Frontline Supervisors Research Articles

Negative safety events as correlates of work-safety tension

We investigate the extent to which three types of self-reported negative safety events (i.e., being injured at work, working in an unsafe way, witnessing others working in an unsafe way) correlate with work-safety tension. Work-safety tension is bi-dimensional, defined here as the perceived conflict between production and following safety rules (“barriers to safety compliance”) and production and proactive ways of working more safely (“barriers to safety participation”). Directly experiencing or witnessing negative safety events may send signals to employees about the extent to which their organization prioritizes production over safety. We tested a model of negative safety events as predictors of both barriers to safety compliance and barriers to safety participation using survey data from 316 front-line supervisors (97% male, mean age=44years) working for a UK rail maintenance company. The number of injuries directly experienced had a positive relationship with perceived barriers to safety compliance, whereas the number of times respondents witnessed others work in an unsafe way had a positive relationship with perceived barriers to safety participation.

Benefits of Cross-Functional Training: Three Departments of Hotel Line Supervisors in Taiwan

This study examines five important beneficial factors of cross-functional training for frontline supervisors in front office, restaurant and housekeeping departments in a sample of international tourist hotels in Taiwan. The research initially involved a Delphi technique with a panel of industrial experts and scholars to identify industrial domain skills and define multiskilled employees in the Taiwanese hotel context. A survey was then constructed and t test was used to explore any significant differences between multiskilled line supervisors and nonmultiskilled line supervisors. Five beneficial factors, namely service quality, retention, job satisfaction, higher payment and promotion, were examined in the study. Findings reveal that four of these factors are significant for front office and restaurant line supervisors, and two factors are significant for housekeeping line supervisors. These findings provide some useful ideas for attracting and retaining staff in Taiwanese hotels.

Front-line supervisors’ perceptions of less-lethal force policies: examining the ‘transmission belts’ of police departments

This study uses survey data from five municipal police agencies to examine sergeants’ attitudes regarding the clarity, discretionary assistance, restrictiveness, and guidance of their departments’ less-lethal force policies. In general, sergeants reported favorable attitudes toward their respective policies. However, this support varied to some extent across types of resistance, with somewhat weaker support for departmental policy in regard to lower levels of resistance (e.g., verbal and passive). Analyses reveal some interdepartmental differences regarding sergeants’ attitudes on policy restrictiveness; while sergeants from one department generally reported that their policy was not restrictive enough, sergeants from another department were more likely to feel that their policy was too restrictive. Finally, this research finds that sergeants’ personal views on the appropriateness of different force options to control resistant citizens varied at times from their department's policy. Implications of these findings for practice and research are discussed.

Standards I'd Like to See

Standards I'd Like to See

A study of critical factors of the job involvement for hotel employees—Taking hotels in Taiwan as an example

The selection of staff is always a critical success factor for managers in the hospitality service sector. This work focuses on the front-line employees and supervisors of international tourist hotels as the study subjects to explore the direct effects of the individual guanxi networks and POS (perceived organizational support) of hotel staff on their job involvement, and examines the indirect effects of these via personality characteristics. For this paper, questionnaire surveys were utilized; 246 questionnaires returned, of which 221 were deemed valid samples appropriate for further analysis. Reliability analysis, EFA, CFA, and SEM were used to examine the data. After integrating the results from the empirical analysis, the findings of the study are as follows: (1) POS had a significant positive correlation and effect on personality characteristics and job involvement; (2) individual guanxi networks had a significant positive correlation and effect on POS and personality characteristics; (3) individual guanxi networks had an indirect effect on job involvement via employees’ personality characteristics and POS. This means that personal characteristics and POS can mediate the relationship between individual guanxi networks and job involvement. The findings of this research are discussed, and the conclusions and limitations are presented, along with suggestions for both academics and managers.

