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1 – 10 of 271Beatriz López, Niko Kargas, Julie Udell, Tomáš Rubín, Linda Burgess, Dominic Dew, Ian McDonald, Ann O’Brien and Karen Templeton-Mepstead
The purpose of this study was to explore the views of autistic people, carers and practitioners regarding the barriers autistic employees face at work (Study 1) and to use these…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to explore the views of autistic people, carers and practitioners regarding the barriers autistic employees face at work (Study 1) and to use these views to inform the design of an employment programme for autistic employees without learning disabilities (Study 2).
Design/methodology/approach
In Study 1, 16 (20%) carers, 17 (21%) practitioners and 47 (59%) autistic adults who had been or were currently employed, answered a survey regarding barriers at work. Study 2 evaluates the efficacy of a set of profiling assessment tools (PA) developed to help employers make individually-tailored adjustments for their autistic employees by delivering an employment programme consisting of 15, 8-week work placements.
Findings
In Study 1, only 25% of autistic adults reported having had adjustments in the workplace and all groups reported this as the main barrier – alongside employers’ lack of understanding. Two sets of results demonstrate the efficacy of the PA tools in addressing this barrier. First, a comparative cost simulation revealed a cost-saving in terms of on-job support of £6.67 per participant per hour worked relative to published data from another programme. Second, 83% of autistic employees reported having had the right adjustments at work.
Research limitations/implications
This is an exploratory study that did not include a comparison group. Hence, it was not possible to evaluate the efficacy of the PA tools relative to a standard employment programme intervention, nor to assess cost reduction, which currently is only estimated from already available published data.
Practical implications
Overall the findings from these studies demonstrate that the time invested in the high-quality assessment of the profile of autistic employees results in saving costs over time and better outcomes.
Originality/value
The originality of the Autism Centre for Employment programme resides in that, unlike other programmes, it shifts the focus from helping autistic employees to helping their employers.
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The progress towards introducing quality management in line with British Standard 5750 is outlined. The advantages of BS5750 are in controlling quality initiatives, making savings…
Abstract
The progress towards introducing quality management in line with British Standard 5750 is outlined. The advantages of BS5750 are in controlling quality initiatives, making savings in operational costs, achieving accreditation and increasing job satisfaction. Interpretation and adaptation of British Standards, for use in the National Health Service, has resulted in progress towards accreditation in the Chiropody Service.
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Entrepreneurship is crucial to corporate success and growth: how can it be encouraged? The idea of an Entrepreneurship Programme is put forward.
Innovation is not an action, but is a state of mind — moreover, it needs to be an ongoing one.
In the last decade there has been considerable interest in theanalysis of Trade Union behaviour, but surprisingly little discussion ofthe effect of tax changes on wage demands…
Abstract
In the last decade there has been considerable interest in the analysis of Trade Union behaviour, but surprisingly little discussion of the effect of tax changes on wage demands. Previous analyses have been limited by the use of simple tax structures. The discussion is extended by considering a multi‐rate tax system that can easily be applied to most countries. The effect on unions′ wage demands of eliminating the top marginal tax rate, while raising VAT, is examined in detail. It is shown that this policy can be expected to lead to an increase in the wage demands of all unions, producing a once‐and‐for‐all increase in nominal wages and unemployment.
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Ian McDonald, Mohamed Zairi and Mohd Ashari Idris
In the world of quantum improvement, managing paradigm shifts has aroused unprecedented interest among academics and practitioners. Better and better ways of managing business…
Abstract
In the world of quantum improvement, managing paradigm shifts has aroused unprecedented interest among academics and practitioners. Better and better ways of managing business processes are needed to create sustainable improvement. Excellence is the product of a complex mixture of strategic components, which often exist in different paradigm curves, which need to be smoothed while the organisation transforms one quality era to the next. Proposes an empirically‐based framework of TQM transformation, following a synthesis of literature on quality management practices in winners of the MBNQA and EFQA. The framework incorporates critical factors of each phase of quality evolution, and hence implied sustainability of TQM implementation. The evolutionary path was identified as product, service, customer, and market‐based orientation, which were linked to corresponding conditions for sustainability, which could be empirically tested through advanced research. This framework broadens the scope of quality management and offers a tremendous opportunity to operationalise quality management as a universal and generically‐based corporate strategy.
