Organizational Interventions Research Articles

Management Equity: Parish Administration and Pastoral Leadership

The thin line between management from leadership inside an organization is something that many people in positions of power constantly face and experience. Leaders usually take on administrative obligations and carry out a number of administrative duties. On the other hand, leadership and administration are two unique, but complimentary, systems of activity. This study aimed to determine the level of Parish administration and Pastoral leadership of the clergy in the Diocese of Tagum. Findings of the study will serve as basis for the diocesan organizational development interventions program. The study utilized descriptive-correlational design as well as comparative design. The study was conducted among the ten parishes under the Diocese of Tagum for CY 2014. There were 593 respondents of the study comprising the clergy, parishioners, parish workers and apostolate. It employed a research instrument based on the framework of McKinsey’s 7S. The study employed frequency and percentage, pearson-r correlation and one-way analysis of variance to treat the data. Parish administration is very satisfactory. The vision and mission is also very satisfactory. The level of pastoral leadership is very satisfactory. There is interaction effectively with people, balancing positive regard for self with positive regard for others and working harmoniously with peers, superiors, and subordinates in the workplace, which is very satisfactory. It is concluded that there is a significant relationship between parish administration and pastoral leadership. Also, there is a significant difference on pastoral leadership across clergymen. Parish administration has a significant effect on pastoral leadership. This means that improving parish administration improves the pastoral leadership.

The status of internalized prejudice in leader self-development

PurposeLittle research directly examines leader self-development among marginalized workers. The authors offer a framework to explain the role of internalized prejudice in limiting leader self-development, and the authors use that framework to suggest organizational interventions aimed at enhancing leader self-development among marginalized workers.Design/methodology/approachThe framework is grounded in the incompleteness thesis with its attention to the mutual shaping of culture and mind, and the interventions are drawn from principles of social movements with their focus on changing culture and the minds of individuals. The framework and interventions address the role of status in internalized prejudice.FindingsStatus-related experiences in culture shape status-related thoughts in the mind, resulting in internalized prejudice. Internalized prejudice reduces the status-related behavior of leader self-development, which serves to shape status in the culture. This repeats in an ongoing, recursive process that can be disrupted through organizational interventions. The social movement principles of common purpose and networking can provide new status-related experiences to reduce internalized prejudice, and habit-breaking can stop automatic self-limiting behaviors that can arise from internalized prejudice.Originality/valueBy focusing on status, the authors provide a framework that allows integration of literature across marginalized groups, providing a guide for understanding both commonality and uniqueness of experience. The authors bring principles of social movement to the discussion of leader self-development among marginalized workers as a guide for developing organizational interventions.

Managers' Action-Guiding Mental Models towards Mental Health-Related Organizational Interventions-A Systematic Review of Qualitative Studies.

Research indicates that managers’ active support is essential for the successful implementation of mental health-related organizational interventions. However, there is currently little insight into what subjective beliefs and perceptions (=mental models) make leaders support such interventions. To our knowledge, this is the first qualitative systematic review of this specific topic, and it considers 17 qualitative studies of managers’ perspective. Based on the theory of planned behavior, this review provides an overview of three action-guiding factors (attitudes, organizational norms and behavioral control) that can serve as starting points for engaging managers in the implementation of mental health-related measures and ensuring their success. Our results provide evidence that supportive organizational norms may particularly help to create a common sense of responsibility among managers and foster their perceived controllability with respect to changing working conditions. Our study thus contributes to a more differentiated understanding of managers’ mental models of health-related organizational interventions.

Prevalence of burnout among health care workers in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic: a cross-sectional study

To investigate the prevalence of burnout syndrome among health care workers in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This cross-sectional study was conducted in May and June 2021 using an online survey based on Copenhagen Burnout Inventory. The questionnaire underwent forward and backward translation, preliminary pilot testing, and was assessed for reliability and validity. Personal burnout, work-related burnout, and patient-related burnout were assessed. The survey was sent to the members of the Union of Physicians and Dentists in FBIH, who were asked to forward the link to their medical technicians and nurses. A total of 77% of participants experienced some form of burnout. As many as 32% experienced all three forms of burnout. Those actively involved in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic more often experienced burnout. In personal and work-related burnout domains, higher level of burnout was reported among female respondents. Higher work-related and patient-related burnout was reported by physicians compared with medical technicians/nurses. Higher level of patient-related burnout was reported in health care workers aged 30-39 and 50-59 years, among respondents working in primary care, and among physicians. The majority of health care workers showed moderate or high levels of personal and work-related burnout, with a lower level of patient-related burnout. There is a need for further research into the causes of burnout, as well as for the implementation of organizational interventions aimed to minimize workplace burnout.

