Level Of Organizational Support Research Articles

Job demands, job resources and work engagement of academic staff in South African higher education institutions

The objective of this study was to investigate the work engagement of academics in selected South African higher education institutions as well as the impact of job demands and job resources on their work engagement. Stratified random samples (N = 471) were drawn from academic staff in three higher education institutions in South Africa. The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) and the Job Demands-Resources Scale (JDRS) were administered. The results confirmed a two-factor structure of work engagement, consisting of vigour and dedication. Six reliable factors were extracted on the JDRS, namely organisational support, growth opportunities, social support, overload, advancement and job insecurity. Job resources (including organisational support and growth opportunities) predicted 26% of the variance in vigour and 38% of the variance in dedication. Job demands (overload) impacted on dedication of academics at low and moderate levels of organisational support.

The interaction of social skill and organizational support on job performance.

The present study examined the moderating effect of perceived organizational support (POS) on the relationship between social skill and supervisor-rated job performance. On the basis of regulatory and activation models of behavior, the authors argue that low-POS environments activate social skill because they reflect situations in which interpersonal acuity is required to demonstrate effective job performance. Accordingly, the authors hypothesize that social skill is more strongly related to performance among workers reporting low rather than high levels of organizational support. Results of hierarchical moderated multiple regression analyses on data gathered from 2 samples support the hypothesis. These results suggest that the relevance of social skill to job performance may be dependent on contextual cues. Implications for substantive research, strengths and limitations, and directions for future research are offered.

The work-family interface and job performance: Moderating effects of conscientiousness and perceived organizational support.

Based on conservation of resources (COR) theory, the authors hypothesized that two aspects of the work-family interface--family-to-work conflict (FWC) and family-to-work enrichment (FWE)--are related to job performance. The authors also hypothesized that two variables moderate those relationships--individual differences in conscientiousness and aspects of the work environment in terms of perceived organizational support (POS). Data collected from a matched set of 136 private sector workers and their respective supervisors revealed that high FWC was more strongly related to lower job performance: (1) among high- than low-conscientiousness workers and (2) among workers reporting low rather than high levels of organizational support. However, FWE was unrelated to job performance.

The role and scope of the Clinical Nurse Consultant in Wentworth Area Health Service: a qualitative study

New South Wales Health introduced the role of the Clinical Nurse Consultant in 1987. A review of the role was undertaken by an area health service in Western Sydney, NSW, Australia in 1992 and a number of issues were highlighted in the review process, including diverse roles and responsibilities. In 2000, New South Wales Health acknowledged the diversity of roles and developed a grading system based on five domains of practice. This paper reports the second phase of a two-part study that investigated the scope of practice and perceived level of organisational support provided for the Clinical Nurse Consultants in the area health service. Focus group interviews, one for managers and two for nurse consultants, were conducted in order to collect data. Ten Clinical Nurse Consultants, representative of each grade and seven managers, covering various clinical streams, took part in the study. Data were analysed using content analysis and coded using constant comparison and contrast of codes. Results of the study reveal a lack of clarity and understanding of the new grading system. There is an indication that the role is very individual and the incumbents are often overloaded by work and the maze of demands put on them by numerous competing forces. Many of the Clinical Nurse Consultants felt they were working at a grade higher than their position classification. There appears to be a significant need to clarify the roles of each of these members of the health care system and to provide a better reporting scheme.

Leading by example: a local health department-community collaboration to incorporate physical activity into organizational practice.

A multisectoral model promoting sociocultural environmental change to increase physical activity levels among African Americans in Los Angeles County, California, was developed and implemented. This model represents a true collaboration between a local health department and a community lead agency. Community organizations serving targeted areas of the county participated in one or more interventions incorporating physical activity into routine organizational practice, which centered around modeling the behaviors promoted ("walking the talk"). In the current study, level of organizational support for physical activity integration was assessed, as reflected in the extent of organizational commitment associated with each intervention. Individual-level data, characterizing the sociodemography, health status, and health behaviors of organization staff, members, and clients, are presented to document the average risk burden in the targeted population. Nearly half of the more than 200 participating organizations actively embraced incorporating physical activity into their regular work routines, with more than 25 percent committed at the highest level of involvement. Broad capacity and support for organizational integration of physical activity was demonstrated, with the observed level of commitment varying by organization type. Similar to the successful evolution of tobacco control, some of the responsibility ("cost") for physical activity adoption and maintenance can and should be shifted from the individual to organizational entities, such as workplaces.

Heart check: the development and evolution of an organizational heart health assessment.

