Collegial Atmosphere Research Articles

Job Stress and Its Effects on Job Performance of Employees: Ghana Revenue Authority in Tamale Metropolis as a Case Study

Competition among businesses in today’s ever-dynamic environment places a high demand and burden on employees. These demands induce stress on employees with the consequences of individual health challenges, family breakdown, pressure on social amenities, low productivity and profitability of firms. This study was undertaken to establish the implications of job-related stress on employees’ job performance. The sample comprises all workers of Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) in Tamale, the Northern Region of Ghana. All employees (census) were used for the study and data was collected using both primary and secondary sources. The findings revealed that stress is a normal occurrence at the workplace that affects all people, regardless of their gender or socioeconomic class, hence, the need for management to formulate a good policy directed at reducing stress among workers, and encouraging high performance among workers. This will help reduce job-related stress. Managers must be dedicated to making adjustments that will assist workers to cope with some of the known stressors. It is recommended that managers should match individual capabilities with the tasks and duties allocated to avoid both physical, emotional and psychological pressure on the employee. Management should establish a congenial and collegial atmosphere for working and operate an open-door communication policy as a management style because this will ease pressure and tension since leadership style was cited as a stressor.

Jumble judging: Cognitive and affective outcomes of intercollegiate collaboration at a soil judging competition

AbstractStudent–student interactions are influential parts of field experiences. While competitive judging events are a fun way to engage students in field‐based learning, the focus on competition leads to an atmosphere that discourages collaboration between students. The objective of this study was to evaluate the cognitive and affective learning outcomes resulting from intercollegiate collaboration at a soil judging competition. Teams with students from two to three different universities were assigned and referred to as jumble judging teams. Jumble judging was held for the first time in the 2021 Region 5 Collegiate Soil Judging Contest. Learning outcomes were assessed using a pre‐ and postsurvey, as well as group and individual reflections completed in the field. Student responses were generally positive, with 70% of students expressing agreement or strong agreement that they would like jumble judging to be included in future contests, 54% citing jumble judging as one of the best parts of the contest, and 93% identifying learning outcomes or describing an affective learning experience resulting from jumble judging. Evidence of both cognitive and affective learning were identified through student surveys and reflections. Overall, the event created a collaborative and collegial atmosphere and increased interaction between students from different universities, while maintaining the competitive nature of the event that motivates many students to get involved with judging teams.

Seafarers’ mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: An examination of current supportive measures and their perceived effectiveness

As the current COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting crew change crisis exacerbates the mental health problem faced by seafarers, various maritime stakeholders have mobilised their resources and strengths to provide a variety of supportive measures to address the issue. This paper aims to find out what measures have been adopted in the industry and how widely they have been experienced/received by seafarers and evaluate their effectiveness. To achieve this aim, this research employed a mixed methods design involving qualitative interviews with 26 stakeholders and a quantitative questionnaire survey of 817 seafarers. The research identified a total number of 22 mental health support measures, all of which were perceived to have contributed positively to seafarers’ mental health. However, not all of them were widely available to or utilised by seafarers. The findings also highlighted the importance of family, colleagues, shipping companies, and government agencies, as they are associated with the most effective support measures, namely communication with family, timely crew changes, being prioritised for vaccination, being vaccinated, and a positive and collegial atmosphere on-board. Based on the findings, recommendations are provided.

THE VOLUNTARINESS OF DISPUTANTS IN CONSTRUCTION MEDIATION

Mediation has been promoted to resolve construction disputes due to much-heralded time and cost advantages. Formal introduction was affected in early 20’s after several successful pro bono mediation pilots. In Hong Kong, immense promotional efforts have been directed to make mediation the mainstream mechanism for alternative dispute resolution. Despite promotional efforts, a disheartening decline in use of mediation was noted after an initial surge. For wider adoption, there has been an ongoing debate on before disputing parties resorting other forms of dispute resolution, whether courts should compel them to attempt mediation. This study examines pillars of successful mediation and seeks to reveal the root causes of Hong Kong's sluggish uptake of construction. Review of literature informed key mediation attributes and manifestations of voluntariness in construction dispute mediation. Scale rating by construction professionals was employed to establish mediation attribute importance ranking as well as representativeness of manifestation of voluntary participation. "The exchange of critical information is effective" and "The disputant considers the mediator trustworthy" were ranked as the two most important mediation attributes, suggesting the importance of having a conducive environment for genuine communication. It is therefore proposed that voluntary participation is a necessary condition to create a collegial atmosphere. “Working cooperatively with the mediator” and “Preparing settlement options before attending the mediation” were the top two ranked manifestations of voluntary participation. Most research on mediation mainly focus on the advantages of mediation. Findings of this study raise the caveat when disputants are asked to attempt mediation that erodes voluntary participation.

