Madeleine Kendrick, Kevin B. Kendrick, Nicholas F. Taylor and Sandra G. Leggat
The authors explored clinical staff perceptions of their interactions with middle management and their experiences of the uncongeniality of their working environment.
Abstract
Purpose
The authors explored clinical staff perceptions of their interactions with middle management and their experiences of the uncongeniality of their working environment.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured interviews of clinical staff from an Australian public health service's Emergency, Surgery and Psychiatry departments. Volunteer interview transcripts were inductively coded using a reflexive thematic content analysis.
Findings
Of 73 interviews, 66 participants discussed their interactions with management. Most clinicians considered their interactions with middle management to be negative based on a violation of their expectations of support in the workplace. Collectively, these interactions formed the basis of clinical staff perceptions of management's lack of capacity and fit for the needs of staff to perform their roles.
Practical implications
Strategies to improve management's fit with clinicians' needs may be beneficial for reducing uncongenial workplaces for healthcare staff and enhanced patient care.
Originality/value
This article is among the few papers that discuss interactions with management from the perspective of clinical staff in healthcare. How these perspectives inform the perception of workplace uncongeniality for clinicians contributes greater understanding of the factors contributing to adversarial relationships between clinicians and managers.
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The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore perceptions of the impact of program participation on parenting styles and behavioral changes using observations and…
Abstract
The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore perceptions of the impact of program participation on parenting styles and behavioral changes using observations and in-depth semi-structured interviews with Black and Coloured staff and mothers at a community-based organization (CBO) in the Western Cape Province (WCP) in South Africa (SA). Purposive sampling was utilized in this research via the CBO and narratives from a total of twenty-three (twelve mothers and eleven staff) interviews form the basis of this manuscript. Data was collected between January – February 2017 and was analyzed through the phenomenological and inductive thematic analysis approach. The staff interviews revealed that child abandonment and neglect and the abuse of women are the two main environmental contextual factors that impact program participation. According to staff, improved self-esteem and positive life changes were identified as successful outcomes of participant involvement. The parent interviews provided examples of emotional issues such as domestic abuse and personal issues with alcohol and drugs as individual factors that impact their program participation. Changes in parenting styles was identified as successful outcomes among parent participants. The goal of this study was to provide much-needed insight into this community by presenting a variety of voices, specifically Black and Coloured men and women, that are underreported in the literature. Findings from this research adds to the knowledge of community-based parenting programs (CBPPs) for low-income and underserved populations in SA and internationally.
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Susan D.A. Misterek, Kevin J. Dooley and John C. Anderson
Both the improvement of productivity and the effectiveness ofperformance measures have been topics of extreme interest to managersand researchers in recent years. Looks at the…
Abstract
Both the improvement of productivity and the effectiveness of performance measures have been topics of extreme interest to managers and researchers in recent years. Looks at the potential advantages and disadvantages of using the traditional productivity measure, output/input, as a measure of performance at the firm, work‐unit, individual, product, or product‐line level. Considers the ability of productivity measures to adjust for price changes and to detect factor substitutions. The distortion of productivity measures by fixed expenses and the inability of productivity measures to consider quality changes are among the disadvantage cited. Also, criticisms that have been levelled at traditional cost accounting measures are found to apply to productivity measures. Proposes three criteria that can aid in determining when productivity measures are appropriate as performance measures. Makes recommendations for ways of using productivity measures effectively also.
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Research highlights that residential care experienced children and young people in Scotland have poorer educational outcomes than their peers within the wider population. Despite…
Abstract
Purpose
Research highlights that residential care experienced children and young people in Scotland have poorer educational outcomes than their peers within the wider population. Despite this, poor educational attainment is not inevitable, and further research is needed to increase the understanding of long-term trajectories. This paper aims to address a gap in contemporary literature that is of benefit to practitioners, academics and policymakers. Despite experiencing adversity, attachment, separation and loss, school attainment data on leaving care only reflects part of the educational journey.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a mixed methodology and social constructionist theoretical framework, a practitioner-led PhD study gathered data from questionnaires and qualitative information from 13 semi-structured interviews with young people who had experienced residential care in Scotland. Recruitment was through a gatekeeper within a national third-sector organisation. The educational trajectories for young people with experience of residential care in Scotland are complex. A lived experience perspective from a PhD study illustrates that statistical data only captures part of the journey and the author needs to reconsider how success is measured.
Findings
Of the 13 participants in the study, 12 achieved success educationally, although for the majority of those interviewed, attainment continued after leaving compulsory education. Barriers to greater success included placement uncertainty and movement, stigma, low expectations, pressure to not become a statistic, procedural obstacles and inconsistency or poor relationships.
Research limitations/implications
Supportive relationships and stable placements can create circumstances conducive to effective learning, but evidence reflects that support is necessary throughout the life course if children, young people and adults with care experience are to reach their full academic potential.
Originality/value
Research into the educational outcomes for those with experience of residential care in Scotland is limited. This paper, from a PhD, provides lived experience accounts from a practitioner-led study.
