Lydia Makrides, Stephanie Heath, Jane Farquharson and Paula L. Veinot
Workplace health promotion initiatives are an effective way to reach adults, and provide safe and healthy working environments that support individual health. The purpose of this…
Abstract
Purpose
Workplace health promotion initiatives are an effective way to reach adults, and provide safe and healthy working environments that support individual health. The purpose of this project was to: learn how organizations/businesses define workplace health; assess employer support and commitment for workplace health initiatives; assess facilitators and barriers to workplace wellness/health; and understand workplace needs around evaluation and outcome measures.
Design/methodology/approach
A community partnership, Wellness Initiatives Network (WIN), was established to provide a forum for organizations in Atlantic Canada to share knowledge and experience on workplace health. Focus groups were conducted with businesses/organizations in the four Atlantic Provinces. Tape‐recorded transcriptions were analyzed using thematic analysis.
Findings
Ingredients for successful workplace health initiatives include onsite programs, the provision of incentives and recognition for employees, and the need to build awareness, understanding and commitment among managers who can help to create a supportive culture, which supports employee health. Measuring outcomes related to workplace health is critical.
Practical implications
Workplace health promotion should encompass a comprehensive approach that acknowledges the important roles of personal, social and environmental factors.
Originality/value
There is both interest and readiness to implement workplace health in Atlantic Canada. Workplace health is a responsibility of all – individual employees, employers and workplaces, and government. All stakeholders must be involved to help employees, workplaces and the health system cope with an aging population and concomitant increasing stresses at work and home. Engaging leaders is a critical step in building an integrated, comprehensive and sustainable approach to workplace health.
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Clive Bingley, Edwin Fleming and Sarah Lawson
IT WAS in the mid‐1970s when, having been in the habit for a year or so previously of commenting on public library authorities' annual reports in a partially analytical manner, I…
Abstract
IT WAS in the mid‐1970s when, having been in the habit for a year or so previously of commenting on public library authorities' annual reports in a partially analytical manner, I observed a decline in the arrival of the same in my post. A decline which has been maintained, I may add, and which has led me to the conclusion that, while it is OK on the sender's part if I remark how splendid has his service been, he would nevertheless be happier if the ammunition was withheld for me to observe that his annual loans cost x‐pence more each than those of such‐and‐such an authority!
Thomas N. Garavan, John P. Wilson, Christine Cross, Ronan Carbery, Inga Sieben, Andries de Grip, Christer Strandberg, Claire Gubbins, Valerie Shanahan, Carole Hogan, Martin McCracken and Norma Heaton
Utilising data from 18 in‐depth case studies, this study seeks to explore training, development and human resource development (HRD) practices in European call centres. It aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
Utilising data from 18 in‐depth case studies, this study seeks to explore training, development and human resource development (HRD) practices in European call centres. It aims to argue that the complexity and diversity of training, development and HRD practices is best understood by studying the multilayered contexts within which call centres operate. Call centres operate as open systems and training, development and HRD practices are influenced by environmental, strategic, organisational and temporal conditions.
Design/methodology/approach
The study utilised a range of research methods, including in‐depth interviews with multiple stakeholders, documentary analysis and observation. The study was conducted over a two‐year period.
Findings
The results indicate that normative models of HRD are not particularly valuable and that training, development and HRD in call centres is emergent and highly complex.
Originality/value
This study represents one of the first studies to investigate training and development and HRD practices and systems in European call centres.
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UK care leavers are among society’s most vulnerable groups and were badly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of the crisis on…
Abstract
Purpose
UK care leavers are among society’s most vulnerable groups and were badly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of the crisis on thier daily functioning, relationships and mental health. The primary focus was the coproduction of key messages from care leavers: to services, to facilitate the provision of relevant, accessible post-lockdown support and to their peers, to encourage positive post-lockdown readjustment.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 134 UK care leavers, aged 18–25, responded to an online survey, then 14 care leavers, recruited via local authorities in the South of England, participated in online care leaver expert working groups (CLEWGs) to build on survey findings, draft messages and outputs and disseminate findings at local and national events. The care-experienced Young Person’s Advisory Group of a UK national charity for care leavers (Become) was involved throughout.
Findings
Survey results and CLEWG discussions showed major impacts on care leavers’ well-being, daily lives and connectedness. Mental health was identified as the primary post-lockdown support need. CLEWGs recommended peer support to help rebuild confidence and encourage help-seeking post-lockdown. Participants called for social care professionals, especially personal advisors, to be proactive and to offer personalised, flexible, genuine support. The primary message to peers was to “ask for help if you need it”, but several barriers were identified.