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To outline strategies for balancing a critical approach to sport for development and peace (SDP) interventions with approaches that highlight the potentially positive outcomes of…
Abstract
Purpose
To outline strategies for balancing a critical approach to sport for development and peace (SDP) interventions with approaches that highlight the potentially positive outcomes of SDP. Two examples of attempts to balance these approaches are highlighted. One is a critical analysis of responses to sport-related environmental problems. The other is a study of how a sport-related reconciliation event led by celebrity athletes was successfully organized.
Design/methodology/approach
In the first part of the chapter, the complexity of the SDP concept (and the terms sport, peace, and development) is discussed along with the challenges of negotiating critical and more optimistic stances on SDP. In the second part, two approaches to navigating between “extremely critical” and “unwaveringly optimistic” stances on SDP are outlined through two case studies.
Findings
The two case studies are described along with preliminary findings from studies that were conducted. Each case study is accompanied by a discussion of how the author “middle-walked” between “extremely critical” and “unwaveringly optimistic” positions on SDP. A focus in this section is on how theory, methods, and strategies for reporting findings were accounted for in the process of balancing these distinct positions.
Research limitations/implications
The difficulties attempting to balance critical and optimistic positions are discussed. The difficulties connecting critical analysis with practical suggestions for improving SDP-related work were also outlined.
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Liv Yoon and Brian Wilson
To discuss our experiences producing a short documentary film focused on a sport-related environmental issue – and reflect on our attempts throughout production to “do” what we…
Abstract
To discuss our experiences producing a short documentary film focused on a sport-related environmental issue – and reflect on our attempts throughout production to “do” what we are calling “Environmental Sports Journalism” (ESJ).
Following ESJ principles, and in collaboration with Vancouver-based filmmakers, we produced a short documentary entitled, Mount Gariwang: An Olympic Casualty, about the destruction of an ancient forest for a sport mega-event (i.e., the PyeongChang Olympics). We discuss and reflect on our approach and methods for producing the documentary, and identify key issues faced throughout the process – as we attempted to negotiate the intricacies of documentary work and collaboration between academics and media producers, while attending to a set of principles for producing “Environmental Sports Journalism.”
We reflect on strategies used and challenges faced when attempting to produce a short film on a sport-related environmental issue. We note our attempt to: (1) include interview segments with definitions of key concepts and how they are relevant to power relations around sport mega-events; (2) value the lives and voices of local and marginalized people – while noting problems we faced providing adequate context; (3) focus on problems of nonhumans as well as humans – and the challenges we faced including nonhuman issues and perspectives, challenges that reflected the limits of our chosen data collection and reporting techniques; (4) offer some form of hope and identify alternatives around an event that we were critical of; and (5) highlight the complexities of prioritizing social and environmental justice (i.e., taking a side) while attempting to offer what we might think of as “balanced” coverage.
This chapter illuminated barriers we faced in our attempts to produce “excellent” coverage, and in going from media critics to critical media producers. Our hope is to inspire reflection on what is possible around the production of “excellent” sport-related environmental journalism, and to contribute to thinking about the pursuit of public sociology through media.
Although involvement in documentary-making as academics is not new, our attempt to apply principles associated with environmental journalism to the study of sport-related environmental and social problems is in some ways novel, and therefore our reflections on our experiences are also in some ways novel.
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This chapter argues that football is central to specific regional, hegemonic masculinities within colonial histories and continuities in South India. Through ethnographic…
Abstract
This chapter argues that football is central to specific regional, hegemonic masculinities within colonial histories and continuities in South India. Through ethnographic narratives of a prominent football figure associated with the Malabar Special Police, this chapter shows how different performances of a particular mode of masculinity draw power from multiple sites such as regional class networks, colonial legacies, and postcolonial sport. This work demonstrates how a (post) colonial space shores up the powers associated with a male sporting figure. The regional format of a sport is as important as the global format in producing regional, hegemonic masculinity. Analysing the powers and aura associated with this sporting figure helps one to understand the specific meanings of desire and aspirations for status and stability among a section of men in a South Indian context.
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