Medium-sized Workers Research Articles

벤처중소기업 노동자의 4차 산업혁명 인식 및 활용의도가 직무성과에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구 -기업가정신의 매개효과를 중심으로-

4차 산업혁명으로 불리는 현 시대에 벤처·중소기업 현장에서의 변화가 가장 클 것으로 판단되는 바, 본 연구에서는 벤처·중소기업 노동자의 4차 산업혁명 인식 및 활용의도가 자신의 직무성과에 미치는 영향 검증하고 기업가정신의 매개효과를 파악해 보고자 이를 실증 검증하였다. 그 결과 4차 산업혁명 인식 및 활용의도는 직무성과에 유의미한 영향을 미치지 못했지만 기업가정신이 매개효과를 보일 때 이 둘의 유의성이 검증되었다. 이는 변화를 인식하고 활용하고자 하는 의도가 직접적인 성과에 영향을 미치기 위해서는 기업가정신이라는 실행력이 중요하다는 결론으로 변화의 시대 노동자의 기업가정신의 중요성과 필요성을 인식한 연구라 할 수 있다. 한편 서울지역으로 한정된 표본, 4차 산업혁명에 대한 인식 및 활용의도만을 변수로 파악했다는 점은 한계로 지적되는 바 향후 연구에서는 4차 산업혁명과 밀접한 산업군에 속해 있는 기업을 직접 연구해 볼 필요가 있을 것이다.

A Comparative Study on the Influence of Work Satisfaction of Venture and Small & Medium－sized Workers on Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, and Non Turnover Intention

[연구목적] 최근 4차 산업혁명 시대의 도래로 표현되는 산업 환경의 변화는 노동자의 일자리에 다방면으로 영향을 미칠 것으로 판단되기에 본 연구에서는 일자리 만족도가 조직유효성에 어떠한 영향을 미치는지 파악해 보고자 했다. 한편 기존 연구가 좋은 일자리 혹은 그 만족도와 조직 유효성 요인 간의 개별적인 유의성 위주로 분석했다면, 본 연구에서는 다양한 일자리 만족도 구성개념이 조직 유효성을 구성하는 직무만족, 조직몰입, 비 이직 의도에 각각 어떠한 영향을 미치는지 그 관계를 비교 · 분석하여 실무적 시사점을 제공하고자 했다.BR [연구 방법] 서울 소재 중소기업에 근무하는 200명의 노동자를 대상(설문기간: 2017년 10월～12월)으로 자신의 일자리 만족도와 조직 유효성(직무만족, 조직몰입, 비 이직 의도)의 관계에 대해 SPSS와 AMOS 프로그램을 이용하여 분석하였다.BR [연구결과] 일자리 만족도가 직무만족, 조직몰입, 비 이직 의도에는 유의한 영향을 미쳤고, 일자리 만족도의 개별 구성개념들은 직무만족, 조직몰입, 비 이직 의도에 각각 상이한 영향을 미치고 있는 것으로 확인되었다. 즉 직무만족에 유의한 영향을 미친 일자리 만족 요인은 고용의 안정성, 조직 내 인간관계 및 의사소통, 인사고과의 공정성을 의미하는 인사조직 요인과 업무내용 및 조직에서의 발전 가능성과 같은 노동과정 요인만이 영향을 미치는 것으로 확인되었다. 조직몰입에 영향을 미치는 일자리 만족도 요인은 보상, 인사조직, 노동과정 요인들로 나타났다. 마지막으로 비 이직 의도에 영향을 미치는 요인은 노동과정 요인임을 확인하였다.BR [연구의 시사점] 노동자의 일자리를 만족시키는 여러 개념들이 조직 유효성에 다양한 형태로 영향을 미치고 있다는 점을 파악했다는 점이다. 이에 기업에서는 자사가 처한 형편과 상황에 따라 좋은 일자리 혹은 일자리 만족도를 높이는 정책으로 선별적이며 유동적으로 추진해야 할 것이다. 예를 들어 직무만족도가 낮은 기업에서는 인사조직 요인과 노동과정 요인에 관심을 가질 필요가 있으며, 조직몰입도가 낮은 조직에서는 보상 수준, 인사조직 이슈, 노동과정 요인에 대한 점검을 할 필요가 있다. 또한 조직구성원 이직률이 높은 조직에서는 노동자들이 업무상 얻을 수 있는 보람과 가치를 강화하는 등의 인사 전략을 수립해야 한다는 실무적 시사점을 본 연구를 통해 얻을 수 있었다.

