Staff Size Research Articles

Small Business Electronic Commerce Implementation: A Case Study

ABSTRACT This case study outlines experiences of a small stationer with electronic commerce implementation that should be valuable for many similar companies attempting to provide Internet services to their customers. It describes the origin of the organization and the factors that prompted its CEO to add electronic commerce to its business model. The company's objective was to grow at several levels. The study describes the many challenges that the company had to overcome, including handling growth while maintaining the same staff size, integration of old and new databases, personal service in an online environment, potential change in business solutions from custom-made to packaged solutions, and limitations in terms of budget and expertise. The case outlines the steps taken to achieve these goals, including IT decisions such as outsourcing, software, and database choices.

Canadian orthodontist Internet user profile.

An anonymous, self-administered, mail-out survey of Canadian Orthodontists was conducted to evaluate the characteristics of orthodontic Internet use. The response rate was 45.6% (304 of 667). A total of 76.6% of orthodontists reported having Internet access at work, and an additional 12.4% reported having Internet access from a different location. Statistically significant associations between Internet usage and office staff size (P < .001) and years of practice (P = .046) were observed. Offices with larger staffs had greater Internet access. Number of staffs and number of case starts were positively correlated (P < .001, r = 0.498). The odds ratio for having Internet access on the basis of increased case starts from the less than 100 to 300-399 categories was 5.67. Although not statistically significant, there was a trend for greater Internet access by younger practitioners.

Introduction to the Special Section-Severe and Persistent Mental Illness on College Campuses: Considerations for Service Provision

This collection of articles represents the second time that the Journal of College Counseling (JCC) has published a special section of articles based on a topical theme. The first collection, appearing in the spring 2004 issue of JCC, focused on nontraditional students. The topic of severe and persistent mental illness on college campuses was selected for our second special section theme because recent research has indicated that the severity and prevalence of mental illness on college campuses have increased over the past several decades. Furthermore, students with severe and persistent mental illness present unique needs and therapeutic issues to the college counseling setting. In recent years, there has been a reported increase in the number of students presenting with chronic mental illness, suicidal and other self-injurious behaviors, personality disorders, and sexual assault and early traumatic experiences. Not only are these stressful for the individual student, they also cause disruption to the living and learning environments to which that student belongs. Faculty, staff, and other students often are unprepared to interact with these students. Nonetheless, counseling center staffs have been challenged to adapt traditional ways of working with students to meet the needs and address the therapeutic issues of these students. In the past, counseling center staff described much of their clinical work as developmental in nature. Many counselors saw their role as facilitating students through the developmental tasks encountered in late adolescence and early adulthood. Increased psychopathology of their clients challenges counselors to rethink their developmental models and their methods of service delivery. In addition, as counseling center staffs are confronted with increased severity of problems in the students, budgetary supports remain at the same or lower levels, and staff sizes are held stable or have decreased. It is clear that creative approaches are needed to address these concerns. In the 1990s, counseling centers responded in a variety of ways. Many moved to time-limited sessions, referring to off-campus agencies and practitioners when the session limits were reached. Others moved to a fee-for-service model or the implementation of student insurance. Special offices or staffs were created to deal with issues such as substance abuse, learning disabilities, and sexual assault. More recently, disability services have been created for students with psychiatric disabilities. In some institutions, student judiciaries have become involved with students with mental illness who become disruptive. …

Adoption and diffusion of Encoded Archival Description

AbstractIn this article, findings from a study on the diffusion and adoption of Encoded Archival Description (EAD) within the U.S. archival community are reported. Using E. M. Rogers' (1995) theory of the diffusion of innovations as a theoretical framework, the authors surveyed 399 archives and manuscript repositories that sent participants to EAD workshops from 1993–2002. Their findings indicated that EAD diffusion and adoption are complex phenomena. While the diffusion pattern mirrored that of MAchine‐Readable Cataloging (MARC), overall adoption was slow. Only 42% of the survey respondents utilized EAD in their descriptive programs. Critical factors inhibiting adoption include the small staff size of many repositories, the lack of standardization in archival descriptive practices, a multiplicity of existing archival access tools, insufficient institutional infrastructure, and difficulty in maintaining expertise.

