Other Sociology Commons^™

Developing Soft Skills To Manage User Expectations In It Projects: Knowledge Reuse Among It Project Managers, Stacie Petter, Adriane Randolph

Adriane B. Randolph

This research explores information technology (IT) project managers' reuse of knowledge associated with soft skills when managing user expectations. Through interviews with IT project managers, several themes emerged: novelty of problems, conditions within the organization, types of available knowledge, and methods for reusing knowledge. Within this study, we discovered the need for additional research on how social norms and organizational conditions encourage or inhibit knowledge reuse. Furthermore, we identified a difference in the usefulness of knowledge captured in formal repositories according to levels of project management experience. The findings confirm, extend, and illuminate the current research associated with knowledge reuse …

Deviance, Dark Tourism And ‘Dark Leisure’: Towards A (Re)Configuration Of Morality And The Taboo In Secular Society, Philip R. Stone

Dr Philip Stone

Dark Tourism, Heterotopias And Post-Apocalyptic Places: The Case Of Chernobyl, Philip R. Stone

Dr Philip Stone

Exposing A Lack Of Communication Regarding Sport Policy: An Analysis Of The Canadian Talent Identification Process, Geoff Schoenberg, Winston Wing Hong To, David Legg

Winston Wing Hong To

The Sports Policy Factors Leading to International Sporting Success (SPLISS), a comparative high performance and elite sport (HPS) model, has identified nine distinct pillars that contribute to the success of a country’s HPS system. The study was originally conducted in 2003 with seven nations from Europe and North America. Beginning in 2009, the study was repeated and expanded to include 17 nations from North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. While the SPLISS study was designed to examine and compare countries’ HPS systems, the aim of this research is to compare the intra-country results of Canadian athletes, coaches, and …

Comparative High Performance Sport Models, Winston Wing Hong To, Peter Smolianov, Darwin Semotiuk

Winston Wing Hong To

This chapter discusses different models that have been used to compare high performance sport (HPS) systems. It includes case studies covering the USSR and Post-Soviet Russian HPS systems, the Canadian HPS system, and the US HPS system. The chapter includes a comparison of these case studies.

Learning Outcomes: Identify various approaches to comparing high performance sport systems (HPS); Define strengths and limitations of various approaches to comparing HPS ; Profile HPS systems in the former USSR and current Russia, USA, and Canada; Discuss the challenges the above countries face and their international sporting performance in the future.

The Application Of Social/Political Theories To The Spliss (Sport Policy Factors Leading To International Sporting Success) Model, Winston Wing Hong To, Bryn Jones, Juliann Desjardins, Darwin Semotiuk

Winston Wing Hong To

This research focuses if a sociocultural theory such as the stakeholder theory or social value theory can be applicable to enhance the theoretical explanation of the SPLISS (Sport Policy Factors Leading to International Sporting Success) model. The SPLISS model is a comparative high performance sport (HPS) model which was created by researchers from Belgium, United Kingdom, and Netherlands in 2002 with the purpose of seeking which factors will lead countries to international sporting success (e.g. Olympics, Paralympics, World Championships) (Legg & DeBosscher, nd). A comparative HPS model is a research model that has a set of ingredients composed by academic …

An Investigation Of The Prevalence Of Quantitative Research Studies Within The Sociocultural Area Of Sport, Winston Wing Hong To

Winston Wing Hong To

This research study is to investigate if there is a prevalence of academic quantitative research studies within the sociocultural area of sport. Sociocultural of sport is defined by Harris (1989) in two levels, which were: "Suited Up Level": expressive meanings that sports have for people who encounter them, "Stripped Down Level": social structures within and beyond sport. Sociocultural of sport from her definition needs to encompass both levels when analyzing the cultural and social underpinnings of sport.

The research study looks to answer how much have sport sociologists used quantitative research methodology within their academic work within the sociocultural area …

Dark Tourism And Significant Other Death: Towards A Model Of Mortality Mediation, Philip Stone Dr

Dr Philip Stone

Dark tourism and the commodification of death has become a pervasive feature within the contemporary visitor economy. Drawing upon the thanatological condition of society and a structural analysis of modern-day mortality, this paper establishes theoretical foundations for exploring dark tourism experiences. The study argues that in Western secular society where ordinary death is sequestered behind medical and professional façades, yet extraordinary death is recreated for popular consumption, dark tourism mediates a potential social filter between life and death. Ultimately, the research suggests that dark tourism is a modern mediating institution, which not only provides a physical place to link the …

Locating Sociological Concepts In Business Games, Dylan Kissane, Helen Roux-Fontaine

Dylan Kissane

"This article describes one strategy for demonstrating the value of sociological concepts to business students by adopting a cross-discipline approach to a business game at a French-American business school. This strategy proved effective in allowing a social science professor to demonstrate the practical implications of two concepts – gender and race – to undergraduate students while simultaneously allowing an international management professor to demonstrate how cross-cultural teams should be managed in order to work effectively. This article first explains the Ecotonos business game; secondly, it explains the crucial debriefing process for the business game and demonstrates how sociological concepts can …

The Reorganization Of A Professional Sports League - A Critical Analysis Of The Restructuring Of The Australian National Basketball League, Winston Wing Hong To, Shayne Quick, Darwin Semotiuk