Innate turning preference of leaf-cutting ants in the absence of external orientation cues

Most ants use a combination of cues for orientation but how do ants find their way when all external cues are suppressed? Do they walk in a random way or are their movements spatially oriented? Here, we show for the first time that leaf-cutting ants (Acromyrmex lundii) have an innate preference for turning counter-clockwise (left) when external cues are precluded. We demonstrated this by allowing individual ants to run freely on the water surface of a newly developed treadmill. The surface tension supported medium-sized workers but effectively prevented ants from reaching the wall of the vessel, which was important to avoid wall-following behaviour (thigmotaxis). Most ants ran for minutes on the spot but also slowly turned counter-clockwise in the absence of visual cues. Reconstructing the effective path walked revealed a looping pattern which could be interpreted as a search strategy. A similar turning bias was shown for groups of ants in a symmetrical Y-maze where twice as many ants chose the left branch in the absence of optical cues. Wall-following behaviour was tested by inserting a coiled tube before the Y-fork. When ants traversed a left-coiled tube, more ants chose the left box and vice versa. Adding visual cues in the form of vertical black strips either outside the treadmill or on one branch of the Y-maze led to oriented walks towards the strips. It is suggested that both turning bias and wall following are employed as search strategies for an unknown environment which can be overridden by visual cues.

Effect of the presence of brood and fungus on the nest architecture and digging activity of Acromyrmex subterraneus Forel (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

This study investigated the stimuli that trigger digging behavior in Acromyrmex subterraneus during nest building. The hypothesis was that the presence of the fungus garden and/or brood triggers the excavation of tunnels and chambers. For the experiment, the excavation rate of individually marked workers kept in plastic cylinders filled with soil was recorded. Four treatments were applied: (1) 30 medium-sized workers, 5g fungus garden and 30 brood items (larvae and pupae); (2) 30 medium-sized workers and 5g fungus garden; (3) 30 medium-sized workers and 30 brood items; (4) 30 medium-sized workers without fungus and brood. After 24h, morphological parameters of nest structure (length and width of the chambers and tunnels in cm) and the volume of excavated soil were recorded. In contrast to the expected findings, no change in morphological structure, rate of excavation by workers, or volume of excavated soil was observed between treatments, except for tunnel width, which was greater, when no brood or fungus garden was present. Thus, the results do not support the hypothesis that the fungus garden and/or brood are local stimuli for nest excavation or that they mold the internal architecture of the nest. Although this hypothesis was confirmed for Acromyrmex lundii and Atta sexdens rubropilosa, the same does not apply to A. subterraneus. The digging behavior of workers is probably the result of adaptation during nest building in different habitats.

Waste management in the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex echinatior: the role of worker size, age and plasticity

Division of labour is the hallmark of the success of many social animals. It may be especially important with regard to waste management because waste often contains pathogens or hazardous toxins and worker specialisation can reduce the number of group members exposed to it. Here we examine waste management in a fungus-farming, leaf-cutting ant, Acromyrmex echinatior, in which waste management is necessary to protect their vulnerable fungal crop. By marking ants with task-specific paint colours, we found clear division of labour between workers that engage in waste management and those that forage, at least during the fine timescale of the 3-day marking period. This division of labour was influenced by both age and size, with waste management workers tending to be smaller and younger than foragers. The role of preventing contaminated ants from entering the colony was fulfilled mainly by medium-sized workers. When the level of waste was experimentally increased, most of the ants that responded to remove the waste were workers previously engaged in tasks inside the nest rather than external waste workers or foragers. These responding workers tended to be young and medium-sized. Surprisingly, the responding ants were subsequently able to revert back to working within the fungus garden, but the probability of them doing so depended on their age and the length of time they were exposed to waste. The results demonstrate the importance of division of labour with regard to waste management in A. echinatior and show that this is adaptable to changing needs.

Morphometry of the metapleural gland of workers engaged in different behavioral tasks in the ant Atta sexdens rubropilosa

Abstract The exocrine metapleural gland is unique for ants and is characterized by antibiotic production. This work aimed at comparing (1) the volume of the metapleural gland, (2) the nucleus-cytoplasm relation of the secretory cells and (3) the surface area of the bulla which corresponds to the external part of the gland in workers of Atta sexdens rubropilosa Forel, 1908. The measurements were conducted in medium-sized workers of the following groups: waste processors (workers that manipulated waste), waste removers (workers that transported the waste fragment), foragers and workers inside the fungus garden. We show that the volume of the metapleural gland reservoir is larger in groups that are more exposed to infections.

