Academic literature on the topic 'Design organisationnel – Québec (Province)'

The regional analysis of floods is a valuable tool in design and management of hydraulic structures such as dams, dikes, and spillways, especially for ungauged sites. Three homogeneous regions have been established through the use of a discordancy test and a homogeneity test on a total of 136 natural or quasi-natural rivers within the territory of the province of Quebec. It is then shown that the generalized standardized regional distribution of extreme values, adjusted by the L-moments, adequately describes the daily floods within each of the three regions. The quality of the adjustment of the regional distributions has successfully been verified through an extensive test applied to each site. Procedures for the use of the results of the regional analysis are also suggested.Key words: flood, regional analysis, homogeneity, province of Quebec.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the main factors and mechanisms that govern the price of cider, and to apply the analysis to the price of ciders in the Province of Québec, Canada. Design/methodology/approach The analysis is following the methodology applied to the determinants of the price of wine. A model for the price of cider is estimated with 70 prices representing five regions and five types of products. Findings The analysis is limited to one geographical factor, i.e. the region of origin and factors related to the producer, i.e. the age and the size of the firm. The results conclude on the importance of geographical factors related to the region of origin. The relationship between the price of ciders and the region of origin is statistically significant at the 1 percent level for two regions and shows a high premium for ciders produced in these two regions. Production factors related to the age and the size of the production unit although showing the expected sign are not statistically significant to conclude on the impact. There is a small premium for producing effervescent cider compared to still or rosé cider but the most statistically significant results at a 1 percent level are for ice ciders and fortified ciders which are two typical products from Québec. Research limitations/implications The analysis has important potential implications on the role of certification of origin. Cider regions in Québec, Canada have recently defined quality standards applied to specialties like Ice cider and Fire ciders. The choice of high quality products is reflected in the premium associated to the price of these products. Originality/value Contrary to the wine sector, there is a lack of research and literature on the determinants of the price of ciders. This study is the first to propose a pricing model to examine some of the determinants of prices.

Introduction. Healthcare reforms launched in the early 2000s in Québec, Canada, involved the implementation of new forms of primary healthcare (PHC) organizations: Family Medicine Groups (FMGs) and Network Clinics (NCs). The objective of this paper is to assess how the organizational changes associated with these reforms have impact on patients’ experience of care, use of services, and unmet needs. Methods. We conducted population and organization surveys in 2005 and 2010 in two regions of the province of Québec. The design was a before-and-after natural experiment. Changes over time between new models and other practices were assessed using difference-in-differences statistical procedures. Results. Accessibility decreased between 2003 and 2010, but less so in the treatment than in the comparison group. Continuity of care generally improved, but the increase was less for patients in the treatment group. Responsiveness also increased during the period and more so in the treatment group. There was no other significant difference between the two groups. Conclusion. PHC reform in Québec has brought about major organizational changes that have translated into slight improvements in accessibility of care and responsiveness. However, the reform does not seem to have had an impact on continuity, comprehensiveness, perceived care outcomes, use of services, and unmet needs.

Purpose: To report the outcomes of a Health at Every Size (HAES) intervention in a real-world setting. Design: Quasi-experimental design evaluating eating behaviors and psychological factors. Setting: The HAES intervention is offered in Health and Social Services Centers in Québec (Canada). Participants: For this study, 216 women (body mass index [BMI]: 35.76 [6.80] kg/m2) who participated to the HAES intervention were compared to 110 women (BMI: 34.56 [7.30] kg/m2) from a comparison group. Intervention: The HAES intervention is composed of 14 weekly meetings provided by health professionals. It focuses on healthy lifestyle, self-acceptance, and intuitive eating. Measures: Eating behaviors (ie, flexible restraint, rigid restraint, disinhibition, susceptibility to hunger, intuitive eating, and obsessive-compulsive eating) and psychological correlates (ie, body esteem, self-esteem, and depression) were assessed using validated questionnaires at baseline, postintervention, and 1-year follow-up. Analysis: Group, time, and interaction effects analyzed with mixed models. Results: Significant group by time interactions were found for flexible restraint ( P = .0400), disinhibition ( P < .0001), susceptibility to hunger ( P < .0001), intuitive eating ( P < .0001), obsessive–compulsive eating ( P < .0001), body-esteem ( P < .0001), depression ( P = .0057), and self-esteem ( P < .0001), where women in the HAES group showed greater improvements than women in the comparison group at short and/or long term. Conclusion: The evaluation of this HAES intervention in a real-life context showed its effectiveness in improving eating-, weight-, and psychological-related variables among women struggling with weight and body image.

