Formal Job Descriptions Research Articles

IMPACT OF WORK LIFE BALANCE ON INSTITUTIONAL COMMITMENT AMONG MATHEMATICS WOMEN TEACHERS

Institutional commitment is the degree to which an employee identifies with a particular institution and wishes to maintain membership in the institution. An individual who has high institutional commitment is willing to exert extra effort on behalf of the institution, and has a strong desire to remain within the institution. The high level of institutional commitment reduces absenteeism and turnover. If an employee deeply committed to their institution perform roles beyond their formal job description. These extra roles improve institutional effectiveness. Those who are deeply committed to their institution give less time to their non-work life. Those who are strongly attached and committed to their institution tended to enjoy highly successful career and non-work life as well. The reason attributed to this is the job satisfaction such employees experience and relishes help them balance their career and home life. The objective of the study was to investigate the level of institutional commitment and the impact of work life balance on institutional commitment among the mathematics women school teachers in Kanyakumari district.
 Out of 28 isolated bacteria, Gram positive was the most frequently isolated bacteria in hip and knee joint infection cultures, 22(78.6%) vs. 6(21.4%) (P-value < 0.05). Staphylococcus epidermidis was the most frequently isolated 13(46.5%) isolates followed by Staphylococcus aureus isolates 7(25%). On other hand Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the most frequently isolated Gram negative bacteria 3(10.7 %%) in hip and knee joint infection cultures.
 The most effective antibiotic on Gram-positive isolates was Vancomycin which showed 95.5%. In Gram negative bacteria the most effective antibiotics were Imipenem (100%) followed by Amikacin which showed sensitivity rate 83.33.

Medical Directors of Breastfeeding Programs at Academic Medical Centers: Duties and Challenges.

An emerging trend in Academic Medical Centers (AMCs) is to coordinate breastfeeding care, research, and trainee education through "medical director" positions. Little is known about their duties, supports, and challenges. To determine the duties and challenges of directors of breastfeeding medicine in AMCs. A survey was distributed four times over a 3-month period to three listservs with a total of 860 members. Physicians directing breastfeeding programs or services at AMCs were included. Participants were asked about details of their employment, time distribution of the position, their role in education, billing practices, and major hurdles. Thirty-two physicians responded to the survey: 25 from the United States, and seven international. Only 22% of respondents had formal job descriptions and only 31% reported being paid for their breastfeeding work. Most positions were created in the past 10 years (75%), were housed in Departments of Pediatrics (75%), and provided clinical services for breastfeeding in inpatient and outpatient settings. Ninety-one percent of respondents educated trainees and provided oversight of lactation consultants. Major hurdles included difficulties with billing for services, lack of protected time and personal reimbursement, lack of formal structure and job descriptions, and lack of buy-in at the institutional and sometimes governmental levels. Medical Directors of Breastfeeding Services may be increasingly prevalent in AMCs and are engaged in inpatient and outpatient clinical work, trainee education, and lactation consultant oversight. Both financial and structural hurdles were reported by those holding these positions.

Defining the Simulation Technician Role: Results of a Survey-Based Study.

In health care simulation, simulation technicians perform multiple tasks to support various educational offerings. Technician responsibilities and the tasks that accompany them seem to vary between centers. The objectives were to identify the range and frequency of tasks that technicians perform and to determine if there is a correspondence between what technicians do and what they feel their responsibilities should be. We hypothesized that there is a core set of responsibilities and tasks for the technician position regardless of background, experience, and type of simulation center. We conducted a prospective, survey-based study of individuals currently functioning in a simulation technician role in a simulation center. This survey was designed internally and piloted within 3 academic simulation centers. Potential respondents were identified through a national mailing list, and the survey was distributed electronically during a 3-week period. A survey request was sent to 280 potential participants, 136 (49%) responded, and 73 met inclusion criteria. Five core tasks were identified as follows: equipment setup and breakdown, programming scenarios into software, operation of software during simulation, audiovisual support for courses, and on-site simulator maintenance. Independent of background before they were hired, technicians felt unprepared for their role once taking the position. Formal training was identified as a need; however, the majority of technicians felt experience over time was the main contributor toward developing knowledge and skills within their role. This study represents a first step in defining the technician role within simulation-based education and supports the need for the development of a formal job description to allow recruitment, development, and certification.

