bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Police vehicular pursuits: a descriptive analysis of state agencies' written policy
Authors: Hicks Wendy L. 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to analyse the vehicular pursuit policy of State Police and State Highway Patrol agencies in the USA.Design/methodology/approachWritten policies were compared against a Standard Policy, developed by the researcher, based on prior academic and legal research in combination with the existing policies of the Connecticut State Police, California Highway Patrol, and the Minnesota State Police. A total of 47 written pursuit policies were received for a 94 percent return rate.FindingsAll policies had statements pertaining to safety and the need to pursue with due care and regard for public welfare. Items not included in many policies involved elements pertaining to liability and negligence: concerns that have been demonstrated to be instigators of litigation.Research limitations/implicationsThis work centers solely on state agencies. This study is the first step in an ongoing, long‐term project aimed at law enforcement vehicular pursuit policy analysis. The first step in the project centered on state agencies but will grow to include municipal agencies as well.Practical implicationsA very useful treatment of the practical side of law enforcement policy. Existing pursuit policies are examined, as are the legal principles used to guide police policy development.Originality/valueThis paper fills an untapped niche in policy research. It is both a practical analysis of existing pursuit policies and an examination of legal cases and constitutional guidelines.
An analysis of international health care logistics
Authors: Gary Jarrett P. 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThe primary purpose of this study is to undertake a diagnostic investigation of the international health care logistical environment and determine whether regulatory policies or industry procedures have hindered the implementation of just‐in‐time (JIT) systems and then to recommend operational improvements to be achieved by implementing JIT Systems.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis was conducted in a systematic manner and compared the anticipated benefits with benefits validated in other industries from the implementation of JIT. An extensive literature review was conducted.FindingsIn this particular study the cost and benefit outcomes achieved from a health care JIT implementation were compared with those achieved by the manufacturing, service, and retail industries. Chiefly, it was found that the health service market must be restructured to encourage greater price competition among priorities. A new standardization process should eliminate duplication of products and realize substantial savings.Originality/valueThe analysis was conducted in a systematic manner and compared the anticipated benefits with benefits validated in other industries from the implementation of JIT.
The barriers to patient‐driven treatment in mental health
Authors: Greenall Paul 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThe paper aims to explore the barriers that currently exist to patient‐driven treatment within the field of mental health care and reform.Design/methodology/approachThis study represents action learning research using grounded theory to explore a possible causal basis for recidivism related to non‐compliance with medication. Interviews addressed concerns from the literature around perceived barriers to patient‐driven treatment evidenced by non‐compliance with medically recommended pharmaceutical treatment. Results were correlated to look for emergent themes that were used to form the basis for subsequent interview questions.FindingsAn analysis of the resulting emergent themes illustrated the importance of participatory treatment and coaching rather than medically applied paternalistic care, which is seen as encouraging learned helplessness on the part of patients. Similar helplessness was also revealed in clinicians themselves. Patients' awareness of their own needs and demands for more services place clients and the caregivers at odds over appropriate care in an environment of limited resources.Research limitations/implicationsThe research was limited to only a small number of interviewees in one institution, all of whom were closely associated with mental illness in various capacities. The grounded theory nature of the research does, however, provide a framework for more research in other institutions to test and further explore some of the findings.Practical implicationsThe study demonstrated a reinforcement of Maslow's theory of needs hierarchy. The study illustrated a step‐wise approach to treatment to decrease the rate of failure and recidivism in mental health care. The provision of a stable living environment was viewed as instrumental in improving patients' compliance with pharmaceutical treatment. An action plan was therefore created to initiate the support of a transitional/emergency house by various community groups in partnership with pharmaceutical manufacturing companies.Originality/valueRecidivism in mental health‐created by non‐compliance in pharmaceutical treatment, is a major issue in Canada's health care system. This study brings to the forefront issues from a number of perspectives in order to form a course of action in response to its findings.
