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Article
Publication date: 11 May 2017

Ruchini Senarath Jayasinghe and Nirodha Gayani Fernando

The purpose of this paper is to establish labour productivity norms (LPNs) on an elemental basis to investigate a measurement for the labour productivity (LP) of aluminium system…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to establish labour productivity norms (LPNs) on an elemental basis to investigate a measurement for the labour productivity (LP) of aluminium system formwork (ASF) in low-cost housing projects (LHPs) in Sri Lanka.

Design/methodology/approach

Case study approach was selected as the most appropriate for the study and semi-structured interviews, document review and direct observations were used for the data collection. Four case studies were conducted. Eight semi-structured interviews were conducted among four cases. Further, document review was used in three cases, and direct observation was used in one case. The validation of the results was not possible in a real life project due to time limitations.

Findings

The findings identified six labour productivity factors (LPFs) affecting the LP of ASF. The need for LPNs for ASF on an elemental basis is identified. Further, LPNs were developed using LPFs.

Research limitations/implications

This research was limited to LHPs for underserved settlements in Colombo, Sri Lanka which use ASF. The LPNs were prepared based on time studies and were restricted to structural elements such as slabs, beams and columns.

Originality/value

The LPNs were developed for ASF in LHPs based on the effect of weather, crew, site, management and project factors. Further, the study addresses a gap in the literature regarding the development of LPNs of ASF for LPHs in Sri Lanka. LPNs for ASF have enhanced LP while promoting economic and social stability in the industry.

Book part
Publication date: 6 December 2021

Adam Seth Litwin

The COVID-19 pandemic stressed the health care sector's longstanding pain points, including the poor quality of frontline work and the staffing challenges that result from it…

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic stressed the health care sector's longstanding pain points, including the poor quality of frontline work and the staffing challenges that result from it. This has renewed interest in technology-centered approaches to achieving not only the “Triple Aim” of reducing costs while raising access and quality but also the “Quadruple Aim” of doing so without further squeezing wages and abrading job quality for frontline workers.

How can we leverage technology toward the achievement of the Quadruple Aim? I view this as a “grand challenge” for health care managers and policymakers. Those looking for guidance will find that most analyses of the workforce impact of technological change consider broad classes of technology such as computers or robots outside of any particular industry context. Further, they typically predict changes in work or labor market outcomes will come about at some ill-defined point in the medium to long run. This decontextualization and detemporization proves markedly problematic in the health care sector: the nonmarket, institutional factors driving technology adoption and implementation loom especially large in frontline care delivery, and managers and policymakers understandably must consider a well-defined, near-term, i.e., 5–10-year, time horizon.

This study is predicated on interviews with hospital and home health agency administrators, union representatives, health care information technology (IT) experts and consultants, and technology developers. I detail the near-term drivers and anticipated workforce impact of technological changes in frontline care delivery. With my emergent prescriptions for managers and policymakers, I hope to guide sectoral actors in using technology to address the “grand challenge” inherent to achieving the Quadruple Aim.

Details

The Contributions of Health Care Management to Grand Health Care Challenges
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80117-801-3

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 2009

B.H. Rountree and Russell Porter

Work overload is an important and often singular objective for organizational interventions targeting nurse satisfaction and turnover in hospital settings around the world. The…

Abstract

Work overload is an important and often singular objective for organizational interventions targeting nurse satisfaction and turnover in hospital settings around the world. The centerpiece of many such interventions involves the reassignment of nursing tasks to lesser licensed or unlicensed staff in order to provide immediate term relief to over extended professional nurses. These “Substitution Interventions” (SI) evolve from the diagnostic assumptions that “lightening the load” of professional nurses with more plentifully available “others” will provide, even in the absence of other changes, immediate relief to over-extended staff, reducing their growing sense of dissatisfaction and, thus, decreasing their desire or perceived need to look for another job. The purpose of this study is to critically examine the prevailing diagnostic assumptions that underlie “Substitution Interventions” (SI) and, propose and test in a sample of hospital care-givers (n=241) an alternative organization diagnostic model that may aid in understanding their propensity to fall short of management expectations.

