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21 – 30 of 519John E. Berg and Jorid Grimeland
Hospitals are labor intensive facilities based on highly skilled employees. A merger of hospitals is an effort to increase and rationalize this production. Decisions behind a…
Abstract
Hospitals are labor intensive facilities based on highly skilled employees. A merger of hospitals is an effort to increase and rationalize this production. Decisions behind a merger are made at the top leadership level. How this might be done is demonstrated by examples from a 36 bed acute psychiatric facility. The aim of the study was to calculate the hidden costs of fragmented destruction of parts of a total hospital supply to patients after a merger. Fragmented destruction is the deliberate stopping of activities deemed not part of the core activities of the hospital without due consideration of the impact on core activities. The proposed changes to operational expenses at a single acute psychiatric hospital were materials for the study. The changes included activities as a reduction in local laboratory service, cleaning services, closure of physiotherapy unit, closing of cultural activities and reduced productivity. The selected activities are calculated as giving an imputed gain of € 630,000 as indicated by the leadership. The not calculated costs of reducing or removing the selected activities are estimated at € 1,955,640. The cost of staff disappointment after a merger is difficult to assess, but is probably higher than assumed in the present calculations.
Imputed cost containment is not attained. The calculations indicate that implemented changes may increase cost, contrary to the belief of the leadership at both the hospital level and further up in the hospital trust.
Arguments in favor of a merger have to be scrutinized thoroughly for optimistic neglect of uncalculated costs of mergers. Future hospital mergers and selected fragmentation of productive tasks at ward or hospital levels should include calculations of unavoidable costs as shown in the present paper.
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Edoardo Crocco, Elisa Giacosa, Dorra Yahiaoui and Francesca Culasso
Crowdfunding platforms are important innovations that allow nascent entrepreneurs to gain access to financial resources and crowd inputs to better refine and develop their…
Abstract
Purpose
Crowdfunding platforms are important innovations that allow nascent entrepreneurs to gain access to financial resources and crowd inputs to better refine and develop their business idea. The purpose of this paper is to investigate user-generated content (UGC) from both reward-based and equity-based crowdfunding platforms, in order to determine its implications for open and user innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
A total sample of 200 most funded technology products was extracted from four distinct crowdfunding platforms. A latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) analysis was performed in an attempt to identify critical latent factors. The analysis was carried out through the theoretical lens of innovation literature, in an attempt to uncover the implications for open and user innovation.
Findings
The authors were able to highlight the implications of crowd inputs for open and user innovation, as backers provided nascent entrepreneurs with several types of feedback, ranging from product co-development to strategy and marketing. Furthermore, the study provided an overview of the key differences emerging between reward-based and equity-based crowdfunding platforms in terms of crowd inputs.
Research limitations/implications
The present study features intrinsic limitations of the LDA approach being adopted. More specifically, it only provides a “snapshot” in time of the current sample, rather than investigating its development over time.
Practical implications
The present study solidifies the value of UGC as a resource to mine for trends and feedback.
Originality/value
The study contributes to both the innovation literature and the crowdfunding literature. It bridges several gaps found in both literature streams, by providing empirical evidence to test and verify pre-existing exploratory research.
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Daniel Jurg, Dieuwertje Luitse, Saskia Pouwels, Marc Tuters and Ivan Kisjes
The authors examine authenticity in relation to Alternative Political Commentators (APCs) on YouTube and Twitch. Drawing on Owens (2019) provocative claim that contemporary…
Abstract
The authors examine authenticity in relation to Alternative Political Commentators (APCs) on YouTube and Twitch. Drawing on Owens (2019) provocative claim that contemporary (online) culture may be ‘post-authentic’, the authors use the term post-authentic engagement to explore in/out-group dynamics between influencers and their audiences. This view is evidenced through an examination of the usage of emojis and emotes by audiences to engage in the fast-paced chats that accompanied the livestream coverage of two APCs, HasanAbi and The Young Turks, during the 2020 US Presidential Election.
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The first Wisconsin Ph.D.s who came to MSU with an institutional bent were agricultural economists and included Henry Larzalere (Ph.D. 1938) whose major professor was Asher…
Abstract
The first Wisconsin Ph.D.s who came to MSU with an institutional bent were agricultural economists and included Henry Larzalere (Ph.D. 1938) whose major professor was Asher Hobson. Larzalere recalls the influence of Commons who retired in 1933. Upon graduation, Larzalere worked a short time for Wisconsin Governor Phillip Fox LaFollette who won passage of the nation’s first unemployment compensation act. Commons had earlier helped LaFollette’s father, Robert, to a number of institutional innovations.4 Larzalere continued the Commons’ tradition of contributing to the development of new institutions rather than being content to provide an efficiency apologia for existing private governance structures. He helped Michigan farmers form cooperatives. He taught land economics prior to Barlowe’s arrival in 1948, but primarily taught agricultural marketing. One of his Master’s degree students was Glenn Johnson (see below). Larzalere retired in 1977.
The Braintrust 2003 Conference gave ground to the sense that the knowledge movement is struggling to gain new levels of maturity. Sessions explored the business implications of…
Abstract
The Braintrust 2003 Conference gave ground to the sense that the knowledge movement is struggling to gain new levels of maturity. Sessions explored the business implications of knowledge, focusing on the use of knowledge in workflow, in mergers and acquisitions, and in recognizing the need to go to the periphery to grasp trends and emerging ideas. It is significant that knowledge management, change management and business management began to be woven together in these presentations. The presentations at Braintrust delineated that the challenge to KM practitioners is first, to be better and more related to business needs while second, staying continually sensitive to changes that may potentially sweep their organizations, leading to fundamental shifts in how the organization and its supporting knowledge effort need to relate to the world.
