bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
How children from disadvantaged areas keep safe
Authors: Turner Katrina M. , Hill Malcolm , Stafford Anne , Walker Moira
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The paper sets out to describe how children from disadvantaged areas perceive their communities and actively negotiate threats in their lives.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 60 interviews and 16 discussions groups were held with 8 to 14‐year‐olds sampled from four deprived communities located in the West of Scotland. Participants were asked about their local area and how they kept safe. Data were coded thematically and area, age and gender differences examined.

Findings

Children mentioned both positive and negative aspects of their local area. Positive elements primarily related to being near friends and important adults. The negatives were linked to local youth gangs, adults, litter and graffiti, traffic, and drug and alcohol misuse. Participants used both preventive and reactive strategies to keep safe.

Research limitations/implications

Owing to the strategies used to sample areas and participants, the extent to which findings can be generalised is limited. Thus, the study should be repeated on a larger scale, with areas and participants being randomly sampled.

Practical implications

The article will enable practitioners and policy makers concerned with the wellbeing and safety of young people in deprived areas to frame interventions that are in line with children's own concerns and preferred means for dealing with challenges.

Originality/value

The paper provides fresh insights into how children from deprived areas perceive their communities and deal with the risks and tensions they face. It highlights the subtle balancing involved in peer relationships that are central to both support and threats in children's everyday lives.
Family and school influences on adolescent smoking behaviour
Authors: Wiium Nora , Wold Bente
Published: January 2007

Purpose

This paper aims to examine how influences at home and school interact to predict smoking among adolescents.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 15‐year‐old pupils from Norway (n=1,404 in 73 Grade 10 school classes). Multilevel logistic regression analysis was used to determine how family and school influences interact to predict adolescent smoking behaviour.

Findings

A total of 14 schools strictly enforced the ban on smoking among pupils, and 60 schools strictly enforced existing restrictions on teachers' smoking. Pupils from all schools were exposed to smoking by both their families and teachers. Although the main effects of school enforcement and family smoking were not associated with adolescent smoking behaviour, a cross‐level interaction term between these variables was significantly associated with school level variation in regular smoking (odds ratio [OR] 5.57, 95 percent confidence interval 1.47‐21.12). Individual rather than school's perception of exposure to teachers' smoking, and parental norms were associated with adolescent smoking behaviour, irrespective of the school's level of enforcement.

Practical implications

The effect of school smoking restrictions seems to be dependent on smoking norms at home. Thus, in addition to school‐based anti‐smoking policies, those directed at parents are needed as well.

Originality/value

The present study used a multilevel statistical approach to study the association between the independent factors and adolescent smoking behaviour, an approach that takes into account the cluster effect in hierarchically structured data. The use of this approach is important in studies that involve data with hierarchies as a means to avoid false conclusions.
The impact of health communication on health‐related decision making
Authors: Vahabi Mandana
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to review evidence related to the factors that influence people's understanding of health information and how miscommunication of health information can jeopardize people's health.

Design/methodology/approach

A literature review was conducted of English language articles, cited in major literature databases from the last 40 years, which describe factors related to comprehension of health information. A total of 93 articles were included.

Findings

The paper finds that health communication should take into consideration the role of the following factors on the processing and interpretation of health information: health literacy, format presentation of information, and human cognitive biases and affective/personal influences.

Practical implications

Health communication is a major component of health care. Every health care encounter involves exchange of information, which is intended to enhance people's knowledge in order to assist them to make an informed decision about their health care. However, the mere act of providing information does not guarantee comprehension. People's comprehension of information depends on several factors, including health literacy and numeracy skills, the format presentation of health information and human cognitive biases in the information processing and interpretation. Ineffective health communication can result in a wide range of direct and indirect health consequences including failure to understand and comply with treatment, poorer health status, increased risk of injuries, increased hospitalization, and decreased use of preventive services.

Originality/value

This paper provides health professionals and educators with an overview of important issues related to health communication and highlights strategies that facilitate effective communication to help people to make informed decisions about their health care.
Systematic review of the role of external contributors in school substance use education
Authors: Buckley Emily J. , White David G.
Published: January 2007

Purpose

A literature review was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of external contributors (anyone other than a teacher at the school) in delivering school‐based drug, alcohol and tobacco education (substance use education) programmes.

