What are the perceived benefits of an adoption support package using video interaction guidance with prospective adopters? An exploratory study

"An adoption support package using video interaction guidance (VIG) with a focus on child-led play was provided by two educational psychologists to eight prospective adopters with whom a pre-school child had been placed recently. Piloted with the encouragement of social workers, it promoted working in partnership with parents to share successes and address concerns. VIG is an attachment-based coaching method, which works collaboratively on client-chosen goals for improved relationships, building on their existing strengths and insights.

Keeping Research Data Safe 2: Final Report

The first Keeping Research Data Safe study funded by JISC made a major contribution to understanding of long-term preservation costs for research data by developing a cost model and indentifying cost variables for preserving research data in UK universities (Beagrie et al, 2008). However it was completed over a very constrained timescale of four months with little opportunity to follow up other major issues or sources of preservation cost information it identified. It noted that digital preservation costs are notoriously difficult to address in part because of the absence of good case studies and longitudinal information for digital preservation costs or cost variables. In January 2009 JISC issued an ITT for a study on the identification of long-lived digital datasets for the purposes of cost analysis. The aim of this work was to provide a larger body of material and evidence against which existing and future data preservation cost modelling exercises could be tested and validated. The proposal for the KRDS2 study was submitted in response by a consortium consisting of 4 partners involved in the original Keeping Research Data Safe study (Universities of Cambridge and Southampton, Charles Beagrie Ltd, and OCLC Research) and 4 new partners with significant data collections and interests in preservation costs (Archaeology Data Service, University of London Computer Centre, University of Oxford, and the UK Data Archive). A range of supplementary materials in support of this main report have been made available on the KRDS2 project website at http://www.beagrie.com/jisc.php. That website will be maintained and continuously updated with future work as a resource for KRDS users

A Case Study Exploring Organizational Development and Performance Management in the Operational Infrastructure of a Professional Working Organization, Using Academic Constructs

Curriculum, as a concept, has been historically associated with traditional schooling, but the reality is that its application extends to many arenas beyond academia. Through the case study lens, this dissertation utilized the ideologies of curricular theorists John Dewey, John Franklin Bobbitt, and Ralph Tyler to explore how intended, enacted, and assessed curricula phases can integrate into a professional working organization’s comprehensive functionality and materialize into the planning and implementation of its operational infrastructure. Following content analysis of a selected institution’s operational system, using closed codes, a descriptive comprehensive curriculum was designed to address the research purpose of understanding employee performance and organizational outcomes. Findings indicated that curricular phases are inherently embedded into the organizational development and performance management of nonacademic spaces; moreover, the framework of an organization’s operational infrastructure consists largely of curriculum elements. The primary research implication invokes being able to manage the efficiency and effectiveness levels of (a) personnel unit performance and (b) the workplace environment, through curriculum analysis and prescription

Stakeholder-based Brand Equity (SBBE) : How it develops through firm-stakeholder interactions in emerging markets

This thesis challenges the prevailing firm-consumer/customer-centric and dyadic perspective that prevails within the brand equity literature, which is based on a linear, straightforward stimulus-response approach to the creation of brand value. Leaning on the literature on interorganisational relationships, stakeholder theory, market emergence/market driving, and firm internationalisation, which stresses the interdependency of diverse external stakeholders and the firm, this study develops a broader, multi-stakeholder perspective. For this purpose, the concept of stakeholder-based brand equity (SBBE) is introduced. This describes the value of the brand as evaluated by stakeholders, which is co-created through the interactions between the firm and its multiple stakeholders.This thesis encompasses a qualitative study of three Swedish companies within the emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China and employs a narrative approach to investigate corporate relationships with social, political, and business stakeholders, and the influence of these multiple firm-stakeholder interactions on the brand. There is particular emphasis on stakeholder and corporate activities and their influence on the development of SBBE.The core finding of this study is a framework that conceptualises SBBE and outlines the dynamics of its development process and the influence of stakeholder and corporate collaboration on the brand’s context. Unlike existing brand equity frameworks, it outlines a dynamic and circular process and stresses the development of SBBE as collectively created through multiple firm-stakeholder collaborations and mutual value creation. Through this SBBE framework, this study contributes to theory and practice by 1) operationalising this novel concept through a typology of dimensions and sub-dimensions; 2) outlining specific corporate activities whereby managers can influence SBBE development; 3) showing how stakeholders can positively influence SBBE development through their collaborative response; and 4) providing new insights which might lead to long-term value creation through the changing of the brand’s context via stakeholder collaboration

Sorting It Out: A Community Mediation Training Program at a Therapeutic Prison

A pilot study was conducted to assess the feasibility and effect of a community mediation program (‘Sorting It Out’) in a therapeutic prison (the Compulsory Drug Treatment Correctional Centre, or CDTCC). The program is unique as both staff and inmates were trained together. Also, in contrast to traditional dispute resolution, which is invoked after conflict has progressed, the program, which is based on therapeutic jurisprudence principles, trains participants in mediation to constructively address issues at the point of identification, prior to escalation. Measured outcomes included pre- and post-program questionnaires incorporating a social climate scale (EssenCES©), qualitative interviews and researcher observations. The participation rate was high, with all participants recommending the program. The outcomes included an enduring improvement in social climate and improvement in the CDTCC operation. Staff reported increased feelings of safety and support, and inmates reported increased understanding of staff and their roles. A large majority reported benefits to themselves and the community, including adoption of attitudes and behaviours learned in the program, improvement in staff–inmate interaction and a positive effect on staff work

A Holistic Quality Evaluation, Selection and Improvement Approach driven by Multilevel Goals and Strategies

