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This article describes the aims and philosophy of a research centre focusing on the needs of older people and their family carers in West Sweden (ÄldreVäst Sjuhärad). The Centre aims to promote partnerships between older people, their carers and service agencies in order to improve the quality of life and quality of care. In achieving this aim it has adopted a model of working based on principles taken from a constructivist approach to research and evaluation. The quality or ‘authenticity’ criteria of this approach underpin the Centre's modus operandi and, it is suggested, could from the basis of a more user‐friendly perspective on research.

This chapter identifies the broad interdisciplinary ideologies of entitlement in order to situate and understand the potential theoretical informants of excessiveness in teacher entitlement. Although the authors' perspectives and experiences on the theme of entitlement are located in the US educational system, this is accompanied by an awareness of the need to examine the topic internationally since the topic needs to “be reconsidered in terms of contextual variables.”

Psychological and organizational entitlement were the prevalent strains of entitlement that emerged in the reviewed literature and “academic entitlement” specific to the field of education. Therefore, three strands, psychological, organizational and academic, form the thematic categories for this scoping literature review.

Most literature on “academic entitlement” deals with excessive entitlement amongst students. No reference to excessive teacher entitlement was found. However, specific gaps were found in: (1) what qualifies as excessive teacher entitlement, (2) research scholarship on teacher entitlement, and (3) entitlement studies specifically aimed at global reach and applicable to teachers.

The theoretical informants of teacher entitlement identified in this study indicate that the phenomenon goes beyond individual mindset to encompass the mediation of sociocultural and political factors in its construction, thus rendering a simple theory of excessiveness in association with teacher entitlement improbable at this time.

In managing an organisation, the modern executive has a bewildering number of philosophies and theories from which to choose and a seemingly limitless selection of buzzwords and fads. Upon what basis should the manager make decisions?

In recent years, large engineering consultancy firms in the Netherlands have implemented enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. The purpose of this study is to shed light on the changing role of information technology (IT) in these firms after implementing ERP.

This change is analysed by focusing on the changing strategic role of IT, the level of IT maturity, and the implementation methods and related organisational changes before and after the ERP implementation. Empirical case study research was conducted by analysing ERP implementations in ten large Dutch‐based engineering consultancy firms. The implementation of ERP within these firms is expected to be typical of the way large engineering consultancy firms in the Netherlands have dealt with this technology.

The study shows different but consistent fits among the strategic role of IT, the level of IT maturity, and the implementation method in the different stages of the ERP‐implementation.

In the future, ERP will play a strategic role within engineering consultancy firms if they adopt tools for the inter‐organisational standardisation of primary processes in the context of large construction projects. Inter‐organisational use of IT tools in engineering consultancy, however, requires a substantial increase of the intra‐organisational IT maturity and a strategic orientation. If this occurs then it can be anticipated that ERP will be used as an agent for radical change.

Consumers undertake little external search when buying packaged groceries, with considerable reliance being placed on memory. To undertake grocery shopping efficiently, without suffering from information overload, consumers seek a few “chunks” of information which they regard as having a high informational value. They interpret products as arrays of cues and they seek only those few cues with which they are confident in predicting a product′s performance. Brand name cues appear to be important information chunks. To understand better the attributes which consumers use when choosing a particular brand, a consumer research study was undertaken across six packaged grocery product fields. Confirming the earlier literature, between eight and ten attributes were used by consumers to make a brand choice and brand name information was frequently sought. Implications for marketing management are discussed.

Recent reports by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) signal a substantial yet unrealized deficit in patient safety innovation and improvement. With the aim of reducing this dilemma, we provide an introductory account of clinical error resulting from poorly designed systems by reviewing the relevant health care, management, psychology, and organizational accident sciences literature. First, we discuss the concept of health care error and describe two approaches to analyze error proliferation and causation. Next, by applying transdisciplinary evidence and knowledge to health care, we detail the attributes fundamental to constructing safer health care systems as embedded components within the complex adaptive environment. Then, the Health Care Error Proliferation Model explains the sequence of events typically leading to adverse outcomes, emphasizing the role that organizational and external cultures contribute to error identification, prevention, mitigation, and defense construction. Subsequently, we discuss the critical contribution health care leaders can make to address error as they strive to position their institution as a high reliability organization (HRO). Finally, we conclude that the future of patient safety depends on health care leaders adopting a system philosophy of error management, investigation, mitigation, and prevention. This change is accomplished when leaders apply the basic organizational accident and health care safety principles within their respective organizations.

