A study of the logistics of container handling ofa large New South Wales, Australia, snackfoodmanufacturer is described with regard to theproduct and its export marketing. The…
Abstract
A study of the logistics of container handling of a large New South Wales, Australia, snackfood manufacturer is described with regard to the product and its export marketing. The areas of transport, environmental factors, flexibility and capacity are analysed, and some recommendations are given.
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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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The purpose of this paper is to determine the current state of play for workplace diversity disclosures, specifically disability by investigating the recently revised Australian…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine the current state of play for workplace diversity disclosures, specifically disability by investigating the recently revised Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations.
Design/methodology/approach
Case study methodology using documentary analysis techniques.
Findings
With gender diversity recommendations introduced in 2010 based on the business case perspective, the process of revising the ASX Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations provided an opportunity for the ASX to expand its diversity focus, with disability diversity specifically identified in the draft third edition. However, the key amendments were subsequently removed when the approved edition was released in 2014 with justification provided on the grounds that disability is a social issue, not a corporate governance issue. Through a widening of the corporate governance lens beyond the business case perspective, this paper calls for a re-imagining of corporate governance to incorporate an ethical viewpoint on diversity.
Social implications
Disability diversity disclosure is merely the first step towards reform in helping to bring about deep change within organisations. Without both administrative reform and institutional reform, any future revisitation of the disability disclosure recommendations may become little more than a “tick the box” approach.
Originality/value
The paper is unique in reviewing the ASX Corporate Governance developmental processes towards workplace disability in its recently revised edition.
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Chris Hallinan and Steven Jackson
This chapter adopts a reflective approach exploring and setting out the contrasting factors that led to the establishment of the subdiscipline in both countries. The factors…
Abstract
This chapter adopts a reflective approach exploring and setting out the contrasting factors that led to the establishment of the subdiscipline in both countries. The factors included the role of key individuals and their respective academic backgrounds and specialisations within each country’s higher education system. Furthermore, attention is given to the particular circumstances in a case analysis comparison of the oldest programs in Aotearoa/New Zealand and Australia. This sheds light upon the factors linked to the disproportionate success profile for the sociology of sport in Aotearoa/New Zealand. An analysis of scholars and programs within each country reveals important differences aligned with the politics of funding and the variety and extent of systematic structures. Additionally, scholars’ specialisations and preferences reveal a broad offering but are primarily linked to globalisation, gender relations, indigeneity and race relations, social policy, and media studies. This work has been undertaken variously via the critical tradition including Birmingham School cultural studies, ethnographic and qualitative approaches and, more recently by some, a postmodern poststructuralist trend. Lastly, along with a brief discussion of current issues, future challenges are set out.
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Karin A. Spenser, Ray Bull, Lucy Betts and Belinda Winder
Prosociality is considered important in the study of offenders and associated cognitive skills: theory of mind, empathic understanding and moral reasoning, are said to enable…
Abstract
Purpose
Prosociality is considered important in the study of offenders and associated cognitive skills: theory of mind, empathic understanding and moral reasoning, are said to enable self-control and reduce the risk of offending behaviours. Previous research has made associations between these skills and executive functioning; however, research into a link between them, in an offending population, is limited. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
To further understand the practicalities of this, the present study considered the predictive abilities of the constructs believed to underpin executive functioning: working memory, cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control, in relation to theory of mind, empathic understanding and moral reasoning. In total, 200 male and female offenders completed measures in all six constructs.
Findings
Using path analysis working memory was demonstrated to be predictive of theory of mind and empathic understanding, cognitive flexibility was found to be predictive of theory of mind, and inhibitory control was found to be predictive of theory of mind, empathic understanding and moral reasoning.
