Leadership Partnerships Research Articles

Strengthening Islamic Education Leadership: An Analysis of School-Based Management Training Follow-up Programs

This study explains the approaches used by the Institute for Research and Community Development Studies in School-Based Management (SBM) training for Islamic elementary schools in Magelang Regency. The data in this qualitative study were collected through observation techniques, interviews, and document studies obtained from training facilitators, principals, supervisors, school boards, and training organizing committees. Furthermore, the data were analyzed using qualitative techniques. The results of the study show that the leadership enculturation approach was used in training to strengthen the leadership of Islamic elementary schools. The leadership enculturation approach was adjusted to the stages of SBM training as follows: 1) Partnership leadership enculturation was used to strengthen school leadership in preparing follow-up plans after SBM training. 2) Mentoring collaborative leadership enculturation was used to strengthen school leadership in schools’ action implementation. 3) Evaluative leadership enculturation was used to strengthen school leadership in measuring and assessing the training process, training outcomes, and the impact of change on schools. The school leadership enculturation approach adjusted to the training stages can be used to ensure the implementation of SBM in schools after training.

Are resources and demands from accountability policies productive? How leaders build district capacity in response to school turnaround policy

PurposeAs school districts evolve in their ability to actively support schools and educators, they must simultaneously contend with external policies that create additional demands on time and resources. This includes accountability policies aimed at increasing district and school capacity. This study uses Malen and Rice’s (2004) dual dimensions of capacity building to look at how district and charter leaders responded to the demands of Michigan’s Partnership Model, a district-based approach to school turnaround, focusing on how they tried to build capacity in response to the policy and whether and why these capacity building approaches were perceived as productive.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 out of 29 Partnership leaders between October 2019 to March 2020 in the second year of policy implementation. Data were analyzed using a combination of index-coding and thematic analysis.FindingsMost leaders perceived the resources associated with the reform as useful, but the productivity of capacity building efforts was limited because some resources were not adequately matched to what they perceived as a core problem: the recruitment and retention of teachers. Engagement with the reform resulted in building informational and social capital because it fostered collaboration and continuous improvement processes, but leaders perceived technical partnerships as more productive than community partnerships.Originality/valueTurnaround reforms like the Partnership Model that increase resources for districts and schools likely offer a better chance at success than those that simply focus on accountability threats without accompanying support because they give leaders new opportunities to coordinate and align resources, processes and ideas.

Principals or Agents? How State Education Agencies Build Trust to Balance Support and Accountability in Turnaround Policy Implementation

In recent years, policymakers and scholars argued that state education agencies (SEAs) should move away from simply acting as compliance monitors and take on more prominent roles as providers of technical support to schools and school districts. Scholars find that SEAs have struggled to do so, yet there is little empirical work to explain what SEAs do or why they struggle. This study looks at Michigan's Partnership model for School and District turnaround, which began in 2018 and includes the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) as a formal partner in building the capacity of school districts to craft and meet ambitious student learning targets. Analyzing interviews with MDE “liaisons” and turnaround leaders, I find that Partnership leaders reported a deeper sense of trust with the SEA compared to prior years because liaisons were more focused on support and understanding individual school/district contexts. However, supports were generally “passive” (e.g., sending standardized emails with resources/links; helping navigate compliance issues) rather than targeted technical assistance that helped Partnership leaders build capacity. I argue that this was in part due to the SEA's conflicting role as both accountability monitor and technical assistance provider. I show how SEAs navigated this dynamic and provide suggestions for how SEAs can balance district autonomy with support through trust building, ideas of “controlled autonomy,” and “flexible specificity,” which recommends highly specific technical guidance paired with ongoing processes of feedback and experimentation from implementers so that guidance matches context.

