Organization Stage Research Articles

Poor Outcome of Central Nervous System Invasive Aspergillosis in HIV Infection Despite Galactomannan-Based Diagnosis

Invasive aspergillosis is recognized as a devastating disease in some immunocompromised populations, although it is not accepted as an established complication of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome under the World Health Organization's staging criteria. Complications affecting the central nervous system are rarely reported, which may relate to a lack of adequate diagnostic tests. We report the use of the galactomannan Platelia assay in 3 patients with invasive cerebral infection and advanced human immunodeficiency virus, as defined by the World Health Organization, with CD4 T-lymphocyte counts of less than 350 cells/μL. The clinical use of the assay in early detection, particularly when used in a serial fashion, is compared to standard microbiological techniques. The limitations of the current assay are described in the context of future diagnostic approaches, such as sampling of cerebrospinal fluid and bronchoalveolar lavage specimens and the use of nucleic acid techniques. Copyright © 2011 by National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.

Forward looking or looking unaffordable? Utilising academic perspectives on corporate social responsibility to assess the factors influencing its adoption by business

The paper demonstrates its ‘CSR at a tipping point’ thesis by juxtaposing views of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as essential for business and societal sustainability against those that see CSR as unaffordable or irrelevant in the current economic climate. Drawing from Kohlberg's seminal theory of moral development, CSR is conceptualised as the development of organisation moral reasoning, and the proposition is illustrated by demonstrating inter-disciplinary similarities in levels of ethical concern within different approaches to the practice of marketing, human resource management (HRM) and performance management. Levels of concern for CSR are related to environmental and firm-specific drivers and constraints that influence the CSR dynamic. Environmental influences on organisational CSR stances emanate from a range of stakeholder constituencies, while the importance accorded to CSR is also influenced by firm-specific factors such as the organisation's stage of development, strategy and leadership. The paper's identification of inter-disciplinary similarities in the varying levels of concern for CSR and its delineation of CSR drivers and constraints contribute to CSR theory, and these frameworks also represent analytical tools that managers can use to assess or to change an organisation's CSR stance. The multi-level perspective on CSR adopted by the paper links an organisation's overall or ‘macro’ CSR stance to the ‘meso’ levels of CSR represented by practice within its specialist functions. It proposes that the ‘CSR at a tipping point’ proposition is assessed by utilising the conceptual model in the paper within a case-study research design to determine whether specific organisations – identified as ‘CSR-positive’ ones by their relatively high level of concern for stakeholder welfare – are changing the importance they accord to CSR as a result of the new business context, and the extent to which practice in their marketing, HRM and performance management functions are shapers or consequences of this.

Characteristic of Governing Structure of Green Tourism in terms of Involving a number of Stakeholders

The purpose of this research is to identify characteristic of governing structure of ‘Gamadas-Net’, one of the green tourism governing organization, in terms of involving a number of stakeholders. The main findings are as follows. (1) Contents of management activities are different for different stakeholders depending on characteristics of each stakeholder. (2) Non Profit Organization (NPO) plays a central role in planning and managing green tourism. (3) The stakeholder leading to the management of green tourism is different according to the governing organization's stage of development. Based on these findings, I propose a list of considerations for reviewing the management of green tourism.

Supply chain integration using a maturity scale

Purpose – Outsourcing of non-core activities and the subsequent vertical disintegration within manufacturing organisations have necessitated the need for process integration in the supply chain. The purpose of this paper is to develop a maturity scale to assess supply chain integration and hence improvement in supply chain performance. Design/methodology/approach – The research involved carrying out a questionnaire survey of UK manufacturing companies. In total, 29 responses were analysed. Findings – The insight gained from the research is that the “soft” collaborative issues rather than the “hard” technological issues are the main drivers to improved supply chain performance. Most of the companies surveyed are still grappling with internal process integration with very few companies achieving closer integration with their customers. Practical implications – Empirical evidence is found about an organisation's true stage of supply chain integration which affects its performance. Hard and soft variables or certain combinations of these do have a positive or negative effect on organisational performance. Originality/value – A maturity scale is developed to capture an organisation's stage of supply chain integration. This scale also draws on relationships with organisational performance. As a maturity scale, it also shows direction or migratory paths to higher stages of supply chain integration.

Clinical features of HIV/AIDS patients presenting to an inner city clinic in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

An outpatient HIV clinic was opened in March 2005 in Binh Thanh District, a poor section of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Over 1500 patients were seen in the first year. The average age of patients was 27 years. Men represented 77% of the clinic population, women, 23% and children under the age of 16 years of age, 5% of the population. The most common risk factor among men was being an injecting drug user (IDU), 76%, and among women, being married to an IDU HIV-positive man, 35%. Physical signs of disease were uncommon: lymphadenopathy in 24% and hepatomegaly and splenomegaly in 4% and 3%, respectively. Men and women were anaemic at presentation, with a mean haemoglobin of 11.9 g/dL and 11.1 g/dL, respectively. An overwhelming majority of patients had profound immunodeficiency. The mean CD4+ cell count was 164 cells/mL and the median was 69 cells/mL. No correlation was found between the World Health Organization's stage of disease and the CD4+ cell count. Thus, the former is a poor predictor of immunity in this population. Data regarding opportunistic infections diagnosed at the first visit were studied. Candidiasis of the oral pharynx, oesophagus or vagina was found in 34.5% of the patients, and pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis was found in 32% of the patients. Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) was diagnosed in only 3% of the patients. Cotrimoxazole prophylaxis is advocated for HIV-infected Vietnamese, but the incidence of PCP is negligible and resources could be spent elsewhere. The various opportunistic infections seen in this resource-poor clinic setting is likely to be a pattern of presentation of HIV-infected Vietnamese for some time to come.

