Managerial identity work in action: performative narratives and anecdotal stories of innovation

Innovation is invariably accepted as a central component of construction sector competitiveness. Yet, there remains a paucity of empirical research, which explores the gap between the way innovation is promoted in the policy discourse and how it is interpreted in practice. We follow the “narrative turn” in organization studies to explore the ways in which senior executives in the UK construction sector ascribe themselves with informal roles while advocating the cause of innovation. Empirical data is derived from narrative interviews with 32 senior executives who self-identify as “innovation champions”. When talking about innovation, the respondents were found to oscillate between performative narratives of innovation and more personalized stories derived from their own experience. The narratives were invariably pre-rehearsed often to the point of being monotonous. In contrast, the personalized stories tended to be engaging and emotionally laden. The tendency for senior executives to oscillate between narratives and stories is seen as an important means through which they search for meaning while at the same time legitimizing their self-identities as “innovation champions”. Of particular note is the way in which senior managers self-ascribe themselves with informal roles which are notably at odds with those described in more formalized narratives.     

Problems with the Moscow office

When the new Office Building for the United States Embassy in Moscow was in the final construction stage, visible defects caused work on the building to be suspended; a detailed structural analysis was then carried out by the NBS Center for Building Technology. Its report highlights the problems that can arise both with a structural design — such as guarding against buckling and progressive collapse — and with the detailed execution of that design.     

Equivalent linear limit states

The replacement of any limit state function by an equivalent linear function is discussed in detail and it is shown that there are several methods by which such an equivalence may be established. In the case of multiple failure mode problems the definition of fully equivalent linear functions requires the additional consideration of mode correlations. The manner in which this may be carried out is discussed and it is shown that, for most practical cases, a relatively simple analysis is likely to be sufficient to define the set of equivalent linear limit states, with the advantage that the established theory of such linear limit states may then be employed in the majority of reliability analyses.     

Legislation and the motor car

Vehicle legislation for safety and emission control is led by the USA where half the world's cars and one‐third of the world's road deaths are found. The 1975/6 standards will cause confrontations between industry and government in the U.S.A. and have costly implications for the American people. The rest of the world is affected by what happens in the U.S.A. but for language and other reasons fragmented laws are normal with conflicting requirements for manufacturers who supply the many markets. The greatest force for harmonization of legislation may be the enlarged Common Market including, as it does, the four major European Car manufacturing countries. The Common Market Commission may displace WP 29 of the United Nations as the leading law‐making body. Type approval is the compliance system used in Europe, but the growth in scope of safety and other legislation is bringing into focus a weakness of the system which is reducing production efficiency to an alarming degree. American style self‐certification is not acceptable to European governments.     

Effect of dietary and synthetic chelating agents on the intestinal absorption of lead

The effect of a number of dietary and synthetic chelating agents on the intestinal absorption of lead has been examined using the everted sac preparation and the tracer isotope ²⁰³Pb. All the agents examined increased lead transport into the serosal compartment. An explanation of the way in which these agents modify the model to describe lead transport is proposed.     

Removal of Lissamine Red From Wastewater Using Waste Materials

Feasibility of a waste material, flyash, as a material for purification of wastewater containing Lissamine Red has been studied. Effects of time and concentration, temperature and pH on the removal of the dye have been studied. Lower concentrations favour the uptake of dye from water and the maximum removal was observed at a dye concentration of 20 mgL m 1 , 30°C, pH of 7 and adsorbent particle size of 53 µm. Dynamics of the uptake was studied using Lagergren's equation. The mass transfer coefficient was found to be 0.05 cmmin m 1 at a concentration of 20 mgL m 1 , 30°C and 53 µm particle size.     

Water treatment with silicofluorides and lead toxicity

Toxic metals like lead, manganese, copper and cadmium damage neurons and deregulate neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine (which are essential to normal impulse control and learning). Earlier studies show that — controlling for socio‐economic and demographic factors — environmental pollution with lead is a highly significant risk factor in predicting higher rates of crime, attention deficit disorder or hyperactivity, and learning disabilities. Exposure and uptake of lead has been associated with industrial pollution, leaded paint and plumbing systems in old housing, lead residues in soil, dietary habits (such as shortages of calcium and iron), and demographic factors (such as poverty, stress, and minority ethnicity). We report here on an additional “risk co‐factor” making lead and other toxic metals in the environment more dangerous to local residents: the use of silicofluorides as agents in water treatment. The two chemicals in question — fluosilicic acid and sodium silicofluoride — are toxins that, despite claims to the contrary, do not dissociate completely and change water chemistry when used under normal water treatment practices. As a result, water treatment with siliconfluorides apparently functions to increase the cellular uptake of lead. Data from lead screening of over 280,000 children in Massachusetts indicates that silicofluoride usage is associated with significant increases in average lead in children's blood as well as percentage of children with blood lead in excess of 10μg/dL. Consistent with the hypothesized role of silicofluorides as enhancing uptake of lead whatever the source of exposure, children are especially at risk for higher blood lead in those communities with more old housing or lead in excess of 15 ppb in first draw water samples where silicofluorides are also in use. Preliminary findings from county‐level data in Georgia confirm that silicofluoride usage is associated with higher levels of lead in children's blood. In both Massachusetts and Georgia, moreover, behaviors associated with lead nurotoxicity are more frequent in communities using silicofluorides than in comparable localities that do not use these chemicals. Because there has been insufficient animal or human testing of silicofluoride treated water, further study of the effect of silicofluorides is needed to clarify the extent to which these chemicals are risk co‐factors for lead uptake and the hazardous effects it produces.     

Retail Change in Southern Sydney: Lifestyle-Linked Restructuring?

Examination of the changing composition of shopping centres in suburban Sydney between 1969 and 1998 suggests that retail restructuring is linked to lifestyle changes. The growth in the number of shops appears to have matched population growth in the 1990s, suggesting that the suburbanisation of retailing has stabilised. At the same time there has been increasing diversification in terms of the retail functions which are available and in terms of the places where these are available. These changes appear linked to a blurring of the distinction between shopping and leisure and to the use of shopping as a way of signifying identity.     

Collapse analysis of real RC spatial structures using known failure schemes of ferro‐cement shell models

Large‐span reinforced concrete (RC) shells collapses that occurred in the last decade caused many death toll as well as significant losses to national economies. The most famous cases were the collapse of the aqua park cover in Moscow on February 2004 and the 2E terminal roof destruction at Charles de Gaulle Airport near Paris on May 2004. Following the publications of the appropriate commissions that have studied the reasons of these events, the influence of concrete creep and changes in the shell geometry on buckling of RC thin‐walled shells was not properly considered in the design. This study is focused on buckling of such shells, taking into account geometrical and physical nonlinear behaviour of compressed concrete. Other important reasons of concrete shells collapse are also analysed. The study is based on available experimental and theoretical investigations of ferro‐cement shells' models previously performed by the first author. The results of these investigations, obtained for small‐scale ferro‐cement models of thin‐walled shallow RC shells, are discussed. Behaviour of the tested models is compared with that of the above‐mentioned real shells and similar structures, which also collapsed. The critical buckling loads for the shells are obtained. It is shown that these loads are lower than the actual ones; thus, the shells buckling was unavoidable. To prevent brittle shell failure, they should be designed using other dominant failure modes that appear before the buckling. Possible failure schemes of real RC shells can be predicted using dominant failure modes obtained by laboratory testing of scaled models. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.