine the power of dialogical exchanges using words, understood as imaginal others within schemas, …

Exploring Economists & Society: Constructing Expert Identity, Joseph Fitzgerald, Brendan O'Rourke

Conference papers

The recent economic crisis has created a heightened interest in economics and greater demand for economics experts. The media has played an important role in meeting this demand as mediated expertise is relied upon to understand the complex relationships within society (Albaek, Christiansen and Togeby 2003; Beck 1992; Boyce 2006; Giddens 1990). Such interactions of experts with media are a key element of the knowledge flows within society (Sturdy et al. 2009) and so have attracted research attention (Ekstrom and Lundell 2011; Hutchby 2006; Montgomery 2008). This paper contributes to this literature by focusing on the under-researched area of the …

A Discourse Analytical Approach To Understanding Institutional Changes In The Irish Advertising Industry, Rosie Hand, Dalvir Samra-Fredericks Professor, Polly Pick

Conference papers

The central objective of the research upon which this paper draws is to establish how technological, economic and socio-cultural change has impacted the structures, roles and processes of the Irish Advertising Industry. Institutional theory provides the central theoretical framework. The research takes an interpretivist, constructionist and inductivist perspective and employs the methodological approach of discourse analysis to explore how institutions are being shaped and arguably changed by social actors. It draws on a growing body of literature which suggests that language is central to the structuring of organisations. The empirical data and its fine-grained analysis has begun to reveal the …

Optimization Of Resources To Improve Patient Experience In The New Emergency Department Of Mater Hospital Dublin, Heba Habib, Waleed Abo-Hamad, Amr Arisha

Conference papers

Healthcare systems globally are facing capacity issues due to the increased demand of health services, the high cost of resources and the level of quality anticipated of service providers. Emergency Departments (ED) are the most pressurized unit in healthcare systems due to uncertainty in demand and limited resources allocated. Mater Hospital (one of leading hospitals) in Dublin has built a new (state-of-the-art) unit for ED yet faced an issue in resourcing the unit to optimize performance. This paper presents an integrated solution to optimize the capacity of the new ED before opening to public and examine improvement interventions in the …

Integrating Simulation Modelling And Value Stream Mapping For Leaner Capacity Planning Of An Emergency Department, Esmat Swallmeh, Ayman Tobail, Waleed Abo-Hamad, James Gray, Amr Arisha

Conference papers

Recently, the application of lean thinking in healthcare has grown significantly in response to rising demand, caused by population growth, ageing and high expectations of service quality. However, insufficient justifications and lack of quantifiable evidence are the main obstacles to convince healthcare executives to adopt lean philosophies. This paper presents a real application of the successful implementation of a methodology that integrates Value Stream Mapping (VSM) and simulation modelling to improve an emergency department (ED) of a University hospital in Dublin. Appling lean approach in operations will minimize the patient waiting time and improve service time. VSM points out to …

Work-Family Balance Practices Among Irish Hotel Employees In A Human Resource Management Context, Kathleen Farrell

Conference papers

The study explored work-family balance among Irish hotel employees. Employees of a 5*, 4* and 3* hotels were surveyed in a unionised hotel group, a non-unionised hotel group and two family-run hotels, including a 4* and a 3*. Two thirds of those surveyed were front-line employees and a total of 246 (22%) returned questionnaires were used for data analysis. Regarding work-family supports, there was a considerable range varying from hotels with no supports, hotels with one support and hotels with all eight supports available. Company benefits were not associated with numerical flexibility, but company benefits were associated with functional flexibility …

The Performativity Of Objects: The Sociomaterial Role Of 'Imaginal Others', Conor Horan, John Finch, Emma Reid

Conference papers

In this paper we assess how objects can provide us with a clearer understanding of performativity especially when these objects become accounted for and calculated among actors as they review relationships. We assert that objects carry with them, and are associated with generalized others, understood here as imaginal others which as a concept used n this paper also contributes to objects’ performativity.

