The RESER 20th Anniversary Conference Gala Dinner, Gothenburg 2010

Posted on by Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

2 Patrik Ström and Cheryl Marie Cordeiro, RESER's local organizing committee 2010.

Dr. Cheryl M. Cordeiro-Nilsson and Associate Professor Patrik Ström (Chairman of the local Organizing Committee for RESER 2010), a last inspection of the Odd Fellows Estate grand hall, prior to dinner.
Photo © J E Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2010

The 30th September to 2 October, 2010 saw the world’s leading researchers in the field of Services Research gather in Gothenburg, Sweden, for their annual conference.

The Chairman of the local Organizing Committee for RESER 2010 was Patrik Ström, Associate Professor, Docent, PhD, Ek.Dr. Staffan Helmfrid Pro Futura Fellow at the School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, whom I had the pleasure to assist in the materializing of this event.

Fika and the Swedish Management style

Posted on by Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

Cinnamon roll served with milk; kanelbullar med mjölk

The Cinnamon Roll – a Swedish fika staple.
Photo © J E Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2010

Before Sweden, I only ever heard of the British inherited concept of afternoon Tea in Singapore from my grandparents, more specifically, my paternal grandmother. She often served Royal Danish butter cookies, of which I favoured the ones with raisins and those that came coated with granulated sugar on top. Light sponge cakes were sometimes served at these sessions, and accompanying these cookies and cakes was tea, with lots of milk.

Melting butter for cinnamon rolls or kanelbullar.

Melting the butter – the first step in making Cinnamon Rolls.

The Swedish fika, which translates to ‘coffee break’ was an activity whose local ritualistic implications dawned on me only gradually, beginning actually with my attendance at late evening seminars at the university whilst pursuing my doctorate degree.

I came to know these research seminar sessions (often held as one large fika) as ‘cheese parties’ because the group of us attending these meetings would gather around a table in the seminar room, pass around buns, fruit, sandwiches, coffee, tea and sometimes red or white wine, discussing the most current research in the field, its challenges and how to move ahead in our projects,

As a side issue, I often wondered if these sessions were actually useful, since too many opinions might derail you rather than help you focus, but in hindsight I think they were both pleasant and valuable, and that my favourite ones were those where our creative spirits and constructive criticism were fueled by one or two glasses of wine to go with the cheese.

Kneading the dough.

Kneading the dough is a pleasant pass time that takes very little effort. Some soft kneading where you calmly let the springy gluten threads develop is all it takes.

And what is current at some fika sessions at work today are Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainable Development, where one aspect of is the social well-being and welfare of employees – how can Swedish leadership create (and sustain) a working environment that nurtures creative innovation, etc.

Melted butter onto the dough.

Melted butter on the dough, just before the cinnamon and sugar goes on.

Hembakade kanelbullar, fikabröd.

Cinnamon Rolls, fikabröd.

And the Swedish fika, together with its fikabröd, one of which is the cinnamon roll, is focal in these discussions because all of these issues are currently being discussed, over coffee. No doubt the Swedish fika is one of the key ingredients of what makes the Swedish management style unique.

Awaiting this theory to be confirmed in some scientific paper, Cinnamon Roll day in Sweden is upcoming in about 2 weeks and I for one, am already looking forward to seeing lots of these at the upcoming fika sessions at work, improving as it were, both creativity and the Swedish Management style.

ICMIT 2010 and the changing face of Singapore

Posted on by Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

conference_1

From left to right Keynote speaker, Professor Philip Phan, Dr. Cheryl Marie Cordeiro and Keynote speaker, Professor Michael Song, ICMIT 2010 in Singapore
Photo: Courtesy of ICMIT 2010

Behind the short and cryptic ICMIT stands the full title of the IEEE International Conference on Management of Innovation and Technology 2-5 June 2010. Originally a Singaporean initiative, this conference was now held for its fifth time.

Since my academic interest revolves much around Knowledge Management, Communication and Information Technology, I was happy to find towards the end of last year that a paper I had submitted to this conference had been accepted, and not only that but I was also invited to take a more active role in the conference by being part of the scientific review committee and indeed, actually chairing one of the sessions.

Doctoral awards ceremony at the University of Gothenburg, 2009

Posted on by Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

Cheryl Marie Cordeiro promovering-086a

On stage, halfway through the ceremony. I’m seated third row from the back, in a white dress. Deans and faculty leaders of the University of Gothenburg (GU) are seated at the front of the stage, in the respective faculty colours and gowns.
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson, D Neikter Nilsson, A Lindström, CM Cordeiro, Sweden 2009

The 30th of October, 2009 was the University of Gothenburg’s annual prize giving and doctoral awards ceremony and gala event. It was wonderful to have these grey autumn days lit by people dressed up in formal attire, tailcoats mandatory for all men receiving awards that evening, and all women in long dresses or ball gowns. Everyone looked smart and regal.

Reflections from days at the Division of Information Studies (DIS), NTU in Singapore

Posted on by Cheryl Marie Cordeiro
It was at the end of 1990s that I was doing my MSc in Information Studies at NTU, graduating in 2000. Photo by JE Nilsson, 2009.

It was at the end of 1990s that I was doing my MSc in Information Studies at NTU, graduating in 2000. Photo by JE Nilsson, 2009.

My academic career has taken me through several institutes of education, and the Division of Information Studies (DIS) at the Nanyang Technological University of Singapore (NTU) has been one of them.

