Energizing middle managers' practice in organizational learning

Purpose This paper aims to consider middle managers' influence on organizational learning by exploring how they cope with demands and tensions in their role and whether their practice affects available team energy. Design/methodology/approach In total, 43 managers from three large organizations involved in major change assessed their group's energy using a tested and validated instrument, the OEQ12©. This generated six distinct categories of team energy, from highly productive to corrosive. Thirty-four of these managers, spread across the six categories, completed a Twenty Statements Test and a follow-up interview to explore their cognitive, affective and behavioural responses to coping with resource constraints and tensions in their role. Findings The research provides preliminary insights into what distinguishes a middle manager persona co-ordinating teams with highly productive energy from those managing groups with less available energy to engage with knowledge and learning. It considers why these distinctions may affect collective sensitivities in the organizational learning process. Research limitations/implications Informants were not equally distributed across the six team energy categories; therefore, some middle manager personas are more indicative than others. Practical implications This research suggests areas where middle manager development could potentially improve organizational learning. Originality/value This study offers early empirical evidence that middle managers' orientation to their role is entangled with the process of energizing their teams in organizational learning during change

Lessons learned: structuring knowledge codification and abstraction to provide meaningful information for learning

Purpose – To increase the spread and reuse of lessons learned (LLs), the purpose of this paper is to develop a standardised information structure to facilitate concise capture of the critical elements needed to engage secondary learners and help them apply lessons to their contexts. Design/methodology/approach – Three workshops with industry practitioners, an analysis of over 60 actual lessons from private and public sector organisations and seven practitioner interviews provided evidence of actual practice. Design science was used to develop a repeatable/consistent information model of LL content/structure. Workshop analysis and theory provided the coding template. Situation theory and normative analysis were used to define the knowledge and rule logic to standardise fields. Findings – Comparing evidence from practice against theoretical prescriptions in the literature highlighted important enhancements to the standard LL model. These were a consistent/concise rule and context structure, appropriate emotional language, reuse and control criteria to ensure lessons were transferrable and reusable in new situations. Research limitations/implications – Findings are based on a limited sample. Long-term benefits of standardisation and use need further research. A larger sample/longitudinal usage study is planned. Practical implications – The implementation of the LL structure was well-received in one government user site and other industry user sites are pending. Practitioners validated the design logic for improving capture and reuse of lessons to render themeasily translatable to a new learner’s context. Originality/value – The new LL structure is uniquely grounded in user needs, developed from existing best practice and is an original application of normative and situation theory to provide consistent rule logic for context/content structure

An exploration of the role of cognitive, behavioural and emotional processes in people with psychotic disorders who commit offences

There is growing research evidence about the role of cognitive, behavioural and emotional factors in psychotic disorders. This has led to the development of successful assessment and treatment packages for people with psychosis based on the CBT model. Research has attempted to use this model to examine crimes committed by people with psychotic disorders. This relationship remains controversial and is widely debated. The current study aimed to draw together the literature on CBT in psychosis and on mentally disordered offenders to further investigate the nature of any interaction. This has implications for successful outcome with this population. It was hypothesised that cognitive, behavioural and emotional measures would differ across three groups comprising non-offenders and people with minor and major offending histories. Twenty six subjects were recruited from a secure psychiatric forensic unit and general psychiatric services; all subjects completed five measures. The Locus of Control questionnaire and Conviction of Beliefs scale were used to examine cognitive processes; the Coping Responses Inventory and clinical interview were used to examine behavioural processes and the Beck Depression Inventory-2nd edition and Beck Anxiety Inventory were used to examine emotional processes. Analyses using parametric and non-parametric tests were not significant; results are interpreted in light of methodological difficulties. Results were discussed in the context of relevant literature, clinical utility and future research

Improving access to Foreign Direct Investment for Pacific Island Countries: Pursuit of International Investment Agreements from a development perspective

