Policy change, governance and partnership: Sheffield City Council's leisure services, 1974 to 1999

Policy change, governance and partnership: Sheffield City Council's leisure services, 1974 to 199

Developing an applied research programme through knowledge management co-production: The Mouchelparkman-Cranfield case study

This paper first describes how a joint applied research centre was established between a leading UK university management school and an international infrastructure management consultancy. It goes on to show how a research programme was devised through a co-production process,and developed in an academic-practitioner partnership using an evidence-based approach to knowledge management.Because of its innovative approach, the work in the programme is funded by a UK government research grant.The paper presents the early encouraging results from the knowledge management programme, which is now at the end of its first year, and also provides some guidelines for the successful collaborative or co-production model established between an academic institution and industrial partners

Effective risk governance for environmental policy making: a knowledge management perspective

Effective risk management within environmental policy making requires knowledge on natural, economic and social systems to be integrated; knowledge characterised by complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity. We describe a case study in a (UK) central government department exploring how risk governance supports and hinders this challenging integration of knowledge. Forty-five semi-structured interviews were completed over a two year period. We found that lateral knowledge transfer between teams working on different policy areas was widely viewed as a key source of knowledge. However, the process of lateral knowledge transfer was predominantly informal and unsupported by risk governance structures. We argue this made decision quality vulnerable to a loss of knowledge through staff turnover, and time and resource pressures. Our conclusion is that the predominant form of risk governance framework, with its focus on centralised decision-making and vertical knowledge transfer is insufficient to support risk-based, environmental policy making. We discuss how risk governance can better support environmental policy makers through systematic knowledge management practices

Effect of isomorphic forces on safety practices in service organizations – are there dangers to homogeneity?

A wide range of different safety practices exist. However, they have been developed for production-oriented high-hazard environments. We know relatively little about safety practices in low-hazard service sector environments where most people in the U.K work and which differ from production-oriented industries in their organization, working practices and hazards. We conducted 143 semi-structured interviews in 10 stores of four leading U.K retailers and an office and two warehouses of a global logistics company. These revealed 32 categories of safety practices in these service organizations which we aligned to those indicated in the OHSAS 18001 framework to allow comparison across industries. There were few practices that were not common to all service environments. Moreover, these closely resembled safety practices conducted in production-oriented high-hazard environments. We explain this homogeneity by institutional isomorphism, which encourages conformity through coercive, normative and mimetic pressures arising respectively from legal and regulatory requirements, professional standards and training, and lack of resources and staff turnover. We draw attention to the contingent relationship between hazards and appropriate safety practices and conclude that these pressures encourage organizations to borrow practices inappropriately and to accumulate layers of practices to ensure safe working needlessly increasing organizational costs. Opportunities for further research are discussed

Safety leadership practices for organizational safety compliance: developing a research agenda from a review of the literature

Safety leadership is asserted to positively influence safety compliance amongst employees. We examine this assertion by conducting a systematic literature review of the available academic literature on safety leadership practices and observed safety outcomes. We identified 25 empirical studies, the majority of which measured leadership through generic scales (MLQ and LMX). Closer scrutiny of the outcome measures suggested that these were mainly aligned to the implementation and operations phases of the OHSAS 18001 safety management systems framework. We conclude that safety compliance has been narrowly defined in academic study, but in practice embraces a much wider range of activities. While safety leadership may contribute to successfully achieving these other actions, there is no empirical evidence for this. Moreover, there is considerable critique of transformational and transactional leadership, so that the specification of desired leadership practices is problematic. We propose that a broader conceptualization of safety compliance requires safety leadership to embrace ‘plural’ forms of leadership. We draw attention to the narrow range of contexts in which safety leadership has been empirically studied and suggest other settings for investigation. Alternative methods for investigating safety leadership other than scales of leadership behaviour are suggested to enrich our understanding of safety leadership and so improve safety compliance

Anti-inflammatory activity of Punica granatum L. (Pomegranate) rind extracts applied topically to ex vivo skin

