Functional diversity appropriateness

2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 709-725
Author(s):  
Josette M. P. Gevers ◽  
Boudewijn A. Driedonks ◽  
Mariann Jelinek ◽  
Arjan J. van Weele

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how perceptions of team performance and teamwork processes relate to functional diversity appropriateness perceptions (FDAP), that is, whether one believes that the right functions are represented in a team. Thereby, the authors distinguish between perceptions of team managers and team members. Design/methodology/approach – The study involved a cross-sectional survey study among 48 sourcing teams from 12 multinational companies, all from different industries. Findings – Members’ and managers’ congruent perceptions of performance showed differential relationships with their perceptions of the team’s functional diversity appropriateness. For managers, perceptions of team performance and functional diversity appropriateness were directly and positively related. For team members, this relationship was moderated by teamwork behavior. Moreover, unlike team members, purchasing managers did not consider functionally diverse teams to be more suitable for executing sourcing tasks. Research limitations/implications – This study identified teamwork behavior as a critical element for explaining the differences in FDAP of members and managers of sourcing teams. Practical implications – Rather than homogenizing team structures, managers should stimulate good teamwork behavior that allows for an the integration of interests and insights from different functional areas. Originality/value – This study adds to functional diversity literature as well as perceptual distance literature by revealing how different team effectiveness criteria shape managers’ and members’ perceptions of functional diversity appropriateness.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jodie Louise Stewart ◽  
Karl Kilian Konrad Wiener

Purpose This paper aims to examine the quality of the relationship between a supervisor and their subordinate, conceptualised as leader member exchange (LMX), and the mediating influence of subordinate’s job embeddedness on job satisfaction. The LMX model considered the four-gender dominant leadership style facets, female – affect and loyalty (communal), and male – contribution and professional respect (agentic). Social role theory was applied to explain societies influence on leadership style. The moderating influence of supervisor gender on the relationship of LMX facets and subordinate embeddedness is investigated. Design/methodology/approach This cross-sectional survey study of 213 self-selected employed participants investigated the mediation of job embeddedness LMX and job embeddedness and the moderation impact of supervisor gender on this mediation. Findings Job embeddedness mediated the relationship between all four facets of LMX and job satisfaction. Supervisor gender did not moderate the relationships of the four LMX facets and job embeddedness. These findings highlight the potential impact of a homogeniuos sample in relation to industry type and culture as this may impact on the findings. That is, participants in this study were predominantly females working in female dominant industries. Originality/value This study builds on the work of Collins et al. (2014) who examined the moderating impact of subordinate gender on the mediating relationship of job embeddedness on the relationship between LMX facets and job satisfaction. Previously, the gender role of supervisors on this relationship was not explored.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-26
Author(s):  
Tinna Elfstrand Corlin ◽  
Ali Kazemi

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe three different approaches to work in elderly care (i.e. professional, market-oriented and person-centred) and examine whether these theoretically derived approaches can be confirmed empirically. Additional aims were to examine the endorsement of these approaches and whether there were differences in the endorsement of these approaches in nursing home vs home care and municipality vs privately run care units. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected using a cross-sectional survey study of frontline care staff (n=1,342). Exploratory factor analysis was used to investigate the empirical validity of the proposed approaches to work in elderly care. A series of paired and independent samples t-tests were conducted to analyse mean differences between the proposed approaches to work. Findings A principal axis factoring analysis yielded three theoretically meaningful factors as proposed. These results indicated that the respondents were able to differentiate between three distinct but related approaches to work with older persons. The results also showed that the professional care approach was the highest endorsed and the market-oriented the lowest endorsed approach. No notable differences in approaches to work were observed in nursing home vs home care and municipality vs privately run care units. Originality/value This is the first study to examine multiple approaches to work in elderly care as previous research studies mainly have investigated the person-centred care approach. Current findings indicate that these approaches to work often coexist in various combinations and that the care staff adopts all these approaches but to varying degrees. The approaches differ in several important respects (e.g. legitimacy and view of the older person) and most likely affect the way care staff treats the older person and how the older person perceives their relationship with the care staff. Knowledge about these differences facilitates management of the care staff’s work situation and helps to improve the quality of care.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Su Min Kim ◽  
Moon Jung Kim ◽  
Sung Jun Jo

