Åsa Robinson, Caterina Finizia and Susanne Gustavsson
The purpose of this paper is to illuminate strengths and limitations in quality improvement work, when involving patients.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to illuminate strengths and limitations in quality improvement work, when involving patients.
Design/methodology/approach
The experience-based co-design (EBCD) method was used when improving care for patients undergoing otosclerosis surgery. Individual interviews and focus groups were interpreted using qualitative content analysis.
Findings
Strengths mentioned by patients were that their participation made a difference. The first steps were found effective in giving an in-depth view of patients’ experiences and the staff got an increased understanding about specific patient needs. However, weaknesses were found in the latter phases, those of improving and follow-up, health care staff had difficulties to keep their focus on patients’ experiences and invite patients to be involved. Patients’ participation decreased, and there was a lack of tools to support the process.
Research limitations/implications
The content in this paper is mainly based on one case. However, the findings are in congruence with earlier research and add further knowledge to the research area.
Practical implications
The findings can be used in healthcare when involving patients in improvement work.
Originality/value
There is no earlier study which involves patients with otosclerosis when using EBCD. Furthermore, this paper illuminates that there is a need to increase collaboration with patients. The latter phases often seem to be handled by health care professionals without involving patients; this paper suggest a development using dedicated quality tools.
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Maryam Safari and Lee David Parker
This paper aims to provide a historical case study of strategic changes in accounting at an Australian university’s business school department during 1972-1992 when it was…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide a historical case study of strategic changes in accounting at an Australian university’s business school department during 1972-1992 when it was repositioning itself in the early stages of major changes in the Australian and international tertiary accounting education environment. The study is conducted within the context of the university history within which the department operated as well as major government policy and global education shifts shaping university structures and focus.
Design/methodology/approach
This study offers a historical analysis of early stage changes in university focus at the business school’s accounting department, developed through departmental and university reports and oral history interviews. A narrative analytical methodology is adopted to portray a history of an academic accounting department in transition.
Findings
This case study illuminates the impacts of and responses to the beginning of marketisation and globalisation of higher education, and the commercialisation of universities and explains the strategic implementation processes in one university’s business school departmental during a period of significant formative change in the Australian accounting education landscape.
Originality/value
This study deepens our understanding of environmental, structural, educational and research changes at the operational departmental level of academic institutions, paying particular attention to the organisational culture and human capital dimensions.
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Deana Rohlinger and Jennifer Earl
This chapter takes an empirically centered look at Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology (CITAMS) as a section, both as an intellectual enterprise and as an…
Abstract
This chapter takes an empirically centered look at Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology (CITAMS) as a section, both as an intellectual enterprise and as an organizational one to make recommendations about how CITAMS could expand is intellectual vibrancy and its organizational viability and capacity in the future. The chapter consists of three sections. The first uses membership data provided by the American Sociological Association (ASA) to discuss the intellectual development of the section. Here, the authors add to well-worn histories of the section with more recent data on section memberships and shifts in co-memberships before and after the transition from Communication and Information Technologies section of the ASA (CITASA) to CITAMS. Next, the authors draw on the annual reports submitted by the section chair to the ASA to discuss the organizational trajectory of the section, assessing ups and downs in membership and finance. The authors use the annual report data to introduce several section needs and make specific recommendations on how the section might further formalize CITAMS’s governance and ensure its viability. Finally, the authors synthesize their analysis and discuss how strategic, intellectual and organizational planning for the future could help develop and secure the section’s vitality for decades to come.
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James C. Witte, Roberta Spalter-Roth and Yukiko Furuya
A persistent theme throughout the history of the Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Section of the American Sociological Association (CITAMS, formerly CITASA) has…
Abstract
A persistent theme throughout the history of the Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Section of the American Sociological Association (CITAMS, formerly CITASA) has been that the work of section members has been underrepresented in sociology’s leading journals. This chapter empirically examines that claim, using data from the newly created American Sociological Review (ASR) Digital Archive, a collection of all manuscripts, published and unpublished, submitted to ASR between 1990 and 2010, along with all reviews of these manuscripts. Analyses in the chapter focus on a comparison of CITAMS and Methodology Section members’ participation in the ASR process as a manuscript author or reviewer. The findings of this chapter show that controlling for differences in the gender and age composition of the two sections, CITAMS members are significantly less likely than Methodology Section members to participate in the ASR publication process. This pattern is evident not only in the degree to which CITAMS members are asked to review papers, but also in the frequency with which they submit to ASR. Further analyses in the chapter look at membership in multiple sections and the possibilities for innovative collaboration. Increasing CITAMS involvement in the ASR publication process and amplifying the section’s voice in the discipline’s flagship journal may begin with more CITAMS members submitting manuscripts to ASR and collaborating with sociologists affiliated with other ASA sections.
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A general method of element testing is presented. The method applies to any shape of element with any number of nodes. The shape parameters for a quadrilateral are shown to be…
Abstract
A general method of element testing is presented. The method applies to any shape of element with any number of nodes. The shape parameters for a quadrilateral are shown to be contained within the Jacobian matrix and it is also shown that the determinant of this matrix can be expressed in terms of the shape parameters.
Yoones Asgharzadeh Sekhavat and Mohammad Fathian
In traditional commerce, an auction is known as a mechanism of determining the value of a commodity that does not have a fixed price. Auctions are exciting and an increasing…
Abstract
Purpose
In traditional commerce, an auction is known as a mechanism of determining the value of a commodity that does not have a fixed price. Auctions are exciting and an increasing number of transactions are performed through e‐auctions. But most current auctions cannot address all the important security requirements. Usually, auction systems force bidders and sellers to trust the auctioneer and, on the other hand, do not provide anonymity for bidders and sellers. This paper aims to solve these problems by presenting an efficient anonymous secure auction schema (ASAS) without a fully trustworthy auctioneer.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper analyzes security properties and the complexity of previous works in auction security and then proposes a new ASAS that is more secure and efficient than previous works. Finally, security properties and the complexity of the new schema and previous works are compared with one another.
Findings
The proposed auction protocol does not force bidders and sellers to trust the auctioneer. In addition, it provides anonymity for both of them. Owing to these newly added features and high degree of security of ASAS, it is suggested that its use in high‐value auctions should require tighter security.
Originality/value
The paper proposes a new schema for electronic auctions that is secure and efficient and, in addition, does not force bidders and sellers to trust the auctioneer.
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Richard N.S. Robinson, Anna Kralj, David J. Solnet, Edmund Goh and Victor J. Callan
The purpose of this study is to identify across a number of workplace variables the similarities and differences in attitudes between three key frontline hotel worker groups…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to identify across a number of workplace variables the similarities and differences in attitudes between three key frontline hotel worker groups: housekeepers, front office employees and food and beverage front-of-house staff.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative study was conducted using 25 semi-structured interviews with frontline workers employed in full-service hotels across Eastern Australia. Analysis was augmented through the Leximancer® software package to develop relational themes in the aggregation and disaggregation of the occupations.
Findings
Although work/life balance was a common theme across the three occupations, several distinct attitudinal differences emerged, in particular regarding perceptions of one occupational group towards another.
Practical implications
This study highlights the importance of hotel managers being cognisant of occupational differences and collecting data capable of assisting in the identification of these differences. Several practitioner relevant recommendations are made.
Originality/value
This exploratory study challenges assumptions regarding a “pan-industrial” hospitality occupational community and applies an emerging qualitative software package to highlight occupational differences and relational perceptions.