bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Impact of culture on commitment, satisfaction, and extra‐role behaviors among Canadian ER physicians
Authors: Williams E.S. , Rondeau K.V. , Francescutti L.H. 
Published: July 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of hospital emergency department culture on the job satisfaction, patient commitment, and extra‐role performance of Canadian emergency physicians. The conceptual model related four cultural archetypes from the competing valued model to the three outcome variables.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 428 Canadian emergency physicians responded to a national survey. The conceptual model was tested via structural equation modeling via LISREL 8.FindingsCulture had a relatively weak impact on the outcomes. Human resources culture related positively to job satisfaction while bureaucratic culture related positively to patient commitment. Patient commitment, but not job satisfaction strongly and positively related to extra‐role behavior. A direct relationship between entrepreneurial culture and extra‐role behavior emerged from an extended analysis.Practical implicationsOrganizational culture seems to have more distal relationships with outcome variables and its influence is likely to be mediated by more proximal workplace variables.Originality/valueOf value by showing that a key modern leadership challenge is to create the kind of work culture that can become a source of competitive advantage through generating particular organizational outcomes valued by stakeholders.
Nursing staff turnover: does leadership matter?
Authors: Sellgren Stina , Ekvall Goran , Tomson Goran 
Published: July 2007

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to study the relation between leadership behaviour of nursing managers and staff turnover with respect to the intervening variables “work climate” and “job satisfaction”.Design/methodology/approachThree different well‐documented questionnaires were used to assess perceived leadership behaviour, work climate and job satisfaction. Data on staff turnover were collected from a computerized follow‐up system. Different statistical analyses such as correlation analyses, regression analyses and analyses of variance were performed in order to explore the relations.FindingsThe results show strong correlations between leadership behaviour, work climate and job satisfaction. No significant direct relation between leadership behaviour and staff turnover was shown. Staff turnover shows statistically significant correlations with the job satisfaction variable “feeling” (p≤0.005), and the work climate variables “challenge” and “playfulness” (p≤0.001).Practical implicationsIn order to limit staff turnover, decision makers should put effort into recruiting and retaining managers that perform very well according to the needs of staff. Managers that are both relations‐oriented and production‐oriented, can manage change and are able to stimulate the staff with challenges have the best opportunities to achieve low staff turnover.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge there is no study published that explores the influence of leadership behaviour, including the dimension “change”, on staff turnover in relation to intervening intrinsic factors of job satisfaction and creative work climate in nursing.
Personnel management in Finnish social and health care
Authors: Kokkinen Lauri , Konu Anne , Viitanen Elina 
Published: July 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine components of good personnel management and how they come true in accounts of social and health care managers.Design/methodology/approachThe data were obtained by means of a postal survey sent to middle‐line managers in positions above the first‐line management level in the responsibility area of Tampere University Hospital. The questionnaire was sent to 703 managers; 433 sent in responses indicating a response rate of 62 percent.FindingsMiddle‐line managers considered themselves as interactive, responsibility‐sharing and understanding leaders, but found shortcomings in the leadership style of their superiors. Only 18 percent of the middle‐line managers received feedback and only 42 percent received support from their superiors when needed. There were significant differences between genders, activity sectors and professional backgrounds in the responders' accounts concerning personnel management practices.Research implications/limitationsThe results of this study reliably describe how middle‐line managers consider things to be, not necessarily how things are in reality.Practical implicationsThe findings confirm the assumption that the importance of personnel management is still not perfectly understood in the upper management levels of the social and health care sector. At the same time the self‐evaluations of middle‐line managers implied an ambition towards better personnel management.Originality/valueThis study identifies components of good personnel management from literature and uses them as the basis for analysing the data.
Understanding success: economics and human nature
Authors: Verity Julie 
Published: July 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to raise issues about how managers think strategically. Specifically, it concerns issues about the appeal of relatively simple, economic concepts at the expense of those that are more complex and involve an understanding of human nature.Design/methodology/approachLearning in the article is drawn from two sets of observations: the study of a successful company, conducted over a period of eight years since 1997, and teaching the case study to classes of business students, managers and executives.FindingsManagers find relatively simple economic concepts, such as economies of scale, attractive in explaining why companies are successful, and are keen to hold to this reasoning even when there is evidence that challenges the basis of their thinking. The article suggests that this is true in the classroom and in practice. This way of thinking is compared with the reality in the case where competitive advantage arises from complex combinations of tangible and intangible resources, the source of which is the motivations and passions of leaders or deeply held philosophies and beliefs in the company's culture.Practical implicationsThe article argues against the inclination of managers to focus too strongly on rational, economic concepts in their strategic thinking and practice. It gives examples of why this is dangerous. The article also postulates the length of time it might take a leader to fully appreciate the nature of a company's success and illustrates the fragility of sustainable competitive advantage if this knowledge is not transferred from leader to successor.Originality/valueSound strategic decisions are not made with rational thinking alone. A deep understanding of human nature, especially what motivates people, is at least as important and could be vital to prevent destroying competitive advantage.
Placing organizational learning in the context of strategic management
Authors: Trim Peter , Lee Yang‐Im 
Published: July 2007

