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Article
Publication date: 27 March 2019

Barbara X. Rodriguez, Kathrina Simonen, Monica Huang and Catherine De Wolf

The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of common parameters in existing tools that provide guidance to carry out Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment (WBLCA) and…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of common parameters in existing tools that provide guidance to carry out Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment (WBLCA) and proposes a new taxonomy, a catalogue of parameters, for the definition of the goal and scope (G&S) in WBLCA.

Design/methodology/approach

A content analysis approach is used to identify, code and analyze parameters in existing WBLCA tools. Finally, a catalogue of parameters is organized into a new taxonomy.

Findings

In total, 650 distinct parameter names related to the definition of G&S from 16 WBLCAs tools available in North America, Europe and Australia are identified. Building on the analysis of existing taxonomies, a new taxonomy of 54 parameters is proposed in order to describe the G&S of WBLCA.

Research limitations/implications

The analysis of parameters in WBLCA tools does not include Green Building Rating Systems and is only limited to tools available in English.

Practical implications

This research is crucial in life cycle assessment (LCA) method harmonization and to serve as a stepping stone to the identification and categorization of parameters that could contribute to WBLCA comparison necessary to meet current global carbon goals.

Social implications

The proposed taxonomy enables architecture, engineering and construction practitioners to contribute to current WBLCA practice.

Originality/value

A study of common parameters in existing tools contributes to identifying the type of data that is required to describe buildings and contribute to build a standardized framework for LCA reporting, which would facilitate consistency across future studies and can serve as a checklist for practitioners when conducting the G&S stage of WBLCA.

Details

Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, vol. 8 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6099

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 July 2014

Karim Hamadache and Julienne Brabet

The purpose of this paper is to enrich empirical studies on institutional entrepreneurship (IE), more specifically those focusing on the role of the IE in building a new field…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to enrich empirical studies on institutional entrepreneurship (IE), more specifically those focusing on the role of the IE in building a new field (here the orphan drug [OD] field). This research addresses the main paradoxes of IE theories: a deterministic vs free agent point of view; an individual hero vs a collective action approach; and a change vs reproduction perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

A case study of the role of an IE in the building of the OD field in Europe conducted through interviews with the main actors and in-depth documentary research.

Findings

The case highlights the IE resources as products of a dynamic historical process driven by values; the process of building the field as an interaction between framing issues, mobilizing agents and resources, transforming a policy window into a political opportunity. It relativizes the IE role: an indispensable catalyst of collective action that can also reinforce the hegemonic bloc while changing the rules.

Originality/value

The paper highlights the necessity of longitudinal analysis to address the agent/structure paradox.

Details

Society and Business Review, vol. 9 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5680

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 5 August 2021

Debra O’Neill, Jan De Vries and Catherine M. Comiskey

The Health Service Executive in Ireland seeks to further develop healthcare in the community. It has identified that this reform requires developing leadership amongst the staff…

8434

Abstract

Purpose

The Health Service Executive in Ireland seeks to further develop healthcare in the community. It has identified that this reform requires developing leadership amongst the staff. This study aims to identify what kind of leadership staff in community healthcare observe in practice and their leadership preferences. The core objective has been to identify the readiness of the organisation to implement the adopted national policy of integrated community care reform in terms of leadership development.

Design/methodology/approach

An online cross-sectional survey was conducted using the Organisational Cultural Assessment Instrument, based on the Competing Values Framework. This tool identifies four overarching leadership types: Clan (Collaborative), Adhocracy (Creative), Market (Competitive) and Hierarchy (Controlling). Participants (n = 445) were a representative sample of regional community health care employees. They were asked to identify presently observed leadership and preferred leadership in practice. The statistical analysis emphasised a comparison of observed and preferred leadership types.

Findings

Participants reported the current prevailing leadership type as Market (M = 34.38, SD = 6.22) and Hierarchical (M = 34.38, SD = 22.62), whilst the preferred or future style was overwhelmingly Clan (M = 40.38, SD = 18.08). Differences were significant (all p’s < 0.001). The overall outcome indicates a predominance of controlling and competitive leadership and a lack of collaborative leadership to implement the planned reform.

Originality/value

During reform in healthcare, leadership in practice must be aligned to the reform strategy, demonstrating collaboration, flexibility and support for innovation. This unique study demonstrates the importance of examining leadership type and competencies to indicate readiness to deliver national community health care reform.

Details

Leadership in Health Services, vol. 34 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1751-1879

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 October 2018

Katharina Wolf and Catherine Archer

Using the theoretical lens of social capital, this paper provides insight into senior public relations (PR) professionals’ views on and attitudes towards digital communication in…

4395

Abstract

Purpose

Using the theoretical lens of social capital, this paper provides insight into senior public relations (PR) professionals’ views on and attitudes towards digital communication in Singapore and Perth, Western Australia, and explores the fundamental question of PR purpose.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on Bourdieu’s theory of practice and in particular his notion of social capital, this exploratory study is based on the critical analysis of 31 semi-structured interviews with senior PR professionals in Singapore and Perth, Western Australia.

