Management Qualities Research Articles

Promoting Consumer Choice and Empowerment through Tenant Choice of Supportive Housing Case Manager

This paper presents findings from in-depth qualitative interviews conducted with 31 formerly homeless tenants and nine direct service staff at a supportive housing site, where a structured process for matching tenants with case managers (“Tenant Choice”) was piloted in which tenants were offered the option of choosing their respective case managers. Tenant Choice aims to increase the opportunity for tenants to make choices that will enable them to have more control over their treatment and recovery and obtain the optimal match between tenant and case manager. This study sought to understand how tenants and staff experienced Tenant Choice, determine whether Tenant Choice was meeting its goals, and identify areas for improvement. The major themes identified were: (1) pre-existing satisfaction drove tenant choices; (2) personal qualities of case managers were valued by tenants over professional qualifications and work experience; (3) the views of tenants and staff differed regarding whether minimal contact versus extended contact leads to better choices and working relationships; (4) the option of choice was valued by tenants regardless of whether it led to a change of case manager; and (5) staff concerns failed to materialize.

The Artistic Display, Performance and Management Qualities of Nollywood Actors and Actresses: Implication for Professionalism in the Performing Arts Industry

The artistic presentation of Nigerian actors and actresses is gaining better acclaim and recognition across the film industry both in Nigeria and Africa. Nollywood films are recognised because of their creative performance in the film industry when compared with the performance of other film industries in Africa. The continuous exposure of Nollywood actors and actresses to prominent actors and actresses from across the world especially Hollywood and Bollywood film industries has helped actors and actresses in Nollywood to diversify their artistic qualities professionally. Despite Nollywood success flanked by Nigerians actor and actress in home videos and across films produced in Africa more has to be done in terms of production, film content, quality and originality. Today Nollywood as a film industry with highly rated actors and actresses are seen as a platform for modelling the future and prospect of film making in Africa especially as the youths are seeking to make career in the performing art industry. As such, Nollywood will continue to be a point of reference for other African film makers and industries on the continent when seeking for artistic display and performances.

Inverse e-beam lithography on photomask for computational lithography

Computational lithography, e.g., inverse lithography technique (ILT) and source mask optimization, is considered necessary for the “extremely low k1” lithography process of sub-20 nm device node. The ideal design of a curvilinear mask for computational lithography requires many changes during photomask fabrication. These range from preparation of the mask data to measurement and inspection. The manufacturability of a photomask for computational lithography is linked to predictable and manageable quality of patterning. Here, we have proposed the use of “inverse e-beam lithography” on photomask for computational lithography, which overcomes the patterning accuracy limits of conventional e-beam lithography. Furthermore, the preferred target design for ILT, a new verification method, and the accuracy required for the mask model are also discussed; with consideration of acceptable writing time (<24 h ) and computing power.

What's the impact of quality bundles at the bedside?

Managing quality bundles can be challenging for clinical nurses. A study was undertaken to examine quality bundle volumes by patient and nursing perceptions in managing those volumes. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from more than 400 patients and their clinical nurses in five hospitals to provide insight into bedside complexities related to quality bundles. Patients were assigned up to six bundles; critical care patients had the most bundle assignments. Nurses (N = 180) responded to a three-item survey about managing quality bundles. Although 39% of the respondents said they were always aware of the nursing interventions, only 16% responded that they could always complete them. Strategies to effectively implement quality interventions are critical to nursing workflow and, ultimately, patient care. Workflow assessments, embedded reminders, checklists, and improved data transparency at the bedside are needed to improve quality bundle compliance.

Using Interactive Teaching Methods when Forming Bachelors’ Professional Competences in Management Studies

