André de Waal and Alex Meingast
The Dutch agricultural sector nowadays experiences many challenges. To deal with these, the sector has been interested in finding ways to improve performance. Mostly, the…
Abstract
Purpose
The Dutch agricultural sector nowadays experiences many challenges. To deal with these, the sector has been interested in finding ways to improve performance. Mostly, the improvement research has concentrated in the areas of innovation of products and quality, supply chain management, cooperatives, entrepreneurship and human resources. However, hardly any research has been done into ways to strengthen the internal organisation, encompassing the quality of management, employees and processes and systems of the agriculture company. This paper aims to address this research gap by evaluating whether the high performance organisation (HPO) framework, a scientific validated analysis and improvement technique, can be used to help agricultural enterprises to strengthen their internal organisation.
Design/methodology/approach
The HPO Questionnaire was applied at four Dutch horticulture companies to evaluate their performance. Subsequently, at each company, interviews were held to obtain more information about the scores. Then, a workshop was organised with the management of all four companies to discuss the study results.
Findings
The workshop showed that the framework was suitable for the participating companies to start improving their organisations, as management of all four companies agreed that the analysis and recommendations, derived from analysing the questionnaire data and the interviews, were highly relevant to their business.
Originality/value
As there is no holistic organisational evaluation and improvement technique which looks specifically at the internal organisation of horticulture companies, available for the agricultural sector, the application of the HPO Framework in this sector is the first of its kind.
Details
Keywords
Julie MacInnes, Jenny Billings, Alexandra Lelia Dima, Chris Farmer and Giel Nijpels
The purpose of this paper is to identify the range, type and outcomes of technological innovations aimed at supporting older people to maintain their independence within the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the range, type and outcomes of technological innovations aimed at supporting older people to maintain their independence within the context of integrated care at home. We also discuss key emergent themes relevant to the use of person-centred technology for older people in integrated care and propose recommendations for policy and practice.
Design/methodology/approach
An integrative review methodology was used to identify and describe recent scientific publications in four stages: problem identification, literature search, data evaluation and data analysis.
Findings
Twelve studies were included in the review. Three studies described remote consultations, particularly telemedicine; five studies described tools to support self-management; three studies described the use of healthcare management tools, and one study described both remote consultation and self-care management. Emergent themes were: acceptability, accessibility and use of digital technologies; co-ordination and integration of services; the implementation of digital technologies; and safety and governance. Several recommendations are proposed relevant to integrated care teams, technology developers and researchers.
Originality/value
This review uniquely considers the extent to which novel digital technologies used in integrated care for older people are person-centred.