Search results

A pilot project was initiated in Wrexham in North Wales with two groups of patients suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). One group was provided with a commercial telehealth system (HomMed Genesis) while the other received a medical telecare service involving standalone vital signs peripherals and a phone call from a respiratory nurse who collected data and entered them into a spreadsheet. After four months of monitoring, the outcomes were analysed for both groups and were found to be largely similar both in terms of the interventions, and the perceived quality of life benefits for the patients. A cost benefit analysis showed that the savings to the NHS exceeded the project costs by about £9,000 thanks mainly to a reduction in the number of exacerbations exhibited by the patients. It is recommended that this form of telecare may greatly increase the independence of people with a chronic disease or long‐term condition and that further studies need to be initiated to determine which measurement regime is most suitable.

Purpose – An investigation of how women construct their entrepreneurial identities as owners of high growth technology ventures within the context of business incubation.

Methodology/approach – A qualitative case study approach is adopted to enable the development of an in-depth and nuanced picture of high technology business incubation.

Findings – The women oscillated between trying to emulate the behaviour of their male colleagues within the incubator as the prevailing ‘entrepreneurial identity’ was embedded in masculinity; thus, to achieve credibility and legitimacy, the women attempted to deny associations with femininity by undertaking a metaphorical sex change. Once, however, the firms became successful, they again felt comfortable displaying elements of their femininity as the tensions surrounding entrepreneurial and feminine characterizations could be negated by demonstrations of business competence.

Research limitations/implications – The documented limitations of case study research are noted. There are a number of implications surrounding the utility and accessibility of incubation for female entrepreneurs and the underlying assumption that these are spaces specifically for male entrepreneurs.

Practical implications – It is essential to critically evaluate current policy initiatives and managerial strategies informing current incubation practices.

Social implications – Gender disadvantage is reproduced within business incubators.

Originality/value of chapter – There are few explorations of the accessibility of business incubators to encourage and support female entrepreneurship.

The modern workplace contains many physical and interpersonal hazards to employee physical and psychological health/well-being. This chapter integrates the literatures on occupational safety (i.e., accidents and injuries) and mistreatment (physical violence and psychological abuse). A model is provided linking environmental (climate and leadership), individual differences (demographics and personality), motivation, behavior, and outcomes. It notes that some of the same variables have been linked to both safety and mistreatment, such as safety climate, mistreatment climate, conscientiousness, and emotional stability.

The purpose of this paper is to draw upon a range of material to improve the understanding of disengagement with everyday life, by some individuals who have learning disabilities and mental health difficulties. Illustrative incidents from historical clinical cases are utilised, to consider whether this reframing may enhance the interpretation of presenting behaviours.

Key recurring themes within transpersonal literature were reviewed, relevant to adults with behaviour indicating a degree of disengagement from everyday life. These were grouped into Physical Realm, Psychosocial Realm and Realm of Being. Illustrative examples of behaviour are reviewed and re-interpreted within this framework.

These examples generated plausible interpretations for the presenting behaviours within this framework of the Three Realms. These interpretations support a fresh understanding of the quality of the individual's inner experience. This paper suggests a potential framework to consider the way in which some individuals may experience a different quality of consciousness than the usual.

Use of the Three Realms for behaviour interpretation should result into a more empathetic and client-centred approach that could reduce the need for aversive approaches, lessening risk for the client and any employing organisation. The identification of behaviours that signal participation in the Realm of Being could be defined and evaluated with the potential to be used to inform the nature and content of the support provided.

This paper, rooted in clinical examples, offers an original synthesis with reasons to include the immaterial realm in the perspective of the human condition. This could benefit people with substantial episodes of disconnection from the Physical Realm and everyday culture and those who support them.

Looks at the 2000 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference held at the University of Cardiff in Wales on 6/7 September 2000. Spotlights the 76 or so presentations within and shows that these are in many, differing, areas across management research from: retail finance; precarious jobs and decisions; methodological lessons from feminism; call centre experience and disability discrimination. These and all points east and west are covered and laid out in a simple, abstract style, including, where applicable, references, endnotes and bibliography in an easy‐to‐follow manner. Summarizes each paper and also gives conclusions where needed, in a comfortable modern format.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how the “right to request” flexible working arrangements (FWAs), located in national policy and in organisational policy contexts, are brought to life in the workplace by employees and their managers. The authors seek to understand the nature and content of requests, the process followed in attending to requests, the scope of the arrangements which resulted and the implications for the work of both employees and managers.

The authors employ a case study method, investigating how formal “right to request” FWAs policies translate to practice within two large companies in Australia. The primary data focuses on 66 in-depth interviews with line managers, employees and key organisational informants. These interviews are triangulated with legislative, company and union policy documents.

Most requests were made by mothers returning from maternity leave. Typically their requests involved an attempt to move from full-time to part-time hours. The authors found a considerable knowledge deficit among the employees making requests and a high level of informality in the processing of requests. As a result, managers played a critical role in structuring both the procedure and the substantive outcomes of FWAs requests. Managers’ personal experience and levels of commitment to FWAs were critical in the process, but their response was constrained by, among other things, conflicting organisational policies.

The scale of the empirical research is possibly limited by a focus on large companies in the private sector.

The authors provide insight into the implementation gap between FWA policy and practice. The authors make suggestions as to how to make “right to request” policies more accessible and effective.

The “right to request” flexible working is an issue of critical importance to families, employees, managers, organisations and economies.

“Right to request” FWAs are relatively new in legislation and policy and thus the authors have an incomplete understanding of how they operate and come to life at the workplace level. The authors show a significant implementation gap between policy and practice and point to some of the critical influences on this. Among other things, the authors build new insight in relation to the interaction of formal and informal and the role and place of the direct manager in the process of operationalising the “right to request”.

Purpose – Both misbehavior and commitment in organizations have attracted substantial attention. This chapter reviews the misbehavior and commitment literature to investigate the implicit negative correlation between these two important organizational phenomena.

Methodology/approach – A four-dimensional typology of counterproductive workplace behaviors (CWBs) is developed from the misbehavior literature, describing individual behaviors in terms of: their target(s), the vehicle for misbehavior, their social acceptability, and their quantity. The typology facilitates characterization of CWBs, and, more generally, comparisons between workplace commitment and the field of misbehavior, comprising the range of CWBs.

Findings – The chapter supports the assumed negative relationship between commitment and misbehavior although the strength of the relationship varies across some of the four dimensions.

Research limitations/implications – The reliance on secondary data limits evaluation of the typology. Further research using primary data is commended.

Practical implications – More insightful audits of organizational misbehavior can be produced to guide interventions. For example, CWBs that are directed at individuals, through a person's work role, and are socially unacceptable will require different interventions to those who are directed at the organization, through extra-role behavior, and are more socially acceptable (e.g., minor thefts).

Social implications – Clarifying the impact of CWBs on commitment and, hence, turnover, etc., highlights the cost of CWBs and may motivate organizations to address CWBs and, thereby, promote healthier workplaces.

Originality/value of chapter – This chapter is novel in developing a more comprehensive typology of CWBs. Describing the various CWBs in a single, comprehensive framework provides additional insight into misbehavior.