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1 – 10 of 269Anush Poghosyan, Patrick Manu, Lamine Mahdjoubi, Alistair G. F. Gibb, Michael Behm and Abdul-Majeed Mahamadu
Decisions made during the design stage of construction works can significantly reduce the risk of occurrence of occupational accidents, injuries and illnesses. Moreover, it has…
Abstract
Purpose
Decisions made during the design stage of construction works can significantly reduce the risk of occurrence of occupational accidents, injuries and illnesses. Moreover, it has been established that design is one of the major contributors of accidents and injuries. Design for safety (DfS) studies within construction have highlighted factors affecting the implementation of DfS, among which are designer attitude; DfS knowledge/awareness and education; availability of DfS tools, including guidance; client’s influence and motivation; and legislation. The purpose of this study is to carry out an in-depth literature review of DfS studies within construction to explore the extent to which existing DfS research has looked at the above-listed DfS implementation factors.
Design/methodology/approach
A review of 164 journal articles related to DfS in construction (published from 1990 to 2017) within built environment, engineering and multidisciplinary safety journals was undertaken.
Findings
The findings indicate that around 60 per cent of the journal articles reviewed address designer knowledge/awareness and education issues, about 27 per cent looked at DfS implementation tools to assist designers to undertake DfS, about 23 per cent studied client influence/motivation, about 16 per cent studied designers’ attitudes towards DfS implementation and approximately 16 per cent looked at the role of legislation in DfS implementation. The literature points that client influence/motivation and legislation are very influential DfS implementation factors despite a limited number of studies in these areas.
Originality/value
Overall, the findings provide an indication of areas of DfS implementation, particularly client influence/motivation and legislation, where more research would be needed to promote DfS in construction to help mitigate the occurrence of accidents and injuries.
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Matthew D. Smith, Julian D. Birch, Mark Renshaw and Melanie Ottewill
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the common themes leading or contributing to clinical incidents in a UK teaching hospital.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the common themes leading or contributing to clinical incidents in a UK teaching hospital.
Design/methodology/approach
A root‐cause analysis was conducted on patient safety incidents. Commonly occurring root causes and contributing factors were collected and correlated with incident timing and severity.
Findings
In total, 65 root‐cause analyses were reviewed, highlighting 202 factors implicated in the clinical incidents and 69 categories were identified. The 14 most commonly occurring causes (encountered in four incidents or more) were examined as a key‐root or contributory cause. Incident timing was also analysed; common factors were encountered more frequently during out‐hours – occurring as contributory rather than a key‐root cause.
Practical implications
In total, 14 commonly occurring factors were identified to direct interventions that could prevent many clinical incidents. From these, an “Organisational Safety Checklist” was developed to involve departmental level clinicians to monitor practice.
Originality/value
This study demonstrates that comprehensively investigating incidents highlights common factors that can be addressed at a local level. Resilience against clinical incidents is low during out‐of‐hours periods, where factors such as lower staffing levels and poor service provision allows problems to escalate and become clinical incidents, which adds to the literature regarding out‐of‐hours care provision and should prove useful to those organising hospital services at departmental and management levels.
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A. Ireland, D.A. Tomalin, M. Renshaw and K. Rayment
While there is debate about the extent to which patients are harmed when they are cared for in hospital, it is clear that admission as an inpatient is not without risk. This paper…
Abstract
While there is debate about the extent to which patients are harmed when they are cared for in hospital, it is clear that admission as an inpatient is not without risk. This paper presents works on the progress to date with identifying what these risks are and quantifying the likelihood and severity of the risk. The clinical risk profiling tool that has been developed as part of this exercise has assisted with the identification and prioritisation of clinical risks and is the first step in risk reduction and elimination.
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The field of educational leadership is very much dominated by studies of process. That is, discourses of best practice, effectiveness, efficiency, accountability, and so on…
Abstract
The field of educational leadership is very much dominated by studies of process. That is, discourses of best practice, effectiveness, efficiency, accountability, and so on, dominate the landscape. This then feeds into those working in schools in leadership positions and leadership teams coming to value style over substance. Whether a leader is working according to a particular adjectival leadership model matters little if the purpose of schooling and education is not the priority and shared. In this chapter, I argue that leaders need to have issues of social justice and equity as central to the purpose of their work, for those in disadvantaged areas and schools, and also those working in more privileged sites. Schools have unfortunately often been sites where forms of racism and social injustices have been perpetuated. A key aspect then for leaders is to work redress these practices. However, when working with large diversities in many schools, some leaders feel they are often unprepared for such challenges. In this chapter, I explore the difficulties and challenges of this kind of leadership with a particular focus on the Australian context and examine ways that leaders can think about and act in ways that recognize and acknowledge the diversity in their schools and communities, challenge their own assumptions and beliefs, and also work toward alleviating socially unjust practices.
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M. Renshaw and A. Ireland
Clinical audit has a pivotal role to play in improving the quality of patient care. As part of the programme for co‐ordinating clinical audit across the trust each clinical area…
Abstract
Clinical audit has a pivotal role to play in improving the quality of patient care. As part of the programme for co‐ordinating clinical audit across the trust each clinical area has a nominated doctor to lead and co‐ordinate the audit programme in their specialty. This qualitative survey reviews the effectiveness of having specialty audit leads and reviews the progress that specialties have made in developing their audit programme. The semi‐structured interviews with 30 clinical audit leads identified an uneven level of development of clinical audit across the trust, and demonstrated that dedicated time would be needed to make these posts more universally successful. Although one size will not fit all, the interviews highlighted some recurring themes – seeds of success – in functioning audit programmes.
