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The authors are the Officer in Charge and one of the Care Officers of a local authority residential home for the elderly mentally infirm. Describes the staff′s experience in designing and implementing a quality assurance system under ISO 9000. Looks at the way in which the project was tackled, and the resulting benefits to the residents, the staff team, and the overall atmosphere of the home.

Describes the development of a quality assurance system in a residential home for the elderly mentally infirm, and its registration under ISO 9000/BS 5750. The two prime objectives of the project were to demonstrate the applicability of the ISO 9000 model to human care services, and to integrate the systematic approach of quality assurance with the human‐centred concepts of a total quality culture. The quality assurance system was developed primarily by the home′s own staff, beginning with their definition of residents′ requirements of the service. Discusses the methods of defining outcome measures, of designing the system, of developing it and of implementing it, together with the difficulties encountered, and the impact of the project on team spirit and on the quality of the service.

Charts the unfortunate events surrounding the 1974 wedding of a couple who later, on their honeymoon, discovered that they had both had sexual relations with the minister. Billy James Hargis. Contents the revelations forced his resignation as he also admitted 3 further liaisons with male students at the American Christian College. Mentions Laud Humphreys and his work to classify the meeting of men for homosexual acts in the “tearoom”, a place where up to 20 men go for oral sex, without commitment, as some are heterosexual.

This article attempts to capture and extend the lessons rendered in the previous articles in this book. In overview we may observe that over the past three decades, criticisms about government performance have surfaced across the world from all points of the political spectrum. Critics have alleged that governments are inefficient, ineffective, too large, too costly, overly bureaucratic, overburdened by unnecessary rules, unresponsive to public wants and needs, secretive, undemocratic, invasive into the private rights of citizens, self-serving, and failing in the provision of either the quantity or quality of services deserved by the taxpaying public (See, for example, Barzelay & Armajani, 1992; Osborne & Gaebler, 1993; Jones & Thompson, 1999). Fiscal stress has also plagued many governments and has increased the cry for less costly or less expansive government, for greater efficiency, and for increased responsiveness. High profile members of the business community, financial institutions, the media, management consultants, academic scholars and the general public all have pressured politicians and public managers to reform. So, too have many supranational organizations, including OECD, the World Bank, and the European Commission. Accompanying the demand and many of the recommendations for change has been support for the application of market-based logic and private sector management methods to government (see, for example, Moe, 1984; Olson, Guthrie, & Humphrey, 1998; Harr & Godfrey, 1991; Milgrom & Roberts, 1992; Jones & Thompson, 1999). Application of market-driven solutions and business techniques to the public sector has undoubtedly been encouraged by the growing ranks of public sector managers and analysts educated in business schools and public management programs (Pusey, 1991).

The digital revolution has substantially changed the business environment. Most banks have acknowledged the importance of new technologies to improve performance and client satisfaction. The development of these innovations has led to the entrance of the so-called Fintechs. This paper aims to evaluate the impact of these transformations on the performance of financial institutions and on their business model.

The authors use data envelopment analysis and Malmquist total productivity indices to measure financial institutions’ efficiency and their influence on strategy.

The main finding is that clients are more than ever at the core of banking strategy. The irrelevance of distance in basic banking transactions has reduced expenses and contributed to increasing revenues for all financial institutions. Banks will have a card to play in the advice they can bring to their clients.

This research could be of interest for financial managers who wish to re-examine their current business practices and imagine their business model for the future.

The contribution will be to further define the correlation between the provision of electronic banking services and its performance by including diversified institutions (conventional banks, Fintechs, Gafas) in the sample from multiple geographic zones to identify differences as regards their efficiency and business practices.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate inhabitants of Finland and their continuing efforts to narrate a national identity within the constraints imposed by discursive meanings of Finnish culture through the experience of sauna.

Data collection comprised semi-structured interviews with Finnish local residents and entrepreneurs; these were supplemented with secondary data including books, articles, advertisements and documents referencing sauna in the context of Finland.

The analysis and interpretation by the authors show that the symbolic resource of sauna constitutes the legitimation of Finnish nation branding discourses at three levels: regulative, normative and cultural-cognitive; we label these sauna governance, communal identity creation and mythmaking, respectively.