Efficacious interventions for improving the transition readiness of adolescents and young adult patients with chronic illness: A narrative review of randomized control trials assessed with the transition readiness assessment questionnaire.

ObjectiveWe inspected efficacious interventions to improve the transition readiness of adolescent and young adult patients with childhood-onset chronic illnesses using the Transition Readiness Assessment Questionnaire (TRAQ).MethodsOur narrative review was conducted on randomized control studies assessed with TRAQ for outcome measurement before and after the interventions. We included all patients with chronic diseases. We searched eight electronic database(s): Allied and Complementary Medicine Database (AMED) Allied and Complementary Medicine, BioSciences Information Service of Biological s (BIOSIS) Previews, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), the Cochrane Library, Embase, Ichu-shi, Medline, and Web of Science. The text words for the search of data sources were as follows: “(“transition readiness assessment questionnaire” OR TRAQ) AND 2011/01:2022/06[DP] AND (clinical AND trial OR clinical trials OR clinical trial OR random* OR random allocation).” More studies were identified from the references in our reported study. This data set was independently cross-checked by two reviewers.ResultsWe identified 261 reports and collected three articles. The target diseases were type-1 diabetes, congenital heart disease, cystic fibrosis, and inflammatory bowel disease. All the studies excluded patients with intellectual disabilities. The age of the participants was distributed between 12 and 20 years. Nurse-provided web-based intervention of transition readiness was constructed using digital resources in two studies. The intervention ranged from 6 to 18 months. All the interventions were efficacious in improving transition readiness assessed with TRAQ scores, except for the self-advocacy score.ConclusionsWe obtained three randomized control studies with TRAQ for outcome measurement. In two studies, web-based and nurse-led organized interventions were shown to improve transition readiness.

Trends in Effectiveness of Organizational eHealth Interventions in Addressing Employee Mental Health: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

BackgroundMental health conditions are considered the leading cause of disability, sickness absence, and long-term work incapacity. eHealth interventions provide employees with access to psychological assistance. There has been widespread implementation and provision of eHealth interventions in the workplace as an inexpensive and anonymous way of addressing common mental disorders.ObjectiveThis updated review aimed to synthesize the literature on the efficacy of eHealth interventions for anxiety, depression, and stress outcomes in employee samples in organizational settings and evaluate whether their effectiveness has improved over time.MethodsSystematic searches of relevant articles published from 2004 to July 2020 of eHealth intervention trials (app- or web-based) focusing on the mental health of employees were conducted. The quality and bias of all studies were assessed. We extracted means and SDs from publications by comparing the differences in effect sizes (Hedge g) in standardized mental health outcomes. We meta-analyzed these data using a random-effects model.ResultsWe identified a tripling of the body of evidence, with 75 trials available for meta-analysis from a combined sample of 14,747 articles. eHealth interventions showed small positive effects for anxiety (Hedges g=0.26, 95% CI 0.13-0.39; P<.001), depression (Hedges g=0.26, 95% CI 0.19-0.34; P<.001), and stress (Hedges g=0.25, 95% CI 0.17-0.34; P<.001) in employees’ after intervention, with similar effects seen at the medium-term follow-up. However, there was evidence of no increase in the effectiveness of these interventions over the past decade.ConclusionsThis review and meta-analysis confirmed that eHealth interventions have a small positive impact on reducing mental health symptoms in employees. Disappointingly, we found no evidence that, despite the advances in technology and the enormous resources in time, research, and finance devoted to this area for over a decade, better interventions are being produced. Hopefully, these small effect sizes do not represent optimum outcomes in organizational settings.Trial RegistrationPROSPERO CRD42020185859; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=185859

Satisfaction with life in workers: A chained mediation model investigating the roles of resilience, career adaptability, self-efficacy, and years of education.

