Guiding Organisational Decision-Making About COVID-19 Asymptomatic Testing in Workplaces: Mixed-Method Study to Inform an Ethical Framework

Abstract Background: Workplace programmes to test staff for asymptomatic COVID-19 infection have become common, but raise a number of ethical challenges. In this article, we report the findings of a consultation that informed the development of an ethical framework for organisational decision-making about such programmes.Methods: We conducted a mixed-method consultation – a survey and semi-structured interviews – in a case study organisation that had introduced asymptomatic testing for all staff working on-site in its buildings. Analysis of closed-end survey data was conducted descriptively. An analysis approach based on the Framework Method was used for the open-end survey responses and interview data. The analyses were then integrated to facilitate systematic analysis across themes. Inferences were based on the integrated findings and other inputs (literature review, ethical analysis, legal and public health guidance, expert discussions) to develop an ethical framework. Results: The consultation involved 61 staff members from the case study organisation (50 survey respondents and 11 interview participants). There was strong support for the asymptomatic testing programme: 90% of the survey respondents viewed it as helpful or very helpful. Open-ended survey responses and interviews gave insight into participants’ concerns, including those relating to goal drift, risk of false negatives, and potential negative impacts for household members and people whose roles lacked contractual and financial stability. Integration of the consultation findings and the other inputs identified the importance of a whole-system approach with appropriate support for the key control measure of isolation following positive tests. The need to build trust in the testing programme, for example through effective communication from leaders, was also emphasised.Conclusions: This consultation, together with other inputs, informed an ethical framework intended to support employers. The framework may support organisational decision-making in areas ranging from design and operation of the programme through to choices about participation. The framework is likely to benefit from further consultation and refinement in new settings.

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Developing an ethical framework for asymptomatic COVID-19 testing programmes in higher education institutions

Wellcome Open Research ◽

10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16807.1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

pp. 101

Author(s):

Caitriona Cox ◽

Akbar Ansari ◽

Meredith McLaughlin ◽

Jan Van der Scheer ◽

Kathy Liddell ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Decision Making ◽

Higher Education Institutions ◽

Ethical Framework ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Ethical Considerations ◽

Testing Programme ◽

Mandatory Participation ◽

The University

Background: Mass asymptomatic COVID-19 testing programmes are being introduced in a range of settings, including in higher education institutions (HEIs). We aimed to produce an ethical framework to identify the range of ethical considerations relevant to HEI testing programmes and to support organisational decision-making. Methods: We conducted a mixed-method consultation (survey and semi-structured interviews) with students and staff at a case study university that was running a student testing programme. Survey data were analysed descriptively; data analysis for interviews was based on the Framework method. The findings of the consultation were combined with literature review, legal/ethical analysis and expert views to produce an ethical framework. Results: A total of 239 people took part in the consultation: 213 completed surveys (189 students, 24 staff) and 26 (16 students, 7 staff) participated in interviews. The survey identified clear support (99% of survey respondents) for the testing programme. Around two-thirds (62%) supported non-mandatory participation. Over half (54%) felt that the programme would need to be at least moderately effective to be acceptable. Over three-quarters (76%) felt the university had some responsibility to run a testing programme. Synthesis of consultation findings and further analysis identified nine areas of ethical consideration for HEIs looking to implement mass asymptomatic testing programmes: design and operation; goals; properties of the test; enabling isolation; choices about participation; benefits, harms and opportunity costs; responsibilities between students and institutions; privacy, confidentiality and data-sharing; and communication. The ethical framework includes recommendations in each of these areas, with illustrative examples of how they might be put into practice. Conclusions: By identifying ethical considerations relevant to university student testing programmes using analysis and consultation, the framework we developed has potential to facilitate deliberation about ethical aspects of such programmes, as well as informing decision-making about their introduction, design and delivery.

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A Qualitative Analysis of Unethical Behaviors in Projects: Insight From Moral Psychology

Project Management Journal ◽

10.1177/87569728211037775 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 875697282110377

Author(s):

Mehrdad Sarhadi ◽

Sogand Hasanzadeh

Keyword(s):

Ethical Framework ◽

Paradigm Change ◽

Ethical Challenges ◽

Late Modernism ◽

Wide Range ◽

Unethical Behaviors ◽

Multiple Case ◽

Stakeholder Behavior ◽

Unconscious Desire

Ethical aspects of stakeholder behavior can have a wide range of implications for other areas of project management. This research critically reviewed project ethics under the philosophical paradigm change from modernism to late modernism, which led to a flexible and realizable ethical framework based on Levinasian and Nietzschean moral psychologies. A qualitative approach was adopted through a multiple-case study to confront the theoretical framework with the empirical world, evaluate its authenticity, and obtain a better understanding of its challenges. Research results showed that stakeholders’ unconscious desire for existential meaning can provide considerable potential for dealing with ethical challenges.