Purpose In a highly competitive market, the price of wine is a variable controlled by suppliers to suggest a level of quality. An index of relative firm position in the market based on relative prices is calculated for a sample of wine producers. The purpose of the paper is to analyze some of the factors related to the characteristics of a firm and quality that may explain the price strategy of wine producers in a new and small wine region, i.e. Québec province in Canada. Design/methodology/approach Data on types of wines and prices are collected from a sample of 40 small wine producers in Québec, Canada for the selected years 2008, 2010 and 2015. Findings The authors demonstrate that a high price strategy is significantly related to the reputation of the vineyard rather than the age of the domain, the size or the number of wines produced. Research limitations/implications The analysis has been carried out based on a data set of only 40 firms for which the price-position index could be calculated. Unfortunately, only limited information is available on producers and production volumes. Practical implications This analysis is of particular relevance for small or new wine-producing regions, which lack an established reputation. Because wine quality and taste differ by geographic origin and variety, new wine-producing regions may have opportunities to define a wine’s image (or a winery image) and the producer must inform the market on quality of the wine by reflecting it on the final selling price. Originality/value Prior works on the analysis of the price-quality relationship give rise to various and sometimes contradictory results. This analysis is of particular relevance to explain the price strategy of small wine producers in a strongly competitive market where the price remains an obvious commercial argument to signal the quality of a wine.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to verify whether the horizontal grab bar for the toilet and the bathtub suggested by the Code du bâtiment du Québec conform to users’ preferences. Perceived effort, comfort and safety were considered. Design/methodology/approach In total, 31 adults and seniors using manual and powered wheelchairs were asked to test different grab bar configurations for both the toilet and bathtub. A questionnaire was designed to evaluate participants’ perceptions and preferences after the trials with each grab bar. Effort was measured using the ten-level Borg scale, while participants’ comfort and safety were assessed with a five-point Likert scale. Participants were finally invited to express an overall personal preference between the two grab bar used in each setup. Findings Participants showed preference for an L-shaped grab bar for the toilet, and a horizontal grab bar for the bathtub. The authors’ results differ from the recommendations of the barrier-free design standards of the province of Quebec’s construction code, which states that horizontal grab bars should be used for the toilet and bathtub. Originality/value This study suggest that despite the limited sample, there is an undeniable need for testing norms for public spaces, whenever is possible and has a direct effect on end-users, before publishing them.

Site index is a common and convenient indicator of forest site productivity. The concept is well suited for growth and yield predictions, although there appears to be no universal consensus on the type or number of site trees needed for its application. We compared four methods for assessing site quality using data from black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP) stands of northeastern Québec. Data were analysed with a univariate repeated measures analysis of variance design using the MIXED procedure of the SAS system. Significant differences were found between the method based on the mean height of the 100 largest trees per hectare and three other methods that calculate site index using information from average site trees (codominants and dominants) and an equation to estimate top height from stand level data. We concur with many others that using the mean height of the 100 largest trees per hectare is a more standard procedure than simple averages of codominant and dominant tree heights for site quality assessment and growth modelling. We recommend that the next yield table system developed in the province should be based on top height trees, instead of using average codominants and dominants and an equation to estimate dominant height. Key words: site index, top height, yield table, site trees