Russia's participation in the Bologna process led to the need to adapt training programs for bachelors, as well as teaching methods in accordance with the need to build bachelors’ core competencies in management studies. In these circumstances it is important for both teachers and students to change the form of joint participation in the process of delivering and acquiring knowledge. The teacher cannot only translate knowledge, since in this case students should behave as independently functioning and decision-making subjects. Otherwise, they will not be able to master the necessary competencies and will not possess the qualities necessary for managers. One solution to this problem is using interactive teaching methods, such as role-playing, case studies, videos, case studies, business games, design methods, and others. All these methods are aimed at the acquisition and interpretation of experience. The “Learning by Doing” approach, which is the basis for interactive technologies, opens great opportunities for semantic construction of the educational process and bringing it closer to real life. When doing the research, the authors developed a model of competencies that are formed during the Developing Management Decisions course. In the analysis of interactive methods we correlated competences that are to be formed at the end of the course and those formed by means of using interactive methods. Besides, the authors developed and tested some role-playing and simulation business games. We developed and tested the Interactive Lecture method; we formed a sufficient database of interactive methods that are obligatorily included in all seminars. Moreover, we conducted studies eliciting managerial qualities that undergraduate students possess before and after interactive classes. Finally, we reviewed and analyzed the dynamics of these changes. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n3p453

Functioning of the Company under Globalization

The paper establishes the analysis study of the functioning of the company under globalization where the factors with positive and negative impact on the future company's functioning are both enumerated and analyzed. The purpose of this paper is to present arguments to support the conclusions, and to emphasize the importance of professional quality of the business manager and employees services and activities. The company functioning, in a globalized environment, changes the behaviour, operating rules, principles and business environment. The estimation of the development potential of the enterprise involves its successful operation, i.e. the imaginary existence of this company with other production, selling possibilities, with another structure of the final product, with a different efficiency. The originality of the research consists in the confirmation of existing concerns about the specialization quality of managers to organize business. In this context, for ensuring the development of the company, the financial level of the company must be considered. Companies with considerable financial potential are relatively more flexible, are able to change their economic partners, attempt to implement scientific and technical achievements, accept more easily productive, organizational structure changes, suggesting a method for analyzing the operation of a virtual company imaginary called the enterprise of the future. The manager, burdened by the problems of the company, must always take into account the values, the social problems of employees and of the country.

A Successful Service Innovation Model for Shortening the Design Process

A brand company always comes a well-design corporate identity system (CIS) which preserve its management qualities with outcome products, packages, details, related people behaviors, all interaction etc. At present, Taiwans cultural creative industries play a very important role in constructing the soft collective infrastructure. This project try to prove the tailor-made model which a well design package system concerned new CIS will enhance good impression to wide consumers especially for small food and bakery industries. Research methods are selected both focus group and content analysis qualitatively gather experts opinions, quantitatively coding the key words. To accumulate form images related knowledge. The result can be applied to some Taiwan small business on Shorten design process for developing their products and commercial packages.

Micro-ecopreneurs and the UK food industry: short-term fad or sustainable reality?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine some of the key contextual, personal development and research issues facing micro-ecopreneurs in the UK food industry. Design/methodology/approach – Key literatures and definitions are examined concerning the role of an ecopreneur, as well as the nature of ecopreneurship. Contextual ideas are drawn from arguments concerning the triple bottom line, and economic versus social and ethical trade-offs, as well as a closer examination of the UK food industry and future trends. Findings – The UK eco-enterprise market has been growing and dynamic. However, micro-ecopreneurs in the UK food sector are now faced with numerous trade-offs and challenges, not least in terms of educating consumers, overcoming difficult market situations, and gaining access to venture capital. In the absence of widespread data, there have been calls for further research to clarify fundamental conceptual questions, such as: What are the long-term sustainability trends for ecopreneurship in the UK food industry? How will ecopreneurs deliver high-quality produce alongside demands for cheaper and more processed foods, commonly found in many UK supermarkets? What motivations, personal development skills and managerial qualities are required from future micro-ecopreneurs for long-term success in a highly competitive sector? Research limitations/implications – The authors direct future researcher attention to the key managerial and personal development issues facing many small business ecopreneurs. Originality/value – This commentary is intended to explore broad issues and ask pertinent questions, in light of the harsh economic realities in 2013, experienced by many smaller UK ecopreneurs.

Good countries or good projects? Macro and micro correlates of World Bank project performance

This paper investigates macro and micro correlates of aid-financed development project outcomes, using data from over 6000 World Bank projects evaluated between 1983 and 2011. Country-level “macro” measures of the quality of policies and institutions are strongly correlated with project outcomes, consistent with the view that country-level performance matters for aid effectiveness. However, a striking feature of the data is that the success of individual development projects varies much more within countries than it does between countries. A large set of project-level “micro” variables, including project size, project length, the effort devoted to project preparation and supervision, and early-warning indicators that flag problematic projects during the implementation stage, accounts for some of this within-country variation in project outcomes. Measures of World Bank project manager quality also matter significantly for the ultimate project outcomes. We discuss the implications of these findings for donor policies aimed at aid effectiveness.