Developing Food Tourism - Roscommon Leader Partnership With Dit, Dermot Seberry

Other resources

A presentation on effective strategies for developing Food Tourism in County Roscommon

Breaking Down Barriers To University-Business Cooperation In The University: Change Through Incentivisation, Lyndsey El Amoud, Séamus Ó’Tuama

Conference Papers

Irish universities are currently engaged in a process of shifting their reliance on state subvention as their primary source of income to one that includes developing new streams of non-exchequer funding. This scenario emerges from a long-term trend of reduced state subvention which was dramatically accelerated by the virtual collapse of the Irish economy, which required an external rescue package brokered with the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund (which became know as the Troika) from November 2010. While Ireland has officially exited this arrangement, its public finance will remain severely constrained for an extended …

A Narrative Investigation Of Consumer Non-Exit In Problematic Irish Retail Financial Service Relationships, Tara Rooney

Doctoral

This study aims to provide understanding as to how customers remain in Irish banking relationships which they acknowledge to be problematic. While the banking industry asserts that inertia is the reason underpinning consumer inaction, the question remains as to how consumers rationalise the decision not to exit when dissatisfied. To this end, the literature review presents a synthesis of consumer relationship theory, dissolution theory and the role of inertia on consumer inaction. The methodology took an interpretative perspective applying a Narrative Analysis approach of fifteen varied participants in Dublin. In semi-structured life history interviews participants outlined their past experiences with …

Institutionalizing Industrial Development: The Cases Of Ireland And Taiwan, Paul Donnelly

Conference papers

Both Ireland and Taiwan are considered to have experienced “economic miracles” that, ex ante, could not have been predicted when the two countries started along the road of industrial development in the late 1940s / early 1950s through to the end of the 1960s. Taking the view that industrial development does not appear as a ready formed institution, as an essence that always-already existed, what is of interest in this paper is the work of institutionalizing or institutionalization as an on-going process. Accordingly, and through the lens of actor-network theory (ANT), the paper follows how both countries structured/organized themselves to …

A Typology Of Middle Manager Strategic Activity: An Exploration In An International Business Context, Dónal O’Brien

Doctoral

There is a growing body of literature which recognises the strategic importance of middle managers (Westney, 1990, Kanter, 1982, Balogun, 2003, Balogun et al., 2011, Tippmann et al., 2013). Through enactment of strategic activities, middle managers influence how strategy develops in organisations (Aherne et al., 2014). Floyd and Wooldridge (1992) developed a model of upward and downward strategic activity which has been the basis for much of the research on middle managers. However, recent developments have highlighted the limitations in only researching upward and downward strategic activities (Rouleau and Balogun, 2011). Middle managers are engaged with interfaces above and below …

Mirrors: 'Bleeding' The Creation Of Alternative Organization Through A Liberating Ideology Of Transformative Humanism, Alia Weston, J. Miguel Imas, Paul Donnelly

Conference papers

In this paper, we propose a new way of explaining the everyday practices of communities who socially organize to create sustainable grass-roots engagement. We discuss how this collective engagement is based on principles and values of socio-economic engagement that are fundamentally different to those associated with capitalism. We theorise that these community engagements are sustained by an organizational ideology of 'transformative humanism' that is founded on an ongoing struggle for emancipation. Our perspective is constructed through a combination of Frantz Fanon's ideas on humanism, Manfred Max-Neef's barefoot economics, and Paulo Freire's pedagogies of hope and transformation. We suggest that movements …

An Indigenous Women Perspective Of Work And Organisation: The Maya Way, Jennifer Manning, J. Miguel Imas, Paul Donnelly

Conference papers

Western literature in management/organisation studies focuses primarily on gender issues that affect inequalities experienced by women at work. Adopting, in some cases, critical and feminist theoretical positions, the gender debate unfolds questions on the prevailing male discourse that is dominant in management and business organisations. Most of these theoretical assumptions tend to influence, subsequently, the way in which we understand the experiences of women in the developing or under-developed world. That is, these theoretical positions occupy a privileged voice upon which to write, describe and analyse the experiences of women in contexts where these Western discourses seem either alien or …

Conference Calls Volume 1

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

A selection of Conference Calls which should be of interest to our readers.

Book Reviews Volume 1, Carlos Fernandes

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

A selection of book reviews submitted to the Journal

Buddhism In The United States: An Ethnographic Study, Jaeyeon Choe, John Mcnally

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

This paper focuses on Buddhism in America, an neglected area of inquiry in anthropological study. There is a need for modern ethnographic studies to shed light on historical issues, paradigms for comparative inquiry, and thus, explore the impact of Buddhism on modern American society (Glazier, 1997). The enormous growth of Buddhism in the last quarter century (Smith, 2002) makes this an especially pertinent topic in American anthropology. We utilize Glazier’s model to add Buddhism as a topic in the area of modernity studies.

