Assessing the Enablers and Barriers to Quality and Supply Chain Management Based Approach to Sustainable Operations in the Manufacturing Context

Sustainability is becoming the prominent concept of focus for manufacturing research and practice. Various research streams are endeavouring to facilitate its integration and implementation to manufacturing organisations including approaches that use quality management and supply chain management. Sustainability integration is a complex matter for the manufacturing industry, identification of associated enablers and barriers proving fruitful to catalyse the transition of manufacturing organisations into sustainable operations and management practices. This research investigated the enablers and barriers to quality and supply chain management based integration of sustainability in manufacturing organisations through a focussed action research study. The key factors were noted as; integration to existing management systems and processes, familiarity and awareness level of sustainability concepts and terminology, absence of a minimum starter package for Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) sustainability reporting standards, resource constraints, leverage over supply base, culture and human resource limitations, willingness to learn, commitment, support and engagement of leadership, management system maturity, change facilitation and championing, governmental subsidisation and support, and sustainability awareness of public and market.

Co-design and feasibility of a pharmacist-led minor ailment service

Background Community pharmacies provide an appropriate setting to deliver minor ailment services (MASs). Many community pharmacy services have been developed previously without stakeholder involvement. As a result, implementation of services may fail to produce the expected impact. The aim of this research was to co-design and test the feasibility of an Australian MAS for minor ailment presentations. Methods This study used co-design methodology which included two phases: (1) a focus group with stakeholders to allow the conceptualization of the service and agreement on service elements; (2) a literature review of clinical guidelines and three working meetings with a team of editors and general practitioners for the development of treatment pathways. Following this, a study evaluating the feasibility of the co-designed service was undertaken. The qualitative part of the methodology associated with the feasibility study comprised semi-structured interviews with MAS pharmacists, observation and completion of a tool by change facilitators identifying barriers and facilitators to service delivery. Qualitative data obtained for all phases were analysed using thematic analysis. Results The developed service included the following components: (i) an in-pharmacy consultation between the patient and pharmacist, (ii) treatment pathways accessible to pharmacists on the internet to guide consultations, (iii) existing digital communication systems used by general practice to exchange patient information, (iv) training, and (v) change facilitation. As a result of feasibility testing, twenty-six implementation factors were identified for practice change, with the main change being the simplification of the pharmacist-patient consultation and data collection processes. Conclusions An Australian MAS was generated as a result of co-design, while testing revealed that the co-designed service was feasible. As a result of integrating the views of multiple stakeholders, the designed MAS has been adapted to suit healthcare practices, which may increase the acceptance and impact of MAS when implemented into practice.

Change facilitation: what styles do Pakistani secondary school head teachers possess?

PurposeThis study aimed at exploring the change facilitator styles (CFS) that secondary school head teachers in Pakistan possess.Design/methodology/approachThis is a quantitative study using Hall and George CFS questionnaire to collect data from 276 secondary school head teachers. The CFSQ used in this study consists of 30 Likert-type questions relating to six scales. The six scales, with five items each in aggregate, form three possible CFS, including initiator, manager and responder.FindingsThe results indicate that most secondary school head teachers (75.7%) in Pakistan used responder CFS to facilitate change in their schools. 16.7% of the head teachers used manger, while only 7.6% possessed initiator change facilitation styles.Research limitations/implicationsThe study has implications for research, in particular in the developing countries where head teachers' leadership practices are rooted in the past with maintaining authority and status quo.Practical implicationsThe study has implications for policymakers and schools in developing countries, like Pakistan, in terms of considering the vital role of head teachers in change implementation. In particular, in the prevailing cluster-based educational management, the study's findings remain valuable for schools in the Balochistan province of Pakistan.Originality/valueThe paper reports the results regarding secondary school head teachers' change facilitator styles in the context of power devolution in Pakistan. The authors believe that the manuscript is appropriate for publication by the international journal of educational management because it is in line with the aims and scope of the journal. The authors assure the originality of this work. It has not been published elsewhere, nor is it currently under consideration for publication in any other journal.

