Richard Welsh, Sheneka Williams, Karen Bryant and Jami Berry
Conceptualizing schools as learning organizations provides a potential avenue to meet the pressing challenges of school improvement in the USA. District and school leaders play an…
Abstract
Purpose
Conceptualizing schools as learning organizations provides a potential avenue to meet the pressing challenges of school improvement in the USA. District and school leaders play an important role in creating and sustaining the conditions for a learning organization, yet little is known about how leadership responds to learning-resistant contexts in their mission to improve schools. This study aims to examine the relationship between the district and school leadership and schools as learning organizations. The focus is on the conceptualization of schools as learning organizations and the challenges involved in creating and sustaining conditions and processes in which to improve schools.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses semi-structured interviews with district and school leaders in the state of Georgia and data from completed dimensions of a learning organization questionnaire (DLOQ) study to analyze how district and school leaders conceptualize or make sense of schools as learning organizations and overcome challenges associated with creating and sustaining a learning organization in learning-resistant contexts.
Findings
The analysis find that participants perceive their school or district as a learning organization when the structure allows others to work together to learn and grow for the benefit of students.
Originality/value
This study is unique in that it adds to a growing number of studies that examine schools as learning organizations using the DLOQ and sheds light on the nature of learning-resistant contexts.
Details
Keywords
Kate Daellenbach, Ciahn Dalgliesh-Waugh and Karen A. Smith
This study aims to better understand the micro–meso–macro perspective in social marketing, through the examination of a transformative, primarily meso-level initiative aimed at…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to better understand the micro–meso–macro perspective in social marketing, through the examination of a transformative, primarily meso-level initiative aimed at developing more resilient communities in the face of disaster.
Design/methodology/approach
Research was oriented around two cases of community resilience planning. Relevant documents were reviewed, and a series of semi-structured interviews with the manager and advisors in an emergency management office were conducted, followed by in-depth interviews with 15 individual community participants.
Findings
The findings suggest a multilevel (micro–meso–macro) model of social change, incorporating fluid and interactive movement between the levels. In the context examined, community leaders were initially motivated to be involved due to their role, sense of altruism and curiosity. Their motivation to continue was encouraged, as misconceptions around emergency response were addressed and the value of community connections was highlighted. As planning progressed, greater involvement and empowerment resulted.
Research limitations/implications
This study is limited in its focus on two communities, and the context of emergency preparation and response. However, it contributes insights into a leading initiative designed to help build community resilience and insights into a micro–meso–macro perspective of social change.
Practical implications
The study also suggests that social marketers, when implementing a meso-level initiative, will benefit from considering multiple levels, seeking the involvement and cooperation of meso-level leaders which will help facilitate downstream change.
Originality/value
Contributing to the discussion of the micro–meso–macro levels of social marketing, this research examines disaster preparation and response – a context not frequently examined in social marketing. Findings suggest that interactive, multi-level thinking, especially considering the individual implementers of meso-level change as a “target market”, will benefit social well-being initiatives.
Details
Keywords
Karen Morris and Genevieve Smyth
Occupational therapists working in mental health services in the UK are under increasing scrutiny to provide both clinically and cost-effective services. The profession has…
Abstract
Purpose
Occupational therapists working in mental health services in the UK are under increasing scrutiny to provide both clinically and cost-effective services. The profession has indicated that a stronger evidence base would help promote the unique contribution of occupational therapy when influencing service managers and government bodies. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT) and its Specialist Section – Mental Health carried out a survey to gauge recent research capacity among occupational therapists working in mental health services in the UK and to seek their views about how to further increase research capacity and partnerships.
Findings
Of the 145 participants approximately half had been involved in research in the past five years, and most had involved research partnerships. A number had successfully applied for funding and about half of the research carried out had been disseminated. The participants felt that methods to increase research capacity and partnerships should continue to include improving research leadership and networks; promoting research skills through formal studies and increasing research dissemination.
