Context Of Work Research Articles

Adaptive leadership Competencies for hybrid work teams in the South African banking sector

Purpose: Since the COVID-19 pandemic, hybrid work has increased dramatically, with organisations still experimenting with different hybrid work models. This study aimed to explore the leadership competencies and practices needed to facilitate the successful transition to the new hybrid work context, using adaptive leadership theory as the overarching research framework.Design/methodology/approach: A cross-sectional, qualitative design was adopted. Data were gathered by conducting semi-structured interviews with a sample of 20 executives and senior managers drawn from 5 leading South African banks.Findings/results: The adaptation processes and leadership competencies adopted by participants were mostly aligned to adaptive leadership theory. However, participants needed to strengthen their skills in communication, listening and empathy, as well as enhance leadership characteristics such as authenticity, humility, trust and transparency.Practical implications: The study could inform the redesign of job specifications for leaders and managers in charge of hybrid work teams, particularly if they are in the early stages of the transition. More strategically, the study could facilitate the creation of adaptive workspaces and lay the foundation for more effective leadership in hybrid working environments.Originality/value: Whereas previous studies have explored flexible and or hybrid working arrangements from employees’ perspectives, little research has been conducted on managers and leaders perspectives in this regard, which was the focus of this study. An important finding was that while participants were comfortable making the technical transition to hybrid work (using more technology), they saw the social demands of a hybrid work environment as more challenging.

Addiction interprofessional experiences of care: Stress, coping and transformation.

This study aimed to explore healthcare professionals' attribution of meaning to the concept of addiction, treatment and recovery. The study was conducted through semi-structured interviews with 18 healthcare professionals in the field of addiction: nine nurses, six psychologists, a psychiatrist, a social worker and a psychosocial technician. Based on a qualitative methodology, a thematic analysis was performed using the NVivo software. Regarding professional stress, the results revealed several stress factors related to the intervention (e.g. strategic powerlessness and uncertainty of intervention's effectiveness), the addicted individuals (e.g. motivation, difficulties in adhering to treatment, patient behaviour, negative patient emotionality and lack of socio-economic resources) as well as the healthcare services (e.g. team stress). Adaptive coping strategies were reported, both used in the work context (e.g. cognitive coping strategies and acceptance) and in personal life (e.g. work-family boundaries and family support and closeness). Despite the professional stress experienced, the participants' narratives indicated positive transformations of the self, which suggests resilient professional trajectories.

Determinants of employees’ creativity: modeling the mediating role of organizational motivation to innovate

The study aims to empirically investigate the effects of the work environment and family–work resource spillover on employees’ creativity in agricultural research institutes. Additionally, this research proposes to examine the mediating role of organizational motivation to innovate in the relationships between the work environment and family–work resource spillover on employees’ creativity. Using a sample of 302 researchers from agricultural research institutes in Ethiopia, the hypothesized relationships were tested through the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique. The results reveal significantly positive direct effects of work group support and family–work resource spillover on employees’ creativity. However, the results did not confirm the direct relationships of factors such as sufficient resources, reliable workload pressure, freedom, challenging work, managerial encouragement, and employees’ creativity. The findings of the study contribute to our understanding of work contexts in agricultural research institutes and suggest ways in which administrators can create a conducive working environment to enhance employees’ creativity.

Are Australian Cancer and Palliative Care Nurses Ready to Prescribe Medicines? A National Survey

