Jon Katzenbach and Paul Bromfield
The economic downturn requires prudent cost reductions, yet only 10 percent of companies sustain cost reductions after three years. Some of the most successful cost cutters have…
Abstract
Purpose
The economic downturn requires prudent cost reductions, yet only 10 percent of companies sustain cost reductions after three years. Some of the most successful cost cutters have learned to engage their workforce to embrace both the rational and emotional arguments for taking action and to focus on what the company is and will become. This paper aims to investigate this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
The task of securing employee commitment to cost reductions is not easy, and requires paying close attention to six principles which this paper introduces. This is referred to as the motivating cost discipline (MCD) approach.
Findings
In the example application of the MCD approach, costs were cut by 30 percent with employee satisfaction and price lifted 20 percent.
Research limitations/implications
The six principles offered are collected from observing best practice in the field.
Practical implications
This paper shows that beyond the mandate to an immediately lower cost structure, it is also possible to motivate people in positive ways that produce emotional as well as rational commitment.
Originality/value
Contrary to conventional wisdom, it is possible to get more costs out sooner and realize benefits that are more lasting; the secret is fully engaging employees in the cost cutting process, which this paper helps to do.
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Health of humans made pharmaceutical products essential in efforts either to cure or alleviate pain, or to remove disfiguring blemishes. It is doubtful if the public was sceptical…
Abstract
Health of humans made pharmaceutical products essential in efforts either to cure or alleviate pain, or to remove disfiguring blemishes. It is doubtful if the public was sceptical — it was certainly eager to buy! The claims made for preparations and the ways of reaching the consumers necessitated various forms of advertising which reveal some of the attitudes and ideas current in British society in the 17th and 18th centuries. Much surviving evidence has come from the press and other publications, although other media were used too.
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Anne-Marie Laslett, Robin Room and Paul Dietze
The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the diagnosis of both carers’ mental health problems and substance misuse increase the likelihood of recurrent child maltreatment…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the diagnosis of both carers’ mental health problems and substance misuse increase the likelihood of recurrent child maltreatment over and above the individual effects of these factors.
Design/methodology/approach
Retrospective secondary data analysis of 29,455 children where child maltreatment was confirmed in the Victorian child protection system between 2001 and 2005. Recorded mental health, alcohol misuse and other drug misuse variables were entered into multivariate logistic regression models predicting repeated child maltreatment. Interactions and a range of other child, carer and socio-economic factors were included in these models.
Findings
Carer alcohol misuse, other drug misuse and mental ill health all independently predicted recurrent child maltreatment. The presence of both other drug misuse and mental ill health increased the likelihood that recurrent child abuse was recorded over the likelihood that mental health alone predicted recurrent child maltreatment, and while alcohol misuse had an effect when there was no mental health condition recorded it did not have an additional effect when there was evidence of mental health problems.
Research limitations/implications
Children in families where there is both mental health problems and other drug use problems are at greater risk of repeated maltreatment than where there is evidence of mental health problems or other drug use alone. Where there was evidence of carer mental health problems, alcohol misuse did not add to this likelihood. However, the effect of mental health and other drug use was similar in size to the effect of alcohol misuse alone.
Originality/value
These findings add to understandings of the effects of co-occurring mental health problems and substance misuse on recurrent child maltreatment and differentiate between cases that involve alcohol and other drug misuse.
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Prince Agwu, Uzoma Okoye, Prince Ekoh, Ngozi Chukwu, Chinyere Onalu, Ijeoma Igwe, Paul Onuh, Gift Amadi and George Nche
Sex work migration involves a huge number of females from Nigeria, and has attracted concerns within and across the country. To add to ongoing conversations about responsible…
Abstract
Purpose
Sex work migration involves a huge number of females from Nigeria, and has attracted concerns within and across the country. To add to ongoing conversations about responsible migration, our review underscores the prevalence of sex work migration in Edo State, Nigeria, the drivers and interventions.
Design/methodology/approach
The review adopted exhaustive search terms coined with the aid of “Boolean Operators”. Search terms were entered into several search engines and databases to elicit peer-reviewed and grey literature within sex work migration and human trafficking for commercial sex. An output of 578 studies was recorded with 76 (43 academic papers and 33 grey literature) meeting the inclusion criteria.
