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1 – 10 of over 1000Anna Mårtensson, Kristen Snyder, Pernilla Ingelsson and Ingela Bäckström
The purpose of this study is to explore the concept of long-term thinking in a non-business context to gain deeper insights into bridging the gap between the theory of long-term…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the concept of long-term thinking in a non-business context to gain deeper insights into bridging the gap between the theory of long-term thinking and its application as a management strategy.
Design/methodology/approach
To explore the concept of long-thinking further in a non-business setting, a grounded theory study was conducted with preschool leaders in a municipality in Sweden to examine how the leaders describe, define and apply the concept of long-term thinking in their schools. Interviews with school leaders, both written and oral, were used for data collection.
Findings
This study illustrates that the concept of long-term thinking can be twofold. First, the description can be as an anchor that reflects a mission. Second, the description can be a steering mechanism that guides decision-making. The findings also reinforce the importance of organisations developing an organisational culture that connect their vision and goals with the values and needs of their customers.
Research limitations/implications
This study was carried out in a single organisation and shows a snapshot of the organisation's status at the time the data were collected. Therefore, the findings are not generalisable to all organisational settings; rather the findings may be transferable to other settings.
Practical implications
The results can be used to help identify areas where preschools in a municipal context can engage with sustainable quality development in order to build systems that support work with quality in a more structured way.
Originality/value
Long-term thinking is seen, within both theory and organisations, as necessary to achieve success in terms of sustainable development and quality, and this study contributes with knowledge about the current gap between theories of long-term thinking and practice in organisations.
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Anne Karhapää, Pauliina Rikala, Johanna Pöysä-Tarhonen and Raija Hämäläinen
The purpose of this study is to explore how digital technologies at work serve as environments for informal workplace learning in knowledge work.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore how digital technologies at work serve as environments for informal workplace learning in knowledge work.
Design/methodology/approach
Digital ethnography was used to investigate the digital environments of one public sector workplace. The data included observations, interviews and participant diaries.
Findings
The digital work environment consisted of a complex network of technologies and people connected to them. The ethnographic accounts revealed both expansive and restrictive features of the digital environment. Digital technology extended learning opportunities by providing flexible possibilities for interaction, collaboration and access to a wealth of information. On the contrary, digitally mediated presence could restrict learning if the attendance and learning remained superficial. The complexity and constant change in digital workplace environments presented challenges that could potentially restrict learning. Information overload, constant interruptions and changes were burdens that required employees’ skills to manage these challenges.
Originality/value
The authors take a novel approach to view the workplace as a phygital environment in which social, physical and digital environments are combined. Because digital environments are becoming increasingly essential parts of the workplace, it is important to understand how they can support learning.
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Pavel Král, Věra Králová and Petr Šimáček
Most studies on workplace meetings have examined them as physical gatherings but have not linked them to interactions before and after meetings. Drawing upon coordination theory…
Abstract
Purpose
Most studies on workplace meetings have examined them as physical gatherings but have not linked them to interactions before and after meetings. Drawing upon coordination theory, this study aims to examine the impact of interactions before, during and after meetings on meeting effectiveness.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey design was used, and regular workplace meeting attendees were recruited. A mediation model was developed to test the effect of interactions on perceived meeting effectiveness.
Findings
Interactions before meetings positively influenced attendee involvement during the meeting, and attendee involvement mediated the positive relationship between attendee interactions during the meeting and perceived meeting effectiveness. A novel finding of this study is that incorporating meeting outcomes in subsequent work positively influenced perceived meeting effectiveness because it fostered common understanding of the meeting agenda.
Originality/value
The present results link prior empirical findings on interactions before and during meetings to new predictions regarding the effect of interactions after meetings. Coordination theory expands current conceptualizations of workplace meetings by broadening the notion of meetings to cover a more extended period of interdependent interactions.
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Birgitta Schwartz and Karina Tilling
Research and experience show that evidence-based practice (EBP), i.e. using the best available knowledge in daily professional work, is difficult to achieve in social services…
Abstract
Purpose
Research and experience show that evidence-based practice (EBP), i.e. using the best available knowledge in daily professional work, is difficult to achieve in social services. The purpose of this study is to understand the development of organizational EBP learning processes in daily work through workplace education for staff and managers of supported homes for people with cognitive disabilities. The authors examine how the EBP model and new knowledge are understood and made actionable in the workplace, applying theories of organizational learning.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used empirical material collected from an EBP workplace education pilot in Sweden, as well as documents on national EBP implementation in Swedish social services. Before the pilot, a focus group interview was conducted with regional senior managers. Participating managers and staff were individually interviewed two to three years after the pilot.
