Sector Practitioners Research Articles

Diversity as discourse and diversity as practice: critical reflections on migrant women’s experiences of accessing mental health support in London

ABSTRACT The paper critically examines the way diversity is conceptualised as a dominant discourse and as a paradigm for understanding the present, which has gradually replaced multiculturalism in academic and policy discourse. Using our interviews with third sector practitioners providing mental health support to a wealth of migrant populations in London, the paper offers key examples of how TSOs (Third Sector Organisations) address migrant women’s diverse needs, showing how diversity is practised in the everyday of community groups. This paper’s novelty consists in exposing overlaps and divergences between diversity discourses and diversity practices and its added value lays in the combination of academic and practitioner perspectives in the study of TSOs supporting migrant, refugee and asylum seeker women in London.

The pandemic paradox: The consequences of COVID‐19 on domestic violence

The pandemic paradox: The consequences of COVID‐19 on domestic violence

Practitioner Emotions in Penal Voluntary Sectors: Experiences from England and Canada

Abstract Mixed economies of welfare have seen increasing numbers of service users funnelled into voluntary, rather than statutory sector services. Many service users with (complex) human needs now fall within the remit of ill-researched voluntary organisations that are rarely social work led. Voluntary sector practitioners comprise a large and rising proportion of the social services workforce, but their experiences have received minimal analysis. Despite the importance of emotions across the helping professions, voluntary sector practitioners’ emotional experiences are largely unknown. We address this gap, using an innovative bricolage of original qualitative data from England and Canada to highlight how ‘emotions matter for penal voluntary sector (PVS) practitioners across diverse organisational roles, organisational contexts, and national jurisdictions’. We examine the emotions of paid and volunteer PVS practitioners relating to their (i) organisational contexts and (ii) relationships with criminalised service users. Problematising positive, evocative framings of ‘citizen participation’, we argue that continuing to overlook voluntary sector practitioners’ emotions facilitates the downloading of double neo-liberal burdens—‘helping’ marginalised populations and generating the funds to do so—onto individual practitioners, who are too often ill-equipped to manage them.

In Practice: The Importance of Practitioner Research in Vocational Education

This article presents the background to and rationale for a practice-focused model of educational change and improvement. In contrast to autocratic top-down models, this democratic and pragmatic approach begins with the educational concerns of teachers. In this model, responsibility and accountability for educational improvement is shared between policy professionals, the university team and sector practitioners. Contributions from the literature explore the question of the nature and purpose of educational practice; how concepts of educational practice influence curriculum design and content in programmes for the initial and continuing professional development for teachers of vocational education; and how these can enhance or inhibit the improvement of educational practice. Drawing upon case study examples from a national programme of university-supported practitioner research in England, results illustrate how this model offers insights into ways of increasing research capacity and achieving sustainable improvements in educational practice. It concludes that programmes of university-supported practitioner research, which encourage and enable teachers to engage in the systematic investigation of educational practice, can realize educational improvements which other approaches to educational evaluation and improvement (including external inspection regimes) struggle to do. It invites politicians and policy professionals to consider potential applications of this approach in other national systems of vocational education.

Factors influencing the consideration of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) for smart city projects: Evidence from Hong Kong

Smart cities are emerging in most parts of the world. The cost-benefit analysis of such initiatives should include an unbiased consideration of potential procurement modes, especially when a substantial investment is entailed to scale up projects to the city level. Despite the enticing trend of public private partnerships (PPPs), city governments should evaluate the available options using an objective approach such as Multi-Attribute Utility Analysis (MAUA). The technique takes into account prioritized assessment criteria (which are tailor-made for smart city projects) and the relative utilities of the procurement options in meeting the criteria.The methodology of MAUA is demonstrated through a questionnaire survey and a focus group meeting involving public and private sector practitioners, and applied to 8 types of common smart city projects in Hong Kong, which is one of the metropolises earmarked to become a smart city by putting concepts into practice. Results show that not all projects are best suited to PPP and that there may be divergent views between the public and private sectors, with possibilities for a compromised decision which both sectors would accept.

