Job Tasks Research Articles

Disability-inclusive employment, cancer survivorship, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

PurposeThis special section of the Journal of Cancer Survivorship examines disability-inclusive employment policy and practice, cancer survivorship, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) of 1990. It considers current issues in research, policy, practice, and law in the United States, including new questions arising in light of COVID-19, such as the nature of disability disclosure, workplace accommodations and remote work, emerging workplace health surveillance technologies, and inclusive employment practices for cancer survivors. It also presents, for comparative purposes, a current analysis of cancer-related disability discrimination in the media in the United States and Israel.MethodsAfter the “Introduction,” this special section presents two studies on disclosure of disability in employment: the first addressing disclosure during a job interview of the need for accommodations, and the second addressing disclosure as related to individual and organizational characteristics. The next two articles examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the work experience: first, for people with disabilities working remotely, with implications for cancer survivors, and second, for cancer survivors and people with disabilities facing potential algorithmic health discrimination due to workplace health surveillance. The final article considers cancer-related stigma and discrimination, as faced in the United States and Israel (using a comparison of mass media).ResultsDisability-inclusive employment laws such as the ADA promote two central requirements: First, social institutions affirmatively remove attitudinal and structural barriers and discrimination confronting people with disabilities as they exercise their rights to participate fully in society. Second, employers, governmental entities, and public accommodations comply with the “accommodation principle,” which requires them to make reasonable adjustments to job tasks, places of work, and public places in society, to enable equal participation by qualified individuals with disabilities. The articles in this special section consider these principles in innovative ways from a disability-inclusive paradigm.ConclusionsThe COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for a robust research literature on disability-inclusive employment policy and practice for people with disabilities and for cancer survivors. This special section offers five articles as a start. The section’s “Introduction” also highlights recent ADA case law and introduces two new national Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers, one on Disability Inclusive Employment Policy (“DIEP RRTC”) and one on Employer Practices Leading to Successful Employment Outcomes Among People with Disabilities (“Employer Practices RRTC”), both designed to help fill this need. The centers are currently examining ways organizations, including those in the gig economy, can facilitate inclusive employment of people with disabilities.Implications for Cancer SurvivorsAs highlighted in the Introduction’s discussion of recent ADA cases involving cancer-related employment discrimination, as well as in the special section’s articles, discrimination in employment persists and, indeed, is worsening for cancer survivors and those with disabilities. This discrimination affects people across the demographic spectrum, and it can be especially harmful to people in groups not always acknowledged, such as individuals with multiple, intersectional minority identities associated with race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity, as well as people at different stages of the life course. Furthermore, the impact of discrimination in employment is often exacerbated by life experiences such as unemployment and underemployment, financial insecurity, ableism, racism, and sexism.

Advancing Theory and Practice on Managing Dysfunctional Turnover: Developing an Improved Measure of Turnover Reasons

We examine turnover reasons for dysfunctional (i.e., high-performing or high-competency) leavers versus functional (i.e., low-performing or low-competency) leavers. In a United States retail bank, high performers reported wanting better advancement or development opportunities as their top turnover reason, whereas low performers mentioned wanting different job tasks, job insecurity, work stress, problems with coworkers, and generic problems with management more frequently than high performers. In an Indian IT consultancy firm, job performance and competency level were positively related to reporting problems with leadership/upper management, whereas performance was negatively related to reporting a specific alternative job offer. Through these studies, we develop a novel turnover reason measure for scholars and practitioners that assesses reason importance, enables the vital accumulation of data across studies, and increases diagnostic potential in exit or stay interviews/surveys. Finally, we offer directions for building theory and improving the management of high-performer turnover.

Prevalence of mental health problems and associated factors of Thai healthcare workers during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic

The purpose of this cross-sectional, national online survey was to assess the magnitude of mental health problems and to identify job task and organizational factors associated with mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic among healthcare workers in Thailand. The data were collected during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (May 1-15, 2020). Study participants were 417 healthcare workers in public health care facilities of all 12 health regions in Thailand. Demographic data, job task and organizational factors, and mental health outcomes were collected. The mental health outcome was assessed by the Thai version of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale - 21 Items (DASS-21). Multivariate logistic regression was performed to identify factors associated with mental health outcomes. The results found that most participants were women (77.7%). The largest proportion of participants were nurses (40.5%), followed by public health officers (20.9%). The average age of participants was 41.82 years (SD=10.06). We identified 21.1%, 22.5%, and 15.3% of all respondents had mild to extremely severe depression, anxiety and stress, respectively. Caring for inpatients with COVID-19 was associated with anxiety (aOR=3.41; 95% CI= 1.34, 8.68) and stress (aOR =2.96; 95% CI= 1.11, 7.95). Lack of readiness among management to reduce infection risk, inadequate PPE, working with the fear of being infected and transmitting infection when returning home, and having patients who did not strictly adhere to guidelines were identified as risk factors for all mental health outcomes, after adjustment for confounding. Organizational approaches, such as effective management can help reduce infection of both patients and healthcare providers. These strategies may also protect the mental health of health care workers in a “new, emerging phase” or a future wave of COVID-19 cases.

