3.6 Encyclopedias Encyclopedias can be useful reference texts to use to start your research. There are some available online, such as:
Wikipedia
A freely available collaborative encyclopedia.
2.3 The life sciences sector in perspective Before leaving the ‘big picture’ of the evolution of the pharmaceutical industry, it is important not to give the impression that it is the sole, or necessarily even the central, player in health provision. As in any other industry, it can contribute only because it operates in a wider sphere populated not only by other institutions and organisations but also by more amorphous socio-political ambitions, values and beliefs. For example, the medical technology industry facilitates health by
Learning outcomes After studying this unit you should: understand the scope of the study of Life Sciences and its history for managers.
Introduction This unit looks at human healthcare concentrating on the life sciences sector. You will see the historical development of the pharmaceutical industry and examine the relevant management strategies used. This material is from our archive and is an adapted extract from Strategic management in life sciences and healthcare (BS811) which is no longer taught by The Open University. If you want to study formally with us, you may wish to explore other courses we offer in this Author(s):
2 Identifying potential consultants Once you have decided on the sort of consultancy needed, the first problem, mentioned by Clark (1995), is identifying potential consultants. I asked an associate with considerable experience in this how she went about identifying potential consultants. Her initial, and unhelpful, response was ‘you just know’. Tacit knowledge is clearly important here. Probing elicited the following: Firstly my organisation was Acknowledgements The unit has been adapted for OpenLearn by The Open University Business School from The Open University course B713 Fundamentals of Senior Management. Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Sh 4.2 Personal self-evaluation You could also carry out a personal self-evaluation, to contribute to your own development as a project manager. You can develop a list of questions to evaluate your own performance: Were the project objectives achieved? Did the project stay within budget? How were problems that occurred during the project been resolved? What could you have done differently to improve the final result? 1.2 What is handed over, and when? Not all handovers are at the completion of a project. In some projects there might be several different types of handover, which happen at different stages. For example, the Tate Modern was built within the shell of a disused power station, and an early handover point was when the building was purchased and became the property of the Tate Trustees. Such a handover is significant when a building may present long-term problems (in this case, contamination from its previous uses). 3 What would suit me? You should now have built up a realistic picture about what you want to achieve and what you have to offer and be able to match up all of these against some possible activities. Here are some different ways to get you started: Have another look at some of the statements in Section 1.3. These are just to 2.2 Identifying skills and personal qualities There are several ways to approach this: Reflective It’s a great opportunity to reflect about yourself and to ask others, your friends, family or colleagues just what they think as well. Be realistic about your strengths and your weaknesses. Ask them to be honest; weaknesses can be just as important as strengths here! Look at the ‘Know yourself’ section of the OU Careers Advisory Service website, which covers personal strengths and skills. Learning outcomes By the end of this unit, you should be able to: identify your objectives; assess what you have to offer; balance these against a practical framework of your personal circumstances; explore a range of reference sources to select what is most relevant; prepare an action plan, including evaluation of achievements; produce ongoing strategies to develop your voluntary work; understand employersâ References 1.7.2 Summary The EU is an economic, juridical and, to a certain extent, a political reality but a single European public space has not emerged yet. The establishment of European citizenship could play a crucial part in fostering a common European public space. European citizenship could encourage Europeans to play a more active role in EU affairs and participate in governance processes. 1.6.3 Summary High culture tends to unite Europeans. Education plays a key role in the construction of national identity. A common curriculum shared by all European peoples will be crucial in fostering the development of a European identity. 1.13 Conclusion So far we have traversed three kinds of domain in which the study of discourse is relevant. Discourse is often (but not necessarily) interactional and researchers have studied the order and pattern in social interaction. The study of discourse also has important psychological implications for the study of minds, selves and sense-making. Finally, discourse is about social relations, culture, government and politics. No doubt, as you have been reading some problematic and confusing areas 1.9.2 To sum up Such an analysis reinforces the notion of discourse as a form of work or labour. It also implies a strategic speaker. But, again, is this the case? Are speakers strategic in this way or just doing what comes naturally? It can suggest, too, a duplicity in Diana's actions. Potter is not implying this, however. Rather, as knowledgeable speakers and competent members of discursive communities, we are all, like Diana, skilled in a range of methods for accomplishing different activities such as sta 1.5.1 The co-production of meaning The third sense in which discourse is a social action refers to the origins of meanings. Meaning emerges from complex social and historical processes. It is conventional and normative. We have some idea what it signifies to say Prince Charles is a proud man because we are members of a speaking community and culture which has agreed associations for ‘proud man’. We draw on those to make sense. Meaning is also relational. Proud signifies as it does because of the existence of other t Introduction This unit introduces some of the main themes and issues in discourse analysis. To do this, it looks at extracts from the late Princess Diana interview screened on Panorama in 1995. The interview not only broke the conventions for British Royal appearances, but also reshaped the usual boundaries between public and private for the Royal family. While the focus here may be on Diana's words, the unit is not in itself concerned with the Diana phenomenon. And while some of the points discour 1.5.2 Consequences of introducing the Euro into the international system The jump in the Euro as currency of choice for bond denomination in 1999 in part reflects the advent of the Euro as a common currency across the Euro-zone. But is has also encouraged those countries in the EU who are not in the Euro-zone, or those not in the EU at all, to borrow in Euros as well. The point about the consolidation and integration of the Euro bond market discussed in Author(s): 1.2.2 Summary The EU-15/25 is a large and prosperous player on the world economic stage. It represents a continental-sized economy, able to compete with the USA and Japan (and China and India, somewhere down the line). The new EU members who joined in 2004, and those lining up to join later, are at a different level of development to the EU-15. This will pose considerable challenges for those managing and governing the n