The partnerships and logistics leadership in the SMEs: The impact of digital supply chain implementation

Digital supply chains play an important role in improving the performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in this digital era. There has been no research that analyzes the relationship between digital leadership, leadership, and partnerships. The aim of this research is to analyze the defect of digital supply chain implementation on logistics leadership and the impact of digital supply chain implementation on partnerships and logistics leadership partnerships. The method of this research is quantitative and data analysis uses structural equation modeling (SEM) partial least squares (PLS) using tools. SmartPLS 3.0 software data is used for processing the data. Research data is obtained by distributing online questionnaires to 589 SME owners in Indonesia determined using a simple random sampling method. The online questionnaire is designed using a Likert scale from 1 to 7 and distributed via social media. The stages of data analysis are validity testing, reliability testing and hypothetical testing. Based on the results of data analysis, it is concluded that digital supply chain implementation has a positive and significant effect on logistics leadership, digital supply chain implementation has a positive and significant effect on partnerships and logistics leadership had a positive and significant effect on partnerships. The novelty of this research is the creation of a correlation model for variable partnerships, logistics leadership and digital supply chain implementation. The managerial implication of this research is to encourage increased partnerships and logistics leadership and we conclude that SMES managers must implement digital supply chain implementation. The theoretical implication of this research is that a new correlation model of partnerships, logistics leadership and digital supply chain implementation in SMEs is created.

The Development of Trauma-Informed Community Partnerships: A Mixed Method Social Network Study

ABSTRACT Trauma-informed communities establish cross-sector coalitions that advocate for the use of trauma-informed practices. Whether and how communication occurs within newly established trauma-informed communities is unclear. We collected qualitative data and social network data from six trauma-informed community partnerships that received funding to build community capacity to address trauma across a range of special populations in Los Angeles county. We identified three communication network sub-types and highlight contributions of network leadership in setting the tone for cross-partnership communication. While partnership leaders shared the goal of strengthening cross-organizational communication, social network results illustrated a need to develop strategies that target these goals.

Academic Practice Partnerships: Improving Doctor of Nursing Practice Project Quality.

Doctor of nursing practice (DNP) projects with impactful health system outcomes can be a challenge for graduate students and graduate program faculty to develop. Rigorous DNP projects address patient and health system needs, meet programmatic requirements, and result in a portfolio of sustainable scholarship for DNP graduates. A strong academic-practice partnership may result in a greater likelihood of successful and impactful DNP projects. Our academic-practice partnership leaders developed a strategic approach to align health system priorities with DNP student project needs. This partnership has resulted in project innovation, increased clinical application, improved outcomes within the community, and enhanced project quality.

Lessons Learned about Developing Faith and Public Health Partnerships to Address Health Disparities.

Partnerships between public health and faith-based organizations draw on the strengths of both sectors to achieve a shared interest in promoting health and reducing disparities. However, information about implementation of faith and public health partnerships-particularly those involving diverse racial-ethnic groups-is limited. This paper reports on findings from qualitative interviews conducted with 16 public health and congregational leaders around the country as part of the early phase of the development of a faith and public health partnership to address health disparities in Los Angeles, CA. We identified eight themes regarding the barriers and facilitators to building faith and public health partnerships and distilled these into 10 lessons for developing such approaches. These interviews identified that engaging religious organizations often requires building congregational capacity of the congregation to participate in health programs; and that trust is a critically important element of these relationships. Further, trust is closely related to how well each organization involved in the partnership understands their partners' belief structures, approaches to addressing health and well-being and capacities to contribute to the partnership. Tailoring congregational health programs to match the interests, needs and capacity of partners was identified as an important approach to ensuring that the partnership is successful. But, this is complicated by working across multiple faith traditions and the racial-ethnic backgrounds, thus requiring increased and diverse communication strategies on the part of the partnership leadership. These lessons provide important information for faith and public health leaders interested in developing partnered approaches to address health in diverse urban communities.

Competency-Based Education in Physical Therapy: Developing a Framework for Education Research

Background and Purpose. The physical therapy education community is actively engaged in planning and developing an approach to competency-based education in physical therapy (CBEPT). The creation of an underlying framework for education research in CBEPT can provide guidance in identifying key areas of needed study, give direction for future research, and provide opportunities for collaboration. The purpose of this article is to 1) describe the critical concepts of CBEPT as both an educational philosophy and design and 2) identify a working education research framework, examples of potential research questions, and associated methodological considerations. Position and Rationale. As the movement in CBEPT evolves, we have the opportunity to propose a working framework and potential research questions for our education community. An initial step in the development of a research framework was review of a model paper from medical education that proposed a research agenda for competency-based medical education. We developed a draft of categories and related research questions and then used an iterative group process that included members of the Education Leadership Partnership Education Research Network to review and provide feedback. Core areas for investigation include learners, the learning environment, learning progression, and faculty development needs along with examples of potential research questions in each area. Discussion and Conclusion. The development of a research framework for CBEPT that can guide much needed education research is critical and timely for the profession. Evidence is vital to widespread adoption, informed and refined processes, understanding, and infrastructure development all linked with the ultimate aim of CBEPT—learner development and meeting societal needs.

