Search results
1 – 10 of 123Embial Asmamaw Aschale and Habtamu Bishaw Asres
The purpose of this paper is to examine expropriation, valuation, compensation and rehabilitation practices and their impacts on expropriated households.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine expropriation, valuation, compensation and rehabilitation practices and their impacts on expropriated households.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employed a mixed research approach. The target populations of the study were expropriated households in Debre Markos City from 2019 to 2022. The study uses purposive and systematic random sampling techniques. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, narration and thematic clustering.
Findings
The findings of this study revealed that the expropriation process was not participatory and the right holders were not treated as what is expected. It is further found that economic losses, moral damage and social disturbance payments were not considered in the compensation package. The displacement compensation given was also inadequate and sometimes delayed and the time value of money was not taken into account for delayed payments. This creates social and economic problems. The rehabilitation and resettlement program was inadequate and ineffective. The expropriation, valuation, compensation and rehabilitation practice in general lack transparency and accountability.
Practical implications
To ensure efficient and effective expropriation, valuation and compensation, there should be a well-organized government system that provides an accurate valuation on the one hand and restores the livelihood of the displaced on the other.
Originality/value
This paper is the first on expropriation, valuation, compensation and rehabilitation within the framework of transparency, accountability, effective rehabilitation and resettlement and institutional arrangements to ensure the sustainable livelihoods of affected households.
Details
Keywords
Shamim Mohammad, Shivaraj Huchhanavar, Hifzur Rahman and Tariq Sultan Pasha
The extant literature underlines the inadequacies of legal and policy frameworks addressing the safety and health concerns of sandstone mineworkers in India. Notably, Rajasthan, a…
Abstract
Purpose
The extant literature underlines the inadequacies of legal and policy frameworks addressing the safety and health concerns of sandstone mineworkers in India. Notably, Rajasthan, a state renowned for its extractive industries, mirrors these concerns. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to critically evaluate the relevant legal and policy landscape, with an emphasis on the recent central statute: the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code of 2020 (OSHWCC). Given that the Code subsumes the key legislation pertaining to the safety and health of mineworkers, an in-depth critical analysis is essential to forge suitable policy interventions to address continued gross violations of human rights.
Design/methodology/approach
The critical analysis of legal and policy frameworks on silicosis in sandstone mineworkers is based on a comprehensive reading of existing literature. The literature includes relevant laws, case law, reports of the Rajasthan State Human Rights Commission and National Human Rights Commission, publicly available data and key scholarly contributions in the field.
Findings
Although the OSHWCC has made some changes to the existing regulatory architecture of mines in India, it has failed to safeguard the safety and health of mineworkers. Notably, the vast majority of mines in India – constituting approximately 90%, which are informal, seasonal and small-scale – remain beyond the jurisdiction of this Code. In Rajasthan, there are specific policies on silicosis, but these policies are poorly implemented. There is a serious shortage of doctors to diagnose silicosis cases, leading to under-diagnosis. The compensation for silicosis victims is insufficient; the distribution mechanism is complex and often delayed.
Research limitations/implications
The central and many state governments have not established the regulatory institutions envisaged under the OSHWCC 2020; therefore, the working of the regulatory institutions could not be critically examined.
Originality/value
The paper critically evaluates laws and policies pertaining to silicosis in sandstone mineworkers, with a special emphasis on the state of Rajasthan. It offers a comprehensive critique of the OSHWCC of 2020, which has not received much attention from previous studies.
Details
Keywords
Zhengbiao Han, Huan Zhong and Preben Hansen
To reveal the emotions and information needs expressed by Chinese parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in an online forum, and their relationship.
Abstract
Purpose
To reveal the emotions and information needs expressed by Chinese parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in an online forum, and their relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
The 10,062 data were from “Yi Lin”, China’s largest online forum for ASD. Open coding identified parents’ emotions and information needs, and a chi-squared test explored the correlation.
Findings
First, parents’ emotions were categorized into four themes: emotions about coping with their child’s care, emotions about the parents’ own behavior, emotions about social support with other parents and emotions about anticipating the future. Parents’ overall emotions were negative (72.47%), while the tendency of emotions varied among the four themes. Second, five information needs topics were expressed: intervention and training of ASD, parenting experiences, schooling issues, social interaction and support and future development. Different information needs topics contained different themes of emotions. Third, the tendency of emotions and expression of information needs were significantly correlated. Negative emotions had a statistically significant correlation in expression of information needs.
Originality/value
This study reveals the relationship between the emotions and information needs expressed by parents of children with ASD. The ASD forum could develop emotional support modules and functions for parents and facilitate emotional communication between parents.
Details
Keywords
Reimara Valk and Benito Versluijs
The purpose of this paper is to explore the reintegration process of Wounded, Injured or Sick Employees (WISE) of the Dutch Military Armed Forces.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the reintegration process of Wounded, Injured or Sick Employees (WISE) of the Dutch Military Armed Forces.
Design/methodology/approach
The research method is an exploratory, qualitative case study. A purposive sampling was drawn, including 10 WISE, and 6 reintegration stakeholders. A total of 16 interviews were conducted to explore the individual, organisational and socio-environmental factors that influence reintegration of WISE.
