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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In 2001, higher professional education received a research function by law. This new research role is incorporated into so-called lectureships. In these lectureships, which are analogous to university chairs to some degree, experts in specific fields function as intermediaries between higher professional education and the networked knowledge society. Their role is to 1) develop and distribute knowledge, 2) provide human resource development for teachers, 3) improve the curriculum, and 4) support innovation in business and non-profit organisations. This contribution presents the preliminary results of a participative action research in the lectureship Pedagogy of vocational and professional education. The aim of this research is to help professionals in this lectureship develop a research identity as part of their professional development and as such constituent for their innovations. Our research question is: how can we improve their professional development as action researchers and consequently their innovative practices? We present first an overview of the Dutch debate about the new research role. Then we will focus on our own Institution and its HRM policies on research. Third, we describe the School as Career Centre and our translation of its design rules into our lectureship. Then we give a historical account of our lectureship, followed by an outline of the action research we, the professor and senior researcher, conduct and of how we try to help the professionals in our lectureship. We conclude with some general remarks about the new research role for higher professional education.
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The Research Group International Cooperation investigates the acquisition of international competencies by internships or study abroad, the international competencies of lecturers, the needs and demands for international competencies of alumni and employers and which factors are important to attract international students to stay and work in the Netherlands. Sending students abroad is, by itself, not enough to develop international competencies, just as bringing students of different nationalities together in an international classroom is, by itself, not enough. The Research Group International Cooperation has therefore developed a training module to prepare students for the purposeful acquisition of international competencies (PREFLEX, Preparation for your Foreign Learning Experience). The Hague University of Applied Sciences wishes to be and to present itself as an international institute of higher education. That requires both a whole package of interventions to strengthen its international character and a clear message to Dutch and foreign partners and to prospective international and Dutch students. In order to bring policy, implementation, profiling and research together, The Hague University of Applied Sciences organized on 15 March 2013 an international conference for team leaders and directors, for internationalization and internship coordinators, for researchers and foreign partners and for international Dutch and foreign students. The aim was to sharpen the vision and the profile of The Hague University of Applied Sciences and to equip the participants with the ideas and the tools to engage all lecturers and students in international cooperation. After the introduction by Susana Menéndez and the keynote lecture by Lisa Childress, the workshops gave the participants an opportunity to go deeper into various aspects of internationalization and to engage actively in discussions with the workshop chairs, who introduced the topics. I hope that these proceedings will give all participants an insight in all workshops and also that non-participants can taste the fruits of this most inspiring and informative gathering.
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