Development of modified rapid entire body assessment (MOREBA) method for predicting the risk of musculoskeletal disorders in the workplaces

BackgroundRapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) technique is one of the tools developed for predicting the risk of musculoskeletal disorders based on the effective risk factors. This method has several limitations. The present study was aimed to develop the Modified Rapid Entire Body Assessment (MOREBA) method to more accurately predict the risk of musculoskeletal disorders.MaterialsThis cross-sectional study was performed on 300 male workers of a steel factory with a variety of job tasks in Iran. Then, the information related to the various physical risk factors was extracted through observation of their duties and conversation with them. Also, the subjects were asked to complete the Persian version of Cornell musculoskeletal discomfort questionnaires (CMDQ). Then, a theoretical model was drawn in AMOS software. Computed coefficients were used to develop the MOREBA equation. In the end, the final scores were categorized by ROC curves, and the validation of the novel method was investigated using linear regression analysis.ResultsThe parameters evaluated in the MOREBA method included contact stress, rapid and sudden movement, throwing motion, hand-arm vibration, whole-body vibration, temperature, and work-rest cycle in addition to the parameters of the REBA method, including awkward posture, coupling, force, load, static activity, and repetitive activity. The results showed that the strain produced by the physical risk factors with the total effect coefficient of 0.783 could significantly affect the musculoskeletal symptoms. The computed coefficients of the risk factors were applied to develop a novel index. The final score of the MOREBA method was categorized into four levels by optimal cut-off points of 12.37, 16.51, and 24.35. Based on the results, the MOREBA and REBA methods could justify 67 and 55% of the variations of musculoskeletal symptoms, respectively.ConclusionsThe results revealed that modifications conducted in the REBA method were effective, and the MOREBA method can provide a more accurate prediction of the risk of musculoskeletal disorders.

Perfectionism, Interactional Justice and Job Performance: A Trait Activation Perspective

Drawing on trait activation theory, this research explores the intrapersonal consequences of perfectionism in the workplace by examining the relationships between self-oriented perfectionism (SOP) and two distinct job performance dimensions, i.e., task performance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and the moderating role of interactional justice on these relationships. Using field data collected from 121 employee–supervisor dyads in South Korea, we found a unique and incremental predictive power of employee SOP on job performance, specifically task performance. Moreover, the results showed that the interaction effect of employee SOP and interactional justice on OCB was significant, such that the trait of SOP was activated to enhance OCB when interactional justice was low. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

For whom and under what circumstances does email message batching work?

Email plays an essential role in organizational communication but can also serve as pertinent source of work interruption and an impediment to well-being. Scholars have proposed email batching, processing emails only at certain times of the day, as a strategy to mitigate the negative consequences of email at work. As empirical evidence is mixed and applications in natural organizational contexts are lacking, we used survey data collected during a quasi-experimental top-down intervention in a Dutch financial services organization to investigate for whom and under what circumstances email batching is effective for reducing email interruptions and ameliorating well-being. We found that participants in the intervention group encountered less email interruptions than participants in the control group. Moreover, email batching reduced emotional exhaustion captured right after the intervention ended, especially for workers dealing with high email volumes and workers believing that instantaneous response was not expected in their organization. The effects of email batching wore off after two weeks and no significant effects on work engagement were found. We conclude that email batching should not be regarded as panacea for enhancing well-being and should only encouraged if it fits with workers' job tasks and organizational expectations regarding email response times more generally.

Comparison of Forest Engineering Students’ Attitudes towards Their Education and Future Jobs: Case Results from Turkey

Forestry is a complex multidimensional discipline that implies a broad job description and task variety for forest engineers. Thus, the scope of professional forestry education is expanding and diversifying. It is essential to determine the students’ attitudes towards their education and future jobs to develop focused solutions in forestry education. In this context, the present study aims to analyze the attitudes of forest engineering students towards their education and future jobs. This study evaluated and compared the students’ attitudes over a 10-year period through questionnaires administered to senior forest engineering students of the Faculty of Forestry at Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa (IUC). It was revealed that, during job selection, non-job factors (39.5%) were nearly as influential as job-related factors (53.7%). Moreover, students’ career plans were based mainly on working in public institutions (41.4%) and simply doing their job (78.1%). The results showed that students’ views on education have improved over time; however, they have doubts about their readiness to succeed in their careers (M = 3.41) and the adequacy of their knowledge and experience level (M = 2.95). Their attitudes on their future job were not wholly positive: They have doubts about finding a job (M = 2.90), having satisfactory working conditions (M = 3.38), and income (M = 3.57). The results of this study can support decision-making in forest education and human resources in forestry.

