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1 – 5 of 5Helen M. Achat, Joanne M. Stubbs, Rakhi Mittal, Suzanne Schindeler and Nicole Gilroy
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to challenge healthcare systems worldwide. The authors examined the lived experiences and perceptions of healthcare workers (HCWs) in managerial…
Abstract
Purpose
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to challenge healthcare systems worldwide. The authors examined the lived experiences and perceptions of healthcare workers (HCWs) in managerial and senior positions to explore the pandemic's effects on well-being and valued organisational responses.
Design/methodology/approach
Using purposive sampling, the authors conducted 39 semi-structured interviews with senior staff including health service administrators, heads of department and senior clinicians at a designated COVID-19 facility in New South Wales, Australia. Interviews were conducted from November 2020 to February 2021 to reflect on experiences during the height of the pandemic in 2020 (mid-March to the end of May 2020).
Findings
Workplace experiences affecting HCWs' well-being included being shunned by others, fear of infecting family, fear of the unknown, concerns about personal protective equipment, lack of direction from above and increased workload. Organisational interventions to protect the health and safety of HCWs and their patients included redeployment, improved communication, effective management committees, education and mental health supports.
Practical implications
Organisations can minimise worker-identified factors threatening their well-being during a health crisis by applying broad-ranging initiatives including inclusive and open communication, promoting flexible work practices, providing up-to-date guidelines and policies and fostering camaraderie between workers.
Originality/value
The voices of senior clinical and managerial staff have been largely unheard during the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors addressed this deficit by describing their experiences and insights regarding the pandemic's impact on well-being and the organisation's responses to simultaneously safeguarding its staff and providing quality patient care.
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Increasingly, countries around the world are reforming their traditional ‘special educational needs’ funding models, many of which contradict the overarching principles of…
Abstract
Increasingly, countries around the world are reforming their traditional ‘special educational needs’ funding models, many of which contradict the overarching principles of inclusive education as set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with a Disability (UNCRPD). There is growing awareness across countries that the way education systems are financed directly shapes the extent to which schools can be inclusive. Spiralling costs have also influenced governments who have begun calling for ‘cost control’ and greater transparency and accountability in how resources are distributed and monies are spent. In Ireland, calls for a more equitable resource model for students with disabilities in mainstream education resulted in the introduction of a new system of funding which removed the need for diagnosis to receive supports. However, since ratification of the UNCRPD in 2018, Ireland's system of special education is being considered for full reform with the possibility of moving to a system of inclusive education and the removal of special schools and classes. This raises the question: can two separate funding streams, one for general education and one for special education ever exist in an inclusive system? Having one funding model for all students, although the logical choice, is the source of much concern among parents and disability advocates, many of whom fear it will lead to children with disabilities ‘falling through the cracks’ and used by government as a mechanism to reduce spending overall.
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Taposh Roy, Jon Burchell and Joanne Cook
While corporate social responsibility (CSR) research and practice has expanded and evolved rapidly in recent years, little is known about how MNC subsidiaries develop their CSR…
Abstract
Purpose
While corporate social responsibility (CSR) research and practice has expanded and evolved rapidly in recent years, little is known about how MNC subsidiaries develop their CSR strategies and how they reconcile global and local demands and pressures from both institutions and stakeholders. The paper aims to understand how institutions and stakeholder pressures interact at both national and international levels and how these interactions shape MNC subsidiaries' CSR in Bangladesh.
Design/methodology/approach
Multiple case studies were used to investigate the CSR practices of 10 MNC subsidiaries operating in Bangladesh. To collect data, twenty-one semi-structured interviews were conducted. For supplementing primary data, secondary data from annual reports and websites were collected.
Findings
The article demonstrates that the practice of CSR in Bangladesh is a result of pressures exerted by parent companies, international institutions and international stakeholders. The article reveals how lack of pressure from local stakeholders and institutions enables subsidiaries to gain traction and use their agency to apply globalised CSR conceptualisations not necessarily applicable to the localised context.
Originality/value
The study has synthesised existing approaches to develop a multilevel framework for understanding how the intricate interactions between institutions and stakeholders from different levels (i.e. national and international levels) determine the trajectory of CSR adopted by subsidiaries in developing countries. This interaction undoubtedly plays a key role in determining the types of CSR strategy being enacted, the potential agency of different actors to shape change and the extent to which such pressures are likely to lead to CSR strategies that actually reflect and respond to the needs of local stakeholders.
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The purpose of this paper is to offer practical researcher self-care strategies to prepare for and manage the emotions involved in doing organizational ethnographic research…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to offer practical researcher self-care strategies to prepare for and manage the emotions involved in doing organizational ethnographic research. Institutional ethics policies or research training programs may not provide guidance, yet emotions are an integral part of research, particularly for ethnographers immersed in the field or those working with sensitive topics or vulnerable or marginalized people.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on ethnographic fieldwork over nine months with a voluntary organization in the UK, Yarl’s Wood Befrienders, to explore the experiences and activities of volunteer visitors who offer emotional support to women detained indefinitely in an immigration removal center. The author is a “complete member researcher,” or “at-home ethnographer,” a volunteer visitor and a former detainee.
Findings
The author describes the emotional impact the research personally had on her and shares learning from overcoming “compassion fatigue.” Self-care strategies based on the literature are recommended, such as a researcher self-assessment, identification of the emotional risks of the research, and self-care plan formulated during project planning. Suggested resources and activities to support the well-being of researchers are explored.
Practical implications
This paper provides practical resources for researchers to prepare for and cope with emotional and mental health risks throughout the research process. It builds awareness of safeguarding researchers and supporting them with handling emotional disruptions. Without adequate support, they may be psychologically harmed and lose the potential to critically engage with emotions as data.
Originality/value
The literature on emotions in doing research rarely discusses self-care strategies. This paper offers an actionable plan for researchers to instil emotional and mental well-being into the research design to navigate emotional challenges in the field and build resilience.
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Memories and musings of the long ago reveal revolutionary changes in the world's food trade and in particular, food sources and marketing in the United Kingdom. Earliest memories…
Abstract
Memories and musings of the long ago reveal revolutionary changes in the world's food trade and in particular, food sources and marketing in the United Kingdom. Earliest memories of the retail food trade are of many small shops; it used to be said that, given a good site, food would always sell well. There were multiples, but none of their stores differed from the pattern and some of the firms — Upton's, the International, were household names as they are now. Others, eg., the Maypole, and names that are lost to memory, have been absorbed in the many mergers of more recent times. Food production has changed even more dramatically; countries once major sources and massive exporters, have now become equally massive importers and completely new sources of food have developed. It all reflects the political changes, resulting from two World Wars, just as the British market reflects the shifts in world production.