The process of care in residential facilities

Although residential facilities (RFs) have largely replaced mental hospitals (MHs) in most developed countries for the long-term residential care of severely impaired patients, the process of care in RFs has not been well studied. The aim of this paper is to investigate the process of care in 265 RFs, representing 19.3% of all RFs in Italy, and to devise a classification of RFs based on process characteristics. Structured interviews were conducted with the manager and staff of each RF. Residents were evaluated using standardized rating instruments. Most RFs had specific admission criteria, with one third having a waiting list that averaged about 3 months. There was no formal limitation to the length of stay in three quarters of RFs, and turnover rates were very low. Although a homelike atmosphere was found in many RFs, most facilities had restrictive rules on patients' daily lives and behaviours. RFs carried out several external activities targeted at integrating patients within the local community. Standardized assessment instruments and written treatment plans were rarely used. A cluster analysis based on the levels of restrictiveness and the standardization of the process of care classified RFs into five groups that differed with respect to daily staff coverage, size, geographical distribution and proportion of former MH residents. No significant intercluster differences were associated with the current clinical and psychosocial characteristics of residents, or with several other outcome variables. This study provides naturalistic evidence of the heterogeneity of the process of residential care on a large scale. Future efforts should focus on developing an empirical classification of RFs, as well as on national and international standards of care and staffing to address patients' needs.

HIV prevention in Africa: programs and populations served by non-governmental organizations.

The AIDS epidemic in Africa remains an urgent health crisis. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Africa play a critical role in the delivery of HIV prevention services and assistance to persons living with AIDS. African NGOs are conducting numerous HIV prevention programs with several at-risk populations, yet their efforts have only rarely been systematically documented. To address this gap in the literature, the authors surveyed one NGO in each of 29 African countries regarding their HIV prevention activities and populations served. This report provides details concerning HIV prevention activities across the continent and describes in detail innovative programs from Togo and South Africa. NGOs in the present sample operate with modest budgets and small staff sizes, yet conduct programs that reach large segments of their communities. NGOs were most likely to report community-level interventions such as peer-education or community outreach. Faced with an epidemic where the main transmission occurs via heterosexual activity, African NGOs were most likely to direct their attention to the general public and to youth. NGOs in Africa are struggling to implement sustainable, cost-effective programs with few resources. Strengthening the infrastructure and capacity of these key agencies is crucial to fighting the AIDS epidemic in Africa.

Methodology and tools for source term assessment in case of emergency.

By looking at the power plant state of fission product barriers and critical safety systems, the magnitude of a potential radioactive release could be predicted in a timely manner to allow emergency response to be executed even before the occurrence of a release. This is the perspective in which the development of ASTRID methodology and tool is performed. The methodology maps out, for several reactor types as well as reactor containments, relevant process parameters and indicators, what and how to calculate and a structured way to summarise and conclude on potential source term and likely time projections. A computer tool is proposed to support the methodology, to suite different user situations, both on-site and off-site as well as size of staff, priority and work order. The output from such an assessment is intended to, first, give bases for decisions on necessary urgent protective actions pre-release, and, second, an input for the sophisticated dispersion calculation codes.

Parkinson's Law and the New Public Management? Contracting Determinants and Service‐Quality Consequences in Public Education

Why is contracting used more frequently under some circumstances than others? What is its impact on spending for core mission and on service quality? These questions are explored with data from more than 1,000 Texas school districts. The evidence for a recent three‐year period shows that contracting is negatively related to spending on school districts' central task and is not positively associated with district performance. Why, then, do districts contract? While several variables are associated with the degree of contracting, the most interesting is the relative size of a district's bureaucratic staff. Furthermore, the relationship between contracting and bureaucracy is reciprocal: Each is associated with subsequent growth in the other. The dynamic suggests an updated version of Parkinson's law. These findings indicate the need for researchers to probe the causes and consequences of contracting more thoroughly to help public managers assess this important option.

Affirmative action in higher education: costs, benefits, and implementation

This article discusses the costs and benefits of implementing affirmative action programs in higher education. Based on a national survey of institutions of higher education, the author addresses the following questions: What factors impede the ability of the affirmative action officer to achieve program results? What is the effect of staff size, budget, and race on perceived implementation barriers? This study finds that increased impediments to affirmative action program efficacy are greatly affected by program resources and race.

Understanding Institutional Change

The study of state legislative change is dominated by concerns with the development of professional legislatures, but do the components of a professional legislature develop in the sameway? If not, what accounts for change in state legislative institutions? We separate legislative staff from the larger concept of professionalism and offer a theory that explains staff development and its impact on both legislative activity and conflict with the governor. We demonstrate that staff size and organizational structure respond to internal and external competitive pressures and they in turn have an affect on the larger policy environment separate from professionalism.

Encoded archival description (EAD): Adoption and implementation

AbstractEncoded Archival Description (EAD) provides archival researchers with more in‐depth content‐related and contextual information than was previously available anywhere but in the physical repository. This has led to its use throughout the United States and in many other countries to increase access to archival and manuscript collections. Furthermore, EAD is one means of managing metadata that describe digital objects linked to archival finding aids. In spite of these potential benefits, the archival community in the United States has embraced EAD slowly. This paper examined EAD adoption in the U.S. and reports on a survey of 399 archives and manuscript repositories that participated in EAD educational workshops from 1993–2002. Among the factors found to be related to EAD adoption were prior adoption of the MARC format for the description of archival or manuscript materials and professional staff size. Implementation issues affecting adoption included the different technologies and skills required for encoding and display of finding aids and the lack of a consensus on either encoding software or display options.