Identification and evaluation of human errors of Epoxy control room operators of a pipe Mill company using HEC technique

Introduction: In many workplaces today, the incidence of human error can lead to catastrophic accidents in which human error is the main cause of accidents. Due to the vital role of the control room in guiding and controlling various sites of the pipe industry, especially the outer coating sector, the incidence of any error can lead to human accidents, damage to machinery, interruption in production. This study aimed to identify and evaluate human error by Human Error Calculator (HEC) method in the epoxy control room of a pipe mill company. Materials and Methods: In the present descriptive cross-sectional study, the HEC method was used to identify and evaluate human errors. The HEC technique is provided by Risk Map Company, in which the probability of human error is based on five factors affecting the occurrence of human error, including a degree of urgency, complexity, importance, degree of individual skill, and task repetition, using a disk-shaped tool called Risk Disk is determined through direct observation, available instructions and interview with the head of the mentioned unit. Results: According to the results of this study, out of 11 identified tasks, five job tasks with a risk number of 70% have a high probability of human error, four job tasks with a risk number of 50%, and one job task with a number There is a 40% risk of moderate human error, And a job task with a 20% risk number has an increased chance of human error. Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that the HEC method is easy to use and is a simple and useful tool for professionals to calculate the probability of human error. In addition, HEC is a practical, effective and beneficial method for managers to reduce human error.

Vision Rehabilitation Therapists Teaching Technology: Association Between Their Age and the Frequency at Which Technology Job Tasks Are Performed

Introduction This study seeks to examine the association between the age of the Vision Rehabilitation Therapist (VRT) and the frequency at which they carry out technology job tasks. Methods A secondary data analysis was performed, using chi square to test for an association between the age of the VRT and the frequency at which they carry out 11 specific job tasks related to technology. Results Age of the VRT was shown to be negatively associated with the frequency at which 6 of the 11 technology job tasks are performed. Discussion Overall, younger VRTs are teaching access technology at higher frequencies than older VRTs. Newer specific technologies are being taught more often by younger VRTs, such as mobile technologies, voice-controlled devices, and social media. Older technologies such as keyboarding and OCR are being taught at similar frequencies regardless of age. Given the aging population of VRTs and the small number of university VRT programs, it may not be sustainable to rely on recent graduates or younger VRTs to fulfill access training needs for persons with visual impairment. With the availability, affordability, and quick emergence of new technologies, it is critical that all VRTs have access to continuing education to become comfortable and proficient in teaching newer technologies. Implication for Practitioners Technology training is critical for employment and independence for many persons with vision impairment. Continuing education for VRTs to be comfortable and competent in teaching emerging technologies may be important in ensuring that access technology training is available to all persons with visual impairment.

Job Tasks, Skill Formation, and Wages: An Internal Labor Market Approach

Job Tasks, Skill Formation, and Wages: An Internal Labor Market Approach

The boundary conditions of leader creativity expectations influencing employee creativity: job characteristic factors

This study included job autonomy and task dependence into the category of job characteristic factors, and expected to find out boundary conditions of leader creativity expectations affecting employee creativity. By sending questionnaires to 35 teams, 402 subordinates’ matching data were obtained and empirically analyzed. The results show that leader creativity expectations has a significant positive impact on employee creativity, and intrinsic motivation plays a significant mediating role in the relationship between them. Job autonomy positively moderates the relationship between leader creativity expectations and intrinsic motivation, and then enhances the indirect effect of leader creativity expectations on employee creativity through intrinsic motivation. Task dependence negatively moderates the relationship between leader creativity expectations and intrinsic motivation, and weakenes the indirect effect of leader creativity expectations through intrinsic motivation. The study enriches the relevant research framework and has practical significance for management practice.

Electromyography-based fatigue assessment of an upper body exoskeleton during automotive assembly.

