The pupose of this paper is to present an overview of the main conceptual and methodological issues that underlie our current understanding of benchmarking initiatives in the…
Abstract
Purpose
The pupose of this paper is to present an overview of the main conceptual and methodological issues that underlie our current understanding of benchmarking initiatives in the field of health.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on a pragmatic review of the literature and policy reports. It outlines some of the major conceptual problems associated with the use of benchmarking indicators and discusses how health policy research and practice is evolving to address the challenges raised, drawing examples from national and international benchmarking initiatives.
Findings
Benchmarking has become an intrinsic part of most developed health care systems, yet the impact of benchmarking initiatives on improvements in system performance and their integration within existing policy processes still need to be elucidated. Several methodological challenges remain in the field of benchmarking, many of them related to the selection and quality of indicators used to make comparisons both within and between health care systems. Further research and applications are needed to ensure that benchmarking in health fulfils its objective, namely to further our understanding of where to focus policy efforts in order to improve the performance of health care systems.
Originality/value
This paper poses the timely question of whether benchmarking initiatives are in fact guiding health policy towards the improvement of health care system performance. It draws from the policy literature and existing frameworks to offer an outline for the future evaluation of benchmarking initiatives by policy‐makers.
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Roni Reiter-Palmon, Richard L. Wiener, Gregory Ashley, Ryan J. Winter, Ronda M. Smith, Erin M. Richter and Amy Voss-Humke
Recent research suggests that individual difference variables that measure emotional reactions may be useful in understanding sexual harassment judgments. In the present study…
Abstract
Recent research suggests that individual difference variables that measure emotional reactions may be useful in understanding sexual harassment judgments. In the present study, 503 male and female working adults viewed two videos of sexual harassment cases and were asked to make judgments about the nature of the behavior. Participants also completed measures of sexism and empathy. Results indicated that Perspective Taking (PT), a component of empathy, interacted with gender to explain judgments regarding sexual harassment. Contrary to expectations, PT did not eliminate the typical gender differences found, but rather magnified them.
This paper features a narrative case study of a leadership team engaged in an effort to transform both culture and instructional practice at an urban charter school. The paper…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper features a narrative case study of a leadership team engaged in an effort to transform both culture and instructional practice at an urban charter school. The paper describes the team's effort to align their decision-making with two frameworks selected to anchor the school's institutional change process: restorative justice and deeper learning. Interweaving rich case data with analysis, the paper explores the dilemmas that emerged as leaders struggled to “walk the talk” of these two frameworks, using this to theorize about the synergies between them and to explore the broader leadership challenges involved in transforming schools from authoritarian to humanizing institutions.
Design/methodology/approach
The researcher employed an ethnographic approach with the goal of generating a thickly-textured single case study. Data-gathering activities included more than 400 h of participant-observation, in-depth interviewing and artifact collection, conducted over the course of a ten-month academic year. Data analysis was iterative and included frequent member checks with participants.
Findings
The paper finds that restorative justice and deeper learning have powerful epistemological connections that school leaders can harness in order to ensure a coherent approach to change processes. The paper also illuminates several of the core dilemmas that school leaders should anticipate facing when embracing these two frameworks: the dilemma of responding to feedback, the dilemma of power-sharing and the dilemma of balancing expectations with support.
Research limitations/implications
The case study approach employed in this paper allows for rich understandings of specific phenomena while also providing a platform for exploring the general qualities that these phenomena might illustrate. This approach does not allow for statistical generalizability.
Practical implications
The paper suggests that it is imperative for school leaders to explore what it means to lead in ways that are coherent with their vision for change, e.g. to cultivate symmetry. Moreover, the paper demonstrates that the value of such explorations lies in the process of grappling with the tensions that arise when humanizing frameworks are implemented within systems that uphold traditional power hierarchies. Additionally, the paper affirms the value of de-siloing the transformation of school culture from the transformation of instructional practice.
Originality/value
This paper offers an unusually textured account of the messy and uncertain processes that constitute the work of school change. This paper also draws together two educational paradigms which are rarely brought into conversation with each other despite their epistemological synergy.
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The purpose of this paper is to present and an interview with Suzanne Doyle Morris, an author, academic, entrepreneur, international speaker and accredited executive coach…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present and an interview with Suzanne Doyle Morris, an author, academic, entrepreneur, international speaker and accredited executive coach specialising in strategic career development and leadership coaching for high‐potential executive women.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper takes the form of an interview with Suzanne Doyle Morris her views on encouraging women in the workplace.
Findings
The paper reveals that, in Suzanne Doyle Morris's view, one of the strategies that companies can use to reward high performing women is to offer coaching. Also they could not limiting high profile jobs to those that are willing to work full time.
Originality/value
This is interview provides insights into how companies can encourage women workers to achieve more in the workplace.
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Various law and film scholars have noted that the judge occupies the place of a marginal figure in ‘legal cinema’ and in related scholarship. In this chapter I want to engage with…
Abstract
Various law and film scholars have noted that the judge occupies the place of a marginal figure in ‘legal cinema’ and in related scholarship. In this chapter I want to engage with the debate about the representation of the judge in film by way of an examination of a South African documentary, ‘Two Moms: A family portrait’ (2004). In the first instance this ‘family portrait’ appears to be neither an obvious candidate for inclusion in the canon of ‘legal cinema’ nor a film with a plotline dominated by a judge. But from this rather unpromising start this chapter explores how a film about an ordinary family made up of extraordinary people is an extraordinary film about law in general and about the figure of the judge in particular.