HUBUNGAN ANTARA IKLIM ORGANISASI DENGAN PERILAKU KEWARGAAN ORGANISASI PADA KARYAWAN DI PERUSAHAAN RITEL

The improvement of house needs which is added by modern life style, it creates the modern shop pattern in society when fulfilling their needs. Retail Company tries to fulfill society needs by selling products and service that is done by its employees. Therefore, the employees have an important role and they are hoped to emerge extra behavior for the company effectiveness. The company needs employees who do an extra behavior more than their formal job description and they perform to support with company’s hope (Robbins, 2001). In another words, employee does Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB). When employees work, they will always connect with their work environment. OCB on employees will be high if they present in a positive organization climate. This research aims to know the relationship between organization climate and organization citizenship behavior in Retail Company employee. Respondents of this research are 95 employees working in 4 Retail Companies. The sampling method is cluster random sampling. The data collecting method is organization climate scale and organization citizenship behavior scale. This research uses content validity and Alpha Cronbach reliability. The reliability of organization climate scale is 0,937 and organization citizenship behavior scale is 0,965. The data distribution of organization climate and organization citizenship behavior is normal (z=0,327; z=0,058; p>0,05). The relationship between organization climate and organization citizenship behavior variable is linear (F=0,000; p<0,01). This research is a quantitative research which its data analysis is simple regression. The result of this research shows that the coefficient regression is 0.720 and the coefficient correlation is 0.568 with its significance 0,000 (p<0.01). This result proves that there is a positive relationship between organization climate and organization citizenship behavior in retail company employee. The contribution of organization climate variable toward organization citizenship behavior variable is 32.2%. Keywords: organization climate, organizational citizenship behavior, employee, retail company

Household Scribes and the Production of Literary Manuscripts in Early Modern England

In early modern English households, literate servants such as tutors, chaplains, stewards, secretaries, and ladies in waiting were well positioned to assist their employers in the assembly and copying of verse miscellanies, anthologies, and other literary manuscripts. Looking at several literary manuscripts, some with known servant contributions and others that suggest the participation of household retainers, the essay explores the likelihood that literate servants often performed scribal tasks above and beyond their formal job descriptions, even serving as scribe for their employers’ hobbies and leisure activities. Although copying was an arduous task, servants appear to have viewed these duties not simply as part of their job but also as gift exchanges, as appeals for promotion or patronage, and as a means by which they might gain access to manuscript literature and literary circles. Studies of early modern letter writing have called attention to many of the copy tasks of literate household servants, but the integral role of literate servants in the collection, copying, and preservation of literary manuscripts deserves much more attention.

The Impact of Organizational Justice on the Workers Performance and Job Satisfaction in the Ministry of Health Hospitals in Amman

The purpose of this study is to see if there's an impact of organizational justice on the workers performance and job satisfaction in the Ministry of Health hospitals in Amman, the data for this study were collected through a questionnaire from, 300 workers in different jobs, from three hospitals in the Ministry of Health in Amman, Means, (ANOVA), and, linear regression analysis were used. The results of the study found that there is a positive relationship for the organizational justice dimensions (distributive justice, procedural justice, interactional justice, evolutional justice) on the worker performance, and worker satisfaction in the Hospitals of the Ministry of Health in Amman (MOHHA), separately and combined, also there's a difference in the feelings of organizational justice dimensions between the workers in the (MOHHA) according to demographic variables (Gender, age, marital status, experience, qualifications, and job), also the study found that theirs a very high perception with the organizational justice dimensions between the (MOHHA) workers. The distributive justice was the highest perception, whereas the lowest perception was the interactional justice. On the light of the study results the following recommendations may be submitted, increased the attention on the humanity aspects and focuses on training, making organizational culture that encourages and develops participation and cooperation between workers and senior management, and other levels of management. The open-door policy must apply the hospitals managers must work to distribute the functions, tasks, and duties in equally, fairs, and applied the formal job description, in addition to developed appropriate rules and regulations for those hospitals in order to save the rights of management, employees, and customers.

A survey on the relationship between organizational citizenship behavior and job performance of the staff at doctor Kermanshahi hospital

Background: Understanding the factors affecting the performance of the staff in organizations will lead to increased their efficiency. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) on job performance in Dr. Kermanshahi hospital in Kermanshah. OCB is a voluntary behavior that goes beyond formal job descriptions of the staff and improves organizational performance . Methods: This descriptive-analytical study, which was based on structural equation modeling, was conducted in 2012.The study population included 311 staff at doctor Muhammad Kermanshahi hospital that were selected by simple random sampling. To evaluate the concepts of organizational citizenship behavior, job performance and personality attributes, Podsakoff, Patterson and NEO questionnaires were used, respectively. Data were analyzed by SPSS and AMOS software (version 21). Results: The results of the study revealed that 57% of respondents were women, 37.8% were in the age group 25 to 35 years, 40.7% had bachelor's degree and 30.2% had less than 5 years of experience. Also, personality characteristics of the staff affected their job performance. There was a significant relationship between organizational citizenship behaviour and job performance. Conclusions: This study confirmed the effects of OCB on promoting the performance of the staff. So, we can reinforce OCB in the hospital by taking advantage of the benefits of meta-functional behaviors in organization and consequently promoting the performance of the staff to.

Resources used to support postgraduate year 1 pharmacy residencies: Survey of residency program directors

The results of a survey to identify personnel time, funding, and other resources used to support existing postgraduate year 1 (PGY1) pharmacy residencies and to determine potential residency program expansion are reported. An electronic survey was distributed to PGY1 residency program directors (RPDs). Respondents were asked to provide demographic information and to characterize resources used to support their training programs. The survey response rate was 62%, representing 493 respondents. About 21% indicated their formal job descriptions identified them as a PGY1 RPD, and 8% replied that time expectations to perform the residency functions were specified. Up to 69% of respondents estimated that the time spent performing residency functions was 5-16 hours weekly. Other personnel who facilitated pharmacy residency logistics included administrative assistants, coordinators, and pharmacists, devoting approximately 1-8 hours weekly to the residency program. Half of respondents indicated their PGY1 programs received funding through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) pass-through reimbursement; 30% were not eligible, 11% had not considered such reimbursement due to the amount of work required, and 9% did not know if their sites received such funding. A survey of PGY1 RPDs collected a wide range of information about the resources used to support their programs and about future plans. Almost half of respondents anticipated expanding their PGY1 residency program capacity, and responses made it clear that adequate documentation was important for programs applying for CMS pass-through reimbursement and facing an audit.

Disability in the Labour Market: An Exploration of Concepts of the Ideal Worker and Organisational Fit that Disadvantage Employees with Impairments

The adverse employment effects that attach to disability are empirically well established. They are large and persistent. This is a conceptual article that investigates the source of this deep and enduring employment disadvantage. Debate begins by examining the origins of ideas that have shaped approaches to work study and have influenced concepts of what constitutes an ideal worker. Drawing on feminist critiques of organisational analysis that have highlighted the gendered character of processes, practices and values, it explores the relatively neglected position of disabled employees. With reference to transcripts from four Employment Appeal Tribunals brought under the Disability Discrimination Act, it illustrates how standard jobs, designed around ideal (non-disabled) employees, create a mismatch between a formal job description and someone with an impairment. We suggest this mismatch is central to the organisation’s resistance to implementing adjustments and also to any radical approaches to include impaired employees in the workplace.

Crafting sustainable work: development of personal resources

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to conceptualize employees' sustainable work abilities, or their long‐term adaptive and proactive abilities to work, farewell at work, and contribute through working. Sustainable work is defined as to promote the development in personal resources leading to sustainable work ability.Design/methodology/approachThe conceptual paper distinguishes vital personal resources underlying an employee's sustainable work ability and categorizes these resources with the help of integral theory. Collaborative work crafting was outlined as a tool to promote the development of personal resources and sustainable work ability.FindingsSustainable work ability depends on personal resources relating to our human nature as both individual and communal beings with both interior and exterior worlds. Work crafting may create sustainable work in which existing personal resources are benefited from, developed further through learning, or translated into novel resources.Practical implicationsWhen formal job descriptions and preplanned job design do not work in post‐industrial work, traditional job design can be replaced by collaborative work crafting, which allows development in both work and employees.Originality/valueThe paper synthesizes different types of personal resources needed for sustainable working and outlines their development processes, rather than adds one more theory to explain some specific aspect of well‐being, development, and functioning. The paper offers one of the first definitions of sustainable work.

