What can management theories offer evidence-based practice? A comparative analysis of measurement tools for organisational context

Background: Given the current emphasis on networks as vehicles for innovation and change in health service delivery, the ability to conceptualise and measure organisational enablers for the social construction of knowledge merits attention. This study aimed to develop a composite tool to measure the organisational context for evidence-based practice (EBP) in healthcare. Methods: A structured search of the major healthcare and management databases for measurement tools from four domains: research utilisation (RU), research activity (RA), knowledge management (KM), and organisational learning (OL). Included studies were reports of the development or use of measurement tools that included organisational factors. Tools were appraised for face and content validity, plus development and testing methods. Measurement tool items were extracted, merged across the four domains, and categorised within a constructed framework describing the absorptive and receptive capacities of organisations. Results: Thirty measurement tools were identified and appraised. Eighteen tools from the four domains were selected for item extraction and analysis. The constructed framework consists of seven categories relating to three core organisational attributes of vision, leadership, and a learning culture, and four stages of knowledge need, acquisition of new knowledge, knowledge sharing, and knowledge use. Measurement tools from RA or RU domains had more items relating to the categories of leadership, and acquisition of new knowledge; while tools from KM or learning organisation domains had more items relating to vision, learning culture, knowledge need, and knowledge sharing. There was equal emphasis on knowledge use in the different domains. Conclusion: If the translation of evidence into knowledge is viewed as socially mediated, tools to measure the organisational context of EBP in healthcare could be enhanced by consideration of related concepts from the organisational and management sciences. Comparison of measurement tools across domains suggests that there is scope within EBP for supplementing the current emphasis on human and technical resources to support information uptake and use by individuals. Consideration of measurement tools from the fields of KM and OL shows more content related to social mechanisms to facilitate knowledge recognition, translation, and transfer between individuals and groups

Women in higher education leadership in South Asia: rejection, refusal, reluctance, revisioning

This research, linked to the South Asia Global Education Dialogue series, looks at the role of women in South Asia in respect to higher education and leadership. The research sought out existing knowledge and baseline data from the literature, policies, change interventions, available statistics and interviews across six countries in South Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka). From this research, recommendations about what specific future actions and interventions for change could be implemented in South Asia have been made

A systems approach to evaluate One Health initiatives

Challenges calling for integrated approaches to health, such as the One Health (OH) approach, typically arise from the intertwined spheres of humans, animals, and ecosystems constituting their environment. Initiatives addressing such wicked problems commonly consist of complex structures and dynamics. As a result of the EU COST Action (TD 1404) “Network for Evaluation of One Health” (NEOH), we propose an evaluation framework anchored in systems theory to address the intrinsic complexity of OH initiatives and regard them as subsystems of the context within which they operate. Typically, they intend to influence a system with a view to improve human, animal, and environmental health. The NEOH evaluation framework consists of four overarching elements, namely: (1) the definition of the initiative and its context, (2) the description of the theory of change with an assessment of expected and unexpected outcomes, (3) the process evaluation of operational and supporting infrastructures (the “OH-ness”), and (4) an assessment of the association(s) between the process evaluation and the outcomes produced. It relies on a mixed methods approach by combining a descriptive and qualitative assessment with a semi-quantitative scoring for the evaluation of the degree and structural balance of “OH-ness” (summarised in an OH-index and OH-ratio, respectively) and conventional metrics for different outcomes in a multi-criteria-decision-analysis. Here, we focus on the methodology for Elements (1) and (3) including ready-to-use Microsoft Excel spreadsheets for the assessment of the “OH-ness”. We also provide an overview of Element (2), and refer to the NEOH handbook for further details, also regarding Element (4) (http://neoh.onehealthglobal.net). The presented approach helps researchers, practitioners, and evaluators to conceptualise and conduct evaluations of integrated approaches to health and facilitates comparison and learning across different OH activities thereby facilitating decisions on resource allocation. The application of the framework has been described in eight case studies in the same Frontiers research topic and provides first data on OH-index and OH-ratio, which is an important step towards their validation and the creation of a dataset for future benchmarking, and to demonstrate under which circumstances OH initiatives provide added value compared to disciplinary or conventional health initiatives

Leadership of healthcare commissioning networks in England : a mixed-methods study on clinical commissioning groups

