On the road to carbon reduction in a food supply network: a complex adaptive systems perspective

Purpose: In acknowledging the reality of climate change, large firms have set internal and external (supplier oriented) targets to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study explores the complex processes behind the evolution and diffusion of carbon reduction strategies in supply networks. Design/methodology/approach: The research uses complex adaptive systems (CAS) as a theoretical framework and presents a single case study of a focal buying firm and its supply network in the food sector. A longitudinal and multilevel analysis is used to discuss the dynamics between the focal firm, the supply network and external environment. Findings: Rather than being a linear and controlled process of adoption-implementation-outcomes, the transition to reduce carbon in a supply network is much more dynamic, emerging as a result of a number of factors at the individual, organizational, supply network and environmental levels. Research limitations/implications: The research considers the emergence of a carbon reduction strategy in the food sector, driven by a dominant buying firm. Future research should seek to investigate the diffusion of environmental strategies more broadly and in other contexts. Practical implications: Findings from the research reveal the limits of the control that a buying firm can exert over behaviours in its network and show the positive influence of consortia initiatives on transitioning to sustainability in supply networks. Originality: CAS is a fairly novel theoretical lens for researching environmental supply network dynamics. The paper offers fresh multilevel insights into the emergent and systemic nature of the diffusion of environmental practices in supply networks

Enacting corporate governance of health care safety and quality: a dramaturgy of hospital boards in England

The governance of patient safety is a challenging concern for all health systems. Yet, while the role of executive Boards receives increased scrutiny, the area remains theoretically and methodologically underdeveloped. Specifically, we lack a detailed understanding of the performative aspects at play: what Board members say and do to discharge their accountabilities for patient safety. This article draws on qualitative data from overt non-participant observation of four NHS hospital Foundation Trust Boards in England. Applying a dramaturgical framework to explore scripting, setting, staging and performance, we found important differences between case study sites in the performative dimensions of processing and interpretation of infection control data. We detail the practices associated with these differences - the legitimation of current performance, the querying of data classification, and the naming and shaming of executives – to consider their implications

Enhancing school leadership through an international study visit

This paper explores the outcomes of a school leadership study visit to India. The research critiques the competency based frameworks common in English leadership development programmes and argues instead, for an approach that challenges assumptions in a fresh context for learning and considers leadership as a process of humanisation. Using Mezirow's 'perspective transformations' as a starting point, the paper briefly outlines what was learned on the visit; but more importantly, the paper focuses on how that learning took place. Activities that proved particularly valuable are discussed. Importantly, the research found that informal opportunities for learning sliding into the spaces around formal events, were often responsible for unexpected and influential perspective transformations and that these opportunities for learning are often undervalued. The research concludes that international study visits where participants agree their own collective agendas and develop a trusted validating community group are more valuable than transmission models of leadership learning. Finally, the paper briefly returns to the notion of leadership as a process of humanisation and suggests that seen in this way, the pursuit of community becomes a more highly valued outcome for leadership learning

‘Stepping away from the computer and into the sweats': The construction and negotiation of exercise identities in a Norwegian public company

While research has found that a developed exercise identity enables individuals to view exercise participation as self- reinforcing, the social barriers to such exercise identity development and participation have not been fully addressed. The subsequent aim of this study was to explore some of the social complexities at play in terms of how company employees construct and manage their exercise identities within a work place setting. A case-study method was used to address the research issue over a nine-month period. The case to be studied included a sample of 72 employees from a Norwegian public company who participated in an on-going work-based exercise programme called ‘Exercise for all’. The principal means of data collection comprised participant observation, individual interviews and exercise logbooks. The data were subject to inductive analysis. The primary barriers to exercise participation included high levels of social comparison in a competitive working context, particularly in relation to ‘competent colleagues’, and feelings of guilt associated with partaking in ‘recreational’ activities during work hours. Strategies engaged with to overcome and negotiate such obstacles included justifying participation through a health-related discourse, and constructing a more distinct ‘worker-exerciser’ identity

Innovation and HRM : absences and politics

This article analyses the role of HRM practices in the implementation of an innovative cross-functional approach to new product development (concurrent engineering, CE) in Eurotech Industries. Contrary to CE methodology stipulations, and despite supportive conditions, HRM received scant attention in the implementation process. Organizational power and politics were clearly involved in this situation, and this article explores how their play created such HRM &lsquo;absences&rsquo;. The article builds on a four-dimensional view of power in order to provide a deeper understanding of the embedded, interdependent and political nature of HRM practice and innovation.<br /

Community psychiatric nurses and the care co-ordinator role: squeezed to provide ‘limited nursing’.

Background: The Care Programme Approach (CPA) is the key policy underpinning community-focused mental health services but has been unevenly implemented and is associated with increased inpatient bed use. The care co-ordinator role is central to the CPA and is most often held by Community Psychiatric Nurses (CPNs), but there has been little research into how this role is conducted or how it impacts on the work of CPNs and their ability to meet the needs of service users. Aim: The study aimed to identify and illuminate the factors that either facilitated or constrained the ability of CPNs, in their role as care co-ordinators, to meet service users’ and carers’ needs. Methods: A multiple case study of seven sectorised community mental health teams was employed over two years using predominantly qualitative methods of participant observation, semi-structured interviews and document review. Findings: Additional duties and responsibilities specifically associated with the care co-ordinator role and multidisciplinary working, combined with heavy workloads, combined to produce ‘limited nursing’, whereby CPNs are unable to provide evidence-based psychosocial interventions that are recognised to reduce relapse amongst people with severe mental illness. Conclusions: The role of the CPA care co-ordinator was not designed to support the provision of psychosocial interventions. Consequently, CPNs in the co-ordinator role faced with competing demands are unable to provide the range of structured, evidence-based interventions required. This may partially account for the increased inpatient bed use associated with the CPA