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This paper offers a model that illustrates the relationship between organizational structure, work stress and perceived strain based on the concept of bureaucratic orientation.

After a brief review of the stress and structure literatures, a number of propositions are developed concerning organizationally‐induced stressors that are fostered by mechanistic or organic structures. Next, a model is presented illustrating the impact of members' bureaucratic orientation on the organizationally induced stressor‐strain relationship.

It is argued that highly‐mechanized structures manifest different stressors for employees from highly organic structures. The model also demonstrates how organizationally‐induced stressors such as role conflict and ambiguity mediate the relation between structure and strain. However, the extent to which these stressors result in perceived strain is also dependent on employees' predisposition toward dominance, autonomy, achievement, ambiguity and control. Based on the model and propositions presented, conclusions and suggestions for future research are provided.

Noted implications include more flexible workplace rules for female executives to eliminate stress associated with work‐family conflict as well as improved effectiveness of social support and person‐organization fit based on individual bureaucratic orientation.

This paper uniquely advocates consideration of employee bureaucratic orientation and organizational structure in relation to person‐organization fit and work stress. The propositions offered are of value to practitioners and researchers due to their implications for fostering person‐organization fit and reducing work stress.

An annual citizen survey can be a valuable component of the municipal budgeting process for cities that elect to institutionalize the process as a way to translate citizen feedback into budgetary priorities. This article explores uses of citizen surveys in identifying latent needs of the community that may not be detected through public hearings or other citizen participation methods. The authors suggest that properly developed and conducted citizen surveys can provide decision-makers with research data that will lead to more responsive public spending and debt financing decisions. The article concludes with a case study of Auburn, Alabama, a city that has successfully used citizen surveys in its budgeting system for the past seventeen years.

Contemporary American economists are almost universally proud of their contribution to the enhancement of human welfare. They will readily and honestly dismiss the once famous nickname of economics, the dismal science. However, despite the fact that the United States economic growth in the past has been impressive, the individual actor in the economic world appears to remain a dismal creature. “Dismal” not in the Malthusian sense of population trap, but in the sense that the actor never seems to be satisfied with what he has — even though what he has has greatly increased. In other words, economic man did collectively generate the wealth of the nation, but the increased wealth does not seem to have led the majority of people individually to a more satisfying life. In the meantime, economists have begun to focus on Democracy in Deficit, The Economy in Deficit, and America's Great Consumption Binge.

This paper sets out to explore performance management as a discipline and propose an integrated performance management model.

This conceptual paper aims to clarify what performance management is and how it emerged as a discipline by tracking its evolution at strategic, operational and individual levels. Structured as a review, it enables the rediscovery of performance management and the identification of several key dichotomies, brought together under an integrated performance management model.

Three emerging approaches to performance management are presented as potential catalysts to accelerate the evolution of this discipline: systems thinking, learning and integration. An integrated performance management model is also proposed.

The paper draws on the consultancy and research experience of the author. The generated model is conceptual in essence and needs to be tested. Further research on the history of performance management as a discipline and the integration approach between organisational levels is needed.

The paper makes suggestions for improving performance management governance – the introduction of the Performance Management Office. It also suggests a higher emphasis on learning and integration during the implementation and usage of performance management systems.

By outlining the importance of systems thinking in managing organisational performance, this paper highlights the need for encouraging its applicability and implementation through systemic thinking. A higher emphasis on including elements of systems thinking in educational curricula may be a possible step forward.

The paper is relevant to both practitioners and academics, as it clarifies the existing body of knowledge and provides a platform for future research

Management practices and competition levels have been shown as important factors affecting the performance of enterprises that do not include banks. The paper, thus, aims to measure management practices and to study the effect of management quality and competition level on the performances of the first-level branch of commercial banks in the context of the Viet Nam banking system.

The study employed the approach of Bloom and Van Reneen (2007) to quantify management practices of the commercial banks. The level of competition was measured by the number of competitors suggested by Nickell (1996) and the index suggested by Boone (2008). Finally, the effects of management practices and competition level on the bank performances were jointly estimated through a Cobb–Douglas production function, similar to the one used by Bloom et al. (2014).

The results show that the management practices score is, on average, above the average. While the management practices are found to positively correlate with profits, the competition level is found to significantly reduce bank profits.

Cross-sectional data limit the findings of the paper to a point of time. In the future, studies with panel data are desirable.

The findings of the study help bank managers to make more informed decisions about management practices. Any policy promoting new entrants to the banking market should be carefully considered.

The paper is the first to measure the management practices of commercial banks and to explore the impacts of management quality and competition level on bank performances.

The purpose of this paper is to delineate a clear definition of health tourism, and to explain it in two sub-categories, namely, medical tourism, and wellness tourism.

Grounded theory approach through an in-depth literature review and practical data from three different cities were researched to support the study.

Determinants of travelers’ decision making for the destination of health tourism, such as distance, cost, language, economy, competency of medical technology, and culture, in each classification of health tourism, were identified.

This study suggests an inductive research model to synthesize and structure a logical relationship of determinants that affect health tourists’ decision to visit specific health tourism destinations. The results of this study are quite revealing to governments, industrial practitioners, and potential customers of health tourism in terms of the context of health tourism and the behavior of health tourists.

