Appropriating integrated performance management tools in healthcare: a sociomaterial work story

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the appropriation of control rooms based on value-based integrated performance management tools implemented in all publicly funded health organizations in Quebec (Canada) as a form of legitimate sociomaterial work.Design/methodology/approachMulti-site organizational ethnographic case studies in two Integrated health and social services centers, with narrative process analysis of triangulated qualitative data collected through non-participant observation (163 h), individual semi-structured interviews (N = 34), and document review (N = 143).FindingsThree types of legitimate sociomaterial work are accomplished when actors appropriate control rooms: 1) reformulating performance management work; 2) disrupting accountability work and; 3) effecting value-based integrated performance management. Each actor (tools, institutions and people) follows recurrent institutional work-paths: tools consistently engage in disruptive work; institutions consistently engage in maintaining work, and people consistently engage in creation work. The study reveals the potential of performance management tools as “effective integrators” of the technological, managerial, policy and delivery levels of data-driven health system performance and improvement.Practical implicationsThis paper draws on theoretically informed empirical insights to develop actionable knowledge around how to better design, implement and adapt tool-driven health system change: 1) Packaging the three agents of data-driven system change in health care: tools, institutions, people; 2) Redefining the search for performance in health care in the context of value creation, and; 3) Strengthening clinical and managerial relevance in health performance management practice.Originality/valueThe authors aim to stimulate new and original scholarship around the under-theorized concept of sociomaterial work, challenging theoretical, ontological and practical conceptions of work in healthcare organizations and beyond.

Development of an Integrated Performance Design Platform for Residential Buildings Based on Climate Adaptability

Building energy waste has become one of the major challenges confronting the world today, so specifications and targets for building energy efficiency have been put forward in countries around the world in recent years. The schematic design stage matters a lot for building energy efficiency, while most architects nowadays are less likely to make energy efficiency design decisions in this stage due to the lack of necessary means and methods for analysis. An integrated multi-objective multivariate framework for optimization analysis is proposed for the schematic design stage in the paper. Here, the design parameters of the building morphology and the design parameters of the building envelope are integrated for analysis, and an integrated performance prediction model is established for low-rise and medium-rise residential buildings. Then, a comparison of the performance indicators of low-rise and medium-rise residential buildings under five typical urban climatic conditions is carried out, and the change patterns of the lighting environment, thermal environment, building energy demand, and life cycle cost of residential buildings in each city under different morphological parameters and design parameters of the building envelope are summarized. Specific analysis methods and practical tools are provided in the study for architectural design to ensure thermal comfort, lighting comfort, low energy consumption, and low life-cycle cost requirement, and this design method can inspire and guide the climate adaptation analysis and design process of low-rise and medium-rise residential buildings in China, improve architects’ perception of energy-saving design principles of low-rise and medium-rise residential buildings on the ontological level, as well as provide them with a method to follow and a case to follow in the actual design process.

Signal Control Method for through and Left-Turn Shared Lane by Setting Left-Turn Waiting Area at Signalized Intersections

This paper proposes a signal control method for the through and left-turn shared lanes at signalized intersections to solve traffic conflicts between left-turn vehicles and opposing through vehicles by setting left-turn waiting area (LWA). Delays and stops are weighted to form an integrated performance index (PI) in a vehicle-to-infrastructure cooperation system. The PI models pertaining to all vehicles are established based on the LWA intersection. In addition, an optimized method of signal timing parameters is constructed by minimizing the average PI. VISSIM simulation shows that the average PI decreases by 6.51% compared with the original layout and signal timing plan of the intersection, since the increased delay of the side-road left-turn vehicles is insufficient to offset the reduced delay of the side-road through vehicles after the improvement. The sensitivity analysis shows that the greater the traffic volume of the phase including the through and left-turn shared lanes, the higher the operation efficiency of the LWA intersection compared with the typical permitted phase intersection. When the left-turn vehicles of the shared lanes in each cycle are less than the stop spaces, the LWA intersection can effectively reduce the average PI of the shared lanes. Furthermore, the more the stop spaces in the LWA, the lower the average PI in the same traffic conditions.

Management control systems in response to social and environmental risk in large Nordic companies

This empirical study investigates the relationships between management control systems and social and environmental risks. Building on Simons’ Levers of Control conceptual framework, this study proposes that companies facing social and environmental risks will enhance the quality of their management control systems by integrating social and environmental elements into management control systems in order to manage the related risks. The study uses a longitudinal dataset of the 1179 largest listed Nordic companies for the period 2014–2018. The multivariate regression confirms a negative relationship between the social and environmental integration and social and environmental risks. The results indicate that the social and environmental integrated performance measurement system and strategy implementation are not congruent with the social and environmental risks that the companies face. Nordic companies have not adopted the social and environmental integrated measurement system and strategy in response to social and environmental risks. When the number of social and environmental incidents increase and companies meet high levels of social and environmental risks, their management control systems do not match the related risks. Such social and environmental integration should be improved in order to prevent wider negative implications of the incidents on the natural environment and society in large.

EDUCATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS OF A VIRTUAL DESIGN STUDIO ON ZERO-ENERGY BUILDING DESIGNS: THE CASE OF THE U.S. SOLAR DECATHLON DESIGN CHALLENGE

ABSTRACT Ongoing global architectural agendas span climate change, energy, a carbon-neutral society, human comfort, COVID-19, social justice, and sustainability. An architecture studio allows architecture students to learn how to solve complicated environmental issues through integrated thinking and a design process. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon Design Challenge enables them to broaden their analytic perspectives on numerous subjects and strengthen their integrated thinking of environmental impacts, resilience, sustainability, and well-being. However, the unprecedented impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic transformed the physical studio-based design education system into an online-based learning environment. Mandatory social distancing by the global COVID-19 pandemic restricted interactive discussions and face-to-face collaborations for the integrated zero-energy building design process, which requires features of architecture, engineering, market analysis, durability and resilience, embodied environmental quality, integrated performance, occupant experience, comfort and environmental quality, energy performance, and presentation. This study emphasizes the educational effectiveness of virtual design studios as a part of the discourse on architectural pedagogy of zero-energy building (ZEB) design through integrated designs, technological theories, and analytic skills. The survey results of ten contests show educational achievement with over 90% of the highest positive tendency in the categories of embodied environmental quality and comfort and environmental quality, whereas the positive tendency of educational achievement in the categories of integrated performance, energy performance, and presentation were lower than 70%. The reason for the low percentage of simulation utilization and integrated performance was the lack of a proper understanding of and experience with ZEB simulations and evaluations for undergraduate students. Although VDS is not an ideal pedagogical system for the iterative design critique process, it can support the learning of the value of architectural education, including integrative design thinking, problem-solving skills, numerical simulation techniques, and communicable identities through online discussions and feedback during the COVID-19 pandemic.