Purpose This study aims to enhance understanding of the collaboration between chairs of nurse councils (CNCs) and members of executive hospital boards (BM) from a relational leadership perspective. Design/methodology/approach The authors used a qualitative and interpretive methodology. The authors study the daily interactions of BM and CNCs of seven Dutch hospitals through a relational leadership lens. The authors used a combination of observations, interviews and document analysis. The author’s qualitative analysis was used to grasp the process of collaborating between BM and CNCs. Findings Knowing each other, relating with and relating to are distinct but intertwined processes that influence the collaboration between BM and CNC. The absence of conflict is also regarded as a finding in this paper. Combined together, they show the importance of a relational process perspective to understand the complexity of collaboration in hospitals. Originality/value Collaboration between professional groups in hospitals is becoming more important due to increasing interdependence. This is a consequence of the complexity in organizing qualitative care. Nevertheless, research on the process of collaborating between nurse councils (NCs) and executive hospital boards is scarce. Furthermore, the understanding of the workings of boards, in general, is limited. The relational process perspective and the combination of observations, interviewing and document analysis proved valuable in this study and is underrepresented in leadership research. This process perspective is a valuable addition to skills- and competencies-focused leadership literature.
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Confronted by more and more global sustainabilityrelated challenges, society is increasingly aiming for a circular economy. Wouldn’t it be ideal if we could contribute to an economic model with closed loops, where products and materials that are at the end of their functional life are reused in new products and systems? As the Netherlands aims to have a fully circular economy (i.e., zero net waste) by 2050, circularity is also a critical theme for the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area. ‘Circular City’ is one of the main urban challenges of the Urban Technology research programme of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS). Its chair of Circular Design & Business and its research group on Digital Production collaborate with companies, lecturers and students on a range of applied research projects in order to advance the knowledge around circular design and business model strategies making use of digital production to encourage the local reuse of discarded urban materials. Amsterdam ArenA, home base of the Ajax football team and a major concert and events venue, is replacing all stadium seats in the run-up to the European Football Championship in 2020 (UEFA Euro 2020), and wishes to do so in a socially responsible manner. With that purpose, Amsterdam ArenA engaged the expertise of the Urban Technology research programme at the AUAS to study the viability reusing the old seats in a circular manner. The research started from the assumption that these discarded seats not only form a large and relatively homogeneous waste stream, but also have an emotional value that can potentially raise their economic value, beyond that of the material alone. For the AUAS this was an important case study, because the Amsterdam ArenA aspires to be a stage for sustainable innovations, reduce its environmental impact and stimulate the local economy. This project could serve as an example for other stadiums and public buildings with substantial waste streams on how to handle discarded products, and rethink how they can prevent waste in the future. With this mission, the AUAS lined up a team of experts on circular design, digital production, business modelling and impact studies to carry out a comprehensive multi-disciplinary study.
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Extinction Internet is not merely an end-of-the-world phantasy of digital technology that one day will be wiped out by an electromagnetic pulse or the cutting of cables. Rather, Extinction Internet marks the end of an era of possibilities and speculations, when adaptation is no longer an option. During the internet’s Lost Decade, we’ve been rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic under the inspirational guidance of the consultancy class. What’s to be done to uphold the inevitable? We need tools that decolonize, redistribute value, conspire and organize. Join the platform exodus. It’s time for a strike on optimization. There is beauty in the breakdown.Extinction Internet is Geert Lovink’s inaugural lecture, held on November 18, 2022 as Professor of Art and Network Cultures, within Modern and Contemporary Art History, Faculty of Humanities, University of Amsterdam.
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