Healthy work environment – a challenge?

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 660-666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pia Hannele Jansson von Vultée
Keyword(s):  
Work Environment ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Organizational Context ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Organizational Setting ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Organizational Settings ◽  
Work Settings ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Employee Wellbeing

Purpose – In Sweden, leave due to sickness was high during the 1990s. The Swedish Social Insurance Agency was able to decrease sick days in the period between 2000 and 2010 but sick days are rising again in Sweden, mostly due to psychological problems among women and partly due to their work environment. It is important to find methods to identify poor work settings to prevent absenteeism due to sickness. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The authors created a web questionnaire focusing on the organizational setting and its impact on employee wellbeing – reported as mental energy, work-related exhaustion and work satisfaction. The questionnaire measures good and poor work environment factors to help managers improve organizational settings. The questionnaire was validated qualitatively and quantitatively. Findings – It is possible to measure individual wellbeing in an organizational context at an early stage. The authors followed a company undergoing organizational change and identified groups at risk of developing illness. Practical implications – Managers uncertain about employee mental status can measure employee wellbeing easily and cost effectively to prevent illness. Originality/value – The authors created a method, statistically evaluated, to proactively identify good and poor work environments to promote healthy co-workers.

Authenticity and employee wellbeing with reference to emotional work: a review

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Poonam Mehta
Keyword(s):  
Service Industry ◽  
National Level ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Surface Acting ◽  
Emotional Dissonance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Authentic Self ◽  
Work Settings ◽  
Employee Wellbeing ◽  
Emotional Work

Purpose In the service industry, there is an involvement of the human factor which comprises continuous interpersonal interactions. Sometimes, these interactions create incongruence between displayed and felt emotions which distract the employees from their authentic self and impair their well-being. This paper aims to made an attempt to review different studies to identify an association between authenticity at the workplace and employee well-being with reference to emotional work. Design/methodology/approach The different studies have been reviewed mentioning the association between authenticity at the workplace and employee well-being with reference to emotional work published during the period of 1983–2020. The database which is used to identify and extract the research papers includes APA PycNET, Business Perspectives, Elsevier, Emerald Insight, Inderscience Publishers, SAGE, Taylor and Francis, etc. The keywords used for shortlisting the studies include employee well-being, emotional work, emotional dissonance, job satisfaction, surface acting, authenticity, burnout, authentic living, self-alienation. Findings The study has determined that emotional work influences the authenticity of an employee which further impacts the well-being of employees. Research limitations/implications The present review would aid the researchers in explaining the relevance of authenticity at the workplace for enhancing the employee well-being specifically in emotional work settings. Social implications Promoting well-being at the workplace requires an action-oriented approach from the national level also. Hence, the present study may help in drawing inferences for framing well-being policies for employees at the national level. Originality/value The paper is amongst the few reviews which have analysed the substantial role of authenticity in the context of emotional work to improve employee well-being.

Slowing work down by teleworking periodically in rural settings?

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 511-528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanne Vesala ◽  
Seppo Tuomivaara
Keyword(s):  
Work Environment ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Time Pressure ◽  
Knowledge Workers ◽  
Knowledge Work ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Occupational Position ◽  
Work Related ◽  
As Stress

Purpose – The rise of knowledge work has entailed controversial characteristics for well-being at work. Increased intensification, discontinuities and interruptions at work have been reported. However, knowledge workers have the opportunity to flexibly adjust their work arrangements to support their concentration, inspiration or recuperation. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the experienced well-being of 46 knowledge workers was subject to changes during and after a retreat type telework period in rural archipelago environment. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted a longitudinal survey among the participants at three points in time: one to three weeks before, during, and two to eight weeks after the period. The authors analyzed the experienced changes in psychosocial work environment and well-being at work by the measurement period by means of repeated measures variance analysis. In the next step the authors included the group variable of occupational position to the model. Findings – The analysis showed a decrease in the following measures: experienced time pressure, interruptions, negative feelings at work, exhaustiveness of work as well as stress and an increase in work satisfaction. There were no changes in experienced job influence, clarity of work goals and work engagement. Occupational position had some effect to the changes. Private entrepreneurs and supervisors experienced more remarkable effects of improvement in work-related well-being than subordinates. However, the effects were less sustainable for the supervisors than the other two groups. Originality/value – This paper provides insights into how work and well-being are affected by the immediate work environment and how well-being at work can be supported by retreat type telework arrangements.