THE VOLUNTARINESS OF DISPUTANTS IN CONSTRUCTION MEDIATION

Mediation has been promoted to resolve construction disputes due to much-heralded time and cost advantages. Formal introduction was affected in early 20’s after several successful pro bono mediation pilots. In Hong Kong, immense promotional efforts have been directed to make mediation the mainstream mechanism for alternative dispute resolution. Despite promotional efforts, a disheartening decline in use of mediation was noted after an initial surge. For wider adoption, there has been an ongoing debate on before disputing parties resorting other forms of dispute resolution, whether courts should compel them to attempt mediation. This study examines pillars of successful mediation and seeks to reveal the root causes of Hong Kong's sluggish uptake of construction. Review of literature informed key mediation attributes and manifestations of voluntariness in construction dispute mediation. Scale rating by construction professionals was employed to establish mediation attribute importance ranking as well as representativeness of manifestation of voluntary participation. "The exchange of critical information is effective" and "The disputant considers the mediator trustworthy" were ranked as the two most important mediation attributes, suggesting the importance of having a conducive environment for genuine communication. It is therefore proposed that voluntary participation is a necessary condition to create a collegial atmosphere. “Working cooperatively with the mediator” and “Preparing settlement options before attending the mediation” were the top two ranked manifestations of voluntary participation. Most research on mediation mainly focus on the advantages of mediation. Findings of this study raise the caveat when disputants are asked to attempt mediation that erodes voluntary participation.

Technology Skills: How Technologically Prepared are Students in the Collegiate Atmosphere?

Technology Skills: How Technologically Prepared are Students in the Collegiate Atmosphere?

Election Guidelines: Know the Rules

Election Guidelines: Know the Rules

Building Research Capacity in HIV and Noncommunicable Diseases in Africa: A Mentorship and Leadership Workshop Report.

Introduction:Few structured mentoring programs target early-stage investigators in Africa, creating a gap in mentorship skills where HIV burden is greatest. We describe findings from a Nigeria-based workshop for early-career physician scientists to build mentoring and leadership capacity in HIV and noncommunicable disease research.Methods:Baseline surveys captured participant demographics, confidence in implementing mentoring competencies, and perceived importance of workshop training domains. The workshop included didactic presentations, small group activities, and interactive discussions. Daily surveys evaluated sessions, and postworkshop surveys solicited overall course impressions.Results:Of the 33 participants, most were male (n = 21, 63.6%) and from medicine, laboratory sciences, and surgical specialties. “Building mentees' confidence” and “setting mentees' research goals” were ranked as areas where participants most believed they needed training. Sessions were rated favorably across five areas. Greatest improvements in mean scores were for confidence in identifying personal temperament styles, describing mentoring and leadership theories/frameworks, and developing mentoring plans. Additional identified workshop strengths were content relevance, leadership case series, interactive nature, and collegial atmosphere. All respondents indicated learning something new/useful/helpful in each session. At 6-month postworkshop, most respondents (25 of 26, 96%) had replicated or plan to replicate parts of the workshop in their departments/institutions.Discussion:Effective mentoring training initiatives targeting future academic leaders have the potential to create skilled academicians who can impart mentoring skills and competencies to their mentees.