Viability of telework at PROCEMPA.

At the end of the 20th century, telework appears as one of the modalities of flexible work, which is related to new organizational structures as well as to increasing use of technology. It revolutionizes the traditional ways of performing work. Its implementation creates a number of questions to be answered by the organizations and the individuals involved. This article presents a case study on the viability of implementing telework at Procempa (The Data Processing Company of the City of Porto Alegre). The case study analyzes the technical, organizational, psychological, legal, and labor union dimensions. As a result of this study, we can identify the organization's stage of readiness for telework, the conditions under which it would be implemented, and the specific issues of an implementation.

Comparison of the effects of asparaginase administered subcutaneously versus intramuscularly for treatment of multicentric lymphoma in dogs receiving doxorubicin

Objective To determine the effectiveness and safety of asparaginase administered SC versus IM for treatment of multicentric lymphoma in dogs receiving doxorubicin. Design Prospective study. Animals 49 dogs with multicentric lymphoma Procedure Dogs were treated with doxorubicin every 3 weeks, for a total of 5 treatments, and were given 3 weekly treatments of asparaginase, SC or IM. Using high-performance liquid chromatography, mean plasma asparagine, aspartic acid, glutamine, and glutamic acid concentrations were determined in dogs before and during treatment with asparaginase (10,000 U/m2 of body surface area, once a week for 3 weeks). Asparaginase was administered SC in 23 dogs and IM in 26 dogs. Variables evaluated included time to response to chemotherapy, remission and survival times, and clinical and serum biochemical indicators of toxicoses Results Using the World Health Organization's staging system for lymphoma, 30 dogs were in clinical stage III and 19 were in clinical stage IV. One week after asparaginase treatment, plasma asparagine concentrations were low and plasma aspartic acid, glutamine, and glutamic acid concentrations were high. Differences in plasma amino acid concentrations were not found between SC and IM groups. For dogs in clinical stage IV, IM administration of asparaginase significantly decreased the number of days to complete remission, compared with SC administration (8 vs 17 days, respectively). For dogs in clinical stage III, IM administration favorably increased the duration of first remission (191 vs 103 days) and survival time (289 vs 209 days). Overall, dogs treated IM had a faster response to chemotherapy (9 vs 15 days), a longer remission (191 vs 109 days), and a longer survival time (286 vs 198 days), compared with all dogs treated SC. Asparaginase toxicoses were not observed regardless of the route of administration. Clinical Implications For dogs with multicentric lymphoma that are receiving doxorubicin, IM treatment with asparaginase is more effective than SC treatment. (J Am Vet Med Assoc 1999;214:353–356)

Strategy and Human Resource Management Integration in Fast Growth Versus Other Mid‐sized Firms1

SUMMARYThe nature and integration of strategy and human resource management practices, and the effects of such integration on firm performance were examined in two groups of mid‐sized flrms: fast‐growth firms and a random sample of similar sized mature firms. The results indicated that the fast‐growth firms emphasized fewer human resource activities and experienced a lower degree of strategy‐human resource integration than the mature firms. Some evidence was found that the relation between the level of integration and firm performance was moderated by the organization's stage of development.

Organizational Evolution: A Hospice Case Study

An analysis of the maturation process of a large, multiple site hospice using Greiner's organizational development model is presented. Past and present growth phases and crises are described. The value of such an analysis lies in its insights into organizational growth and the resultant lessons for other, similar agencies. The ability to assess an organization's stage of development means that crises and needs can be anticipated and appropriate resolutions can be planned. Generalizations can be made to multiple site or regionally organized hospice development elsewhere.

An information system profile of U.S. companies

The information system (IS) characteristics of U.S. companies were surveyed to produce an overall IS profile. This profile was examined for statistical differences as a function of size of company and stage of IS sophistication. In general, most firms surveyed are in the so-called integration or data administration stage. There were apparently no significant differences found in EDP/MIS expenditures, computing hardware expenditures, and MIS-supported activities, due to the organization's stage of IS sophistication. The size of company is found to have no significant effect on the stage of IS sophistication. Most companies have formal IS planning and control systems and some form of distributed data processing (DDP). The majority of the companies use software for conventional programming and database management purposes with very little emphsis on their use in decision modeling and statistical analysis. Quite surprisingly, IS is still being used primarily for operational and management controls rather than for strategic planning.

The Strength of Teacher Organizations: Factors Influencing Membership in Two Large Cities

Teacher organizations in large cities are exercising increasing influence on local school policies. In this study aggregate and individual data are used to explore correlates at several points in time of membership strength of three teacher groups in New York City and Boston. Factors examined include personal attribubtes of teachers, such as sex and experience; school contextual characteristics, suck as size, teaching conditions, and administrators' affiliations; and organizational activities, particutlarly campaigns to win substantive goals. Findings illustrate how factors va'ry in their relationship to strength, depending upon city, school division, and an organization 's stage of development.