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1 – 10 of 26Piotr Stapinski, Brita Bjørkelo, Premilla D'Cruz, Eva G. Mikkelsen and Malgorzata Gamian-Wilk
The purpose of the article is to provide further evidence for the work environment hypothesis. According to the work environment hypothesis and as documented by empirical…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the article is to provide further evidence for the work environment hypothesis. According to the work environment hypothesis and as documented by empirical evidence, organizational factors play a crucial role in the development of workplace bullying. However, to better understand and prevent bullying at work and establish sustainable, responsible and ethical workplaces, it is crucial to understand which organizational factors are particularly important in the development of bullying and how these factors, independently and combined, act as precursors to bullying over time. One prominent theory that explains how organizational and individual factors interact is the affective events theory (AET).
Design/methodology/approach
In a two-wave, time-lagged study (N = 364), the authors apply AET to test and explain the interplay of organizational factors in the development of bullying at work.
Findings
The results revealed that supportive and fair leadership moderates the relationship between role stress and exposure to workplace bullying.
Practical implications
Knowledge of the buffering role of supportive and fair leadership practices is important when implementing organizational interventions aimed at preventing bullying at work.
Originality/value
Although previous studies have shown the general protecting effects of supportive leadership on exposure to bullying, the current study indicates that high level of supportive and fair leadership practices decreases the level of exposure to bullying, even when role ambiguity and role conflict are relatively high.
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Eva Zedlacher and Allison Snowden
Organizational practitioners must often interpret accounts of workplace bullying. However, they are frequently reluctant to confirm the target's account and often fail to set…
Abstract
Purpose
Organizational practitioners must often interpret accounts of workplace bullying. However, they are frequently reluctant to confirm the target's account and often fail to set effective intervention measures. Building on novel approaches in attribution theory, this study explores how causal explanations and blame pattern shape the labelling of a complaint and the subsequent recommended intervention measures.
Design/methodology/approach
187 Austrian human resource professionals, employee representatives and other practitioners were confronted with a fictional workplace bullying complaint including conflicting actors' accounts and diverse possible internal, relational and external causes. Since the prior low performance of a target might affect blame attributions, the previous performance ratings of the target were manipulated. Data were analysed via qualitative content analysis.
Findings
When respondents reject the complaint, they predominately identify single internal causes and blame the target, and/or trivialize the complaint as “normal conflict”. Both low and high performance of the target trigger (single) internal blame. When the complaint is supported, deontic statements and blame attributions against the perpetrator prevail; however, blame placed on the perpetrator is often discounted via multi-blame attributions towards supervisors, colleagues and the target. Structural causes were rarely mentioned. Relational attributions are infrequent and often used to trivialize the complaint. Irrespective of the attributional blame patterns, most third parties recommend “reconciliatory measures” (e.g. mediation) between the actors.
Practical implications
Trainings to temper single internal blaming and raise awareness of organizational intervention measures are essential.
Originality/value
This is the first study to investigate workplace bullying blaming patterns and organizational responses in detail.
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Anna Milena Galazka and Sarah Jenkins
Drawing on interviews with two types of essential workers – wound clinicians and care workers – the chapter examines stigma management in dirty care work through the lens of…
Abstract
Drawing on interviews with two types of essential workers – wound clinicians and care workers – the chapter examines stigma management in dirty care work through the lens of emotion management. The study combines two dimensions of dirty work: physical taint in relation to bodywork and social taint linked to working in close proximity to socially stigmatized clients. Hence, stigma management extends to dealing with the physically and socially dirty features of essential care work. In addition, the authors’ assessment of social stigma includes how essential care workers also sought to alleviate the social stigma encountered by their clients. In so doing, the authors extend the literature on dirty work to identify how emotion management skills are central to the stigma management strategies of the essential care workers in this study. The authors demonstrate how both groups deal with their stigma by emphasizing the emotion management skills in ‘doing’ dirty work and in the ‘purpose’ of this work, which includes acknowledging how the authors attempt to address the social taint encountered by their clients. Additionally, by comparing two occupations with different contexts and conditions of work, the authors show how complex emotion management skills are gendered in care work to expand the understanding of gender and stigma management. Furthermore, these emotion management skills emanate from the deep relational work with clients rather than through occupational communities. The authors argue that by focussing on emotion management, the hidden skills of dirty work in gendered care work are illuminated and contribute to contemporary debates about whether stigma can be overcome.
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Anette Kaagaard Kristensen, Martin Lund Kristensen and Eva Gemzøe Mikkelsen
This paper aims to explore the impact of social segregation and exclusionary workplace hazing during lunch breaks on newcomers’ relational quality during the early socialisation…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the impact of social segregation and exclusionary workplace hazing during lunch breaks on newcomers’ relational quality during the early socialisation phase.
Design/methodology/approach
This study draws on data from a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with recently employed nurses (n = 19) and nursing students (n = 42) about their workplace hazing experiences. The data was analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.
Findings
The analysis revealed two main themes: “feeling isolated” and “justifying self-exclusion.” Newcomers reported feeling humiliated when subjected to exclusionary hazing by experienced colleagues, leading to feelings of alienation and impacting their relationships with their new colleagues. Newcomers tended to distance themselves in various ways and justified this behaviour as a means of self-care.
Originality/value
This paper adds to the limited knowledge about the effects of newcomers’ exposure to workplace hazing during their early socialisation. It provides a relational perspective on the consequences of workplace hazing and explains how the social context influences the normative expectations of newcomers.
