Private Service Organisations Research Articles

Perspectives of social workers and supervisors about the supervision of protective services

Summary Although numerous studies have quantitatively examined the different aspects of supervision, such as satisfaction in clinical and student supervision, empirical evidence on current practices in the supervision of protective services is limited. The present study explored barriers that protective social workers and their supervisors (line managers) face with respect to supervisory support. Moreover, the perceived challenges related to supervision were identified. The participants were recruited from public and private protective service organizations across Taiwan. In-depth interviews were conducted by the authors on 10 social workers and 10 supervisors. Findings Through the analysis of the transcripts, four themes were identified: emotional responses, knowledge components, modeling of values and creation of a culture of equality, and tensions related to supervisory accountability. Exploring protective social workers and supervisors’ perspectives on supervision is essential for understanding the complex needs of these employees. Applications The present findings fill the research gap on the supervision of protective services and constitute a foundation for future studies on this subject. The findings contribute to the literature on the supervision of protective services, which is beginning to address issues concerning supervisees’ emotional responses, supervisory knowledge, supervisor–supervisee relationships, and supervisory accountability. Potential limitations of the study were also discussed.

A Preliminary Investigation into Online Recruitment in Developing Economies

The job market is particularly sensitive to the increasing pace of globalization and technological development. Against this changing backdrop, there has also been a rapid increase in the practice of online recruitment, with recruiters going on the Internet, especially social media, to seek and hire candidates for job positions. This not only allows them to accumulate a highly qualified pool of talent but it also ensures a smooth recruitment experience for the candidate. The result is a win-win situation that facilitates the swift and low-cost recruitment of candidates with the right service mindset who are ready to serve their new organizations. However, one challenge is presenting itself to the HR managers of both public and private service organizations, namely identifying the best candidates through a job application process that is inherently impersonal. Using Kuwait, a developing country, as a case study, this work examines the attitudes and perceptions of HR employees and managers concerning online recruitment. Keywords: Online recruitment, Recruitment, Human resource management, Perceptions.

Extent of delivery and utilization of farm advisory services of public and private extension service organizations in Meghalaya

The study was conducted during 2020–21 in Ri-Bhoi district of Meghalaya with two organizations functioning therein, viz. Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) as public extension organization and Rural Resource Training Centre (RRTC) as private extension organization. The present investigation was aimed to study the extent of delivery of services by these two farm advisory services i.e. KVK and RRTC, over a period of time and extent of utilisation of these by the farmers. The extension programs and activities of the two extension organisations in their adopted villages was documented using descriptive approach. The mean scores of extent of utilisation index of beneficiaries of RRTC were more than that of those of KVK. In KVK, Ri-Bhoi extent of utilization for exhibition is more withmean value of 69.6 and the least utilized farm advisory services was exposure visit with mean value of 1.82 whereas in RRTC, field day was the most utilized farm advisory services with mean value of 67 and New varieties/ inputs (in terms of improved crop seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, weedicides) were the least utilized farm advisory services with mean value of 7.9. The study revealed that both KVK and RRTC were found to be energetically working to cater the needs of farmers, youth and women for providing various kinds of farm advisory services. They appear to be at par as far as the extent of delivery of farm advisory services is concerned.

Innovative work behavior in Singapore evoked by transformational leaders through innovation support and readiness

The current global economic landscape is forcing all organizational sectors to remain relevant by innovating services, products and work processes. Therefore, more than before, organizational leaders must enable innovative behaviour of their employees. Although the literature shows that transformational leadership induces innovative employee behaviour, the mediating mechanisms between Asian organizational leaders and their followers have rarely been empirically examined. We conducted a survey study among 406 employees from six public and private sector service organizations in Singapore to test two mediating effects between transformational leadership and employee innovative work behaviour. The results supported the hypothesized three‐path mediation model, with perceived support for innovation and innovation readiness as mediators in a series. These findings can be used to design and implement effective human resource and organizational development interventions within Asian service organizations. Our study also extends the literature on the effects of transformational leadership in collectivistic cultures.