Originality/value
A variety of methods will continue to be required to expand the evidence base. RCOT and its Specialist Sections continue to have an important role developing research capacity and partnerships.
Details
Keywords
Emma Harriet Wood and Maarit Kinnunen
To explore the value in reminiscing about past festivals as a potential way of improving wellbeing in socially isolated times.
Abstract
Purpose
To explore the value in reminiscing about past festivals as a potential way of improving wellbeing in socially isolated times.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses previous research on reminiscence, nostalgia and wellbeing to underpin the analysis of self-recorded memory narratives. These were gathered from 13 pairs of festivalgoers during Covid-19 restrictions and included gathering their individual memories and their reminiscences together. The participant pairs were a mix of friends, family and couples who had visited festivals in the UK, Finland and Denmark.
Findings
Four key areas that emerged through the analysis were the emotions of nostalgia and anticipation, and the processes of reliving emotions and bonding through memories.
Research limitations/implications
Future studies could take a longitudinal approach to see how memory sharing evolves and the impact of this on wellbeing. The authors also recommend undertaking similar studies in other cultural settings.
Practical implications
This study findings have implications for both post-festival marketing and for the further development of reminiscence therapy interventions.
Originality/value
The method provides a window into memory sharing that has been little used in previous studies. The narratives confirm the value in sharing memories and the positive impact this has on wellbeing. They also illustrate that this happens through positive forms of nostalgia that centre on gratitude and lead to hope and optimism. Anticipation, not emphasised in other studies, was also found to be important in wellbeing and was triggered through looking back at happier times.
Details
Keywords
Marji Erickson Warfield, Morgan K. Crossman, Ann Martha Neumeyer, Julie O’Brien and Karen A. Kuhlthau
The transition from pediatric to adult health care is challenging for youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Many tools have been developed to facilitate transition but…
Abstract
Purpose
The transition from pediatric to adult health care is challenging for youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Many tools have been developed to facilitate transition but studies have not assessed their utility or readiness to be implemented in primary care practices. The purpose of this paper is to rate existing health care transition tools to identify tools ready for use in primary care clinics and develop a set of transition principles.
Design/methodology/approach
Four pediatric and family medicine providers from community health centers reviewed 12 transition tools and provided ratings and in-depth responses about the usefulness and feasibility of each tool through online surveys and telephone interviews. A conference call was used to discuss the findings and develop a set of transition principles.
Findings
The top rated tools included three youth self-management tools, two tools focused on ASD information and one tool focused on communication. No one tool was top rated by all providers and none of the tools was ready to be implemented without revisions. The transition principles developed focused on the use of selected tools to involve all youth in regular conversations about transition at every well child visit beginning at age 14 and adapting that process for youth with special needs.
Originality/value
This study is unique in asking primary care providers to assess the applicability of incorporating existing and publicly available transition tools in their own practices and developing a set of transition principles.
Details
Keywords
Alexandra L. Ferrentino, Meghan L. Maliga, Richard A. Bernardi and Susan M. Bosco
This research provides accounting-ethics authors and administrators with a benchmark for accounting-ethics research. While Bernardi and Bean (2010) considered publications in…
Abstract
This research provides accounting-ethics authors and administrators with a benchmark for accounting-ethics research. While Bernardi and Bean (2010) considered publications in business-ethics and accounting’s top-40 journals this study considers research in eight accounting-ethics and public-interest journals, as well as, 34 business-ethics journals. We analyzed the contents of our 42 journals for the 25-year period between 1991 through 2015. This research documents the continued growth (Bernardi & Bean, 2007) of accounting-ethics research in both accounting-ethics and business-ethics journals. We provide data on the top-10 ethics authors in each doctoral year group, the top-50 ethics authors over the most recent 10, 20, and 25 years, and a distribution among ethics scholars for these periods. For the 25-year timeframe, our data indicate that only 665 (274) of the 5,125 accounting PhDs/DBAs (13.0% and 5.4% respectively) in Canada and the United States had authored or co-authored one (more than one) ethics article.