bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Prolegomena to a discourse
Authors: Kunstler Barton
Published: August 2007

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to provide discursive background to a consideration of higher education's approach to online learning and set out the terms of engagement represented by the articles in this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is in the form of a narrative surveying the state of the discourse on online learning and providing a brief introduction to each of the articles.

Findings

The paper finds that history of online education has been compressed into a brief period, but it has already undergone several phases: from initial euphoria over the possibilities for expanded enrollments to a realization that online learning posed a new set of knotty pedagogical and institutional issues, to a current maturing phase. In this latter phase there is a pressing need for a public dialog that addresses the institutional challenges inherent in online education, and that provides examples of successful experiences and even specific guidelines for any institution or program involved with – or considering initiation of – an online program. This special issue of On the Horizon is intended as a contribution to this dialog.

Originality/value

The paper establishes a framework for in‐depth consideration of the issues addressed in this issue of On the Horizon.
Changing the landscape: more institutions pursue online offerings
Authors: Elaine Allen I. , Seaman Jeff
Published: August 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the trends in the growth of online learning since 2002 and the change in the opinions and strategies of chief academic officers.

Design/methodology/approach

Annual surveys of chief academic officers from 2002‐2006 are summarized.

Findings

The paper finds that online courses and programs continue to grow at a rate of 20 percent or more per year and the quality of these courses continues to improve. Online education is part of the long‐term strategy of a majority of chief academic officers. Faculty lag in their acceptance of online courses.

Originality/value

This survey provides the first estimates of the number of online learners, online courses, and online programs. This is the first survey on the attitudes of chief academic officers towards online learning.
Repositioning for a virtual culture
Authors: Gueverra Jonathan
Published: August 2007

Purpose

The paper aims to provide administrators with a comprehensive view of the necessity for careful strategic planning to deal with the emerging “virtu‐versity.”

Design/methodology/approach

This paper examines current trends in e‐learning in the USA and extrapolates its impact to provide strategic guidance for colleges as they consider issues related to organization and governance, physical facilities and virtual environments.

Findings

The paper provides a suggested list of areas to consider before and during the transformation that leads to more on‐line courses and programs.

Research limitations/implications

The paper is not based on empirical research and is confined primarily to what is occurring in the USA.

Practical implications

The paper offers an overview that can help administrators begin and continue planning for the explosion of e‐learning.

Originality/value

This paper gives a general and balanced view of the need for strategic positioning in considering how e‐learning may continue to affect higher education.
Teaching online in the Bronx: local distance education
Authors: Whittaker Robert
Published: August 2007

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to describe the rapid development and effectiveness of online education in an urban college, emphasizing the use of distance education by local students, their academic performance and perspectives for future growth.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper provides a description of the phases of distance education development. It analyzes of survey data on student response to online learning and analysis of grades indicating academic performance online in relation to overall undergraduate performance.

Findings

The paper finds that early unplanned development has brought increased administrative support: plans are being made for programs, major concentrations, and advanced degrees on the undergraduate and graduate level. Student academic success reflects the special demands of online education and indicates the need for special screening processes and support services.

Research implications

The academic success of students reflects the special demands of distance learning and qualifies the popularity of distance education as seen in rapid increases in online enrollment.

Practical implications

The promise of distance education for a local student population (to speed progress to degree completion by increasing the number of courses per semester) should be tested in terms of student academic success.

Originality/value

This account of how distance learning can develop in an urban, commuter college and the possibilities for improving service to existing students while increasing enrollment, suggests strategies for effective integration of online courses into the existing undergraduate and graduate curriculum.
Strategic initiatives in the online environment: opportunities and challenges
Authors: Hartman Joel , Dziuban Chuck , Moskal Patsy
Published: August 2007

Purpose

The paper aims to present a strategic model for online program success in higher education and to discuss the implications of web‐based teaching for learning assessment and program evaluation.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses an analytic approach to deconstruct a successful online program to identify necessary elements for the initiative to become apart of the institutional culture.

Findings

The paper traces the evolution of online learning in higher education over the past decade, poses the necessary strategic planning questions that must be answered, identifies critical success factors, argues that that the broadening scope of evaluation will have to encompass emerging constructs such as information fluency, and hypothesizes online learning as a systemic initiative.

