scholarly journals An Investigation of Women Engineers in Non-Traditional Occupations in the Thai Construction Industry

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nuanthip Kaewsri ◽  
Tanit Tonghong

For over a decade, the public and the private sectors have carried out research aimed at attracting women engineers to the construction industry and retaining them. However, studies on women engineers working in other types of construction-related businesses apart from contractor companies such as consultancies, developers, etc., have not been many. This paper aims to examine the experiences of women engineers in non-traditional careers and the implications for their turnover. A literature search on women’s careers in construction was performed in conjunction with semi-structured interviews with a sampling of 141 individuals. Results from three viewpoints, viz those of professional men and women engineers in contractor companies, and women engineers in non-contractor companies, were found to differ in many respects, including their opinions about career advancement, career path and the difficulties involved. It was also found that women engineers in contractor companies were much more affected by problems such as sexual harassment, work-life conflicts and equal opportunity than women engineers in non-contractor companies. Turnover rates of women engineers and their reasons for leaving were examined. Women engineers, particularly those in contractor companies, had to confront more barriers in non-traditional careers than their male counterparts.  Nonetheless, working in non-contractor companies provides a viable alternative for women engineers who want to have successful careers in the Thai construction industry.

Author(s):  
Rachel Lawry ◽  
Dianne Waddell ◽  
Mohini Singh

This chapter presents a model which depicts the critical factors and assists in understanding the demands and effectiveness of Chief Information Officers (CIO) in public sector organisations. The chapter explores the literature on public sector CIO addressing personal and professional characteristics. It also reviews the literature pertaining to the responsibilities and career advancement and future directions in Government departments. The authors adopt a qualitative methodology by which semi-structured interviews are conducted with CIO representatives from a State Government in Australia. From collation of the interview results, utilising a ‘mind mapping’ strategy, the chapter identifies a model that adequately reflects the critical factors required for a public sector CIO. The chapter concludes that there are certain unique characteristics and responsibilities that a public sector CIO must possess yet a private sector CIO does not require. The chapter also acknowledges the importance of outlining a future direction of the role; something which is neglected by the literature.


Author(s):  
Rachel Lawry ◽  
Dianne Waddell ◽  
Mohini Singh

This chapter presents a model that depicts the critical factors and assists in understanding the demands and effectiveness of Chief Information Officers (CIO) in public sector organisations. The chapter explores the literature on public sector CIO addressing personal and professional characteristics. It also reviews the literature pertaining to the responsibilities, career advancement, and future directions in government departments. The authors adopt a qualitative methodology, by which semi-structured interviews are conducted with CIO representatives from a State Government in Australia. From collation of the interview results, utilising a mind mapping strategy, the chapter identifies a model that adequately reflects the critical factors required for a public sector CIO. The chapter concludes that there are certain unique characteristics and responsibilities that a public sector CIO must possess yet a private sector CIO does not require. The chapter also acknowledges the importance of outlining a future direction of the role, something that is neglected by the literature.


2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Durst ◽  
Ingi Runar Edvardsson ◽  
Guido Bruns

Studies on knowledge creation are limited in general, and there is a particular shortage of research on the topic in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Given the importance of SMEs for the economy and the vital role of knowledge creation in innovation, this situation is unsatisfactory. Accordingly, the purpose of our study is to increase our understanding of how SMEs create new knowledge. Data are obtained through semi-structured interviews with ten managing directors of German SMEs operating in the building and construction industry. The findings demonstrate the influence of external knowledge sources on knowledge creation activities. Even though the managing directors take advantage of different external knowledge sources, they seem to put an emphasis on informed knowledge sources. The study´s findings advance the limited body of knowledge regarding knowledge creation in SMEs.


Antibiotics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 735
Author(s):  
Julie Dormoy ◽  
Marc-Olivier Vuillemin ◽  
Silvia Rossi ◽  
Jean-Marc Boivin ◽  
Julie Guillet

Background: Antibiotic resistance is a global health crisis. The aim of this study was to explore dentists’ perceptions of antibiotic resistance. Methods: A qualitative method was used. Seventeen dentists practising in the Nancy (Lorraine, France) region were surveyed. They were general practitioners or specialised in oral surgery, implantology, or periodontology. The practitioners took part in semi-structured interviews between September 2019 and July 2020. All of the interviews were transcribed in full and analysed thematically. Results: Four major themes have been selected: attitudes of the dentists in regard to the guidelines, clinical factors that influence prescriptions, non-clinical factors that influence prescriptions, and the perception of antibiotic resistance. The dentists stated that they were very concerned regarding the public health issue of antibiotic resistance. However, they often prescribe according to their own interests and habits rather than according to the relevant guidelines. Conclusions: Although dentists are generally well aware of antibiotic resistance, they often do not adequately appreciate the link between their prescribing habits and the phenomenon of antibiotic resistance. Regular updating of practitioners’ knowledge in this regard is necessary, but patients and the general public should also be made more aware of the issue.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (15) ◽  
pp. 4455
Author(s):  
Thao Thi Phuong Bui ◽  
Suzanne Wilkinson ◽  
Niluka Domingo ◽  
Casimir MacGregor