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Janek Richter, Dirk Basten, Bjoern Michalik, Christoph Rosenkranz and Stefan Smolnik
Based on an exploratory case-based approach, the purpose of this paper is to open the KM black box and examine the relationships that link knowledge management (KM) inputs (i.e…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on an exploratory case-based approach, the purpose of this paper is to open the KM black box and examine the relationships that link knowledge management (KM) inputs (i.e. knowledge resources and KM practices) via knowledge processes to KM performance. This paper aims to identify the underlying mechanisms and explain how KM performance is enabled.
Design/methodology/approach
This in-depth case study conducted at a medium-sized consultancy in the supply chain management industry empirically examines knowledge flows to uncover the relationships between KM inputs, knowledge processes and KM performance. We adopt the viable system model (VSM) as a theoretical lens to identify KM mechanisms.
Findings
By identifying six KM mechanisms, we contribute to the theoretical understanding of how KM inputs are interconnected and lead to KM performance via knowledge processes.
Originality/value
Based on the insights gained, we provide propositions that organizations should consider in designing viable KM. Our findings help organizations in understanding their KM with the help of knowledge flow analysis and identifying how critical KM elements are interconnected.
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The purpose of this paper is to reemphasize the essence of upgrading students' learning mentality in higher education as much as possible, in order to enable excellence in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to reemphasize the essence of upgrading students' learning mentality in higher education as much as possible, in order to enable excellence in workplace performance later.
Design/methodology/approach
The subject scope of this paper is: learning as a vehicle toward excellence. Methods used in the paper are: literature review and student performance evaluations. Its approach to the topic is: a review of the basic component for excellence in learning; connecting learning mentalities with workplace behaviors; evaluation of behaviors of great learners and leaders; and presents a model.
Findings
The paper finds that learning and leadership have a mutuality effect on one another. Behaviors in attitudes toward learning are important indicators of behaviors in workplace performance.
Research limitations/implications
Although concisely reviewed, this paper does not specifically focus on unfortunate learning outcomes for students, resulting from poor teaching methods, learning disabilities, cultural and environmental drawbacks, or other circumstantial imbalances. The main focus of this paper is rather on attitudes toward learning, which oftentimes convert into workplace behaviors.
Practical implications
For students the practical implications of this paper are: examining their learning behavior and adopt a more constructive one where possible and necessary. For course facilitators and academic advisors they are: scrutinizing problem students' performance more intensely, confronting these students with the need to adjust, and, where possible, providing them the support mechanisms to do so. For members of the corporate world they are: if still obtaining education or on‐the‐job training – examining their learning behaviors, and thus their chances on future success; and if in managerial positions: learning to recognize certain traits early on in job applicants.
Originality/value
New in this paper is: the clear link between learning and leading; five behaviors of great learners and leaders; and a model that displays the effects of attitudes toward learning.
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José Ramón Cardona and María Dolores Sánchez-Fernández
The seasonality in the behavior of travelers is something that goes back to the origin of the trips themselves. This seasonality is due to multiple factors, some easy to…
Abstract
The seasonality in the behavior of travelers is something that goes back to the origin of the trips themselves. This seasonality is due to multiple factors, some easy to counteract and others difficult to solve. But, regardless of the causes, it is a phenomenon that generates significant negative impacts on society and the environment in which the phenomenon of tourist seasonality occurs. All tourist destinations have seasonality, but in some cases, it is very high and in others it has a minimal incidence. The objective of this chapter is to ponder the impacts and consequences of seasonality in regions with a strong tourism development, allowing to put into context the aspects of society impacted by this phenomenon and the positive implications that the reduction of seasonality would have. For this, an analysis of a theoretical model with two regions in opposite situations is carried out, raising the possible effects of a high seasonality. The cases of the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands are also reviewed, as real examples of the regional typologies taken into consideration in the theoretical model. This seeks to ponder the problems attributable to seasonality. As a final reflection, the enormous typology of negative impacts generated and the need to continue analyzing the seasonality and its impacts are emphasized.
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Rebecca Cahill and Judith Pettigrew
In the early to mid-twentieth century, psychiatrist-led occupational therapy departments emerged in Irish psychiatric hospitals. This marked a transition towards establishing…
Abstract
Purpose
In the early to mid-twentieth century, psychiatrist-led occupational therapy departments emerged in Irish psychiatric hospitals. This marked a transition towards establishing rehabilitative services in institutional settings. This paper aims to examine the development of occupational therapy in Grangegorman Mental Hospital and its auxiliary hospital, Portrane Mental Hospital from 1934-1954.
Design/methodology/approach
Historical documentary research methods were used to analyse primary source data from Grangegorman Committee Minutes, Inspector of Mental Hospital Reports, Boroughs of Mental Hospitals, Department of Foreign Affairs documents and newspaper archives. The archival data was analysed using both a chronological and thematic approach.
Findings
The main key event emerged in 1935 when four Grangegorman nursing staff were sent to Cardiff Mental Hospital to undergo a six month training course in occupational therapy. The following themes emerged – “establishing occupational therapy in Grangegorman and Portrane”; “the role of short-course trained nursing staff in providing occupational therapy services” and “therapeutic rationales vs hospital management rationales”.
Originality/value
This study throws light on the early practitioners of occupational therapy in Grangegorman and highlights the complexities of occupational therapy’s role origins in mid-twentieth century Ireland. In line with contemporaneous psychiatric hospitals, the occupational therapy activities promoted in Grangegorman were mainly handicraft or productivity based. The absence of patients’ voices means there are limitations to determining the therapeutic nature of this early occupational therapy service.
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