Going Beyond Position Statements: One Hospital’s Successful Initiative to Implement Napping for Night Shift Nurses

Background: Sleepiness during the night shift is associated with errors, accidents, injuries, and drowsy driving. Despite scientific evidence that supports brief naps to reduce sleepiness, and guidance documents from policy organizations, napping has not been widely implemented. Methods: An initiative to translate scientific evidence about napping was implemented in one hospital over one year. The initiative included garnering leadership support and resources, building a translation team, evaluating the evidence, responding to operational concerns, developing an implementation strategy, and then implementing and evaluating the results. Night shift nurses were surveyed pre and post nap implementation for drowsy driving, sleepiness, and work and coworker relationships. Qualitative data documented the nurses’ perceptions about napping. Findings: Three-fourths of the units that were eligible to nap successfully implemented and sustained napping. Most nurses felt refreshed by a brief nap and felt safer on the drive home, but one-fourth worried about or had sleep inertia symptoms. Drowsy driving remained unacceptably high. Conclusion: The initiative was successfully implemented on most nursing units. The mixed reaction to napping, and the unfavorable drowsy driving outcome point to the need for additional interventions to reduce sleepiness.

I am not worthy: How interpersonal experiences influence perceived value and worth of full- and part-time faculty

Positive interpersonal relationships between college administration and faculty are necessary as they contribute to organizational climate measures, such as a sense of belonging and perceived organizational worth. Furthermore, such relationships may combat against faculty cynicism. Interpersonal experiences are particularly relevant in a post-coronavirus disease 2019 workplace in which interactions with colleagues are infrequent. Little is known about the effects of interpersonal experiences on part-time faculty specifically, as compared with full-time faculty. This study investigates teamwork experiences and interpersonal constraints as predictors of the attitudes and perceptions of full- and part-time faculty at a four-year public teaching college in the southwestern United States. After controlling for years working at the college, teamwork was a consistent predictor of higher sense of belonging, perceived organizational worth, and lower cynicism among full- and part-time faculty. Furthermore, the presence of negative coworker relationships was a significant predictor of lower sense of belonging and perceived organizational worth among full-time faculty. Inadequate help or lack of contact with co-workers was not a significant predictor of faculty attitudes and perceptions. The results of this study suggest the need for fostering teamwork and positive relationships among full- and part-time faculty in a meaningful and systemic manner within institutions of higher education. Additionally, this study provides support for institutionalizing a team-based approach to working among all faculty to foster perceived belonging and worth, while limiting cynicism.

Stress and Peer Support among Nonprofit Workers

Stress among nonprofit workers is well documented. Methods for reducing that stress are not well understood. Specifically, little research examines the value of peer support in reducing stress among those engaged in compassionate care work. In this study, 93 workers from 15 nonprofit organizations completed a Qualtrics survey about their work-related stress, personal relationships with coworkers, perceptions about the value of coworker relationships in mitigating work stress, and efforts by their workplaces to promote positive relationships among their employees. Results indicate that most experience work-related stress, have close and important relationships with coworkers, are likely to confide in coworkers about work stressors, and believe that feeling close to coworkers helps to relieve stress at work. The implications of these findings are explored.

Employees' emotional intelligence and innovative behavior in China: Organizational political climate as a moderator

We used conservation of resources theory to explore the moderated mediation effect of employees' emotional intelligence on their innovative behavior in an organization context. Data were collected from 237 employees and their supervisors in two innovative Chinese enterprises, with a dual time point pairing design. The results show that emotional intelligence positively influenced innovative behavior via innovative process engagement, a strongly negative organizational political climate negatively moderated the effect of emotional intelligence on innovative process engagement, and innovative process engagement mediated the relationship between emotional intelligence and innovative behavior. These results support the need to strengthen the management of employees' emotions; to build a new ecology of organizational politics in China (e.g., offering fair pay and promotions); and to promote coworker relationships that are characterized by openness, transparency, and integrity, to promote innovation among employees.

Coworkers’ Perceptions of, and Communication With, Workplace Romance Participants: Proposing and Testing a Model

This study’s purpose was to propose and test a model of workplace romance’s influence on coworkers’ perceptions of, and communication with, workplace romance participants. In testing hypotheses derived from our model, we examined workplace romance’s relational implications from the perspectives of workplace romance participants and third-party coworkers. Results reveal that coworker perceptions of, and behaviors toward, workplace romance participants were more deleterious than the workplace romance participants believed them to be, especially in the case of hierarchical workplace romances. In addition, attributions of workplace romance job motives led to reports of diminished coworker trust in workplace romance participants, which predicted less honest and accurate coworker communication with workplace romance participants. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings for communication in coworker relationships and antisocial organizational behavior and communication are discussed.

When more is better

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how organizational diversity may be associated with immigrants’ quality of coworker relationships. More specifically, this paper examines how immigrants’ perceived deep-level similarity and perceived workplace ethnic diversity may be associated with their quality of coworker relationships. Design/methodology/approach A final sample of 347 immigrant employees were surveyed. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to test the hypotheses. Findings Immigrants’ quality of coworker relationships is positively associated with their perceived deep-level similarity with other coworkers. In addition, perceived workplace ethnic diversity moderates this relationship such that the relation is stronger as perceived workplace ethnic diversity increases. Research limitations/implications The study and analyses are based on cross-sectional and single-source data and cannot determine causality. The study is also restricted to immigrants in the USA. Practical implications Findings provide evidence that increased levels of ethnic diversity and deep-level similarity in the workplace may improve immigrants’ quality of relationships, helping them integrate more successfully in organizations. Thus, managers seeking to benefit from diversity should strive for the creation of truly multicultural organizations or workgroups and focus on fostering similarities in deep-level attributes to maximize their potential. Originality/value Immigrants are an important asset for organizations, but research about their inclusion in organizations is limited, especially when examining their integration in their workplaces. This study addresses some of these limitations by looking at the effect of diversity in organizations.

Linking justice perceptions, workplace relationship quality and job performance: The differential roles of vertical and horizontal workplace relationships

Due to decentralization, flat organizational structures and prevalence of team work, employees interact more frequently and intensively within horizontal relationships with coworkers than within vertical relationships with supervisors. The present study contributes to a more complete understanding of antecedents and outcomes of local, interpersonal workplace relationships by simultaneously investigating employee–supervisor and employee–coworker relationships. Drawing on organizational justice theory and social exchange theory as well as data collected from 571 employees at two points in time, this study explores how justice perceptions affect social exchange relationships with supervisors and coworkers, and identifies mechanisms through which these, in turn, enhance employee job performance. Results suggest that informational and interpersonal justice differentially affect the quality of employee–supervisor and employee–coworker relationships, underlining the relevance of considering both supervisors and coworkers as sources of justice. Moreover, the findings indicate that employee–supervisor and employee–coworker relationships contribute to job performance, but through distinct paths. Job satisfaction mediates the link between both social exchange relationships and job performance, while quality of employee–coworker relationships further enhances job performance through employees’ motivation to engage in learning and knowledge sharing.