Applying Taguchi methods to health care
Authors: Taner Tolga , Antony Jiju 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThe aim of this article is to show how Taguchi methods can be applied to health care.Design/methodology/approachThe quadratic loss function is at the heart of Taguchi methods. It is a powerful motivator for a quality strategy and can be used to adequately model the loss to society in health care. It also establishes a relationship between cost and variability. Therefore, it can be integrated with the performance and parameters of the design of medical applications. Signal‐to‐noise ratios give a sense of how close is the performance to the ideal. By maximizing the signal‐to‐noise ratio, quality‐engineering activities can be aimed at identifying near‐optimum levels of factors and making quality equal to zero.FindingsThis article shows that, when the patients' requirements are consistently met, lower losses can provide an impetus to improve patient satisfaction.Originality/valueThe article outlines areas in health care where Taguchi methods can easily be applied.
A narrative approach for organizational learning in a diverse organisation
Authors: Lämsä Anna‐Maija , Sintonen Teppo 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThis paper aims to construct an approach referred to as “the participatory narrative” for organizational learning in diverse organizations. The approach is grounded in an understanding of organizational learning as the process of social construction which is narratively mediated.Design/methodology/approachThe participatory narrative is constructed theoretically. Additionally, the approach and its potential use are illustrated by means of a practical example.FindingsIt is shown that the participatory narrative enables interplay between various perspectives of diverse people. It makes it possible to overcome the temporal and spatial limits of organisational learning situations and helps to question self‐evident assumptions about diverse people and makes such assumptions visible and negotiable.Research limitations/implicationsThe application of the participatory narrative is only highlighted with the help of an illustrative example.Practical implicationsThe participatory narrative helps to stimulate people's empathetic orientation, which provides a basis for responses to the experiences and world‐views of other people. Thus, it helps people in diverse organizations to learn to become capable of imagining not only their own position but also the position of others.Originality/valueThis article contributes to prior literature by developing an awareness of the narrative mechanisms of language use in the field of organizational learning. The paper shows also that the transformative dynamic of narratively mediated organizational learning lies in the empowering recognition that organization members understand that they are the active authors of the stories.
Factors influencing teachers' engagement in informal learning activities
Authors: Lohman Margaret C. 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine factors influencing the engagement of public school teachers in informal learning activities.Design/methodology/approachThis study used a survey research design.FindingsAnalysis of the data found that teachers rely to a greater degree on interactive than on independent informal learning activities. Three environmental factors inhibit teachers from engaging in informal learning activities: lack of time, lack of proximity to colleagues' work areas, and insufficient funds. In addition, seven personal characteristics enhance teachers' motivation to engage in informal learning: initiative, self‐efficacy, love of learning, interest in the profession, commitment to professional development, a nurturing personality, and an outgoing personality.Research limitations/implicationsA limitation of this study was the survey's response rate of 27.7 percent.Practical implicationsThe findings from this study give rise to three implications for facilitating informal workplace learning. First, work areas need to be strategically designed so that employees are located near colleagues in the same technical or professional area. Second, a greater amount of unencumbered time must be built into a professional's work day. Third, access to computer technology and the internet should be provided so that professionals can communicate with others and gather information when the need to do so arises.Originality/valueAn important contribution of the present study to new knowledge of workplace learning is the construction of a survey instrument for assessing informal workplace learning. A second contribution is greater understanding of the personal and environmental factors that influence informal workplace learning.
Epistemological agency in the workplace
Authors: Smith Raymond 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to report and discuss research that sought to explore how the individually purposeful nature of new employee workplace learning might be understood through its conception as epistemological agency, that is, the personally mediated construction of knowledge.Design/methodology/approachUsing a sociocultural constructivist perspective on learning as necessary action‐in‐context, the ethnographic study investigates the working and learning actions of three new employees through the first months of their employment.FindingsThis paper proposes that the actions of its participants can be interpreted within a framework that accounts for the major influences on their learning as mediational means. It suggests that these mediations comprise an individualised workplace agenda that is purposefully managed by the new employee. Epistemological agency is defined and presented as a conception of learning that captures the new employees taking charge of the conduct and accomplishments of their actions at work, that is, their self‐management of learning.Originality/valueThe findings are significant because they indicate how the personal agency of the new employee learner can be accounted for within the process and product of workplace learning. In doing so they help illuminate the role of the individual within social conceptions of learning and agency.
