Groping for Autonomy: The Federal Government and American Hospitals

This article chronicles the slow but steady emergence of countervailing power in the hospital industry since mid-century. The transformation of American health care policymaking reflects the federal government\u27s growing fiscal obligations as the single largest purchaser of health care. As John Kenneth Galbraith [1956,113] notes, Power on one side of a market creates both the need for, and the prospect of reward to, the exercise of countervailing power from the other side. The federal government\u27s effort to exercise countervailing power over health care providers shows no sign of abating in the future, for Medicare and Medicaid costs threaten the stability of the balanced budget agreement negotiated by the Clinton administration and the Republican leadership of the 105th Congress

John Kenneth Galbraith

Galbraith, John Kenneth (15 Oct. 1908-29 Apr. 2006), economist and author, was born in Iona Station, Ontario, Canada, to Archibald Galbraith and Sarah Catherine Kendall. Galbraith, who advanced and reinterpreted institutionalist and Keynesian traditions in economics while promoting a liberal and progressive political agenda, was arguably the best-known and most influential economist and public intellectual of his generation. He published dozens of books, served in a number of high-level government positions, and, as a faculty member at Harvard University for more than a quarter of a century, advised every Democratic president from Franklin Roosevelt to Bill Clinton. Galbraith\u27s political education began at the hands of his father, who was active in agrarian politics in Ontario. Galbraith\u27s formal education at the outset was rudimentary. It began at a one-room school on Willy\u27s Sideroad and continued for four years at Dutton High School, followed by a fifth year at St. Thomas High School (the additional year necessitated by inadequate elementary school preparation). He matriculated at Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph, where he pursued a B.Sc. in agricultural economics. His major was animal husbandry. In a Time interview he later described OAC as not only the cheapest but probably the worst college in the English-speaking world. Approaching graduation, and seeking wider horizons, he applied for and won a Giannini Fellowship in Agricultural Economics, and in 1931 journeyed westward and to the United States to pursue graduate study at the University of California at Berkeley. By all accounts (including those of the FBI) he now became a much stronger student, although he was aware that students and faculty in the regular economics department considered those in the department of agricultural economics as second class. His doctoral dissertation, which in retrospect Galbraith viewed as without distinction, examined county expenditures in California

Data science strategies leading to the development of data scientists’ skills in organizations

The purpose of this paper is to compare the strategies of companies with data science practices and methodologies and the data specificities/variables that can influence the definition of a data science strategy in pharma companies. The current paper is an empirical study, and the research approach consists of verifying against a set of statistical tests the differences between companies with a data science strategy and companies without a data science strategy. We have designed a specific questionnaire and applied it to a sample of 280 pharma companies. The main findings are based on the analysis of these variables: overwhelming volume, managing unstructured data, data quality, availability of data, access rights to data, data ownership issues, cost of data, lack of pre-processing facilities, lack of technology, shortage of talent/skills, privacy concerns and regulatory risks, security, and difficulties of data portability regarding companies with a data science strategy and companies without a data science strategy. The paper offers an in-depth comparative analysis between companies with or without a data science strategy, and the key limitation is regarding the literature review as a consequence of the novelty of the theme; there is a lack of scientific studies regarding this specific aspect of data science. In terms of the practical business implications, an organization with a data science strategy will have better direction and management practices as the decision-making process is based on accurate and valuable data, but it needs data scientists skills to fulfil those goals.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Corpoworld: An Imaginative Essay to Address One of the Great Problems of Our Time

Liberalism [ ] has exhausted - or is exhausting- its ability to rally the majorities around its promise of value. The undersigned does not identify an alternative model with enough attractiveness. So, he understands it would be valuable to seek ways to reform it and a mechanism that can ensure a transition - from its current condition to a superior one - as short and amicable as possible. The work that follows describes a reformist proposal for regulated capitalism, which avoiding altering its main foundations could correct the negative externalities [ ] that it in practice spills over society. And it exposes in an addendum a representative formal milestone of the proposed approach

Growth, the Environment and Keynes: Reflections on Two Heterodox Schools of Thought

This paper explores the approach of Post Keynesian Economics (PKE) in comparison with ecological economics. While PKE, like all macroeconomics, has failed to address environmental problems it does have many aspects which make compatibility with ecological economics seem feasible. Ecological economics has no specific macroeconomic approach although it has strong implications for economic growth and how this should be controlled, directed and in materials terms limited. We highlight growth as the key area of difference and reflect upon how Keynes himself saw capital accumulation as a means to an end not an end in itself, regarded it as a temporary measure and also was well aware of some of its psychological and social drawbacks.environment, Keynes, post keynesian, ecological economics

The challenges of managing across borders in worker cooperatives: Insights from the Mondragon cooperative group