PurposeThis study aimed to investigate the relationships between individual team member's perception of team psychological safety (TPS), individual team member's perception of transactive memory system (TMS), individual team member's perception of team learning behavior (TLB) and individual team member's perception of team performance (TP).Design/methodology/approachThis cross-sectional study used a paper-based questionnaire that was distributed to 500 employees in travel-related industries and responses were received from 467 employees. Finally, 394 surveys were used after excluding insincere responses. Using SPSS & AMOS version 25.0, factor analysis, correlation, path analysis and mediation analysis were performed.FindingsThe findings reveal that there is a significant association between TPS, TMS, TLB and TP, except for the specialization subdimension of TMS and reflective communication and knowledge codification subdimensions of TLB. There was no mediation role of TLB; however, credibility and task coordination subdimensions of TMS showed partial mediating effects between TPS and TP.Originality/valueThis study offers suggestions for management, emphasizing the importance of TPS. Recent and rapid organizational changes have dramatically increased employees' job insecurity, which can affect their psychological safety. Therefore, organizations should actively support employees to feel psychologically stable to improve performance by utilizing TMS and TLB among individual team members.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah J. Kelly ◽  
Dymphna Van der Leij

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of alcohol sponsorship-linked advertising through esports upon young gaming audiences and how gaming behaviours affect advertising response.Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional survey study was employed to examine the prevalence and nature of alcohol advertising in esports, and the impact of esports participation upon young audiences' consumption and preferences concerning alcohol. Survey data were collected from 976 young Australian gamers aged between 16 and 34 years (58.9% male) using online questionnaires.FindingsResults revealed a vulnerability to alcohol sponsorship and advertising among 25 to 34-year-old and heavy gamer cohorts. As predicted, heavy gamers were more receptive to alcohol advertising in terms of awareness, preference and consumption while gaming than casual gamers.Practical implicationsThis research advances theories of consumer behaviour and advertising exposure situated in a new landscape of converging virtual and real experiential marketing. It also provides much-needed evidence to guide marketing strategy to the next-generation audiences and regulation of new and burgeoning digital platforms. Our research also highlights a need for policy to address the burgeoning, largely unregulated nature of online gaming.Originality/valueThis research provides the first empirical evidence of the impacts of alcohol-linked sponsorship in esports upon young playing and streaming audiences. It informs marketing strategy and policy in relation to the rapidly growing, potentially vulnerable online competitive gaming audience.


Author(s):  
Xiaochang Chen ◽  
Xiaojun Liu ◽  
Zongfu Mao

Chinese Medical Aid Team Members (CMATMs) have a significant impact on the implementation of China’s health assistance strategies in Africa. The socio-cultural adaptation of CMATMs not only relates to the psychological situation and life quality of each member of the medical aid team, but also to the health aid performance of every single member and the medical aid team as a whole. This study evaluated CMATMs’ socio-cultural adaptation and its related factors. This was a cross-sectional survey study. The participants’ socio-cultural adaptation was measured by the Chinese version of the Socio-cultural Adaptation Scale (CSCAS). Stepwise multiple linear regression models were used to identify the main factors that are associated with CMATMs’ socio-cultural adaptation in general and in each dimension. The present study demonstrated that, to some extent, CMATMs are facing problems in socio-cultural adaptation, specifically in interaction. The type of service region, annual aid income, and length of service were identified as the main factors that were the most predictive of the CMATMs’ socio-cultural adaptation in Africa. This study obtained baseline information that is useful to relevant stakeholders in their attempts to improve CMATMs’ socio-cultural adaptation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 228-246
Author(s):  
John Moriarty ◽  
Daniel Regan ◽  
Rita Honan

Purpose Individuals with intellectual disabilities who are users of day and residential services will often be assigned at least one “keyworker”, a staff member who is expressly responsive to their needs and responsible for co-ordinating services with them. Keyworkers are often given their role because it is a norm in their organisation. However, given the emotionally intensive workload involved in co-ordinating care for a single individual, little attention is given to the potential stress burden of being a keyworker. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional survey study was conducted of professionals’ perceptions of the keyworker role and of levels of workplace well-being. The authors first examine differences between keyworkers and their colleagues along measures of role perception and well-being. The authors then present a new measure of keyworkers’ duties and boundaries (Key-DAB) capturing perceptions of the keyworker role by keyworkers and other staff. The measure was administered to a sample of staff (n=69) from an Irish provider of services for adults with intellectual disabilities. Alongside the new scale, the authors administered established measures of workplace well-being and locus of control (LoC) to examine construct validity and assess if perception of keyworking could be related to stress. Findings Some differences were detected between keyworkers and non-keyworkers: keyworkers had more internally oriented LoC and experienced lower work pressure than non-keyworking colleagues. The Key-DAB measure possessed favourable psychometric properties, including high internal reliability. External validity was also shown as keyworkers’ scale scores were related to LoC and to role demands. Results suggested: that keyworkers who are clear about what is expected of the keyworker are more satisfied with their role and perceive keyworking as beneficial to them; that role ambiguity and role conflict can undo these potential benefits and render the keyworker’s role a potentially hazardous one. Originality/value The authors recommend that employers provide clear guidelines and explicit training to keyworkers and suggest that the measures may be effective tools for ongoing assessment of keyworkers’ role clarity.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Fei Wu ◽  
Roberta Bernardi

