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The information used in the case study was obtained from secondary sources, such as internal documents, reports, news, and organization websites. Three of the four authors played a hands-on role in the case.

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the global challenge of hiring and retaining health-care workers. To address its own challenges, Mayo Clinic decided to fundamentally transform its 30-year-old tuition assistance program: from a model centered on the premise that tuition assistance was an employee benefit for professional development purposes, to one that was more driven to meet the business needs of the employer by preparing internal talent for important roles throughout the institution. Herein, this case study first describes how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted health-care organizations like Mayo Clinic. Next, this study provides details on the original employee tuition assistance program, and then, focuses on the reasons for its need to be changed. Afterward, this study introduces the new tuition assistance programs. Finally, this study follows with examples of how both Mayo Clinic and its employees navigated through initial challenges, such as resistance to change and lack of engagement. In sum, this case study provides critical insight into designing workforce education programs that provide professional development for meeting the workforce needs of the organization.

This case can be used as teaching material in relevant undergraduate- and MBA-level courses, such as human resource management, human resource development and compensation and benefits. This case allows students to critically analyze workforce education programs (e.g. tuition assistance programs) and to plan how to strategically align those with the workforce needs of the organization.

This study is a radical interactionist analysis of family conflict. Drawing on both a negotiated order perspective and Athen's theory of complex dominative encounters, this study analyzes the role that domination plays in conflicts among intimates. As the family engages in repeated conflicts over roles, the family also engages in negotiations over the family order, what role each party should play, interpretations of past events, and plans for the future. These conflicts take place against a backdrop of patriarchy that asymmetrically distributes power in the family to determine the family order. The data from this study come from a content analysis of mothers with substance use problems as depicted in the reality television show Intervention. The conflicts in these families reveal that these families develop a grinding family order in which families engaged in repeated conflict but also continued to operate as and identify as a family. These conflicts are shaped by and reinforce patriarchal expectations that mothers are central to family operation. The intervention at the end of each episode offered an opportunity for the family to engage in a concerted campaign to try to force the mother into treatment and reestablish the family order.

Policing requires atypical work hours. The present study examined associations between shiftwork and pregnancy loss among female police officers.

Participants were 91 female officers with a prior history of at least one pregnancy. Shiftwork information was assessed using daily electronic payroll work records. Any prior pregnancy loss (due to miscarriage) was self-reported. Logistic regression estimated odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for main associations.

On average, the officers were 42 years old, had 14 years of service, and 56% reported a prior pregnancy loss. Officers who worked dominantly on the afternoon or night shift during their career had 96% greater odds of pregnancy loss compared to those on day shift (OR = 1.96, 95% CI:0.71–5.42), but the result was not statistically significant. A 25% increase in percent of hours worked on night shift was associated with 87% increased odds of pregnancy loss (OR = 1.87, 95% CI:1.01–3.47). Associations were adjusted for demographic and lifestyle factors. Objective assessment of shiftwork via electronic records strengthened the study. Limitations include small sample size, cross-sectional design and lack of details on pregnancy loss or the timing of pregnancy loss with regard to shiftwork.

The present study is preliminary and cross-sectional.

With considerable further inquiry and findings into this topic, results may have an impact on police policy affecting shift work and pregnant police officers.

Implication on the health and welfare of police officers.

To our knowledge, there are no empirical studies which associate shiftwork and pregnancy loss among police officers. This preliminary study suggested an association between shiftwork and increased odds of pregnancy loss and points out the need for further study.

In October 2016, Timothy Sloan, the newly appointed CEO of American banking giant Wells Fargo, faced a massive public-relations crisis. A few weeks earlier, a United States government agency had announced the results of its regulatory review of the bank and exposed a shocking practice common in the retail division, in which aggressive community bankers had created more than a million fraudulent accounts and credit card applications on behalf of unaware customers for the past several years. Over the next few weeks, the bank—and Sloan's predecessor, John Stumpf, in particular—suffered from harsh criticism from politicians, journalists, and former employees alike, ultimately forcing Stumpf's resignation. As Sloan sought to minimize the public-image backlash and restore general trust in Wells Fargo, he struggled to construct the best communication strategy for the bank's next chapter.

