Resource Management Principles Research Articles

Land and Water Institutions in the Blue Nile Basin: Setups and Gaps for Improved Land and Water Management

AbstractThis study undertook an assessment and gap analysis of the institutional arrangements for improved land and water management in the Tana and Beles Sub‐basins highlands of the Blue Nile Basin. We explored the mandates and design features of the major land‐ and water‐related institutional arrangements. Focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and a literature review were used in the analysis.The results of our work reveal that a lot of progress has been made in creating an institutional framework for improved land and water management and the policies and laws hitherto developed reflect global policy changes consistent with the widespread adoption of the integrated water resources management (IWRM) principles. There are also cases where informal institutions replace formal institutions. Judged by their enforcement, the water resources management, pollution control standards, and regulations and land use rights are not enacted effectively because of poor enforcement capacity. Overall there is a tendency to focus on command‐and‐control type policies. There is a need to strengthen traditional institutions by drawing lessons from their strengths and establish the legitimacy of these institutions. There is also a need to improve formal policy design, developing policies with specific objectives, goals, targets, and overall institutional changes and resources through active adaptive management to maximize the level and effectiveness of institutional learning. Finally, more focus needs to be given to incentive‐based policies through increased use of positive incentives and more emphasis needs to be given to self‐enforcement rather than third‐party enforcement.

Transitional leadership in the defence and aerospace industry: a critical analysis for recruiting and developing talent

This article proposes a framework to create effective transitional leadership in the defence and aerospace industry. The proposed framework identifies and maps traits and skills of military personnel in a manner that can be tested and validated in accordance with principles of human resource management. Applying this framework would assist hiring managers in their selection of program or project managers from the military in transition to a defence contractor support organisation. Employing a research approach embracing a mix of both quantitative and quantitative strategies, the study examined more than 50 respondents to a 34-question survey, focusing on 14 respondents who submitted fully completed surveys. The conceptual framework for this study is derived from investigations conducted by project management practitioners and scholars who have built upon the research of previous research, which studied project development models within various industries. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Dawson, M. and Rahim, E. (2011) 'Transitional leadership in the defence and aerospace industry: a critical analysis for recruiting and developing talent', Int. J. Project Organisation and Management, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp.164-183.

Teaching Organizational Culture Using a Projective Technique: Collage Construction

Although the topic of “organizational culture” is an integral part of syllabi across a wide range of core business classes such as Principles of Management, Organizational Behavior, and Human Resource Management, few experiential exercises exist that can enhance student understanding and learning of different layers of organizational culture. In this article, the authors describe their experimentation with the use of a qualitative and projective research technique—collage construction—to teach the topic of organizational culture to business students. Although this projective technique has traditionally been used in the consumer research and advertising domains to tap into consumers’ inner feelings, thoughts, and values, the authors provide evidence from business student evaluations that this technique can also be useful in understanding abstract organizational phenomena such as organizational culture in a classroom context.

Turning around an ailing district hospital: a realist evaluation of strategic changes at Ho Municipal Hospital (Ghana)