The purpose of this study was to assess an upper body exoskeleton during automotive assembly processes that involve elevated arm postures. Sixteen team members at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada were fitted with a Levitate Airframe, and each team member performed between one and three processes with and without the exoskeleton. A total of 16 assembly processes were studied. Electromyography (EMG) data were collected on the anterior deltoid, biceps brachii, upper trapezius, and erector spinae. Team members also completed a usability survey. The exoskeleton significantly reduced anterior deltoid mean active EMG amplitude (p=.01, Δ=-3.2 %MVC, d=0.56 medium effect) and fatigue risk value (p<.01, Δ=-5.1 %MVC, d=0.62 medium effect) across the assembly processes, with no significant changes for the other muscles tested. A subset of nine assembly processes with a greater amount of time spent in arm elevations at or above 90° (30 vs. 24%) and at or above 135° (18 vs. 9%) appeared to benefit more from exoskeleton usage. For these processes, the exoskeleton significantly reduced anterior deltoid mean active EMG amplitude (p<.01, Δ=-5.1 %MVC, d=0.95 large effect) and fatigue risk value (p<.01, Δ=-7.4 %MVC, d=0.96 large effect). Team members responded positively about comfort and fatigue benefits, although there were concerns about the exoskeleton hindering certain job duties. The results support quantitative testing to match exoskeleton usage with specific job tasks and surveying team members for perceived benefits/drawbacks.

Active Employee Communication Roles in Organizations: A Framework for Understanding and Discussing Communication Role Expectations

ABSTRACT Several scholars have pointed out the importance of employees’ strategic communication behaviors for organizational performance and employee wellbeing. Employees contribute to organizations by acting as brand ambassadors, boundary spanners and crisis communicators. Employees play such roles on top of assigned job tasks, which can lead to role overload, role conflicts and job stress. The analysis of employees’ communication role enactment is hampered by the lack of a framework describing the complete range of active communication roles that employees are expected to play in the workplace. This article introduces the Active Employee Communication Roles (AECR) Framework (AECR), develops the conceptualization of eight communication roles, and discusses implications for strategic communication. The first four roles – the embodier, promotor, defender, and relationship builder role – describe ambassador roles. In addition, employees play the roles of scout, sensemaker, innovator, and critic to contribute to organizational development. The AECR framework provides a new lens which aids our understanding of the relationship between communication, and employee performance and wellbeing, and provides employees and employers a tool to analyze and calibrate mutual expectations regarding communication behaviors. The framework can also help employees to more strategically allocate resources when executing the various communication roles. This may help to alleviate employee role stress, and create healthier workplaces.

The Geography of Job Tasks

The Geography of Job Tasks

COVID-19 and Working from Home: Determinants and Consequences of Work-Family and Family-Work Conflicts

The COVID-19 pandemic forced millions of employees worldwide to perform their full-time job tasks remotely from home. As creative performance is considered a desirable work outcome expected by organizations, the present study investigated whether the work-family and family-work conflicts mediate the relationship between job conditions experienced by employees while working from home and their creative performance. The study, carried out in Sri Lanka, featured a sample of employees in white-collar or professional positions who carried on with their full-time jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic working from home. It was found that job conditions (work characteristics, work environment and technical support) significantly negatively related to both work-family conflict and family-work conflict. In addition, the results supported the mediation hypothesis.

יישום הגישה הרב-הקשרית לקידום השתתפות בעבודה של אנשים עם מוגבלות – סקירת תיאורי מקרה

Occupational therapists promote engagement and participation in life occupations and performance patterns for people who have various health conditions. Work participation can be influenced by health constraints that hinder adequate performance of job requirements to the point of preventing participation in the field of work overall. The purpose of this manuscript is to show how the use of assessment tools and the metacognitive treatment protocol, both based on the Multicontext Approach, aid in promoting and maintaining work participation. Using two case studies of young adults, who were diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disabilities and impaired executive functions, we will observe changes in occupational performance. Method: Data from a battery of assessments and occupational profiles were taken before and after 10 months of occupational therapy intervention provided according to Toglia's multi-contextual approach. Features from the occupational profile to determine specific occupations and contexts that needed to be addressed were identified. An analysis of occupational performance was done to identify the clients past and present challenges in work performance. The intervention process focused on increasing self-awareness of cognitive performance skills or identifying error patterns that hindered successful performance, emphasizing the enhancement of an adaptive vocational identity. By analyzing various situations from everyday life, the clients learned to identify resources and barriers in the environment, attempted learning coping strategies, and practiced self-monitoring and regulation tools. Implementing the acquired self-strategies within functional cognitive tasks allowed them to remain motivated and reduce self-stigma in terms of not being able to return to work and integrate into the mainstream workforce. Progress: Measured through setting and achieving goals in finding employment and performing job tasks. Results: A detailed description of change in occupational performance based on work integration, status awareness, and the use of compensatory strategies were noted concomitantly with improvement in performance as measured by the various assessment tools. Summary: One may favorably consider writing guidelines for using Meta-cognitive evaluation and intervention tools as an essential component of any occupational rehabilitation assessment and intervention program for working age people who are facing cognitive impairments due congenital and acquired, chronic and variable health conditions.

