Model growth – businesses owned by their employees A report by Cass Business School Professors Joseph Lampel (below left) and Ajay Bhalla (below right), with Dr Pushkar Jha from the University of Newcastle, has been incorporated into official government policy. Their findings in Model growth: Do employee-owned businesses deliver sustainable performance? were quoted at length by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg when outlining government legislation in January. The report, commissioned by the John Lewis Partnership (JLP) and Employee-Owners Associations, found that employee-owned businesses are more resilient than conventionally structured companies: they outperform the market during a downturn, demonstrate a lower risk of business failure and have higher rates of sales growth and job creation. Professor Bhalla said: "Both Professor Lampel and I are delighted to see our work recognised at governmental level. The research we conducted points to the employee-ownership model as a robust and effective business model."
New monthly REF newsletter The University Research Office has started publishing a monthly newsletter about City's preparations for the Research Excellence Framework. If you haven’t received February’s first edition earlier this month, or want to find out more, contact Jeremy Barraud, Interdisciplinary Research Development Manager.
Talking things through may help those with autism Teaching children with autism to 'talk things through in their head' may help them to solve complex day-to-day tasks and increase their chances of independent and flexible living later in life, according to research conducted at City. The study, conducted with Durham University and the University of Bristol, has been published in Development and Psychopathology. The research found that 'inner speech' is intact in children with autism, but not always used in the same way as by children developing typically. It was found that teaching and intervention strategies for children targeted at encouraging inner speech could make a difference.
Mental flexibility These strategies, including encouraging children to describe their actions out loud, have already proven useful for increasing mental flexibility among typically developing children. Those with autism spectrum disorder could for example, benefit from verbal learning of their daily school schedules rather than using a more common visual timetable. Professor Dermot Bowler, from the Department of Psychology, said: "This research highlights the importance of understanding how people on the autism spectrum often achieve high levels of task performance by deploying underlying cognitive strategies that are different from those utilised by the typical population.”
9