Factors Underpinning Football Officiating Excellence: Perceptions of English Premier League Referees

The purpose of the present study was to identify factors perceived to underpin football officiating excellence. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data from 15 English Premier League referees. Through inductive content analysis, emerging themes were identified and comprised a variety of physical, environmental, and psychological factors: (a) mental toughness attributes, (b) support networks and services, (c) effective game management qualities, (d) multifaceted pre-match preparation, (e) performance-level enhancement, (f) opportunities to thrive, (g) personal characteristics, and (h) superior physical components. Findings acknowledge theoretical and applied implications for sport psychology professionals operating in elite football officiating.

Critical role of relationship for unfamiliar banking products

Bu çalışma tüketicilerin alışılmamış bankacılık ürünlerine yatırım yapmaları esnasındaki karar verme süreçlerini etkileyen faktörleri incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Çalışmanın konusu olarak anapara korumalı fonlar seçilmiştir. Çalışma kapsamında Türkiye genelinden yargısal örneklem methodu ile seçilen 160 banka müşterisisinin anapara korumalı fonlara yaptıkları yatırımlar ve bu yatırımlara şekil veren faktörler incelenmektedir. Bu betimleyici çalışma için gerekli olan veri yapılandırılmış anketler vasıtası ile toplanmıştır. Yapılan yazın taramasının ardından dört adet değişken (tüketicilerin algıladığı müşteri ilişkileri yöneticilerinin hizmet kalitesi, tüketicilerin algıladığı marka güveni, tüketicilerin risk toleransı, tüketicilerin finansal okur yazarlığı) anapara korumalı fon yatırımını etkileyen başlıca faktörler olarak analiz edilmiştir. Yapılan analizler sonucunda; tüketicilerin algıladığı müşteri ilişkileri yöneticilerinin hizmet kalitesi, anapara korumalı fon yatırımını etkileyen tek anlamlı faktör olarak saptanmıştır. Bu bulgu bankaların, müşteri ilişkileri yöneticilerinin hizmet kalitesini en iyi hale getirmesini sağlayacak müşteri ilişkileri yönetimi politikalarına yatırım yapmaları konusunun öneminin altını çizmektedir.

What facilitates countertransference management? The roles of therapist meditation, mindfulness, and self-differentiation

Countertransference (CT) reactions can negatively affect psychotherapy, and research has found that effectively managing these reactions is positively associated with psychotherapy outcome (Hayes, Gelso, & Hummel, 2011). Therefore, it is important to understand factors that might facilitate CT management. In this study, 78 therapist trainees completed measures of meditation experience, mindfulness, and self-differentiation, and their supervisors rated trainees' CT management qualities. Results indicated that trainees' meditation experience predicted CT management qualities but self-differentiation did not; one aspect of mindfulness, non-reactivity, was related to CT management qualities. Implications for theory, practice, research, and supervision are discussed.

Peste Analysis of the Romanian National Passenger Airline

A PESTE analysis[1] is a view over the external environment of a company, business or an economical sector, and it plays an important part in the resource management and in a future decision making process. PESTE analysis places emphasis on the impact of each factor. At international level, different structures, from the governmental ones to well-known companies and not only, choose to analyze the important factors that disturb the good functioning of these entities. In the sector of passengers and freight air transport, the majority of airline operators have chosen to investigate the external environment in which they operate by using analytical methods. For instance, we can mention SWOT and PESTE analysis of the leading low-cost Air Asia, Malaysia's second carrier, that wishes to enter the Australian aviation market, PESTE analysis of Air Arabia - a new company in the Gulf that intends to corner the market of well-known companies such as Emirates Airlines, Gulf Air and Air China. Air Arabia, in order to implement TMQ (Total Management Qualities), has used a PESTE study. In this respect, the approach to monitor the external environment of Tarom national airline is essential in the world economic crisis and globalization activities in the passengers transport, under the conditions of deregulation of the airspace.