Learning routines in innovation processes
Authors: Hoeve Aimée , Nieuwenhuis Loek F.M. 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThis paper aims to generate both a theoretical and an empirical basis for a research model that serves in further research as an analytical tool for understanding the complex phenomenon of learning at different levels in a work organisation. The key concept in this model is the routine concept of Nelson and Winter.Design/methodology/approachA review of the literature in the academic fields of educational sciences, industrial sciences, economics, social psychology and sociology is used to develop a conceptual model that could serve as an analytical instrument to describe the ongoing dynamics, i.e. learning processes at different levels. The theoretical findings were tested against empirical data of an industrial bakery in order to evaluate if the theoretical concepts help to identify possible mechanisms that account for parallel learning processes at different levels.FindingsThe paper gives an overview of possible key concepts that helps in explaining what happens at the intersection between individual and team, and team and organisation. This paper concludes that the concept of routines is the most sufficient for understanding the coordinating mechanism between the different aggregation levels in an organisation.Research limitations/implicationsAs organisations are modelled as a set of interlocking routines, innovation can be understood as the change of routines. The central question in future research is: “How do routines change?”Originality/valueBy taking a multi‐disciplinary approach, economic theories on innovation and educational theories on learning are combined. Such combination seems fruitful to bridge individual and organisational learning.
Working information
Authors: Lloyd Annemaree , Somerville Margaret 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to explore the contribution that an information literacy approach to the empirical study of workplace learning can make to how people understand and conceptualise workplace learning.Design/methodology/approachThree cohorts of fire‐fighters working in two regional locations in NSW, Australia were interviewed using a semi‐structured interview approach. Constructivist grounded theory methodology was employed to work with the data; post‐structuralism.FindingsStudy findings indicate that an understanding of information literacy and information literacy practices contributes to workplace learning by highlighting the relationship between different modalities of information, and the relationship between workplace learning and professional identity. Information literacy is not solely confined to developing skills related to accessing information in textual or digital modalities, but requires access to social and physical sources of information.Originality/valueThe information literacy approach contributes to a developing understanding of the role of workplace learning by highlighting the process as a catalyst for learning. This process is underpinned by ways of knowing about the types of situated information sources that are valuable for learning about practice and profession.
Cultural influences on knowledge sharing through online communities of practice
Authors: Ardichvili Alexandre , Maurer Martin , Li Wei , Wentling Tim , Stuedemann Reed 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore cultural factors influencing knowledge sharing strategies in virtual communities of practice.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative research design was employed. Data collection was based on in‐depth interviews. The authors assumed that such factors as degree of collectivism, competitiveness, the importance of saving face, in‐group orientation, attention paid to power and hierarchy, and culture‐specific preferences for communication modes, would explain differences in knowledge seeking and sharing patterns.FindingsThe results showed that these factors had different levels of importance among employees in the three participating countries. The issue of saving face was less important than expected in China. Modesty requirements as well as a high degree of competitiveness among employees were found to be serious barriers to information sharing in China, but not in Russia and Brazil. Perceived differences in power and hierarchy seemed to be less critical in all three countries than initially assumed.Research limitations/implicationsSince this study was conducted among the online community members of Caterpillar Inc., the results could be affected by factors unique to this specific case. Thus, future research should investigate the influence of other factors such as the organizational culture, or occupational groups on knowledge sharing strategies.Practical implicationsBefore any introduction of country‐specific knowledge sharing systems, a cultural needs assessment should be conducted.Originality/valueThe impact of national culture factors on knowledge sharing has been largely neglected in the literature, and the findings will assist knowledge managers charged with the design of flexible knowledge management systems.
Knowledge capitalism put into practice as an operational mechanism
Authors: Xing Weixi 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to look for a systematic platform that can benefit knowledge creation within an organization.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses personal interviews based on fieldwork and analysis from first and second hand data.FindingsA new operational mechanism based on knowledge capitalism. Through dynamic allocation of internal shares and meritorious allocation of positions, one company can continually restructure itself to create more opportunities for its staff, so as to motivate its employees and promote the creation of knowledge to develop its core competence.Research limitations/implicationNo one system is the best, but one can try to find the most suitable one. The paper presents a case study of a Chinese knowledge‐based firm in its initial period for rapid growth, noting that it may not be suitable for a large MNC.Practical implicationsFind a lever for each complicated systematic process of knowledge management, rather than focus on an individual factor.Originality/valueThis paper offers practical help to organizational administrators, especially for knowledge‐based firms. It reveals that innovation in operational mechanism is of importance for the motivation of employees to keep the vigour of enterprise.