Mental health crisis and spatial accessibility to mental health services in the city of Toronto: A geographic study

Abstract: Mental illness includes a wide range of disorders that affect mood, thinking, behaviour and overall wellbeing. One in five Canadians has mental health care needs, many of which are unmet. Within the City of Toronto, the provision of specialized mental health care is delivered by over 100 public and private community service organisations and over 700 physicians with a psychiatric specialization - each providing community-based general or specialised care to residents in need. Research has shown that travel distance is an enabling factor of health service utilisation, thus equitable spatial access to services remains a key priority. Using spatial quantitative methods, this study examines potential spatial accessibility to both general and specialized mental health services within the City of Toronto, and levels of statistical association between access to care and prevalence of mental health crisis events. The main datasets analyzed including geo-referenced Census data and occurrence data on mental health crisis (represented by apprehensions under the Mental Health Act undertaken by the Toronto Police Service). The enhanced two-step floating catchment area (E2SFCA) method is used to model spatial accessibility to mental health services based four modes of transportation: driving, walking, cycling and public transit. Areas that are underserved by mental health specialists and mental health community services are identified and shown to have different socioeconomic characteristics. The study reveals spatially explicit patterns of access to various mental health services in Toronto, providing detailed data to inform the planning of and policy on mental health care delivery concerning severe mental health crisis.

Abstract A128: Building sustainable partnerships between cancer centers and safety net community hospitals to increase access to and quality of cancer care

Abstract Background: Cervical cancer outcomes are influenced by race, socioeconomic status and region. African American women have the highest mortality rate from cervical cancer and Hispanic and American Indian/Alaska Native women have the highest cervical cancer incidence rates among racial/ethnic groups. Disparities in cervical cancer can be greatly improved by increasing access to and awareness of Pap screening and HPV vaccination among vulnerable populations. Safety net and community hospitals offer broader opportunities to reach at-risk individuals, however these hospitals face many challenges that mirror those of the patients they serve, including: decreased access to innovative research and treatment, decreased access to the full range of specialty care, and funding challenges. Public-Public partnerships between academic medical centers, cancer centers and private service organizations that extend to safety net and community hospitals can increase cervical cancer screening rates among individuals at greatest risk. Methods: The Loretto Hospital and Norwegian American Hospital serve communities that suffer the highest cervical cancer mortality rates in Chicago. Funded by the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation, the University of Illinois Cancer Center partnered with these two community hospitals located on the west sides of Chicago to increase cervical cancer screening rates through clinical and community patient navigation. Evidence based methods such as small media interventions, client reminders, and one-on-one education will also be used to increase screening awareness and education. The evidence-based, implementation science program is guided by the RE-AIM framework. Reach, adoption and sustainability will be maximized through the integration of community hubs that comprise faith-, community-, school-based organizations and policy makers. Results: The project is a three year project. Now in its pre-implementation phase, the program is currently piloting data instrumentation and implementation processes. Preliminary results will be presented at the meeting. The Partnership development phase has been achieved and Full implementation will begin August 2019. Conclusion: It is expected that building partnerships between large academic medical centers, cancer centers and community hospitals will increase the capacity of community hospitals to offer quality screening and specialized care to community members and increase access to cervical cancer screening and education among at-risk populations ultimately decreasing cervical cancer disparities among underserved populations in the University of Illinois Cancer Center catchment. Citation Format: Vida Henderson, Jessica Madrigal, Jeanette Gonzalez, Erica Martinez, Katherine Tossas-Milligan, Patricia Doykos, Karriem Watson, Robert Winn. Building sustainable partnerships between cancer centers and safety net community hospitals to increase access to and quality of cancer care [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Twelfth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2019 Sep 20-23; San Francisco, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(6 Suppl_2):Abstract nr A128.