With aims of economic development and its associated benefits, most countries have established networks of treaties, inclusively termed International Investment Agreements (IIAs), which liberalise, promote, protect and regulate investment flows between the parties. The average number of Bilateral Investment Treaties concluded and in force per country is around 11. Except for Papua New Guinea, the Pacific Island States each have 1 (three of 16 included States) or no IIAs in force – limiting access and control over incoming international investment in their economies. This paper analyses the potential of IIAs in promoting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), economic development and its associated benefits in Pacific island nations. It examines the existing IIAs reached by Pacific island countries and compares them with IIAs in place in other Small Island Developing States outside the Pacific. Finally, it explores the best practices for the design of a model IIA which might be suited to the investment and development policies, and particular economic conditions of Pacific island states, with the explicit aim of enhancing the contributions to the development outcomes of those economies. This research uses treaty analysis alongside social and political science approaches to development and economic data. Key legal sources include identified treaties and their mapping data from the UNCTAD database, economic data, arbitral proceedings and awards, and public policy statements on foreign investment from Pacific island countries. It will assume underlying principles of sovereign self-determination and pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals. Included economies: Cook Islands; Fiji; Kiribati; Micronesia, Federated States of; Marshall Islands; Nauru; Niue; Palau; Papua New Guinea; Samoa; Solomon Islands; Timor; Tonga; Tuvalu; Vanuatu

Microparticle-Mediated Assembly of Cell-Derived Vascular Tissue Rings

Tissue engineered blood vessels have the potential to address a clinical need for blood vessel replacements. The Rolle lab at WPI developed a method for growing smooth muscle cell tissue rings and then fusing these rings together to form tubular vessel replacements. The goal of this project is to exert control over the aggregation process of the SMCs used to form the ring. An adhesion system consisting of gelatin microparticles was designed to improve aggregation of the SMCs into ring constructs. Testing showed that the gelatin microparticles can be consistently created at an appropriate size and these particles do not harm the SMCs when cultured together. Subsequent tests showed that the microparticles did not inhibit the aggregation speed of the tissue rings

The adequacy of long-chain n-3 fatty acid intakes in primary school children

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Reconceptualising teacher education for teachers of learners with severe to profound disabilities

This paper considers teacher education for teachers of learners withsevere to profound disabilities (SPD) in South Africa, in both formaland non-formal learning programmes within a disability studies ineducation framework. Qualitative data were collected from a rangeof education stakeholders including non-governmental (NGOs) anddisabled people organisations (DPOs). Based on a thematic analysis,findings show limited pre-service teacher education programmesfocused on teaching learners with SPD. In-service teacher trainingthrough education departments and NGOs and DPOs, is usuallythrough basic short courses or workshops and are notcomplemented by on-going support

Use of a renal-specific oral supplement by haemodialysis patients with low protein intake does not increase the need for phosphate binders and may prevent a decline in nutritional status and quality of life

Background. Protein-energy wasting is a frequent and debilitating condition in maintenance dialysis. We randomly tested if an energy-dense, phosphate-restricted, renal-specific oral supplement could maintain adequate nutritional intake and prevent malnutrition in maintenance haemodialysis patients with insufficient intake. Methods. Eighty-six patients were assigned to a standard care (CTRL) group or were prescribed two 125-ml packs of Renilon 7.5® daily for 3 months (SUPP). Dietary intake, serum (S) albumin, prealbumin, protein nitrogen appearance (nPNA), C-reactive protein, subjective global assessment (SGA) and quality of life (QOL) were recorded at baseline and after 3 months. Results. While intention to treat analysis (ITT) did not reveal strong statistically significant changes in dietary intake between groups, per protocol (PP) analysis showed that the SUPP group increased protein (P < 0.01) and energy (P < 0.01) intakes. In contrast, protein and energy intakes further deteriorated in the CTRL group (PP). Although there was no difference in serum albumin and prealbumin changes between groups, in the total population serum albumin and prealbumin changes were positively associated with the increment in protein intake (r = 0.29, P = 0.01 and r = 0.27, P = 0.02, respectively). The SUPP group did not increase phosphate intake, phosphataemia remained unaffected, and the use of phosphate binders remained stable or decreased. The SUPP group exhibited improved SGA and QOL (P < 0.05). Conclusion. This study shows that providing maintenance haemodialysis patients with insufficient intake with a renal-specific oral supplement may prevent deterioration in nutritional indices and QOL without increasing the need for phosphate binder