Mark Lemke and Kakoli Bandyopadhyay
The Year 2000 (Y2K) problem threatens the effective functioning of all Information Technology‐enabled organizations. This paper illustrates the Y2K preparedness at Firstlogic, a…
Abstract
The Year 2000 (Y2K) problem threatens the effective functioning of all Information Technology‐enabled organizations. This paper illustrates the Y2K preparedness at Firstlogic, a software company in Wisconsin, USA. At Firstlogic, products have been tested for Y2K compliance, solutions have been suggested for non‐compliant systems, resources have been allocated to modify or replace affected systems, and relevant legal issues have been addressed to protect the company from Y2K‐related lawsuits.
Details
Keywords
This paper aims to propose a theoretical arrangement for the study of applied computer and information ethics carried out in an interdisciplinary and a democratic manner by which…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to propose a theoretical arrangement for the study of applied computer and information ethics carried out in an interdisciplinary and a democratic manner by which the information and communications technologies are seen as an ethical environment, and human-computer couplings are seen as hybrid moral agents.
Design/methodology/approach
New ethical issues emerge dynamically in such environment which must be interpreted according to human sentience and computer ontology. To attribute moral meaning to acts perpetrated by human-computer hybrids, a hybrid of two semiotics must be likely used that bridge the gap between signs and things from opposite directions.
Findings
The author argues that ecosocial dynamics and material semiotics can be harnessed together as in a theoretical mashup for that purpose, and that such harnessing will allow us to engage with a posthumanist/post-social ethics here and now.
Originality/value
The originality of the proposal resides in bringing hybridity to the center of the picture, forcing interdisciplinary teams to engage with one unified, even if hybrid, agency regardless of conflicting ontologies and epistemologies.
Details
Keywords
Frederic Ponsignon, Andi Smart, Mike Williams and Juliet Hall
The purpose of this paper is to set out to explore how cancer patients and their carers perceive and evaluate the healthcare experience in order to develop and validate a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to set out to explore how cancer patients and their carers perceive and evaluate the healthcare experience in order to develop and validate a classification framework for experience quality in healthcare.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical work is centred on the systematic analysis of 200 cancer patient stories published on an independent healthcare feedback web site. Using the critical incident method, the authors captured 1,351 experience quality data items. Three judges independently sorted and classified these data items.
Findings
The authors identify and describe 22 main categories and 51 sub-categories that underlie the experience quality concept in healthcare and present them in a classification framework. The framework is informed through the categorisation of direct, indirect, and independent interactions. It also suggests a relationship between experience quality and satisfaction and loyalty behaviours.
Research limitations/implications
This study provides researchers with a foundation for the further development and validation of a measurement scale for experience quality in healthcare.
Practical implications
The framework assists managers and healthcare professionals with the definition, evaluation, and improvement of the quality of the experience of patients and their carers.
Originality/value
The main contributions of this study lie in: first, a comprehensive classification framework for experience quality in healthcare; second, dimensions that extend existing health service quality models; third, dimensions that contextualise the generic concept of customer experience quality to healthcare.
Details
Keywords
This paper aims to remove the self-evidence of the concept of severe and multiple disadvantage (SMD) by drawing upon a historical as well as a critical perspective to show its…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to remove the self-evidence of the concept of severe and multiple disadvantage (SMD) by drawing upon a historical as well as a critical perspective to show its contingency.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper will introduce the concept of SMD by examining how it has come to be understood in the way that it has. This paper does so by exploring key texts which have informed the development of the concept as well as its conceptual near neighbours such as “multiple needs”. This paper traces some advancements of the concept within practice and further research with a focus on the Fulfilling Lives programme and the Lankelly Chase Foundation. Finally, the author reflects critically upon the concept and the manner in which the concept has become operationalised.
Findings
This analysis demonstrates how a particular definition of SMD has come to dominate over the past few years because of the research and practice of key organisations. On the one hand, this has further marginalised alternative definitions and ways of working, but on the other hand these stakeholders have been able to influence the way in which UK policy has taken up the concept within its governmental priorities.
Originality/value
To date, research has taken the term SMD for granted which limits the ability to critique its definitions and applications. This is an important and timely contribution because concepts are all-too-often taken for granted and at a pivotal moment when SMD has become nationalised through policy, critique is a political, potentially transformative, act.
Details
Keywords
Dong‐Young Kim, Vinod Kumar and Uma Kumar
The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for assessing the comprehensive performance of supply chain partnership (SCP).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for assessing the comprehensive performance of supply chain partnership (SCP).
Design/methodology/approach
Using the literature review approach, the paper proposes a framework to assess the performance of SCP. The framework is based on the self‐assessment dimensions and approaches of the business excellence model developed by the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM). The proposed framework could be implemented not only in entire supply chains, but also in a dyadic relationship.
Findings
Identifying strengths and opportunities for improvement begins with assessing the level of SCP. The proposed framework focuses on assessing two dimensions of SCP – efforts and results – that will offer practitioners both balanced insights and valuable information. This framework also highlights assessment dimensions that could help qualified assessors to produce consistent judgments and evaluate multiple aspects of SCP. The framework includes practical indicators to help measure outcomes, such as cost efficiency and flexibility.
Originality/value
This paper sheds light on the assessment dimensions based on the EFQM model. Assessors can conduct an objective and standardized assessment using these multiple dimensions. This paper expands the traditional concept of SCP performance into both tangible and intangible performance by emphasizing output and outcome.
Details
Keywords
Yaw A. Debrah and Ian G. Smith
Presents over sixty abstracts summarising the 1999 Employment Research Unit annual conference held at the University of Cardiff. Explores the multiple impacts of globalization on…
Abstract
Presents over sixty abstracts summarising the 1999 Employment Research Unit annual conference held at the University of Cardiff. Explores the multiple impacts of globalization on work and employment in contemporary organizations. Covers the human resource management implications of organizational responses to globalization. Examines the theoretical, methodological, empirical and comparative issues pertaining to competitiveness and the management of human resources, the impact of organisational strategies and international production on the workplace, the organization of labour markets, human resource development, cultural change in organisations, trade union responses, and trans‐national corporations. Cites many case studies showing how globalization has brought a lot of opportunities together with much change both to the employee and the employer. Considers the threats to existing cultures, structures and systems.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to explore how discourse theories can contribute to the concept of identity formation within a patient- or person-centered care (PCC) orientation, to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how discourse theories can contribute to the concept of identity formation within a patient- or person-centered care (PCC) orientation, to enable more critical engagement with PCC in older people.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper.
Findings
This paper concludes that the discourse literature has important insights for understanding identity formation in older people as operationalized in the context of PCC in three particular ways: accounting for multiplicity in patients’ identity; exploring “the devolution of responsibility” to address shifts in performing identities in clinical encounters; and attending to a “crisis of positioning” to engage empowerment discourse within a PCC philosophy.
Originality/value
Whilst a notion of patient identity is at the heart of PCC, the concept remains inconsistent and underdeveloped. This is particularly problematic for the quality of care in older adults, as PCC has become increasingly synonymous with care of older people. Discourse theories of identity formation can be used to critically engage with identity within the context of PCC, so as to develop more nuanced understandings of “the person” or “the patient,” with the potential to improve research into care for aging and older adults.