scholarly journals Counting sleep: Ambiguity, aspirational control and the politics of digital self-tracking at work

Organization ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 135050842097047
Author(s):  
Kasper Trolle Elmholdt ◽  
Claus Elmholdt ◽  
Lars Haahr

Existing perspectives on normative and aspirational control have undertheorised how digital technologies such as digital self-tracking might alter what kinds of control is possible in the workplace. This article remedies this lack by studying the affordances of digital self-tracking in the workplace. Empirically, we draw on a case study of digital sleeptracking in relation to a well-being initiative in a private energy company, Encorp. Our analysis reveals how digital self-tracking affords body visibility and remote management but also creates affordance opacity and an ambiguous space of autonomy and control. We theorise how digital self-tracking in the workplace both enables new forms of aspirational control, and creates ambiguity and new limits to control. We conclude by discussing challenges and opportunities for future research on digital self-tracking in the workplace.

Author(s):  
Nirit Putievsky Pilosof ◽  
Michael Barrett ◽  
Eivor Oborn ◽  
Galia Barkai ◽  
Itai M. Pessach ◽  
...  

Objective: This case study examines the implementation of inpatient telemedicine in COVID-19 intensive care units (ICUs) and explores the impact of shifting forms of visibility on the management of the unit, staff collaboration, and patient care. Background: The COVID-19 crisis drove healthcare institutions to rapidly develop new models of care based on integrating digital technologies for remote care with transformations in the hospital-built environment. The Sheba Medical Center in Israel created COVID-19 ICUs in an underground structure with an open-ward layout and telemedicine control rooms to remotely supervise, communicate, and support the operations in the contaminated zones. One unit had a physical visual connection between the control room and the contaminated zone through a window, while the other had only a virtual connection with digital technologies. Methods: The findings are based on semistructured interviews with Sheba medical staff, telemedicine companies, and the architectural design team and observations at the COVID-19 units during March–August 2020. Results: The case study illustrates the implications of virtual and physical visibility on the management of the unit, staff collaboration, and patient care. It demonstrates the correlations between patterns of visibility and the users’ sense of control, orientation in space, teamwork, safety, quality of care, and well-being. Conclusions: The case study demonstrates the limitations of current telemedicine technologies that were not designed for inpatient care to account for the spatial perception of the unit and the dynamic use of the space. It presents the potential of a hybrid model that balances virtual and physical forms of visibility and suggests directions for future research and development of inpatient telemedicine.


Author(s):  
Hyojin Kim ◽  
Daesik Hur ◽  
Tobias Schoenherr

Supplier development has been a critical supply management practice since the 1990s. In many instances, it has even become imperative for buyer firms to support and prepare their supply bases for uncertain economic and market environments, socially and environmentally conscious customers, advances in digital technologies, and increasing competition. Yet, research that approaches supplier development with the objective to advance all these dimensions in an integrated fashion is scarce. This study fills this void by exploring how a buyer firm may address these emerging challenges in its supply base. Specifically, an in-depth case study of LG Electronics explores how the firm designs and operates multidimensional supplier development activities to foster the stability and sustainability of its supply base while enhancing its core suppliers’ competitive capabilities. This chapter illustrates how supplier development can be taken to the next level, presents implications for managerial practice, and outlines promising future research avenues.


2021 ◽  
pp. 096100062110651
Author(s):  
Jiamin Dai ◽  
Joan C. Bartlett ◽  
Karyn Moffatt

Growing dementia-friendly library services are contributing to community-based dementia care. Emerging community programs in libraries and museums provide notable opportunities for promoting engagement and inclusivity, but these programs have yet to receive in-depth assessments and analyses to guide future research and practice. This paper presents a case study examining a social and storytelling program for people with dementia run by a Canadian public library. It investigates two research questions: How can public library programs contribute to community-based dementia care? And what are public libraries’ strengths and challenges in running programs for people with dementia? The study involves participant observations of the program and semi-structured interviews with people with dementia, caregivers, and program facilitators (librarians and Alzheimer Society coordinators). Through thematic analysis of fieldnotes and transcripts, the study reveals how this inclusive platform supports engagement, fosters relationships, helps caregivers, and reaches broader communities. This research further uncovers the librarians’ diversified roles as demonstrated through their collaboration with professionals, preparation and research, and facilitation of the sessions. This paper advances librarianship research on enriching community-based dementia care, including furthering inclusivity and engagement and extending accessible library services. By analyzing library programming for the dementia community and assessing its strengths and challenges, the paper highlights librarians’ awareness of the community’s evolving needs and their collaboration with other professionals. It offers practical insights on useful resources and emerging best practices that will hopefully inspire other initiatives in which information professionals can help improve the well-being of vulnerable populations.