Winston Wing Hong To

There are numerous examples of professional sports leagues that have failed. Australia has witnessed professor soccer (National Soccer League) and rugby leagues (Super League, Australian Rugby Football League) disappear, be restructured, or reintroduced under a new brand and name (soccer: A-League, rugby league: National Rugby league) (MacDonald & Karg & Lock, 2010; Commonwealth of Australia, 2006). North America has seen the closure of a number of professional sports leagues such as the XFL (American Football), World Hockey Association (Ice Hockey), and the Canadian Soccer League (Football/Soccer) (Bostwick, 2007; Golokhov, nd). There are numerous reasons why these professional sports leagues fail. …

Dark Tourism And The Cadaveric Carnival: Mediating Life And Death Narratives At Gunter Von Hagens' Body Worlds, Philip Stone Dr

Dr Philip Stone

Death is universal, yet dying is not. Consequently, within contemporary secularised society, the process of dying has largely been relocated from the familiar environs of the family and community to a back region of medical and death industry professionals. It is argued that this institutional sequestration of death has made modern dying ‘bad’ against a romantic portrayal of a death with dignity, or a ‘good’ death. Moreover, the structural analysis of death reveals issues of ontological security and mortality meaning for the Self. This paper, therefore, adds to that analysis, and specifically examines the construction of mortality meaning within the …

Cuba Offers More Than 'Sports For All', Winston Wing Hong To, Dana Poeta, Brook Russell

Winston Wing Hong To

A summary about the Cuban sport system and their philosophy on "sports for all" from the first hand perspective of students that were part of the 2011 course "An Educational Exploration of Sport and Physical Activity in Cuba" offer by The University of Western Ontario Kinesiology Department.

Can Culture Shape The Identity Of A Sport? A Case Study On Lifesaving Sport - Surf Lifesaving Australia And Lifesaving/Sauvetage Canada, Winston Wing Hong To

Winston Wing Hong To

Sport is an important marker of our country's culture and identity. Citizens within a country will cheer and support their sport teams if they are successful, or criticize and judge if they are doing poorly. The importance of culture within sport is an important indicator of a country's success or failure within international competitions; such as the Olympics and World Championships. However, can culture shape the identity of a sport within a country?

Lifesaving is a vital aspect of a country's swim program, as it focuses on reducing injury and death in, on, or around the water. Within Lifesaving, there …

Dark Tourism: Towards A New Post-Disciplinary Research Agenda, Philip Stone Dr

Dr Philip Stone

Abstract: Over the past decade or so, dark tourism research –that is, the social scientific study of tourism and tourists associated with sites of death, disaster or the seemingly macabre – has witnessed a burgeoning of the literature base. Much of this research has a profundity that can and, undoubtedly, will contribute to broader social theories and to our understanding of culturaldynamics. Arguably, however, some dark tourism research has been characterised by a banality that either illustrates deficient conceptual underpinning or provides for limited disciplinary synthesis. Thus, in order to assuage any structural deficiencies in dark tourism as a coherent …

Introduction: Thinking About The Tourist Experience, Philip R. Stone

Dr Philip Stone

No abstract provided.

Tourist Experience: Contemporary Perspectives, Philip R. Stone

Dr Philip Stone

Socio-Cultural Impacts Of Events: Meanings, Authorised Transgression And Social Capital, Philip R. Stone

Dr Philip Stone

No abstract provided.

Dark Tourism Experiences: Mediating Between Life And Death, Philip R. Stone

Dr Philip Stone

No abstract provided.

Book Review 19 The Third Chapter By Sara Lawrence Lightfoot, William C. Mcpeck

William C. McPeck

This is my personal review of the book The Third Chapter by Sara Lawrence Lighfoot which was published in 2009 by Farrar, Strauss and Giroux.

Life, Death And Dark Tourism: Future Research Directions, Philip R. Stone Dr

Dr Philip Stone

No abstract provided.

Review: Prison Tourism: Cultural Memory And Dark Tourism, Philip R. Stone

Dr Philip Stone

The Darker Side Of Travel: The Theory And Practice Of Dark Tourism, Philip R. Stone

Dr Philip Stone

Making Absent Death Present: Consuming Dark Tourism In Contemporary Society, Philip R. Stone

Dr Philip Stone

No abstract provided.

Dark Tourism: Morality And New Moral Spaces, Philip Stone Dr

Dr Philip Stone

No abstract provided.

(Re)Presenting The Macabre: Interpretation, Kitschification And Authenticity, Philip Stone Dr

Dr Philip Stone

No abstract provided.

"It's Bloody Guide" - Fun, Fear And A Lighter Side Of Dark Tourism At The Dungeon Visitor Attractions, Uk, Philip Stone Dr

Dr Philip Stone

No abstract provided.

Consuming Dark Tourism: A Thanatological Perspective, Philip Stone Dr

Dr Philip Stone

Despite increasing academic attention paid to dark tourism, understanding of the concept remains limited, particularly from a consumption perspective. That is, the literature focuses primarily on the supply of dark tourism; less attention, however, has been paid to the demand for ‘dark’ touristic experiences. This theoretical paper seeks to address this gap in the literature. Drawing upon the contemporary sociology of death, it explores the relationship between socio-cultural perspectives on mortality and the potential of dark tourism as a means of confronting death in modern societies. In so doing, it proposes a model of dark tourism consumption within a thanatological …

Review: The 25 Best World War Ii Sites: European Theatre. The Ultimate Traveller’S Guide To Battlefields, Monuments And Museums, Philip R. Stone

Dr Philip Stone

Dark Tourism: A New Moral Peril?, Philip R. Stone

Dr Philip Stone

Dark Tourism: The Ethics Of Exploiting Tragedy, Philip R. Stone

Dr Philip Stone