The new lumpiness of work

2006 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 493-512 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia E. van Echtelt ◽  
Arie C. Glebbeek ◽  
Siegwart M. Lindenberg
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Work Organization ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Job Design ◽  
Work Characteristics ◽  
Limited Support ◽  
Part Time ◽  
New Form

This article deals with the puzzle of the well-known gap between actual and preferred working hours (i.e. over-employment). We propose a new explanation based on selective attention in decision making and test it with the Time Competition Survey 2003 which includes information of 1114 employees in 30 Dutch organizations. We find very limited support for the hypotheses that over-employment is caused by restrictions imposed by the employer ( traditional lumpiness). Instead, we find much empirical support for our hypothesis on a new form of lumpiness that is related to selective attention and is created by work characteristics of ‘post-Fordist’ job design. In this work organization, the increased autonomy of workers is leading to an autonomy paradox. We also find evidence of a part-time illusion: under the post-Fordist regime, many part-time employees, who obviously were willing and allowed to reduce their working hours, still end up working more hours than they prefer.

scholarly journals The organization of working hours of selected employee categories in Czech businesses

2016 ◽  
Vol 61 (211) ◽  
pp. 99-116
Author(s):  
Hana Urbancová ◽  
Miroslava Navrátilová
Keyword(s):  
Senior Citizens ◽  
Work Organization ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Diversity Management ◽  
Working Environment ◽  
Flexible Working Hours ◽  
Flexible Working ◽  
Time Work ◽  
Part Time ◽  
And Performance

In the current dynamic working environment, the adaptation of working hours is an important instrument for supporting the work and performance of all groups of employees. It also serves as an instrument that encourages their identification with the company. The aim of this article is to identify and evaluate the utilization of individual methods of work organization among selected groups of employees in Czech companies across the gamut of the business sector. The analysed data comes from a quantitative questionnairebased survey (n=315). The results show that in the Czech companies, flexitime is most frequent among regular employees (51.7%) and graduates up to 30 years old (24.1%). A reduced work schedule is most frequently used by mothers with children and senior citizens (41.3%, 27%) and as part-time work among students (41%). The use of flexible working hours is an instrument of diversity management and builds the company brand through enlisting the cooperation of different groups of employees.

A Study on Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders among Sewing Machine Operators

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (01) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ekta . ◽  
Manju Mehta ◽  
Praveen Kumar Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Textile Industry ◽  
Work Organization ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
The Body ◽  
Musculoskeletal Symptoms ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Workplace Design ◽  
Sewing Machine ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Machine Operators

A musculoskeletal disorder is highly dependent on the workplace design. The workers whose job requires repetitive tasks, are more prone to this disorder. Textile industry is one of the labor intensive industries and most of its jobs require continuous engagement with the work. Sewing machine operators in this sector due to workplace design are facing high risk of health issues due to focused attention and static posture of the body. Understanding the health issues linked with continuous working hours and static posture need to be addressed. Both Government and non- government organizations need to be better involved in designing interventions targeting these people and protecting them from such health risks.The present study was conducted in Hisar district from Haryana state in which respondents were selected randomly. Total number of respondents were 60 in which 28 were males and 32 were females with objectives to assess work organization and work space design and to find out the occupational health problems and musculoskeletal symptoms among sewing machine operators. The results showed that maximum numbers of the respondents (68.4%) were took break of fixed duration and (53.4%) respondents were work along with others. Majority (43.3%) respondents were the first experience of MSK symptoms from 7 days to 12 months followed by (33.3%) respondents in 2-3 years.

Eupsychian Versus Authoritarian Leadership: Existential–Humanistic Underpinnings and Empirical Support

2021 ◽  
pp. 002216782110106
Author(s):  
Andrew M. Bland ◽  
Brett A. Swords
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
Applied Psychology ◽  
Authoritarian Leadership ◽  
Cultural Conditions ◽  
Psychology Literature

This article surveys Maslow’s views on eupsychian leadership and how his vision of eupsychia may be regarded as a contemporary expression of the Greek philosophical notion of the Good. This involves actively and ongoingly cultivating cultural conditions that promote awe-based creative living in accordance with human nature, authentic freedom, and social justice in the interest of developing character via self-determination. Then we outline essential qualities of Maslow’s notion of eupsychia as they have been empirically validated by Rego et al.’s qualitative study of the characteristics and outcomes of eupsychian (humanistic) versus antieupsychian (authoritarian) leadership. The findings thereof also provide a heuristic framework for integrating the results of numerous quantitatively-based research studies in recent international applied psychology literature. This applied leadership literature both (a) satisfies Maslow’s call for empirical research to guide perspective-taking and decision-making when considering the possible practical implementation of a eupsychian society and (b) provides empirical support for his dynamic systemic and synergistic theorizing on leadership.

Participative work design in lean production

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annika Lantz ◽  
Niklas Hansen ◽  
Conny Antoni
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Team Learning ◽  
Lean Production ◽  
Job Design ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Management Policy ◽  
Shop Floor ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Proactive Behaviour ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore job design mechanisms that enhance team proactivity within a lean production system where autonomy is uttermost restricted. We propose and test a model where the team learning process of building shared meaning of work mediates the relationship between team participative decision-making, inter team relations and team proactive behaviour. Design/methodology/approach – The results are based on questionnaires to 417 employees within manufacturing industry (response rate 86 per cent) and managers’ ratings of team proactivity. The research model was tested by mediation analysis on aggregated data (56 teams). Findings – Team learning mediates the relationship between participative decision-making and inter team collaboration on team proactive behaviour. Input from stakeholders in the work flow and partaking in decisions about work, rather than autonomy in carrying out the work, enhance the teams’ proactivity through learning processes. Research limitations/implications – An investigation of the effects of different leadership styles and management policy on proactivity through team-learning processes might shed light on how leadership promotes proactivity, as results support the effects of team participative decision-making – reflecting management policy – on proactivity. Practical implications – Lean production stresses continuous improvements for enhancing efficiency, and such processes rely on individuals and teams that are proactive. Participation in forming the standardization of work is linked to managerial style, which can be changed and developed also within a lean concept. Based on our experiences of implementing the results in the production plant, we discuss what it takes to create and manage participative processes and close collaboration between teams on the shop floor, and other stakeholders such as production support, based on a shared understanding of the work and work processes. Social implications – Learning at the workplace is essential for long-term employability, and for job satisfaction and health. The lean concept is widely spread to both public bodies and enterprises, and it has been shown that it can be linked to increased stress and an increase in workload. Finding the potential for learning within lean production is essential for balancing the need of efficient production and employees’ health and well-being at work. Originality/value – Very few studies have investigated the paradox between lean and teamwork, yet many lean-inspired productions systems have teamwork as a pillar for enhancing effectiveness. A clear distinction between autonomy and participation contributes to the understanding of the links between job design, learning processes and team proactivity.

The factors behind working in virtual community

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 246-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anitha Acharya
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Substantial Cost ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Hourly Basis ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose In this paper, the prior research on virtual teams was reviewed to assess the state of the literature. The purpose of this paper is to determine why individuals prefer working in virtual teams (also termed liquid workers and part-time workers). Previous researchers have focussed on the benefits that organizations receive if they hire liquid workers, but to date, no research has been conducted to determine the perspective of these liquid workers. The various definitions of virtual teams are discussed and an integrative definition is proposed that suggests all teams may be defined in terms of their extent of virtualness. Design/methodology approach A systematic review of the literature on virtual teams was conducted. The data were collected from 12 informants. A thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Findings Six main themes were identified, namely, pliability, opportunities, increased earnings, vigour, family and transportation. Research limitations/implications This study was conducted in a three-metropolitan city in India and warrants being extended to rural and international settings to gain additional insights and confirmation of the research findings. Practical implications It is suggested that organizations who recruit liquid workers will be in a position for substantial cost savings; this is because organizations usually make payment of liquid workers’ wages on an hourly basis. This will help the organizations to schedule the number of working hours depending on their needs. Originality/value The current study is novel as there is a paucity of research in identifying the factors behind working in the virtual community in India. This study presents the first research of its kind to the best knowledge of the author, and the findings will be valuable for companies who are looking for cost savings.

