Bouncing Back: Resilient Human Factor Management

Due to the fourth industrial revolution employees in high-risk environments are confronted with increasing complexity and thus, the need to make ever greater and faster adaptations. As a consequence, the importance of efficient and safe human-machine interactions – in other words, human factors – is constantly growing. In this context, one skill is becoming increasingly relevant: resilience. This ability to react appropriately in difficult situations, recognize mistakes and ‘bounce back’ from adverse or altering circumstances, increasing challenges and possible setbacks is of enormous value, especially for employees in high-risk environments. The basic prerequisite of resilience is considered to be balance of a person’s life energy among the various areas of life – a basic principle of Positive Psychotherapy. In addition, there are several personality traits, competencies and psychosocial factors that have been shown to help improve resilience. Both aspects will be examined in the following article. Also, the article invites self-reflection on one’s own life balance, personality traits and competencies central to resilience. For the encouraging and interesting message is: Resilience can be developed and promoted – and can thereby contribute to increasing safety in high-risk environments as well as to promoting the employees’ health.

Effects of family risk on early attachment security: Gender-specific susceptibility and mediation by parenting behavior

Growing up in high-risk environments is detrimental to children’s development of attachment security. Parenting behavior is hypothesized to be the mechanism through which risks exert their influence. However, risk influences can vary between individuals by gender. Aim of this study was to explore specific pathways of family risk on early attachment security and additionally examine the transmission via parenting behavior. The sample consisted of 197 children and their primary caregivers. Children’s age ranged between 10 and 21 months ( M = 15.25, SD = 3.59). Data assessment included 21 distal and proximal family risk factors, children’s attachment security, and parental responsivity and supportive presence. Whereas distal risk factors had an adverse effect only on girls’ attachment security, proximal risks negatively affected only boys’ attachment security. Additionally, patterns of risk factors occurring in our sample were analyzed using an exploratory principal component analysis. Regardless of the child’s gender, a low socio- economic status was negatively related to attachment security of all children. Migration and crowding and a high emotional load of the primary caregiver both negatively predicted girls’ but not boys’ attachment security. However, the attachment security of boys was affected by a negative family climate. Most of the adverse risk effects on attachment security were mediated by parental responsivity and supportive presence so that the transmission of risk occurs through parenting behavior. Results revealed a different susceptibility of family risks for girls and boys. The consideration of a gender-sensitive approach in developmental psychopathology and interventions of developmental child welfare services is recommended.

Quantifying transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 and impact of intervention within long-term healthcare facilities

Estimates of the basic reproduction number ( R 0 ) for COVID-19 are particularly variable in the context of transmission within locations such as long-term healthcare (LTHC) facilities. We sought to characterize the heterogeneity of R 0 across known outbreaks within these facilities. We used a unique comprehensive dataset of all outbreaks that occurred within LTHC facilities in British Columbia, Canada as of 21 September 2020. We estimated R 0 in 18 LTHC outbreaks with a novel Bayesian hierarchical dynamic model of susceptible, exposed, infected and recovered individuals, incorporating heterogeneity of R 0 between facilities. We further compared these estimates to those obtained with standard methods that use the exponential growth rate and maximum likelihood. The total size of outbreaks varied dramatically, with range of attack rates 2%–86%. The Bayesian analysis provided an overall estimate of R 0 = 2.51 (90% credible interval 0.47–9.0), with individual facility estimates ranging between 0.56 and 9.17. Uncertainty in these estimates was more constrained than standard methods, particularly for smaller outbreaks informed by the population-level model. We further estimated that intervention led to 61% (52%–69%) of all potential cases being averted within the LTHC facilities, or 75% (68%–79%) when using a model with multi-level intervention effect. Understanding of transmission risks and impact of intervention are essential in planning during the ongoing global pandemic, particularly in high-risk environments such as LTHC facilities.

Exhaustion, Adversity, and Repression: Emotional Attrition in High-Risk Activism

The article proposes the notion of emotional attrition to capture the process through which activists working in high-risk environments may develop a lasting state of emotional exhaustion caused by protracted exposure to adversarial conditions. Combining insights from clinical psychology and the sociology of emotions, it outlines a novel framework to understand the relationship between activism, emotions, and disengagement. We argue that activists can develop an emotional state characterized by dispiriting emotions and disengaging attitudes that affect their well-being and ability to sustain their activism. This argument is grounded on an in-depth analysis of more than 130 interviews with local human rights activists in Colombia, Kenya, and Indonesia. By examining their experiences and pressures in relation to the arena of repression, their immediate social circle, and the broader sociopolitical and cultural context, we shed light on the complex intersections between activists’ emotional challenges and the range of contextual and strategic factors shaping their work and lives.

Risk in Strategic Management

Although risk is an essential element of the business landscape and one of the more widely researched topics in business, there is noticeably less scholarship on strategic risk. Business risk literature tends to only delineate characteristics of risk that are operational rather than strategic in nature. The current operational risk paradigm focuses primarily on only two dimensions of risk: the probability of its occurrence and the severity of its outcomes. In contrast, literature in the natural and social sciences exhibits greater dimensionality in the risk lexicon, including temporal risk dimensions absent from academic business discussions. Additionally, descriptions of operational risk included minimal linkage to strategic outcomes that could constrain or enable resources, markets, or competition. When working with a multidimensional model of risk, one can adjustment the process of environmental scanning and risk assessment in ways that were potentially more measurable. Given the temporal dimensions of risk, risk management cannot always function proactively. In risk environments with short risk horizons, rapid risk acceleration, or limited risk reaction time, firms must utilize dynamic capabilities. The literature proposes multiple approaches to managing risk that are often focused on single challenges or solutions. By combining a strategic management focus with a multidimensional model of strategic risk, one can match risk management protocols to specific strategic challenges. Lastly, one of more powerful dimensions of risky events is their ability to differentially affect competitors, changing the basis of competition. Risk need not solely be viewed as defending against potential losses; many risky occurrences may represent new strategic opportunities.

