Background As the under-representation of women in management positions continues to persist globally, little is known about the experiences of women in the healthcare sector in the context of the developing Middle Eastern nations. In an attempt to address this knowledge gap, the current study explores some of the barriers that hinder and the enablers that foster women’s career advancement in t...

Errors are frequent in health care. A specific model was tested that affirms failure in cognitive action regulation to mediate the influence of nurses' workflow interruptions and safety conscientiousness on near-accidents in health care. One hundred and sixty-five nurses from seven Swiss hospitals participated in a questionnaire survey. Structural equation modelling confirmed the hypothesised m...

In this paper we wish to examine the phenomenon of Y2K as an instance of information systems failure. Taking this particular stance on the issue leads we feel to a number of interesting areas that demand further investigation. We first review the current phenomenon of Y2K and discuss some of the relevant work in the area of IS failure. The topic of IS failure has tended to concentrate on issues...

I n the UK about 5000 people die each year from hospital acquired infections. That equates to 65 000 people since this journal was launched in 1992. This is an intolerable toll, which at least in part is linked to failure of healthcare professionals to clean their hands. Evidence that hand hygiene is effective in reducing infection is compelling and is available in the medical literature. So, w...

The analysis of this chapter starts from organisational theory, and from this it draws conclusions for the design, and possible organisational applications, of Distributed AI systems. We first review how the concept of organisations has emerged from non-organised "blackbox" entities to so-called "computerised" organisations. Within this context, organisational researchers have started to redesi...

This paper reports an action research study in which we explore the problems of organisational change within a large non-profit organisation – a so-called “third sector” – organisation. We focus on the mutual interaction of an organisational change initiative and the motivation of the workforce. We review the nature of the social service delivery sector, of which the focal organisation is a par...

Research that examines entrant-incumbent dynamics often points to the organisational limitations that constrain incumbents from successfully pursuing new technologies or fending off new entrants. Some incumbents are nevertheless able to successfully implement organisational structures and develop routines that overcome these institutional constraints. We provide a case-study analysis of how thr...

This paper explores the relationship between organisational knowledge, organisational culture, and Process Based Systems (PBS), in the U.K. National Health Service (NHS). Links between PBS and organisational culture have been observed before(Perry, 2003); the contribution made by PBS to organisational knowledge has also been suggested (Perry, 2004). However, links between organisational knowled...