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1 – 10 of over 60000Maria Tsouroufli, Mustafa Özbilgin and Merryn Smith
Attempts to modernise the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK involve promoting flexible approaches to work and training, restructuring postgraduate training and increasing…
Abstract
Purpose
Attempts to modernise the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK involve promoting flexible approaches to work and training, restructuring postgraduate training and increasing control and scrutiny of doctors' work. However, the medical community has responded with expressed anxiety about the implications of these changes for medical professionalism and the quality of patient care. This paper aims to address these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on literature on nostalgia, gender, identity and organisations, the paper explores the narratives of 20 senior NHS hospital doctors to identify ways in which doctors use nostalgia to react to organisational and professional challenges and resist modernisation and feminisation of medicine.
Findings
This paper illustrates how senior hospital doctors' nostalgic discourses of temporal commitment may be used to constitute a highly esteemed professional identity, creating a sense of personal and occupational uniqueness for senior hospital doctors, intertwined with gendered forms of othering and exclusionary practices.
Practical implications
Nostalgia at first sight appears to be an innocuous social construct. However, this study illustrates the significance of nostalgia as a subversive practice of resistance with implications for women's career and identity experiences. Change initiatives that seek to tackle resistance need also to address discourses of nostalgia in the medical profession.
Originality/value
The main contribution of this study is that we illustrate how supposedly neutral discourses of nostalgia may sometimes be mobilised as devices of resistance. This study questions simplistic focus on numerical representation, such as feminisation, as indicative of modernisation and highlights the significance of exploring discourses and head counts for understanding resistance to modernisation.
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Over the past decade, researchers have been increasingly concerned with the effects of training. Whereas Gary Becker stated that employers pay for specific training and employees…
Abstract
Over the past decade, researchers have been increasingly concerned with the effects of training. Whereas Gary Becker stated that employers pay for specific training and employees for general training, it is often argued that employers provide general training as well and that this has a positive effect on labour productivity. So far empirical research does not indicate that only on‐the‐job training is beneficial to the firm and neither that only employees profit form general training. This paper presents a sector model that measures the effect of training on productivity. The sector model developed in this paper has important advantages as it shows that training generally works, but it is not clear whether this is mainly due to on‐the‐job or off‐the‐job training.
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K. Megan Sheffield, Susan L. Silver and Lily Todorinova
The case study in this chapter describes the planning and implementation of a single service desk or “one desk” model, merging the circulation and reference desks at a large…
Abstract
The case study in this chapter describes the planning and implementation of a single service desk or “one desk” model, merging the circulation and reference desks at a large academic library. The transition to a single service desk model was proposed as a way to utilize library staff more efficiently and effectively. The project included a literature review, interviews with libraries that had recently moved to a one-desk model, and a recommendation that included a method as well as timeline for implementation. As a result of the recommendation, three committees were formed to lead the transition, each with representation from both the circulation and reference departments. One committee oversaw the physical implementation and assessment, while the second committee created training program for all staff teaching core competencies for both reference and circulation. The third committee recruited student peer research leaders as part of a pilot program for student assistants. Through the implementation process, the chairs of the three committees concluded that implementing a single service desk involved much more than just moving furniture and relocating equipment. Combining two departments with distinct organizational cultures was the key to making the transition successful. The details of the implementation can be used as a model for other libraries of any type contemplating a similar transition.
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The paper looks at issues and trends in the building of a learning organisation for the coming century. There is initial consideration of the concept of the “hybrid library”, a…
Abstract
The paper looks at issues and trends in the building of a learning organisation for the coming century. There is initial consideration of the concept of the “hybrid library”, a phrase descriptive of the current evolutionary stage as perceived by British academic libraries, and some analysis of what this implies for the future skills requirement of information workers. Mechanisms for ensuring cyclic training and development are described, principally addressing the concepts of investment in people and organisational culture; here there is an exploration of externally administered formal schemes to assess commitment, planning, action and evaluation in relation to training programmes, the effectiveness of which is judged in terms of meeting business goals; and gauge cultural awareness within an organisation. Finally, there is some consideration of the leadership role of the library and information service director, including the availability of preparatory and ongoing leadership training.
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Jane Cote and Claire Kamm Latham
We present a peer-to-peer teaching approach designed to prepare introductory accounting students to address ethical challenges they will face in the workplace. We describe the…
Abstract
Purpose
We present a peer-to-peer teaching approach designed to prepare introductory accounting students to address ethical challenges they will face in the workplace. We describe the motivation, processes, and resources used, introduce an effectiveness measure and discuss refinements so that other universities may adopt the innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
Upper division Beta Alpha Psi (BAP) accounting honor society members, with faculty guidance, create and deliver workshops in the 200-level introductory accounting sequence using the Giving Voice to Values (GVV) curriculum. GVV provides tools to move from recognition to action when confronted with a values conflict. The BAP members had completed the GVV exercises and casework in their upper division accounting courses. Now as peer coaches, they guide sophomore-level business students through the GVV curriculum to prepare them to act on their values when challenged.
