This chapter explores how long-distance truckers in the contemporary United States navigate work and family obligations. It examines how Christianity and constructions of…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter explores how long-distance truckers in the contemporary United States navigate work and family obligations. It examines how Christianity and constructions of masculinity are significant in the lives of these long-haul drivers and how truckers work to construct narratives of their lives as “good, moral” individuals in contrast to competing cultural narratives which suggest images of romantic, rule-free, renegade lives on the open road.
Methodology/approach
This study is based upon ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, observations of long-haul truckers, and participation in a trucking school for eight months in 2005–2006 and an additional four months in 2007–2008. Using feminist grounded theory, I highlight how Christian trucking provides avenues through which balance is struck between work and family and between masculinity and other identities.
Findings
Christian truckers draw upon older ideas about responsible, breadwinning fatherhood in their discourse about being good “fathers” while on the road. This discourse is in some conflict with the lived experiences of Christian truckers who simultaneously find themselves confronted by cultural narratives and expectations of what it means to be a good “worker” or a good “trucker.”
As these men navigate both work and social locations, gender expectations are challenged and strategies to ameliorate the work/family balance are essential.
Originality/value of chapter
The chapter contributes to discourse on gender studies as well as to the reshaping of ideology and practices of work and family in contemporary American culture.
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Tam Cane, Vasso Vydellingum and Wendy Knibb
The purpose of this paper is to examine the experiences that people with HIV faced as they navigated through the intricate processes of trying to access adoption services in the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the experiences that people with HIV faced as they navigated through the intricate processes of trying to access adoption services in the south of England. It proposes the need to pay more attention to people living with HIV (PLWHIV) able to adopt children. The study aims to develop an increased focus on PLWHIV able to adopt.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is an exploratory study using an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach. Open-ended interviews were conducted with seven participants including individuals and couples. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using IPA’s cross-case and ideographic analysis.
Findings
The paper provides empirical insights about the challenges that PLWHIV experienced with social workers. Positive experiences were in the minority. Lack of information, inadequate support, stigma and discrimination, cultural insensitivity and disempowerment were frequently reported. The paper suggests that greater understanding and better education for social workers would improve access to adoption by people with HIV.
Research limitations/implications
Given the chosen approach and small sample size, results may not be generalisable.
Practical implications
This study increases knowledge, promotes positive attitudes and improved support for PLWHIV who are stable and able to offer permanency to adoptive children.
Originality/value
This paper provides new ideas in an area that is scarcely researched. It identifies the need to undertake further studies to understand how social workers assess PLWHIV and what can be done to provide adequate support.
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This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.
Design/methodology/approach
This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.
Findings
The findings demonstrate a low rate of engagement among the users of wine brand Facebook pages. Majority of Facebook fans rarely engage with the brands. The results demonstrate that user engagement varies depending on the day of the week and hour of the day of the brand post.
Practical implications
The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations.
Originality/value
The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.
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Russell Linwood, Gary Day, Gerrard FitzGerald and Brian Oldenburg
The purpose of this article to review the literature relating to improving paramedic care in an Australian context.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article to review the literature relating to improving paramedic care in an Australian context.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents changes and challenges that have occurred in the ambulance services in terms of improving care and measuring performance, exploring the literature on quality improvement initiatives and their application to pre‐hospital care.
Findings
While hospitals and health services have moved well down the quality improvement pathway, the application of these processes to pre‐hospital care has been a relatively recent phenomenon. Ambulance services have taken a variety of approaches to measuring and improving pre‐hospital care. This article questions the transferability of lessons learned in hospitals to ambulance services. Arguably, the quality improvement approach is dependent upon health control and funding models and where ambulance is categorised in terms of health or emergency services.
Originality/value
The quality improvement approach by Australian paramedics and ambulance services is in its infancy. This article provides insights into the quality improvement approach taken by ambulance staff in Australia compared to other countries, as well as highlighting useful information on the future direction and research into the area.
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Sheila Hollins, Barry Carpenter, Elspeth Bradley and Jo Egerton
Based on a literature and practice review, the purpose of this paper is to examine the theoretical and clinical basis for using wordless books with patients who have intellectual…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on a literature and practice review, the purpose of this paper is to examine the theoretical and clinical basis for using wordless books with patients who have intellectual disabilities (ID) and/or autism.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review identified seminal peer-reviewed English language articles relating to the neuroscience of information and emotion processing for adults with ID and/or autism. In addition to published examples, illustrative case examples were contributed by clinicians regularly using wordless books.
Findings
Many people, including those with ID, selectively attend to visual information. Minimising the cognitive load by using wordless pictorial narrative reduces anxiety, and empowers the patient. Clinicians using such resources describe positive clinical outcomes. Only the Beyond Words wordless books have been identified in published clinical trials.
Research limitations/implications
Although existing evidence suggests a strong positive impact, further research into the use of wordless books for people with ID is needed.
Practical implications
Wordless books are reported to help develop staff skills and empathy for supporting adults with ID. The books facilitate some legally required reasonable adjustments to increase service access. Staff training is needed for effective use of wordless books.
Originality/value
Wordless books specifically designed with and for adults with word processing difficulties, ID and/or autism to enhance health literacy and explore their own narratives and emotional responses around health experiences and personal traumas are a unique approach. This paper may also offer the first exploration of their neuropsychological underpinnings.
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S. J. Oswald A. J. Mascarenhas
Building trust and living interpersonal trust are crucial corporate executive virtues that are needed today. Once you have developed and solidified a high level of genuine…
Abstract
Executive Summary
Building trust and living interpersonal trust are crucial corporate executive virtues that are needed today. Once you have developed and solidified a high level of genuine interpersonal trust with all your stakeholders, especially customers, suppliers, and employees, then you are on the right path of managing and transforming your company. A high level of interpersonal trust between all stakeholders and corporates in a business situation will break down communication barriers, foster serious conversation and sharing of ideas, and will eliminate corporate transactional anxieties of fear, mistrust, guilt, rigidity, blame, and resentment. When stakeholders trust you and you trust them, then you speak freely, they speak freely, and your mutual sustained transparency is a gateway to survival, revival, and sustained corporate recovery and transformation, and steady growth and prosperity. Conversely, when there is low trust, high mistrust, and high distrust among stakeholders in a business situation, communications and conversations are stressed and fragmented, teamwork and team spirit are very low, and the company is heading toward its ruin and extermination. Such is the crucial role of interpersonal trust in business. This chapter explores the crucial phenomenon of corporate interpersonal trust. We review various cases, models, concepts, definitions, and theories of trust from the management literature in general, and from the marketing field in particular, to derive psychological, behavioral, ethical, and moral principles of corporate trust, trusting relations, and trusting strategies.
Glenda Strachan and John Burgess
The closer integration of work and family responsibilities has become an important element in the promotion of the decentralisation of the Australian industrial relations system…
Abstract
The closer integration of work and family responsibilities has become an important element in the promotion of the decentralisation of the Australian industrial relations system. This article outlines the origins of the work and family agenda and discusses how it has come to be incorporated into the industrial relations reform agenda. A work and family typology is developed. Examples of family friendly workplace arrangements are outlined and discussed, and the extent to which these are incorporated into enterprise agreements is then outlined. There must be doubts as to how far family friendly workplace arrangements can be extended in an economy with high rates of casualisation, falling trade union densities and considerable differences in bargaining power. Indeed, many of the current family friendly arrangements are distinctly family unfriendly. Finally, there are important gender issues to consider in relation to the family friendly industrial relations agenda.