Security sector practitioner perceptions of the terror threat environment before the Christchurch attacks

ABSTRACT On 15 March 2019, Brenton Tarrant destroyed New Zealand’s perception of its low threat terrorist risk. Security sector practitioners interviewed for this study before 15 March spoke about the challenges of performing counter terrorism roles in that low threat environment. Their perceptions revealed a fear that terrorist attacks occurring overseas, would sooner or later occur in New Zealand. Their roles were complicated by an overarching sense of social, bureaucratic and political complacency toward the threat of terrorism. They perceived legislative inertia, which fettered the powers and resources agencies had to effectively act against the risks they believed were present. Despite these barriers, security sector agencies continued to look for possible emerging threats across a spectrum of risk, but relied on improvised use of existing legislation to manage it. This was more effective against those motivated by militant jihadism, and as Tarrant demonstrated, less so against other threats. Community engagement was needed and successfully achieved, although difficulties were observed which need to be addressed, and the media was perceived as having an undue influence over New Zealand’s security priorities, highlighting the need for a national counter terrorism strategy.

An Empirical Investigation of Health Practitioners Technology Adoption: The Mediating Role of Electronic Health

ABSTRACT Health technology innovation integration is rapidly growing in global health-care settings. However, research on factors driving technology adoption intention is limited. On this note, it has become important to investigate and understand the complex factors underpinning practitioners’ technology adoption intentions. Drawing on the Technology Acceptance Model and The Institutional Theory, we propose a model to empirically investigate technology adoption and its potency in driving universal health coverage, mediated by electronic health technology. We used data collected from 416 health sector practitioners to empirically test the model. Using the Structural Equation Modeling technique, the study found that perceived ease of use and relevant technology infrastructure all have significant positive relationship with universal health coverage. However, perceived usefulness, management support and adequate practitioner training were found to have negative relationship with universal health coverage. The results further revealed that perceived-ease-of-use, perceived usefulness, management support, adequate practitioner training and relevant technology infrastructure also have positive relationship with electronic health technology. Moreover, electronic health technology as a mediator was also found to have significant relationship with universal health coverage. The implications of the findings are discussed and suggestions for future research are subsequently highlighted.

The impact of management control systems on organisational change and performance in the public sector

PurposeThis study aims to examine the role of organisational dynamic capabilities (strategic flexibility and employee empowerment) in mediating the relationship between management control systems (MCSs), in particular the interactive and diagnostic approaches to using controls, with organisational change and performance.Design/methodology/approachData were collected based on a mail survey of public sector organisations in Australia and analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM).FindingsThe findings indicate that strategic flexibility and employee empowerment mediate the association between the interactive approach to MCSs with organisational performance, and strategic flexibility mediates the relationship between the interactive approach to MCSs with organisational change.Practical implicationsThe study’s findings inform public sector practitioners as to how to enact change within and enhance the performance of public sector organisations. Specifically, managers are advised to focus on the use of interactive controls and the development of two dynamic organisational capabilities, strategic flexibility and employee empowerment.Originality/valueThe study provides an initial empirical insight into the relation between controls and dynamic capabilities and their role in enacting change and performance within the public sector. The findings suggest that the achievement of new public management ideals is reliant upon the organisational environment, with change and performance facilitated by the interactive use of controls and strategic flexibility and employee empowerment.

Christchurch in the context of New Zealand terrorism and right wing extremism

ABSTRACTThis paper sets out to consider Brendon Tarrant in the context of New Zealand terrorism. While Tarrant’s attack on 15 March 2019 was unprecedented in terms of its scale, he was in many ways a somewhat typical New Zealand terrorist offender; alone, driven, difficult to detect and able to strike without warning. While Islamist inspired terrorism has been the predominant identified threat in recent years, the primacy of any particular threat historically did not blind New Zealand’s security sector to others, and various Right Wing extremist (RWE) risks had been identified, investigated and mitigated periodically since at least 1990. This study is based on an historical overview of terrorism in New Zealand, as well as interviews with security sector practitioners, who recalled their experiences of RWE risk. Those practitioners responsible for the detection and mitigation of terrorism risk in New Zealand genuinely seemed to sense that RWE risk was increasing, but were fettered in their abilities to counter it by the inconsistency it presented and a general, societal complacency about the risk of terrorism in New Zealand.

