Partnership research with older people: moving towards making the rhetoric a reality

As nursing develops closer partnerships with older people in delivering care, it also needs to develop partnerships in order to create the knowledge base for practice in a way that challenges professional hegemony and empowers older people. However, the process of developing partnerships in research takes place against a background of academic research traditions and norms, which can present obstacles to collaboration. This paper is a reflection on the issues that have arisen in three projects where older people were involved in research at different levels, from sources of data to independent researchers. It points to some of the areas that need further exploration and development

espida Bibliography

This is the bibliography pulled together during research for the espida Project

Development of RMJ: A mirror of the development of the profession and discipline of record management

The purpose of this paper is to examine critically the history of Records Management Journal on its 20th anniversary; it aims to review and analyse its evolution and its contribution in the context of the development of the profession and the discipline of records management. The paper seeks to provide the context and justification for the selection of eight articles previously published in the journal to be reprinted in this issue

Planning strategically, designing architecturally : a framework for digital library services

In an era of unprecedented technological innovation and evolving user expectations and information seeking behaviour, we are arguably now an online society, with digital services increasingly common and increasingly preferred. As a trusted information provider, libraries are in an advantageous position to respond, but this requires integrated strategic and enterprise architecture planning, for information technology (IT) has evolved from a support role to a strategic role, providing the core management systems, communication networks, and delivery channels of the modern library. Further, IT components do not function in isolation from one another, but are interdependent elements of distributed and multidimensional systems encompassing people, processes, and technologies, which must consider social, economic, legal, organisational, and ergonomic requirements and relationships, as well as being logically sound from a technical perspective. Strategic planning provides direction, while enterprise architecture strategically aligns and holistically integrates business and information system architectures. While challenging, such integrated planning should be regarded as an opportunity for the library to evolve as an enterprise in the digital age, or at minimum, to simply keep pace with societal change and alternative service providers. Without strategy, a library risks being directed by outside forces with independent motivations and inadequate understanding of its broader societal role. Without enterprise architecture, it risks technological disparity, redundancy, and obsolescence. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, this conceptual paper provides an integrated framework for strategic and architectural planning of digital library services. The concept of the library as an enterprise is also introduced

The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence – the Case for Followership as a key Element of Leadership Development

Published in Strategic Management Quarterly (2015) Vol 3 Issue 4Using the Kelley (1992) Followership Style instrument this study explores the role and perceptions of Followership within the UK Ministry of Defence. In particular, within the Armed Services and the Civil Service it was apparent from the literature that only the RAF formally recognised the role of Followership within their Leadership staff development programmes, hence the research aimed to see whether this was reflected in self-perceptions of Followership Style and the extent to which it is applied within the organisation. The analysis concluded that the analysed sample (298 responses) produced an atypical profile compared to other studies that have used the instrument. The RAF showed statistically significant higher scores than the other Armed Services or the Civil Servants and scores increased with Rank/Grade. The analysis also highlighted that the individuals seemed not to be recognised as good Followers by their leaders, they appeared not to recognise their reports as good Followers and in all cases the organisation seemed not to recognise their value. These aspects provide scope for further research to better understand the organisational culture, processes and practices that appear to act as a barrier to the extraction of the benefits of having good Followers even in an area where Star Followers dominate

Microfinance and Entrepreneurial Development in Nigeria

This research study investigates the impact of microfinance on entrepreneurial development of small scale enterprises in Nigeria and its global significance. Microfinance institutions world over and especially in Nigeria are identified to be one of the key players in the financial industry that have positively affected individuals, business organizations, other financial institutions, the government and the economy at large through the services they offer and the functions they perform in the economy

Delivering distance education for the Civil Service in the UK: The University of Chester’s Foundation for Government programme

This is the author's version of the book chapter.This book chapter discusses a distance delivered work based learning programme using a dedicated virtual learning environment for the British Civil Service called 'Foundation for Government'. There are currently about 350 students on the programme and at time of writing, the first learners are completing. The programme is designed to equip the broad mass of Civil Servants with the essential skills for modern government. While the programme has undoubtedly been successful, it has also raised a number of issues requiring further research. These are: the involvement of employers; technological versus educational imperatives; learner experience and progression and the assumption of knowledge transfer

Developing research capacity in the social sciences: a professionality-based model

It is argued in this article that the shortcomings of social science research stem fundamentally from the lack of a developmentalist culture, which manifests itself by researchers’ inadequate interest and participation in continuing professional development. Yet institutional research leaders also have a key role in increasing research capacity. They need to be specific about precisely what sort of development they want to occur: what specific skills need to be developed, and what kinds of output they are encouraging. These will be incorporated into their visions of institutional research activity and achievement, which must be communicated clearly to those for whose development they are responsible. What is proposed is a model of institutionally-based professional development centred around the notion of ‘extended’ professionality, and from which developmentalist research cultures are likely to emerge

Flexible futures: the academic librarian

Australian academic libraries are highly adaptive to the changing needs of learning and teaching and research and the demands of the changing information environment. Liaison Librarians are absolutely central to the academic library's ability to manage change and anticipate and prepare for the future. However little is shared in conference papers and journal publications about how Liaison is organised, developed and supported by academic libraries. Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and University of Tasmania (UTAS) Libraries have explicit, well established and long-running Liaison programs. UTAS recently embarked on a change process to move from an individual, school-focussed model to a faculty-focused, team approach to Liaison organisation. The process led to the organisation of teams, with team-member leadership roles in collection development, learning and teaching, and research support. The new organisation also established a learning environment in which librarians continue to change in a rapidly changing environment. At QUT Library the Workforce Plan has set the framework for the re-examination of the highly Faculty-integrated Liaison model to improve support for the University's research agenda, to respond to the changes in scholarly communication and to work collaboratively with the University's Teaching and Learning Support (TALSS) to embed information and academic literacies into the University's curriculum. This paper examines recent literature on Liaison, discusses two case studies of Liaison organisation at QUT and UTAS Libraries and how these changing models prepare libraries and librarians for the future of university learning and teaching and research and the changing information environment

The interface between transactional and relational orientation in small service firm's marketing behaviour

This paper presents and discusses findings of a cross-country study of small service firm marketing behavior. These findings demonstrate that small service firms are flexible in the marketing approaches that they adopt. They reveal that such firms are transactional and relational orientated in their marketing activities and that for growing firms, marketing activities are used to create short-term transactions and form relations with key stakeholders. This finding implies that transactional and relationship marketing should be regarded as complementary. The findings presented also demonstrate that the marketing approach selected by participating small firms is determined by a range of customer characteristics of which repeat business is only one. An integrated framework containing elements of transactional and relational approaches is proposed as an appropriate way of describing the marketing behaviours of investigated firms