Collaborations and Moving Past COVID‐19: The Human Ecology and Applied Ecology Sections

Collaborations and Moving Past COVID‐19: The Human Ecology and Applied Ecology Sections

Experiences of psychiatrists and support staff providing telemental health services to Indigenous peoples of Northern Quebec

BackgroundDue to regional, professional, and resource limitations, access to mental health care for Canada’s Indigenous peoples can be difficult. Telemental health (TMH) offers the opportunity to provide care across vast distances and has been proven to be as effective as face-to-face services. To our knowledge, there has been no qualitative study exploring the experiences of TMH staff serving the Indigenous peoples in Northern Quebec, Canada; which is the purpose of this study.MethodsUsing a qualitative descriptive design, the entire staff of a TMH clinic was recruited, comprising of four psychiatrists and four support staff. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted through videoconferencing, and results were thematically analyzed.ResultsTo address the mental health gap in Northern communities, all psychiatrists believe in the necessity of in-person care and note the synergistic effect of combining in-person care and TMH services. This approach to care allows psychiatrists to maintain both an insider and outsider identity. However, if a patient’s condition requires hospitalization, then the TMH staff face a new set of information sharing and communication challenges with the inpatient staff. TMH staff believe that the provision of culturally sensitive care to Northern patients at the inpatient unit is progressing; however, more work needs to be done. Despite the strong collegial atmosphere within the clinic and collective efforts to provide quality TMH services, all participants express a sense of frustration with the paper-based and scattered documentation system.ConclusionThe TMH team works in cohesion to offer TMH services to Indigenous peoples; yet, automatization is needed to improve the workflow efficiency within the clinic and collaboration with the Northern clinics. More research is needed on the functioning of TMH teams and the separate but important roles of each team member.

Improving Workplace Climate in Large Corporations: A Clustered Randomized Intervention

We evaluate the impact of a program aiming at improving the workplace climate in corporations. The program is implemented via a clustered randomized design and evaluated with respect to the prevalence of support networks, antisocial behavior, perceived relational atmosphere, and turnover rate. We find that professionals in treated corporations are less inclined to engage in toxic competition, exhibit higher reciprocity toward each other, report higher workplace satisfaction and a more collegial atmosphere. Treated firms have fewer socially isolated individuals and a lower employee turnover. The program's success in improving leader-subordinate relationships emerges as a likely mechanism to explain these results.

Improving Workplace Climate in Large Corporations: A Clustered Randomized Intervention

We evaluate the impact of a program aiming at improving the workplace climate in corporations. The program is implemented via a clustered randomized design and evaluated with respect to the prevalence of support networks, antisocial behavior, perceived relational atmosphere, and turnover rate. We find that professionals in treated corporations are less inclined to engage in toxic competition, exhibit higher reciprocity toward each other, report higher workplace satisfaction and a more collegial atmosphere. Treated firms have fewer socially isolated individuals and a lower employee turnover. The program's success in improving leader-subordinate relationships emerges as a likely mechanism to explain these results.

Novice Academic Roles: The Value of Collegiate, Attendee-Driven Writing Networks

Aim/Purpose: This particular study aims to contribute to the recent scholarly inquiry of doctoral student identity work within collegiate, attendee-driven writing networks. The study closely explores the implementation and impact of supportive measures in academia for novice researchers in the form of writing events. This paper draws on two case studies of doctoral students reflecting on the impact of their participation in social, academic literacy networks. The project also explores how these individuals were able to think about and mediate their own identities as they developed their reputations as experts in their field. Background: Completing a doctoral degree is a rich, rewarding endeavour; however, it is also a challenging process. Novice academics are vulnerable to psychosocial and emotional stresses associated with being an academic within the highly competitive environment, such as isolation and burnout. More recently, scholarly interest has emerged regarding the academy’s pressures upon novice researchers, such as those entering full-time academic roles after completing their doctoral studies. Methodology: A qualitative research design was implemented where data collection for this project involved in-depth semi-structured interviewing. The nature of the semi-structured interviews enabled professional dialogue with each participant. The semi-structured nature of the interviews enabled flexibility where follow-up questions and probes allowed for richer data gathering. Data analysis occurred within a sociocultural framework. Contribution: Explicitly focusing on doctoral students, we build upon existing knowledge and understanding of how novice academic writers negotiate, interpret, and understand the impact of their research dissemination and roles. While exploring how these individuals think about and mediate their identities during the initial period of asserting their reputations as experts in the field, this study looks at how collegiate, attendee-driven writing networks can support novice academics to meet the demands for quality research dissemination and strive to meet the metrics expected of them. Findings: This research has found that novice researchers who thrive on social interaction may often find collegiality lacking in their professional lives. Furthermore, those who can find a support network that fosters positive self-belief and provides a means for sharing successes benefit from countless opportunities for empowerment as novice researchers work through their doctorates. Recommendations for Practitioners: This research confirms and provides details around how a collegiate atmosphere for novice academics helps mitigate feelings of isolation, vulnerability, and a lack of self-confidence in their scholastic ability. Overcoming such feelings occurs through learning from peers, overcoming isolation and learning self-managing techniques. Therefore, establishing spaces for collegiate, attendee-driven writing events within doctoral settings is encouraged. Recommendation for Researchers: Further research into the benefits of collegiate, attendee-driven writing events and supporting the process of academic writing and dissemination can focus on transdisciplinary writing groups, as this particular study was centred within a specific faculty. Impact on Society: Within the neoliberal context of higher education, novice academics can benefit from attendee-driven writing events intended to empower them and provide growth opportunities. Through participation in collegiate, attendee driven writing networks, which are social and peer-based, we show that novice academics can learn how to combat unsettling feelings of perfectionism, isolation, fear of inadequacy, and failure. The social element is central to understanding how writers can increase their productivity and dissemination by writing alongside peers. Future Research: Novice researchers also represent early career researchers; thus, exploring collegiate, attendee-driven writing events for practicing academics is also encouraged. As noted above, exploring the potential of transdisciplinary writing networks would also be of value.