Organizations should establish business goals and check for their achievement in a systematic and disciplined way. In order to know if a business goal is achieved, it should be necessary to consider information need goals that also can require satisfying measurement and evaluation goals at operational level. Furthermore, if measurement and evaluation goals are not aligned with top-level business goals such as tactical or strategic level goals, the organization could waste its effort and resources. Usually, the different goals established in an organization are operationalized through projects. For a given project, strategies should be used in order to help in the goal achievement. A strategy defines a set of activities and methods to be followed for a specific goal purpose. Ultimately, to engineering all these issues in a systematic way, organizations should adopt a holistic evaluation approach supported by a set of integrated strategies. By means of a systematic literature review as research method, we have observed that very few approaches support integrated strategies and multilevel goals. To bridge this gap, we have developed a holistic quality multilevel and multipurpose evaluation approach that ties together multilevel goals, projects and integrated strategies. As contributions, this paper discusses an enhanced conceptual base (specified by ontologies) for linking business and information need goal concepts with project, strategy and nonfunctional requirements concepts. Then, it defines the step by step of our holistic quality evaluation approach, by listing the necessary activities to establish goals and projects at different organizational levels. Lastly, it specifies and illustrates evaluation scenarios for business/information need goal purposes such as understanding, improving, monitoring and controlling, comparing and selecting entities, which are supported by strategies and strategy patterns.Fil: Rivera, María Belén. Universidad Nacional de la Pampa. Facultad de Ingeniería; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Becker, Pablo Javier. Universidad Nacional de la Pampa. Facultad de Ingeniería; ArgentinaFil: Olsina, Luis Antonio. Universidad Nacional de la Pampa. Facultad de Ingeniería; ArgentinaFil: Papa, María Fernanda. Universidad Nacional de la Pampa. Facultad de Ingeniería; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

An explanatory and predictive PLS-SEM approach to the relationship between organizational culture,organizational performance and customer loyalty: The case of health clubs

Purpose This study aims to analyze the impact and predictive capacity of organizational culture on both customer loyalty and organizational performance in health clubs using data from managers and customers of health clubs in Spain. Design/methodology/approach A total of 101 managers were asked to measure organizational culture and organizational performance and 2,931 customers were asked to indicate their customer loyalty. The proposed hypotheses were tested and their predictability assessed through PLS-SEM. A composite concept was adopted to analyze the relationships between the different constructs and their indicators. Findings The findings suggest that organizational culture has a positive relationship with both customer loyalty and organizational performance. The four main dimensions of organizational culture that influence this relationship are, in order of significance, organizational presence, formalization, atmosphere and service-equipment. The authors’ model has a very good predictive power for both dependent variables. Originality/value Customer loyalty is an aspect of health clubs that can be improved. This study highlights the importance of creating a strong organizational culture in health clubs, as it enhances and predicts customer loyalty and organizational performance. Its predictability has already been tested with samples of managers and customers, with the analysis being performed from the perspective of the organization’s management and customer perceptions. This study also contributes to the field of sport management, using a predictive PLS-SEM techniqu

The brand equity of a destination: A user-generated content analysis

Customer-based brand equity can be defined as the differential effect of brand knowledge on consumer response to the marketing of the brand. Although there are already studies focused on the brand equity of destinations, most of them are based on surveys. Still, it is possible to extract and analyse visitors’ opinion by their self-reported experience that is available on travel blogs, in which bloggers write in a way that best represents their experience. Tourism in Lisbon has been increasing over the last years and Portugal is one of the most visited countries in Europe. The novelty of this dissertation is to propose a new methodology of measuring brand equity through text-mining of user-generated blog posts, based on the visitors’ evaluations of Lisbon. For this purpose, 100 posts were collected to test a brand equity model measured by four constructs: brand awareness, brand image - decomposed in cognitive, affective, and unique image components, perceived quality, and brand loyalty. Findings revealed that the components of destination image are highly related, with the cognitive image being strongly related to higher destination brand image. Regarding to the constructs, awareness and image are the most important to make the consumers loyal to Lisbon, with image and perceived quality representing the strongest relationship between constructs. Further, higher awareness can lead to negative perceived quality, but the image can work as a moderator of this relationship. Perceived quality was the only construct that did not reveal a significant relationship with destination loyalty.O valor da marca baseado no cliente pode ser definido como o efeito diferencial do conhecimento da marca na resposta do consumidor ao marketing da marca. Embora existam estudos focados no valor da marca dos destinos, a maioria são baseados em questionários. Contudo, é possível extrair e analisar a opinião dos visitantes através do seu relato da experiência, disponível em blogs de viagens, nos quais os bloggers escrevem da forma que melhor representa a sua experiência. O turismo em Lisboa tem aumentado nos últimos anos e Portugal é um dos países mais visitados da Europa. A novidade desta dissertação é propor uma nova metodologia para medir o valor da marca através da mineração de dados de publicações em blogs, baseada na avaliação dos visitantes de Lisboa. Para isso, 100 publicações foram recolhidas para testar um modelo de valor da marca medido por quatro construtos: notoriedade, imagem - decomposta em componentes cognitivos, afetivos e imagem única, qualidade percebida e lealdade. Os resultados revelaram que as componentes da imagem do destino estão altamente relacionadas, com a imagem cognitiva fortemente relacionada à imagem da marca. Relativamente aos construtos, a notoriedade e a imagem são os mais importantes para fidelizar os consumidores a Lisboa, com a imagem e a qualidade percebida representando a relação mais forte entre eles. Além disso, maior notoriedade pode levar a qualidade percebida negativa, mas a imagem pode funcionar como moderadora desta relação. A qualidade percebida foi o único construto que não revelou relação significativa com a lealdade ao destino