Individual and contextual variables in municipal officers' workplace learning

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valéria Vieira Moraes ◽  
Jairo Eduardo Borges-Andrade
Keyword(s):  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Workplace Learning ◽  
Organizational Context ◽  
Longitudinal Design ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate workplace learning among municipal officers in the high-learning-demanding organizational context of their work practice in the first year of mandate. Design/methodology/approach – A before-and-after quasi-experimental design was used to assess the effect of time of work practice on learning work requirements. Level of mastery of role-relevant knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSAs) was measured on three occasions (once before and twice after occurrence of work practice), with 126 participants. Associations have been tested between this learning and level of education, previous experience, use of learning strategies at work, population size of municipalities and participatory public planning. Findings – Findings suggest that the municipal officers showed learning of KSAs but no change in their attitude toward public administration. This learning has been positively associated to size of the municipalities, previous professional experience and learning strategies, especially regarding the cognitive strategy “intrinsic and extrinsic reflection”. A possible positive effect of the use of participatory planning on this learning could have been detected if measures were taken after 11 months. Research limitations/implications – The generalization of findings is limited, as data are restricted to the southern and southeastern regions of Brazil, in municipalities in which mayors belong to a given political party. Practical implications – The study brought useful information that may contribute to provide some clues, to municipal officers and their parties, on how to accelerate the required learning that should take place right after election. Social implications – The practical implications may be cautiously used in organizations in general. Originality/value – The feasibility of a longitudinal design to measure work-related learning was shown. Options for more comprehensive studies that may better define the phenomenon of workplace learning and identify its relationships with other variables have been demonstrated.

Motivation and knowledge sharing: a meta-analysis of main and moderating effects

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 998-1016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuyet-Mai Nguyen ◽  
Tuan Phong Nham ◽  
Fabian Jintae Froese ◽  
Ashish Malik
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Organizational Context ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Avoidance Performance ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Organizational Setting ◽  
Moderating Effects ◽  
Content Type

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation on knowledge sharing and the moderating effects of individual demographics, organizational context and cultural context in that relationship. Design/methodology/approach This study conducted a meta-analysis of 44 studies involving 14,023 participants to examine the direct and moderating effects of motivation on knowledge sharing. Findings Results revealed that both extrinsic and intrinsic motivational factors were associated with higher levels of knowledge sharing, while the effect was stronger for intrinsic motivation. Moreover, results revealed that substantial variance was explained by moderating variables. Further investigation revealed that individual characteristics (age, gender), organizational context (organizational setting vs. open system, IT infrastructure) and cultural context (collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, performance orientation, power distance) moderated the motivation and knowledge sharing relationship. Research limitations/implications As a meta-analysis, this study is confined to variables that have been frequently analyzed in prior research. Future research could further increase our understanding of different types of knowledge sharing and various boundary conditions. Practical implications Organizations should provide customized incentive systems to specific target groups to align motivation and knowledge sharing. Multinational organizations may consider different motivation schemes across countries to better suit cultural differences. Originality/value Despite a growing number of studies highlighting the important role of motivation in predicting knowledge sharing, the evidence is mixed. Based on a meta-analysis, this study identified true relationships and identified moderating effects that help explain prior mixed results.

Police officers’ perceptions of the challenges involved in Internet Child Exploitation investigation

2014 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 543-557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martine B. Powell ◽  
Peter Cassematis ◽  
Mairi S. Benson ◽  
Stephen Smallbone ◽  
Richard Wortley
Keyword(s):  
Work Environment ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Physical Work ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Telephone Interviews ◽  
Child Exploitation ◽  
Physical Work Environment ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore police officers’ perceptions of the challenges and work stressors of working in Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) investigation. Design/methodology/approach – Participants were a heterogeneous sample of 32 ICE investigators across nine Australian jurisdictions. Officers’ perceptions of ICE work were elicited via individual, open-ended, anonymous, telephone interviews, which focused on both the nature and impact of work-related stressors and challenges. Findings – Thematic analysis revealed that viewing ICE material was not perceived to be a major stressor or particularly traumatic facet of ICE investigation. Rather, the challenges related to three areas; work relationships, workload and resources and the physical environment. Participants also suggested some improvements to their work environment which could reduce the impact of these challenges. Practical implications – The stressors identified by ICE investigators in this study place physical, psychological and social restrictions on investigative capacity. Modifications to the workplace environment that facilitate more effective professional collaboration, reduce workload and enhance investigator efficiency and functionality of the physical work environment would likely reduce the potential for harm associated with ICE investigation and improve ICE investigators’ capacity to perform their role. Originality/value – This is the first study to use a broad research framework to examine the full range of stressors that ICE investigators face (both organisational and operational). The findings are important for developing comprehensive theories regarding workplace traumatisation as well as holistic intervention models to assist the prevention and management of stress related to ICE investigation.

