Tough Calls Research Articles

Technology acceptance and COVID-19: a perspective for emerging opportunities from crisis

ABSTRACT Ingredients for leadership development include strategic intent, sensibility, knowledge, analytic acuity, and the confidence to make tough calls. Emergencies highlight the importance of technical progress and the opportunity to enhance design and productivity. Significant technological and organisational barriers hinder acceptance of these technologies; hence it is necessary to employ strategy. Research should be at the system’s heart through planned and unplanned transitions. The vision of building and maintaining business resilience and organising swift changes includes using perceptual methods. With this view, leaders can make deliberate decisions. It also tends to disrupt traditional approaches to dexterity. At the same time, strategic flexibility necessitates an evident connection between the business and the institution’s mission. A leader’s positive strategic intent is core that better enables investment in crisis response competencies. It includes timely use of knowledge management, organisational learning frameworks, business strategy, and system agility. Many nations in the developing world have simultaneously experienced the rise of digitisation and the spread of the covid-19 epidemic. Thus, academics should focus on the difficulties and prospects associated with people, groups, and management.

Issues in Australian Foreign Policy January to June 2022

Issues in Australian Foreign Policy January to June 2022

Tough Calls.

Tough Calls.

What drives a tough call: Determining the importance of contingency factors and individual characteristics in communication executives’ stance decision-making through a conjoint analysis

To further the understanding of how communication executives make tough calls in times of organizational-public conflict, we use a conjoint analysis to identify key drivers for organizational stance decision-making. This is the first-ever conjoint analysis applied to advancing the contingency theory of strategic conflict management by examining the relative importance of key contingency factors as determined by practitioners with varied individual characteristics. This study investigates: 1) the relevant importance of and dynamics between three key contingency factors (i.e., external threats, organizational characteristics, and dominant coalition characteristics); 2) the influence of individual characteristics (e.g., gender, experience, and personal ethics) in stance decision-making process; and 3) how different types of organizational stances (i.e., general stance, action-based accommodation, and qualified-rhetoric-mixed accommodation) are determined by these contingency factors and individual characteristics in different conflict situations. Results generated among our communication executive participants include: individual characteristics (i.e., gender, ethics and social responsibility, whistleblowing tendencies, and over 20 years in the communications field) are influential for their strategic conflict management decision-making. Implications for refining the contingency theory and unearthing complex public relations decision-making processes via novel statistical techniques are discussed.

Role of Communication in Ethical HR Practice

At present, we see HR Professionals are tasked with various ethical as well as professional challenges such as inequality in workplace, sexual harassments, setting standards for workplace conducts amongst few. When certain types of scandals threaten the status quo of a company, it becomes the prerogative of the HR to take tough decisions and handle the matter swiftly so that the daily work culture is not affected. Thus, an HR professional can be termed as the “moral police” of a company. But this task is no easy feat. It befalls on a them to master the art of ethical decision making and become a valuable resource by communicating them not only to the employees but for the sake of company as well. In this study, I aim to point out the major problems that an HR face while taking tough calls on moral decisions and how he/she can overcome their dilemma and overcome the communication barrier that is common in most organizational sectors. My study will mainly focus on the four Ws : What kind of situation may arise that can threaten the moral grounds of decision making, Why such threatening situations may arise , What can be ethically done to overcome such situation and Ways to communicate them to the employees of the organization.

The Board's Role in CEO Selection

Dr. Linda Henman is the author of six books, including Tough Calls: How to Move Beyond Indecision and Good Intentions. She has more than 35 years of experience working with executives and boards in Fortune 500 companies and small businesses to help them exceed their strategic objectives by maximizing talent. In this article, Dr. Henman explores the various factors boards should take into account when selecting a new chief executive officer for their organization, and offers a step‐by‐step process for doing so.

Opportunity and Risk Often Arrive at the Party Simultaneously

Dr. Linda Henman is the author of six books, including Tough Calls: How to Move Beyond Indecision and Good Intentions. She has more than 35 years of experience working with executives and boards in Fortune 500 companies and small businesses to help them exceed their strategic objectives by maximizing talent. In this article, Dr. Henman looks at what boards can do to better prepare their organizations for future changes that will impact them and their industries—even those completely unexpected.

