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Article
Publication date: 19 October 2012

Helen Sinclair, Emma E.H. Doyle, David M. Johnston and Douglas Paton

The purpose of this paper is to contribute information and recommendations that could better equip emergency managers to prepare for and respond to emergencies and disasters, with…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to contribute information and recommendations that could better equip emergency managers to prepare for and respond to emergencies and disasters, with a focus on improving their decision‐making capabilities during response.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire‐based survey approach was used in this research and 48 different local government organisations participated. These results were examined in conjunction with contemporary emergency management decision‐making literature. A combination of closed and open ended questions was used, enabling qualitative and quantitative analysis.

Findings

Results suggest that while there is information available about decision making, not all emergency managers are aware of the existence of this information or understand its relevance to emergency management. It is likely that those who did have a comprehensive understanding of decision making had gained this knowledge through non‐emergency management‐related courses. In total, 71 percent of participants said they would be interested in receiving more support regarding training and practice for decision making in Emergency Operations Centres.

Originality/value

A wide body of research has investigated decision‐making styles. However, this paper shows that in the local government emergency management sector there is little awareness of the understanding of the different decision‐making approaches. In addition, for those organisations surveyed, there is a great desire for further training and practice in decision making. It is thus vital that this need is addressed, to further improve the future response of these organisations to emergencies.

Details

International Journal of Emergency Services, vol. 1 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2047-0894

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 August 2012

Helen Sinclair, Emma E. Doyle, David M. Johnston and Douglas Paton

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how training or exercises are assessed in local government emergency management organisations.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how training or exercises are assessed in local government emergency management organisations.

Design/methodology/approach

An investigative review of the resources available to emergency managers across North America and within New Zealand, for the evaluation and monitoring of emergency management training and exercises was conducted. This was then compared with results from a questionnaire based survey of 48 local government organisations in Canada, USA, and New Zealand. A combination of closed and open ended questions was used, enabling qualitative and quantitative analysis.

Findings

Each organisation's training program, and their assessment of this training is unique. The monitoring and evaluation aspect of training has been overlooked in some organisations. In addition, those that are using assessment methods are operating in blind faith that these methods are giving an accurate assessment of their training. This study demonstrates that it is largely unknown how effective the training efforts of local government organisations are.

Research limitations/implications

Further study inspired by this paper will provide a clearer picture of the evaluation of and monitoring of emergency management training programs. These results highlight that organisations need to move away from an ad hoc approach to training design and evaluation, towards a more sophisticated and evidence‐based approach to training needs analysis, design, and evaluation if they are to maximise the benefits of this training.

Originality/value

This study is the first investigation to the authors’ knowledge into the current use of diverse emergency management training for a range of local government emergency offices, and how this training impacts the functioning of the organisation's emergency operations centre during a crisis.

Details

Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, vol. 21 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-3562

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 August 2020

Mario Giraldo, Luis Garcia-Tello and Steven William Rayburn

This study aims to explore the lived experience of vendors as they enact street vending practice that emerges as transformative entrepreneurship and service where they live and…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore the lived experience of vendors as they enact street vending practice that emerges as transformative entrepreneurship and service where they live and work.

Design/methodology/approach

This research qualitatively explores street vending in a multi-cultural, multi-local study to understand how these businesses operate to positively impact individual, collective and societal well-being.

Findings

This research reveals street vending is a creative, transformative entrepreneurial activity that improves individual and collective well-being. The research exposes multiple forms of habitual and transformative value delivered by vendors, resulting in improved eudaimonic and hedonic well-being that ripples out from vendors to families, communities and society.

Research limitations/implications

A framework of street vending practice is provided to guide service designers and policymakers as they seek to support street vendors as they move from informal to formal and from survival to growth business modes.

Originality/value

This research extends existing conceptualizations of transformative entrepreneurship beyond prior focus on economic transformation and prior limitations of transformative entrepreneurship to business in growth modes.

Article
Publication date: 1 February 2001

Peter Smee, Sue North and Helen Jones

The “information triangle” identifies the key personnel within information management. By respecting the skills and abilities of the different roles, and building relationships…

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Abstract

The “information triangle” identifies the key personnel within information management. By respecting the skills and abilities of the different roles, and building relationships through understanding, there are greater chances for maximising the effective management and use of information within the organisation.

Details

New Library World, vol. 102 no. 1/2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4803

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 9 November 2020

Helen Rottier and Morton Ann Gernsbacher

Purpose: Due to the developmental nature of autism, which is often diagnosed in preschool or elementary school-aged children, non-autistic parents of autistic children typically…

Abstract

Purpose: Due to the developmental nature of autism, which is often diagnosed in preschool or elementary school-aged children, non-autistic parents of autistic children typically play a prominent role in autism advocacy. However, as autistic children become adults and adult diagnoses of autism continue to rise, autistic adults have played a more prominent role in advocacy. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the histories of adult and non-autistic parent advocacy in the United States and to examine the points of divergence and convergence.

Approach: Because of their different perspectives and experiences, advocacy by autistic adults and non-autistic parents can have distinctive goals and conflicting priorities. Therefore, the approach we take in the current chapter is a collaboration between an autistic adult and a non-autistic parent, both of whom are research scholars.

