Frontline Supervisors Research Articles

Work Disability Management Communication Bottlenecks Within Large and Complex Public Service Organizations: A Sociotechnical Systems Study.

Purpose Within large and complex organizations work disability (WD) communication bottlenecks emerge and contribute to avoidable disability days. Our study utilized soft systems methods to better understand communication problems in WD management. Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with disability case managers (n = 10), frontline supervisors (n = 15) and human resource/labor relations specialists (n = 5) within three public service organizations. Interview questions asked about organizational WD system structure and communication practices. Thematic analysis was conducted to examine system structure and emergent communication bottlenecks. Results WD communication took place across a number of internal and external stakeholders. Communication bottlenecks tended to concentrate within WD case manager and frontline supervisor activities. Inconsistent communication across organizations, challenges interacting with external stakeholders, mental health disability information exchange, lack of WD communication experience and previous worker performance represented communication bottlenecks that contributed to avoidable disability days. Conclusions To strengthen communication practices, systems-focused responses towards organizational WD management are required.

When do satisfied employees become more committed? A multilevel investigation of the role of internal service climate

The objective of the study is to improve the current understanding of frontline employee perceptions of health by investigating the role of job security and satisfaction. The linkage between perceived health and organizational commitment is also explored. This study further tests the cross-level moderating effect of internal service climate based on a multilevel design. Based on a multilevel study that involved 1251 employees, including both frontline employees and supervisors from 29 casinos, results reveal that the relationship leading from job security and job satisfaction to organizational commitment through perceived health is contingent on organizational-level service climate; and the relationship is more salient for casinos with low-quality internal service climate. Theoretical and managerial implications are presented in the study.

Effects of an mHealth intervention for community health workers on maternal and child nutrition and health service delivery in India: protocol for a quasi-experimental mixed-methods evaluation

IntroductionMillions of children in India still suffer from poor health and under-nutrition, despite substantial improvement over decades of public health programmes. The Anganwadi centres under the Integrated Child Development Scheme...

How empowering leadership reduces employee silence in public organizations

The intentional withholding of critical work‐related information can have serious negative consequences in public organizations. Yet, few studies have examined why public employees intentionally remain silent about problems and how to prevent such behaviour. This article provides insights into how managers may lower employee silence in government organizations. We develop a model that suggests that empowering leadership by frontline supervisors reduces public employee silence, by improving employee trust in their supervisors, granting employees control over their jobs, and strengthening identification with the organization. We test the model in two cross‐sectional studies with data collected from all employees working in two local governments in the United States. We find empirical support for the model in both studies. We discuss the implications of the research results for public management scholarship and practice.

Ethnic matching: A two-state comparison of child welfare workers' attitudes

The purpose of this study is to explore child welfare workers' perspectives on ethnic matching in child welfare service delivery. Specifically, regarding ethnic matching; the authors investigate worker perceptions of advantages and disadvantages, worker preferences, ‘goodness of fit’ issues, barriers to implementation, enhancement of family engagement, and positive outcomes for families and children of color involved in child welfare services. Using qualitative interviews with child welfare workers who are currently or have recently been employed in public child welfare agencies in two states in the USA, this study provides direct input from frontline personnel and supervisors. A grounded theory analysis of participant responses produced results that reflect the complexities involved with ethnic matching. Themes highlight potential benefits and challenges concerning ethnic matching; along with identification of other issues involved with client outcomes. Study findings also provide contextual information for research, policy making, and practice concerning the manner in which services are provided to children of color, who are currently overrepresented in the system.

A Method for Capturing Context in the Assessment of Leaders: The “Too Little/Too Much” Rating Scale

In their focal article, Reynolds, McCauley, Tsacoumis, and the Jeanneret Symposium Participants (2018) stress the importance of context in leadership assessment. For instance, they argue that senior executives work in a different context compared to lower-level managers and that this should be taken into account. A simple example is that the competency of strategic thinking is critical for executive performance but much less so, if at all, for front-line supervisors. The claim that context matters in leadership and in the assessment of leaders is easy to grasp but difficult to apply in practice.

Implementation of Occupational Sun Safety at a 2-Year Follow-Up in a Randomized Trial: Comparison of Sun Safe Workplaces Policy Intervention to Attention Control.

