Judith MacIntosh, Sue O'Donnell, Judith Wuest and Marilyn Merritt‐Gray
Workplace bullying is a prevalent and costly form of abuse influencing women's health. The purpose of this study is to expand knowledge of how women care for their health after…
Abstract
Purpose
Workplace bullying is a prevalent and costly form of abuse influencing women's health. The purpose of this study is to expand knowledge of how women care for their health after experiencing workplace bullying and to explore variation in that process.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative feminist grounded theory method was used to study a community sample of 40 adult women across three Canadian provinces.
Findings
Experiencing workplace bullying causes a disruption in women's health and this was identified as the central problem for women in this study. Women address health disruption using a three‐stage process the authors named “managing disruption” that involves protecting, mobilizing, and rebuilding. Women's efforts to care for health which they define broadly as including control over their lives are influenced by formal and informal support and by personal factors such as past experiences, perception of employability, values and beliefs, and relationship patterns.
Research limitations/implications
Longitudinal study would be useful to understand long‐term consequences and potentially helpful resolutions of workplace bullying. Whether men's perspectives on their experiences are similar could also be explored.
Practical implications
Increasing awareness of what workplace bullying is and how to manage it would contribute to diminishing its occurrence and its impact.
Social implications
Women need support and resources from workplace and healthcare professionals when they have experienced workplace bullying.
Originality/value
Few studies have explored women's experiences of caring for health during and after bullying. Interestingly, women reported adopting more balanced perspectives on work and life after their bullying experiences.
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Michael Sheehan and John Griffiths
The purpose of this paper is to extend awareness that workplace bullying impacts on the health of individuals both within and outside the workplace and that there are implications…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to extend awareness that workplace bullying impacts on the health of individuals both within and outside the workplace and that there are implications for workplace health management.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper contextualises the problem of workplace bullying and workplace health management and introduces the five articles in the special issue.
Findings
Workplace health management is becoming more prominent in some organizations and workplace health management, and a corporate culture based on partnership, trust and respect, offers considerable potential to move the agenda forward. Moreover, there appears to be a paucity of knowledge available as to how workplace health management strategies and programmes impact on organizational culture and assembling and sharing such a knowledge base could be a useful step.
Research limitations/implications
Further research is required to extend the studies presented and to address workplace bullying from the perspective of workplace health management.
Practical implications
Research is required to explore the extent to which the potential of workplace health management programmes to impact positively on corporate approaches to bullying and harassment has been realised and how those programmes have influenced corporate culture.
Social implications
A partnership approach to knowledge creation and sharing has the most potential for successful outcomes and accords closely with the inferred ideals of the Luxembourg Declaration for Workplace Health promotion.
Originality/value
The paper addresses a perceived gap in the literature linking workplace bullying to the impact on individual health and the implications for workplace health management.
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Michael O’Donnell, Sue Williamson, Arosha Adikaram and Meraiah Foley
The purpose of this paper is to explore how human resource (HR) managers in garment factories in a Sri Lankan export processing zone (EPZ) navigated the tension between their role…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how human resource (HR) managers in garment factories in a Sri Lankan export processing zone (EPZ) navigated the tension between their role as stewards of employee welfare and their role to maximise firm productivity in response to time and production pressures imposed by international buyers. Relatively little attention has been paid to the role of HR managers as liaisons between firms and labour. This omission is significant, given the importance of human resource management in the recruitment and retention of labour and the role of HR managers in organisational performance and regulatory compliance.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative approach was used based on interviews with 18 HR managers, factory managers and other key informants, and 63 factory workers from 12 firms in the Katunayake EPZ. The interviews and focus groups in English were transcribed and coded into themes arising from the literature and further developed from the transcripts. Initial codes were analysed to identify common themes across the data set.
Findings
HR managers were acutely aware of the competitive pressures facing the EPZ garment factories. While examples of company welfarism were evident, HR practices such as incentive payment systems and the management of employee absences reinforced a workplace environment of long hours, work intensification and occupational injury.
Originality/value
This paper goes some way towards filling the gap in our understanding of the roles played by HR managers in garment factories in the Global South, raising theoretical debates regarding the potential for HR managers in developing countries to distance themselves from the negative consequences of HR practices such as individual and team reward systems.
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Sue Williamson, Lisa Carson and Meraiah Foley
Governments have demonstrated a renewed interest in progressing gender equality for their workforces, including in Australia. This refocusing has resulted in a tranche of new…
Abstract
Purpose
Governments have demonstrated a renewed interest in progressing gender equality for their workforces, including in Australia. This refocusing has resulted in a tranche of new gender equality policies being introduced into the Australian Public Service (APS). The purpose of this paper is to examine how New Public Management (NPM) is reflected in these gender equality policies and consider whether NPM may assist or hinder gender being “undone” or “redone” in APS organisations.
Design/methodology/approach
A content analysis was conducted to assess the strategies contained within the gender equality policies of all 18 Australian government departments.
Findings
The content analysis reveals that the policies strongly reflect an NPM framing, except in one important area – that of monitoring and evaluation. The lack of attention to this crucial element of NPM may hinder effective implementation of many of the policies. The authors also conclude that while good intent is evident in the policies, they may “redo” rather than “undo” gender in organisations.
Practical implications
The paper will assist organisations which are developing and implementing gender equality policies. Even though NPM is specific to the public sector, the research highlights the potential and pitfalls when developing such policies in an environment focused on increasing efficiencies and reducing costs.
Originality/value
While gender equality and public sector reforms occurred simultaneously in Australia, few researchers have examined the interactions between the two.
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Mary Nell Trautner and Samantha Kwan
The formal and informal regulation of employees' appearance is a routine component of organizational life. In our research, we analyze appearance-related employment discrimination…
Abstract
The formal and informal regulation of employees' appearance is a routine component of organizational life. In our research, we analyze appearance-related employment discrimination lawsuits. These cases involve organizational dress codes, grooming policies, and employers' attempts to regulate employees' appearance with regard to weight, hairstyles, religious attire, body art, and more. Men and women who refuse to comply with appearance norms face termination of their employment, promotion denials, lower wages, transfers, not being hired in the first place, and other workplace sanctions. Our focus on court deliberations and decisions allows us to explore not only the gendered nature of appearance policies themselves but also how the legal system supports, reinforces, codifies, or, conversely, deems unacceptable such policies. Our data demonstrate that organizations and courts are likely to support appearance norms that reinforce traditional ideas about femininity and masculinity.
Reid, Guest, Upjohn, Wilberforce and Pearson
July 26, 1967 Building and construction — Safety Regulations — Breach — Causation — Failure to provide suitable scaffold — Whether workman would have used scaffold if provided �…
Abstract
July 26, 1967 Building and construction — Safety Regulations — Breach — Causation — Failure to provide suitable scaffold — Whether workman would have used scaffold if provided — Whether failure to provide cause of fall — Construction (General Provisions) Regulations, 1961 (S.I. 1961, No. 1580), reg.7(2).