Research limitations/implications
The study focussed on offenders serving a custodial sentence of six months or less and did not differentiate between crime categories or take into consideration the socio-environmental backgrounds or ethnicity. Therefore, considering these things could further establish the generalisability of the current findings. It is noted that the more focussed the intervention is to the specific needs of an offender, the greater the impact will be. Therefore, pre-screening tests for the constructs discussed may be able to more accurately assess an offenders’ suitability for a programme, or indeed tailor it to meet the specific needs of that person.
Practical implications
These findings may enable practitioners to more accurately assess offenders’ suitability for interventions aimed at reducing offending behaviours by improving levels of prosociality and develop more focussed programmes to meet the specific needs of individual offenders to reduce re-offending.
Social implications
As recommended in the study, a more tailored approach to offender rehabilitation may be a potential aid to reducing levels of recidivism.
Originality/value
The present study adds to the literature as it is the first to consider whether the constructs of executive functioning can predict levels of theory of mind, empathic understanding and moral reasoning and so provide a more accurate method in assessing the cognitive abilities of offenders prior to participation in rehabilitative interventions.
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Kylie L Kingston, Belinda Luke and Eija Vinnari
The purpose of this research was to seek a more refined understanding of the ways beneficiaries are evaluating nonprofit organisations (NPO), from the beneficiaries’ perspectives…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research was to seek a more refined understanding of the ways beneficiaries are evaluating nonprofit organisations (NPO), from the beneficiaries’ perspectives. Understanding evaluation from beneficiaries’ perspectives is not only important theoretically, but also for enabling evaluation processes to authentically contribute toward enhanced downward accountability.
Design/methodology/approach
Theorisation of immanent evaluation (Deleuze, 1998), the ontological view that there is no form imposed from outside or above but instead an articulation from within, was drawn upon to direct attention toward understanding beneficiaries’ inherent productive evaluative capacity and agency. This theorisation enabled a different way of observing and understanding beneficiary evaluation within a qualitative case study conducted in an Australian NPO. Data was sourced from interviews, observations and document analysis.
Findings
Findings suggest beneficiaries largely viewed the NPO’s evaluation processes to be unsatisfactory toward meeting their needs in relation to meaningful engagement. However, beneficiaries’ evaluative capacity was noted to include their own evaluation criteria and evaluative expressions indicating the production of an evaluative account. Here beneficiaries’ evaluative expressions are representations of events of evaluation, initiated by them. Findings enable a more refined understanding of beneficiaries’ engagement in evaluation, moving beyond traditional considerations of participative evaluation, and illustrating beneficiaries’ agency and active role in the production of evaluation.
Originality/value
This research furthers understandings of downward accountability and participative evaluation by detailing how beneficiaries’ evaluative capacity is part of an NPO’s evaluative environment, and as such, conceives of an immanent theory of beneficiary evaluation. Findings highlight how evaluation, as a mechanism of downward accountability, functions from beneficiaries’ perspectives and the type of organisational environment capable of enabling and better supporting beneficiary engagement.
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Belinda Li, Virginia Maclaren and Tammara Soma
The purpose of this paper is to understand determinants of food waste through analysing patterns of practices including shopping, planning, consumption of leftovers and attitudes…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand determinants of food waste through analysing patterns of practices including shopping, planning, consumption of leftovers and attitudes around best-before dates.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey and waste composition analysis of 142 households was conducted in the City of Toronto. Bivariate analyses and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using a structural equation model were used to identify relationships between per capita food waste, household socio-demographic characteristics and household food practices.
Findings
Constructs related to planning practices and best-before date practices were identified through the CFA. Household size and the best-before construct were negatively correlated with per capita food waste. The planning construct had no correlation, which may be attributed to the influence of the retail environment in encouraging unplanned purchases. The best-before construct was significantly correlated with the presence of children in the home, an indicator of the compromises that parents make in domestic provisioning to ensure healthy foods for their children, such as more caution in handling items after their best-before dates.
Originality/value
This is the first study of its kind that uses directly measured per capita food waste from a waste composition study in a structural equation model with a construct related to best-before dates to determine drivers of food waste. It is also the first to find that children in the home can have an indirect influence on food waste through the household's best-before practices.