Invoking vulnerability: practitioner attitudes to supporting refugee and migrant women in London-based third sector organisations

ABSTRACT The paper explores London-based third sector practitioners’ engagement with vulnerability in their work with refugee and migrant women during pregnancy and in the post-natal period. Practitioners draw on notions of vulnerability that signal weakness and passivity as a strategy, which enables them to secure resources for the women they support as well as to sustain their own organisational existence in a third sector landscape that has been transformed by a range of neoliberal measures. Despite this invoking of essentialised vulnerability practitioners possess an awareness of how the broader context of women’s lives, including government policies and structural disadvantage, acts to shape their vulnerability. The paper argues practitioners’ contextual understanding of refuge and migrant women’s vulnerability resonates with theoretical approaches that conceptualise vulnerability as an ontological characteristic of human existence. Strategic use of essentialised vulnerability is central to accessing resources, while an ontological understanding of vulnerability as a universal potential activated by socially mediated unequal power relations enables practitioners to address the specific factors that are producing women’s vulnerability to harm. Crucially, this includes challenging the effects of the UK government’s anti-immigrant ‘hostile environment’ policy and neoliberal austerity measures.

Sector-level objectives and associated inhibiting and enabling factors for the Indian real estate sector from a process standardisation perspective

PurposeA perceived uniqueness of real estate (RE) projects has led to a view among RE practitioners that since no two RE projects are the same, they must all follow their own unique set of processes. Further, local exigencies often result in the very processes agreed at the beginning of every project being changed, thereby making projects unpredictable for delivery within time and budget, or to the standards of quality expected. Maintaining the need to follow pre-defined standard processes in RE operations, the purpose of this paper is to focus on two converging tracks: the first track studies available sector-level competitiveness frameworks appropriate for RE to formulate RE sector objectives; and the second track retains the process standardisation perspective to comprehensively identify a set of factors that influence the defined sector objectives.Design/methodology/approachThe research methodology adopted comprises, respectively, for the two tracks, a focussed literature review and semi-structured interviews with 30 Indian RE sector practitioners working at levels of consequence, supported by qualitative interpretive analysis. As a sustained development requires all stakeholders to have their concerns addressed, this research leads to the formulation of four sector objectives, one for each stakeholder group identified. Furthermore, two sets of factors (inhibiting and enabling) are deduced from stakeholder interviews reinforced by secondary literature as those that would influence the realisation of the objectives from the standpoint of processes and their standardisation.FindingsIt is thought that factors identified here will inform actionable strategies for a transformation to the long-elusive process and standards-based delivery in the Indian RE sector. Such strategies will not only lead to the next spate of improvements from innovative processes and standards thereof but will also equip RE players with the wherewithal to successfully engage globally.Originality/valueThis work extends the earlier research to shift from a function to process orientation in RE and bridges research gaps in each of the tracks mentioned above: the articulation of RE sector objectives, and identification of factors influencing the objectives.

Building a psychosocial and spiritual care service for children with cancer and their families

Background: Comprehensive, coordinated psychosocial, supportive and spiritual care is an essential component of the holistic care of childhood cancer sufferers and their families. Aim: The authors detail the development and value of a multidisciplinary psychosocial care team as an essential adjunct to care of childhood cancer sufferers. Methods: A historic preamble details a period during which psychosocial and supportive care was the sole province of the paediatric oncologists and social workers and describes that the process of creating a multidisciplinary psychosocial and spiritual care team has enhanced medical care. Results: Each member of the psychosocial group describes their care philosophy and their role in the clinical setting. We also describe the critical role of the meeting as a teaching vehicle for oncology fellows. Conclusion: This reproducible partnership between public and private sector practitioners, designed in a resource-constrained setting, affords a diverse and highly skilled group of professionals the opportunity to meet the medical, psychological, social and spiritual needs of patients and families as they transition through the care journey.

