Elaborates on English Nature, a public body financed by grant‐in‐aid from the UK Department of the Environment, which was formed when the former Nature Conservancy Council for…
Abstract
Elaborates on English Nature, a public body financed by grant‐in‐aid from the UK Department of the Environment, which was formed when the former Nature Conservancy Council for Great Britain was disbanded five years previously. Pinpoints that four types of performance measures are used by English Nature and these are: quantified corporate targets; strategic indicators; service standards; and soft indicators. States results show that English Nature is still quite risk averse ‐ in part due to Government constraints and procedures. Closes with a question and answer panel with Andy Brown, Chief Officer of the Joint Nature Committee.
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The purpose of this article is to introduce the theme of this special issue which contains a selection of papers written by the staff of UCL SLAIS.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to introduce the theme of this special issue which contains a selection of papers written by the staff of UCL SLAIS.
Design/methodology/approach
The history of the School is briefly described and its philosophy of taking a broad and inclusive approach to professional education is reviewed.
Findings
There is considerable benefit to professional education in an institution which incorporates all branches of information work, and retains a sense of the value of traditional skills in tandem with an exploitation of new technologies. The contributors to this issue reflect this both by the range of disciplines which they represent and by the range of topics, from the most traditional to the most modern, and demonstrate the synergy between them.
Originality/value
The article provides an introduction to the special issue and promotes the value of an inclusive approach to professional education in the information disciplines.
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To help management make better decisions, employee research must explore the relationship between levels of engagement and actual performance, and provide insight into what drives…
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To help management make better decisions, employee research must explore the relationship between levels of engagement and actual performance, and provide insight into what drives engagement. This article explains how to move your research program beyond descriptive, silo data to show the links between key measures and profit drivers.
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Ron Butterly, Dan Adams, Andy Brown and Jim Golby
The paper provides an evaluation of client perceptions of a community‐based physical activity project (MUSCSEL) in Leeds. Over a period of five months, all newcomers to the…
Abstract
The paper provides an evaluation of client perceptions of a community‐based physical activity project (MUSCSEL) in Leeds. Over a period of five months, all newcomers to the project were invited to take part in the evaluation by completing a questionnaire. All were living independently in the community. All 34 respondents were unemployed, and perceived themselves as less active and less fit than the norm for their age and gender. Incidence of smoking was higher than the national average, and the majority of respondents would have liked to be more active than they were, but perceived many barriers. Subsequent interviews (n=17) found that the project increased self‐confidence and self‐esteem, perceived fitness levels and perceived habitual physical activity levels. It also facilitated social contact and enabled the service users to manage their mental health issues better, supporting previous research findings. Further work is needed to follow subjects living independently in the community on a longitudinal basis, to determine the time course of any benefits, particularly over the period of transition from hospital to independent‐living status.
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Sadi Assaf, Mohammad A. Hassanain and Abdullatif Abdallah
Design documents’ deficiencies (DDDs) are a major issue that plagues the construction industry in many countries. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the major causes of…
Abstract
Purpose
Design documents’ deficiencies (DDDs) are a major issue that plagues the construction industry in many countries. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the major causes of DDDs in a fast expanding economy, where errors can translate to an adverse impact on the economy. This paper aims to identify and assess the causes of DDDs for large construction projects from the consultants’ perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 20 causes of DDDs were shortlisted through an extensive literature survey. In total, 37 consultants based in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia participated in the study. The respondents were requested to provide their opinion with respect to the relative importance of the identified causes. The result of their responses was then used to rank the causes.
Findings
Based on their significance indices, the most significant causes of DDDs were “assigning design tasks to designers who lack work experience,” “team members’ communication skills,” “the level and quality of the design professional’s education,” “cross-disciplinary coordination,” “effective design team,” and “lack of knowledge transfer mechanism.”
Practical implications
Recommendations were provided to mitigate the issues of DDDs. It is envisioned that through a better understanding of the major causes of DDDs, design firms will be better positioned to recognize DDDs’ causes and establish appropriate measures for reducing their occurrence. The findings of this paper are beneficial to all project stakeholders, including design firms, clients, contractors, and end users.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature by providing an assessment of the various causes of DDDs in the context of a rapidly expanding economy, where any inefficiency can lead to massive losses to the economy.