Search results

A recent empirical study of over 300 manufacturing organisations in the North East of England supports the findings of previous studies by Hanson et al. and has identified fewer “promising” and an even greater proportion of “vulnerable” companies. This paper reports on this new study and identifies significant statistical differences in a number of practices and performance areas. The paper attempts to answer a number of important questions such as, do vulnerable companies really get "something for nothing”? The findings are discussed along with future agendas for change in such organisations.

It is reasonable to assume that levels of business excellence will vary considerably amongst a group of organisations; two recent studies of organisations in north east England support this hypothesis. Draws on these benchmarking data. Relates to 28 business excellence practices and 19 operational performance measures covering strategy, human resources, service delivery and quality, service design and innovation, service value and measurement and business performance. Identifies the extent of any significant differences in overall practice and performance attainment levels between service leaders and their counterparts. Also considers combinations of attributes that best discriminate between levels of attainment. Derives a subset of measures that have the potential to provide an insight into a service organisation’s level of practice adoption and corresponding performance. Also considers additional characteristics to ascertain what association, if any, they have with the level of practice adoption and operational performance amongst the service organisations. All significant differences are highlighted at the 5 per cent significance level unless otherwise stated.

According to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics, in the fall of 2020, 72.8% of U.S. postsecondary students were enrolled in distance education courses—up from 36.3% in the fall of 2019. While this surge may be explained by a number of factors, one of the most significant factors is the COVID-19-induced pivot to online learning. The rapid and intense expansion in distance education due to COVID-19 offered learners some sense of continuity in their studies, but it also revealed stark inequities in learner resources and access—especially for students of Color and students from lower-income households. Further, as COVID-19 spread, the U.S. roiled in a “twin pandemic” of racial injustice that continued to metastasize—spawning more pain-points such as online environments where racism became unmasked when face-to-face norms were abandoned. These revelations about the shadow side of online learning are particularly concerning in the context of leadership education and its commitment to inclusion, collaboration, and holism. Given this new context for online leadership education, the purpose of this piece is to reflect on how the Journal of Leadership Education has shepherded the journey of online leadership education and what the future of this journey might look like for online leadership educators committed to change. Scaffolded by the Community of Inquiry model, we offer promising practices that address cognitive, social, teaching, and learner presence in the pursuit of culturally relevant/sustaining and equitable online leadership education.

The demand for evidence‐based health practices has created a cultural challenge for Indigenous people around the world. This paper reports on the history and evolution of evidence‐based care into its mainstream status within the behavioural health field. Through the leadership of an Alaska Native tribal organisation, an international forum was convened to address the challenges of evidence‐based practice for Indigenous people. Forum participants developed a model for gathering evidence that integrates rigorous research with Indigenous knowledge and values. The model facilitates development of practices and programmes that are culturally congruent for Indigenous people, accepted and validated by the research community, and deemed supportable by private and governmental sponsors.

The authors explore the impact of an emerging technology, blockchain technology, on diverse governance mechanisms and sustainable supply chain practices and how its relationships with the linkage of these elements.

The methodology incorporates a literature review and a qualitative empirical analysis of the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) standards. Expert opinions from various firms and organizations within the electronics sector are assessed. Through a thematic analysis, the relationships are identified and examined.

Data immutability, transparency and traceability capabilities of blockchain technology enhance the relationship between environmental standards and ecological supply chain sustainability practices. Although immature, the blockchain can influence the governance of supply chain sustainability practices. Immaturity of technology, lack of expertise, sharing information and trust have delayed adoption.

There is limited empirical evidence regarding blockchain's impact on governance mechanisms, specifically hybrid public-private mechanisms and sustainable supply chain practices. The study further evaluates how particular blockchain features may exert varying influences on these aspects and different sustainable supply chain traits. As an exploratory study, it proposes new areas for further research, including how blockchain's traceability function can improve sustainability standard adoption. Additionally, there is a call for integrating blockchain with technologies like IoT and sensors which may influence supply chain governance mechanisms, standards and sustainability practices.

The purpose of this paper is to consider organisational performance relating to “sustainability and inclusion” and to assess four related indicators across the manufacturing and service sectors both in absolute performance terms and by level of TQM implementation and organisational size.

The paper is based on two empirical studies (manufacturing and service) undertaken in North Eastern England, involving the application of a self‐assessed benchmarking tool. Data were collected from 128 manufacturers and 428 service organisations where performance measures relating to “sustainability and inclusion” were considered.

