Susan K. Humphrey and Timothy C. Krehbiel
Process capability is the ability of a process to consistently meet specified customer‐driven requirements, and is often reported in terms of capability indices and ratios. In…
Abstract
Process capability is the ability of a process to consistently meet specified customer‐driven requirements, and is often reported in terms of capability indices and ratios. In this paper we briefly discuss these indices and ratios, as well as their managerial implications. We then introduce a graphical approach that can be used in monthly reports and team meetings to help visualize the capability of a process that has several quality characteristics. These graphs, which we refer to as capability graphs, have been well accepted by a number of managers in the consumer products industry. The methodology is illustrated via an in‐depth example.
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Susan Lynn Heward-Belle, Margaret Kertesz, Cathy Humphreys, Menka Tsantefski and Jasmin Isobe
It is well established that the service system has a poor history of responding holistically to address the needs of children and families living with co-occurring complexities…
Abstract
Purpose
It is well established that the service system has a poor history of responding holistically to address the needs of children and families living with co-occurring complexities such as domestic violence, parental mental health and/or substance use. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to primarily describe the developmental process used to create guidelines to inform practice at the intersections of domestic violence, mental health and alcohol and other drug services, ensuring that the tactics of coercive control are visible in contexts of complexity.
Design/methodology/approach
The guidelines were developed through undertaking a literature review, followed by a practice-led research approach with practitioners from 33 organisations across three Australian states, Safe & Together consultants and researchers. Communities of practice composed of practitioners providing interventions to children and families were central to the approach. Data that informed the development of the guidelines included a literature review, ethnographic notes, qualitative interviews, quantitative surveys and reflections.
Findings
Practice-led research engaged practitioners in the development of guidelines to promote an integrated response to working with families experiencing domestic violence, substance use and mental health issues. The integrated approach drew from the Safe & Together model, emphasising partnering with women survivors, pivoting to the perpetrator, focusing on children’s safety and well-being, promoting worker safety, collaborating across agencies and influencing organisational change. The process demonstrated the usefulness of this integrated approach, using practitioner-based examples.
Originality/value
Successful iterative processes to develop the guidelines were undertaken to support cultural change towards holistic and collaborative work across multiple sectors and organisations.
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The experimental parliamentary subsidy on knights' fees and freehold incomes from lands and rents of 1431 was the only English direct lay tax of the Middle Ages which broke down…
Abstract
The experimental parliamentary subsidy on knights' fees and freehold incomes from lands and rents of 1431 was the only English direct lay tax of the Middle Ages which broke down. As such, this subsidy has a clear historiographical significance, yet previous scholars have tended to overlook it on the grounds that parliament's annulment act of 1432 mandated the destruction of all fiscal administrative evidence. Many county assessments from 1431–1432 do, however, survive and are examined for the first time in this article as part of a detailed assessment of the fiscal and administrative context of the knights' fees and incomes tax. This impost constituted a royal response to excess expenditures associated with Henry VI's “Coronation Expedition” of 1429–1431, the scale of which marked a decisive break from the fiscal-military strategy of the 1420s. Widespread confusion regarding whether taxpayers ought to pay the feudal or the non-feudal component of the 1431 subsidy characterized its botched administration. Industrial scale under-assessment, moreover, emerged as a serious problem. Officials' attempts to provide a measure of fiscal compensation by unlawfully double-assessing many taxpayers served to increase administrative confusion and resulted in parliament's annulment act of 1432. This had serious consequences for the crown's finances, since the regime was saddled with budgetary and debt problems which would ultimately undermine the solvency of the Lancastrian state.
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Susan Frelich Appleton and Susan Ekberg Stiritz
This paper explores four works of contemporary fiction to illuminate formal and informal regulation of sex. The paper’s co-authors frame analysis with the story of their creation…
Abstract
This paper explores four works of contemporary fiction to illuminate formal and informal regulation of sex. The paper’s co-authors frame analysis with the story of their creation of a transdisciplinary course, entitled “Regulating Sex: Historical and Cultural Encounters,” in which students mined literature for social critique, became immersed in the study of law and its limits, and developed increased sensitivity to power, its uses, and abuses. The paper demonstrates the value theoretically and pedagogically of third-wave feminisms, wild zones, and contact zones as analytic constructs and contends that including sex and sexualities in conversations transforms personal experience, education, society, and culture, including law.
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Deborah DiazGranados, Alan W. Dow, Shawna J. Perry and John A. Palesis
The purpose of this chapter is to highlight some of the critical multiteam system (MTS) issues that are faced in healthcare by utilizing case studies that illustrate the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this chapter is to highlight some of the critical multiteam system (MTS) issues that are faced in healthcare by utilizing case studies that illustrate the transition of a patient through the healthcare system and suggest a possible approach to studying these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach taken by the authors is a case study approach, which is used to illustrate the transition of a patient through several venues in a healthcare system. This approach elucidates the MTS nature of healthcare. Moreover, a methodological explanation, social network analysis (SNA), for exploring the description and analysis of MTSs in healthcare is provided.