The purpose of this article is to document the development, testing, and application of an organizational assessment tool used to measure employer support for heart health. Additional information is presented on its future research and applications plan. This article represents the pooling of results from multiple studies using a variety of designs, including pilot tests, cross-sectional analyses, and quasi-experiments. Worksites covering the spectrum of employers across industry types and size, and throughout all of New York State. Over 10,000 New York employees and 1000 New York employers are represented in the multiple phases of this research. Heart Check is a 226-item inventory designed to measure such features in the worksite as organizational foundations, administrative supports, tobacco control, nutrition support, physical activity support, stress management, screening services, and company demographics. Additional side studies used professional judgments and behavioral surveys. As an assessment tool Heart Check shows evidence for reliability and validity. Applications of the instrument show characteristics that define high-scoring companies, quasi standards for New York employers, and, when applied during interventions, positive changes in organizational support levels. A relatively inexpensive, easy-to-use, and metrically tested instrument exists for measuring the construct of organizational support for employee heart health. The instrument shows promise as part of a system to enhance heart health through public health-based interventions in the workplace.

From change novice to change expert

An increasing number of organisations are experiencing high velocity discontinuous change. To facilitate their adaptation and transformation, many are introducing more empowering structures and cultures. This has led them to disperse change agency to a more diverse “cast of characters” with implications for the way change agents are managed in the future. Draws on the findings of an ongoing empirical study into the experiences of those managers and employees with responsibility for implementing and managing change. Examines the way in which they are trained and developed to make the transition from change “novice” to change “expert”. Identifies some of the psycho‐social stresses and traumas associated with managing change. Explores the level of organisational support afforded to those who find that change responsibilities are now a significant part of their professional or operational role. Concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications facing those who have responsibility for “managing the change managers”, with a particular focus on HR strategies and policies.

The role of stress and social support in Sick Building Syndrome

Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) involves seemingly healthy individuals experiencing long-lasting symptoms of physical distress in their work settings and is estimated to exist in 20 to 30% of all work settings in the USA. We examined differences in stress, social support and both physical and psychological symptoms reported by hospital personnel working in known SBS sites in Halifax, Nova Scotia (n = 297) with control employees working in relatively SBS-free settings (n = 228). We found that employees reporting that their health had been affected by the building in which they worked and those complaining of poor air quality were more likely to be found in SBS locations. In addition, those people with higher levels of organizational support and marginally higher levels of union support were also more likely to be found in SBS locations. Further analyses revealed that employees with higher role overload and greater family support, but lower levels of organizational support were more likely to report that their own health had been adversely affected by their place of work. Perceptions of poor air quality were predicted by higher levels of role conflict, role overload, and organizational stress and lower levels of organizational support. These results suggest that SBS may not be solely dependent on environmental factors.

Needs, Limitations, and Opportunities of Automated Decision Support Systems

ABSTRACT In the fast-paced environment of oil spill response, management decisions often must be made rapidly for situations that are complex. Researchers previously identified six factors that are critical to achieving a successful oil spill response, one of which specifically concerns information management: “The response system must be able to communicate and manage information internally and externally.” Effective information flow is critical to spill management and expectation management of the public. This paper describes information flow, as it relates to all levels of organizational support during an oil spill response, that is critical to making timely and appropriate decisions. Given the United States' policy to use Incident Command System (ICS) as the preferred management system for oil spill response, the focus of the discussion is on ICS-based management systems. In addition, needs and opportunities for using automated decision support tools in the emergency environment are discussed.

The Long Term Effects of Electronic Commerce and Data Interchange on Firms

This research aims to identify the determinants of electronic commerce effectiveness, as well as the variation over time of their effect. A two-phased study was undertaken for this purpose, using EDI as a specific form of electronic commerce. Sixty-five organisations were surveyed twice over a three-year period. In Phase 1, determining factors were found to be the level of organisational support, the rigour of the implementation process, the presence of control procedures, and the level of internal integration, external integration and imposition of EDI. Imposition also has a negative effect on the organisational context of EDI. In Phase 2, the implementation process, internal integration and imposition lost their importance, whereas the effect of imposition on the organisational context became positive. In the future, we expect the security and external integration to be the most important success factors of electronic commerce.

Dynamics of organizational communities and technological bandwagons: An empirical investigation of community evolution in the microprocessor market

In industries characterized by positive network externalities, the market success of a technology or design arises not simply because of its technological superiority, but from the level of organizational support that the technology attracts. Understanding the rate at which competing technologies gain organizational support is quite important because it yields insight into the factors that start technological bandwagons rolling or, correspondingly, bring them to a stop. I investigate this issue using data on all merchant producers of microprocessors from 1971 to 1989. I find that a community-level framework is useful in understanding this bandwagon phenomenon and I explore strategic and theoretical implications for industries characterized by network externalities and increasing returns.