Mel Johnson, Mike Wright and Garry Hornby
Schools face a formidable task as they come to terms with the effectivemanagement of the special educational needs response in the light ofchanges in culture, legislation and…
Abstract
Schools face a formidable task as they come to terms with the effective management of the special educational needs response in the light of changes in culture, legislation and public expectations. Explores new ground in the development of flexible training modules which are designed to be practical and relevant for schools. These modules are designed collaboratively between serving teachers, LEA staff and local providers of accredited training. The process which has evolved ensures flexibility and maximizes the most efficient use of GEST and LEA funding.
Details
Keywords
Rocco Palumbo and Rosalba Manna
Even though innovation is widely understood as a critical success factor, little is still known about the top management ability to steer small firms’ innovativeness. In an…
Abstract
Purpose
Even though innovation is widely understood as a critical success factor, little is still known about the top management ability to steer small firms’ innovativeness. In an attempt to fill such gap, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between strategic orientation and propensity to innovate of a representative sample of Italian small-sized organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
Secondary data collected from the Community Innovation Survey performed in Italy by the Italian Institute of Statistics were investigated. Data concerned a representative sample of 5.833 units of analysis. Ad hoc logistic regression models were designed to illuminate the relationship between small firms’ propensity to innovate and their strategic orientation.
Findings
The outputs of logistic regression models suggested that strategic aims, strategic goals and awareness of environmental threats influenced the propensity of small firms to innovate. On the one hand, the desire to expand the current market share and to open new markets aroused product innovation; on the other hand, the need to increase organizational flexibility boosted process innovation.
Research limitations/implications
This study relied on secondary data; therefore, it was not possible to tailor the process of data collection to the specific purposes of this research. Besides, findings are not generalizable at either the European or worldwide level.
Originality/value
This is one of the first attempts to exploit the potential of multiple logistic regression models to shed light on the relationship between small firms’ strategic orientation and their propensity to innovate.
Details
Keywords
Abstract
Discusses the quality strategy deployment (QSD) processes, and addresses how service organizations identify customers’ needs in relation to the development of viable strategies and deployment of quality services using the quality function deployment (QFD) and the hoshin kanri techniques. An integrated QFD/hoshin approach is proposed to help develop viable strategies and attain service quality deployment. An implementation case of the approach is presented based on a recent QSD study in a typical engineering service organization – the Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory (MEL) of City University of Hong Kong. Incorporating the findings of the study, this paper sets forth the identification of the voice of customers (VOC), the building of a house of quality (HOQ), and the deployment of organizational strategies. Besides, a generic 13‐step guideline of QSD process is elaborated for assisting service organizations to attain continuous performance improvement. Effective implementation of the QFD/hoshin guideline and monitoring the QSD process must garner organizational support and commitment.
Details
Keywords
Lucy Grimshaw, Kay Heslop, Kirstin Mulholland, Vikki Park, Jill Duncan, Jaden Allan, Cathryn Meredith and Christopher Warnock
This chapter discusses the care experiences of a group of parents and a grandparent working at a Higher Education Institution in England and homeschooling during the pandemic. The…
Abstract
This chapter discusses the care experiences of a group of parents and a grandparent working at a Higher Education Institution in England and homeschooling during the pandemic. The group established an informal, work-based, online peer support group during and beyond the first COVID-19 lockdown. This chapter analyses a survey of group members and the group's online chat data to explore experiences of homeschooling and participating in the group. It represents a pioneering case study in how a group of parent-workers coped with the conditions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that the group was underpinned by an ethic of care, based on reciprocal care relationships. The group developed ways of caring together and sought to influence and create more caring working practices and cultures. Whilst it is possible to create small pockets of more inclusive, supportive and caring spaces within education workplaces, we conclude that the challenge to create supportive family-friendly working environments remains.
Details
Keywords
J. C. Velázquez-Martínez and C. Tayaksi
The field of Supply Chain Management (SCM) has mainly focused on applications for large firms, where significant amount of theory has been developed in the last decades. Little…
Abstract
The field of Supply Chain Management (SCM) has mainly focused on applications for large firms, where significant amount of theory has been developed in the last decades. Little attention has been received by micro and small enterprises (MSEs) that in Latin America represent approximately 99% of all businesses and are the key for the development of the economy, employment, and growth of the region. Due to MSEs' lack of productivity, only a fraction of them survive and thus contribute to Latin America's economic growth. In this chapter, we discuss the connection between MSEs' productivity growth and SCM. We present key takeaways from the literature and summarized different research approaches used to study this emerging field, specifically related to the impact of the size of the company, the use of surveys to gather data, and the importance of field interventions. We also present a large-scale project (i.e., MIT GeneSys) that focuses on improving survival of MSEs in developing countries and discuss some preliminary learnings gained via conducting shadowing/immersion of ∼250 MSEs from Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. We conclude the chapter by presenting some recommendations for the future research agenda for the emerging field of SCM for MSEs in Latin America.
