Work Assignments Research Articles

Early-Career Assignments and Workforce Inequality in Engineering

ABSTRACT Positioned as part of leadership development in many organizations, ‘stretch assignments’ are a type of work assignment that can prove someone’s readiness to advance in their career. Informed by status characteristics theory, our research investigates the frequency and expected outcomes of stretch assignments among recent engineering graduates in the workforce. Findings suggest that early-career stretch assignments, especially assignments involving new and unfamiliar areas, potentially intensify gender and racial/ethnic workforce inequality. Other types of assignments that may be more familiar and clearly-scoped to early-career engineers show a different and less inequality-intensifying pattern. We discuss why early-career engineers’ assignments may be sites of inequality and the need for more focus on organizational processes around career-advancing work.

Relationship between shift assignments, organizational justice, and turnover intention: A cross-sectional survey of Japanese shift-work nurses in hospitals.

Shift management and planning processes for shift-working nurses are important for their continued work. This study aimed to determine the association between shift assignments, organizational justice, and their interaction with turnover intention among shift-work nurses. This cross-sectional study used an online questionnaire administered to Japanese nurses between January and February 2020. Enquiries pertaining to their daily start and end times for each shift type, the shift assignments, organizational justice, and their turnover intention were made. To examine the association with turnover intention, logistic regression analysis was performed with shift assignments, organizational justice, and their interaction terms as independent variables. A total of 386 nurses participated in the final analysis. Of these, 161 nurses (41.7%) had turnover intention. Unequal work assignments and procedural justice were significantly associated with turnover intention. However, the interaction between these factors was not significant. The results suggest that procedural justice in the workplace and turnover intention are related, but in shift planning, even procedural justice cannot buffer unequal work from leading to turnover intention. This study provides valuable insights for nursing managers who manage the schedules of shift-working nurses.

An exact constraint programming based procedure for the multi-manned assembly line balancing problem

Unlike the Simple Assembly Line Balancing Problem (SALBP), the Multi-manned Assembly Line Balancing Problem (MALBP) allows the assignment of multiple workers at the same station. This study proposes a novel Constraint Programming (CP) model to evaluate the satisfiability of a type-F MALBP. Given a cycle time limit, the number of workers and the number of stations are set as parameters in each iteration. We adopt an exact lexicographical procedure as the solution method for this multi-objective optimization problem, performing a lower-bound search to minimize the number of workers as the primary objective. Such an assumption is common for real-world applications, in which the total cost of a worker is usually several orders of magnitude higher than the cost of a station. When dealing with hard instances, we adopt the task–worker assignment solution for SALBP as input to an auxiliary Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model, which provides an initial condition for the task scheduling portion of the CP model. Strong tasks’ scheduling bounds are also provided to tighten the search space, and mathematical similarities with SALBP are exploited to support our solution method. The integrated MILP-CP procedure yielded 126 optimal solutions from a 140-instance dataset, including nine new optimality proofs. Moreover, twelve additional instances were improved compared to the literature, enhancing the solution quality. Considering the best-found primal bounds, the maximum gap for the still-open instances is just 0.32%. These results demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed procedure in solving MALBP when combined with solid bounds.

Lot streaming in workforce scheduling problem for seru production system under Shojinka philosophy

Drawing upon efficiency, flexibility, and responsiveness, this study attempts to explore the impact of lot streaming and worker assignment strategies in the workforce scheduling problem for the seru production system (SPS), which has emerged as an alternative to traditional assembly lines. The addressed problem involves decisions related to employee timetabling, lot splitting, and sublot scheduling. While scheduling problems in SPS have been extensively researched in recent years, the workforce scheduling problem has not received much attention in the literature. Moreover, to our best knowledge, it has not been investigated with the sublot division methodologies within the context of SPS so far. To bridge this gap, a generic novel optimization model is developed with the objective of minimizing average flow time (AFT) by integrating lot streaming and the Shojinka philosophy through modules within the model. Additionally, the structural properties of the problem are examined, and lower and upper bound formulations are developed based on these properties. Given the NP-hard nature of the problem, customized approaches based on the genetic algorithm (GA) are proposed for solving large-sized problems, considering the Shojinka and division methodologies. The computational results clarify that achieving Shojinka with variable sublots division methodology significantly reduces the AFT objective. Furthermore, the findings confirm that adapting variable sublots in operational scenarios results in a drastic improvement in system performance, regardless of the implemented worker assignment strategy.

