Search results

The purpose of this paper is to show that Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) may have utility with this client group in routine clinical practice.

This uncontrolled double case study describes the targeting of ACT processes with people referred to a mental health service for people with intellectual disabilities because of distressing intrusive thoughts. It includes qualitative data to illustrate the opinions of the participants eight weeks after the end of therapy.

Both clients described rapid relief from distress, with some additional untargeted benefits emerging too. The participants provided follow-up qualitative data in which they described how the therapy had helped them as well as areas where it had not.

This paper presents uncontrolled case studies selected from routine clinical practice. They were selected due to their similarity of outcome and will not represent the experience of every client treated this way.

The practical implications are that a therapy often considered to rely on the use of metaphors and the manipulation of complex metacognitions may be useful for people with more limited verbal and cognitive ability if the therapy is adapted to meet their level of ability.

There has been very little published on using ACT with an intellectual disabilities population. This paper has originality value in that it illustrates the application of the approach in routine clinical practice. Additionally, the qualitative follow-up allows the participants’ voices to be heard about their experience of this approach.

The purpose of this paper, a “thought piece”, is to consider the everyday realities of homebased working and the implications for work during a global pandemic and beyond.

The authors present a conceptual framework for considering the domestic sphere as a social space and apply this framework to consider the existing evidence base on homebased working. In particular, the authors consider the implications of homebased working during and after the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of gender.

The authors identify key challenges in relation to flexibility, work intensification and socio-economic differences. Consideration of these areas highlights the potential pitfalls and challenges that are likely to persist as many organisations begin to plan for an increase in homebased working.

The authors argue that some commentators have been too quick to celebrate the apparent successes of the sudden, unplanned move to intensive homebased working. Important differences in occupation, gender and other socio-economic factors will have important implications for the experience of homebased working for many workers and their co-residents.

Alongside the ubiquitous computer games apparently the marketing success of the 1992 toy season was a series of 25 year old puppets who had featured in a repeat showing of the orginal ITV series on BBC — Thunderbirds — more than 70 franchises have been sold to sell goods marked with the International Rescue logo and it is alleged that these products are even bigger than the previous smash marketing hit the Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles, saving thousands of jobs and making substantial profits for the British toy industry. The characters are licensed for right‐owners ITC (originally the international marketing arm of ATV, the ITV company which put out the programme, and now an independent company, ATV having long since lost its ITV franchise) by Copyright Promotions, Europe's largest licensing company (‘Thunderbirds are go to save the toy industry’ Sunday Telegraph 15/11/92).

Milk sampling is of little use unless some standard is fixed to which all ungraded milks might be expected to attain, this being essential for the comparison of results. The absence of such standards, other than those provided by the Milk (Special Designations) Order, is to be deplored, and it is essential that some limit should be fixed beyond which samples must be considered unsatisfactory. Authorities have therefore to exercise their own judgment in the matter. That no producer can at present be compelled to attain an unofficial standard is not so great a drawback as might at first be thought. Dirty milk means wrong methods, and any producer, given the necessary educational assistance, can, if he wishes, produce milk which will maintain a suitable standard. Unsatisfactory results mean neglect, and the remedy for consistent neglect is the use of the legislation provided. In other words, although action cannot be taken upon unsatisfactory bacteriological results per se, the root causes of the contamination as shown by the analyses can be dealt with through orthodox channels.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the challenges faced by a small Canadian winery in retaining its winemaker.

Semi‐structured face‐to‐face interviews with both owners of the winery, as well as the general manager and hospitality manager.

A case study has been produced that will allow readers to apply their understanding of key organizational behaviour (e.g. job characteristics model, motivation theories) concepts and effective recruitment, retention and selection principles, to assist in trying to retain the key position of winemaker.

This case study will be useful for those involved in the wine business, as well as students of human resources and organizational behaviour. Retaining employees with unique skill sets provides employers with a competitive advantage and this case explores a variety of retention strategies.

Very few cases have been written involving the recruitment, retention and selection of winemakers and therefore this paper will be of interest to both academics and practitioners.

Recent research develops theory and evidence to understand how organizations come to be seen as “actors” with specified features and properties, a core concern for phenomenological institutionalism. The authors use evidence from changes in research designs in the organizational study of institutional logics as an empirical strategy to add fresh evidence to the debates about the institutional construction of organizations as actors. The case is the research literature on the institutional logics perspective, a literature in which organizational and institutional theorists grapple with long-time social theory questions about nature and context of action and more contemporary debates about the dynamics of social orders. With rapid growth since the early 1990s, this research program has elaborated and proliferated in ways meant to advance the study of societal orders, frames, and practices in diverse inter- and intra-organizational contexts. The study identifies two substantive trends over the observation period: A shift in research design from field-level studies to organization-specific contexts, where conflicts are prominent in the organization, and a shift in the conception of logic transitions, originally from one dominant logic to another, then more attention to co-existence or blending of logics. Based on this evidence, the authors identify a typology of four available research genres that mark a changed conception of organizations as actors. The case of institutional logics makes visible the link between research designs and research outcomes, and it provides new evidence for the institutional processes that construct organizational actorhood.