Originality/value
The messages to services and care leavers come directly from care leavers, based on personal experience, and should provide valuable building blocks for the development of relevant and accessible post-pandemic support.
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Tanguy Struye de Swielande and Dorothée Vandamme
The chapter analyses Chinese and Russian hybrid warfare and their strategies. Although still under debate, it is increasingly recognised that both countries integrate and apply…
Abstract
The chapter analyses Chinese and Russian hybrid warfare and their strategies. Although still under debate, it is increasingly recognised that both countries integrate and apply hybrid warfare in their strategic thinking. In doing so, they are able to increase their sphere of influence, promote authoritarian regimes and weaken democracies. It is therefore vital that we better understand their strategies in order to identify and bring to light the processes that encourage today’s rise of nationalism and populism, withdrawal from international organisations and an overall distrust in the global institutional order. Approaching the puzzle from current weaknesses in the EU and the United States, the chapter proposes a framework to analyse Chinese and Russian hybrid warfare. The chapter demonstrates that Western liberal democracies are not only unprepared for these new forms of warfare, but appear unwilling to take the necessary measures. In doing so, these countries leave the door open for (further) destabilisation and a risk of increased domestic polarisation.
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Douglas J. Ernest, Joan Beam and Jennifer Monath
Telephone directories have been an integral part of most public and academic libraries for nearly a century. Telephone directories represent an anomaly among library collections;…
Abstract
Telephone directories have been an integral part of most public and academic libraries for nearly a century. Telephone directories represent an anomaly among library collections; known to virtually all users, they nevertheless often go unrecognized when librarians discuss reference sources. The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to examine the history of telephone directory collections; second, to describe and analyze a survey of telephone directory collection use.
David Rae, Lynn Martin, Valerie Antcliff and Paul Hannon
This article aims to report the results of a complete survey of enterprise education in all higher education institutions (HEIs) in England, undertaken in 2010 by the Institute…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to report the results of a complete survey of enterprise education in all higher education institutions (HEIs) in England, undertaken in 2010 by the Institute for Small Business & Entrepreneurship (ISBE) on behalf of the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship (NCGE). The survey builds on prior work undertaken by the NCGE in England in 2006 and in 2007.
Design/methodology/approach
The survey aimed to establish a complete picture of curricular and extra‐curricular enterprise and entrepreneurship education. The survey uses a similar structure to the previous survey, enabling comparison to be made with enterprise provision over the 2006‐2010 period, as well as with the 2008 European survey of entrepreneurship in HE.
Findings
The results provide a stock‐take of enterprise education provision in participating HEIs and highlight the connections in institutional strategies between enterprise education, incubation/new venture support, graduate employability, innovation and academic enterprise. The paper reveals “hotspots” and gaps in enterprise provision and offers “benchmarks” for the sector.
Research limitations/implications
The article offers a summary of the implications for the future development and sustainability of enterprise education in HE, in relation to policy, funding and other changes in the sector. It also considers these issues in relation to recommendations from professional educators and government policy for future development of enterprise in HE and comments on the policy impact of this work.
Originality/value
The timing of the survey, in May‐July 2010, was important as it reflected the end of a period of over ten years of sustained investment in enterprise in higher education by the previous Labour government in the UK, through a range of funding initiatives. As major public expenditure reductions in support for HE and enterprise activity followed, this represented the “high water mark” of publicly funded enterprise activity in the HE sector, and raised the question of how enterprise education and support activities would become sustainable for the future. The report analyses existing provision, assesses its development over the 2006‐2010 period, and provides conclusions and recommendations covering future policy, development, resourcing, and sustainability of enterprise and entrepreneurship provision in higher education.
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On April 2, 1987, IBM unveiled a series of long‐awaited new hardware and software products. The new computer line, dubbed the Personal Systems 30, 50, 60, and 80, seems destined…
Abstract
On April 2, 1987, IBM unveiled a series of long‐awaited new hardware and software products. The new computer line, dubbed the Personal Systems 30, 50, 60, and 80, seems destined to replace the XT and AT models that are the mainstay of the firm's current personal computer offerings. The numerous changes in hardware and software, while representing improvements on previous IBM technology, will require users purchasing additional computers to make difficult choices as to which of the two IBM architectures to adopt.