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The purpose of this study is to explore and map Safeguarding Adults England data for 2022–2023 by local authority to enable identification and exploration of any differences between local authorities.

Colour symbology maps were produced to enable visual analysis of safeguarding concerns and Section 42 enquiries per 100,000 of the population, as well as the conversion of safeguarding concerns to Section 42 enquiries. Statistical hotspots were calculated using the Getis-Ord Gi* for Section 42 enquiries per 100,000 of the population across age classes.

Findings show regional differences across England in terms of the number of documented concerns, Section 42’s and conversion rates. Some regions had statistically higher or lower Section 42 enquiries per 100,000 of population across age classes compared to their bordering geographical neighbours. Reflections on these findings lead to a series of recommendations.

This paper addresses a need to explore further and analyse adult safeguarding data to inform practice, through choropleth mapping.

This qualitative study of managers’ use of intuition in the selection process aimed to understand if and how managers use intuition in employee hiring decisions and suggest ways in which the use of intuition might be improved. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with managers from a range of backgrounds, and with varying experience of recruitment and selection.

Findings revealed that reasons for the use of intuition included personal preferences, resource constraints and recognition of the limitations of more structured approaches. Intuition was used an indicator for performance, personality and person-environment fit. Intuition tended to be used with requisite caution; participants were aware of its limits, the potential for bias and the difficulties in justifying its use; several participants used their intuitions in concert with more structured, non-intuition based approaches.

The small-scale investigative study has limited generalisability. The paper concludes with five specific recommendations on how to improve managers’ understanding and use of intuition in employee selection.

Despite increased interest in intuition in management there is a paucity of qualitative studies of intuition-in-use in management in general and in personnel in particular. This research helps to fill this gap.

In late 2011, Jerry Bertram, vice president and general manager of the fire retardant additives business of Huber Engineered Materials (HEM), a division of family-owned J. M. Huber Corporation, was preparing to present the potential acquisition of the precipitated alumina trihydrate (PATH) business to the environment, health, and safety committee of Huber's corporate board. He had convinced HEM's leadership of PATH's strategic value to their business and the urgency of the acquisition based on PATH's parent company's movement into Chapter 11 bankruptcy and its plans to close the PATH plant.

Winning board approval posed a major challenge. It was unclear whether the plant would remain operational, because HEM would have to enter a shared-services arrangement with PATH's parent company, which continued to use the site. In addition, acquiring PATH would mean integrating its specialized, unionized labor force into Huber, which had very few union workers. Finally, early due diligence had revealed tens of millions of dollars of potential environmental risk on the site. The last issue was particularly critical, given Huber's generations-long history of respect for the environment, and its executives' and directors' reluctance to take on any business with excessive environmental risk.

This case illustrates in depth the family business values that can promote consideration of an ostensibly unconventional and risky strategic move, and enable executives to push for approval of the same, as backed by comprehensive risk assessment and mitigation plans.

In this paper we show, by means of an example of its application to the problem of house price forecasting, an approach to attribute selection and dependence modelling utilising the Gamma Test (GT), a non-linear analysis algorithm that is described. The GT is employed in a two-stage process: first the GT drives a Genetic Algorithm (GA) to select a useful subset of features from a large dataset that we develop from eight economic statistical series of historical measures that may impact upon house price movement. Next we generate a predictive model utilising an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) trained to the Mean Squared Error (MSE) estimated by the GT, which accurately forecasts changes in the House Price Index (HPI). We present a background to the problem domain and demonstrate, based on results of this methodology, that the GT was of great utility in facilitating a GA based approach to extracting a sound predictive model from a large number of inputs in a data-point sparse real-world application.

Clearly defined information is essential for rational decision‐making, planning and control, at all management levels. The current climate in the UK National Health Service dictates that clinicians should be more actively involved in management. However, no relevant and accurate information is routinely available on either the workload or work patterns of individual hospital departments. If clinicians were supplied with this they would then be in a better position to manage their own services. This paper provides a synopsis of the philosophy behind the design of management information systems and presents the results of a pilot study, which was undertaken in a hospital neurology department. The general guidance which emerges is that analysts must always concentrate on ivhat information is needed and the uses to which it will be put. A systems approach to design helps to: (i) define the information required; (ii) establish processes for data capture and analysis; and (iii) establish standards with which actual service performance can be compared (feedback control feature). The pilot study provided information on all stages of development. The systems approach employed could be applied within any clinical department, but doctors must be actively involved. Information derived from running the prototype provided insight into many aspects of work activity, organisation and use of resources within a neurology specialty. A comparison between actual service performance and standards of service as perceived by the consultant neurologists involved, was also undertaken.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how universities attempt to balance meeting their traditional mission of education, research and community engagement while remaining economically sustainable.

A survey was conducted in 2014 of university executives and found that universities in Australia are rapidly transitioning from public supported institutions to an organizational form much more like social enterprise, with all of the organizational, marketing and ethical ramifications.

Australian universities were found to be focused on maintaining financial viability and that the most significant source of future revenue for Australian universities is perceived to be from international students.

The findings have tremendous public policy and ethical implications – suggesting a shift in the classification of university education from what was generally considered a public good to what is increasingly perceived as a private good in the contemporary market place, with the increasing importance of international students.