High levels of interior water vapour lead to condensation and black mould that in turn represent significant risks to residential properties and their occupants. Beliefs about window opening are good predictors of the degree to which householders will actually open windows to purge their homes of water vapour, including water vapour that they themselves generate. The present study tested if a short information-giving intervention could enhance householders’ beliefs that foster window opening as purge ventilation and, in turn, lead to greater window opening.

Data were collected from 242 UK householders with robust psychometrically sound measures embedded in an online self-report survey that also presented the intervention information.

The intervention led participants, and males in particular, to have significantly greater concerns about condensation and mould and significantly less concerns about heat loss costs arising from opening windows, and these altered beliefs in turn predicted a greater intention to open windows in the future.

By sharing simple information, surveyors and other building professionals can help householders take the simple step of opening their windows and so reduce the threats that condensation and mould present to themselves and their homes.

This is the first study to test (1) a time-based model that predicted the intervention would have a positive effect on specific window opening attitudes and that those new attitudes would in turn affect window opening intentions, and (2) if the intervention had different effects on men and women.

In this paper, the philosophy of John Rawls, known as “Justice as Fairness,” is discussed. This philosophy examines the responsibilities social actors hold toward their societal organizations. From an Islamic perspective, justice is pivotal in safeguarding collective interests, aligning with Rawls' conviction that just societies nurture happiness and foster well-being across various life aspects. To achieve customer welfare, our viewpoint underscores the importance of justice in reflecting on consumer well-being from both Rawls’ theory and Islamic perspectives.

We adopt a conceptual approach where secular views of Rawls’ “Theory of Justice” are merged with the Islamic view, resulting in novel insights regarding the hermeneutics involved in the notion of justice and the preservation of consumer well-being.

Our analysis reveals that John Rawls' “A Theory of Justice” aligns with the Islamic perspective in several respects yet diverges in others, notably in the concepts of pre-creation consciousness and divine guidance. These distinctions are emphasized in our paper.

Our paper presents a perspective on justice founded on the concepts of the “Original Position” and the “Veil of Ignorance.” The commentary explores consumer well-being by integrating Rawls' principles with an analysis that elucidates the role justice plays in enhancing societal welfare.

This paper will discuss one university’s efforts to initiate a process to better support PK-12 continuous school improvement goals for all 13 schools in their PDS network as a way to broaden the university’s mission and respond more formally to the individual school communities with which they partner.

The paper is conceptual in that it presents an innovative idea to stimulate discussion, generate new ideas and advance thinking about cross-institutional collaboration between universities and professional development schools.

The paper provides insights and ideas for bringing about change and growth in a seasoned PDS partnership network by connecting PK-12 continuous school improvement efforts to PDS partnership work.

This paper fulfills an identified need to study how seasoned partnerships can participate in simultaneous renewal by offering ideas that school–university partnership leaders can build upon as they make efforts to participate in the process of growth and change.

Output from the Irish Dairy Industry has grown rapidly since the abolition of quotas in 2015, with processors investing heavily in capacity expansion to deal with the extra milk volumes. Further capacity gains may be achieved by extending the processing season into the winter, a key enabler for which being the reduction of duration of the winter maintenance overhaul period. This paper aims to investigate if Lean Six Sigma tools and techniques can be used to enhance operational maintenance performance, thereby releasing additional processing capacity.

Combining the Six-Sigma Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, Control (DMAIC) methodology and the structured approach of Turnaround Maintenance (TAM) widely used in process industries creates a novel hybrid model that promises substantial improvement in maintenance overhaul execution. This paper presents a case study applying the DMAIC/TAM model to Ireland’s largest dairy processing site to optimise the annual maintenance shutdown. The objective was to deliver a 30% reduction in the duration of the overhaul, enabling an extension of the processing season.

Application of the DMAIC/TAM hybrid resulted in process enhancements, employee engagement and a clear roadmap for the operations team. Project goals were delivered, and original objectives exceeded, resulting in €8.9m additional value to the business and a reduction of 36% in the duration of the overhaul.

The results demonstrate that the model provides a structure that promotes systematic working and a continuous improvement focus that can have substantial benefits for wider industry. Opportunities for further model refinement were identified and will enhance performance in subsequent overhauls.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time that the structure and tools of DMAIC and TAM have been combined into a hybrid methodology and applied in an Irish industrial setting.