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The importance of socially just leadership has been increasingly acknowledged in recent years as integral for tackling issues of disadvantage and inequality across education and…
Abstract
The importance of socially just leadership has been increasingly acknowledged in recent years as integral for tackling issues of disadvantage and inequality across education and schooling systems. However, there are still remaining questions about what these leadership practices look like in the everyday work of school leaders. This chapter draws on a research project to embed Indigenous perspectives in schools as an example of socially just leadership. The links between Indigenous communities and schools are a key focus area for improving educational outcomes for Indigenous students. This project sought to bring Indigenous community members into classrooms in six schools in New South Wales, Australia. Community members were recruited to work with teachers as co-constructors of learning activities that explicitly value and work with Indigenous perspectives. This chapter outlines the positive outcomes from this project as well as challenges faced by schools, teachers, principals, and community members as part of this culturally responsive work. The practices of community members, teachers, and principals are theorized using the notion of culturally responsive leadership. The chapter argues for an approach to leadership that is grounded in culturally responsive understandings to improve the educational outcomes and opportunities for Indigenous students and the cultural understanding and awareness of non-Indigenous students, to better promote reconciliation. This chapter provides a concrete example of powerful leadership practices that are working towards equity and social justice for their schools and communities. While the cases are specifically from the Australian context, they are relevant for a variety of schooling contexts and leadership practices.
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Edmund Goh, Saiyidi Mat Roni and Deepa Bannigidadmath
Financial bankruptcy is inevitable in the tourism and hospitality ecosystem. Despite the pertinence of tourism and hospitality businesses going into bankruptcy, limited studies…
Abstract
Purpose
Financial bankruptcy is inevitable in the tourism and hospitality ecosystem. Despite the pertinence of tourism and hospitality businesses going into bankruptcy, limited studies have investigated the early warning signs and likelihood of a financial bankruptcy occurring in tourism and hospitality firms. This study examined the predictive value of financial ratios as potential indicators in predicting bankruptcy among tourism and hospitality firms.
Design/methodology/approach
Altman's z-score bankruptcy prediction model was applied through five key financial ratios to predict bankruptcy of the Thomas Cook Travel Group over a ten year period (2008–2018).
Findings
The key findings of this study strongly suggest that besides the size and location of the firm, financial ratios are reliable predictors and play a pivotal role in predicting the bankruptcy of a tourism and hospitality business.
Practical implications
The paper provides key stakeholders to adopt checks and balances to identify financial distressed tourism firms through financial ratios.
Originality/value
This is the first academic paper to inspect the financial history of Thomas Cook Travel Group in a financial ratio context, particularly following the bankruptcy of the firm in 2019.
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Seleshi Sisaye and Jacob G. Birnberg
OD refers to cell 3 of the adoption-diffusion innovation typology defined in Table 1. It has an administrative extent and an autonomous scope. OD has been used pre-dominantly in…
Abstract
OD refers to cell 3 of the adoption-diffusion innovation typology defined in Table 1. It has an administrative extent and an autonomous scope. OD has been used pre-dominantly in organizational change and sociology literature to describe cultural innovation programs that are directed toward a change in individual employee behavior. In accounting, the OD approach is important because accounting innovations, such as ABC, are directed toward a change in managers' behavior and the use of accounting data to evaluate performance. The OD approach is applicable in the use of ABC data at the divisional or unit level. Before explaining the application and use of OD in accounting innovations, we will define OD and summarize its innovation approaches as described in organizational sociology and behavior literature.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine online room rates in Hong Kong hotels. It focuses on comparing and contrasting the lowest hotel room rates that are available to customers.
Design/methodology/approach
Eight distribution channels and 45 hotels in Hong Kong were examined for online room rates in a 13‐month period from 2005 to 2006. The eight distribution channels represented different nature of operations including both indirect and direct distribution channels.
Findings
Empirical findings showed the web sites of local travel agents and local reservation agents offered the lowest online room rates, and that indirect distribution channels offered lower room rates than direct distribution channels.
Research limitations/implications
A major limitation of this study is the geographic limitation of hotel selection.
Originality/value
Findings of the study are expected to provide insights for hoteliers to refine their online room rate strategy.
Cyril Eshareturi and Laura Serrant
This paper reports on a regionally based UK study uncovering what has worked well in learning from adverse incidents in hospitals. The purpose of this paper is to review the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper reports on a regionally based UK study uncovering what has worked well in learning from adverse incidents in hospitals. The purpose of this paper is to review the incident investigation methodology used in identifying strengths or weaknesses and explore the use of a database as a tool to embed learning.
Design/methodology/approach
Documentary examination was conducted of all adverse incidents reported between 1 June 2011 and 30 June 2012 by three UK National Health Service hospitals. One root cause analysis report per adverse incident for each individual hospital was sent to an advisory group for a review. Using terms of reference supplied, the advisory group feedback was analysed using an inductive thematic approach. The emergent themes led to the generation of questions which informed seven in-depth semi-structured interviews.
Findings
“Time” and “work pressures” were identified as barriers to using adverse incident investigations as tools for quality enhancement. Methodologically, a weakness in approach was that no criteria influenced the techniques which were used in investigating adverse incidents. Regarding the sharing of learning, the use of a database as a tool to embed learning across the region was not supported.
Practical implications
Softer intelligence from adverse incident investigations could be usefully shared between hospitals through a regional forum.
Originality/value
The use of a database as a tool to facilitate the sharing of learning from adverse incidents across the health economy is not supported.
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