Motivations for the Creation of Social Justice Guides: A Survey of ARL Member Institutions

abstract: This study surveyed librarians and staff at Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member institutions to determine who assembles social justice guides (that is, LibGuides), what motivated the creation of such guides, and how these guides are deployed. Additionally, the survey gauged employee perceptions of library and institutional responses to social unrest. Sociopolitical events, perceived educational need, and work assignments to develop such a guide were the primary reasons motivating the creation of the guides. Social justice guides are seldom incorporated or deployed into wider library or institutional programming, however. Overall, library and institutional diversity statements and responses to social unrest were perceived as words without action. Results from this survey shed light on library employee perceptions, on the emotional labor involved in the development of anti-racist resources, and on library and institutional responses to social unrest.

공정과 작업자 특성을 고려한 데이터 기반 작업자 배치 최적화

공정과 작업자 특성을 고려한 데이터 기반 작업자 배치 최적화

An improved multi-objective Wild Horse optimization for the dual-resource-constrained flexible job shop scheduling problem: A comparative analysis with NSGA-II and a real case study

The equipment manufacturing industry needs skilled workers to operate a specific set of machines following process specifications. Optimizing machine and worker assignments to achieve maximum efficiency is a critical problem for workshop managers. This paper investigates a multi-objective dual-resource-constrained flexible job shop scheduling problem. An improved wild horse optimization (IWHO) algorithm is developed to simultaneously optimize three objectives: makespan, maximum machine workload, and total machine workload. To evaluate the quality of individuals in multi-objective optimization, the Pareto fast non-dominated sorting method is used, and the crowding distance is calculated. To update the algorithm's solution, the crossover and mutation operations are used. Further, a local neighborhood search strategy is employed to enhance searchability and avoid trapping into the local optima. The benchmark of the flexible job shop scheduling problem is extended to create test instances, and the performance of the suggested IWHO algorithm is evaluated compared with the NSGA-II. The computational results show that the IWHO algorithm provides a non-dominated efficient set within a reasonable running time. Furthermore, a buffers and chain coupler assembly process is designed to analyze the practical value of the IWHO algorithm. The proposed solutions can be used to generate daily schedules for managing machines, workers, and production cycles.

A Study on the Causes of Work Stress among Malaysia Civil Defense Force (MCDF) Personnel

Life in the modern world today is full of frustrations, demands and deadlines as stress has become a norm for many people. Since the harsh episode of the pandemic, stress is the normal physical response that disturbs our balance. Many experienced work-related ill health cases due to work-related stress, depression and anxiety. Therefore, work stress is inevitable. Work stress is increasing in Malaysia, especially since the pandemic and it continues to pose a major global health threat until now. Alarmingly, stress has become a modern epidemic and has influenced poor public health. Many past researches reviewed the prevalence of occupational stress and the causes of its prediction among the Malaysian population and found many occupational stress severe incidents. The Malaysian government mobilized the Malaysia Civil Defense Force (MCDF) for several responsibilities to save lives and properties. Based on the nature of MCDF work, stress is a major issue. There are many factors of stress; operational, organizational and lifestyle to name a few. Organizational stress highlights employees’ attachment to the organization, operational stress highlights employees' experience doing the work, and lifestyle stress highlights individual ways of living. Therefore, the researchers attempt to examine the relationships between operational, organizational and lifestyle factors and the most influencing factor that may cause stress among a population of 180 personnel of MCDF, while carrying out their work assignments in Klang Valley.

Depression and Suicide Risk Among Nursing Staff at a Honduran National Hospital.

