Relating Voluntary Turnover with Job Characteristics, Satisfaction and Work Exhaustion - An Initial Study with Brazilian Developers

High rates of turnover among software developers remain, involving additional costs of hiring and training. Voluntary turnover may be due to workplace issues or personal career decisions, but it might as well relate to Job Characteristics, or even Job Satisfaction and Work Exhaustion. This paper reports on an initial study which quantitatively measured those constructs among 78 software developers working in Brazil who left their jobs voluntarily. For this, we adapted well-known survey instruments, namely the JDS from Hackman and Oldham's Job Characteristics Model, and Maslach et al.'s Burnout Measurement. In average, developers demonstrated low to moderate autonomy (3.75, on a 1-7 scale) and satisfaction (4.08), in addition to moderate exhaustion (4.2) before leaving their jobs, while experiencing high task significance (5.15). Also, testers reported significantly lower job satisfaction than programmers. These results allow us to raise interesting hypotheses to be addressed by future studies.Comment: 4 pages, no figures, 3 tables. Final version for ICSE CHASE 201

Human Capital Strategies of Leaders in the Food Service Industry

High voluntary employee turnover in the food service industry often exceeds 60%. Some food service leaders lack strategies to motivate employees to stay with the organization. High voluntary employee turnover negatively affects organizational profitability due to increased employee replacement costs and reduced organizational productivity. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the human capital strategies successful food service leaders use to reduce voluntary employee turnover intentions. The target population consisted of 4 managers of 4 different casual dining restaurants in Winston-Salem, NC who successfully used human capital strategies to reduce voluntary employee turnover intentions. The conceptual frameworks of this study were Herzberg\u27s two-factor theory and G. S. Becker\u27s human capital theory. Data were collected through semi-structured in-person interviews, employee handbooks, manager reference guides, exit interviews, and turnover trend reports. Transcript review and member checking strengthened the credibility and trustworthiness of this study. An inductive analysis of the data lead to the emergence of 4 themes, identified as positive work relationships with employees, employee motivation, employee incentives, and employee selection. Social implications include providing organizational leaders with a better understanding of human capital strategies to reduce voluntary employee turnover intentions. Additionally, the findings from this study may contribute to social change through improved organizational profitability which could increase competitive advantage and economic sustainability in the United States

Teacher Burnout: A Causal-Comparative Study of Classroom Assignment

The purpose of this quantitative, causal-comparative study was to determine if there is a difference in teacher burnout among the classroom assignments of general education, special education self-contained, and special education resource/inclusion teachers teaching in sixth through 12th grade. Burnout continues to plague the education system. There is a sense of urgency in understanding how to address burnout as the NEA has reported a one-year increase from 37% to 55% of teachers considering leaving the education field. The sample for the current study consists of 57 middle school and high school core content teachers in three categories: general education, special education self-contained, and special education resource/inclusion. Maslach’s Burnout Inventory – Educator Survey (MBI-ES) and five questions from the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) 4A were administered through the online platform of Mind Garden. The MBI survey uses a 7-point frequency scale. The higher scores in the Emotional Exhaustion and Depersonalization scales indicate higher burnout; the Personal Accomplishment scale uses reverse coding of lower scores associated with higher burnout. Results from the MANOVA indicated significant differences in the vector of burnout scores across the three teacher groups. The follow-up ANOVA results indicated a statistically significant difference between general education and special education resource/inclusion teachers in the burnout subscale of Emotional Exhaustion. Special education teachers indicated high levels of emotional exhaustion, while general education teachers indicated moderate levels. In conclusion, there was a difference in the burnout dimension of emotional exhaustion between general education and special education resource/inclusion teachers. Recommendations for further research include elementary teachers, multiple surveys in a school year, a larger sample, and years of experience as a covariate

IFPOC Symposium:Discovering antecedents and consequences of complex change recipients' reactions to organizational change.

IFPOC symposium: Discovering antecedents and consequences of complex change recipients' reactions to organizational change Chairs: Maria Vakola (Athens University of Economics and Business) & Karen Van Dam (Open University) Discussant: Mel Fugate (American University, Washington, D.C) State of the art Organisations are required to continuously change and develop but there is a high failure rate associated with change implementation success. In the past two decades, change researchers have started to investigate change recipients' reactions to change recognizing the crucial role of these reactions for successful change. This symposium aims at identifying and discussing the complex processes that underlie the relationships among antecedents, reactions and outcomes associated with organizational change. New perspective / contributions This symposium consists of five studies that extend our knowledge in the field by (i) providing an analysis of change recipients' reactions going beyond the dichotomous approaches (acceptance or resistance) (ii) revealing understudied antecedents-reactions and reactions-consequences patterns and relationships (iii) shedding light on the role of contextual factors i.e team climate and individual factors i.e emotion regulation on the adaptation to change. This symposium is based on a combination of both quantitative (i.e diary, survey) and qualitative (i.e interviews) research methodology. Research / practical implications This symposium aims to increase our understanding of the complex processes associated with change recipients' reactions to change. Discovering how these reactions are created and what are their results may reveal important contingencies that can explain how positive organizational outcomes during times of change can be stimulated which is beneficial for both researchers and practitioners