BackgroundThere is a growing consensus that linear approaches to improving the performance of health workers and health care organisations may only obtain short-term results. An alternative approach premised on the principle of human resource management described as a form of 'High commitment management', builds upon a bundles of balanced practices. This has been shown to contribute to better organisational performance. This paper illustrates an intervention and outcome of high commitment management (HiCom) at an urban hospital in Ghana. Few studies have shown how HiCom management might contribute to better performance of health services and in particular of hospitals in low and middle-income settings.MethodsA realist case study design was used to analyse how specific management practices might contribute to improving the performance of an urban district hospital in Ho, Volta Region, in Ghana. Mixed methods were used to collect data, including document review, in-depth interviews, group discussions, observations and a review of routine health information.ResultsAt Ho Municipal Hospital, the management team dealt with the crisis engulfing the ailing urban district hospital by building an alliance between hospital staff to generate a sense of ownership with a focus around participative problem analysis. The creation of an alliance led to improving staff morale and attitude, and contributed also to improvements in the infrastructure and equipment. This in turn had a positive impact on the revenue generating capacity of the hospital. The quick turn around in the state of this hospital showed that change was indeed possible, a factor that greatly motivated the staff.In a second step, the management team initiated the development of a strategic plan for the hospital to maintain the dynamics of change. This was undertaken through participative methods and sustained earlier staff involvement, empowerment and feelings of reciprocity. We found that these factors acted as the core mechanisms underlying the changes taking place at Ho Municipal Hospital.ConclusionsThis study shows how a hospital management team in Ghana succeeded in resuscitating an ailing hospital. Their high commitment management approach led to the active involvement and empowerment of staff. It also showed how a realist evaluation approach such as this, could be used in the research of the management of health care organisations to explain how management interventions may or may not work.

A New Vision Of Management: Full Potential Management Model

This paper establishes the Full Potential Management (FPM) Model based upon the social model of disabilities coupled with principles of diversity management and disability-oriented human resource management. Despite the fact that the concept of management was once envisioned as having ‘value to society’ by improving the quality of life through efficient practices (Rimler, 1976), management literature has narrowly defined management as a means to gain increased productivity and achieve organizational goals, thus overlooking the social formation and implementation design for a better life (Diener & Seligman, 2004; Small, 2004; Whitley 1989). Based upon the diversity literature, we propose that social-oriented diversity management principles and practices are the key to transforming management concepts from achieving organizational potential to achieving social aims that maximize the potential and quality of life of each person.

A pocket full of practice—High fidelity simulation in rural hospitals

Like many other rural emergency departments, Gympie ED has long been aware that it needs enhanced education: not just theory, but practical clinical skills and “real world” simulation. In 2009, the Director, Dr. Jo Deverill approached the Queensland Skills Development Centre (SDC) for support. What ensued was the development of Queensland's first rural Pocket Simulation Centre (PSC). This was a pilot program: Gympie was one of three sites from which Simulation Coordinators (SimCos) were chosen, trained at in High Fidelity Simulation (HFS) and introduced to Crisis Resource Management (CRM) principles.

The Role of the Operating Room Nurse Manager in the Successful Implementation of Preoperative Briefings and Postoperative Debriefings in the VHA Medical Team Training Program

To improve communication within surgical teams, Veterans Health Administration (VHA) implemented a Medical Team Training Program (MTT) based on the principles of crew resource management. One hundred two VHA facilities were analyzed. Nursing leadership participation in the planning stages of the program was compared with outcomes at follow-up. Nurse manager participation in planning was associated with higher rates of implementation of preoperative briefing and postoperative debriefing. Nurse managers are a critical component in the planning phase of team training programs focused on OR clinical staff.

Governance Principles for Natural Resource Management

Sustainable natural resource use and management make novel demands on governance arrangements, the design of which requires normative guidance. Although governance principles have been developed for diverse contexts, their availability for sustainable natural resource governance is so far limited. In response, we present a suite of governance principles for natural resource governance that, while developed in an Australian multilevel context, has general applicability and significance at local, subnational, and national scales. The principles can be used to direct the design of governance institutions that are legitimate, transparent, accountable, inclusive, and fair and that also exhibit functional and structural integration, capability, and adaptability. Together, they can also serve as a platform for developing governance monitoring and evaluation instruments, crucial for both self-assessment and external audit purposes.