Design/methodology/approach

The review focused upon literature published from 1990 onwards in English. Published reports were identified via electronic searches, supplemented by hand searching of relevant journals. Relevant organisations and individuals were contacted to identify low circulation, difficult to acquire (grey) literature. Judgements were made of methodological quality and only reports judged to be methodologically sound or better are included in this paper.

Findings

A total of 114 reports were included in the review (53 published, 61 unpublished), 42 of which were considered methodologically sound. In total 16 types of contributor were evaluated (although only nine in methodologically sound studies) including nurses, police officers, theatre groups, peers and researchers. There was insufficient evidence to judge a particular type of contributor as most effective at delivering substance use education programmes in terms of behavioural, knowledge, intention or mediating outcome measures, although peers show promise. However, process data revealed that pupils enjoy content delivered by external contributors, which is important, as pupils are more likely to attend to information that is enjoyable.

Practical implications

The paper finds that external contributors should be used in a supplementary role in substance use education in a manner reflecting their expertise, when that expertise maps onto the aims and content of the drug education planned by the school.

Originality/value

With over 80 percent of schools in the USA and the UK using external contributors to deliver substance use education, this paper highlights best practice guidance for their use.
The relationship between college class and cigarette smoking
Authors: Leppel Karen
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relation between college class and cigarette‐smoking behavior in the USA.

Design/methodology/approach

National College Health Risk Behavior Survey (NCHRBS) data were employed. Five binary and two cumulative logit equations are estimated to explore the impact of college class on: having ever tried smoking cigarettes; having smoked in the past 30 days; having ever smoked on a daily basis; whether the student currently smoked daily; whether the student had quit entirely, that is, had not smoked for the past 30 days; the number of days smoked per month; and the number of cigarettes smoked per day.

Findings

The paper finds that second‐year students were more likely than other undergraduates to be current cigarette smokers. Among current smokers, first‐ and second‐year students smoked the most days per month and second‐year students smoked the most cigarettes per day. Of students who had ever smoked on a daily basis, third‐year students were least likely to have quit and fourth‐year students were most likely.

Research limitations/implications

The paper shows that since the NCHRBS was conducted only in 1995, there is no follow‐up data to determine whether the patterns have continued. It is also more difficult to disentangle college class effects from cohort and period effects.

Originality/value

This paper shows heterogeneity in college smoking and encourages efforts to better target anti‐smoking activities for greater effectiveness.
Identifying Russian and Finnish adolescents' problem behaviours
Authors: Kemppainen Ulla , Tossavainen Kerttu , Vartiainen Erkki , Puska Pekka , Jokela Veikko , Pantelejev Vladimir , Uhanov Mihail
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to show that a syndrome of problem behaviours, i.e. early substance abuse, school and family problems and sexual promiscuity impairs normal development in adolescence. This comparative study looked for differences in the problem behaviour profiles of 15‐year‐old adolescents in the Pitkäranta district in Russia and in eastern Finland, in order to develop more effective strategies for adolescents' health promotion.

Design/methodology/approach

Data from the Russian Pitkäranta Youth Study (n=385) and the Finnish North Karelia Youth Study (n=2098) were used. A K‐means clustering algorithm was used to identify homogenous groups of adolescents based on variation in selected health behaviour variables.

Findings

The paper finds that four different profiles including the variables of current smoking, first smoking experiments, first drinking experiments, experiences of drunkenness and sexual experiences were identified. The identified profiles, titled “Non‐ or late experimenters”, “Middle experimenters”, “Early experimenters” and “Child experimenters”, were found to be distinct across gender, country and other external variables. Adolescents more often in Pitkäranta than in eastern Finland belonged to “Non‐ or late experimenters” of minimal risk‐taking behaviours. Unhealthy dietary habits, use of illegal drugs, psychosomatic disorders and problems with parents were more common among “Early experimenters” and Child experimenters”. These findings added to the evidence of grouping of problem behaviours.

Research limitations/implications

The paper shows that there is a need to develop and implement tailored and coordinated health promotion programs for specific target groups of adolescents. Obviously, adolescents with a high level of risk‐taking behaviours would benefit from programs that acknowledge their cultural expectations in their everyday life contexts.

Practical implications

This paper describes a cross‐sectional comparison of health surveys among adolescents in two countries. It will be interesting to carry out a follow‐up survey in, for example, ten years to see how health issues have changed, especially among Russian adolescents, of whom there is not much research available.