Managing innovative space missions: lessons from NASA
Authors: Paxton Larry J. 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a review of past experience in managing risk and technical innovation in NASA space programs with lessons learned for new unmanned space missions.Design/methodology/approachThe paper examines past performance of space missions and abstracts the lessons learned for the efficient development of cost‐effective space missions.FindingsThe paper finds that large organizations build and internalize a culture at odds with risk taking and the rapid deployment of innovative solutions. Actualized management goals are often at odds with the issues that determine or insure the long‐term survival of an organization. A key issue is the management of knowledge within that system: the extrinsic knowledge of the technologies as well as the intrinsic knowledge associated with the perception and acceptance of risk.Research limitations/implicationsInnovation can be seen as being dangerous to the organization. That perception must be managed. The NASA culture that is applicable to human spaceflight may not serve the community or the organization as well when applied to unmanned missions.Practical implicationsThe paper provides a simplified and brief perspective on the issues inherent in managing a change in culture in an organization that has a highly public mission.Originality/valueWhile the NASA “faster, better, cheaper” program has been considered elsewhere, this paper focuses on the lessons that are applicable to the management of space missions and the development of new, cost‐effective programs. These lessons retain their value, as the new administrator Michael D. Griffin attempts to manage the transition of NASA from an organization that has been in maintenance mode to one that must embrace innovation and stay within a highly constrained funding profile.
A knowledge management initiative in ESA/ESOC
Authors: Mugellesi Dow Roberta , Bobrinsky Nicolas , Pallaschke Siegmar , Spada Mariella , Warhaut Manfred 
Published: July 2006

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe the initiative set up at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) to investigate how knowledge management principles could offer solutions, while adapting to a world where technology and innovative processes are rapidly changing.Design/methodology/approachThe paper investigates the challenges of implementing a corporate knowledge management system in ESOC, where currently the knowledge is managed in several different ways. The driver of the knowledge management initiative has been the need for developing a system able to locate intellectual capital and technical expertise.FindingsThe paper has identified the following main items to be considered in support of the ESOC knowledge management initiative: need for a consistent set of documentation, maintained under configuration control and regularly updated to reflect actual status; formation of cross‐support functional teams; usage of a Centralized ESTRACK Status and Diagnostic System (CESADS) as a supervisory/diagnostic tool for the ground operations; and need for knowledge management evolution.Originality/valueAlthough just at the starting‐point, the needs and the benefits of the above points have been acknowledged at ESOC to guarantee reliable and efficient execution of the responsibilities of the Centre. The points raised are expected to be of interest to space industry planners, executives and researchers.
Learning from the Mars Rover Mission: scientific discovery, learning and memory
Authors: Linde Charlotte 
Published: July 2006

PurposeKnowledge management for space exploration is part of a multi‐generational effort. Each mission builds on knowledge from prior missions, and learning is the first step in knowledge production. This paper aims to use the Mars Exploration Rover mission as a site to explore this process.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents an observational study and analysis of the work of the MER science and engineering team during rover operations, to investigate how learning occurs, how it is recorded, and how these representations might be made available for subsequent missions.FindingsThe paper finds that learning occurred in many areas: planning science strategy, using instruments within the constraints of the Martian environment, the Deep Space Network, and the mission requirements; using software tools effectively; and running two teams on Mars time for three months. This learning is preserved in many ways. Primarily it resides in individuals' memories. It is also encoded in stories, procedures, programming sequences, published reports, and lessons learned databases.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper shows the earliest stages of knowledge creation in a scientific mission, and demonstrates that knowledge management must begin with an understanding of knowledge creation.Practical implicationsThe paper shows that studying learning and knowledge creation suggests proactive ways to capture and use knowledge across multiple missions and generations.Originality/valueThis paper provides a unique analysis of the learning process of a scientific space mission, relevant for knowledge management researchers and designers, as well as demonstrating in detail how new learning occurs in a learning organization.