Jennifer Hall, Tess Kay, Alison K. McConnell and Louise Mansfield
Prolonged workplace sitting can harm employee health. Sit-stand desks are a potential workplace health initiative that might reduce and break up the time office-based employees…
Abstract
Purpose
Prolonged workplace sitting can harm employee health. Sit-stand desks are a potential workplace health initiative that might reduce and break up the time office-based employees spend sitting in the workplace. However, little is known about the feasibility and acceptability of providing sit-stand desks. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
The present study sought stakeholder employee views surrounding sit-stand desk implementation within two UK-based non-profit organisations with open-plan offices. This paper draws on qualitative semi-structured interviews with 26 stakeholder employees and 65 days of participant observations. Data were analysed using thematic analysis, and organisational cultural theory framed the study.
Findings
Stakeholders employees’ positioning of sit-stand desks as a workplace health initiative reflected their perceptions of the relationship between sit-stand desk provision, employee health and organisational effectiveness. Perceptions were shaped by the nature and context of the organisation and by occupation-specific processes. Relatively fixed (e.g. organisational structure) and modifiable (e.g. selecting products compatible with the environment) factors were found to restrict and facilitate the perceived feasibility of implementing sit-stand desks.
Practical implications
The findings offer several recommendations for workplaces to improve stakeholder employee attitudes towards sit-stand desk provision and to increase the ease and efficiency of implementation.
Originality/value
Whilst extant literature has tended to examine hypothetical views related to sit-stand desk provision, this study consulted relevant stakeholders following, and regarding, the sit-stand desk implementation process.
Details
Keywords
Danielle Mayes, Sarah Victoria Ramsden, Louise Braham, Zoe Whitaker and Mark Norburn
The purpose of this paper is to explore service users’ experience of community meetings (CMs) within a high secure setting.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore service users’ experience of community meetings (CMs) within a high secure setting.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative design was employed in which focus groups were used to capture service users’ experience of CMs. In all, 12 focus groups comprising a total of 27 participants were carried out using a semi-structured interview schedule. Data were analysed using thematic and saliency analysis, identifying themes which were pertinent to the research aims.
Findings
Positive experiences reported by service users included a safe space to explore ward issues and develop skills, with some viewing the meeting as a therapeutic forum in which to facilitate personal growth.
Research limitations/implications
There were a wide range of patient presentations and views. Furthermore, only 20 per cent of the patient population were included within this study.
Practical implications
A number of recommendations have been identified that can have positive implications for patients (quality of life and recovery), staff (resolving conflicts and problem-solving) and the overall therapeutic milieu of the ward.
Originality/value
There are no reviews looking at CMs within the last decade. This paper brings the understanding up to date to allow the development of this potentially positive tool.
Details
Keywords
Sharon Louise Clancy and John Holford
The purpose of this paper is to examine the implications for adults of learning in a residential context and whether the residential aspect intensifies the learning process, and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the implications for adults of learning in a residential context and whether the residential aspect intensifies the learning process, and can lead to enhanced personal transformation, moving beyond professional skills and training for employability.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reports on research, conducted in 2017, with 41 current and former staff and students (on both short courses and longer access courses) in four residential colleges for adults: Ruskin, Northern, Fircroft and Hillcroft Colleges.
Findings
Key findings include the powerful role residential education plays in accelerating and deepening learning experiences, particularly for adults who have faced extraordinary personal and societal challenges and are second chance learners. The colleges, all in historic settings, confer feelings of worth, security and sanctuary and the staff support – pastoral and academic, bespoke facilities and private rooms are vital enabling mechanisms. Seminar-style learning creates opportunity for experiential group learning, helping to foster critical thinking and challenge to mainstream views.
Social implications
The colleges’ ethos, curricula and traditions foster among students an “ethic of service” and a desire to offer “emotional labour” to their own communities, through working for instance in health and social care or the voluntary sector.
Originality/value
Little research has been undertaken in contemporary settings on the impact of learning in a residential environment, particularly for second chance learners and vulnerable adults. Still less research has examined the wider implications of learning in a historic building setting and of learning which extends into critical thinking, intellectual growth, transformation and change.
Details
Keywords
Paul Simic, Steve Newton, Dave Wareing, Barbara Campbell and Marie Hill
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate key organisational processes in managing “safeguarding” in relation to the independent sector, the local authority delivery arm for care.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate key organisational processes in managing “safeguarding” in relation to the independent sector, the local authority delivery arm for care.
Design/methodology/approach
The methods employed were a telephone survey (one in five random sample of all residential and domiciliary providers in a local authority area) and follow up focus groups (n=2) of local authority staff and independent sector domiciliary and residential providers, in an action research framework. The survey was developed through expert members of a multi‐agency Project Reference Group.
Findings
Three survey domains (on “information”, “training” and “support and advice”) indicated high satisfaction, but “experience of investigations'” low rating raised questions for further exploration and were followed up in detail in the focus groups selected from providers with experience of safeguarding alerts. A number of issues were raised for local policy and for safeguarding more broadly.