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study a medication distribution technology's (MDT) impact on medication errors reported in public nursing homes in Québec Province. Design/methodology/approach – The work was carried out in six nursing homes (800 patients). Medication error data were collected from nursing staff through a voluntary reporting process before and after MDT was implemented. The errors were analysed using: totals errors; medication error type; severity and patient consequences. A statistical analysis verified whether there was a significant difference between the variables before and after introducing MDT. Findings – The results show that the MDT detected medication errors. The authors' analysis also indicates that errors are detected more rapidly resulting in less severe consequences for patients. Practical implications – MDT is a step towards safer and more efficient medication processes. Our findings should convince healthcare administrators to implement technology such as electronic prescriber or bar code medication administration systems to improve medication processes and to provide better healthcare to patients. Originality/value – Few studies have been carried out in long-term healthcare facilities such as nursing homes. The authors' study extends what is known about MDT's impact on medication errors in nursing homes.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to draw on recent developments in the open innovation literature to explore whether the openness of SMEs to the four categories of external sources of information (ESI) is complementary, substitute or independent, while assessing the determinants of SMEs’ openness to these ESI. Design/methodology/approach This research is based on data from a survey of 451 manufacturing SMEs in the province of Québec, Canada. Data have been elaborated through a multivariate probit model to empirically show that SMEs are considered to be simultaneously open to different ESI. The results of this study show significant heterogeneity in the determinants of SMEs’ openness to these ESI. Findings The study found that the SMEs’ openness to different ESI seems to be complementary rather than substitute; and not all variables included in the model explain the SMEs’ openness to the different ESI. Practical implications The paper provides practical implications for managers and policy makers including the SMEs’ managers’ role to recognize the consolidation of different ESI jointly instead of separately. Furthermore, managers and policy makers should attempt to provide a fair context to SMEs to manage their openness ecosystem. Originality/value This study is virtually the first to investigate both the complementarity and the determinants of SMEs’ openness to different ESI using a sophisticated econometric model.

Background: Most studies on euthanasia fail to explain the intentions of health professionals when faced with performing euthanasia and are atheoretical. Research objective: The purpose of this study was to identify the psychosocial determinants of nurses’ intention to practise euthanasia in palliative care if it were legalised. Research design: A cross-sectional study using a validated anonymous questionnaire based on an extended version of the Theory of Planned Behaviour. Participants and research context: A random sample of 445 nurses from the province of Quebec, Canada, was selected for participation in the study. Ethical considerations: The study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of the Centre hospitalier universitaire de Québec. Findings: The response rate was 44.2% and the mean score for intention was 4.61 ± 1.90 (range: 1–7). The determinants of intention were the subjective (odds ratio = 3.08; 95% confidence interval: 1.50–6.35) and moral (odds ratio = 2.95; 95% confidence interval: 1.58–5.49) norms. Specific beliefs which could discriminate nurses according to their level of intention were identified. Discussion: Overall, nurses have a slightly positive intention to practise euthanasia. Their family approval seems particularly important and also the approval of their medical colleagues. Nurses’ moral norm was related to beneficence, an ethical principle. Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first study to identify nurses’ motivations to practise euthanasia in palliative care using a validated psychosocial theory. It also has the distinction of identifying the ethical principles underlying nurses’ moral norm and intention.

