scholarly journals First-Line Managers’ Experiences of Working with a Structured Support Model for Systematic Work Environment Management

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (11) ◽  
pp. 3884
Author(s):  
Fredrik Molin ◽  
Therese Hellman ◽  
Magnus Svartengren
Keyword(s):  
Work Environment ◽  
Work Groups ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
First Line ◽  
Line Managers ◽  
Environment Management ◽  
Thematic Approach ◽  
One Year ◽  
Monitoring Progress ◽  
Support Model

Background: This paper describes the experiences of first-line managers when working with a structured support model for systematic work environment management in their work groups. First-line managers play a key part in influencing the work environment. Methods: In this study, a sample of managers implementing a structured support model, the Stamina model, in Swedish municipalities were interviewed. A total of 31 (n = 31) interviews were conducted at two time points during a one-year period. The collected data were analysed using a qualitative thematic approach. Results: The results showed that managers experienced discomfort when giving the responsibility of working with work environmental issues to employees. However, managers also experienced and were impressed by how well it worked in allowing employees to take on work environmental issues. Managers found that they balanced between being quiescent and, at the same time, actively monitoring progress in the work groups. Conclusions: The results from this study implicate that managers need to be sensitive to the needs and capacity of their work groups. The oracle in Delphi stated know yourself. We conclude: Know your group!

scholarly journals A Qualitative Study on Employees’ Experiences of a Support model for Systematic Work Environment Management

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (19) ◽  
pp. 3551 ◽  
Author(s):  
Therese Hellman ◽  
Fredrik Molin ◽  
Magnus Svartengren
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Work Environment ◽  
Work Groups ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Environment Management ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Support Model

Background: The aim is to explore how an organisational work environment support model, the Stamina model, influences employees’ work situations and the development of sustainable work systems. Methods: It was a qualitative study with semi-structured, focus-group interviews, including 45 employees from six work groups. Eighteen focus group interviews were conducted over a period of two years. Data were analysed with constant comparative method. Results: The core category, shifting focus from an individual to an organisational perspective of work, illustrated how communication and increased understanding of one’s work tasks changed over time and contributed to deeper focus on the actual operation. These insights were implemented at different time points among the work groups during the two-year process. Conclusions: Our results indicate that working with the model engages employees in the work environment management, puts emphasis on reflections and discussions about the meaning and purpose of the operations and enables a shared platform for communication. These are important features that need to continue over time in order to create a sustainable work system. The Stamina model, thus seems to have the potential to promote productive and healthy work places.

scholarly journals How Human Resources Index, Relational Justice, and Perceived Productivity Change after Reorganization at a Hospital in Sweden That Uses a Structured Support Model for Systematic Work Environment Management

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (21) ◽  
pp. 11611
Author(s):  
Erebouni Arakelian ◽  
Sofia Paulsson ◽  
Fredrik Molin ◽  
Magnus Svartengren
Keyword(s):  
Human Resources ◽  
Work Environment ◽  
Longitudinal Design ◽  
Productivity Change ◽  
Positive Trend ◽  
Production Loss ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Environment Management ◽  
Relational Justice ◽  
Support Model

To facilitate systematic work environment management, which should be a natural part of business development, a structured support model was developed. The Stamina model has previously been used in Swedish municipalities, showing positive results. The aim was to study how the Human Resources Index (HRI), relational justice, short-term recovery and perceived productivity changed in a recently reorganised perioperative setting in a hospital in Sweden that uses a structured support model for systematic work environment management. A longitudinal design that took measurements at four time points was used in a sample of 500 employees in a perioperative hospital department. The results for the overall sample indicated a positive trend in the HRI (Mt1 = 48.5, SDt1 = 22.5; Mt3 = 56.7, SDt1 = 21.2; p < 0.001). Perceived health-related production loss (Mdt1 = 2, IQR = 3; Mdt3 = 0, IQR = 3; p < 0.001) and perceived work environment-related production loss (Mdt1 = 2, IQR = 3; Mdt3 = 0, IQR = 4; p < 0.001) showed major improvements. Short-term recovery showed a minor improvement (Mt1 = 2.61, SDt1 = 1.33; Mt3 = 2.65, SDt3 = 1.22; p = 0.872). In conclusion, the implementation of the Stamina model, of which the HRI constitutes an important part, seems to be a helpful tool to follow-up on work environment processes, and minimise production losses due to health and work environment-related issues.