Culture Analysis of Patient Safety Incident Report of Nurses in Inventories of Sawerigading Regional Public Hospitals (RSUD), Palopo

This study aims to analyze the incidents reporting culture of nurses in the inpatient room. The research design used in this study was descriptive analytic with a cross sectional approach. The population in this study were nurses at Sawerigading Palopo Hospital with a sample of this study as many as 140 nurses, sampling using purposive sampling technique. The instrument used was the IRCQ (Incident Reporting Culture Questionnaire). It was found that from 140 respondents there were 77 respondents (55%) who showed a negative response to the culture of reporting incidents and showed a positive response there were 63 people (45%). Based on the four incident reporting factors, the factor that received the greatest negative response was the "collegial atmosphere due to discomfort and punishment" with a total of 119 respondents (85%). The culture of reporting incidents in the inpatient room of the Sawerigading Palopo public hospital must be improved and minimize any concerns from nurses regarding punishment and fear.

Saudi Female EFL Instructors’ Perceptions of the Effects of Professional Development on Their Self-Efficacy

This research explores female EFL instructors’ perceptions of the effect of the professional development provided by the English Language Institute (ELI) at King Abdul-Aziz University (KAU) on their self-efficacy and the type of professional development training that they feel has the greatest effect on their sense of self-efficacy. This research is based on Bandura’s (1977) social cognitive theory and its subset of self-efficacy. In order to achieve its objective, this qualitative study incorporated semi-structured interviews with six EFL female instructors within the ELI at KAU, Saudi Arabia. The study results revealed that the instructors had positive perceptions of the professional development they received at the ELI in terms of enhancing their efficacy beliefs, as it enabled an opportunity for professional enhancement, positively influenced teaching practice to help students’ learning, and developed a positive atmosphere of collegiality and collaboration. Additionally, the participants demonstrated a positive attitude toward the ELI’s mentoring program, as it enabled them to be inspired by an expert in the field, improved their teaching competencies, and created a feeling of professionalism. However, the participants held a conflicting view of the effect of classroom observation on instructors’ self-efficacy. Some believed that observations represent an important professional development tool that helps improve their performance, while others perceived it as a source of efficacy doubt. Based on the research results, this study bridged a gap in the current literature and contributed to knowledge on EFL instructors’ self-efficacy and how it could be influenced by professional development activities.