An Accurate Model for Computation Offloading in 6G Networks and a HAPS-Based Case Study

The undeniable potential of computation offloading has been attracting attention from researchers for more than a decade. With advances in multi-access edge computing (MEC), computation offloading has become a more critical issue because of the heterogeneity in the computational power of edge devices and the elevated importance of extending their lifespan. Due to the apparent advantages, the use of MEC in 6G networks, where a vertical heterogeneous network composed of space, air, and ground networks is only natural. The non-terrestrial networking elements constitute effective computational resources. However, recent research investigating the potential of computational offloading in 6G networks has involved models that do not adequately reflect the complexity of the underlying processes. In this study, we propose a realistic computation model for 6G networks that considers crucial properties of the offloaded job, including the inter-dependency of the job tasks and the decomposability of the job. Our model is based on the mature application domain of MEC, where proven solutions are already studied. We also investigate the potential of a high altitude platform station (HAPS)-aided MEC platform using this model. The proposed model allows us to design offloading strategies to enable adaptive computational offloading. Through numerical analyses, we show that the proposed model provides sufficient insight to reduce the total processing time significantly.

Work from Home Proclivity: A Year into Covid-19 Pandemic

All forms of formal education were abruptly shifted into online-learning when Covid-19 hit globally. This unexpected change has forced education practitioners to adapt and conduct their work remotely in order to minimize the virus spread. However, sudden changes are seldom arduous and work from home came with its many challenges. This research seeks to examine the working conditions and job requirements, the time and task management, work related stress, performance at work lecturer’s experience during online-learning and their inclination towards work from home in the future. This research is an exploratory study and the data is analyzed with a statistic descriptive method to describe the phenomenon. Using online questionnaire, a total of 120 lecturers responded. The study discovers that lecturers find the conditions of work from home to be acceptable, they are able to organize their task and time to some extent, and it does not affect their work performance and does not have a negative impact on their stress level. In the future, the lecturers will feel neutral about work from home after the pandemic subsidence. More are leaning towards going back to work in office settings, but open to do hybrid-working, which is a combination of work from office and work from home.

أثر التدريب والتنمية في أداء الموظفين في بلدية عبدالله بن رواحه

Training and development activities are among the most important pillars that affect raising the efficiency and performance of human resources, which are an important component of the institutions’ resources, and originally one of the most important assets they own, which makes many successful institutions interested in training operations to improving performance and developing the capabilities of their working cadres in pursuit of them. In increasing efficiency and effectiveness and developing the means of work to increase productivity. This purpose of this study is to measure the impact of training and development on the performance of employees in the "Abdullah bin Rawaha" Municipality in Jordan, for recognizing &nbsp;appropriate training programs on improving employees' performance, and identifying range&nbsp; of relationship between the training needs of employees that fit their job tasks and specializations and the training and development methods that increase From the actual performance that the training seeks to achieve, and the evaluation of the training to know the impact of the training, its efficiency and design in achieving the training objectives of raising the level of performance and increasing the productivity of employees.

Analysis of the Effect of Job Characteristics, Compensation, Religiosity on Employee Loyalty at Tabassam Farm Mojokerto

The aims of this study to analyze the effect of job characteristics (X1), compensation (X2) and religiosity (X3) on employee loyalty (Y) Tabassam Farm Mojokerto. Job characteristics have five indicators, namely job skills, task identity, task significance, task autonomy, and task feedback. Compensation has six indicators, namely salary, incentives, bonuses, allowances, insurance, and non- financial rewards. Religiosity has five indicators, namely ideology, practice, experience, knowledge and application. Employee loyalty has four indicators, namely obedience, responsibility, dedication, and integrity. The population of this research is Tabassam Farm employees who have worked for more than two years.This research sample of 73 people. The hypothesis used in this study uses multiple linear regression analysis. The results of this study are job characteristics (X1) and religiosity (X3) have a simultaneous and partial effect on employee loyalty, while the compensation variable (X2) has a simultaneous but not partial effect on employee loyalty. The value of the coefficient of determination in this study is 64.4% which indicates that employee loyalty is influenced by job characteristics, compensation, and religiosity, while the remaining 35.6% is influenced by other variables not examined in this study.