2022 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marié P. Wissing

The positive psychology (PP) landscape is changing, and its initial identity is being challenged. Moving beyond the “third wave of PP,” two roads for future research and practice in well-being studies are discerned: The first is the state of the art PP trajectory that will (for the near future) continue as a scientific (sub)discipline in/next to psychology (because of its popular brand name). The second trajectory (main focus of this manuscript) links to pointers described as part of the so-called third wave of PP, which will be argued as actually being the beginning of a new domain of inter- or transdisciplinary well-being studies in its own right. It has a broader scope than the state of the art in PP, but is more delineated than in planetary well-being studies. It is in particular suitable to understand the complex nature of bio-psycho-social-ecological well-being, and to promote health and wellness in times of enormous challenges and changes. A unique cohering focus for this post-disciplinary well-being research domain is proposed. In both trajectories, future research will have to increase cognizance of metatheoretical assumptions, develop more encompassing theories to bridge the conceptual fragmentation in the field, and implement methodological reforms, while keeping context and the interwovenness of the various levels of the scientific text in mind. Opportunities are indicated to contribute to the discourse on the identity and development of scientific knowledge in mainstream positive psychology and the evolving post-disciplinary domain of well-being studies.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerhard Reese ◽  
Elias Kohler ◽  
Claudia Menzel

Virtual nature experiences can improve physiological and psychological well-being. While there is ample research on the positive effects of nature, both in virtual and physical settings, we know little about potential moderators of restoration effects in virtual reality settings. According to theories of needs and control beliefs, it is plausible to assume that control over one’s actions affects how people respond to nature experiences. In this Virtual Reality (VR) experiment, 64 participants could either actively navigate through a VR landscape or they were navigated by the experimenter. We measured their perceived stress, mood, and vitality before and after the VR experience, as well as subjective restoration outcome and perceived restorativeness of the landscape afterwards. Results revealed that participants’ positive affective states increased after the VR experience, regardless of control. There was also a main effect such that participants reported lower stress after the VR experience – however, qualified by an interaction showing that this was only the case in the “no control” condition. These results suggest that - unexpectedly - active VR experiences may be more stressful than passive ones, opening pathways for future research on how handling of and navigating in VR can attenuate effects of virtual nature.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eirik Bådsvik Hamre Korsen ◽  
Marte Daae-Qvale Holmemo ◽  
Jonas A. Ingvaldsen

Purpose This paper aims to explore how manufacturing organisations’ performance measurement and management (PMM) systems are evolving when digital technologies (DTs) are deployed. It focusses on the operational level, asking whether DTs are used to promote command-and-control or empowerment-oriented performance management. Design/methodology/approach The findings are based on a single case study from a department of a Norwegian electrochemical plant. The department recently implemented a performance measurement system (PMS) supported by DTs to capture, analyse and visualise close-to-real-time performance data on individuals and teams. The authors analysed both the management practices associated with the new PMS and how those related to other PMM-subsystems in the organisation. Findings When seen in isolation, the new PMS was used to promote empowerment and operators reported a significant increase in perceived psychological empowerment. However, other parts of the organisation’s PMM system remained control-oriented, so that the overall balance between control and empowerment remained stable. Practical implications New PMSs might be added to support local needs and create arenas for empowerment without disturbing the overall balance in the PMM system. Originality/value Building on the insights from the case study, the authors propose that DTs may be deployed to promote both command-and-control and empowerment within different PMM subsystems in the same organisation. Hence, the deployment of DTs is likely to have contradictory effects, which are best understood through a “system of systems” perspective on PMMs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 205920432199770
Author(s):  
Kat R. Agres ◽  
Rebecca S. Schaefer ◽  
Anja Volk ◽  
Susan van Hooren ◽  
Andre Holzapfel ◽  
...  