Findings
The study illustrates how knowledge-based action emerged from education where EBP was interpreted, understood, reflected on, and tested, supported by codified EBP tools in the work context. The participants, when supervised, and when observing and questioning their own behaviors in practice, contributed to double-loop learning (DLL) processes. Codification of EBP knowledge into useful tools and socialization processes during education and workplace meetings was crucial in developing individual and group DLL and knowledge-based actions.
Originality/value
The bottom-up approach to EBP development and the adaptive contextual learning at the workplace gave new insights into organizational learning in social service workplaces.
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Vivien E. Schuleigh, John M. Malouff, Nicola S. Schutte and Natasha M. Loi
This study assessed the effectiveness of training leaders in behaviors that satisfy meeting attendees’ psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Three…
Abstract
This study assessed the effectiveness of training leaders in behaviors that satisfy meeting attendees’ psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Three managers who regularly lead meetings with their work- groups participated in the study. The study used a research design of multiple baselines across groups and began with baselines ranging over three to five meetings. Group leaders then received a session of behavioral skills training with a role-play component, followed by post-training assessment over three to five meetings. The final assessment occurred one month later. Leaders reported the number of recommended leader behaviors they used prior to training and at subsequent meetings. Group members anonymously completed ratings of (1) the extent of their psychological need satisfaction, (2) their satisfaction with each meeting, and (3) how productive each meeting was. Meeting leaders showed significantly more use of the recommended behaviors after training than before training. Member ratings indicated a significant increase in need satisfaction, satisfaction with meetings, and meeting productivity after the training of their leader. Significant positive effects remained at a one-month follow-up. The findings show that training leaders in needs-focused behaviors to use in running meetings can be used to satisfy attendee-needs and to improve meeting satisfaction and productivity.
Robin Jonsson, Kerstin Nilsson, Lisa Björk and Agneta Lindegård
This study aims to describe and evaluate the impact of a participatory age-management intervention on the knowledge, awareness and engagement of line managers and their HR…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to describe and evaluate the impact of a participatory age-management intervention on the knowledge, awareness and engagement of line managers and their HR partners from six health-care organizations in Sweden.
Design/methodology/approach
The learning workshops consisted of lectures, discussions, feedback and exchange of experiences with colleagues and invited experts. A total of 19 participants were interviewed six months after the final workshop, and qualitative thematic analysis was used to analyze the transcribed interviews.
Findings
The intervention design produced promising results in improving line managers’ and HR partners’ knowledge and increasing awareness and engagement. On some occasions, the participants also initiated changes in organizational policies and practices. However, the intervention primarily became a personal learning experience as participants lacked resources and mandates to initiate change in their daily work. To stimulate engagement and change at the organizational level, the authors believe that an intervention must receive support from higher managers, be anchored at the workplace and be aligned with the organization’s goals; moreover, participants must be provided with sufficient resources and mandates to coordinate the implementation of age-management strategies.
Practical implications
Prolonged working life policies and skill shortages are affecting organizations and societies, and for many employers, there are strong reasons for developing strategies to attract, recruit and retain older workers.
Originality/value
This study offers lessons and guidance for future workplace interventions to attract, recruit and retain older workers.
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Jenny Barber, Sarah E Hillier, Geoff Middleton, Richard Keegan, Hannah Henderson and Jacquie Lavin
– The purpose of this paper is to assess the feasibility and benefits of providing weight management support via the workplace.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the feasibility and benefits of providing weight management support via the workplace.
Design/methodology/approach
Quasi-experimental design using non-random assignment to a 12-week Slimming World (SW) weight management programme, either within the workplace or at a regular community group. Weight was recorded weekly and a 39-item questionnaire focused on mental and emotional health, self-esteem, dietary habits and physical activity habits administered at baseline, 12 weeks, six and 12 months.
Findings
In total, 243 participants enroled (workplace n=129, community n=114) with 138 completers (defined as those weighing-in at baseline and attending at least once within the last four weeks; workplace n=76, community n=62). Completers reported a mean weight change of −4.9 kg±3.4 or −5.7 per cent±3.8. Mental and emotional health scores increased (p < 0.05) from baseline to 12 weeks. Self-worth scores increased (p < 0.05) from baseline to 12 weeks, six and 12 months. Healthy dietary habit scores increased and unhealthy dietary habit scores decreased (p < 0.05) from baseline to 12 weeks, six and 12 months. Healthy physical activity habit scores improved (p < 0.05) from baseline to 12 weeks and six months. There were no significant differences between groups.
