Heather Kavan

Kaizen: a Japanese philosophy and system for business excellence

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a definitive and insightful working definition of kaizen for practitioners and academics in the West through which they may better understand the kaizen phenomenon and its intangible but critical underpinning philosophy. Design/methodology/approach – A phenomenological study of the utility of kaizen within in the bounds of active kaizen environments in name Japanese industrial organisations was conducted over a three-year period in Japan. The research explored how Japanese workers acknowledge, exercise, identify and diffuse kaizen in a sustainable manner. Findings – Kaizen is found to be a broad philosophical approach to work that serves different purposes for different members of the organisation, where no universal definition appears to exist yet differing ideologies are tolerated. Kaizen in Japan has a considerably deep meaning: it channels worker creativity and expressions of individuality into bounded environments, and creates an energy that drives a ...

Glossolalia and altered states of consciousness in two New Zealand religious movements

This article examines the prevalence of altered states of consciousness among Christian tongue speakers and compares it to experiences of glossolalia among meditators in a yoga‐based purificatory group called the Golden Light. The article is based on close interaction and interviews with participants over an eight‐year period. The results showed that, by self‐report, most Pentecostals and Charismatics did not experience altered states except during the baptism of the Spirit and that those who did constructed a meaning for their glossolalia. In contrast, all of the meditators described frequent intense altered states, of which speaking in tongues was an occasional manifestation. I suggest that there are two types of glossolalia—spontaneous glossolalia and context‐dependent glossolalia—and that the former is more likely to occur in groups that are radical, experiential, and charismatically led.

Victims, Martyrs, Crusaders: Archetypal Figures in News Stories about Falun Gong

This research explores the characterisation of individuals and groups in Falun Gong news stories through a lens of archetype analysis. Longitudinal data was used to reveal changes to people’s identities. Practitioners are depicted primarily as victims and martyrs and secondarily as crusaders, warriors, and avengers. However, the 2006 allegations of organ harvesting mark a turning point in the narrative where members’ identities are infantilised. While the depictions benefit Western advocates and a minority of zealous practitioners, everyday practitioners do not benefit. They are cast in the role of helpless, wounded, constantly embattled, crusading and avenging victims who have to be rescued by the superior Western world. To transform the narrative, protagonists could bring forward another archetype—one that does not depend on dualisms of good and evil or superiority and inferiority.