Originality/value

Cluster analysis was a useful method in identifying adolescents' problem behaviours in a cross‐cultural study.
Managers become leaders at NDS
Authors: Landale Anthony
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to look at how an integrated program of formal learning, coaching, business mentoring and project work is delivering results for a television solutions company, NDS.

Design/methodology/approach

Presents the comments of Philippa Davidson, human resources (HR) director at NDS, and Peter Ferrigno, NDS vice‐president of communications and HR, plus the viewpoint of R&A training consultancy, which has sought to develop a program that inspires people and ensures real performance improvement.

Findings

Describes the key elements of the program as: four training modules spread over six to eight months, to awaken participants to their leadership potential and provide creative training around teaming, negotiation, decision‐making and leadership coaching; executive one‐to‐one coaching input for every participant between the modules, to help them to address issues particular to their development or working circumstances; mentoring for every participant from senior managers selected from outside their own area of activity; and a work‐based project as an integral part of the program which has to be presented to the participants' mentors and senior managers on the final module. Argues that the dovetailing of the one‐to‐one coaching and project work with the formal learning is critical.

Practical implications

Demonstrates that organizations that wish to awaken management talent should not rely solely on training: it is the wraparound activities of mentoring, coaching and project delivery that ensure the learning is transferred into the workplace.

Originality/value

Provides a useful case study of a modular leadership‐development program that has delivered improved results.
With Telecom New Zealand rings the changes to connect with Asian customers
Authors: Pio Edwina , Kwan Adrian
Published: January 2007

Purpose

This article discusses the process of incorporating ethnic people in organizations to enhance business goals and the company's reputation for internationalism.

Design/methodology/approach

Describes the setting up and sustaining of the Asian Customer Care Centre of Telecom New Zealand.

Findings

Contends that incorporating ethnic‐minority individuals into the economic and social fabric of a nation is often seen as problematic, yet Telecom New Zealand is a testimony to playing the right ethnic cards for enhancing its reputation and achieving its business goals.

Practical implications

Provides insights into the Asian mindset and practical routes for achieving internationalism.

Originality/value

Encourages executives to experiment with innovative ways to encompass ethnic minorities to achieve business goals and strengthen the social fabric of a country.
WSP forges teamwork and leadership in rural South Africa
Authors: Reese Andrew
Published: January 2007

Purpose

Focuses on how WSP Environmental is using real‐world community projects to combat the challenges of knowledge sharing, and to develop improved virtual teamwork, cross‐cultural communication and ambassadorial leadership.

Design/methodology/approach

Describes how a team of ten nationalities from eight offices was charged with providing a shelter to facilitate the work of a local non‐governmental organization in caring for HIV orphans in a rural community in Limpopo province, South Africa, where 50 percent of people are unemployed and around 30 percent live below poverty level, and where everyone is either affected or infected by HIV.

Findings

Demonstrates that team members were successfully united by this common and worthwhile achievement. One key aspect for their continued success was agreeing a charter for ways of working virtually, and ensuring that this charter was maintained.

Practical implications

Shows how WSP used the project to benefit a community and to address key business challenges.

Originality/value

Records that staff turnover has remained at zero up to 18 months after the completion of the community project.
Someone to talk to when it's tough at the top
Authors: Bishop Nigel
Published: January 2007

Purpose

This article argues that business needs to look again at offering the support and assistance directors require.

Design/methodology/approach

Describes the case of a successful operations director in a large electronics company who could be considered a strong candidate for managing director of a new division the company is creating. But there is a rival for the job in the form of an established sales director in the company. Moreover, the chief executive has decided that, rather than be up‐front about the situation, he will let the two candidates fight it out. Highlights the advice and support the operations director has received through the BrainXchange.

Findings

Contends that asking for help in a business setting can sometimes be seen as being weak or not knowing your job as well as you should. Yet the problems that confront director‐level staff are often far from straightforward. Moreover, the sensitivity and confidential nature of the issues that director‐level staff must deal with mean that they often must solve the problem alone. Outlines an alternative way to help directors to achieve the results every business expects.

Practical implications

Puts forward an interesting solution to the problem of how best to advise and support people at the top of the organization.