Intellectual Capital Reporting: Evidence from Malaysian Companies

Objective- This study aims to examine the extent, nature and form of IC disclosure in the annual reports of 70 largest Malaysian companies listed in Bursa Malaysia based on market capitalization in year 2006. Methodology/Technique -The study adopts classification of IC disclosure by Huang et al. (2007) with three broad IC categories namely human capital, structural capital and relational capital in forty-five items. Content analysis was used to collect the IC data in the annual reports. This paper contributes to the understanding about the importance of food allergy awareness among public. Findings - Results show that the disclosure covers a wide range of IC items. The pattern of IC disclosure tends to focus more on items in the relational capital and human capital, while internal capital is reported the least. The five top favourable IC disclosures are three items from relational capital which are growth in business or service volume, followed by society's image of the company and market demand for products/services. Another two items are leadership qualities of managers and employee work-related knowledge from human capital theme. The least favourable IC disclosures are length of time for product design development, life cycle of product, key employee turnover, employee loyalty and employee job satisfaction. Novelty - Findings of this study help users to understand which IC resources are considered as value drivers to companies. Type of Paper Empirical paper Keywords: , IC reporting; human capital; internal capital; external capital.

The challenge of integrating science for landscape management

‘Ecosystem restoration is now a global priority’ announced a recent editorial (Aronsen and Alexander 2013), reporting on the outcomes of the 11th Conference of the Parties (in Oct 2012) of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Large-scale programs to restore, or more sustainably manage, ecosystems exist in many countries and landscape ecologists often are at the forefront of those actively contributing their expertise. In Australia, for example, the Federal Government has invested some $6.5 billion since 1990 in a series of natural resource management and restoration programs (Hajkowicz 2009), primarily in agricultural environments to respond to the consequences of excessive clearing of native vegetation. But how do we know whether such management interventions are effective? How do we measure their impact? Is the environment in a better condition as a result of these investments? Could these restoration actions be carried out in a more effective and efficient way? These kinds of challenging questions were the stimulus for a research project in southern Australia, documented in this volume. ‘Landscape Logic’ was a four-year, nationally funded project, which set out to ‘measure the effects of past human intervention on the environment using a combination of biophysical and social evidence, and the experience of land and water managers’. It was large in scale, scope and ambition: personnel were drawn from four Universities, three state agencies, and six catchment management organisations. From the outset, the project was planned to be interdisciplinary and participatory, with scientists working alongside managers. The structure of the book reflects the priority issues identified in consultation with land managers in two study areas. Thus, Part 1. ‘Managing water quality in agricultural catchments’ relates to project components undertaken in the state of Tasmania (Chaps. 2–9), where the issue of water quality was of greatest concern. Part 2, ‘Vegetation change in rural landscapes’, relates to components in Victoria (Chaps. 10–17), where the effects of management intervention on the condition and quality of native vegetation was a priority. Part 3, ‘Integrating science and practice’, includes four chaps. (18–21) that synthesize aspects of the overall project. Two questions kept recurring as I read this book: ‘who is this written for?’ and ‘what is its purpose?’. My initial expectation was that the book would provide an array of new scientific evidence evaluating ecological outcomes of the extensive restoration and management activities undertaken in Australia over the last two decades. However, while the bulk of the chapters are centred on various research components of the project, communication of research findings is not the sole intention of the book. Rather, it documents the ‘anatomy’ of a major project, including what it set A. F. Bennett (&) School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, VIC 3125, Australia e-mail: Andrew.Bennett@deakin.edu.au

Human-Resource Management in a Global Context: a Critical Approach

Introduction PART I: THE HRM ARENA Contextualising HRM A Critical Perspective on Strategic HRM HRM in Contemporary Transnational Companies Diversity Management HRM and Ethics PART II: HRM IN PRACTICE Human Resource Planning Job and Work Design Recruitment and Selection Performance Management Reward Management Training, Development and Learning PART III: HRM AND CONTEMPORARY ISSUES Change Management and HRM HRM, Productivity and Employee Involvement Work Life Balance in the 21st Century Managing Human Resources and Quality HRM in Small to Medium Enterprises Conclusion

Product Market Linkages, Manager Quality, and Mutual Fund Performance

Mutual funds typically invest a disproportionately large portion of their portfolio in one industry (main industry). We present a simple theoretical model to demonstrate that better mutual fund managers make larger investments in the important supplier/customer industries related to the main industry. Consistent with our theory, empirical tests on a large sample of mutual funds show that investment in related industries is positively associated with fund performance and plays a more significant role in explaining fund performance than investment in the main industry. Furthermore, the positive relation between main investment and fund performance obtains only when related investment is high.