Research limitations/implications
The paper only assesses one local authority area. A more balanced systems approach is needed to manage safeguarding.
Originality/value
The involvement of the independent sector in safeguarding is under‐researched and the development of processes that encourage a research culture and a systems approach are exemplified.
Details
Keywords
THE new library building has been open for six months now. It is pleasantly situated in an area of new buildings, and occupies a prominent island site just on the edge of the…
Abstract
THE new library building has been open for six months now. It is pleasantly situated in an area of new buildings, and occupies a prominent island site just on the edge of the shopping centre. The old library was in the middle of a shopping area, and it has been interesting to note that our removal from that site has had a more considerable effect on the traffic pattern than one would have thought.
Louise Curran, Jappe Eckhardt and Jaemin Lee
This paper aims to explore trade policy measures taken in response to COVID-19 and analyses in detail their extent and nature. It assesses their compatibility with World Trade…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore trade policy measures taken in response to COVID-19 and analyses in detail their extent and nature. It assesses their compatibility with World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreements: specifically, whether they were necessary and justifiable efforts to protect the security and health of populations and asks how this widespread recourse to trade barriers may impact on international business?
Design/methodology/approach
This paper analyses an extensive database from the International Trade Centre of trade measures taken in response to COVID-19. It differentiates by type of country, nature and coverage of measures (imports or exports, type of product…). On the basis of existing jurisprudence, this paper analyses whether restrictive measures were likely to be judged legal under WTO rules.
Findings
This paper finds that, although the majority of trade measures are probably justifiable, there were nevertheless many measures whose coverage and/or nature was such that a justification under existing WTO exceptions is, at the very least, arguable. Such widespread and intense instigation of potentially WTO incompatible measures in such a short period of time undoubtedly undermines the global trade rules on which international business has relied for decades.
Originality/value
There is little existing analysis of the legality of measures taken under the security exceptions and no substantial analyses of the measures taken in response to COVID-19. Furthermore, little scholarly attention has been paid to the impacts on international business of the increasing use of WTO “exceptions” to justify trade measures to protect national industries and populations.
Details
Keywords
This issue attempts to provide a general background for exploring the increasingly complex world of abstracting and indexing services. It is also an indication of the involvement…
Abstract
This issue attempts to provide a general background for exploring the increasingly complex world of abstracting and indexing services. It is also an indication of the involvement of libraries in the total development of abstracting and indexing services. The first paper by Adams and Baker discusses one of the basic problems in this area which is the proper structuring of subjects, for inclusion in any service. The relationship between ‘discipline’‐and ‘mission’‐oriented services is covered, and in this chapter a common base is reached for future discussion. The National Federation of Science Abstracting and Indexing Services appears to have collapsed into a fairly passive role, but the editor has presented some informative notes which can act as a basis for a more definitive report. Stella Keenan provides a valuable contribution to the background of abstracting and indexing services in the physical sciences and Louise Schultz discusses new developments in the area of the biological sciences, demonstrating the complexities of providing access in a specialized scientific area. The paper by Tate and Wood is entitled ‘Libraries and Abstracting and Indexing Services—a study in interdependency’. Although, based primarily on their experiences at ‘Chemical Abstracts’, they bring out the relationship between libraries and specialized services. Another introduction to the Science Citation Index is given by Morton Malin, from the Institute for Scientific Information, bringing out the interests of librarians in this new indexing tool. Charles Bernier discusses the procedures and problems of production of subject indexes, based on his own extensive experience. He covers problems of term selection and correction in addition to the physical preparation of copy. James Wood, Head Librarian of Chemical Abstracts Service, proposes a co‐operative venture between librarians and abstracts producers in a comprehensive list of periodicals for chemistry and chemical engineering. The final paper by Andrew Aimes, senior officer of the COSATI staff, gives general guidelines and information basic to the theory behind national information systems, referring to the ‘System Study of Abstracting and Indexing in the United States’, prepared by SDC under contract to COSATI.
In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of…
Abstract
In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.
Details
Keywords
Probably the most interesting public library discussion of last month occurred in the Holborn Borough Council on April 12th. At this meeting the Library Committee reported that…
Abstract
Probably the most interesting public library discussion of last month occurred in the Holborn Borough Council on April 12th. At this meeting the Library Committee reported that they had considered what further economies could be effected during the war in connexion with the Local Government Board circular. They found that no substantial saving could be made by suspending the issue of fiction. On the other hand, the four remaining assistants were either attested, or single men who would be required for military service. In these circumstances they recommended, “That, for the period of the war, or until further order, the Holborn Public Library be closed to the public.” This subject was referred to the Law and Parliamentary Committee, which submitted a report. This report seems to us to be so logical and important in its arguments and decisions that we are giving it a place in these editorial columns, as we believe it will be of value not only to London librarians but to others throughout the country, who are faced with similar issues :—