Findings
The study acknowledged wide-spread prevalence of sex work migration involving Nigerian females who are largely from Edo State. It achieved a prioritization of the factors that drive sex work migration based on how frequent they were mentioned in reviewed literature: economic (64.4%), cultural (46%), educational (20%), globalization (14.5%) and political factors (13.2%). Several interventions were highlighted together with their several limitations which include funding, absence of grass-roots engagement, dearth of appropriate professionals, corruption, weak political will, among others. A combination of domestic and international interventions was encouraged, and social workers were found to be needful.
Originality/value
Our systematic review is the first on this subject, as none was found throughout our search. It seeks to inform policy measures and programmes, as well as horizontal efforts poised to tackle the rising figures of sex work migrants and attendant consequences in Nigeria.
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Victoria Marshall and Chris Goddard
In this chapter, the authors focus on a range of Australian news articles selected for their relevance to key themes in the area of child abuse and examine two high profile cases…
Abstract
In this chapter, the authors focus on a range of Australian news articles selected for their relevance to key themes in the area of child abuse and examine two high profile cases of child abuse deaths that were extensively reported on by the media and led to system reform. Challenges for media reporting on child abuse in Australia including a changing media landscape, lack of available child abuse data and lack of publicly available serious case reviews are discussed. The authors argue that there is a need for attention to be paid to children's resistance and agency in the context of violence and abuse to counter the objectification of children and uphold their rights. Following Finkelhor (2008), the authors argue that media reporting on child abuse in Australia reflects a general approach to child abuse that is fragmented, with different types of abuse viewed as separate from one another, and call for a more integrated understanding of child abuse. The authors highlight the complexity of media responses to child abuse in Australia, noting that while the social problem of child abuse can be misrepresented by the media, media reporting has also triggered significant systemic reform and advocated for children in cases where other systems failed them.
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It is now forty years since there appeared H. R. Plomer's first volume Dictionary of the booksellers and printers who were at work in England, Scotland and Ireland from 1641 to…
Abstract
It is now forty years since there appeared H. R. Plomer's first volume Dictionary of the booksellers and printers who were at work in England, Scotland and Ireland from 1641 to 1667. This has been followed by additional Bibliographical Society publications covering similarly the years up to 1775. From the short sketches given in this series, indicating changes of imprint and type of work undertaken, scholars working with English books issued before the closing years of the eighteenth century have had great assistance in dating the undated and in determining the colour and calibre of any work before it is consulted.
Mary Baginsky, Jo Moriarty and Jill Manthorpe
Signs of Safety (SoS) is a strengths-based approach to child protection casework that has been widely adopted in countries across the world. The purpose of this paper is to report…
Abstract
Purpose
Signs of Safety (SoS) is a strengths-based approach to child protection casework that has been widely adopted in countries across the world. The purpose of this paper is to report on a study that aimed to synthesise the many evaluations of SoS that have been conducted to assess their strengths and limitations. The intention is to identify the aspects which should be explored further and those that remain unexamined to inform future evaluations.
Design/methodology/approach
The study collated and then examined many of the evaluations that are in the public domain as well as some of those that were conducted within agencies and have not been made publicly available.
Findings
At the present time (early 2019), the evidence base for SoS is limited. Independent, robust research needs to be undertaken over time to build on the studies that have been conducted. New research must be designed to fill gaps and be capable of producing the evidence required and it must address its own limitations.
Originality/value
This study is the most comprehensive contemporary review of the evaluations of SoS that have been conducted to the best of the authors’ knowledge.
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WE seem to be immediately facing a drive for much more technical education and for many more technical colleges and schools to produce it. In the condition of the world today this…
Abstract
WE seem to be immediately facing a drive for much more technical education and for many more technical colleges and schools to produce it. In the condition of the world today this is an inevitable, an indispensable, process. The reasons are loudly proclaimed and patent to every librarian, and the library must come strongly, as it always has, into the picture but perhaps now more universally and with greater intensity. Dr. Chandler, who is proceeding at a rare pace to specialize his departments, has created a new local council to unify the information work that has already been done at Liverpool. Every technical book costing over five shillings is bought, and the usual collections of periodicals and other material of technical and industrial interest are being increased and a bulletin of additions is being issued soon after the end of each month. The Technical library is one that combines lending and reference activities, telephone and postal services; in fact all the orthodox activities that have been standard in the larger towns since Glasgow began them in 1916, and possibly new and extended ones. The William Brown Library which was destroyed in Air Raids is being reconstructed and the enlarged Technical Library will be developed in it. This is one city only; every large city reports some increase in the services rendered, for example the Telex service is now available at Manchester. It is essential that public libraries everywhere realize the part they may play; if they do not, the suggestion made recently that the lending of technical books should become an activity of the Technical Colleges may become a reality.