Details

International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior, vol. 12 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1093-4537

Article
Publication date: 23 March 2022

Xiaosong (David) Peng, Yuan Ye, Raymond Lei Fan, Xin (David) Ding and Aravind Chandrasekaran

This research aims to explore the fine-grained relationships between nurse staffing and hospital operational performance with respect to care quality and operating costs. The…

Abstract

Purpose

This research aims to explore the fine-grained relationships between nurse staffing and hospital operational performance with respect to care quality and operating costs. The authors also investigate the moderation effect of competition in local hospital markets on these relationships.

Design/methodology/approach

A six-year panel data is assembled from five separate sources to obtain information of 2,524 USA hospitals. Fixed-effect (FE) models are used to test the proposed hypotheses.

Findings

First, nurse staffing is initially associated with improved care quality until nurse staffing reaches a turning point, beyond which nurse staffing is associated with worse care quality. Second, a similar pattern applies to the relationship between nurse staffing and operating costs, although the turning point is at a much lower nurse staffing level. Third, market competition moderates the relationship between nurse staffing and care quality so that the turning point of nurse staffing will be higher when the degree of competition is higher. This shift of turning point is also observed in the relationship between nurse staffing and operating costs.

Practical implications

The study identifies three ranges of nurse staffing in which hospitals will likely experience simultaneous improvements, a tradeoff or simultaneous decline of care quality and operating costs when investing in more nursing capacity. Hospitals should adjust nurse staffing levels to the right directions to achieve better care or reduce operating costs.

Originality/value

Nurses constitute the largest provider group in hospitals and profoundly impact care quality and operating costs among all health care professionals. Optimizing the level of nurse staffing, therefore, can significantly impact the care quality and operating costs of hospitals.

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 42 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 July 2014

Ariel Avgar, Eun Kyung Lee and WonJoon Chung

The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating effect of discretion and social capital on the relationship between individual perceptions of team conflict and…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating effect of discretion and social capital on the relationship between individual perceptions of team conflict and employee-level outcomes. The authors propose that both employee discretion and unit-level social capital influence the negative effects of perceived conflict on employee stress and turnover intentions. They argue that an individual’s perceptions of these central organizational characteristics are likely to alter the consequences associated with conflict and the manner in which individuals respond to it.

Design/methodology/approach

This study empirically tests the moderating effects of discretion and unit-level social capital on the relationship between individual’s perception of team conflict and employee-level outcomes. Analysis was conducted with survey data from a sample of health care care providers in 90 units across 20 nursing home organizations. We applied hierarchical linear modeling analyses to test our hypotheses.

Findings

Results demonstrate that employee discretion moderates the relationship between perceived task conflict and job stress. Unit-level social capital was shown to moderate the relationship between perceived relationship conflict and employee turnover intentions. Our findings also document a varied moderation effect at low to moderate levels of conflict versus high levels of conflict. This finding suggests that the moderating role of contextual variables is more nuanced and complex than the existing conceptual frameworks acknowledge.

Research limitations/implications

This study contributes to the research on conflict and conflict management by extending a multilevel approach to the effect of conflict and by providing new insights regarding the contextual manner in which conflict affects workplace outcomes.

Practical implications

The effects of discretion and unit-level social capital on how conflict is metabolized by organizations and their members varied. Contextual factors matter differently for different individual level outcomes. In attempting to manage the consequences associated with workplace conflict, organizations and their managers must consider different contextual factors.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the research on conflict and its management in organization by providing new insights regarding the contextual manner in which conflict affects organizational and individual outcomes. This study provides support for the claim that the relational and task-related context under which employees experience conflict affects employee stress levels and the extent to which they report their intentions to leave the organization.

Details

International Journal of Conflict Management, vol. 25 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1044-4068

Keywords

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