Perry Daneshgari and Heather Moore
The purpose of this paper is to help businesses understand that as markets change, the way a company does business also must change to stay competitive in their industry. A…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to help businesses understand that as markets change, the way a company does business also must change to stay competitive in their industry. A company needs to know their share of the market to develop strategies to stay competitive and survive. This case study takes you through a successful company’s recognition and transformation involving all aspects of the organization. Cross-functional teams were developed to improve existing processes and develop new ones, as well as educate their people along the way.
Design/methodology/approach
The case study explains the process taken to help the company make the required changes to stay competitive. The company’s transformation happened through the application of Agile Construction® and the implementation of design teams to develop and test new or improved company processes and procedures. Once the improvements proved successful, the new standardized way of doing business was introduced to the rest of the organization. Tools were introduced to enhance the new processes and make them visible to the entire organization.
Findings
It was found that working together as a team and learning together to create standardized processes improved the company’s overall profitability, increased sales and expanded their market share. It takes a lot of dedication and hard work along the way to improve. The process also proved that the team has to work toward the same goals for the transformation to be successful.
Practical implications
Changes to practice that must be made is that communication is key among everyone involved in the organization. Also, there is value in understanding that the organization’s way of thinking needs to change to a learning organization.
Originality/value
Any organization, whether a company or an institution, can benefit from reading this case study. It is important to understand that the way of doing work changes over time and improvements have to be made to be successful in any industry. Team work is also important, so that everyone is reaching for a common goal.
Details
Keywords
Heather Moore, Lihua Dishman and John Fick
Employee turnover is a growing challenge for health-care providers delivering patient care today. US population demographics are shifting as the population ages, which leaves the…
Abstract
Employee turnover is a growing challenge for health-care providers delivering patient care today. US population demographics are shifting as the population ages, which leaves the field of health care poised to lose key leaders and employees to retirement at a time when patient care has grown more complex. This means health care will lose its core of key employees at a time when skilled leadership and specialized knowledge is most needed and directly impacts health care's ability to deliver quality care. Operational succession planning (OSP) may be one solution to manage this looming challenge in health care, as the process identifies and develops the next generation of leadership. Thus, this exploratory national study used a quantitative and cross-sectional design to examine the relationship between OSP and employee turnover. Demographic and 10-point Likert scale data were collected from n = 66 medical practices, using an online survey instrument. Data were analyzed using various descriptive and inferential statistical methods. Distribution (frequency and chi-square) analyses of the study sample, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and regression analyses were performed across seven demographic characteristics of the medical practices: Specialty, Ownership Structure, Number of full-time equivalent (FTE) Physicians, Number of FTE Clinical Employees, Number of FTE Nonclinical Employees, Number of FTE Employees Left Position, and Region. Study results provided statistically significant evidence to support the relationship between OSP and employee turnover, highlighting that OSP was associated with lower employee turnover. The finding suggests that OSP can serve as an effective mechanism for increasing employee retention.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to describe the barriers and facilitators to an effective transition from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) to Adult Mental Health…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the barriers and facilitators to an effective transition from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) to Adult Mental Health Services (AMHS). It also presents a new entry into considering how the transition can be improved.
Design/methodology/approach
Insights into the transition from CAMHS to AMHS were gathered through eight semi-structured interviews with mental health professionals. Two methods of data analysis were employed to explore the emerging themes in the data and the observed deficit approach to organisational development.
Findings
The findings identified a vast volume of barriers in comparison to facilitators to the transition. Adolescents who transition from CAMHS to AMHS initially experience difficulty adapting to the differences in the services due to the short duration of the transition period. However, despite the established barriers to the transition, adolescents tend to adapt to the differences between the services. Findings also showed a negative framing towards the transition amongst the mental health professionals which resembles a deficit approach to organisational development.
Originality/value
This paper explores mental health professionals’ perspectives regarding the transition in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The transition is increasingly recognised as an area in health care that requires improvement. This research provides a new way to consider the transition by exploring the perceived deficit approach to organisational development in the services.
Details
Keywords
The term “curriculum” has been used almost exclusively in educational circles to refer to plans for the conduct of learning lessons in school classrooms. This paper argues that…
Abstract
The term “curriculum” has been used almost exclusively in educational circles to refer to plans for the conduct of learning lessons in school classrooms. This paper argues that the concept can be productively expanded to describe learning processes in workplaces, including those in which learning is not the intentional outcome of an interaction. The article first reviews conventional conceptions of curriculum, and then draws on theories of cognition and learning base in phenomenology, symbolic interactionism and situated learning to identify some of the features of a naturally‐occurring curriculum in the workplace: the socio‐technical and pragmatic elements of the knowledge used in the work environment, the classification and framing of knowledge‐use, and the extent to which participants are expected to use the various forms of knowledge. That is, curriculum is essentially a socially‐constructed ordering of the knowledge‐use in a social context. These concepts are applied to two settings in which high school interns were supposed to be learning something: a history museum and a veterinary clinic.