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Exploring future cityscapes through urban logistics prototyping: a technical viewpoint

Supply Chain Management An International Journal ◽

10.1108/scm-05-2014-0169 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 20 (3) ◽

pp. 341-352 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Gary Graham ◽

Rashid Mehmood ◽

Eve Coles

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Supply Chain ◽

Mixed Method ◽

City Planning ◽

Supply Chain Design ◽

Theory Building ◽

Content Type ◽

Method Approach ◽

Unique Individual

Purpose – The purpose of this technical viewpoint is to provide a commentary of how we went about using logistics prototyping as a method to engage citizens, science fiction (SF) writers and small- to medium- sized enterprises (SME’s). Six urban logistic prototypes built on the themes of future cities, community resilience and urban supply chain management (SCM) are summarized, together with details of the data collection procedure and the methodological challenges encountered. Our investigation aimed to explore the potential of logistics prototyping to develop “user-driven” and “SME” approaches to future city design and urban supply chain decision-making. Design/methodology/approach – This Boston field experiment was a case study investigation conducted between May and August 2013. Qualitative data was collected using a “mixed-method” approach combining together focus groups (MIT faculty), scenarios, prototyping workshops, interviews and document analysis. These story-creators could use the prototype method as a way of testing their hypotheses, theories and constrained speculations with regard to specified future city and urban supply chain scenarios. Findings – This viewpoint suggests that the prototyping method allows for unique individual perspectives on future city planning and urban supply chain design. This work also attempts to demonstrate that prototyping can create sufficiently cogent environments for future city and urban SCM theories to be both detected and analysed therein. Although this is an experimental field of the SCM theory building, more conventional theories could also be “tested” in the same manner. Research limitations/implications – By embedding logistics prototyping within a mixed method approach, we might be criticized as constraining its capability to map out the future – that its potential to be flexible and imaginative are held back by the equal weighting given to the more conventional component. In basing our case study within one city then this might be seen as limiting the complexity of the empirical context – however, the situation within different cities is inherently complex. Case studies also attract criticism on the grounds of not being representative; in this situation, they might be criticized as imperfect indicators of what transpires in other situations. However, this technical viewpoint suggests that in spite of its limitations, prototyping facilitates an imaginative and creative approach to theory generation and concept building. Practical implications – The methodology allows everyday citizens and SME’s to develop user-driven foresight and planning scenarios with city strategists’ and urban logistic designers. It facilitates much broader stakeholder involvement in city and urban supply chain policymaking, than current “quantitative” approaches. Social implications – Logistics fiction prototyping provides a democratic approach to future city planning and urban supply chain design. It involves collectively imagining socio-technical futures and second-order sociological effects through the writing of SF narratives or building “design fictions”. Originality/value – Decision-making in future cities and urban SCM is often a notable challenge, balancing the varying needs and claims of multiple stakeholders, while negotiating an acceptable trade-off between their competing claims. Engagement with stakeholders and active encouragement of stakeholder participation in the supply chain aspects of future cities is increasingly a feature of twenty-first century social decision-making. This viewpoint suggests that the prototyping method allows for unique individual perspectives on future city planning and urban supply chain design. This work also attempts to demonstrate that prototyping can create sufficiently cogent environments for future city and the urban SCM theories to be both detected and analysed therein. Although this is an experimental field of SCM theory building, more conventional theories could also be “tested” in the same manner.