How Does an Audit or a Forensic Perspective Influence Auditors’ Fraud-Risk Assessment and Subsequent Risk Response?

This study examines whether priming auditors with a forensic perspective improves their fraud-risk assessments and subsequent audit-plan responses. We contribute to the literature by investigating a potential improvement in fraud detection that encourages auditors to take a forensic specialist’s perspective, while retaining the audit tenets of efficiently identifying and responding to risk. We prime auditors with a forensic perspective and compare their fraud performance to unprimed auditors in both low- and high-risk contexts, finding primed auditors assess fraud-risk significantly higher in all fraud-risk environments. In a high-risk environment, primed auditors propose a more appropriate audit-plan response. Relevant to fraud detection, these audit-plan modifications were consistent with those determined by a panel of audit and forensic experts. They exhibit a sensitivity in the low-risk environment, whereby their risk response is similar with that of the unprimed auditors. Finally, we find perspective-taking affects risk response through its influence on risk assessment.

Sex Differences in the Amount and Patterns of Car-Driving Exposure in Spain, 2014 to 2017: An Application of a Quasi-Induced Exposure Approach

We designed a cross-sectional study in Spain, from 2014 to 2017. Our objective was to assess sex-related differences in the amount of driving exposure of car drivers, overall and stratified by the main environment-related driving conditions. We compared the sex distribution across three populations: (1) total number of person-years aged > 18 years; (2) total number of person-years aged > 18 years holding a valid car-driving license; and (3) total number of non-responsible car drivers involved in crashes with another offending driver, stratified by different environmental variables. The quasi-induced exposure approach was applied: the non-responsible drivers were considered as representative of the entire population of drivers on the road at the place and time at which the crash occurred. We calculated the female-to-male odds ratio (OR) by comparing population 2 versus 1, and population 3 versus 2. Finally, we performed separate regression models in population 3 for each environment-related variable as the dependent variable and driver’s age and sex as the independent variables. The female-to-male OR for the first comparison was 1.12, but values below 1 were found for extreme age groups. In the second comparison, an OR of 0.50 (0.49–0.51) was found, with progressively lower OR values as age increased. In population 3, women were found to drive less than men in environments known to be high risk (i.e., open roads, night-time, poor light conditions, and weekends). A significant gender gap exists in the amount and type of driving exposure. Although women obtain a driving license more frequently than men, they drive much less and tend to avoid high-risk environments. These results emphasize the need to incorporate a gender perspective in the development and implementation of road safety interventions.

Multi-attribute Decision Method Based on Normal Random Variable in Economic Management Risk Control

This article proposes a distribution function based on normal distribution to express the distribution of criterion values in the interval. This method considers that the economic evaluation target of investment projects is multi-attribute. The economic management risk control environment is divided into information environment, time and space environment, and subject environment. The paper gives the corresponding multi-attribute economic evaluation method for the six possible combinations of project risk environments under the possibility of mutual comparison between interval numbers under the normal distribution. In the end, an example is used to illustrate the practicability and simplicity of the decision-making method.

Explaining How Management Safety Practices and Safety Programs Influence Job Safety and Employee Commitment

Job safety was examined as a mediator of the relationship between management safety practices, safety programs, and employee commitment in Ghana's mining sector. A descriptive study approach was used, specifically a cross-sectional survey. The research discovered a clear link between management safety practices and employee commitment. It was shown that management safety measures had a strong positive association with job safety. Job safety also had a significant positive relationship with employee commitment. The connection between management safety and employee commitment was mediated by job safety. This study demonstrates how safety at the workplace boosts employees’ commitment in achieving organizational goals. The study advises organizations operating in high-risk environments to adopt industry-wide standard safety practices to ensure employees can develop the sense of attachment required for organizational growth. This can be achieved when management shows concern for employees’ safety. This is the first research to look into the link between management safety practices in the workplace and employee commitment.

Uptake of Covid–19 vaccines among frontline workers in California state prisons

Background Prisons are high–risk environments for Covid–19. Vaccination levels among prison staff remain troublingly low – lower than levels among residents and members of the surrounding community. The situation is troubling because prison staff are a key vector for Covid–19 transmission. Objective To assess patterns and timing of staff vaccination in California state prisons and identify individual– and community–level factors associated with being unvaccinated. Design We calculated fractions of prison staff and incarcerated residents in California state prisons who remained unvaccinated. Adjusted analyses identified demographic, community, and peer factors associated with vaccination uptake among staff. Setting California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation prisons. Participants Custody and healthcare staff who worked in direct contact with residents. Main Outcomes and Measures Remaining unvaccinated through June 30, 2021. Results A total of 26 percent of custody staff and 52 percent of healthcare staff took ≥ 1 dose in the first two months of vaccine offer; uptake stagnated thereafter. By June 30, 2021, 61 percent of custody and 37 percent of healthcare staff remained unvaccinated. Remaining unvaccinated was positively associated with younger age, prior Covid–19, residing in a community with relatively low vaccination rates, and sharing shifts with co–workers who had relatively low vaccination rates. Conclusions and Relevance Vaccine uptake among prison staff in California in regular contact with incarcerated residents has plateaued at levels that pose ongoing risks – both of further outbreaks in the prisons and transmission into surrounding communities. Staff decisions to forego vaccination appear to be complex and multifactorial. Achieving safe levels of vaccine protection among frontline staff may necessitate requiring vaccination as condition of employment.