Above-Average Staff Size Helps Newspapers Retain Circulation

How many news-editorial staff members does it take to produce a viable newspaper? In recent years, there has been enough variability in newspaper staffing to produce the opportunity for a natural experiment. In the late 1990s, earnings of newspaper companies soared, and staff sizes grew. Then a mild recession led to cutbacks that some feared would permanently damage their companies. Jay Harris, publisher of the San Jose Mercury, resigned over that issue.1 In March 2002, Editor & Publisher reported that the end of the recession would not lead newspapers to return their staffing to previous levels. Permanent fixed-cost reductions would be the top priority as investor-pressured newspaper companies continued to try to improve their profit margins.2While publishers recognize that news-editorial and sales jobs have something to do with a newspaper's ability to grow-or, if growth is impossible, to at least retard its decline-these categories were not immune from the recession cuts. Such decisions are difficult for managers because the value of the news-editorial staff, while intuitively appreciated, is difficult to measure with any precision. Most attempts have been indirect.One obvious quality element related to staff size is what military strategists call Some newspapers are so thinly staffed that it takes 100 percent of everyone's effort just to get a routine paper out every day. When a big story hits, it has to be compressed into a product not very different in size and format from the routine. A newspaper with surge capacity, can, under the guidance of a good editor, perform seeming miracles like The Miami Herald's day-after reporting on Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Staff size is not the only relevant variable, of course. Management skill has much to do with surge capacity. But a minimally efficient size is necessary, if not always sufficient.BackgroundWilliamson argued that declining circulation could be remedied by improving the quality of the news product.3 Some newspapers have demonstrated that the quality of their newspapers has enhanced their business success. Examples include the Guardian in the United Kingdom4 and Times Mirror,5 in addition to The Washington Post's coverage of the Pentagon Papers and the Watergate affair.6 Recently, Lacey and Martin found that the Thompson papers lost revenue and circulation during the 1980s when high profit goals were set.7 These cases and anecdotes suggest that good quality produces profit.Others have explored more specific indicators of newspaper quality for predicting the relationship between quality and circulation. Becker et al. found that staff size, starting salary, number of women on staff and type of ownership were related to newspaper performance by studying 109 daily newspapers in New England in 1973.8 Also, Stone et al. studied 124 newspapers using an interval scale for newspaper quality. The interval scale was created by the categorical distinction between superior and inferior papers and the numerical rating established by judges' agreement. They found a positive correlation between newspaper quality and circulation.9 In addition, Lacy and Fico found that the quality of newspapers at time one (in 1984) was positively correlated to circulation at time two (in 1985) for 106 daily newspapers. They used a content-based quality measure. The quality index included high ratio of staff-written copy to wire service and feature service copy.10 Also, Blankenburg examined the 1986 Inland Daily Newspaper Association Cost and Revenue Study data. He found quantifiable quality-related variables-expenditures on news-editorial departments, staffing levels and number of news pages-in the data: He found that these variables were somewhat correlated with circulation in 149 newspapers.11In short, several studies have found a positive correlation between quality and circulation, and a few have related staff size to quality. But the studies are old, and their samples are small. …

Cost efficiency in ARL academic libraries

Examines 88 academic member libraries of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) to determine their relative cost efficiency, using stochastic frontier regression and data envelopment analysis (DEA) methods. Both methods give average ARL cost efficiencies of around 80 percent. This places academic ARL libraries in the same range of efficiency as other institutions, including for‐profit and non‐profit institutions. Many libraries are above 80 percent efficiency. For those below, some speculation is given for the lower efficiency. The lack of an output measure for the use of electronic sources may contribute to lower efficiency for a few libraries. Large staff size and a large number of serial subscriptions do predict lower efficiency, but this is not a necessary consequence. The DEA model allows us to determine increasing, constant, or declining returns to scale for research libraries. From this, it appears research libraries with expenditures between $10,000,000 and $20,000,000 are operating at the most efficient scale. Since the methods used are outside the repertoire of most LIS research, a conceptual explanation is provided.

An insight into the size efficiency of a UK bank branch network

Outlines previous research on the efficiency of financial institutions and builds on an earlier study of the relative efficiency of 190 UK bank branches by the authors to determine their size efficiency relationship and their determinants of relative inefficiency. Explains the data envelopment (DEA) method used, the data set and the input/output configuration; and summarizes the results of the previous study. Shows that size is related to efficiency and suggests that the pattern is an asymmetric U‐shaped average cost curve, with an optimum branch size of ine staff and a lending range of £3.0‐£5.25 million. Analyses the sources of scale and technical inefficiency in an individual branch and across the sample to show that diversification reduces efficiency while use of technology and management control improves it. Concludes that DEA can provide the means to raise efficiency, reduce cost income ratios and increase profitability.

