Driving and sustaining culture change in professional sport performance teams: A grounded theory

Objectives As part of the recent upsurge of work on management and organizational factors in elite sports teams, researchers have focused on the team management-led creation and regulation of high performing cultures. The purpose of this study was to therefore add to a recently developed model of culture change best practice in Olympic sports teams, as led and perceived by incoming performance directors, and conceptualize culture change best practice in professional sports teams, as led and perceived by incoming team managers. Design and method A pragmatic research philosophy and corresponding grounded theory methodology were used to generate a practically-meaningful model of this culture change process from the perspective of UK-based professional team managers. Results Perceived best practice in team manager-led culture change was found to involve a finite phase of initial evaluation, planning, and impact adjoined to the enduring management of a holistic, integrated, and dynamic social system. With the former process acting as the catalyst for successful change, this model revealed that optimal change was felt to primarily rely on the constant acquisition, negotiation, and alignment of internal and external stakeholder perceptions. Conclusions Based on the model's principles, the optimization of professional team culture is defined by a manager's initial actions and never definitively achieved but rather constantly constructed and re-constructed in complex social and power dynamics. Beyond providing a conceptual backdrop for continued research in this area, the model is also a tool on which the practice of professional team managers and their supporting sport psychologists can be based

The role of framing mechanisms in explaining system wide change: the case of the Northern Ireland conflict and peace process

System-wide change is often challenging to achieve due to complex and fragmented institutions, dispersed and diffused power structures, confidence sapping histories of failure and the influence of multiple and over-lapping fields. This study examines how a large complex system wide problem such as the Northern Ireland Conflict and Peace Process was paradoxically opened up and made more receptive to change by widening of the way the problem was framed. We demonstrate how and why the framing enables the mobilisation of cooperation and the delivery of contextually appropriate collective action critical to the achievement of outcomes in system wide change processes. More specifically, we examine how and why such complex and precarious processes emerge over extended timescales through four mechanisms: frame contesting, reframing, frame reproduction and frame defending. Each of these mechanisms is agentic, dynamic, purposive and politically charged. The time series analysis of these interlinked mechanisms is a crucial and innovative feature of the study. We encourage management and organizational scholars to elevate their gaze to system-wide changes so emblematic of contemporary society and offer an outline agenda for research

Exploring industry level capabilities in the UK Creative Industries

The competitive dynamics of the UK’s Creative Industries has changed considerably over the past decade and perhaps none more so than in the Publishing Industry. There is no doubt that this industry continues to undergo structural changes that compel firms to adapt and transform their business in response to the dynamic nature of competitive environment. Industries have long been examined by researchers from a strategic perspective with various themes of inquiry relating to; industry structure and positioning, industry evolution and development, industry lifecycle, industry change and industry consolidation. This paper argues that ‘industry analysis’ could usefully draw on Dynamic Capabilities Theory which argues for the strategic adaptation and reconfiguration of firm resources and capabilities in order to address a rapidly changing competitive environment. This paper will present empirical findings from a comparative time-series analysis (1997-2014) of the UK Publishing Industry and compare it to other industries categorised within the UK’s Creative Industries. In doing so, this analysis will add to the limited knowledge base on industry level dynamic capabilities and extend our knowledge on inter-industry comparisons in performance following the reconfiguration of industry resources

Semi-direct allorecognition

Adaptive CD8 T-cell immunity is the principal arm of the cellular alloimmune response, but its development requires help. This can be provided by CD4 T cells that recognize alloantigen "indirectly," as self-restricted allopeptide, but this process remains unexplained, because the target epitopes for CD4 and CD8 T-cell recognition are "unlinked" on different cells (recipient and donor antigen presenting cells (APCs), respectively). Here, we test the hypothesis that the presentation of intact and processed MHC class I alloantigen by recipient dendritic cells (DCs) (the "semidirect" pathway) allows linked help to be delivered by indirect-pathway CD4 T cells for generating destructive cytotoxic CD8 T-cell alloresponses. We show that CD8 T-cell-mediated rejection of murine heart allografts that lack hematopoietic APCs requires host secondary lymphoid tissue (SLT). SLT is necessary because within it, recipient dendritic cells can acquire MHC from graft parenchymal cells and simultaneously present it as intact protein to alloreactive CD8 T cells and as processed peptide alloantigen for recognition by indirect-pathway CD4 T cells. This enables delivery of essential help for generating cytotoxic CD8 T-cell responses that cause rapid allograft rejection. In demonstrating the functional relevance of the semidirect pathway to transplant rejection, our findings provide a solution to a long-standing conundrum as to why SLT is required for CD8 T-cell allorecognition of graft parenchymal cells and suggest a mechanism by which indirect-pathway CD4 T cells provide help for generating effector cytotoxic CD8 T-cell alloresponses at late time points after transplantation.This work was supported by a British Heart Foundation project grant, the National Institute of Health Research Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre and the National Institute of Health Research Blood and Transplant Research Unit. SH was supported by an Academy of Medical Sciences / Wellcome Trust starter grant and the European Society for Organ Transplantation Junior Basic Science Research Grant. JA and IH were supported by Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Training Fellowships and Raymond and Beverly Sackler Scholarships.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from PNAS via http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.151353311

Matching energy intake to expenditure of isocaloric exercise at high- and moderate-intensities

