Organisational culture and its role in developing a sustainable science communication platform

France, Bev; Cridge, Belinda; Fogg-Rogers, Laura

Abstract

© 2015 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. There is an ongoing tension for scientists when deciding to engage with the public about their research as many scientists view direct participation as peripheral to their role. Pressures of time, lack of support by management and a lack of communicative skills are identified by scientists as reasons for not committing to communicative initiatives. We aimed to explore and explain the organizational culture of a research community that activity communicates with the public and has an international research culture. The Centre for Brain Research (CBR) was identified as a model and was analyzed using the concept of Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS). Twelve participants (scientists (8), clinicians (1), community liaison people (2)) and an identified director of the organization were interviewed. Direct quotes from interview were used to provide examples of the characteristics of CAS for example a variety of agents interacting, adapting the learning within the organization, non-linear dynamic behavior that is a result of aggregates of groups with actions emerging from self-organizing behavior and the development of an emergent culture. This analysis showed that complexity theory was a suitable framework for analyzing the sustainable communicative organization within CBR.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 6, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Nov 6, 2015
• Publication Date: Apr 3, 2017
• Deposit Date: Nov 12, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: May 6, 2017
• Journal: International Journal of Science Education, Part B: Communication and Public Engagement
• Print ISSN: 2154-8455
• Electronic ISSN: 2154-8463
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 7
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 146-160
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/21548455.2015.1106025
• Keywords: science communication, organisational culture, complex adaptive systems, public engagement
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/890026
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21548455.2015.1106025
• Additional Information: Additional Information : This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in International Journal of Science Education, Part B on 06 November 2015, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/10.1080/21548455.2015.1106025
• Contract Date: Oct 5, 2016