The “Green Mile”: crystallization ethnography in an emotive context

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda C. Tallberg ◽  
Peter J. Jordan ◽  
Maree Boyle
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Organizational Context ◽  
Organizational Setting ◽  
Ethnographic Methods ◽  
Animal Shelter ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Work Tasks ◽  
Shelter Workers ◽  
Research Findings

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss emotions within a highly emotive organizational setting through the use of crystallization. The authors contend that the expression of a researcher's positionality as a presence within their research is crucial in contexts where conventional research approaches are unable to capture the depth of the phenomenon under study. The paper argues that the presentation of research findings from highly emotional organizational context will benefit from a challenge to traditional ways of representing and communicating the researcher's experience. As an example of this, in this paper the authors examine the emotions involved in experiencing animal euthanasia in a work context. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws ethnographic methods of fieldwork in an Australian animal shelter. The paper uses autoethnography and interview data. Findings – Euthanasia is one of the most tolling experiences for animal shelter workers. This paper reveals that through a creative representation this experience may come induce understanding of the emotive context. Furthermore, the employees adapt one or more story-lines to deal with the conflict of euthanasia. Originality/value – The strength of this paper is that it uses a novel approach to present findings in the form of crystallization. It also furthers insight on how organizational members explain their involvement in emotive work-tasks.

Moderation effect of social support and personal resources between emotional work and employee wellbeing

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Poonam Mehta ◽  
Jyoti Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Interaction Effect ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Social Resources ◽  
Personal Resources ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Moderation Effect ◽  
Work Settings ◽  
Employee Wellbeing ◽  
Emotional Work

PurposeThere is dearth of studies in the literature which have discussed the relevance of personal and social resources of employees to protect them from adverse impacts of emotional job demands. However, interaction effect of these two resources on wellbeing of the employees in context to emotional work is inadequate. The present study is aimed to address the existing gap and investigate the relevance of personal and social resources as moderators in the presence of each other between emotional work and employee wellbeing.Design/methodology/approachThe research work has focused on employees working on frontline profiles of civil aviation industry of north India. The responses of 720 frontline employees have been collected through pretested questionnaire. To understand the moderation effect of two variables, model number 3 developed by Hayes (2012) has been applied.FindingsThe findings have revealed that moderator role of social support between emotional work and employee wellbeing. However, research has pointed out that at high level of social support personal resources of employees' start to decline which subsequently reduces the wellbeing of employees.Research limitations/implicationsThe present research work has analysed the moderated moderation effect of personal and social resources between emotional work and employee wellbeing. Besides, the relative significance of personal resources vis-a vis social resources empirically in context of employee wellbeing in case of emotional work has also been highlighted in the work.Practical implicationsThe results of the study have suggested the employees to receive less social support from friends, family and other significant relationships to protect their personal resources in emotional work settings. Moreover, research work has implicated for employers to draw out the various interventions through which personal resources of employees can be enhanced in emotional work settings. Also, the research has assisted in designing the key competencies for different job domains of emotional work setups.Social implicationsThe present study is very substantial in offering various parameters over which wellbeing policies for individuals can be framed. Also, the study has outlined the consequences of receiving different levels of social support which is applicable for that set of population who wants to enhance their personal resources for attaining high wellbeing.Originality/valueThe study has empirically investigated interaction effect of social and personal resources of employees between emotional work and employee wellbeing which is scarce in the literature. Besides, a dark side of social support in emotional work context has also been highlighted which was scarcely discussed in emotional work settings previously.

Workspace transitions: conceptualizing and measuring person–space fit and examining its role in workplace outcomes and social network activity

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Bankins ◽  
Maria Tomprou ◽  
ByeongJo Kim
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Work Environment ◽  
Network Activity ◽  
Physical Work ◽  
Environment Interaction ◽  
Perceived Fit ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Person Environment Fit ◽  
Growing Body

