Writing in the workplace: Variation in the writing practices and formality of eight multinational companies in Greece

Workplace writing is a high stakes activity. It constitutes a permanent record of a company’s transactions and this has implications for both the employees involved in the production of documents and also for the company as a whole. Workplace writing is dynamic, and processes and practices vary between teams, departments, companies and industries. In this context, the study is concerned with workplace writing practices in eight multinational companies situated in Greece. The thesis is structured in two parts: the first part aims to explore the writing practices in the participant organisations focusing on factors behind inter- and intra- company variation. The discussion draws on the analysis of questionnaire and interview data. The second part takes a micro perspective and focuses on one genre, that of the business email. The analysis reports on a sample of naturally occurring emails from three participant companies. As the business email tends to be perceived as an informal genre, special attention is paid to the notion of formality, which has not been systematically discussed and defined in this context. The findings show that writing practices vary according to company size, employees’ hierarchical level and years of experience. Business email emerges as the most frequent genre, which serves a range of functions in different contexts. Dynamic continua of writing practices ranging from ‘formal to informal’ and ‘transactional to relational’ are mobilised as employees reflect on their use of email at work and this is aligned with the findings of the linguistic analysis. The data also indicate the impact of the globalised socioeconomic activity on employees’ practices in modern organisations. The participants in this study operate at the interface of different languages and practices, which cut across national and professional boundaries. The complex choices they make in different contexts have implications for language training and specifically the teaching of writing in academic contexts

Financial inclusion and food security nexus: Evidence from Southern African Development Community (SADC)

Everywhere on the African continent, governments are starting to realize the crucial role of financial inclusion in mitigating poverty and contributing to sustainable and inclusive economic development and stability. Emerging evidence indicates that financial sector deepening is essential for facilitating economic development. The 2016 SADC financial inclusion strategy asserts that inclusive economic growth has a positive impact on the needy through minimizing income inequality and increasing employment Finmark Trust (2016). Recent developments in financial services for the low-income segment, specifically, reveals how financial inclusion can strengthen the dependence of a vulnerable and excluded population (Demirgüç-Kunt, Klapper, Singer, Ansar and Hess, 2017). As such, many countries within the continent now have national financial inclusion strategies and lead core initiatives to enhance financial markets. A number of researcher’s stress that financial inclusion, especially the use of digital financial services and mobile money services, can have developmental benefits Although studies fail to concur on the direction of the effect that financial inclusion has on economic development. It is worth noting that, even studies that do not find any evidence of the relationship between financial inclusion and economic development to support this hypothesis, also emphasize the prospect of attaining better outcomes through careful consideration of local need

Financial inclusion and food security nexus: Evidence from Southern African Development Community (SADC)

Everywhere on the African continent, governments are starting to realize the crucial role of financial inclusion in mitigating poverty and contributing to sustainable and inclusive economic development and stability. Emerging evidence indicates that financial sector deepening is essential for facilitating economic development. The 2016 SADC financial inclusion strategy asserts that inclusive economic growth has a positive impact on the needy through minimizing income inequality and increasing employment Finmark Trust (2016). Recent developments in financial services for the low-income segment, specifically, reveals how financial inclusion can strengthen the dependence of a vulnerable and excluded population (Demirgüç-Kunt, Klapper, Singer, Ansar and Hess, 2017). As such, many countries within the continent now have national financial inclusion strategies and lead core initiatives to enhance financial markets. A number of researcher’s stress that financial inclusion, especially the use of digital financial services and mobile money services, can have developmental benefits Although studies fail to concur on the direction of the effect that financial inclusion has on economic development. It is worth noting that, even studies that do not find any evidence of the relationship between financial inclusion and economic development to support this hypothesis, also emphasize the prospect of attaining better outcomes through careful consideration of local need

Is talking work doing work?