This study aims to develop a modular and prescriptive digital transformation maturity model whose constituent elements have conceptual integrity as well as reveal the priority weights of maturity model components.

A literature review with a concept-centric analysis enlightens the characteristics of constituent parts and reveals the gaps for each component. Therefore, the interdependency network among model dimensions and priority weights are identified using decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL)-based analytic network process (ANP) method, including 19 industrial experts, and the results are robustly validated with three different analyses. Finally, the applicability of the developed maturity model and the constituent elements are validated in the context of the manufacturing industry with two case applications through a strict protocol.

Results obtained from DEMATEL-based ANP suggest that smart processes with a priority weight of 17.91% are the most important subdimension for reaching higher digital maturity. Customer integration and value, with a priority weight of 17.30%, is the second most important subdimension and talented employee, with 16.24%, is the third most important subdimension.

The developed maturity model enables companies to make factual assessments with specially designed measurement instrument including incrementally evolved questions, prioritize action fields and investment strategies according to maturity index calculations and adapt to the dynamic change in the environment with spiral maturity level identification.

A novel spiral maturity level identification is proposed with conceptual consistency for evolutionary progress to adapt to dynamic change. A measurement instrument that is incrementally structured with 234 statements and a measurement method that is based on the priority weights and leads to calculating the maturity index are designed to assess digital maturity, create an improvement roadmap to reach higher maturity levels and prioritize actions and investments without any external support and assistance.

Although sexual identity disclosure in the workplace can be related to heightened adversity for lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) employees, disclosure can also serve as an avenue for LGB employees to attain additional resources. Much of the work done in today’s organizations is done in team-based structures, making it likely that LGB individuals disclose to members of their work teams. However, very limited prior research has examined the associations of sexual identity disclosure within work team experiences. This paper aims to take a first step in addressing this gap in research on the experiences of LGB employees in the workplace.

This study takes a first step toward addressing this gap by examining the associations between LGB identity disclosure and critical team-specific attitudes and behaviors (i.e., trust in team, commitment to team, conflict with team, withdrawal from team) and the atemporal indirect role of perceived LGB identity support from the team through a cross-sectional survey of 159 employees.

Results demonstrated that perceptions of a supportive LGB team climate atemporally mediated the association between disclosure and relevant workplace variables. Specifically, disclosure of sexual identity to one’s work team is directly and indirectly, through perceived identity support, positively associated with trust and commitment toward the team. Furthermore, disclosure was indirectly, through perceived identity support, negatively associated with conflict and withdrawal from the team. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

The results of this study highlight the importance of perceived identity support when individuals disclosure their sexual orientation in a team context.

Equality of rights for individuals who identify as being lesbian or gay (LG) have emerged over recent years, and significant advancements have been made in recognition and support of LG rights in Ireland. Given the recent change in legal rights for the LG population, Civil Partnership 2010 and Marriage Equality 2015, this paper aims to explore the lived experience of daily occupations of LG adult’s in Ireland today, by applying an occupational justice lens.

A qualitative phenomenological research study, examined the concept of occupational justice as experienced by eight adults, who identified as being LG. Data was collected through face to face, semi-structured interviews.

Four themes capturing the complexity of each participant’s experience of daily occupations and occupational justice emerged, namely, transitions and personal journeys, celebrating differences, empowerment through occupation and inner conflict. Findings demonstrate how occupational justice is experienced as a complex, contextually embedded and dynamic process specific to each individual.

Future research in this area should aim to explore the experiences of both a younger and older LG population, along with those who identify as bisexual, transgender, queer or intersex to continue to raise awareness of the potential for occupational injustice within this minority population.

Although Black individuals are disproportionately affected by hypertension as evidenced by higher prevalence and lower control rates, few studies have investigated this disparity from the lens of those most affected by this condition. This chapter explores how Black men make sense of their hypertension and how they negotiate this condition within their everyday lives, illuminating how racism and power dynamics embedded within their environments affect their experiences living with hypertension.

Critical Race Theory tenets were utilized alongside a narrative design to elicit stories of hypertension experiences of four Black men living in Ontario, Canada. Eight semistructured in-depth interviews were conducted, transcribed, and thematically analyzed to illuminate how participants create meaning in regard to their hypertension.

Participants’ experiences with discrimination, isolation, and migration raise awareness of how power relations embedded within social, political, and historical contexts can affect hypertension experiences.

The findings of this study are bounded by its narrative context, and the characteristics of the individuals who shared their experiences.

This study highlights the importance of how discussions concerning hypertensive minority men should be broadened to include the voices of such men, as well as the structures that discriminate against and oppress minority individuals.