Exploring the constructivist mentoring program in developing EFL teacher professionalism: A qualitative approach

This paper investigates the implementation of constructivist learning, as it was practiced by five EFL teachers at a vocational high school in Indonesia. We offer a ‘mentoring program’ for teachers to support each other and provide resources that are bottom-up, free, and relevant, conducted in a collegial atmosphere. We adopted a qualitative approach as it enabled us to understand and cultivate deeper the learning process that occurred in the classroom. Data were qualitatively collected and analyzed in two ways. First, it focused on the participants’ interview, observation, self-reflection and discussion on the variables in the mentoring program covering the need and expectation of EFL teachers in the formal pedagogical setting, sources of teachers’ resistance to participate in Teacher Professional Development (TPD) program, the impact of TPD program on the teacher pedagogical competence, and conditions contributing to sustainable development as a result in the TPD program. Second, it was to disclose the researchers’ viewpoints and reflections under variables, as stated in the earlier analysis. Our research findings suggested that constructivist-learning practices were proven to be successful in helping the teachers experienced promising mentoring progress of TPD. Teachers and students underwent a significant change as the learning activities became more engaging and fun. Teachers confessed to have their pedagogical knowledge and practice expanded while having their attitude and mindset shifted after going through a series of activities inside the mentoring program. The program was central in nurturing teachers’ self-identity and helping them overcome their internal blocks. In the longer-term, this program contributes to developing teacher professionalism as they started to see the potentials and positives impacts of TPD programs.

The 2019 FASEB Science Research Conference on Matricellular Proteins in Inflammation and Tissue Remodeling, July 14-19, 2019, Lisbon, Portugal.

The 2019 FASEB Science Research Conference on Matricellular Proteins in Inflammation and Tissue Remodeling, July 14-19, 2019, Lisbon, Portugal.

Supporting the Medical Director: An Opportunity for Physicians, NPs, and PAs

Supporting the Medical Director: An Opportunity for Physicians, NPs, and PAs

The Necessity of Research Practice

The Necessity of Research Practice

Facilitating a Mentoring Programme for Doctoral Students: Insights from Evidence-Based Practice

Aim/Purpose: One approach to helping doctoral students deal with the many challenges they face is the provision of a structured mentoring programme to complement the more traditional doctoral curriculum and supervisor relationship. This paper reports a mentoring programme containing such activities as individual consultations and peer-mentoring workshops, introduced at one of the non-public universities in Poland and discusses the development of a model of support. In developing the model, two evaluation studies were conducted seeking to discover how participants perceived the mentoring programme, what needs the mentoring programme addressed, and what benefits it provided for doctoral students. Background: With reference to a new paradigm proposed by Kram and Higgins, mentoring emerges in the context of many developmental networks, where the more junior mentors and peer-mentors together discover new roles involved in doctoral education. Methodology: Case study methodology is utilized to gather perceptions of a doctoral mentoring programme. The conceptual framework for a two-part programme is presented and the results of two evaluation studies conducted on-line using a mix-method approach are reported. In total, 42 doctoral students participated in the studies, representing social sciences and the humanities disciplines. Contribution: This paper discusses a novel doctoral mentoring programme which finds its basis in evidence-based practice. This research goes beyond previous studies by undertaking an analysis of doctoral students’ needs, then considering relationships between those needs and structuring a programme to meet them. Findings: Findings showed three main areas of need for doctoral students: the need for social interaction at university; the need for structure in the doctoral journey, and the need for psychological support. Participants distinguished two perspectives that influenced the assessment of programme activities: (a) the meaningfulness of the mentoring programme to the individual; (b) the mentor’s attitude including the general atmosphere of collegiality during meetings. Results presented are supported by a proposed intervention model. Recommendations for Practitioners: The model presented may inspire other universities to implement similar approaches for supporting their own doctoral students. Researcher enablers are also offered as strategies relating to workshop topics, meeting schedules, and programme organization. The main recommendation for practitioners is to be sensitive to the psychosocial needs of students. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers interested in doctoral students’ needs and ways of supporting them can utilize the proposed model for strategically planning such support. It is recommended that further research into the area of mentoring doctoral students makes use of the mixed-method approach. Such an approach takes cognizance of phenomenological exigencies as they pertain to individual meaning-making. Impact on Society: Supporting the effectiveness of doctoral students is significant as failure comes at great professional and personal cost to the doctoral student. There are also potential costs in terms of faculty disillusionment and impacts on university reputation. Economic benefits to the nation may also be forfeited when doctoral students fail to graduate. Future Research: It would be valuable to corroborate the model presented and extend it through the development of a mentoring support scale which identifies more linearly specific doctoral students’ needs. Longitudinal studies are also required to verify long-term effects of the programme.