Workplace Socio/linguistics grew exponentially in the ‘80s and the ‘90s. From scattered research groups and the workplace as a(nother) domain for linguistic research, it evolved to a research field addressing how individuals operate in different local linguistic, national, organizational, occupational and team contexts and turned a critical gaze to the workplace as a site of struggle where power hierarchies are negotiated, perpetuated, and (sometimes successfully) challenged. Workplace sociolinguists have shown that talking work is a critical part of enacting professional roles and responsibilities. We focus on a core workplace activity, namely decision making, and we show how it is done in the context of the iconic business email. We pay special attention to the way formality and use of global and local languages are negotiated between employees with varying professional roles, expertise, hierarchical status and years of experience. Our data shows that language is strategically used to include or exclude access to decision making processes. A “business language” is a context specific set of resources negotiated between workplace communities and a mechanism for claiming, projecting and resisting group membership

As mudanças climáticas na Província do Niassa e seu impacto para a agricultura

Resumo Os impactos das mudanças climáticas insidem no aumento da temperatura e na diminuição dos níveis de precipitação, podendo reflectir-se sobremaneira na produtividade agrícola, comprometendo de certa forma, o rendimento deste sector económico. É neste contexto que nos propusemos a reflectir a forma como as mudanças climáticas têm afectado a agricultura na província do Niassa, com o objectivo de analisar o impacto das mudanças climáticas na agricultura. Especificamente caracterizar a alteração da temperatura e precipitação; explicar como tal alteração podem influenciar na degradacao de culturas  e apresentar alternativas de culturas resilientes às mudanças climáticas e outras alternativas que garantem o desenvolvimento do sector agrário. A entrevista, a análise de dados termopluviométricos, estudo documental e a revisão bibliográfica, são elementos que apoiaram a concretizar a pesquisa. A alteração de padrões climáticos, principalmente o aumento da temperatura e diminuição ou aumento da precipitação, afectam o sector agrário, com maior enfoque na degradação das culturas. O recurso ao uso de culturas adaptativas e resilientes às mudanças climáticas, associadas as novas tecnologias, passa a ser uma alternativa para assegurar o equilíbrio dos níveis de produção e garantir a segurança alimentar. Palavras-chave: mudanças climáticas; alteração da temperatura e precipitação; degradação de culturas de agrícola; culturas resilientes; Província do Niassa

Prioritising PPCR Investments in Mozambique: The Politics of ‘Country Ownership’ and ‘Stakeholder Participation’

Mozambique is both one of the poorest countries and one with the highest level of vulnerability to multiple potential consequences of climate change, including drought, flood, sea level rise and increased frequency and severity of tropical cyclones – making it a natural candidate for inclusion in the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR), which aims to help poorer countries to integrate climate change response into their national development processes. This article examines the process of prioritising investments under the PPCR in Mozambique, and asks to what extent this process has demonstrated the ‘country ownership’ and ‘broad participation’ which the PPCR claims to promote. It particularly focuses on the coastal cities component of the programme, and the question of whether the opposition?controlled port city of Beira should receive priority in PPCR investments

Three cases of bacteremia caused by Vibrio cholerae O1 in Blantyre, Malawi.

We report three fatal cases of bacteremia (two adults, one neonate) caused by Vibrio cholerae O1 (Ogawa), which occurred in the context of a community outbreak of cholera diarrhea in Blantyre, Malawi. Only four cases of invasive disease caused by V. cholerae O1 have previously been reported. We describe the clinical features associated with these rare cases and discuss their significance

Cidades e/ou zonas urbanas: uma análise no contexto da urbanização e qualidade de vida urbana em Moçambique

As cidades têm sido associadas ao fenómeno do crescimento urbano, no entanto, as características urbanas propriamente ditas costumam se distanciar daquele espaço tornando-as insatisfatórias para os seus residentes. A reflexão apresentada expõe a urbanização em Moçambique como um processo que produz uma realidade urbana específica que contempla a ruralidade, explica as contradições produzidas pela industrialização e a persistência do modo de vida dos africanos. Ao longo dos anos vivem cada vez mais pessoas nas cidades moçambicanas o que torna imperioso nos preocuparmos com o bem-estar dos residentes. É neste contexto que este artigo reflete, até que ponto as cidades e as zonas urbanas moçambicanas oferecem melhor qualidade de vida urbana. A abordagem qualitativa do artigo baseia-se na análise documental. Deste modo, com o crescimento das cidades moçambicanas o estudo pretende mostrar que o desenvolvimento urbano nas cidades deve garantir oportunidades de acesso aos serviços uma vez que as disparidades socioeconómicas se tornam evidentes e que, nessas condições, a urbanização deixa os residentes em condições de vida precária e mais vulneráveis