Succession Planning Gives Women a Shot at Leadership

Succession Planning Gives Women a Shot at Leadership

Middle Manager Leadership and Frontline Employee Performance: Bypass, Cascading, and Moderating Effects

abstractWe investigated the relationship between middle managers' transformational leadership and the performance of frontline employees who are two levels below the middle managers. We identified two pathways through which this cross‐level influence occurs and tested two moderators operating on these two pathways. The first pathway is a direct effect from middle managers to employees, bypassing the influence of employees' immediate supervisor (the bypass effect). We further hypothesized that the bypass effect is moderated by the employees' collectivistic value. The second pathway is a cascading of leadership behaviours from middle managers to first‐line supervisors, whose transformational leadership then enhances employees' performance (the cascading effect). We further hypothesized that this cascading effect is moderated by the supervisors' power distance value. These hypotheses were tested with a sample of 491 frontline employees, 98 frontline supervisors, and 30 middle managers in three organizations in China. The three‐level hierarchical linear modelling results supported the four hypotheses.

Professionals' Perspectives on Organizational Factors That Support or Hinder the Successful Implementation of Family-Centered Practice

This article presents findings from an exploratory, qualitative study whose objective was to identify professionals' perceptions of organizational factors that support or hinder the implementation of family-centered practice (FCP). Two disability services organizations in Manitoba, Canada, were selected as the research sites. In 2002, all staff were invited to participate in qualitative interviews and focus groups, resulting in 36 people responding (front-line service coordinators, supervisors, and key informants). The analysis identified factors related to the organization's culture and climate (such as caseload size and activity, supervision, and training), policy limitations, and collateral services, as negatively affecting the ability to successfully implement FCP. The findings suggest that organizations should develop and maintain organizational cultures and climates necessary to support, implement and sustain FCP to positively impact service quality and outcomes.

Middle Manager Leadership and Frontline Employee Performance: Bypass, Cascading, and Moderating Effects

We investigated the relationship between middle managers' transformational leadership and the performance of frontline employees who are two levels below the middle managers. We identified two pathways through which this cross-level influence occurs and tested two moderators operating on these two pathways. The first pathway is a direct effect from middle managers to employees, bypassing the influence of employees' immediate supervisor (the bypass effect). We further hypothesized that the bypass effect is moderated by the employees' collectivistic value. The second pathway is a cascading of leadership behaviours from middle managers to first-line supervisors, whose transformational leadership then enhances employees' performance (the cascading effect). We further hypothesized that this cascading effect is moderated by the supervisors' power distance value. These hypotheses were tested with a sample of 491 frontline employees, 98 frontline supervisors, and 30 middle managers in three organizations in China. The three-level hierarchical linear modelling results supported the four hypotheses.

Complexity approach to frontline social work management

This paper articulates an emergent complexity approach to the frontline manager- practitioner relationship within the context of a managerialist culture and the tensions between new public management (NPM) and social work ethical codes. Drawing from New Zealand perspectives but with transnational applications, a conceptual 'coalface' practice model for social work is proposed. Three constituents comprising professional, organisational and political cultures in which social care managers operate are extrapolated to construct the model: (1) the pervasive reality of managerialism; (2) workplace tensions arising from interrelationships between ethics, the organisation and the individual worker; and (3) an emergent, organic perception of agencies as organisations, integrating 'whole systems' thinking and complex adaptive approaches. The paper analyses the argument advanced by NPM theory of the interoperability of public and private management and proposes a team design that meets managerialist output and performance expectations whilst also creating an emergent framework enabling team leadership fl exibility. The paper suggests that high performance can be integrated with a management approach predicated on social work values, thus offering potential solutions to job stressors and challenges facing frontline team leaders, managers, supervisors and practitioners who function in a managerialist environment.

Wage and Hour Law in California

Federal and state wage and hour laws are complex and violations can be costly. California law shares some similarities with federal law but also contains some important difference. Generally, California has a highly developed body of wage and hour law that usually exceeds federal requirements. If an employer is in compliance with California law, the federal requirements are also met, with occasional exceptions. Employee exemptions and child labor restrictions are especially hazardous areas. Employers must be vigilant about their compliance practices and maintain training programs for key personnel, including frontline supervisors.