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to place organizational learning within the context of strategic management and to explain why it is important that senior managers view training and staff development as being continuous. Practising managers will be able to appraise the way in which their organization undertakes training and staff development, and adapt the current level of thinking within the organization so that a more holistic approach to strategy formulation and implementation is adopted.Design/methodology/approachThe work is based on a review of the literature and a number of case examples are referred to. A conceptual model is outlined and highlights how the organizational learning concept links training and managerial development programs with the development of organizational culture.FindingsBy placing training and staff development within an organizational learning context, it is possible to utilize international project groups and to develop new management practices. Practising managers will be able to use the conceptual model to devise, plan and execute a number of change‐oriented strategies.Practical implicationsThe conceptual model can be used by human resource management specialists to devise continuing professional development programs that are tailored to individual requirements. The objective is to match the organization's requirements with the capability of the staff, and in so doing achieve internal fit.Originality/valueThe conceptual model outlines how organizational learning can be used to increase the organization's knowledge base and a link is made with the deployment of international project groups that can facilitate cross‐cultural decision‐making.
Driving cultural change through behavioral differentiation at Westinghouse
Authors: Bacon Terry R. 
Published: July 2007

PurposeThis article describes the successful application of behavioral differentiation in transforming the culture of a large engineering‐oriented company as it strived to become more customer‐centric.Design/methodology/approachCustomer satisfaction surveys and interviews indicated that the company was difficult to work with and not customer‐focused. Subsequent benchmarking included an employee engagement survey, Lore's Behavioral Differentiation Survey, and the Denison Cultural Survey.FindingsThe results, which showed significant disagreement between internal and customer perceptions of the issues, indicated that the company had six behavioral improvement areas to focus on: customer relationship management, communication, execution‐related behaviors, information sharing, customer success, and organizational alignment.Research limitations/implicationsThe cultural change initiative is ongoing, and further research is needed to identify the strength, effectiveness, and durability of the behavioral changes.Practical implicationsHowever, early anecdotal evidence shows that the company is transforming not only its behavior toward customers but customer perceptions of the company and, more importantly, the company is winning new business as a result of its behavioral changes.Originality/valueThis article illustrates one of the first attempts by a large company to transform its culture by focusing on behavioral differentiation. In businesses that are becoming increasingly commoditized, behavior is usually the final frontier in competitive strategy. The article will be of interest to any firms seeking large‐scale transformation of how employees behave toward customers.
Is your sales force a barrier to more profitable pricing … or is it you?
Authors: Nagle Tom , Hogan John 
Published: July 2007

PurposeThe article seeks to discuss how and why it is possible to motivate a sales force to follow the guidelines of a consistent pricing policy that promotes profitability and increases margin, and which is beneficial to both providers and consumers of products and services.Design/methodology/approachTheories and examples stemming from the authors' research and experience with the subject matter are stated. The sales incentive theory in particular is supported by a specific formula that determines the sales credit someone would earn for making a sale based on profit contribution rather than price.FindingsWhile employing flexible pricing policies in competitive markets is enticing for suppliers, it can ultimately lead to price erosion and falling margins. A sound pricing policy lets customers know that the price they are paying is related to the value they receive, and keeps salespeople from dealing with long, complicated negotiation processes. While many managers worry that their sales force won't accept such a change, most salespeople will adopt it if the new policy is implemented well. The key is to recompense salespeople for driving profitability instead of just revenue and sales volume.Originality/valueThis article addresses an ongoing problem that many companies face as they try to win and maintain business using flexible pricing policies to cut customer‐specific deals. It discusses how and why it is possible to change this behavior using sales incentives that reward profitable sales rather than just sales volume.
How “winning” boards contribute to corporate growth
Authors: Coulson‐Thomas Colin 
Published: July 2007

