Elaine Chase, Rosalind Goodrich, Antonia Simon, Sally Holtermann and Peter Aggleton
The purpose of this paper is to describe the process and lessons learned from an evaluation of “Teen Talk”, a health drop in service at Kidbrooke, a state secondary school in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the process and lessons learned from an evaluation of “Teen Talk”, a health drop in service at Kidbrooke, a state secondary school in Greenwich.
Design/methodology/approach
A multi‐pronged approach was adopted for the evaluation. This included a questionnaire survey of a sample of 180 pupils within the school; in‐depth discussions with 12 young people who had used the service; interviews with health and education professionals and parents; desk research including an analysis of costs and discussions with senior staff in other schools in Greenwich to determine the feasibility of replicating the “Teen Talk” model elsewhere in the borough.
Findings
“Teen Talk” is greatly valued by pupils and staff at the Kidbrooke and was seen to provide a unique service. The overall perception is that it provides good value for money. However, the evaluation identified important lessons in setting up and managing the project which can help refine the service and which have relevance for local and national contexts.
Research limitations/implications
This paper illustrates the advantages of embedding evaluation research in health service design and implementation, particularly when there is the potential of replicating service delivery models in other school settings.
Originality/value
Creating safe and confidential spaces for young people to access help and advice on a range of health issues is by now well recognized as good practice. School‐based health facilities are a relatively new approach to young people's health promotion. Although the benefits of this type of provision are largely undisputed, to date, few such services have been evaluated.
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‘Active ageing’ was once a term associated mainly with a physically active, even sporty, retirement. In recent years, economic and demographic circumstances, together with…
Abstract
‘Active ageing’ was once a term associated mainly with a physically active, even sporty, retirement. In recent years, economic and demographic circumstances, together with employment trends, have given it another important meaning. This is the prolonging of work, whether paid or in useful unpaid roles such as grandparenting or community‐based activity. This conception of ageing is not just about people keeping moving to keep healthy, but about continuing to make clear economic and social contributions.
Describes the history and activities of the Crime Writers′Association, highlighting various awards, and recent winners. Detailsthe CWA Spare Copy Catalogue Scheme, whereby…
Abstract
Describes the history and activities of the Crime Writers′ Association, highlighting various awards, and recent winners. Details the CWA Spare Copy Catalogue Scheme, whereby authors′ spare copies of their own books are made available for purchase by libraries when those books are out of print.
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Some libraries and information services are quite definitely user‐centred; some think they are but are not always; some seem to be designed for librarians rather than users. The…
Abstract
Some libraries and information services are quite definitely user‐centred; some think they are but are not always; some seem to be designed for librarians rather than users. The purpose of this monograph is to encourage the development of libraries to meet the perceived needs of users — I hope it will be found useful by librarians and information workers as well as by students.
This study examines how assurors make sense of sustainability assurance (SA) work and how interactions with assurance team members and clients shape assurors’ sensemaking and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines how assurors make sense of sustainability assurance (SA) work and how interactions with assurance team members and clients shape assurors’ sensemaking and their actual SA work.
Design/methodology/approach
To obtain detailed accounts of how SA work occurs on the ground, this study explores three SA engagements by interviewing the main actors involved, both at the client firms and at their Big Four assurance providers.
Findings
Individual assurors’ (i.e. partners and other team members) sensemaking of SA work results in the crafting of their logics of action (LoAs), that is, their meanings about the objectives of SA work and how to conduct it. Without organizational socialization, team members may not arrive at shared meanings and deviate from the team-wide assurance approach. To fulfill their objectives for SA work, assurors may engage in socialization with clients or assume a temporary role. Yet, the role negotiations taking place in the shadows of the scope negotiations determine their default role during the engagement.
Practical implications
Two options are available to help SA statement users gauge the relevance of SA work: either displaying the SA work performed or making it more uniform.