Total Quality Management and the Role of Management Accountants on Organisational Performance: The Service Sector in Malaysia

Manuscript type: Research paper Research aims: This study examines the relationship between total quality management (TQM), the role of the management accountant and organisational performance among the service sector in Malaysia. Design/Methodology/Approach: This study collects data from 100 private service organisations in Malaysia via a self-administered printed questionnaire. Data collected are analysed using partial least squares (PLS) 3.0. Research findings: The results reveal that TQM has a positive significant impact on organisational performance. The TQM’s practice of focussing more on customers and the designing of services also show significant effects on organisational performance. This study finds that management accountants do not moderate the relationship between TQM and organisational performance. Theoretical contribution/Originality: This study expands the previous literature by examining the role of the management accountant as a moderator between TQM and organisational performance. Practitioner/Policy implications: The results derived from this study can be used to facilitate the application of TQM in service organisations so as to enhance their organisational performance. The findings can also assist managers in the service organisations to determine the functions of their management accountants because this can impact on the successful adoption of TQM. Research limitation/Implications: The limitations of this study includes its scope which is confined to only the service industry. Future research should expand further to cover other industries. Keywords: TQM, Organisational Performance, Role of the Management Accountant, Service JEL Classification: M41

Family-Friendly Workplace Policies as Predictors of Sustainable Workforce in the Service Industry in Lagos State, Nigeria

This paper examined family-friendly policies as predictors of committed/sustainable workforce in service industry. Using a descriptive survey research design, 440 participants were randomly selected for the study. Findings revealed that there is a relationship between family friendly policies and committed/ sustainable workforce in both private and public service organizations in Lagos State, Nigeria and that there is a difference in the family friendly policies of private and public institutions in Lagos State with the private institution recording higher mean score. The study recommended among others that there should be harmonization of family friendly policies in the private and public institutions.

Reforming public services: does service logic have anything to offer?

ABSTRACTThis article discusses what service management and the logic of service (SL) can offer to public service management. There are no real inbuilt differences between public and private service organizations and no reasons why public service organizations (PSOs) would be less efficient and less service-focussed and oriented towards service users than private service organizations. Good service management rather than privatization is required to make a PSO more efficient and effectively outward-oriented. Service-focussed value creation management and how service logic can be applied by PSOs to enable them to transform to outward-focussed service organizations are discussed. A change framework is presented.

EXPLORING THE INPUT OF COMPETENCE ASSESSMENT TO GOAL-SETTING IN VARIOUS TYPES OF ORGANIZATIONS

The aim of the present research is to investigate the existing practices of linking competence assessment to organizational goal-setting in various organisations in Latvia. The importance of linking employee competences to goal-setting within organizations has been established in scientific literature. Nevertheless, there is evidence gathered in this interdisciplinary research that existing methods of competence assessment used by various organizations in Latvia do not translate well into organizational goal-setting. The research is based on information gathered from semi-structured interviews with representatives of managerial positions in private and public, including educational service organizations (26 in total). Additionally, publicly available development plans are analysed. Empirical data are analysed according to a conceptual framework of criteria impacting the goal-setting process. Three subsets of criteria are used that guided interview question formulation and interview data analysis: formulation of a goal; employee’s ability to reach the assigned goal; employee’s self-assessment on his/her ability to reach the assigned goal. Analysis of the results indicate that when setting goals and assessing employee competences in relation to those goals, management decisions are greatly guided by subjective approaches. Such identified approaches in observed private and public service organizations indicate common risks that are discussed in this research.

Acceptance of Change Behaviour among Middle Managers: The Importance of Subjective Norms and Social Influence as Environmental Predictors

The study seeks to examine the influence of environmental-related factors among middle managers in Malaysian government organization. Specifically, this study seeks to determine the influence of subjective norms and social influence in public organizations on acceptance of change. Present study employed cross-sectional survey involving a sample of 400 Administrative and Diplomatic Officers (ADO) in Malaysian Public Service organizations. The findings highlighted that middle managers’ subjective norms in this study were significant in influencing acceptance of change but are not affected by their social pressure when changes are implemented. Practically, this investigation proffers essential effort in understanding the acceptance of change of middle managers in public service organizations. This study suggests ADO as change agents should be well informed and consulted to create social pressure among them to act in supportive ways of implementing planned change Theoretically, the results of this study append to the literature and to a certain extent provide better explanation of Theory of Reasoned Action and Social Cognitive Theory in the context of acceptance of change. The population of this study involved ADO as middle managers in Malaysian Public Service organizations thus the results cannot be generalized to other level of employees in public sector as well as private service organizations. A comparative study involving both public and private service organizations would be worth studying in future.

