Leader and follower perspectives of entrepreneurial leadership: how is gender experienced in small firms?

This study aims to bring a gender perspective to the study of entrepreneurship and followers' perspectives of entrepreneurial leadership. The study contributes to emerging entrepreneurial leadership research considering gender, acknowledging follower involvement, individual agency, and recognising entrepreneurial leadership as a social process. Secondly, the study contributes further empirical research from a gender perspective of women entrepreneurs to the authentic leadership theory base

Senior female leadership: an exploration of midlife experiences and the relevance of developmental coaching

The paper aims to increase our understanding of women’s experience of senior leadership during midlife and explores how developmental coaching can support women at this career stage. Developmental coaching is identified as relevant to periods of transition in a person’s life as it focuses on the person themselves rather than their skills or performance. An interpretivist, qualitative method using semi-structured interviews was applied to a sample of senior midlife female leaders in order to explore the relevance of this coaching approach. Rich data was drawn from a sample of senior female leaders including VPs and C-Suite who shared their midlife experiences, and the role coaching can have at this career stage. Our findings challenge existing narratives of midlife as a period of female decline and confirms the need to understand the diversity of midlife experience across age ranges. More importantly the findings align with previous descripitons of developmental coaching. Critially they support the need to adopt a holistic approach to coaching senior midlife women that takes into account both the professional and personal challenges inherent in this key developmental transition period. This requires a coaching relationship based on an advanced level of coaching maturity and experience on the part of the coach

Important features of home-based support services for older Australians and their informal carers

This author accepted manuscript (post print) is made available in accordance with the publisher copyright policy following 24 month embargo from the date of publication (8 February 2015) in accordance with publishers copyright policy.In Australia, newly initiated, publicly subsidised ‘Home-Care Packages’ designed to assist older people (≥65 years of age) living in their own home must now be offered on a ‘consumer-directed care’ (CDC) basis by service providers. However, CDC models have largely developed in the absence of evidence on users’ views and preferences. The aim of this study was to determine what features (attributes) of consumer-directed, home-based support services are important to older people and their informal carers to inform the design of a discrete choice experiment (DCE). Semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were conducted in December 2012–November 2013 with 17 older people receiving home-based support services and 10 informal carers from 5 providers located in South Australia and New South Wales. Salient service characteristics important to participants were determined using thematic and constant comparative analysis and formulated into attributes and attribute levels for presentation within a DCE. Initially, eight broad themes were identified: information and knowledge, choice and control, self-managed continuum, effective co-ordination, effective communication, responsiveness and flexibility, continuity and planning. Attributes were formulated for the DCE by combining overlapping themes such as effective communication and co-ordination, and the self-managed continuum and planning into single attributes. Six salient service features that characterise consumer preferences for the provision of home-based support service models were identified: choice of provider, choice of support worker, flexibility in care activities provided, contact with the service co-ordinator, managing the budget and saving unspent funds. Best practice indicates that qualitative research with individuals who represent the population of interest should guide attribute selection for a DCE and this is the first study to employ such methods in aged care service provision. Further development of services could incorporate methods of consumer engagement such as DCEs which facilitate the identification and quantification of users’ views and preferences on alternative models of delivery

Professionalising management in healthcare: an organisational journey

Objectives: A current priority for UK healthcare administrations is the improvement of patient safety and the delivery of compassionate care. Following a public inquiry into failures at one hospital in England (Francis Report 2013) NHS organisations have been required to strengthen leadership and management to achieve better outcomes This poster outlines the practical steps taken by one healthcare provider to effect culture change through targeted management development, and the measured impact of change in terms of organisational performance and staff engagement and commitment. Population: The organisation provides a broad range of mental health, learning disability and community care services. Following a merger of services in 2011 the organisation doubled in size and needed to harmonise services, integrate professional groups and enhance corporate alignment with the requirements of regional funding agencies. A management development programme was established to distil the evidence base linking staff engagement and cultures of high quality care and to disseminate this learning to all staff with line management responsibility. Methods: The programme was launched in October 2013 and delivered off-site to cohorts of 18 managers at a time, as three 2 day modules. A core element is a strong focus on managing effective appraisals and giving performance based feedback, in light of the evidence of a link between appraisal and patient outcomes (West 2002) By May 2016, 570 mangers had completed the course (86% of all managers in the organisation). An action learning approach and a range of evaluation methods are used to assess the impact of the course including, participant feedback, project outcomes, results of the annual staff survey and external auditor’s reports Findings: The benefits resulting from this investment substantially outweigh the costs and challenges of sustaining the programme in face of increasing financial pressure. Specific benefits cited by attendees are: confidence building, the opportunity for collective problem solving and feeling valued by the organisation. The staff survey has seen an average increase of 18% in satisfaction in areas relating to engagement and commitment; and a 30% increase in belief that ‘we are providing high quality services to our patients/service user’ (from 43% in 2012 to 73% in 2015). At an organisational level a number of reputational benefits have been, in part, attributed to the programme: one course initiated project has been short listed for a national award. Directly attributable to the programme is an improvement in performance appraisal uptake and quality of the appraisal (with an 8 % increase in staff reporting that they had a well-structured appraisal one year after launch of the programme) Conclusion: This organisational journey is offered as a realistic, tested and evaluated model of workforce development for organisations facing similar challenges. Clear focus on evidence based management, an organisation-wide approach to management development and an explicit focus on culture change behaviours underpin the success of the programm