Satisfaction with life is a core dimension of well-being that can be of great importance in the workplace, in light of the close link between worker health and organizational success highlighted by the perspective of healthy organizations. This study aimed at analyzing the factors associated with satisfaction with life, focusing on the role of resilience, career adaptability, self-efficacy, and years of education. A sample of 315 workers (67% women; Mage = 34.84 years, SD = 12.39) filled out the Satisfaction with Life Scale, General Self-Efficacy Scale, Career Adapt-Abilities Scale, the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and a demographic questionnaire. Data were analyzed by implementing a chained mediation model. Results showed a significant and positive relationship between resilience and satisfaction with life, partially moderated by the chained effect of career adaptability and self-efficacy, controlling for education. When inserted as a covariate, education showed a significant and negative association with satisfaction with life. Such findings contribute to enriching the field of research on the factors that contribute to the well-being of workers and may have important practical implications for interventions in organizations.

Позитивная организационная психология: обзор зарубежных исследований (ценное прошлое, актуальное настоящее и возможное будущее)

Introduction. The article is a review of foreign studies carried out in line with positive organizational psychology - a field of interdisciplinary scientific knowledge whose purpose is to study the factors that lead a person and an organization to prosperity. The article identifies the key thema tic blocks included in the semantic field of modern positive organizational psychology. Theoretical analysis. The theoretical review shows that over the past ten years, in accordance with the ever-increasing demand for empirically proven principles for developing and implementing positive psychological interventions in organizations, there has also been a rapid increase in the number of research projects devoted to this issue, which make a certain contribution to the development of existing theoretical models and further evolution of the ideas of positive organizational psychology. Meanwhile, the results of the theoretical analysis showed that in foreign interdisciplinary research there is still room for discussions between supporters and opponents of using positive lenses wih the aim to focus and solve certain organizational problems. Сonclusion. The article makes a conclusion about the practical significance of attracting domestic organizational psychologists’ attention to the study of the positive aspects of the functioning of both the organization itself and the person in the context of the organization.

Study protocol for family model diabetes self-management education with Marshallese participants in faith-based organizations

BackgroundCulturally-appropriate family models of diabetes self-management education and support (DSMES) using community health workers (CHWs) have been shown to help address barriers to improving type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) self-management for racial/ethnic minority communities; however, there is limited DSMES research among Marshallese and other Pacific Islanders. Using a community-based participatory research approach, we engaged community stakeholders to co-design a study to implement a culturally adapted family model DSMES (F-DSMES) intervention in faith-based organizations (FBOs) (i.e., churches). MethodsUsing a cluster-randomized controlled trial design, we will assess the effectiveness of the F-DSMES intervention for Marshallese patients with T2DM in Arkansas and Oklahoma. Twenty-four FBOs (with 12 primary participants per FBO) will be randomized to one of two study arms: the intervention arm or the wait-list control arm. Primary participants must have at least one family member willing to attend education sessions and data collection events. The F-DSMES intervention consists of ten h of diabetes education delivered by CHWs over eight to ten weeks. Data will be collected from the intervention arm at pre-intervention (baseline), immediate post-intervention (12 weeks), and three months post-intervention. The wait-list control arm will complete a second pre-intervention data collection before receiving the intervention. The primary study outcome will be glycemic control, as measured by HbA1c. Secondary measures include glucose, weight, body mass index, blood pressure, diabetes self-management behaviors, and diabetes management self-efficacy. ConclusionThe knowledge gained from this research will inform future DSMES and other health promotion interventions conducted with Marshallese and other Pacific Islander communities.