Determining factors in the performance of integrated vocational education schools

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the determining factors in the performance of integrated vocational education schools, in addition to management characteristics and specificities.Design/methodology/approachBy means of a descriptive study with a qualitative approach, a case study was conducted in two schools located in the cities of Cotia and São Roque.FindingsThe following factors were identified: engagement and commitment of teachers; motivation and focus of teachers and students; team of professionals; commitment and focus of students; family involvement; leadership and climate and selection of students. The following characteristics were observed: participative leadership associated with the use of management tools; pedagogical leadership in partnership with the school community; monitoring of student performance; performance assessment and training of teachers related to career plan; selection of students and actions along the community.Research limitationsThe results reflect the vision of the schools' managers and teachers and not that of the managing institution. There is no intention whatsoever to obtain generalization to other ETECs but rather inferences that could shed light on future studies.Practical implicationsThis research ratifies what has already been proven in the literature, showing that there are no isolated factors that interfere with performance, but an interrelationship among them, given the characteristics and peculiarities of each school.Originality/valueThis study is expected to contribute to guiding school managers and teachers in the search for quality education, whether vocational or regular basic education.

Implementation Science Translation: Program Sustainment for Managing Distress Behavior in Dementia

Distress behaviors in dementia (DBD) are common in nursing home settings, are distressing, and result in poorer outcomes for residents and staff. We present on the implementation of STAR-VA, an interdisciplinary intervention for effective management of DBD in Veterans Health Administration (VA) nursing home settings, called Community Living Centers (CLCs). A primary focus of this symposium is the use of implementation science concepts to improve and sustain evidence-based programs through tailored implementation strategies and key partnerships. Key implementation science concepts from conceptual frameworks, including the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) and the use of organizational Knowledge Reservoirs (KR) for sustaining new clinical practices, formed the basis of this work. Their application in health care practice will be discussed using STAR-VA as an exemplar. Interdisciplinary CLC staff feedback during STAR-VA implementation and sustainment is presented, including feedback regarding barriers to integrating new program interventions into usual care processes. Mapping key implementation strategies onto reported barriers informed development of implementation tools and strategies designed to guide adaptions tailored to the needs of the residents and frontline staff, increasing the chances of successful sustainment. Finally, we highlight the importance of key leadership partnerships in implementation of evidence-based programs to improve care of residents with DBD and present strategies for developing these partnerships. Discussion will include the importance of using implementation science to implement evidence-based interventions for effective management of DBD and strategies for sustainment of these effective practices into usual care.

Implementing food bank and healthcare partnerships: a pilot study of perspectives from charitable food systems in Texas

BackgroundPartnerships between charitable food systems and healthcare systems have been forming across the country to support individuals and families experiencing food insecurity, yet little research has focused on these partnerships, particularly from a food bank perspective. The objective of this exploratory pilot study was to identify implementation challenges and facilitators of charitable food system and healthcare partnerships from the food bank perspective.MethodTexas food banks with existing food bank/healthcare partnerships were identify through website review and support from Feeding Texas. Interview questions were tailored to each interview, but all focused on identify program components of the food bank/healthcare partnership and implementation barriers/facilitators of the partnership. In total, six interviews were conducted with food bank/healthcare partnership leaders (n = 4) and charitable food system experts (n = 2) about their experiences of working with food bank/healthcare partnerships. All interviews were completed via Zoom and took between 30 and 60 min to completed. Detailed notes were taking during each interview, and immediately discussed with the complete research time to formulate broad implementation themes.ResultsInterviews suggest unique implementation challenges exist at all levels of food bank/healthcare partnerships including the partnership, program, and system levels. Partnership-level implementation challenges focused on issues of partnership scale and data collection, sharing, and analysis. Program-level implementation challenges focused on food and produce expectations. Structural-level implementation challenges included issues of food safety, subsidized food regulations, and patient privacy. Implementation facilitators included leadership support, mission compatibility/organizational readiness, food insecurity training, and identify of partnership champions.ConclusionsThis study adds to the growing interest in food bank/healthcare partnership as it highlights unique implementation challenges and facilitators for cross-sector partnerships between healthcare systems and community-based charitable food systems. Ultimately, we believe that collaborative discussion among leaders of charitable food systems and healthcare systems is needed to overcome outlined implementation challenges to better facilitate sustainable, equitable implementation of food bank/healthcare partnerships.

