Ward housekeepers in mental health environments

Purpose – In the year 2000, the UK Government promoted the concept that hospital services be shaped around the needs of the patient to make their stay in hospital as comfortable as possible. In recognition of this, the Government advocated the introduction of a Ward Housekeeper role in at least 50 per cent of hospitals by 2004. This is a ward-based non-clinical role centred on cleaning, food service and maintenance to ensure that the basics of care are right for the patient. Much of the guidance for the ward housekeeper role has focussed on its development and implementation in an acute hospital setting. The aim of this research is to illustrate how the role has been adopted and implemented successfully in mental health environments and the subsequent impact for patient services. Design/methodology/approach – Four case studies were undertaken in a variety of mental health settings, the principle method of data collection was qualitative semi-structured interviews. Findings – Common themes were identified from the case studies relating to experiences of developing and implementing the ward housekeeper role. This paper suggests models of best practice which relate to six main areas of: role, recruitment, induction, training, integration and management. It also demonstrates that the role has been successful and is highly valued by nursing staff. Research limitations/implications – The study was largely qualitative based and therefore the results do not lend themselves to be generalisable across the NHS.</p

Exploring inter-departmental barriers between production and quality

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the value of adopting an organizational ecological perspective to explore behavioural barriers in a UK operations & production management (OPM) setting. Design/methodology/approach – An ethnographic case study approach was adopted with a narrative ecological stance to deconstruct the perceived realities and the origins of the inter‐departmental barriers applying Scott‐Morgan's unwritten rules methodology. Findings – Despite an improvement in the physical proximity of the production and quality control departments, the qualitative approach revealed that latent, socially constructed drivers around management, interaction and communication reinforced inter‐departmental barriers. Conflicting enablers were ultimately responsible derived from the organizational structure, which impacted the firm's production resources. Research limitations/implications – As a case study approach, the specificity of the findings to this OPM setting should be explored further. Practical implications – The paper demonstrates the use of theoretical frameworks in a production and manufacturing organization to provide insights for maximising process effectiveness. Using the organizational ecological perspective to uncover the socially constructed unwritten rules of the OPM setting beneficially impacted on operational effectiveness. Originality/value – The paper contributes to organization ethnography literature by providing a detailed empirical analysis of manufacturing and services behaviour using an organizational ecology perspective. The example demonstrates that “qualitative” research can have real world impact in an advanced operational context. It also contributes to an ecological or complex adaptive systems view of organizations and, inter alia, their supply chains

Re-engineering unwritten rules: an ethnographic study of an intra-organizational ecology

We discuss a behavioural study into the departmental barriers uncovered by qualitative research in ‘Medico’, the UK subsidiary of a market-leading, global supplier of products and services for medical devices for whom sophisticated operations and supply chain management is paramount. An ethnographic investigation of Medico’s production operations, informed by an ontologically realist, narrative ecology, perspective, revealed, and appeared to explain, socially constructed, and emergent rather than intended, inter-departmental barriers. The research revealed latent drivers for production improvement that Medico’s vice-president was able to act on significantly increasing the company’s key measure of operational effectiveness. The example demonstrates that ‘qualitative’ research can have real world impact in an advanced operational context. It also contributes to an ecological or complex adaptive systems, view of organizations and, inter alia, their supply chains. Keywords: unwritten rules, memes, applied ethnography, organizational ecology, silos, throughput improvement

The socio‐spatial nature of organisational creativity: experiences along the road toward transdisciplinarity

This paper sets out to explore characteristics of transdisciplinary organisational research in practice and in particular how the process of research may be shared and co-produced by both university and business. The case studies presented here outline recent work conducted through ‘Innovation Futures’, a Sheffield Hallam University project which aims to contribute to the development of a region-wide culture of innovation and to create strong links between businesses and the University. The multidisciplinary team, based across Sheffield Business School and the Cultural, Communication and Computing Research Institute, has worked with numerous companies from the manufacturing and service sectors in the last three years. Through a strong process of collaboration throughout the stages of problem structuring,problem investigation, and realisation of findings in practice, the work has sought to help businesses improve processes and, ultimately, performance via a range of analytical measures. By employing a holistic approach to understanding the social-cultural nature of the workspace through the integrated use of Social Network Analysis, Space Syntax and participatory design methods, managers have been able to develop a much greater level of reflexive management practice through their experiences of collaborative research. There is increasing recognition that organisational creativity is not formed through the innate attributes of the individual but is instead a wholly social process involving complex phases of interaction thus making the socio-spatial environment of the organisation, within which such phases are carried out, a key determinant of success. This environment is both shaped, and also shapes, those within it through the requirements of organisation and it is through the experience of transdisciplinary boundary spanning that both academic institution and business can help form research driven management practices

Evolving innovation through office knowledge networks : mapping the ephemeral architecture of organizational creativity

This paper explores positive conditions for the evolution of creative innovation through informal social networks in the office. By drawing on both Social Network Analysis (SNA) and the abstracted evolutionary mechanisms of variation, selection and retention, a multilevel conceptualization of the evolutionary processes underpinning the emergence and development of ideas within an organization is put forward. In this way SNA is used to visualize not just the connectivity of individuals within the company who offer 'expert advice' and 'new ideas' in the development of these products, but also the role of mediators in this process at a digital media company, Dataco