It was a part-time Master of Science course that I took with NTU, while pursuing my Master of Arts at NUS full-time. The schedule was gruelling but nonetheless manageable, with mornings through afternoons spent at NUS, and evenings spent at NTU. I thought it all fine, till exam period came along and it became darkly humorous at one point, when I found myself sitting for papers in the mornings at NUS and evenings, at NTU!

Perhaps it was that I spent mostly evenings at NTU, when the greater student population would have gone home or be back at their hostels that I found the place generally more relaxing than my time at NUS. The long corridors of the NTU wings seemed to help sort your thoughts as you walked to and from classes, pondering the day’s lectures or simply unwinding as you stepped away from the lecture hall.

As I’m now looking to pursue new research projects, I realize that my research interests have always been cross-disciplinary in nature. That I found myself wanting to learn about information management (at NTU) whilst majoring in the English language (at NUS) was just the beginning of it! These days, it’s linguistics, organization science and information management that draws my attention.

With NTU being in the top 1% of the world’s universities (together with Swedish universities such as Lund and Uppsala) it was not surprising that DIS at NTU has put into practice the use of social media, as a medium of contact and social networking and also giving it a place in the education system.

To Prof. Chris Khoo, Head of DIS, NTU: Thank You for updates and contacts!

Cheryl

Stilettos, as a feminine power statement

Posted on by Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

Vivienne Westwood, Emilio Pucci, Bottega Veneta

Some women build their daily outfits beginning with their shoes. Beginning with this pair of Emilio Pucci wrapped purple suede heels, this is an outfit ensemble I could see myself wearing to the office in autumn. A wool blend Bottega Veneta shift dress paired with a charcoal grey jacket with double lapels by Vivienne Westwood. Over this ensemble, a square wrap coat by Vivienne Westwood Anglomania with a large purple patent tote (35cm x 40cm x 13 cm), also by Vivienne Westwood.

I’ve been following with interest, the following articles from the more lighthearted Daily Mail in the UK:

Apparently the Trade Union Council (TUC) in the UK would like to call for a ban of the use of high heels for women in the office (printed on the 6th of August, 2009), citing sexism and health problems for women who wear high heels to work everyday. This article was followed the next day with a counter article written by Maureen Rice (7th August, 2009) who said that the best careers advice ever given to her was one from her female boss:

‘Whenever you know you are going to have a challenging meeting,’ she said, ‘and especially if that meeting is mainly with men, wear high heels.’

Rice’s article gets more interesting from there on, citing heels as a symbol of feminine power in the office and how heels can give women more confidence in the office when facing their male colleagues. Heels as symbols of small daggers clinging to the heels of women who wear them, are not so much “I want to turn you on” as “I want to take you on”.

In the numerous brands of feminism, the one that caught my imagination most were essays from the genre l’écriture féminine or ‘feminine writing’, writings predominantly by Hélène Cixous and Luce Irigary from the late ’70s. The writings of Cixous in particular, would trouble women who resist the sense of being tied to the biological, but for others, it could offer a strong sense of relief that gushes from the inner core as her works encourage the celebration of differences between the biological male and female. Why fight biology and climb an uphill battle for equality that sounds defeating to begin with when we can revel in it, and with it, celebrate too the subsequent differences in manifestations of the sexes whether in speech, writing or in this case, dressing.

The article by Rice voices this very aspect of being female and of possessing your femininity on your own terms, especially in the highly competitive world of business. And where once restraining clothing items such as corsets and stilettos were seen as a tools of constriction, a mark of biology, is now viewed as an expression of will and control of self when worn, for today, the difference lies in choice. Now women decide for themselves what to wear.

PhD disputation dinner by Chef de Cuisine: Mikael Sande

Posted on by Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

Standing at the set tables to the dinner party at Matsmak, wearing a pink pleated Tadashi gown with vintage gold tone jewellery.
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson, D Neikter Nilsson, CM Cordeiro-Nilsson, Sweden 2009

The public defense of my doctoral thesis was followed by a dinner celebration held at Matsmak with Mikael Sande as Chef de Cuisine.

The evening event was surreal in the sense that Mikael’s restaurant had just moved to its new location at Drakegatan 1 in Gothenburg, and we were able to book the entire restaurant on a Saturday evening for ourselves. The restaurant, being located in a building with mainly offices, also meant that our guests had the entire building to themselves to enjoy that evening.

Doctoral Thesis, public defense May 9th, 2009

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Text & Photo © JE Nilsson, D Neikter Nilsson, CM Cordeiro-Nilsson, Sweden 2009

One of the things that have dawned on me during the years I have spent working on my thesis is that writing a doctoral thesis and having it approved are done for various reasons, and thus approached in many different ways around the world.

Academic traditions: The nailing of the PhD thesis, 17 Apr. 2009

Posted on by Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

Nailing the thesis at main administration building located in Vasaparken, at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro-Nilsson, Sweden 2009

When I was told that I was supposed to “nail” my thesis to the University wall, it initially didn’t occur to me that I was supposed to do so literally and in person, with a hammer.

But so it went.

Reflections on the PhD product-process

Posted on by Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

Sitting in the garden at home at Styrsö, after the small ceremony of having nailed my thesis to the wall at the main administration building of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
I’m wearing a Purple wool dress by Warehouse and black patent flats by Prada.
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro-Nilsson, Sweden 2009

It was to be a small academic ceremony today where I collected my thesis from the printers and have one copy nailed to the public notice board of the University of Gothenburg. The spikning or the nailing of the thesis is for two main reasons, the first of which is to encourage the public to read your work and the second, perhaps more important reason, is to show that your work is not the result of plagiarism.