Influence of role stress on Spanish social workers’ burnout and engagement: the moderating function of recovery and coping

ABSTRACT The working conditions in which many social workers practice their profession make it very likely that they will experience high strain and burnout and low engagement. Previous research has identified different risk and protective factors of burnout and engagement. This article attempts to: (i) analyse the relationship of burnout and engagement with two job demands (role conflict and role clarity) and three personal resources (recovery experiences, problem-focused coping, and emotion-focused coping); (ii) examine whether these personal resources moderate the association of job demands with burnout and engagement. Participants were 448 Spanish graduate social workers. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that burnout was positively predicted by role conflict and emotion-focused coping, and was negatively predicted by role clarity and recovery experiences; overall, the inverse pattern of results was found for engagement. Furthermore, problem-focused coping and recovery moderated the association of role conflict with burnout; problem-focused coping also moderated the relationship of role conflict with engagement. These findings support individual and organisational interventions that enhance the application of personal resources and the reduction of job demands to lessen burnout and increase engagement.

Individual and Organizational Strategies for Promoting Work–Life Balance for Sustainable Workforce: A Systematic Literature Review from Pakistan

This systematic review aimed to explore the challenges and strategies for maintaining a work–life balance (WLB) between individual workers and their organizations during COVID-19 in the Pakistani context. Using the inductive approach in thematic synthesis, we analyzed eight qualitative studies on WLB from December 2019–April 2022. The Quality Appraisal process for selecting studies, constant comparison method, and critical discussion was frequently used to enhance the validity and reliability of findings. Eight analytical themes provided insight related to the challenges of maintaining WLB, strategies for facilitating, and recommended strategies for a sustainable workforce. Workload during COVID-19, lack of resources, training in technology, and mental pressure appeared as significant barriers, while family support, counseling provided by the organization, and self-motivation emerged as facilitators for WLB. Further, the findings highlighted the need for organizational interventions, for instance, emergency preparedness and capacity building of employees. Findings provided insight about guidelines for policymakers and government to make informed decisions and policies about maintaining WLB for mental well-being and a sustainable workforce, particularly women. The synthesis implied that investment in the well-being and productivity of employees could contribute to retaining a more resilient and skilled workforce, ensuring women’s workforce sustainability, and enabling lasting recovery from the pandemic.

A pilot test on how motivation can influence performance in the field of European project writing

This pilot study analyzes how participants' motivation in a training intervention for public sports organizations influences their performance in European project writing. Our specific assumption is that performance in attracting projects with non-reimbursable funds is higher for people with a higher motivation level. The approach used in this pilot research was the individualization of success cases – organizations that either made project drafts following the European project writing training or submitted and won projects through the Erasmus+ program. The collection of quantitative data was performed using motivation tests (Achievement Motivation Inventory - AMI) that helped us to understand better the evaluated person in terms of their performance orientation and the way their motivation is articulated. There were about 40 participants involved in the training at the beginning, with only about 30 active participants throughout the training period. Eight of the 14 participants who completed the AMI test made project drafts. From the analyzed data, it emerges that people with a developed or strong average motivational index made project drafts or submitted applications within the Erasmus+ program. In contrast, the persons with a lower motivational index did not make a project draft nor submit applications to the Erasmus program. However, due to the small number of AMI tests completed, we cannot generalize this to all course participants. Further research should be done on other factors determining performance in writing European projects.

Influencing factors of fatigue among public health nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study.

ObjectiveThis study investigated the effects of occupational stress, anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbance on the level of fatigue among public health nurses (PHNs).DesignThe study had a cross‐sectional, correlational survey design.MeasuresA total of 198 PHNs were enrolled from 30 public healthcare centers/offices. Data were collected between May and July 2021 using a structured questionnaire to investigate the general characteristics, occupational stress, anxiety, depression, sleep disturbance, and fatigue of the participants. Descriptive statistics and multiple regressions were used to determine fatigue and its influencing factors among PHNs.ResultsThe participants showed high fatigue and occupational stress levels due to a lack of rewards. The percentage of participants with mild‐to‐severe anxiety and mild‐to‐severe depression, and those who identified themselves as poor sleepers were 44.9%, 50.5%, and 70.2%, respectively. High levels of sleep disturbance (β = .23, p < .001), occupational stress (β = .21, p < .001), anxiety (β = .20, p = .016), depression (β = .17, p = .043), being younger (β = –.15, p = .004), and being a regular worker (β = .13, p = .017) were influencing factors of fatigue.ConclusionsIndividual efforts and organizational interventions to enhance sleep quality are needed to relieve fatigue among PHNs. Further, organizational support can be considerate of young nurses and regular workers, and alleviate their occupational stress. Moreover, anxiety and depression should be managed efficiently to reduce fatigue.

