Search results
1 – 10 of 131Introduction AFA‐Minerva (EMI) Limited is an international company with comprehensive interests in fire protection and intruder prevention. It has some 25 offices in the UK and…
Abstract
Introduction AFA‐Minerva (EMI) Limited is an international company with comprehensive interests in fire protection and intruder prevention. It has some 25 offices in the UK and operates elsewhere through strategically placed associated companies and agents. The company produces, installs and maintains electronic fire and intruder defence systems, fire doors and extinguishing systems. In the UK it operates a communication network with monitoring stations which respond to fire, security and process alarms. It employs around 2,200 people and has an annual turnover of approximately £40 million. As an operating company within the Thorn EMI Group it enjoys access to the financial and technical resources of a major UK‐based company.
Venkata Yanamandram and Lesley White
To investigate the determinants of behavioural brand loyalty amongst dissatisfied customers in the business‐to‐business (B2B) services sector.
Abstract
Purpose
To investigate the determinants of behavioural brand loyalty amongst dissatisfied customers in the business‐to‐business (B2B) services sector.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative study was conducted, with 28 personal interviews undertaken with managers who are involved in the choice of service providers. The respondents belonged to 24 organisations located in Australia. Template analysis and eyeballing were techniques used to analyse the data collected.
Findings
Assessment of the reasons why dissatisfied customers stayed with the service providers resulted in six categories. The categories were found to be, in order of decreasing frequency, impact of alternative providers, switching costs (18), others (17), inertia (14), investment in relationships (13), and service recovery (13). The results not only confirmed factors found in the literature, but also uncovered 11 other factors.
Research limitations/implications
The sample size, whilst appropriate for qualitative research, should be considered adequate only for exploratory analysis and a further quantitative study is needed to validate the study.
Practical implications
This study is important for those firms who have many prospective switchers because it is important to understand why these customers stay, and to what extent such firms can discourage such customers from leaving in both positive and negative ways. For those service firms that are attempting to attract these prospective switchers, an understanding of why they do not switch is important, as it will enable them to develop strategies to overcome these switching barriers and gain market share.
Originality/value
This research is the first study to investigate in a single model a range of barriers to switching in a B2B services context. The results that confirmed categories found in the literature also discovered 11 other factors not evident in the extant literature.
Details
Keywords
Robert S. Guevara, Jared Montoya, Meghan Carmody-Bubb and Carol Wheeler
This paper aims to examine the relationship between physician leadership style and advanced practice health-care provider job satisfaction.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the relationship between physician leadership style and advanced practice health-care provider job satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 320 advanced practice providers (nurse practitioners and physician assistants) in Texas rated their supervising/collaborating physicians’ leadership style using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire 5X Short (Bass and Avolio, 2000) and assessed their own job satisfaction using the Abridged Job Descriptive Index (Smith, Kendall and Hulin, 1969). Regression models tested the relationships between physician leadership styles and several facets of job satisfaction of advanced practice providers while controlling for advanced practice provider age, gender, ethnicity, years of experience, salary level, clinical practice setting, level of physician supervision/collaboration and advanced practice provider type.
Findings
The results demonstrated that physician transformational leadership accounted for between 4.4 and 49.1 per cent of the variance in job satisfaction depending on the aspect of job satisfaction. Satisfaction with job supervision and satisfaction with job in general were those in which transformational leadership was found to have the most impact, explaining 49.1 and 15.5%, respectively. Demographic variables such as advanced practice provider type, age, years of experience and number of hours per week of physician collaboration/supervision had small but statistically significant associations with job satisfaction.
Practical implications
Recommendations for physician leadership development focusing on transformational leadership as a way to increase the satisfaction among other providers on health-care teams are discussed.
Originality/value
This paper examines the impact of supervising/delegating physician leadership style on other nonphysician members of the health-care team, specifically advanced practice health-care providers.
Details
Keywords
Lorna Montgomery and Adi Cooper
Institutional abuse is a worldwide phenomenon with the UK also subject to several high-profile abuse scandals perpetuated on people with learning disabilities and/or mental health…
Abstract
Purpose
Institutional abuse is a worldwide phenomenon with the UK also subject to several high-profile abuse scandals perpetuated on people with learning disabilities and/or mental health conditions living within institutional settings. This study aims to provide a broad perspective of safeguarding practices within institutional care to inform practice and service development in this area.
Design/methodology/approach
A narrative overview was undertaken of a range of empirical evidence, discussion papers, enquiry reports, reports from regulatory bodies and professional guidance to explore safeguarding practices within institutional care for individuals with learning disabilities and/or mental health conditions.