Details
Keywords
Gary M. Fleischman, Eric N. Johnson and Kenton B. Walker
Purpose: We examined whether the five-service quality dimensions described by SERVQUAL (SQ) and SERVPERF (SP) are consistent with perceived dimensions of management accounting…
Abstract
Purpose: We examined whether the five-service quality dimensions described by SERVQUAL (SQ) and SERVPERF (SP) are consistent with perceived dimensions of management accounting (MA) service quality and we compared responses from users and providers.
Design/methodology/approach: We surveyed experienced providers and users of MA services to learn their perceptions and expectations of accounting service quality using SQ/SP adapted to an MA context. We used principal components analysis (PCA) to investigate service quality dimensions.
Findings: Participant responses identified three dimensions of MA service quality. There was a high degree of correspondence in dimensions of service quality between users and providers, but with notable differences in service priorities. A performance-only (SP) approach seems to provide a better measure of overall service quality than performance minus expectations (SQ).
Research limitations/implications: Participants self-selected to participate. Respondents were not matched by organization. The SQ/SP instrument may not capture important organization specific attributes. Our approach may serve as a guide for future studies of accounting service quality.
Practical implications: SP may be more useful to managers who wish to evaluate overall service quality. SQ may be more useful to identify specific gaps between user perceptions and expectations. SQ/SP assessments may help to improve the quality of MA service delivery and provider-user communications.
Originality/value: This is the first empirical study to our knowledge that reports on MA service quality dimensions using both the SQ and SP instruments. This study investigated perceptions and expectations of MA service users and providers. Our sample is a cross-section of experienced professionals.
Details
Keywords
Candice R. Hollenbeck and Vanessa M. Patrick
The health industry is rapidly adopting digital services and face-to-face offerings are being replaced by e-services. One example is peer-to-peer survivor networks for cancer…
Abstract
Purpose
The health industry is rapidly adopting digital services and face-to-face offerings are being replaced by e-services. One example is peer-to-peer survivor networks for cancer patients. This study investigates the virtual exchanges in survivor networks and whether these exchanges are valued for economic, symbolic, or expressive worth. The research seeks to address whether the alleviation of loneliness is possible.
Methodology/approach
The qualitative work in this study utilizes netnographic explorations and in-depth interviews with cancer survivors, average age 62, to investigate the social exchange continuum in peer-to-peer online patient survivor networks.
Findings
This study shows that technological innovations can aid survivorship when the exchanges are meaningful. Meaningful interactions within gift systems are valued for expressive worth and are established upon the notion of selfless gifts where the giver expects nothing in return. For networks to operate via expressiveness, informants must be open and vulnerable to others. Findings show that biographical narratives are useful tools for creating an expressive environment and givers become more giving after engaging in selfless acts. The intangibility and immaterial nature of virtual gifts creates a collective identity and fosters an aggregate extended self.
Social implications
Implications emphasize the need among survivors of trauma to connect with others. Digital technologies allow connections on a global scale, so survivors can find others with similar needs. Peer-to-peer networks provide a way for survivors to meet, interact with, and extend their aggregate selves through other survivors, while experiencing a transcendent sense that they are part of something bigger than self alone.
Details
Keywords
Yizhuo Zhang, Yunfei Zhang, Huiling Yu and Shen Shi
The anomaly detection task for oil and gas pipelines based on acoustic signals faces issues such as background noise coverage, lack of effective features, and small sample sizes…
Abstract
Purpose
The anomaly detection task for oil and gas pipelines based on acoustic signals faces issues such as background noise coverage, lack of effective features, and small sample sizes, resulting in low fault identification accuracy and slow efficiency. The purpose of this paper is to study an accurate and efficient method of pipeline anomaly detection.