Putting Big Data to Work in Government: The Case of the United States Border Patrol

AbstractInvestigating how the public sector adopts technologies to process and analyze very large datasets is crucial for understanding governance in the digital age. The authors of this article examine a large government agency, the United States Border Patrol (USBP), an organization that is in the early phases of building big data capabilities. They argue the wide‐scale adoption of big data analytics will require trial‐and‐error processes coordinated by organizational leadership in partnership with front‐line employees who make the technology relevant to their needs in the field. Absent engagement from both levels, organizations like USBP that face significant barriers to adoption (e.g., limited data science expertise) will struggle to leverage data at scale. The authors also extend the literature on big data in the public sector and provide a rich description of how factors, such as organizational leadership and resources, impact the innovation process.

The promise of living labs to the Quadruple Helix stakeholders: exploring the sources of (dis)satisfaction

ABSTRACT Despite the normative view that Quadruple Helix collaborations (with government, academia, industry and civil society) such as living labs are prescribed to enhance regional innovation performance, there is scarce knowledge of the sustainability of such collaborations from the perspective of the stakeholders who are supposed to engage in such initiatives. To address this gap, the purpose of this paper is to empirically explore the implementation of the Quadruple Helix for innovation from a stakeholder perspective, by understanding the expectations as well as the perceived benefits and challenges of the collaboration. Through a qualitative research design, this paper presents an in-depth case study of a living lab in the region of Catalonia. Our results challenge the normative view of Quadruple Helix approaches and of living labs; we also offer suggestions to manage future collaborations and to inform further evidence-based policy. On the whole, partnership leadership and coordination are critical to bridge the expectation-implementation gap towards stakeholder satisfaction and collaboration sustainability.

Activating Partnership Assets to Produce Synergy in Primary Health Care: A Mixed Methods Study.

Partnerships are an important mechanism to tackle complex problems that extend beyond traditional organizational divides. Partnerships are widely endorsed, but there is a need to strengthen the evidence base relating to claims of their effectiveness. This article presents findings from a mixed methods study conducted with the aim of understanding partnership processes and how various partnership factors contribute to partnership effectiveness. The study involved five multi-stakeholder partnerships in Canada and Australia working towards improving accessibility to primary health care for vulnerable populations. Qualitative data were collected through the observation of 14 partnership meetings and individual semi-structured interviews (n = 16) and informed the adaptation of an existing Partnership Self-Assessment Tool. The instrument was administered to five partnerships (n = 54). The results highlight partnership complexity and the dynamic and contingent nature of partnership processes. Synergistic action among multiple stakeholders was achieved through enabling processes at the interpersonal, operational and system levels. Synergy was associated with partnership leadership, administration and management, decision-making, the ability of partnerships to optimize the involvement of partners and the sufficiency of non-financial resources. The Partnership Synergy framework was useful in assessing the intermediate outcomes of ongoing partnerships when it was too early to assess the achievement of long-term intended outcomes.

Kanne Lobal: A conceptual framework relating education and leadership partnerships in the Marshall Islands

Kanne Lobal: A conceptual framework relating education and leadership partnerships in the Marshall Islands

If I Have Seen Further, It Is Because I Stand on the Shoulders of Giants

If I Have Seen Further, It Is Because I Stand on the Shoulders of Giants

An Experiential Educational Intervention to Improve Nurse Managers' Knowledge and Self-Assessed Competence With Health Care Financial Management.