The findings presented in this paper indicate the level of performance in “sustainability and inclusion”, together with the impact of size, world‐class status and specific individual and aggregated TQM enablers for both sectors. Both manufacturing and service have some way to go in terms of their performance, whilst organisational size and world‐class appear to influence attainment, as do certain individual and aggregated measures of business practice and internal performance.

The paper shows that further research may involve revisiting the participating organisations to identify the extent of any improvement in their performance relating to “sustainability and inclusion”.

The results in this paper indicate the extent of the room for improvement within both manufacturing and service, but indicate how a greater level of TQM maturity and subsequent internal performance puts an individual organisation in a better position to a certain extent to do this.

The findings in the paper are based on benchmarking data, where the implementation of certain TQM practices and measures of internal business performance have been measured alongside a limited number of measures relating to CSR performance across manufacturing and service as part of a wider regional study. Providing these data together has allowed the exploration of the association between the two sets of measures.

This paper aims to increase understanding of the application of total quality management (TQM) initiatives in business environments that differ from those where it emerged. Organisations within such environments, which are often less developed, may wish to adopt relatively sophisticated initiatives such as TQM. The adoption of TQM programmes by a variety of private and public sector organisations in South Eastern Europe (SEE) is a prime example. Little has been said about the awareness and applicability of TQM in this region.

A combination of quantitative and qualitative research approaches was used. The quantitative results emerged from the investigation of 782 managers working in 123 service organisations in public and private sectors (51 and 72 respectively) in four major SEE countries, namely Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece. Subsequently, for triangulation and to provide richer data, 34 follow‐up semi‐structured interviews were conducted with managers from these four countries.

After having carried out quantitative and qualitative analyses, a four‐fold model emerged, through which key features of the application of TQM practices in the SEE region could be explained. The components of the model are categorised in two major groups; first, the influences of the business/management culture and modernisation pressures, and second, two key aspects of the business systems – the education level of managers and the sector of employment.

Both cultural and structural features of the business systems in SEE create pressures either promoting or retarding TQM adoption within organisations. The paper provides a four‐fold factors model that aims to explain key regional‐specific issues related to TQM adoption. This approach provides insights into the region studied, but also provides a prototype for similar studies in other regions.

In the SEE context, the tension between traditional business/management culture and modernisation logic is the key to the evolution of TQM. SEE managers adopt a more pragmatic view of TQM application through the use of “hard” quality management systems and practices, while placing less importance on concepts such as empowerment and employee involvement.

The study argues for the adoption of a regional‐specific view of TQM, applicable to particular regional business systems.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of rural older veterans in the US and discuss how the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is increasing access to health care for older veterans in rural areas.

This is a descriptive paper summarizing population and program data about rural veterans.

VA provides a variety of health care services and benefits for older veterans to support health, independence, and quality of life. With the creation of the Veterans Health Administration Office of Rural Health (ORH) in 2006, the needs of rural veterans, who are on average older than urban veterans, are receiving greater attention and support. ORH and VA have implemented several programs to specifically improve access to health care for rural veterans and to improve quality of care for older veterans in rural areas.

This paper is one of the first to describe how VA is addressing the health care needs of older, rural veterans.

This paper is about the implementation of the evidence-based practice paradigm in child welfare in Europe. Our main question is whether there is a pan-European perspective on evidence-based working in this area, and if so, how it can be characterised.

We try to answer this question by means of a theoretical analysis, which is focusing on three issues: the construct “Europe”, recent evolutions in child welfare on the continent and the implementation of the evidence-based practice paradigm in child welfare.

Europe is a patchwork of regions, cultures and laws. This impacts practice. Since more than a decade now, the evidence-based practice paradigm conquered child welfare. This evolution was preceded by a movement towards children's rights and quality of care. The way the paradigm is interpreted and put into practice in Europe is largely influenced by regional policies and local view points, which means there is no pan-European perspective on evidence-based working in child welfare.

The lack of a pan-European perspective may be a strength, because it helps to blend evidence-based working with the need for an inclusive and culturally sensitive child welfare practice.

The extent to which an organisation is successful can be influenced by a number of its strategies and business initiatives. This success can be measured internally, using traditional measures such as profitability, return on net assets and cash flow. Equally, this success can also be measured in terms of external measures such as growth, the competition and the impact of a changing business environment. This paper attempts to assess the association between the extent to which TQM initiatives have been successfully implemented and the changes in performance measures both internal and external. This has been done by analysing benchmarking data collected from nearly 450 service organisations from the North East of England. The survey results suggest that the TQM enablers have the greatest impact upon operational performance and then business performance, but only limited impact on external measures of sustainability such as business growth, competitive advantage and change management.