En justice pénale, de nombreux outils d'évaluation sont utilisés afin d'éclairer la magistrature avant qu'une peine ne soit ordonnée. Chez les contrevenants mineurs, la confection d'un rapport prédécisionnel peut être ordonnée par le tribunal. Ce rapport permet de jeter un regard sur la situation de l'adolescent et sur son milieu pour déterminer le risque de récidive qu'il représente. À la fin du rapport, des recommandations sur la peine seront formulées en ce sens. Au Québec, ce sont des intervenants sociaux (délégués à la jeunesse) qui sont mandatés pour exécuter ce type d'évaluation. Les recherches scientifiques demeurent très limitées concernant le contexte de travail chez les délégués à la jeunesse, particulièrement en ce qui concerne le processus de rédaction des rapports prédécisionnels. Cette étude s'appuie sur la théorie de l'acteur stratégique. Selon ses auteurs, Michel Crozier et Erhard Friedberg (1977), il existe un écart entre la pratique théorique des acteurs d'une organisation et leurs actions réelles. L'utilisation de ce cadre théorique permet de mieux saisir les différentes influences auxquelles peuvent être assujettis les délégués qui œuvrent au sein d'une organisation et qui peuvent expliquer cet écart. Un Centre jeunesse au Québec a constitué le site de recherche et des entrevues individuelles ont été réalisées auprès de sept délégués à la jeunesse. Cette recherche de nature exploratoire révèle, d'une part, que différents éléments du contexte organisationnel dans lequel œuvre le délégué à la jeunesse peuvent influer sur le processus de construction de ses rapports prédécisionnels (entre autres, des pressions vécues au travail). D'autre part, il apparaît qu'au-delà de leur contexte de travail, d'autres facteurs plus subjectifs (les valeurs individuelles et la perception variable de la sévérité de la peine, par exemple) semblent intervenir chez les délégués dans la rédaction de leurs rapports et influer sur le choix des recommandations de peine.

Notre étude s’attarde à décrire et à comprendre la négociation de sens (Wenger, 2005) telle qu’elle s’est déroulée chez une équipe du MELS ayant adopté la communauté de pratique comme dispositif de développement professionnel. Cette communauté, responsable de la mise en œuvre du plan d’action pour l’amélioration du français, se consacre à la formation et l’accompagnement des personnels de français des écoles primaires et secondaires du Québec. La collecte de données s’est déroulée sur une période de quatre ans. Inspirée de l’ethnographie, la méthodologie s’appuie sur l’observation participante à distance et en présence des travaux de cette communauté et la prise de notes. L’analyse de documents de travail incluant les traces écrites d’un forum électronique, la conduite d’entrevues et l’administration d’un questionnaire ont complété l’arsenal de collecte qui a été déployé tout au long. Une analyse croisée des données recueillies a permis de mettre en évidence avec plus d’acuité, à la fois, les processus clefs et les objets de la négociation de sens. Par la suite, nous avons dégagé de cette analyse les composants du dispositif de développement professionnel que la communauté s’est consacrée à édifier.
Our study focuses on describing and understanding the negotiation of meaning (Wenger, 2005) as it unfolded among members of a team from the Ministère de l'Éducation, des loisirs et du sport (MELS), who adopted the community of practice model of professional development. This community was in charge of implementing the action plan for improving the quality of French. It provided training and support for teachers of primary- and secondary-school French in Quebec. The data-gathering process took place over a period of four years. Ethnography-based methodology emphasized distance participant observation, meaning being present while the community carried out its work, and note-taking. An analysis of the community’s working documents (including the written record of an electronic forum), the conducting of interviews, and the administering of a survey were the other elements that completed the data-gathering process used throughout. A cross-sectional analysis of the data gathered made it possible to sort out and highlight more clearly the key processes and point to the specific purposes that the negotiation of meaning espoused in context. We then drew from this analysis the components of the professional-development program that the community devoted its energies to constructing.

