Tania Somasundaram and Belinda Jayne Davies
The purpose of this paper is to provide a case study of two organisations working in evacuation centres which overcame challenges to develop a constructive relationship, resulting…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a case study of two organisations working in evacuation centres which overcame challenges to develop a constructive relationship, resulting in improved outcomes for disaster-affected people. A wide range of services for disaster-affected communities are provided as part of emergency sheltering. Collaboration between agencies providing services is essential, but sometimes challenging.
Design/methodology/approach
A wide range of services for disaster-affected communities are provided as part of emergency sheltering. Collaboration between agencies providing services is essential, but sometimes challenging. The purpose of this paper is to provide a case study of two organisations working in evacuation centres which overcame challenges to develop a constructive relationship, resulting in improved outcomes for disaster-affected people.
Findings
The Preferred Sheltering Practices provides an ongoing anchor for Australian Red Cross and Environmental Health Australia (EHA) (Queensland) Inc.’s relationship and has led to other tangible benefits such as involvement in each other’s events and trainings. The relationship has become embedded in each organisation’s day-to-day business ensuring the relationship’s sustainability beyond individual staff movements.
Originality/value
This case study provides an example of how collaboration can be achieved between two organisations with seemingly different mandates to improve the response for disaster-affected communities.
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Phuc Hong Luu, Michael P Dunne, Warwick Pearse and Belinda Davies
In order to improve the safety of seafood in the domestic seafood distribution chains (DSDCs) in Vietnam, a better understanding of current hygiene and practices compliance with…
Abstract
Purpose
In order to improve the safety of seafood in the domestic seafood distribution chains (DSDCs) in Vietnam, a better understanding of current hygiene and practices compliance with government regulations is needed. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
Infrastructure conditions and documents related to hygiene procedures of 50 trading places were evaluated using checklists. The hygiene handling practices of 135 fish distributors were also observed by using notational analysis methods. This notational analysis method focused on actions related to microbiological contamination in terms of hand washing or glove changing and the cleaning and sanitising of tools and equipment. Additionally, microbiological quality of 135 samples of raw finfish at points along distribution chains was compared with national standards.
Findings
The results indicated that all trading places could be classified as non-compliant or seriously non-compliant with the regulations. The practices of fish distributors were also assessed to be at high risk for contamination of raw fish. The findings showed that approximately 42 and 39 per cent of samples from fishing ports and fish markets, respectively were classified as unacceptable according to the microbiological standards of Vietnam.
Research limitations/implications
The present study is limited to research only from fish landing at fishing ports to the distribution to consumers at retail markets.
Originality/value
Recommendations for improving food safety in the DSDCs in Vietnam have been developed from the findings of this study and are provided. However, due to similarities with fish distribution chains in other countries, these recommendations may have broader application.
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Amanda Jane Davies, Antony Stephenson, Belinda Briggs and Douglas Allan
Literature and research are emerging in an effort to contribute to strategy development and implementation to address these challenges. Currently, there is no readily identified…
Abstract
Purpose
Literature and research are emerging in an effort to contribute to strategy development and implementation to address these challenges. Currently, there is no readily identified study that combines examination of both academic and grey (i.e. media, government, and non-government reports) literature in a recent time frame (2019–2023) focused specifically on identification of the factors that influence attrition and retention rates; or detailed studies that have evaluated the implementation of strategies to address these challenges within the law enforcement and policing employment field. The study presented in this article seeks to add to the body of knowledge informed by recent (2019–2023) literature and in parallel offer insight into the critical areas of influence to be considered by police and law enforcement decision-makers.
Design/methodology/approach
The study utilised the PRISMA-P concept for systematic reviews as a general guide for identifying appropriate literature which revealed a total of 37 academic peer-reviewed articles and 21 grey literature documents contributing to identification of five overarching areas influencing attrition and retention.