Implementation of employer sun safety actions was assessed in a 2-year follow-up to an occupational sun protection policy intervention. Two-year follow-up assessment in a randomized pretest-posttest controlled design. Local government organizations with workers in public safety, public works, and parks and recreation. Sixty-three local government organizations (participation = 64%) and 330 frontline supervisors and 1454 workers. Sun Safe Workplaces (SSW) intervention promoting occupational sun safety policy and education. Observations of SSW messages and sun safety items and surveys on organizations' communication and actions on sun safety. Comparison between SSW and control groups was conducted using regression models and adjusted for clustering where appropriate, with α criterion set at P = .05 (2-tailed). At intervention worksites, more SSW messages ( P < .001) and sun safety items ( P = .025) were observed; more frontline supervisors reported organizations provided free/reduced price sunscreen ( P = .005) and communicated about sun safety ( P < .001); and more workers recalled receiving sun safety messages ( P < .001) and sun safety training ( P <.001) compared to control organizations. Implementation was greater at larger than smaller intervention organizations for wide-brimmed hats ( P = .009), long work pants ( P = .017), and shade structures ( P = .036). Older workers received the most written messages ( P = .015). Sun Safe Workplaces appeared to produce actions by organizations to support employee sun safety. Large organizations may have processes, communication channels, and slack resources to achieve more implementation.

A qualitative investigation of factors influencing unsafe work behaviors on construction projects.

Unsafe behavior is an important component in the chain of accident occurrences, and thus plays a key role in the accident prevention programs in construction sites. The aim of this qualitative research is to study the perception of frontline workers, supervisors, and managers about the preconditions of and contributing factors to unsafe behaviors in civil engineering projects. Field observation, in-depth interview, and focus group discussion are conducted with 113 informants from various mega projects during a 2-year time period. Fishbone diagram is applied to describe a conceptual model. The results point to fourteen themes within four categories of the conceptual model - general management, organizational factors, safety supervision and management, and individual characteristics. General management and organizational culture were introduced as important preconditions and contributing factors resulting in human error and unsafe behavior in the construction sites. The fishbone diagram reveals the sequence and interaction of preconditions and contributing factors. The key contributing factors and their influences on unsafe behaviors are discussed along with recommendations for future directions.

'We pledge to improve the health of our entire community': Improving health worker motivation and performance in Bihar, India through teamwork, recognition, and non-financial incentives.

BackgroundMotivation is critical to health worker performance and work quality. In Bihar, India, frontline health workers provide essential health services for the state’s poorest citizens. Yet, there is a shortfall of motivated and skilled providers and a lack of coordination between two cadres of frontline health workers and their supervisors. CARE India developed an approach aimed at improving health workers’ performance by shifting work culture and strengthening teamwork and motivation. The intervention—“Team-Based Goals and Incentives”—supported health workers to work as teams towards collective goals and rewarded success with public recognition and non-financial incentives.MethodsThirty months after initiating the intervention, 885 health workers and 98 supervisors completed an interviewer-administered questionnaire in 38 intervention and 38 control health sub-centers in one district. The questionnaire included measures of social cohesion, teamwork attitudes, self-efficacy, job satisfaction, teamwork behaviors, equitable service delivery, taking initiative, and supervisory support. We conducted bivariate analyses to examine the impact of the intervention on these psychosocial and behavioral outcomes.ResultsResults show statistically significant differences across several measures between intervention and control frontline health workers, including improved teamwork (mean = 8.8 vs. 7.3), empowerment (8.5 vs. 7.4), job satisfaction (7.1 vs. 5.99) and equitable service delivery (6.7 vs. 4.99). While fewer significant differences were found for supervisors, they reported improved teamwork (8.4 vs. 5.3), and frontline health workers reported improved fulfillment of supervisory duties by their supervisors (8.9 vs. 7.6). Both frontline health workers and supervisors found public recognition and enhanced teamwork more motivating than the non-financial incentives.ConclusionsThe Team-Based Goals and Incentives model reinforces intrinsic motivation and supports improvements in the teamwork, motivation, and performance of health workers. It offers an approach to practitioners and governments for improving the work environment in a resource-constrained setting and where there are multiple cadres of health workers.