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John Gorman, Eph Sparrow and Kevin Krautbauer
The study described here aims to set forth an analysis approach for a specific biomedical therapeutic device principally involving fluid mechanics and resulting sound generation…
Abstract
Purpose
The study described here aims to set forth an analysis approach for a specific biomedical therapeutic device principally involving fluid mechanics and resulting sound generation. The function of the therapeutic device is to clear mucus from the airways of the lungs. Clearance of the airways is a primary means of relief for cystic fibrosis and is also effective in less profound dysfunctions such as asthma. The complete system consists of a device to periodically pulse air pressure and a vest that girdles the abdomen of the patient and receives and discharges the pulsating airflow. The source of pulsed air can be tuned both with respect to the amplitude and frequency of the pressure pulsations.
Design/methodology/approach
The key design tools used here are computational fluid dynamics and the theory of turbulence-based sound generation. The fluid flow inside of the device is multidimensional, unsteady and turbulent.
Findings
Results provided by the fluid mechanic study include the rates of fluid flow between the device and the inflatable vest, the rates of air supplied to and extracted from the device, the fluid velocity magnitudes and directions that result from the geometry of the device and the magnitude of the turbulence generated by the fluid motion and the rotating component of the device. Both the velocity magnitudes and the strength of the turbulence contribute to the quantitative evaluation of the sound generation.
Originality/value
A comprehensive literature search on this type of therapeutic device to clear mucus from the airways of the lungs revealed no previous analysis of the fluid flow and sound generation inside of the device producing the pulsed airflow. The results presented in this paper pinpoint the locations and causes of sound generation that can cause audible discomfort for patients.
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THE enlarged scale and more varied content of this year's Business Efficiency Exhibition recalls the importance of the office in modern business. So, too, do those vast, austere…
Abstract
THE enlarged scale and more varied content of this year's Business Efficiency Exhibition recalls the importance of the office in modern business. So, too, do those vast, austere rectangular boxes whose modular construction makes them so depressingly alike. Those in London and other major cities can be matched exactly in Frankfurt or Brussels, Milan or Montreal. This is a natural consequence of the tendency for the number of manual workers to decline and of clerical ones to increase.
Brodie Paterson, Kevin McKenna and Vaughan Bowie
The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a Delphi study of trainers in the prevention and safer management of violence in mental health settings that sought to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a Delphi study of trainers in the prevention and safer management of violence in mental health settings that sought to identify and clarify what represents best practice at a European level.
Design/methodology/approach
A Delphi method was used to garner the views of a sample of 54 trainers involved in the training of managing violence and aggression on a draft charter of best practice.
Findings
A high level of agreement was found with the suggested indicators of best practice but the levels of agreement varied in some key areas and respondents identified a series of omissions from the charter and a number of potential challenges to its implementation.
Research limitations/implications
The sample was restricted to Europe and further research is planned to seek the views of a wider sample.
Practical implications
The charter will provide a reference document for best practice in the interim.
Social implications
Its implementation will require trainers to consciously identify the ethical implications not just of the content of their training buts its overall approach.
Originality/value
The study is presently unique in its focus and context but further research in this area is underway designed to complement this study.
There is now no shortage of complex and expensive database software for business use and information retrieval but not all applications need the full sophistication of a…
Abstract
There is now no shortage of complex and expensive database software for business use and information retrieval but not all applications need the full sophistication of a relational programmable package costing close to £1,000. Indeed overkill can be a mistake because big systems do not always do simple tasks well. It is, therefore, worth looking to see what the other end of the spectrum has to offer. The “Key” data handling package is just such a system, intended for use in education and designed to be simple enough for pupils themselves to use. At a cost of only £7.95 (BBC B computer) or £9.95 (Research Machines Nimbus computer) including a 72‐page spiral‐bound handbook, one would not expect much, but in fact the system can record information of up to 255 characters length in a number of varied types of field, store simple drawings associated with the records, and plot positions on a map. Searching is possible for beginnings, endings and part words and is surprisingly fast.
Lucette B. Comer and Tanya Drollinger
For the past several decades women have been moving into the United States workforce in greater numbers and they have been gaining access to the types of jobs that were…
Abstract
For the past several decades women have been moving into the United States workforce in greater numbers and they have been gaining access to the types of jobs that were, traditionally, performed exclusively by men. Despite this progress, they are still having difficulty penetrating the so‐called “glass ceiling” into upper management positions (Alimo‐Metcalfe 1993; Tavakolian 1993). Many reasons have been advanced, but the most compelling of these concerns the “glass walls” that support the “glass ceiling”. The “glass walls” refer to those invisible barriers that limit the ability of women and minorities to gain access to the type of job that would place them in a position to break through the “glass ceiling” (Townsend 1996). If women are to gain parity with men in the workforce, they need to succeed in the positions that lie inside the “glass walls” that will enable them to rise through the “glass ceiling” to upper management.