Coadministered pomegranate rind extract (PRE) and zinc (II) produces a potent virucidal activity against Herpes simplex virus (HSV); however, HSV infections are also associated with localised inflammation and pain. Here, the objective was to determine the anti-inflammatory activity and relative depth penetration of PRE, total pomegranate tannins (TPT) and zinc (II) in skin, ex vivo. PRE, TPT and ZnSO4 were dosed onto freshly excised ex vivo porcine skin mounted in Franz diffusion cells and analysed for COX-2, as a marker for modulation of the arachidonic acid inflammation pathway, by Western blotting and immunohistochemistry. Tape stripping was carried out to construct relative depth profiles. Topical application of PRE to ex vivo skin downregulated expression of COX-2, which was significant after just 6 h, and maintained for up to 24 h. This was achieved with intact stratum corneum, proving that punicalagin penetrated skin, further supported by the depth profiling data. When PRE and ZnSO4 were applied together, statistically equal downregulation of COX-2 was observed when compared to the application of PRE alone; no effect followed the application of ZnSO4 alone. TPT downregulated COX-2 less than PRE, indicating that tannins alone may not be entirely responsible for the anti-inflammatory activity of PRE. Punicalagin was found throughout the skin, in particular the lower regions, indicating appendageal delivery as a significant route to the viable epidermis. Topical application of TPT and PRE had significant anti-inflammatory effects in ex vivo skin, confirming that PRE penetrates the skin and modulates COX-2 regulation in the viable epidermis. Pomegranates have potential as a novel approach in ameliorating the inflammation and pain associated with a range of skin conditions, including cold sores and herpetic stromal keratitis

Perceptions of innovations : exploring and developing innovation classification

The capacity to innovate is commonly regarded as a key response mechanism, a critical organisational competence for success, even survival, for organisations operating in turbulent conditions. Understanding how innovation works, therefore, continues to be a significant agenda item for many researchers. Innovation, however, is generally recognised to be a complex and multi-dimensional phenomenon. Classificatory approaches have been used to provide conceptual frameworks for descriptive purposes and to help better understand innovation. Further, by the facility of pattern recognition, classificatory approaches also attempt to elevate theorising from the specific and contextual to something more abstract and generalisable. Over the last 50 years researchers have sought to explain variance in innovation activities and processes, adoption and diffusion patterns and, performance outcomes in terms of these different ‘types’ of innovation. Three generic approaches to the classification of innovations can be found in the literature (innovation newness, area of focus and attributes). In this research, several limitations of these approaches are identified: narrow specification, inconsistent application across studies and, indistinct and permeable boundaries between categories. One consequence is that opportunities for cumulative and comparative research are hampered. The assumption underpinning this research is that, given artefact multidimensionality, it is not unreasonable to assume that we might expect to see the diversity of attributes being patterned into distinct configurations. In a mixed-method study, comprising of three empirical phases, the innovation classification problem is addressed through the design, testing and application of a multi-dimensional framework of innovation, predicated on perceived attributes. Phase I is characterised by an iterative process, in which data from four case studies of successful innovation in the UK National Health Service are synthesised with those drawn from an extensive thematic interrogation of the literature, in order to develop the framework. The second phase is concerned with identifying whether or not innovations configure into discrete, identifiable types based on the multidimensional conceptualisation of innovation artefact, construed in terms of innovation attributes. The framework is operationalised in the form of a 56-item survey instrument, administered to a sample consisting of 310 different innovations. 196 returns were analysed using methods developed in biological systematics. From this analysis, a taxonomy consisting of three discrete types (type 1, type 2 and type 3 innovations) emerges. The taxonomy provides the basis for additional theoretical development. In phase III of the research, the utility of the taxonomy is explored in a qualitative investigation of the processes underpinning the development of exemplar cases of each of the three innovation types. This research presents an integrative approach to the study of innovation based on the attributes of the innovation itself, rather than its effects. Where the challenge is to manage multiple discrete data combinations along a number of dimensions, the configurational approach is especially relevant and can provide a richer understanding and description of the phenomenon of interest. Whilst none of the dimensions that comprise the proposed framework are new in themselves, what is original is the attempt to deal with them simultaneously in order that innovations may be classified according to differences in the way in which their attributes configure. This more sensitive classification of the artefact permits a clearer exploration of relationship issues between the innovation, its processes and outcomes.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Innovating for sustainability: a systematic review of the body of knowledge

publication-status: PublishedThis systematic review identifies activities that firms should be doing to adapt their innovation systems to drive sustainable outcomes. Firms can innovate toward sustainability through a series of small incremental steps or through more radical, disruptive transformations. We call these different contexts “Operational Optimization” and “Systems Building.” A third context, “Organizational Transformation,” is transitional.Network for Business Sustainabilit