Acute effects of neuromuscular electrical stimulation combined with varying degrees of blood flow restriction on muscular, cardiovascular and perceptual variables

Purpose: Recovery from lower limb fracture, surgery or injury often requires a period of immobilisation, which leads to significant declines in muscular strength and size, ranging from 0.3–4.2% per day. A common technique used to attenuate muscle atrophy during immobilisation is neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES). However, a more recently utilised intervention is blood flow restriction (BFR). During immobilisation, isolated NMES and BFR have both been shown to reduce muscular atrophy, but not strength declines. Recently, NMES combined with BFR has been investigated and led to increased muscular strength and size in healthy participants and those with spinal cord injuries, compared with NMES and BFR alone. The mechanisms and safety of NMES combined with BFR is currently unknown. The aim of the present study was to discover the acute effects of NMES combined with varying degrees of BFR on muscular, cardiovascular and perceptual variables

The impact of badminton on health markers in untrained females

The purpose of the study was to examine the health effects of eight weeks of recreational badminton in untrained women. Participants were matched for maximal oxygen uptake (V̇ O2max) and body fat percentage and assigned to either a badminton (n = 14), running (n = 14) or control group (n = 8). Assessments were conducted pre and post intervention with physiological, anthropometric, motivation to exercise and physical self-esteem data collected. Post-intervention, V̇ O2max increased (P < 0.05) by 16% and 14% in the badminton and running groups respectively and time to exhaustion increased (P < 0.05) by 19% for both interventions. Maximal power output was increased (P < 0.05) by 13% in the badminton group only. Blood pressure, resting heart rate and heart rate during submaximal running was lower (P < 0.05) in both interventions. Perceptions of physical conditioning increased (P < 0.05) in both interventions. There were increases (P < 0.05) in enjoyment and ill health motives in the running group only, whilst affiliation motives were higher (P < 0.05) for the badminton group only. Findings suggest that badminton should be considered a strategy to improving the health and wellbeing of untrained females who are currently not meeting physical activity guidelines

Evidences for a quasi 60-year North Atlantic Oscillation since 1700 and its meaning for global climate change

The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) obtained using instrumental and documentary proxy predictors from Eurasia is found to be characterized by a quasi 60-year dominant oscillation since 1650. This pattern emerges clearly once the NAO record is time integrated to stress its comparison with the temperature record. The integrated NAO (INAO) is found to well correlate with the length of the day (since 1650) and the global surface sea temperature record HadSST2 and HadSST3 (since 1850). These findings suggest that INAO can be used as a good proxy for global climate change, and that a 60-year cycle exists in the global climate since at least 1700. Finally, the INAO ~60-year oscillation well correlates with the ~60- year oscillations found in the historical European aurora record since 1700, which suggests that this 60-year dominant climatic cycle has a solar-astronomical origin

Improving effective contraception uptake through provision of bridging contraception within community pharmacies:findings from The Bridge-it Study process evaluation

OBJECTIVE: To present process evaluation results from the Bridge-it Study, a pragmatic cluster randomised cross-over trial to improve effective contraception uptake through provision of the progestogen only pill (POP) plus sexual and reproductive health (SRH) clinic rapid-access to women presenting to community pharmacies for emergency contraception (EC). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: A multimethod process evaluation was conducted to assess intervention implementation, mechanisms of change and contextual factors. Data were gathered from screening logs (n=599), observations of pharmacist training, analysis of data from 4-month follow-up questionnaires (n=406), monitoring of contemporaneous events and qualitative interviews with 22 pharmacists, 5 SRH clinical staff and 36 study participants in three participating UK sites in Lothian, Tayside and London. RESULTS: The intervention was largely delivered as intended and was acceptable. Pharmacists’, SRH clinical staff and participants’ accounts highlighted that providing a supply of POP with EC from the pharmacy as routine practice may have positive impacts on contraceptive practices in the short term, and potentially longer term. Key mechanisms of change included ease of access, increased awareness of contraception and services, and greater motivation and perceptions of self-efficacy. Few participants took up the offer to attend an SRH service (rapid-access component), and existing barriers within the SRH context were apparent (eg, lack of staff). Participant accounts highlight persistent barriers to accessing and using routine effective contraception remain. CONCLUSIONS: Implementation appeared to be acceptable and feasible, highlighting the potential for provision of POP within EC consultations as routine practice in community pharmacies. However, lack of engagement with the rapid access component of the intervention and existing barriers within the SRH context suggest that signposting to SRH services may be sufficient. Wider implementation should consider ways to address key implementation challenges to increase effectiveness and sustainability, and to overcome persistent barriers to accessing and using effective contraception. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN70616901