Research limitations/implications

The study intends to stimulate case study research at other colleges and universities using the template of this paper to assess whether or not the model constructs and elements are robust with respect to institutional context.

Practical implications

This paper outlines a planning and assessment protocol that may be used for establishing successful online programs and assessing the outcomes of the initiative in terms of the original objectives as well as unanticipated side effects.

Originality/value

This paper unifies many heretofore disparate components of online learning as they effect student populations, faculty development, necessary support services, program accountability, infrastructure issues, and new models for evaluation.
New questions for online learning, and new answers: the case of the CUNY Online Baccalaureate
Authors: Otte George
Published: August 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to track trends in online learning and in higher education generally, particularly to see how the former might solve key problems for the latter.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents a case study as a specific solution to a general problem.

Findings

The paper finds that, given the growing ubiquity of online instruction, its primary orientation may have shifted from “distance education” to largely local outreach, specifically as a way of addressing the growing problem of degree completion. The conclusion is that online learning may well be experiencing a generational shift, a turned corner from distance education to local access, and from a satellite operation to an integral part of an institution's function and mission.

Originality/value

The paper provides useful information on trends in online learning and higher education.
Pedagogy and technology – which has the upper hand? Lessons from technological implementation at the College of Judea and Samaria, Israel
Authors: Davidovitch Nitza
Published: August 2007

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to present conclusions from a series of studies on the introduction of new learning technologies at the College of Judea and Samaria, Israel, including course websites and a computerized marking system.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper summarizes four distinct empirical studies based on annual student surveys, questionnaires developed specifically for the study and the College exam database. The first series of three studies was designed to examine usage rates and students' evaluations of effectiveness of website courses, in three concentric circles in the College: on the institutional, faculty and departmental level. The fourth study tracked an institutional initiative towards enhanced quality of instruction, by comparing College‐wide data on students' ratings and grades for courses whose instructors implemented and used a computerized grading system for multiple‐choice on‐line exams.

Findings

Studies show that academic e‐learning in Israel has focused on quantity rather than quality; and on superficial technological adoption rather than conceptual pedagogical change process.

Practical implications

Institutions wishing to encourage the introduction of innovative learning aids and technologies must develop the necessary conditions that ensure that technology adoption serves rather than dominates pedagogy.

Originality/value

This paper discusses the reasons for a focus on quantity rather than quality, and on superficial technological adoption rather than the introduction of a conceptual pedagogical change process, in Israeli higher education's approach to online learning. Empirical findings highlight the need to introduce technological innovations that are grounded in and develop from a sound pedagogical base.
From distance to online: a consortium approach
Authors: Adams Shirley M.
Published: August 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present an intentional model for moving into online learning; to show how the decision was part of the strategic planning process; and to explain the decision behind utilizing the consortium approach. The paper aims to discuss the pros and cons of the consortium model.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper describes the process Charter Oak State College, a non‐traditional public college, undertook to move from being an aggregator of credits to being the state's leader in providing undergraduate online learning to adult students. It also discusses how the college took a leadership role in forming a state‐wide online learning consortium that then became its online learning infrastructure.

Findings

The paper emphasizes the importance of the strategic planning process and the Board's buy‐in to making an online learning venture successful and candidly discusses the advantages and disadvantages of being in a consortium. The college found that the consortium approach was highly advantageous for start‐up, but has found that the consortium can hamper growth. The college also found that in certain areas, it needs to develop its own services independent from the consortium.

Research limitations/implications

Research could be carried out on consortium models to determine best practices and/or to categorize strengths and weaknesses.

Practical implications

By sharing what worked and what did not work, other colleges can learn from the study's experiences.

Originality/value

This paper describes one college's experience of moving into the online course delivery arena using the consortium approach. It provides those who are contemplating developing or joining a consortium for the purpose of offering online courses with a case study to examine and discuss.
Team performance management: a review and look forward
Authors: Lettice Fiona , McCracken Martin
Published: August 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to provide the Team Performance Management (TPM) journal readership with a review of the journal since its inception in 1995, tracing the pattern of articles published since then. To give an overview of the processes and procedures now in operation and present the incoming editors' future vision of the journal.