Design/methodology/approach
First, to address the impact of background noise on the accuracy of anomaly signals, the adaptive multi-threshold center frequency variational mode decomposition method(AMTCF-VMD) method is used to eliminate strong noise in pipeline signals. Secondly, to address the strong data dependency and loss of local features in the Swin Transformer network, a Hybrid Pyramid ConvNet network with an Agent Attention mechanism is proposed. This compensates for the limitations of CNN’s receptive field and enhances the Swin Transformer’s global contextual feature representation capabilities. Thirdly, to address the sparsity and imbalance of anomaly samples, the SpecAugment and Scaper methods are integrated to enhance the model’s generalization ability.
Findings
In the pipeline anomaly audio and environmental datasets such as ESC-50, the AMTCF-VMD method shows more significant denoising effects compared to wavelet packet decomposition and EMD methods. Additionally, the model achieved 98.7% accuracy on the preprocessed anomaly audio dataset and 99.0% on the ESC-50 dataset.
Originality/value
This paper innovatively proposes and combines the AMTCF-VMD preprocessing method with the Agent-SwinPyramidNet model, addressing noise interference and low accuracy issues in pipeline anomaly detection, and providing strong support for oil and gas pipeline anomaly recognition tasks in high-noise environments.
Details
Keywords
Ying Xie, Liz Breen, Tom Cherrett, Dingchang Zheng and Colin James Allen
This study aims to provide insights into the scale and use of information and communication technology (ICT) in managing medical devices in the National Health Service (NHS), with…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to provide insights into the scale and use of information and communication technology (ICT) in managing medical devices in the National Health Service (NHS), with a focus on reverse exchange (RE) systems as a part of the broader reverse logistics (RL) systems, within which medical devices are returned and exchanged.
Design/methodology/approach
Two case studies were conducted with NHS Hospital Trusts, whilst another was built upon secondary resources. Primary findings were triangulated with the information collected from the NHS Trusts’ reports, direct observation and a preliminary round of consultations with 12 health-care professionals working in other NHS Trusts or Integrated Equipment Community Services.
Findings
The findings of this paper suggest that the sophistication of ICT implementation increases with the risks and value associated with medical devices. Operational attributes are derived from ICT implementations which can positively affect RE performance. The forces that drive the adoption of ICT in the NHS include pressure from government, business partners and patients; competitive pressure; perceived benefits; organisation size; top management support; and the availability of sufficient resources. Obstacles are mainly centred around the lack of sufficient resources.
Research limitations/implications
Although the trusts that participated in this research are representative of different regions, the generalisation of the study results may be limited by the size of the sample organisations, so the results can only provide insights into the research problem. As this work is exploratory in nature, there is insufficient data on which to form definitive recommendations.
Practical implications
NHS Trusts may use the six operational attributes identified and verified by the case studies to benchmark their ICT implementation for device management. The actual and potential benefits of ICT implementation could inform technology development and encourage the uptake of ICT in healthcare. Governmental bodies can utilise this information to develop directives to actively drive ICT adoption in device management and the associated RE system. A well-considered training programme is needed to improve staff ICT skills to fully realise the potential of ICT systems which support the effective RE of medical devices.
Originality/value
The results of this paper suggest that the reverse management of medical devices backs up the supply chain attained through using ICT, which in turn reduces capital costs, medical risk and increases the finance available for frontline medical treatment.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to cut through the rhetoric that shrouds Russia's anti‐money laundering regime to uncover the reality that lies beneath.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to cut through the rhetoric that shrouds Russia's anti‐money laundering regime to uncover the reality that lies beneath.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper relies on both primary and secondary sources in Russian and English that deal with the problems of money laundering in the Russian context. Relevant sections of the Russian Criminal Code as well as Russia's anti‐money laundering regulations have been consulted.
Findings
Overall, the Russian anti‐money laundering regime has thus far proved ineffective in terms of meeting its stated purposes of combating organized crime and terrorism. Its limited success stems largely from structural weaknesses in the Russian banking system as well as that industry's lack of a culture of regulatory compliance. Moreover, Russian authorities have opportunistically seized on the current anti‐money laundering regime as a useful tool in the pursuit of ends unconnected to the fight against organized crime and terrorism. The Russian authorities have used the regime to attempt to reform the banking system and to extend their strategic control in the domestic political and business realms. The ineffectiveness of the anti‐money laundering regulations and their usage to achieve ulterior aims undermine the legitimacy of the regime as a whole.
Originality/value
The paper looks beyond the technical difficulties in applying the anti‐money laundering regulations and examines the misuses of the anti‐money laundering regime in the Russian context. However, the problems raised in the paper are not unique to Russia and have relevance to other jurisdictions, especially countries that are members of the Financial Action Task Force.