Findings
The study identified the following factors contributing to attrition and retention: Job satisfaction and organisational factors; Supervision; Work-life balance; Recruitment, Training and Officer expectations; Financial compensation and job alternatives. There are differences in factors between this study and previous studies, i.e. recruitment strategies related to officer expectations was identified as a contributing factor. These additional factors offer a further contribution to future policy and strategy deliberations and implementations to address the workforce levels within police agencies.
Research limitations/implications
Future research endeavours may include examining the outcomes of strategic endeavours addressing the five core influencing factors for retention of law enforcement and police officers.
Practical implications
The identification of these five factors drawn from the literature review offers potential direction/areas of concentration for law enforcement and policing agencies to direct their efforts in addressing retention and attrition of staff.
Originality/value
Currently, there is no readily identified study that (a) combines examination of both academic and grey (i.e. media, government and non-government reports) literature in a recent time frame (2019–2023) focused specifically on identification of the factors that influence attrition and retention rates; or detailed studies for addressing these challenges within the law enforcement and policing employment field. The study presented in this article seeks to address this gap in the literature and in parallel offer insight into the critical areas of influence to be considered by police and law enforcement decision-makers.
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Julienne Meyer, Hazel Heath, Cheryl Holman and Tom Owen
This paper highlights the need for researchers to work across disciplinary boundaries in order to capture the complexity that care practitioners have to engage with everyday in…
Abstract
This paper highlights the need for researchers to work across disciplinary boundaries in order to capture the complexity that care practitioners have to engage with everyday in care home settings. Drawing on findings from a literature review on the complexity of loss in continuing care institutions for older people, the case is made for less victim blaming and more appreciative approaches to research. The way this thinking informed the development of a further literature review on quality of life in care homes (My Home Life) is discussed. Findings from this second study are shared by illustrating key messages with quotes from older residents, relatives and staff living, visiting and working in care homes. These best practice messages focus on: transition into a care home; working to help residents maintain their identity; creating community within care homes; shared decision‐making; health and health services; end‐of‐life care; keeping the workforce fit for purpose, and promoting positive culture. The importance of collaborative working in both research and practice is discussed. The paper is likely to be of interest to all those concerned with improving and developing evidence‐based practice in the care home sector, including users and service providers, managers, commissioners and inspectors, policy‐makers, researchers and teachers.
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Richard Hanage, Jonathan M Scott and Mark A.P. Davies
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how digital creative graduates develop new businesses on graduating from university, and how their creative, business and personal…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how digital creative graduates develop new businesses on graduating from university, and how their creative, business and personal lives interact until their nascent ventures fail financially.
Design/methodology/approach
Seven digital creative nascent graduate entrepreneurs were followed for up to five years. Although independently assessed as having promise of business success, they were young and lacked business experience. They were followed through six-monthly semi-structured interviews which investigated their business, creative and personal development. The interviews were transcribed and key statements manually coded and extracted for analysis to identify issues, tipping points and outcomes.
Findings
The primary contribution is the finding that, despite a promising beginning and very generous start-up support, all seven nascent ventures failed financially and most were closed down in favour of employment, particularly when personal issues such as parenthood sharpened the need for stable levels of income. The graduates demonstrated weaknesses in their commercial skills, especially selling (human capital) and insufficient utilization of networks (social capital) so that in the mainly mature low entry-barrier markets they were entering they were at a disadvantage from the outset. The research has also demonstrated the value of a real-time longitudinal qualitative approach to investigating businesses from business start-up to eventual exit.
Practical implications
The insights gained have practical implications for start-up and survival support for creative graduate businesses, as well as raising issues about the effectiveness of postgraduate entrepreneurship education and cultural policy relating to this economically important sub-sector.
Originality/value
The longitudinal approach has brought new insights and indicates several areas where more research would be valuable, especially in dealing with the consequences of unsuccessful nascent business ventures.
