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Article
Publication date: 27 July 2021

Steven Liaros

The purpose is to open the possibility for a research institute, perhaps in partnership with a local council and a major developer, to bring together skills necessary to prototype…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose is to open the possibility for a research institute, perhaps in partnership with a local council and a major developer, to bring together skills necessary to prototype the CEV development model.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper advances the development of a hypothetical, systems-based approach to the design and development of smart rural villages – a network of circular economy villages (CEVs). The method is to assimilate visionary ideas from 20th century town planning literature related to decentralisation and the development of new towns in rural areas, identifying key design principles. The present trajectory of infrastructure design and emerging development models are then analysed to modernise the design principles for implementation in the 21st century.

Findings

The availability of localised, renewable energy micro-grids potentially makes CEVs feasible and affordable. The shift to remote work and movement of people to regional areas suggests that this may be a desirable development form. This can only be confirmed through the development of a pilot project as proof of concept.

Originality/value

The proposed CEV development model applies circular economy strategies to every aspect of the smart rural village development including financing, ownership, spatial planning, design and material selection.

Details

Built Environment Project and Asset Management, vol. 12 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2044-124X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 July 2009

John Mumford and David Gray

The introduction of new technology presents many challenges for risk communication. The technology often involves potential hazards and unintended consequences, hence the public…

Abstract

Purpose

The introduction of new technology presents many challenges for risk communication. The technology often involves potential hazards and unintended consequences, hence the public must be engaged and consulted. However, this engagement can generate unfounded concerns and unnecessary distress. This paper aims to address how one can achieve the right level of engagement and communicate effectively.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on a specific case study, the introduction of hydrogen refuelling in London, and ethnographically observes the social construction of reality that occurs through the interactions in the case.

Findings

The paper notes the forms of communication which were constructive, and those that were not and observes how institutional “body‐language” plays a large part in the way interactions are perceived. Symbolic association with wider social concerns appear to distinguish whether people take a strong position, or just let matters take their course.

Research limitations/implications

The papers suggests a refinement of the Social Amplication of Risk Framework.

Practical implications

The analysis suggests how this aspect of community relations can be managed and proposes a communication strategy which focusses on developing a sense of trust and social cohesion. It offers insights into why the public worry about some risks and ignore others.

Originality/value

The research was conducted by participant observation over a period of two years and thus the paper provides a first‐hand insight into how events occurred.

Details

Journal of Communication Management, vol. 13 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-254X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 December 1994

John Mumford

Argues that school boards were introduced and retained during the 19foundational years of state education in New South Wales, not as tokenpartners or mere money‐raisers, but as…

194

Abstract

Argues that school boards were introduced and retained during the 19 foundational years of state education in New South Wales, not as token partners or mere money‐raisers, but as integral parts of the school system. Presents illustrations of the length to which the Board of National Education went to sustain local authority in support of the claim that the Board upheld liberal principles by taking seriously the role of school boards. Shows the successes of local participation in frontier conditions to have been sufficient to justify the Board′s encouragement of local control. Concludes that there was a complexity of interrelations inherent in the maintenance of local authority and that, contrary to what most historians have supposed hitherto, the policy pursued was not one of unalloyed centralism.

Details

Journal of Educational Administration, vol. 32 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0957-8234

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 September 2010

Simon Roodhouse and John Mumford

This paper aims to bring together three years of surveying large business employer attitudes to higher‐level training and development.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to bring together three years of surveying large business employer attitudes to higher‐level training and development.

Design/methodology/research

A survey instrument used was a self‐completed web based questionnaire with a common core of questions to all three surveys.

Findings

Successive UK governments continue to invest heavily in the formal education system to give individuals the chance to realize their potential, for the social and economic good. In the UK, while 42 percent of 18‐30 year olds participate in higher education, there is little interest for others, particularly those in work. The rationale takes these observations further by pointing out that the established further and higher education system has been highly successful in developing and delivering entry to work programs for many years; that is, qualifying people for work at higher levels. Similarly, business continues to provide targeted training for its employees as it has always done. The rationale argues that it is equally important to recognize that universities have a stake in workforce development, the labor market, and, employer demand engaging in work‐based learning. However, there is no common language as yet between universities and employers; and there are national structural faults in the system for example splitting further and higher education and allowing different structural arrangements for training and higher education. Consequently it is no surprise that work‐based learning as “the new kid on the curriculum and qualification block” in higher education is less well developed than perhaps it should be.

Practical implications

The implications for higher education and government drawn from three years of large business surveys is employees continue to see employers and professional bodies as much more credible delivers of work‐based learning than higher or further education institutions and the gap is progressively widening even with employer engagement policies being pursued by government through its higher education funding agency in England. The overarching implication from the surveys is that a renewed focus on work‐based learning in the workplace is likely to pay dividends.

