Occupational Diversity Research Articles

Challenging (-Hindering) Employment and Employee Health

Research has struggled with the task of distinguishing high from low-quality employment. Making the distinction between challenging and hindering job demands in a context of social exchange, our study develops a generalizable heuristic for employment quality research. Latent class analysis with mixture modelling was applied to a sample of 2,143 adults from a diversity of occupations. A two-factor model provided substantial support for the distinction between challenging and hindering employment. Challenging employment was characterized by hard and emotionally demanding work and by provision of greater resources. Hindering employment involved several hindering demands and fewer resources. As predicted, challenging employment was associated with better self-reported general health and less psychological distress. The positive associations between higher education levels and longer work experience and challenging employment also supported the challenging/hindering heuristic. Abstract Research has struggled with the task of distinguishing high from low-quality employment. Making the distinction between challenging and hindering job demands in a context of social exchange, our study develops a generalizable heuristic for employment quality research. Latent class analysis with mixture modelling was applied to a sample of 2,143 adults from a diversity of occupations. A two-factor model provided substantial support for the distinction between challenging and hindering employment. Challenging employment was characterized by hard and emotionally demanding work and by provision of greater resources. Hindering employment involved several hindering demands and fewer resources. As predicted, challenging employment was associated with better self-reported general health and less psychological distress. The positive associations between higher education levels and longer work experience and challenging employment also supported the challenging/hindering heuristic.

Clinician knowledge and behaviors related to the 4Ms framework of Age-Friendly Health Systems.

BackgroundThe Age‐Friendly Health Systems (AFHS) aims to improve the experience of care for adults aged 65 years and older through the 4Ms framework, an evidence‐based approach to care planning that emphasizes what matters most to the older person, mentation, mobility, and medication. The aim of this study was to examine clinicians' attitudes, knowledge, and practices concerning AFHS and the 4Ms.MethodsWe surveyed U.S.‐based health care providers randomly identified from the Medscape database. The sample was weighted based on sex, U.S. Census region, and ethnic diversity of health occupations. We examined the differences between cohorts using proportions tests and logistic regression models.ResultsMore than 90% of clinicians (n = 1684) agreed that “older patients require a different approach to care than younger patients.” Fifty percent of clinicians “always” take the age of their patient into consideration when determining care. A majority of clinicians said they discuss each of the 4Ms with older patients and/or their family caregivers. Screening for depression and review of high‐risk medication use are among the leading types of age‐friendly care that clinicians provide to older patients. A minority of clinicians are asking older adults about and aligning the care plan with What Matters.ConclusionsA majority of clinicians acknowledged the benefits of providing care via AFHS but reported limited knowledge of the specificities of the 4Ms framework and are not necessarily taking the age of their patients into consideration when determining the best form of care. Health care settings that have implemented the 4Ms framework appear to be doing so in an incomplete way. Our study reinforces the case for training primary care providers on how to adopt the evidence‐based 4Ms framework in clinical practice effectively and consistently.

Elements of Social Sustainability among Austrian Hay Milk Farmers: Between Satisfaction and Stress

Proponents of hay milk farming claim several benefits on an ecological and economic level, while little about the social aspects has been studied so far. The present study serves as a first exploration of certain aspects of social sustainability from the perspective of hay milk farmers. The results of an online survey of 284 Austrian hay milk farmers are presented. The statistical analyses included Fisher’s exact tests (contingency tables), Kendall’s rank correlations and a two-step cluster analysis. The sampled farms show positive attitudes toward the work in agriculture (e.g., contribution to the cultural landscape) and are mainly satisfied regarding several job aspects (e.g., occupational diversity), but to a great extent dissatisfied with others (e.g., social recognition, time resources). The critical stressors are the agricultural policy, the economic situation, too little time for partnership or family life as well as bureaucracy and work overload. Multiple medium associations between aspects of well-being are revealed. Obvious and meaningful relationships between farm characteristics and aspects of well-being are scarce. The cluster analysis does little to help explain the characteristics of well-being within the patterns of farms. It therefore seems that the perception of the investigated aspects of well-being on hay milk farms is mostly formed individually and is only associated with the farms’ characteristics to a certain degree.