Findings
Findings show the importance of involvement and participation of members of the social environment in the reintegration process. Findings show that the complexity of the plethora of WISEs' injuries and disabilities requires a more person-centric reintegration approach with personalized-customized provisions, rather than a policy-driven approach to the reintegration, in order to enhance the reintegration experience and to arrive at beneficial individual and organisational reintegration outcomes.
Research limitations/implications
This cross-sectional study on a limited sample of WISE and reintegration stakeholders does not allow for making inferences about the long-term effects of the reintegration process on reintegration outcomes of the wider population of WISE. Future longitudinal research, encompassing a larger sample, could examine the long-term career, organisational and societal implications of reintegration of WISE within and outside the Military Armed Forces.
Practical implications
This paper presents a “Wounded Warrior Workplace Reintegration Program”, aimed at deriving beneficial outcomes for all stakeholders involved in the reintegration trajectory.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature by presenting a Model of Occupational Reintegration of WISE that considers the factors at an individual, social-environmental, and institutional level as determinants of successful reintegration.
Details
Keywords
Anne Marie Gosselin and Sylvie Berthelot
Just like human beings, some companies engage in recurrent bad behaviour that negatively impacts their stakeholders and their prospects for long-term survival. For example, some…
Abstract
Purpose
Just like human beings, some companies engage in recurrent bad behaviour that negatively impacts their stakeholders and their prospects for long-term survival. For example, some firms become caught up in a vortex of corruption. SNC-Lavalin, a large Canadian consulting engineering company, is an example of one organisation that embarked on this path. Since then, the company has taken numerous steps to overcome its persistent problems with corruption. The object of this study is to determine whether these steps can be compared to the 12-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), which is recognised for helping individuals overcome addiction to alcohol and drugs.
Design/methodology/approach
To examine events at SNC-Lavalin between 2000 and 2022, the authors carry out an in-depth examination of internal and external documentation. Three sources of data are used: archival documents, news articles and corporate documentation.
Findings
The results of the analysis show that the AA 12-step program seems to correspond to the steps SNC-Lavalin has taken over time. The “organisational” version of this program that the authors have developed could be useful to advisers of companies that are struggling with other types of bad behaviour and wish to stamp it out. These bad behaviours include the exploitation of vulnerable manpower, the exploitation of consumers through planned obsolescence or aggressive sales practices and pollution in all its forms.
Research limitations/implications
The study has certain limitations. It should be noted that the analyses were limited to public information. In addition, given the quantity of public information available for the period from 2009 to 2022, a methodical approach to selecting the sources of information elements was applied, which inevitably entailed ignoring other sources of information (e.g. television, radio and internet).
Originality/value
This study adds to previous work by providing an original and global perspective of the steps taken by a large international consulting engineering firm to overcome its recurring corruption problems. The parallel drawn with AA’s 12-step programs seems to correspond surprisingly well to the steps taken by the company. This parallel can potentially serve as a roadmap for advisers who have to counsel companies on recurring misconduct that has harmful repercussions for their stakeholders.
Details
Keywords
Kelley A. Packalen, Kaitlyn Sobchuk, Kelly Qin-Wang, Jenelle Cheetham, Jaclyn Hildebrand, Agnieszka Fecica and Rosemary Lysaght
The goal of this study was to understand which employee-focused workplace practices and priorities – more formally known as human resource (HR) practices and priorities …
Abstract
Purpose
The goal of this study was to understand which employee-focused workplace practices and priorities – more formally known as human resource (HR) practices and priorities – employees with mental health and/or addiction challenges (MHAC) valued and how they perceived the day-to-day implementation of those practices and priorities in the workplace integration social enterprises (WISEs) that employed them.
Design/methodology/approach
Twenty-two WISE workers who self-identified as having serious MHAC participated in semi-structured interviews. Interviews were transcribed and coded to identify ways that employees did or did not feel supported in their WISEs.
Findings
Participants identified three HR practices and two HR priorities as important to establishing an inclusive workplace that accommodated their MHAC. The extent to which individual participants felt included and accommodated, however, was shaped by interactions with their supervisors and coworkers.
Originality/value
By evaluating the salience of WISEs’ employee-focused workplace practices and priorities through the lens of the employees themselves, our study articulates the critical role that interactions with coworkers and supervisors have in determining whether HR practices and priorities have the intended effect on worker experience.
Details
Keywords
Shuyuan Xu, Jun Wang, Xiangyu Wang, Wenchi Shou and Tuan Ngo
This paper covers the development of a novel defect model for concrete highway bridges. The proposed defect model is intended to facilitate the identification of bridge’s…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper covers the development of a novel defect model for concrete highway bridges. The proposed defect model is intended to facilitate the identification of bridge’s condition information (i.e. defects), improve the efficiency and accuracy of bridge inspections by supporting practitioners and even machines with digitalised expert knowledge, and ultimately automate the process.