Leadership and management skills of first-line managers of elderly care and their work environment

2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 736-745 ◽  
Author(s):  
FATHYA ABDELRAZEK ◽  
BERNICE SKYTT ◽  
MAGDA ALY ◽  
MONA ABD EL-SABOUR ◽  
NAGLAA IBRAHIM ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Work Environment ◽  
Elderly Care ◽  
Management Skills ◽  
First Line ◽  
Line Managers ◽  
Leadership And Management

scholarly journals Work Environment Dialogue in a Swedish Municipality — Strengths and Limits of the Nordic Work Environment Model

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaj Frick
Keyword(s):  
Work Environment ◽  
Sickness Absence ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Workplace Health Promotion ◽  
Political Support ◽  
Line Managers ◽  
Environment Management ◽  
Environment Model ◽  
Development Capacity ◽  
Municipal Employees

In the Nordic work environment model, health risks at work are mainly to be managed in cooperation with the employees and their representatives. The model is based on strong trade unions and is supported by the state through participatory rights and funding to produce and disseminate knowledge on risks and solutions. The model is evident in the large Swedish municipal sector with its strong unions and extensive social dialogue. However, municipal employees also face widespread risks, mainly from mental and physical overload. They led the costly wave of rising sickness absence from the late 1990s. Municipal (and other) employers therefore attempt to reduce the absence. The rural municipality of Leksand started a project Hälsosam with the broad objectives to half the absence, implement a national agreement on better dialogue, make Leksand an attractive employer, and improve employee influence and work environment. The article’s objective is to use Hälsosam’s intervention project to explore the limits of what the Nordic work environment model can achieve against risks rooted in the employers’ prerogative of organizing, resourcing, and managing the operations that create the conditions at work. Hälsosam’s practice focused on sickness absence and the forms of the new national agreement. The absence was halved by reducing cases of long-term sickness. There was also workplace health promotion and the safety reps were supported through regular meetings. However, little was done to the extensive mental and physical overload revealed in a survey. Nor was the mandatory work environment management improved, as was ordered by the municipal council. This remained delegated to first-line managers who had a limited ability to handle work risks. This limited practice implemented Leksand’s political priority to reduce the absenteeism, while other objectives had less political support. The difficulties to improve the work environment and its management were as demonstrated by other research on municipalities’ limited development capacity. Hälsosam’s narrow focus was also supported by the limited priorities of the national municipal employers. This gave a narrow perspective in the central social partners’ consultants to Leksand and other municipalities. Hälsosam thereby demonstrates both the strengths and the weaknesses of the Nordic work environment model. On the one hand, the local dialogue was even further improved. On the other, local and central trade union cooperation with the employers did not enable them to much raise the organizational problems of work overload and poor work environment management. Leksand’s municipal employees remained squeezed between limited taxes and unlimited service demands and had to “solve” this by too hard work.

scholarly journals How management groups’ reason when deciding to use a model focusing on systematic work environment management

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 441-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Therese Hellman ◽  
Fredrik Molin ◽  
Tomas Eriksson ◽  
Magnus Svartengren
Keyword(s):  
Work Environment ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Line Managers ◽  
Environment Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Management Group ◽  
Constant Comparative Method ◽  
Management Groups ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore and describe the perspective of the management group regarding how they reasoned when deciding to engage in a model focussing on systematic work environment management, and what motives that influenced their decision. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative study with semi-structured interviews includes 18 representatives from the management groups in 18 Swedish municipalities. Data were analysed with a constant comparative method. Findings The participants described two aspects that were of importance when making the decision; establishing commitment before making the decision and establishing strategies to legitimise the decision. Furthermore, they expressed motives that were linked both to their individual expectations and wishes and to policies and facts in their organisations. The participants experienced the model as a valuable tool in their organisations to increase employee participation and to provide structured support to their first-line managers. Practical implications The managers’ motives were linked to individual expectations and external directives. These were often intertwined and influenced their decisions. When implementing this type of model, it is important to discuss decisions in a larger group to avoid building an organisational initiative on one person’s expectations. Furthermore, it is important to support the management’s work to establish commitment for the model in the municipal organisation. Originality/value This study adds to knowledge of the complexity of deciding and implementing models to support systematic work environment management in organisations.

