Roberta Pinna

The drug logistics process: an innovative experience

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the latest innovations in the drug distribution processes of hospital companies, which are currently dealing with high inventory and storage costs and fragmented organizational responsibilities. Design/methodology/approach – The literature review and the in-depth analysis of a case study support the understanding of the unit dose drug distribution system and the subsequent definition of the practical implications for hospital companies. Findings – Starting from the insights offered by the case study, the analysis shows that the unit dose system allows hospitals to improve the patient care quality and reduce costs. Research limitations/implications – The limitations of the research are those related to the theoretical and exploratory nature of the study, but from a practical point of view, the work provides important indications to the management of healthcare companies, which have to innovate their drug distribution systems. Originality/value – This paper ...

Psychosocial training: a case of self-efficacy improvement in an Italian school

Abstract The changes that the regulatory institutions have imposed on the Italian school system over the last decades may actually result in contradictory effects at the individual and organizational levels: resistance or indifference on the one hand and training or coping strategies on the other. The paper focuses on the impact of such changes on teachers, as professional workers within public schools and individual participants of change. The paper refers to psychosocial training as a coping strategy, analysing how school teachers deal with work-related stress, and what impact a training intervention might have on some individual dimensions. Subsequently, in the longitudinal study presented, we analysed whether the training intervention conducted was effective in terms of learning and change. The case under consideration is a primary school located in the South of Italy, and the participants in the training and research were 92 female teachers. In order to investigate the effectiveness of the designed and applied training programme, we measured how some important psychological dimensions have changed over time: self-efficacy, job satisfaction and interpersonal strain. According to a sociological learning approach, the results suggest the effectiveness of training programmes as enablers of change and solutions to some change paradoxes; when they respond to the identified needs, they are based on practical activities that require a collective participation, they focus on social relationships and processes and the knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. In the school context, the psychosocial training might represent a solution, if not a prevention strategy, for change management.

Engaging public servants: Public service motivation, work engagement and work-related stress

Purpose – Considering the ongoing international debate on the role of public administrations in economic systems, the interest around public service motivation (PSM) has significantly grown among practitioners and scholars in the past two decades. Following the research streams that have investigated topics of organizational behavior within the public context, the purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of PSM on public employees’ feelings of job satisfaction. The novelty of the study lies in linking some characteristics of the work context presumed to be more prevalent in public organizations with specific job characteristics, regarded as relevant antecedents of job satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on two complementary studies conducted in an Italian public administration. The paper shows how PSM influences job satisfaction, job engagement, and life satisfaction. Findings – This paper shows how PSM influences job satisfaction, job engagement, and life satisfaction....

Emerging Trends in Healthcare Supply Chain Management : An Italian Experience

The aim of this study is to present the emerging trends in the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Management and Logistics flow redesign. Logistics and Supply Chain innovation are becoming a highly topical issue in the international research agenda, as well as in practice. The reason is that economic and political factors are raising the attention to healthcare issues: the process of local health corporatization, which involves the introduction into the National Health System of control mechanisms similar to the competitive market models; the aging of population; the increasing demand for healthcare services; the rising cost of inpatient and outpatient care; new technologies and new drugs that will continue to drive up the total healthcare cost. Indeed, limited resources and a steady growth in spending, hence, the need of a public health ration‐ alization, especially for meeting increasingly quality demands. All this requires a profound transformation that affects not only the processes of diagnosis and treatment, but also those of support, especially logistics, which is essential for the processes of service differentiation, efficiency, quality and safety processes improvement.

Information Technology and Supply Chain Management Coordination: The Role of Third Party Logistics Providers

Logistics Service Providers (3PL) have become important players in supply chain management. In a highly competitive context characterized by “time compression†, a successful strategy depends increasingly on the performance of Logistics Service Providers as they play a key integrative role linking different supply chain elements more effectively. However, the role of the information technology capability of these 3PL has not drawn much attention. The research question is: can IT be viewed as a fundamental supply chain management coordination mechanism? If so, does IT capability of third party logistics providers to improve performance in the supply chain and become a bigger factor in a strategic buyer-3PL relationship? By drawing on earlier research on the supply chain management coordination mechanism, the IT capability of third party logistics providers, a case study is conducted.