Design/methodology/approach

Each of the 266 articles published in the journal between 1995 and 2006 were analysed briefly to identify interesting trends or patterns.

Findings

The largest number of articles have been published by authors from the USA (representing 45 per cent of the total number of articles published), although 28 countries are represented. The majority of articles have an academic first author (69 per cent). A significant proportion of articles are sole authored (47 per cent), although there is a slight trend towards multiple authors. Most authors (87 per cent) have only published once in the journal and the majority of articles (55 per cent) have been classified as research papers. The most popular article has achieved 21,651 downloads.

Research limitations/implications

This was never intended to be a rigorous statistical analysis, but rather to present a simple overview and review of the last 12 years' articles published in the journal. For simplicity, only the first authors were used for the analysis, which may have caused a slight bias in the findings.

Practical implications

A better understanding of the patterns and trends of articles will help the editors to shape the future of the journal. It is also hoped that it will help the readership to gain an improved understanding of and increased interest in the journal's past, present and future.

Originality/value

Pulling together information from many different sources into one article and providing the first comprehensive review of the articles published in TPM in the last 12 years, since its launch.
Gender composition of teams: effects of competition
Authors: Stokes Charlene K. , Steele‐Johnson Debra , Narayan Anupama
Published: August 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to address and gain a more complete understanding of the effects on performance attributable to the gender composition of teams.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors examined gender as a team composition variable that influences performance on a computer‐based task, and we investigated task framing (masculine/feminine) and competition (isolated/dyad) as explanatory factors in the gender composition‐performance relationship. Whereas previous research combines matched gender dyads in analyses, we distinguished male/male from female/female dyads to isolate the effects on performance and examine competition effects.

Findings

Distinguishing between male/male and female/female dyads revealed only male/male dyads had superior performance. Task framing was not supported as an explanation for the observed performance differences, but competition was. Contrasting the gender effect in competitive conditions relative to isolated conditions revealed a gender difference in performance between competitive conditions only.

Research limitations/implications

Given competition's clear role in the gender composition‐performance relationship, a more rigorous examination and manipulation of competition is needed beyond the comparison of isolated and dyadic conditions.

Practical implications

Previous research suggests to organizations/practitioners that matching teams by gender will result in optimal performance. Based on our findings, such an implementation would be to the detriment of female teams in the organization, and associated legal issues could arise.

Originality/value

The authors found the superior performance of matched teams to be attributable to the matching of male/male teams and the associated competitive context, and not attributable to matched teams in general. The results should be considered as a caution for both the academic and applied domain alike.
A model of multidiscipline teams in knowledge‐creating organizations
Authors: Alberts Daniel J.
Published: August 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to provide a conceptual framework for measuring the performance of multidiscipline teams in knowledge‐creating organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

The author conducts a meta‐analysis of case studies on individual and team performance and technical communication in the context of creating organizational knowledge. This analysis provides a basis for a new conceptual framework for team functions and performance.

Findings

This framework updates the definition of team functions to include knowledge creation and communication. The framework describes several factors that contribute to successful performance and provides a scale for measuring successful performance based on the additional team functions.

Practical implications

An organization's ability to create and manage knowledge may be their only lasting competitive advantage. Managers, whose responsibilities include fostering purposeful knowledge creation and transfer, need a framework for understanding how these goals can be factored into team performance and what factors contribute to the successful achievement of these goals. This paper provides such a framework.

Originality/value

This is the first conceptual framework for team performance that includes knowledge creation and stakeholder communication as principle team functions.
Using the intranet to build teamwork
Authors: Richardson Peter , Denton D. Keith
Published: August 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to discuss using the intranet to build teamwork.

Design/methodology/approach

The author provides a useful viewpoint on using the intranet to build teamwork.

Findings

Many organizations are attempting to use teams and allowing these employees to engage in self‐directed work. To be successful these teams must work in an integrated, collaborative fashion toward an organizational goal or vision. One of the keys to this success is having rapid, meaningful feedback about performance for all team members. It is argued that the intranet combined with current visualization software can provide not only such feedback but also help the team stay focused and become more integrated.