scholarly journals Could the Visual Differential Attention Be a Referential Gesture? A Study on Horses (Equus caballus) on the Impossible Task Paradigm

Animals ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandra Alterisio ◽  
Paolo Baragli ◽  
Massimo Aria ◽  
Biagio D’Aniello ◽  
Anna Scandurra
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Visual Attention ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Visual Selective Attention ◽  
Expectancy Violation ◽  
The People ◽  
Tactile Interaction ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Impossible Task ◽  
Differential Attention

In order to explore the decision-making processes of horses, we designed an impossible task paradigm aimed at causing an expectancy violation in horses. Our goals were to verify whether this paradigm is effective in horses by analyzing their motivation in trying to solve the task and the mode of the potential helping request in such a context. In the first experiment, 30 horses were subjected to three consecutive conditions: no food condition where two persons were positioned at either side of a table in front of the stall, solvable condition when a researcher placed a reachable reward on the table, and the impossible condition when the food was placed farther away and was unreachable by the horse. Eighteen horses were used in the second experiment with similar solvable and impossible conditions but in the absence of people. We measured the direction of the horse’s ear cup as an indicator of its visual attention in terms of visual selective attention (VSA) when both ears were directed at the same target and the visual differential attention (VDA) when the ears were directed differentially to the persons and to the table. We also included tactile interaction toward table and people, the olfactory exploration of the table, and the frustration behaviors in the ethogram. In the first experiment, the VDA was the most frequent behavior following the expectancy violation. In the second experiment, horses showed the VDA behavior mostly when people and the unreachable resource were present at the same time. We speculate that the VDA could be a referential gesture aimed to link the solution of the task to the people, as a request for help.

scholarly journals Mycological rationality: Heuristics, perception and decision-making in mushroom foraging

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roope Oskari Kaaronen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Ecological Rationality ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Decisions Under Uncertainty ◽  
Rules Of Thumb ◽  
Intuitive Decision Making ◽  
Human Foraging ◽  
Simple Heuristics

How do mushroom foragers make safe and efficient decisions under uncertainty, or deal with the genuine risks of misiden-tification and poisoning? This article is an inquiry into ecological rationality, heuristics, perception, and decision-makingin mushroom foraging. By surveying 894 Finnish mushroom foragers, this article illustrates how socially learned rules of thumb and heuristics are used in mushroom foraging, and how simple heuristics are often complemented by more complex and intuitive decision-making. The results illustrate how traditional foraging cultures have evolved precautionary heuristics to deal with uncertainties and poisonous species, and how foragers develop selective attention through experience. The study invites us to consider whether other human foraging cultures might use heuristics similarly, how and why such traditions have culturally evolved, and whether early hunter-gatherers might have used simple heuristics to deal with uncertainty.

scholarly journals Peculiarities of Employment Relations in Ukraine for the Period of Established Quarantine (Covid-19)

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-156
Author(s):  
T. Pisоchenkо ◽  
◽  
S. Agafonova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Labor Relations ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Remote Work ◽  
The People ◽  
Labor Legislation ◽  
Unpaid Leave ◽  
The Face ◽  
Part Time ◽  
The Right ◽  
Restrictive Measures

