Accounting for knowledge embedded in artefacts within healthcare settings: Defining the direction of the research

This research takes place within the framework of the Knowledge and Information Management (KIM) is an EPSRC funded Grand Challenge Project which brings together expertise from management and engineering disciplines. The project recognises that, 'in response to customers‟ changing needs, organisations across all sectors are increasingly being asked not only to provide products in the first instance, but also to support them throughout their service life' (KIM 2006).Thus, the need to consider ways in which knowledge can be preserved in practices, records and artefacts is considered. The aim of this research, which is in its earliest stages, is to explore multi-disciplinary contributions to this problem from the knowledge management and production management perspectives. The focus is on the role of artefacts in preserving and communicating knowledge. An ethnomethodological approach will be used to produce uniquely adequate (UA) accounts of the situated meaning of artefacts within social processes. The proposed settings for research are healthcare facilities where the researcher will adopt an ethnographic approach to achieve a UA understanding of how patients, staff and visitors in chosen healthcare settings make sense of their built environments

Studies of Work: Achieving Hybrid Disciplines in IT Design and Management Studies

We explore the relationship between ethnomethodology (EM), ethnography and the needs of managers and designers in industry, considering both ethnomethodological and industrial criteria of adequacy and explicating their relationship through the concept of “audience.” We examine a range of studies in this light, with a view to their possible candidacy as hybrid studies and identify three types of application of EM studies of work: market research, design, and business improvement. Application in the first of these fields we dub “anthropological,” in that it consists in studying and reporting back on the ways of exotic people (customers). This is the application most commonly found in studies of computer supported co-operative work (CSCW). A second CSCW application, “technomethodology,” involves the introduction of EM concepts into the design process. A further application, dubbed “holding-up-a-mirror,” involves reporting back to members of a setting upon their own activities. We argue that technomethodology and holding-up-a-mirror both offer the possibility of creating hybrid disciplines. We consider the objection that improvement and design involve the introduction of value judgements that threaten the practice of EM indifference, arguing that action research can serve as a guarantee of unique adequacy (UA) by testing the researcher’s understanding as analysis in action in the setting. Furthermore, the standard of reporting required by the UA criterion contributes to the effectiveness of proposed solutions

Posttraumatic stress and posttraumatic growth in New Zealand Surf Lifesavers : an analysis of age, gender, social support, & self-efficacy : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, New Zealand

Introduction. New Zealand surf lifeguards are exposed to a range of potentially traumatic events including search and rescue, trauma and medical care, and body retrievals. Although extensive training is required and peer support programmes are in place, little is known about the impact this work may have as there is a lack of published literature focusing on surf lifeguards. Method: A cross-sectional online survey was available to all current, paid and volunteer lifeguards, 17 years and older. Information was gathered on personal and surf lifesaving trauma exposure, posttraumatic stress symptoms, posttraumatic growth (PTG), perceived social support and perceived self-efficacy. Statistical analyses were performed to explore hypothesized relationships between these constructs and demographic variables. Results: A total of 181 lifeguards 17 years and older (M = 26.96, SD = 12.45), were included in the final analysis. Males reported significantly higher trauma exposure, yet females presented with higher posttraumatic stress symptoms. 7.8% of adolescents and 1.8% of adults scored above 40 on the PTSD measure suggesting probable PTSD. Adolescent participants reported both higher posttraumatic stress and PTG. Total trauma exposure, including surf lifesaving events, failed to show a significant relationship with trauma outcomes. However, personal traumatic events alone did show a small but significant relationship with both posttraumatic stress and PTG. The expected relationships between social support and self-efficacy with posttraumatic stress were not verified. Social support and self-efficacy did show a small but significant positive relationship with PTG. No moderation effect was found for either social support or self-efficacy. Exploratory analysis did show that age moderated the relationship between trauma exposure and both posttraumatic stress and PTG. Discussion. Results suggest that being younger may facilitate PTG but it may also make some vulnerable to posttraumatic stress symptoms under high trauma conditions. Traumatic events within Surf lifesaving were not related to trauma outcomes suggesting that personal trauma may have a stronger impact than lifeguard related trauma. The lack of evidence supporting the impact of social support and self-efficacy may be due to limitations in the measures used. Results and limitations are discussed with a focus on how this unique population could benefit from future research

Accounting for knowledge embedded in physical objects and environments : the role of artefacts in transferring knowledge

The intention to investigate the role of artefacts (objects and environments) in codifying, embedding and disseminating knowledge was inspired by an awareness that organisations across all sectors are increasingly being asked not only to provide products in the first instance, but also to support them throughout their service life. Thus a move from product-delivery to product-service designs is suggested. This paper considers ways in which knowledge can be embedded into the physical properties of artefacts and how this can consequently aid the dissemination and management of knowledge in and across stages of life cycles. A literature review and fieldwork based on an ethnomethodological approach are used to investigate this topic. Accounts of the situated meaning of artefacts within social processes are obtained using ethnographic armchair research. Unique adequacy is used to achieve an understanding of how people make sense of artefacts. The initial findings of the current research show that knowledge can be embedded or encoded into the physical properties of artefacts and that this can be successfully transferred from artefact to user

Why doesn't operations management research deliver?

The web site of EPSRC states: “Manufacturing operations management research is a key component for successful portfolio in Manufacturing Research; however, this area needs attention to ensure that it is delivering.” Indeed, problems regarding industrial relevance and theoretical progress of operations management have been widely observe

Seeking evidence for the role of ontological assumptions in the thinking of managers and professionals

Shingo's (1988) seminal innovation in the theory of production management can be seen as a re-conceptualization of production as flow rather than transformation (Koskela 1992). These alternatives can in turn be regarded as reflections of opposing ontological positions which have dominated Western philosophy, holding respectively that reality is constituted of either temporal process, or atemporal substance (Roochnik 2004). Koskela & Kagioglou (2005) suggest that lean production philosophy is based in a process ontology, radically different from the atemporal metaphysics underlying conventional methods and theories. Chi (1992) has argued that the disjunction between ontological categories such as 'substance' and 'process' can constitute a particularly acute barrier to understanding. Studies such as Itza-Ortiz, Rebello & Zollman (2003) have demonstrated the possibility of specifying and classifying learners' mental models as an aid to learning. We examine procedures typically adopted in Quantity Surveying, Structural Engineering Design and Project Planning, in order to specify the mental models involved. We find evidence of an underlying substance ontology. Methods of measurement used in Quantity Surveying are designed to account for physical, rather than temporal properties. In design, the emphasis is on representing the properties of the finished structure, rather than the processes by which it is constructed. More subtly, the temporal dimensions of the construction process are represented in project planning as 'lumps' of time, thus ignoring important facets of their nature as events. We conclude that attention to the role of ontological categories in industry thinking will facilitate the teaching of process oriented approaches to construction project management