Critical success factors in public-private partnerships (PPPs) on affordable housing schemes delivery in Tanzania

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the critical success factors (CSFs) and key areas for improvement for public–private partnerships (PPP) in affordable housing schemes (AHS) projects, using Tanzania as a case study.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 public and private sector practitioners in Tanzania. The collected data and the interview transcripts were analysed using the standard qualitative analysis technique of content analysis.FindingsThe findings show the six most important CSFs as: a dedicated team of professionals to oversee the PPP projects, official and unofficial site visits and inspection, government support and guarantees, undertaking checks and balance from the design stage to construction stage, scrutiny of PPP project proposal and trust and integrity. The mapping of the CSFs across the PPP project lifecycle highlighted a higher incidence across the following phases: building (n = 11), preparation (n = 10) and operational (n = 9).Practical implicationsThe identification of these CSFs would support PPP practitioners in successfully implementing PPP in AHS; besides, there is potential for their inclusion in the future development of the affordable housing PPP conceptual framework. Therefore, based on the identified CSFs, both the government and policy makers could use the findings as the basis for re-examining the existing PPP policy and regulations and reflecting on the existing situation with a view to improving the delivery of future PPP projects.Originality/valueThis paper provides the first empirical study by applying direct content analysis to identify and understand the CSFs and key areas for improvement for PPPs in AHS within the Tanzanian housing sector. This is rather an under researched subject around CSFs for PPPs from developing countries such as Tanzania.

Driving forces for adopting public–private partnerships in Tanzanian housing projects

Despite the vast documentation of the PPP research in many countries, the PPP research in the context of Tanzania is lacking, let along the housing sector of Tanzania. To address this knowledge gap, the purpose of this paper is to identify the driving forces for adopting PPPs in Tanzanian housing projects. Second is to examine how driving forces differ between the public and private sector respondents. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 public and private sector practitioners to collect data and the interview transcripts were analysed using NVivo (version 10 package). Direct content analysis was used to validate the findings and provide in-depth insights into the findings. The results shows that out of the 19 driving forces identified, the top 3 driving forces for PPP adoption in Tanzania for the public sector respondents are ‘the need for redeveloping condemned properties’, ‘lack of enough financial capacity to undertake housing projects’ and ‘fear to lose their condemned properties’. In contrast, the top driving forces for the private sector are ‘prime location’ and ‘being a previous tenant’.

Twinned careers: Public sector practitioners in public administration teaching and research

AbstractScholarship in Canadian public administration programs takes many forms. One of these is the contribution made by practitioners. Yet very little is known about this group and, with the exception of Kenneth Kernaghan's articles, there is little Canadian literature on practitioner‐scholars. Taking Kernaghan's work as a starting point, we explore the contribution of practitioner‐scholars and shed light on their background and contribution to public administration scholarship. Our study finds that practitioner‐scholars are well‐qualified and engaged public administration professionals whose contribution is much broader than that first described by Kernaghan.

Algorithm-assisted decision-making in the public sector: framing the issues using administrative law rules governing discretionary power.

This article considers some of the risks and challenges raised by the use of algorithm-assisted decision-making and predictive tools by the public sector. Alongside, it reviews a number of long-standing English administrative law rules designed to regulate the discretionary power of the state. The principles of administrative law are concerned with human decisions involved in the exercise of state power and discretion, thus offering a promising avenue for the regulation of the growing number of algorithm-assisted decisions within the public sector. This article attempts to re-frame key rules for the new algorithmic environment and argues that 'old' law-interpreted for a new context-can help guide lawyers, scientists and public sector practitioners alike when considering the development and deployment of new algorithmic tools.This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'The growing ubiquity of algorithms in society: implications, impacts and innovations'.

