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1 – 6 of 6Andrew Smith, Goran Vodicka, Alba Colombo, Kristina N. Lindstrom, David McGillivray and Bernadette Quinn
There are two main aims of this conceptual paper. The first is to explore the issues associated with staging events in public spaces, and to produce a typology of different event…
Abstract
Purpose
There are two main aims of this conceptual paper. The first is to explore the issues associated with staging events in public spaces, and to produce a typology of different event spaces. The second is to explore if and how events should be designed into parks, streets and squares and whether this might reduce some of the negative impacts and associated user conflicts.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper analyses the history, drivers and effects of using public spaces as venues and examines the reciprocal relationships between events and the spaces that host them. To explain the range and dynamics of contemporary events, a typology of event spaces is developed. This typology highlights nine different types of event spaces which are differentiated by the level of public accessibility (free entry, sometimes free, paid entry), and the mobility of event audiences (static, limited mobility, mobile). Using this typology, the paper discusses ways that public spaces might be adapted to make them better suited to staging events. This discussion is illustrated by a range of examples.
Findings
The paper finds that it makes practical sense to adapt some urban public spaces to make them better equipped as venues, but designing in events presents new issues and does not necessarily resolve many of the problems associated with staging events. Disputes over events are inevitable and constituent features of public spaces.
Originality/value
This paper makes an original contribution by developing a new classification of event spaces and by synthesising ideas from urban design with ideas from the events literature.
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– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between workplace social capital and health and job related outcomes in a large Danish municipality.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between workplace social capital and health and job related outcomes in a large Danish municipality.
Design/methodology/approach
Data used in this cross-sectional study are based on an electronic employee survey conducted in 2012 in a large municipality. Of the total population of 5,672 individuals, the number of participants amounted to 4,162, leading to a response rate of 73.4 percent. Binary logistic regression analysis is used as a statistical method, and odds ratios and their corresponding 95 percent confidence intervals have been estimated.
Findings
The level of social capital is fairly high in the municipality (3.75 on a five-point scale). Social capital is related to health (OR=0.420) and psychological distress (OR=0.282) but has an even stronger relationship to job satisfaction and commitment (OR is 9.889 and 7.800, respectively). The study contributes with the conclusion that different sub-dimensions of social capital are related to health and job related outcomes. Therefore, managers need to be specific about what exactly they want to achieve with the implementation of social capital in municipalities.
Originality/value
Research of the relationship between social capital and health and job related outcomes based on a case study approach of a municipality are limited. This paper makes an original contribution in providing evidence of the importance of social capital for Danish municipal sector employees’ health, job satisfaction, and commitment in a work context.
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Malin Löfving, Kristina Säfsten and Mats Winroth
– The paper aims at increasing the understanding of how manufacturing strategy formulation can be facilitated in SMEs.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims at increasing the understanding of how manufacturing strategy formulation can be facilitated in SMEs.
Design/methodology/approach
The research presented in this paper follows a four-stage logic. Initially, a literature review was conducted identifying a number of manufacturing strategy frameworks. Thereafter, theoretical and practical assessment criteria were established. The SME requirements were identified through five case studies. Based on these assessment criteria, identified manufacturing strategy formulation frameworks were evaluated. When a framework was found that fulfilled most of the requirements set out, a detailed analysis of the framework was done, based on criteria related to specific SME characteristics.
Findings
In total, 15 different manufacturing strategy formulation frameworks were identified in the literature. To evaluate the suitability of these frameworks in SMEs, a number of assessment criteria were established, both in theory and in practice. These assessment criteria were grouped into three parts based on their character: procedure, realisation and contextual issues. The assessment of the 15 frameworks revealed that among the identified frameworks there was one framework that stood out and fulfilled several of the criteria. However, the frameworks still need to be adapted to the specific SME characteristics.
Originality/value
Although a number of manufacturing strategy frameworks exist, their usability in practice has seldom been investigated. The results presented provide valuable knowledge for the continued work of rendering manufacturing strategy frameworks suitable and thereby useful for SMEs.