Labouring up and down Prisunic’s styling streams: The creative studio of a retail chain in 1960s France

This article looks at the French retail chain Prisunic’s fashion production in the 1960s and, in particular, at the collective and invisible labour of its creative studio established in 1953. It examines the processes by which Prisunic evolved from selling clothes, infamous for their shabbiness, to selling fashion during the 1960s. First, this article focuses on the organization of Prisunic. Second, it turns to the interactions between Prisunic as a fashion producer and cultural intermediaries such as forecasting agencies. Specifically, it analyses how Maïmé Arnodin’s ‘colour books’ became instrumental to Prisunic’s design process. Third, it considers the diversity of occupations within the studio, including stylist, fashion designer, fashion photographer, graphic designer and typographer, and considers their interactions. Fourth, the article delves into the interpersonal relations of studio members with fashion journalists and editors, as well as structural interactions between fashion producers and fashion media. Especially, it questions the role of French Elle in the visual and discursive construction of Prisunic’s commodities as the product of creative labour. The article draws on sociologist Michel Callon’s focus on ‘agencies’ and ‘material devices’, which are instrumental in shaping markets and the cultural economy. Further, it builds on sociologist Liz McFall’s characterization of material devices as shaped by the interaction of institutional, organizational and technological arrangements to analyse the studio’s labour practices within Prisunic, upstream with its suppliers and downstream with the press. This article traces the processes, interactions and arrangements that make up Prisunic’s styling streams.

Nature of liberty

Liberty, and necessity are the premise for the perception of the relationship between man and nature. When objects exist in nature, individuals exist in people. Nature and man are a unity between the body and the individual in behavior. The successive act of liberty to fill the temporal gaps in the exercise of the right to life and the pursuit of happiness is the object of human science. Liberty is in itself, due to it, but depending on historical circumstances and conditions, liberty depends on different objects, knowledge, and needs of individuals, making behavior about necessity become liberty about responsibility. Individuals are acts of knowledge, with a will, and liberty is acts of intelligence and reason. When private ownership comes into being, liberty about the property becomes liberty about norms. Organizations become a means of subsistence that makes standards false. To submit to falsehoods in the course of living is a slave. The abolition of slaves is the subject of liberty. In the condition that there is no more antagonistic division of labor, diversity of occupations, an abundance of sexual orientation, and false standards are fully discovered, work and gender are equally noble and equal.

Gender, occupational diversity of R&D teams and patents generation: an application to Spanish firms

This paper studies the relationship between gender and occupational diversity in R&D teams and their capacity to generate patents. It is based on an extensive sample of 4,085 firms from the Spanish Community Innovation Survey over the 2004‒2014 period. Applying an exponential Poisson regression that controls for endogeneity through the generalised method of moments, the empirical results show that gender diversity has an ambiguous effect. Although it affects patents negatively, this impact is non‐significant for patents with international protection. Patent generation is however positively affected by the diversity of categories in the R&D teams. Hence, the key question is not gender per se but rather the occupational status of the R&D teams.

Board composition in national sport federations: a cross-country comparative analysis of diversity and board size

ABSTRACT Rationale/Purpose The purpose of this study was to analyse the composition of national sport federation (NSF) boards in Australia, India, South Africa, the UK and the USA. Specifically, this research assessed board size, occupational diversity and gender diversity, which are theorised to influence board performance. Design/Methods This study employed a positivist descriptive research approach and gathered data from online secondary sources. In total, board composition data was collected on 253 NSFs across five countries, which equated to 2937 directors. Findings The results showed that the average board size in Indian NSFs (19.5 directors) is larger than in the sampled Western countries (on average between 7.2 and 14.2 directors). The occupational background of directors in Australia and the UK is similar, with a strong degree of business involvement (61% and 67%, respectively). Compared to Australia and the UK, India, South Africa and the USA have a larger proportion of directors from sporting backgrounds. Indian NSFs have a relatively significant number of politicians (16%) and few (7%) women on their boards compared to the Western countries. Practical implications This study provides empirical evidence to support sport governance policy processes. Research contribution This research contributes to the sport governance literature by showing the extent to which NSFs are adopting good governance standards.