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate how community attachment to an OHC reduces the OHC users' emotional distress and therefore improves their emotional well-being.Design/methodology/approachA survey study was conducted in one of the largest online health communities (OHC) for people with diabetes.FindingsOHC participants are likely to experience reduced emotional distress when they have developed an attachment to the community. This attachment is, in turn, positively associated with the normative expectations of reciprocity and the affective feeling of gratitude. However, some commonly used behavioral measures of community participation, such as visit frequency and membership tenure, have little to do with either community attachment or reduced emotional distress.Research limitations/implicationsThe research highlights the pivotal role of community attachment in appraising the much-debated benefits of OHCs. However, the cross-sectional survey study has its limitations in terms of establishing causality.Practical implicationsOHC managers need to look beyond some of the commonly used metrics, such as monthly visits and number of new postings, and focus on fostering a sense of attachment among existing users in order to fulfill the OHC's potential of emotional support. Our study implies that design features facilitating reciprocation and gratitude expression among users can lead to a strong emotional bond.Originality/valueThis is one of the first studies on the antecedents of community attachment and the relationship between community attachment and emotional distress in the context of OHC.


2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Winnie Thembisile Maphumulo ◽  
Busisiwe Bhengu

The National Department of Health in South Africa has introduced the National Core Standards (NCS) tool to improve the quality of healthcare delivery in all public healthcare institutions. Knowledge of the NCS tool is essential among healthcare providers. This study investigated the level of knowledge on NCS and how the NCS tool was communicated among professional nurses. This was a cross-sectional survey study. Purposive sampling technique was used to select hospitals that only offered tertiary services in KwaZulu-Natal. Six strata of departments were selected using simple stratified sampling. The population of professional nurses in the selected hospitals was 3 050. Systematic random sampling was used to recruit 543 participants. The collected data were analysed using SPSS version 25. The study showed that only 16 (3.7%) respondents had knowledge about NCS, using McDonald’s standard of learning outcome measured criteria regarding the NCS tool. The Pearson correlation coefficient between the communication and knowledge was r = 0.055. The results revealed that although the communication scores for the respondents were high their knowledge scores remained low. This study concluded that there is a lack of knowledge regarding the NCS tool and therefore healthcare institutions need to commit themselves to the training of professional nurses regarding the NCS tool. The findings suggest that healthcare institutions implement the allocation of incentives for nurses that attend the workshops for NCS.


2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 24-30
Author(s):  
Simone Christensen Hald ◽  
Ditte Aagaard Sondergaard

Background In 2002, the Nepalese abortion law went from being highly restrictive to fully liberal. This study aimed to explore a local community’s perception of the situation for unmarried Nepalese women wanting to practice their legal right to abortion.Methods The study comprised a cross-sectional survey and in-depth interviews with men and women above the age of 16 years living in the Makwanpur District, Nepal. The final data included 55 questionnaires and 16 interviews. The questionnaire data was univariate analysed, while a condensation of meaning analysis was carried out on the interviews.Results The overall awareness of abortion being legal was high, although the extent of knowledge of the specific legal grounds varied. Unmarried women were believed to have access to abortion services, although they risked stigmatisation due to their marital status. The community attitude towards these women having abortions was very negative, hence it differed from the legal acceptance of all women having the right to abortion. This was explained by societal norms on premarital sexual activity. Generally, the participants felt that changing attitudes would be difficult but possible over time.Conclusion A considerable gap exists between the legal acceptance of abortion and community attitudes when it comes to unmarried women as this group encounters barriers when wanting to practice their right. Therefore, these barriers need to be addressed to allow unmarried Nepalese women access to safe abortion services without the risk of being stigmatised.One possible alternative is educational initiatives such as disseminating information vigorously through mass media to create awareness.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/hprospect.v12i2.9869 Health Prospect Vol.12(2) 2013: 24-30


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