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1 – 10 of 944Lina Gyllencreutz, Carl-Pontus Carlsson, Sofia Karlsson and Pia Hedberg
This study describes preparedness of emergency physicians and general practitioners following chemical, radiological and nuclear incidents.
Abstract
Purpose
This study describes preparedness of emergency physicians and general practitioners following chemical, radiological and nuclear incidents.
Design/methodology/approach
Five emergency physicians and six general practitioners were interviewed individually, and data was analysed using qualitative content analysis.
Findings
The study results showed that physicians' preparedness for chemical, radiological and nuclear incidents is linked to one main category: to be an expert and to seek expertise and two categories: preparations before receiving CRN patients, and physical examination and treatment of CRN patients with subcategories.
Research limitations/implications
The results have implications for further research on the complexity of generalist vs specialist competence and knowledge when responding to chemical, radiological and nuclear incidents.
Originality/value
This study provides insights regarding chemical, radiological and nuclear preparedness among physicians at emergency departments and primary healthcare centres.
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Lonnie D. Inzer and C. B. Crawford
This paper reviews the literature of formal mentoring programs in organizational settings. Additionally, the components of mentoring, how it works, and how it can be implemented…
Abstract
This paper reviews the literature of formal mentoring programs in organizational settings. Additionally, the components of mentoring, how it works, and how it can be implemented in an organization is addressed. Further this paper also proposes that formal mentoring is possible in organizations. Formal mentoring will be shown to be less effective than informal mentoring. Furthermore, it will be shown that formal organizational mentoring can be effective to meet the needs for all employees to have the opportunity to be mentored, to learn from the wisdom, experience and mistakes of others, and to increase the protégé’s career opportunities.
Niels van der Baan, Inken Gast, Wim Gijselaers and Simon Beausaert
The present study proposes coaching as a pedagogical intervention to prepare students for transitioning to the labour market. Taking a competence-based approach, the proposed…
Abstract
Purpose
The present study proposes coaching as a pedagogical intervention to prepare students for transitioning to the labour market. Taking a competence-based approach, the proposed coaching practice aims to enhance students' employability competences to facilitate a smoother school-to-work transition. However, what transition coaching looks like remains largely unclear. Moreover, in competence-based education, teachers are expected to be highly skilled coaches, facilitating students' transition to the labour market. The present study aims to map the core competencies of a transition coach.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative design was adopted to map the core competences of a transition coach. Data were collected from two focus groups, consisting of coaches in higher education and in the workplace.
Findings
Results show that, to create the necessary support conditions, a coach creates a safe coaching environment and supports students in setting goals, guide them in the activities they undertake to attain these goals, and asks reflective questions. Moreover, the coach stimulates students' ownership by putting the student in the centre of the decision-making process. Furthermore, the results emphasize the importance of the coach's professional attitude and knowledge about the transition process and the labour market.
Practical implications
The article concludes with practical implications for novice transition coaches and teachers in higher education.
Originality/value
The present study adds to the agenda of graduate work readiness by proposing a coaching practice aimed at preparing students for their transition to the labour market.
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Caroline Brandt and Nicholas Dimmitt
Many universities run Writing Centers to provide support for students wishing to improve their academic literacy. These centers are ideal venues for peer tutoring, which may…
Abstract
Many universities run Writing Centers to provide support for students wishing to improve their academic literacy. These centers are ideal venues for peer tutoring, which may benefit both student-tutors (through tutoring skills development), and those tutored (through opportunities to discuss writing with a supportive peer). In the context of a university in the GCC region, peer tutors, prior to working, must complete required Communication courses. The syllabuses reflect student-centered and collaborative post-process writing approaches, where scaffolding is emphasized over direction, and word-by-word instructor correction of student writing is de-emphasized. Peer tutors also undergo preparation aimed at equipping them with an understanding of the rationale for these approaches and the skills needed to adapt them to tutoring. Given these experiences, the researchers set out to determine whether tutors are able to articulate such understandings and apply them to tutoring. Interconnected interpretative methods were deployed, including tutoring observation, consultation-conversation analysis and semi-structured interviews with tutors. Results indicate that tutors have significant recent experience of non-directive writing classes and may be aware of the rationale and benefits of such approaches. However, in their tutoring, content appears to be transferred from their most recent experiences but their style relies on instruction predominated by telling, explaining, demonstrating and directing, reflecting formative experience at school. The relationship between tutors’ experience, preparation, articulation and practice is explored, and recommendations are made to enhance Writing Center practices, in line with the concept of a constructively-aligned instruction system where all components address the same agenda and support each other.