The Voice of the Clinician project commenced during an era when practitioner burnout, dissatisfaction, and turnover became an increasingly global health workforce concern. One key problem is clinical staff not being empowered to voice their concerns to decision-makers, as was found in this case study of an Australian public health organization. The following research question informed the present study: What is a better committee system for clinician engagement in decision-making processes? The paper aims to discuss this issue.

The Mid North Coast Local Health District in New South Wales aspired to improve engagement between frontline clinicians and decision-makers. Social network analysis methods and mathematical modeling were used in the discovery of how committees are connected to each other and subsequently to other committee members.

This effort uncovered a hidden organizational architecture of 323 committees of 926 members which overall cost 84,729 person hours and AUD$2.923 million per annum. Furthermore, frontline clinicians were located far from centers of influence, just 37 percent of committees had terms of reference, and clinicians reported that meeting agendas were not being met.

In response to the findings, a technological platform was created so that the board of directors could visually see all the committees and the connections between them, thus creating ways to further improve communication, transparency of process, and – ultimately – clinician engagement.

The breakthrough idea is that all organizational meetings can be seen as a system of engagement and should be analyzed to determine and describe the points and pathways where clinician voice is blocked.

Lean Six Sigma (LSS) is a widely accepted business improvement methodology in healthcare, which aims to improve operations and quality and reduce cost, medical errors and waiting time by combing the principles of lean thinking with Six Sigma methodologies. To implement LSS successfully in healthcare organizations it is necessary to know the readiness level before starting the change process. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to assess the readiness level for the implementation of LSS in healthcare using a fuzzy logic approach.

The current study uses a fuzzy logic approach to develop an assessment model for readiness to implement LSS. The conceptual model for readiness is developed with 5 enablers, 16 criteria and 48 attributes identified from the literature review. The current study does the study in a medium-size hospital from India.

The fuzzy readiness for implementation of LSS index (FRLSSI) and fuzzy performance importance index (FPII) are calculated to identify the readiness level for the implementation of LSS in the case hospital. The FRLSSI is computed as average ready with (3.30, 5.06 and 6.83) and the FPII computed helps to identify 15 weaker attributes from 48 attributes.

The current study uses only one hospital for study. In the future, the model can be tested in many hospitals.

The current study would be used by the managers of a healthcare organization to identify the readiness level of their organization to implement LSS. The proposed model is based on the identification of enablers, criteria and attributes to assess the readiness level of a healthcare organization and it helps to improve the readiness level to implement LSS effectively.

The present study contributes to the knowledge of readiness for the implementation of LSS in a healthcare organization. The conceptual model is developed for assessing the readiness level of a healthcare organization and it helps to improve the readiness level for successful implementation of LSS. Weaker attributes are identified and necessary corrective actions should be taken by the management to improve the readiness. The continuation of the assessment readiness model over a period of time would help to improve the readiness level of healthcare for the implementation of LSS.

The purpose of this study is to shed new light on empirical and conceptual aspects related to chefs’ careers and the hospitality sector. The study examines how the future of the chef’s profession is perceived, how future generations of chefs could be developed and the main emerging trends within the chef’s scene.

Semi-structured, face-to-face, online and telephone interviews were conducted with 34 chefs operating in Australia and 35 in Vietnam.

The findings reveal ten dimensions that strongly adhere to knowledge management (KM) and the notions of the knowledge-based view of the firm. In addition, numerous differences in how the two groups perceived aspects of their careers transpire. Based on these findings, a conceptual framework was developed, with important theoretical and practical implications.

The importance of KM through talent development, mentoring, creating a learning environment and enhancing problem-solving skills is highlighted.

While scholarly works emphasise chefs’ value, importance and contributions, little is known about the links between their careers and KM. Furthermore, almost no study has compared chefs across geographic/cultural domains. The study addresses these research gaps and contributes to the conceptual understanding of KM within the chefs’ domain.

The purpose of this paper is to review the evidence about the factors shaping the police workforce, commissioned by the Scottish Police Authority and Scottish Institute for Policing Research.

The paper uses the theory of strategic fit to assess the available evidence relating to reshaping the police workforce and brings together the most relevant recent reviews of police organisations and empirical studies on these issues. The use of the theory enabled the strategies that have been adopted by police agencies in recent years to be evaluated in relation to the current political and economic environment.

The authors find that here is considerable uncertainty and while there has been previous discussion on the benefits of larger or smaller forces there is not robust evidence that a particular force size is optimal for either efficacy or efficiency, although very small forces may struggle in some ways. There is also mixed evidence about whether increasing police organisation resourcing to allow more officers to be employed reduces crime levels, and there is a relative lack of evidence about the impact this has on the other areas of community life in which police are involved.

There are major weaknesses in research relating to police organisational reform: there is no accepted theory of police reform, no accepted method as to how such a reform should be evaluated nor have there been any comparative studies of earlier police civilianisation programs (Braithwaite, Westbrook and Ledema, 2005).

Previous work on this topic often focuses on which organisational structure – whether in terms of workforce mix or size – is most efficient or effective. This research takes an alternative perspective and argues for a shift in the research agenda to take account of the friction involved in processes of organisational change, both in order to build a stronger research understanding of these important aspects of change and to more effectively inform policy. The paper provides a basis for the development of theories for understanding police reform in general – and workforce restructuring in particular – alongside appropriate methods for researching it.