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1 – 10 of 47Karen Newell, Chris Corrigan, Geoffrey Punshon and Alison Leary
Patients with severe asthma were choosing not to use the emergency department (ED) in extremis and were self-medicating when experiencing severe asthma, putting their lives at…
Abstract
Purpose
Patients with severe asthma were choosing not to use the emergency department (ED) in extremis and were self-medicating when experiencing severe asthma, putting their lives at risk. This local issue reflected a nationwide situation. The purpose of this paper is to better understand the reasons behind patients’ reluctance to attend ED and to consider practical solutions in a structured way.
Design/methodology/approach
Systems thinking (soft systems methodology) was used to examine the issues resulting in this reluctance to attend the ED. Once this tame (well-defined) problem was revealed, a potential solution was developed in co-production with patients.
Findings
Patients feared attending the ED and felt vulnerable while in the ED for several reasons. This appeared to be a well-defined and solvable problem. The solution proposed was an asthma patient passport (APP), which increased patient’s confidence in their ability to communicate their needs while in severe distress. The APP decreases (from 12 to 5 steps) the work patients had to do to achieve care. The APP project is currently being evaluated.
Practical implications
The APP should be offered to all people with severe asthma.
Originality/value
By revisiting systems thinking and identifying problems, a solution was identified. Although methods such as soft systems methodology have limitations when used in wicked (difficult or impossible to resolve) problems, such methods still have merit in tame problems and were applicable in this case to fully understand the issues, and to design practical solutions.
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Kanupriya Bhardwaj and Eshita Gupta
The key purpose of this paper is to quantify the size of the energy-efficiency gap (EEG) for air conditioners at the household level in Delhi. Most of the studies in the EEG…
Abstract
Purpose
The key purpose of this paper is to quantify the size of the energy-efficiency gap (EEG) for air conditioners at the household level in Delhi. Most of the studies in the EEG tradition broadly define EEG as the difference between the actual and optimal level of energy efficiency. The optimal level of energy efficiency is defined at the societal level (that weigh social costs against social benefits) and the private level (that weigh private costs against private benefits).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors base the empirical results in this study on the basis of the primary data collected through in-person interviews of the high-income urban households in Delhi in 2014-2015. The sample of 101 households was collected through purposive random sampling. The survey data include information on type and number of AC possessed, hours of operations, socioeconomic characteristics and awareness and habits of households.
Findings
Using primary data of 101 high-income urban household, the paper finds that average EEG is about 10 per cent of total electricity demand of ACs at the household level. The maximum current saving potential measured as a difference between hypothetical energy consumption, if everyone adopts five star ACs, and actual energy consumption is estimated about 14 per cent of the total electricity demand of ACs. Results from the ordinary least squares regressions demonstrate that individual’s habits, attitude, awareness of energy-efficiency measures and perceptions significantly determine the size of the EEG. Among other things, authors’ empirical analysis shows that information can play a central role in guiding investment in energy-efficient technologies. From the analysis of improving access to understandable information about cost savings, payback period and emission reduction, it is found that full information leads to the significant reduction in the size of the expected private energy-efficiency gap from 10 to 2.98 per cent at the household level.
Research limitations/implications
This paper tests the significance of non-economic and non-social factors in determining the size of the EEG. Apart from socioeconomic factors such as income, occupation and education, individual’s energy-conserving habits and attitudes, awareness of energy-efficiency measures and perceptions are other important factors found to have a significant negative impact on the size of the EEG. This is particularly important for the designing of information programs by policymakers for promoting energy-efficiency choices in view of the change that is required in the behavior and attitudes of the households.
Originality/value
In this study, authors try to estimate the size of the EEG of ACs for the high-income urban households in Delhi. The private energy-efficiency gap estimated at 10 per cent of the household demand for ACs indicates existing saving opportunity for the private households. It is found that provision of comprehensive information about cost savings, payback period and emission reduction reduces the size of the EEG significantly from 10 to 2.72 per cent at the private level. This highlights the existence of limited and incomplete information in the market about the possible costs and benefits of energy-efficiency investments. This paper tests the significance of non-economic and non-social factors in determining the size of the energy-efficiency gap. Apart from socioeconomic factors such as income, occupation and education, individual’s energy-conserving habits and attitudes, awareness of energy-efficiency measures and perceptions are other important factors found to have a significant negative impact on the size of the EEG. This is particularly important for the designing of information programs by policymakers for promoting energy-efficiency choices in view of the change that is required in the behavior and attitudes of the households.
