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1 – 10 of 195
Article
Publication date: 9 September 2022

Stephen Case, Charlie E. Sutton, Joanne Greenhalgh, Mark Monaghan and Judy Wright

This study aims to examine the extent to which “What Works” reviews in youth justice enable understanding of the features of effectiveness (what works, for whom, in what…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine the extent to which “What Works” reviews in youth justice enable understanding of the features of effectiveness (what works, for whom, in what circumstances and why?) specified in the Effects–Mechanisms–Moderators–Implementation–Economic cost (EMMIE) framework.

Design/methodology/approach

The EMMIE framework examined findings within a sample of “What Works” style reviews of preventative youth justice intervention effectiveness.

Findings

“What Works” style reviews of evaluations of preventative youth justice interventions often omit the requisite details required to examine all of the necessary elements of effectiveness contained within the EMMIE framework. While effectiveness measures were typically provided, the dominant evaluation evidence-base struggles to consider moderators of effect, mechanisms of change, implementation differences and cost-effectiveness. Therefore, “What Works” samples cannot facilitate sufficient understanding of “what works for whom, in what circumstances and why?”. The authors argue that Realist Synthesis can fill this gap and shed light on the contexts that shape the mechanisms through which youth justice interventions work.

Originality/value

The authors extended the approach adopted by an earlier review of effectiveness reviews (Tompson et al., 2020), considering more recent reviews of the effectiveness of preventative interventions using the EMMIE framework. Unlike previous reviews, the authors prioritised the utility of the EMMIE framework for assessing the factors affecting the effectiveness of preventative interventions in youth justice.

Details

Safer Communities, vol. 21 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-8043

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 August 2014

Ian Hamilton, Charlie Lloyd, Mark Monaghan and Kirsteen Paton

– The purpose of this paper is to examine recent trends in presentation to treatment where cannabis is identified as the primary drug.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine recent trends in presentation to treatment where cannabis is identified as the primary drug.

Design/methodology/approach

Data is drawn from the recently published Public Health England report and supplemented with Home Office and European data.

Findings

The data shows a marked increase in presentations for cannabis treatment over recent years. The authors offer some potential explanations for this trend.

Research limitations/implications

The authors need to improve our understanding of the type of cannabis that is available and how specifically it is used. In parallel there is a pressing need for an evaluation of evidence in relation to treatment for problematic cannabis users.

Originality/value

This paper highlights this recent trend in treatment presentations, offers some potential explanations and makes associated recommendations.

Details

Drugs and Alcohol Today, vol. 14 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1745-9265

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 January 2019

Natalya Monaghan and Oluremi Bolanle Ayoko

Research on the physical work environment and employee territorial behavior in the field of organizational behavior is limited. In particular, while the prevalence of territorial…

2054

Abstract

Purpose

Research on the physical work environment and employee territorial behavior in the field of organizational behavior is limited. In particular, while the prevalence of territorial behaviors in organizations is not new, little is known about how the physical work environment (e.g. open-plan offices) may influence the enactment, interpretation and reactions to territoriality. The purpose of this paper is to explore the connection between the physical environment of work (e.g. open-plan office), employee territorial behaviors (including infringement) and affective environment.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected by means of in-depth-interviews from 27 participants from two large Australian public organizations involved in recruitment, marketing, consulting and education.

Findings

Results revealed that employees’ personalization in the open-plan office is driven by the nature of their tasks, appointment, duration of time spent on their desk, level of adaptation to the open-plan office configurations and the proximity of desks to senior managers, hallways and passers-by. Additionally, affective environment has a critical effect on employee personalization and the enactment and perception of territoriality and infringements in open-plan offices. Additionally, the authors found that the affective environment is dynamic and that employees in open-plan offices experienced emotional contagion (positive and negative).

Research limitations/implications

Due to the demographic make-up of one of the participating organizations, less than a third of participants were male. While the data did not suggest any disparity in the territorial behaviors of male and female, future research should include an even representation of male and female participants. Similarly, the authors did not examine the impact of ethnicity and cultural background on employees’ territoriality. However, given that the workforce is increasingly becoming multicultural, future research should explore how ethnicity might impact the use of space, work processes and productivity in open-plan office. Additionally, scholars should continue to tease out the impact of affective environment (positive and negative) on team processes (e.g. conflict, communication, collaboration and the development of team mental models) in the open-plan office.

