Psychological and Cultural Components Affecting Rail Worker Culture: A Literature Review

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Greg Placencia
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Outcomes ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Work Environments ◽  
Scientific Management ◽  
Working Environments ◽  
Rail Industry ◽  
Healthy Work ◽  
Cultural Components ◽  
Positive Work

Developing and maintaining a healthy work environment is an important consideration to the rail industry. Several theories have been advanced to examine, understand, and influence how workers function and interact within their working environments. These include motivational theories such as Taylor’s Theory of Scientific Management and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, models of moral develop such as developed by Kohlberg and Gilligan, theories of personality types like Myers–Brigg and Keirsey, and the theory of cultural dimensions developed by Hofstede. Positive work environments can contribute to safe and efficient operations, while negative work environments almost inevitably degrade performance and increase the potential for injury and accidents. Therefore understanding and managing these elements properly can greatly contribute to better organizational outcomes. This paper will then examine the underlying role of human behavior as determined by these theories appear to have played in 5 incidents at Metro–North Railroad in 2013–2014.

Auditing the Systems Understanding Aid Project: An Integrative Assignment for Accounting Students

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan L. Swanger ◽  
Beth H. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Active Learning ◽  
Teaching Methods ◽  
Work Environments ◽  
Accounting Students ◽  
External Work ◽  
Learning Tasks ◽  
Independent Auditors ◽  
Course Integration

ABSTRACT Accounting educators strive to prepare graduates for work in their chosen field. Various teaching methods can be employed to best accomplish this goal. One valuable tool is the use of active learning tasks that simulate external work environments. This paper describes the collaboration between an AIS and an Auditing professor who used an integrative task that spanned their two classes over two semesters. The authors had their AIS students complete Arens and Ward's Systems Understanding Aid (SUA) project (Arens & Ward, 2008). The following semester, students in the auditing class audited the records and financials that had been generated by students the previous semester. The project was designed to facilitate course integration and teamwork by having groups of students play the role of corporate accountants, then act as independent auditors.

Fit Perception and Engagement: The Mediating Role of Work Meaningfulness

2021 ◽  
pp. 097226292199986
Author(s):  
Robinson James
Keyword(s):  
Employee Engagement ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Strong Predictor ◽  
Organizational Outcomes ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Partial Least Square ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Work Meaningfulness

Research on engagement has gained considerable attention in recent years as it is a strong predictor of a range of positive individual and organizational outcomes. There is a question of why the level of the engagement is different from employee to employee in an organization, though they are provided with the same resources. This study aims to investigate the influence of fit perception on engagement and the role of the employee’s psychological condition (work meaningfulness) on this relationship. This study mainly employed a survey research strategy, and data were primarily garnered from a questionnaire. This study was conducted among 145 respondents from the public sector organizations in Sri Lanka. Partial least-square structural equation modelling was employed to analyse the generated data. In this study, the researcher has conceptualized fit perception as a higher order construct comprising Person Job fit and Person Organization fit. The study revealed that fit perception positively influences employee engagement, and this relationship is mediated by work meaningfulness. This study contributes to the literature by deepening the understanding of the fit perception and engagement relationship by introducing work meaningfulness as a mediator variable. By highlighting how engagement is influenced by fit perception and work meaningfulness, this study facilitates practitioners to build and maintain an engaged workforce. Further contributions of this study, the avenue for future research, and study limitations are presented in detail at the end of this article.

scholarly journals “Snow Scenes”: Exploring the Role of Memory and Place in Commemorating Extreme Winters

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Hall ◽  
Georgina Endfield
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Strong Association ◽  
Potential Effect ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
National Narratives ◽  
Local Climate ◽  
Weather Events

Abstract Scholars are increasingly focusing on the cultural dimensions of climate, addressing how individuals construct their understanding of climate through local weather. Research often focuses on the importance of widespread conceptualizations of mundane everyday weather, although attention has also been paid to extreme weather events and their potential effect on popular understandings of local climate. This paper introduces the “Snow Scenes” project, which aimed to engage rural communities in Cumbria, England, with their memories of extreme and severe past winter conditions in the region. Collating memories across a wide demographic, using a variety of methods, individual memories were analyzed alongside meteorological and historical records. By exploring these memories and their associated artifacts, this paper aims to better understand the role of memory and place in commemorating extreme winters. First, it is demonstrated how national narratives of exceptional winters are used by individuals as benchmarks against which to gauge conditions. Second, this paper identifies how specific locations and landmarks help to place memories and are shown to be important anchors for individuals’ understanding of their climate. Third, the paper considers how memories of severe winters are often nostalgic in their outlook, with a strong association between snowy winters, childhood, and childhood places. Fourth, it is illustrated how such events are regularly connected to important personal or familial milestones. Finally, the paper reflects on how these local-level experiences of historical extreme events may be central to the shaping of popular understandings of climate and also, by extension, climate change.

Acquisition versus greenfield in Colombia: Reviewing the effect of cultural distance and vicarious experience

2022 ◽  
pp. 147059582110644
Author(s):  
Mario Martínez-Avella ◽  
Ángela Alarcón-León ◽  
Giovanni Hernández-Salazar
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Distance ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Vicarious Experience ◽  
Entry Modes ◽  
Direct Experience ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Foreign Companies ◽  
Foreign Countries ◽  
The Individual

The relation between the cultural distance and the firm’s entry modes to foreign countries has received considerable research attention, and studies have shown the role of experience in this relation. However, previous research has only studied direct experience and neglected the study of vicarious experience. Using a sample of 355 foreign companies that entered Colombia (2007–2017), this research reviews the effect of cultural distance on entry mode choice (e.g., Acquisition vs. Greenfield) and examines the moderating role of vicarious experience in this relationship. The study concludes that the cultural distance positively affects the entry probability by acquisition, and the vicarious experience negatively affects this relationship in four cultural dimensions. If firms have vicarious experience, the effect of cultural distance on the acquisition probability is less and positively influences the entry probability by Greenfield when the cultural distance is in power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, and long-term orientation. Nevertheless, vicarious experience has the opposite effect when considering the masculinity dimension. Consequently, we highlight the importance of considering vicarious experience as a different variable of direct experience and the individual effects of cultural distance dimensions for cross-cultural studies in management.

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