Julia Halpin, Patricia Wain and Peter Nolan
This paper reports on a study undertaken in one mental health NHS foundation trust in the UK, which sought to examine to what extent advanced practice nursing could contribute to…
Abstract
This paper reports on a study undertaken in one mental health NHS foundation trust in the UK, which sought to examine to what extent advanced practice nursing could contribute to advancing new ways of working in the future. The literature on advanced nursing in the UK is critically discussed and where availability permits, reference is made to international literature. The findings of a survey of nurses with a Masters degree or acting at advanced level are reported and discussed. Though the data reported here are largely confirmed by similar studies, nevertheless the insights provided should alert organisations to the complexity of introducing new roles during a time of radical change in the health care system. Despite the efforts of a highly motivated trust, respondents identified barriers and obstacles that were of such significance that some were forced to rethink their readiness to embrace the role. It is hoped that the recommendations derived from this study may assist other organisations at a similar stage of implementing advanced nursing practice roles.
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Stefano Orsini, Susanne Padel, Danilo Gambelli, Julia Lernoud, Jürn Sanders, Francesco Solfanelli, Matthias Stolze, Helga Willer and Raffaele Zanoli
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the supply chains for organic milk, apples and pasta in eight European countries and how added value is distributed among market…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the supply chains for organic milk, apples and pasta in eight European countries and how added value is distributed among market players.
Design/methodology/approach
Using secondary data and expert interviews, a market overview for the three products is provided as the basis of a more detailed analysis of the added value in 12 organic supply chain examples. For this, interviews with market players and an “added value calculator” tool are employed.
Findings
The farm gate and retail price of organic products is higher than conventional. Supermarkets are the main outlet for organic milk and apples in the countries studied, whereas the situation for organic pasta is varied, suggesting that the use of different sale channels is influenced by the food product. The farmers’ share of added value ranges between 3 and 65 per cent of the added value created in the organic supply chains analysed. Organic offers opportunities to increase the farmers’ share of added value both in supermarkets and alternative sale channels, by developing collaboration, physical infrastructures for organic and integrating operations upstream of the chain.
Research limitations/implications
While more research is needed into a larger number of chains, this paper indicates that there are dynamics and features at supply chain level, such as the distribution of added value and the target markets used, that cannot be interpreted according to the binary division between “mainstream” and “alternative” organic suggested by the conventionalisation hypothesis.
Originality/value
The distribution of added value for existing supply chains in eight European countries is calculated by using an effective added value calculator tool.
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Abiola Farinde-Wu, Ayana Allen-Handy, Bettie Ray Butler and Chance W. Lewis
Prior to Brown v. Board of Education 1954, Black female educators played a significant and vital role in segregated schools. Despite Black female teachers’ historic presence in…
Abstract
Prior to Brown v. Board of Education 1954, Black female educators played a significant and vital role in segregated schools. Despite Black female teachers’ historic presence in the field of education, presently Black female teachers are disproportionately under-represented in the US teacher workforce. Acknowledging the shortage of Black female teachers in K-12 classrooms, the purpose of this qualitative study is to explore why Black female educators teach in under-resourced, urban schools. By examining Black female educators’ initial draw to urban schools in what we conceptualized as the urban factor, we hope to reframe the implicit biases surrounding under-resourced, urban schools as less desirable workplaces and unearth reasons why those Black female teachers who enter teaching gravitate more toward urban schools. Three themes emerged about Black female teachers’ thoughts on and preference for urban schools with an unexpected finding about Black female teachers’ perceptions of student behavior. Concluding, recommendations are offered for policy and practice.
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Adam Capon, Lien McGowan and Julia Bowman
Patient-centred care is a key approach used in Australia for the delivery of quality health care, and understanding experiences and perceptions is a key part to this. This paper…
Abstract
Purpose
Patient-centred care is a key approach used in Australia for the delivery of quality health care, and understanding experiences and perceptions is a key part to this. This paper aims to explore prisoners’ experiences and perceptions of health-care service provision in New South Wales, Australia.
Design/methodology/approach
In February and March 2017, 24 focus groups, consisting of 128 participants, were undertaken using semi-structured interviews that explored experiences of health care in prison.
