Susan P. McGrath, Emily Wells, Krystal M. McGovern, Irina Perreard, Kathleen Stewart, Dennis McGrath and George Blike
Although it is widely acknowledged that health care delivery systems are complex adaptive systems, there are gaps in understanding the application of systems engineering…
Abstract
Although it is widely acknowledged that health care delivery systems are complex adaptive systems, there are gaps in understanding the application of systems engineering approaches to systems analysis and redesign in the health care domain. Commonly employed methods, such as statistical analysis of risk factors and outcomes, are simply not adequate to robustly characterize all system requirements and facilitate reliable design of complex care delivery systems. This is especially apparent in institutional-level systems, such as patient safety programs that must mitigate the risk of infections and other complications that can occur in virtually any setting providing direct and indirect patient care. The case example presented here illustrates the application of various system engineering methods to identify requirements and intervention candidates for a critical patient safety problem known as failure to rescue. Detailed descriptions of the analysis methods and their application are presented along with specific analysis artifacts related to the failure to rescue case study. Given the prevalence of complex systems in health care, this practical and effective approach provides an important example of how systems engineering methods can effectively address the shortcomings in current health care analysis and design, where complex systems are increasingly prevalent.
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The concept of modular standardised control system units is not new. The technique is well established in the solid state electronics field, where it is accepted that ease of…
Abstract
The concept of modular standardised control system units is not new. The technique is well established in the solid state electronics field, where it is accepted that ease of servicing and trouble shooting coupled with a standardised application design procedure, is more important than minimising the number of devices used. Here we may equate standard features with ease of application and maintainance.
Sarah R. Carlson, Vidya D. Munandar, Michael L. Wehmeyer and James R. Thompson
In the years following high school, youth, including youth with extensive support needs, aspire to pursue a range of personally important experiences, such as attending…
Abstract
In the years following high school, youth, including youth with extensive support needs, aspire to pursue a range of personally important experiences, such as attending postsecondary education programs, obtaining competitive employment, and living independently. However, the level of disability continues to be a powerful predictor of the degree to which desired outcomes materialize in early adulthood. For most young adults with extensive support needs, valued outcomes are elusive. To support youth with disabilities, including youth with extensive support needs, to progress toward achieving their post-school goals, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990 mandated the provision of transition services. Despite the legal mandate for transition services, numerous factors continue to impact the outcomes experienced by youth with extensive support needs. However, research has identified numerous practices to support improved post-school outcomes. In this chapter, we address the transition mandates of the IDEA, identify and describe factors influencing the post-school outcomes of youth with extensive support needs, and provide strategies, practices, and interventions for improving these outcomes.
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Anita Zehrer, Lisa Marx and Gundula Glowka
Every organization must deal with new challenges such as automation, digitization, or structural transformation, which requires a highly resilient and engaged workforce to stay…
Abstract
Every organization must deal with new challenges such as automation, digitization, or structural transformation, which requires a highly resilient and engaged workforce to stay competitive. Strong leadership in a firm and specific abilities of the leader are necessary to manage uncertainties and to be able to react to certain changes. Various studies regarding organizations and resilience focus on large enterprises, while studies on small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are lacking. SMEs account for 99.6% of all companies in Austria and are largely run by entrepreneurial owners and their families. Based on transformational theory, the theory of resilience as well as positive psychology, we investigate five SME owners and their personal resilience in an exploratory study. The owners were selected by purposive sampling with the aim to develop a framework with recommended actions for the personal resilience of SME leaders.
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Nicola Walker, Madeleine Vernon-Smith and Michael Townend
No current psychotherapeutic intervention is designed to enhance job retention in employees with moderate–severe recurrent depression. The aim of this study is to test the…
Abstract
Purpose
No current psychotherapeutic intervention is designed to enhance job retention in employees with moderate–severe recurrent depression. The aim of this study is to test the feasibility of a new, interdisciplinary work-focused relational group cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) treatment programme for moderate–severe depression.