Findings
A range of literature was identified that exposed and explored abuse in this context. Three key themes were identified: failings within institutional care; safeguarding issues and concerns; and good practice within institutional care. Whilst guidance is available, standards are explicit and protocols facilitate improvement potential in this area, a consistent message was that statutory recommendations for reform have not been effective.
Originality/value
This paper provides an important resource for practitioners and service providers involved in institutional care. An accessible overview of both the empirical evidence and grey literature on adult safeguarding within institutional settings is provided, along with a range of standards and resources that specify practice in these settings.
Details
Keywords
ONLY one or two topics of the Scarborough Conference will remain firmly in the minds of most of us. Most firmly, and more clearly than before, will be that of the National Lending…
Abstract
ONLY one or two topics of the Scarborough Conference will remain firmly in the minds of most of us. Most firmly, and more clearly than before, will be that of the National Lending Library and Dr. Urquhart's exposition of it or what it is intended to be. It may give no comfort, so far as librarianship is concerned, to existing librarians, but there is little that the public librarian has to fear from it. The second impression that remains is the acute awareness now prevalent of the need for science and technical training in school and college for many more men and women and our relation to that fact. The third was the so often expressed nervousness about the status of the librarian. Fourthly, was the local collection in the light of the ever‐changing character and habits of the people. The President's address was a dignified and grave statement of ideals, in the definition of libraries and librarianship, in book acquirement, reader‐service and in appreciation of the personalities who have made librarianship. It did not produce the press so fine an utterance demanded. What are we to say of the heading a great London paper gave to its two‐inch paragraph devoted to the first day of our Conference: “Librarians are told to be courteous”? To our regret we were unable to hear Mr. O'Leary's paper; judging from the summary in the Programme it was a fine exercise in robust commonsense. We content ourselves in this Editorial with further remarks on one or two of the matters we have mentioned above.
The challenges of engaging in leadership practices that promote equity and empower students who have traditionally been underserved in schooling continue throughout educational…
Abstract
The challenges of engaging in leadership practices that promote equity and empower students who have traditionally been underserved in schooling continue throughout educational contexts. Complex challenges like this require complex solutions because they have multiple causes and interdependencies. This requires leaders focus on systemic and sustainable change for improvement rather than taking a “fixing parts” approach. This chapter focusses on promising approaches to leadership which can support capability in responding to such complex challenges. The chapter addresses four key areas for focus: (1). being comfortable with uncertainty, (2). understanding the role of emotion in leadership and change, (3). knowing how to interrupt problematic narratives, and (4). successfully engaging the views of young people. Implications for reimagining leadership include how to engage with diverse perspectives in decision-making, ways to support people struggling with the uncertainty of change, and how to lead sustainable responses to complex challenges.
Details
Keywords
International educational research has shown that high quality coaching, mentoring, and induction for beginning teachers can enhance development and retention of highly effective…
Abstract
International educational research has shown that high quality coaching, mentoring, and induction for beginning teachers can enhance development and retention of highly effective teachers and, ultimately, increase student success. In Canada, like many jurisdictions, teacher induction programs have grown in popularity as a means to support beginning teachers, yet programs vary greatly in terms of delivery and effectiveness. This chapter presents the findings from a qualitative case study that examined one bespoke teacher induction program in the Western Québec School Board (WQSB). Specifically, it reports on the experience of mentor–coaches (MC) who are part of the school district’s Mentoring and Coaching Fellowship (MCF). In the district, mentoring and coaching are viewed as distinct, yet interconnected components of an effective induction program. In the WQSB, teaching fellows and MCs learn together in a social and situated context (Lave & Wenger, 1991) as they focus on four key elements: the practice of teaching, navigating school and district culture, what it means to be a teacher, and the formation of a teaching identity. Research has shown effective coaching and mentoring programs not only enhance teaching and learning, but also they offer powerful benefits to veteran teachers. With mentoring and coaching practice highly diverse and inconsistent depending on the quality of the relationship and the context, it is clear that effective selection, support and professional learning and development for MCs is essential. This chapter examines the strengths and challenges of the school district’s Mentor–Coach Professional Learning Network (MC PLN) from the perspective of network members. Data collected from questionnaires, focus groups and semi-structured interviews were abductively analyzed with and against Brown and Poortman’s (2018) five supporting conditions for effective PLNs. Study findings indicated that the MC PLN offers valuable professional learning and development for participants and is a critical feature in a powerful induction program that also focuses on “growing the top.” However, challenges also emerged that highlight the need for the district to ensure ongoing attention to the PLN’s structure and processes in order to sustain MC motivation, engagement, and commitment.
Details