This is a preliminary study of the nature of Buddhism in America. We conducted participant observation with …

Via Francigena Mountain Itineraries: The Case Of Piacenza Valleys, Stefania Cerutti, Ilaria Dioli

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Religious tourism has experienced a strong growth in recent years. It represents a complex and articulate phenomenon, in which the reasons and proposals related to the devotional and personal sphere are combined with a series of innovative opportunities that help reach a depth knowledge of a territory. The religious motive often means that pilgrims travel along specific routes to visit a number of shrines or even to complete lengthy itineraries. Increasingly, purely religious motives are becoming mixed with more secular forms of religious tourism, which often centre around specific religious sites. In this perspective, faith itineraries can be interpreted as …

A New Pilgrimage In Portugal: Following The Steps Of Saint Nuno, Carla Braga, Margarida Soares, Miguel Brito

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Tourism is an ever-changing reality. Pilgrimages need different stimuli to attract new followers. In this context we propose to create an itinerary following the steps of Saint Nuno of Santa Maria, canonized in 2009. Nuno Álvares Pereira was the real name of Saint Nuno, who was granted the title Constable of Portugal, and became a historic legend in the independence wars of Portugal during the political crisis of 1383-1385. After fighting against the power of Castile (Spain) he decided to devote his life to religion as a Carmelite Friar. He represents the perfect hero of the Middle Ages - associating …

The Sacred Economy: Devotional Objects As Sacred Presence For German Catholics In Aachen And Trier, 1832-1937, Skye Doney

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

There is a long-standing tradition within western Germany of religious journey, and more pertinent to this paper, of pilgrims requesting Andenken (remembrances) when they could not physically attend pilgrimages. In the following essay, I analyze pilgrim correspondence sent to the Catholic Pilgrimage Committees, groups of clerics who facilitated pilgrimage to Aachen and Trier, Germany. I argue that Catholic pilgrims participated in an ‘economy of the sacred’ through their requests for and use of various pilgrimage objects; including, commemorative cards, medals, and rosaries. Within this economy wealth, worth, and merit were determined by an item’s physical proximity to the relics of …

A Scalar Comparison Of Motivations And Expectations Of Experience Within The Religious Tourism Market, Daniel H. Olsen

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Academic studies on tourism market segmentation have decreased in scale over time, with the focus on tourist segmentation changing from segmenting the market as a whole to segmenting specific tourism niche markets. This change in scale can also be seen in how academics have attempted to segment the religious tourism market moving from discussions related to the pilgrim-tourist dichotomy to segmenting visitors based on religious affiliation to world regions and countries to specific religious activities such as religious festivals and infrastructural amenities such as hotels. In this paper the author, following Wall’s (1997) discussion of the spatial characteristics of tourist …

The Pilgrimage To The San Nicola Shrine In Bari And Its Impact, Katia Rizzello, Anna Trono

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage is defined as a journey to the Holy but more specifically as an inner journey to one’s deepest religious feelings. This type of journey has assumed new forms and types that bring it closer to modern tourism in general, though it maintains its distinctive characteristics, which will be the object of this paper. These changes in the nature of pilgrimage, which in part reflect the parallel socio-cultural transformation of the average visitor, have brought about a major reorganisation of the places involved and have had a significant socio-economic impact on the territories involved. The concentration of visitors and in …

Faith Tourism: For A Healthy Environment And A More Sensitive World, Veena Sharma

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

The domain of the ‘religious’ / ‘spiritual’ has become a significant source of revenue production for the tourism industry . Faith-based tourism seems to draw increasing numbers of people who wish to travel not just for leisure, or pleasure, but in search of personal meaning and fulfilment in a postmodern capitalist world.

Though undertaken as a physical journey, pilgrimage seems to be embedded in the traveller’s wish for some kind of personal transformation. The journey is often distinguished from regular travel through its inherent call for a letting-go, be it of mental constructs, pathologies, personal and social conditioning, artefacts, logic …

How Long Does The Pilgrimage Tourism Experience To Santiago De Compostela Last?, Lucrezia Lopez

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Tourism and pilgrimage are different social phenomena (Cohen, 1992; Collins-Kreiner, 2010a); tourism is more secular than pilgrimage, which is mainly a sacred journey (Barber, 2001). In spite of this, both indicate a ‘movement’; so that tourists and pilgrims are ‘foreigners, travellers and strangers’ (Smith, 1992) who look for authentic experiences (Collins-Kreiner, 2010a). The question: ‘What kind of Experience Pilgrimage is?’ has many answers. From a social point of view, pilgrims are free from social obligations; they share the same destination and the same social status. Because of this, the anthropologists Turner and Turner (1978) defined pilgrimage as an anti-structural experience …

Introducing The International Journal Of Religious Tourism And Pilgrimage

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Welcome and Introduction to the International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage