For years heath care workers have been dealing with environmental changes which have created turbulent, complex work environments. Turbulence has been considered a negative phenomenon. However Workforce Agility may be a positive response to Environmental Turbulence. Other disciplines are familiar with the term Turbulence and Workforce Agility but there is little research available on this concept despite the impact that they may have on patient outcomes.The purpose of this research was to identify the relationship between Environmental Turbulence, Workforce Agility and Patient Outcomes through the examination of four alternative theoretical models.This research was conducted using secondary analysis of the IMPACT data set (Verran, Effken & Lamb, 2001-2004). The data were reanalyzed in order to answer different questions than the primary study. Causal modeling with path analysis and regression analysis was conducted to answer the research questions. Three questions included the use of either a moderator variable or mediator variable.The setting for the IMPACT Study was acute care hospitals in the Southwestern region of the United States. For the IMPACT study, the sample consisted of patient care units from teaching and non-teaching hospitals. Subjects consisted of staff members who were employed on the patient care units.Data collected from the Registered Nurses were used for the secondary analysis because this research was interested in looking primarily at the nursing unit. The total RN staff assigned to patient care units who responded to the questionnaires was N=454. The total number of patients who responded to the survey was N=1179.In summary, the unit characteristics that were found to be Antecedents to ET were the sub-composites of Team and Complexity. Proxy variables, Collaborative Culture Agility and Experiential Agility, were successfully formed as a composite for WFA and were tested with the primary data. No mediators or moderators were shown; however, main effects of WFA and ET did have an impact on patient outcomes.

The increasing need for food supply chain sustainability and food security has considerably strengthened the importance of reducing Postharvest Food Losses (PHFL). Recent studies suggested that collaboration among upstream Agricultural Supply Chain (ASC) partners will impact and possibly reduce PHFL levels; a possible direct relationship between collaboration and PHFL was indicated. Hence, collaboration could be a possible solution to PHFL. Research done in the area of PHFL reduction has not considered the producers unit of analysis. Moreover, there have been many changes in the EU ASC s environment and those changes cause turbulence in the latter environment and impact both collaboration among upstream partners and PHFL. Thus, this research investigates the relationship between collaboration and PHFL as well as the possible moderating effects of the different environmental turbulence factors in the aforementioned relationship in the EU ASCs from the producers perspective.

Yes / Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how export learning capability and export environmental turbulence serve as mechanisms and boundary conditions to link export market-oriented culture to export performance. Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative approach was undertaken to analyse longitudinal data of 249 small- and medium-sized exporting firms in Nigeria, a Sub-Saharan African economy. Findings: Four major findings emerged from the study. First, export market-oriented culture positively influences export performance. Second, possessing an export market-oriented culture results in the development of high export learning capabilities. Third, export learning capability mediates the relationship between export market-oriented culture and export performance. Fourth, increases in export environment turbulence weaken the positive effect of export learning capability on export performance. Research limitations/implications: This study does not investigate moderating effects which might affect the relationship between export market-oriented culture and export learning capability as this was beyond the scope of this study. Originality/value: This study looks at developing economy environment as a unique context to examine the direct, mediating, and moderating effects of export market-oriented culture on export performance.

Background – The energy sector is experiencing instability and energy companies must embrace more flexible structures and strategic initiatives to remain relevant. Purpose – To gain understanding about the challenges with implementing strategic congruence and integrated control in umbrella organizations and how their interplay can contribute to achieving a common business logic. Methodology – In the scope of a single case study, we conducted 20 interviews on corporate, business and functional level at Tekniska verken in Linköping AB. The ‘tentative model’ of Nilsson and Rapp (2005) was re-assessed to examine a common business logic. Findings – Our empirical findings indicated that the businesses of umbrella organizations can be diverse while simultaneously being congruent. When addressing strategic congruence, it is challenging because transparent communication and collaboration between business areas as well as optimizing organizational structures and designing clear responsibility areas is difficult to achieve. Regarding integrated control, it is not easy to realize because the corporate plan needs wide acceptance and breaking down complex content to the business areas is challenging. Not to mention that a common frame of reference regarding terminology and alike control standards requires high commitment.

At the best of times, education policy implementation is a difficult and uncertain process. Taking this as a point of departure, the researcher advanced the hypothesis that education policy implementation in a society in transition: is accompanied by a fragmentation of the pre-transition coherence in interpersonal relations among policy actors; is affected by a heightening of value conflicts and the emergence of competing interpretive schemes; is influenced by the perceived self-interest of policy actors; is affected by changing power relationships and structural adjustments; and reflects a general weakening of interpersonal, cultural, and structural linkages that had evolved in pre-transition years. The Indian education system in South Africa was studied as an exemplar of a system located in a society in transition. The data collated by means of three research strategies - historical report, questionnaire, and structured interview - gave strong support to the hypothesis. In addition, they pointed to the significance of variables such as policy content and policy quality, political interference and pressure, bias and favouritism among senior officials, religious, sectional, and language loyalties of participants, and loss of job satisfaction and morale among policy actors. These findings were discussed against the background of relevant literature. This concluded in the development_gf a theoretical model to explain education policy implementation in a society in transition. Basically, the model suggests that socio-political struggles in the larger society tend. to be replicated in the micro-contexts of the education system, producing fundamental alterations in the interpersonal, cultural, and structural aspects of the system, a general weakening of system linkages, and a progressive de-coupling of system components. All these changes recursively impact on and are impacted on by policymaking and policy implementation processes and outcomes. These impacts, however, tend to occur in a non-standard, nonlinear manner. The theoretical underpinnings of the model emerge from general systems theory, modern social systems theory, chaos/ complexity theory, conflict theory, structuration theory, organisation change theory, and loosely coupled systems theory. Finally, the study concludes with general propositions relating to education policy implementation in a society in transition and a set of research and management-oriented recommendations. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Educational Management)

At the best of times, education policy implementation is a difficult and uncertain process. Taking this as a point of departure, the researcher advanced the hypothesis that education policy implementation in a society in transition: is accompanied by a fragmentation of the pre-transition coherence in interpersonal relations among policy actors; is affected by a heightening of value conflicts and the emergence of competing interpretive schemes; is influenced by the perceived self-interest of policy actors; is affected by changing power relationships and structural adjustments; and reflects a general weakening of interpersonal, cultural, and structural linkages that had evolved in pre-transition years. The Indian education system in South Africa was studied as an exemplar of a system located in a society in transition. The data collated by means of three research strategies - historical report, questionnaire, and structured interview - gave strong support to the hypothesis. In addition, they pointed to the significance of variables such as policy content and policy quality, political interference and pressure, bias and favouritism among senior officials, religious, sectional, and language loyalties of participants, and loss of job satisfaction and morale among policy actors. These findings were discussed against the background of relevant literature. This concluded in the development_gf a theoretical model to explain education policy implementation in a society in transition. Basically, the model suggests that socio-political struggles in the larger society tend. to be replicated in the micro-contexts of the education system, producing fundamental alterations in the interpersonal, cultural, and structural aspects of the system, a general weakening of system linkages, and a progressive de-coupling of system components. All these changes recursively impact on and are impacted on by policymaking and policy implementation processes and outcomes. These impacts, however, tend to occur in a non-standard, nonlinear manner. The theoretical underpinnings of the model emerge from general systems theory, modern social systems theory, chaos/ complexity theory, conflict theory, structuration theory, organisation change theory, and loosely coupled systems theory. Finally, the study concludes with general propositions relating to education policy implementation in a society in transition and a set of research and management-oriented recommendations. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Educational Management)