Australia needs to implement a national health strategy for doctors.

Australia needs to implement a national health strategy for doctors.

Organizational Sensemaking Systems as a Determinant of Successful Organizational Change: A Grounded Theory Approach

Organizational Sensemaking has been in the literature for nearly three decades – however, classical theories of organizational sensemaking have studied it as an individual or team-level phenomenon rather than at an organizational level. As a result, the multi-level implications of organizational sensemaking and its relationship to organizational change have yet to receive significant empirical attention. A greater understanding of organizational sensemaking may yield insights on how the effectiveness of organizational change interventions can be improved. A grounded theory approach is being used to examine the introduction of a training program for corrections staff in support of participatory ergonomics to improve worker health and wellbeing. Early findings are being used to construct a theoretical framework to guide the design of organizational sensemaking systems (OSS). The potential for OSS to promote organizational situational awareness, shared mental models, and organizational readiness for change is discussed along with design implications and directions for future research.

S04-2 More than a club' - experiences gained by piloting the Sport Clubs for Health approach in Hungary

Issue/problemAccording to the latest Eurobarometer, only 5% of the active population in Hungary are sport club members. The “Sport Clubs for Health” (SCforH) approach was developed to help unlock the health potential of sports clubs and increase the offer of recreational sport programmes. The SCforH guidelines have been recognized in 2013 by the EU, as one of the indicators of the Council recommendations on promoting HEPA across sectors.Description of the problemThe Hungarian Ministry of Human Capacities has recognized the need to support the implementation of SCforH approach, and decided to finance the “More than a club” pilot project. This project aimed to develop complex services that enable local and regional sports clubs to build their capacities and provide regular, health-focused physical activities supervised by sport professionals. Within the project, we tested and analysed what kind of organizational and service development measures are needed to be able to provide more health-focused programmes to the population, within sports clubs.Results (effects/changes)We managed to recruit 190 participants (drop-out rate = 12.7%) and involve them for at least one year into the following sport activities in a multisport environment: table tennis; zumba; Nordic walking; cycling; gymnastics; spine training and breathing technics; and ‘father-son' football. The programme is ongoing, and participants are monitored regularly in relation with their health-status and attitude towards physical activities. The adherence to the programme is 87.3%.LessonsThis project showed this type of a SCforH intervention may be feasible for implementation at a larger scale in multisport clubs. The further aim of the project is to prepare and test the Hungarian model of health-oriented sports clubs, by the end of April 2021. Based on the lessons learned from this pilot project, a long-term goal is to implement this kind of a SCforH intervention in several large Hungarian sports organizations and contribute to improving health at the population level.Main messagesThe implementation of SCforH guidelines can be realized in a gradual manner with dedicated leadership. Top-sport oriented clubs possess the capacity to implement the SCforH approach, but incentives and training are needed to facilitate the implementation.

Interventions for preventing and reducing the use of physical restraints of older people in general hospital settings.

Interventions for preventing and reducing the use of physical restraints of older people in general hospital settings.

Knowledge Sharing Enablers and Barriers: Insights From a Socio-Environmental Project