Originality/value
This study theoretically grounds how assurors make sense of SA work and documents how (the lack of) professional socialization, organizational socialization and socialization of frequent interaction partners at the client shape actual SA work. Thereby, it unravels the SA work concealed behind SA statements.
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Marieke Born, Janna Küllenberg, Antonia Drews, Ulrike Bossmann, Julika Zwack, Harald Gündel and Jochen Schweitzer
Mid-level executives are confronted with many dilemma situations, in which they are forced to decide between conflicting options, none of them leading to the desired result. If…
Abstract
Purpose
Mid-level executives are confronted with many dilemma situations, in which they are forced to decide between conflicting options, none of them leading to the desired result. If they fail to cope with them constructively, their individual risk for mental strains increases (Gerlmaier and Latniak, 2013). Initial findings focusing on executives in industry (Bossmann, 2020) show that fostering effective dilemma management in executives is a preventive factor against stress-related diseases. Yet, there is little empirical research that evaluates the contribution of dilemma management training on leadership’s mental health prevention in hospitals. This study aims to examine whether such a training program, adapted to current working conditions in German hospitals, promotes mid-level executives’ mental health.
Design/methodology/approach
A 10-month training program was administered to N = 69 senior physicians, senior nurses and senior service and administrative staff in four hospitals. To evaluate training effects on perceived stress reactivity, on cognitive and emotional irritation over time as well as the effects of the training dose on these results, participants’ self-reported measures were collected at four points in time: before (t0), during (t1), immediately after (t2) and three months after the intervention (t3).
Findings
Overall, participants showed less cognitive irritation and perceived stress reactivity over time. However, their emotional irritation did not change significantly. The dose of training participation did not moderate these results.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the prevention of stress-related diseases and the promotion of sensemaking in mid-level executives’ dilemma management routine in the face of increasingly aggravating working conditions due to financial restrictions in the German health-care system. Findings of this study are explained in greater depth using previously reported qualitative data from the same research project.
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Xin Li, Torben Juul Andersen and Carina Antonia Hallin
The purpose of this paper is to propose an alternative perspective on Zhong-Yong that is different from the notion of “Yin-Yang balancing” and apply it to understand the issue of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose an alternative perspective on Zhong-Yong that is different from the notion of “Yin-Yang balancing” and apply it to understand the issue of balancing the top-down and bottom-up processes in strategy making.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors adopt a “West meets East” mindset and approach to develop an alternative perspective on Zhong-Yong, and then apply this perspective to understand the issue of balancing the top-down and bottom-up processes in strategy making. There are three steps in the process of developing the alternative perspective. First, the authors argue that the essence of “Yin-Yang balancing” is a ratio-based solution to paradoxical balancing, which is in fact equivalent to Aristotle’s doctrine of the mean and compatible with some western management scholars’ approaches to solving paradox. Second, the authors identify a different generic solution to paradoxical balancing implicit in the western management literature. Third, the authors find in the original text of Zhong-Yong equivalent ideas to the identified different generic solution and then propose an alternative perspective on Zhong-Yong that is fundamentally different from the notion of “Yin-Yang balancing.”
Findings
Applied to the issue of balancing the top-down and bottom-up processes in strategy making, the new perspective on Zhong-Yong provides us with the following prescriptive insights from the life-wisdom of eastern philosophy: first, top management (e.g. Shun as the sage-king) must listen to various views and opinions also from employees and low-level managers at the bottom of the organization to be better informed about complex issues. Second, top management must analyze the diverse elements of the various views and opinions they collect and synthesize by taking the good from the bad to find smarter solutions and make decisions with better outcomes. Third, abiding by a set of (more or less) cohesive values help top managers be open and receptive to information and insights from low-level organizational members and enhancing unbiased information.
Research limitations/implications
This paper is mainly a theoretical perspective. Empirical work is needed to test the prescriptions offered in this paper.
Practical implications
Practitioners may learn new perspectives from ancient Chinese philosophies on how to balance.
Originality/value
This paper applies a new perspective on Zhong-Yong to an important paradox in strategic management.