PurposeThis article summarizes findings relating to the conduct of directors and boards from a continuing investigation into why some companies are so much more effective than others at key activities such as business development, building relationships and creating and exploiting know‐how.Design/methodology/approachThe research program ranks companies in terms of the outcomes they achieve in the areas examined and compares the most and least effective to isolate critical success factors and distinguish between successful/winning and unsuccessful/losing approaches.FindingsThe findings of the investigation suggest the performance of many companies depends primarily upon what their boards actually do and how their members behave rather than formal governance considerations such as a board's committee structure.Practical implicationsEffective boards adopt particular approaches and can behave very differently from their less successful peers, for example when communicating with various groups of stakeholders. Many boards would make a more significant contribution to the growth and development of their companies if they understood and adopted the approaches of more effective boards. A key element of good corporate governance is to achieve an appropriate balance between a number of critical factors, for example performance today and the capability to compete and win in the future.Originality/valueIn comparison with what could be achieved if more “winning approaches” were adopted many boards are failing to deliver and could do much better. Many appear to be rubber‐stamping rather than shaping things to come, picking over the past rather than creating the future.
Modeling fatty acid delivery from intestinal fatty acid binding protein to a membrane
Authors: Mihajlovic Maja , Lazaridis Themis 
Published: July 2007

AbstractIntestinal fatty acid binding protein (IFABP) interacts with biological membranes and delivers fatty acid (FA) into them via a collisional mechanism. However, the membrane‐bound structure of the protein and the pathway of FA transfer are not precisely known. We used molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with an implicit membrane model to determine the optimal orientation of apo‐ and holo‐IFABP (bound with palmitate) on an anionic membrane. In this orientation, the helical portal region, delimited by the αII helix and the βC‐βD and βE‐βF turns, is oriented toward the membrane whereas the putative β‐strand portal, delimited by the βB‐βC, βF‐βG, βH‐βI turns and the N terminus, is exposed to solvent. Starting from the MD structure of holo‐IFABP in the optimal orientation relative to the membrane, we examined the release of palmitate via both pathways. Although the domains can widen enough to allow the passage of palmitate, fatty acid release through the helical portal region incurs smaller conformational changes and a lower energetic cost.
Total chemical synthesis and biophysical characterization of the minimal isoform of the KChIP2 potassium channel regulatory subunit
Authors: Rajagopal Sudarshan , Kent Stephen B.H. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThe potassium channel accessory subunit KChIP2 associates with Kv4.2 channels in the cardiac myocyte and is involved in the regulation of the transient outward current (Ito) during the early phase of repolarization of the action potential. As a first step to biophysically probe the mechanism of KChIP2, we have chemically synthesized its minimal isoform, KChIP2d, using Boc chemistry solid phase peptide synthesis in conjunction with native chemical ligation. The synthetic KChIP2d protein is primarily alpha‐helical as predicted and becomes more structured upon binding calcium as assessed by 1H‐NMR and CD spectroscopy. Synthetic KChIP2d is in a monomer‐dimer equilibrium in solution, and there is evidence for two monomer binding sites on an N‐terminal peptide of Kv4.2. Planned future studies include the incorporation of fluorescent and spin labeled probes in KChIP2d to yield structural information in parallel with electrophysiologic studies to elucidate KChIP2d's mechanism of action.
Loopholes and missing links in protein modeling
Authors: Rossi Karen A. , Weigelt Carolyn A. , Nayeem Akbar , Krystek Stanley R. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThis paper provides an unbiased comparison of four commercially available programs for loop sampling, Prime, Modeler, ICM, and Sybyl, each of which uses a different modeling protocol. The study assesses the quality of results and examines the relative strengths and weaknesses of each method. The set of loops to be modeled varied in length from 4–12 amino acids. The approaches used for loop modeling can be classified into two methodologies: ab initio loop generation (Modeler and Prime) and database searches (Sybyl and ICM). Comparison of the modeled loops to the native structures was used to determine the accuracy of each method. All of the protocols returned similar results for short loop lengths (four to six residues), but as loop length increased, the quality of the results varied among the programs. Prime generated loops with RMSDs <2.5 Å for loops up to 10 residues, while the other three methods met the 2.5 Å criteria at seven‐residue loops. Additionally, the ability of the software to utilize disulfide bonds and X‐ray crystal packing influenced the quality of the results. In the final analysis, the top‐ranking loop from each program was rarely the loop with the lowest RMSD with respect to the native template, revealing a weakness in all programs to correctly rank the modeled loops.
Probing the local conformational change of α1‐antitrypsin
Authors: Baek Je‐Hyun , Im Hana , Kang Un‐Beom , Seong Ki Moon , Lee Cheolju , Kim Joon , Yu Myeong‐Hee 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThe native form of serpins (serine protease inhibitors) is a metastable conformation, which converts into a more stable form upon complex formation with a target protease. It has been suggested that movement of helix‐F (hF) and the following loop connecting to strand 3 of β‐sheet A (thFs3A) is critical for such conformational change. Despite many speculations inferred from analysis of the serpin structure itself, direct experimental evidence for the mobilization of hF/thFs3A during the inhibition process is lacking. To probe the mechanistic role of hF and thFs3A during protease inhibition, a disulfide bond was engineered in α1‐antitrypsin, which would lock the displacement of thFs3A from β‐sheet A. We measured the inhibitory activity of each disulfide‐locked mutant and its heat stability against loop–sheet polymerization. Presence of a disulfide between thFs3A and s5A but not between thFs3A and s3A caused loss of the inhibitory activity, suggesting that displacement of hF/thFs3A from strand 5A but not from strand 3A is required during the inhibition process. While showing little influence on the inhibitory activity, the disulfide between thFs3A and s3A retarded loop–sheet polymerization significantly. This successful protein engineering of α1‐antitrypsin is expected to be of value in clinical applications. Based on our current studies, we propose that the reactive‐site loop of a serpin glides through between s5A and thFs3A for the full insertion into β‐sheet A while a substantial portion of the interactions between hF and s3A is kept intact.
Destabilization of human glycine N‐methyltransferase by H176N mutation
Authors: Luka Zigmund , Pakhomova Svetlana , Luka Yury , Newcomer Marcia E. , Wagner Conrad 
Published: July 2007

