Jacob Norvig Larsen

Knowledge, human resources and social practice. The knowledge-intensive business service firm as a distributed knowledge system

The knowledge base of firms is intrinsically linked to the knowledge of their employees. This is particularly the case in knowledge-intensive business services, where the production of services is almost entirely dependent on the ability of the firm to make use of the knowledge of the employees. Applying a distributed knowledge system view of the firm helps us understand that how knowledge is created is more important than what knowledge the firm and its employees have. This article presents findings from a case study of a large Danish knowledge-intensive business service firm. It turns out that knowledge not only resides in the minds of individual employees but also that it is constructed in the social interaction between members of teams.

Quality of life in rhinoconjunctivitis assessed with generic and disease specific questionnaires

Background:  Illness as perceived by the allergic patient with asthma and/or rhinoconjunctivitis (RC) can be assessed by measurements of their health‐related quality of life (HRQL). For this purpose the RC Quality of Life Questionnaire (RQLQ) has gained general acceptance; however, as most allergic patients experience symptoms from multiple organs, disease‐specific HRQL measures may be deficient. This study compares a generic and a disease‐specific HRQL instrument in grass and/or mite‐allergic patients.

Exclusion in Area-based Urban Policy Programmes

Area-based urban regeneration programmes such as the New Deal for Communities in the UK, the German Soziale Stadt and the Danish Kvarterloft are based on a participatory approach emphasizing active citizen participation and the involvement of local stakeholders. The article argues that these initiatives are not as open and inclusive as they strive to be, and in this article, we explore the different types of exclusion that can take place when such programmes are implemented. Based on the theoretical literature and on empirical data from the Danish Kvarterloft project, we identify three types of exclusion—structural, discursive and deliberate exclusion—and offer a theoretical analysis and an empirical account of these exclusions. The article concludes that practitioners as well as politicians need to reflect critically on different types of exclusion in order to create transparent and inclusive democratic processes.

Context-Orientated Meta-Governance in Danish Urban Regeneration

Public service innovation is common in planning and urban policy, but the long-term sustainability of new policy instruments depends on the development of new administrative practices in local government to maintain continual progress. This article analyses the case of a large-scale experiment on organisational change that was conducted in collaboration between two separate municipal departments of the city of Copenhagen. Experience with emerging new patterns of intra- and inter-organisational interaction documents suggests that service innovation and organisational change in this case mutually reinforce each other in a virtuous circle of innovation.

Employment and winter construction: a comparative analysis of Denmark and western European countries with a similar climate

Reduced seasonal building activity in the construction sector is often assumed to be related to hard winter conditions for building activities and poor working conditions for construction workers, resulting in higher costs and poor quality of building products, particularly in the northern hemisphere. Can climatic conditions alone explain the sizeable difference in reduction in building activity in the construction sector in European countries in the winter months, or are other factors such as technology, economic cycles and schemes for financial compensation influential as well? What possibilities exist for reducing seasonal variation in employment? In addition to a literature review related to winter construction, European and national employment and meteorological data were studied. Finally, ministerial acts, ministerial orders or other public policy documents related to winter construction were scrutinized in order to identify and compare economic incentives and compensation schemes intended to increase winter working in construction in Denmark and other western European countries. Overall, economic development in the construction sector and the level of compensation or the duration of contracts for workers is more likely to explain differences in seasonal activity than climatic or technological factors.

Original article: Quality of life in rhinoconjunctivitis assessed with generic and disease-specific questionnaires: Quality of life in respiratory allergy

Background:  Illness as perceived by the allergic patient with asthma and/or rhinoconjunctivitis (RC) can be assessed by measurements of their health‐related quality of life (HRQL). For this purpose the RC Quality of Life Questionnaire (RQLQ) has gained general acceptance; however, as most allergic patients experience symptoms from multiple organs, disease‐specific HRQL measures may be deficient. This study compares a generic and a disease‐specific HRQL instrument in grass and/or mite‐allergic patients.

Original article: Quality of life in rhinoconjunctivitis assessed with generic and disease‐specific questionnaires

Background:  Illness as perceived by the allergic patient with asthma and/or rhinoconjunctivitis (RC) can be assessed by measurements of their health‐related quality of life (HRQL). For this purpose the RC Quality of Life Questionnaire (RQLQ) has gained general acceptance; however, as most allergic patients experience symptoms from multiple organs, disease‐specific HRQL measures may be deficient. This study compares a generic and a disease‐specific HRQL instrument in grass and/or mite‐allergic patients.