The Incongruence between Autonomy and Preference for Autonomy

While human resource practices requiring employee participation or freedom in work-related decision making have been commonly believed to be beneficial to work outcomes, we suggest that the effects of those practices on work outcomes can be limited by individual preferences, which influence the perceived quality of supervision. Drawing upon prior research on work structure and person-environment (P-E) fit perspective, we examine the joint effects of autonomy and preference for autonomy on employee work outcomes (satisfaction with supervision, task performance, and organizational citizenship behaviors) that are mediated via perceived supervision (individualized consideration) among the U.S. state government employees. Polynomial regression results showed that congruence between autonomy and preference for autonomy was associated with the highest level of individualized consideration. Further, from the results of a moderated mediation analysis, we found 1) an interaction between autonomy, and preference for autonomy in predicting work outcomes and 2) individualized consideration to mediate some of this interactive effect. These findings highlight the important role played by perceptions of the supervisor’s considerate behavior in promoting employees’ positive attitudes at work. The present study advances our understanding regarding how the interactions between organizations and individuals enhance work outcomes by demonstrating the moderating role of preference for autonomy in the relationship between autonomy and employee outcomes. Additionally, this research shows that congruence between autonomy and personal preferences for autonomy predicting the perceived quality of supervision, in particular the level of individualized consideration experienced by the employee. This contributes to the literature on both P-E fit and leadership and provides insights to public sector practitioners that can be helpful in dealing with challenges that may occur as a result of incongruence between the individuals’ preferences for structure and level of organizational structure they are offered.

URGENSI PENELITIAN MANAJEMEN RANTAI PASOK: PEMETAAN ISU, OBJEK, DAN METODOLOGI

The purpose of this paper is to raise the issue of urgency of supply chain management research in terms of developmental issues, trends and challenges, as well as research objects and methologies in the any industry, business sector, and public sector. This study is an exploratory research with the aim of finding trends, developments, and challenges of current and potential supply chain management research. Data were collected from previous studies and written interviews from supply chain management experts where domiciled in several institutions in Bandung City. The findings of this study show expert opinion on the issues of supply chain management research in terms of developments, trends, and challenges, as well as the urgency of supply chain research. While, the results of the literature review from previous study, the research objects and methodologies of supply chain management research categorized into several categories that need to be concentrated for further research. Research suggestions are aimed specifically at academic, private and public sector practitioners to update and upgrade capacity, information, and knowledge about the development of supply chain management study in a sustainable manner. This paper also suggests to establish a community of supply chain management which consist of academicians, practitioners, and government in Bandung City to share informations and experiences about research and issues related to supply chain management, such as Supply Chain Indonesia (SCI) and American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS). Keywords: Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Management Research, Issue of Supply Chain Management

How to talk about genome editing.

BackgroundHuman genome editing is an area of growing prominence, with many potential therapeutic applications.Sources of dataA project by two UK charities, whose participants included fertility sector patients and practitioners and also people affected by genetic disease and rare disease. Scientific research into, and wider discussion of, genomics and genome editing.Areas of agreementThere is a need for improved public and professional understanding of genome editing.Areas of controversyThe way genome editing is discussed is often inconsistent and confusing. Simply defining and explaining the term ‘genome’ can present challenges.Growing pointsThere are approaches that lend themselves to achieving greater clarity and coherence in discussion of genome editing.Areas timely for developing researchPeople’s understanding should ideally be able to withstand and evolve alongside current developments in genome editing, rather than being tied firmly to specific aspects of genome editing (which may in future be supplanted).

Resilience among older caregivers in rural Namibia: The role of financial status, social support and health

ABSTRACTBackground: Namibia has one of the highest human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevalence rates and one of the highest rates of orphanhood in the world, and older caregivers provide much of the care to Namibians living with HIV and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) (UNAIDS, 2014). In this study, the authors explore how financial status, social support, and health were related to the resilience of caregivers caring for people affected by HIV and AIDS in rural northern Namibia, Africa. Method: Data were collected through a structured interview from (N = 147) caregivers from the Zambezi region. Results: Findings from this study show that employment and physical health were significantly associated with increased resilience in older caregivers. Discussion: Our findings point to the need for employment assistance and health services to improve the resilience of caregivers caring for people living with HIV and AIDS. We conclude that there is a need for more vigorous concerted efforts from public and private sector practitioners and policy makers to create more sustained formal employment opportunities and intervention programs aimed at improving the overall health of older HIV caregivers, especially those residing in rural HIV endemic communities in developing countries.