Meredith Amy Perry, Hilda Mulligan and Catherine Smith
The global ageing population places increased demands on the professional caregiver workforce. Literature reveals that although many in this workforce experience stress and…
Abstract
Purpose
The global ageing population places increased demands on the professional caregiver workforce. Literature reveals that although many in this workforce experience stress and fatigue, they also experience high levels of work satisfaction. These findings seem contradictory and therefore warrant further qualitative exploration. The purpose of this paper is to explore how professional caregivers describe their health and well-being and to understand the interplay of work and life on health and well-being.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected via semi-structured individual or group interviews with 31 professional caregivers from in-home or residential care situations in three geographic locations across NZ and analysed for themes. The general inductive approach was used for data analysis.
Findings
The authors present two themes: “A holistic interpretation of health” discusses caregivers’ perceptions of the meaning of health and well-being. Three interrelated sub-themes (“Fulfilment of an inherent nature”, “Obligation to look after oneself”, and “Risk management”) reflect the interplay of factors which influence health and well-being as a caregiver and make up the second theme of “Being in tune”. If balance was not achieved, caregivers recognised this as a risk to their health and well-being, especially to their psychological health, and considered leaving the profession.
Originality/value
The authors identified that caregivers considered health and well-being from a holistic perspective. They had insight into factors influencing their health. Despite high levels of stress, there was an overall positive perception of health and well-being that appears due in part to participating in a profession that fulfils an inherent nature. Collaborative problem solving between management and workforce, alongside recognising and affirming the unique skills of this workforce may help to empower caregiver resilience.
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This paper reports on a recent Australian study of 20 “copreneurial” marital partners who own and manage a small business together. For “copreneurs”, the disadvantages of living…
Abstract
This paper reports on a recent Australian study of 20 “copreneurial” marital partners who own and manage a small business together. For “copreneurs”, the disadvantages of living and working together are outweighed by opportunities for maximum autonomy and personal control, and working together in a common cause which capitalises on individual strengths and values. Work and family management is enhanced by this form of family business, allowing partners to combine career and home duties flexibly and effectively. Traditional gender roles are apparent in “copreneurship”, with women predominantly responsible for the home domain and family care. “Copreneurship” helps promote a “family‐friendly” work environment for the business partners and for their employees. This “family‐friendly” culture also fosters an entrepreneurial spirit in children, which bodes well for the next generation of small business owners and salaried employees.
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Hazem Abdulla, Catherine McCauley-Smith and Sina Moradi
Project managers' competencies contribute toward project success in a considerable manner. The significance of technical competencies' (TCs) contribution toward success in Oil and…
Abstract
Purpose
Project managers' competencies contribute toward project success in a considerable manner. The significance of technical competencies' (TCs) contribution toward success in Oil and Gas (O&G) projects is even higher due to the complexity and the technology-intensive nature of these projects. However, technical competencies have often been overlooked in favor of behavioral competencies or simply identified and listed in terms of their significance. Thus, there is currently very limited research-based knowledge concerning the contribution mechanisms of technical competencies toward project execution success. Hence, the aim of this study is to explore the contribution mechanisms of TCs toward success in O&G projects.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study was employed as the research strategy through which data was collected from project professionals in O&G projects in the Kingdom of Bahrain using semi-structured interviews. Transcripts of the interviews were then analyzed through thematic analysis method with the aid of NVIVO 12.
Findings
The findings reveal six mechanisms through which technical competencies of project managers contribute toward execution success in O&G projects. TCs not only act as a launch pad toward project success, but also help in optimizing engineering designs throughout the project life cycle.
Originality/value
Instead of simply identifying and listing TCs, the obtained results enhance our current understanding of their contribution mechanisms toward project success in O&G projects.
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Discusses the gendered culture of management education and its role in perpetuating a gendered culture of management, which in turn inhibits the equitable progression of women…
Abstract
Discusses the gendered culture of management education and its role in perpetuating a gendered culture of management, which in turn inhibits the equitable progression of women through the ranks of management. Reports findings from a recent Australian survey which revealed a masculine bias in management education, which disadvantages both female and male learners. Perceived gender paradigms of male educators may result in women learners being more disadvantaged than men, and issues of concern to male students can cause much greater concern to their female counterparts. The research led to the production of an award‐winning video, Gender Issues in Management: Capitalising on Awareness of Diversity. This constitutes an additional teaching resource for management educators, trainers, consultants and others working on diversity issues.
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Many mobile devices today are equipped with diversified sensors that enable the acquisition of rich user context (e.g. GPS location, phone activity) for application utilization…
Abstract
Purpose
Many mobile devices today are equipped with diversified sensors that enable the acquisition of rich user context (e.g. GPS location, phone activity) for application utilization. With the growing usage of mobile devices in daily life, the problem of conveniently and promptly searching a piece of content that a user has viewed on his/her device before becomes more and more crucial. This paper aims to propose a context‐based query processing framework called UCQP that supports unstructured queries for content search in a user's access history.