Connecting workspace and health : a case study

The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of the physical workspace and work health on workplace connectivity (level and type of interactions). It summarises the first stage of research being undertaken by an interdisciplinary team of researchers on a university engineering research department that is relocating into temporary office accommodation. The research incorporates the measurement of spatial and social connectivity, as well as work health on two occasions: prior to the relocation from traditional cellular office accommodation and following the relocation into an open plan workspace. On completion of both stages, comparisons will be made to assess for changes that could be attributed to the change in workspace. The measurements taken before the move to temporary accommodation showed a limited level of physical connectivity in the traditional cellular office space. There were a number of individuals in the research department that had a much greater level of social connectivity but no pattern emerged in terms of their physical location in the workspace. However a pattern did emerge with regard to work health and social connectivity, where those with a high level of connectivity also had a high level of work stress. The practical implications of the research are to demonstrate a methodology for assessing social connectivity with workspace and health that can be applied to other organisations. It makes a contribution to the fields of work psychology, facilities management and environmental psychology that has not before considered spatiality and social connectivity with work health.</p

Enhancing Creativity Through Workspace Design

The physical space in which work is undertaken plays a key role in facilitating or inhibiting creativity among workers. The design of the workspace can inspire workers to be creative, facilitate the sharing of knowledge, and support social interaction, which is so important to the creative process. Equally, the workspace design can have an inhibitive effect by isolating individuals, being physically oppressive and being overly prescriptive in usage. This chapter begins by exploring the history of the office and how the design of the physical space has changed over the last century as the nature of work and organizational cultures have changed. Following this discussion, focus is given to the knowledge workers that occupy such physical spaces today and the different needs that they have from the office to fulfil their role. The chapter concludes by suggesting how to strike the balance between privacy and collaboration through the workspace design in order to meet the needs of all types of knowledge workers and the requirements of the creativity process

Workplace Alignment: An evaluation of office worker flexibility and workplace provision

Purpose – The paper aims to explore the relationship between office occupier work activity and workplace provision. It tests the proposition that location-fixed office workers are not as well-supported in the working environment as location-flexible office workers. The research also explores the perceptions of the workplace provision based upon the types of tasks completed at the desk-location, whether this was collaborative or focused. Design/methodology/approach – The research adopts a cross-sectional approach using an online questionnaire to collect data from several offices in the Middles East. The dataset consists of 405 responses. One-way ANOVA was conducted to understand the relationship between location flexibility and perception of productivity. In addition, a series of T-Test were used to evaluate the relationship between work activities and office environment. Findings – The results show that those workers who were location-fixed perceived the workplace provision to have a more negative impact on their productivity than those who had a greater level of location-flexibility, particularly with regards to noise levels and interruptions. In terms of types of activities, those that undertook more collaborative tasks valued the facilitation of creativity and interaction from the workplace provision. Research limitations/implications – The research has limitations as data collection was at one-point in time and therefore lacks the opportunity to undertake longitudinal analysis. However, the research gives greater insights into the alignment of office environments based on flexibility and work activity. Practical implications – The paper identifies implications for the design and development of office environments by identifying the need for office occupier activity profiles. These profiles can underpin data led design which should promote a tailored choice appropriate work setting that can maximise productivity. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the research area of workplace alignment. It establishes that optimal workplace alignment requires a better understanding of office occupier needs based on location-flexibility and work activity

Workplace productivity and office type: an evaluation of office occupier differences based on age and gender

Purpose Open plan office environments are considered to offer workplace productivity benefits because of the opportunities that they create for interaction and knowledge exchange, but more recent research has highlighted noise, distraction and loss of privacy as significant productivity penalties with this office layout. This study aims to investigate if the purported productivity benefits of open plan outweigh the potential productivity penalties. Design/methodology/approach Previous research suggests that office environments are experienced differently according to the gender and age of the occupier across both open-plan and enclosed configurations. Empirical research undertaken with office occupiers in the Middle East (N=220) led to evaluations to establish the impact different offices had on perceived productivity. Factor analysis was used to establish five underlying components of office productivity. The five factors are subsequently used as the basis for comparison between office occupiers based on age, gender and office type. Findings This research shows that benefits and penalties to workplace productivity are experienced equally across open-plan and enclosed office environments. The greatest impact on perceived workplace productivity however was availability of a variety of physical layouts, control over interaction and the 'downtime' offered by social interaction points. Male occupiers and those from younger generations were also found to consider the office environment to have more of a negative impact on their perceived workplace productivity compared to female and older occupiers. Originality/value The originality of this paper is that it develops the concept of profiling office occupiers with the aim of better matching office provision. This paper aims to establish different occupier profiles based on age, gender and office type. Data analysis techniques such as factor analysis and t-test analysis identify the need for different spaces so that occupiers can choose the most appropriate space to best undertake a particular work task. In addition, it emphasises the value that occupiers place on ‘downtime’ leading to the need for appropriate social space