Levels and consequences of embeddedness among private human service organizations: National survey evidence from child welfare

ABSTRACTStrong ties with and dependence on public agencies for service contracts can influence private human service organizations’ operations. Using data from the National Survey of Private Child and Family Serving Agencies (NSPCFSA), this study assesses the degree to which private child welfare organizations report fiscal and relational embeddedness with public agencies and the influence of embeddedness on organizational functioning overall and in four specific domains: finances, service programming, staffing, and performance. Results showed that embeddedness may positively influence organizations’ operations. The quality of private organizations’ relationships with their public agency counterparts, and collaboration frequency may be especially important for improving organizational programming and performance.

Time Driven Activity Based Costing : Theory,Applications and Limitations

The aim of this study is to explore the strategic applications and limitations of Time-driven Activity-based Costing (TDABC) and to evaluate the degree of accuracy of the proponents’ arguments concerning its usefulness. In this study, published works directly related to this area from the period 2004-2015 are analyzed. This study reports TDABC's applications in strategic areas such as cost of production, unused capacity, price determination, customer profitability analysis, and modeling complex decisions in various small, medium, and large private, governmental, and nonprofit service and manufacturing organizations. However, since they are not based on any concrete empirical investigations, only future empirical studies can authentically reveal the advantages of this technique. TDABC also severely suffers from the following spheres: it lacks the ability to identify activities in the first implementation step, such as practical capacity costs rate, uniform capacity costs rate, managers’ time estimation for each activity, determination of unused capacity, as well as lack of data accuracy, and limitations of managerial decision makings. As a result of these drawbacks, proponents’ arguments regarding TDABC’s usefulness and its widespread applications -in the future and around the world- are baseless.

Institutional and Market Pressures on Interorganizational Collaboration and Competition Among Private Human Service Organizations

ABSTRACTWhile private human service organizations face institutional pressures to collaborate, market-based pressures also generate competition, giving rise to complex interorganizational relationships. The current study draws on institutional and resource dependence theories to examine institutional and market-based environmental pressures on the intensity of collaboration and competition among private human service organizations. Using data from the National Survey of Private Child and Family Serving Agencies, we find that the intensity of interorganizational relationships is associated with market-based and mimetic pressures but not with other institutional factors. These findings suggest practical implications for human service leaders focused on managing interorganizational collaboration and competition.

An Artificial Intelligence System to Predict Quality of Service in Banking Organizations.

Quality of service, that is, the waiting time that customers must endure in order to receive a service, is a critical performance aspect in private and public service organizations. Providing good service quality is particularly important in highly competitive sectors where similar services exist. In this paper, focusing on banking sector, we propose an artificial intelligence system for building a model for the prediction of service quality. While the traditional approach used for building analytical models relies on theories and assumptions about the problem at hand, we propose a novel approach for learning models from actual data. Thus, the proposed approach is not biased by the knowledge that experts may have about the problem, but it is completely based on the available data. The system is based on a recently defined variant of genetic programming that allows practitioners to include the concept of semantics in the search process. This will have beneficial effects on the search process and will produce analytical models that are based only on the data and not on domain-dependent knowledge.

