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1 – 10 of 86Michael B. Goodman, Virginia C. Holihan and Karen E. Willis
This paper examines strategies to meet the communication challenge of change brought on through planned transitions, by the stress of a crisis, or as a result of the social…
Abstract
This paper examines strategies to meet the communication challenge of change brought on through planned transitions, by the stress of a crisis, or as a result of the social transformation in work and the nature of work. It explores the cycles of change to create a foundation for understanding the communication of change to individual people in an organisation. It examines the impact of reengineering as a change vehicle, the role of trust in reengineering, and some reasons reengineering appears to have shortcomings for individuals coping with change. A reengineering case study is also presented. Successful communication of change demonstrates an understanding of the cycle of change, the importance of trust in the communication process, the essential personal nature of change, the necessity for continuous face‐to‐face communication, and a recognition that current global changes are symptoms of a shift in the human condition.
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To outline the kinds of problems and dilemmas which researchers might experience in professional sports settings and to highlight the way in which gender might shape those…
Abstract
Purpose
To outline the kinds of problems and dilemmas which researchers might experience in professional sports settings and to highlight the way in which gender might shape those experiences.
Methodology/approach
An ethnography of professional football.
Findings
Few social researchers have managed to breach the institutional bounds of professional sport and fewer still have carried out ethnographic work within this context. Gender inevitably impacts the complexion of sporting domains and this manifests itself in everyday behaviours and sub-cultural practices. Qualitative research has the potential to uncover the nuances of individual and collective behaviours within such settings and to shed light upon the ways in which gender relations shape the contours of institutional life.
Originality/value
To situate current debate around methods within wider discussions of gender and social research and against the backdrop of theoretical shifts in the conceptualisation of masculinities.
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Iuri Marques, Sarah Caroline Willis, Ellen Ingrid Schafheutle and Karen Hassell
Organisational culture (OC) shapes individuals’ perceptions and experiences of work. However, no instrument capable of measuring specific aspects of OC in community pharmacy…
Abstract
Purpose
Organisational culture (OC) shapes individuals’ perceptions and experiences of work. However, no instrument capable of measuring specific aspects of OC in community pharmacy exists. The purpose of this paper is to report the development and validation of an instrument to measure OC in community pharmacy in Great Britain (GB), and conduct a preliminary analysis of data collected using it.
Design/methodology/approach
Instrument development comprised three stages: Stage I: 12 qualitative interviews and relevant literature informed instrument design; Stage II: 30 cognitive interviews assessed content validity; and Stage III: a cross-sectional survey mailed to 1,000 community pharmacists in GB, with factor analysis for instrument validation. Statistical analysis investigated how community pharmacists perceived OC in their place of work.
Findings
Factor analysis produced an instrument containing 60 items across five OC dimensions – business and work configuration, social relationships, personal and professional development, skills utilisation, and environment and structures. Internal reliability for the dimensions was high (0.84 to 0.95); item-total correlations were adequate (r=0.46 to r=0.76). Based on 209 responses, analysis suggests different OCs in community pharmacy, with some community pharmacists viewing the environment in which they worked as having a higher frequency of aspects related to patient contact and safety than others. Since these aspects are important for providing high healthcare standards, it is likely that differences in OC may be linked to different healthcare outcomes.
Originality/value
This newly developed and validated instrument to measure OC in community pharmacy can be used to benchmark existing OC across different pharmacies and design interventions for triggering change to improve outcomes for community pharmacists and patients.
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This chapter is about the modern, Western education system as an economic system of production on behalf of the capitalist mode of production (CMP) and globalization towards a…
Abstract
This chapter is about the modern, Western education system as an economic system of production on behalf of the capitalist mode of production (CMP) and globalization towards a single, global social space around market capitalism, liberal democracy and individualism.
The schooling process is above all an economic process, within which educational labour is performed, and through which the education system operates in an integrated fashion with the (external) economic system.
It is mainly through children’s compulsory educational labour that modern schooling plays a part in the production of labour power, supplies productive (paid) employment within the CMP, meets ‘corporate economic imperatives’, supports ‘the expansion of global corporate power’ and facilitates globalization.
What children receive in exchange for their appropriated and consumed labour power within the education system are not payments of the kind enjoyed by adults in the external economy, but instead merely a promise – the promise enshrined in the Western education industry paradigm.
In modern societies, young people, like chattel slaves, are compulsorily prevented from freely exchanging their labour power on the labour market while being compulsorily required to perform educational labour through a process in which their labour power is consumed and reproduced, and only at the end of which as adults they can freely (like freed slaves) enter the labour market to exchange their labour power.
This compulsory dispossession, exploitation and consumption of labour power reflects and reinforces the power distribution between children and adults in modern societies, doing so in a way resembling that between chattel slaves and their owners.
