G.R.M. Scholten and T.E.D. van der Grinten
Analyses the way hospital organisation models handle the relationship between medical specialists and hospital management. All models that have been developed during the last ten…
Abstract
Analyses the way hospital organisation models handle the relationship between medical specialists and hospital management. All models that have been developed during the last ten years seek to integrate the medical specialists in the hospital organisation by formally subordinating them to the hospital management. However, recently a new model has come to the fore ‐ the “co‐makership” ‐ in which the hospital management and the medical specialists are assigned a position alongside each other.
Details
Keywords
Daan Botje, Thomas Plochg, Niek S. Klazinga and Cordula Wagner
For accountability purposes, performance information sharing and clear divisions of responsibilities between medical specialists and executive boards are critical. The purpose of…
Abstract
Purpose
For accountability purposes, performance information sharing and clear divisions of responsibilities between medical specialists and executive boards are critical. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether these aspects of clinical governance have been taken up by executive boards and medical specialists in the Netherlands.
Design/methodology/approach
This cross-sectional study aimed to explore the information-sharing between medical specialists and executive boards in Dutch hospitals as one key aspect of clinical governance. Between November 2010 and February 2011, 67 medical staff board chairs and 40 chief executive officers completed an online questionnaire concerning information-sharing and the clinical governance practices within their respective hospitals.
Findings
Almost all respondents acknowledged the importance of information-sharing. However, the actual sharing differed per type of performance information. Policy/management information was shared more often than patient care information. Similarly, medical specialists differ in the degree of responsibility the take for specific clinical governance tasks. Almost all were involved in managing complication registries (99 per cent), while few managed hospital accreditation (55 per cent).
Research limitations/implications
With executive boards and medical specialists being increasingly dependent of a shared budget, they have an extra incentive to share information and to take up clinical governance tasks. The study showed that Dutch medical specialists are sharing many types of performance information with the executive board, but that this should be increased to comply with the codes. Thus far, few hospital managers in the study have formalised this in an information protocol, which is potentially the next step for other hospital staff to incorporate as well. Those who have an information protocol seem to be aware of the business case for quality.
Originality/value
This study is the first attempt to explore to what extent Dutch medical specialists share performance information with their respective executive boards and take up clinical governance tasks.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to counter-propose a new approach of SWOT analysis, which can be used in the strategic planning of the contemporary organizations.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to counter-propose a new approach of SWOT analysis, which can be used in the strategic planning of the contemporary organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper, after presenting the conceptual context of the existing (conventional) SWOT analysis, presents the existing criticism within the international literature. Then, it articulates gradually the new evolutionary and correlative SWOT analysis, by using the approaches and the literature of evolutionary economics, and the Stra.Tech.Man approach in business dynamics. In conclusion, it presents the new conceptual framework on which a new correlative SWOT analysis can be based.
Findings
Main finding of this research is that the interpretation of the conventional SWOT analysis tends to study the strengths and the weaknesses of the business with an analytical dichotomy. The conventional SWOT analysis conceptualizes, usually implicitly, the opportunities and threats of the external environment as having the same impact to all the socioeconomic agents, without exception. However, by using a correlative interpretation of SWOT analysis, we understand that the opportunities and threats are always “potential,” depending on the organization’s strategic capability to exercise its comparative strengths and weaknesses.
Originality/value
In the existing literature of SWOT analysis, despite the growing criticism, there is no critique that can give systemic and correlative answers to the articulation of business strategy in SWOT terms. The Stra.Tech.Man approach, also, is a conceptual framework to study the evolutionary adaptation of all the kinds of socioeconomic organizations.
Details
Keywords
Sylwia Przytuła and Patrycja Matusz
Migration is an increasing challenge faced by countries, institutions and individuals both for sending and host countries. The integration of migrants is a multidimensional issue…
Abstract
Migration is an increasing challenge faced by countries, institutions and individuals both for sending and host countries. The integration of migrants is a multidimensional issue, including several areas, for example, social, cultural, economic, legal and politics. These dimensions can strengthen each other in equal areas, but the economic and social dimensions seem to be the most important regarding immigrant inclusion in the society of the country of settlement.
In a macro perspective, there have been few national models of integrating migrants which are culturally and historically specific in various European countries, but the current approach is focussing on interculturalism.