Research limitations/implications
Participant demographic was predominantly female (94 per cent) aged 42.3 years, with only 13 men participating.
Practical implications
The results support the use of a 12-week SW weight management programme as a credible option for employers wanting to support staff to achieve weight loss and improve psycho-social health outcomes which could lead to improvements in quality of life and work performance.
Originality/value
Provides evidence for the delivery of weight management support via the workplace.
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Susanne Colenberg, Rianne Appel-Meulenbroek, Natalia Romero Herrera and David Keyson
The purpose of this article is to aid conceptualization of social well-being at work by identifying its components in a contemporary office context, so adequate measures can be…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to aid conceptualization of social well-being at work by identifying its components in a contemporary office context, so adequate measures can be developed to monitor social well-being and to assess the impact of interventions in the workplace.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used existing interview data from recent post-occupancy evaluations of two large activity-based flexible offices in the Dutch public sector. Data-driven concept mapping of 182 different employees' statements on social aspects of well-being was used to find communalities in their perceptions.
Findings
From the data 14 key concepts emerged referring to employees' social needs, reactions to (anti-)social behaviour of others and perceived social affordances of the work environment. Contrary to established theory, social well-being appeared to be a context-bound phenomenon, including components of both short-term hedonic and long-term eudaimonic well-being.
Research limitations/implications
The findings serve as an inductive source for the further development of adequate measures of social well-being at work. Limitations concern the specific (cultural) setting of the cases and the use of existing data.
Practical implications
Preliminary suggestions for fostering social well-being include change management, participatory design, being alert of the identified risks of activity-based offices and supporting privacy regulation, identity marking and a sense of community, as well as a diversity of informal face-to-face interactions balanced with quiet spaces.
Originality/value
This article contributes to the conceptualization of social well-being in contemporary offices by discussing established social well-being theory and analysing real-world data, using a method novel to management research.
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Anna Berg Jansson, Åsa Engström and Karolina Parding
The purpose of this paper is to discuss conditions for workplace learning (WPL) in relation to temporary agency staffing (TAS), focusing on temporary and regular nurses’…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss conditions for workplace learning (WPL) in relation to temporary agency staffing (TAS), focusing on temporary and regular nurses’ experiences of social relations.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were gathered using qualitative semi-structured interviews with five agency nurses and five regular nurses. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.
Findings
Similarities and differences regarding conditions for WPL among “temps” and “regulars” emerged, pointing towards both challenges and opportunities for WPL on various levels. Moreover, although challenges stood out, the context of professional work provides certain opportunities for WPL through, for example, knowledge sharing among nurses.
Research limitations/implications
Results are valid for the interviewees’ experiences of WPL conditions. However, the findings may also have currency in other but similar workplaces and employment circumstances.
Practical implications
Client organisations and temporary work agencies could benefit from developing management and HR strategies aimed at strengthening the opportunities for WPL, related to professional work, to ensure that these opportunities are leveraged fully.
Originality/value
This study adopts a WPL perspective on TAS in the context of professional work, which is still rare.
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Leanne Johnstone, David Yates and Sebastian Nylander
This paper aims to better understand how accountability for sustainability takes shape within organisations and specifically, what makes employees act in a Swedish local…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to better understand how accountability for sustainability takes shape within organisations and specifically, what makes employees act in a Swedish local authority. This aim moves beyond the prevalent external face of accountability in social and environmental accounting research by observing how employees understand and act upon their multiple accountability demands.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper adopts a single case study approach within a Swedish local authority, drawing from qualitative data including semi-structured interviews, site visits and governing documents.
Findings
Sustainable action is not only the product of hierarchically enforced structural accountabilities and procedures but often must be reconciled with the personal perspectives of the public sector employees involved as part of an accountability dynamic. Additionally, the findings reveal that hierarchical accountability, rather than serving to individualise and isolate employees, acts as a prompt for the more practical and personal reconciliations of accountability with the ethics and experiences of the individual involved.
Practical implications
Greater consideration to employee socialisation processes in public sector organisations should be given to reinforce organisational governance systems and controls, and thus help ensure sustainable behaviour in practice.
Social implications
Employee socialisation processes are important for the development of sustainable practices both within and beyond organisational boundaries.
Originality/value
This study considers the interrelatedness of hierarchical and socialising accountability measures and contributes towards the understanding of the relationship between these two accountability forms, contrary to previous understandings that emphasise their contrasting nature and incompatibility.
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