Towards a business-IT alignment maturity model for collaborative networked organizations

Aligning business and IT in networked organizations is a complex endeavor because in such settings, business-IT alignment is driven by economic processes instead of by centralized decision-making processes. In order to facilitate managing business-IT alignment in networked organizations, we need a maturity model that allows collaborating organizations to assess the current state of alignment and take appropriate action to improve it where needed. In this paper we propose the first version of such a model, which we derive from various alignment models and theories

Examining Training Motivations Among Public Health Workers

CONTEXT: As public health needs and priorities evolve, maintaining a trained public health workforce is critical to the success of public health efforts. Researchers have examined training needs in various contexts and subpopulations, but a nationally representative study of what motivates public health workers to seek out training has yet to be conducted. By understanding these motivations, public health agencies and policy makers can appeal to worker motivations in both training programs and organizational incentives. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this article was to describe overall training motivations and identify patterns of training motivations among public health workers. This study also explored whether or not training needs differ across prevalent motivational patterns. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS: Using data from the 2017 Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS), the study used latent class analysis (LCA) to identify motivational patterns and logistic regression to analyze associations with training needs. RESULTS: The most prominent motivation to seek training was personal growth (82.7% of respondents). LCA identified 4 motivational classes of public health workers: those motivated by organizational pressure and requirements (31.8%), those motivated indiscriminately by all factors (28.4%), those motivated primarily by personal growth (21.7%), and those motivated by organizational accommodations and supports (18.2%). Motivational class was not associated with indicating training needs in any of 8 training domains, nor was it associated with indicating any training need in any domain. CONCLUSIONS: Public health agencies should consider the different motivational classes present in the public health workforce. In particular, motivational classes that represent organizational choices suggest that public health agencies should both motivate workers with organizational requirements and pressure from managers and offer institutional support via paid travel and covered time for training

Addressing Health Disparities Through Organizational Change - Evaluation Report

In the coming decades, racial and ethnic minorities will constitute more than 50% of many states' populations -- including that of Colorado. Individuals of racial and ethnic minority status are disproportionally affected by disease and disability and have poorer health outcomes than do their white counterparts.1,2 These differences are disparaties in health. Even when minorities have the same insurance status, access, age income and chronic conditions, they still tend to receive lower-quality health care than the white population. Differences in access and quality constitute disparities in health care.3 Shifts in population, coupled with current inequalities in health status and quality of care, clearly establish the need for addressing these disparities.Recognizing the persistence of racial and ethnic health disparities, The Colorado Trust developed the Equality in Health Initiative in 2005. The Initiative provided funding for 14 organizations across the state of Colorado in the first funding cycle, supporting their efforts to reduce health disparities by addressing the needs of racial and ethnic minorities. The initiative intended to strengthen organizations' cultural competency so as to promote and ensure the following for racial and ethnic minority populations: 1) equality in treatment and medical services, 2) attainment of equal access to health care, 3) improvements of environmental conditions and 4) increased healthy behaviors. Grantees received technical assistance in three areas: cultural competency; program planning and implementation related to health disparities; and data collection and evaluation.The Colorado Trust believed if grantee organizations' culturally competent practices improved through technical assistance, interventions and networking then short term health outcomes would improve as well, ultimately leading to reductions in health disparities. This evaluation examined this conceptual model to determine the role organizational cultural competency played in improving short-term health and health care outcomes for racial and ethnic minority groups.Results showed that as grantees' cultural competency in the form of community relationships improved, so did their adaptations to their interventions as well as short-term health and health care outcomes. Cultural competency in the form of organizational policies and procedures predicted improvements in the short-term health and health care outcomes of service recipients. Based on the results of this evaluation, a new conceptual model was developed and is described in this report. Facilitating and challenging conditions to developing cultural competency are also outlined as well as lessons for funders, policy makers and grantees

BOF4WSS : a business-oriented framework for enhancing web services security for e-business

When considering Web services' (WS) use for online business-to-business (B2B) collaboration between companies, security is a complicated and very topical issue. This is especially true with regard to reaching a level of security beyond the technological layer, that is supported and trusted by all businesses involved. With appreciation of this fact, our research draws from established development methodologies to develop a new, business-oriented framework (BOF4WSS) to guide e-businesses in defining, and achieving agreed security levels across these collaborating enterprises. The approach envisioned is such that it can be used by businesses-in a joint manner-to manage the comprehensive concern that security in the WS environment has become