The research contribution reveals that nation branding discourses are also forms of legitimation work. Finnish nation branding discourses are interwoven with sauna as the symbolic resource of “Finnishness” and become conduits for the expression of discursive meanings. This demonstrates that institutional legitimacy is an intrinsic aspect of the ways place branding discourses can be used as a mode of governance (i.e. a policy instrument).

Purpose – The purpose of this work is to explore ways in which parents of children with disabilities actively seek to create a place for themselves and their children within supportive communities of others – despite structural and attitudinal barriers.

Methodology – Semi-structured, interactive interviews were conducted with six mothers and six fathers of older teens and young adults with severe impairments. Interview transcripts were analyzed for themes related to barriers to social participation and strategies used to create and sustain communities of supportive others.

Findings – Results suggest that, while there are indeed many barriers to social participation, these mothers and fathers have successfully utilized a variety of strategies in order to create a sense of community for themselves and their children including: garnering support from family; creating enclaves of “wise” individuals; and active social networking. Findings also suggest that children with disabilities can provide opportunities for parental community involvement in unexpected ways.

Limitations, implications and value – The sample is small and selective and the study used retrospective interviews to examine parental memories. Despite these limitations, the narratives of these parents provide a provocative look at the potential role of personal agency in the community experiences of parents of children with disabilities. The stories told by these parents clearly suggest that it takes concerted effort to construct a village in the face of significant barriers to social participation. Once created, however, that village of supportive others can provide life enhancing support for children with disabilities and their families.

Dr. EASTWOOD'S report to the Local Government Board on this subject is of special interest to the people of this country at the present time in view of the steps that are being taken with the object of checking the spread of tuberculosis, and the undoubted connections that exist between that and other diseases, and the sources and character of the milk supply. In this country little attention has hitherto been paid to the condition of cows or cowsheds, except perhaps in rare instances where the former were obviously diseased, or the latter constituted a public nuisance; while the connection between milk supply and disease has scarcely been recognised by the Legislature and by public authorities, and has been entirely ignored by the general public. For some years past the health authorities in the United States, as well as those of some other countries, have been making very serious efforts to eradicate tuberculosis from dairy herds, if that be possible. The way in which some of the various States and Cities of the Union are attempting to do this is of importance and interest to us for various reasons. Their problems are very much the same as ours. The success or failure of milk regulations in the United States may, therefore, be taken as an indication of the probable success or failure of ours. Such methods are, therefore, valuable as broadly suggesting those which we may usefully adopt or avoid. The United States also send us a large proportion of our oversea meat supply, and any question relating to the general health of dairy herds cannot be dissociated from one affecting the general health of animals that are slaughtered for their meat. It may also be remarked that such questions relate not only to the meat supply from the States, but also to the great cattle ranches of the Southern American continent, in which British and American capital is becoming increasingly employed. The Americans are nothing if not practical. They are almost proverbially unhampered by tradition. They are quick to adopt what may prove to be new remedies for old evils. While the independent control exercised by each State of the Union over its own internal affairs results in the attempted solution of any general problem being presented in almost as many forms.

This is a comprehensive list of books, some pamphlets, and a few sound recordings about or by Ronald (and Nancy) Reagan. Collections of photographs and cartoons as well as biographies, political commentary, speeches, quotations and even recipes are represented. Omitted are books in which there is only brief mention of him. The bibliography was compiled in connection with a major exhibit on Ronald Reagan at the Colorado State University Library. It is the author's intention to continue to collect Reagan materials.

Within the social work and human service professions, a practitioner’s ability to engage with and assess the needs of marginalized clients can be a high-stakes proposition. If biases and cultural misunderstandings exist during the client engagement and treatment process, vital services such as domestic violence counseling psychotherapy, substance abuse treatment, and elder care can be compromised. The purpose of this chapter is to examine master’s level social work students’ self-perceived “readiness for practice” with diverse populations. Readiness for practice was assessed by two-course assignments: (1) “critical reflectivity assessment” and (2) development of a “cultural competence work plan.” Results revealed that most students overestimated their ability to work with diverse populations at the onset of instruction. However, at the end of the course, students were able to analyze their beliefs and assumptions about diverse, marginalized populations; analyze the concepts of power and privilege as it is manifested within society; and articulate a plan for continued knowledge and skill development beyond the classroom setting.