Knowledge is recognized as an organizational asset in projects, as it reduces failures, improves competencies, and saves resources. Knowledge sharing (KS), specifically, brings value to projects. However, it is poorly investigated in project management literature, as generally previous works have focused on IT and civil construction projects. The literature has described some factors which foster or inhibit KS, nevertheless, there is little consensus about KS enablers and barriers in the project’s contexts. Therefore, this paper investigates KS enablers and barriers in a socio-environmental project. It adopted Action Research as the strategy of investigation. Observations and semi-structured interviews were used for data collection, as well as field notes. The thematic analysis method was used for data analysis. The results highlight the participants’ systemic thinking, which can explain why the feeling of dependence and perceived personal benefits were assumed as KS enablers. Also, the team's collaborative and empathetic behavior and the participants' openness to dialogue influenced positively the intention to share knowledge. The project’s horizontal organizational structure and the availability of virtual and physical spaces facilitated the knowledge flow. Most of the interviewees were professors which possibly influenced their KS behavior. The social restrictions imposed by COVID-19 were a KS barrier. In addition, the team size, lack of time, and the multidisciplinary character of the project likely hindered KS. Surprisingly, the lack of previous social ties was not a significant KS barrier. In summary, our results confirmed previous results regarding KS enablers, and we found systemic thinking as a KS enabler. As a KS barrier, we highlighted the lack of time, suggesting it is common in projects due to their limited timeline. These findings add to the KS literature, mainly to analyze an organizational context that is unsatisfactorily investigated. Furthermore, this study helps managers to identify KS enablers and barriers aimed at adopting appropriate organizational interventions to increase KS. Moreover, this research has shown evidence from a multidisciplinary project from the socio-environmental field which needs to integrate several professionals' knowledge to provide substantial conclusions regarding the social, cultural, and natural aspects they were analyzing.

An Alpha, Beta and Gamma Approach to Evaluating Occupational Health Organizational Interventions: Learning from the Measurement of Work-Family Conflict Change.

Given the rapid growth of intervention research in the occupational health sciences and related fields (e.g. work-family), we propose that occupational health scientists adopt an “alpha, beta, gamma” change approach when evaluating intervention efficacy. Interventions can affect absolute change in constructs directly (alpha change), changes in the scales used to assess change (beta change) or redefinitions of the construct itself (gamma change). Researchers should consider the extent to which they expect their intervention to affect each type of change and select evaluation approaches accordingly. We illustrate this approach using change data from groups of IT professionals and health care workers participating in the STAR intervention, designed by the Work Family Health Network. STAR was created to effect change in employee work-family conflict via supervisor family-supportive behaviors and schedule control. We hypothesize that it will affect change via all three change approaches—gamma, beta, and alpha. Using assessment techniques from measurement equivalence approaches, we find results consistent with some gamma and beta change in the IT company due to the intervention; our results suggest that not accounting for such change could affect the evaluation of alpha change. We demonstrate that using a tripartite model of change can help researchers more clearly specify intervention change targets and processes. This will enable the assessment of change in a way that has stronger fidelity between the theories used and the outcomes of interest. Our research has implications for how to assess change using a broader change framework, which employs measurement equivalence approaches in order to advance the design and deployment of more effective interventions in occupational settings.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s41542-022-00122-y.

Much blame – little gain? The effects of single vs multi-blaming on labelling and third-party intervention in workplace bullying

PurposeOrganizational practitioners must often interpret accounts of workplace bullying. However, they are frequently reluctant to confirm the target's account and often fail to set effective intervention measures. Building on novel approaches in attribution theory, this study explores how causal explanations and blame pattern shape the labelling of a complaint and the subsequent recommended intervention measures.Design/methodology/approach187 Austrian human resource professionals, employee representatives and other practitioners were confronted with a fictional workplace bullying complaint including conflicting actors' accounts and diverse possible internal, relational and external causes. Since the prior low performance of a target might affect blame attributions, the previous performance ratings of the target were manipulated. Data were analysed via qualitative content analysis.FindingsWhen respondents reject the complaint, they predominately identify single internal causes and blame the target, and/or trivialize the complaint as “normal conflict”. Both low and high performance of the target trigger (single) internal blame. When the complaint is supported, deontic statements and blame attributions against the perpetrator prevail; however, blame placed on the perpetrator is often discounted via multi-blame attributions towards supervisors, colleagues and the target. Structural causes were rarely mentioned. Relational attributions are infrequent and often used to trivialize the complaint. Irrespective of the attributional blame patterns, most third parties recommend “reconciliatory measures” (e.g. mediation) between the actors.Practical implicationsTrainings to temper single internal blaming and raise awareness of organizational intervention measures are essential.Originality/valueThis is the first study to investigate workplace bullying blaming patterns and organizational responses in detail.