Practical implications

The results indicate some practical implications. Noise and distraction are indicated in the results. Therefore, human resource managers and organizational leaders should work with employees to develop some ground rules and norms to curb excessive noise in the open-plan office. Additionally, the authors found in the current study that the affective environment is dynamic and that employees in open-plan offices experienced emotional contagion (positive and negative). Managers should watch out for how individuals react to the prevailing emotions and moods in the open-plan office with the intention of diffusing negative emotions as quickly as possible, for example, by changing the topic under discussion in the open-plan office. The results speak to the need for more active collaboration and engagement between policy makers, workspace architects, designers and employees especially prior to the building of such workspaces.

Social implications

The results suggest that effective employee interactions in open-plan office may be enhanced by positive emotional contagion and office affective environment.

Originality/value

So far, little is known about the impact of the physical work context (e.g. open-plan offices) on the enactment, interpretation and reactions to territoriality. The current paper explores the connection between the physical environment of work (e.g. open-plan office), employee territorial behaviors (including infringement) and affective environment. The findings demonstrate for the first time and especially in an open-plan office that ownership and personalization of objects and workspaces are more likely to be driven by the amount of time spent at one’s desk, the nature of employees’ appointments and tasks. Additionally, the present research is one of the first to report on affective environment dynamism in the open-plan office.

Details

International Journal of Manpower, vol. 40 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7720

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 12 December 2022

Charlotte Nicola Jane Mclean

This chapter presents an auto-ethnographic journey into the world of women's bodybuilding and the role performance-enhancing drugs play in the pursuit of muscularity in this…

Abstract

This chapter presents an auto-ethnographic journey into the world of women's bodybuilding and the role performance-enhancing drugs play in the pursuit of muscularity in this growing, but hard-to-reach, subculture. The research addresses a paucity in the literature and paves the way for further research to inform public health initiatives for this population. Synthesizing journal entries, field observations and informal conversations recorded over the course of 18 months, this chapter provides insight into the rituals and practices present in bodybuilding culture. This embodied narrative explores the decision-making process surrounding anabolic androgenic steroid use in the context of competitive endeavour, including the impact that cultural norms, peer influence and personal narrative have on their uptake. It also sheds light on the experiences of being a woman in a man's world and the additional stigma women face when attempting to increase their muscularity. It also highlights the personal and professional challenges involved in auto-ethnographic endeavour.

Details

Doping in Sport and Fitness
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80117-157-1

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 June 2015

Sébastien Tutenges, Thomas Friis Søgaard, Lea Trier Krøll, Kim Bloomfield and Morten Hesse

Over the last decade a substantial pool of research has emerged on bouncers and their influence on the safety conditions in nightlife environments. Comparatively little, however…

Abstract

Purpose

Over the last decade a substantial pool of research has emerged on bouncers and their influence on the safety conditions in nightlife environments. Comparatively little, however, has been written on bouncers themselves and their working conditions. The purpose of this paper is to identify the perceived risks, stress and other work-related problems among bouncers working in Danish nightlife.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey was conducted. In total, 238 bouncers were contacted and 159 of them completed a questionnaire.

Findings

In total, 40 percent reported having been threatened with a weapon and 58 percent reported that they had been physically assaulted at work. Moreover, 16 percent reported feeling stressed and 50 percent reported weekly sleeping difficulties.

Originality/value

These findings highlight some of the costs of working in the night-time economy. They may be used to improve the working conditions of bouncers and, by implication, help improve the general safety conditions in nightlife environments.

Details

International Journal of Workplace Health Management, vol. 8 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8351

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 12 December 2022

Mair Underwood

Previous research has found that people who use anabolic androgenic steroids (hereafter ‘steroids’) typically describe these drugs as safe. However, research exploring the inside…

Abstract

Previous research has found that people who use anabolic androgenic steroids (hereafter ‘steroids’) typically describe these drugs as safe. However, research exploring the inside perspective on steroid risk has focussed on steroids in general, and failed to examine how particular steroids are viewed and experienced. During my online ethnographic research in bodybuilding communities, I found discussion of one particular steroid said to cause significant physical, psychological, social and sexual harm: trenbolone. Trenbolone is a veterinary drug used to increase muscle in beef cattle that has been found to have neurodegenerative and genotoxic effects on animals. It has been used by bodybuilders since the 1980s, and recent research has found it to be one of the most popular steroids used by bodybuilders. If trenbolone is described by bodybuilders as causing significant harm, why do so many bodybuilders use it? This chapter attempts to answer this question through a description of bodybuilder folk models of trenbolone risk. Using a social life of drugs approach it describes: (1) the effects of trenbolone; (2) how these effects are given meaning as either harms or benefits, and then weighed against each other; (3) how the risks of trenbolone are reduced through harm reduction strategies and (4) the role of online communities in negotiations of trenbolone risk. Trenbolone was found to occupy a mythical status in bodybuilding communities, in part because of the conflicted relationship bodybuilders have with the drug. This conflicted relationship illustrates the inherent ambivalence of drugs, which are always both remedy and poison.