Intraspecific nestmate recognition in two parabiotic ant species: acquired recognition cues and low inter-colony discrimination

Parabiotic ants—ants that share their nest with another ant species—need to tolerate not only conspecific nestmates, but also nestmates of a foreign species. The parabiotic ants Camponotus rufifemur and Crematogaster modiglianii display high interspecific tolerance, which exceeds their respective partner colony and extends to alien colonies of the partner species. The tolerance appears to be related to unusual cuticular substances in both species. Both species possess hydrocarbons of unusually high chain lengths. In addition, Cr. modiglianii carries high quantities of hereto unknown compounds on its cuticle. These unusual features of the cuticular profiles may affect nestmate recognition within both respective species as well. In the present study, we therefore examined inter-colony discrimination within the two parabiotic species in relation to chemical differentiation. Cr. modiglianii was highly aggressive against workers from alien conspecific colonies in experimental confrontations. In spite of high inter-colony variation in the unknown compounds, however, Cr. modiglianii failed to differentiate between intracolonial and allocolonial unknown compounds. Instead, the cuticular hydrocarbons functioned as recognition cues despite low variation across colonies. Moreover, inter-colony aggression within Cr. modiglianii was significantly influenced by the presence of two methylbranched alkenes acquired from its Ca. rufifemur partner. Ca. rufifemur occurs in two varieties (‘red’ and ‘black’) with almost no overlap in their cuticular hydrocarbons. Workers of this species showed low aggression against conspecifics from foreign colonies of the same variety, but attacked workers from the respective other variety. The low inter-colony discrimination within a variety may be related to low chemical differentiation between the colonies. Ca. rufifemur majors elicited significantly more inter-colony aggression than medium-sized workers. This may be explained by the density of recognition cues: majors carried significantly higher quantities of cuticular hydrocarbons per body surface.

Behavioral and olfactory antennal responses of Solenopsis geminata (Fabricius) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) workers to their dufour gland secretion

Behavioral and electrophysiological tests were performed to evaluate the responses of workers of the ant Solenopsis geminata (Fabricius) from different size categories to Dufour gland extracts. Morphometric measures based in head widths across eyes were used to determine worker sizes. Trail following response of different worker sizes to Dufour gland extract from workers of different sizes was assessed. For each worker size category olfactory responses to Dufour gland extracts were determined using electroantennography (EAG). Gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS) were used to determine the chromatographic profile of Dufour gland secretion for each worker size. Morphometric measures permitted to classify the workers of S. geminata as large, medium and small workers. Medium S. geminata workers displayed a significantly higher behavioral response to Dufour gland extracts produced by medium size workers. Similarly, medium workers showed a significantly higher EAG response to Dufour gland extracts produced by medium sized workers. Chromatographic profile of Dufour gland secretions produced by workers showed that each size category exhibited a characteristic profile of the three main components considered as potential trail pheromone constituents. This work showed that medium workers of S. geminata exhibited a high trail-following behavior as well as a high antennal response to Dufour gland secretion. This and their relative abundance in field foraging areas, suggest that medium-sized workers are specialized in foraging activities.

A field comparison of the modes of action of aldrin and mirex for controlling colonies of the leaf-cutting ants Atta Cephcdotes (L.) and Acromyrmex Octospinosus (Reich) (Formicidae, Attini)

AbstractTwo toxic baits, one containing aldrin and the other containing mirex, were compared for their effectiveness in killing field colonies of Atta cephalotes (L.) and Acromyrmex octospinosus (Reich) in Trinidad, West Indies. The fate of these two toxicants within tie nests was followed by using radiolabelled bait. Of the two baits, mirex appeared to be more acceptable to both species of ant. With Acromyrmex, the ratio of living to dead fungus gardens was not affected by the bait used, whereas with Atta there was a significant difference, aldrin killing many more gardens than mirex. For both species the proportion of medium-sized workers radiolabelled was significantly greater than for the other castes, and mirex marked greater numbers of all castes than did aldrin. Greatly different proportions of Atta workers were radiolabelled in the different fungus gardens of a nest with both baits. More radioactivity was detected in the fungus gardens treated with mirex, the difference being significant for Atta but not for Acromyrmex. Mirex bait particles incorporated into the fungus gardens were significantly smaller than aldrin bait particles, indicating different degrees of comminution by the ants.