Search results
1 – 10 of 464Gary Robinson, Bernard Leckning, Richard Midford, Helen Harper, Sven Silburn, Jess Gannaway, Kylie Dolan, Tim Delphine and Craig Hayes
The purpose of this paper is to describe the process of development and the pilot implementation of a preventive life skills curriculum for Indigenous middle school students in a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the process of development and the pilot implementation of a preventive life skills curriculum for Indigenous middle school students in a very remote community college in the West Arnhem region of North Australia. The curriculum integrates proven educational and psychological techniques with culturally informed notions of relatedness and was developed as a contribution to efforts to prevent alarming rates of suicide among remote Indigenous youth. In this paper, the term, Indigenous refers to Australians of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on reviews of research literature on school-based suicide prevention and social and emotional learning in both general and Indigenous populations, and following detailed community consultations, a 12 week curriculum was drafted and implemented in two middle school classes (combined years 7-9). Lessons were videotaped and later analyzed and detailed commentary was sought from participating school staff.
Findings
The pilot program has yielded important insights into requirements of a curriculum for young people with low English literacy levels and with variable school attendance patterns. It confirmed the need to adjust both pedagogical approach and curriculum content for the program to have resonance with students from this linguistic and cultural background and with varying levels of exposure to multiple stressors in disadvantaged community settings.
Practical implications
The project has identified and resolved key questions for sustainable implementation of a preventive curriculum in challenging community circumstances.
Originality/value
There are to date no examples of the systematic adaptation and design of a universal preventive intervention specifically for remote Australian Indigenous youth. The project is the first step toward the formal evaluation of the efficacy of a classroom-based approach to suicide prevention in remote community schools.
Details
Keywords
Jessica H. Williams, Geoffrey A. Silvera and Christy Harris Lemak
In the US, a growing number of organizations and industries are seeking to affirm their commitment to and efforts around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as recent events…
Abstract
In the US, a growing number of organizations and industries are seeking to affirm their commitment to and efforts around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as recent events have increased attention to social inequities. As health care organizations are considering new ways to incorporate DEI initiatives within their workforce, the anticipated result of these efforts is a reduction in health inequities that have plagued our country for centuries. Unfortunately, there are few frameworks to guide these efforts because few successfully link organizational DEI initiatives with health equity outcomes. The purpose of this chapter is to review existing scholarship and evidence using an organizational lens to examine how health care organizations can advance DEI initiatives in the pursuit of reducing or eliminating health inequities. First, this chapter defines important terms of DEI and health equity in health care. Next, we describe the methods for our narrative review. We propose a model for understanding health care organizational activity and its impact on health inequities based in organizational learning that includes four interrelated parts: intention, action, outcomes, and learning. We summarize the existing scholarship in each of these areas and provide recommendations for enhancing future research. Across the body of knowledge in these areas, disciplinary and other silos may be the biggest barrier to knowledge creation and knowledge transfer. Moving forward, scholars and practitioners should seek to collaborate further in their respective efforts to achieve health equity by creating formalized initiatives with linkages between practice and research communities.
Details
Keywords
Cheryl Mayberry-McKissack and Tracey Robinson-English
The Namaste case is a story of how Kellogg alumni couple Gary and Denise Gardner grow their Namaste branded hair care line from production at the family's kitchen table into a…
Abstract
The Namaste case is a story of how Kellogg alumni couple Gary and Denise Gardner grow their Namaste branded hair care line from production at the family's kitchen table into a formidable $80 million empire within a 14-year period. The Gardners come from a longtime hair-care business lineage, the Soft Sheen dynasty, started by Gary's father decades earlier. Soft Sheen was ultimately sold to hair care giant L'Oreal for over $100 million. The Gardners claim Namaste's growth occurred through listening to the needs and desires of customers for healing hair care products that reminded them of nourishing household remedies. The hair care line became a leader in its industry but faced the dilemma of how to expand sales in new markets, especially international markets such as South Africa and Nigeria.
Students learn to develop new business opportunities including international expansion and tools of the internet to exploit the tools of vision, innovation and change resulting in new customer services and solutions. Students will focus on the basic fundamentals of sales and review the relationship of customer need identification and the reasons that make people buy. Students will assess the entrepreneurial strategies applied to fuel future growth based on an idea or product. Students will focus on the sales fundamentals that can be applied to entrepreneurial environments.