High Performance Work Systems and Role Performance: A Cross-Level Test of the AMO Framework

Drawing on the Ability-Motivation-Opportunity (AMO) framework, we proposed and tested a cross-level model of the motivational pathways through which unit HPWS relates to global service performance. Data were obtained from frontline employees, supervisors, and department managers in departments of three- to five-star hotels located in major cities in South Korea. Results of multilevel structural equation modelling (MSEM) analysis revealed that power distance moderated the relationship between unit- and experienced service- specific HPWS such that the relationship was stronger when power distance is low rather than high. Moreover, customer knowledge, positive mood, and perceived service climate separately related to global service performance and also mediated the experienced service-specific HPWS-global service performance relationship. Lastly, power distance moderated the indirect relationships of unit service-specific HPWS with global service performance via experienced service-specific HPWS and customer knowledge, and via experienced service-specific HPWS and positive mood. These findings yield implications for the strategic HRM literature by highlighting the additive model of the AMO framework to achieve superior performance.

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN THE ORGANIZATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS AND WORK INJURIES AMONG HOME HEALTH CARE NURSES

Work-related injuries have an adverse impact on health and safety of the employees, patients, and health care organization. Nurses’ exposure to work injuries is one of the highest rates in home and community care institutions. Nurses working in home health care (HHC) encounter multidimensional risk factors, including the organizational and environmental hazards associated with HHC. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine the relationship between the organization and environmental factors and the work injuries (WIs) as experienced by HHC nurses (HHCNs). A prediction of the significant factors related to work injuries was explored. A self-reported data was obtained from 74 nurses working in nine HHC units in the Makkah Region, KS, using the Safety Home Care Nursing (SHCN) questionnaire. The results showed that the supervisory support (SS) (β = -0.36, p = .009) and the access to a client's home (AC) (β = -0.25, p= 0.05) were negatively affecting the WIs as experience by HHCNs. This implies that the training of Front-line supervisors and HHC providers in safety management and safety communication would improve competence in effective implementation of safety practices. This study suggests to ensure a safe HHC through the execution of an integrative approach involving managers, nurses, and other practitioners, as well as the patients’ and their informal caregivers. Article DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.20319/lijhls.2018.41.6581 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-commercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.

The formation of a cross-selling initiative climate and its interplay with service climate

PurposeThis study aims to explore the formation and consequences of a cross-selling initiative climate, as well as how a service climate, which provides an important boundary condition, affects both its formation and its ultimate impact on service-sales performance. This article identifies two important predictors of a cross-selling initiative climate: frontline employees’ perceptions of supervisors’ bottom-line mentality and their own sense of accountability.Design/methodology/approachThe multilevel data set includes 180 frontline staff and supervisors (team leaders) from 31 teams employed by a spa/beauty salon chain. Hierarchical linear modelling and partial least squares methods serve to analyse the data.FindingsSupervisors’ bottom-line mentality disrupts a cross-selling initiative climate. A sense of accountability exerts a positive impact at both individual and team levels. A service climate at the team level weakens the impact of a sense of accountability on a cross-selling initiative climate. A cross-selling initiative climate has a positive effect on team-level service-sales performance, but this effect is weakened by the service climate.Originality/valueThis study conceptualises an important frontline work unit attribute as a climate. It offers an initial argument that a cross-selling initiative climate is a central factor driving a work unit’s service-sales performance, which can increase firms’ productivity and competitive advantages. With this initial attempt to explore the antecedents and consequences of a cross-selling initiative climate, the study also offers novel insights into the interplay between a service and a cross-selling initiative climate.

Frontline disruptive leadership and new generation employees’ innovative behaviour in China: the moderating role of emotional intelligence

This study examines the moderating mediation effect of frontline disruptive leadership on Chinese new generation employees’ innovative behaviour – from the dual perspective of ‘Resource revenue’ and ‘Resource loss’ vis-a-vis the ‘Conservation of Resources’ theory. Data were collected from a sample of 215 Chinese new generation employees and their frontline supervisors, using a longitudinal pairing design, in labour-intensive enterprises. Results indicate that first, frontline disruptive leadership influenced negatively new generation employees’ innovative behaviour via psychological capital; second, emotional intelligence negatively moderated the effect of frontline disruptive leadership on new generation employees’ psychological capital; third, the mediation of psychological capital between frontline disruptive leadership and new generation employees’ innovative behaviour was also negatively moderated by emotional intelligence. This study provides evidence for strengthening Chinese new generation employees’ emotion-management and controlling the disruptive behaviour of frontline disruptive leadership, so as to promote the enhanced innovative performance of new generation employees in China.

Health and Safety Perception of Construction Workers in Saudi Arabia

Abstract Construction is a high-risk industry due to the high rates of accidents/fatalities recorded annually in various countries. Health and safety (HS) is a major concern of the construction industry. More so, for developing countries where HS cultures are yet to become fully established. In such situations, the perception of construction workers is a viable approach to assess the performance of HS. This study investigated the HS conditions in Saudi Arabian construction sites from the perspective of construction labor. The study employed a questionnaire comprised of 50 issues related to safety and health from an employee’s perspective, on a 1-5 Likert scale of agreement. Responses were obtained from 196 construction workers in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Results from the study showed that the crucial issues identified include: lack of communication between front-line supervisors and construction labor, less priority for safety compared to productivity; lack of employee-engagement in developing safety policies; poor morale and lack of motivation amongst workers; and un-tested emergency response procedures. Thus, the study suggests that addressing such issues will allow for improved safety performance in the Saudi Arabian construction industry.

Child welfare supervision: Special issues related to trauma-informed care in a unique environment

ABSTRACTThe child welfare (CW) system must adopt a trauma-centered focus. Children served typically have experienced some form of trauma, and involvement with the system is, itself, traumatizing for children and their families. Frontline workers and supervisors also are influenced by their exposure to that trauma and work-related challenges. There is a need for clear articulation of a trauma-informed approach to supervision and for research as to its implementation and impact. The authors provide a rationale for why professionals in the CW system require trauma-informed supervision, reviewing relevant literature. Potential components of trauma-informed supervision are explored, with practical examples illustrating implementation.

Sacred time: Ensuring the provision of excellent supervision

ABSTRACTIn this study, the authors explore the beliefs and attitudes regarding what constitutes “excellent supervision” from the perspectives of frontline workers and supervisors employed by one voluntary services organization in Northern Ireland. Several themes emerged from focus group narratives, regardless of participants’ agency position, and a concept map provides an understanding of the relationships of the identified themes. This study reflects the important role of organizational context and culture in relation to staff’s ability to provide excellent supervision, as well as in sustaining organizational change efforts regardless of organizational setting. The potential of peer and/or group supervision to address improving staff support with limited resources is also suggested.

"Stuck in the Middle with You?" Supervisory Level and Anger about Work.

Although sociologists have long been interested in the stratification of emotions, the occupational stratification of anger has been investigated in only a few general population studies. Through analyses of data representative of workers in Toronto, we evaluate the hypothesis that workplace hierarchical position, defined by supervisory level, has an inverted u-shaped association with the frequency of anger about work. We also evaluate the more specific hypothesis that the difference in work-related anger between front-line supervisors and nonsupervisory workers will be relatively larger among workers in the commodified services sector than other sectors. Results are generally consistent with our hypotheses. We find that both front-line supervisors in the commodified services sector, and secondary supervisors in all employment sectors, report more frequent anger about work than do nonsupervisory workers. In contrast, higher level supervisors report anger about work at about the same frequency as nonsupervisory workers. These associations are only slightly reduced by controls for work stress and stressors. We discuss how supervisory relations might explain differences in anger about work among workers at different levels in organizational hierarchies.

Guest Editorial: Safety: It’s All About Us - The Human Factors Behind the Statistics