Findings

PR professionals concur with assumptions made in the extant literature regarding the potential of digital media for PR, despite broad agreement that the fundamentals of good communication have not changed. At its core PR is about counselling, relationships and the building of social capital. Hence, digital tools and platforms are typically being referred to as merely an extension of the PR toolkit. However, as illustrated within the context of influencer engagement, PR has increasingly adopted advertising-led models and has moved away from its core business of developing strategic relationships and goodwill, hence contributing to the convergence of previously distinct communication functions.

Originality/value

This paper is believed to be one of the first to look at the theory of social capital related to PR within a digital context. Further, it takes a holistic view of PR professionals’ views on working with digital media in two geographical locations that have been under-represented in scholarly work in the field of PR. While much of the extant literature has focussed on the benefits of social media for PR, this paper takes a critical look at current challenges, including the rise of social media influencers. The paper contributes to theory relevant to social capital as it looks at the convergence of the professions relevant to digital disruption and argues for PR claiming its distinctive attributes.

Details

Journal of Communication Management, vol. 22 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-254X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 1992

John Conway O'Brien

A collection of essays by a social economist seeking to balanceeconomics as a science of means with the values deemed necessary toman′s finding the good life and society enduring…

1158

Abstract

A collection of essays by a social economist seeking to balance economics as a science of means with the values deemed necessary to man′s finding the good life and society enduring as a civilized instrumentality. Looks for authority to great men of the past and to today′s moral philosopher: man is an ethical animal. The 13 essays are: 1. Evolutionary Economics: The End of It All? which challenges the view that Darwinism destroyed belief in a universe of purpose and design; 2. Schmoller′s Political Economy: Its Psychic, Moral and Legal Foundations, which centres on the belief that time‐honoured ethical values prevail in an economy formed by ties of common sentiment, ideas, customs and laws; 3. Adam Smith by Gustav von Schmoller – Schmoller rejects Smith′s natural law and sees him as simply spreading the message of Calvinism; 4. Pierre‐Joseph Proudhon, Socialist – Karl Marx, Communist: A Comparison; 5. Marxism and the Instauration of Man, which raises the question for Marx: is the flowering of the new man in Communist society the ultimate end to the dialectical movement of history?; 6. Ethical Progress and Economic Growth in Western Civilization; 7. Ethical Principles in American Society: An Appraisal; 8. The Ugent Need for a Consensus on Moral Values, which focuses on the real dangers inherent in there being no consensus on moral values; 9. Human Resources and the Good Society – man is not to be treated as an economic resource; man′s moral and material wellbeing is the goal; 10. The Social Economist on the Modern Dilemma: Ethical Dwarfs and Nuclear Giants, which argues that it is imperative to distinguish good from evil and to act accordingly: existentialism, situation ethics and evolutionary ethics savour of nihilism; 11. Ethical Principles: The Economist′s Quandary, which is the difficulty of balancing the claims of disinterested science and of the urge to better the human condition; 12. The Role of Government in the Advancement of Cultural Values, which discusses censorship and the funding of art against the background of the US Helms Amendment; 13. Man at the Crossroads draws earlier themes together; the author makes the case for rejecting determinism and the “operant conditioning” of the Skinner school in favour of the moral progress of autonomous man through adherence to traditional ethical values.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 19 no. 3/4/5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Keywords

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 2 November 2009

Abstract

Details

Transport Survey Methods
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84-855844-1

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 13 March 2019

Abstract

Details

Gender and Contemporary Horror in Film
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78769-898-7

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 29 January 2013

Abstract

Details

Transport Survey Methods
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78-190288-2

Abstract

Details

Review of Marketing Research
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-7656-1306-6

Article
Publication date: 30 March 2020

Klaus Brockhoff

This paper aims to demonstrate that virtual project management can be based on a common spirit and mutual trust to achieve project objectives, rather than the use of modern…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to demonstrate that virtual project management can be based on a common spirit and mutual trust to achieve project objectives, rather than the use of modern electronic devices to lower communication costs.

Design/methodology/approach

Evidence from the eighteenth-century files of Academies of Science and from astronomical literature is used to characterize the projects and to show how major elements of project management (such as identification of benefits to stakeholders, management of uncertainties, communication and data aggregation across related projects) were applied.

Findings

The analysis shows how the initiative to better measure the Astronomical Unit defined a megaproject, and how this was broken down at local Academies of Science into major projects or programs. This, in turn, resulted in individual expeditions. It demonstrates that innovations arose from the projects, and that learning from earlier expeditions resulted in the final success of the megaproject.

Research limitations/implications

The literature used was not written to demonstrate project management. In this respect, both the original sources and the later reports may lack information with respect to the present topic. Today’s project management might learn from the study that coordination and communication can greatly benefit from a joint vision of the project if based on a common spirit and mutual trust.

Practical implications

Present day project management might benefit from the finding that common values reduce communication costs in a similar way as recent electronic communication devices.

Originality/value

The author believes that this is the first paper to analyze the Venus transit projects from the project management perspective. This was a complex and global megaproject. The approaches taken to achieve the objectives relevant to different stakeholders provide lessons for today’s management of megaprojects.

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