Culture change in elite sport performance teams: Examining and advancing effectiveness in the new era

Reflecting the importance of optimizing culture for elite teams, Fletcher and Arnold (2011) recently suggested the need for expertise in culture change. Acknowledging the dearth of literature on the specific process, however, the potential effectiveness of practitioners in this area is unknown. The present paper examines the activity's precise demands and the validity of understanding in sport psychology and organizational research to support its delivery. Recognizing that sport psychologists are being increasingly utilized by elite team management, initial evidence-based guidelines are presented. Finally, to stimulate the development of ecologically valid, practically meaningful knowledge, the paper identifies a number of future research directions

Wisdom at Work: Retaining Experienced RNs and Their Knowledge: Case Studies of Top Performing Organizations

Presents seven case studies of top organizations in the healthcare sector and beyond and their proven and innovative strategies for retaining experienced workers. Identifies elements of success, best practices, and lessons for the nursing field overall

Steering Capital: Optimizing Financial Support for Innovation in Public Education

Examines efforts to align capital to education innovation and calls for clarity and agreement on problems, goals, and metrics; an effective R&D system; an evidence-based culture of continuous improvement; and transparent, comparable, and useful data

Response of Fresh Food Suppliers to Sustainable Supply Chain Management of Large European Retailers

This article analyses new supply chain management (SCM) strategies of the largest retail distribution chains in Europe within the context of differing sustainability concepts and approaches. An analysis is carried out of the strategic plans of such retailers, as well as recent developments in the sector. We begin by identifying the priority actions of retailers and then evaluating, by means of a survey, how small horticultural marketing firms (mainly cooperatives) in southeast Spain respond to the needs of these retailers. Subsequently, an analysis is carried out on these small marketing firm exporters to identify the relative weight which they assign to the variables assessed, while also considering the existing relationships between said weighted variables and business profits. Our results show that retailers tend to establish more simplified supply chains (that is, shorter and more vertical), essentially demonstrating their interpretation of a sustainable supply chain. In contrast, horticultural marketing firms have concentrated more on tactical and operational issues, thereby neglecting environmental, social and logistics management. Thus, their success rate in meeting the sustainability demands of their customers can be considered medium-low, requiring a more proactive attitude. Improved and collaborative relations, and the integration of sustainability concepts between suppliers (marketing firms) and their clients could contribute to successfully meeting sustainability demands. From the point of view of the consumer, close supplier–retail relationships have solved food safety issues, but the implementation of sustainability in other supply chain activities and processes is a pending issue. We propose strategic approximation and collaboration to bridge the gap between the varying sustainability demands in the supplier–retail relationship within perishable supply chains. Although this article specifically addresses fresh vegetable supply chains, the results may be extrapolated to other agri-food chains with a similar structure

The Triple Aim Journey: Improving Population Health and Patients' Experience of Care, While Reducing Costs

Provides an overview of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's initiative designed to help improve population health, enhance patients' experience of care, and slow the growth of per capita costs. Outlines early results from three case study sites

Improving access to health services – Challenges in Lean application

Purpose: Healthcare organisations face significant productivity pressures and are undergoing major service transformation. This paper serves to disseminate findings from a Lean healthcare project using a NHS Single Point of Access environment as the case study. It demonstrates the relevance and extent that Lean can be applied to this type of healthcare service setting. Design/methodology/approach: Action research was applied and Lean tools used to establish current state processes, identify wastes and develop service improvement opportunities based upon defined customer values. Findings: The quality of referral information was found to be the root cause of a number of process wastes and causes of failure for the service. Understanding the relationship and the nature of interaction between the service‟s customer/supplier led to more effective and sustainable service improvement opportunities and the co-creation of value. It was also recognised that not all the Lean principles could be applied to this type of healthcare setting. Practical implications: The study is useful to organisations using Lean to undertake service improvement activities. The paper outlines how extending the value stream beyond the organisation to include suppliers can lead to improved co-production and generation of service value. Originality/value: The study contributes to service productivity research by demonstrating the relevance and limitations of Lean application in a new healthcare service setting. The case study demonstrates the practical challenges of implementing Lean in reciprocal service design models and adds validity to existing contextual models

Applications of lean thinking: a briefing document

This report has been put together by the Health and Care Infrastructure Research and Innovation Centre (HaCIRIC) at the University of Salford for the Department of Health. The need for the report grew out of two main simple questions, o Is Lean applicable in sectors other than manufacturing? o Can the service delivery sector learn from the success of lean in manufacturing and realise the benefits of its implementation?The aim of the report is to list together examples of lean thinking as it is evidenced in the public and private service sector. Following a review of various sources a catalogue of evidence is put together in an organised manner which demonstrates that Lean principles and techniques, when applied rigorously and throughout an entire organization/unit, they can have a positive impact on productivity, cost, quality, and timely delivery of services

From SRI to ESG: The Changing World of Responsible Investing

The terms socially-responsible investing (SRI), mission-related investing, impact investing and environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing -- all frequently grouped under the heading of responsible investing -- have become a familiar part of the vocabulary of institutional and retail investors. Just what these terms mean in practice, however, and how their practitioners' claims can be impartially assessed, has been less clear. Responsible investing can be broken into three main categories: Socially-responsible investing (SRI) A portfolio construction process that attempts to avoid investments in certain stocks or industries through negative screening according to defined ethical guidelines. Impact investing Investing in projects, companies, fund or organizations with the express goal of generating and measuring effecting mission-related social, environmental or economic change alongside financial returns. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing Integrating the three ESG factors into fundamental investment analysis to the extent that they are material to investment performance. While these terms may all be gathered under the term responsible investing, these approaches serve very different purposes. SRI and impact investing use funding and investment activities to express institutional values or advance the institution's mission. In contrast, ESG investing aims to improve investment performance, thereby making additional resources available for mission support. For a long time, SRI was by far the most widely-used of the three approaches. In recent years, however, it has been argued that, although negative screening can be a useful tool for institutions desiring to express ethical, religious or moral values through their investment portfolio, for many it may prove too restrictive. ESG analysis, on the other hand, takes a broader view, examining whether environmental, social and governance issues may be material to a company's performance, and therefore to the investment performance of a long-term portfolio. Thus, while not every institution will choose to engage in SRI or impact investing, fiduciaries of long-term institutional investors should seek to develop a well-reasoned view on their institution's approach to ES