This article explores the challenges that worker cooperatives face when they operate and manage people across borders. Drawing on qualitative research on two Mondragon multinational co-ops based on longitudinal data and in-depth interviews, we address the dilemmas raised by the multinationalization of co-ops through the establishment of subsidiaries abroad, and show the tensions surrounding the ‘cooperativization’ of foreign subsidiaries, that is to say, the reproduction of the cooperative organizational formula and the transfer of its idiosyncratic policies and practices to foreign subsidiaries. The main finding of the research is that, behind the instrumentalization of various institutional barriers by the managerial technostructure of the parent co-ops to justify the non-cooperativization of foreign subsidiaries, lie factors stemming from headquarters-subsidiary power relations, as well as from core co-op owner-members looking to protect their own interests. Indeed, a clear dissociation has been found between the Mondragon corporate discourse about the promotion of participation and democracy overseas, and the real practices that are operational within the foreign subsidiaries. The article also draws some practical impThe authors acknowledge financial support from the ‘Social Economy and Cooperative Law’ research group of the GEZKI institute [GIU17/052] in the University of the Basque Country

Professional bureaucracy A support for the implementation of the lean six sigma method in higher education

هدفت هذه الدراسة إلى توضيح إمكانية تطبيق منهجية لين ستة سيجما في الجامعات وهذا بالاعتماد على الهيكل البيروقراطي المهني والذي يعتبر الأكثر تلاءما مع خصائص التسييرية  لجامعات، وخاصة جانب الأخصائيين. بالاعتماد  على فريق الجودة لستة سيجما و المتكون من بطل الحزام الأسود، الحزام الأسود، والحزام الأخضر والحزام الأصفر. يمكن اسقاط هذا التنظيم في الجانب الاخصائيين في الجامعة. مع اجراء بعض التغيرات على هذا الأخير. كالتكوين وتحديد عمليات تهدف الئ رفع من مستوى الجودة. وذلك بإجراء بعض التغيرات كوضع عمليات لرفع من الجودة، تحديد مهام كل أعضاء الفريق، دمج نظم المعلومات.The objective of this study is to integrate the lean six sigma method into academic institutions in order to improve the quality of services. Given that professional bureaucracy is the best design for such organizations, it promotes the application of the lean six sigma method. Based on the organization of the quality team of Lean six sigma with its hierarchical organization formed by Master Black Belt, Black Belt, Green Belt, Yellow Belt, Professional bureaucracy consists of technostructure which is composed of specialists who plan the work of employees. To achieve this, changes are needed in the technostructure: defining work processes, defining the responsibilities of each member in the quality team, and introducing information systems capable of managing processes

The corporate security stratum of work: Occupational ceilings, progression, and career success

To meet the challenges of modern society organisations are becoming more complex, and so too are the occupations that support them, including the Corporate Security occupation. Within this complexity progression is a changing security environment that impacts business opportunity and societal expectations due to a shift away from risk acceptance (Beck, 1992). Subsequently, the study investigated the Corporate Security stratum of work within large organisations in order to understand career opportunity, complexity, and influence within the context of the socio-organisational literature. By grounding the study in the underlying theory of Jaques’ (1996) work into General Managerial Hierarchies, the study took a broad view on the Corporate Security stratum. The study consisted of two phases, with the first consisting of online surveys distributed to four Australian organisations (N=53), and the second consisting of semi-structured interviews and focus groups with individuals from three Australian organisations from various hierarchical seatings (N=15). Key findings included an identified Corporate Security stratum that stretches from Stratum One through Stratum Four (out of Seven strata), with a postulated occupational progression ceiling at Stratum Four. Further, this progression ceiling is the likely outcome of the role of Corporate Security within organisations; namely as a technostructure function that supports business decision making but does not directly influence profit-making activities. Corporate Security appears to be bounded in specialised problem solving. Further, the study supports the literatures articulation of Corporate Security roles, however, it contests the articulation of the Corporate Security strata within organisations—finding limited support for executive security roles

Corporate security career progression: A comparative study of four Australian organisations

© 2019, Springer Nature Limited. The study investigated the Corporate Security stratum of work within large Australian organisations, seeking to extract professional seating, roles, associated task complexity, career opportunity and progression ceilings as articulated through the socio-organisational literature. Two phases were applied: Phase One used online surveys distributed to participants (N = 53) across four Australian organisations, Phase Two employed semi-structured interviews and focus groups (N = 14). Findings reinforced the established literature articulation of corporate security’s roles; however, they contested the current articulation of corporate security’s executive level seating within large organisations. Instead, the study identified a Corporate Security seating with a restricted sphere of risk-based influence, along with a maximum career level at general manager. The study demonstrates an occupational corporate security ceiling, debunking the security executive belief. Corporate security was located within the technostructure group as a specialist, limiting opportunity for executive level roles or strategic influence