The use of text mining to detect key shifts in Japanese first-year medical student professional identity formation through early exposure to non-healthcare hospital staff

BackgroundProfessional identity formation is nurtured through socialization, driven by interaction with role models, and supported through early clinical exposure (ECE) programmes. Non-healthcare professionals form part of the hospital community but are external to the culture of medicine, with their potential as role models unexplored. We employed text mining of student reflective assignments to explore the impact of socialization with non-healthcare professionals during ECE.MethodsAssignments from 259 first-year medical students at Fukushima Medical University, Japan, underwent hierarchical cluster analysis. Interrelationships between the most-frequently-occurring words were analysed to create coding rules, which were applied to elucidate underlying themes.ResultsA shift in terms describing professional characteristics was detected, from “knowledge/skill” towards “pride [in one’s work]” and “responsibility”. Seven themes emerged: contribution of non-healthcare professionals, diversity of occupation, pride, responsibility, teamwork, patient care and gratitude. Students mentioning ‘contribution of non-healthcare professionals’ spoke of altruistic dedication and strong sense of purpose. These students expressed gratitude towards non-healthcare professionals for supporting clinical work, from a doctor’s perspective.ConclusionSocialization with non-healthcare professionals provides important insights into the hospital working environment and cultural working norms. Through role modelling altruism and responsibility, non-healthcare professionals positively influenced student professional identity formation, promoting self-conceptualisation as a doctor.

Migrant Culture Maintenance: The Welsh in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1870–1930

Abstract This article provides an analysis of the nature of the Welsh ethno-linguistic community in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The study considers culture maintenance and suggests that Welsh ethnic integrity was undermined by a variety of forces, primarily: occupational diversity, widespread bilingualism, high levels of exogamy, and the cessation of immigration from Wales. The article further posits that assimilation was aided by the desire of the Welsh to join mainstream American society and the generally accepted perception that they were, indeed, ideal immigrants.

Bellavista: Political Incorporation in a Columbian Urban Barrio

The locus of the study is an established lower-class mestizo neighbourhood (formerly a squatter settlement) on the margin of a city in the coffee-producing departamento of Caldas, Columbia. The residents exhibit considerable diversity in productive occupations, including both rural and urban, skilled and unskilled labour. The political behaviour of barrio residents appears as several isolated networks between which there is very little interaction. While general distrust in the benefits of political participation is a commonly-expressed sentiment, on an individual basis vertical patronage hierarchies which channel jobs and favours in exchange for votes are an important social mechanism incorporating the barrio residents into national political activities. But these vertical networks significantly increase the difficulty of achieving concensus in working toward community goals. The role of the political broker is central to the ongoing formation of political attitudes in the barrio.

Diversity and Communication in Virtual Project Teams

Introduction: Virtual teams, especially project teams, increasingly rely on computer-mediated communication for interaction when collaborating and completing their tasks. Team members represent various cultures, occupations, and industries. Virtual teams often use English as a business lingua franca in communication. This study investigates critical factors related to virtual project teams that influence computer-mediated communication. Research questions: 1. How is diversity in video meetings experienced by the members of multidisciplinary and multicultural project teams? 2. Do differences in team members' occupational or industrial backgrounds show in their opinions on video meetings? Literature review: The effectiveness of communication has been identified as playing a critical role in the success of virtual projects. Diversity, whether disciplinary or cultural, enriches teamwork by bringing different viewpoints to discussions. On the other hand, diversity can also set some challenges for communicating these viewpoints. Research methodology: Mixed methods were used to analyze data obtained from 104 responses to an online survey. Spearman's correlation coefficient and Kruskall-Wallis nonparametric tests were used for statistical analysis, and open comments were analyzed using thematic content analysis. Results and conclusion: The findings show that linguistic, cultural, and occupational diversity facilitates communication in virtual project team meetings. In addition, applying appropriate features of video meeting tools in different stages of project teamwork leads to better communication in virtual teams. A high level of English proficiency is not required, but clear communication rules are essential. In addition, some occupational or industry-specific differences in opinions on communication could be identified.