Nurse managers often list finance as the most challenging responsibility of their roles. This study examined the outcomes of an experiential, evidence-based educational intervention to increase nurse managers' knowledge and competence with the financial aspects of their roles. The study design was a pretest-posttest comparative evaluation. Twenty-three nurse managers attended two 4-hour sessions covering general budget terms, productivity measures, variance analysis, and personnel budgeting. Pre- and posttests included 20 questions obtained from health care finance texts and preparatory materials from a nurse leader certification examination. Preand postassessments consisted of the finance portion of the Nurse Manager Leadership Partnership's Nurse Manager Skills Inventory. Scores improved significantly (p ≤ .05) for the posttest and the American Organization of Nurse Executives Nurse Manager Skills Inventory Finance self-evaluation questions (p ≤ .01). Experiential methods were successful in facilitating learning. Certification examination questions addressed relevant areas of financial knowledge necessary for nurse managers' role in the financial management of their units. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2020;51(4):181-188.].

Integrated watershed revitalization: the experience of the Mersey Basin Campaign

The collaborative partnership approach has been used extensively in the practice of integrated river basin management across the world for at least the last two decades. This is despite the fact that there has been widespread acknowledgement that partnership working has operational difficulties, especially in the face of political inequality in a real-life context. This paper draws on the results of a research project investigating a concrete example of collaborative partnerships, the Mersey Basin Campaign, a government-sponsored 25-year initiative that aimed to improve water quality and the waterside environments of the Mersey River Basin. This research explores how the Campaign came to be formed, how it was organized and how partnership projects were implemented. The mechanism of the partnership service delivery is developed under three headings: consensus building, facilitation and open participation. The analysis of the results shows that governance and leadership partnership arrangements, which have evolved over time to reflect changing political and institutional environments, are critical for the implementation of watershed partnerships. The results from revisiting the practice of the Mersey Basin Campaign should be of assistance to planners to improve governance of watershed partnerships.

Developing population health research priorities in Asian city state: Results from a multi-step participatory community engagement.

ObjectivesTo identify a broad range of research priorities to inform the studies seeking to improve population health outcomes based on the engagement of diverse stakeholders.MethodsA multi-step, participatory and mixed-methods approach was adopted to solicit and structure the investigative themes from diverse stakeholders. The priority setting exercise involved four key phases: (1) feedback from community leadership; (2) interim ranking survey and focus group discussions during the population health symposium; (3) individual in-depth interviews with stakeholders in the community; and (4) synthesis of the research priorities from the multistep process.ResultsDiverse stakeholders in Singapore, comprising community partnership leaders, health care and social service providers, users of population health services, patients and caregivers, participated in the research priority setting exercise. Initial 14 priorities were identified from six community leadership feedback, 42 survey responses, two focus groups (n = 16) and 95 in-depth interviews. The final integrated research agenda identified six priorities: empower residents and patients to take charge of their health; improve care transition and management through relationship building and communication; enhance health-social care interface; improve respite care services for long-term caregivers; develop primary care as a driving force for care integration; and capacity building for service providers. Selected research questions in each priority area were also generated to develop novel models of care, foster collaboration, implement optimal services and enhance understanding of the end users’ care needs.ConclusionsThis study illuminates that greater community engagement in research priority setting for population health can facilitate the formulation of evidence-based research agendas that matter to the care providers and service users in the community. The outcomes derived from this exercise will help focus researchers’ efforts through which meaningful gains can be made for population health.

“What the Hell Is This, and Who the Hell Are You?” Role and Identity Negotiation in Research-Practice Partnerships

In research-practice partnerships (RPPs), the line between researcher and practitioner can be blurred, and the roles for everyone involved may be unclear. Yet little is known about how these roles are negotiated and with what consequences for collaborative efforts. Guided by organizational theory, we share findings from a multiyear case study of one RPP, drawing on observations of partnership leadership meetings and interviews with school district leaders and partners. Role negotiation occurred in more than one third of leadership meetings, as evidenced by identity-referencing discourse. When roles were unclear, collaborative efforts stalled; once partners renegotiated their roles, it changed how they engaged in the work together. Several forces contributed to these dynamics, including the partner’s ambitious yet ambiguous identity and the introduction of new members to the group. This study offers implications for those engaged in partnership work and provides a foundation for future research regarding role negotiation in RPPs.