Caroline Biron, Annick Parent-Lamarche, Hans Ivers and Genevieve Baril-Gingras
The purpose of this paper is to uncover the effect of psychosocial safety climate (PSC – a climate for psychological health) on managerial quality and the mediating processes…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to uncover the effect of psychosocial safety climate (PSC – a climate for psychological health) on managerial quality and the mediating processes explaining that association. It is posited that the alignment between what is said (espoused PSC) and what is done (enacted PSC via managerial quality) is important for successful organizational interventions. Managers’ own psychosocial work factors act as resources to facilitate the enactment of managerial quality.
Design/methodology/approach
Two waves of survey were administered over a three-month period (n at Time 1=144, n at Time 2=166, overall n=115) in a study of four organizations involved in implementing the Quebec Healthy Enterprise Standard (QHES). A cross-lagged panel analysis was used to determine the temporal direction of the PSC–managerial quality relationship. A longitudinal mediation model of PSC as a determinant of managerial quality was tested using job demands, job control, social support and quality of relationships with subordinates as mediators.
Findings
The cross-lagged panel analysis showed that PSC is temporally prior to managerial quality in that the relationship between PSC at T1 and managerial quality at T2 was stronger than the relationship between managerial quality at T1 and PSC at T2. A two-wave mediation analysis showed that PSC was positively associated with managerial quality, and that job control partially mediated this relationship. Contrary to expectations, managers’ workload, their social support and the quality of their relationships with subordinates did not mediate the PSC–managerial quality relationship.
Research limitations/implications
Despite the small sample size and short timeframe of this study, it contributes to knowledge on the resources facilitating managerial quality, which is important for employees’ psychological health. Little is known regarding the mediating processes that explain how managers’ own context and psychosocial work factors affect their management practices during organizational health interventions.
Practical implications
From a practical view point, this study contributes to the literature showing that managers need to be supported during the implementation of health interventions, and need the leeway to pursue the organization’s prevention objectives.
Originality/value
Whereas previous studies have focused on describing the impact of leadership behaviors on employee health outcomes, the study offers insights into the resources that help managers translate PSC into action in the implementation of a national standard, the QHES.
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Caroline Biron, Jean‐Pierre Brun, Hans Ivers and Cary Cooper
Many studies have shown that an unfavourable psychosocial environment increases the risk of mental and physical illness, as well as absenteeism, or sickness absence. However, more…
Abstract
Many studies have shown that an unfavourable psychosocial environment increases the risk of mental and physical illness, as well as absenteeism, or sickness absence. However, more costly than absenteeism is presenteeism, where a person is present at work even though disabled by a mental or physical illness. We sought to identify factors explaining why workers would come to work even when their health is impaired. In a cross‐sectional design data were collected from 3825 employees of a Canadian organisation. The results show a high occurrence of presenteeism: workers went to work in spite of illness 50% of the time. Presenteeism propensity (the percentage of days worked while ill over total number of sick days) was higher for workers who were ill more often. Heavier workloads, higher skill discretion, harmonious relationships with colleagues, role conflict and precarious job status increased presenteeism, but decision authority did not. Workers reporting high psychological distress and more severe psychosomatic complaints were also more likely to report higher rates of presenteeism. These results suggest that stress research should not only include absenteeism as an outcome indicator, but also consider presenteeism.
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Dori A. Cross, Julia Adler-Milstein and A. Jay Holmgren
The adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) and digitization of health data over the past decade is ushering in the next generation of digital health tools that leverage…
Abstract
The adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) and digitization of health data over the past decade is ushering in the next generation of digital health tools that leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to improve varied aspects of health system performance. The decade ahead is therefore shaping up to be one in which digital health becomes even more at the forefront of health care delivery – demanding the time, attention, and resources of health care leaders and frontline staff, and becoming inextricably linked with all dimensions of health care delivery. In this chapter, we look back and look ahead. There are substantive lessons learned from the first era of large-scale adoption of enterprise EHRs and ongoing challenges that organizations are wrestling with – particularly related to the tension between standardization and flexibility/customization of EHR systems and the processes they support. Managing this tension during efforts to implement and optimize enterprise systems is perhaps the core challenge of the past decade, and one that has impeded consistent realization of value from initial EHR investments. We describe these challenges, how they manifest, and organizational strategies to address them, with a specific focus on alignment with broader value-based care transformation. We then look ahead to the AI wave – the massive number of applications of AI to health care delivery, the expected benefits, the risks and challenges, and approaches that health systems can consider to realize the benefits while avoiding the risks.
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The conference ‘The Digital Information Revolution’ was held in Westmister, London on 16–17 November 1994. It was arranged by FEI (Federation of the Electronics Industry); EURIM…
Abstract
The conference ‘The Digital Information Revolution’ was held in Westmister, London on 16–17 November 1994. It was arranged by FEI (Federation of the Electronics Industry); EURIM, an association of politicians and businessmen; and Syntegra, the systems integration division of BT. The conference was opened by the Duke of Kent and speakers were drawn from peers, MPs, general purpose dignitaries, and senior members of the electronics and tetecoms industries. Out of the many speakers, those named below talked about the particular aspects selected for discussion in this article. It was concluded that there was no doubt that a global superhighway would arrive, but speculation about when that might be and bow to define ‘arrival’ were avoided.