The twenty-first century education system seeks to meet the societal demands of economic effectiveness and the unique professional development needs of individuals. This paper…
Abstract
Purpose
The twenty-first century education system seeks to meet the societal demands of economic effectiveness and the unique professional development needs of individuals. This paper aims to discuss the qualities of competence-oriented educational processes and the recent movement towards competence-based curricula in higher education.
Design/methodology/approach
This study follows a systematic literature review (SLR) methodology to explore the concept of competence within the context of educational science. The subsequent thematic synthesis analyses the findings of reviewed publications regarding graduate attributes in competence-oriented higher education and their perspectives and working-life expectations on exit profiles.
Findings
Interest in competence-oriented education, training and learning has grown in recent years, resulting in numerous theoretical and technical pedagogical applications in higher education. Nonetheless, ambiguous terminology presents a significant challenge, which is demonstrated by the inconsistent language of the study's results. Moreover, there is an obvious need for teachers' in-service training. The qualitative synthesis of this article will be useful for both educational and working life sectors to inform and promote different perspectives on competence-oriented educational processes. A clear articulation of competences is crucial for reforming higher education to meet students' interests and recognise their work-life needs.
Originality/value
The concept of competence has been under-investigated in higher education research and practices. This study offers novel insights and practical implications for competence-oriented learning concerning the paradigmatic change across higher education.
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Informal knowledge sharing interactions (IKSI) are of particular value for innovation projects. This is especially true for unplanned IKSI, because they are even more likely to…
Abstract
Purpose
Informal knowledge sharing interactions (IKSI) are of particular value for innovation projects. This is especially true for unplanned IKSI, because they are even more likely to provide non-redundant knowledge and new perspectives than planned IKSI. Seminal studies have shown that the formation of unplanned IKSI can be explained on the basis of spatial structures. Strictly speaking, however, these studies only explain unplanned encounters. Whether unplanned IKSI result from these unplanned encounters, though, cannot be satisfactorily explained on the basis of spatial configurations alone. The purpose of this paper is to tackle this explanatory gap by unraveling the fundamental social processes by application of the symbolic interaction theory.
Design/methodology/approach
For this purpose, the formation of 132 IKSI on innovation projects from three research and development departments of large companies was recorded in detail using a combination of diaries and interviews. The data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.
Findings
The analysis reveals that IKSI cause symbolic costs (image damages), and that these costs vary between types of social situations. Because actors anticipate situation-specific costs, their propensity to initiate IKSI can be explained in terms of the situations in which they encounter one another. Furthermore, the analysis reveals six particularly relevant characteristics of situations and further elaborates the basic argument by analyzing their functioning.
Originality/value
The paper complements previous explanations of unplanned IKSI by opening up the social processes underlying their formation.
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Pekka Stenholm and Mette Søgaard Nielsen
Recent research acknowledges entrepreneurial passion’s outcomes, but far less is known about how entrepreneurial passion comes about. In this study, the authors are interested in…
Abstract
Purpose
Recent research acknowledges entrepreneurial passion’s outcomes, but far less is known about how entrepreneurial passion comes about. In this study, the authors are interested in the emergence of entrepreneurial passion, and how competences and social network are associated with entrepreneurial passion. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors investigate whether entrepreneurial passion emerges out of socialisation, entrepreneurial experience or various combinations thereof. The authors tested the hypotheses on a data set of entrepreneurs who started their businesses with government financial support (n=1150).