Adaptation of Airline Crew Resource Management Principles to Dentistry

The aviation industry uses crew resource management (CRM) to address the human aspect of error. Dentistry can incorporate these concepts to reduce dental error. The authors provide a checklist to help clinicians mitigate error. Health care systems have begun to focus on medical error. During the past 30 years, the airline industry has developed mitigation strategies that are being adapted for medicine. CRM involves the use of information, equipment and people to increase safety by targeting early identification of errors. To enhance safety, practitioners must implement forward-thinking strategies. Because human error is inevitable, threat and error management (TEM) techniques are needed to help identify and trap error before it develops into unexpected outcomes. Risk analysis increases situational awareness (SA) of potential dental error. Efficiency increases with early error detection. The authors provide a dental checklist that is divided into "appointment review," "before procedure," "procedure," "before dismissal" and "after dismissal" to organize dental activities in a manner that enhances error detection. The dental checklist is a tool to incorporate CRM and TEM techniques into the dental care environment to increase SA, safety and efficiency.

A Methodology for the Evaluation of Water Policies in European Countries

Periodic assessment of progress toward established policy goals is crucial to understanding whether the applied efforts are effective. In Europe, the Water Framework Directive (WFD) adopted in year 2000 set ambitious environmental objectives to be achieved by the end of 2015 through the implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) principles. While at this stage it is premature to measure the impact of this Directive in terms of environmental outcomes, it is nonetheless important to develop indicators in order to monitor whether water management practices throughout Europe are aligning towards IWRM. This article presents the methodological development of the Water and Wetland Index, a comparative water policy assessment by environmental NGOs that was carried out in 2002-2003, and highlights the interest of repeating it in 2015, when the first WFD planning cycle will be completed.

Fire regimes, forest change, and self‐organization in an old‐growth mixed‐conifer forest, Yosemite National Park, USA

Fire is recognized as a keystone process in dry mixed-conifer forests that have been altered by decades of fire suppression, Restoration of fire disturbance to these forests is a guiding principle of resource management in the U.S. National Park Service. Policy implementation is often hindered by a poor understanding of forest conditions before fire exclusion, the characteristics of forest changes since excluding fire, and the influence of topographic or self-organizing controls on forest structure. In this study the spatial and temporal characteristics of fire regimes and forest structure are reconstructed in a 2125-ha mixed-conifer forest. Forests were multi-aged, burned frequently at low severity and fire-return interval, and forest structure did not vary with slope aspect, elevation, or slope position. Fire exclusion has caused an increase in forest density and basal area and a compositional shift to shade-tolerant and fire-intolerant species. The median point fire-return interval and extent of a fire was 10 yr and 115 ha, respectively. The pre-Euro-American settlement fire rotation of 13 yr increased to 378 yr after 1905. The position of fire scars within tree rings indicates that 79% of fires burned in the midsummer to fall period. The spatial pattern of burns exhibited self-organizing behavior. Area burned was 10-fold greater when an area had not been burned by the previous fire. Fires were frequent and widespread, but patches of similar aged trees were < 0.2 ha, suggesting small fire-caused canopy openings. Managers need to apply multiple burns at short intervals for a sustained period to reduce surface fuels and create small canopy openings characteristic of the reference forest. By coupling explicit reference conditions with consideration of current conditions and projected climate change, management activities can balance restoration and risk management.

