Cases on Technological Change and Organizational Development

I have posted the first batch of abstracts for the IGI Book on Case Studies on Technological Change and Organizational Development (here). They are:

1. Perseverance and Enthusiasm Form Roads for Success: A Case Study in a Developing Country – Elias Farzali

2. PTCL in an Era of Technological Change – Kashif Saeed

3. Village Farm and Winery – Wilaiporn Lao-Hakosol and John Walsh

4. Dharma Teaching in a High-Tech Hospital Environment – Petcharat Lovichakorntikul and John Walsh

5. Thailand’s Industrial Estates and the Floods of 2011 – John Walsh

I’ll be putting up more abstracts in due course. Do, please, let me know if you would be interested in contributing to this exciting project (please email jcwalsh@siu.ac.th before the end of November for more details).

Ladprao Flooding News

The news now is that a leak in the Lak Hok barrier is allowing water to move towards Ladprao, while (from a different cause?) water is flowing from Ratchayothin and Viphawadi Roads towards the Ladprao junctions at a rate described by different sources as ‘within a week’ or ‘two hours.’

Sandbags, the giant ones I think, are being deployed to hinder the flow of water and, as and when it does arrive, we are advised to expect no more than 50 cm. As I have noted before, less than 50 cm and we (speaking from a purely selfish point of view here) will be OK, although discommoded and possibly stuck at home for a couple of days. That in itself would be fine if the electricity and water supplies hold out – patience will also be a virtue in such circumstances.

Well, let’s see how it plays out over the course of the afternoon – repairs to the dikes etc as well as proper management should help to drain off more of the water, improving the situation for just about everyone – which brings us to the question, who is really damaging the dikes? We are informed by the gutter press (and we do not have any other) that it is ‘ill-intentioned’ poor people acting selfishly. Who else might benefit from chaotic scenes and the declaration of a state of emergency? Who is usually responsible for the bombings, arson attacks, sabotage and other criminal acts that undermine the rule of democratically elected officials?

Business Research Methods: Discourse Analysis

Discourse analysis is a technique used in qualitative research. It is similar to content analysis but more focused (or limited, if you prefer) in that it concentrates specifically on what is said by one or more people and not what might also have been written or created in another form of communication.

Read more:
http://socyberty.com/social-sciences/discourse-analysis/#ixzz1cbbO4qd4

Read the full article here.

Review of Glukhovsky’s Metro 2033

The apocalypse has arrived via a massive nuclear war and a few thousand desperate survivors cling to what remains of life in the once glorious metro system of Moscow. Their lives are hard, brutish and short. Most people are tied to the micro-regimes that have emerged at one or a small number of subway stations as part of the system – in fact, numerous such regimes have emerged and it is the differences between them that mark the majority of the action of the plot.

Read the full review here.

Review of Stapledon’s Starmaker

This is a book – it seems inaccurate to call it a novel – that receives no justice from a brief description or even a review of limited scope. In basic terms, the plot is quite straightforward: a man is sitting on a hillside gazing at the night sky when he is suddenly whisked up and sent on a mystical, time- and space-spanning journey across the history of the universe. Then, having seen the marvels of the universe, he returns to his family hearthside, wiser and better able to cope with mundane vicissitudes.

Read the full review here.

Review of Hamilton’s Manhattan in Reverse

Peter Hamilton is best known for his extensive space opera sagas, which generally extend over several volumes, feature numerous characters and commonly feel like the author is making it all up as he goes along and has only a vague understanding of what the ending is going to be. However, Hamilton has in the past proved that he is capable of writing coherent and enjoyable shorter novels and, indeed, short stories with the same qualities.

Read the full review here.

Review of Monica Sarli’s Men-ipulation

On the rare occasions I am asked for life advice by my female students, my limited ability to respond coherently includes the imprecation ‘don’t marry the first one.’ It may just be the fact that bad news spreads more quickly than good news or that, as a book reviewer, I get asked to review various memoirs and self-help type books that so often come from women with several young children and a disappeared man offering no visible support.

Read the full review here.

Dark Deeds in History

The anthology Dark Deeds in History, edited by Dorothy Davies, has now been published and is available for sale. The reason I mention this, of course, is that it contains one of my stories: “Magistrate Li and the Case of the Beggar Monk.”

I will probably mention this again when the book is available at Amazon.