Design/methodology/approach
Beyond the keywords related to the content properties, a context query in the framework is specified with freeform phrases that describe high‐level mobile contexts of the user at a previous time when the user viewed the searched content.
Findings
Experimental results on a prototype system of the framework illustrate its good accuracy and small response time.
Originality/value
To tolerate the incompleteness and inaccuracy in user query texts caused by fading human memory, the authors develop several semantic query parsers that are tailored for different types of contexts using natural language processing and information retrieval techniques. The authors further propose a similarity model to rank the multiple result contents of a query by comparing context entities specified in the query and historical context values associated with each result.
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David F. Elloy and Catherine Smith
The dual‐career phenomenon has become increasingly prevalent worldwide. For couples juggling multiple demands, this lifestyle often generates stresses and strains at home and at…
Abstract
The dual‐career phenomenon has become increasingly prevalent worldwide. For couples juggling multiple demands, this lifestyle often generates stresses and strains at home and at work, which can have negative consequences for organizations. Most empirical research into this lifestyle often generates stresses and strains at home and at work, which can have negative consequences for organizations. Most empirical research into this lifestyle has been conducted in the United States and Britain, and very little has been carried out in Australia. This particular study, based on data from an Australian sample of 62 lawyers and accountants, analysed the antecedents of work‐family conflict among dual‐career couples. The results confirm that overload, role conflict and role conflict significantly effect work‐family conflict. To enhance labour productivity and organisational effectiveness, therefore, human resource managers need to take account of the potential for dual‐career overload and conflict, and respond flexibly to dual‐career employee status.
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David F. Elloy and Catherine R. Smith
The dual‐career phenomenon has become increasingly prevalent worldwide. This lifestyle often generates stresses and strains, at home and at work, for couples juggling multiple…
Abstract
The dual‐career phenomenon has become increasingly prevalent worldwide. This lifestyle often generates stresses and strains, at home and at work, for couples juggling multiple demands, which can have negative consequences for organisations. While most empirical research into this lifestyle has been conducted in the United States and Britain, very little has been carried out in Australia. This particular study, based on data from an Australian sample of 121 lawyers and accountants, was therefore aimed at analysing the levels of stress, work‐family conflict and overload among dual‐career and single‐career couples. The results confirm that dual‐career couples experience higher levels of stress, work‐family conflict and overload than single‐career couples. To enhance labour productivity and organisational effectiveness, human resource managers therefore need to take account of the potential for dual‐career stress, overload and conflict, and respond flexibly to dual‐career employee status.
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Catherine Smith, Bob Norton and Debbie Ellis
Outlines Leavitt′s Diamond, which postulates that it is rare forany change to occur in isolation. Of four interdependent variables– tasks, structure, technology, and people �…
Abstract
Outlines Leavitt′s Diamond, which postulates that it is rare for any change to occur in isolation. Of four interdependent variables – tasks, structure, technology, and people – change to only one or two of the variables will cause problems. Applies Leavitt′s theory to the changes which have taken place in the Management Information Centre of the British Institute of Management over the past ten years, which included relocation, computerization and charging, all of which impacted on services immediately. Changes to the organization structure took place only much later. The case study also shows the impact on staff and services when structure becomes the first of the variables to be changed and concludes with some comments on the significance of management style in managing change.
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Recognizing changing demographics and the importance of balancingthe workforce, proactive organizations are now pursuing deliberatestrategies to improve women′s employment and…
Abstract
Recognizing changing demographics and the importance of balancing the workforce, proactive organizations are now pursuing deliberate strategies to improve women′s employment and career opportunities for women at all levels of industry. Describes some parallel Australian initiatives. These include moves to facilitate the combination of work and family responsibilities, particularly beneficial for women. These initiatives bode well for women′s career development generally, and particularly within the realms of senior management.
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Clive Bingley, Allan Bunch and Edwin Fleming
TOP TITLES, measured by the number of loans from Dumbarton District Libraries last year, were newish books by the following ten authors: Wilbur Smith, Jeffrey Archer, Catherine…
Abstract
TOP TITLES, measured by the number of loans from Dumbarton District Libraries last year, were newish books by the following ten authors: Wilbur Smith, Jeffrey Archer, Catherine Cookson, Virginia Andrews, Danielle Steel, C McCullough, Susan Howatch, Desmond Bagley, Belva Plain, Douglas Reeman. (How can anyone be willing to go through life called ‘Belva Plain’?) The most popular non‐fiction writer was James Herriot, and for children (can you guess?), Enid Blyton.