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Judith R. Gordon, Joy E. Beatty and Karen S. Whelan‐Berry
This exploratory study focuses primarily on the nature and components of the midlife transition and secondarily considers its antecedents and consequences for a group of 36…
Abstract
This exploratory study focuses primarily on the nature and components of the midlife transition and secondarily considers its antecedents and consequences for a group of 36 professional women who were married, had children, and had enduring careers. In‐depth interviews with these women provided the data for our analysis. The results suggest that age, family characteristics, and employment characteristics influence the transition. In addition, the women rebalance and develop new perspectives at midlife. Components of the resulting internal and external recalibration are identified. This recalibration resulted in increased satisfaction and overall well‐being.
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Karen Arblaster, Lynette Mackenzie and Karen Willis
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate how mental health service user involvement in health professional education adds value to student learning about recovery-oriented…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate how mental health service user involvement in health professional education adds value to student learning about recovery-oriented practice and to determine the quality and suitability of instruments used in studies to evaluate this involvement in terms of their: relationship to recovery-oriented practice; and psychometric properties.
Design/methodology/approach
Studies of service user involvement were reviewed to identify their research objectives. These were mapped against an Australian recovery-oriented practice capability framework together with the constructs measured by instruments used in these studies. Psychometric properties for each instrument were evaluated using the COSMIN checklist.
Findings
While research objectives are not stated in terms of recovery-oriented practice, they do relate to some elements of a recovery-oriented practice framework. No instrument measures outcomes against all recovery-oriented practice domains. The AQ has the strongest evidence for its psychometric properties. The most commonly used instrument measures only stigma and has poorly validated psychometric properties.
Originality/value
This paper demonstrates that the “value add” of service user involvement in health professional education has been poorly defined and measured to date. Learning from lived experience is central to a recovery-orientation and is an expectation of health professional education programmes. Defining objectives for service user involvement in terms of recovery-oriented practice and developing an instrument which measures student learning against these objectives are important areas for ongoing research supporting improved approaches to supporting people’s recovery.
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Karen Pierce, Ted D. Englebrecht and Wei-Chih Chiang
This study examines whether Revenue Procedure 2003-61 is an improvement over Revenue Procedure 2000-15, in the areas of taxpayers’ expectations for IRS equitable relief decisions…
Abstract
This study examines whether Revenue Procedure 2003-61 is an improvement over Revenue Procedure 2000-15, in the areas of taxpayers’ expectations for IRS equitable relief decisions and gender-related in-group bias. The survey instrument includes a vignette adapted from a judicial decision. The results show that Rev. Proc. 2003-61 does improve upon Rev. Proc. 2000-15. Furthermore, taxpayers perceive different expectations of what the IRS should do and what the IRS would do in equitable relief decision making. Also, gender-related in-group biases are found to be present for both genders. Tax policy implications regarding equitable relief are discussed.
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Colin Lea, Bob Willis, Mike Judd, Bob Willis, John Beamish and Karen Moore
This conference was the second in the National Physical Laboratory series focusing in turn on each of the non‐CFC options for de‐fluxing soldered electronics assemblies. The first…
Abstract
This conference was the second in the National Physical Laboratory series focusing in turn on each of the non‐CFC options for de‐fluxing soldered electronics assemblies. The first conference was on Controlled Atmosphere Soldering and the third will be on New Solvents.
Rebecca Elvey, Karen Hassell, Penny Lewis, Ellen Schafheutle, Sarah Willis and Stephen Harrison
Research on patient-centred professionalism in pharmacy is scarce compared with other health professions and in particular with pharmacists early in their careers. The purpose of…
Abstract
Purpose
Research on patient-centred professionalism in pharmacy is scarce compared with other health professions and in particular with pharmacists early in their careers. The purpose of this paper is to explore patient-centred professionalism in early career pharmacists and to describe reported behaviours.
Design/methodology/approach
This study explored patient-centred professional values and reported behaviours, taking a qualitative approach. In all, 53 early-career pharmacists, pharmacy tutors and pharmacy support staff, practising in community and hospital pharmacy in England took part; the concept of patient-centred professionalism was explored through focus group interviews and the critical incident technique was used to elicit real-life examples of professionalism in practice.
Findings
Triangulation of the data revealed three constructs of pharmacy patient-centred professionalism: being professionally competent, having ethical values and being a good communicator.
Research limitations/implications
It is not known whether our participants’ perspectives reflect those of all pharmacists in the early stages of their careers. The data provide meaning for the concept of patient-centred professionalism. The work could be extended by developing a framework for wider application. Patient-centred professionalism in pharmacy needs further investigation from the patient perspective.
Practical implications
The findings have implications for pharmacy practice and education, particularly around increased interaction with patients.
Social implications
The data contribute to a topic of importance to patients and in relation to UK health policy, which allocates more directly clinical roles to pharmacists, which go beyond the dispensing and supply of medicines.
Originality/value
The methods included a novel application of the critical incident technique, which generated empirical evidence on a previously under-researched topic.
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