Person-Centred Care Transformation in a Nursing Home for Residents with Dementia

Background: Conventional nursing homes in Singapore adopt an institutional and medical model of care with a focus on safety and risk management. As such, less regard is placed on upholding the dignity and autonomy of the resident, which compromises quality of care and the well-being of the resident. Today, person-centred care (PCC) has become synonymous with high-quality care that sustains the well-being and personhood of the care recipient. Objectives: To describe the model of PCC adopted by a nursing home, Apex Harmony Lodge (AHL), with a logic model and evaluate outcomes on residents’ well-being, care quality, and staff attrition by comparing pre-PCC initiation (2015) to post-implementation (2016). Methods: Male residents in a 30-bed assisted living facility for persons with dementia in AHL were assessed using Dementia Care Mapping. Residents’ well-being and staff attrition were measured before and after PCC implementation. Results: There were statistically significant improvements in resident well-being (Δ = 0.44, p = 0.029), Positive Engagement Potential (Δ = 0.17, p = 0.002), and Occupational Diversity (Δ = 0.12, p = 0.014) in 2016. Withdrawal and Passive Engagement in the residents were reduced significantly as were Care Detractors. There was also a 55% reduction in staff attrition rates post-PCC. Conclusions: Post-PCC implementation, the outcomes indicate a superior quality of care, enhanced resident well-being, and better staff retention. The AHL PCC model could serve as a roadmap for other nursing homes aspiring to raise the quality of care and influence long-term care standards and regulations for policy makers and legislators.

中国城市的职业多样性：测算、基本事实与解释 (Occupational Diversity in Chinese Cities: Measurement, Basic Facts and Some Explanations (in Chinese))

Chinese Abstract: 城市多样性是城市化经济的重要表现。本文创新性地从城市职业类型分布的角度测算了我国的城市多样性，并探讨城市特征对于城市多样性的影响。基于城市集聚经济效应的共享、匹配和学习三类微观机制，文章以中国城镇住户调查数据（UHS）为样本，从城市整体层面、产业（企业）层面和劳动力个人层面三个维度，分析了我国城市职业多样性的发展趋势、基本事实并进行相应解释。研究发现，2002-2009年期间，中国城市职业多样性呈现出小幅度下降趋势，城市规模越大、行政等级越高、经济越发达，所对应的职业多样性越强。本文的研究结论有利于了解我国不同城市的职业分工现状，估算城市的人力资本外部性及其发展潜能，从而为制订促进城市多样性发展的相关政策提供了科学依据。 English Abstract: Urban diversity is an important manifestation of the urbanization economy. This paper aims to measure the diversity of cities from the perspective of occupational types, and discusses some urban characteristics affecting urban diversity. Based on the three micro-mechanisms of sharing, matching, and learning from urban agglomeration economic, we analyze the development trend, facts, and explanations of urban occupational diversity from three dimensions: overall city level, industrial (enterprise) level, and labor level by using Chinese Urban Household Survey Data (UHS). It is found that from 2002 to 2009, China's urban occupational diversity shows a small decline trend. The larger the city scale, the higher the administrative level and the more developed the economy is, the greater the occupational diversity of the city is. The findings of this paper are helpful to understand the situation of the division of labor in different cities, estimate the externality and potential development of human capital in cities, and then provide some scientific basis for formulating policies to promote urban diversity.

Evolution and egalitarianism: A behavioral account of managers' performance pay decisions

I advance a behavioral account of managers’ performance pay decisions that is grounded in evolutionary psychology. In doing so, I seek to explain a common organizational phenomenon — compression in employees’ merit pay bonuses. My behavioral account puts forward two propositions. First, that compression in awards is a consequence of a fundamental human proclivity for egalitarianism. Second, that individual managers will differ in their preferences for egalitarianism: In any given organizational context, some managers will tend to be more egalitarian than other managers. Consistent with these propositions, I observe two clear patterns in how federal managers distribute performance pay awards to the group members they supervise. The first is a marked tendency for managers to give all group members awards of the same or similar size. The second is a considerable amount of between-manager variation in this tendency that cannot be explained by relevant group-level variables, such as group size and occupational diversity. To the extent feasible given my data, I probe whether my behavioral account does a better job explaining these patterns than plausible alternative explanations that are based in economics. One key implication of my theory and findings is that organizations cannot count on managers to aggressively differentiate between individual employees when they distribute performance pay awards. A second key implication is that organizations cannot rely on their managers to uniformly implement a given performance pay plan.

Analysis of productive structure applying network theory: The Brazilian case

In this work, we intend to characterize the complexity of the Brazilian productive structure through network theory. We investigate how this structure is internally organized, from a network of knowledge, considering the occupations linking productive activities. Results reveal it is imperative for Brazil to rethink its productive structure to remove. the obstacles that prevent, or make it difficult, that the varied activities encompass more diversity of occupations.

