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Article
Publication date: 7 August 2017

Victoria Blom, Pia Svedberg, Gunnar Bergström, Lisa Mather and Petra Lindfors

Focusing on 420 women employed within the woman-dominated health care sector, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how any variation in their total workload (TWL) in terms…

Abstract

Purpose

Focusing on 420 women employed within the woman-dominated health care sector, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how any variation in their total workload (TWL) in terms of paid and unpaid work relate to various subjective health complaints (SHC) (n=420) and the neuroendocrine stress marker cortisol (n=68).

Design/methodology/approach

The authors explored how any variation in their TWL in terms of paid and unpaid work related cross-sectionally to SHC (n=420), and the neuroendocrine stress marker cortisol (n=68).

Findings

Hierarchical regression analyses showed that stress of unpaid work was most strongly related to diurnal variations in cortisol. Both stress of paid and unpaid work as well as TWL stress, but not hours spent on TWL, were related to SHC.

Practical implications

Taken together, objective measures of hours spent on various TWL domains were unrelated to outcome measures while perceptions of having too much TWL and TWL stress were linked to both cortisol and SHC, i.e. how individuals perceive a situation seem to be more important for health than the actual situation, which has implications for research and efforts to reduce individual TWL.

Originality/value

This study is unique in showing that unpaid work and perceptions having too much TWL relate to stress markers in women working in the public health care sector.

Details

International Journal of Workplace Health Management, vol. 10 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8351

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 March 2016

Victoria Blom, Lennart Bodin, Gunnar Bergström and Pia Svedberg

The purpose of this paper is to study the demand-control-support (DCS) model on burnout in male and female managers and non-managers, taking into account genetic and shared family…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the demand-control-support (DCS) model on burnout in male and female managers and non-managers, taking into account genetic and shared family environmental factors, contributing to the understanding of mechanisms of how and when work stress is related to burnout.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 5,510 individuals in complete same-sex twin pairs from the Swedish Twin Registry were included in the analyses. Co-twin control analyses were performed using linear mixed modeling, comparing between-pairs and within-pair effects, stratified by zygosity and sex.

Findings

Managers scored higher on demands and control in their work than non-managers, and female managers seem to be particularly at risk for burnout facing more demands which are not reduced by a higher control as in their male counterparts. Co-twin analyses showed that associations between control and burnout as well as between demands and burnout seem to be affected by shared family environmental factors in male non-managers but not in male managers in which instead the associations between social support and burnout seem to be influenced by shared family environment.

Practical implications

Taken together, the study offers knowledge that shared environment as well as sex and managerial status are important factors to consider in how DCS is associated to exhaustion.

Originality/value

Using twin data with possibilities to control for genetics, shared environment, sex and age, this study offers unique insight into the DCS research, which focusses primarily on the workplace environment rather than individual factors.

Details

International Journal of Workplace Health Management, vol. 9 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8351

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 1 November 2006

83

Abstract

Details

Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials, vol. 53 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0003-5599

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 February 2018

Roy Liff and Gunnar Wahlstrom

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the management control system, the bank’s control package, influences opinion about the usefulness of risk measurement (RM) in…

4489

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the management control system, the bank’s control package, influences opinion about the usefulness of risk measurement (RM) in different control contexts before and after a financial crisis, to understand what influences the usefulness of enterprise risk management (ERM) manifested in RM.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is based on semi-structured interviews in 2000-2010, with senior bank managers of two international banks (Bank A and Bank B) – both ranking among the top 100 in the world but differing structurally and culturally.

Findings

The two banks took opposite trajectories. Bank A went from high to low expectations of usefulness; Bank B went from low to high expectations. The different attitudes toward RM exhibited by Bank A and Bank B are explained by differences in their control packages, manifested by technocratic control and socio-ideology.

Originality/value

This study reveals that there are not merely different degrees of RM usage in the two banks but that they also show two diverting trajectories. Given this finding, the significance of the organization structure and its control packages (especially the alignment between these two factors) is analyzed to find a plausible explanation for the different experiences of senior managers toward the usefulness of RM. This study contributes to ERM research and to the contingency theory of management accounting.

Details

Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, vol. 15 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1176-6093

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 19 January 2024

Ingrid Campo-Ruiz

The aim of this research is to understand the relationship between cultural buildings, economic powers and social justice and equality in architecture and how this relationship…

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this research is to understand the relationship between cultural buildings, economic powers and social justice and equality in architecture and how this relationship has evolved over the last hundred years. This research seeks to identify architectural and urban elements that enhance social justice and equality to inform architectural and urban designs and public policies.

Design/methodology/approach

The author explores the relationship between case studies of museums, cultural centers and libraries, and economic powers between 1920 and 2020 in Stockholm, Sweden. The author conducts a historical analysis and combines it with statistical and geographically referenced information in a Geographic Information System, archival data and in situ observations of selected buildings in the city. The author leverages the median income of household data from Statistics Sweden, with the geographical location of main public buildings and the headquarters of main companies operating in Sweden.

Findings

This analysis presents a gradual commercialization of cultural buildings in terms of location, inner layout and management, and the parallel filtering and transforming of the role of users. The author assesses how these cultural buildings gradually conformed to a system in the city and engaged with the market from a more local and national level to global networks. Findings show a cluster of large public buildings in the center of Stockholm, the largest global companies' headquarters and high-income median households. Results show that large shares of the low-income population now live far away from these buildings and the increasing commercialization of cultural space and inequalities.

Originality/value

This research provides a novel image of urban inequalities in Stockholm focusing on cultural buildings and their relationship with economic powers over the last hundred years. Cultural buildings could be a tool to support equality and stronger democracy beyond their primary use. Public cultural buildings offer a compromise between generating revenue for the private sector while catering to the needs and interests of large numbers of people. Therefore, policymakers should consider emphasizing the construction of more engaging public cultural buildings in more distributed locations.

Details

Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2631-6862

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 June 2010

Gunnar Aronsson and Victoria Blom

The aim of this paper is to investigate which work‐ and private life factors are associated with long‐term health, operationalized as low sickness absence and low sickness…

1423

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to investigate which work‐ and private life factors are associated with long‐term health, operationalized as low sickness absence and low sickness presence.

Design/methodology/approach

A representative sample of 2,297 individuals responded to a questionnaire on two occasions at an interval of one year. In total, 28 percent were classified as having good long‐term health.

Findings

Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that some quality‐related work environment factors were rather strongly associated with long‐term health. For some variables women showed a clear dose‐response pattern on the three‐level scale alternatives in relation to health, while men had a more asymmetric response pattern. The results are discussed in relation to the symmetry in the work environment factors, i.e. if there are different factors that explain health and illness.

Practical implications

Issues concerning health and health‐enhancing factors are of considerable interest to practitioners concerned with management issues, organizational structure, and rehabilitation.

Originality/value

The paper shows the importance of including a positive health variable within the health research paradigm to supplement the dominance of variables focusing on illness and disease.

Details

International Journal of Workplace Health Management, vol. 3 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8351

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 September 2011

Gunnar Aronsson, Klas Gustafsson and Christin Mellner

The purpose of this paper is to compare sickness presence (SP) and sickness absence (SA) regarding the strength of their relationship to health/ill‐health. In a previous Canadian…

1233

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to compare sickness presence (SP) and sickness absence (SA) regarding the strength of their relationship to health/ill‐health. In a previous Canadian study a stronger association between SP and health/ill‐health than between SA and health/ill‐health was shown.

Design/methodology/approach

Five Swedish data sets from the years 1992 to 2005 provided the study populations, including both representative samples and specific occupational groups (n=425‐3,622). Univariate correlations and multiple logistic regression analyses were performed. The data sets contained questions on SP and SA as well as on various health complaints and, in some cases, self‐rated health (SRH).

Findings

The general trend was that correlations and odds ratios increased regularly for both SP and SA, with SP showing the highest values. In one data set, SRH was predicted by a combination of the two measures, with an explained variance of 25 percent. Stratified analyses showed that the more irreplaceable an individual is at work, the larger is the difference in correlation size between SP and SA with regard to SRH. SP also showed an accentuated and stronger association with SRH than SA among individuals reporting poor economic circumstances.

Practical implications

The results support the notion that SA is an insufficient, and even misleading, measure of health status for certain groups in the labor market, which seem to have poorer health than the measure of SA would indicate.

Orginality/value

A combined measure of sickness presence and absence may be worth considering as an indicator of both individual and organizational health status.

Details

International Journal of Workplace Health Management, vol. 4 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8351

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 February 2010

Gunnar Augustsson, Gunilla Olofsdotter and Lars‐Erik Wolvén

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the complexity of manpower management in temporary work agencies (TWA). The aim is to investigate to which extent the managers reflects…

2965

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the complexity of manpower management in temporary work agencies (TWA). The aim is to investigate to which extent the managers reflects the features of boundary spanners.

Design/methodology/approach

The results come from a case study where manpower managers at one of the biggest TWAs in Sweden are interviewed.

Findings

TWAs' boundary‐spanning managers mediate between the opinions of the clients, the TWAs, and the individual temps as well as balancing between trust and risk. The findings reveal the relevance of the managers' application of a flexible and a dialectical approach when delivering service to clients, the TWA and the temps. This flexible approach means being able to simultaneously embrace these three perspectives of interests. A dialectical approach involves being able to: systematically balance between the opposing pair of trust and risk and search for the most functional option and not relate others' opinions to one's own personal values.

Research limitations/implications

The interview data come from a case study at only one TWA and it is collected in a limited number of interview subjects.

Practical implications

The results can provide useful information for recruiters of manpower managers in a TWA when choosing staff members that can enhance strategic management of temps. The results can also be of assistance for managers when interacting with both customers and temps.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to the literature by an analysis of the complex working conditions under which manpower managers in TWAs work.

Details

Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 31 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7739

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 February 2014

Gunnar Augustsson

– The purpose of this study is to identify temporary workers' (temps') expected conditions for learning when they are leased to a client company (CC) for numerical flexibility.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to identify temporary workers' (temps') expected conditions for learning when they are leased to a client company (CC) for numerical flexibility.

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis is based on a phenomenological approach containing 121 transcribed interviews with employees and managers who were active in more than 10 CCs' in seven industries and from seven temporary work agencies.

Findings

One important finding is that the CC expects temps not to learn something about the surrounding organization, but to limit themselves only to the concrete tasks assigned to them. Another is that temps' opportunities to influence organizational conditions in the CCs seem to be cut off in a strategic way.

Research limitations/implications

Results are valid for interviewees' expressed thoughts and expectations about temps' workplace learning, not about an actual separation between knowledge and actions in the working conditions.

Practical implications

CCs associate temps with learning backgrounds that allow them to perform subordinate tasks, such as routine, instructional, or regulatory duties. They associate regular staff with more advanced learning backgrounds and tasks more directly related to occupation and workplace. CCs could benefit from accepting the exchange of knowledge and competence between temps and the company, rather than neglecting it.

Originality/value

The originality of this paper lies in its contribution to the relatively unexplored topic of workplace learning and leaders and employees' expectations of temps.

Details

Journal of Workplace Learning, vol. 26 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1366-5626

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 November 2010

Kristina Jonäll and Gunnar Rimmel

The purpose of this paper is to describe and interpret the CEO letter in the annual reports of three multinational Swedish companies. This study focuses on the CEOs' comments on…

1399

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe and interpret the CEO letter in the annual reports of three multinational Swedish companies. This study focuses on the CEOs' comments on accounting principles and rules, on company decisions and actions, and on external events. Examination of CEO letters reveals how CEOs make themselves accountable to readers and establish their own and their companies' legitimacy.

Design/methodology/approach

A strategic design was used to select the three companies;.the three criteria used in making the selection were company nationality, age, and stock market listing. A fourth criterion was that the company had been a nominee in the Stockholm Stock Exchange “Best Annual Report” contest. Based on a social constructivist approach, with inspiration from the field of discourse psychology, a discursive action model (DAM) is applied in this research.

Findings

The analysis shows that the CEO letters at two of the three companies do not emphasize numbers and text. In the third company's CEO letters, the numbers are an important component and are balanced with text. It was found that one explanation of the CEO letter format is the CEO's wish to persuade readers of the company's legitimacy, excellence, and future survival. The CEO letter is intended to strengthen readers' confidence in the company.

Originality/value

This paper provides insight into how CEOs use CEO letters in annual reports to craft a corporate image for readers.

Details

Journal of Human Resource Costing & Accounting, vol. 14 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1401-338X

Keywords

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