PurposeAlthough the physical environment provides an important context for employees' work, there remain divergent findings regarding how different spatial settings, such as more open or more closed workspaces, impact employees. Employing research on the functions of the physical work environment, we contribute to a growing body of research on employees' interactions with their workspace by developing and measuring the notion of person–space fit (P-S fit). This construct affords examination of the multi-dimensional nature of employees' interactions with their workspaces, to understand how their perceived fit with the key functions of their workspace impacts their experiences and social network activity at work.Design/methodology/approachWe first develop a new P-S fit scale and test its factorial, convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity over other person–environment fit concepts (N = 155). Next, in a naturally-occurring, quasi-field experiment of a workspace change intervention moving employees from predominantly closed workspace to more open workspace (N = 47 pre-move; N = 37 post-move), we examine how changes in both workspace layout and P-S fit impact workers' experiences of their workspaces (needs for task privacy and spaciousness) and collaborative behaviors (social network activity).FindingsOur P-S fit scale consists of theoretically and empirically validated dimensions representing fit with four workspace functions: aesthetic fit; identity fit; instrumental fit; and collaboration fit. Instrumental fit is positively associated with experiences of task privacy, whereas aesthetic fit and identity fit positively associated with experiences of spaciousness, but no forms of fit were related to social network activity. However, the findings show that work-related social network ties tended to decrease, and new ones were less likely to form, in open office spaces.Originality/valueContributing to a growing body of research linking person–environment fit literature to workspace design, this study offers a new scale assessing P-S fit and provides some empirical evidence of its importance for understanding the complexity of the employee-work environment interaction.

Bringing Islamic tradition back to management development

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Kashif ◽  
Ernest Cyril De Run ◽  
Mohsin Abdul Rehman ◽  
Hiram Ting
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Organizational Setting ◽  
Common People ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Organizational Settings ◽  
Coding Schemes ◽  
Islamic Tradition ◽  
Five Elements ◽  
Islamic Faith ◽  
Muslim Scholars

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to understand the practice of Dawah among Muslims by discovering its perceived motives and benefits that can be replicated to organizational settings. Furthermore, the motives and benefits of performing Islamic Dawah are tied together to establish a Dawah based framework to foster ethical decision making in organizations. Design/methodology/approach – This qualitative study is based on interviews conducted among 40 male Muslims from Pakistan. The sample consists of Muslim scholars having strong religious knowledge, younger people and old-age Muslims. The data collected through the interviews are transcribed and content-analysed by using multiple coding schemes. Findings – The Islamic Dawah-based framework is based on five elements, which are self-reform, transcendence, complacency, dutifulness and pridefulness. The findings reveal that Muslim scholars put much emphasis on sharing of Islamic faith and livelihood among the members of the community, while the common people, both from the younger and older generations, are more concerned with establishing their own understanding of the Islamic value system and self-improvement. Aside from the spiritual impact that Dawah has on them, the role of family members in stimulating the practice of Dawah is highlighted. Practical implications – The study has managerial relevance in a way that the highlighted themes represented by a framework can be replicated to an organizational setting to impart a culture of ethicality which is purely based on Islamic tradition. The roles of peers, CEO and self-correction are pivotal to establishment of an ethical workplace culture. Originality/value – This study extends marketing knowledge in general and internal marketing knowledge specifically by presenting a first-ever Islamic Dawah-based model to foster workplace ethics.

Measuring quantitative and qualitative aspects of the job insecurity climate

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 202-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lena Låstad ◽  
Erik Berntson ◽  
Katharina Näswall ◽  
Petra Lindfors ◽  
Magnus Sverke
Keyword(s):  
Work Environment ◽  
Family Conflict ◽  
Job Insecurity ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Work Family Conflict ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Confirmatory Factor Analyses ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Work Family

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a measure of job insecurity climate by: first, testing whether job insecurity climate and individual job insecurity are two separate constructs; and second, investigating the relative importance of individual job insecurity and job insecurity climate in predicting work-related and health-related outcomes. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected by questionnaires in a simple stratified random sample of 1,380 white-collar workers in Sweden. The response rate was 56 percent. Findings – Confirmatory factor analyses showed that job insecurity climate was distinct from individual job insecurity. Four separate ridge regression analyses showed that qualitative job insecurity climate was a significant predictor of demands, work-family conflict, psychological distress, and poor self-rated health and that quantitative job insecurity climate predicted demands and work-family conflict. Research limitations/implications – The study is based on self-reports, which may involve common method bias. The cross-sectional study design limits the possibility to make causal inferences regarding the relationship between job insecurity climate and outcomes. Practical implications – Future studies may consider measuring job insecurity climate in line with a referent-shift model. Work environment surveys in organizations that include measures of individual job insecurity and job insecurity climate can provide practitioners with a fuller picture of the psychosocial work environment. Originality/value – The present study adds to previous research by introducing a new approach to measuring and conceptualizing job insecurity climate.

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