Strong versions of the Precautionary Principle (PP) require regulators to prohibit or impose technology controls on activities that pose uncertain risks of possibly significant…
Abstract
Strong versions of the Precautionary Principle (PP) require regulators to prohibit or impose technology controls on activities that pose uncertain risks of possibly significant environmental harm. This decision rule is conceptually unsound and would diminish social welfare. Uncertainty as such does not justify regulatory precaution. While they should reject PP, regulators should take appropriate account of societal aversion to risks of large harm and the value of obtaining additional information before allowing environmentally risky activities to proceed.
Richard Pacitti and Graham Thornicroft
Although the sexuality of people with mental health problems raises important clinical, social and legal concerns, there is relatively little written about the subject, and it is…
Abstract
Although the sexuality of people with mental health problems raises important clinical, social and legal concerns, there is relatively little written about the subject, and it is clear that staff often feel confused and embarrassed when discussing these issues with colleagues, carers and service users. Staff are often unsure about how to balance service users' rights to live a full life (including the right to express themselves sexually) with the need to protect people considered to be vulnerable. Here, Richard Pacitti and Graham Thornicroft describe how Mind in Croydon made a film about sex, relationships and mental health to help explore these issues further.‘Those of us who have been diagnosed with major mental illness do not cease to be human beings by virtue of that diagnosis. Like all people we experience the need for love, companionship, solitude, and intimacy. Like all people we want to feel loved, valued, and desired by others.’ (Patricia E Deegan, 1999).‘Not having a relationship if you want one can be like that constant feeling of being hungry and not being fed.’ (Bill, contributor to Unspoken)
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The country's vote to leave the EU has added momentum to a realignment of UK economic and foreign policy towards the Asia-Pacific region underway for some years. Parliamentarian…
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DOI: 10.1108/OXAN-DB213507
ISSN: 2633-304X
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Geographic
Topical
DARRIN GRIMSEY and RICHARD GRAHAM
The National Health Service (NHS) hospitals in Britain are currently in a state of decay following many years of underinvestment in the estate. The NHS urgently requires billions…
Abstract
The National Health Service (NHS) hospitals in Britain are currently in a state of decay following many years of underinvestment in the estate. The NHS urgently requires billions of pounds of investment ranging from total hospital new builds to small refurbishment of existing facilities. The previous Conservative government put forward the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) as the procurement mechanism to address this problem. The new Labour government currently appear to be committing themselves to the same approach. PFI project sponsors have spent upwards of £30m bidding for around 30 major PFI schemes. Despite this, by the time of the UK election in May 1997 not one scheme had reached financial close and many sponsors were expressing their disillusionment with the process. Unlike PFI on other Government infrastructure and service schemes, each PFI hospital is tendered by a separate Trust with their own limited budgets. Many Trusts have demanded schemes without realising that they cannot afford them and whilst these schemes may work out cheaper than publicly financed hospitals over 30 years or more, charges are higher in the early years. This is primarily due to the market for loans, the conditions attached to these loans in terms of repayment periods and cover ratios, and the requirement of the sponsors to generate a reasonable return on their investment. This paper discusses the major issues and analyses some of the technical financial problems surrounding the PFI in the NHS. The authors draw on practical experience of financial structuring and modelling hospital projects to build a generic model to analyse NHS PFI economics.
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Richard Greatbanks, Graham Elkin and Graham Manville
This research paper seeks to examine the important issues of performance measurement and reporting in a third sector community organisation. It aims to highlight the dysfunctional…
Abstract
Purpose
This research paper seeks to examine the important issues of performance measurement and reporting in a third sector community organisation. It aims to highlight the dysfunctional nature of funding body performance reporting criteria, which do not always align with the values and goals of the voluntary organisation. In contrast, this paper aims to consider the value of using anecdotal performance data to provide a more informed perspective on the performance of third sector organisations.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper examines the current literature regarding performance measurement from a voluntary sector perspective. It then considers the value and efficacy of anecdotal performance reporting and presents empirical findings from a single case study organisation.
Findings
The paper identifies that many forms of performance reporting frameworks used by funding bodies provide little or no value to the voluntary organisation, and that anecdotal performance reporting is often more aligned with the values of the voluntary organisation. This paper proposes that whilst anecdotal performance reporting is not common place, it has an inherent value to both a third sector organisation, and funding body, as it allows the organisation's achievements to be presented in a more empathic light. The paper concludes that anecdotal performance reporting is particularly appropriate where the funding body is of a philanthropic, rather than government or state nature.
Research limitations/implications
This research was conducted from the perspective of one voluntary sector organisation, therefore providing limited generalizability.
Originality/value
With little research undertaken on the value of anecdotal performance reporting in this environment, this paper highlights a potential new area of performance measurement. This research is set within a New Zealand context, adding to the originality.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature and process of leadership in a mid‐sized, family‐controlled bank in Singapore in order to understand how it grew and developed…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature and process of leadership in a mid‐sized, family‐controlled bank in Singapore in order to understand how it grew and developed under family control.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on distributed leadership as a theoretical framework in exploring how a major corporate acquisition was conceived and undertaken to advance the bank's growth and development. Data were obtained through structured interviews with managers based on a three‐part discussion protocol following a pre‐interview questionnaire.
Findings
An “extended” system of leadership involving different levels of managers is developed that successfully completed the acquisition and produced significant growth from the combined businesses.
Research limitations/implications
Based on a single case, the paper does not claim that the observed phenomena are typical of mid‐sized family‐controlled businesses (FCBs). However, for scholars, the paper suggests how studying leadership practice in such FCBs may produce insights that challenge the popular view of an all‐powerful family leader by substituting a more nuanced perspective of a collaborative leadership system that facilitates entrepreneurial activity down the firm.
Practical implications
For managers, the study suggests how deeply developed collaboration among different levels of managers may produce competitive advantage for FCBs that seek further growth and development.
Social implications
It is suggested how further research of the growth processes of mid‐sized FCBs may maximize the value of entrepreneurial opportunities for their “extended” family of stakeholders, specifically for their customers with whom FCBs typically enjoy close relations.
Originality/value
The paper fills an empirical gap in the literature on competitive, mid‐sized FCBs by articulating a process in which a unique competency is developed for their ongoing survival as a family‐controlled enterprise.