Search results

Reviews the issues arising out of an annual series of conferences, Information for Scotland, held since 1993. Three main contexts are identified and issues examined: marketisation and globalisation, convergence and regrouping, the Scottish Parliament and democratic renewal within the political context; the new agenda for learning within education; and the rise of electronic networks within technological change, are all discussed in the context of papers delivered at the conferences.

Research has shown that academic detailing (AD), which includes repeated in-person educational messages in an interactive format in a physician’s office, is among the most effective continuing medical education (CME) forms for improving prescribing practices and reducing drug costs. The purpose of this paper is to investigate AD’s feasibility and acceptability as an educational tool among psychiatrists and its ability to facilitate positive changes in antipsychotic prescribing.

All psychiatrists practicing in Southwestern Ontario, Canada were invited to participate. Participants (32/299(10.7 percent)) were provided with two educational sessions by a healthcare professional. Participants evaluated their AD visits and completed a pre- and post-AD questionnaire measuring various prescribing practice aspects.

A total of 26 out of 32 (81.3 percent) participants completed the post-AD evaluation; most of them (61.5 percent, n=16) felt that AD gave noteworthy information on tools for monitoring side-effects and 50.0 percent (n=13) endorsed using these in practice. In total, 13 participants (50.0 percent) felt that the AD sessions gave them helpful information on tools for documenting polypharmacy use, which 46.2 percent (n=12) indicated they would implement in their practice. No significant differences were found between participants’ pre- and post-assessment prescribing behaviors.

There is great need for raising AD program’s awareness and improving physician engagement in this process locally, provincially and nationally.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first AD program in Canada to target specialists solely. Participant psychiatrists accepted the AD intervention and perceived it as a feasible CME method.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of Queensland Police Service's version of COMPSTAT, known as “Operational Performance Reviews” (OPRs), on reported crime.

The paper employed interrupted time series analytic techniques to examine the impact of OPRs on various categories of reported crime in Queensland. The analyses assessed the extent to which OPRs were associated with crime reductions across the 29 police districts in Queensland.

The introduction of OPRs was found to be associated with a significant decrease in the total number of reported offences in Queensland. OPRs were found to have their strongest effect on reported unlawful entries into dwellings and unlawful entries into other properties. The overall finding was that OPRs appeared to be a cost‐effective approach to controlling crime, resulting in an overall saving of AUD$1,162,175.

The current study suggests that COMPSTAT generally – and Queensland's OPRs in particular – can be an effective police management mechanism, which results in observable reductions in reported crimes. Moreover, OPRs appear to be most effective at reducing property‐related crime. Modifications of this performance management process may help to generalize its effects to other types of crime.

This study was the first to provide a systematic examination of the impact of OPRs on a relatively large number of offence categories.

Dixons' company policy is totally marketing oriented, with finance playing a supporting role. During 1975/76 total sales were over £126m, of which Dixons were £69m and Westons £57m, and the group has expanded tenfold since 1971. There are now over 400 stores, compared with only 180 in 1971. This fourth “Analysis” article examines organisation policy, product and market development, pricing and customer service, and management control and information.

A brief guide to help school and college students who are thinking about going on to higher education has been published by the Department of Education & Science. Entitled Higher Education — finding your way, it has been written by David Dixon, a sixth‐form master at John Lyon School, Harrow, who has wide experience in advising on course and career choices. When deciding about higher education many decisions have to be taken; the booklet offers guidance to students by providing basic information and by trying to ensure that they ask themselves and others the right questions. The introduction to the booklet poses the question: Do I really want to go on to higher education? This is the first question you must ask yourself and it is the most important at this major crossroads of your life. Students are urged to be honest with themselves and realistic. Higher education is not a refuge for those who can't face the reality of having to earn their living. They are advised to choose a course that they think will interest them; they may be committing themselves for three years or more; and they must not typecast themselves — or allow anyone else to do so. This particularly applies to girls.

This paper describes some of the major elements of Marfleet Steel Company, a multidisciplinary case study which we developed with the help of Chris Dixon. The case attempted to address some of the educational problems which had arisen from our experiences with the group of students for whom it was first designed, but which we felt were typical problems of management education in general. The paper begins by discussing our own particular difficulties and their relation to the generalised problems of the education/experience gap; the common sense/education distinction; the importance of the unconscious in developing managerial “skills”; the need for integrating disparate disciplines; the difficulties of handling various and conflicting sources of information and the indispensability of action and involvement to successful learning. We go on to discuss our specific objectives and methodology in developing Marfleet, focusing on issues of verisimilitude, the provision and release of information and the importance of role‐playing to the “living case study”. We examine the running of the case, with formal inputs, monitoring the process and providing and organising feedback. Finally, we discuss the experiences of both staff and students on the case and suggest that the “living case study” method, though demanding for all participants, offers huge benefits in stimulating discovery and learning. It makes considerable advances in bridging the gap between the too often isolationist classroom case study or simulation and the organisationally problematic action‐learning project.

This paper reviews provision for open and distance learners across further and higher education libraries in the UK, focusing in particular on developments in Scotland. After offering a critical review of the literature which pays particular attention to international examples of best practice, the paper reports on the findings of a questionnaire survey conducted among all Scottish FE and HE libraries and selected English institutions and on a short programme of structured interviews conducted with HE librarians working at universities within the Glasgow area. Evidence from the review of literature, the questionnaire survey and the programme of interviews is drawn together and analysed in order to indicate the key areas which have to be addressed by libraries in institutions which are aspiring to offer open and distance learning education.

A nostrum much quoted in traditional contract law courses is ‘caveat emptor’ (let the buyer beware). Buyers had to look after themselves and protect their own interests. The laissez‐faire philosophy which lay behind this maxim took the view that the operation of unrestrained market forces was the best method for protecting consumers as a whole. Emphasis was placed on free competition providing alternative choices as the best way of satisfying consumer wants. In reality, even in the mid‐19th century when this philosophy was dominant, the consumer was not left without the protection of the law. Freedom of contract notionally existed and much judicial rhetoric was expended on justifying it but in reality the courts were quite astute in protecting consumers in situations where they were the victims of fraud, trading malpractice or unequal contracts.

The purpose of this paper is to report on fieldwork observation of direct age discrimination cases within employment tribunal (ET) hearings over a three-year period. The observation focussed upon whether the witness evidence revealed age stereotyping by employers and whether the ET panel addressed the stereotyping in its questioning and in its judgments. The observation was combined with an analysis of jurisprudence relating to direct age discrimination over an 11-year period.

This research analysed a sample of 90 ET judgments concerning direct age discrimination, which included five fieldwork observation cases concerning direct age discrimination in an ET.

This paper opens a window on age stereotyping in the workplace, illuminating the existence of age stereotypes in the context of ETs and the approach of the courts towards stereotypes in the sample is analysed.

The fieldwork observation is limited to one ET and may not necessarily be representative of all tribunals; however, the findings are supported by a wider qualitative analysis of ET judgments.

This paper provides pertinent learning outcomes for claimants, employers and key implications of legal decisions for human resource policy and practice in organisations.

The paper is the first to conduct fieldwork observation on age stereotyping in an ET, combined with a profile of direct age discrimination claims over the period studied.