The role of historical and contextual knowledge in enterprise search

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to examine enterprise searching practices across different work areas and work tasks in an enterprise search system in an international biotechnology company.Design/methodology/approachA mixed-method approach studying employees' authentic search activities during a 4-month period by log data, questionnaire survey and interviews. The log data analysed the entire active searcher group, whereas the questionnaire and interviews focused on frequent searchers.FindingsThe three studies provided insight into the searching activities and an understanding of the way searchers used the enterprise search system to search for information as part of their work tasks. The data identified three searcher groups, each with specific search characteristics. Four work task types were identified, and for all four types the searchers applied a tracing searching technique with use of contextual and historical relationships as paths.Practical implicationsThe findings point to the importance of knowledge on historical and contextual relations in enterprise search.Originality/valueThe work sheds new light on enterprise searchers' information search practices. A significant contribution is the identification of a tracing search method used in relation to four essential work task types. Another contribution is the importance of historical and contextual knowledge to support the tracing search and decide what paths to follow.

Translating Member Ability Into Group Brainstorming Performance: The Role of Collective Intelligence

In investigating how member ability is translated into group brainstorming performance, it was predicted that a group’s collective intelligence (CI) would enable it to capitalize on member ability while maximizing process gains and mitigating process losses. Ninety-nine groups were randomly assigned to complete a short brainstorming task using a hybrid (individual-group work) or collective (only group work) task structure. High CI groups were better than low CI groups at translating member ability into group brainstorming performance. Additionally, this hybrid structure was more beneficial for low CI groups than for high CI groups in generating total ideas.

Effects of Resistance Training in Muscle Mass and Markers of Muscle Damage in Adults with Down Syndrome

Recent studies have emphasized that regular exercise should be encouraged as a key part of care and support for people with Down syndrome (DS). However, muscle hypotonia has traditionally been considered a major barrier to resistance training (RT) in people with DS. The main objective of this study was to analyze the impact of circuit RT on markers of muscle damage. The secondary objective was to assess the influence of a RT program on body composition and work task performance. Thirty-six men with DS were recruited and randomly assigned to perform a circuit RT program with six stations 3 days/week for 12 weeks (n = 18) or to a control group (n = 18). Body composition was assessed by bioelectrical impedance analysis. Serum markers of muscle damage (creatine kinase, myoglobin, and lactate dehydrogenase) were determined at baseline and at the end of training weeks 1, 6, and 12. Work task performance was assessed using the weighted pail-carry test. RT did not induce significant changes in markers of muscle damage during the intervention. Furthermore, muscle mass and work task performance were significantly improved in the exercise group. These findings suggest that circuit RT can be used safely to increase muscle mass and work task performance in young adults with DS. Muscle hypotonia should not be considered a major barrier to exercise in people with DS, provided that qualified staff design and supervise all training sessions.

Association of Job Stress and Hypertension among Nurses in Imo State, Nigeria

Hypertension is one of the major public health problems and it is prevalent all over the world. Raised blood pressure (BP) is a major risk factor for chronic heart disease, stroke and coronary heart disease. This study was a descriptive and correlation study carried out to investigate the association of job stress and hypertension among nurses in Imo state, Nigeria. A well-structured questionnaire was used to interview the subjects and obtain data for the study. All subjects used for this study gave an informed consent to be part of the study. Data analysis was performed using SPSS Statistics version 23. Bivariate (unadjusted) discriminant analysis method was used to assess the correlation of hypertension with job stress. Results showed that significant correlation was found between hypertension and job stress (Wilks’s Lambda=0.965, F=13.85, p <0.0001), a significant proportion (34.3%) of the hypertensive nurses stated that they feel stressful working on night compared with 19.0% who are non-hypertensive. But the corresponding mean score (2.6) remained the same for both groups. Up to 21.8% of the non-hypertensive nurses compared with 32.1% of the hypertensive nurses reported that most of the times they deprive themselves from sleeping just to perform work task. The mean score showed variations for two groups with higher score for the non-hypertensive among those that find it stressful to engage in a non-nursing task while on duty (non-hypertensive 2.6, hypertensive 2.3). The score was rather higher in the hypertensive (3.0) than the non-hypertensive (2.5) among those who responded that the task they handle make them feel fatigued. In conclusion, there was a correlation between job stress and hypertension. It was recommended that stress intervention programmes be introduced to encourage nurses to manage stress in the workplace. Keywords: Hypertension, High Blood Pressure, Job stress, Nurses, Cardiovascular disease.