Guest editorial The International Association of Oil &amp; Gas Producers (IOGP) Life-Saving Rules are now considered industry good practice. Each rule has a simple icon and guidance to explain why it is important and on which aspects workers and supervisors should focus. The rules are intended to supplement and support existing company management systems, programs, and policies, but are directed at the actions individual front-line workers and supervisors need to undertake to keep themselves and their workmates safe. Each rule is also linked to controls and barriers which, if used properly, can prevent or avoid fatal incidents. Shell provides an example of how successful and sustainable the implementation of a robust set of Life-Saving Rules can be. The company has seen a 75% reduction in fatalities and a 35% reduction in lost-time injuries since its rules were introduced in 2009. Analysis of 1,484 fatal incidents reported by IOGP member companies over the past 20 years indicates that adopting, conforming to, and enforcing the simple IOGP rules may well have prevented many of these fatalities. While IOGP member companies recognize the value of providing clear and consistent guidelines, efforts to re-energize the Life-Saving Rules program were triggered in 2015, when IOGP reported an increase in industry-related fatalities and fatal incidents, reversing a multiyear trend. Research showed that more than 70% of fatalities in that year could have been attributed to the industry failing to follow IOGP’s rules. Our newly published data for 2016 show only a slight improvement: 58% of the fatal incidents reported could have been avoided by following the rules. This is despite the fact that the causal factors of these incidents have remained broadly unchanged for many years. These include failures in training, competence, hazard identification, risk assessment, inattention, supervision, and procedures (Figs. 1a, 1b). Some may want to pin these issues on squeezed margins, job uncertainty, or doing the same (or more) with less. However, the data do not support that premise, and the hard truth is that commitment to follow the Life-Saving Rules should not be affected or rationalized by market conditions. IOGP data show that there are no “new” accidents; only failures to learn or to implement learnings from previous incidents. The rules have been proven to save lives and the real challenge lies in finding out why these rules are not consistently followed.

Managing from the Middle: Frontline Supervisors and Perceptions of Their Organizational Power

Frontline supervisors serve in a critical role, maintaining relationships between upper management and frontline workers; however, we still know relatively little about how subordinates view their power in relation to their supervisors and how frontline supervisors understand and exercise their own power. Focusing on street‐level workers and frontline supervisors across a statewide community corrections agency, we explore perceptions, experiences, and assertions of power in the workplace. Using focus groups with thirty‐two street‐level probation and parole officers and focus groups and field observations of seventy‐five frontline supervisors, we find that officers and frontline supervisors have widely differing views on the power of the frontline supervisory position, some of which are influenced by gender. While street‐level workers align frontline supervisors with policy creators, frontline supervisors view themselves as disempowered go‐betweens. Frontline supervisors compensate for their perceived lack of power in policymaking and implementation by using micropower strategies to assert their power. This study extends street‐level bureaucrat theory to the role of frontline supervisors, who in practice are distant from the upper management roles with which they are typically categorized.

Harmonising training and development across an industry: the case of Australian rail

PurposeThis paper aims to explore why harmonisation, given its potential, is so difficult to achieve. It analyses the issues and challenges in achieving harmonisation of training and development across an industry.Design/methodology/approachThe approach was a meta-analysis of six research projects undertaken in the Australian rail industry. These projects varied in duration from 12-24 months. Between 2009 and 2013, rail employees in varying roles and levels of seniority, including middle managers, front-line supervisors, rail incident investigators, track workers and drivers, were interviewed (n = 176) and surveyed (n = 341).FindingsThe meta-analysis identified a range of characteristics associated with harmonisation. It uncovered three categories of harmonisation, seven types of risk modelled in a layered risk pyramid and analysed key structural, environmental and organisational barriers to harmonisation. The paper concludes that harmonisation struggles to gain strategic significance and is hampered by operational pragmatism.Research limitations/implicationsThere are few published papers examining harmonisation across companies or based on meta-analyses, especially qualitatively. Despite limitations of insufficient detail to allow close analysis, potentially variable quality data across projects from which to develop a meta-analysis and the danger of comparing apples with oranges, more attempts using this approach would be helpful in gaining nuanced insights into an industry.Practical implicationsAchieving industry harmonisation requires significant change in the mindset of executives. To enhance the chances of harmonisation, there is need for a strong national entity with overview of the entire industry, high-quality training and development resources and activities and cost-benefit analyses and active campaigns. A major outcome of this research is the risk pyramid, which can be used by managers as a strategic evaluation tool. By using such tools based on sound research, leaders can be equipped to make informed decisions and reduce downstream risks.Originality/valueThis research has value in extending the literature in two main ways: through examining the notion of harmonisation across an industry as distinct from within organisations that has been the focus of most studies and through using qualitative meta-analysis in a field dominated by quantitative approaches. It analyses the grey areas between rhetoric about its potential and difficulties in its achievement.