Registered nurse prescribing has been put forth, for decades, as an innovative approach to meet growing healthcare needs, particularly in areas of care where medications are essential and highly controlled such as for patients requiring cancer and palliative care. However, the adoption of innovative health delivery models requires acceptance by key stakeholders. This study explores cancer and palliative care nurses' attitudes toward nurse prescribing and their perceptions about educational requirements for a nurse prescriber. A cross-sectional survey was distributed to Australian nurses between March and July 2021. Data were collected using the Advancing Implementation of Nurse Prescribing in Australia online survey. Pearson χ2 tests were used to examine associations between nurses in cancer care, palliative care, and all other specialties on demographics, attitudes to nurse prescribing, and educational perspectives to become prescribers. Of the 4,424 nurses who participated in the survey, 161 nurses identified they worked in cancer care and 109 in palliative care settings. Although nurses have a common set of core capabilities, their work contexts and their professional experiences shape their attitudes toward practice. Nurses in cancer care were significantly less certain than nurses in palliative care [χ2(2) = 6.68, P = .04], and nurses from all other specialties [χ2(2) =13.87, P = <.01] of the benefits of nurse prescribing (ie, nurse prescribing would decrease health care system costs, reduce patient risk). Nurses in cancer care were more certain that successfully implementing nurse prescribing requires strong support from their medical and pharmacy colleagues. In addition, nurses working in cancer and palliative care agreed that improving patient care was their primary motivator for becoming a prescriber. Open to expanding their role and responsibilities, nurses in cancer and palliative care settings reported that successfully adopting nurse prescribing must be supported by their other healthcare colleagues within the same environment, which demands strong interprofessional collaborative efforts.

Evaluasi Projek Penguatan Profil Pelajar Pancasila (P5) Sekolah Penggerak Di SMA Negeri 6 Bekasi

The Merdeka Curriculum in 2024 will be implemented nationally. byprioritizing learning that develops soft skills and character, namely byimplementing the Pancasila Student Profile Strengthening Project (P5),focusing on essential material, and flexible learning. The Pancasila StudentProfile is a form of translating national education goals and directingeducational policies for educators in building the character and competenceof students. The research uses a qualitative evaluative approach with theCIPP evaluation model (Context Evaluation, Input Evaluation, ProcessEvaluation, and Product Evaluation). The research results show that theprogram to strengthen Pancasila students (P5) is not the same asextracurricular cognitive learning. Achievements for student assessment areidentifying the strengths and challenges they will face in the learning, socialand work contexts they will choose in the future, they must adapt and startimplementing their plans and development strategies by taking into accountthe interests and demands of the learning and work contexts they will have.implemented in the future and strive to overcome the challenges encountered.Thus, the project to strengthen the profile of Pancasila students is carried outas a catalyst for acceleration and implementation of an independentcurriculum that is in accordance with the vision of Indonesian education.

Information quality, work-family conflict, loneliness, and well-being in remote work settings

Teleworking has rapidly grown and become the prevailing work mode. Married teleworkers may experience increased work-family conflict, while single teleworkers may experience loneliness. This study aims to investigate how teleworkers' information reception quality (Time 1) influences their work-family conflict (Time 2), loneliness (Time 2), and well-being (Time 3) from the perspective of the job demands-resources model. The data were collected through a three-point survey involving 462 participants working from home in Taiwan. The results indicate a negative association between information accuracy and work-family conflict. Work-family conflict, in turn, mediates the relationship between information accuracy and well-being. Information timeliness, as the moderator, weakens the connection between information accuracy and work-family conflict. Additionally, information timeliness is negatively related to loneliness. Loneliness mediates the relationship between information timeliness and well-being. Information accuracy, as the moderator, strengthens the association between information timeliness and loneliness. No impact of information on family-work conflict was observed. Our findings suggest that organizations that convey precise and punctual messages to employees have distinct routes for reducing work-family interference and loneliness and ultimately improving employees’ well-being in remote work contexts. This study contributes to the wider telework literature through information experience.

Analysis of burnout syndrome on the quality of nursing work life during COVID-19 pandemic

Background: Amid the long struggle against the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses are experiencing physical and psychological fatigue. This study aimed to analyze the impact of burnout syndrome on the quality of work life of nurses in Madiun, Indonesia. Methods: In this study, researchers used a quantitative approach with data sources from questionnaires through Google form with a total of 1299 respondents, and data processing was carried out using structural equation model-partial least square (SEM-PLS). Results: The results showed that burnout syndrome has a significant effect on the quality of nurses' work life with p-value=0.004, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal achievement have a significant influence on the incidence of burnout syndrome with p-value=0.000, and work-life-home life, work context, and work design have a considerable influence with p-value=0.000, on the quality of nursing work life in nurses in Madiun, Indonesia. Conclusion: Recognizing burnout in healthcare workers during an outbreak was crucial to minimizing its impact and ensuring their well-being. This study can help stakeholders make decisions about work distribution, compensation, and creating a supportive work environment.

