E-mail and Direct Participation in Decision Making: A Literature Review

This paper reviews the literature on the effects of the use of e-mail on direct participation in decision making (PDM) in organisations. After a brief review of the organisational literature on participation the paper distinguishes e-mail theories on direct participation in three different theoretical perspectives. Then the paper focuses the attention on the role of e-mail in affecting task type, vertical and horizontal communication and their consequences for PDM. Finally the paper presents indications and open questions for future research.email, e-mail, decision making, participation in decision making, literature review,

The Wisdom of Networks: Matching Recommender Systems and Social Network Theories

This paper aims to analyzing the match between social network theories and recommender systems. Several social network theories provide explanations on why nodes link to each others. At the same time, recommender systems recommend users to connect to some items according to different internal algorithms. The study identifies the theoretical mechanisms behind the main types of recommender algorithms, and specifically behind network-based ones. Main design implications for recommender algorithms are derived

Quality Assurance Policies and Indicators for Long-Term Care in the European Union

This Policy Brief summarises findings from Work Package (WP) 5 of the ANCIEN project and its three objectives: first, collecting comprehensive information on national quality assurance policies and indicators in LTC systems in 15 EU member states; second, using the collected data to derive a typology of national systems on quality in LTC; and third, producing recommendations at all levels (European, national and local) to improve quality of LTC in Europe. The study has identified four clusters of countries based on the respective quality assurance policies and indicators. Comparing these results with the clusters identified in WP1, gaps between national policies for LTC and quality assurance policies have been identified. Also, some quality issues have been identified and analysed across Europe: professional integration, the quality of informal care, the transparency of quality assessment results, quality monitoring and professional education. This paper provides policy recommendations on these issues

Quality Assurance Indicators of Long-Term Care in European Countries

This study reports on the quality indicators that were collected by the ANCIEN project partners in each country considered in Work Package 5 (Quality in Long-Term Care). The main contribution of this report is a classification of the quality assurance indicators in different European countries according to three dimensions: organisation type (indicators applied to formal institutional care \u2013 FIC, formal home-based care \u2013 FHBC, formal home nursing care - FHNC, and informal home care - IHC); quality dimensions (indicators about effectiveness, safety, patient value responsiveness, or coordination) and system dimensions (input, process, or outcome indicators). The countries that provided quality indicators, which are used at a national level or are recommended to be used at a local level by a national authority, are: Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. In total, we collected 390 quality indicators. Each quality indicator has been assigned to one or more options in each dimension

The Influence of Technology on Long-Term Care Systems

New technologies may have a beneficial impact on long-term care (LTC) systems by improving the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of LTC provision, and even by decreasing the need for LTC in the first place. Given the great uncertainty about the diffusion and implementation of available technology, there is little point in trying to make quantitative forecasts about the impact of technology. A more useful approach is to study the mechanisms through which technology can have an impact on LTC. This is the subject of Work Package 4 of the ANCIEN project. Both generally and via a number of case studies, it develops a framework to analyse the impact of technology on LTC. The functioning of this framework is illustrated by considering a number of specific long-term conditions, such as dementia, obesity and diabetes

Determinants of knowledge-sharing networks in primary care

Background. Around the world, health reforms are increasingly fostering collaboration and integration among primary care physicians with the aim of facilitating knowledge sharing and evidence-informed decision making. Although extant research on this topic is abundant, the evidence and results regarding social and organizational factors affecting the formation of knowledge-sharing networks in this setting are inconclusive. Purposes. The aim of this article is to explore multiple theoretical mechanisms explaining the formation of knowledge-sharing networks among primary care physicians across relevant clinical areas. Methodology/Approach. The data are collected from two local health authorities (LHAs) in the Italian National Health Service that are responsible for delivering primary care in two Italian regions. Exponential random graph models are used to test the hypotheses. Findings. Our findings indicate that knowledge-sharing networks are highly correlated across clinical areas. In addition, knowledge-sharing networks are highly reciprocal and clustered. We also observe that formal models adopted to foster collaboration have remarkably different effects on the formation of knowledge networks, depending upon the diverse knowledge management approaches adopted in the surveyed LHAs. Practice Implications. Primary care organizations need to develop and implement knowledge management practices in order to help physicians in identifying knowledge domain experts as well as to support connections through formal groupings and incentives

E-mail and Direct Participation in Decision Making: A Literature Review

This paper reviews the literature on the effects of the use of e-mail on direct participation in decision making (PDM) in organisations. After a brief review of the organisational literature on participation the paper distinguishes e-mail theories on direct participation in three different theoretical perspectives. Then the paper focuses the attention on the role of e-mail in affecting task type, vertical and horizontal communication and their consequences for PDM. Finally the paper presents indications and open questions for future research

E-mail and Direct Participation in Decision Making: A Literature Review

This paper reviews the literature on the effects of the use of e-mail on direct participation in decision making (PDM) in organisations. After a brief review of the organisational literature on participation the paper distinguishes e-mail theories on direct participation in three different theoretical perspectives. Then the paper focuses the attention on the role of e-mail in affecting task type, vertical and horizontal communication and their consequences for PDM. Finally the paper presents indications and open questions for future research

The effect of Email Use and Adoption on Organisational Participation: the Case of a Public Administration

4noImproving organisational participation is becoming more and more important as organisations are trying to shift from a bureaucratic model based on work specialisation and division of labour towards knowledge-intensive organisations built on competence sharing and team working. The aim of this paper is to investigate participation in decision making mediated by e-mail (e-PDM) among organisational members that are in similar hierarchical positions. The conceptual background of the study integrates the organisational theories on PDM and the computer-mediated communication (CMC) literature. Data analysis, based on an empirical research conducted in an Italian governmental agency, investigates the factors that affect the adoption of horizontal e-PDM in the workplace and to what extent this is mediated by the interplay between technology and social context. Our results suggest that social structuration of technology and social processes in organisations do have an impact on e-mail use for participative purposes, and that, along with group characteristics, leadership plays a major role in enabling work group members to increase horizontal e-PDMopenopenSammarra, Alessia; Dandi, Roberto; Muzzi, Caterina; Biggiero, LucioSammarra, Alessia; Dandi, Roberto; Muzzi, Caterina; Biggiero, Luci