As a long standing advocate of the virtues of added value, I would like to comment on the article by Ivor Stolliday and Margaret Attwood. Like them, I am seriously concerned that…
Abstract
As a long standing advocate of the virtues of added value, I would like to comment on the article by Ivor Stolliday and Margaret Attwood. Like them, I am seriously concerned that added value should not be oversold as a panacea. Indeed, so many people are now jumping onto the bandwagon that those who laboriously pushed it up to the top of the hill are being trampled underfoot by the newcomers. My experience of running many seminars and workshops is similar to that of the ARMC, namely, that those who arrive wanting only a formula for an AV pay scheme depart realising that the pay scheme is only the tip of the iceberg.
IVOR STOLLIDAY and MARGARET ATTWOOD
It has become an article of faith to believe that the root of the British industrial malaise lies in low productivity. The apparent permanence of a poor productivity record in…
Abstract
It has become an article of faith to believe that the root of the British industrial malaise lies in low productivity. The apparent permanence of a poor productivity record in Britain was brilliantly chronicled by Corelli Barnett in his recent article in ICT on ‘The hundred year sickness’. The government, industry, and commentators point to the unfavourable comparisons between British industry and our foreign competitors. The car industry seems to be the favourite example for this masochistic mode of analysis.
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The aim is to expose shoddy and unprofessional thinking and activity amongst some trainers.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim is to expose shoddy and unprofessional thinking and activity amongst some trainers.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses dictionary definitions and experience to expose linguistic errors by trainers who label their courses as workshops – when they are not.
Findings
The analysis shows that trainers mis‐use the English language in order to promote their courses.
Practical implications
The practical implications for the buyers of learning and development activity is to beware of trainers disguising their courses as workshops.
Social implications
One implication is the waste by organizations on courses that masquerade as workshops – hence reducing practical application and transfer of learning.
Originality/value
No‐one has written on this subject before.
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The paper is aims to promote both dialogue and action around learning in organizations.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper is aims to promote both dialogue and action around learning in organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
The basis of the paper is in the collective experience of the 13 authors who produced the Declaration.
Findings
The paper argues for the central importance of learning for all organizations.
Research limitations/implications
The research for the paper is in the collective writings of the 13 authors.
Practical implications
The practical implications of the ideas promoted can be considerable. Very few organizations practise what is suggested in the paper.
Originality/value
The paper is of value to anyone working in organizations, not just learning and development professionals. It can be the basis for developing organizational learning strategies.
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David Borowski, Margaret Knox, Venkat Kanakala, Stuart Richardson, Keith Seymour, Stephen Attwood and Bary Slater
Gallstone‐related illnesses are one of the most common reasons for emergency hospital admissions, often with serious complications. Standard treatment of uncomplicated…
Abstract
Purpose
Gallstone‐related illnesses are one of the most common reasons for emergency hospital admissions, often with serious complications. Standard treatment of uncomplicated gallstone‐disease is by laparoscopic cholecystectomy, which can be safely and cost‐effectively performed during a short hospital stay or as day‐case. This paper aims to evaluate the referral pattern of patients with gallstones, which treatment is given and whether patients admitted as emergency could have benefited from earlier elective referral. The management of these patients is examined in the context of payment by results to determine cost and potential savings.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach takens was prospective clinical audit and patient questionnaire in a district general hospital. Cost comparisons were made using secondary care income (NHS tariff) and estimated cost of hospitalisation, investigations and treatment.
Findings
Between May and July 2007, 114 patients were admitted with symptomatic gallstones, 62 (54.4 per cent) were emergencies. Cholecystectomy was performed in all 52 elective patients and performed or planned for 59/62 (95.2 per cent) emergencies. A total 17/62 emergencies (27.4 per cent) presented with complications of gallstones. 38/62 (61.3 per cent) had similar symptoms before, with 21/38 (55.3 per cent) diagnosed in primary care or by another hospital department. 11 (52.4 per cent) of these had not been referred for a surgical opinion; taking account of age, co‐morbidity and data acquired for elective admissions, the cost of their treatment could have been reduced by at least £16,194.
Originality/value
A large proportion of patients admitted with symptomatic biliary disease could have been referred earlier and electively. Such referral practice could improve the quality of care and reduce cost for the NHS both in primary and secondary care.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between Amartya Sen’s notion of adaptation and his views on identity politics by focussing on the issue of slavery and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between Amartya Sen’s notion of adaptation and his views on identity politics by focussing on the issue of slavery and, more specifically, on the example of the happy or contented slave.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is text based. The methodological approach adopted is that of conceptual analysis, as is typical for work of this kind.
Findings
The paper concludes that the example of the happy or contented slave is indeed a fruitful one for those interested in exploring the relationship between Sen’s views on “the adaptation problem” and his views on identity politics, especially in relation to the subjection of women. Here Sen’s debt to the ideas of Mary Wollstonecraft and John Stuart Mill is particularly important.
Research limitations/implications
One implication of the argument of the paper is that there is a need to consider more carefully the differences that exist between the views of Wollstonecraft and Mill, so far as the example of the happy or contented slave is concerned.
Practical implications
One practical implication of the paper is that, hopefully, it establishes the continued relevance of the ideas of thinkers such as Wollstonecraft and Mill today, not least because of the influence that they have had on theoreticians such as Amartya Sen.
Social implications
The paper addresses issues which are of considerable social and political significance, especially for women in underdeveloped societies today.
Originality/value
The example of the happy or contented slave has not received much discussion in the literature on Sen, although Sen himself has suggested that the distinction between happiness and contentment is an important one, which does merit further discussion.
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The paper aims to describe the emerging critique of leader development in health care and to describe an alternative approach.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to describe the emerging critique of leader development in health care and to describe an alternative approach.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper explores the growing critique of leader development, highlighting the concentration on the development of individual human capital. The creation of social capital through an emphasis on leadership development is explained. Design principles and potential obstacles are identified.
Findings
A rebalancing of the field from an over‐concentration on the development of individual leaders to an emphasis on context and relationships is necessary.
Practical implications
Although the basic building‐blocks of development will remain the same, there is a need to rebalance them towards leadership rather than leaders.
Originality/value
The paper brings together in one place various strands of concern over leader development in health care and makes a case for change.
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Robert N. Eberhart, Stephen Barley and Andrew Nelson
We explore the acceptance of new contingent work relationships in the United States to reveal an emergent entrepreneurial ideology. Our argument is that these new work…
Abstract
We explore the acceptance of new contingent work relationships in the United States to reveal an emergent entrepreneurial ideology. Our argument is that these new work relationships represent a new social order not situated in the conglomerates and labor unions of the past, but on a confluence of neo-liberalism and individual action situated in the discourse of entrepreneurialism, employability, and free agency. This new employment relationship, which arose during the economic and social disruptions in the 1970s, defines who belongs inside an organization (and can take part in its benefits) and who must properly remain outside to fend for themselves. More generally, the fusing of entrepreneurship with neo-liberalism has altered not only how we work and where we work but also what we believe is appropriate work and what rewards should accompany it.