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This study is a follow-up of inpatients diagnosed with severe depression/melancholia between 1956 and 1969. During this period, all inpatients at the Department of Psychiatry…
Abstract
This study is a follow-up of inpatients diagnosed with severe depression/melancholia between 1956 and 1969. During this period, all inpatients at the Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital, Lund, were rated on a multidimensional diagnostic schedule on discharge. There were 471 patients born from 1920 onward. In the present follow-up, 2006 to 2010, 169 survivors could be traced. They were asked to participate in the study involving a telephone interview, in which a structured life chart was used. Of the patients contacted, 16 were ill or confused and 3 did not remember ever being depressed, leaving 150 who could participate. Seventy-five of these agreed to participate in the study. Long-term course of depression was evaluated by cluster analysis and compared to background variables, such as heredity for depression, perceived parental rearing behaviour, and treatment of index depressive episode. Using a cluster analysis the patients could be separated into six clusters describing the course: i) single or few episodes followed by long-lasting remission; ii) single or few episodes followed by long-lasting remission, although shorter; iii) single or few episodes followed by late recurrence; iv) single or few episodes, but more frequently ill, followed by late recurrence; v) several episodes followed by lasting remission; vi) chronic course of episodes. Remission or recurrence could therefore occur even after more than a decade. In summary, there was a short-term course with or without recurrence or a chronic course with or without late remission. Heredity for depression was significantly related to a chronic course with or without late remission.
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Esther Hauer, Annika M. Nordlund and Kristina Westerberg
The purpose of this paper is to examine the learning climate in elderly care, its potential improvements after the “Steps for skills”, and its influence on knowledge from formal…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the learning climate in elderly care, its potential improvements after the “Steps for skills”, and its influence on knowledge from formal training. The assumptions were: the different activities of the Steps for skills should enhance the perceived learning climate; differences in working conditions in home help and residential homes should influence the perceived learning climate and its improvements; and changes in the perception of the learning climate should bring changes in the perceived usefulness of new knowledge.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is a case study carried out in the public elderly care in Sweden, and used a repeated measurements design. A total of 270 nursing assistants answered a questionnaire at Time I, and 174 at Time II.
Findings
Results show no improvements of the learning climate for the full sample. When contrasting the learning climate in home help services and in residential homes significant differences are found, and also a tendency for their learning climate to change in opposite directions. The perception of the learning climate seems to influence the perceived usefulness of new knowledge.
Research limitations/implications
The sample was from one single organization.
Practical implications
Developmental interventions should take in to consideration that context matters, and that the perceived learning climate influences the use of new knowledge.
Originality/value
In this study, a 15‐items learning climate scale (LCS) is presented. Another contribution is identifying working condition failure as a potential explanation to why interventions usually do not result in expected changes.
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Kristina Westerberg and Esther Hauer
The overall aim of the present study was to investigate the learning climate and work group skills perceived by managers and their subordinates in the municipal elderly care…
Abstract
Purpose
The overall aim of the present study was to investigate the learning climate and work group skills perceived by managers and their subordinates in the municipal elderly care, prior to a development project. The specific research questions were: Are managers' and their subordinates' perceptions of the learning climate related? and Does the manager's assessment of the work group skills correlate with the work group's perception of the learning climate?
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 12 managers and 130 of their subordinates were selected, and answered a questionnaire. The subordinates belonged to work groups with five to 19 care assistants working in elderly care. The majority of the participants were women (92 per cent). The mean age was 43 years old, range 20‐63.
Findings
Results suggest that the perception of the learning climate has a correspondence between the organisational levels (managers and their subordinates) and that there is a correspondence between managers' ratings of work group skills, in particular skills for effectively managing change, and the work groups' perception of their learning climate, in particular decision autonomy and developmental and collaborative potentials.
Research implications/limitations
The manager sample was small and from one single organisation.
Practical implications
The relations between the learning climate and the assessment of staff skills are important to the actions taken in order to facilitate workplace learning and development.
Originality/value
This study contrasted the managers' assessment of skills with their work groups' perceptions of learning climate, which is quite unusual in learning climate studies.
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