Cororate Culture as a Function in Formulating Strategic Communication.

Sub Saharan Africa is filled with cultural diversity which creates a multicultural market. These diversities are created by the external and internal stakeholders in an organisation allowing the emerging of a unique organisational culture to describe the identity of a specific organisation. In its broader term culture gives description to units that provides unity amongst people hence its importance in group situation. Organizational culture is viewed as the shared values, beliefs, or perceptions held by employees within an organization. Moreover, an organization's culture tells us a lot about how members of that specific organisation communicate with each other. Even with the above vital role, organisational culture is viewed as an aspect to influence communication rather than a key role player in developing a communication strategy that fits the intended communication objectives of the specific organisation. To many organisations, the direction of their specific communication is more depended on current communication trends rather than the cultural aspect that determines the identity and behaviour of stakeholders of the specific organisation to achieve set objectives specifically in very diverse areas such as Africa. Whilst various authors have written about organisational culture there is still a lack in literature developed to outline in detail the cultural patterns and norms of African cultures, which are important in understanding the communication approaches of Africans even in corporate environments. This lack in literature also deprives African organisations to understand the diversity within its stakeholders. The aim of this paper is to explore how organisational culture and aspects of culture play a vital role in creating a communication strategy that is fit for a specific organisation to outplay the intend communication objective. This paper place focus on organisational culture and the vital function it plays in strategic communication. Keywords: Strategic communication, organizational culture, diversity, culture, communication

Genitourinary Tissue Engineering: Reconstruction and Research Models

Tissue engineering is an emerging field of research that initially aimed to produce 3D tissues to bypass the lack of adequate tissues for the repair or replacement of deficient organs. The basis of tissue engineering protocols is to create scaffolds, which can have a synthetic or natural origin, seeded or not with cells. At the same time, more and more studies have indicated the low clinic translation rate of research realised using standard cell culture conditions, i.e., cells on plastic surfaces or using animal models that are too different from humans. New models are needed to mimic the 3D organisation of tissue and the cells themselves and the interaction between cells and the extracellular matrix. In this regard, urology and gynaecology fields are of particular interest. The urethra and vagina can be sites suffering from many pathologies without currently adequate treatment options. Due to the specific organisation of the human urethral/bladder and vaginal epithelium, current research models remain poorly representative. In this review, the anatomy, the current pathologies, and the treatments will be described before focusing on producing tissues and research models using tissue engineering. An emphasis is made on the self-assembly approach, which allows tissue production without the need for biomaterials.

On the distribution of spinal premotor interneurons

The activity of flexor and extensor motor neurons is tightly regulated by a network of interneurons in the spinal cord. The introduction of rabies retrograde monosynaptic tracing has provided a powerful method to map interneurons directly connected to motor neurons so as to visualize premotor circuits. Previous strategies have used AAV for complementing rabies glycoprotein expression in motor neurons to obtain selectivity in transsynaptic transfer to identify premotor interneurons innervating specific motor neuron pools These studies revealed differences in the location of flexor and extensor premotor interneurons. Here, we report that by using a genetic approach to complement rabies glycoprotein expression in motor neurons, we did not observe any differences in the distribution of flexor and extensor premotor interneurons. In order to identify possible causes for these paradoxical findings, we discuss advantages and caveats of the experimental designs and suggest ways forward to resolve possible ambiguities. Furthermore, to obtain a complete picture of existing approaches and results we ask for contributions from the scientific community describing the use of additional mouse models, viral constructs, and complementation methods. The aim is to generate an open, comprehensive database to understand the specific organisation of premotor circuits.

Financial situation and challenges for management of SME hospitals: Evidence from Poland

The hospital represents a specific organisation, operating in a turbulent environment and financed to a large extent by public funds. The health sector is exposed to constant political and social pressure. This causes significant problems with maintaining its financial stability, which particularly affects hospitals in the SME sector. The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between selected financial indicators and some environmental phenomena that affect the financial situation and future financial stability of a selected group of hospitals from the SME group. The results will also be compared to the situation of other SME entities. The research is based on descriptive analysis, descriptive statistics, and correlation analysis of selected data. The results indicate that the financial situation of hospitals belonging to the SME group differs significantly from the overall SME sector, and does not bode positively for their future development. The current financial situation presents particular challenges for managers in balancing financial streams and ensuring economic sustainability. At the same time, this situation should encourage decision-makers to ensure an adequate level of revenues for these public service providers, as well as face other challenges related to operational management.

From Mandarin to Valet Public Service?