Patricia A. Maguire and Muzaffer Uysal
With the end of the Cultural Revolution and the rise of Deng Xiaoping, China began a new era of economic and political reform. In 1978 the open door policy was initiated. In…
Abstract
With the end of the Cultural Revolution and the rise of Deng Xiaoping, China began a new era of economic and political reform. In 1978 the open door policy was initiated. In October of 1984, Deng Xiaoping set in motion an ambitious program of financial and industrial reform aimed at eventually restructuring China's economy into a vaguely defined market system. This “second revolution” has run into difficulties because the Chinese officials lacked experience controlling a supply and demand economy and because of the opposition from conservative factions within the Chinese bureaucracy.
Dieses Szenario befasst sich mit den wahrscheinli‐chen Entwicklungen von Freizeit und Tourismus in einem Zeithorizont von rund 20 Jahren. Es wird dabei vor allem auf die Situation…
Abstract
Dieses Szenario befasst sich mit den wahrscheinli‐chen Entwicklungen von Freizeit und Tourismus in einem Zeithorizont von rund 20 Jahren. Es wird dabei vor allem auf die Situation in den europäischen Industrieländern Bezug genommen.
Das Feld Die Feldforschung als Teil der empirischen Sozial‐forschung geht vom Begriff des “Feldes” aus, einem abgegrenzten Datenreservoir, zu dem sich der Forscher direkten oder…
Abstract
Das Feld Die Feldforschung als Teil der empirischen Sozial‐forschung geht vom Begriff des “Feldes” aus, einem abgegrenzten Datenreservoir, zu dem sich der Forscher direkten oder indirekten Zugang verschaffen kann (NOWOTNY und KNORR 1975). Wesentlich für die Feldforschung ist die Tatsache, dass die empirischen Untersuchungen nicht in einer Laborsituation sondern in situ durchgeführt werden (WEIDMANN 1971) und eine Kontrolle über die Variablen nicht oder nur in beschränktem Umfang (beim Feldexperiment) möglich ist. Da selbst bei einem äusserst eingeschränkten Forschungsgegen‐stand die Fülle aller erfassbaren Daten unüberseh‐bar würde, ist es notwendig, das Feld vor Untersuchungsbeginn abzugrenzen, d.h. Hypothesen über die geographische, ethnographische, zeitliche und soziologische Begrenzung und eventuell auch über vorhandene Strukturen und ihre Dynamik zu bilden, die mit den Methoden der Feldforschung bestätigt oder falsifiziert werden. Feldforschung unterliegt damit auch den Regeln der Hypothesenbildung in den induktiv vorgehenden empirischen Wissenschaften, wogegen nicht spricht, dass Feldforschung, welche überwiegend qualitative Ergebnisse liefert, selbst wiederum für die Hypothesenbildung und die Formulierung von Fragestellungen auf einer nächsten Stufe der Feldforschung verwendet wird, die unter Umständen eher quantifizierbare Ergebnisse bringt. Das Feld ist die komplexe Wirklichkeit der sozialen Verhaltensweisen und Prozesse, die in ihre natürlichen Umweltbedingungen eingebettet sind und in zum Teil höchst komplizierten Interaktionsverhältnissen stehen. Den Feldbegriff gibt es in anderer Form in den verschiedensten Wissenschaftsbereichen, insbe‐sondere in der auf LEWIN zurückgehenden Gestalt Psychologie, nach der das Verhalten eines Lebewesens durch die Bedingungen des Feldes oder Lebensraumes, in dem es erfolgt, bestimmt wird. Das Verhalten ist somit die Funktion eines Feldes, das diese Person umschliesst und miteinbezieht (LEWIN 1951). Auch in den Sprachwissenschaften wird der Begriff des Feldes als ein System definiert, in dem ein Wort oder eine grössere sprachliche Einheit einen bestimmten Platz hat und aus dem heraus die Bedeutung des Wortes oder dieser sprachlichen Einheit erarbeitet werden kann (GECKELER 1971). Allen wissenschaftlichen Feldbegriffen ist gleich, dass es sich um einen Bereich von Daten und ihre dynamische Verknüpfung untereinander handelt, deren Struktur mit wissenschaftlichen Methoden herausge‐arbeitet und nach Möglichkeit sogar operational gemacht werden kann.
The desirability of electronic document delivery systems has been argued for years and the reasons for the slow progress of the idea are discussed. An explanation of the technical…
Abstract
The desirability of electronic document delivery systems has been argued for years and the reasons for the slow progress of the idea are discussed. An explanation of the technical background is provided followed by some examples of electronic means of information distribution such as facsimile and disc‐based systems. Some experimental projects are described and the article concludes with a description of document image processing systems used for business purposes which have a number of features in common with delivery systems.