Search results
1 – 10 of 14Marie-Hélène Gilbert, Julie Dextras-Gauthier, Maude Boulet, Isabelle Auclair, Justine Dima and Frédéric Boucher
Maintaining a healthy and productive workforce is a challenge for most organizations. This is even truer for health organization, facing staff shortages and work overload. The aim…
Abstract
Purpose
Maintaining a healthy and productive workforce is a challenge for most organizations. This is even truer for health organization, facing staff shortages and work overload. The aim of this study is to identify the resources and constraints that influence managers' mental health and better understand how they are affected by them.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative approach was chosen to document the resources, the constraints as well as their consequences on managers in their day-to-day realities. The sample included executive-, intermediate- and first-level managers from a Canadian healthcare facility. A total of 62 semi-structured interviews were conducted. The coding process was based on the IGLOO model of Nielsen et al. (2018) to which an employee-related level was added (IGELOO).
Findings
Results highlight the importance of considering both resources as well as constraints in examining managers' mental health. Overarching context, organizational constraints and the management of difficult employees played important roles in the stress experienced by managers.
Practical implications
The results offer a better understanding of the importance of intervening at different levels to promote better organizational health. Results also highlight the importance of setting up organizational resources and act on the various constraints to reduce them. Different individual strategies used by managers to deal with the various constraints and maintain their mental health also emerge from those results.
Originality/value
In addition to addressing the reality of healthcare managers, this study supplements a theoretical model and suggests avenues for interventions promoting more sustainable organizational health.
Details
Keywords
Beth Clark, Julie Doyle, Owen Bull, Sophie McClean and Tom Hill
Vitamin D deficiency is a well-recognised public health problem within the UK, with specific population groups more vulnerable to deficiency. Two pilot studies were used to…
Abstract
Purpose
Vitamin D deficiency is a well-recognised public health problem within the UK, with specific population groups more vulnerable to deficiency. Two pilot studies were used to explore awareness of vitamin D deficiency and attitudes towards food fortification.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey of 120 participants from five at-risk groups (South Asians, Blacks, Middle Eastern, Far Eastern and Caucasian older adults over 65 years) plus a group of British Caucasians who do not avoid sun exposure explored awareness of vitamin D, sun exposure knowledge and behaviour and attitudes towards food fortification. The latter group was included to provide a comparison group who were at a reduced risk of deficiency. χ2 was used to test associations between categorical variables and the study groups. The second study used three focus groups and two interviews, conducted on young South Asian females and examined knowledge and awareness of vitamin D and vitamin D-fortified foods.
Findings
A lack of knowledge and misconceptions were highlighted by both studies in relation to at-risk factors, including sunlight exposure (p = 0.037), dietary intakes (p = 0.0174) and darker skin pigmentation (p = 0.023), sources of vitamin D and the health benefits associated with optimal consumption. Attitudes to mandatory fortification of some foods varied significantly (p = 0.004) between the groups with acceptance rates for Blacks (68 per cent), those over 65 years (50 per cent), Middle Eastern (67 per cent) and Far Eastern (73 per cent), whereas the control (71 per cent) showed no acceptance, and South Asians gave a mixed response (48 per cent No). Focus group findings highlighted positive views towards fortification, although this was less for mandatory as opposed to voluntary fortification. Both pilot studies highlight the need for more research into this area, to create more effective public health policies.
Originality/value
The research presents novel insights into a topical area where there is limited research.
Details
Keywords
Diane Crone, Linda Heaney, Rhiannon Herbert, Jennifer Morgan, Lynne Johnston and Rob Macpherson
People with long‐term mental health problems have a considerably higher risk of physical illness and premature mortality than the general population. This paper describes a survey…
Abstract
People with long‐term mental health problems have a considerably higher risk of physical illness and premature mortality than the general population. This paper describes a survey of lifestyle behaviours and health perceptions of people with severe mental illness (SMI) living in Gloucester. Findings were compared with data from the general population of Gloucestershire to reveal significant health differences that are currently being addressed through a multi‐agency health alliance established to initiate targeted health promoting opportunities for people with severe mental illness in the community.
Jingqiu Chen, Lei Wang, Minyan Huang and Julie Spencer‐Rodgers
This research aims to examine the relationships among employee commitment to change, naïve dialecticism, and performance change in the context of change in Chinese state‐owned…
Abstract
Purpose
This research aims to examine the relationships among employee commitment to change, naïve dialecticism, and performance change in the context of change in Chinese state‐owned enterprises (SOEs).
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 287 employee‐supervisor matched data were collected by questionnaire from three Chinese SOEs implementing a major change on sector restructuring.
Findings
Results showed that affective commitment to change was related to performance change. Change thinking was positively related to all three components of commitment to change, whereas contradictory thinking was negatively related to affective commitment to change. Affective commitment to change fully mediated the association between contradictory thinking and performance change.
Originality/value
This research integrates “outside in” and “inside out” approaches to contextualize commitment to change studies in China. An “outside in” approach was followed to investigate the relationship between commitment to change and performance change, whereas an “inside out” approach was followed to add valuable insights to the commitment to change model from the point of view of Chinese naïve dialecticism.
Details
Keywords
Since its origins during the Second World War, the computer industry has grown more rapidly than any other technology in history, and this growth has spawned a wealth of new terms…
Abstract
Since its origins during the Second World War, the computer industry has grown more rapidly than any other technology in history, and this growth has spawned a wealth of new terms and manners‐of‐speaking to describe computers and the uses to which they can be put. Such terms are often referred to collectively as computerese. The thesis of Barry's entertaining book is that the use of computerese is increasingly being extended to a wealth of other subjects that are often totally unrelated to computing. Barry refers to this use (or abuse) of language as technobabble: the subject matter and the pleasingly tongue‐in‐cheek style can be judged from the introduction, which starts as follows: ‘This paper‐based, productized bookware module is designed to support the robust implementation of a friendly, context‐driven interface between the developer and the end‐user. Did you understand this sentence? If so, you are fluent in technobabble’.
Julie M. Haney and Wayne G. Lutters
Cybersecurity advocates safeguard their organizations by promoting security best practices. This paper aims to describe the skills and characteristics of successful advocates.
Abstract
Purpose
Cybersecurity advocates safeguard their organizations by promoting security best practices. This paper aims to describe the skills and characteristics of successful advocates.
Design/methodology/approach
This study involved 28 in-depth interviews of cybersecurity advocates.
Findings
Effective advocates possess not only technical acumen but also interpersonal skills, communication skills context awareness and a customer service orientation.
Practical implications
Non-technical skills are deemphasized in cybersecurity training, limiting career progression into the cybersecurity advocate role for existing security professionals and those from other disciplines. This paper suggests improvements for professional development that encourage greater security workforce diversity.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to define and enumerate competencies for the role of cybersecurity advocate.
Details