Design/methodology/approach
The programme was based on a theoretical integration of occupational stress, psychological, social/interpersonal and bio-medical theories. It consisted of up to four 1:1 psychotherapy sessions; 12 work-focused, full-day, weekly CBT sessions facilitated by a cognitive behavioural therapist and occupational therapist; and up to four optional 1:1 sessions with an occupational therapist. Depression severity (primary outcome) and a range of secondary outcomes were assessed before (first CBT session) and after (twelfth CBT session) therapy using validated instruments.
Findings
Eight women (26–49 years) with moderate–severe depression participated. Five were on antidepressant medication. While there was no statistically significant change in Hamilton Depression Rating Scale depression scores after therapy (n = 5; p = 0.313), Beck Depression Inventory-II depression scores significantly decreased after therapy (n = 8; –20.0 median change, p = 0.016; 6/8 responses, 7/8 minimal clinically important differences, two remissions). There were significant improvements in the secondary outcomes of overall psychological distress, coping self-efficacy, health-related quality of life and interpersonal difficulties after therapy. All clients in work at the start of therapy remained in work at the end of therapy. The intervention was safe and had 100% retention.
Research limitations/implications
A major limitation was recruitment shortfall, resulting in a small sample of middle-aged women, which reduces representativeness and increases the possibility of methodological weaknesses in terms of the statistical analysis. A definitive trial would need much larger samples to improve statistical power and increase confidence in the findings. Another major limitation was that two of the authors were involved in delivering the intervention such that its generalisability is uncertain.
Practical implications
This novel programme was evaluated and implemented in the real world of clinical practice. It showed promising immediate positive outcomes in terms of depressive symptoms, interpersonal difficulties and job retention that warrant further exploration in a longer-term definitive study.
Social implications
Empirical studies focused on enhancing job retention in employees with moderate–severe recurrent depression are lacking, so this study was highly relevant to a potentially marginalised community.
Originality/value
While limited by a recruitment shortfall, missing data and client heterogeneity, this study showed promising immediate positive outcomes for the new programme in terms of depressive symptoms, interpersonal difficulties and job retention that warrant exploration in a definitive study.
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Muhammed Turan Aslan, Bahattin Kanber, Hasan Demirtas and Bilal Sungur
The purpose of this study is analysis of deformation and vibrations of turbine blades produced by high electrolyte pressure during electrochemical machining.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is analysis of deformation and vibrations of turbine blades produced by high electrolyte pressure during electrochemical machining.
Design/methodology/approach
An experimental setup was designed, experiments were conducted and the obtained results were compared with the finite element results. The deformations were measured according to various flow rates of electrolyte. In finite element calculations, the pressure distribution created by the electrolyte on the blade surface was obtained in the ANSYS® (A finite element analysis software) Fluent software and transferred to the static structural where the deformation analysis was carried out. Three different parameters were examined, namely blade thickness, blade material and electrolyte pressure on blade disk caused by mass flow rate. The deformation results were compared with the gap distances between cathode and anode.
Findings
Large deformations were obtained at the free end of the blade and the most curved part of it. The appropriate pressure values for the electrolyte to be used in the production of blisk blades were proposed numerically. It has been determined that high pressure applications are not suitable for gap distance lower than 0.5 mm.
Originality/value
When the literature is examined, it is required that the high speed flow of the electrolyte is desired in order to remove the parts that are separated from the anode from the machining area during electrochemical machining. However, the electrolyte flowing at high speeds causes high pressure in the blisk blades, excessive deformation and vibration of the machined part, and as a result, contact of the anode with the cathode. This study provides important findings for smooth electro chemical machining at high electrolyte flows.
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Currently, sustainable HRM is largely an employer-driven exercise based on raising employee productivity. The purpose of the article is to expand this position by fully mapping…
Abstract
Purpose
Currently, sustainable HRM is largely an employer-driven exercise based on raising employee productivity. The purpose of the article is to expand this position by fully mapping out sustainable HRM and placing employees at the centre of such practices. A further purpose is to provide a research agenda suited to a wider take on sustainable HRM.