PREPARE – étude transversale observationnelle sur la prise en charge de l’insuffisance rénale chronique en néphrologie avant le stade d’épuration extrarénale en France

There are few epidemiologic data on Chronic Kidney Disease management before replacement therapy. The two objectives of the PREPARE study were (1) to describe the characteristics of these patients and accordance to clinical practice guidelines (2) to study nephrologists preference for renal replacement therapy in case of progression to end stage renal disease. PREPARE is a non-interventional cross-sectional study. All the French nephrologists had been solicited to collect information about CKD outpatients not on dialysis, not transplanted, with glomerular filtration rate lower than 60mL/min/1,73m2, followed on any day between 23 and 27 November 2009. Three hundred and eight investigators included 2089 patients, 59% of them were male, they were on average 69 years old, 15, 37 and 48% had respectively a CKD stage V, stage IV and stage III, the nephropathy was the most often (43%) vascular. The most frequently reported cardiovascular risk factors were hypertension (88%), hypercholesterolemia (53%), diabetes (37%). The average time between diagnosis of nephropathy and the first nephrology consultation was too long 1,5 years. The implementation measures of nephroprotection and treatment of complications of CKD were generally satisfactory. However, preparation for replacement therapy was often too late, haemodialysis was more likely scheduled instead of peritoneal dialysis and without preparation for renal transplantation. PREPARE can therefore highlight the qualities of the current management of CKD by nephrologists in France. Nevertheless, PREPARE also shows weaknesses in preparation for replacement therapy. One can suggest that they could be reduced by systematic access of patients with risk of progression to stage V, as soon as the stage IV, to structured multidisciplinary care.

Eliciting and prioritizing quality requirements supported by ontologies: a case study using the ElicitO framework and tool

AbstractAs software complexity grows and clients demand higher quality software, quality requirements can no longer be considered to be of secondary importance. Thus, eliciting, specifying, prioritizing and validating quality requirements is a prerequisite to the development of effective and efficient information systems. Despite the critical importance of quality requirements, there is a considerable gap in the breadth and depth of quality requirements engineering (RE) support in most RE approaches. In practice, it is often the case to have quality requirements considered as an afterthought in the systems development process. While there is a wealth of modelling techniques and tools for functional requirements, there is very limited support for quality requirements in RE. Support for quality requirements is usually ad‐hoc, without clear guidelines on how to capture, specify and manage quality requirements and also without proper usage of standardized terminologies based on established quality models such as the ISO/IEC 9126 quality model. In this paper, we discuss a quality‐driven RE framework and tool that applies knowledge management techniques and quality ontologies to support RE activities. The ontology implements the quality characteristics and metrics prescribed by the ISO/9126 quality model, providing a common vocabulary to address quality concerns/aspects across RE activities. We empirically validate how the framework and tool can be used to effectively support the requirements elicitation and prioritization activities through a case study addressing the development of an intranet portal project at the University of Manchester.

Motivation and retention of health workers in Ghana's district hospitals

This study seeks to undertake a systematic review to consolidate existing empirical evidence on the impact of financial and non-financial incentives on motivation and retention of health workers in Ghana's district hospitals. The study employed a purely quantitative design with a sample of 285 health workers from ten district hospitals in four regions of Ghana. A stepwise regression model was used in the analysis. The study found that financial incentives significantly influence motivation and intention to remain in the district hospital. Further, of the four factor model of the non-financial incentives, only three (leadership skill and supervision, opportunities for continuing professional development and availability of infrastructure and resources) were predictors of motivation and retention. A major limitation of the study is that the sample of health workers was biased towards nurses (n = 160; 56.1 percent). This is explained by their large presence in remote districts in Ghana. A qualitative approach could enrich the findings by bringing out the many complex views of health workers regarding issues of motivation and retention, since quantitative studies are better applied to establish causal relationships. The findings suggest that appropriate legislations backing salary supplements, commitment-based bonus payments with a set of internal regulations and leadership with sound managerial qualities are required to pursue workforce retention in district hospitals.