Originality/value

Argues that many businesses worth their salt recognize that junior staff need mentoring and training. But just because a person goes up the career ladder does not mean that he or she should not continue to be offered help.
HEdPERF versus SERVPERF
Authors: Abdullah Firdaus
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to empirically test a new industry‐specific scale, HEdPERF (Higher Education PERFormance) to capture the authentic determinants of service quality within higher education sector.

Design/methodology/approach

The primary goal of this research was to test and compare the relative efficacy of HEdPERF against SERVPERF in order to determine which instrument had the superior measuring capability.

Findings

In terms of unidimensionality, reliability, and validity, HEdPERF explained variance within the higher education setting better in comparison to SERVPERF.

Research limitations/implications

Since this study only examined the respective utilities of each instrument within a single industry, in only one national setting, any suggestion that the HEdPERF is generally superior would still be premature.

Practical implications

The current findings do provide some important insights into how the instruments of service quality compare with one another, in a typical higher education context.

Originality/value

An attempt is made in the paper, to develop critical insights into comparative evaluation of service quality measurement instruments.
The difficulty in implementing TQM in higher education instruction
Authors: Meirovich Gavriel , Romar Edward J.
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The applicability of total quality management (TQM) to higher education instruction is controversial. The purpose of this paper is to help clarify the application of TQM to higher education instruction by identifying and analyzing the dual roles played by both students and instructors. The authors also offer an improvement to the instructor evaluation process designed to eliminate some of the negative effects of the duality of roles.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a conceptual paper discussing some of the shortcomings in previous discussions of the applicability of TQM to higher education instruction. In addition, it introduces the concept of the dual roles of students (customers/grade‐seekers) and faculty (suppliers/retention‐seekers), and analyzes their relationship to, and effect on, the evaluation of the educational process through the interaction of these dual roles.

Practical implications

This paper helps understand more fully the student/instructor roles and will contribute to a better understanding of the applicability of TQM to higher education. It offers a methodology to enhance the faculty evaluation process as a measure of instructional quality and offers actions that will strengthen the knowledge‐seeking motivation of students.

Originality/value

This paper offers a more thorough analysis of the roles of students and faculty than previous discussions of the TQM in higher education. The value of this paper is the identification of two pairs of contradictory roles played by both participants in the instruction process which complicates an understanding of the concept of quality and applicability of TQM to higher education.
“Serving time”: the relationship of good and bad teaching
Authors: Jackson Michael
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The argument is that good and bad teaching are asymmetrical. Eradicating what is readily thought of as bad teaching does not leave behind the purse gold of good teaching. Good teaching is that which promotes student learning. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between bad teaching and good teaching in graduate memories

Design/methodology/approach

The study is based in part on a survey of graduates from an earlier generation filtered through current theories of student approaches to learning.

Findings

Graduates reflecting on their education describe good teaching and bad teaching in significantly different registers. There is almost no overlap in the vocabulary with which they describe the two.

Originality/value

Graduates are a source of insight into the nature and value of quality education. The study offers some information about how articulate graduates think about their education 25 years later. Despite the years of public debate in Australia about higher education, this is one of the very few instances in which graduates have been invited to reflect on and speak about their experience as students.
BI and ERP integration
Authors: Chou David C. , Bindu Tripuramallu Hima , Chou Amy Y.
Published: January 2007

Purpose

This paper seeks to propose a business intelligence (BI) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) integrated framework that adds value to enterprise systems.

Design/methodology/approach

A conceptual approach is taken.

Findings

ERP systems integrate all facets of the business and make data available in real time. BI tools are capable of accessing data directly from ERP modules.

Originality/value

The value‐added system proposed allows enterprise‐wide transaction data to be collected and analyzed for organizational decision‐making processes.
Optimized multi‐party certified email protocols
Authors: Zhou Jianying , Onieva Jose , Lopez Javier
Published: January 2007

Purpose

As a value‐added service to deliver important data over the internet with guaranteed receipt for each successful delivery, certified email has been discussed for years and a number of research papers appeared in the literature. This paper aims to present two optimized multi‐party certified email protocols.

Design/methodology/approach

Reviews two existing email protocols and provides a modified version to overcome their security flaws and weaknesses. Extends the two‐party protocol to a multi‐party scenario.

Findings

Both of the protocols have three major features. A sender could notify multiple recipients of the same information while only those recipients who acknowledged are able to get the information. Both the sender and the recipients can end a protocol run at any time without breach of fairness. The exchange protocols are optimized, each of which has only three steps, and the trusted third party will not be involved unless an exception (e.g. a network failure or a party's misbehavior) occurs.