Design/methodology/approach
The research design consists of three major phases so as to (1) categorise common defect with regard to physical entities (i.e. bridge element), (2) establish internal relationships among those defects and (3) relate defects to their properties and potential causes. A mixed-method research approach, which includes a comprehensive literature review, focus groups and case studies, was employed to develop and validate the proposed defect model.
Findings
The data collected through the literature and focus groups were analysed and knowledge were extracted to form the novel defect model. The defect model was then validated and further calibrated through case study. Inspection reports of nearly 300 bridges in China were collected and analysed. The study uncovered the relationships between defects and a variety of inspection-related elements and represented in the form of an accessible, digitalised and user-friendly knowledge model.
Originality/value
The contribution of this paper is the development of a defect model that can assist inexperienced practitioners and even machines in the near future to conduct inspection tasks. For one, the proposed defect model can standardise the data collection process of bridge inspection, including the identification of defects and documentation of their vital properties, paving the path for the automation in subsequent stages (e.g. condition evaluation). For another, by retrieving rich experience and expert knowledge which have long been reserved and inherited in the industrial sector, the inspection efficiency and accuracy can be considerably improved.
Details
Keywords
Nicholas Tymvios, Jake Smithwick and Michael Behm
With proper design and work planning, falls through fragile skylights are preventable. Skylights pose a hazard to workers when their work tasks for operations, maintenance and…
Abstract
Purpose
With proper design and work planning, falls through fragile skylights are preventable. Skylights pose a hazard to workers when their work tasks for operations, maintenance and repair require them to be on roofs. The National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety produced guidelines and special alerts to address the dangers that are present around skylights, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations have prescriptive requirements for work performed around skylights, and yet incidents still occur. The purpose of this study is to investigate and raise awareness for the causality of the incidents involving skylights in the USA.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors investigated and analyzed 204 incidents involving skylights recorded by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to characterize their nature and to determine any correlation with the roof environment or the nature of the work performed. Using Google Earth and Google Maps roof geometry, proximity of skylights to roof edge and rooftop mechanical equipment was determined.
Findings
The majority of falls through skylights occur during roof maintenance and repair activities. Falls through skylights are underreported. Because of a general lack of good design to reduce or eliminate the risk of falling through skylights, facility managers carry the burden to properly assess work and access on roofs where fragile skylights are present.
Originality/value
The phenomenon of falling through skylights was made aware on a national level in the USA in 1989; however, little has been done from a design and planning perspective to reduce these incidents. This paper presents a unique perspective on the role of facility managers in understanding the hazards associated with roof maintenance near skylights.
Details
Keywords
This paper aims to explore how environmental employment can promote desistance among criminalised children. Research demonstrates that being immersed in and interacting with the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how environmental employment can promote desistance among criminalised children. Research demonstrates that being immersed in and interacting with the natural environment has a positive impact upon well-being and behaviour, including reduced aggressive and violent behaviours. However, how exposure to the natural environment might promote desistance amongst children with persistent criminal involvement is unclear.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper examines, through semi-structured interviews and participant observations, the experiences of n = 23 criminalised children aged 16–18 employed in outdoor work at a UK social enterprise.
Findings
The findings demonstrate how working in the natural environment can provide a safe space for children, where they can build positive relationships, learn valuable skills and reconnect with the world outside of the high-pressure, conflict-driven spaces in which they typically occupy.
Originality/value
This research highlights the relevance of the setting in which child rehabilitation takes place and the potential role of natural environments in providing places and opportunities which support pro-social identity development and desistance for children.
Details
Keywords
Maria Regina Hechanova, Mariel Rizza C. Tee, Trixia Anne C. Co and Benjamin Ryan M. Rañeses III
Women are exposed to vulnerabilities that can lead to drug use or hinder recovery. However, there is a dearth of studies on recovery programs for women. This study aims to add to…
Abstract
Purpose
Women are exposed to vulnerabilities that can lead to drug use or hinder recovery. However, there is a dearth of studies on recovery programs for women. This study aims to add to the literature by examining the feasibility of a women-only aftercare program for recovering users in the Philippines.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used a mixed-method design with pre and post-program surveys used to measure changes in participants’ recovery capital. Focused group discussions elicited participants’ context, their reactions, perceived outcomes and suggestions on the program.
Findings
Women in the program shared narratives of pain, trauma and abuse before treatment. Participants reported significant improvements in personal, community and family recovery capital dimensions. The program enabled personal growth in the form of new knowledge, skills and self-confidence. The women-only program also provided a safe space for women, to receive support from other women, community members and family. However, the women continue to face continuing challenges related to stigma and discrimination and a lack of livelihood opportunities.
Research limitations/implications
A limitation of the study was its small sample size and the lack of a control group. Another limitation was the variability in treatment received by the women, which could have affected overall outcomes. Future studies using a randomized control trial and longitudinal designs may provide more robust conclusions on the effectiveness of the program.
Practical implications
Given punitive contexts, gender-sensitive and trauma-informed programs and services for women involved in drug use could potentially mitigate the abuse, stigma and vulnerabilities they experience.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the sparse literature on women-only aftercare, particularly in countries that criminalize drug use.
Details