Electronic texts are an essential component of any e‐learning environment. This paper extends previous research on navigation and learning with electronic texts by examining the effects of a novel approach to navigation: allowing the learner to create their own navigation aids. We present two experimental studies investigating the effects of creating versus using A‐Z indexes and graphical maps on knowledge development and feelings of ownership for learning. Findings revealed that using a graphical map for navigation has advantages for knowledge development and for feelings of ownership, whereas creating a graphical map offers no significant benefits over plain hypertext; there were no benefits to using or creating A‐Z indexes over plain hypertext. It was also found in comparisons of using vs. creating graphical maps that high feelings of ownership were correlated with higher quality knowledge development. These findings have three major implications for designers of e‐learning environments: including graphical map navigation aids should be considered; designers should not assume that allowing learners to create their own navigation aids will improve learning; feelings of ownership for learning should be encouraged in learners.

Although existing research on cohesion provides a robust understanding of the emergent phenomenon in small groups and teams, our comprehension of cohesion at the multisystem (MTS) level is quite limited. The simultaneous within- and between-team functioning inherent in MTSs produces more intricate dynamics than those observed at the team level. This added layer of complexity requires that many familiar team constructs, including cohesion, be systematically re-conceptualized and empirically examined through the lens of MTS theory (DeChurch & Zaccaro, 2010; Hackman, 2003). The present research addresses this gap by extending the conceptualization of team cohesion to the interteam level, and empirically investigating how cohesion functions across levels in a collective network of teams. Results from preliminary research suggest that intrateam and interteam cohesion share a curvilinear relationship with one another, while simultaneously interacting to affect overall system-level outcomes. This research not only illuminates the complexities associated with emergent phenomena in MTSs, but also serves as a starting point for continued, systematic research of the multilevel cohesive bonds that characterize MTS functioning.

In the process of starting new ventures, entrepreneurs typically reallocate existing resources to new uses. These resource reallocations challenge the status quo, and are therefore often viewed with suspicion by others (Aldrich & Fiol, 1994). Thus, entrepreneurs need to convince others that the actions required of their new venture are desirable, proper and/or appropriate – they need to gain legitimacy. Institutional theory holds that new ventures have to conform to institutional pressures in order to gain legitimacy. Legitimacy is essential for the new ventures’ chances of survival (cf. Aldrich & Auster, 1986; Aldrich, 1999; Stinchcombe, 1965; Singh, Tucker, & House, 1986). For example, a new venture's reputation facilitates its entry into business networks, which enhances growth (Larson, 1992) and an individual's associations with government agencies and community organizations have positive effects on business founding and survival (Baum & Oliver, 1996). Consequently, institutional theory may lead us to expect that those new ventures that adapt most to institutional pressures would have the greatest chances of success.

Although legislation and regulations form an important foundation for recordkeeping and for accountability, questions of transparency and openness must be addressed in a wider context. Oliver and Foscarini have argued for the importance of recognising differing cultures and the ways in which they value records and recordkeeping. In addition to reporting mechanisms and relationships, accountability must encompass a culture and a mindset which is transparent, responsive and focused on self-improvement. This paper aims to apply a dual interpretation of accountability in the context of Irish public sector recordkeeping to identify shortcomings and suggest potential remedies with a view to improving the accountability of Irish recordkeeping itself, and the extent to which it contributes to wider accountability in society.

This paper assesses accountability in Irish public sector recordkeeping using a model suggested by Mark Bovens, which views accountability as both a mechanism and a virtue. The model emphasises that both interpretations are necessary but that mechanisms (laws, regulations and checklists) on their own cannot be sufficient to satisfy accountability requirements. As noted by Onora O’Neill, the aim of accountability should not be checklists or artificial metrics, but the nurturing of behaviours and cultures which make public institutions more deserving of our trust. Reference will be made to Irish legislation, to records management policies in government departments, to relevant annual reports and to current practice with regard to appraisal and other recordkeeping functions to measure Irish public sector recordkeeping against Bovens' model.

This paper suggests that Irish public sector recordkeeping has a range of shortcomings under both the narrow (mechanism) and broad (virtue) interpretations of accountability. Lack of reporting requirements and oversight mechanisms in existing legislation allows for major gaps in public sector recordkeeping, facilitating a lack of accountability in the citizen–state relationship. Meanwhile, an absence of records management policies and an overall lack of appreciation of the value of records leads to opaque practices and a lack of transparency. The recordkeeping profession itself adopts processes and practices, which are not aligned with the concept of accountability as a virtue, and which do not reflect a commitment to transparency and meeting the legitimate interests of stakeholders. This paper suggests changes in relevant legislation but also suggests that these must be accompanied by a more open and responsive working culture within the recordkeeping profession.

By applying Bovens’ dual concept of accountability, this paper provides a new and more comprehensive assessment of public sector recordkeeping in Ireland, which can equally be applied in other contexts. It identifies ways in which revised legislation can contribute to greater accountability, but emphasises that regulations must be accompanied by a culture of transparency and responsiveness, and that recordkeepers have a crucial role to play in terms of their own commitment to transparency and professional accountability.