Το paradigm είναι ένας βαρύγδουπος όρος που έχει γίνει πάρα πολύ της μόδας τα τελευταία χρόνια. (βλ. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradigm για ανάλυση του όρου.)
Εδώ αναφέρεται σε πρότυπα σκέψης, συμπεριφοράς κλπ κλπ παγιωμένους δηλ. τρόπους σκέψης, συμπεριφοράς, αξίες κλπ κλπ. Δεν έχει σχέση με αυτό που λέμε στα Ελληνικά "παράδειγμα." Τείνει περισσότερο προς το πρότυπο/μοντέλο/υπόδειγμα.

Θα το έλεγα "πρότυπα εργασίας" ή "επαγγελματικά πρότυπα" (ανάλογα με το κείμενο), γιατί ουσιαστικά αυτό είναι.
Τα παρακάτω παραδείγματα προσφέρουν λίγο context.

"Successful organizations use the creative energy of their employees in seeking solutions to organizational problems. They realize that those individuals involved in the actual work are in the best position to define systemic and process weaknesses and identify opportunities for improvement. In this course, participants learn to increase productivity, creativity, and efficiency by involving their employees in a continuous improvement process that encourages improved communication and collaboration. Participants will also explore personal paradigms or patterns of thought and behavior that prevent them from achieving positive change and success. "


"The main purpose of this research was to determine the professional paradigm of the qualified psychiatric nurse and the factors influencing the formation of this paradigm. The research was both explorative and descriptive, and both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. The research approach was deductive and based on the theory of paradigm of Törnebohm. The test persons comprised three groups: Swedish-speaking Finns, Swedes and Finns. In each group there were eight students in the final stages of their psychiatric nursing training. A total of 40 questionnaires were distributed to each group. The research revealed four different characteristic types of qualified psychiatric nurses: caring science oriented, partly caring science oriented, general humanist and finally the personality- and experience-oriented. The results also indicate that there is a discrepancy between will and ability within caring. This can partly be interpreted as an expression of the discrepancy between philosophical and ideological impressions and real acts but it may partly indicate a lack of information. Many informants had difficulty naming a theoretical frame of reference for their work and stating aspects of psychiatric caring that would be important to know but on which no information so far exists. Many informants expressed the need for more research and development but did not indicate the subjects."