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Richard Hanage, Pekka Stenholm, Jonathan M. Scott and Mark A.P. Davies
The purpose of this paper is to respond to the call by McMullen and Dimov (2013) for a clearer understanding of entrepreneurial journeys by investigating the entrepreneurial…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to respond to the call by McMullen and Dimov (2013) for a clearer understanding of entrepreneurial journeys by investigating the entrepreneurial capitals and micro-processes of seven young early stage entrepreneurs who all exited their businesses within 3 years of start-up.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors analysed empirical data from concurrent in-depth interviews which generated rich longitudinal case studies. Theory-building then led to a proposed “Longitudinal Dynamic Process Framework” of entrepreneurial goals, processes and capitals.
Findings
The framework builds on prior studies by integrating entrepreneurial processes and decisions into two feedback loops based on continuous review and learning. It thereby enhances understanding of the dynamics of new business development and unfolds the early stage ventures entrepreneurs' business exits.
Research limitations/implications
The findings are based on a small purposive sample. However, the main implication for research and theory is showing how the entrepreneurial capitals are dynamic and influenced by entrepreneurs' environment, and also separating entrepreneurs' personal issues from their business issues.
Practical implications
The findings challenge some assumptions of policymakers and offer new insights for practitioners and early stage entrepreneurs. These include having more realistic case-studies of the entrepreneurial journey, recognizing the need to be agile and tenacious to cope with challenges, understanding how capitals can interact in complementary ways and that entrepreneurial processes can be used to leverage them at appropriate stages of the start-ups.
Originality/value
The concurrent longitudinal analysis and theory-building complements extant cross-sectional studies by identifying and analysing the detailed processes of actual business start-ups and exits. The proposed framework thereby adds coherence to earlier studies and helps to explain early stage entrepreneurial development, transformation of capitals and business exit.
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Carolyn Jackson, Tamsin McBride, Kim Manley, Belinda Dewar, Beverley Young, Assumpta Ryan and Debbie Roberts
This paper aims to share the findings of a realist evaluation study that set out to identify how to strengthen nursing, midwifery and allied health professions (NMAHP) leadership…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to share the findings of a realist evaluation study that set out to identify how to strengthen nursing, midwifery and allied health professions (NMAHP) leadership across all health-care contexts in the UK conducted between 2018 and 2019. The collaborative research team were from the Universities of Bangor, Ulster, the University of the West of Scotland and Canterbury Christ Church University.
Design/methodology/approach
Realist evaluation and appreciative inquiry were used across three phases of the study. Phase 1 analysed the literature to generate tentative programme theories about what works, tested out in Phase 2 through a national social media Twitter chat and sense-making workshops to help refine the theories in Phase 3. Cross-cutting themes were synthesised into a leadership framework identifying the strategies that work for practitioners in a range of settings and professions based on the context, mechanism and output configuration of realist evaluation. Stakeholders contributed to the ongoing interrogation, analysis and synthesis of project outcomes.
Findings
Five guiding lights of leadership, a metaphor for principles, were generated that enable and strengthen leadership across a range of contexts. – “The Light Between Us as interactions in our relationships”, “Seeing People’s Inner Light”, “Kindling the Spark of light and keeping it glowing”, “Lighting up the known and the yet to be known” and “Constellations of connected stars”.
Research limitations/implications
This study has illuminated the a-theoretical nature of the relationships between contexts, mechanisms and outcomes in the existing leadership literature. There is more scope to develop the tentative programme theories developed in this study with NMAHP leaders in a variety of different contexts. The outcomes of leadership research mostly focussed on staff outcomes and intermediate outcomes that are then linked to ultimate outcomes in both staff and patients (supplemental). More consideration needs to be given to the impact of leadership on patients, carers and their families.
Practical implications
The study has developed additional important resources to enable NMAHP leaders to demonstrate their leadership impact in a range of contexts through the leadership impact self-assessment framework which can be used for 360 feedback in the workplace using the appreciative assessment and reflection tool.
