Peter Lloyd, Jeffrey Braithwaite and Gray Southon
Addresses the issue of empowerment and its possible role in promoting the effectiveness of health services. Empowerment represents the ability of people within organisations to…
Abstract
Addresses the issue of empowerment and its possible role in promoting the effectiveness of health services. Empowerment represents the ability of people within organisations to use their own initiative to further organisational interests. However, despite its apparent simplicity, the concept turns out to be quite complex and to have unanticipated implications. We explore some of these implications in health service organisations, and their consequences for health policy. Our conclusion is that many health policies may well act to degrade the empowerment of health service workers, and hence the performance of health service organisations.
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The purpose of this paper is to discuss and take forward several themes in two earlier papers by Ogilvy and Miller. After summarising their main points it seeks to consider…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss and take forward several themes in two earlier papers by Ogilvy and Miller. After summarising their main points it seeks to consider different approaches to “sense making” in the work of future‐relevant theorists and practitioners; then to consider the case of sense making through integral approaches and then to explore implications through several themes. These include: a view of changes in the global system, generic responses to the global emergency, the critique of regressive modernity and how responses to “Cassandra's dilemma” (to know the future but not be believed) might stand in relation to the views of both authors. The paper aims to conclude with a view of the benefits to be obtained from the use of a four‐quadrant approach to understanding and responding to the human predicament.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a discussion paper that questions some of the views and assumptions of the earlier papers and explores some implications of an alternative view.
Findings
While supporting the drive to improve upon the theoretical foundations of futures studies and foresight, the paper questions whether such developments are as central, or will be as influential, as the authors suggest. A different view of “how to approach the future” is recommended, in part through four “domains of generic responses” to the global predicament.
Research limitations/implications
The paper presents an argument supported by evidence. Both should be reviewed by others in pursuit of extending the conversation beyond philosophical questions to implications in practice.
Practical implications
The essence of a methodology to understand, approach and even to resolve many aspects of the global emergency is outlined here. As such the paper has many practical implications for the way that futures and foresight professionals operate and towards what ends.
Social implications
The paper provides a substantive basis for qualified hope and engagement with a range of future‐shaping tasks. Specifically, these relate to the necessary shifts from “overshoot and collapse” trajectories to options for “moderated descent”.
Originality/value
Much of the work carried out on the perspective and issues discussed here has been carried out by those working outside of the futures/foresight domain. The value is both in affirming positive ways forward and extending the professional reach of futures/foresight workers to embrace new ideas and methods.
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This research explores perceptions of knowledge management processes held by managers and employees in a service industry. To date, empirical research on knowledge management in…
Abstract
This research explores perceptions of knowledge management processes held by managers and employees in a service industry. To date, empirical research on knowledge management in the service industry is sparse. This research seeks to examine absorptive capacity and its four capabilities of acquisition, assimilation, transformation and exploitation and their impact on effective knowledge management. All of these capabilities are strategies that enable external knowledge to be recognized, imported and integrated into, and further developed within the organization effectively. The research tests the relationships between absorptive capacity and effective knowledge management through analysis of quantitative data (n = 549) drawn from managers and employees in 35 residential aged care organizations in Western Australia. Responses were analysed using Partial Least Square-based Structural Equation Modelling. Additional analysis was conducted to assess if the job role (of manager or employee) and three industry context variables of profit motive, size of business and length of time the organization has been in business, impacted on the hypothesized relationships.
Structural model analysis examines the relationships between variables as hypothesized in the research framework. Analysis found that absorptive capacity and the four capabilities correlated significantly with effective knowledge management, with absorptive capacity explaining 56% of the total variability for effective knowledge management. Findings from this research also show that absorptive capacity and the four capabilities provide a useful framework for examining knowledge management in the service industry. Additionally, there were no significant differences in the perceptions held between managers and employees, nor between respondents in for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. Furthermore, the size of the organization and length of time the organization has been in business did not impact on absorptive capacity, the four capabilities and effective knowledge management.
The research considers implications for business in light of these findings. The role of managers in providing leadership across the knowledge management process was confirmed, as well as the importance of guiding routines and knowledge sharing throughout the organization. Further, the results indicate that within the participating organizations there are discernible differences in the way that some organizations manage their knowledge, compared to others. To achieve effective knowledge management, managers need to provide a supportive workplace culture, facilitate strong employee relationships, encourage employees to seek out new knowledge, continually engage in two-way communication with employees and provide up-to-date policies and procedures that guide employees in doing their work. The implementation of knowledge management strategies has also been shown in this research to enhance the delivery and quality of residential aged care.