Details
Keywords
Bolong He, Snezana Mitrovic-Minic, Len Garis, Pierre Robinson and Tamon Stephen
The Surrey (British Columbia, Canada) fire department has an annual cycle for hiring full-time firefighters. This paper optimizes the timing of the annual hiring period. A key…
Abstract
Purpose
The Surrey (British Columbia, Canada) fire department has an annual cycle for hiring full-time firefighters. This paper optimizes the timing of the annual hiring period. A key issue is handling workplace absences, which can be covered by overtime cost or full-time hires.
Design/methodology/approach
Short-term and long-term absences patterns are analyzed according to season and age cohorts of the firefighters. These are then used in both an explanatory and time series model to predict future absences. The hiring schedule is optimized based on these predictions and additional constraints.
Findings
The current practice fares well in the analysis. For the time period studied, moving to earlier hiring dates appears beneficial. This analysis is robust with respect to various assumptions.
Originality/value
This is a case study where analytic techniques and machine learning are applied to an organizational practice that is not commonly analyzed. In this case, the previous method was not much worse than the optimized solution. The techniques used are quite general and can be applied to various organizational decision problems.
Details
Keywords
Thalia Anthony, Juanita Sherwood, Harry Blagg and Kieran Tranter
Virpi-Liisa Kykyri and Risto Puutio
Although emotions are relevant for conflicted interactions, the role of emotions in organizational conflicts has remained understudied. The purpose of this paper is to contribute…
Abstract
Purpose
Although emotions are relevant for conflicted interactions, the role of emotions in organizational conflicts has remained understudied. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to this by looking at the role of nonverbal affective elements in conversations.
Design/methodology/approach
Bringing together organizational “becoming” and embodiment approaches, the study focused on a conflict which emerged during a multi-actor consulting conversation. The episode in question was analyzed via a detailed, micro-level discursive method which focused specifically on the participants’ use of prosodic and nonverbal behaviors.
Findings
Changes in prosody were found to have an important role in how the conflict between a consultant and an employee client emerged and was handled. Nonverbal and prosodic means had a central role in creating legitimate space for the employees’ feelings: they helped to validate the feelings and thus led the interlocutors to act in a more constructive manner in their handling of the conflicted situation.
Research limitations/implications
Findings are based on a single case study. Multi-modal analysis proved effective in capturing the relevant interactions in a comprehensive manner.
Practical implications
Conversational “traps” may be observed by becoming alert to interactional patterns involving repeated chains of actions. A nonverbal response, validating the interlocutor as someone who is entitled to her/his feelings, can be sufficient in providing emotional help in consultancy.
Social implications
Nonverbal elements of interactions are important in handling delicate issues in conflicts.
Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge, no previous organizational research has provided a detailed description of a conflicted interaction “as it happened” between clients and a consultant.
Details
Keywords
Psychotherapy and clinical supervision outcomes are influenced by client and supervisee factors, one of which is cultural identity. Those with diverse racial and ethnic…
Abstract
Purpose
Psychotherapy and clinical supervision outcomes are influenced by client and supervisee factors, one of which is cultural identity. Those with diverse racial and ethnic minoritised identities often experience disparities in therapy outcomes. Therapists and supervisors need to be responsive to the identity of those they support. The multicultural orientation (MCO) framework is an emerging concept in psychotherapy and clinical supervision that may offer these practitioners a framework to be responsive.
Design/methodology/approach
A preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses extension for scoping reviews was conducted. Six databases, PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Academic Search Complete, Web of Science and PsychInfo, were searched for peer-reviewed literature published in English between the years 2000 and 2023.
Findings
A total of 1,553 sources were identified, of which (n = 42) are included in this review. Findings suggest that MCO is still in its infancy as applied to therapy and clinical supervision. Most of the research has been conducted in America, using quantitative methodologies with white western populations. Cultural humility is the most studied MCO pillar, and variables such as reductions in psychological stress, the working alliance and microaggressions are reported on as outcomes. MCO applied to the group therapy process is an emerging finding of interest. However, more research is needed, especially experiential designs across different and diverse populations and contexts.
Originality/value
MCO is an emerging therapy and clinical supervision process that has the potential to improve the outcomes for therapy clients and supervisees. Further research is needed to replicate current studies, and further research with diverse populations, countries and contexts should be undertaken as a priority.
Details
Keywords
The emergence of gender-nonconforming behavior in a child presents an opportunity and, often, significant pressure for parents to question the gender beliefs they have taken for…
Abstract
Purpose
The emergence of gender-nonconforming behavior in a child presents an opportunity and, often, significant pressure for parents to question the gender beliefs they have taken for granted. The purpose of this research is to examine how parents of gender-diverse youth respond to such pressures and ultimately come to understand and support their children’s gender identity.
