1,029 research outputs found

    Women’s occupational mobility in the Nigerian service sector through a radical feminist perspective

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    A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Wolverhampton for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy.The impact of women’s contribution and participation in society and its economies has been theorised to contribute trillion dollars to global GDP. There is extensive research and literature that has contextualised and developed our understanding of the marginalisation of women in our societies to advocate for gender equality as the United Nations’ 5th Sustainable Development Goal of Gender Equality is also essential in achieving other sustainable development goals. To contribute to the growing empirical study within the context of Sub-Sahara Africa with a particular focus on Nigeria, this study investigates the impact of institutionalisation of organisational practices in the leadership experience and participation of women in the service sector. Through a radical feminist perspective, a deconstructive analysis of the Nigerian context was conducted on the culture of Nigeria and its influence on organisational culture and the adoption of leadership styles. Focus groups and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 31 women in the service sector in entry-level, middle-management and leadership positions across three industries: financial institutions, Information, Communication and Technology (ICT), and Higher Education. The findings revealed the relationship between the dimensions of institutional theory and women's experience. They shed light on the institutional void and the barriers to women’s occupational mobility and full economic participation. Most importantly, the outcome of this investigation documents critical recommendations for organisations, women, and NGOs to consider how to change cultural mindsets within the service sector. The call for organisations is to be deliberate in identifying barriers and initiating a strategy to tackle those barriers with a ten-part monitoring and evaluation toolkit

    Leading a business school

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    Business schools are critical players in higher education, educating current and future leaders to make a difference in the world. Yet we know surprisingly little about the leaders of business schools. Leading a Business School demystifies this complex and dynamic role, offering international insights into deans’ dilemmas in different contexts and situations. It highlights the importance of deans creating challenging and supportive learning cultures to enhance business and management education, organizations and society more broadly. Written by renowned experts on the role of the dean, Julie Davies, Howard Thomas, Eric Cornuel and Rolf D. Cremer, the book traces the historical evolution of the business school deanship, the current challenges and future sources of disruption. The leadership characteristics and styles of business school deans are presented based on an examination of different dimensions of their roles. These include issues of strategic positioning, such as financial viability, prestige, size, mission, age, location and programme portfolios, as well as the influences of rankings, sector accreditations, governance structures, networks and national policies on strategy implementation. Drawing on international case studies and deans’ development programmes globally, the authors explore constraints on deans’ autonomy, university and external relations, and how business school deans add value over the period of their tenures. This candid and well-researched book is essential reading for aspiring business school leaders, those hiring and working with deans, and other higher education leaders

    Drones, Signals, and the Techno-Colonisation of Landscape

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    This research project is a cross-disciplinary, creative practice-led investigation that interrogates increasing military interest in the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS). The project’s central argument is that painted visualisations of normally invisible aspects of contemporary EMS-enabled warfare can reveal useful, novel, and speculative but informed perspectives that contribute to debates about war and technology. It pays particular attention to how visualising normally invisible signals reveals an insidious techno-colonisation of our extended environment from Earth to orbiting satellites

    Measuring the impact of COVID-19 on hospital care pathways

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    Care pathways in hospitals around the world reported significant disruption during the recent COVID-19 pandemic but measuring the actual impact is more problematic. Process mining can be useful for hospital management to measure the conformance of real-life care to what might be considered normal operations. In this study, we aim to demonstrate that process mining can be used to investigate process changes associated with complex disruptive events. We studied perturbations to accident and emergency (A &E) and maternity pathways in a UK public hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. Co-incidentally the hospital had implemented a Command Centre approach for patient-flow management affording an opportunity to study both the planned improvement and the disruption due to the pandemic. Our study proposes and demonstrates a method for measuring and investigating the impact of such planned and unplanned disruptions affecting hospital care pathways. We found that during the pandemic, both A &E and maternity pathways had measurable reductions in the mean length of stay and a measurable drop in the percentage of pathways conforming to normative models. There were no distinctive patterns of monthly mean values of length of stay nor conformance throughout the phases of the installation of the hospital’s new Command Centre approach. Due to a deficit in the available A &E data, the findings for A &E pathways could not be interpreted

    2023 SPARC Book Of Abstracts

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    Data ethics : building trust : how digital technologies can serve humanity