Challenges to well-being in critical care.

Paediatric critical care (PCC) is a high-pressure working environment. Staff experience high levels of burnout, symptoms of post-traumatic stress, and moral distress. To understand challenges to workplace well-being in PCC to help inform the development of staff interventions to improve and maintain well-being. The Enhanced Critical Incident Technique (ECIT) was used. ECIT encompasses semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis. We identified 'critical incidents', challenges to well-being, categorized them in a meaningful way, and identified factors which helped and hindered in those moments. Fifty-three nurses and doctors from a large UK quaternary PCC unit were consented to take part. Themes generated are: Context of working in PCC, which examined staff's experiences of working in PCC generally and during COVID-19; Patient care and moral distress explored significant challenges to well-being faced by staff caring for increasingly complex and chronically ill patients; Teamwork and leadership demonstrated the importance of team-belonging and clear leadership; Changing workforce explored the impact of staffing shortages and the ageing workforce on well-being; and Satisfying basic human needs, which identified absences in basic requirements of food and rest. Staff's experiential accounts demonstrated a clear need for psychologically informed environments to enable the sharing of vulnerabilities, foster support, and maintain workplace well-being. Themes resonated with the self-determination theory and Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which outline requirements for fulfilment (self-actualization). Well-being interventions must be informed by psychological theory and evidence. Recommendations are flexible rostering, advanced communication training, psychologically-informed support, supervision/mentoring training, adequate accommodation and hot food. Investment is required to develop successful interventions to improve workplace well-being.

Organizational Ethics in Healthcare: A National Survey.

Organizational ethics-defined as the alignment of an institution's practices with its mission, vision, and values-is a growing field in health care not well characterized in empirical literature. To capture the scope and context of organizational ethics work in United States healthcare institutions, we conducted a nationwide convenience survey of ethicists regarding the scope of organizational ethics work, common challenges faced, and the organizational context in which this work is done. In this article, we report substantial variability in the structure of organizational ethics programs and the settings in which it is conducted. Notable findings included disagreement about the activities that comprise organizational ethics and a lack of common metrics used to assess organizational ethics activities. A frequently cited barrier to full engagement in these activities was poor institution-wide understanding about the role and function of organizational ethics resources. These data suggest a tension in the trajectory of organizational ethics' professionalization: while some variability is appropriate to the field's relative youth, inadequate attention to definitions of organizational ethics practice and metrics for success can impede discussions about appropriate institutional support, leadership context, and training for practitioners.

Work interruptions of office workers: The influence of the complexity of primary work tasks on the perception of interruptions.

Research demonstrates that work interruptions are considered one of the most common work stressors. Understanding the mechanisms of work interruptions is therefore vital to reducing worker stress and maintaining performance. The aim of this research is to investigate the influence of the frequency of work interruptions on subjective workload in the context of office work. Specifically, the mediating influence of interruption perception as well as the moderating influence of the complexity of the primary task are examined. The work interruptions of 492 office workers in Germany were collected by means of a one-day diary study. A mediation model and a conditional indirect effect model were calculated to examine the influence of interruption frequency on subjective workload, mediated by the individual perception of these interruptions as well as moderated by the complexity of the primary work tasks. The analyses indicated a significant mediation and moderation. This implies that, on the one hand, the perception of work interruptions significantly mediates the relationship between the frequency of work interruptions and subjective workload. On the other hand, more complex primary work tasks seem to strengthen the positive relationship between interruption frequency and perceived interruption overload. The study underlines that work interruptions need to be considered in a much more differentiated way than is currently the case. Both in research and in terms of intervention measures in the work context, the various influencing factors need to be identified for an assessment of the effects on the working person to be possible.

Talking about relational youth work: why language matters

ABSTRACT The literature on youth work emphasises the importance of ‘relationship’ to good practice, moreover, the characteristics of the youth-work relationship have been posited as a defining feature of youth work in the British-influenced tradition. Despite this, little attention is paid to the choice of language used to describe how professional youth workers relate to young people, or how language choices reflect political framing of youth work and of power relationships within their practice. Language choice has implications for how youth workers perceive their professional identity, for how accountability is construed, and for inter-professional working. In this article we undertake a thematic analysis to identify, analyse and critique various language options, drawing on international literature, with an application focus on Irish and Australian contexts. We address the question, ‘what language choices offer most precision and clarity about youth work professional relationships in different contexts?’ We identify three main ways the relationship between youth workers and young people has been framed: as collaboration; as transaction; or, as rights-based entitlement. We conclude with discussion of how different relational language choices in youth work should be selected to be congruent with the youth work context, power relationships and purposes.