Originality/value

Provides a useful discussion on using the intranet to build teamwork.
Less lethal technology: medical issues
Authors: Vilke Gary M. , Chan Theodore C.
Published: August 2007

Purpose

Less lethal weapons have become a critical tool for law enforcement when confronting dangerous, combative individuals in the field. The purpose of this paper is to review the medical aspects and implications of three different types of less lethal weapons.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper conducted a comprehensive medical literature review on blunt projectiles, irritant sprays including oleoresin capsicum (OC), and conducted energy devices such as the Taser™. It reviews the history, mechanisms of action, intended and other physiologic effects, and medical safety risks and precautions of these devices. In particular, the paper focuses on the issue of sudden in‐custody death and less lethal weapons, reviewing case reports, animal research and human investigative studies on this topic.

Findings

In general, these three different types of less lethal weapons have been effective for their intended use. Each type of less lethal weapon has a number of physiologic effects and specific medical issues that must be considered when the weapon is used. There is no clear evidence that these devices are inherently lethal, nor is there good evidence to suggest a causal link between sudden in‐custody death and the use of irritant sprays or conducted energy devices.

Originality/value

While further research on the physiologic effects of these devices is needed, this paper provides law enforcement with a medical review of less lethal weapons including blunt projectiles, irritant sprays such as OC, and conducted energy devices such as the Taser.
Less lethal weapons: a technologist's perspective
Authors: Downs Raymond L.
Published: August 2007

Purpose

To provide a comprehensive picture of the wide range of technical, operational, and management issues that must be considered when developing, acquiring or using less lethal weapons for law enforcement agencies.

Design/methodology/approach

The source of the insights provided in this paper come from a careful reading and critique of the less lethal technology literature and the organization of and participation in many less lethal weapon technology conferences, technical working groups, and peer review panels.

Findings

The essential attributes of less lethal weapons for law enforcement applications are described as well as the many practical considerations that must be made when acquiring and using them.

Practical implications

This review should help law enforcement and corrections agencies make more informed decisions on the acquisition and deployment of less lethal weapons and should also be a useful starting point for weapon developers.

Originality/value

Scientists and engineers seeking to develop new or improved less lethal weapons for law enforcement will benefit from having in one source a basic insight into the complexities and challenges of producing a successful less lethal weapon. Non‐technical professionals will gain a greater understanding of the difficulty in producing less lethal weapons that are both very effective and very safe, but also affordable and practical.
Impact munitions: a discussion of key information
Authors: Klinger David
Published: August 2007

Purpose

To provide readers with some basic information about the use of impact munitions in modern American police work.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper identifies various sorts of impact munitions and places key findings from previous studies of these devices in a broader historical context of police force options.

Findings

Impact munitions are an increasingly popular feature of contemporary American policing that rarely lead to serious injury, but can, under certain circumstances, cause fatal injuries.

Originality/value

The paper provides interested academics and professional with information about an increasingly popular police force option.
The impact of conducted energy devices and other types of force and resistance on officer and suspect injuries
Authors: Smith Michael R. , Kaminski Robert J. , Rojek Jeffrey , Alpert Geoffrey P. , Mathis Jason
Published: August 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of police use of conducted energy devices (CEDs) on officer and suspect injuries while controlling for other types of force and resistance and other factors.

Design/methodology/approach

Data on 1,645 use‐of‐force incidents occurring between January 1, 2002 and July 2006 were obtained from two different law enforcement agencies. Logistic and generalized ordered logistic regressions are used to model the odds of injury and severity of injury.

Findings

The use of CEDs was associated with reduced odds of officer and suspect injury and the severity of suspect injury in one agency. In the other agency CED use was unrelated to the odds of injury; however, the use of pepper spray was associated with reduced odds of suspect injury. Among other findings, in both agencies the use of hands‐on tactics by police was associated with increased odds of officer and suspect injury, while the use of canines was associated with increased odds of suspect injury.

