Leading organizational transformation: an action research study

Purpose – This study addresses a specific gap in the literature that centers on individual perspective of leadership within the context of organizational transformation. It explores synergies between leadership, analyzed as a combination of individual and plural perspectives, and managerial drivers relating to organizational transformation (communicating, mobilizing, and evaluating), with a focus on capturing the essence of the context. Design/methodology/approach – The study examines a complex organizational transformation initiative faced by an Italian, family-owned fashion design company through an action research project. Findings – The results illustrate that context may play a role in accelerating the implementation of plural forms of leadership and their effectiveness during some phases of transformation. Specific emerging manifestations of leadership and synergies with transformation drivers are identified. Research limitations/implications – This is a single case study derived from an action research project. Although the approach is congruent with the nature of the phenomenon and the purpose of the study, it does not aim for generalizability, and as such further empirical investigation is advocated. Originality/value – The article offers an original perspective on leadership of organizational transformation, discussing in particular the co-existence of individual and plural leadership and the role of context

To control or not to control: How to organize employee-driven innovation

Nowadays organizations are increasingly understanding the relevance of employees for innovation. Innovative initiatives that involve larger groups of employees, despite their role and hierarchical position, are more and more diffused within companies. However, the literature on this topic is still at its infancy, especially considering those initiatives that are structured and organized by management. Using multiple case studies, performing 34 semistructured interviews in five different companies, we investigate how managers navigate alternative design choices when they organize employee-driven innovation (EDI). Our findings suggest companies adopt different structures to organize EDI (i.e., open, closed, and hybrid), depending on the desired goals they want to achieve (i.e., creating a community or producing innovation). In this paper, we provide a clustering of different EDI practices (i.e., community-nurturing practices, solution-based practices, and integrative practices), outlining how managers can configure different design choices (e.g., topic definition, team creation, ideas transfer, ideas filtering and evaluation, and task division and allocation) to drive employees' involvement and to produce innovation

Osteoid osteoma of the acetabular fossa: Five cases treated with percutaneous resection

SummaryBackgroundOsteoid osteoma is a painful benign osteogenic tumour for which the treatment objective is surgical resection of the nidus. The acetabular fossa is an uncommon site of involvement where surgical access can prove challenging.Materials and methodsWe report a case-series composed of five patients with osteoid osteoma of the acetabular fossa treated with percutaneous bone resection and drilling under computed tomography guidance.ResultsAll five patients had an uneventful postoperative course with immediate pain relief that was sustained over time.DiscussionThe outcomes achieved using our percutaneous technique compare favourably with those of other percutaneous methods, most notably regarding pain relief and patient tolerance of the procedure.ConclusionPercutaneous bone resection and drilling under computed tomography guidance proved effective for the treatment of osteoid osteoma involving the acetabular fossa.Level of evidenceLevel IV

Transfer of manualized Short Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy (STPP) for social phobia into clinical practice: study protocol for a cluster-randomised controlled trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Psychodynamic psychotherapy is frequently applied in the treatment of social phobia. Nevertheless, there has been a lack of studies on the transfer of manualized treatments to routine psychodynamic practice. Our study is the first one to examine the effects of additional training in a manualized Short Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy (STPP) procedure on outcome in routine psychotherapy for social phobia. This study is an extension to a large multi-site RCT (N = 512) comparing the efficacy of STPP to Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) of Social Phobia.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>The manualized treatment is designed for a time limited approach with 25 individual sessions of STPP over 6 months. Private practitioners will be randomized to training in manualized STPP vs. treatment as usual without a specific training (control condition). We plan to enrol a total of 105 patients (84 completers). Assessments will be conducted before treatment starts, after 8 and 15 weeks, after 25 treatment sessions, at the end of treatment, 6 months and 12 months after termination of treatment. The primary outcome measure is the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale. Remission from social phobia is defined scoring with 30 or less points on this scale.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>We will investigate how the treatment can be transferred from a controlled trial into the less structured setting of routine clinical care. This question represents Phase IV of psychotherapy research. It combines the benefits of randomized controlled and naturalistic research. The study is genuinely designed to promote faster and more widespread dissemination of effective interventions. It will answer the questions whether manualized STPP can be implemented into routine outpatient care, whether the new methods improve treatment courses and outcomes and whether treatment effects reached in routine psychotherapeutic treatments are comparable to those of the controlled, strictly manualized treatment of the main study.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS) DRKS00000570</p