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Belinda Johnson White and Keith Hollingsworth
This article demonstrates how the Leadership and Professional Development course at Morehouse College, an all-male historically Black college in Atlanta, Georgia, goes beyond…
Abstract
This article demonstrates how the Leadership and Professional Development course at Morehouse College, an all-male historically Black college in Atlanta, Georgia, goes beyond teaching traditional leadership and professional development skills and exposes students to the impact of being a “professional of color” in corporate America. This paper will explore the need for African Americans to have skills related to corporate success that go beyond those needed by Whites and the pedagogical techniques used to develop the additional skill sets in undergraduate students of color. Anecdotal and empirical evidence regarding the effectiveness of the course is provided.
Samantha Russell and Belinda Siesmaa
Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) has been widely used in a number of different settings with published outcomes and literature supporting its validity and efficacy. What is…
Abstract
Purpose
Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) has been widely used in a number of different settings with published outcomes and literature supporting its validity and efficacy. What is less understood is DBT’s application to forensic populations. The purpose of this paper is to qualitatively explore the experiences of high risk and adult male forensic clients (diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD)) in a forensic adapted version of DBT.
Design/methodology/approach
Six clients who had completed four modules of DBT and individual therapy engaged in semi-structured interviews which were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis.
Findings
The findings identified emerging themes relating to group processes and treatment outcomes. Specifically, the importance of motivation, shared learning, professionalism, reinforcement and reflection in creating a positive experience of DBT were identified. In addition clients identified feeling supported, a sense of belonging, personal achievement, increased knowledge and skills application as being part of their experience of DBT.
Research limitations/implications
Whilst efforts were made to manage limitations, potential confounders include the impact of the researcher’s direct involvement in the facilitation of DBT and the small sample size.
Practical implications
This study provides support for the use of DBT with forensic males diagnosed with ASPD and BPD and the importance of the group component to the treatment modality. It emphasises the importance of group cohesion and the development of interpersonal factors including feeling supported, sense of belonging and a sense of achievement.
Originality/value
This paper provides a unique contribution to the understanding of the application of DBT with forensic male clients with personality disorder. It is the first known study to use qualitative methods to explore forensic male clients’ experiences of group and individual DBT. This paper provides insight into the key themes of clients’ experiences of DBT. These identified themes lend support to the importance of motivation of clients and the experience of shared learning, reinforcement and reflection. Furthermore, feeling supported, having a sense of belonging and a sense of personal achievement were identified as key to the positive experience of clients.
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Oluwatoyin Sorinmade, Geraldine Strathdee, Catherine Wilson, Belinda Kessel and Obafemi Odesanya
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate health professionals' fidelity to the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) principles on determining mental capacity and arriving at best interests…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate health professionals' fidelity to the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) principles on determining mental capacity and arriving at best interests decisions in the care of individuals found to lack the relevant decision‐making capacity.
Design/methodology/approach
A retrospective review of the case records of 68 patients previously determined by clinicians as lacking mental capacity in at least one of three identified areas: treatment consenting capacity, capacity to decide on place of abode and capacity to manage financial affairs, was conducted. Notes were examined to determine how mental capacity was assessed and the process of arriving at best interests decisions in the care of the non‐capacitous individuals.
Findings
It was difficult to locate relevant entries as there were no designated folders for MCA related issues. There were (mostly) minimal entries made about the assessment process, only patchy documentation of the legal criteria used in capacity assessment, and which of the criteria the patient did not fulfil. Clinicians only partially followed the procedure prescribed by the MCA in determining best interests of non‐capacitous patients.
Originality/value
This paper highlights the need for health care professionals to better adhere to the principles of the MCA in assessing mental capacity and in determining the best interests of non‐capacitous individuals. Health care professionals and the public need to be better informed of the provisions of the MCA.