Research limitations/implications

Although this research was carried out in two distinctly different law enforcement agencies with different histories of CED adoption, the fact that CED use was associated with reductions in injuries in one agency but not the other indicates the need for additional research on the impact of CED use in other settings

Practical implications

The analysis suggests that relative to other forms of force, the use of CEDs and pepper spray can reduce the risk of injury to both suspects and law enforcement officers. This information should prove useful to law enforcement agencies considering adopting CEDs and suggests that agencies should consider the use of these less lethal alternatives in place of hands‐on tactics against actively resistant suspects.

Originality/value

At the time of this writing there was no published independent research on the risks of injury associated with CED use in field settings. The findings reported herein will help inform the public debate on the utility of CEDs for law enforcement.
What we do not know about police use of Tasers™
Authors: Adams Kenneth , Jennison Victoria
Published: August 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to review the police literature, select agency reports, and media publications to examine issues involving police use of Tasers™

Design/methodology/approach

The focus of inquiry is on questions of policy development, deployment, training, use and impact of Tasers from organizational and community perspectives.

Findings

Limited research reflects a lack of consensus in the development and application of policies related to Taser training and use. Variations in policy and training and the substitution of Tasers for other technologies across the use‐of‐force continuum result in operational inconsistency. This inconsistency makes it difficult to compare police departments in terms of the impact of Tasers on improved officer and citizen safety and reductions in the use of lethal force. This inconsistency is also reflected in media reports and has the potential to jeopardize community relations. Key policy issues center on length and content of training, training staff qualifications, and substitutions on the use‐of‐force continuum. Further study of Taser policy development, implementation, and evaluation is necessary to build a substantial and reliable body of knowledge to inform safe and effective police policy. Additional research is needed to evaluate the organizational and community implications of Taser implementation.

Practical implications

Evidence‐based Taser policy development is necessary to maintain the integrity of the technology, protect officer and citizen safety, and encourage the use of less‐than‐lethal force.

Originality/value

This paper calls attention to the dearth of research on Taser use in policing, while discussing the challenge of implementing new weapon technologies into the police arsenal and the need for careful consideration of use‐of‐force substitution practices.
The impact of extended police stop and search powers under the UK Criminal Justice Act 2003
Authors: Qureshi Faiza
Published: August 2007

Purpose

The introduction of the UK's Criminal Justice Act (CJA) 2003 extended police stop and search powers. It allowed officers to stop and search for articles concerning the commission of the offence of criminal damage. The purpose of this study is to examine whether the act produced a change in the extent and nature of stop/searches.

Design/methodology/approach

Data from police‐recorded stops in a southern town are compared for periods before and after the act came into force on January 20, 2004. The same time periods in the previous year are used as comparison groups.

Findings

The four key findings are that there was: a large increase in observed compared to expected stop/searches, an increase in the likelihood of individuals of an Asian or Asian British Pakistani origin and Black and Black British of African origin being stopped and searched relative to others. A decrease in the proportion of stop/searches resulting in arrest; and the distribution of arrests being patterned by the ethnicity of a suspect stopped and searched.

Research limitations/implications

The same time periods in the previous year are used as comparison groups since traditional geographically based comparison groups are not feasible to assess policy implemented nationally. The research is a small‐scale study focusing on a 70 day‐time frame to analyze the impact of the CJA 2003, therefore the results generated can be skewed and warrants further research with a longer follow up period.

Originality/value

The effects of extending police stop and search powers under the CJA 2003 are discussed. The findings are examined with regard to their implications for further research and policy.
Police officers' attitudes toward citizen support
Authors: Moon Byongook , Zager Laren J.
Published: August 2007

Purpose

The increased contact that police have with citizens that characterizes community policing makes mutual trust and respect between police and citizens crucial to success. Despite the importance of examining officers' perceptions of citizen trust and support, few studies have been conducted to examine officers' perspectives. The current research attempted to fill that void by examining the effects of individual, organizational and beat characteristic variables on officers' attitudes toward citizen support, using a sample of 434 Korean police officers.

Design/methodology/approach

The current research attempted to fill that void by examining the effects of individual, organizational and beat characteristic variables on officers' attitudes toward citizen support, using a sample of 434 Korean police officers. The results of OLS regression analyses indicate that individual and organizational factors such as seniority and the level of the officers' assigned police department were significantly related to officers' attitude toward citizen support.

