Rommel O. Salvador, Adelina Gnanlet and Chris McDermott
The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of the use of unit-level functional flexibility on one particular patient outcome, unit-acquired pressure ulcers, and the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of the use of unit-level functional flexibility on one particular patient outcome, unit-acquired pressure ulcers, and the potential moderating influences of coworker support and workload.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses an archival approach, examining data from 68 hospital units.
Findings
The results indicate that a unit's higher use of functionally flexible nurses in one-quarter was associated with a higher number of pressure ulcers among the unit's patients the following quarter. This detrimental effect was significantly diminished when coworker support within the unit was high. Unit-level nurse workload did not have any moderating influence.
Research limitations/implications
One of the scholarly contributions of this study is that it links greater use of functionally flexible employees to a negative patient safety outcome at the unit level. As most of the variables used in the study were archival measures, future research could examine the replicability of these findings using other indicators and measures.
Practical implications
Beyond healthcare settings, the results prompt managers in industries where there has been growing use of functional flexibility (e.g., banking) to think about the associated unintended negative consequences. That said, the results also point to coworker instrumental support as a means by which to mitigate negative outcomes.
Originality/value
Although functional flexibility has been shown to positively correlate with a number of organizational performance indicators, this is one of the very few studies that has examined its negative consequences, particularly on patient safety.
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Vicki Oliveri, Glenn Porter, Pamela James, Jenny Wise and Chris Davies
This paper aims to explore how stolen Indian antiquities were purchased by a major Australian collecting institution, despite cultural protection policies designed to prevent such…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how stolen Indian antiquities were purchased by a major Australian collecting institution, despite cultural protection policies designed to prevent such inappropriate acquisitions. Using the acquisition of the Dancing Shiva as a case study, the purpose of this paper is to examine how collecting institutions such as the National Gallery of Australia experience difficulty when determining legal title through provenance research. The impact of incautious provenance research produces significant risk to the institution including damaging its social responsibility credentials and reputation when the acquisition is discovered to be stolen.
Design/methodology/approach
This research applies a qualitative case study method and analysis of sourced official policy documents, personal communication with actors involved with the case, media reports and published institutional statements.
Findings
This work identifies four contributing factors that resulted in the National Gallery of Australia’s acquisition of stolen Indian artefacts: a misguided level of trust of the art dealer based on his professional reputation; a problematic motivation to expand the gallery’s Asian art collection; a less transparent and judicious acquisition process; and a collaboration deficiency with cultural institutions in India. Crime preventative methods would appear to be a strategic priority to counter art crime of this nature.
Research limitations/implications
Additional research into how collecting institutions can be effectively supported to develop and implement crime preventative methods, especially less-resourced institutions, can potentially further enhance cultural heritage protection.
Practical implications
Fostering a higher degree of transparency and institutional collaboration can enhance cultural heritage protection, develop a greater level of institutional ethics and social responsibility and identify any potential criminal activity. Changing the culture of “owning” to “loaning” may provide a long-term solution for cultural heritage protection, rather than incentivising a black market with lucrative sums of money paid for artefacts.
Social implications
Art crime involving the illegal trade of antiquities is often misinterpreted as a victimless crime with no real harm to individuals. The loss of a temple deity statue produces significant spiritual anguish for the Indian community, as the statue is representative not only of their God but also of place. Collecting institutions have a social responsibility to prioritise robust provenance policy and acquisition practices above collection priorities.
Originality/value
Art crime is a relatively new area within criminology. This work examines issues involving major collecting institutions acquiring stolen cultural heritage artefacts and the impact art crime has on institutions and communities. This paper unpacks how motivations for growing more prestigious collections can override cultural sensibilities and ethical frameworks established to protect cultural heritage. It highlights the liabilities associated with purchasing antiquities without significant due diligence regarding provenance research and safeguarding cultural heritage. It also emphasises the importance for collecting institutions to establish robust acquisition policies to protect the reputation of the institutions and the communities they represent.
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Chris O'Riordan and Aoife McDermott
The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature and value of the clinical management role undertaken by primary care doctors in Ireland. To date, a majority of research has…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature and value of the clinical management role undertaken by primary care doctors in Ireland. To date, a majority of research has focused on clinical management roles in the acute sector.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents a sub‐set of data from a mixed methods study. In total, 14 semi‐structured interviews are drawn upon to identify the nature and value of the clinical management role in primary care.
Findings
Comparison with acute sector research identifies considerable differences in the nature of the clinical management role across sectors – and in the associated value proposition. Structural and role‐related contingencies affecting the potential value of clinical management roles in Irish primary care are discussed. Structural influences include the private ownership structure, low complexity and limited requirement for cross‐professional coordination. Role‐related influences include the primacy of the clinical identity, time constraints and lack of managerial training.
Research limitations/implications
The findings provide a limited basis for generalisation, premised on 14 interviews in one national context. However, given the international shift towards the provision of health services in primary care, they provide a research agenda for an important healthcare context.
Practical implications
The findings draw attention to the need for policy consideration of the value of the clinical manager role in primary care; how policy can support effective primary care management; and the need for specialised management training, which takes account of the small‐firm context.
Originality/value
The paper identifies that primary‐care clinical‐management roles focus on operational management and oversight and discusses the structural and role‐related factors which affect their efficacy.