Findings
Post-training perceptions express consistent beliefs that the introductory accounting students’ skills and abilities had improved with the training. Additionally, introductory accounting students’ descriptions of how they would address values conflicts based on what they learned in the training reflects development of personalized specific approaches.
Social implications
GVV provides students with an action-based ethics toolkit to build upon as they move forward academically and professionally. The peer-to-peer innovation builds stronger mentor and mentee ties and introduces the business program’s ethical culture to sophomore-level business students.
Originality/value
The innovation won the 2014 Beta Alpha Psi Ethics Award sponsored by Grant Thornton and reflects the first use of a peer-to-peer approach with GVV in a university setting.
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Four Baldrige Awards were awarded in 1996. Offers brief profiles of each of the four winning companies, together with some insights into their journey towards excellence.
Abstract
Four Baldrige Awards were awarded in 1996. Offers brief profiles of each of the four winning companies, together with some insights into their journey towards excellence.
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In the summer of 1993, Aston University Library & Information Services decided to replace its library housekeeping system, Geac 9000. Most of the detailed evaluation of potential…
Abstract
In the summer of 1993, Aston University Library & Information Services decided to replace its library housekeeping system, Geac 9000. Most of the detailed evaluation of potential systems was carried out between May 1994 and March 1995. In April 1995 Aston chose Galaxy 2000 from DS Ltd. Installation of the new system was carried out during the summer vacation and completed just in time for the start of the new academic year. By the end of 1995, the rich functionality Aston enjoyed on its old system was virtually all available on the new one, and additional features, such as self‐issue, inter‐library loans and a Web catalogue interface, were under development.
Elaine Beaumont, Gillian Rayner, Mark Durkin and Gosia Bowling
The purpose of this paper is to examine pre and post outcome measures following a course of Compassionate Mind Training (CMT). Participants were students enrolled on a Post…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine pre and post outcome measures following a course of Compassionate Mind Training (CMT). Participants were students enrolled on a Post Graduate Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy (CBP). The aim of the research was to explore whether CMT would increase self-compassion, compassion for others, dispositional empathy and reduce self-critical judgement.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 21 participants who had enrolled on the CBP programme took part in the study. Data were collected using the self-compassion scale, interpersonal reactivity index, and the compassion for others scale.
Findings
Results reveal an overall statistically significant increase in self-compassion scores and statistically significant reduction in self-critical judgement scores post training. There was no statistically significant difference post training on the interpersonal reactivity index or the compassion for others scale.
Research limitations/implications
CMT training may help students develop healthy coping strategies, which they can use to balance their affect regulation systems when faced with organisational, placement, client, academic, personal and supervision demands. Further research and longitudinal studies, using larger sample sizes are needed to explore if cultivating compassion whilst on psychotherapy training helps students build resilience and provide a barrier against empathic distress fatigue, compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout.
Practical implications
Incorporating CMT into a CBP programme may bring changes in student levels of self-compassion and self-critical judgement.
Originality/value
This inaugural study examines whether incorporating CMT into a CBP programme impacts on students levels of compassion, dispositional empathy and self-critical judgement. The findings from this preliminary study suggest the potential benefits of training students in compassion focused practices.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the response of industrial relations systems to the current financial crisis.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the response of industrial relations systems to the current financial crisis.
Design/methodology/approach
This editorial outlines the effect of the financial crisis on industrial output, unemployment and redundancies. It then examines the impact in the banking and manufacturing sectors of the single European market before looking more closely at the impact on individual European countries. There is also a look at public policy, labour market mechanisms design to protect employment levels and workers incomes.
Findings
The financial crisis has led to large rises in unemployment and redundancies and to large falls in industrial output. Collective bargaining has played an important problem‐solving role in achieving a peaceful adjustment at the workplace to falls in product demand. Collective agreements have been concluded designed to preserve jobs by providing for shorter working time with the state providing compensation for the corresponding fall in income.
Originality/value
The paper offers insights into the financial crisis and employee relations.
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– The purpose of this paper is to provide some guidelines to help organizations improve e-learning initiatives through the use of purposeful interactions among trainees.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide some guidelines to help organizations improve e-learning initiatives through the use of purposeful interactions among trainees.
Design/methodology/approach
The recommendations suggested in this paper are based on a review of research that was conducted in the area of e-learning.
Findings
The addition of quality online and face-to-face peer interactions may be a way to combat some of the major problems associated with training online. Decisions about just how meaningful interactions should be incorporated depend on the nature of the training program, what you hope to accomplish and your financial and time constraints.
Practical implications
This paper provides helpful information for organizational leaders or managers who are interested in implementing e-learning initiatives or those looking for recommendations on how to improving current e-learning outcomes.
Originality/value
This paper will be of value to those who are involved in organizational training and developmental initiatives. The recommendations discussed in this paper will help the reader address important questions regarding how to include purposeful interaction in e-learning initiatives.
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