Institutional and organisational influence on mental health management in Spanish and Italian primary care

PurposeThis study aims to investigate how institutional and organisational factors affect case management of patients with mental disorders by GPs in Italy and Spain. The paper highlights the importance of improving the effectiveness of primary care to ensure easy access to mental health services, which is crucial in responding to the increasing incidence of mental disorders and preventing negative outcomes.Design/methodology/approachThis article details a qualitative research study that examines the management of patients with mental disorders by general practitioners (GPs) in Italy and Spain, using cross-national comparison and in-depth interviews with GPs as research methods.FindingsThe study revealed that Italian self-employed GPs have more scheduling autonomy than Spanish Health Centre GPs. Both face high work pressure and resource scarcity, highlighting the need for targeted training. The COVID-19 pandemic led to a rise in phone consultations.Originality/valueThis study provides novel insights into mental health management by examining the case management of patients with mental disorders by GPs in Italy and Spain, with a focus on the impact of institutional and organisational factors. The cross-national comparison and in-depth interviews enhance the originality of the study, offering a nuanced understanding of the constraints faced by GPs in their work context. Furthermore, the comparison of the similar primary care frameworks of Italy and Spain may offer insight into their evolution.

Creating life in the laboratory: Francis Bacon's journey from living spirits to animate bodies

This article aims to reconstruct a complex inquiry into the nature of life delineated in Francis Bacon's ‘last writings’, a series of manuscripts discovered at the end of the twentieth century. I show that these fragmentary texts can be understood if we place them in the larger context of Bacon's posthumous works: the Sylva Sylvarum and the Historia densi et rari . Taken together, these texts unveil Bacon's last bold project of a History and inquisition into the nature of animate and inanimate [ Historia et inquisitio de animato et inanimato ], an investigation focusing on the possibility of creating life in the laboratory. I show that Bacon's last project marks a revaluation of earlier definitions and explanations regarding the nature of life, as well as a change in the vocabulary. I suggest that some of these changes might have originated in practice; and I show how various recipes, observations and experiments recorded in Bacon's late writings can illuminate and justify some of his new terminology.

The impact of community resilience, well-being, and community attachment on human service workers’ burnout

Summary Burnout has become an increasingly prevalent condition, especially affecting professionals in direct contact with clients. Human service workers (HSWs) have quite emotionally taxing jobs supporting vulnerable groups. In developing a close relationship with the communities they work with, it could be possible that community-related variables have an impact on HSWs’ burnout. We aim to analyze the prevalence of burnout in a sample of HSWs from Portugal and the role of community resilience as a predictor of their burnout, as well as explore if their subjective well-being and community attachment could explain the relationship between community resilience and burnout, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected through an online questionnaire between August 2020 and January 2021 ( N = 598). Findings Results indicate that HSWs presented medium to low levels of burnout, although 8.9% presented high levels. Those who reported lower levels of burnout perceived higher community resilience and had much higher well-being and community attachment. Findings point to community resilience having a significant direct effect on burnout and also an indirect effect, which was explained by subjective well-being and community attachment. Applications Results seem to suggest that this sample's low-medium levels of burnout could be linked to the benefit of experiencing high community attachment and working in communities with high resilience, which consequently impacted their well-being and burnout. This highlights the crucial role of the work context in professionals’ mental health, showing that a broader context needs to be considered in professional mental health promotion programs.

Proximal versus distal temporal orientation in an infinite game: lessons from the 1892 Homestead Massacre

PurposeWorking conditions, pay rates and the rights of workers to collectively negotiate have become important points of discussions in recent years, with support for unions and union applications rising to levels long unseen in America. In many instances, though, companies have responded aggressively. This is not the first time such a dynamic has played out in American business. This study aims to take a fresh look at one of America’s most prominent historical disputes between labor and ownership – the Homestead Massacre of 1892 – to glean lessons from that conflict that remain relevant to today’s business environment.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts game theory and the principles of repeated interaction to assess how differing discount factors led to differences in time orientations between the workers and the Carnegie company. These differing time orientations affected both the strategy each side deployed in the negotiations and the payoffs received by the parties. Letters, contemporary news reports and histories of the events leading up to and immediately following the 1892 Homestead Massacre are qualitatively analyzed with a genealogical pragmatic approach.FindingsDifferences in temporal orientation between management and workers exacerbated the conflict, with the workers adopting a more cooperative stance and distal time orientation, while the Carnegie company negotiated with a proximal time orientation and played to “win” a game that, in fact, could not be fully won or lost given its infinitely repeating nature. The result was a short-term victory for the Carnegie company but with long-term negative consequences that highlight the suboptimal outcome the company achieved by playing a proximal strategy in an infinite game.Originality/valueAlthough the incident at Homestead is a well-studied labor dispute, many of the themes that preceded the incident have resurfaced in the modern work context. This work, by adopting game theory as an analytical framework, provides new insights into management mistakes that led to the labor conflict and lessons for what present-day managers can do to avoid exacerbating labor strife.

Improving digital work experience: an experimental investigation of IT identity and organization support

PurposeImproving digital work experience is critical for the job performance of individuals and the competitiveness of organizations due to their increasing use. This paper investigates how organization support affects the digital work experience of individuals differently depending on their levels of information technology (IT) identity.Design/methodology/approachDrawing upon the IT identity literature and the conservation of resources (COR) theory, a conceptual model is developed, tested and validated using the data collected in Australia through an experimental design in which IT identity is manipulated.FindingsThis study reveals a nuanced impact of organization support on shaping digital work experience. Specifically, it finds that technical support is more effective in improving the digital work experience of individuals with a high level of IT identity, whereas well-being support is more effective in enhancing the digital work experience of individuals with a low level of IT identity.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the IT identity literature by introducing a novel experimental design to manipulate IT identity in the digital work context. It also contributes to the digital work literature by introducing a resource perspective for identifying well-being support, technical support and IT identity as the key resources in shaping digital work experience and calling for attention to IT identity as a boundary condition on the effectiveness of organization support. The findings can help organizations formulate better strategies and policies to improve digital work experience by providing tailored support to individuals with different levels of IT identity.

The art of staying in touch – exploring daily feedback interactions between a leader and a subordinate in remote work

PurposeThis study aims to widen the understanding of how remote work shapes the feedback environment by examining the perceptions of leaders and subordinates of daily, dyadic feedback interactions. The emphasis is on understanding how reciprocity within leader-member exchange (LMX) relationships manifests and how it influences the feedback dynamics.Design/methodology/approachTemplate analysis of a qualitative data set consisting of 81 semi-structured interviews with leaders (n = 29) and remote working subordinates (n = 52) was performed.FindingsDrawing on the theoretical frameworks of the feedback environment and the leader-member exchange, the findings demonstrate the imbalance between the efforts of leaders and subordinates in building and maintaining a favourable feedback environment in the remote work context. The results of this study highlight the importance of the dyadic nature of feedback interactions, calling for a more proactive role from subordinates.Practical implicationsGiven the estimation that the COVID-19 pandemic has permanently changed the way organizations work, leaders, subordinates and HR practitioners will benefit from advancing their understanding of the characteristics of dyadic, daily feedback interaction in remote work.Originality/valueQualitative research on feedback and leader-member exchange interactions in remote work that combines the perceptions of leaders and subordinates is sparse.

Training under an extreme context: the role of organizational support and adaptability on the motivation transfer and performance after training

PurposeThe present study used the job-demands and resources (JD-R) framework to understand how the training is transferred to an extreme working context through the analysis of job and personal resources (social support from the leader and colleagues and adaptability). Specifically, the authors tested the mediating role of motivation to transfer in the relationship (1) between the perceived support from the supervisor and colleagues and performance after training and (2) between adaptability and performance in an extreme context of the pandemic crisis – the first peak of COVID-19 in Portugal. Further, an inspection of the factors that predicted knowledge transfer and adaptability under an extreme context was carried out.Design/methodology/approachTo do so, necessary training about the new safety rules regarding the pandemic crisis of COVID-19 was implemented in a healthcare institution as a strategy to help healthcare workers deal with the increasing uncertainty and complexity that was threatening their work. It consisted of three sessions (each with one hour of training) regarding procedures, rules and safety norms. The training occurred in May 2020. Overall, 291 healthcare workers participated in the study and answered one online questionnaire one week after training completion.FindingsThe results showed that the motivation to transfer had a significant indirect effect on the relationship between colleagues' and supervisors' support and performance and between adaptability and performance. Additionally, complementary analyses showed that the mediations depended on the levels of self-efficacy in such a way that the indirect relationships were stronger when self-efficacy was higher. Thus, adaptability and support, both from colleagues and the supervisor, are determining factors for knowledge transfer and resultant performance in extreme contexts, such as the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Lastly, the results showed that the most significant predictors of transference were self-efficacy and the motivation to transfer the learned knowledge. On the other hand, self-efficacy, peer support and the opportunity to use the knowledge were the most significant predictors of adaptability.Practical implicationsThese findings provide support for the role of employee motivation to transfer as a mechanism connecting both perceived support and adaptability to performance outcomes under extreme working contexts.Originality/valueThis study, conducted in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic context – an extreme and uncertain working context – shows the relevance of both job and individual factors to predict employees' adaptability to such contexts.

Translating psychosocial safety climate (PSC) into real-world practice: two PSC intervention case studies.

Translating research into practice is often a goal for evidence-based organizational researchers to help improve workplace conditions and worker well-being. Improving worker well-being can be achieved by using empirical evidence to inform organizational interventions. However, despite the well-established intervention literature, practitioners appear not to appreciate fully how research findings can inform real-world practice. Using our understanding about workplace safety and health issues, we proposed that employers themselves could undertake interventions that focus on building psychosocial safety climate (PSC), an essential organizational climate that protects and promotes the psychological well-being of workers. Here we present 2 case studies to illustrate strategies that improve psychosocial safety and to increase our understanding about how interventions help improve PSC over time. Case Study 1 was conducted in an Australian public organization and Case Study 2 was in an international private organization. We collected survey data using the PSC-12 scale, to assess the level of PSC of the organization before and after the intervention, and details of the intervention and other initiatives for promoting employees' psychological health. Our evaluation supported the proposition that interventions that combine organizational-level and individual-level (and the interface between the two) approaches with a focus on the core elements of PSC (such as commitment, priority, communication, and participation) improve an organization's PSC over time. The research not only elucidates important practical implications for organizations trialing new psychosocial safety initiatives, but also makes an important contribution to theory in work stress intervention on best practice and principles to build a psychologically healthy work context.

The psychological well-being of schoolteachers in South Africa: A critical review

Teaching is a stressful occupation associated with various challenges that may adversely affect schoolteachers’ psychological well-being (PWB) and the provision of quality basic education. The nature and effects of teacher PWB may depend on their work context. This critical review aimed to synthesise and evaluate the evidence from available scientific literature on schoolteacher PWB within the South African context. We searched the following databases: African Journals, NWU-IR, Academic Search Complete, Africa-Wide Information, APA PsycInfo, OAlster, Directory of Open Access Journals, Library Catalogue, SciELO, SocINDEX with Full Text, MEDLINE, ERIC, CINAHL with Full Text, Springer Nature Journals, Teacher Reference Center, SPORTDiscus with Full Text, and Business Source Complete. For rigour of the search and analysis process, we employed the Search, AppraisaL, Synthesis, and Analysis (SALSA) method. This critical review research study included a final sample of 12 studies. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data, and the following themes were identified: teaching as a stressful occupation; intrapersonal factors that affect teachers’ PWB; contextual factors that influence teachers’ PWB; differences in levels of teacher PWB; and the consequences of high or low levels of teacher PWB. To work towards the provision of quality basic education, it is vital to first acknowledge the importance of schoolteachers’ PWB in South Africa. With a clear and comprehensive understanding of teacher PWB, it is possible to implement interventions to promote and enhance teachers’ PWB in schools in South Africa.