Why Directors Should Embrace a Merger Mindset

Dr. Linda Henman is the author of six books, including Tough Calls: How to Move Beyond Indecision and Good Intentions. She has more than 35 years of experience working with executives and boards in Fortune 500 companies and small businesses to help them exceed their strategic objectives by maximizing talent. In this article, Dr. Henman explores the key psychological forces that come into play when board members seek to shepherd their organizations through mergers and acquisitions.

Mental health crisis among emergency care clinicians

Mental health crisis among emergency care clinicians

Create a Stellar Board

Dr. Linda Henman is the author of six books, including Tough Calls: How to Move Beyond Indecision and Good Intentions. She has more than 35 years of experience working with executives and boards in Fortune 500 companies and small businesses to help them exceed their strategic objectives by maximizing talent. In this article, she walks readers through the five critical components of a successful, high‐performing board of directors.

Making a Tough Call: Medical Neglect in Terminally Ill Children

Making a Tough Call: Medical Neglect in Terminally Ill Children

2017: time for a reality check

AbstractA number of events toward the end of 2017 saw industry players and decision makers reiterate their commitment of CCS, but the final quarter also made it clear that governments are still having to make tough calls when it comes to investing money in carbon capture technology. GHGS&T's Muriel Cozier reviews the developments of 2017. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Reflections on 25 years at the Journal

My tenure at Emergency Medicine Australasia over 25 years has encompassed a number of editorial roles, beginning as the founding Editor in 1989 when the journal Emergency Doctor was a mere newsletter, before becoming Emergency Medicine, which was produced at Fremantle Hospital. I was then Scientific Editor when I stood down as Editor and Gerry FitzGerald was appointed Editor-in-Chief under a new organisational structure in 1994, by which time the journal Emergency Medicine was produced at the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine in Melbourne. This was followed by a return to the Editor-in-Chief position at the end of 1999 when the journal Emergency Medicine was now produced by Blackwell. Finally, my role became that of Emeritus Editor when Tony Brown’s tenure as Editor-in-Chief began at the end of 2003 and the Journal finally acquired its current title of Emergency Medicine Australasia. My goals and aspirations for the Journal over that time have understandably reflected where the Journal was in its development during each of those periods, and my role. In the beginning, I was more than happy with a regular newsletter that could enhance clinical communication between geographically dispersed emergency physicians and other clinicians involved in emergency medicine, who were members of the Australasian Society for Emergency Medicine. Fairly quickly though, it became clear that this vehicle could well mature into a bona fide medical journal. My greatest pleasures during this first 5 years of the Journal’s development reflected the same pioneering spirit we all had in developing the nascent specialty. It was exciting, the wealth of possibilities far outweighed any perceived risks, and there was a great sense of camaraderie among those Fellows and supporting staff who were volunteering their time and skills in this great adventure. AnneMaree Kelly, Bryan Walpole, John Vinen and Gordian Fulde were all keen and helpful, and the Annual Conference chat with Paul Gaudry and Ken Abraham kept things in perspective. By the end of that first 5 years, it was clear that Emergency Medicine was here to stay as a journal, albeit with many hurdles still to navigate; we had published 242 articles in that time, 17% original research, 17% case reports and 14% review articles. Gerry FitzGerald convinced me to stay on as Scientific Editor of the Journal when he was appointed Editor-in-Chief in 1994, and over the next 5 years, my goals were able to be much more focused on getting the journal processes right, without the distraction of having to produce the actual copy. As part of that, the Journal sponsors funded my attendance at the World Association of Medical Editors Conference in Prague in 1997. Here I met luminaries of journalology such as Drummond Rennie and Richard Smith, and discovered the evidence base (or lack thereof) around biomedical publishing itself. My interest was particularly sparked by presentations on peer review, conflict of interest, scientific misconduct and the ethics of biomedical publishing; I was amazed and alarmed to find out about the whole issue of guest and ghost authorship, listening to presentations by people who had written papers in major journals but who did not appear in the list of authors or even receive any acknowledgement. It was here that I began to be concerned about the influence of the pharmaceutical industry on medical publishing, and more importantly, on research and clinical practice in medicine. My views on the potential harms caused by secrecy in science became clearer after that conference, and after discussion with the Editorial Board, Emergency Medicine opened its process of peer review so that authors and reviewers knew each other’s identities. We continue with open peer review at Emergency Medicine Australasia to this day, and I believe it is one of the most important improvements we have introduced at the