Annotation. Introduction. The author investigates in his article the main drawbacks of the Ukrainian legislative base that may cause difficulties for employers and employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. While reading this article you will find several solutions on how to limit salary expenses of you company or firm, lead in remote or part-time working schedule on the enterprise and grant employees unpaid leave. The article also deals with the procedure of the paper work that should be done while processing sick leaves of the people who suffered from the COVID-19 disease or contacted with the COVID-19 patients. Purpоse. The purpose of this article is to identify the shortcomings of labor legislation during quarantine and restrictive measures related to the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Consider and analyze new approaches in building labor relations between employees and employers in the face of rising unemployment and the introduction of telework. Results. The pandemic covered 210 countries and territories. Studies have shown that tens of millions of people have lost their jobs. According to various social survey centers, every third company surveyed optimized the payroll, sent employees to remote work with a reduction in wages, reduced staff and transferred some workers to contracts. Today it is possible to exercise the right to receive partial unemployment benefits for insured workers who have lost part of their wages due to forced downtime or reduction of working hours due to quarantine. Cоnclusiоns. Today, much responsibility lies with the subjects of labor relations, much depends on the employees and employers, on their responsibility and charity. State aid to those categories that were more vulnerable during the crisis remains important. Financial assistance can take the form of grants and grace periods on outstanding loans – in order to support and overcome the profitability crisis. Keywоrds: labor relations; pandemic; wages; COVID-19.

scholarly journals Arbeidsvoorwaarden en de gewenste pensioenleeftijd

2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianne van Zwieten ◽  
Jan Fekke Ybema ◽  
Goedele Geuskens
Keyword(s):  
Cohort Study ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Retirement Age ◽  
Older Employees ◽  
Flexible Working Hours ◽  
Flexible Working ◽  
Time Work ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Part Time Work

Terms of employment and the preferred retirement age Terms of employment and the preferred retirement age The present study examines how the satisfaction with the terms of employment among older employees affects the preferred retirement age. Two waves of data collection (2008 and 2009) of the cohort-study of the Netherlands Working Conditions Survey (NWCS) were used for this study. The results of this longitudinal study showed that satisfaction with terms of employment that concern flexibility (e.g. flexible working hours and the possibilities for part-time work) contribute to a higher preferred retirement age. It also contributes to not specifying the preferred retirement age. This means that employees who are satisfied with the flexibility in their jobs more often do not know at what age they prefer to retire than employees who are not satisfied, but if they do know they report a higher preferred retirement age. By arranging flexibility in the job together with and to the satisfaction of employees, employees can be stimulated to postpone retirement.

scholarly journals Misyar Marriage between Shari`ah texts, Realities and scholars’ Fatawa’: An Analysis

IIUC Studies ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 297-320
Author(s):  
Noor Mohammad Osmani
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
Mutual Understanding ◽  
Fixed Duration ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
The Real ◽  
Gulf States ◽  
Part Time ◽  
New Form ◽  
Relationship Of

Marriage is a sacred bond in Islam that ties a man and a woman into a lifelong relationship of love, compassion, mutual understanding, respect and security. It is a firm pledge that one makes in the name of Allah for one-another. ‘Misyar marriage’, ‘Convenience marriage’ or ‘Travelers’ marriage’ is a new form of marriage practiced widely in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other gulf states. The ‘Misyar bride’ sacrifices some of her marital rights, such as expenses, fixed duration, and an abode. The scholars in Islam have different opinions about this form of marriage. Some of them supported it vehemently, as it could reduce the number of ladies without husbands; while yet others strongly oppose it, as it sounds like part-time wives, which has no roots in Islamic heritage. The present study therefore aims to explore the real status of ‘Misyar or convenience marriage’ in the texts from the Qur’an, Prophet’s Sunnah, the practices of his rightly guided Companions and the Fatawa of the traditional and modern scholars. It would analyze them in the light of the current realities and situations prevailing in many countries of the Muslim world. The study would adopt a critical yet objective approach in dealing with the issue. It is believed that the study would help the Muslim men and women to have clear insights on the issue based on the Shari`ah texts, scholars’ Fatawa and present day realities. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/iiucs.v7i0.12495 IIUC Studies Vol.7 2011: 297-320

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document