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1 – 10 of over 6000Edward C.S. Ku, Jiunn-Woei Lian and Ling-Ling Liu
The purpose of this study is to integrate wayfinding strategies and open innovation to examine the factors of mobile application (M-App) design.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to integrate wayfinding strategies and open innovation to examine the factors of mobile application (M-App) design.
Design/methodology/approach
The study formulated an M-App model from the wayfinding sense-making and open innovation perspective. Samples were collected from the M-Apps users of Airbnb.com in a survey based on the principle of snowball sampling, and 416 samples were returned in total. The hypothesis testing of the model was conducted using structural equation modeling with Linear Structural Relations.
Findings
The operators of the lodging industry should design the recommended route on the M-Apps for tourists to reach the accommodation on the map function conveniently.
Practical implications
The orientation of wayfinding sense-making integrates the accommodation host to mark the direction of the accommodation on the map function of M-Apps to indicate the direction of the location.
Social implications
The operators of the lodging industry should design the recommended route on the M-Apps for tourists to conveniently reach the accommodation on the map function.
Originality/value
For the M-Apps designer of the lodging industry, devising the function with an arrow point on the map would enable tourists to check their current location handily. Moreover, the M-Apps of lodging businesses can reduce marketing expenses from the high recommendations of tourists.
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AS early as 1894, in a paper on the subject of electrical radiation read at the Royal Institution, Sir Oliver Lodge explained the steps that it was necessary to take to screen…
Abstract
AS early as 1894, in a paper on the subject of electrical radiation read at the Royal Institution, Sir Oliver Lodge explained the steps that it was necessary to take to screen electrical radiation. He pointed out that lor effective screening every part of the oscillating circuit must be completely enclosed in metal casing, and all the metal enclosures well connected together. He also explained that while small round holes in the casing did not matter, anything in the nature of a slot or chink, or the smallest “live” part of the circuit projecting through the casing, would allow the radiation to pass. The ignition system of a petrol engine generates an oscillating discharge, sending out electrical radiation, and to prevent this radiation interfering with a neighbouring radio receiver it is necessary to enclose the whole ignition circuit—magneto, cables and sparking plugs—in metal casing.
This extract from a recent Lancet was, suitably enough, provided for me by my own Company's Information Officer. He is not, in consequence a paragon; he is just doing his job. We…
Abstract
This extract from a recent Lancet was, suitably enough, provided for me by my own Company's Information Officer. He is not, in consequence a paragon; he is just doing his job. We have evolved a modus vivendi which is both congenial and fruitful.
Jo Moriarty, Caroline Norrie, Jill Manthorpe, Valerie Lipman and Rekha Elaswarapu
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the content, purpose and effectiveness of the handover of information between care home staff beginning and completing a shift.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the content, purpose and effectiveness of the handover of information between care home staff beginning and completing a shift.
Design/methodology/approach
This was an exploratory study drawing on ethnographic methods. A total of 27 interviews with a range of care home staff, including managers, registered nurses, senior care workers and care workers were undertaken in five care homes selected to give a good contrast in terms of size, ownership, shift patterns and type of handover.
Findings
Most handovers were short – lasting 15 min or so – and were held in the office or secluded area in which staff could talk privately. They lasted longer in one home in which the incoming and outgoing shifts physically visited each resident’s room and the communal spaces. Staff felt that handovers were important for the efficient running of the home as well as to alert everyone to changes in a resident’s health or important events, such as a hospital appointment. In one home, handheld devices enabled staff to follow a resident’s care plan and update what was happening in real time.
Research limitations/implications
This was a small scale study based on data from a limited number of care homes.
Practical implications
The increasing popularity of 12 h shifts means that many homes only hold two short handovers early in the morning and in the evening when the night staff arrive. There appears to be a trend to reduce the number of staff paid to attend handover. Despite this, handovers remain an important component of the routine of a care home. The information contained in handover relates to the running of the care home, as well as residents’ wellbeing, suggesting that, while their content overlaps with written records in the home, they are not superfluous.
Originality/value
Although the literature on handovers in hospitals is extensive, this appears to be the first published study of handover practices in care homes.
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Emanuele Padovani, Silvia Iacuzzi, Susana Jorge and Liliana Pimentel
This paper explores how global pandemic crises affect the financial vulnerability of municipalities.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper explores how global pandemic crises affect the financial vulnerability of municipalities.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is developed from the relevant literature an analytical framework to examine municipal financial vulnerability before a global pandemic crisis and in its immediate aftermath by mapping and systematizing its dimensions and sources. To illustrate how it can be used and evaluate its robustness and flexibility, such a tool was applied to Portugal and Italy, two countries that particularly suffered from the Covid-19 crisis.