Experiences of job demand and control: A study of first line managers in for-profit psychiatric and addiction care

Work ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Linda Widar ◽  
Erika Wall ◽  
Sven Svensson
Keyword(s):  
First Line ◽  
Line Managers ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Job Demand ◽  
Organizational Position ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Line Manager ◽  
Addiction Care ◽  
And Control ◽  
Demand Control

BACKGROUND: The complex position of a first line manager is characterized by heavy workload and contradictory demands. Little is known about how first line managers experience demand and control in their work. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to explore experiences of demand and control among first line managers within psychiatric and addiction care. METHOD: In the present study, interviews with ten managers in for-profit psychiatric and addiction care in Sweden were analyzed with a phenomenographic approach. RESULTS: The managers experiences of demand and control implied varied and extensive responsibilities for a wide range of professions; regulation by organizational, economic, and political frameworks; creating balance in their work; and handling the emergence and consequences of acute crisis. These experiences of demand and control involved high and contradictory demands together with coexisting high and low levels of control. Many of their work characteristics could be described in terms of both demand and control. CONSLUSION: The first line managers experiences of demand and control are more complex than implied by the job demand control theory. Our results suggest that the organizational position and branch should be considered when identifying health hazards in the work environment of first line managers.

scholarly journals Conditions for Workplace Learning as a New First-Line Manager in Elderly Care

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin Wastesson ◽  
Anna Fogelberg Eriksson ◽  
Peter Nilsson ◽  
Maria Gustavsson
Keyword(s):  
Workplace Learning ◽  
Elderly Care ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Professional Experience ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Work Experiences ◽  
First Line ◽  
Line Managers ◽  
Learning Conditions ◽  
Line Manager

AbstractThe purpose of this article is to explore first-line managers’ experiences of workplace learning in elderly care, with a particular focus on the conditions for learning when entering a new workplace as the new manager. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 35 first-line managers from three organisations in Sweden. Four learning conditions emerged as being particularly significant for first-line managers: the managers’ previous professional experience, job-specific training, social support, and the joint repertoire of organisational arrangements. These conditions shifted in importance during the process of entering the workplace, and the way in which the conditions gave access to learning for different managers varied. The managers’ professional experience and others’ recognition of them had a considerable impact on their admittance to the new workplace. After the initial entry phase, the other three learning conditions became more significant and played a role in enabling or constraining the managers’ learning and becoming the new manager. One conclusion is that contextual and work experiences from elderly care were significant for learning during the initial phase and in order to gain access to workplace learning. Another conclusion is that high expectations and great responsibility were placed on the managers to satisfy their own learning needs. This implies that professional, social and emotional support that is received informally is just as significant for learning as formalised training for entering a new workplace as a new manager.

Efficacy of Coenzyme Q10 in the Treatment of Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome in Children

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brezin F ◽  
◽  
Wiedemann A ◽  
Bansept C ◽  
Albuisson E ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Coenzyme Q10 ◽  
Gastrointestinal Disorder ◽  
Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome ◽  
Line Treatment ◽  
First Line ◽  
Excellent Safety Profile ◽  
Third Line ◽  
One Year ◽  
First Line Treatment ◽  
Cyclic Vomiting

Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome (CVS) is a chronic functional gastrointestinal disorder related to migraine, characterized by episodic nausea and vomiting. The treatment of CVS remains based on tricyclic antidepressants, triptans and antiepileptics. As mitochondriopathy has been involved in the pathophysiology of CVS, Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), a mitochondrial cofactor, has been used as the third line treatment in CVS. Considering the excellent safety profile of CoQ10, we decided to use it as the first line treatment in CVS. We retrospectively studied the evolution of 23 CVS patients who were treated for one year by CoQ10 alone. We recorded the characteristics of patients and their CVS history and compared data obtained the year before and the year following the prescription of CoQ10 treatment. We found a significant decrease in the number of vomiting episodes between the year before and the year after the start of CoQ10 (median [IQR]: 18.0 [15.75] vs. 3.00 [5.0]; p <0.001). This decrease persisted with time (2 and 3 years of treatment). The treatment was very efficient in 17/23 patients and did not decrease the number of vomiting episodes in 3 patients. Only one mild side effect related to the drug has been reported. Conclusions: CoQ10 is an efficient and safe treatment of CVS and should be used as the first line treatment in this episodic syndrome related to migraine.

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