Originality/value

Provides a focus on a value‐added service – certified email.
Information systems outsourcing success factors: a review and some results
Authors: Gonzalez Reyes , Gasco Jose , Llopis Juan
Published: January 2007

Purpose

This paper aims to offer the results of a survey about information systems (IS) outsourcing.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology is a questionnaire survey of 357 IS managers in Spanish firms.

Findings

IS outsourcing is a widespread activity that has been growing on a worldwide basis in recent years. The main outsourcing success factors for large Spanish firms are, in order of priority, the provider's understanding of clients' objectives, choosing the right provider, and the client's clear idea of what is sought through outsourcing.

Originality/value

Identifies the most important outsourcing success factors from the client point of view and present the relationships they have with certain characteristics of the firm like, for instance, its size.
Information technologies for business continuity: an implementation framework
Authors: Bajgoric Nijaz
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The paper aims at identifying key information technology enablers for business continuance.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper provides an analysis of the issues surrounding communication technology downtime and business continuity.

Findings

To be competitive, today's business has to be continuous from a data availability perspective and agile with regard to data access. System and/or application downtime are not an option in modern business since each hour, even minute, of downtime may generate negative financial effects. A framework for the design and implementation of a server operating environment for business continuance is presented.

Originality/value

Analyses an important issue in the business environment.
IT applications in Kuwaiti financial companies: an analysis
Authors: ur Rehman Sajjad
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The objective of this study was to investigate the placement, role, functioning, and human resource aspects of IT departments in Kuwaiti corporate companies in the banking and finance sector.

Design/methodology/approach

The results of this study are based on an interview‐based survey of IT managers in 17 banking, finance and investment companies in Kuwait. Data were collected through open‐ended interviews, focused upon the profile and organizational characteristics of IT operations, including placement, reporting relationship, role of managers, human resources, and internal organization. Information was collected about employment of servers, operating environments and applications of IT systems and networks these companies were using.

Findings

It has been found that most companies had elaborate IT functions where IT managers played a significant role. Large companies had built in‐house systems with little outsourcing while the majority of the other companies used turnkey systems and a great deal of outsourcing. Diversity was noted in system and network applications, related to the size and organizational needs of these companies. It was found that websites of most companies were static and these companies had to take firm initiatives if they had to adopt e‐commerce or electronic transactions.

Originality/value

This study has provided crucial understanding about the management of IT functions and applications in Kuwaiti companies.
An exploratory study of the critical factors affecting the acceptability of e‐learning in Nigerian universities
Authors: Folorunso Olusegun , Shawn Ogunseye Oluwafemi , Sharma Sushil K.
Published: January 2007

Purpose

Education delivery via electronic media is becoming relevant in Nigeria educational systems, especially the universities. In spite of this, there are hindrances affecting the total acceptability of this technology.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, we investigated these critical factors by analyzing the questionnaires collected from three sampled universities in Nigeria: private, public and state owned universities.

Findings

The results obtained indicated that mass unawareness, low computer literacy level and cost were identified as the critical factors affecting the acceptability of the technology.

Originality/value

Analysis herein has shown the factors affecting the acceptability of e‐learning in Nigeria. The results obtained will assist policy makers by finding solutions to literacy problems in Nigeria.
Collaborating to compete: achieving effective knowledge sharing in organizations
Authors: Laycock Martyn
Published: January 2007

Purpose

This paper aims to present a practitioner overview of the challenges and growing strategic importance of knowledge and knowledge sharing in organizations, considering roles of learning, and in particular networks, together with collaboration in the development of sustainable competitive edge through knowledge, knowledge management and the activities of knowledge workers.

Design/methodology/approach

First, the paper sets the scene for the development of the twenty‐first century knowledge economies, by providing a brief literature overview incorporating some of the key work of Peter Drucker, Charles Handy, Tom Stewart and others. It also provides insights into the London Knowledge Network and its role in supporting organizations in the pursuit of effective knowledge‐focused strategies. Then, via insights into three organizations: one medium‐sized private company (US) and two public (one small, one very large) UK organizations, some of the challenges are considered that organizations experience as they seek to use learning and knowledge as sources of sustainable competitive edge at organizational and often regional, national, international and global levels.