Modeling the Human Side of Service Delivery

We present an open systems model that describes the processes and systems whose cumulative effects shape the human side of service delivery. The human side of service delivery, we believe, has received less attention in the service science literature than the more technical side. The open systems view of consumer service organizations focuses on input, throughput, and output stages. The creation and maintenance of a service climate is the key issue for throughput management practices in the model, such climate being partially dependent on employee and customer attributes as input and in turn linking to the output of the firm in the form of customer satisfaction and profits. A shared service climate across the subsystems of organizations—all subsystems (e.g., information technology, finance, HR, marketing) for all organizational members regardless of rank or position (e.g., executives, front-line supervisors, staff who serve service delivery people, and service delivery people themselves) is seen as the key to managing the complexities of the human side of service delivery if the firm is to be competitive in the marketplace. [Service Science, ISSN 2164-3962 (print), ISSN 2164-3970 (online), was published by Services Science Global (SSG) from 2009 to 2011 as issues under ISBN 978-1-4276-2090-3.]

Contributors to Construction Debris from Electrical and Mechanical Work in Hong Kong Infrastructure Projects

The crucial problem of construction debris is of increasing concern in Hong Kong. In the construction industry, the electrical and mechanical (E&M) installations in the infrastructure, for example, buildings, tunnels, or dams, are some of the major and usually complex components. Difficulty in coordinating the various trades affects productivity in general, and has a major impact on the quantity of construction debris. By identifying the sources of waste at each stage of E&M engineering work, some of the construction debris can be eliminated at the source during production. This paper investigates the critical production shortcomings in the E&M sector in Hong Kong. The study is based on a survey that includes a preliminary questionnaire survey, brainstorming exercises with a focus group, structured interviews with experienced frontline supervisors, and a second focus group exercise to test findings and proposed measures. The principal findings are that “poor coordination” and “design changes and/or errors...

Time Warner Cable Kansas City looks beyond the usual suspects for ways to retain and engage customer-facing employees

When too many new hires are leaving after just a few months on the job, despite effective recruitment and on-boarding programs, it is time to look for answers in new places. This company set out to strengthen the relationship between frontline supervisors and their new—mostly Generation Y—customer care specialists, and found it's never too early to start building engagement. Keys to early development of a strong supervisor-employee bond include beginning relationship building during the hiring interview; supervisor participation in new-hire training; learning the individual's personal drivers of engagement; 30-/60-/90-day assessments with coaching and mentoring; and exposing the new hire to positive high-performing peers (while buffering them from negative influencers). © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Patient Safety Climate in US Hospitals

Strengthening hospital safety culture offers promise for reducing adverse events, but efforts to improve culture may not succeed if hospital managers perceive safety differently from frontline workers. To determine whether frontline workers and supervisors perceive a more negative patient safety climate (ie, surface features, reflective of the underlying safety culture) than senior managers in their institutions. To ascertain patterns of variation within management levels by professional discipline. A safety climate survey was administered from March 2004 to May 2005 in 92 US hospitals. Individual-level cross sectional comparisons related safety climate to management level. Hierarchical and hospital-fixed effects modeling tested differences in perceptions. Random sample of hospital personnel (18,361 respondents). Frequency of responses indicating absence of safety climate (percent problematic response) overall and for 8 survey dimensions. Frontline workers' safety climate perceptions were 4.8 percentage points (1.4 times) more problematic than were senior managers', and supervisors' perceptions were 3.1 percentage points (1.25 times) more problematic than were senior managers'. Differences were consistent among 7 safety climate dimensions. Differences by management level depended on discipline: senior manager versus frontline worker discrepancies were less pronounced for physicians and more pronounced for nurses, than they were for other disciplines. Senior managers perceived patient safety climate more positively than nonsenior managers overall and across 7 discrete safety climate domains. Patterns of variation by management level differed by professional discipline. Continuing efforts to improve patient safety should address perceptual differences, both among and within groups by management level.