Trigger Video of Simulated Intraoperative Cardiac Arrest

OPEN ACCESSJanuary 19, 2010Trigger Video of Simulated Intraoperative Cardiac Arrest Sara Goldhaber-Fiebert, MD, Kyle Harrison, MD, Sesh Mudumbai, MD, Steven K. Howard, MD, Kam McCowan, David M. Gaba, MD Sara Goldhaber-Fiebert, MD Stanford University School of Medicine Google Scholar More articles by this author , Kyle Harrison, MD VA Palo Alto Health Care System and Stanford University School of Medicine Google Scholar More articles by this author , Sesh Mudumbai, MD Stanford University Medical Center Google Scholar More articles by this author , Steven K. Howard, MD VA Palo Alto Health Care System and Stanford University School of Medicine Google Scholar More articles by this author , Kam McCowan VA Palo Alto Health Care System and Stanford University School of Medicine Google Scholar More articles by this author , David M. Gaba, MD VA Palo Alto Health Care System and Stanford University School of Medicine Google Scholar More articles by this author https://doi.org/10.15766/mep_2374-8265.7826 SectionsAbout ToolsDownload Citations ShareFacebookTwitterEmail AbstractAbstract Introduction: At Stanford University School of Medicine and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Healthcare System, anesthesia residents felt they were missing an understanding of, and the ability to practice, the principles of crisis resource management (CRM) during an intraoperative crisis. Given residents extensive training using a high-fidelity patient simulator, and appreciation for the ability to both make mistakes without hurting patients, we created this intraoperative cardiac arrest simulation. This resource is a first step in bridging the gap between the theoretical and active application of team management principles by trainees. Methods: The session for both resident and instructor training begins with a trigger video for interactive discussion. The video is not presented as a perfect model, but rather as a practical example of how principles of CRM may be applied in situ. Participants are encouraged to discuss how specific principles were applied effectively or not and how this affects patient care. Participates then proceed to several simulated scenarios during which they can practice, reflect on, and discuss how they themselves apply the principles of CRM. Results: The use of this trigger video in our CRM simulation course, has been positively received by all participants. One trainee stated: “It was extremely helpful to see a model of how to actually put into action the principles of CRM. In watching and discussing the video, I became better equipped to implement the principles myself in subsequent simulations and in actual patient care.” Discussion: It is important to give medical trainees a controlled environment in which to practice CRM and reflect on their medical/teamwork management of the scenario. This trigger video and simulation are a favorable tool for creating a controlled environment. Educational Objectives By the end of this session, learners will be able to: Discuss principles of crisis resource management (CRM).Discuss examples of CRM principles in action. Sign up for the latest publications from MedEdPORTAL Add your email below FILES INCLUDEDReferencesRelatedDetails FILES INCLUDED Included in this publication: Instructor's Guide.doc Crisis Resource Management Tools.ppt CRM Key Points Poster Notes.pdf CRM Key Points Poster Worksheet.pdf CRM Trigger Video with Titles 1.2.mp4 CRM Trigger Video without Titles 1.2.mp4 To view all publication components, extract (i.e., unzip) them from the downloaded .zip file. This publication includes large downloadable files. If you experience difficulty downloading these files, please contact [email protected] to receive a free DVD version via mail. Download editor’s noteThis publication may contain technology or a display format that is no longer in use. Copyright & Permissions© 2010 Goldhaber-Fiebert et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.KeywordsAnesthesiaCardiac ArrestCrisis Resource Management Disclosures None to report. Funding/Support None to report. Loading ...

A Review of Design Principles for Community-based Natural Resource Management

In 1990, Elinor Ostrom proposed eight design principles, positing them to characterize robust institutions for managing common-pool resources such as forests or fisheries. Since then, many studies have explicitly or implicitly evaluated these design principles. We analyzed 91 such studies to evaluate the principles empirically and to consider what theoretical issues have arisen since their introduction. We found that the principles are well supported empirically and that several important theoretical issues warrant discussion. We provide a reformulation of the design principles, drawing from commonalities found in the studies.

Resource management: materials, equipment, facilities

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to discuss the management of physical resources (materials, equipment, and facilities) as a performance standard for leadership.Design/methodology/approachThe approach of the paper is to list general principles for physical resource management and then discuss the understanding needed for the creative application of those principles.FindingsThe findings are that library leaders must understand how to collaborate, negotiate and formulate policies in order to manage physical resources well for the sake of the bottom line as well as the quality of the user and staff experience.Originality/valueThe value is in learning how to use interpersonal interaction to effectively manage physical resources in a way that advances overall organizational goals.