Findings

Overall, it was found that knowledge management has not become the latest management fad but, if properly supported, can be used to benefit customers and workforces alike.

Originality/value

Some conclusions are drawn about how organizations are managing the significant change, especially the cultural change, involved in using knowledge as a key driver for future competitiveness. This paper will be of use to any organization wishing to implement knowledge management.
Expanding the field of vision
Authors: Anklam Patti , Cross Rob , Gulas Vic
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to describe the emerging business discipline of organizational network analysis and its potential as a tool to guide efforts in creating awareness of where knowledge exists in an organization and how this expertise can be best tapped by an organization's workforce. Specific initiatives and activities that companies are using to promote the changes necessary to ensure that knowledge flows are discussed.

Design/methodology/approach

The article gives a case example of building a networked organization at MWH Consulting, Broomfield, Colorado, USA.

Findings

When organizational network analysis is accompanied by management practices that encourage, support, and require connectivity, employees more naturally leverage the expertise of peers and counterparts, wherever they live.

Originality/value

The article provides an insight into organizational network analysis and shows the barriers to and signifies the importance of knowledge management.
From atomism to networks in social systems
Authors: Snowden David
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to focus on the role of networks in organizations as a critical aspect of knowledge management and learning processes.

Design/methodology/approach

The article has built on an established technique, namely SNA, by shifting from individuals to identities and then to abstractions.

Findings

By making the shifts identified above, a solid and tool‐rich body of research is used as a base on which to build, but in effect the focus is on using the network intelligence rather than assemblies of atomistic individual intelligences: the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, but only if one understands it as a whole.

Originality/value

The article has focused on problem resolution, but the technique also shows potential as a generic innovation tool, and as a possible model to create an alternative mechanism for the distribution of funding within organizations including governments.
Knowledge sharing and strategic capital
Authors: Smith Peter A.C.
Published: January 2007

Purpose

This article seeks to propose that the success of an organization's knowledge‐sharing strategy and the magnitude of its strategic capital are critically dependent on its having the capability to visualize relationship‐networks among its employees, and means to identify and leverage, as appropriate, patterns of positive or negative influence.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on the author's own experiences and those of other authors in the same field.

Findings

There seems no evidence in the literature that programs can be mounted to deliberately develop opinion leaders by helping them acquire such meta‐capabilities or assume archetypical characteristics.

Originality/value

Utilization of the NVA‐based approach described here will provide an enhanced real‐world understanding of how the various sectors and network layers of an organization coalesce, and relate to one another, at micro and macro levels.
Japan's learning communities in Hewlett‐Packard Consulting and Integration
Authors: Kohlbacher Florian , Mukai Kazuo
Published: January 2007

Purpose

This paper aims to explain and analyze community‐based corporate knowledge sharing and organizational learning, the actual use of communities in Hewlett Packard (HP) Consulting and Integration (CI) and their role in leveraging and exploiting existing and creating new knowledge.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents an explanatory case study research design, qualitative interviews with top executives, middle managers and employees conducted in 2005 and 2006. Explanatory case studies were used to analyze, illustrate and exemplify major findings.

Findings

The paper identified an effective approach to community‐based knowledge sharing and organizational learning at HP CI Japan's learning communities (LCs). The case study illustrates the main characteristics, features and mechanisms of communities within the framework of HP's global and local knowledge management (KM) structure and resulting activities, and illuminates effective adaptation to the Japanese working and business context.

Research limitations/implications

General limitations of case studies and generalizability of such field research apply.

Practical implications

The research has important implications for firms and business practitioners by highlighting how HP's Japanese‐style LCs facilitate intra‐organizational knowledge sharing and creation.

Originality/value

This paper presents a real‐life example of an effective community at HP CI Japan, its mechanism and practical value for companies. Even though HP's KM activities have frequently been researched, HP CI's learning communities are discussed for the first time and illuminate that even within one single company there is no one‐size‐fits‐all solution.
Emergent communities of practice in temporary inter‐organisational partnerships
Authors: Juriado Rein , Gustafsson Niklas
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The paper aims to discuss the emergence of communities of practice in a temporary event organisation involving public and private partners.

Design/methodology/approach

The study employs qualitative methods in the form of 31 semi‐structured interviews, a five‐week period of participant observations and archive research in a Swedish public‐private partnership, focused on large‐scale media and entertainment event.