In the light of climate change, the drive for zero carbon buildings is known as one response to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Within New Zealand, research on climate change mitigation and environmental impacts of buildings has received renewed attention. However, there has been no detailed investigation of zero carbon building practices. This paper undertakes an exploratory study through the use of semi-structured interviews with government representatives and construction industry experts to examine how the New Zealand construction industry plans and implements zero carbon buildings. The results show that New Zealand’s construction industry is in the early stage of transiting to a net-zero carbon built environment. Key actions to date are focused on devising a way for the industry to develop and deliver zero carbon building projects. Central and local governments play a leading role in driving zero carbon initiatives. Leading construction firms intend to maximise the carbon reduction in building projects by developing a roadmap to achieve the carbon target by 2050 and rethinking the way of designing and constructing buildings. The research results provide an insight into the initial practices and policy implications for the uptake of zero carbon buildings in Aotearoa New Zealand.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 339
Author(s):  
Tatjana Vasiljeva ◽  
Ilmars Kreituss ◽  
Ilze Lulle

This paper looks at public and business attitudes towards artificial intelligence, examining the main factors that influence them. The conceptual model is based on the technology–organization–environment (TOE) framework and was tested through analysis of qualitative and quantitative data. Primary data were collected by a public survey with a questionnaire specially developed for the study and by semi-structured interviews with experts in the artificial intelligence field and management representatives from various companies. This study aims to evaluate the current attitudes of the public and employees of various industries towards AI and investigate the factors that affect them. It was discovered that attitude towards AI differs significantly among industries. There is a significant difference in attitude towards AI between employees at organizations with already implemented AI solutions and employees at organizations with no intention to implement them in the near future. The three main factors which have an impact on AI adoption in an organization are top management’s attitude, competition and regulations. After determining the main factors that influence the attitudes of society and companies towards artificial intelligence, recommendations are provided for reducing various negative factors. The authors develop a proposition that justifies the activities needed for successful adoption of innovative technologies.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0734371X2110548
Author(s):  
Müge Kökten Finkel ◽  
Caroline Howard Grøn ◽  
Melanie M. Hughes

Women’s underrepresentation in middle and upper management is a well-documented feature of the public sector that threatens performance and legitimacy. Yet, we know far less about the factors most likely to reduce these gender inequalities. In this article, we focus on two well-understood drivers of career advancement in public administration: leadership training and intersectoral mobility. In theory, training in leadership and experience across government levels and policy areas should help both women and men to climb management ranks. We use logistic regression to test this proposition using a representative sample of 1,819 Danish public managers. We find that leadership training disproportionately benefits women, and this helps to level the playing field. However, our analyses show that differences in intersectoral mobility do not explain the gender gap in public sector management.


2018 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mampe Kumalo ◽  
Caren Brenda Scheepers

PurposeOrganisational decline has far-reaching, negative emotional and financial consequences for staff and customers, generating academic and practitioner interest in turnaround change processes. Despite numerous studies to identify the stages during turnarounds, the findings have been inconclusive. The purpose of this paper is to address the gap by defining these stages, or episodes. The characteristics of leaders affect the outcome of organisational change towards turnarounds. This paper focusses, therefore, on the leadership requirements during specific episodes, from the initial crisis to the full recovery phases.Design/methodology/approachA total of 11 semi-structured interviews were conducted with executives from the public sector in South Africa who went through or were going through turnaround change processes and 3 with experts consulting to these organisations.FindingsContrary to current literature in organisational change, this study found that, in these turnaround situations, leadership in the form of either an individual CEO or director general was preferable to shared leadership or leadership distributed throughout the organisation. This study found four critical episodes that occurred during all the public service turnarounds explored, and established that key leadership requirements differ across these episodes. The study shows how these requirements relate to the current literature on transactional, transformational and authentic leadership.Practical implicationsThe findings on the leadership requirements ultimately inform the selection and development of leaders tasked with high-risk turnaround change processes.Originality/valueFour episodes with corresponding leadership requirements were established in the particular context of public sector turnaround change processes.


1983 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-7
Author(s):  
Carole Browner

The articles in this special issue of Practicing Anthropology grew out of a symposium on "Women Anthropologists in the Public and Private Sectors: Opportunities for Non-Academic Career Advancement" sponsored by the Committee on the Status of Women (COSWA) at the 1981 Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association. As organizers of the panel, Donald Lindburg and I sought participants from each subfield of anthropology working in both the public and private sectors. In the first regard we were successful, with presentations by social, linguistic and physical anthropologists and two archeologists. In the second regard we were less successful, with four of the five panelists—Sibley, Wynn, Wildesen, and Brockman—employed by private concerns.


2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 560-579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meredith Root-Bernstein

Semi-structured interviews and participant observation were used to understand how urban Chileans form relationships with nature and nonhuman species in central Chile. Most informants expressed dislike of the typical mediterranean-habitat landscape, characterizing it as dry, poor, and empty. Yet many people expressed nostalgic attachment to specific places, species, and activities that they had experienced, often as children. Most of the reminisced-about interactions were fleeting or had been lost over time. In the dominant discourse, nature in the mediterranean zone of Chile is closely associated with poverty, and it is considered to lack beauty, biodiversity, culture, and history. Appeals to personal nostalgia may break through this discourse to form private assemblages of value. Chileans also attributed social value to interactions with species who are rare or who are found “exclusively” in Chile. Appeals to nostalgia, rarity, and exclusivity help to draw these private discourses into the public realm.


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