A prediction model coupling occupant lighting and shading behaviors in private offices

Lighting control in office buildings is driven by occupant's demand for indoor light environment. The control behavior not only has a direct impact on occupants’ visual comfort, but also relates with the building lighting energy consumption. However, due to the effect of glare, lighting control is often associated with shading adjustment. In this regard, this paper proposed a prediction model which can accurately describe the lighting and shading coupling control behavior by fully considering the difference and diversity of occupants. The light environment preferences and the usage habits of lighting and shading system of occupants were firstly investigated and classified by means of questionnaire. Markov model and log-logistic survival model were introduced to quantitatively describe the probability distribution of various shading and lighting control behaviors. On this basis, combined with the indoor workplane illumination prediction model, the behavior of occupant's lighting and shading coupling control can be predicted. By comparing the four models considering or not considering the diversity and coupling effect, it is found that the proposed coupling prediction model shows better performance, the maxium error rate is only 13.04% for the lighting energy consumption prediction.

The ‘fishnet approach’ to livelihood improvement in depressed basins: evidence from BRAC’s Integrated Development Programme

ABSTRACT The multidimensional nature of poverty renders comprehensive development efforts encompassing livelihoods, health, and education as well as communal support, essential for achieving equality in growth. Such an integrated service approach has neither been widely practiced nor assessed: therefore, this article analyses the impact of BRAC’s Integrated Development Programme implemented in remote depressed basins in north-eastern Bangladesh. Households within the intervened area are not only economically better off due to higher purchasing power, insurance against crisis as well as occupational diversity, but also have stronger social cohesion, especially women.

Adaptation by coexistence: contrasting thermal comfort perception among individual and shared office spaces

ABSTRACT Shared office spaces represent a challenge regarding thermal comfort. They have a diversity of occupants and expectations, and they require social interaction, which could imply restriction in adaptive actions, contrary to individual areas that usually allow total control. Hence, this paper aims to identify differences in thermal comfort criteria among individual and shared offices spaces by comparing adaptive opportunities and actions performed as well as thermal perception. Fieldwork was carried out in Chile in 18 office buildings, 9 in Concepcion (36°S), and 9 in Santiago (33°S). Thermal comfort surveys with simultaneous measurements of indoor environmental conditions were performed in each of these buildings during a single day in winter, spring and summer. The findings show variations in the criteria studied, which indicate that thermal requirements differ by spatial layout. Moreover, the results suggest that occupants of shared spaces have a wider comfort range; therefore, some kind of ‘adaptation by coexistence’ might be happening.

Consideration of Occupational Diversity via Academia through Studying Abroad in the UK

Studying abroad may prove an attractive opportunity for young Japanese scientists, as it would allow them to broaden their perspectives regarding occupational diversity as a scientist. This is the first observation I made after studying abroad at the University of Oxford for two and a half years as a postdoctoral fellow. Many young scientists in the UK have got occupations not only in academia or in manufacturing industries, but also in various other business fields. Their occupational diversity seems to be considerably wider than that found among young Japanese scientists. The second feature I observed was related to my new lifestyle in the UK, which included the practice of research. It was notably different from my experiences in Japan, and it made me reconsider how to conduct my research in a more efficient manner. During my stay in the UK, I was able to identify the significance of spending time in a different culture by avoiding contact with Japanese culture as much as I could. In this essay, I introduce the details of my process of departing for the UK and my life in Oxford; it is my hope that this information will be useful for young Japanese scientists in contemplating their life plans.

Attitudes of local people towards community based eco-tourism in the Sundarbans

Tourism especially nature based tourism is increasing throughout the world day by day. The Sundarbans Reserve Forest (SRF) in Bangladesh is a suitable place for developing tourism. The purpose of the study was to find out the attitudes of local people’s towards community based eco-tourism (CBET) in the Sundarbans. The study was carried out by a questionnaire survey with purposive selection based on diversity of occupation and sex in that area. A 5- point rating Likert scale was used to measures the local people’s attitude towards community based eco-tourism. Most of the people of the study are poorly based on income and depends on the forest as well as are fisherman among male and housewife among women. Natural beauty of this area, scope to watch wildlife, tourist security, house or eco-cottage quality, toilet and bathing facilities are favorable as well as communication and infrastructure facilities are an obstacle for developing CBET here. CBET will increase alternative job opportunities and income as well as it will reduce disturbance of forest and illegal harvesting according to the respondents. Forest Department is cooperative and tourists are more conscious now than before. People are now satisfied with CBET and keen to involve with this. This research is important for tourism policymakers in Bangladesh for their decisions.