Relationships between occupational self efficacy, human resource development climate, and work engagement

PurposeImproving work engagement can have significant implications for performance at individual, team and organisational level. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of occupational self efficacy and human resource development (HRD) climate on work engagement among business executives of select business organisations in India. In addition, it aims to attempt to examine the mediating effect of HRD climate on self efficacy and work engagement relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe sample consisted of 150 business executives from both public and private sector manufacturing and service organisations in India. Data were collected through both personal visits and online questionnaires. Correlation and regression analyses were used to test the research hypotheses. Specifically, Baron and Kenny's method was used for testing the hypotheses of mediation.FindingsA significant relationship was found between all variables in the study. All the study hypotheses were supported. HRD climate was found to partially mediate the relationship between occupational self‐efficacy and work engagement. Interestingly, both HRD climate and self‐efficacy affect work engagement both directly and indirectly through influencing the other.Practical implicationsWork engagement requires the workforce that is endorsed with self‐efficacy as dispositional trait. In addition, improving the HRD climate can have significant implications for enhancing the work engagement among Indian business executives.Originality/valueBy investigating the relationship between self‐efficacy, HRD climate and work engagement the present study made an effort to fulfil the gap in academic literature where there is a significant dearth of academic literature on work engagement from developing economies.

Psychometric Evaluation of Utrecht Work Engagement Scale in an Indian Sample

The objective of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) in an Indian sample. The UWES was administered to a total of 450 employees from both public and private sector manufacturing and service organisations in India. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that the three-factor model demonstrated a better fit when compared to one-factor model for both, the original 17-item and 9-item shortened versions of UWES. However, due to very high inter-correlation between the three dimensions, exploratory factor analyses resulted in two- and one-factor solutions for the 17-item and 9-item versions, respectively. Though the internal consistencies for sub-scales were acceptable, internal consistencies of the complete scales were found to be higher than that for the three sub-scales. The shortened UWES was found to display better psychometric properties than the original 17-item UWES.

HRD climate, occupational self-efficacy and work engagement: A study from India.

While a good deal of the research on engagement has been conducted in the United States and Europe, less is known and written about engagement in developing countries. Addressing this, in light of gaps identified from literature review, a model was proposed and tested with occupational self-efficacy as the intervening variable between human resource development climate and work engagement. The sample for the study consisted of 214 business executives from both public and private sector manufacturing and service organizations with 81.7 % of them being males. Hypotheses were tested using a cross sectional design with the help of hierarchical regression analysis. The series of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that self-efficacy partially mediates the climate-engagement relationship. In addition, results of moderated regression analysis provided support for moderating effects of self-efficacy, with the relationship between climate and engagement being stronger for low self-efficacious individuals as ...

Connecting Science and Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services Research

Collaboration between researchers and stakeholder groups is a potentially powerful mechanism for strengthening the quality of mental health research and for amplifying its public health impact. For stakeholders, collaboration offers opportunities to help shape research questions; participate in data collection and interpretation; and improve local capacity to access and use research findings. For researchers, collaboration can build understanding of what stakeholders want and need from research; enhance capacity to frame research questions and findings in language and metrics of value to stakeholders; and provide opportunities to contribute science-backed knowledge to decision-making processes in real world settings. Key stakeholder groups can include the recipients and providers of care, public and private care systems, health plans, schools, family service and faith-based organizations, correctional systems, and employers providing mental health benefits. This commentary reflects on the path that NIMH has taken in fostering researcher-stakeholder collaboration, particularly regarding child and adolescent mental health research. It describes the goals that NIMH set out to achieve, steps taken to realize those goals, lessons learned from those efforts, and possible next steps.

Demographic and dispositional characteristics as predictors of organisational citizenship behaviour

The study examined workers‘ personal factors and personality characteristics as predictors of Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB). The study employed Ex-Post-Facto within-participants randomized group design. Data were collected from five hundred and four employees of private and public human service organizations in Nigeria. It was hypothesized that employees‘ demographic factors and personality characteristics would significantly predict Organizational Citizenship Behaviour. Logistic regression showed that personal factors were not significant predictors of (OCB). Results indicated that personality traits of extraversion and openness significantly predict workers‘ Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB). The F-ratio associated with the R2 = 0.755 shows a significant joint prediction of OCB (p