The effects of quality improvement practices on team effectiveness: a mediational model

Researchers have been challenged to specify the processes that quality improvement (QI) practices could be expected to generate and to explain how they might contribute to organizational effectiveness. This research article meets that challenge through a study of 97 teams in the health care field. The authors developed a ‘Quality Improvement Practices Index’ and showed that QI practices could be differentiated from traditional team‐level variables, and that such practices affect both directly and indirectly (through team‐level variables) team effectiveness. Two models were tested using structural equation modelling. It was found that the perceptions of the impact of QI practices on team effectiveness varied depending on who was assessing the team's performance—members of the team or managers who were external to the team but responsible for the team's performance. The authors discuss the implications of these results both for researchers and practitioners. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessing the costs and environmental benefits of IMO regulations of ship-originated SOx and NOx emissions in the Baltic Sea

To assess the value of the environmental benefits of the Sulphur Emission regulation (SECA) that came into force in 2015, changes in depositions of SOx and NOx from ship exhaust gas emissions were modelled and monetized for the Baltic Sea region for the years 2014 and 2016. During this period, the total deposition of SOx in the study area decreased by 7.3%. The decrease in ship-originated SOx deposition from 38 kt to 3.4 kt (by over 88%) was translated into a monetary value for the ecosystem impacts of nearly 130 million USD, according to the EcoValue08 model. This is less than the modelled health benefits, but it is not insignificant. For NOx, there was no decreasing trend. The exceedance of the critical loads of SOx and NOx was also estimated. The effect of Baltic shipping on the exceedance of critical loads of acidification after SECA is very small, but Baltic shipping still has a considerable effect on the exceedance of critical loads for eutrophication.     

Experts under the microscope: the Wivenhoe Dam case

Prosecution of experts in the wake of disasters has emerged as common in the context of increasing social intolerance of risk. This paper examines expert blame using as a case study the decisions of engineers who operated Wivenhoe Dam during the Queensland floods in January 2011 and the criticisms of those decisions by the subsequent Commission of Inquiry. Our analysis draws on the literature on organisational safety, organisational learning and expertise to examine the relevance of the criteria against which the engineers were judged, the relevant competence of those who made this assessment and the broader implications of such exercises. Our analysis shows that lay judgements of expert practice can be misleading, as evidenced by the Commission of Inquiry’s misguided focus on procedural adherence. We argue that such inquiries—where the focus is on assigning blame—detract from opportunities to learn from incidents and can negatively impact on professional practices. If the aim is to make future disasters less likely, then inquiries that take this approach may be failing in this endeavour, or at least not maximising their contribution.     

Degradation of pet copolyesters under real and laboratory composting conditions

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - The present work is aimed on the study of degradation of poly(ethylene terephthalate-co-lactate) copolyesters, prepared by chemical modification of...