Considering migrant integration in a meso perspective, one may point to the growing importance of multilevel governance engaging many actors in this process (e.g., municipalities, cities, nongovernmental organizations, SMEs, corporations, churches, etc.), which are partners for national-level policymakers.
The individual effort for successful integration of migrants depends on the host country nationals' attitude, openness and tolerance as well as on incoming foreigners.
Details
Keywords
Ethan W. Gossett and P. D. Harms
Acute and chronic pain affects more Americans than heart disease, diabetes, and cancer combined. Conservative estimates suggest the total economic cost of pain in the United…
Abstract
Acute and chronic pain affects more Americans than heart disease, diabetes, and cancer combined. Conservative estimates suggest the total economic cost of pain in the United States is $600 billion, and more than half of this cost is due to lost productivity, such as absenteeism, presenteeism, and turnover. In addition, an escalating opioid epidemic in the United States and abroad spurred by a lack of safe and effective pain management has magnified challenges to address pain in the workforce, particularly the military. Thus, it is imperative to investigate the organizational antecedents and consequences of pain and prescription opioid misuse (POM). This chapter provides a brief introduction to pain processing and the biopsychosocial model of pain, emphasizing the relationship between stress, emotional well-being, and pain in the military workforce. We review personal and organizational risk and protective factors for pain, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, optimism, perceived organizational support, and job strain. Further, we discuss the potential adverse impact of pain on organizational outcomes, the rise of POM in military personnel, and risk factors for POM in civilian and military populations. Lastly, we propose potential organizational interventions to mitigate pain and provide the future directions for work, stress, and pain research.
Linda Steuer-Dankert and Carmen Leicht-Scholten
Diversity management is seen as a decisive factor for ensuring the development of socially responsible innovations (Beacham and Shambaugh, 2011; Sonntag, 2014; López, 2015;…
Abstract
Diversity management is seen as a decisive factor for ensuring the development of socially responsible innovations (Beacham and Shambaugh, 2011; Sonntag, 2014; López, 2015; Uebernickel et al., 2015). However, many diversity management approaches fail due to a one-sided consideration of diversity (Thomas and Ely, 2019) and a lacking linkage between the prevailing organizational culture and the perception of diversity in the respective organization. Reflecting the importance of diverse perspectives, research institutions have a special responsibility to actively deal with diversity, as they are publicly funded institutions that drive socially relevant development and educate future generations of developers, leaders and decision-makers. Nevertheless, only a few studies have so far dealt with the influence of the special framework conditions of the science system on diversity management. Focusing on the interdependency of the organizational culture and diversity management especially in a university research environment, this chapter aims in a first step to provide a theoretical perspective on the framework conditions of a complex research organization in Germany in order to understand the system-specific factors influencing diversity management. In a second step, an exploratory cluster analysis is presented, investigating the perception of diversity and possible influencing factors moderating this perception in a scientific organization. Combining both steps, the results show specific mechanisms and structures of the university research environment that have an impact on diversity management and rigidify structural barriers preventing an increase of diversity. The quantitative study also points out that the management level takes on a special role model function in the scientific system and thus has an influence on the perception of diversity. Consequently, when developing diversity management approaches in research organizations, it is necessary to consider the top-down direction of action, the special nature of organizational structures in the university research environment as well as the special role of the professorial level as role model for the scientific staff.
Details
Keywords
Carrier sanctions oblige commercial entities to check the validity of passengers’ documents and deny boarding where no valid documents are shown, or where fraud is suspected. The…
Abstract
Carrier sanctions oblige commercial entities to check the validity of passengers’ documents and deny boarding where no valid documents are shown, or where fraud is suspected. The necessity to flee to safer countries at a time of particular political unrest has necessitated the use of fraudulent documents, which the sanction regime and subsequent case law have attempted to curtail. However, increased investigation into legitimacy of travel documents has induced the taking of dangerous routes to reach Britain. In particular, danger is posed by oncoming traffic, and where entry is attempted clandestinely, within lorries. Men, accounting for the majority of irregular entrants, are more likely to experience danger. Due to the very nature of their precarious position, potential asylum seekers may not hold travel documents, which induce the taking of dangerous routes to make asylum applications once in Britain. This chapter will attempts to link carrier sanctions, danger, and humanitarian obligations.
