Codes of ethics in Sweden's largest public sector organizations : communicating the intent of the code within the organization

The aim of the study was to examine the ways that public sector organizations in Sweden communicated the intent of their codes of ethics to their employees. Primary data was obtained via a self-administered mail questionnaire distributed to a census of the top 100 organizations.

The study identified a range of methods used by organizations to integrate the ethos of codes into corporate culture. These methods included communication of the code, company induction of new staff, consequences for a breach of the code, ethical performance, an ethics ombudsman, the support of whistleblowers, a standing ethics committee, ethics education, and an ethics education committee.

Whilst many organizations have instituted ethical behaviour initiatives, activities specifically targeted at exposure, education and support for staff to perform ethically were found to be underdeveloped.

Impact of image organizations on multimedia document retrieval

In this paper we compare ranking effectiveness of heterogeneous multimedia document retrieval when different image organizations are used for formulating queries. The quality of image queries depends on the organization of images used to make queries which in turn significantly impacts retrieval precision. CBIR (content based information retrieval) needs an effective and efficient organization of images including user interface which must be part of the configuration parameters of image retrieval research.

The construction of new teacher identities and new collaborative partnerships

There are many different versions of partnerships between teachers and academics and both authors have themselves been involved in various collaborations with classroom teachers. This paper is concerned with the construction of teacher identity within such collaborative partnerships. We will focus on the problematic nature of some of these partnerships by examining the discourses that construct teachers as 'resistant', or 'unwilling' in accounts of collaborative work that was not necessarily successful. In particular we will ask: Why are the relationships seen to be problematic? In whose terms are they problematic? This critique of existing discourses within accounts of collaborative partnerships will allow a rethinking of the relations between teachers and academics. In the conclusion to this paper we will attempt to answer the question: What are the features of particular relationships that can produce shifts in discourses so that teachers are 'truly' located and positioned as collaborative partners?

Database for structural steel experiments under a distributed collaboration environment

Due to the high requirements of civil infrastructures against the earthquake in Japan, a great number of research organizations have been conducting the structural steel experiments, in particular the seismic tests such as the cyclic loading test and the pseudo-dynamic test, for many years to determine the seismic performances of steel structures. However, the original test data gained by most research organizations are not well stored in an appropriate manner for distribution and possible usage of others. Although a Numerical Database of Steel Structures (NDSS) was developed some years ago to preserve and share experimental data of the ultimate strength tests acquired at Nagoya University, it was not easy to access this database from other computer platform due to the lack of the support of proper communication media. With the rapid development of information networks and their browsers, structural engineers and researchers are able to exchange various types of test data through Internet. This paper presents the development of a distributed collaborative database system for structural steel experiments. The database is made available on the World-Wide Web, and the Java language enables the interactive retrieval efficiently. The applications of the developed database system for the retrieval of experimental data and seismic numerical analysis are validated in the form of examples.

Evaluating the social value of charitable organizations : a conceptual foundation

Charities are becoming more businesslike in their quest to address competitive pressures and funding reductions. However, this shift may have unintended consequences. For example, the best-marketed charities are not necessarily the ones with the greatest potential for social benefit. There is currently no mechanism that attempts to evaluate the social value of charities. Borrowing from social investing and corporate social responsibility literature, the authors argue that despite the difficulties inherent in this task, there are several issues that must be considered to assess a charity's social value, and each stakeholder will consider some dimensions of social value differently. Assessing a charity's social value has several ethical and policy implications, especially given the level of governmental and foundational support for charity organizations.

Board involvement in strategy : advancing the governance of sport organizations

This study investigated how boards of national sport organizations might enhance their strategic capability. Utilizing an action research method and focusing on the case of New Zealand Football (soccer), findings established that greater board involvement in strategy advanced the board's ability to perform its strategic function. Further findings determined the importance of shared leadership between the board and the CEO, the complex interplay in balancing this relationship and the need to integrate strategy into board processes.