Depression and suicide risk among nursing staff have become increasingly concerning, especially given the demanding nature of their profession. The World Health Organization identifies depression as a primary factor contributing to global disability and suicide deaths. A descriptive, non-experimental, cross-sectional cohort study was conducted, encompassing the eligible personnel (n=82) out of a total of 102 nurses at the Mario Catarino Rivas Hospital in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, from October to November 2022. The study utilized the Okasha assessment tool to gauge the prevalence of suicidal risk and the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) instrument to analyze the extent and severity of depression. In addition, the participants completed a demographic survey. Results: The average age of participants was 34.91 years, with a majority (86.6%) being female. In terms of work assignments, 54.9% were employed in the inpatient area. Regarding the mental health of the nursing staff, 78% displayed no or minimal depression, 9.7% presented mild depression, 7.3% showed moderate depression, 4.8% displayed severe depression, and 14.6% exhibited a suicide risk. Young adults had the highest prevalence of all three levels of depression, and the emergency department and inpatient area had the most at-risk individuals for suicidal tendencies. The study offers a comprehensive insight into the demographics, work environment, and mental health of the nursing staff at the Honduran National Hospital. The results highlight the importance of specialized measures and strong support systems to safeguard the mental health of nursing staff.

Carrying out the methodological approach of the scientific research in the Physical Education and Sport Science field

Background and Study Aim. The scientific research activity at the level of academic studies aims to acquire fundamental basic and deontological knowledge. The purpose of the study was to determine the progress of the scientific research approach in the field of Physical Education and Sport Science. Material and Methods. This scientific approach was carried out in the ”Research methodology” discipline, in the bachelor’s degree for the Physical Education and Sport (PES) specialization, Sport and Motor Performance (SMP) and in the master’s degree - Sport Performance (SP). The research participants were 104 students of the Physical Education and Sport department of the University of Pitești: 82 in bachelor’s degree (48 at PES, 34 at SMP) and 22 in master’s degree (PS). The didactic activity was conducted offline and online; the monitoring was performed by means of the university e-learning platform. The research results were centralized using digital technologies. The continuous evaluation of the performance criteria was made in accordance with the requirements of the subject matter program and the instructions on the credit system and class book filling. The requirements of the activity in seminar were 3 reports, respecting the path of the work assignments. Report no. 1 – method of bibliographic study (Google academic); Report no. 2 –sociological survey (survey method, questionnaire, Google forms) and Report no. 3 –experimental research (personal contributions, scientific argumentation). Results. The results of knowledge evaluation in bachelor’s degree reveal 3.3% better level at PES; the other indicators have a better level of success in SMP (p>0.05); the master’s degree highlights 15.25% better activity in the seminar, involvement of 82.3% in the elective and mandatory activity and 87.75% success in the final evaluation. Regarding the weight of sports disciplines in achievement of the scientific approach: 65% improved the title of the assignments (an evolution of the titles) and 35% kept the same title, but with different content. At the master’s degree, everyone respected the requirements of the discipline. Conclusions. The scientific research approach was carried out by methodologically going through the stages of addressing the work assignments within the bibliographic study, sociological survey analysis and scientific argumentation. The theoretical knowledge was applied in accordance with the current specialized literature, the analysis of the opinions of the specialists and the use of the personal experience in the applied and development scientific research.

Involving Children with Visual Impairments in the Educational Process During English Language Lessons in an Inclusive Classroom

In this article, we would like to explore the most relevant and accessible educational resources available today, as well as methods and forms of organizing an inclusive learning environment for working with visually impaired and blind children in English language lessons. We will consider several important aspects of teaching that need to be taken into account when working in an inclusive classroom and present a lesson model based on audio-lingual and communicative teaching methods. The article also provides examples of assignments for in-class and extracurricular work using various components of the universal access system and educational applications, which will assist children with visual impairments and serve as a valuable supplementary resource for teachers.

A multi-objective co-evolutionary algorithm for energy and cost-oriented mixed-model assembly line balancing with multi-skilled workers

Energy-saving, one of the most significant strategies for green manufacturing, has become the focus of more and more scholars and enterprise managers. Hence, this work addresses the minimization of energy and cost requirements on mixed-model multi-manned assembly line balancing with multi-skilled workers. A new mixed-integer linear programming model is proposed to define the problem. Additionally, a novel multi-objective co-evolutionary algorithm is designed to achieve the trade-off between energy and cost requirements. This algorithm includes a two-layer solution representation to achieve full coverage of the solution space and a new decoding mechanism with idle time reduction. A collaborative initialization as the first stage of the algorithm is extended to get high-quality and great-diversity initial solutions. A self-learning evolution for each sub-population with four problem-specific evolutionary operators is developed to explore task or worker assignment sequences, and a dual-cooperation strategy is proposed to enhance the interaction between sub-populations. The final experiments, based on 269 instances, demonstrate that the improvement components are effective and the proposed algorithm is superior to seven latest multi-objective evolutionary algorithms from numerical, statistical and differential analyses.

