Dimensions Of Working Conditions Research Articles

What Does Ecological Farming Mean for Farm Labour?

SummaryEcological farming, such as organic and low‐input farming, is gaining popularity in the public discourse. One question is how this type of farming may impact farm labour from a socio‐economic point of view. The article first discusses how low‐input farming practices (i.e. with lower reliance on inputs derived from fossil fuels) may affect the economic returns to labour, measured as the farm’s revenue per hour of labour input, on data from the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) in 2004‐‐2015 for four European countries. Returns to labour appear to be highest at the two extremes – very low‐input farms and highly intensive farms. Farms in the low‐input end of the spectrum are in the minority, while the overwhelming majority of farms are intensive and have internal economic incentives to intensify further. The article also analyses how working conditions differ between organic and conventional dairy farms in two European countries based on interviews with farmers in 2019. Results show that all dimensions of working conditions are affected by being an organic farm or not, but this is not the only factor. There are many influences on working conditions, such as the production context and workforce composition.

The Association between the Participation of Quality Control Circle and Patient Safety Culture.

Promoting patient safety culture (PSC) is a critical issue for healthcare providers. Quality control circles program (QCCP) can be used as an effective tool to foster long-lasting improvements on the quality of medical institution. The effect of QCCP on PSC is still unknown. This was a retrospective study conducted with matching data. A safety attitudes questionnaire (SAQ) was used for the evaluation of PSC. The association between all scores of six subscales of SAQ and the participation QCCP were analyzed with both the Mann–Whitney and Kruskal–Wallis tests. A total of 2718 valid questionnaires were collected. Most participants of QCCP were females (78.9%), nurses (52.6%), non-supervisors (92.2%), aged <40 years old (64.8%), degree of specialist or university graduates (78%), and with work experience of <10 years (61.6%). Of all participants, the highest scores were in the dimension of safety climate (74.11 ± 17.91) and the lowest scores in the dimension of working conditions (68.90 ± 18.84). The participation of QCCP was associated with higher scores in four dimensions, namely: teamwork climate (p = 0.006), safety climate (p = 0.037), perception of management (p = 0.009), and working conditions (p = 0.015). The participation or not of QCCP had similar results in the dimension of job satisfaction and stress recognition. QCCP was associated with SAQ in subjects with the following characteristics: female, nurse, non-supervisor, aged >50 years old, higher education degrees and with longer working experiences in the hospital. In this first study on the association between each dimension of SAQ and the implementation of QCCP, we found that QCCP interventions were associated with better PSC. QCCP had no benefits in the dimensions of job satisfaction and stress recognition.

Assessing the correlation between the quality of working life and perceived stress in a rehabilitation hospital

Purpose This study aims to examine the relationship between the quality of working lives and the perceived stress of health personnel working in a hospital specialized in physical medicine and rehabilitation services. Design/methodology/approach This descriptive correlational study was conducted with health personnel providing medical, sport and vocational rehabilitation in an education and research hospital. The Quality of Work Life Scale (QWLS) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) questionnaires were used to collect data. Descriptive statistics were used for quantitative analysis. Findings There was a positive correlation between their stress scores on the QWLS and perceived stress on the PSS. The highest score on the QWLS was obtained from the dimension of working conditions (3.47), and the lowest score was obtained from the dimension of stress (1.34). The mean score on the PSS was 33.18 ± 3.29. No significant relationship was found between participants’ scores on the PSS and their demographic characteristics. Practical implications There is a need to improve the quality of rehabilitation providers’ working lives by reducing their work-related stress. Originality/value As rehabilitation personnel play an important role in protecting and promoting the health of vulnerable groups in the society, it is a main priority to examine the relationship between rehabilitation providers’ perceived stress and the quality of their working lives.

Flexible time – but is the time owned? Family friendly and family unfriendly work arrangements, occupational gender composition and wages: a test of the mother-friendly job hypothesis in Sweden

ABSTRACT The relationship between gender, working conditions, occupational gender composition and wages is investigated to test the support for the mother-friendly job hypothesis in the family-friendly welfare state of Sweden. The Swedish level-of-living survey (LNU2010) is used to measure two dimensions of working conditions: flexibility and time-consuming work. The findings do not support the notion that women’s work is more family-friendly as neither women in general nor mothers have more flexibility than men. Furthermore, femaledominated occupations have, in comparison with other occupations, less flexible work arrangements. Instead, gender-integrated occupations have the most flexible work arrangement. Time-consuming work is also most common in gender integrated occupations. Flexibility and timeconsuming work largely go hand in hand and are both positively associated with wages and also more common in the service class. Finally, women are not economically compensated for their job characteristics in the same extent as men, especially not for their time-consuming work which partially account for the gender wage gap. Taken together the findings counters the notion that the remaining gender wage gap largely is due to women avoiding time consuming work or choosing flexibility. Instead it seems like women are compensated less regardless of their job characteristics.

Theory of Ownership of Labour Power

Although the use of the term “labour power” is widespread, especially in Marxian and Marxist writings, the fact of the matter is that the question of its ownership remains undertheorized. The present paper aims to fill in this gap. For it expounds what can be termed a full-fledged theory of economic ownership of labour power. The theory consists of more than ten propositions which refer to various dimensions of working conditions and industrial relations. It describes the relations concerned in a novel theoretical language that draws on Marx, Parsons, Durkheim and Simmel. The theory entails some modifications of Marx’s position and reveals a number of links between economic phenomena which have been so far considered separately.

Psychological Stress in Hospital Nursing Staff: Effects of Status and Organizational Structures

The study investigates the impact of organizational structures in hospitals on nursing staff's psychological stress. The stress level that is caused by the specific working conditions of a major hospital is presented in a cross-sectional analysis differentiated by organizational categories with regard to effects of structure and status. Data were collected via Impuls-Test and by a context-specific supplementary questionnaire among the registered nursing staff of a major maximum care hospital. For analysis of the data, we used the effort-reward-imbalance and the job-demand-control model as well as an average calculation of 13 different dimensions of working conditions, differentiated by organizational categories. The results show that the nursing staff's level of psychological stress can only be understood against the background of their organizational involvement and position in the hospital. The effects clearly vary in terms of organizational unit, working hour model and status and position occupied.

Balancing work and family with telework? Organizational issues and challenges for women and managers

This article presents a research on telework and deals with the following questions: Who are the teleworkers (sex, age, main socio‐occupational categories)? What are the impacts of telework on work organization and working conditions, particularly for women, and in terms of work‐family balance, since telework is sometimes presented as a solution to problems of reconciling work and family responsibilities? Finally, what is the level of satisfaction among teleworkers and why are they satisfied or dissatisfied with this system? Are there differences between various groups on this regard? We insist on the dimensions of working conditions and autonomy in telework and highlight the fact that there is a risk of polarization according to gender, women being more frequently in a situation where they have less autonomy than men in telework, although many also see telework in a positive way, as an “escape” from a bureaucratic work environment.