ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE NEW WAY OF WORKING - A LONGITUDINAL STUDY

Information and communication technologies are rapidly transforming the work environment, providing flexibility of when and where to work. The New Way of Working (NWOW) is a relatively new phenomenon that provides the context for these developments. In this case research three reviews were performed over a one-year timeframe, evaluating the attitude of managers and employees towards the New Way of Working. Special attention was given to the relationship between personality traits (the ‘Big Five’) and satisfaction with NWOW. The case results show that, in general, managers and employees are and remain positive towards NWOW, though the actual effects of the implementation of NWOW on work and the work environment are often limited or hard to quantify. The personality survey shows there is a significant positive relationship between conscientiousness, being (self)disciplined, and satisfaction with NWOW. There is a negative relationship for neuroticism; sensitive employees. This leads to the conclusion that the New Way of Working is not beneficial to all. Where (self)disciplined employees may thrive well in the new work environment, high neuroticism (sensitive) persons may have problems to adapt to the newly gained freedom

Are the social groups most likely to be unemployed also those most likely to prefer being employed? Evidence from the 2000 British Cohort Study and 2000/2008 National Child Development Study

This paper first argues for a new approach to researching the issue of unemployment and work attitudes, and then presents findings from an analysis of 2000 British Cohort Study and 2000/2008 National Child Development Study data. Existing social policy literature has shown that a large majority of unemployed people want jobs and actively seek them, but it has not examined choices between less enjoyable jobs and unemployment. Indeed, literature on whether or not unemployed people want employment has not discussed work attitude measurement at all, and has often used measures that do not offer respondents a choice between employment and unemployment and do not hold job quality constant. Furthermore, while the unemployed and employed are found to generally share the same values including a strong work ethic, there is little or no discussion of differences in values and preferences among groups that cut across the two categories. Nor is there recognition that the unemployed category contains disproportionately high numbers from certain social groups and hence inevitably exhibits these groups‟ cultural characteristics and preferences. We suggest that people generally, whether currently unemployed or not, are willing to undertake some kinds of work but not others, and that there is considerable diversity in attitudes towards various jobs and towards being unemployed. Therefore, our research focused on how all respondents answered the agree/disagree statement „Having almost any job is better than being unemployed‟. Of the groups most at risk of unemployment, single people were found to be significantly anti-employment, and those with low academic attainment significantly pro-employment, but there was little or no significance in men, the young, or working class people. Of the numerous living circumstances, lifestyle choice, attitude, and demographic variables included in the study, the following were not only found to have strong associations with agreeing with the statement in all three datasets, but also emerged as significant each time in the logistic regression analysis: those with authoritarian, politically right wing and traditional moral attitudes, the employed not unemployed, and people living in multiple occupancy households and mortgaged (not rented) accommodation. The employed/unemployed finding indicates that survey items offering a choice between employment (including unattractive jobs) and unemployment show unemployed people to be less pro-employment than measures that do not. This is important because how people exercise that choice is important to the debate about whether or not attaching more conditions to the receipt of unemployment benefits is justified

Telecommuting resistance, soft but strong: Development of telecommuting over time, and related rhetoric, in three organisations

Telecommuting, or working part of the time from another location than the office, normally from home, has been tried by several organisations in the recent years. This has not always been a success. Still, many arguments in favour of telecommuting are forwarded by previous studies. This paper investigates the development of telecommuting in three organisations, and elaborates on mechanisms behind the fact that the practice of telecommuting has not been as widespread as expected. The study is longitudinal, covering three years, and mainly based on interviews. The practice of telecommuting is found to have a negative development over time in all three cases. The social/symbolic aspects are found to be strong, but initially not reflected upon by the organisations. Many arguments in early phases of telecommuting are of a rational/functional nature, and tend to treat work as an output-related activity, without considering social and symbolic aspects of distancing oneself from the worksite and the colleagues. Over time, symbolic aspects become more pronounced. This complements/overrides the rational/functional arguments initially used by those in favour of telecommuting. This shift over time needs to be taken into account to understand the initial positive response to, but difficulties to sustain telecommuting.Telework; telecommuting; Geographical dispersion; Organisation