Findings
A conceptualisation of the prisoners’ health-care experience around the core category of access to health care emerged from the data. Enablers or barriers to this access were driven by three categories: a prison construct – how the prisoners “see” the prison system influencing access to health care; a health-care system construct – how the prisoners “see” the prison health-care system and the pathways to navigate it; and personal factors. Communication was the category with the greatest number of relational connections.
Research limitations/implications
This study takes a pragmatic approach to the analysis of data, the findings forming the basis for a future quantitative study. The findings identify communication as a key issue for access to health care.
Originality/value
This study provides first-hand accounts of enablers and barriers to accessing health-care services in the prison environment. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to identify access to health care as a core category and is of value to health workers and researchers that work with the prison population.
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David Jeacocke, Arn Sprogis, Julia Lowe and Richard Heller
Describes a process of adopting a set of review criteria for use in a regional project to improve heart failure management in general practice. Published guideline review criteria…
Abstract
Describes a process of adopting a set of review criteria for use in a regional project to improve heart failure management in general practice. Published guideline review criteria were assessed using a protocol examining indicator relevance, practicality and the clinical evidence on which indicators were based. An expert panel with experience in general practice, cardiology and general internal medicine, ethics, and research methodology was used to evaluate the indicators. Good overall agreement was observed with the review criteria. Areas of disagreement related to poor wording of the criteria, the need to incorporate more up‐to‐date evidence and criteria based on weak evidence. A need exists for greater training of health practitioners about how regional indicators can be used as screening tools for quality improvement. Nationally endorsed sets of regularly updated review criteria for common and important conditions would be helpful in guiding similar quality improvement projects.
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Concepts of values-based leadership posit that school principals’ professional practice must be informed by values to ensure coherently purposeful activities. Contingency models…
Abstract
Purpose
Concepts of values-based leadership posit that school principals’ professional practice must be informed by values to ensure coherently purposeful activities. Contingency models stress the contextual dependency of professional practice and the need to match activities to local opportunities and constraints. The purpose of this paper is to reconcile both positions from an integrative perspective and to illustrate examples of “values-based contingency leadership” (Day et al., 2001).
Design/methodology/approach
Analyses draw on survey data from 56 German schools in order to relate professional values stated by the principals as well as organizational features of their schools to teacher ratings on leadership behaviour (n=910). Instead of scrutinizing singular variables in isolation, a typological approach serves to identify value profiles as well as organizational configurations. Analyses of variance are applied to examine the combined effects of both factors on leadership behaviour.
Findings
Interactional effects in the sample indicate that contextual influences are not homogenous across differing value profiles of principals who operate under equal conditions. Descriptive patterns of leadership behaviour within each organizational configuration reveal how principals accentuate leadership activities according to their value profile.
Research limitations/implications
Due to the low statistical power of the small sample, findings are clearly exploratory in nature. However, replication and extension studies seem fruitful, as effect sizes of value-context interactions are consistent with theoretical assumptions and not artificially inflated by common-source variance.
Originality/value
This paper elaborates and exemplifies the moderating role of values in contextual influences on leadership behaviour. It also provides deeper insights into the content and structure of professional values advocated by school principals.
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Shannon Sales, Monica Galloway Burke and Colin Cannonier
This paper aims to examine women leaders from diverse career backgrounds and ethnicities to discover their perspectives of their leadership roles and empowerment to determine…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine women leaders from diverse career backgrounds and ethnicities to discover their perspectives of their leadership roles and empowerment to determine similarities and differences among them, focusing on the perspectives of African American women.
Design/methodology/approach
The review process began with a comprehensive review of African American women in history in the context of leadership and empowerment. Next, a Q-sort methodology was used as a semi-qualitative approach for women leaders to rank words of empowerment and facilitate discussions among these women. The Q methodology is known for exploring issues that are correlated with individuals who are influenced with personal feelings and opinions.
Findings
The paper concludes that perceptions of leadership roles differ among the African American women leaders when compared to other ethnicities. The results support the idea that women from diverse ethnic backgrounds have different experiences in the workplace, and these experiences influence how they identify factors they perceive as beneficial to them in terms of their perspectives on leadership and empowerment. Several themes emerged for African American women leaders including being overlooked, marginalized, undervalued and unappreciated in their professions as leaders due to their dual minority status. As it is now as it was in the past, such barriers can deter or stop progression for African American women leaders.