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Biodiversity loss now ranks as one of the most significant global drivers of environmental change. In an increasingly urbanized world, there is enormous potential to address this…
Abstract
Biodiversity loss now ranks as one of the most significant global drivers of environmental change. In an increasingly urbanized world, there is enormous potential to address this problem through conservation, restoration, and creation of new urban ecosystems. This chapter explores how nature-based solutions (NBS) can contribute to addressing the urgent problem of biodiversity loss in a way that goes beyond just greening gray environments. It then explores the alignment (and misalignment) between the ways in which NBS is framed as a nature conservation tool globally and the ways in which biodiversity is considered in urban approaches to NBS. Finally, the chapter explores the ways in which NBS might become an essential part of the solution to biodiversity and ecosystem decline. It discusses how NBS can be effectively leveraged to address the biodiversity crisis in urban areas, through conservation, restoration, and efforts to create thriving places for both people and nature. Although the concept of NBS in urban areas is fairly divorced from its nature conservation origins, reconnecting with those ecological roots is important for creating biodiverse, resilient cities. In so doing, NBS could offer a unified concept for environmental management in urban areas that integrates the ecological benefits of nature conservation with an innovative focus on confronting major societal challenges. Though this is a demanding task, it could provide a fit-for-purpose approach for conserving biodiversity and supporting functional ecosystems in the Anthropocene.
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Since the publication of Bauman's seminal book Tourists and Vagabonds: Heroes and Victims of Postmodernity, sociologists and particularly social scientists have further…
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Since the publication of Bauman's seminal book Tourists and Vagabonds: Heroes and Victims of Postmodernity, sociologists and particularly social scientists have further interrogated the influence of globalization, and mobility culture in tourism consumption. Bauman offers a fertile ground to discuss the production of material asymmetries among classes. The present book continues this discussion with a special focus on Buenos Aires City, Argentina. Chapters integrating this book give a snapshot revolving around the convergence of social marginality, and the tourist experience. In this introductory section, I introduce readers to the complexity of the colonial period as well as the role played by slavery as a cheap manpower. Here I posed not only the main questions that guided the present book but also the intersection between slavery and poverty in global capitalism. At the same time, I place the question of homeless tours into the critical lens of scrutiny.
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Md Anwarul Islam, Naresh Kumar Kumar Agarwal and Mitsuru Ikeda
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the strategies thatlibrarians employ to ensure quality of service, the ways and barriers forservice innovation, and the likelihood of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the strategies thatlibrarians employ to ensure quality of service, the ways and barriers forservice innovation, and the likelihood of adopting knowledge management forservice innovation in libraries (KMSIL).
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 17 academic librarians filled out a qualitative surveywith open-ended questions.
Findings
Most librarians saw service innovation as critical to thecontinuing success of the library, and felt that knowledge management (KM)would be extremely helpful for service innovation in their libraries. Theproposed strategies and findings led to a theoretical framework of KMSIL.
Originality/value
Though exploratory in nature, this is the first study thatcombines service innovation with KM from the perceptive of academic librariansand has important implications for theory and practice. The proposedtheoretical framework could serve as the basis for a deeper study and furtherresearch in this area.
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Stuart Maguire and Udechukwu Ojiako
There has been a great deal of interest in ensuring that organisational strategy is successfully implemented in order to meet business objectives. More recently, reports of the…
Abstract
Purpose
There has been a great deal of interest in ensuring that organisational strategy is successfully implemented in order to meet business objectives. More recently, reports of the failure of information systems and technology (IS&T) projects have become more regular and the reported failures more spectacular. This has added to a growing perception that IS&T implementation approaches currently utilised are struggling to add value to customers and users, leading to calls for a re‐think of how IS&T is introduced into organisations. This paper seeks to develop a customer experience strategy which will give a key group of stakeholders, customers, a major input in the IS&T development process.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach taken to examine IS&T implementation at this stage of the development of this theme is empirical. The failed introduction of a new IS&T system in a major service organisation in the UK is used as a case study. Data were gathered from 22 face‐to‐face interviews with key stakeholders in the IS&T project.
Findings
The paper finds that the failure was driven by a number of factors, including poor project management and a lack of understanding of how systems can negatively affect organisations and customer relationships. The paper re‐emphasises the need to ensure that customer and user perceptions are taken into consideration during any major systems introduction project. An interesting aspect of these systems is that a version is being used today by the organisation.
Research limitations/implications
The customer experience journey (CEJ) framework will be improved by being validated within another organisation.
Practical implications
The paper recognises that, in the future, a clear framework to support the CEJ needs to be well thought out before a major systems introduction project commences. This is increasingly important as many roll‐outs are trans‐national and involve customers and supply chains.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to work practice relating to customer‐driven IS&T service introduction.
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MIDSUMMER sees the general settling down of thoughtful librarians to a contemplation of their Winter programmes. This seems a cruel suggestion since (if we are fortunate) the…
Abstract
MIDSUMMER sees the general settling down of thoughtful librarians to a contemplation of their Winter programmes. This seems a cruel suggestion since (if we are fortunate) the skies are still blue above us, the trees green, and—well, holidays are just ahead. One duty, however, belongs to midsummer and that is the annual election of the Library Association Council. There is growing evidence that in this matter we are no longer prepared to leave our representation in the most important council that exists for us to chance. By the time these words appear the question, so far as 1928 is concerned, will have been settled. We hope a well‐balanced Council will be the result, and that, after an interval of several years, Ireland will be represented.