Depuis la création d’un État providence à la fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, en passant par les tendances à la rationalisation des années 80 et avec plus récemment l’émergence d’innovation technologique et de nouvelles formes de production et de diffusion du savoir, l’université a fait l’objet de nombreux débats concernant sa mission et son rôle au sein de la société. En réponse à ces discussions et à ces questionnements qui caractérisent l’environnement social et économique dans lequel évolue cette institution, l’université a été amenée à introduire des changements quant aux formes de production de savoirs et quant à la place et au rôle de ses principales parties prenantes internes (administrateurs, académiques, étudiants) et externes (gouvernements, entreprises) au sein de ces mêmes changements. Le but étant pour l’université de se forger une place de premier plan dans des sociétés où la performance économique dépend de plus en plus du savoir et de l’éducation, notamment. Cependant, peu de recherches se sont intéressées à rendre compte, à l’appui d’une approche d’analyse intégrée qui repose sur des niveaux d’analyse macro, méso et micro, des principales mutations qui ont marqué et marquent plus encore aujourd’hui l’université. Tentant de pallier cette faiblesse, cette thèse a pour objectif de traiter, à partir d’un triple plan qui intègre le contexte, le contenu et le processus de changement, les principales transformations qui ont eu cours au sein de l’institution universitaire. Le premier article de cette thèse vise à déterminer si l’université comme organisation pluraliste est en mesure d’évoluer vers une configuration post-bureaucratique. Par une analyse du discours de quatre méta-acteurs à l’occasion de trois moments de changement clés qui ont marqué l’université québécoise, cet article souhaite mettre en évidence que l’université a évolué par sédimentation dans sa configuration, sur la base de consensus fragiles portant sur une cohabitation difficile entre des valeurs sociales-démocrates versus de rationalisation. Dans ce contexte, l’évolution vers une configuration post-bureaucratique requerrait des actions en réponse à cette ambiguïté stratégique notamment à l’initiative des professeurs et des administrateurs, ainsi que l’intégration d’un nouvel acteur qu’est l’industrie, sans toutefois remettre en cause les consensus déjà existants. Le deuxième article de cette thèse tente de rendre compte de la manière dont l’identité académique se définie en réaction à une orientation néolibérale de l’université. À l’appui d’une métasynthèse de 19 III articles qualitatifs et empiriques s’étant intéressés aux impacts du New Public Management et du managérialisme sur l’identité des membres du personnel académique universitaire, cet article souhaite mettre en exergue la manière dont ces individus définissent/redéfinissent leur identité à la lumière du travail institutionnel et du type d’agence mobilisés par ces acteurs. Les académiques gagneraient alors et notamment à développer une agentivité projective ainsi qu’à diversifier leurs lieux de support afin de rendre moins difficile leur expérience identitaire managériale. Enfin, le troisième chapitre de cette thèse cherche à répertorier les formes d’engagement étudiant face à l’émergence croissante d’un mouvement. À partir d’une analyse inductive générale, ce chapitre souhaite mieux comprendre l’expérience individuelle d’engagement étudiant et ainsi à rendre compte de la manière dont l’individu représentant étudiant s’engage et agit au sein de son engagement en contexte de changement émergent. Les représentants étudiants ne semblent pas alors se rejoindre dans leur engagement, ce dont témoignent les activités de grassroots leadership qui sont mobilisés par ces individus en réponse à l’émergence d’un changement.
Since the creation of a welfare state at the end of World War II, going through the rationalization trends of the 80's and more recently the emergence of technological innovation and new forms of knowledge production and dissemination, the university has been at the center of numerous debates concerning its mission and its role within society. In response to these discussions and questions reflecting the social and economic environment in which this institution operates, the university was led to introduce changes in the forms of knowledge production as well as the status and role of its main internal (administrators, academics, students) and external (governments, companies) stakeholders in the process of these changes. The goal for the university is to put itself in a leading position in societies in which economic performance is increasingly dependent on knowledge and education. However, little research has focused on reporting, through an integrated approach based on macro, meso and micro levels of analysis, the main mutations that have marked and mark even more the university nowadays. Trying to remedy this weakness, this thesis aims to deal with the main transformations the institution has experienced, on a triple plan that integrates the context, content and process of change. The first article of this thesis aims to determine whether the university as a pluralist organization is able to evolve towards a post-bureaucratic configuration. By a discourse analysis of four meta-actors of three key moments of change that marked the Québec university, this article wishes to highlight that the university has evolved by sedimentation in its configuration, based on a fragile consensus on a difficult cohabitation between social democratic values versus rationalization ones. In this context, the evolution towards a postbureaucratic configuration would require actions in response to this strategic ambiguity, particularly those initiated by teachers and administrators. It would also require as well a new actor that is the industry, without however challenging the already existing consensus. The second article of this thesis attempts to account for the way in which academic identity is defined in reaction to a neo-liberal orientation of the university. Based on a meta-synthesis of 19 qualitative and empirical articles that investigated the impacts of New Public Management and managerialism on the identity of the members of the academic staff of universities, this article tries to highlight how these individuals define / redefine their identity V in light of institutional work and the type of agency mobilized by these actors. Academics then would particularly benefit from developing a projective agency and diversifying their places of support in order to make their managerial identity experience less difficult. Finally, the third chapter of this thesis seeks to make an inventory of the forms of student engagement in the face of the growing emergence of a movement. Based on a general inductive analysis, this chapter attempts to understand better the individual experience of student engagement. Thus, it seeks to give an account of the way in which the individual student representative engages and acts within his engagement in a context of emergent change. Student representatives do not seem to meet in their engagement, as evidenced by the grassroots leadership activities that are mobilized by these individuals in response to the emergence of change.

