Organizational change and renewal: can strategic communication methods ease the pain? A case study from the University of Southern Queensland

Strategic communication is not solely the remit of ibrary managers and directors, but is the product of internal culture and engagement with the organisation’s brand. Libraries need to communicate strategically, in order to demonstrate to individuals across the organisation that their message is on point, and that they understand, are committed to, and actively support the university’s goals. Much of this work happens via the myriad of interactions library staff at all levels have with students and staff (and indeed community members) of all kinds. When the attitude and behaviour of library staff does not truly reflect the library’s and the university’s branding or goals, this undermines more explicit measures of value. It is important for the leadership of academic libraries to understand and influence how every library staff member views his or her role in the organisation, so that their communication is reflective of a confidence in themselves and their profession, and a solid understanding of their institution and the higher education landscape. In large-scale organisational change, both intellectual and emotional buy-in to the organisation can wane. We seek to show how a people-centred change process, rather than adversely affecting staff buy-in, could instead increase buy-in to the organisational change

The effects of a UK review of breast cancer screening on uptake : an observational before/after study

Objectives: To measure whether uptake of breast cancer screening was affected by the publication of the Marmot Review and associated press coverage. Setting: Eight NHS breast screening centres in the West Midlands of the UK. Methods: Uptake of breast cancer screening invitations was compared in the week before and after the Marmot review publication. All 12,023 women invited for screening between 23 October 2012 and 5 November 2012 were included. A mixed effects model of the predictors of screening uptake (on date invited, or within 21 days) was created. Predictors considered for inclusion were whether the allocated screening appointment was before or after publication of the review, population factors (age, index of multiple deprivation income domain by quintile, previous attendance), and interaction terms. Results: Uptake decreased after publication of the review from 65% to 62% (OR = 0.87 95%CI = 0.80–0.94), but a similar decrease was seen for the same dates on the previous year (OR = 0.85 95%CI = 0.78–0.93). Odds of attending screening were lower for women in the most deprived (uptake = 49%, OR = 0.54, 95%CI = 0.46–0.62) in comparison with the least deprived quintile (uptake = 71%). Odds of attendance also increased if the woman had ever previously attended (OR 3.9 95% CI 3.5–4.4), and decreased with each year of increasing age (OR 0.96 95% CI 0.96–0.97). There were no interactions between any of the other predictors and whether the appointment was before or after publication of the Marmot review. Conclusion: No change in uptake of breast cancer screening above normal seasonal variation was detected after publication of the Marmot review

Graduates from a reformed undergraduate medical curriculum based on Tomorrow's Doctors evaluate the effectiveness of their curriculum 6 years after graduation through interviews

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In 1996 Liverpool reformed its medical curriculum from a traditional lecture based course to a curriculum based on the recommendations in Tomorrow's Doctors. A project has been underway since 2000 to evaluate this change. This paper focuses on the views of graduates from that reformed curriculum 6 years after they had graduated.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Between 2007 and 2009 45 interviews took place with doctors from the first two cohorts to graduate from the reformed curriculum.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The interviewees felt like they had been clinically well prepared to work as doctors and in particular had graduated with good clinical and communication skills and had a good knowledge of what the role of doctor entailed. They also felt they had good self directed learning and research skills. They did feel their basic science knowledge level was weaker than traditional graduates and perceived they had to work harder to pass postgraduate exams. Whilst many had enjoyed the curriculum and in particular the clinical skills resource centre and the clinical exposure of the final year including the "shadowing" and A & E attachment they would have liked more "structure" alongside the PBL when learning the basic sciences.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>According to the graduates themselves many of the aims of curriculum reform have been met by the reformed curriculum and they were well prepared clinically to work as doctors. However, further reforms may be needed to give confidence to science knowledge acquisition.</p

Antecedents, nature and consequences of brand success in comparable newer universities.