Managerialism – the notion that the primary skills required to manage any specific organisation are a generic set of managerial skills – is now widespread in the New Zealand public service. Managerialism was enabled by the 1988 State Sector Act, especially that part establishing the fixed-term contracts and appointments of chief executives. The consequences have been a decline in departmental expertise and a public service which acts as a secretariat for the government of the day. Thus, New Zealand has shifted from a mandarin to a valet public service. Managerialism is identified by top appointees who lack specialist skills and sector experience, short employment durations, and the manner in which the State Services Commission has managed the reform process thus far.

Nonsense, normative or necessity: the purpose of repeating a modified internship for qualified paramedics to move between Australian states: perspective from one state service

IntroductionIf a paramedic moves interstate in Australia, they are often required to undertake a local state-specific internship in the state or territory they are moving to. The small differences in roles undertaken between the states and territories are not sufficient to explain this requirement. In order to better understand this expectation, the authors explored the national and organisational cultural factors that could explain its purpose. MethodsSemi-structured interviews were conducted with six major stakeholders of an internship, and interpreted using organisational and national-cultural dimensions derived from the work of Hofstede, Waisfisz and Minkov.ResultsSeven core themes were identified, layered according to the stakeholders that have the greatest influence over the theme, and discussed using the study’s interpretive framework (cultural dimensions). These core themes describe the concerns the respondents had about elements of the paramedic internship, including the culture of the internship, attitudes, education, communication, the profession, the organisation, and recruitment and selection. ConclusionThe insights gained into the cultural characteristics of the ambulance organisation help us to better understand the need for the internship. From a cultural perspective, paramedics need to be able to balance risk aversion (policy/procedure) with risk taking (unpredictable work demands); structure (militaristic) with independence (autonomy); a hierarchy-based power relationship and a competency-based power relationship and, finally, indulgence (socialisation for organisational acceptance) with restraint (becoming a professional). This balancing of judgement and actions is extremely complex, delicate and organisation-specific, thus explaining the importance for the individual organisation of having a prolonged observation period during which ‘a feel’ for these ‘balances’ can be obtained to ensure that the paramedic ‘fits’ into the specific organisation to become ‘one of us’.

Lessons learned from a comprehensive electronic patient record procurement process—implications for healthcare organisations

BackgroundThis study describes learning from procurement of a comprehensive electronic patient record (EPR/electronic health record (EHR)), system for a specialist clinical academic institution.MethodRetrospective review of procurement process in addition to evaluation of peer-reviewed literature in the field.ResultsMain lessons learned include the importance of detailed preparation of organisational requirements/specifications and organisational ‘readiness’. Early staff involvement, resulting in ownership of the selected system by the organisation was a key achievement. The scoring process used required significant resource commitment but, despite being extensive in scope, provided relatively poor distinction between suppliers, despite significant variation in supplier self-scoring. Other elements, such as demonstrations and site visits, provided superior evaluation of functional abilities, and specification requirements should be regarded as threshold evaluation.ConclusionWhile principles should be followed, the procurement process must be modified to meet the needs of the specific organisation, in terms of its clinical activities, digital maturity, existing infrastructure and budget.

The Position of Tourist Escorts in Serbia

This paper deals with the position of tourist escorts in Serbia, primarily in a domain of business ethics. Employees’ behaviour is important aspect of gaining the business stability, which is reflecting the importance of business ethics for reaching the prosperity within specific organisation, together with the improvement of business performances reflected in the form of financial indicators. The main results of the research are related to attitudes of tourist escorts from Serbia regarding the business ethics in a scope of their work. Historical method, together with a field research (work of one co-author within the position of tourist escort) and a research in the form of interviews were used for data collecting procedure. Furthermore, descriptive and analytical-synthetic methods were used in data processing and during the interpretation of the gained results. Research results could be useful in practical terms to the whole tourism industry, especially to tourist agencies, tourist escorts and tourist guides.

Skandynawskie partie skrajnej prawicy – oblicze organizacyjne Duńskiej Partii Ludowej

Since its emergence in 1995 the Danish People’s Party has become the second biggest political party in Denmark. The popularity of the DPP has also played an important role in the emergence and growth in popularity of the right-wing populist parties in the rest of Scandinavia. One of the most important factors that contributed to the growth in the popularity of the DPP has been the specific organisation of the party based on the charismatic leadership of its leaders Pia Kjærsgaard and Kristian Thulesen Dahl. The hierarchical structure of the right-wing populist parties combined with the party discipline enables the parties to react quickly to changing social attitudes, and as a result, to attract new voters.