Findings: The authors explore the divergence of goals and discourse between autistic self-advocates and non-autistic parent advocates and offer three principles for building future alliances to bridge the divide between autistic adults and non-autistic parents.

Implications: The chapter ends with optimism that US national priorities can bridge previous gulfs, creating space for autistic adult and non-autistic parent advocates to work together in establishing policies and practices that improve life for autistic people and their families and communities.

Details

Disability Alliances and Allies
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83909-322-7

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 June 2000

David McNally and Louise Hardwick

This article describes efforts to develop a joint health and social services strategy for rehabilitation in one local authority area in response to national policy. It notes the…

Abstract

This article describes efforts to develop a joint health and social services strategy for rehabilitation in one local authority area in response to national policy. It notes the effects of competing policy initiatives, of the shift in hospital provision to providing only acute care, and of failure to agree joint responsibility for the future development of such services.

Details

Journal of Integrated Care, vol. 8 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1476-9018

Book part
Publication date: 1 January 2012

Tanya Fitzgerald

In 1931, Virginia Woolf was invited to address members of the London and National Society for Women's Service about the employment of women. As a well-known literary figure as…

Abstract

In 1931, Virginia Woolf was invited to address members of the London and National Society for Women's Service about the employment of women. As a well-known literary figure as well as a woman intellectual, Woolf mused on her own biography and the risks she had to take to establish her own career. She used the metaphor of a room of one's own to underscore the challenges women faced to have a degree of freedom to shape their professional lives:You have won rooms of your own in the house hitherto exclusively owned by men, You are able, though not without great labour and effort to pay the rent … But this freedom is only a beginning; the room is your own, but it is still bare. (Woolf, 1974, chapter 27)

Details

Hard Labour? Academic Work and the Changing Landscape of Higher Education
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78052-501-3

Article
Publication date: 1 April 1949

It has often been said that a great part of the strength of Aslib lies in the fact that it brings together those whose experience has been gained in many widely differing fields…

Abstract

It has often been said that a great part of the strength of Aslib lies in the fact that it brings together those whose experience has been gained in many widely differing fields but who have a common interest in the means by which information may be collected and disseminated to the greatest advantage. Lists of its members have, therefore, a more than ordinary value since they present, in miniature, a cross‐section of institutions and individuals who share this special interest.

Details

Aslib Proceedings, vol. 1 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0001-253X

Article
Publication date: 18 November 2013

Basil Tucker and Helen Thorne

This paper aims to provide insights into how organizational performance in a prior period may influence the nature of control subsequently used by senior not-for-profit (NFP…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to provide insights into how organizational performance in a prior period may influence the nature of control subsequently used by senior not-for-profit (NFP) managers.

Design/methodology/approach

This investigation is based on data collected from semi-structured interviews of CEOs and senior executives in 32 Australian NFPs.

Findings

Although performance has a considerable influence on the subsequent use of control, the findings point to a broad conceptualisation of performance as it is perceived to apply within a NFP context. Moreover, the roles of formal management control systems and informal control are quite distinct, with the latter predominating in responding to prior performance.

Originality/value

Despite recognition in the management accounting literature of the likely influence of organizational performance in previous periods on control, empirical studies investigating organizational performance as an antecedent to the use of control have been surprisingly limited. The current study directly responds to this gap in our knowledge, and also, to prior calls for the need for more management control research into the NFP sector. This contribution is important in view of the considerable economic and social impact of this sector in most Western economies, coupled with the increasing recognition of the importance of both performance and control within this sector.

Details

Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, vol. 10 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1176-6093

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 June 2014

Jonathan Scrutton, David Sinclair and Trinley Walker

– The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how access to vaccination for older people in the UK can be both improved and used as a tool for healthy ageing.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how access to vaccination for older people in the UK can be both improved and used as a tool for healthy ageing.

Design/methodology/approach

ILC-UK released a report “Adult Immunisation in the UK”, which applied a UK perspective to a 2013 Supporting Active Ageing Through Immunisation (SAATI) report on immunisation. The ILC report combined the SAATI findings with a traditional literature review, a policy review incorporating grey literature and the outcomes of a focus group discussion. This paper highlights the key findings of the ILC-UK report.

Findings

Vaccination needs to be included as part of proactive strategies to promote healthy and active ageing. Initiatives need to be explored that increase the rate of delivery of vaccinations. Barriers to the vaccination of health and social care professionals working with older people need to be removed. The government should explore using psychological insights into human behaviour to improve the take-up of vaccinations amongst adults. The range of settings where older people can receive vaccination needs to be expanded. Information on the potential benefits of immunisation should be made readily available and easily accessible to older people.

Practical implications

The paper calls for a structural shift in how vaccination services in the UK are organised.

Social implications

The paper calls for a cultural shift in how society views immunisation and the role it has to play in the healthy ageing process.

Originality/value

The paper uses new European research on immunisation and applies it to the UK's situation.

Details

Working with Older People, vol. 18 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1366-3666

Keywords

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