Managerial challenges faced by Swedish nurse managers in perioperative settings– a qualitative study

Background Nurse managers need to create cultures that are worthy, not only of the commitment of everyone who comes to work but also of the trust of everyone who comes to be served. The aim of our study was to describe the challenges faced by Swedish nurse managers in a perioperative setting. Methods A qualitative study was conducted. The participants were chosen by convenience sampling, and individual in-depth interviews were conducted. Data were analysed by Systematic Text Condensation. The COREQ checklist was consulted throughout the study to optimise the quality. Results Nineteen nurse managers (all women) participated. Six themes were identified: “striving to treat employees with consideration and solicitude”; “the obligation to take care of each employee’s individual needs”; “convincing others was an uphill battle”, “finding solutions when things seem impossible”; “staff recruitment, allocation, and management”; “working with constantly changing planning”. Conclusions The nurse managers faced challenges because of the overwhelming amount of work tasks, with almost no time for reflection. Having carefully chosen tasks and a realistic time schedule for each work task, plus time to find one’s own path to inner peace, are essential for nurse managers. Organisations that provide these prerequisites show that they care about their nurse managers. The results of this study indicate the need for time to reflect, as well as support from superior managers and from the human resources department.

Sykepleiere i hjemmebaserte tjenester – hvorfor fortsetter de i sin stilling?

Sykepleiere som arbeider i helsetjenester i hjemmet har krav om høy kvalitet på sykepleieutøvelsen. Samtidig har Norge en sykepleiermangel og primærhelsetjenesten utfordringer med å rekruttere og beholde sykepleiere. Studien beskriver og fortolker hva som var viktig for å fortsette i sin stilling som sykepleier i helsetjenester i hjemmet. En kvalitativ design ble benyttet. Deltakerne var seks sykepleiere i alderen 26 til 60 år ansatt i helsetjenester i hjemmet i en distriktskommune. Data ble samlet inn gjennom individuelle intervju. Transkriberte intervju ble analysert ved hjelp av fenomenologisk-hermeneutisk metode. Resultatene er formulert som fire tema: Å være ønsket velkommen hos pasienter; å ha samhold med kollegaer og leder; å ha variasjon i arbeidshverdagen; å ferdes i naturskjønne omgivelser. Studien konkluderer med at det som synes å være viktig for at sykepleiere fortsetter i sin stilling, er å ha en opplevelse av å lykkes. Studien løfter fram at dette synes å være mulig for sykepleierne i helsetjenester i hjemmet. Det er mulig når sykepleierne inngår i en sammenheng som er meningsfull, begripelig og håndterbar. Fordi sykepleiere har en sentral rolle i helsetjenester i hjemmet, trengs det mer forskning på hvorfor sykepleiere fortsetter i sin stilling. Abstract High-quality nursing care is a goal and requirement in health services. The Norwegian primary health care is challenged by a shortage of nurses, difficulties with recruiting and retaining nurses. This study aims to describe and interpret important aspects allowing nurses working in home healthcare to remain in their current position. A qualitative research design was used. The setting was one district municipality’s home healthcare. Six nurses aged between 26 and 60 years were recruited through strategic sampling to individual interviews. Data were analyzed using a phenomenological hermeneutic method. Four themes emerged from the analysis: Being welcome at the patients’ home; experiencing community with colleagues and leader; experiencing work task variety; traveling in scenic surroundings. Thus, the significance of having a sense of coherence, comprehensibility, and manageability cannot be too strongly emphasized. The study indicates that remaining in home healthcare practice seems to revolve around achieving a sense of success as a nurse.

Rejecting Non-Paternalist Motivation: An Experimental Test

Is people’s willingness to implement their fairness views on a group dependent on how many in the group share their view? We designed a new experiment to answer this question. Spectator participants were asked how many other participants they believe share their view of whether it is fair to redistribute income in a work task. They were then given the option to pay two cents to implement the distribution they found fair upon a pair of participants who had completed the work task. Although spectator participants systematically overestimate how many share their fairness view, being informed about the true number does not affect their decision to implement the distribution they found fair. The results suggest that people are motivated to implement their fairness view regardless of whether their view is at odds with that of those who are affected.

Interrelation between the types of self-attitude and self-regulation of laziness in young individuals with different degree of self-regulation of behavior

The subject of this research is self-attitude and self-regulation of laziness in young individuals, who combine work and study. The article provides a brief theoretical overview of the research that prove interrelation between self-attitude and self-regulation of behavior and laziness. Using the quartilization procedure of the values of individual indicators, the author determined the groups with different degree of self-regulation of behavior; established the leading types of self-attitude of young individuals with different level of self-regulation of behavior. The presence and specificity of true links between the types of self-attitude with external and internal evaluative grounds and the severity of self-regulation of laziness in different contexts that provoke manifestations of laziness in young people with different level of self-regulation of behavior. Young individuals with high self-regulation of behavior demonstrate interconnectedness between self-regulation of laziness and types of self-attitude with internal evaluative grounds in execution of learning task, with external and internal evaluative grounds in execution of work task. The author underlines the importance of positive self-attitude for maintaining self-regulation of laziness. Interrelation between the types of self-attitude with both, external and internal evaluative grounds in execution of learning or work tasks are detected among the respondents with pronounced self-regulation above and below the average. Among young people with low self-regulation of behavior, the types of self-attitude with external evaluative grounds in conducting learning activity, the types of self-attitude with external and internal evaluative grounds in execution of work task, are interconnected with self-regulation of laziness. The reveled peculiarities should be taken into account in planning the educational and work process.