Findings

The results of OLS regression analyses indicate that individual and organizational factors such as seniority and the level of the officers' assigned police department were significantly related to officers' attitude toward citizen support. As expected, beat characteristic variables (i.e. the perceived community income level and the perceived community crime problem) have significant effects on the officers' perceptions of citizen support.

Research limitations/implications

To better understand determinants of officers' perceptions of citizen support further research is necessary to examine the effects of personality traits, occupational socialization, and working environments, all features which were found to have significant effects on officers' attitudes and behaviors.

Originality/value

Overall, the current study augments our understanding of officers' perceptions of citizen support and factors affecting those perceptions.
Community policing: is field training the missing link?
Authors: Chappell Allison T.
Published: August 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to determine the extent to which traditional field training incorporates community‐oriented policing and problem solving in its formal evaluation process. Can community policing be successfully integrated into the San Jose field training model as a formal component of training and evaluation of police recruits?

Design/methodology/approach

The paper analyzes formal field training evaluations and narratives in one police agency that uses the San Jose Field Training Officer Program. The agency endorses and practices community policing and problem solving.

Findings

Field training in this agency did not successfully integrate community policing and problem solving into the formal evaluation process.

Practical implications

Because field training occurs immediately after the academy, it is the best place to expose recruits to community policing and problem solving in practice, thus linking training with practice. If police agencies are truly committed to community policing, they must update their field training curricula to reflect the new philosophy and practice.

Originality/value

Though there has been considerable research in the area of community policing, little of it focuses on training, especially field training. Ironically, even though most agencies claim to practice community policing, they have failed to prepare their officers in the philosophies and skills necessary to perform the tasks well. Police academies are beginning to train recruits in community policing, but most agencies still use the San Jose FTO model, which was developed before contemporary community policing existed. Because field training is such an important part of police socialization, it must teach recruits the skills of community policing.
The changing “soul” of Dutch policing
Authors: Das Dilip , Huberts Leo , van Steden Ronald
Published: August 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to address the changing organization and culture of the Dutch police over the last decade.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on personal observation, desk research and a survey among the police and administrative elite in The Netherlands, the paper describes, analyzes and reflects upon developments which are out of tune with the Dutch tradition.

Findings

From the 1960s onwards, The Netherlands was famous for her pragmatic, decentralized and friendly style of community policing. The slogan “the police are your best friend” summarizes the “essence” or the “soul” of Dutch policing. Increasingly, however, the typically tolerant, friendly and social policing style has come under pressure. The system of relatively independent regional police departments has been fiercely criticized because of the lack of effectiveness and efficiency in solving crime, safety and security challenges. National government now wants a much bigger say in setting its police programs and priorities. Moreover, as elite government officials stipulate, the police must be more “tough” on crime and terrorism. This attitude has led to centralization, penalization and, at the local level, responsibilization, which signifies that a variety of private, (often profit‐seeking) policing agencies and companies are made responsible for public order maintenance. Such changes are leading toward a “state‐centered” police model at some distance from citizens, a development that is seen as contrary to the social soul of Dutch policing.

Originality/value

The paper offers an analysis into the changing “soul” of Dutch policings.
Trust, communication, theory of mind and the social brain hypothesis
Authors: Braithwaite Jeffrey , Iedema Rick A. , Jorm Christine
Published: August 2007

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to examine the deep conceptual underpinnings of trust and communication breakdowns via selected health inquiries into things that go wrong using evolutionary psychology.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper explains how this is carried out, and explores some of the adverse consequences for patient care. Evolutionary psychology provides a means of explaining important mental capacities and constructs including theory of mind and the social brain hypothesis. To have a theory of mind is to be able to read others' behaviours, linguistic and non‐verbal cues, and analyse their intentions. To have a social (or Machiavellian) brain means being able to assess, compete with and, where necessary, outwit others. In the tough and complex environment of the contemporary health setting, not too different from the Pleistocene, humans display a well‐developed theory of mind and social brains and, using mental attributes and behavioural repertoires evolved for the deep past in hunter‐gatherer bands, survive and thrive in difficult circumstances.