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Karen Papke Shields and Manoj K. Malhotra
The purpose of this paper is to examine differences in manufacturing managers' perceptions of functional area power in manufacturing organizations to address the perception in the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine differences in manufacturing managers' perceptions of functional area power in manufacturing organizations to address the perception in the literature that manufacturing has little if any power in the organization.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data gathered from 129 manufacturing executives in the USA are used to examine their perceptions of differences in functional power in manufacturing firms. Relative rankings of functional areas for four types of power – position, expertise, resource, and political – are used to examine perceived differences, and the relationship between power and the role of the manufacturing executive in strategic decision making.
Findings
Contrary to prior assertions in the manufacturing strategy literature, it was found that the manufacturing and marketing areas are perceived by manufacturing managers to be the most powerful functions, switching in their dominant roles depending upon the type of power. In addition, a relationship exists between position, expertise, and political power and the role of the manufacturing executive.
Research limitations/implications
Although, this research includes a second respondent from a sub‐sample of firms, future research should examine not only the manufacturing managers' perceptions of intra‐organizational power, but also should dovetail the paper's findings with perceptions of managers in other functional areas as well.
Practical implications
Manufacturing managers can take actions to enhance their role in business‐level strategic decisions and be proactive in increasing the power of their functional area.
Originality/value
This paper addresses intra‐organizational power, which has not been examined in the manufacturing strategy literature from the perspective of the manufacturing manager's perception.
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This paper reports the findings of an initial exploratory study of the section 2 life‐sentenced prisoner population within one large prison in the south of England. Data were…
Abstract
This paper reports the findings of an initial exploratory study of the section 2 life‐sentenced prisoner population within one large prison in the south of England. Data were collected on 18 section 2 life‐sentenced individuals within the prison population and analysed to identify significant differences between those sentenced for ‘acquisitive’ offences and those sentenced for an offence of ‘violence’.Violent offenders were significantly more likely to have a higher level of violent previous convictions. Both groups were observed to have a high percentage of adjudications for anti‐social behaviour in prison. Importantly, those convicted of an offence of violence were perceived as being at significantly higher risk of suicide and self injury than were those convicted of an acquisitive offence. There was also an elevated level of drug‐related adjudications within the acquisitive offender group. Implications of these findings for practice are discussed.
Sharika J. Hegde, Hani Mahmassani and Karen Smilowitz
The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework to evaluate and assess the performance of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution process that is sensitive to the unique supply-side…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework to evaluate and assess the performance of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution process that is sensitive to the unique supply-side and demand-side constraints exhibited in the US vaccine rollout.
Design/methodology/approach
A queuing framework that operates under two distinct regimes is formulated to analyze service rates that represent system capacity to vaccinate (under the first regime) and hesitancy-induced throughput (under the second regime). These supply- and hesitancy-constrained regimes form the focus of the present paper, as the former reflects the inherent ability of the nation in its various jurisdictions to mobilize, whereas the latter reflects a critical area for public policy to protect the population’s overall health and safety.
Findings
The two-regime framework analysis provides insights into the capacity to vaccinate and hesitancy-constrained demand, which is found to vary across the country primarily by politics and region. The framework also allows analysis of the end-to-end supply chain, where it is found that the ability to vaccinate was likely constrained by last-mile administration issues, rather than the capacity of the manufacturing and transportation steps of the supply chain.
Originality/value
This study presents a new framework to consider end-to-end supply chains as dynamic systems that exhibit different regimes because of unique supply- and demand-side characteristics and estimate rollout capacity and underlying determinants at the national, state and county levels.
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Samantha Lynch and Karen Smith
This paper seeks to provide an insight into the recruitment and selection of volunteers in the heritage sector, drawing comparisons between paid and unpaid workers to assess the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to provide an insight into the recruitment and selection of volunteers in the heritage sector, drawing comparisons between paid and unpaid workers to assess the implications of the findings for volunteer management.