Background Those seeking to manage their bodyweight use a variety of strategies, but the most common approaches involve attempting to exercise more and/or consume fewer calories. A poor comprehension of the energy cost of exercise and the energy content of food may contribute to weight-gain and the poor success rate of exercise weight-loss interventions. Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate individuals' ability to consciously match energy intake with energy expenditure after isocaloric exercise at moderate and high intensities. Method In a counterbalanced cross-over study design, 14 low- to moderately-active, lean individuals (7 male, 7 female; mean age 23 ± 3 years; mean BMI 22.0 ± 3.2 kg·m− 2) completed both a moderate-intensity (60% VO2max, MOD) and a high-intensity (90% VO2max, HIGH) exercise bout on a treadmill, matched for energy expenditure, EE (450 kcal). Participants were blinded to the intensity and duration of each bout. Thirty minutes post-exercise, participants were presented with a buffet, where they were asked to consume food in an attempt to match energy intake with the energy expended during the exercise bout. This was termed the “matching task,” providing a matching task energy intake value (EIMATCH). Upon finishing the matching task, a verbal estimate of energy expenditure (EST) was obtained before the participant was allowed to return to the buffet to consume any more food, if desired. This intake was covertly measured and added to EIMATCH to obtain an ad libitum intake value (EIAD LIB). Results A significant condition × task interaction showed that, in MOD, EST was significantly lower than EE (298 ± 156 kcal vs. 443 ± 22 kcal, p = 0.01). In the HIGH condition, EE, EIMATCH and EST were similar. In both conditions, participants tended to over-eat to a similar degree, relative to EST, with EIMATCH 20% and 22% greater than EST in MOD and HIGH respectively. Between-condition comparisons demonstrated that EIMATCH and EST were significantly lower in MOD, compared with HIGH (374 ± 220 kcal vs. 530 ± 248 kcal, p = 0.002 and 298 ± 156 kcal vs. 431 ± 129 kcal, p = 0.002 respectively). For both conditions, EIAD LIB was approximately 2-fold greater than EE. Discussion Participants exhibited a strong ability to estimate exercise energy expenditure after high-intensity exercise. Participants appeared to perceive moderate-intensity exercise to be less energetic than an isocaloric bout of high-intensity exercise. This may have implications for exercise recommendations for weight-loss strategies, especially when casual approaches to exercise and attempting to eat less are being implemented

‘Block and basin’ style rift basins: sedimentological insights from the Mississippian Fell Sandstone Formation

The block and basin tectonostratigraphic framework for the northern Pennine (rift) Basin, within which buoyant granite intrusions core intra-basin fault-bounded blocks, has long held traction. However, many of the elements of this framework are rooted in primitive tectonic models and, perhaps unsurprisingly, corresponding depositional models often reflect this. Using sedimentological and sedimentary provenance approaches, the synrift (Mississippian) fluvio-deltaic Fell Sandstone Formation and age-equivalent strata within the northern Pennine Basin are examined. Highlighted divergences from classically depicted models relate to occurrences of pre-Carboniferous basement domes or monoclines, which are unbounded by major vertically displacing (>100 m) fault systems. Such structures in the northern Pennine Basin are all granite-cored and their origins are associated with their buoyancy and flexural isostatic processes. One such basement dome, the Cheviot Block, confined and deflected the Fell Sandstone fluvio-deltaic system from the west, causing locally elevated net sand content and variations in the dominant palaeodrainage direction. Central parts of the Alston Block, which forms a regional monocline along an east–west axis, were comparatively uplifted because of flexural isostatic responses to granite intrusions. The findings presented are at variance not only with classically depicted depositional models for the region, but also with more general depictions of dominantly normal fault-driven rift basin systems

Anaesthesia Choice for Creation of Arteriovenous Fistula (ACCess) study protocol : a randomised controlled trial comparing primary unassisted patency at 1 year of primary arteriovenous fistulae created under regional compared to local anaesthesia.

INTRODUCTION: Arteriovenous fistulae (AVF) are the 'gold standard' vascular access for haemodialysis. Universal usage is limited, however, by a high early failure rate. Several small, single-centre studies have demonstrated better early patency rates for AVF created under regional anaesthesia (RA) compared with local anaesthesia (LA). The mechanistic hypothesis is that the sympathetic blockade associated with RA causes vasodilatation and increased blood flow through the new AVF. Despite this, considerable variation in practice exists in the UK. A high-quality, adequately powered, multicentre randomised controlled trial (RCT) is required to definitively inform practice. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The Anaesthesia Choice for Creation of Arteriovenous Fistula (ACCess) study is a multicentre, observer-blinded RCT comparing primary radiocephalic/brachiocephalic AVF created under regional versus LA. The primary outcome is primary unassisted AVF patency at 1 year. Access-specific (eg, stenosis/thrombosis), patient-specific (including health-related quality of life) and safety secondary outcomes will be evaluated. Health economic analysis will also be undertaken. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The ACCess study has been approved by the West of Scotland Research and ethics committee number 3 (20/WS/0178). Results will be published in open-access peer-reviewed journals within 12 months of completion of the trial. We will also present our findings at key national and international renal and anaesthetic meetings, and support dissemination of trial outcomes via renal patient groups. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN14153938. SPONSOR: NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde GN19RE456, Protocol V.1.3 (8 May 2021), REC/IRAS ID: 290482