Social implications
Whilst policymakers note the increasing importance of leadership in facilitating the culture change needed to support health and care systems to adopt sustainable change at pace, there is still a prevailing focus on traditional approaches to individual leadership development as opposed to collective leadership across teams, services and systems. If this paper fails to understand how to transform leadership policy and education, then it will be impossible to support the workforce to adapt and flex to the increasingly complex contexts they are working in. This will serve to undermine system integration for health and social care if the capacity and capability for transformation are not attended to. Whilst there are ambitious global plans (WHO, 2015) to enable integrated services to be driven by citizen needs, there is still a considerable void in understanding how to authentically engage with people to ensure the transformation is driven by their needs as opposed to what the authors think they need. There is, therefore, a need for systems leaders with the full skillset required to enable integrated services across place-based systems, particularly clinicians who are able to break down barriers and silo working across boundaries through the credibility, leadership and facilitation expertise they provide.
Originality/value
The realist evaluation with additional synthesis from key stakeholders has provided new knowledge about the principles of effective NMAHP leadership in health and social care, presented in such a way that facilitates the use of the five guiding lights to inform further practice, education, research and policy development.
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Fleur Beaupert, Terry Carney, Mary Chiarella, Claudette Satchell, Merrilyn Walton, Belinda Bennett and Patrick Kelly
– The purpose of this paper is to explore approaches to the regulation of healthcare complaints and disciplinary processes.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore approaches to the regulation of healthcare complaints and disciplinary processes.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review was conducted across Medline, Sociological Abstracts, Web of Science, Google Scholar and the health, law and social sciences collections of Informit, using terms tapping both the complaints process and regulation generally.
Findings
A total of 118 papers dealing with regulation of health complaints or disciplinary proceedings were located. The review reveals a shift away from self-regulation towards greater external oversight, including innovative regulatory approaches including “networked governance” and flexible or “responsive” regulation. It reports growing interest in adoption of strategic and responsive approaches to health complaints governance, by rejecting traditional legal forms in favor of more strategic and responsive forms, taking account of the complexity of adverse health events by tailoring responses to individual circumstances of complainants and their local environments.
Originality/value
The challenge of how to collect and harness complaints data to improve the quality of healthcare at a systemic level warrants further research. Scope also exists for researching health complaints commissions and other “meta-regulatory” bodies to explore how to make these processes fairer and better able to meet the complex needs of complainants, health professionals, health services and society.
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Belinda Dewsnap and David Jobber
The study explores structural devices designed to enhance collaboration between sales and marketing groups. The paper aims to develop a conceptual framework of how such…
Abstract
Purpose
The study explores structural devices designed to enhance collaboration between sales and marketing groups. The paper aims to develop a conceptual framework of how such integrative devices link to higher levels of sales‐marketing collaboration and also to higher levels of business performance.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 20 in‐depth interviews and a review of the literature are used to examine the nature and effects of sales‐marketing integrative devices in UK consumer packaged goods firms.
Findings
The study identifies two main types of integrative device in operation: trade marketing and category management. The exploratory interviews highlight how these two types of integrative device operate, respectively, at operational and strategic levels. All of the organisations were found to operate some kind of integrative device. However, the organisations studied manifest different levels of collaboration between sales and marketing groups. The conclusion drawn from this and subsequently included in the conceptual framework is that it is the effectiveness of integrative devices, rather than their mere existence, that differentiates between higher and lower levels of sales‐marketing collaboration.
Practical implications
The effectiveness of sales‐marketing integrative devices appears to have positive effects for collaborative sales‐marketing intergroup relations. The results therefore support the development and effective use of such devices to enhance collaborative relations between sales and marketing.
Originality/value
This study reveals the importance and dimensions of effective sales‐marketing integrative devices and uses in‐depth interviews to support the development of a conceptual framework for future empirical testing. Specific hypotheses to test are developed, together with suggestions regarding the measurement of constructs.