The fields of music, health, and technology have seen significant interactions in recent years in developing music technology for health care and well-being. In an effort to strengthen the collaboration between the involved disciplines, the workshop “Music, Computing, and Health” was held to discuss best practices and state-of-the-art at the intersection of these areas with researchers from music psychology and neuroscience, music therapy, music information retrieval, music technology, medical technology (medtech), and robotics. Following the discussions at the workshop, this article provides an overview of the different methods of the involved disciplines and their potential contributions to developing music technology for health and well-being. Furthermore, the article summarizes the state of the art in music technology that can be applied in various health scenarios and provides a perspective on challenges and opportunities for developing music technology that (1) supports person-centered care and evidence-based treatments, and (2) contributes to developing standardized, large-scale research on music-based interventions in an interdisciplinary manner. The article provides a resource for those seeking to engage in interdisciplinary research using music-based computational methods to develop technology for health care, and aims to inspire future research directions by evaluating the state of the art with respect to the challenges facing each field.


Author(s):  
Chloé Poitevin DesRivières

Urban food systems primarily rely on foods grown in rural spaces, and often face challenges in creating spaces to grow fresh, healthful and affordable food in cities. Urban food harvest organizations aim to overcome these challenges by locating and harvesting food that already exists in cities on the numerous fruit- and nut-bearing trees located on public and private lands. Hidden Harvest is a leading initiative for urban fruit and nut harvesting in Canada, and unique in its for-profit social enterprise model. The organization aims to legitimize and support the practice of harvesting fruits and nuts in urban areas, and provides a means to increase access to—and availability of—fresh, healthful foods hyper-locally in Ottawa, as people harvest from their own (or nearby) neighborhoods. This field report examines the challenges and opportunities faced by Hidden Harvest in attempting to link multiple social, environmental and economic goals relating to food sovereignty, social justice and ecological sustainability. In particular, the organization seeks to establish a self-sustaining business model through innovative solutions and the development of networks with local food processes, food organizations and businesses, which enables Hidden Harvest to grow and develop distinct ties and relationships in Ottawa. This case study reveals how organizations such as Hidden Harvest use food to enhance and tie together local economies, knowledge, food security and community well-being.


Author(s):  
Zirawani Baharum ◽  
Muhammad Hanif ◽  
Muhammad Imran Qureshi ◽  
Syazwa Nabila Mohd Raidzuan ◽  
Hairulnizam Mahdin

Sea transportation is one of the major transportation in the scope of transport industry and plays important role towards the growth of performance in the industry that involves the movement of good (MOG). With the crucial operations, it is also essential to concern about the employee’s welfare, such as long working hours that occurred due to non-systematic procedure for the MOG. The long working hours been potentitially impact to the psychological factors of works stress and physical and health effects. Therefore, this research is important to be studied in order to develop the simulation model on MOG in sea freight for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), effectively and efficiency. Initially, this research is startup by defining all existed activities with the duration as required. Subsequently, the business model of MOG in sea freight is developed according to the case study in order to develop the simulation model. This research is give a guide for future research towards providing a well-computer-based by applying the decision support system, especially to manage and control the movement of goods in sea freight.


2021 ◽  
pp. 309-313
Author(s):  
Elissa M. Redmiles

AbstractDigital technologies, the data they collect, and the ways in which that data is used increasingly effect our psychological, social, economic, medical, and safety-related well-being. While technology can be used to improve our well-being on all of these axes, it can also perpetrate harm. Prior research has focused near exclusively on privacy as a primary harm. Yet, privacy is only one of the many considerations that users have when adopting a technology. In this chapter, I use the case study of COVID-19 apps to argue that this reductionist view on technology harm has prevented effective adoption of beneficial technology. Further, a privacy-only focus risks perpetuating and magnifying existing technology-related inequities. To realize the potential of well-being technology, we need to create technologies that are respectful not only of user privacy but of users’ expectations for their technology use and the context in which that use takes place.


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