Time Warner Cable Kansas City looks beyond the usual suspects for ways to retain and engage customer‐facing employees

AbstractWhen too many new hires are leaving after just a few months on the job, despite effective recruitment and on‐boarding programs, it is time to look for answers in new places. This company set out to strengthen the relationship between frontline supervisors and their new—mostly Generation Y—customer care specialists, and found it's never too early to start building engagement. Keys to early development of a strong supervisor‐employee bond include beginning relationship building during the hiring interview; supervisor participation in new‐hire training; learning the individual's personal drivers of engagement; 30‐/60‐/90‐day assessments with coaching and mentoring; and exposing the new hire to positive high‐performing peers (while buffering them from negative influencers). © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A Mixed-Method Evaluation of a Workforce Development Intervention for Nursing Assistants in Nursing Homes: The Case of WIN A STEP UP

The purpose of this study was to evaluate WIN A STEP UP, a workforce development program for nursing assistants (NAs) in nursing homes (NHs) involving continuing education by onsite trainers, compensation for education modules, supervisory skills training of frontline supervisors, and short-term retention contracts for bonuses and/or wage increases upon completion. We collected longitudinal semistructured interview and survey data from NAs, supervisors, and managers at 8 program NHs and 10 comparison NHs. To control for selection bias, we matched 77 NA program participants to 81 participating site and 135 comparison site controls using propensity scores in a quasi-experimental design supplemented by qualitative assessments. Managers at seven of eight participating NHs wanted to repeat the program. At 3 months after baseline, participants differed from controls by having (a) more improved nursing care and supportive leadership scores, (b) greater improvement in team care, and (c) stronger ratings of career and financial rewards. Nurse supervisors participating in supervisory skills training reported positive changes in management practices for themselves and peers. Modest 3-month turnover reductions occurred in six settings where the program was fully implemented without incident. Managers', supervisors', and participating NAs' consistent perceptions of improved quality of care and job quality, along with a promise of increased retention, suggest that interventions like WIN A STEP UP are beneficial.

Impact of Stressors on Front-Line Child Welfare Supervisors

The death of children, intense media scrutiny, and million dollar lawsuits are all potential stressors faced by child welfare professionals. Despite this, very little research or literature has explored the specific realities of stressors for the individual front-line child welfare supervisor. Therefore, as a contribution to the field of child welfare practice, this paper expands our understanding of this unique supervisory population through a detailed examination of the literature. This review links theory to practice through a series of case examples involving situations of child welfare supervisors who have been affected by workplace stressors. The paper provides both individual and organizational solutions to either prevent or intervene in situations involving child welfare supervisors who may be at risk of burnout and/or compassion fatigue.

An Examination of the Yardmaster's Role in Railroad Yard Safety

The rate of U.S. railroad yard switching accidents is more than 10 times the rate of accidents on other-than-yard track. Railroad safety and accident prevention has traditionally focused on the crews that operate on-track equipment, yet accidents usually have multiple contributing factors, including supervisory and organizational factors. This paper describes the results of focus groups with 56 railroad yardmasters to identify yardmaster-related factors that have the potential to affect yard safety. Yardmasters are the frontline supervisors of railroad yards: they plan, control, and manage track use in switching yards and are responsible for the operating crews in the yard. Focus group questions fell into five major topic groupings: training and experience; communications and information flow; stressors, distractions, workload, and difficult aspects of the job; fatigue, staffing, and work schedules; and best practices and lessons learned. Results illuminate a number of areas that, if corrected, may result in improved yard safety and operations.

Using kaizen events for back office processes: the recruitment of frontline supervisor co-ops

Kaizen events appear to be a very popular tool for problem solving and continuous improvement. While many might think of this technique as being exclusive to the shop floor, it can be used successfully for back office processes. This article examines how a manufacturing firm used the kaizen event technique to improve their recruiting of co-ops for frontline supervisor positions. The article clearly shows the effectiveness of the technique for back office problems and discusses some ideas to help ensure success with the technique.