Findings

In the temporary event‐driven project‐based organisational structure studied, communities of practice emerged by themselves because of the complexity of the task at hand. These are called “emergent communities of practice”. Four built‐in organisational mechanisms that cultivated the emergent communities of practice were identified: trust building stability; competence contributors; competence shadows; and social glue of informal events. Surprisingly, the public/private dimension was found not to affect the emergence of the community negatively.

Research limitations/implications

Given that conclusions are based on the Swedish data, the paper recommends that similar studies be carried out in other countries.

Originality/value

The paper extends the framework of communities of practice beyond the boundaries of a single or few stable organisations by analysing communities of practice within a temporary project organisation; it introduces the concept emergent communities of practice; and it proposes four ways to cultivate communities of practice.
Scratching beneath the surface of communities of (mal)practice
Authors: Pemberton Jon , Mavin Sharon , Stalker Brenda
Published: January 2007

Purpose

This paper seeks to surface less positive aspects of communities of practice (CoPs), regardless of emergent or organisationally managed, grounded in political‐power interactions. Examples are provided from the authors' experiences of a research‐based CoP within UK higher education.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is primarily theoretical with empirical examples drawn from a descriptive CoP case study.

Findings

The paper discusses the following themes: the impact of timing on CoP development; the impact of CoP leaders and managers in “managed” CoPs; the power‐political interrelationship between emergent CoPs and formal organisation; the impact of dominant actors with position power; emotional containment and emotion work within CoPs; power implications of novices and masters and the implications when CoP practices diverge from organisational practices. It finds that to ignore such issues of power within CoPs is to limit the knowledge creation process.

Research limitations/implications

Further empirical research is necessary to investigate micro and macro power‐political issues of CoPs. In particular, emotional containment and emotion work of CoP members and the impact of this on knowledge creation is worthy of future research.

Practical implications

The paper has significant implications for CoPs in practice as the quest for pragmatic mechanisms to develop individual and organisational learning and knowledge creation for competitive advantage.

Originality/value

While there is an implicit assumption that CoPs are “good” and benefit individuals and organisations, this paper highlights less positive power‐political issues relating to CoPs which are under researched in the extant literature.
The role of the HyCon design‐support tool in elevating hybrid concrete as a design option for structural frames
Authors: Sexton Martin , Goulding Jack , Zhang Xiaonan , Kagioglou Mike , Aouad Ghassan , Cooper Rachel , Barrett Peter
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify interdependent barriers to the search and selection of new technologies by design engineers at industry, organisation and individual levels. A “proof of concept” HyCon tool is presented to demonstrate the role of information technology design support tools in supporting designers to overcome these inhibitors, in this case for hybrid concrete, by providing immersive and interactive, information‐rich environments to explore design solutions.

Design/methodology/approach

The HyCon tool was developed through a prototyping methodology encompassing a testing, analysis, design and coding iterative cycle. This was supported by case studies and industry workshops.

Findings

The results of a collaborative research project are presented, which describes the HyCon design support tool to promote the understanding and use of hybrid concrete in structural frames. This tool is built around a knowledge creation, application, storage, and retrieval cycle to envision and support the use of this new technology.

Originality/value

This paper fulfils an identified need to integrate technology management and design process considerations within the context of an information technology design support tool, and offers a “proof of concept” HyCon tool to demonstrate key issues and potential utilities and applications.
Conflicting factors in construction projects: Korean perspective
Authors: Acharya Nirmal Kumar , Dai Lee Young , Man Im Hae
Published: January 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to identify and explore pertinent conflicting factors in construction projects; which would be helpful for project planners and implementers in assessing and taking proactive measures for reducing the adverse effect of conflict.

Design/methodology/approach

To achieve the study objectives, a 43‐item questionnaire survey in a five‐point Likert scale was carried out to collect professionals' experience on conflicting activities in Korean construction projects. Responses from 124 professionals working for owners, consultants and contractors were analyzed. Furthermore, ten face‐to face interviews were also carried out to ratify the findings from the field survey. Later, analytical hierarchical process method was employed to find out the importance weighting as well as responsible party for the perceived conflicts.

Findings

This study has found out six critical construction conflicting factors pertinent in Korean context. These factors with importance weighting are: differing site condition (24.1 percent), public interruption (22.5 percent), differences in change order evaluation (21 percent), design errors (17.1 percent), excessive contract quantities variation (8.2) and double meaning of specifications (7.1 percent). The study has revealed that owner (35.6 percent) and consultant (34.18 percent) are mostly responsible parties for conflicts in construction projects.

