Division of Labour and Job Specialization as Catalysts for Better Job Performance among the Staff of a Nigerian University Library

This study brought into fore some salient discoveries about the strength and weaknesses of division of labour and job specialization on the overall job performance of the staff of a Nigerian university library. A descriptive survey method was adopted to elicit information from the respondents. A questionnaire was designed with 30 structured questions including the demography of the respondents. Fifty (50) copies of questionnaires were distributed among the library staff of Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta and forty five (45) were returned. Forty two (42) out of these were found usable. This study finds that majority of respondents agree that job specialization makes their work easier and faster, enhances their job performance and they are fully satisfied with their present area of specialization, while a sizable number were dissatisfied because their training does not correspond with their present posting. The study also finds that library and information centres still cannot do without division of labour and job specialization even with the emergence of ICT infusion into library and information services provision. The respondents also preferred the present division of labour although a paltry number disagreed. Recommendations were made based on the findings of the study and conclusions drawn

Health workers' ICT literacy in a Nigerian University Teaching Hospital

This study investigated the ICT literacy among the health workers of Igbinedion University Teaching Hospital. The emergence of Internet for Telemedicine and health information revolution necessitates that issue of computer and other communication technology literacy among the health workers of Igbinedion University Teaching Hospital be investigated in order to appraise the situation and offer suggestions and recommendations where necessary. A survey method was adopted to elicit information from the respondents for this study. A questionnaire was designed with 26 structured questions including the biography of the respondent. Two hundred (200) copies of the questionnaires were distributed among the staff of Igbinedion University Teaching Hospital and one hundred and eighty eight (188) were returned. The avalanche of health information on the ICT media and the ability of health workers to access them for professional and personal use necessitated the study. Analysis of data was carried out by using simple average and percentage calculations. Among other things, the study revealed that greater number of respondents, 140 which represents 74.5% of the sampled population are aware of the use of ICT equipment in health institutions. Media and friends are the major sources of awareness to the respondents. This study also revealed that 124 respondents, which represents 66% of the sample were aware of telemedicine but unfortunately 144 representing 76.6% do not have ICT equipment in their various departments. However, the study also revealed that in the respondents' assessment on the attitude of health workers in IUTH to the use of ICT, they observed that non-availability of ICT equipment has hindered the health workers from showing serious interest, leading to a widespread apathy towards ICT because of lack of facilities for their use. This study concluded from its findings that greater numbers ofhealth workers in the developing nations are becoming aware of the use of ICT in health institutions to increase the effectiveness of health care services delivery.Key word: Health, ICT, literacy, Nigeria, University, Hospita

Access to and value of information to support good practice for staff in Kenyan hospitals.

BACKGROUND: Studies have sought to define information needs of health workers within very specific settings or projects. Lacking in the literature is how hospitals in low-income settings are able to meet the information needs of their staff and the use of information communication technologies (ICT) in day-to-day information searching. OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to explore where professionals in Kenyan hospitals turn to for work-related information in their day-to-day work. Additionally, it examined what existing solutions are provided by hospitals with regard to provision of best practice care. Lastly, the study explored the use of ICT in information searching. DESIGN: Data for this study were collected in July 2012. Self-administered questionnaires (SAQs) were distributed across 22 study hospitals with an aim to get a response from 34 health workers per hospital. RESULTS: SAQs were collected from 657 health workers. The most popular sources of information to guide work were fellow health workers and printed guidelines while the least popular were scientific journals. Of value to health workers were: national treatment policies, new research findings, regular reports from surveillance data, information on costs of services and information on their performance of routine clinical tasks; however, hospitals only partially met these needs. Barriers to accessing information sources included: 'not available/difficult to get' and 'difficult to understand'. ICT use for information seeking was reported and with demographic specific differences noted from the multivariate logistic regression model; nurses compared to medical doctors and older workers were less likely to use ICT for health information searching. Barriers to accessing Internet were identified as: high costs and the lack of the service at home or at work. CONCLUSIONS: Hospitals need to provide appropriate information by improving information dissemination efforts and providing an enabling environment that allows health workers find the information they need for best practice

Relationships among organizational culture, knowledge sharing, and innovation capability：A case of the automobile industry in Taiwan

[[abstract]]The advancement of automobiles (thereinafter auto) during these decades has not only made great contributions to the economic development, but also significantly changed people’s life. Apparently, the auto industry has entered an innovation race. Among extant literature, organizational culture (OC) has positive impact on innovation capability (INC), whereas little research concerns about how OC influences organization’s capabilities through knowledge management (KM) activities, especially for knowledge sharing (KS) taken in a firm. This study aims to explore the effect of OC and KS on INC in the knowledge-intensive auto industry. Questionnaires are given to 6 whole-car manufacturers, 49 parts suppliers, and 7 car dealers in Taiwan. 449 valid questionnaires are returned, and an empirical analysis through structural equation modeling (SEM) is performed. The result shows that KS is the mediating variable of OC and INC, and OC has a significant positive effect on KS.[[notice]]補正完