How and why the scale of streets and squares has evolved from intimate and human settings to the contemporary neglect of human needs in open space is the focus of investigation in this research. An understanding of the concept of "human scale" establishes the variables that characterize humanly-scaled open space, which in turn identify transformations in the urban environment. In addition, the origins and development of zoning regulations help to trace the factors that degrade urban space and influence the loss of human scale. This loss has been identified in the adaptation of pre-industrial urban space to the novelties of technological and industrial expansion. The complexity of solutions to such issues as traffic congestion, the urgent need for new housing accommodation, overcrowding and hygienic problems influenced the new regulations that directly altered human scale through changes in street dimensions, land use patterns and size of houses and lots. In post-WW II developments these regulations became the single design tool and they greatly impeded the establishment of human scale. Recent changes in urban design practice and the reintroduction of human scale to the design of open space are not only a demonstration of increasing sensitivity towards aesthetic qualities but also a product of the new socio-economic and environmental climate. Through analysis of compositional laws and the planning practice of different Montreal residential neighborhoods over the last hundred years the author demonstrates how visual quality and human scale are the product of a complex series of socio-economic, technical and political issues.

Ce mémoire documente l’utilisation d’outils du Web 2.0 (site Web, médias sociaux, crowdsourcing) dans un processus d’aménagement collaboratif hybride afin de tester et d’évaluer des approches alternatives pour impliquer des participants, citoyens et experts dans la conception de scénarios d’adaptation aux changements climatiques à l’échelle locale. Menée à l’été 2013 dans le cadre du projet Changements climatiques et transformation urbaine, l’étude a permis de tester différentes stratégies d’utilisation de la plateforme de crowdsourcing Crowdbrite alliant collaboration en ligne et concertation face à face. Un constat clair en ressort : les approches collaboratives en ligne offrent plusieurs potentiels pour augmenter les capacités des orchestrateurs et des participants lors de certaines phases du processus d’aménagement collaboratif (mobilisation, information et cueillette de données factuelles). Cependant, la coprésence entre les acteurs demeure essentielle pour aborder des enjeux complexes et intangibles, et primordiale pour atteindre des niveaux d’interaction favorisant la collaboration et la concertation entre les participants. Mots-clés : design urbain, aménagement collaboratif, participation citoyenne, crowdsourcing, Web 2.0.
This master’s thesis presents an engagement strategy using mixed media (Web site, social media, crowdsourcing) in a collaborative planning process taking place in summer 2013 as part of the research-action project Changements climatiques et transformations urbaines. Using the crowdsourcing platform Crowdbrite, the case study tested and compared different engagement strategies (Web collaboration and face-to-face consensus building) to involve citizens and experts in a hybrid collaborative planning process and evaluated its potentials and limits according to the concept of usability. One clear outcome emerged from this experience: collaborative Web strategies hold much potential to increase both orchestrators’ and participants’ capacities when applied to phases of the process like mobilisation, information and data collection. However, the simultaneous presence of stakeholders remains essential to tackle complex and ‘wicked’ urban problems, and to attain interaction levels that promote collaboration between participants. Key words : urban design, collaborative planning, citizen participation, crowdsourcing, Web 2.0.