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    Data is the magic word of the 21st century. As oil in the 20th century and electricity in the 19th century: For citizens, data means support in daily life in almost all activities, from watch to laptop, from kitchen to car, from mobile phone to politics. For business and politics, data means power, dominance, winning the race. Data can be used for good and bad, for services and hacking, for medicine and arms race. How can we build trust in this complex and ambiguous data world? How can digital technologies serve humanity? The 45 articles in this book represent a broad range of ethical reflections and recommendations in eight sections: a) Values, Trust and Law, b) AI, Robots and Humans, c) Health and Neuroscience, d) Religions for Digital Justice, e) Farming, Business, Finance, f) Security, War, Peace, g) Data Governance, Geopolitics, h) Media, Education, Communication. The authors and institutions come from all continents. The book serves as reading material for teachers, students, policy makers, politicians, business, hospitals, NGOs and religious organisations alike. It is an invitation for dialogue, debate and building trust! The book is a continuation of the volume “Cyber Ethics 4.0” published in 2018 by the same editors

    Innovation and development of companies in the service industry: relationship with the economic development of the Dominican Republic

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    Muchos investigadores han reconocido la importancia de la innovación organizacional en las empresas de servicios. Los cambios en el mercado, apoyados de la innovación en tecnología, han condicionado que exista una menor dependencia de la mano de obra calificada e involucrando a los usuarios de los distintos servicios a auto asistirse. En este sentido, las empresas de servicios basadas en la tecnología ayudan a las empresas de distintos sectores, como son el de tecnología, comunicaciones, salud, ingeniería entre otros. En el caso de los servicios basados en la tecnología brindados para el sector tecnología, éstos conforman el sistema. También, pueden realizar servicios tales como comunicaciones, soporte técnico, redes sociales, correo electrónico, entre otros. En República Dominicana, el sector servicios, en especial aquel que se basa en la tecnología, es un sector de la economía muy importante y requieren actualización constante para seguir innovando, mejorando la productividad y competiendo en el mercado. Como industria de servicios, son instituciones que requieren mucha mano de obra. En esta investigación se han planteado dos tipos de objetivos: por un lado, los teóricos, que buscan profundizar en la industria de servicios tecnológicos, presentar la economía de la innovación tecnológica, conocer la competitividad de las empresas de servicios tecnológicos en la República Dominicana y plantear el modelo y las hipótesis de la investigación; por otro lado, los objetivos empíricos buscan determinar si la innovación organizacional, la relación con el cliente y la calidad de la información en la empresa influyen en su innovación tecnológica; conocer si la orientación empresarial influye en la orientación al aprendizaje; evaluar si la capacidad de innovación del proceso y la innovación organización influyen en la capacidad de innovación del producto; determinar si la orientación al aprendizaje, la orientación al mercado y la creatividad organizativa influyen en la innovación organizacional; conocer si la innovación organizacional influye en la creatividad de la empresa, en la orientación al futuro, en la capacidad de innovación del proceso, en la apertura al cambio, en la proactividad, en el riesgo asumido por la empresa y en la satisfacción con el trabajo; evaluar si la facilidad del uso percibido, la utilidad percibida y la innovación tecnológica influyen en la reflectividad tecnológica de la empresa; conocer si la orientación tecnológica de la empresa influye en la orientación en el aprendizaje; evaluar la validez y fiabilidad del instrumento de medida para conformar el modelo planteado; y medir las relaciones existentes entre cada uno de los constructos del modelo planteado. Para este trabajo de investigación, se ha consultado la población de la empresa Synergies Corp. Esta empresa fue fundada en 2006 y está ubicada en la ciudad de Santiago de los Caballeros. Esta institución está auditada por QMS Global y está certificada para ISO9001 e ISO27001, siendo de los primeros Caribe en obtenerlas. Synergies Corp. cuenta con 4 instalaciones y una capacidad instalada de 750 CSR por turno, brindando servicios en español, inglés, francés y portugués. La recolección de las encuestas, aplicada a los empleados de la empresa Synergies Corp., fue llevada a cabo durante los meses de octubre a diciembre de 2019, obteniéndose un total de 543 encuestas. Del total de encuestas recogidas, 512 fueron válidas. Esta cantidad de encuestas arroja un error muestral de ±3%, para un nivel de confianza del 95.5%. Los resultados han demostrado que la orientación empresarial y la orientación tecnológica influyen en la orientación al aprendizaje. En relación con los antecedentes de la innovación organizacional, esta investigación ha mostrado la influencia y relación de la orientación al aprendizaje, la orientación al mercado y la creatividad organizativa. Además, se ha corroborado que la innovación organizacional influye tanto en la capacidad de innovación del proceso como en la capacidad de innovación del producto. También, se ha demostrado que la capacidad de innovación del proceso influye en la capacidad de innovación del producto. Se ha constatado que la relación existente entre la innovación organizacional y la innovación tecnológica. Esta investigación no ha demostrado la existencia de influencia entre la relación con el cliente y la innovación tecnológica de la empresa. Se ha concluido que existe relación entre la calidad de la información y la innovación tecnológica de la empresa. La innovación tecnológica, también, se ha demostrado que influye en la reflectividad tecnológica de la empresa, y que la facilidad del uso percibido y la utilidad percibida influyen en la reflectividad tecnológica de la empresa. Se ha concluido que la innovación organizacional influye en la creatividad de la empresa, en la apertura al cambio, en la proactividad, en