Originality/value

As the previous researches have been indicating increase in conflicts in construction field, this paper is very topical at the moment. This work has tried to explore the underlying problems of the construction field. The study provides field level experiences from which the inexperience construction site professionals could learn the instances of conflicts and not repeat the mistakes in their projects.
The satisfaction levels of UK construction clients based on the performance of consultants
Authors: Cheng Jianxi , Proverbs David G. , Oduoza Chike F.
Published: January 2007

Purpose

Client satisfaction is one of the major determinants of project success and therefore is a fundamental issue for construction participants who must constantly seek to improve their performance if they are to survive in the marketplace. However, client satisfaction has remained an elusive issue for a majority of construction professionals. This research aims to investigate the performance of construction consultants to determine those key performance attributes which have a crucial impact on client satisfaction, and from that to identify ways of improving the services provided by such consultants.

Design/methodology/approach

This research presents the results of a UK‐wide client satisfaction survey based on the performance of a large engineering and management consultancy organisation whom they employed.

Findings

Results indicate that key performance attributes for consultants including technical accuracy; overall quality of services and people, have been identified as the main client satisfaction criteria. Clients consider effective communications and their service providers as being most important in determining their satisfaction levels. Furthermore, it is revealed that clients' strategic decisions and the overall performance of consultants in those key areas make a significant contribution towards client satisfaction.

Originality/value

The outcome of this research will improve the understanding of the client satisfaction phenomenon and benefit clients and construction consultants.
Factors inducing knowledge creation: empirical evidence from Thai construction projects
Authors: Teerajetgul Wasan , Charoenngam Chotchai
Published: January 2007

Purpose

This research is aimed at examining the relationships between knowledge factors and the knowledge creation process in construction projects, paying particular attention to on‐site work.

Design/methodology/approach

The design of this research is cross‐sectional and uses a blended methodological approach of both quantitative and qualitative methods. The research model includes the following variables; six knowledge factors: vision of leadership, trust, collaboration, incentives, information technology (IT) support, and individual competencies; and four knowledge creation processes: socialization, externalization, combination, and internalization. Survey data from 70 construction projects in Thai construction firms, obtained by means of a questionnaire developed by the researcher, were collated and analyzed. As a means of testing the model, regression analysis techniques were used to analyze the data.

Findings

Consistent with previous empirical evidence, three knowledge factors affected the knowledge creation process: incentives, IT, and individual competencies. It was noted that these factors overlay the knowledge creation process at all execution stages of on‐site construction.

Originality/value

This research is expected to contribute to a better understanding of important knowledge factors and knowledge management research in Thai construction that is still at an infancy stage. In order to build a knowledge creative culture, construction project executives need to support and maximize the value of human assets (individual competencies). Furthermore, facilitating IT‐supported knowledge management in construction projects needs to be considered and emphasized needs to be placed on productive work and gain a competitive advantage.
A network approach to project business analysis
Authors: Sandhu Maqsood , Helo Petri
Published: January 2007

Purpose

Based upon previous models and the extant literature, the purpose of this paper is to present a network approach to describing and analyzing inter‐organizational relationships in project business. The framework provides a better understanding of the dynamic processes and critical interfaces in a network context, and advocates the use of the tools of agile supply‐demand networks (ASDN) and design structure matrix (DSM).

Design/methodology/approach

This conceptual paper uses a network approach to understand inter‐organizational business relationships in resource management. This approach is useful for understanding relationships in project business, which usually involves a wide array of actors or stakeholders who provide resources or have an interest in project outcomes.

Findings

The paper concludes that a network‐based framework provides a solid basis for a rich description and analysis of a multi‐actor project business, as well as assisting in understanding important interpersonal relationship factors that affect project success‐such as trust, commitment, and adaptation.

Research limitations/implications

Models of the type discussed here have been implemented in larger multinational corporations, but they might not be applicable in smaller enterprises that do not have overall control of a network.

Practical implications

The paper presents useful practical tools for understanding the dynamic processes of networks in project‐based business, and for identifying the actors, activities and resource interdependencies involved.

Originality/value

This paper extends upon previous approaches to project business and presents practical tools that can be used to analyze project‐business networks.