The purpose of this research is to explore interpretations of brand success in the context of comparable newer universities. This research establishes a specific branding tool for higher education institutions (HEIs) to identify the factors that contribute to a successful HEI brand, and consequently assesses the implications of that success. This is of value as higher education (HE) is not currently well served by established branding models, which mainly focus on market share, popularity, and profitability. In such a competitive marketplace as HE, the need to understand what defines brand success through the eyes of key stakeholders is important for developing a strong educational sector. This research adopts a multiple case study approach with three broadly comparable post-1992 universities. Due to the exploratory nature of this research, an inductive methodology was used in order to build rich, insightful theory and gain a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of brand success. Data from twenty-four semi- structured interviews was undertaken from these three case studies. This research defines HE brand success as Enabling a transformational experience for positive social outcomes and identifies four key themes that signify brand success in a post-1992 university brand. Having analysed the data through recursive abstraction, the themes identified are: Identity alignment, Co-creation, Driver for change, and Delivering on promises. These themes inform the conceptual framework, along with presenting themes identified for the antecedents and consequences of HE brand success. The conceptual framework guiding this research is drawn predominantly from branding theory and highlights how the key characteristics of HE brand success enables deeper connections and alignment to the stakeholder need. This research has important managerial implications in developing and executing branding strategies in the HE context as it provides a new perspective by introducing a bespoke model for HEIs to identify their brand success

Key issues in the process of implementing shared decision making (DM) in mental health practice

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of the following article: Shulamit Ramon, Helen Brooks, Sarah Rae, Mary-Jane O’Sullivan, "Key issues in the process of implementing shared decision making (DM) in mental health practice", Mental Health Review Journal, Vol. 22(3):257-274, July 2017. The Version of Record is available online at doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/MHRJ-01-2017-0006 © Emerald Publishing Limited 2017.Purpose: This review paper will look at internationally existing publications in the English language on mental health shared decision making (SDM) implementation of a variety of interventions, including different methodologies and research methods, age groups and countries. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of: process, degree and outcomes of implementation; barriers and facilitators; perspectives on implementation by different stakeholders; analysis of the process of implementation in mental health services through the lenses of the normalisation process theory (NPT). Design/methodology/approach: Following a targeted literature search the data were analysed in order to provide an overview of methodologies and methods applied in the articles, as well as of the variables listed above. Three different types of information were included: a content analysis of key issues, reflective understanding coming out of participating in implementation of an SDM project in the form of two narratives written by two key participants in an SDM pilot project and an NPT analysis of the process of implementation. Findings: Only a minority of mental health SDM research focuses on implementation in everyday practice. It is possible and often desirable to achieve SDM in mental health services; it requires a low level of technology, it can save time once routinized, and it is based on enhancing therapeutic alliance, as well as service users' motivation. Implementation requires an explicit policy decision, a clear procedure, and regular adherence to the aims and methods of implementation by all participants. These necessary and sufficient conditions are rarely met, due to the different levels of commitment to SDM and its process by the different key stakeholders, as well as due to competing providers' objectives and the time allocated to achieving them. Originality/value: The review indicates both the need to take into account the complexity of SDM, as well as future strategies for enhancing its implementation in everyday mental health practice. Perhaps because applying SDM reflects a major cultural change in mental health practice, current value attached to SDM among clinicians and service managers would need to be more positive, prominent and enduring to enable a greater degree of implementation.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Developments in love poetry in Irish, Welsh, and Scottish Gaelic, before 1650