Searching for Poverty-aware Social Work: Discourse Analysis of Job Descriptions

AbstractThis article aims to enrich the current limited body of knowledge regarding social work professional discourse. More specifically, it seeks to examine the extent and ways in which the social work intra-profession discourse, as it is manifested in formal job descriptions of social workers in Israel, reflects the commitment to working with people living in poverty and to confronting poverty. We provide a brief review of the concept of professional discourse and the role of formal job descriptions in this discourse in general, and in Israel in particular. ‘Poverty-aware social work’ is then conceptualised. Against this background, we analysed 75 job descriptions in order to ascertain whether, and in what ways, references to poverty appear in defining client populations, in directions for assessing their situation, and in defining the goals and methods of professional intervention. The research findings reflect a textual silence in relation to poverty issues in job descriptions. The analysis of poverty-related sub-topics in these documents suggests that job descriptions offer, and simultaneously reproduce a conservative and a-political perspective on poverty and on social work practice with people living in poverty.

In backyards, on front lawns: examining informal risk communication and communicators

Risk communicators are often envisioned as government officials, public relations practitioners, or health workers. Yet much of the public's risk information comes from informal messages and unofficial carriers. Referred to in this study as "informal risk communicators" (IRCs), these individuals are often service workers who relay risk information to public audiences, though often outside of their formal job descriptions. Literatures in the health communication, science and technology studies, and risk communication fields have considered ideas relevant to explaining these individuals, and the risk communication work they perform. To further explore this category of individuals, this study examines the communicative practices of commercial pesticide applicators, using both in-depth interviews and surveys. Through their interactions with clients, these individuals offer care, as well as project expertise and identity; however, the extent to which this work is recognized and validated is less clear. Both applied and theoretical implications of this research are considered.

Eleven steps to EBLIP service

Eleven steps to EBLIP service

Assistant or substitute: Exploring the fit between national policy vision and local practice realities of assistant practitioner job descriptions

To understand the extent to which the assistant practitioner role is described as 'assistive' in formal job descriptions and analyse whether the term 'assistive' has been stretched to encompass more 'substitutive' or 'autonomous' characteristics. Sixteen AP job descriptions representing all clinical divisions across one UK acute NHS Hospital Trust were both macro- and micro-analysed for broad similarities and differences in line with Hammersley and Atkinson's analytical framework. The analysis specifically focused on how clinical tasks were related to clinical responsibility, from this the job descriptors were then indexed as belonging to one of five discrete categories. Our analysis revealed the following categories: fully assistive (n=1), supportive/assistive (n=7), supportive/substitutive (n=4), substitutive/autonomous (n=3) and fully autonomous (n=1). From this, a number of anomalies manifest in the form of divergent organisational expectations regarding the AP role. This study highlights a series of tensions extant between policy vision and implementation of the AP role in practice. Introduction of new healthcare roles requires compromise and negotiation, to shape and define what social space incumbents of these and existing roles will occupy. However the way in which new roles are defined will determine how they become embraced and embedded within future healthcare services.

From Discretionary to Required

The distinction between organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and required behavior remains questionable more than two decades after its conceptualization. To examine the conceptual confusion, OCB was assessed for consistency with the traditional definition. OCB perceived as owed to the organization was also identified. Results indicate that many OCBs are perceived as part of the job description, rewarded, and punished. This highlights the definitional problem: What is the theoretical and pragmatic difference between OCB and required behavior, or what does the label OCB mean? Assuming that OCB exists (perhaps at organization entry), it is argued to migrate from discretionary to psychologically required. Results are discussed in terms of role sending, leader—member exchange, and reinforcement by managers. Rather than reduce the worth of the OCB construct, we suggest that it remains valuable: discretionary, extrarole OCB may be a midpoint between a formal job description and expanded work behavior migrating to psychologically required.