Findings

The paper finds that, while such behaviours cannot be justified, armed with an evolutionary approach one can predict survival mechanisms such as turf protection, competitive strategies, sending transgressors and whistleblowers to Coventry, self‐interest, and politics and tribal behaviours.

Originality/value

The paper shows that few studies examine contemporary health sector behaviours through an evolutionary psychology lens or via such deep accounts of human nature.
Accountingization, trust and medical dilemmas
Authors: Lapsley Irvine
Published: August 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of accounting on clinical practices.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper reviews existing studies of clinical budgeting; analyses publicly available data on cost‐effectiveness recommendations for the NHS; analyses publicly available data on the influence of accounting in medical dilemmas.

Findings

The paper finds that there is limited evidence of clinical budgeting dominating clinical decisions, but there is some evidence of central agency directions on appropriateness of treatments, but this is on a cost‐effectiveness basis. Numerous examples of adverse medical outcomes are cited in this paper – but with limited influence of accounting in these decisions.

Originality/value

The paper shows that the combination of accounting and medical data in a topical matter makes this an original and distinctive study.
New workforce roles in health care
Authors: Bridges Jackie , Fitzgerald Louise , Meyer Julienne
Published: August 2007

Purpose

This paper seeks to present findings from a longitudinal action research study aimed at exploring one such innovation. Little is known about the micro‐level impact of health service innovations over time.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper shows that action research is a participatory approach ideally suited to monitoring the process and outcomes of change. Over 20 months, an action researcher studied the work of four interprofessional care co‐ordinators (IPCCs), whose role was intended to speed patient through‐put within a London teaching hospital general medical directorate. The action researcher kept regular participant observation field notes and supplemented these data with a profile of IPCC patients (n=407), in‐depth interviews (n=37) and focus groups (n=16) with staff. Throughout the study, findings were regularly fed back to participants to inform practice developments.

Findings

The findings in this paper show that, in spite of the original intention for this role to provide clerical support to the multidisciplinary team, over time the role shifted beyond its implementation into practice to take on more complex work from registered nurses. This raised actual and potential governance issues that were not attended to by service managers. A complex and turbulent context disrupted managers' and practitioners' abilities to reflect on and respond to these longer‐term role shifts.

Originality/value

This paper argues that the complex nature of the innovation and the setting in which it operated account for the role shift and the lack of attention to issues of governance. Current innovation literature suggests that implementation into routine practice represents the end‐point of an innovation's journey. These findings suggest that certain innovations may in fact continue to shift in nature even after this “end‐point”. The conclusions drawn are likely to be of global interest to those interested in complex health service innovations.
Understanding power relationships in health care networks
Authors: Addicott Rachael , Ferlie Ewan
Published: August 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to show that networks are emerging as a new, innovative organisational form in the UK public sector. The emergence of more network‐based modes of organisation is apparent across many public services in the UK but has been particularly evident in the health sector or NHS. Cancer services represent an important and early example, where managed clinical networks (MCNs) for cancer have been established by the UK National Health Service (NHS) as a means of streamlining patient pathways and fostering the flow of knowledge and good practice between the many different professions and organisations involved in care. There is very little understanding of the role of power in public sector networks, and in particular MCNs. This paper aims to explore and theorise the nature of power relations within a network model of governance.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper discusses evidence from five case studies of MCNs for cancer in London.

Findings

The findings in this paper demonstrate that a model of bounded pluralism can be used to understand power relations within London MCNs. However, power over the development of policy and strategic direction is instead exerted in a top‐down manner by the government (e.g. Department of Health) and its associated national bodies.

Practical implications

The paper supports the argument that the introduction of rhetoric of a more collaborative approach to the management of public services has not been enough to destabilise the embedded managerialist framework.

Originality/value

This paper uses empirical data from five case studies of managed clinical networks to theorise the nature of power relations in the development and implementation of network reform in cancer services. Also, there is limited understanding of the nature of power relations in network relationships, particularly in relation to the public sector.
Spanning boundaries in pursuit of effective knowledge sharing within networks in the NHS
Authors: Currie Graeme , Finn Rachael , Martin Graham
Published: August 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine power asymmetries in the delivery of genetics healthcare that inhibit knowledge sharing across sector, organisational and professional boundaries.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is a longitudinal comparative case study approach, which encompasses semi‐structured interviews and observation.