Originality/value

HE@Work conducted the same surveys in 2008, 2009 and 2010 of large private sector businesses employing over 2000 people who provided a snapshot insight into employee attitudes in large organizations in the UK and an indication of the views of employees about work‐based learning and its value to them. For the first time these results provide a longitudinal analysis of attitudes in large businesses including the effects of the UK economic recession.

Details

Industrial and Commercial Training, vol. 42 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0019-7858

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 2011

John G. Mumford

This paper studies the training and other learning‐related interventions that senior managers typically use to influence organisational capability and relate it to the programmes…

1737

Abstract

Purpose

This paper studies the training and other learning‐related interventions that senior managers typically use to influence organisational capability and relate it to the programmes that a university might offer. The purpose of the paper is to identify potential opportunities for increasing the perceived relevance of university provided work‐based learning.

Design/methodology/approach

Reflection and deliberation on personal experience.

Findings

There is a distinctive place for academically delivered and devised work‐based learning for industry but as an integrated offering with in‐house programmes.

Originality/value

The paper presents a suggestion for structuring higher education work‐based offerings.

Details

Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, vol. 1 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-3896

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 1 January 2011

Paul Gibbs

531

Abstract

Details

Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, vol. 1 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-3896

Article
Publication date: 1 January 1974

Tom Schultheiss, Lorraine Hartline, Phyllis Rosenstock, Jean Mandeberg and Sue Stern

The following classified, annotated list of titles is intended to provide reference librarians with a current checklist of new reference books, and is designed to supplement the…

Abstract

The following classified, annotated list of titles is intended to provide reference librarians with a current checklist of new reference books, and is designed to supplement the RSR review column, “Recent Reference Books,” by Frances Neel Cheney. “Reference Books in Print” includes all additional books received prior to the inclusion deadline established for this issue. Appearance in this column does not preclude a later review in RSR. Publishers are urged to send a copy of all new reference books directly to RSR as soon as published, for immediate listing in “Reference Books in Print.” Reference books with imprints older than two years will not be included (with the exception of current reprints or older books newly acquired for distribution by another publisher). The column shall also occasionally include library science or other library related publications of other than a reference character.

Details

Reference Services Review, vol. 2 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0090-7324

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1979

John Allred

The thesis of this book is that library measurement needs to move on and away from the idea that it is a process of counting and comparing the resources deployed by our libraries…

Abstract

The thesis of this book is that library measurement needs to move on and away from the idea that it is a process of counting and comparing the resources deployed by our libraries. The current emphasis on output measurement is an improvement but not the answer, refreshing as it is to judge a library by the quantity of what comes out instead of by the quantity of what is put in. The author believes that the nature of the library service is that of a “broad aim” social programme, best judged (evaluated) by gathering “politically significant information on the consequences of political acts”. “Political” here implies that the aims and intentions of those funding, organising and using libraries arise from more than one set of social values and from more than one definition of what the library is, and that they differ in priorities even when they do not directly conflict. Information about the library service will be in the form of a spectrum of measures reflecting the inputs, the processes, the outputs and the impact of the library, relating the various values in various ways. The difficulty in measuring library services, it is argued here, arises from the conflicts and lack of clarity about the aims of the service, and from uncertainty about how the process affects the outcomes. The technical problems of measurement are secondary. Chapter One aims to survey the range of measures available, whilst the rest of the book discusses how they might be used.

Details

Library Management, vol. 1 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-5124

Content available
Article
Publication date: 1 April 2003

135

Abstract

Details

Industrial and Commercial Training, vol. 35 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0019-7858

Article
Publication date: 1 October 2005

Describes how two UK organizations – Dollond & Aitchison (D&A) opticians and Winfield Transport – significantly reduced employee turnover through training programs that won

2391

Abstract

Purpose

Describes how two UK organizations – Dollond & Aitchison (D&A) opticians and Winfield Transport – significantly reduced employee turnover through training programs that won national training awards.

Design/methodology/approach

Contains information from D&A's head of training and development, Jeanette Clarke, and Winfield Transport owner Warren Winfield.

Findings

Demonstrates that D&A increased sales and reduced staff turnover by 20 percent by retraining and re‐grading its sales assistants, while Winfield Transport cut annual staff turnover from 35 percent to 12 percent through driving and safety‐training programs.

Practical implications

Helps human resource specialists and trainers to make a stronger case for spending money on training.

Originality/value

Highlights other benefits of the training programs, including, in the case of D&A, greater job satisfaction, and in the case of Winfield Transport, safer driving, higher fuel economy, reduced CO2 emissions and lower insurance costs.

Details

Human Resource Management International Digest, vol. 13 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0967-0734

Keywords

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