AbstractIn the presence of moderate (2–4 M) urea concentrations the tetrameric enzyme, glycine N‐methyltransferase (GNMT), dissociates into compact monomers. Higher concentrations of urea (7–8 M) promote complete denaturation of the enzyme. We report here that the H176N mutation in this enzyme, found in humans with hypermethioninaemia, significantly decreases stability of the tetramer, although H176 is located far from the intersubunit contact areas. Dissociation of the tetramer to compact monomers and unfolding of compact monomers of the mutant protein were detected by circular dichroism, quenching of fluorescence emission, size‐exclusion chromatography, and enzyme activity. The values of apparent free energy of dissociation of tetramer and of unfolding of compact monomers for the H176N mutant (27.7 and 4.2 kcal/mol, respectively) are lower than those of wild‐type protein (37.5 and 6.2 kcal/mol). A 2.7 Å resolution structure of the mutant protein revealed no significant difference in the conformation of the protein near the mutated residue.
Production of selenomethionyl‐derivatized proteins in baculovirus‐infected insect cells
Authors: Cronin Ciarán N. , Lim Kheng B. , Rogers Joe 
Published: July 2007

AbstractA protocol is described for the production of both intracellularly expressed and secreted selenomethionyl‐derivatized recombinant proteins in baculovirus‐infected insect cells. The method results in the production of recombinant soluble proteins with an SeMet occupancy of ∼75% and with a recovery of ∼20% that of native protein expression. The method is independent of the percentage methionine content of the protein and is reliable and consistent. Similar results are obtained using either Spodoptera frugiperda Sf9 or Trichoplusia ni High Five insect cells as the expression host, and when cultures are grown in either shake flasks or in Wave BioReactors.
Constraining specificity in the N‐domain of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases‐1; gelatinase‐selective inhibitors
Authors: Hamze Asmaa B. , Wei Shuo , Bahudhanapati Harinath , Kota Smitha , Acharya K. Ravi , Brew Keith 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThe tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs) are endogenous inhibitors of the matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). Since unregulated MMP activities are linked to arthritis, cancer, and atherosclerosis, TIMP variants that are selective inhibitors of disease‐related MMPs have potential therapeutic value. The structures of TIMP/MMP complexes reveal that most interactions with the MMP involve the N‐terminal pentapeptide of TIMP and the C–D β‐strand connector which occupy the primed and unprimed regions of the active site. The loop between β‐strands A and B forms a secondary interaction site for some MMPs, ranging from multiple contacts in the TIMP‐2/membrane type‐1 (MT1)‐MMP complex to none in the TIMP‐1/MMP‐1 complex. TIMP‐1 and its inhibitory domain, N‐TIMP‐1, are weak inhibitors of MT1‐MMP; inhibition is not improved by grafting the longer AB loop from TIMP‐2 into N‐TIMP‐1, but this change impairs binding to MMP‐3 and MMP‐7. Mutational studies with N‐TIMP‐1 suggest that its weak inhibition of MT1‐MMP, as compared to other N‐TIMPs, arises from multiple (>3) sequence differences in the interaction site. Substitutions for Thr2 of N‐TIMP‐1 strongly influence MMP selectivity; Arg and Gly, that generally reduce MMP affinity, have less effect on binding to MMP‐9. When the Arg mutation is added to the N‐TIMP‐1(AB2) mutant, it produces a gelatinase‐specific inhibitor with Ki values of 2.8 and 0.4 nM for MMP‐2 and ‐9, respectively. Interestingly, the Gly mutant has a Ki of 2.1 nM for MMP‐9 and >40 μM for MMP‐2, indicating that engineered TIMPs can discriminate between MMPs in the same subfamily.