Design/methodology/approach
The article centres on an analytical review of extant sustainable HRM literature, plus an analytical review of wider literature considering further ways to sustain employment.
Findings
Employee-centred sustainable HRM goes far beyond what is accounted for in the extant HRM literature. The new map accounts for wider parties to sustainable HRM, including trade unions and self-organised employees. An extensive research agenda is a further key output from the study.
Research limitations/implications
The article is based on a literature review. Follow-up empirical research is required to test out aspects of the new map, as well as address research gaps identified by the review.
Practical implications
The findings have practical implications for HRM and occupational health practitioners, line managers, built environment and ergonomics specialists, governments, trade unions and workplace activists. A key practical implication is the potential to create micro-forms of corporatism, where wider political structures are absent, to foster employee-centred forms of sustainable HRM.
Originality/value
The article is novel in terms of drawing on a wide range of incongruous literature and synthesising the literature into a new map and an extensive research agenda.
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This chapter presents an overview of job stress research at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) from its inception in 1972 through current and…
Abstract
This chapter presents an overview of job stress research at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) from its inception in 1972 through current and proposed research in 2002. During this 30-year period, NIOSH funded a wide range of job stress projects and a detailed account of each is not possible in a single chapter. In some cases, the research will be discussed in great depth, especially if the work was unique to NIOSH (e.g. mass psychogenic illness) or was large in magnitude (e.g. Job Demands and Worker Health study). In many other cases, however, the research will be mentioned briefly and citations provided. Since many of the early reports referenced in this chapter are long out of print, the chapter makes liberal use of “Text Boxes” that contain sections of narrative text from NIOSH reports. The inclusion of such narrative text will provide the reader with a more authentic ‘feel’ for the research than would a summary statement.The chapter does not include NIOSH research in the areas of ergonomics, musculoskeletal disorders, or indoor air pollution, although psychosocial factors and job stress were elements of many studies in these areas.
Jun (Justin) Li and Jong-Hyeong Kim
This paper aims to investigate the corporate-level determinants (i.e. management commitment) of work ability. It also examined whether mid-level contextual variables intensify the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the corporate-level determinants (i.e. management commitment) of work ability. It also examined whether mid-level contextual variables intensify the relationship between management commitment and the work ability of senior casino dealers.
Design/methodology/approach
A three-level hierarchical analysis of data from 432 casino dealers from 16 casinos was performed to determine the proportion of variance in the dependent variable when the explanatory variables were at varying hierarchical levels.
Findings
The findings suggest that management commitment has a positive and significant impact on frontline dealers’ work ability. Furthermore, supervisor support and group trust have moderating effects on the relationship between management commitment and dealers’ work ability.
Research limitations/implications
The current study provides important information on how to increase the ability of aging dealer to remain active and learn new skills.
Originality/value
Work ability has received substantial attention from recent studies of human resources because of its close relationship to employee job skills and competencies. However, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no conceptual model explains the role of work ability role in promoting and updating human resources management practices and policies.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of job satisfaction in the relationship between effort-reward imbalance (ERI) and burnout, turnover intentions, and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of job satisfaction in the relationship between effort-reward imbalance (ERI) and burnout, turnover intentions, and mental health.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a sample of 323 full-time employees in the small developing country in the Caribbean, this survey study tested a mediation model with job satisfaction depicting the relationship between ERI and various outcome variables. The model was compared to a partial mediation model.
Findings
The structural equation modelling (SEM) results revealed that the partial mediating model was superior to the full mediation model, suggesting that job satisfaction plays only a partial role in mediating the relationships between ERI and burnout, turnover intentions, and mental health.
Research limitations/implications
The study presents a cross-sectional approach to model testing but the study controlled for CMV statistically using the common latent factor approach within latent SEM procedures.
Practical implications
Organisations should ensure that employees’ efforts are appropriately and fairly rewarded as a means of reducing negative ERIs which can have adverse consequences on the physical and mental health of employees.
Originality/value
Using latent SEM procedures and statistical controls for CMV, the study examined job satisfaction as a potential mediator in a popular stressor-strain model.