Findings
The application of the analytical framework has shown how financially vulnerable municipalities are to global pandemic crises. Financial vulnerability relates to issues ranging from institutional design to internal financial conditions and the perception of the capacity to cope with a crisis. Results further reveal that vulnerability has an inherent contingent nature in time and space and can lead to paradoxical outcomes.
Research limitations/implications
This paper provides a tool that can be useful for both academic and public policy purposes, to further appreciate municipal financial vulnerability, especially during crises.
Practical implications
Municipalities can use the framework to better manage their financial vulnerability, strengthening their anticipatory and copying capacities, while oversight authorities can use it to help municipalities become less financially vulnerable or, at least, more aware of their financial vulnerability.
Originality/value
Municipal financial vulnerability to global shocks has not been explored extensively. Also, the Covid-19 pandemic is different from previous global crises as it affected society overnight with the implementation of lockdown and social distancing measures.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the fragility of government institutions and prompted a broad range of policy measures from governments around the world. Policy responses to the…
Abstract
Purpose
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the fragility of government institutions and prompted a broad range of policy measures from governments around the world. Policy responses to the pandemic have varied considerably, both in nature and in success. This paper highlights the policy capacities of the UAE in different areas that have contributed to managing the COVID-19 crisis. Specifically, the paper examines the functional capacity, analytical capacity, fiscal capacity, well-timed information-sharing capacity and political capacity of the UAE in addressing the pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
The study on which this paper was based adopted a mixed-method approach to analyze policy capacities. The trajectory and timeframe of COVID-19 from February 2020 to February 2021 were observed intensively and included in the policy capacity analysis. The secondary dataset was collected from several sources and assessed using rapid content analysis to highlight the formal and institutional policy measures implemented during the crisis. To complement the policy analysis and understand the key role of policymakers, semi-structured interviews were conducted with local officials working in various line departments that formulate and implement policy strategies for the UAE government.
Findings
The findings of the study showed that although COVID-19 has severely impacted the UAE, the nation has effectively controlled the spread of the virus and reduced its mortality rate. The UAE government has taken swift policy actions concerning coercive control and mitigation based on a centralized decision-making style, the strengthening of administrative capacity by collaboration, coordination with different departments, successful communication with residents, the allocation of adequate financial resources and a high level of trust in the government by citizens.
Originality/value
This work contributes to the existing literature by highlighting the policy capacity approach to managing the crisis. The UAE case can be used by policymakers as comparative studies of policy designs, tools and capabilities that can be implemented to manage future pandemics and other crises.
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Keratiloe Mogotsi and Fanny Saruchera
This paper aims to reveal the philanthropy landscape processes for dealing with disasters and examine the influence of lean thinking in managing philanthropy for disasters. It…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to reveal the philanthropy landscape processes for dealing with disasters and examine the influence of lean thinking in managing philanthropy for disasters. It sought to leverage continuous improvement and maximise disaster response and humanitarian logistics efficiency.
Design/methodology/approach
A sequential quantitative, qualitative research methods strategy was utilised involving data collection with literary analysis and two sets of online surveys with 212 NGO staff members in Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe. In addition, in-depth key informant interviews were conducted with 23 staff members at various management levels from these countries.
Findings
The study found that lean thinking had a positive, statistically valid influence at a 95% confidence level. Community incorporation, government support and collaboration with other philanthropic organisations were critical success factors. When lean thinking tools were applied (any tools), philanthropic organisations experienced waste reduction and value addition, where waste reduction accounted for 67% variation, and value-addition accounted for 58%, respectively. These were the same benefits experienced in other industries, thus, justifying lean thinking's applicability in the non-profit sector. Lean was most helpful about the communication and duplication of efforts challenges humanitarian or philanthropic organisations face when responding to a disaster.
Practical implications
The study equips leaders and philanthropic organisations with suggestions to manage and respond to disasters in a lean and effective manner. The study helps philanthropy leaders rethink their funding and response models to pursue lean policies catering to humanitarian organisations and the communities they serve.
Originality/value
The study closes significant gaps in the literature and practice by adopting a multi-sectoral lens that borrows from business and manufacturing tools into a non-profit context. It enables documentation of processes and logistical management by philanthropy organisations for continuous improvement and elimination of waste to ensure efficiency in the philanthropic role of alleviating the impact of disasters. The study also affirms the need for philanthropic organisations to incorporate community feedback, use lean tools to collaborate with other responding organisations and work closely with the local authorities to fulfil the government's supportive role: the primary source and executor in disaster response.