Supply Chain Coordination and IT: The Role of Third Party Logistics Providers

Logistics Service Providers have become important players in supply chain management as increasing numbers of firms are outsourcing their logistics activities. In a highly competitive context characterized by “time compression”, IT alignment between supplier and logistics service provider has a direct positive impact on, strategic and operational performance. The success of logistics outsourcing relationship is entrenched in the third party’s technological ability to improve the supply chain reactivity.

Reverse Logistics and the Role of Fourth Party Logistics Provider

Conventional supply chain perspectives consider a set of processes, driven by customer demand, that convey goods from suppliers through manufacturers and distributors to the final customers. However, this is not where the story ends. Physical goods do not simply vanish once they have reached the customer. Nor does the value incorporated in them. Therefore, many goods move beyond the conventional supply chain horizon, thereby triggering additional business transactions: used products are sold on secondary markets; outdated products are upgraded to meet latest standards again; failed components are repaired to serve as spare parts; unsold stock is salvaged; reusable packaging is returned and refilled; used products are recycled into raw materials again.

Manifattura: quale futuro? La fabbricazione digitale

Obiettivi . Obiettivo del lavoro e comprendere l’impatto della rivoluzione digitale rispetto alle prospettive di sviluppo delle imprese presenti nel settore della manifattura italiana. Metodologia . Il metodo utilizzato per soddisfare le esigenze informative derivanti dall’obiettivo del lavoro e quello della desk research, la quale supporta la comprensione delle tendenze emergenti a livello internazionale nel campo della progettazione e produzione digitale e la successiva definizione delle implicazioni pratiche per il management delle imprese manifatturiere italiane. Risultati . L’analisi evidenzia che la digitalizzazione della fabbricazione sta progressivamente determinando un cambiamento nei modelli di business adottati dalle imprese, che si spostano sempre piu nella direzione dell’apertura dei modelli di business e della costituzione di reti strategiche con attori diversi, che favoriscano la collaborazione tra l’esperto artigiano e il “maker” innovativo. Limiti della ricerca . I limiti della ricerca sono quelli legati alla natura teorica ed esplorativa dello studio. Implicazioni pratiche . Da un punto di vista pratico, il lavoro offre indicazioni importanti in particolare al management delle imprese manifatturiere, in direzione di una decisiva apertura del proprio modello di business e allo sviluppo di reti di collaborazione esterne con attori del mondo accademico e delle istituzioni. Originalita del lavoro . Il lavoro analizza una tematica emergente, nuova ed estremamente attuale e offre diversi spunti di riflessione per consolidare e sviluppare la competitivita di un settore portante dell’economia nazionale.

The effects of students: University identification on student’s extra role behaviours and turnover intention

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of university identification to explain students’ involvement in extra-role behaviours and turnover intentions. The theoretical model developed, specifies the relationships between university identity and identification and between identification and behavioural patterns. Design/methodology/approach Data have been collected from a sample of 338 students from an Italian University. Then, they have been analysed adopting linear regression models (multiple when occurs) and a path analysis through structural equations models has been developed. The Sobel test has been used in the analysis to verify the mediator role of variables. Findings The results show that: the university identity perception of students have significant effect on university identification process; and student-university identification have significant effect on student’s advocacy, that is negatively related to turnover intention. Originality/value This paper provides support for the importance of brand management in higher educational context. Institutions would benefit from communicating their identities clearly, coherently and in a persuasive manner, emphasising those aspects of the university’s identity that students and future students will perceive as prestigious and similar to their identities.

Managing Change and Employee Well-being in an Italian School: Psychosocial Training Intervention as a Possible Solution

Over the last 20 years the Italian education system has lived an intense and tormented epoch of reforms and radical changes culminated in the introduction of school autonomy and decentralisation. Such institutional pressures have created, in the Italian school system, contradictory effects at an individual and organizational levels leading to employee resistance or indifference on one hand, and investment in training for developing coping strategies, on the other. The Italian school system comprises of teachers–the largest professional group of workers within public schools, who are also viewed as individual participants of change. Managing professionals and their professions is increasingly gaining momentum as organisations realize the importance of attracting and retaining key talent and human capital. Managing change in a professional setting such as in the case of school teachers, can be difficult as the nature of their profession affords them high autonomy, paradoxically, at the same time, there is a low level of observed cohesiveness amongst the teachers.