Information-sharing in health and social care: Lessons from a socio-technical initiative

Advances in information technology have led to new and innovative approaches in data-sharing, analysis, interpretation, and the potential for real-time responses to changes in health and social care status. However, health and social care information is not only complex but often socially and personally sensitive in ways that do not apply in other domains. This requires adoption of a tailored interdisciplinary (social, ethical, legal, technical and data science) and intersectoral (health and social care, academic and commercial institutions and citizens) approach to technology development. The authors present some important lessons to date from ongoing development of an innovative infrastructure for sharing health and social care data.     

Preparing the professoriate to prepare globally competent leaders

Rapidly increasing globalization, the expanding use of technology, and intercultural competency have been discussed in the leadership literature for more than three decades. Simultaneously, the urgency to academically prepare globally competent organizational leaders has acclerated exponentially. Recommendations for global leadership competencies have been developed and undoubtedly have provided useful guidance in academic program and curricula development. In contrast, the preparedness of the leadership professoriate to prepare globally competent leaders has received little attention through research or discourse. The ongoing professional development of the leadership professoriate in terms of a global mindset and intercultural competencies are questioned and discussed. Recommendations are made for institutional and programmatic initiatives to increase the global learning and capital of faculty. Questions and recommendations are offered for personal and collective reflection and critical discourse on the need to expand and develop the international currency of faculty so that we can ensure the professoriate is prepared to educate students to be global leaders.     

Innovation Policy in Search of an Economic Foundation: The Case of Research Partnerships in the United States

US- owned firms account for more than 60% of worldwide computer software sales, and US capability in software tachnology is widely viewed as well ahead of that in other countries. However, the US lead cannot be expected to last. Nor are policies yet in place intended to protect exisitng advantages. Japanese firms have demonstrated their capabilities in hardware. Japanese firms have demonstrated their capabilities in hardware. Japanses exxecutives know they must develop better software in order (1) to use their own computer systems to best advantge, and (2) to sell more hardware in export markets. The next several devades will see a gradual slippage in the US position, particularly as foreign software suppliers move away from custom programming an realted services, their present focuse. A narrowing gap between US and foreign industries could prefigure a competitive challenge in software, development not unlike earlier challenges in microelectronics. Better software,. in addition, will have impacts elsewhere.In Japan's case, for example, improvements in softwarte should lead to productivity enhancements throughout the economy, improving Japan's ability to tmpete internationally.     

Shifting risk to the frontline: case studies in different contract working environments

An extensive body of safety literature and research discusses the integral role of rules and procedures in managing workplace hazards, ensuring worker safety, and safeguarding the environment. Nevertheless, organizational accidents and workplace injuries continue to occur, and individual employees often bear the brunt of responsibility. This paper examines how risk becomes shifted to individuals at the bottom of supply chains, focusing on two different groups of contract workers. Specifically, it draws on case studies conducted in Australia – one on civil contractors working around hazardous infrastructure and one on athletes who are subject to anti-doping requirements. A comparison of the two cases and their distinctive elements illuminates the ways in which structural pressures, organizational dynamics, and context-specific conditions influence the risks shouldered by individuals. Our analysis shows that, in both cases, adverse outcomes are widely seen as the responsibility of contract workers, prompting other actors to judge them as blameworthy. In doing so, risk in various forms (e.g. safety, financial, reputational) becomes shifted onto workers who are constrained by contracts and away from away from higher level actors and organizations that are generally in more powerful positions than frontline workers. This finding suggests that the burden of accountability and potentially liability is borne primarily by frontline workers. Because of this focus, it is easy to lose sight of organizational and structural conditions that contribute to the risks revealed at the individual level. Through an analysis of 57 interviews across both sectors, complemented by participant observations and a media review, this paper underscores the importance of critically considering not only individual worker actions, but also how regulation can support the diversion of risk, responsibility, and liability onto frontline workers.     

Fear and Loathing (of others): Race,Class and Contestation of Space in Washington,DC

Our article explores the cultural politics of public space and the placemaking politics of urban redevelopment in the Atlas District of Washington, DC, a popular commercial district undergoing rapid gentrification. The major questions we address are, how do race and class impact the ways public space is controlled and/or managed in the context of rapid changes in the built, economic and social environments of the neighborhood? What role do those narratives play in justifying changes in and management of public space? We focus on uses of public space and describe how various forms of power are linked to the control of space in the context of gentrification. Our analysis focuses on designated public space in the Atlas District—the Starburst Plaza. By analyzing everyday practices around community control at the Starburst Plaza, this case study focuses on the discrete methods by which the symbolic and material inequities promulgated by the neoliberal state are reconfigured through struggles to define and manage contested public spaces.     

How Does Intrinsic Motivation Improve Auditor Judgment in Complex Audit Tasks?

Intrinsic motivation is generally thought to be positively associated with performance on a variety of tasks. However, there is only sparse experimental evidence supporting this idea and we know little about the specific mechanisms behind any effect. We develop theory about how auditors’ intrinsic motivation for their jobs can improve their judgments about complex accounting estimates. We experimentally test whether a prompt to make auditors’ intrinsic motivation for their jobs salient improves the specific information processing behaviors necessary for high‐quality judgments in complex audit tasks. It does: Prompted auditors attend to a broader set of information, process information more deeply, and request more relevant additional evidence. Supplemental analyses show that these processing behaviors mediate between salient intrinsic motivation and an improved ability to identify a biased complex estimate. Our theory and analyses indicate that auditors’ intrinsic motivation for their work provides unique value for improving judgment quality, particularly in the context of performing complex audit tasks. Our study supports the view that high‐quality cognitive processing can improve auditors’ professional skepticism by providing a foundation for skeptical judgments.     

Do Sectoral Employment Programs Work? New Evidence from New York City's Sector‐Focused Career Centers

While sectoral employment is growing as an approach to providing job opportunities to disadvantaged jobseekers, there is little evidence on the effectiveness of these programs. This study estimates impacts on employment and earnings of three large sectoral employment programs in New York City using a quasi‐experimental design and administrative data on earnings. Participants realized increased employment levels and earnings gains. In addition, participants who received industry‐specific training had greater earnings gains than those who did not.     

Machismo in Organizations: Individual Predictors & Context-Dependent Outcomes

Two studies were conducted to examine possible predictors of machismo value endorsement and to test the possibility that machismo’s effects on job-related outcomes may be stronger in “family-oriented” than in “team-oriented” organizations. A total of 178 students were recruited from upper-level management and MBA classes at a large university in the Southwestern U.S. In Study 1, participant gender, familism values, and femininity predicted machismo values. Unexpectedly, ethnicity did not predict machismo values. Study 2 replicated results for predictors of machismo values, except that femininity did not emerge as a significant predictor. Additionally, Study 2 results indicated that machismo’s effects were dependent on the extent to which the company was viewed as family-oriented. Results suggest that machismo values: (a) may be relevant for both Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites, (b) are related, yet somewhat distinct from theoretically related variables like gender role endorsement and familism, and (c) are especially likely to affect expectations and behaviors when the organization’s culture includes elements (e.g., family orientation) that evoke a connection to those values. One of the most prominent recent demographic trends to emerge in the U.S. workforce is the rapid increase in workers of Hispanic descent. Organizations should expect an accompanying wave of employee values, attitudes, beliefs, and behavioral expectations influenced by aspects of Hispanic culture. Further, it would be of considerable applied value to identify ways to strategically harness positive effects of machismo values while mitigating potentially negative effects.