Karen L. Henwood, Karen Anne Parkhill and Nick F. Pidgeon
A longstanding quantitative finding from surveys of public perceptions of hazardous technologies is that women and men respondents tend to express different levels of concern when…
Abstract
Purpose
A longstanding quantitative finding from surveys of public perceptions of hazardous technologies is that women and men respondents tend to express different levels of concern when asked about environmental and technological hazards. Traditional psychometric risk perception research has provided extensive empirical descriptions of this “gender effect”, but is criticised for having less success in developing substantive theory linking observations to socio‐cultural explanations to explicate this effect. The purpose of this paper is to build a theoretical platform to account for the existing empirical findings on gender and perceptions of risk.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents a critical synthesis, drawing upon theory in contemporary risk research, gender theory, social studies of science and feminist studies of epistemology.
Findings
A theoretical platform is developed concerning the operation of gender as a regulatory process involving norms and discourse. The role is identified of moral discourses, hegemonic masculinities/gender authenticity, and epistemic subjectivities as plausible ways of understanding the gender–risk effect in risk perception.
Research limitations/implications
A novel theoretical exploration is provided of the relationship between gender and risk perceptions. Conceptual development in the gender and risk arena could be further refined by applying the theoretical platform developed here to empirical analyses and, to investigate its relevance to understanding how people discuss, deliberate and reason about risk issues.
Originality/value
Much of the existing literature fails to offer adequately grounded theoretical explanations for the observed empirical finding on gender and risk. This paper is the first to utilise a non‐essentialist reading of the gender‐risk effect by developing the “effects made by gender” approach.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to look at why organizational disasters happen, and to discuss how organizations can improve their ability to recognize and respond to warning events…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to look at why organizational disasters happen, and to discuss how organizations can improve their ability to recognize and respond to warning events and conditions before they tailspin into catastrophe.
Design/methodology/approach
A review of research on organizational disasters suggests that there are a number of information difficulties that can prevent organizations from noticing and acting on warning signals. The paper describes these difficulties using recent examples of organizational mishaps from: 9/11, Enron, Merck Vioxx withdrawal, Barings Bank collapse, Columbia Space Shuttle breakup, and Children's Hospital Boston.
Findings
The paper identifies three types of information impairments that could lead to organizational disasters: epistemic blind spots, risk denial, and structural impediment. It examines common information and decision practices that make it hard for organizations to see and deal with warning signals. Finally, the paper suggests what individuals, groups, and organizations can do to raise their information vigilance.
Originality/value
The paper shows that organizational disasters have a structure and dynamic that can be understood, and proposes a number of strategies by which organizations can become better prepared to recognize and contain errors so as to avert disaster.
Details
Keywords
Helen Lingard, Tracy Cooke, Nick Blismas and Ron Wakefield
The research aims to explore the interaction between design decisions that reduce occupational health and safety (OHS) risk in the operation stage of a facility's life cycle and…
Abstract
Purpose
The research aims to explore the interaction between design decisions that reduce occupational health and safety (OHS) risk in the operation stage of a facility's life cycle and the OHS experiences of workers in the construction stage.
Design/methodology/approach
Data was collected from three construction projects in Australia. Design decisions were examined to understand the reasons they were made and the impact that they had on OHS in the construction and operation stages.
Findings
The case examples reveal that design decisions made to reduce OHS risk during the operation of a facility can introduce new hazards in the construction stage. These decisions are often influenced by stakeholders external to the project itself.
Research limitations/implications
The results provide preliminary evidence of challenges inherent in designing for OHS across the lifecycle of a facility. Further research is needed to identify and evaluate methods by which risk reduction across all stages of a facility's life cycle can be optimised.
Practical implications
The research highlights the need to manage tensions between designing for safe construction and operation of a facility.
Originality/value
Previous research assumes design decisions that reduce OHS risk in one stage of a facility's life cycle automatically translate to a net risk reduction across the life cycle. The research highlights the need to consider the implications of PtD decision‐making focused on one stage of the facility's life cycle for OHS outcomes in other stages.
Details
Keywords
Cathy Atkinson and Rebekah Hyde
Considerable attention has been given to the vulnerability of young people leaving care in the UK in their transition to adulthood. To date, however, there has been limited focus…
Abstract
Purpose
Considerable attention has been given to the vulnerability of young people leaving care in the UK in their transition to adulthood. To date, however, there has been limited focus on the perceptions of care leavers about what factors enable and inhibit effective practice. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
This systematic literature review sought to elicit the views of UK care leavers in identifying barriers and facilitators to the process of transition to adulthood. Qualitative studies in the care-leaving field were identified, of which seven met inclusion criteria and were included in the final synthesis.
Findings
The findings yielded a range of facilitators, including authentic and consistent relationships with those acting in the role of corporate parent; and flexible systems, which accommodated personal readiness for leaving care. Barriers included insufficient recognition of, and a lack of support for, the psychological dimensions of transition, exacerbated by insufficient support networks.
Research limitations/implications
This literature search yielded seven qualitative papers, some with small sample sizes, meaning that the findings may not be representative of a wider population or directly relevant to international contexts.
Practical implications
Suggestions for enhancing the transition process are posited. In particular, the potential usefulness of an “interdependence” transition approach for UK care leavers is proposed.
Originality/value
This study analyses qualitative data, thus constituting a response to policy calls for care leaver views to be central to transition processes.
Details
Keywords
Lisa Claire Lloyd, Claire Hemming and Derek K. Tracy
Service user involvement in evaluating provided services is a core NHS concept. However individuals with intellectual disabilities have traditionally often had their voices…
Abstract
Purpose
Service user involvement in evaluating provided services is a core NHS concept. However individuals with intellectual disabilities have traditionally often had their voices ignored. There have been attempts to redress this, though much work has been quantitative, and qualitative study has more often explored populations transitioning to more mainstream care and those with milder disabilities. The authors set out to explore the views of individuals with more severe intellectual disabilities who were resident inpatients on what helped or hindered their care.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses qualitative analysis through semi‐structured interviews of eight (three male, five female, mean age 33) resident service users with severe intellectual disabilities.
Findings
Sub‐categories of staff personality, helpful relationships, and the concept of balanced care emerged under a core category of needing a secure base. Clients were very clearly able to identify and delineate: personal attributes of staff; clinical means of working; and the need to balance support with affording independence and growth. They further noted factors that could help or hinder all of these, and gave nuanced answers on how different personality factors could be utilized in different settings.
Originality/value
Little work has qualitatively explored the needs of residential clients with severe intellectual disabilities. The authors’ data show that exploring the views of more profoundly disabled and vulnerable individuals is both viable and of significant clinical value. It should aid staff in contemplating the needs of their clients; in seeking their opinions and feedback; and considering that most “styles” of personality and work have attributes that clients can value and appreciate.