What Went Right: Lessons for the Intensivist From the Crew of US Airways Flight 1549

On January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 hit geese shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport in New York City. Both engines lost power, and the crew quickly decided that the best action was an emergency landing in the Hudson River. Due to the crew's excellent performance, all 155 people aboard the flight survived. Intensivists can learn valuable lessons from the processes and outcome of this incident, including the importance of simulation training and checklists. By learning from the aviation industry, the intensivist can apply principles of crew resource management to reduce errors and improve patient safety. Additionally, by studying the impact of the mandated process-engineering applications within commercial aviation, intensivists and health-care systems can learn certain principles that, if adequately and thoughtfully applied, may seriously improve the art and science of health-care delivery at the bedside.

Efforts to empower teachers in Ethiopia to address local environmental problems: achievements and limitations

It is believed that the possibilities of integrating environmental issues into the formal and nonformal education programs depend on the capacity of teachers who put such programs into effect. A pilot project, aimed at building the capacity of schools in Ethiopia to address key environmental issues, was initiated in 2004. Among the major strategies to achieve the goal of the project was empowering teachers to solve local environmental problems. This paper reports the achievements and limitations of the project in relation to teachers' empowerment. The results indicate that teachers who took part in the in-service training on natural resource management have taken distinct steps to integrate environmental issues into their lessons, establish environmental clubs and start school nurseries. The study also indicated some limitations. The handbook prepared for the training purpose had little provisions to guide the practical application of some of the principles of natural resource management discussed therein. The other limitation was the insufficient effort made to build (directly) the capacity of environmental clubs and community leaders. Some recommendations have been put forward in view of these findings.

Adoption of integrated water resources management principles and its impacts: lessons from Ferghana Valley

The Ferghana Valley Project, initiated in 2001, has promoted institutional change in the post-Soviet irrigation sector in this part of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. This paper presents the short-term (5-year) impacts of integrated water resources management project activities focused on water user participation in the South Ferghana Canal of Ferghana Province in Uzbekistan on irrigation water delivery and crop productivity. Irrigation performance assessment indicators indicate only slight improvements in water delivery and crop yields. Although water was important, larger changes in the agricultural sector of Uzbekistan dominated outcomes in this relatively short time span.

Market‐based grid resource co‐allocation and reservation for applications with hard deadlines

AbstractGrid computing technology enables the creation of large‐scale IT infrastructures that are shared across organizational boundaries. In such shared infrastructures, conflicts between user requirements are common and originate from the selfish actions that users perform when formulating their service requests. The introduction of economic principles in grid resource management offers a promising way of dealing with these conflicts. We develop and analyze both a centralized and a decentralized algorithm for economic grid resource management in the context of compute bound applications with deadline‐based quality of service requirements and non‐migratable workloads. Through the use of reservations, we co‐allocate resources across multiple providers in order to ensure that applications finish within their deadline. An evaluation of both algorithms is presented and their performance in terms of realized user value is compared with an existing market‐based resource management algorithm. We establish that our algorithms, which operate under a more realistic workload model, can closely approximate the performance of this algorithm. We also quantify the effect of allowing local workload preemption and different scheduling heuristics on the realized user value. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Excellence in Anesthesiology

Excellence in Anesthesiology

Best Human Resource Management Practices: Prescriptions in Panchatantra

Human Resource Management has come into prominence only recently and its strategic importance recognized only very recently. The literature on human resource management is based largely on the western thought. The contributions to human resource management practices from India are rich and very effective but long remained ignored by the scholars. For instance, Lord Buddha and recently Mahatma Gandhiji have all proved the effectiveness of Indian human resource practices to the utter disbelief of the rest of the world. The aim of this paper is to highlight some of the human resource management principles prescribed in Panchatantra (one of the ancient Indian works on management using the case method, a method to be discovered by the West only 5000 years later!) related to employee qualities and work, leadership, motivation, employee turnover and retention, research and development personnel, conflicts, and employee care. It will of great interest to both scholars and practicing human resource managers to note that the human resource management principles found in Panchatantra are not only easily practicable but also look as if they were written for today! Practicing these HRM principles would result in better management and utilization of human resource and thus would enhance the efficiency and performance of the whole organization.