Design/methodology/approach
A multi‐method research design was adopted involving qualitative interviews with managers and volunteers, in conjunction with a postal survey of volunteers across 12 study sites, which were all visitor attractions in the heritage sector.
Findings
The findings show that the effectiveness of the recruitment and selection process can be undermined by a lack of formality and supporting resources. This raises questions about the effectiveness of human resource management for volunteers, both specifically in the heritage sector and in the wider context of volunteer management.
Research limitations/implications
The research was of an exploratory nature and so further investigation is needed to consider the impact of these findings on the effectiveness of volunteer recruitment and selection across a range of sectors.
Practical implications
The research highlights the existing practices in place for volunteer management in the heritage sector so raising issues for managers regarding the challenge of achieving a balance between formality and informality of human resource management practices.
Originality/value
The research takes a micro‐level approach to examining the recruitment and selection of volunteer workers. It provides a link in the literature between the management of volunteers and human resource management practices.
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This paper aims to use the results of a synthesis of six social science fellowships to explore how alternative framings of the climate justice debate can support fairer climate…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to use the results of a synthesis of six social science fellowships to explore how alternative framings of the climate justice debate can support fairer climate policies.
Design/methodology/approach
The original fellowships drew on sociology, economics, geography, psychology and international relations. Cross-cutting themes of rights, risks and responsibilities were identified following a series of workshops. Results of these workshops were discussed in a number of policy fora. Analysis of the feedback from that fora is used to propose the case for a rights, risks and responsibilities approach to building a more accessible climate justice debate.
Findings
Existing climate policy unjustly displaces a) responsibility for emission reductions, b) risks from climate impacts and c) loss of rights. Foundational questions of acceptable risk have been ignored and a just climate policy requires procedurally just ways of revisiting this first-order question.
Research limitations/implications
The contribution a rights, risks and responsibilities framework can bring to a process of educating for climate stewardship is at this stage theoretical. It is only through trialling a rights, risks and responsibilities approach to climate justice debates with the relevant stakeholders that its true potential can be assessed.
Practical implications
Policy actors expressed strong resistance to the idea of overhauling current decision-making processes and policy frameworks. However, moving forward from this point with a more nuanced and tactical understanding of the dialectical relationship between rights, risks and responsibilities has the potential to improve those processes.
Social implications
Educating for climate stewardship will be more effective if it adopts an approach which seeks a co-production of knowledge. Beginning with the foundational question of what counts as an acceptable level of climate risk offers an inclusive entry point into the debate.
Originality/value
Reveals limits to public engagement with climate policy generated by a ‘justice’ framing.
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Amidu Abdul‐Rasheed, Aluko Bioye Tajudeen, Nuhu Muhammad Bashar and Saibu Muibi Olufemi
Quite a substantial number of academic papers have examined the performance of both direct and indirect real estate relative to other investment assets. While these studies are…
Abstract
Purpose
Quite a substantial number of academic papers have examined the performance of both direct and indirect real estate relative to other investment assets. While these studies are valuable in the field of real estate investment performance measurements, a gap still exist in the literature on the comparative performance of investment assets in the various sectors of the stock markets of most emerging economies. This paper aims to fill the gap by providing analysis of the historical performance of real estate and other securities in the Nigerian capital market.
Design/methodology/approach
Annual open and closing market prices of shares and dividend of sampled listed companies in addition to data on all share index (ASI), consumer price index (CPI) and yield on 90‐days T‐Bill were obtained for the period 1999‐2005. These were then analysed using descriptive, risk‐adjusted measures and regression models.
Findings
The empirical evidence suggests that while real estate outperformed the market on a nominal basis, it underperformed the market stock on a risk‐adjusted basis over the time period of analysis. Unexpectedly, real estate security did not provide a good protection against inflation and is also uncorrelated with the stock market.
Originality/value
This paper provides empirical evidence of the investment characteristic of indirect real estate investment in Nigeria. The results suggest that real estate security does not after all provide a good substitute to direct real estate investment.
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