Details
Keywords
Fiona MacNeill and Jillian Vanzetta
This paper reflects a two-year evaluation research study by Fiona MacNeill Associates (FMA), focused on an Appreciative Leadership Programme. The aim of this study was to explore…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper reflects a two-year evaluation research study by Fiona MacNeill Associates (FMA), focused on an Appreciative Leadership Programme. The aim of this study was to explore the impact of designing a bespoke Appreciative Leadership Programme (commissioned by Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust), around a specific set of organisational values and the associated sustainability linked to the delivery using conversation and inquiry.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is a review of 497 delegates and their associated 423 line managers. The main evaluation methods were questionnaires, conversations, content analysis and thematic analysis. The research collects data pre, during, end and post-programme.
Findings
The analysis of data collected indicates a statistically significant link between the programme design and delivery and the subsequent sustainability of the learning and levels of engagement within the organisation.
Research limitations/implications
The research provided information on all key areas of inquiry and allowed improvements to be made for future programmes. In future study, a focused follow up with a larger sample of at least 30 per cent of the total population will provide greater validity and reliability of the impact of on-going positive attention. The evaluation of leadership learning sets also needs to be more focused.
Practical implications
The findings can be used to inform the next iteration of the programme, by building on areas of strength and those identified for development. The data allows the organisation (LCFT) and the provider to co-create the next programme. The findings have also been presented to other NHS organisations and to an international training and development conference in Dallas.
Originality/value
Appreciative Leadership is built on the foundation of Appreciative Inquiry (AI), whole systems thinking, and action research. The organisation is seen as a relationship to be explored and developed, teams as communities of purpose and practice, and individuals as thinkers and innovators. This approach favours interdependencies, conversation, novel and creative ideas, and engagement that fosters a true desire to co-create the future. The paper provides connections between concepts and theories used in the education of clinicians and cutting-edge leadership development thinking. The paper has value to leaders, and those who commission leadership development, healthcare professionals and training and development professionals.
Details
Keywords
Nikki McQuillan, Christine Wightman, Cathy Moore, Una McMahon-Beattie and Heather Farley
Vocational higher education and skills are recognised as key factors in shaping an economy to adapt to fast-emerging business models that disrupt workplace behaviours. Employers…
Abstract
Purpose
Vocational higher education and skills are recognised as key factors in shaping an economy to adapt to fast-emerging business models that disrupt workplace behaviours. Employers require graduates to be “work-ready”, emphasising the need to demonstrate resilience, as a critical desired behaviour (CBI, 2019). This case study shares the integrated curriculum design, co-creation and operationalisation of “Graduate Transitions” workshops that were piloted in a compulsory final-year module across a number of programmes in a higher education institutions’ business faculty to enhance graduates “work readiness”.
Design/methodology/approach
The collaboration and leadership thinking of industry professionals, academics and career consultants designed and co-created a workshop that enhances transitioning student resilience and prepares them for their future of work. Action research gathered data using a mixed-methods approach to evaluate student and stakeholder feedback.
Findings
Evidence indicates that the workshops actively embed practical coping strategies for resilience and mindful leaders in transitioning graduates. It assures employers that employability and professional practice competencies are experienced by transitioning graduates entering the future workplace.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations to this research are clearly in the methodology and concentrating on the co-creation of an innovative curriculum design project instead of the tools to accurately evaluate the impact in a systematic manner. There was also limited time and resource to design a more sophisticated platform to collect data and analyse it with the imperative academic rigour required. Emphasis on piloting and operationalisation of the intervention, due to time and resource restrictions, also challenged the methodological design.
Practical implications
The positive feedback from these workshops facilitated integration into the curriculum at an institution-wide level. This paper shares with the academic community of practice, the pedagogy and active learning design that could be customised within their own institution as an intervention to positively influence the new metrics underpinning graduate outcomes.
Originality/value
This pioneering curriculum design ensures that employability and professional practice competencies are experienced by graduates transitioning to the workplace.
Details
Keywords
Approximately a decade ago, at the commencement to what has now become my vocation – namely teaching local government managers – a close colleague and myself ‘discovered’ the…
Abstract
Approximately a decade ago, at the commencement to what has now become my vocation – namely teaching local government managers – a close colleague and myself ‘discovered’ the theory of public value creation that was initially set out by Mark Moore in his 1995 book Creating Public Value: Strategic Management in Government and subsequently published a few articles on it. Reflecting on teaching the theory for the ensuing decade, three consistent themes emerge from my engagement with students. First, the appeal of the theory as we originally encountered it, in both its parabolic form and in its more advanced articulation, as a theory of public management; also, as a theory of the state. Second, students are consistently drawn to the ethical dimension of the theory. Here, the author demonstrates this appeal by way of an example from the work of one of his recent students. Third, the author provides an account of what has emerged as a potential problem – that the theory has an emotivistic appeal. The author argues that this potential problem can be countered by a thorough understanding of the work, and ensuing developments.