The knowing client : a processual perspective on knowledge shaping in consulting engagements

This thesis extends current understanding in management consulting research by investigating the ways in which management consultants and their clients shaped knowing over the course of nine different consulting engagements. The research illuminates the client experience of using consulting knowledge in organisations, and proposes a theoretical reconceptualisation of knowledge shaping in consulting engagements which incorporates how the knowing client is enacted. The research shows that knowledge shaping activities are planned and enacted to support novelty reduction in consulting engagements; that asymmetries in the structuring of the consultant–client relationship hamper knowledge transformation and the establishment of knowing; and that understanding of how the role identities of consultants and clients are established and maintained over the course of an engagement is integral to understanding knowledge shaping in consulting engagements.

The Impact of Engagement Processes on the First Appointment Attendance Rate at a Regional Outpatient Psychological Trauma Service.

The effectiveness of simple measures to increase attendance at first appointments is briefly reviewed. The Family Trauma Centre’s remit and pre-study engagement process are described. The perceived idiosyncratic aspects of inviting people suffering from psychological trauma to attend a clinical service are noted as contributory factors in initially tolerating a high first appointment DNA rate. Three new initial engagement processes are then described and results of their application to 30 referrals in total are presented. The overwhelming finding is that paying close attention to any of the three initial engagement processes significantly increases first appointment attendance. Based on these findings the Centre developed a new initial engagement protocol.. The principle that services should pay more attention to their engagement processes than on the characteristics of their client groups when seeking to reduce first appointment DNA rates is supported.

Service user involvement in drug treatment programs: Barriers to implementation and potential benefits for client recovery

Service user forums have the potential for improving awareness of services, empowering service users and strengthening community partnerships within an inclusive treatment and rehabilitation framework. The research aimed to investigate perspectives about service user involvement in order to inform the development of effective service user forum(s) in west Ireland. A total of 30 interviews with key service providers and 12 interviews with service users were conducted, with interview questions focusing on: (1) awareness of the Service User Support Team and (2) barriers to service user involvement and the development of service user forums in the region. An integrated data collection and thematic analysis was undertaken. Current levels of service user involvement were low, restricted by one-way communication and appeared grounded in user-provider power differentials and stigma relating to drug dependency. Service providers queried the actual terms of reference, capacity and training that would be needed for service user forums to advocate and lobby for service users. The use of existing support groups, creation of internet user forums and rotation of rural meetings were recommended to promote engagement among service users. The research underscores the need for transparency, resources and a framework for good practice that reflects a participatory approach


Read More: http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/09687637.2012.671860

Do outro lado da linha: impacto dos horários de trabalho de trabalhadores de call center nas necessidades de recuperação – engagement e esforço compensatório

Dissertação apresentada ao Instituto Politécnico do Porto para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Gestão das Organizações, Ramo Gestão de Empresas Orientada por: Profª Doutora Maria Alexandra Pacheco Ribeiro da Costa Esta dissertação inclui as críticas e sugestões feitas pelo Júri.

Auditor's engagement risk and audit fees:the role of the audit firm alumni

This study explores the effect of the association of audit firm alumni with their alma mater on audit prices. The tests indicate that there is a moderate reduction of up to 21% in the level of audit fee when alumni (i.e., former employees) of the incumbent audit firm sit on the client board of directors which is consistent with the engagement risk theory. This suggests that there is an 'alumni effect' in the market for audit services. The findings hold only in the large company segment of the market. The results are robust to different model specifications and alternative samples. The sample comprises all executive and non-executive directors who run the UK quoted companies and are simultaneously ICAEW qualified chartered accountants. The study's implications for the accounting profession and the regulators are also discussed. © 2007 The Author Journal compilation © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Impediments to Cosmopolitan Engagement: Technology and Late-Modern Cosmopolitanism

What characterises late modern variety of cosmopolitanism from its classical predecessors is the inherent connection between cosmopolitanism and technology. Technology enables a vital dimension of the cosmopolitan experience – to move beyond the cosmopolitan imagination to enable active, direct engagement with other cultures. Different types of technologies contribute to cosmopolitan practice but in this paper we focus on a specific set of these enabling technologies: technologies which play a crucial role in regulating the free movement of people and populations. We briefly examine how three of the great surveillance states of the 20th century – Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and the German Democratic Republic – used hightech solutions in pursuing an anti-cosmopolitanism. We suggest that in the period from 2001 to the present, important elements of the cosmopolitan ethos are being closed down, and once again high-tech is intimately connected to this moment. The increasing (and proposed) use of identity cards, biometric identification systems, ITS and GIS all work to make the globalised world much harder to traverse and inhibit the full expression and experience of cosmopolitanism. The result of these trends may be that the type of cosmopolitan sentiment exhibited in western countries is an ersatz, emptied out variety with little political-ethical robustness.