Editorial

Editorial

The State of the Art in Evaluating the Performance of Assistant and Associate Deans as Seen by Deans and Assistant and Associate Deans

This study explores the little-understood process of evaluating the performance of assistant and associate deans at dental colleges in the United States and Canada. Specifically, this research aimed to identify the methods, processes, and outcomes related to the performance appraisals of assistant/associate deans. Both deans and assistant/associate deans were surveyed. Forty-four of sixty-six deans (66.7 percent) and 227 of 315 assistant/associate deans (72.1 percent) completed surveys with both close-ended and open-ended questions. In addition, ten individuals from each group were interviewed. Results indicate that 75-89 percent of assistant/associate deans are formally evaluated, although as many as 27 percent may lack formal job descriptions. Some recommended best practices for performance appraisal are being used in a majority of colleges. Examples of these best practices are having at least yearly appraisals, holding face-to-face meetings, and setting specific, personal performance objectives/benchmarks for assistant/associate deans. Still, there is much room to improve appraisals by incorporating other recommended practices. Relatively high levels of overall satisfaction were reported by both assistant/associate deans and deans for the process and outcomes of appraisals. Assistant/associate deans rated the value of appraisals to overall development lower than did deans. Qualitative data revealed definite opinions about what constitutes effective and ineffective appraisals, including the use of goal-setting, timeliness, and necessary commitment. Several critical issues related to the results are discussed: differences in perspectives on performance reviews, the importance of informal feedback and job descriptions, the influence of an assistant/associate deans' lack of tenure, and the length of service of deans. Lastly, recommendations for enhancing performance evaluations are offered.

Understanding New Venture Failure due to Entrepreneur-Organization Goal Dissonance

New ventures tend to have an alarmingly high casualty rate. Those who take the most severe brunt in such failures are key managers, who unwittingly take on roles much beyond their formal job descriptions, in an effort to keep the venture alive, often ending up as ‘employee entrepreneurs.’ Employees taking ownership of their jobs far in excess of that specified by their formal roles, thereby manifesting entrepreneurial behaviour, are also referred to as intrapreneurs. This paper presents the real life case study (with names, identities, and situations disguised) of the chief executive of a start-up venture who tried to repeatedly salvage the start-up company from one crisis after another, over a span of seven years, when two successive promoters failed to deliver their part of the commitment through timely infusion of the required promoter�s equity. In addition, he also had to reckon with facing undue pressure from the promoters to cater to their short-term goals. Based on the case study of Global Optical Disc Company Ld., the author presents a model to better understand new venture failure arising out of goal dissonance between the promoter and the organization and proposes the following hypotheses: A low degree of psychological ownership by the professional top management and a low goal congruence of the promoter and the new venture can be lethal for a new venture. A high degree of psychological ownership by the professional top management and a high goal congruence of the promoter and the new venture could result in a likely success, provided the industry structure, strategy, financial structuring, etc., do not result in the creation of conditions to cause failure. The situation of a low degree of psychological ownership by the professional top management team and a high goal congruence of the promoter and the new venture may result in a weak beginning for the new venture despite heroic efforts of the professional top management team. A high degree of psychological ownership by the professional top management and a low degree of goal congruence of the promoter and the new venture would most likely result in an eventual failure of the new venture. The transition from an employee mindset on the part of the intrapreneurial chief executive in a new venture to that of an entrepreneurial mindset in the situation of distress in the new venture, due to failure on the part of the promoter, is not automatic. The paper concludes with lessons for those managers who may be put into similar �testing by the fire� situations. While there could be any number of reasons for the failure of entrepreneurial start-ups, this paper focuses in particular on the failure attributable to dissonance between promoter�s personal goals and the start-up organization�s stated goals. Such lack of goal convergence is a phenomenon that occurs with alarmingly regular frequency. The paper describes some of the options that an employee-chief executive has under such adverse circumstances.

The Challenge of a Second Directorship

The Challenge of a Second Directorship

Incoherence in the System: Three Perspectives on the Implementation of Multiple Initiatives in One District

This article examines what it takes for principals, district administrators, and members of improvement programs in one district to deal with the demands and expectations of multiple improvement initiatives. Their experiences demonstrate that many of the tasks of coordinating initiatives are not part of formal job descriptions, and they are taken on in addition to more explicit responsibilities for which incentives and rewards are much clearer. Furthermore, the additional demands of coordination have to be pursued within the same basic conditions of a turbulent environment, limited time, and inadequate personnel and funding that contribute to the need for multiple initiatives in the first place.