Methodology/approach
This research is guided by Ridgeway’s theoretical concept of gender as a primary frame for coordinating social life. Using in-depth interviews with 36 supportive parents of gender-diverse children, the author details the process by which parents developed a critical consciousness of gender and subsequently adopted trans-affirming beliefs in response to their children’s gender-nonconformity.
Findings
Findings illustrate the power of gender as a primary frame for organizing life within the family as well as the circumstances under which hegemonic gender beliefs can be disrupted and alternative beliefs can be formed. The analysis shows that the process of making space for gender diversity within the home, which is taken on almost exclusively by mothers, invokes competing maternal mandates of raising “proper” children versus modeling selfless devotion to children’s happiness and well-being. As mothers navigate these conflicting requirements to create greater gender freedom for their children, they reinforce and perpetuate gender stereotypes that cast women as natural caregivers. Ironically, the work of intensive mothering is also the mechanism through which women come to develop alternative gender beliefs that they then use to expand gender possibilities for their children.
Details
Keywords
Jerry Chih‐Ching Chiang, Ming‐Hsien Yang, Gary Klein and James Jiunn‐Yih Jiang
The purpose of this paper is to understand how perceptions of fair treatment impact voluntary behaviors of information technology (IT) professionals beneficial to the achievement…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand how perceptions of fair treatment impact voluntary behaviors of information technology (IT) professionals beneficial to the achievement of organizational goals. Specifically, social exchange and psychological contract theory provide a framework to consider whether equitable treatment of employees and preservation of implied contracts are indicators of beneficial, extra‐role behaviors.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employs a questionnaire targeting IT professionals to test a model derived from theory and prior IT personnel literature.
Findings
IT employees reciprocate demonstrations of equity and maintenance of implied contracts by added beneficial behaviors not explicit to their job requirements. This relationship is partially mediated by their trust held in the organization.
Research limitations/implications
This study considered two related but distinct social exchange concepts in the same model of IT personnel behavior that had previously been considered independently indicating the need to consider both in future models. Generalizations of the observed result are limited by the use of cross‐sectional data from a single culture.
Practical implications
Managers of IT personnel must design and implement procedures that guarantee equitable distribution of resources and rewards. Management honoring contacts that are merely implicit and derived internally by the IT employee is crucial in promoting beneficial behaviors that fall outside explicit job requirements.
Originality/value
The paper highlights how IT employees reciprocate in the technology work environment. In exchange for an organization honoring contracts that are merely perceived and providing an equitable structure, IT professionals are willing to go beyond required job descriptions to achieve goals.
Details
Keywords
Mark Robinson, Gary Raine, Steve Robertson, Mary Steen and Rhiannon Day
The purpose of this paper is to present findings from an evaluation of a community mental health resilience intervention for unemployed men aged 45-60. The focus is on examining…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present findings from an evaluation of a community mental health resilience intervention for unemployed men aged 45-60. The focus is on examining the place of facilitated peer support within a multi-dimensional men’s mental health programme, and exploring implications for resilience building delivery approaches for men.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on a mixed methodology design involving before and after survey data and qualitative interviews, to report results concerning effectiveness in changing men’s perceived resilience, to consider project processes concerning peer support, and to situate these within wider community environments.
Findings
The programme significantly raised the perceived resilience of participants. Project activities promoted trusting informal social connections, gains in social capital arose through trusting relations and skill-sharing, and peer-peer action-focused talk and planning enhanced men’s resilience.
Research limitations/implications
The paper considers facilitated peer support on a programme, rather than on-going informal peer support or more formal peer support roles (a limitation reflecting the boundaries of the funded programme).
Practical implications
The paper discusses emerging considerations for resilience building, focusing on gender-sensitive approaches which can engage and retain men by focusing on doing and talking. It highlights the importance of peer support in community interventions which feature a social model of change. There is potential for encouraging further peer mentoring and peer led support beyond facilitated peer support in programme delivery.
Social implications
Potential exists for gender-aware programmes to sustain salutogenic change, co-producing social assets of peer support, male-friendly activities, and context sensitive course provision.
Originality/value
The paper adds fresh evidence of gendered intervention approaches with a specific focus on facilitated community peer support, including effects on male resilience. Little previous resilience research is gendered, there is little gendered research on peer support, and unemployed middle-aged men are a significant risk group.
Details