This thesis looks for evidence of continuity and of change in love poetry in the Celtic languages of the British Isles before l650.The items studied are generally first-person statements of love. Poetry that is clearly intended as bardic panegyric or as elegy, as proverbial description of women's failings, or that adopts a sharply satirical or abusive attitude to women in general, is not made the subject of detailed discussion or emalysis, although occasionally I have found it necessary to refer to such poetry. Chapter One looks at the surviving poetry on themes of love and attraction from eighth to twelfth century Ireland and suggests that the separate traditions of monastic and pre-monastic Ireland can be identified. Chapter Two shows that the type of beauty praised in Irish and Scottish classical poetry before 1400 is dependent on conventions that were already established in the Old and Middle Irish period. It then looks at the content of poems composed before 1400,A11 but one of the poems describesd are by Gearoid larla (died 1398) ,some of them from an unedited Scottish manuscript source. I find that Gearoid's tone when: writing of women is generally ironic, or openly unflattering, Although his poems and the other one mentioned show some differences from the poems described in the first chapter, they do not enable one to decide whether foreign love poetry was being imitated in the classical metres during the fourteenth century. Chapter Three looks at a group of edited and unedited poems from an early sixteenth century Scottish manuscript, and shows that their chosen themes are women, love suid sexual fantasy. Attention is focused on a group of pos that I identify as love poems, Their possible back, ground in Irish and otter literatures is discussed, and it is suggested that they provide evidence of new fashions in the syllahic poetry of fifteenth century Ireland, fashions closer to those of the continent. Poems for which there are grounds for thinking that they were composed before 1630 form the next group discussed, in Chapter Four, It is shown that while some of the new topoi found in them might be expected to arise within any tradition of love poetryothers have characteristics that align them specifically with European writing. One can however distinguish a distinctively Irish treatment of most of the themes, and possible explanations for this are put forward. It is argued that a further group of poems surviving in maiuscripts of the late seventeenth century were probably composed at the same time as, or shortly after, the first group. Finally the distinctive characteristics of the earliest surviving Scottish Gaelic folksongs are noted, auid it is suggested that they belong to traditions of composition that predate the absorption of foreign styles into Irish and Scottish writing. Chapter Five looks at the earliest surviving Welsh love poetry ,i.e. that written by the bards in the twelfth and. thirteenth centuries, and at the prose of the same period, As a result of this study I discount the possibility that Welsh love poetry is already heavily influenced by foreign styles at this date. Chapter Six studies the work of Dafydd ap Gwilym (c.1320- c.1380),and sets out the ways in which his love poetry resembles and differs from earlier Welsh models. It is suggested that he disregards earlier conventions in order to extend the emotional and intellectual range of Welsh love poetry, Little evidence is found to show that he knew of or imitated, foreign styles of love poetry. Chapter Seven looks at other writers in the strict metres of the post-bardic period, and finds that their chief inspiration is the work of Dafydd and the bairds. I conclude with a study of the surviving verse in the ''free metres" (i.e.ones that lack or make little use of the traditional ornament of Welsh verse) and set out the reasons for regarding it as heavily influenced by sixteenth century English composition, A debt to traditional Welsh styles of poetry is also cleaxly apparent, and is probably the result of knowledge of recent poetry in the formal metres

Reviewing the Role of the Academic Adviser

Academic Advisers support student learning through the provision of personalised assistance [1,2,3]. At Bournemouth University, the Academic Adviser (AA) role has been in place since 2014/15 to provide guidance to students. This research investigates the AA role in the Bournemouth University Business School to identify how it could be evolved in the future to ensure a more optimal experience for both staff and students

Men in Childcare: Does it matter to children, what do they say? (Stage 2)

This is a joint research project between London Early Years Foundation and the University of Wolverhampton. We asked How do children perceive male practitioners? How do children characterise their relationship with the male practitioners ? Do children consistently choose staff they like for the activities they do well rather than the associate gender connection. ( For example choosing a woman to play football because she is really good rather than a man)? This research is mainly qualitative and based in a sociocultural perspective. The methods are participatory and are based on praxeological values by involving teachers as research partners. Key findings are: Children need high quality teachers, male and female, who are ‘good at’ activities. Children associate fun activities with the person not the gender (balance) Where males are visible in the setting, seen to be engaging in all activities and, not just as ‘a novelty event’ children did not associate the activity with the gender There can be a tendency in some areas to fall back on gender stereotypes when staff or children faced with activities that are not a favourite or are unpleasant

Investigating the Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Undergraduate Business Education: Using Learning Gain as a Measure to Compare Two Cohorts of Marketing Students

This paper considers management education and specifically how student learning has been impacted by the online replacement teaching offered by universities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study utilizes a learning gain model which considers the students’ own perception of their learning, and separates the provision of theoretical explicit knowledge (distance travelled) from that of practical tacit understanding (journey travelled). In 2019, data were collected from a cohort of marketing students studying for an undergraduate UK business studies degree. In 2021, data were again collected from a new cohort of students studying the same business studies degree course, but this time during the COVID-19 period. A comparison was undertaken to identify any differences in learning gain. Overall, a drop in perceived learning was reported, although in a few areas, an indication of stronger learning was identified. Interestingly, female students reported the most significant drop in their learning related to journey travelled, whereas for male students, it related to distance travelled