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Eva Gemzøe Mikkelsen, Annie Hogh and Louise Berg Puggaard
This paper aims tp prevent bullying and conflicts at work and to identify process factors associated with the implementation and effects of such interventions.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims tp prevent bullying and conflicts at work and to identify process factors associated with the implementation and effects of such interventions.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents process evaluation data from an intervention study in two organizations. A quasi‐experimental, process‐oriented research design was used. The following interventions were implemented: lectures on bullying, courses in conflict prevention and management, dialogue meetings, the distribution of pamphlets, newsletters and posters as well as steering group meetings.
Findings
Results indicate that participants benefited from the interventions, in particular the dialogue meetings and the courses in conflict prevention and management. Moreover, various factors stimulating or obstructing the implementation and effects of interventions were identified.
Research limitations/implications
The use of process evaluation to document the phases of the study and relevant process factors is a major strength. However, the study only included two public sector workplaces and no control groups.
Originality/value
The use of qualitative process‐evaluation helped identify important process factors affecting the implementation of interventions and their perceived effects. The paper thus yields valuable knowledge to researchers and practitioners.
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Frida Nyqvist and Eva-Lena Lundgren-Henriksson
The purpose of this research is to explore how an industry is represented in multimodal public media narratives and to explore how this representation subsequently affects the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to explore how an industry is represented in multimodal public media narratives and to explore how this representation subsequently affects the formation of public sense-giving space during a persisting crisis, such as a pandemic. The question asked is: how do the use of multimodality by public service media dynamically shape representations of industry identity during a persisting crisis?
Design/methodology/approach
This study made use of a multimodal approach. The verbal and visual media text on the restaurant industry during the COVID-19 pandemic that were published in Finland by the public service media distributor Yle were studied. Data published between March 2020 and March 2022 were analysed. The data consisted of 236 verbal texts, including 263 visuals.
Findings
Three narratives were identified– victim, servant and survivor – that construct power relations and depict the identity of the restaurant industry differently. It was argued that multimodal media narratives hold three meaning making functions: sentimentalizing, juxtaposing and nuancing industry characteristics. It was also argued that multimodal public service media narratives have wider implications in possibly shaping the future attractiveness of the industry and organizational members' understanding of their identity.
Originality/value
This research contributes to sensemaking literature in that it explores the role of power – explicitly or implicitly constructed through media narratives during crisis. Furthermore, this research contributes to sensemaking literature in that it shows how narratives take shape multimodally during a continuous crisis, and how this impacts the construction of industry identity.
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Eva. Høy Engelund, Anne Lassen and Bent Egberg Mikkelsen
Hospital food has come into focus during the last decade due to reports of under‐nutrition and at the same time food service has undergone significant changes. The aim of this…
Abstract
Purpose
Hospital food has come into focus during the last decade due to reports of under‐nutrition and at the same time food service has undergone significant changes. The aim of this paper is to document and discuss the change in technology and logistics used in the Danish hospital food service during the years 1995‐2003. Further, the aim is to discuss possibilities for integrating food production and patient nutrition at hospitals in order to improve patient nutrition.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical data consist of quantitative serial data on Danish hospital food service collected over a period starting in 1995 and ending in 2003. Data have been collected as part of two large surveys describing the food service systems in Danish hospitals in 1995 and in 2003. Both surveys were carried out by the Food Research Department of the Danish Food Authorities. Answers were compared by means of Chi‐square (χ2) tests with Yates’ correction. Two‐sided p‐values <0.05 were considered significant.
Findings
There have been significant changes in food production systems during the years 1995‐2003. A change in employee profiles in the kitchens has followed this trend.
Practical implications
Plating systems have changed as well with a higher use of buffets and satellite kitchens and less use of central plating during the period 1995‐2003. The educational background of employees has also changed resulting in an increase in number of skilled employees (cooks, catering assistants) and fewer unskilled employees in the kitchens. Increased focus on nutritional status of patients has been observed from ward personnel with no connection to the kitchen. It is suggested that food ambassadors be responsible for the nutritional status of patients.
Originality/value
Success in explaining technological and logistical changes in Danish hospital food service 1995‐2003 another integration of food production and patient nutrition in hospitals.
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Quang Evansluong, Lena Grip and Eva Karayianni
This paper aims to understand how immigrant entrepreneurs use digital opportunities to overcome the liability of newness and foreignness and how an immigrant's ethnicity can be…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to understand how immigrant entrepreneurs use digital opportunities to overcome the liability of newness and foreignness and how an immigrant's ethnicity can be digitally performed as an asset in business.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts an inductive multiple case study approach using social media content. The data consist of over 3,500 posts, images and screenshots from Facebook, Instagram and the webpages of seven successful Vietnamese restaurants in Sweden. Grounded content analysis was conducted using NVivo.
Findings
The findings suggest that digitalising ethnic artifacts can mediate and facilitate three digital performances that together can turn ethnicity from a liability to an asset: (i) preserving performance through digital ethnicising, (ii) embracing performance through digital generativitising and (iii) appropriating performance through digital fusionising. The results support the introduction of a conceptual framework depicting the interwoven duality of horizontal and vertical boundary blurring, in which the former takes place between the offline and online spaces of immigrant businesses, and the latter occurs between the home and host country attachment of the immigrant businesses.
Originality/value
This study responds to calls for understanding how immigrant entrepreneurs can overcome the liability of foreignness. It offers a fresh look at ethnicity, which has been seen in a negative light in the field of immigrant entrepreneurship. This study illuminates that ethnicity can be used as a resource in immigrant entrepreneurship, specifically through the use of digital artifacts and digital platforms.
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