Originality/value
The history of African American women in leadership roles is scantily recognized or not recognized at all. This paper highlights leadership roles and barriers for African American women currently in leadership roles in contrast to other women. The issues they face are still similar to those faced by African American women in earlier decades in spite of increased career mobility. A relatively understudied topic in leadership and management history in general, this paper provides a unique lens from which to build awareness about the leadership roles and empowerment of African American women and to effect needed change.
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Francesco Sofo, Ta‐Yan Leong and Michelle Sofo
The purpose of this paper is to identify from the literature the successful R&D management cooperation factors and then examine their relevance to R&D management cooperation…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify from the literature the successful R&D management cooperation factors and then examine their relevance to R&D management cooperation efforts between China and Australia.
Design/methodology/approach
The case study method is used to encourage a deeper appreciation of the dynamics of R&D management projects. A theoretical framework is constructed based on the literature to highlight factors of successful R&D management, and this framework is then applied to a case study involving the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).
Findings
The result is a hybrid multi‐dimensional model incorporating cultural and social capital variables. Several critical success factors were found to exist: funding, government support, institutional support, complementary technology and expertise, mutual respect and strong commitment from leadership. One additional critical success factor was the bilingual expertise of facilitators who manage to help bridge the gaps between both intellectual capital (technical expertise) and cultural differences.
Practical implications
The framework of successful R&D cooperation identified in this study can act as a springboard for applying the successful principles in broader cases of R&D management cooperation.
Originality/value
The value of this study lies in the development of a model for successful cross‐cultural application of R&D management cooperation between China, Australia and (by extension) other countries that may foster successful cooperation, build global empathy and create inclusive competitive advantage.
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The purpose of the study is to find the relation between brand score and strategy through measurement of brand score. Quantitative methods to assess consumer awareness…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the study is to find the relation between brand score and strategy through measurement of brand score. Quantitative methods to assess consumer awareness, satisfaction and preferences are the main purposes of the study.
Design/methodology/approach
In the study of brands, 120 respondents participated in dish-washing category. A survey was conducted to test the brand score and to see if communication effectiveness impacts the brand score of extensions.
Findings
The report finds that brand score is an indicator of how effective a brand is. Higher brand equity helps in getting better acceptance in brand extensions of a new market, and the results of brand scores confirm the same. They should be clearly distinguished between the brand as a whole and its sub-brands and extensions, so that it may have a differential approach to each sub-brand and extensions. Our study confirms the usage in brand extension study by applying brand score parameters as an effective tool for measuring communication strategy. Brand score parameters have been tried earlier by Srivastava (2004, 2009 and 2013).
Research limitations/implications
This study, conducted across the metro cities, may represent different cultures. However, it may not represent the Tier 2 and below population, including the rural population. However, with the penetration of such goods sweeping in to these markets, it will be interesting to explore if similar strategy clicks with these consumers. The paper is conceptual in nature. Therefore, this paper lacks in-depth theoretical support because it is conceptual in nature and more of a practitioner paper.
Practical implications
Application of brand scorecard would be useful for the managers to conduct analysis of brand mapping score, in reference to brand strategy, versus others. The brand score tools help in measuring the impact of various market drivers’ measures on ten parameters on the performance of brands. A study of brand scores of a brand extension of competing brands will give direction to communication strategy in comparison to competitors. Managers can calculate the brand scores on a six-monthly or yearly basis to study the impact of their brand strategy to get better insight on the effectiveness. It can also give new directions on developing brand strategy. Lifebuoy changed their brand strategy, based on their brand score matrix, from germicidal effect to total protection against infection among children through handwash usage strategy approach.
Originality/value
Brand score is a new concept because there is a paucity of similar research (Srivastava, 2013). Brand score analysis and mapping of a brand play a major role in measuring the performance of brand in the market. This research finding will improve the effectiveness of communication in marketing. The approach of using the brand score technique for measurement of strategy is new to brand extension and will give directions and ways to improve the effectiveness. Application of the brand score in the brand extension is the first approach to give direction on strategy.