Risk, commercialism and social purpose: Repositioning the English housing association sector

Originally seen as the ‘third arm’ of UK housing policy, the independent, not-for-profit housing association sector had long been seen as effective in ‘filling the gap’ where the state or market were unable to provide for households in need. Since the 1980s in particular, successive governments had viewed housing associations in favourable terms as efficient, semi-autonomous social businesses, capable of leveraging significant private funding. By 2015, in contrast, central government had come to perceive the sector as inefficient, bureaucratic and wasteful of public subsidy. Making use of institutional theory, this paper considers this paradigm shift and examines the organisational responses to an increasingly challenging operating environment. By focusing, in particular, on large London housing associations, the paper analyses their strategic decision-making to address the opportunities and threats presented. The paper argues that in facing an era of minimal subsidy, low security and high risk, the 2015 reforms represent a critical juncture for the sector. Housing organisations face a stark dilemma about whether to continue a strategy of ‘profit for purpose’ or to embrace an unambiguously commercial ethos. The article contends that the trajectory of decision-making (although not unidirectional) leads ultimately towards an increased exposure to risk and vulnerability to changes in the housing market. More fundamentally, the attempt to reconcile social and commercial logics is likely to have wider consequences for the legitimacy of the sector

Developing a monitor for the characterisation of supply chain collaboration and the measurement of its effectiveness in the Dutch social housing sector

In the Dutch building sector, and in the social housing sector in particular, supply chain collaboration between housing associations and their supply chain have been quite popular since last five years or so. Many associations and their supply chain partners have tested, and in many cases continued to apply various representations of supply chain collaboration. This has varied from newly built houses to maintenance of existing stock, and many other characteristics influencing the collaboration. In all cases the parties involved have aimed and hoped for better performance of projects as a consequence of applying supply chain collaboration. Two main issues have arisen amongst the associations and their supply chain partners: How do various representations of supply chain collaboration applied by different parties relate to each other characteristically? How does supply chain collaboration in projects of different kinds influence the performance outcomes of these projects, and thus give evidence of the appropriateness and effectiveness of supply chain collaboration. Therefore a supply chain monitor has been developed as an instrument to assess the levels of the resources and processes in projects, versus the performance outputs and outcomes of these projects. This paper presents the background, purpose, development and structure of the supply chain monitor and compares it to other models, in order to discusses the internal validity and usefulness of the monitor to characterise supply chain collaboration and measure its effectiveness in projects.Real Estate & HousingArchitecture and The Built Environmen

Organizational effectiveness of building project organisations and greenfields to develop

The purpose of this paper is to explore and categorise the different approaches used to determine organizational effectiveness of construction project organizations. First, the conceptualization of organizational effectiveness is reviewed. This resulted in three main approaches that are used to categorise the approaches used within construction literature. Then, based on a structured literature search in scopus, the main approaches applied within construction industry based research are categorised and potential areas for further development have been determined. It has been found that the use of the multiple constituencies approach to organizational effectiveness is very limited within construction literature, while it may deepen our understanding on the determinants of construction project success.Real Estate & HousingArchitecture and The Built Environmen

Specialisation and specialist education in prosthetic dentistry in Europe

This presentation reports on the results of a meeting of prosthodontists from selected European countries. The aim of the meeting was to analyse and promote specialisation and specialist education in Prosthetic Dentistry in Europe. Representatives for Europe were selected from the European Prosthodontic Association (EPA) board, the Education and Research Committee of International College of Prosthodontists (ICP), countries with a legally recognised speciality, countries without a recognised speciality but organised training programmes and countries with neither of these situations. Data about specialisation and specialist training in Prosthodontics in Europe was scrutinised and discussed. The programmes for countries with specialist training had relatively similar content, mostly of three years duration. There was strong agreement that a recognised speciality raises the level of care within the discipline for both specialists and non-specialists. In several of the countries where a speciality had been introduced it had been initiated by pressure from public health planning authorities. The conclusions are that from a professional viewpoint an advancement of the speciality over Europe would develop the discipline, improve oral health planning and quality of patient care. A working group for harmonisation was recommende