Relationship between obesity, ethnicity and risk of late stillbirth: a case control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In high income countries there has been little improvement in stillbirth rates over the past two decades. Previous studies have indicated an ethnic disparity in the rate of stillbirths. This study aimed to determine whether maternal ethnicity is independently associated with late stillbirth in New Zealand.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Cases were women with a singleton, late stillbirth (≥28 weeks' gestation) without congenital abnormality, born between July 2006 and June 2009 in Auckland, New Zealand. Two controls with ongoing pregnancies were randomly selected at the same gestation at which the stillbirth occurred. Women were interviewed in the first few weeks following stillbirth, or at the equivalent gestation for controls. Detailed demographic data were recorded. The study was powered to detect an odds ratio of 2, with a power of 80% at the 5% level of significance, given a prevalence of the risk factor of 20%. A multivariable regression model was developed which adjusted for known risk factors for stillbirth, as well as significant risk factors identified in the current study, and adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>155/215 (72%) cases and 310/429 (72%) controls consented. Pacific ethnicity, overweight and obesity, grandmultiparity, not being married, not being in paid work, social deprivation, exposure to tobacco smoke and use of recreational drugs were associated with an increased risk of late stillbirth in univariable analysis. Maternal overweight and obesity, nulliparity, grandmultiparity, not being married and not being in paid work were independently associated with late stillbirth in multivariable analysis, whereas Pacific ethnicity was no longer significant (adjusted Odds Ratio 0.99; 0.51-1.91).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Pacific ethnicity was not found to be an independent risk factor for late stillbirth in this New Zealand study. The disparity in stillbirth rates between Pacific and European women can be attributed to confounding factors such as maternal obesity and high parity.</p

Leading innovation through employees’ participation: Plural leadership in employee-driven innovation practices

Plural leadership has gained a lot of attention, challenging traditional individualistic leadership models and moving the focus to the dynamic and collective nature of leadership. This leadership paradigm seems particularly relevant in situations where plurality is involved to cope with complexity and uncertainty: a valid example is the context of innovation. In this study, we explore how plural leadership works in the context of employee-driven innovation (EDI), since these initiatives can provide interesting insights about the interactions between formal and informal leaders. Our empirical analysis supports the idea that EDI involves plural leadership. We identified some similarities with two of the streams theorized by Denis, Langley and Sergi (2012) in “Leadership in the Plural”, namely “sharing leadership in teams” and “producing leadership through interaction.” Through multiple case studies, it was possible to extend those streams and to deepen our understanding of the relationship between formal and informal leaders. We conceptualized two leadership roles (i.e., process leadership and content leadership), which enable plural leadership to meet the competing demand of exploration and exploitation, and we revealed elements that help explain why and when leadership is shared between multiple individuals

How do Scrum Methodologies Influence the Team's Cultural Values? A Multiple Case Study on Agile Teams in Nonsoftware Industries

The cultural component of the project team is recognized as one of the most critical factors in the implementation of agile project management (APM), especially in nonsoftware industries, where the diffusion of APM still involves several challenges. Particularly, the successful implementation of scrum—the most diffused APM methodology—seems related to the project teams’ subculture, which may differ from the overall organizational culture of the company. This article contributes to the APM literature in nonsoftware contexts by studying the cultural values that develop inside agile teams and the scrum principles and practices that are particularly relevant for fostering these values. Using interview data collected from seven manufacturing and service organizations, we use the competing value framework as the theoretical model to understand the cultural profiles of their organizations, how they deploy into the project teams’ subculture, and what, if any, connections exist with the adoption of scrum principles and practices. We find that clan and market values are the dominant subcultures in agile teams. These cultural values are fostered at a strategic level by a subset of scrum values (i.e., courage, openness, and respect) and pillars (i.e., transparency and adaptation). At an operational level, retrospective meetings and the definition of particular artifacts also contribute to develop these dominant cultural values

Guiding Digital Transformation and Collaborative Knowledge Creation in the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Through Action Research

Digital transformation initiatives in supply chain require a sector-level approach, involving multiple stakeholders. This implies the development of new models for successful implementation that move beyond the dyadic relationship level and that fosters collaboration mechanisms in multi-stakeholder and multi-level systems. This study applies an insider action research approach to the implementation of the EU system for product traceability in the pharmaceutical supply chain, the EU falsified medicines directive, focusing on stakeholder orientation's alignment. The study identifies how to overcome obstacles to the effective governance of multi-stakeholder digital transformation in supply chains. It proposes new pre-cycle and monitoring mechanisms to use in AR, highlighting the importance of formal structures to foster informal governance and relationships among different stakeholders and introducing the notion of deliberative capacity. Practical implications for managers of companies and organizations at different levels of the supply chain are discussed, illustrating the practical outcomes of the pan-European project