Findings

The paper finds politics to be significant in its influence on knowledge sharing across sector, organisational and professional boundaries, but this can be mediated by attending to human and social aspects of the context in which knowledge sharing was expected to take place.

Research limitations/implications

The paper encourages research that evaluates the effect of increased emphasis on human and social aspects of organisational change in pursuit of the “dream” of spanning boundaries and improving knowledge sharing within the NHS.

Practical implications

The paper shows that structural change appears to be of limited effect in promoting knowledge sharing. Organisational and individual development, career management and performance systems are worthy of attention for the purpose of managing knowledge.

Originality/value

The paper exposes this assumption as managerialist. Policy‐makers assume that professionals are willing and able to share knowledge when delivering healthcare through networks.
Exploring HRD in two Welsh NHS Trusts
Authors: Sambrook Sally
Published: August 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine human resource development (HRD) in the UK National Health Service (NHS), and particularly in two Welsh NHS Trusts, to help illuminate the various ways in which learning, training and development are talked about. The NHS is a complex organisation, not least with its recent devolution and separation into the four distinct countries of the UK. Within this, there are multiple and often conflicting approaches to human resource development associated with the various forms of employee, professional (nursing, medical etc.), managerial and organisational development. How people are developed is crucial to developing a modern health service, and yet, with the diverse range of health workers, HRD is a complex process, and one which receives little attention. Managers have a key role and their perceptions of HRD can be analysed through the discursive resources they employ.

Design/methodology/approach

From an interpretivist stance, the paper employs semi‐structured interviews with seven Directorate‐General Managers, and adopts discourse analysis to explore how HRD is talked about in two Welsh NHS Trusts.

Findings

The paper finds some of the different discourses used by different managers, including those with a nursing background and those without. It examines how they talk about HRD, and also explores their own (management) development and the impact this has had on their sense of identity.

Originality/value

The paper highlights some of the tensions associated with HRD in the NHS, including ambiguities between professional and managerial development, the functional and physical fragmentation of HRD, conflict between a focus on performance/service delivery and the need to learn, discursive dissonance between the use of the terms training and learning, a delicate balance between “going on courses” and informal, work‐related learning, inequities regarding “protected time” and discourses shifting between competition and cooperation. These tensions are exposed to help develop a shared understanding of the complexities of HRD within the NHS. The paper concludes with a summary of the different discursive resources employed by senior managers to articulate and accomplish HRD. These are “surfaced” to enable managers and HRD practitioners, amongst others, to construct common repertoires and shared meaning.
Policy and organizational implications of gender imbalance in the NHS
Authors: Miller Karen
Published: August 2007

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to examine the policy and organizational implications of gender imbalance in management, which research suggests exists in the NHS.

Design/methodology/approach

The research in this paper involved a qualitative approach with an analysis of élite interviews conducted with a non‐random sample of officials involved in health policy and interviews with a random sample of senior managers in NHS Scotland. The research formed part of a larger study, which explored the enablers and inhibitors to female career progression in various Scottish sectors.

Findings

The paper finds that gender imbalance in management exists in the NHS. This is manifested in a masculine organizational context, leadership and policy decision‐making process, which have implications for female career advancement opportunities and subsequently access to macro policy decisions.

Research limitations/implications

The paper involved a sample (30 percent) of senior managers and examined policy processes in NHS Scotland. To improve the external validity of the findings further research should be conducted in NHS organizations in England and Wales.

Practical implications

The findings in the paper suggest that gender imbalance in management and a masculine organizational context and leadership style within the NHS create a less than conducive environment for female employees. This has practical implications in terms of levels of part‐time employment, career progression and attrition rates.

Originality/value

The paper adds to the debate of gender and organizational studies by examining the health sector, which has high levels of female employment but low levels of female representation at senior management levels. The paper therefore adds to an often‐neglected area of study, women in leadership and senior managerial positions. The paper is original in its approach by examining the micro and meso organizational dimensions which impact on women's ability to influence macro health policy.