Does it work? evaluating a new pay system

This report focuses on the evaluation of the impact of new pay systems in large, unionised multi-site organisations by the organisations themselves. Evaluation of the effectiveness of a pay system, however, does not take place in a vacuum and relates to the aims and objectives of the pay system concerned. Moreover, evaluation is not an end in itself. It is, therefore, relevant to consider if any further steps were taken as a result of evaluation. Accordingly our research questions were: • What were the aims and objectives of organisations when introducing new pay arrangements? • What data did organisations collect and review to inform their evaluation? • What steps have organisations taken as a result of their evaluation? We re-appraised our data from 10 NHS trusts in England which had introduced some innovations in pay and grading in the 1990s. Additionally, we looked at seven multi-site unionised organisations outside the NHS in both the public and private sectors, which had recently made changes to their reward systems, carrying out interviews and inspecting documents. The main output is a template for the evaluation of Agenda for Change by NHS organisations

Mesin pembungkus nasi lemak

Pada era globalisasi ini, makanan tradisi melayu semakin berkembang dengan permintaan yang sentiasa meningkat saban tahun. Promosi hebat dan kesan media sosial telah menyebabkan tarikan yang kuat terhadap makanan tradisional Malaysia ditambah pula dengan kaedah hiasan yang kreatif dan menarik. Antara makanan tradisi melayu yang mendapat permintaan tinggi adalah Nasi Lemak. Nasi Lemak sangat sinonim dengan negara Malaysia sehinggakan ianya menjadi menu tetap sarapan pagi bagi setiap gerai mahupun hotel di negara kita. Penjualan nasi lemak sangat popular dan meluas. Permintaannya meningkat bukan sahaja di dalam negara, bahkan di peringkat antarabangsa juga nasi lemak mempunyai peminatnya yang tersendiri. Bagi syarikat penerbangan milik Malaysia seperti Airsia dan MAS, Nasi Lemak menjadi pilihan hidangan untuk penumpangnya yang terdiri daripada pelbagai warganegara serata dunia. Selain itu, faktor berlakunya peningkatan permintaan terhadap nasi lemak adalah kerana ianya tidak lagi hanya menjadi menu sarapan pagi semata-mata, malah ia juga menjadi menu makanan sepanjang masa sehingga ke lewat malam

Value stability and change during self-chosen life transitions: Self-selection versus socialization effects

Copyright @ 2013 APA. This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record.Three longitudinal studies examine a fundamental question regarding adjustment of personal values to self-chosen life transitions: Do values fit the new life setting already at its onset, implying value-based self-selection? Or do values change to better fit the appropriate and desirable values in the setting, implying value socialization? As people are likely to choose a life transition partly based on their values, their values may fit the new life situation already at its onset, leaving little need for value socialization. However, we propose that this may vary as a function of the extent of change the life transition entails, with greater change requiring more value socialization. To enable generalization, we used 3 longitudinal studies spanning 3 different life transitions and different extents of life changes: vocational training (of new police recruits), education (psychology vs. business students), and migration (from Poland to Britain). Although each life transition involved different key values and different populations, across all 3 studies we found value fit to the life situation already early in the transition. Value socialization became more evident the more aspects of life changed as part of the transition, that is, in the migration transition. The discussion focuses on the implications of these findings for research on values and personality change, as well as limitations and future directions for research

Taking boys seriously: a longitudinal study of adolescent male school-life experiences in Northern Ireland

This report presents the findings of a five year longitudinal study (2006-2011) carried out by The Centre for Young Men’s Studies at the University of Ulster and funded by the Department of Education and the Department of Justice. The research was initiated in response to concerns about boys’ educational underachievement and wider concerns about boys’ health and well-being. The study annually tracked the same 378 adolescent boys aged 11-16 across nine post-primary schools in Northern Ireland