Findings
The findings show that within a social environment, perceived emotional support is positively associated with entrepreneurial passion. Moreover, entrepreneurs’ task-related competence moderates this relationship positively. By investigating the emergence of entrepreneurial passion, the authors contribute to prior passion literature, which has mainly focused on its consequences.
Originality/value
The findings demonstrate both how entrepreneurial passion is associated with and how perceived emotional support can stem from unexpected sources, such as from a government-based start-up grant. For entrepreneurs, an increased awareness of passion’s emergence could better encourage them in their entrepreneurial endeavours. To people who are engaged in promoting entrepreneurship, our findings emphasise the symbolic and emotional aspects of instruments intended to support entrepreneurship.
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This paper aims to identify the occupational profiles of a logistics and a supply chain (SC) controller, both promising SC professions, examining the required competences and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify the occupational profiles of a logistics and a supply chain (SC) controller, both promising SC professions, examining the required competences and tasks undertaken while taking into account current trends in supply chain management and its wider dimensions.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used a content analysis based on job advertisements for the position of logistics controller and SC controller. The collected material allowed the construction of an occupational competence mix model in the style of Cheetham and Chivers for the logistics and SC controller, and the identification of the level of competence of both professions, using the model proposed by Czapla. In addition, the analysis of the data was supplemented by use of the Anova test and a radar chart.
Findings
The SC and logistics controllers have a high degree of similarity in both the meta and core competences areas. Similarities also occur in the case of the analysed groups of tasks undertaken by these professions. Tasks in the areas of “definition” and “maintaining” prevail. The SC controller and the logistics controller are considered “engaged inspirers” because they have reached this level of professional competence. Both these professions can ensure an effective, sustainable and transparent SC through direct cooperation with the SC manager and/or logistics manager.
Research limitations/implications
This study uses a content analysis based on job advertisements addressed to the German market. These job advertisements are standardized, and therefore, provide only a general outline of the competences and tasks of the SC and logistics controllers.
Practical implications
The study provides information to practitioners by identifying the competences and tasks assigned to the SC and logistics controllers that are needed to improve the efficiency and transparency of the SC and its management. The research is an incentive for people involved in education to adapt changes in curricula in the business (accounting, controlling and logistics) and engineering (related to logistics) fields of study by creating courses based on SC controlling or/and logistics controlling.
Originality/value
The study shows the current, necessary changes for SC professionals (e.g. the appointment of a SC controller and/or logistics controller) resulting from changes in business and the challenges for SC management (e.g. transparency and sustainability).
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Ana Moreira, Francisco Cesário, Maria José Chambel and Filipa Castanheira
This study aims to explore the serial mediation effect of perceived internal employability and affective commitment in the relationship between the organisational practices of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the serial mediation effect of perceived internal employability and affective commitment in the relationship between the organisational practices of competences development and turnover intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology was quantitative and is based on a survey with a sample of 313 participants, all of whom were employed in several organisations located in Portugal.
Findings
A significant and negative effect of organisational practices of competences development, perceived internal employability and affective commitment on turnover intentions was verified. A total serial mediation effect was also found from perceived internal employability and affective commitment in the relationship between organisational practices of competences development (i.e., training, individualised support and functional rotation) and turnover intentions.
Practical implications
These practices should be developed by leaders of organisations in order that employees feel that the organisation is investing in their development, which can lead to an increase in their emotional attachment towards the organisation and consequently increase their desire to stay in the organisation.
Originality/value
This study makes two important contributions. First, it confirms the existence of a significant and negative relationship between perceived internal employability and turnover intentions. Second, it proves the existence of a total serial mediation effect of perceived internal employability and affective commitment in the relationship between organisational practices of competences development and turnover intentions.
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