Findings
The case study approach provides concrete examples of the complex relationship between providers caring for a single patient. The case study describes the range of shared practice in healthcare, from collaborative care within each setting to the less obvious interdependence between teams across settings. This interdependence is necessary to deliver complex care but is also a source of potential errors during care. SNA is one tool to quantify these relationships, link them to outcomes, and establish areas for future research and quality improvement efforts.
Originality/value
This chapter offers a unique holistic view of the transition of a patient through a healthcare system and the interdependency of care necessary to deliver care. The authors show a methodology for assessing MTSs with a discussion of utilizing SNA. This foundation may offer promise to better understand care delivery and shape programs that can lead to improvement in care.
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Susan P. McGrath, Emily Wells, Krystal M. McGovern, Irina Perreard, Kathleen Stewart, Dennis McGrath and George Blike
Although it is widely acknowledged that health care delivery systems are complex adaptive systems, there are gaps in understanding the application of systems engineering…
Abstract
Although it is widely acknowledged that health care delivery systems are complex adaptive systems, there are gaps in understanding the application of systems engineering approaches to systems analysis and redesign in the health care domain. Commonly employed methods, such as statistical analysis of risk factors and outcomes, are simply not adequate to robustly characterize all system requirements and facilitate reliable design of complex care delivery systems. This is especially apparent in institutional-level systems, such as patient safety programs that must mitigate the risk of infections and other complications that can occur in virtually any setting providing direct and indirect patient care. The case example presented here illustrates the application of various system engineering methods to identify requirements and intervention candidates for a critical patient safety problem known as failure to rescue. Detailed descriptions of the analysis methods and their application are presented along with specific analysis artifacts related to the failure to rescue case study. Given the prevalence of complex systems in health care, this practical and effective approach provides an important example of how systems engineering methods can effectively address the shortcomings in current health care analysis and design, where complex systems are increasingly prevalent.
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Michèle A. Bowring and Joanna Brewis
The purpose of this paper is to explore the ways in which Canadian lesbians and gay men manage their non‐hegemonic identities in organizations, given the relative paucity of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the ways in which Canadian lesbians and gay men manage their non‐hegemonic identities in organizations, given the relative paucity of qualitative data in the area, the importance of work as a site for identity projects in the contemporary west and growing pressure on employers to attend to sexual orientation as part of diversity management initiatives.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were gathered through 16 semi‐structured interviews with lesbian and gay workers from three Canadian cities.
Findings
The data emphasize the importance of organizational environments in which queer people feel able to integrate their identity at work with their identity in the rest of their lives. Role models were identified as especially important in this regard, particularly for women who talked of the organizational “double jeopardy” of being female and a lesbian.
Research limitations/implications
Although the data reported here are not generalizable, it is worrying that they echo many earlier studies on the negative aspects of lesbian and gay workplace experience. One key implication is that those employees who conform most closely to what Butler calls the heterosexual matrix are less likely to experience problems related to their sexual orientation.
Originality/value
This paper indicates several themes which are not extensively travelled in the existing literature, including the suggestion that coming out to colleagues is easier if one is in a long‐term relationship, as well as a sense that having to negotiate such disclosure simultaneously enhances work‐related interpersonal skills.
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Sara E. Green, Julia Barnhill, Sherri Green, Diana Torres Hawken, Loretta Sue Humphrey and Scott Sanderson
Purpose – The purpose of this work is to explore ways in which parents of children with disabilities actively seek to create a place for themselves and their children within…
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this work is to explore ways in which parents of children with disabilities actively seek to create a place for themselves and their children within supportive communities of others – despite structural and attitudinal barriers.
Methodology – Semi-structured, interactive interviews were conducted with six mothers and six fathers of older teens and young adults with severe impairments. Interview transcripts were analyzed for themes related to barriers to social participation and strategies used to create and sustain communities of supportive others.
Findings – Results suggest that, while there are indeed many barriers to social participation, these mothers and fathers have successfully utilized a variety of strategies in order to create a sense of community for themselves and their children including: garnering support from family; creating enclaves of “wise” individuals; and active social networking. Findings also suggest that children with disabilities can provide opportunities for parental community involvement in unexpected ways.
Limitations, implications and value – The sample is small and selective and the study used retrospective interviews to examine parental memories. Despite these limitations, the narratives of these parents provide a provocative look at the potential role of personal agency in the community experiences of parents of children with disabilities. The stories told by these parents clearly suggest that it takes concerted effort to construct a village in the face of significant barriers to social participation. Once created, however, that village of supportive others can provide life enhancing support for children with disabilities and their families.
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The following bibliography focuses mainly on programs which can run on IBM microcomputers and compatibles under the operating system PC DOS/MS DOS, and which can be used in online…
Abstract
The following bibliography focuses mainly on programs which can run on IBM microcomputers and compatibles under the operating system PC DOS/MS DOS, and which can be used in online information and documentation work. They fall into the following categories: