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1 – 10 of 245L.E. Falkenberg, M.L. Monachello and L.C. Edlund
One of the major challenges for managing human resources in the 1990s is to appropriately respond to employees having to manage the dual responsibilities of home and work (Paris…
Abstract
One of the major challenges for managing human resources in the 1990s is to appropriately respond to employees having to manage the dual responsibilities of home and work (Paris, 1989). Balancing work and family has been considered a women's issue, with the question being whether women could handle both the home demands and the responsibilities of a paid job. Yet the entrance of women into the workforce has also required major role adjustments by their husbands. According to the traditional model of work, husbands prioritize work over family with the wife providing the necessary emotional and physical support to keep the husband in “good working order” (Pleck, 1977). In today's society, this model is no longer widely applicable, as men in dual earner families receive less emotional support than their single‐earner counterparts (Burke, & Weir, 1976; Keith, & Schafer, 1980) and tend to assume greater family responsibilities (Holahan, & Gilbert, 1979; Weingarten, 1978).
Ulrica von Thiele Schwarz and Petra Lindfors
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects on fitness outcomes of a work-based physical exercise (PE) intervention among women working in older people’s care. In…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects on fitness outcomes of a work-based physical exercise (PE) intervention among women working in older people’s care. In addition, effects on productivity-related outcomes including work ability and sickness absence were studied.
Design/methodology/approach
Employees participated in a one-year intervention involving two one-hour weekly mandatory PE sessions. The intervention (n=13) was compared to referents (n=12). Fitness tests and self-reports on work ability and sickness absence were obtained before the intervention (T1), six months into the intervention and after 12 months.
Findings
Fitness test scores (corrected for age and weight) increased significantly over time in the intervention group but not among referents. Perceived exertion decreased significantly in the intervention group and increased significantly among referents. For self-rated work ability and sickness absence, no significant time or group differences emerged.
Research limitations/implications
Further research on larger groups of women is needed to delineate the effects of PE on self-rated productivity and performance.
Practical implications
Work-based PE programs can improve fitness among women in older people’s care.
Social implications
With previous research having primarily focussed on men, this study shows that women in blue-collar jobs also may benefit from taking part in work-based PE programs.
Originality/value
This paper makes an important contribution through its focus on the effects of a work-based PE program on fitness and possible relations to productivity, among employed women.
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Davide Secchi, Hong T.M. Bui and Kathleen Gamroth
The purpose of this paper is to investigate recent healthcare reform in the USA, which allows insurance companies to proactively intervene in improving the long-term health of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate recent healthcare reform in the USA, which allows insurance companies to proactively intervene in improving the long-term health of employees, by providing wellness programs as part of their benefits package.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors present and analyze data on how employees of a large US Midwest “media and education” company (n=154) perceive economic incentives toward well-being. Data are collected using survey methods and analyzed with a logistic regression.
Findings
This study suggests that fairness, accessibility, intention to switch to a healthier lifestyle and desire to see more health-related initiatives affect the way employees seek to participate in the new involuntary wellness programs. By contrast, satisfaction, participation, and income to not affect how these new programs are perceived.
Research limitations/implications
These findings suggest that human resource managers should pay attention to employees who are not active in existing wellness programs, and provide support during the transition toward the new involuntary programs, to avoid potential frustration, demotivation, disengagement and, ultimately, decreasing performance among employees.
Originality/value
The study is among the first to analyze involuntary wellness programs in the USA, and it provides a basis on which to expand further studies. This research contributes to support the idea that employee wellness is unlikely to be enforced by rule or policy.
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Patricia Genoe McLaren, Albert J. Mills and Gabrielle Durepos
The purpose of this paper is to understand how Drucker's work has been disseminated through the North American management textbook since 1940, and what this tells people about the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand how Drucker's work has been disseminated through the North American management textbook since 1940, and what this tells people about the wider issue of the social construction and dissemination of management knowledge.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is a critical hermeneutic analysis of the presence and use of Drucker in over 500 management textbooks and the socio‐political context in which both Drucker's work and North American textbooks were written.
Findings
Paradoxically, while Drucker's work was found to be the most‐referenced of any management writer in the textbooks studied, his theories – apart from discussions of “Management by objectives” and the “Knowledge economy” – were rarely discussed. It is argued that the referencing of Drucker served more to legitimize selected points made by textbook authors than to discuss and build on Drucker's work. Explanation of the paradox is explored through the socio‐political contexts in which Drucker was writing, strongly suggesting that the North American textbook has developed a dominant scientivistic trope that construct business “knowledge” through the narrow lens of behavioural science.
Originality/value
While much writing can be found on the influence of Drucker on the business world and his status as a management guru, little is found on Drucker's body of work in the management textbook, which plays a key role in management education in North American business schools. The paper builds on recent management research on the role of socio‐political context in the shaping of management theory and knowledge, and makes a new contribution to one's understanding of the shaping and contours of management knowledge.
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Bonnie Kelinske, Brad W. Mayer and Kuo‐Lane Chen
This study examines the differences between 64 male and 53 female college students in their perception of various benefits of sports participation. Potential benefits of sports…
Abstract
This study examines the differences between 64 male and 53 female college students in their perception of various benefits of sports participation. Potential benefits of sports participation include moral reasoning (caring versus fairness), socialization, competition, health and fitness, and leadership traits (masculine versus feminine). Responses to a questionnaire indicate that there is no difference between males and females on perceived benefits of sports participation with regard to moral reasoning, socialization, competition or health and fitness. There was, however, a significant difference between males and females with regard to competition as a motivating factor to participate in sports. There was also a significant difference between males and females in terms of leadership traits. Males perceived that sports gave them more masculine traits than what females perceived. There was no difference, however, between males and females in their perception of femininity leadership traits from sports participation.
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P. Rani Thanacoody, Timothy Bartram and Gian Casimir
The aim of this paper is to examine the effects of burnout and supervisory social support on the relationship between work‐family conflict, and intention to leave of cancer…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to examine the effects of burnout and supervisory social support on the relationship between work‐family conflict, and intention to leave of cancer workers in an Australian health care setting.
Design/methodology/approach
Data collected from a public hospital of 114 cancer workers were used to test a model of the consequences of work‐family conflict. The strength of the indirect effects of work‐family conflict on intention to leave via burnout will depend on supervisor support was tested by conducting a moderated mediation analysis.
Findings
Path analytic tests of moderated mediation supported the hypothesis that burnout mediates the relationship between work‐family conflict (i.e. work‐in‐family conflict and family‐in‐work) and intention to leave the organisation and that the mediation framework is stronger in the presence of higher social supervisory support. Implications are drawn for theory, research and practice.
Originality/value
This study applies the innovative statistical technique of moderated mediation analysis to demonstrate that burnout mediates the relationship between work‐family conflict and intention to leave the organisation and that the mediation framework is stronger in the presence of lower social supervisory support. In the context of the continued shortage of many clinician groups theses results shed further light on the appropriate course of action for hospital management.
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Ben Brown and Wm Reed Benedict
This research updates and expands upon Decker’s article “Citizen attitudes toward the police: a review of past findings and suggestions for future policy” by summarizing the…
Abstract
This research updates and expands upon Decker’s article “Citizen attitudes toward the police: a review of past findings and suggestions for future policy” by summarizing the findings from more than 100 articles on perceptions of and attitudes toward the police. Initially, the value of research on attitudes toward the police is discussed. Then the research pertaining to the impact of individual level variables (e.g. race) and contextual level variables (e.g. neighborhood) on perceptions of the police is reviewed. Studies of juveniles’ attitudes toward the police, perceptions of police policies and practices, methodological issues and conceptual issues are also discussed. This review of the literature indicates that only four variables (age, contact with police, neighborhood, and race) have consistently been proven to affect attitudes toward the police. However, there are interactive effects between these and other variables which are not yet understood; a finding which indicates that theoretical generalizations about attitudes toward police should be made with caution.
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C. Grill, G. Ahlborg and E.C. Lindgren
Leadership can positively affect the work environment and health. Communication and dialogue are an important part in leadership. Studies of how dialogue is valued and handled in…
Abstract
Purpose
Leadership can positively affect the work environment and health. Communication and dialogue are an important part in leadership. Studies of how dialogue is valued and handled in first‐line leadership have not so far been found. The aim of this study is to develop a theoretical understanding of how first‐line leaders at hospitals in western Sweden value and handle dialogue in the organisation.
Design/methodology/approach
The study design was explorative and based on grounded theory. Data collection consisted of interviews and observations. A total of 11 first‐line leaders at two hospitals in western Sweden were chosen as informants, and for four of them observation was also used.
Findings
One core category emerged in the analysis: leaders' communicative actions, which could be strategically or understanding‐oriented, and experienced as equal or unequal and performed equitably or inequitably, within a power relationship. Four different types of communicative actions emerged: collaborative, nurturing, controlling, and confrontational. Leaders had strategies for creating arenas and relationships for dialogue, but dialogue could be constrained by external circumstances or ignorance of the frameworks needed to conduct and accomplish dialogue.
Practical implications
First‐line leaders should be offered guidance in understanding the consequences of consciously choosing and strengthening the communication component in leadership.
Originality/value
The positive valuation of dialogue was not always manifest in practical action. One significant consequence of not using dialogue was that information with impact on organisational efficiency and finances was not communicated upwards in the management system.
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Liang‐Chieh (Victor) Cheng, Michael L. Gibson, Edward E. Carrillo and Grayson Fitch
This paper seeks to explore the necessity to incorporate technology as a key component in studying business operations of industrial entities.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to explore the necessity to incorporate technology as a key component in studying business operations of industrial entities.
Design/methodology/approach
Reviews of key management theories that shaped organization‐centric and process‐centric views in industrial management research are conducted. The paper then identifies the limitations of these two schools of thinking and develops a technology‐centric framework that integrates technology, organization, and process in general. A series of case studies that apply the framework at multiple levels of observations are presented. The research concludes with theoretical and managerial implications.
Findings
This paper presents a “trinity” framework that includes three core constructs that can simultaneously develop into variants. Technology as a holistic concept must be taken into consideration when researchers or practitioners take a dynamic view to study business entities. A multi‐dimensional, technology‐centric framework acknowledges technology as the transformational resource and helps the practitioners and researchers to examine technology as potential facilitators for organizational operations.
Originality/value
A review of the cases found that technology, organizational structures, and business processes impact one another. Firms' actions are indicative that in today's technology‐intensive environment, organizational structures and business processes need to be developed or modified in coordination with technological development. In doing so, organizations will gain the potential to harvest benefits from technology‐organization‐process integration.
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EMMANUEL J. YANNAKOUDAKIS and HUSSAIN A. ATTAR‐BASHI
The Subject‐Object Relationship Interface model (SORI) described in this paper is a novel approach that displays many of the structures necessary to map between the conceptual…
Abstract
The Subject‐Object Relationship Interface model (SORI) described in this paper is a novel approach that displays many of the structures necessary to map between the conceptual level and the external level in a database management system, which is an information‐oriented view of data. The model embodies a semantic synthesiser, which is based on an algorithm that maps the syntactic representation of a tuple or a record onto a semantic representation. This is based on table‐driven semantics which are embedded in the database model. The paper introduces a technique for translating tuples into natural language sentences, and discusses a system that has been fully implemented in PROLOG.