el riesgo asumido por la empresa, en la satisfacción de los empleados con el trabajo y en la orientación al futuro de la empresa.Many researchers have recognized the importance of organizational innovation in service companies. Changes in the market, supported by innovation in technology, have conditioned that there is less dependence on skilled labor and involving the users of the different services to self-assist. In this sense, In the service sector there are technology-based service companies which help companies in different sectors such as technology, communications, health, engineering, among others. In the case of technology-based services provided for the technology sector, these make up the system. Also, they can perform services such as communications, technical support Also, they can perform messaging services, live support, social networks, email, among others. In the Dominican Republic, the service sector, especially technology-based service is a very important sector of the economy and require constant updating to continue innovating, improving productivity, and competing in the market. As a service industry, they are labor intensive institutions. In this research, two types of objectives have been proposed: on the one hand, the theoretical ones, which seek to delve into the technological services industry, present the economics of technological innovation, learn about the competitiveness of technological services companies in the Dominican Republic, and propose the model and the research hypotheses; on the other hand, the empirical objectives seek to determine if organizational innovation, the relationship with the client and the quality of information in the company influence its technological innovation; to know if the entrepreneurial orientation influences the learning orientation; evaluate if the innovation capacity of the process and the organization innovation influence the innovation capacity of the product; determine if learning orientation, market orientation and organizational creativity influence organizational innovation; to know if organizational innovation influences the creativity of the company, the orientation to the future, the capacity for innovation of the process, the openness to change, the proactivity, the risk assumed by the company and the satisfaction with the worked; evaluate if the perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and technological innovation influence the technological reflectivity of the company; to know if the technological orientation of the company influences the learning orientation; evaluate the validity and reliability of the measurement instrument to form the proposed model; and measure the existing relationships between each of the constructs of the proposed model. For this research work, the population of the company Synergies Corp. has been consulted. This company was founded in 2006 and is located in the city of Santiago de los Caballeros. This institution is audited by QMS Global and is certified for ISO9001 and ISO27001, being one of the first in the Caribbean to obtain them. Synergies Corp. has 4 facilities and an installed capacity of 750 CSRs per shift, providing services in Spanish, English, French, and Portuguese. The collection of the surveys, applied to the employees of the company Synergies Corp., was carried out during the months of October to December 2019, obtaining a total of 543 surveys. Of the total surveys collected, 512 were valid. This number of surveys yields a sampling error of ±3%, for a confidence level of 95.5%. The results have shown that business orientation and technological orientation influence learning orientation. In relation to the background of organizational innovation, this research has shown the influence and relationship of learning orientation, market orientation and organizational creativity. In addition, it has been confirmed that organizational innovation influences both the process innovation capacity and the product innovation capacity. Also, it has been shown that the innovation capacity of the process influences the innovation capacity of the product. It has been found that the relationship between organizational innovation and technological innovation. This investigation has not demonstrated the existence of an influence between the relationship with the client and the technological innovation of the company. It has been concluded that there is a relationship between the quality of the information and the technological innovation of the company. Technological innovation has also been shown to influence the company's technological reflectivity, and perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness influence the company's technological reflectivity. It has been concluded that organizational innovation influences the creativity of the company, the openness to change, the proactivity, the risk assumed by the company, the satisfaction of the employees with the work and the future orientation of the business

    Security and Privacy for Modern Wireless Communication Systems

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    The aim of this reprint focuses on the latest protocol research, software/hardware development and implementation, and system architecture design in addressing emerging security and privacy issues for modern wireless communication networks. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to, the following: deep-learning-based security and privacy design; covert communications; information-theoretical foundations for advanced security and privacy techniques; lightweight cryptography for power constrained networks; physical layer key generation; prototypes and testbeds for security and privacy solutions; encryption and decryption algorithm for low-latency constrained networks; security protocols for modern wireless communication networks; network intrusion detection; physical layer design with security consideration; anonymity in data transmission; vulnerabilities in security and privacy in modern wireless communication networks; challenges of security and privacy in node–edge–cloud computation; security and privacy design for low-power wide-area IoT networks; security and privacy design for vehicle networks; security and privacy design for underwater communications networks
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