Employment trajectories of workers in low-skilled jobs in Western Germany

According to the segmentation theory, low-skilled jobs belong to the secondary sector of the labour market. Low-skilled jobs do not require vocational training and workers are interchangeable. Therefore, workers in this sector have poor working conditions and are regularly affected by employment interruptions. The current state of research, however, does not provide any longitudinal information about individual employment stability of workers performing low-skilled jobs. Furthermore, most of these workers are employed full-time and have completed professional training. Against this background, this paper deals with employment trajectories of workers in low-skilled jobs and their changes over time with regard to standard employment relationship. The aim of the explorative study is to analyse the assignment of workers in low-skilled jobs within the segmentation theory and to determine how segments have changed over time.We use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) to analyse the employment trajectories of two cohorts aged 35 to 44 years in Western Germany over a period of ten years. The employment trajectories are compared by means of sequence analysis with optimal matching algorithm as well as cluster analysis applying the “Partitioning Around Medoids” method (PAM) in combination with results from hierarchical ward clusters. The employment trajectories indicate that low-skilled jobs can be assigned to both the secondary and the primary sectors. The cohort comparison of employment trajectories shows change and continuity in the context of segments.

Artificial intelligence-enabled evaluating for computer-aided drawings (AMCAD)

AMCAD ( www.amcad.ai ) is a web-enabled artificial intelligence (AI) system created to auto-evaluate students’ computer-aided drawing (CAD) work assignments and help students in self-directed learning. It compares two engineering drawings and highlights the differences (errors) between the two. The errors are classified into two categories: “Missing Line” errors shown in red and “Erroneous Line” errors in blue. AMCAD works in tandem with all CAD software. It uses computer vision technology to convert PDF drawings to raster subimages, and XOR to evaluate quantitatively the best-matched with best-aligned views. AMCAD, whose AI algorithms and web application were developed in Python, shows the comparison results in two display modes: superimpose and side-by-side. To encourage students in self-directed leaning, instructional videos can be included in each CAD work assignment.

Employment and Work Task Characteristics of 111 Swedish School-Based Speech-Language Pathologists

Purpose: Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are a new but rapidly growing addition to the Swedish school work force. This study sought to inventory the employment and work task characteristics of school-based SLPs to assess equitable access to SLP services. Method: We collected questionnaires from 111 SLPs currently practicing in Swedish schools. The respondents were asked for details regarding their employment. Results: Roughly equal proportions of respondents reported to work with intervention and consultation to teaching staff. Almost all reported that the preservice training provided insufficient preparation for school-based practices. The work assignments of school-based SLPs were more similar than 10 years ago, likely a consequence of agreements between the parties caring for students with language disorder, and the vast majority of SLPs now being employed within student health teams. However, differences in workload and assigned tasks affect the nature of the work performed, to the point that current best practice cannot always be upheld. Conclusions: The results indicate that the services provided by Swedish school-based SLPs can be expected to vary because of qualitative and quantitative differences in employment and work task characteristics. The results are discussed in light of reviews of language interventions for children and young people.

Metro Roxas Water District Frontliners’ Experiences and Coping Mechanisms amidst COVID-19 Pandemic: Insights for Policy Directions

The Metro Roxas Water District (MRWD), as a service provider of basic commodity in Roxas City, has to consider the frontliners’ experiences amidst the epidemic in improving its organizational and operational systems. This study determined the MRWD frontliners’ experiences and their coping mechanisms during COVID-19 pandemic, which included 153 MRWD frontliners of the 247 population. A validated researcher-made questionnaire was used. The collected data were examined using percentage, frequency, mean, t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson r. Results revealed that respondents perceived their experiences as highly experienced and coping mechanisms were highly applicable. There were significant differences in their experiences and coping mechanisms when grouped according to age, nature of work assignment, and employment status, while no significant differences when grouped according to gender, civil status, and number of years in service. A significant relationship was found between their experiences and coping mechanisms. MRWD management provided necessary responses in addressing the pandemic’s effects based on respondents’ perception. Job roles and assignments were changed in coping with the demand of flexible schedules, additional work and infection prevention among MRWD frontliners and their clients. Result on the experiences and coping mechanisms employed by frontliners as outcome of management intervention and frontliners’ own personal judgment in time of duty in compliance with health protocols and protecting themselves served as insights for the management to set the policies that will help employees and clients to respond, comply, and adjust with more ease should the same situation arises in the future.