A History Of Cincinnati Bible College Library

Very little has been written about Bible college libraries in the United States, even though they have been in existence since the early 1880s. This study presents the history of Cincinnati Bible College Library, tracing its development from its inception in 1928 over the years and showing how it has followed the mission statement of its parent institution. Factors examined include: (1) changes in the college mission and how these are reflected in changes in library services, collection development, policies, and its statement of goals; and (2) the college's accreditation process and resulting changes in goals, staff size, services, and structures. Historical data is gathered from interviews and the college and library archives collection, consisting of college catalogs, newsletters, reports from board meetings, and letters to the presidents. Changes have occurred over the years in the college and library location and structure, student population, library staff, and services, but not in the overriding goals and objectives as dictated by the college and by the Accrediting Association of Bible Colleges. Appendices contain a campus map, photos of the library and library staff, a chart of total volumes from 1975-1986, and a floor plan of the library. (Contains 25 references.) (Author/SWC) *************************-..A...A**************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * from the original document. * *********************************************************************** U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. M Points of view or opinions stated in this CT document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. C THE HISTORY OF CINCINNATI BIBLE COLLEGE LIBRARY A Master's Research Paper submitted to the Kent State University School of Library and Information Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Library Science

Beacon Art Center and Institute

The Beacon Art Center and Institute, located in an area of Florida experiencing rapid population growth, has enjoyed increases in membership,revenue and services. The Board of the Corporation and the Director must develop a long range strategic plan for the future of the organization. Ability to function is currently restricted by limited space, limited size of staff, and limited endowment. The center also faces potentially troublesome governance issues. The long run future of the art center must be addressed by the Board and the Director of the organization.

Improving The Emergency Service Delivery In St. Albert

This paper summarizes two studies conducted to improve the emergency service delivery in St. Albert, a small city near Edmonton, Alberta. The first study dealt with selecting the location of a new fire station. The goals of the study included an assessment of the performance of the current system, an identification of the area(s) with poor coverage, a selection of a site among a set of given candidate locations, and an assessment of the improvement in the system performance upon the addition of the new fire station. A geographical information system was used for storing and displaying the spatial data, computing service areas for given travel times, and for communicating the results of the study. The second study considered an evaluation of the resources available for emergency service. A probabilistic model was used to evaluate labor costs for different platoon sizes and a simulation model was used to evaluate the adequacy of the current staff and fleet sizes. Results were presented to EMS officers, city staff, as well as the City Council.

Teachers’ Ratings of Effective Principal Leadership: A Comparison of Magnet and Nonmagnet Elementary Schools

This study explores teachers’ ratings of principal leadership in magnet and nonmagnet elementary schools. The article provides potential explanations for nonmagnet teachers’ ratings of their principals as more effective leaders than their magnet school counterparts. First, more permeable boundaries characteristic of magnet schools may compel magnet principals to allocate additional time to external management. Second, the enrollments and staff sizes in magnet schools are larger; therefore, magnet principals have less time for each individual. Third, nonmagnet schools serve more low SES children and have fewer resources to do so. Confronting these challenges may help explain why nonmagnet teachers rate their principals as more effective. Finally, magnet teachers report greater autonomy and expertise, which may make principal leadership in specific domains extraneous.

University and Urban School Partnerships

Interviews were conducted with program coordinators of 57 university-school district collaborative programs. Results were analyzed to better understand types of collaboration, school populations served, university divisions involved, longevity of collaborations, size of program staff and volunteers, numbers of students served, perceived goal accomplishment, quality of collaboration, institutional commitment, and help needed. Collaborations were found to be typically long standing, varied in type, serving large numbers of city school students, satisfying to university partners, and perceived as generally achieving their goals. Programs with high collaboration were judged to be more successful. Recommendations for improving university-school collaboration and for further research are described.

ON SABBATICAL: A REFRESHING PAUSE

WHAT COULD BE MORE Refreshing for a star employee than a lengthy break from business as usual? Throw in the chance to broaden skills and extend contacts, and the interlude can benefit the employee's company as well. Professors have taken advantage of these breaks for years, but there's no reason the privilege of a sabbatical should be reserved solely for academics. In fact, some chemical companies that want to reward and motivate researchers or pick up new knowledge without increasing staff size are experimenting with sabbaticals. DuPont and FMC are among the firms whose employees discussed the costs, benefits, and logistics of industrial sabbaticals during a presidential event symposium on this topic at the recent American Chemical Society national meeting in San Diego. Between 1990 and 1999, DuPont's crop protection unit sent one to three employees off on sabbatical each year.The employees could opt to perform research with an outside collaborator; ...