Objective: To explore the relational challenges for general practitioner (GP) leaders setting up new network-centric commissioning organisations in the recent health policy reform in England, we use innovation network theory to identify key network leadership practices that facilitate healthcare innovation. Design: Mixed-method, multisite and case study research. Setting: Six clinical commissioning groups and local clusters in the East of England area, covering in total 208 GPs and 1 662 000 population. Methods: Semistructured interviews with 56 lead GPs, practice managers and staff from the local health authorities (primary care trusts, PCT) as well as various healthcare professionals; 21 observations of clinical commissioning group (CCG) board and executive meetings; electronic survey of 58 CCG board members (these included GPs, practice managers, PCT employees, nurses and patient representatives) and subsequent social network analysis. Main outcome measures: Collaborative relationships between CCG board members and stakeholders from their healthcare network; clarifying the role of GPs as network leaders; strengths and areas for development of CCGs. Results: Drawing upon innovation network theory provides unique insights of the CCG leaders’ activities in establishing best practices and introducing new clinical pathways. In this context we identified three network leadership roles: managing knowledge flows, managing network coherence and managing network stability. Knowledge sharing and effective collaboration among GPs enable network stability and the alignment of CCG objectives with those of the wider health system (network coherence). Even though activities varied between commissioning groups, collaborative initiatives were common. However, there was significant variation among CCGs around the level of engagement with providers, patients and local authorities. Locality (sub) groups played an important role because they linked commissioning decisions with patient needs and brought the leaders closer to frontline stakeholders. Conclusions: With the new commissioning arrangements, the leaders should seek to move away from dyadic and transactional relationships to a network structure, thereby emphasising on the emerging relational focus of their roles. Managing knowledge mobility, healthcare network coherence and network stability are the three clinical leadership processes that CCG leaders need to consider in coordinating their network and facilitating the development of good clinical commissioning decisions, best practices and innovative services. To successfully manage these processes, CCG leaders need to leverage the relational capabilities of their network as well as their clinical expertise to establish appropriate collaborations that may improve the healthcare services in England. Lack of local GP engagement adds uncertainty to the system and increases the risk of commissioning decisions being irrelevant and inefficient from patient and provider perspectives

Leadership In Librarianship

published or submitted for publicatio

Cultivating Contextual Attributes in the Integration of Latin@ Educational Leadership

Although the Latino population is growing rapidly in the United States, there is a disproportionate paucity of literature on the perspectives and challenges of Latino/a educational leaders. Culturally aware educational leadership can help to improve retention and student engagement of Latino students. The purpose of this article is to explore the factors influencing the educational experience and perspective of Latino/a students and leaders to expand the understanding of Latinos within the education system. Identifying role models, creating network and professional development opportunities, as well as offering training programs are practices to enhance the training and expertise of Latino educational leaders. Implications and recommendations for practice and research are discussed

Redefining and Improving School District Governance

Explores recent research literature and emerging practices concerning the roles and responsibilities of district school boards and the issues impeding or assisting their effectiveness

Committee chair selection under high informational and organizational constraints

This article draws on major theories of committee organization to explain committee chair selection in contexts with high informational and organizational constraints. We test our theoretical expectations through a series of fixed effects conditional logit models ran on an original data set which includes all legislators who have served in the Romanian Chamber of Deputies from 1992 to 2012. The findings indicate that sector knowledge matters more for committee chair selection in the first post-communist terms, while chair seniority and party credentials acquire relevance later on. The effect of sector knowledge is stronger than that of chair seniority for the committees that the members of parliament perceive to be the most important, while party leaders have privileged access to the chair position irrespective of how salient the committee is

Statistical model on student performance in UTHM by using non-parametric, semi-parametric and parametric survival analysis

Student performance defined as students who are capable to success during their studies. This study explored the use of survival analysis to investigate the performance of Bachelor’s degree students in Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM). The data was collected from the Academic Management Office (AMO), UTHM. The main objective of this study is to estimate the survival rates of students with different entrance qualifications. The study also aim to identify the covariates that dominate the student performance, investigate the performance of Cox model based on the violation of the Proportional Hazard (PH) assumption, compare the model performance by using the survival and Accelerated Failure Time (AFT) models and estimate the time ratio (TR) of student performance in accordance to the selected best model. The survival analysis considered the survival approach such as the Kaplan-Meier (KM) method in the non-parametric method, Cox model in semi-parametric model and survival and AFT models in parametric model. The results revealed that students with STPM-entrance qualification had the highest survival rate compared to Diploma and Matriculation holders. The Cox model in the semi-parametric model identified the GPA, entrance qualification and course as the significant covariates to be included in the study. Faculty covariate was excluded since the p-value insignificant at 90% significance level. The result provided by the Cox model violated the PH assumptions. Then, the performance of the Cox model is less accurate. The invalidation performance of Cox model prompted the need to conduct other parametric survival and AFT models to produce more precise results. As a conclusion, the Log-normal AFT model is the best alternative model to estimate student performance in UTHM and other similar higher educational institution