Putting Off Until Tomorrow: Academic Procrastination, Perfectionism, and Fear o Failure

Academic procrastination among students is becoming more widespread. The lack of time management causes this issue. Students without clear schedules or priorities can be more easily tempted to put off work or important academic assignments when managing their time. Other psychological factors contributing to this academic procrastination behavior are perfectionism and fear of failure. This study aims to empirically prove the relationship between perfectionism and fear of failure in academic procrastination. The method used in this research was correlational quantitative with a population of 153 students. The instruments used included academic procrastination, perfectionism, and fear of failure scales. The analysis technique was multiple linear regression. The results showed a positive correlation between perfectionism and fear of failure in academic procrastination, with an F score of 29.133 and a significance value of 0.001. This study also concluded that it is important for students to learn time management strategies, deal with anxiety effectively, and better understand failure and mistakes as part of the learning process. It is also important to emphasize that high standards can motivate success but must be balanced with good mental and physical health. They must not come at the expense of an individual’s mental well-being.

Missed nursing care in pediatric emergency departments in Turkey: A cross-sectional study

ObjectiveA pediatric emergency department deals with a vast number of patients and a high load of emergent/high-priority healthcare practices. Therefore, at times, it is possible to experience missed nursing care in this department. This study aims to ascertain the types of and reasons for missed nursing care cases in pediatric emergency departments in Turkey. MethodThis is a cross-sectional survey study. Survey data were collected from 155 nurses using the “Introductory Information Form” and the “MISSCARE-Pediatric Emergency Department Survey.” ResultsGastrostomy care, colostomy care, tracheotomy care, and teaching about hospital discharge were the care practices most often missed. The volume of patients, urgent patient situations, an inadequate number of nurses in charge, too many inexperienced nurses in the department, and assignment of work outside the scope of the job are the main reasons for missed care. ConclusionPediatric emergency department patients experience missed nursing care and nurses should be supported more in order for them to provide efficient care to children.

“At first, I was only a subscriber”: re-mediating food citizens’ solidarity practices through digital technologies

In this paper, we explore how digital technologies re-mediate solidarity practices in alternative food networks (AFNs). To do so, the first author conducted an 8-month (auto-)ethnography of a community supported agriculture (CSA) initiative in Switzerland and 12 semi-structured interviews with CSA members. We identified three types of solidarity practices in our analysis that aim to support social inclusiveness, increase responsibility and sustainability, and foster the sharing of risk, work and infrastructure amongst CSA members. Digital technologies are central for joining and becoming a member of the CSA and also play a vital role in sharing information and organizing members’ work assignments. By becoming a member, consumers become subscribers voting with their wallet. If they regularly engage in farm work, they become prosumers or co-producers. Thus, our analysis foregrounds the continuum of food citizenship in the CSA we studied. However, the number of subscribers increases through digital technologies, transforming the initiative from an alternative to the market to an alternative within the market, whereby certain aspects of solidarity, such as social inclusiveness and sharing, are not realized anymore. Our study contributes to the emerging field of digital food studies by showing how solidarity is digitally enabled and negotiated in CSA, and how this shapes food citizenship.

Multicommodity network flow model of a human resource allocation problem considering time periods

This article addresses the problem of finding work assignments for employees within a given time horizon in a company using a multicommodity network flow model. The problem of human resource allocation is defined by the actual manpower demands of different periods which may vary during different periods. The investigation focuses on when workers should be called in-house and for how long to satisfy demands, while also complying with labour standards and regulations. Additional targets may also be set up, such as minimising the overall number of labour, as well as meeting “comfort” expectations, i.e. the most even working time should be realised for every worker within the event horizon. The paper describes how the multicommodity network flow model is constructed and the corresponding MILP mathematical programming model is formulated in a simple situation where there is only one position for the labour. Finally, the article explains how to construct the multicommodity network flow model and the MILP model for the general case, where there are multiple positions for the labour requiring various skills and competences per position within the periods.