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Dina H. Bassiouni and Chris Hackley
This paper aims to investigate children’s experience as consumers of video games and associated digital communication technology, and the role this experience may play in their…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate children’s experience as consumers of video games and associated digital communication technology, and the role this experience may play in their evolving senses of identity.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative depth interviews and discussions were conducted in a convenience sample consisting of 22 children of both genders aged 6-12 years, parents and video games company executives in the southwest of the UK. The fully transcribed data sets amounting to some 27,000 words were analysed using discourse analysis.
Findings
The findings revealed the heightened importance that the knowledge of video games plays in children’s strategies for negotiating their nascent sense of identity with regard to peer groups, family relationships and gender identity. Video games were not only a leisure activity but also a shared cultural resource that mediated personal and family relationships.
Research limitations/implications
The study is based on an interpretive analysis of data sets from a small convenience sample, and is therefore not statistically generalisable.
Practical implications
This study has suggested that there may be positive benefits to children’s video game playing related to aspects of socialisation, emotional development and economic decision-making. An important caveat is that these benefits arise in the context of games as part of a loving and ordered family life with a balance of activities.
Social implications
The study hints at the extent to which access to video games and associated digital communications technology has changed children’s experience of childhood and integrated them into the adult world in both positive and negative ways that were not available to previous generations.
Originality/value
This research addresses a gap in the field and adds to an understanding of the impact of video games on children’s development by drawing on children’s own expression of their subjective experience of games to engage with wider issues of relationships and self-identity.
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Although educators have written at length about children's attitudes and the implications these have upon their book preferences (e.g., Rue and Evard, 1963, “Student Evaluations…
Abstract
Although educators have written at length about children's attitudes and the implications these have upon their book preferences (e.g., Rue and Evard, 1963, “Student Evaluations of Newberry Award Books”; Smith, 1972, “The Popularity of Children's Fiction as a Function of Reading Ease and Related Factors”; Groves, 1949, “Concern with the Present: Are Books Meeting this Need?”), there seems to be little attempt to ascertain how much popular media affects children's reading and/or viewing patterns. National magazines such as Time and Newsweek have periodically reported on television's stronghold on today's youth. But their reports largely have not been based on any systematic gathering of data.
Chris Lonsdale and Nicholas le Mesurier
This paper aims to explore how social procurement (SP)-related capabilities might be developed within public authorities.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how social procurement (SP)-related capabilities might be developed within public authorities.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper utilizes qualitative research, based upon an inductive research design. This leads to a model to inform future research and practice.
Findings
Within the context of a “disconnected and nascent institutional field of practice” (Loosemore et al., 2023), the research generated rich data illustrating how certain English public authorities have developed relatively mature SP capabilities and applied them within the procurement process. The former included the appointment of “champions”; the founding of groups/units; training using webinars, online resources and case studies; “toolkits”, including policy documents, process guidance and measurement tools and networking. The latter included consultation with social value recipients and close engagement with both internal stakeholders and suppliers. The research also revealed the internal political skills of “champions”, as SP challenges incumbent logics regarding procurement objectives and practices.
Practical implications
First, the paper provides a potential roadmap for organisational capability development. Second, the research makes clear that public authorities should not seek to reinvent the capability wheel. Engagement with peers, advisory bodies, established “toolkits”, etc. is imperative, with much expertise publicly available. Third, it also suggests that smaller public authorities might seek to act as part of a consortium rather than go it alone, given the investment required for effective SP. Fourth, the research showed that practitioners need to understand SP as not simply a development challenge but also a political one.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the literature by analysing SP from the largely overlooked resource-based perspective, by providing rich data on buy-side practice, by usefully adding to the literature's emerging “practice theme” and by offering guidance to buy-side managers within public authorities.
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Michelle Brannen, Peter Fernandez, Thura Mack and Molly Royse
In order to effectively serve diverse communities, an organization must first create an internal culture of empathy and acceptance. An organizational read can be an opportunity to…
Abstract
In order to effectively serve diverse communities, an organization must first create an internal culture of empathy and acceptance. An organizational read can be an opportunity to create this culture as well as create times, spaces, and experiences to transfer knowledge and build community beyond an organization on a topic of importance that has an impact on the communities it serves. The University of Tennessee Libraries' 2019 organizational read program featured Robin DiAngelo's book White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, which helped create diversity conversations to enable personal changes that facilitated more effective engagement. This chapter provides an overview of the Libraries' organizational read, including its structure and evaluation, and discusses the success of the program in building community engagement and outreach. Examples are shared regarding how the program has impacted the Libraries' outreach efforts to three new communities, as well as details for future iterations and plans for the program to continue to expand beyond the Libraries. Ideas are provided for adapting the program to other types of communities that want to build bridges for change.
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Alcan Appointment. Alcan Plate Ltd has appointed Chris Howells marketing services manager UK and Europe, for the Coated Coil Division. He will be based at the division's Kitts…
Abstract
Alcan Appointment. Alcan Plate Ltd has appointed Chris Howells marketing services manager UK and Europe, for the Coated Coil Division. He will be based at the division's Kitts Green, Birmingham headquarters and will be responsible for developing and expanding the division's market and customer/ sales support services and activities.