Review: In the National Interest

IN THE NATIONAL INTEREST Canadian Foreign Policy and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, 1909-2009 Greg Donaghy and Michael K. Carroll, eds. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2011. 264PP, $34.95 (paper)Books on Canadian foreign relations history cari t avoid the touchstone figure of Lester B. Pearson. But where many books assail or endorse Pearsonian idealism, In the National Interest makes no bones about it: Pearson was a realist. The point comes through, for instance, in Heather Metcalfe's fascinating essay on Canadian national identity and the Department of External Affairs (now Foreign Affairs and International Trade, or DFAIT). I carfthelp feeling, she quotes Pearson as writing during the fervent welcome given to King George VI as he toured Canada in 1939, all the outburst of Royal and Imperial sentiment which the tour has evoked ... will make it even more difficult for this country to understand the unsentimentally nationalist basis of Canada's external (63-4). Pearson's was hardheaded realism couched in the Canadian national interest. With a few changes, the lament over the pernicious effect of sentimental public opinion on foreign policymaking could have come from George Kennaris classic American Diplomacy or the more recent works of Henry Kissinger. If only public opinion would keep silent and leave foreign policy to the experts, Pearson implied, the tough calls about putting Canada's interests first could be made more easily.This conception of the national interest stands squarely at the centre of this twelve-essay collection. Unlike many edited collections, this one has coherence and a clear argument: Canadian foreign policy has by and large aimed at promoting what were seen as Canada's national interests by political leaders and department officials. There was no golden age of idealistic mediation in Canadian foreign policy, indeed, the golden age giants were cautious pragmatists working to advance Canada's interests incrementally, judicially, and - by and large - effectively.The volume stems from a conference linked to the 100th anniversary of DFAIT It is part of a welcome development in the writing of Canadian international history, spearheaded by DFAIT historian Greg Donaghy, in which historians and political scientists come together to offer chapters in solidly-edited collections. In the National Interest showcases established and new voices in the field, symbolized by the editorial partnership of Donaghy and Michael Carroll. Although space does not permit a discussion of each essay, all are provocative and well worth a read.Several themes run through the book. DFAIT as carrier of the national interest is one. Norman Hillmer examines the Department of External Affairs' first mandarin, O.D. Skelton, and Galen Perras discusses Skeltoris unsentimental anti-imperialism and the role of the department in moving Canada into the embrace of a continental destiny. Heather Metcalfe demonstrates the limits of efforts by foreign policy intellectuals, some of them linked to the department, to mould public opinion. Whitney Lackenbauer and Peter Kikkert note that the department' s prudent and practical on Arctic sovereignty avoided a confrontation with the United States and argue that this course won long-term benefits in defending Canadian sovereignty. Adam Chapnick shows Canadian diplomats working effectively but quietly to advance Canadian interests in the United Nations - itself an organization whose strength was seen as important to the Canadian interest for many years. Tammy Nemeth points out the importance of diplomats in preparing American counterparts for Canadian policies they would not like. Even when relations were chilly, as under the Chretien government, diplomats kept working relations ticking along, as Stephen Randall describes. Officials might have been most effective on soft topics, as outlined by Elizabeth Riddell-Dixon in her essay on the Beijing conference on women. …

Who Makes a Tough Call? An Emotion Regulation Approach to Moral Decision Making

In this paper, we contribute to the theory of conflict monitoring by showing that emotion regulation plays a key role in making utilitarian decisions by inhibiting the influence of negative emotions that are associated with the prospect of harm. In particular, we provide much needed data of concurrent monitoring of psycho-physiological indices of emotion while participants make decisions in the moral dilemma situations. In Study 1, we found that individuals who engage in suppression more frequently were more likely to make utilitarian choices in the moral dilemma situation, while those who engage in reappraisal more frequently were less likely to make utilitarian choice. In Study 2, not only did participants make more utilitarian decisions when they were told to suppress emotional reactions they experienced, but also their utilitarian preferences carried over to increase perceptions of moral clarity concerning unrelated moral decisions. More specifically, this relationship between suppression and utilitar...

A Culture of Hiring for Excellence

A Culture of Hiring for Excellence

When the going gets tough… Public service leadership in times of significant change and uncertainty

This article describes how effective public service leaders are choosing to lead in exceptionally challenging circumstances. It outlines the current crucible of demand for excellent services and significant cost reduction and radical organisational change. At its core, it shows how some public service leaders are making great progress by making five key choices ‐ demonstrating bold, engaging and collaborative leadership; majoring on the transformational not transactional elements of change; not letting the inevitable uncertainties get in the way of intense engagement of their people; making tough calls on priorities; and steering their leadership teams and broader leadership communities towards genuine collaboration and connectedness.The article also identifies six leadership frames that public service leaders are drawing on: confidence; safe uncertainty(Mason, 1983); employee engagement; trustworthy leadership; collective, mutually supportive leadership; and appreciative, transformational choices.