Changing Behavior

The second chapter outlines what the author calls the “behavior change challenge,” given the perspective adopted, namely, that behavior change is about setting up conditions within which an individuals will naturally learn to perform the desired behavior as a consequence of the modified situation facing them. From this perspective, the challenge is to create new kinds of stimuli (e.g., by modifying the environment) that grab attention, so that they will be properly processed by the brain and, ideally, cause the target behavior (and the outcomes associated with performing that behavior) to be revalued and, thus, become more likley to be performed. However, performance itself can be promoted or facilitated in various ways associated with the situation in which the behavior typically occurs (which the author calls its “behavior setting,” following earlier work in ecological psychology). This constitutes the third type of change facilitation discussed.

Head teachers’ change facilitation styles and teachers’ concerns about ICT integration

The study aimed to identify the influence of head teachers’ change facilitator styles (CFS) on teachers’ concerns about ICT integration. The three CFS (responder, manager and initiator) were studied in relation to its influence on teachers’ seven stages of concern (unconcerned, informational, personal, management, consequence, collaboration and refocusing) about ICT integration. Both styles and concerns are embodied in the concerns-based adoption model, which guided the theoretical framework of the study. This quantitative study used CFS and stages of concerns questionnaire to collect data from 276 secondary school teachers. Initially, teachers’ concerns were explored, followed by head teachers’ CFS and their influence on teachers’ concerns about ICT integration. The results showed that secondary school teachers’ concerns, regarding ICT integration, were at the initial stages as reflected by their high mean scores on personal and informational stages. Findings inform about the responder as a dominant CFS used by secondary school head teachers. The data suggest differences in terms of the influence of head teachers’ three CFS on teachers’ concerns about ICT integration.

Persuasive speech in multi-professional change facilitation meetings

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe persuasive speech and discourses in multi-professional organizational change facilitation meetings at a hospital through rhetorical discourse analysis. Previous research has often considered organizational change to be a managerial issue, with other employees given the rather passive role of implementators. This study takes an alternative approach in assuming that organizational change could benefit by involving those who are most familiar with the tasks to be changed. Design/methodology/approach The study employed a qualitative, case study approach and focused on the construction of a hospitalist model within multi-professional change facilitation meetings. Eight videos of these multi-professional change facilitation meetings – which occurred between January and September 2017 – were observed and the material was analyzed by rhetorical discourse analysis. An average of 10–20 actors from different professional groups participated in the meetings. The change actors comprised physicians, nursing staff and nursing managers, along with a secretary and hospitalist. The meetings were conducted by a change facilitator. Findings The persuasive speech in the analyzed organizational change meetings occurred within five distinct discourses: constructing the change together, positive feedback, strategic change in speech, patient perspective and driving change. The content of these discourses revealed topics that are relevant to persuading members of healthcare organizations to adopt a planned change. Originality/value The presented research provides new knowledge about how persuasive speech is used in organizational change and describes the discourses in which persuasive speech is used in a healthcare context.

Action research for multi-level facilitation of improvement in health and social care: Development of a change facilitation approach for a local R&D unit

This paper reports an action research program designed to develop new approaches for a locally based Swedish R&D unit’s task to facilitate improvement in partner organizations, and to provide guidance on how to manage challenges in action research programs focusing on development in health and social care. Data were gathered from interviews with R&D members’, managers representing the two embedded pilot cases, as well as from the lead action researchers. Key findings were the need to continually monitor and revise the action research plan and that each step should be given specific weights based on the conditions at hand. As the action program evolved the participants were given autonomy to take action in the partner organizations and the role of the action researchers became advisory and consultative. These findings accentuate the emergent nature of action research and the need for flexible and dynamic intervention planning, especially when multiple level actors and several organizations are involved. Based on these findings we discuss some implications for the action researcher’s role and how similar programs can be designed to manage change in complex health and social care systems reaching various stakeholders at many levels.