Details
Keywords
This bibliography is offered as a practical guide to published papers, conference proceedings papers and theses/dissertations on the finite element (FE) and boundary element (BE…
Abstract
This bibliography is offered as a practical guide to published papers, conference proceedings papers and theses/dissertations on the finite element (FE) and boundary element (BE) applications in different fields of biomechanics between 1976 and 1991. The aim of this paper is to help the users of FE and BE techniques to get better value from a large collection of papers on the subjects. Categories in biomechanics included in this survey are: orthopaedic mechanics, dental mechanics, cardiovascular mechanics, soft tissue mechanics, biological flow, impact injury, and other fields of applications. More than 900 references are listed.
Details
Keywords
Larissa Statsenko, Ruchini Senarath Jayasinghe and Claudine Soosay
This study aims to investigate supply network (SN) resilience capabilities across the organizational, supply chain (SC) and industry levels by drawing on the complex adaptive…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate supply network (SN) resilience capabilities across the organizational, supply chain (SC) and industry levels by drawing on the complex adaptive systems (CASs) theory and the social–ecological perspective of resilience. An empirically grounded framework operationalizes the concept of social–ecological resilience by expounding resilience capabilities across phases of the CAS adaptive cycle.
Design/methodology/approach
This research uses a qualitative multiple case study approach. It draws on the case of the Australian Defence Manufacturing SN (ADM SN) during COVID-19 disruptions. A total of 28 interviews with senior decision makers from 17 companies, complemented by 5 interviews with the Australian Defence SC organizations and secondary data analysis, support the findings.
Findings
Individual organizations’ SC visibility and flexibility enabled by effective risk management and collaboration enhance the ability of the SN to anticipate and prepare for disruption. At the same time, the strength of SC relationships reduces resilience. SN disruption response velocity is enabled by inventory redundancy, process flexibility at the organizational level and visibility and collaboration at the SC level. Institutional support at the national industry level, development of value-adding capabilities and manufacturing process flexibility at the organizational level enhances the SN’s ability to re-organize. The transition from hierarchical to decentralized collaborative governance enhances SN resilience.
Practical implications
From a practitioner’s perspective, the findings highlight the need to embrace a broader view of SC beyond immediate tiers. Decision-makers in multinational companies must recognize the long-term impact of their procurement decisions on the supplier ecosystem. Developing local supplier capabilities rather than relying on established global SCs will pay off with future resilience. It, however, demands substantial investment and radical changes across all SC tiers. The lesson for smaller firms is not to over-rely on the existing relationships with supply partners. Although trust-based relationships and collaboration are essential, over-commitment can be counterproductive during global disruptions. With a lack of visibility and control over the SC, operational flexibility is critical for small firms to adapt to shifts in supply and demand.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this empirical research is one of the first attempts to operationalize the social–ecological perspective of SN resilience. Evidence-based theoretical propositions contribute to the emerging conversation about the CAS nature of resilience by demonstrating the multi-level effects of resilience capabilities.
Details
Keywords
Anna Maria Migdał, Łukasz Sułkowski and Aleksandra Zając
Poland has traditionally been perceived as a net emigration country. The scale of the recent inflow of foreigners to the country, however, places Poland among those states of…
Abstract
Poland has traditionally been perceived as a net emigration country. The scale of the recent inflow of foreigners to the country, however, places Poland among those states of growing attractiveness to migrants. Therefore, the main aim of this chapter is to present the Polish model of integration policy and describe the development of Poland's migration and integration policy at the national level. As the local perspective on migration and integration has become increasingly important, local policies are also presented through the example of several of the largest Polish cities. Additionally, the role of public discourse in shaping Polish society's attitude towards migrants is discussed. Finally, some aspects of economic migrants' integration are described.
Poland still lacks a long-term and comprehensive migration and integration policy that covers all areas of integration, and all categories of immigrants and so far only once, for a short period, has adopted migration policy at a national level. There is also little coordination among the different governmental bodies that deal with this issue. Therefore, only some of the crucial elements of integration policy at a national level, like the liberalization of the labour market, have occurred successfully. It seems that local policies, especially in large cities, have addressed more precisely various issues faced by immigrants, not only related to employment, and could foster the process of integration.