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Handball Goalkeeper Intuitive Decision-Making: A Naturalistic Case Study

Journal of Human Kinetics ◽

10.2478/hukin-2019-0042 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 70 (1) ◽

pp. 297-308

Author(s):

Marie Le Menn ◽

Cyril Bossard ◽

Bruno Travassos ◽

Ricardo Duarte ◽

Gilles Kermarrec

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Mixed Method ◽

Time Pressure ◽

Team Sports ◽

Point Of View ◽

Distance Measures ◽

Third Person ◽

Naturalistic Case Study ◽

Individual Self

Abstract Goalkeepers hold a key position for success in team sports competitions. They perform in dynamical contexts and are highly submitted to time pressure. The purpose of this naturalistic case study, therefore, was to explore how a handball expert goalkeeper deals with the uncertainty of the competition settings to make successful decisions. An individual self-confrontation interview was held with a goalkeeper while he watched duels with potential throwers in an official competition. A mixed method was used combining the first-person and third-person point of view. Verbal data were supplemented by observational data (distance measures between the goalkeeper and the potential thrower) in 83 short accounts of decision-making situations. Qualitative analysis resulted in 419 units of salient features, in three types of processes related to the Recognition-Primed Decision model, and in four micro-decisions. Non-parametrical statistical analysis indicated that there was a significant effect of distances between the potential thrower and the goalkeeper, on the micro-decision categories, but not on the recognition processes. These results provide insights into cognitive contents and processes an expert goalkeeper can use under uncertainty and time pressure. The mixed method furnishes a meaningful description and a subsequent understanding of expert performances in sport.

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The digital transition of social security in Finland. Frontrunner experiencing headwinds?

Ubezpieczenia Społeczne. Teoria i praktyka ◽

10.5604/01.3001.0015.5251 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 150 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Niko Väänänen

Keyword(s):

Artificial Intelligence ◽

Decision Making ◽

Social Security ◽

State Of The Art ◽

Ethical Challenges ◽

Organizational Challenges ◽

Current State ◽

Digital Transition ◽

Digital Processes

Digitalization transforms our societies in a profound way. Public administrations and social security institutions are at different stages in this process. Digitalization poses technological, legal, and organizational challenges. Finland has typically been a frontrunner in the adaptation of ICT technology. This case study critically assesses the current state-of-the-art in the field of digitalization in Finnish social security. The text singles out the projects that are on-going and those that are planned for the immediate future. The article shows that Finnish social security institutions have integrated digital processes into their operations, but legal and ethical challenges exist, especially in the use of artificial intelligence and automatic decision-making in social security.

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Uncertainty, risk and the use of algorithms in policy decisions: a case study on criminal justice in the USA

Policy Sciences ◽

10.1007/s11077-020-09414-y ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Kathrin Hartmann ◽

Georg Wenzelburger

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Criminal Justice ◽

Local Level ◽

Assessment Tools ◽

Statistical Prediction ◽

Risk Scores ◽

Decision Making Process ◽

Ethical Challenges ◽

The Usa

AbstractAlgorithms are increasingly used in different domains of public policy. They help humans to profile unemployed, support administrations to detect tax fraud and give recidivism risk scores that judges or criminal justice managers take into account when they make bail decisions. In recent years, critics have increasingly pointed to ethical challenges of these tools and emphasized problems of discrimination, opaqueness or accountability, and computer scientists have proposed technical solutions to these issues. In contrast to these important debates, the literature on how these tools are implemented in the actual everyday decision-making process has remained cursory. This is problematic because the consequences of ADM systems are at least as dependent on the implementation in an actual decision-making context as on their technical features. In this study, we show how the introduction of risk assessment tools in the criminal justice sector on the local level in the USA has deeply transformed the decision-making process. We argue that this is mainly due to the fact that the evidence generated by the algorithm introduces a notion of statistical prediction to a situation which was dominated by fundamental uncertainty about the outcome before. While this expectation is supported by the case study evidence, the possibility to shift blame to the algorithm does seem much less important to the criminal justice actors.

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Blockchain in Supply Chain: Case Study of Lottemart Ciputat

ACMIT Proceedings ◽

10.33555/acmit.v5i1.73 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 38-49 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

B. K. Handoyo ◽

M. R. Mashudi ◽

H. P. Ipung

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Supply Chain ◽

Supply Chain Management ◽

Information Asymmetry ◽

New Technology ◽

Business Case ◽

Analysis Method ◽

Chain Management ◽

Production Processes

Current supply chain methods are having difficulties in resolving problems arising from the lack of trust in supply chains. The root reason lies in two challenges brought to the traditional mechanism: self-interests of supply chain members and information asymmetry in production processes. Blockchain is a promising technology to address these problems. The key objective of this paper is to present qualitative analysis for blockchain in supply chain as the decision-making framework to implement this new technology. The analysis method used Val IT business case framework, validated by the expert judgements. The further study needs to be elaborated by either the existing organization that use blockchain or assessment by the organization that will use blockchain to improve their supply chain management.

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