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Enrico Bracci and Mouhcine Tallaki
Inspite of the attention resilience receives in relation to public policy and public management, very few studies have analysed the internal mechanics of public sector…
Abstract
Purpose
Inspite of the attention resilience receives in relation to public policy and public management, very few studies have analysed the internal mechanics of public sector organisations to see what is producing their resilience. Considering management control systems (MCSs) as the drivers of organisational change, this paper aims to explore their role as determinants of resilience in the public sector. The paper attempts to open the black box of organisational functioning focusing on one complex component.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper adopted a qualitative approach for this longitudinal case study. This paper used a mix of primary and secondary sources in terms of direct observation, semi-structured interviews and internal document analysis. This paper used a framework drawing on Barbera et al. (2017) and management control’s constraining and facilitating concepts to explore how anticipatory and coping capacities of resilience are supported and reinforced by MCSs.
Findings
Findings suggest that MCSs support adaptive behaviour and assist decision-making by providing knowledge and ready-to-use answers to cope with external shocks. However, this is found in case of the adoption of facilitating MCSs, which empower managers and employees and are based on stewardship roles. In such a context, MCSs played an essential role in shaping anticipatory and coping capacities. At the same time, financial shocks fostered the investment in MCSs, cyclically strengthening or developing new anticipatory and coping capacities.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first attempting to identify how facilitating MCSs, as a driver of organisational change, can make an organisation more resilient. It shows how resilience capacities are generated and strengthened via MCSs.
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Mitchell J. van den Adel, Thomas A. de Vries and Dirk Pieter van Donk
Critical infrastructures (CIs) for essential services such as water supply and electricity delivery are notoriously vulnerable to disruptions. While extant literature offers…
Abstract
Purpose
Critical infrastructures (CIs) for essential services such as water supply and electricity delivery are notoriously vulnerable to disruptions. While extant literature offers important insights into the resilience of CIs following large-scale disasters, our understanding of CI resilience to the more typical disruptions that affect CIs on a day-to-day basis remains limited. The present study investigates how the interorganizational (supply) network that uses and manages the CI can mitigate the adverse consequences of day-to-day disruptions.
Design/methodology/approach
Longitudinal archival data on 277 day-to-day disruptions within the Dutch national railway CI were collected and analyzed using generalized estimating equations.
Findings
The empirical results largely support the study’s predictions that day-to-day disruptions have greater adverse effects if they co-occur or are relatively unprecedented. The findings further show that the involved interorganizational network can enhance CI resilience to these disruptions, in particular, by increasing the overall level of cross-boundary information exchange between organizations inside the network.
Practical implications
This study helps managers to make well-informed choices regarding the target and intensity of their cross-boundary information-exchange efforts when dealing with day-to-day disruptions affecting their CI. The findings illustrate the importance of targeting cross-boundary information exchange at the complete interorganizational network responsible for the CI and to increase the intensity of such efforts when CI disruptions co-occur and/or are unprecedented.
Originality/value
This study contributes to our academic understanding of how network-level processes (i.e. cross-boundary information exchange) can be managed to ensure interorganizational (supply) networks’ resilience to day-to-day disruptions in a CI context. Subsequent research may draw from the conceptual framework advanced in the present study for examining additional supply network-level processes that can influence the effectiveness of entire supply networks. As such, the present research may assist scholars to move beyond a simple dyadic context and toward examining complete supply networks
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Mostapha El Idrissi, Younès El Manzani, Widad Ahl Maatalah and Zakaria Lissaneddine
While there is a consensus that dynamic capabilities (DC) and organizational agility are two key mechanisms that help firms to survive and cope with the environment’s dynamic…
Abstract
Purpose
While there is a consensus that dynamic capabilities (DC) and organizational agility are two key mechanisms that help firms to survive and cope with the environment’s dynamic change and uncertainties, little is known about their roles in leveraging firms’ preparedness to overcome organizational crises during turbulent contexts such as the COVID-19. The purpose of this study is twofold. This paper first analyzes the direct relationship between DC and organizational agility dimensions (i.e. customer, operational and partnering agilities). Second, this paper investigates the direct link between organizational agility dimensions and a firm’s organizational crisis preparedness.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a survey of Moroccan firms administrated during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, a theoretically derived model was tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling.
Findings
The results show that DC are significantly related to the three types of agility and that only customer and operational agility affect organizational crisis preparedness.
Originality/value
This research provides new insights into crisis management literature by introducing and empirically examining the impact of DC and organizational agility in addressing global crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
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