Tough Call: Challenges to Assessing Cancer Effects of Mobile Phone Use

Vol. 117, No. 3 EnvironewsOpen AccessTough Call: Challenges to Assessing Cancer Effects of Mobile Phone Use M. Nathaniel Mead M. Nathaniel Mead Search for more papers by this author Published:1 March 2009https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.117-a116aAboutSectionsPDF ToolsDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InReddit Mobile phone use worldwide has exploded in the past decade, with many countries fast approaching a usage prevalence of 100%. Even as mobile phone use grows exponentially, questions remain regarding the health impact of frequent exposure to the electromagnetic fields (EMFs) associated with mobile phone use. A review of 33 peer-reviewed epidemiologic studies suggests that a number of study design issues may result in an underestimate of the relative risk of brain tumors among mobile phone users [EHP 117:316–324; Kundi].Recall bias is a widely cited concern that could lead to biased risk estimates in case–control studies of ipsilateral exposure (i.e., tumors occurred on the same side of the head where the phone was usually held); the review author notes that cancer patients may tend to either attribute their disease to their mobile phone use or to dismiss a relationship between the two. But ipsilateral risks also carry greater biologic plausibility, since one 2008 study showed that nearly 99% of the total electromagnetic energy deposited in the brain is absorbed at the side of the head where the phone is held during calls. According to the author’s analysis, more than half of mobile phone users among cases and none among controls would have to incorrectly identify which ear they usually hold their phone to in order to nullify the observed increased risk.Another source of potential bias concerns the comparison groups used. In the widely cited Interphone study, a case–control study spanning 13 countries, the unexposed group included people who used cordless phones. However, according to the author, cordless and mobile phones users receive about the same EMF exposure, and cordless phones are generally used for longer periods of time than mobile phones. This may help explain why Interphone has consistently reported either no effect or even a protective effect of mobile phone use.Finally, methods of data acquisition, which have differed substantially between Interphone and other studies, may also introduce bias. Memory performance may be altered in patients with aggressive gliomas, malignant brain tumors that have been associated with mobile phone use in some studies. The author also suggests that exposure assessment may be biased if conducted by phone interviews (as in the Interphone study) compared with the mailed questionnaire method.According to the review author, results of the research to date suggest an association between mobile phone use and glioma risk that falls in the range of magnitude delineated for passive smoking and lung cancer. Confidence in a causal relationship is bolstered by two key findings: longer latencies are associated with higher risk estimates, and living in a rural area—where mobile phones typically radiate at higher intensities—also is associated with elevated risk. Even a modest cancer risk could have major public health implications because of the vast number of mobile phone users. On the other hand, as this review points out, the individual risk perspective is less dramatic: in industrialized countries, the prevailing life-time brain tumor risk is 4–8 per 1,000, and thus individual risk is still low if mobile phone use increases the risk even 50% to 6–12 per 1,000.A review of mobile phone use and cancer reveals areas where study design can be strengthened.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Vol. 117, No. 3 March 2009Metrics About Article Metrics Publication History Originally published1 March 2009Published in print1 March 2009 Financial disclosuresPDF download License information EHP is an open-access journal published with support from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health. All content is public domain unless otherwise noted. Note to readers with disabilities EHP strives to ensure that all journal content is accessible to all readers. However, some figures and Supplemental Material published in EHP articles may not conform to 508 standards due to the complexity of the information being presented. If you need assistance accessing journal content, please contact [email protected]. Our staff will work with you to assess and meet your accessibility needs within 3 working days.

Kids and Crime: A Comparative Study of Youth Coverage in Japan and the United States

This pilot study examines how a number of American and Japanese journalists make the tough calls regarding an escalating social problem: whether to identify juveniles who have been charged with serious capital crimes. Divergent societal and journalistic values of the two countries are explored via a survey of journalists from Honolulu and Hiroshima. Newsroom policies and practices are described regarding general and specific cases of juvenile crime. In general, Japanese journalists are far more likely than U.S. journalists to withhold names. Tables and additional background information are found at jmme.org.

Kim Richards, RN

Kim Richards, RN