Book part
Publication date: 9 September 2020

Fahad Ahmad

Purpose – This chapter highlights how counter-radicalization, as a manifestation of diffuse securitizing, impacts the work of Muslim civil society organizations (CSOs) in Canada…

Abstract

Purpose – This chapter highlights how counter-radicalization, as a manifestation of diffuse securitizing, impacts the work of Muslim civil society organizations (CSOs) in Canada.

Methodology – The author presents how Muslim communities and their civil society representatives experience and adapt to the pressures from counter-radicalization policies. Data for the analysis are drawn from 16 semi-structured, anonymized interviews with managers and board members of prominent Muslim CSOs that are based in urban centers in Canada with high density of Muslim populations.

Findings – Though counter-radicalization policies are advanced under the rubric of community-orientedness and risk governance, security discourse and practice constructs radicalization as a problem within Muslim communities treating them as suspects who are “potentially radical.” Despite this framing, Muslim CSOs are cooperating with state security agencies in counter-radicalization efforts but are doing so cognizant of the immense power the state exerts over them in such “partnerships.” CSOs are raising questions about the selective nature of security practice which views Muslims as dangerous and violent but fails to fully acknowledge their reality as victims of Islamophobic violence. CSOs are using anti-racism, anti-oppression, and rights-based frames to call out the discriminatory treatment of Muslims under national security.

Originality/Value – The author’s study contributes to a community perspective in counterterrorism and counter-radicalization research that is dominated by analyses from “above.” By sharing the experiences of Canadian Muslim CSOs under counter-radicalization, the author illustrates the practice of “diffuse securitizing” and how it limits the work of civil society in liberal democracies.

Details

Radicalization and Counter-Radicalization
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83982-988-8

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 1998

Warwick Funnell

The introduction of efficiency auditing in Australian Commonwealth state audit created a level of stress and threat for the Auditor‐General never previously encountered. Using…

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Abstract

The introduction of efficiency auditing in Australian Commonwealth state audit created a level of stress and threat for the Auditor‐General never previously encountered. Using insights from processual analysis as developed by Turner to demonstrate the pressures on state audit, the paper focuses on the principal events constituting the short life of the new Efficiency Audit Division (1978‐84) which had been established within the Australian Audit Office to develop efficiency auditing methods and to carry out efficiency audits. It documents for the first time a level of executive intrusion in state audit which contradicts the image promoted in Westminster democracies of a robustly independent state auditor and highlights the political nature of state audit.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 11 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

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Article
Publication date: 1 May 1997

David Pollitt

Purchasing effectiveness is one of the most critical factors in determining the profitability of business, and yet it is typically one of the least well understood and managed. In…

Abstract

Purchasing effectiveness is one of the most critical factors in determining the profitability of business, and yet it is typically one of the least well understood and managed. In a recent study with 50 leading European businesses we have established that an effective purchasing strategy can improve profitability by up to 30 per cent. Few businesses seriously assess their purchasing activity or invest in its development, so that usually this source of value remains untapped.

Details

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, vol. 25 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-0552

Article
Publication date: 1 June 2003

Leigh Robinson

Public leisure service providers have become increasingly conscious of the need to improve the quality of their service provision as a result of increasing customer expectations…

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Abstract

Public leisure service providers have become increasingly conscious of the need to improve the quality of their service provision as a result of increasing customer expectations, growing competition and government legislation. This paper presents the findings of a survey carried out in the UK, investigating the role of quality schemes in public leisure services. The study shows that a significant proportion of public leisure service providers are using quality schemes to manage the quality of their facilities. In addition, the findings show that managers are using quality schemes to improve customer satisfaction and improve management effectiveness. Finally, the study provides evidence of the positive effect of quality schemes upon service delivery aspects of these facilities, but little evidence of the financial advantages of such schemes.

Details

Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, vol. 13 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0960-4529

Keywords

1 – 10 of 195