Qigong at Work: Where East Meets West

State of the Art Qigong is part of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TMC) and aims to balance body and mind. The roots of Qigong lie in China, where Confucian and Daoist scholars (500-400 B.C.) noted that one must learn to balance and relax one’s thoughts and emotions to avoid illness (Yang, 1997). In the Western world, Qigong is best known for its slow and coordinated movements. According to TCM, these movements will help regulate one’s ‘qi’, or life energy, through the body to improve the health and harmony of mind and body. During the practice of Qigong, one’s breathing, attention and movement are aligned. As such, Qigong is sometimes considered Mindfulness in movement (although there are many important differences). New perspectives / contributionsQigong has many positive outcomes on health and wellness. In both patient groups and healthy individuals, Qigong has been shown to improve psychological well-being, quality of life, immune function, balance and related risk-factors, and bone density (Jahnke et al., 2010). As such, Qigong offers a validated way to reduce the physical and mental activation that results from a person's work. While recent research has demonstrated how important it is to take short breaks at work, there is still little attention for Qigong exercises as a means to recover at work.Practical Implications In this presentation, we will explain and practice several Qigong exercises. These movements can be used at work (and at home) to recover from (hormonal) activation, ‘empty’ one’s head, and restore the body-mind balance. <br/

Individual spirit at work and its relationship with employee work attitudes and organisational outcomes:An empirical examination in corporate Thailand

The purpose of this thesis is to conduct empirical research in corporate Thailand in order to (1) validate the Spirit at Work Scale (2) investigate the relationships between individual spirit at work and three employee work attitudinal variables (job satisfaction, organisational identification and psychological well-being) and three organisational outcomes (in-role performance, organisational citizenship behaviours (OCB), and turnover intentions) (3) further examine causal relations among these organisational behaviour variables with a longitudinal design (4) examine three employee work attitudes as mediator variables between individual spirit at work and three organisational outcomes and (5) explore the potential antecedents of organisational conditions that foster employee experienced individual spirit at work. The two pilot studies with 155 UK and 175, 715 Thai samples were conducted for validation testing of the main measure used in this study: Spirit at Work Scale (Kinjerski & Skrypnek, 2006a). The results of the two studies including discriminant validity analyses strongly provided supportive evidence that Spirit at Work Scale (SAWS) is a sound psychometric measure and also a distinct construct from the three work attitude constructs. The final model of SAWS contains a total of twelve items; a three factor structure (meaning in work, sense of community, and spiritual connection) in which the sub-factors loaded on higher order factors and also had very acceptable reliability. In line with these results it was decided to use the second-order of SAWS model for Thai samples in the main study and subsequent analysis. The 715 completed questionnaires were received from the first wave of data collection during July - August 2008 and the second wave was conducted again within the same organisations and 501 completed questionnaires were received during March - April 2009. Data were obtained through 49 organisations which were from three types of organisations within Thailand: public organisations, for-profit organisations, and notfor-profit organisations. Confirmatory factor analysis of all measures used in the study and hypothesised model were tested with structural equation modelling techniques. The results were greatly supportive for the direct structural model and partially supportive for the fully mediated model. Moreover, there were different findings across self report and supervisor rating on performance and OCB models. Additionally, the antecedent conditions that fostered employees experienced individual spirit at work and the implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed

Organizational Culture’s Moderating Relationship on Surface Acting and Psychological Distress

There is a scarcity of research linking surface acting (SA) to psychological distress (PD) in employee-to-employee interactions. Research has demonstrated direct negative effects of SA causing the PD elements of occupational stress (OS), emotional exhaustion (EE), and burnout/depersonalization (DEP) in employee-to-customer interactions. Moreover, little research exists if organizational culture (OC) type plays any role in mitigating these negative effects. Therefore, there was a need to research if the negative effects in the employee-to-customer interactions manifest in the employee-to employee interactions and also, if OC type can possibly moderate this effect between SA and PD. This quantitative study used a cross-sectional design. The research questions determined if the moderating variable of OC culture type (clan, adhocracy, market, and hierarchy) moderated the relationship between the predictor variable SA and the three PD criterion variables: OS, EE, and DEP. Emotional labor and OC theory helped explain the results of the current study. The study used a sample of 260 employees from various organizations. The current study is one of the earliest to find significant correlations between SA and each PD criterion variables in employee-to employee interactions. Using statistical moderation, results also indicated the clan and hierarchy OC types significantly moderated the relationship between SA and OS. These results can guide researchers and organizations to develop interventions that mitigate the negative SA to OS, DEP, EE effects, whether through a culture change or other methods, to create a more positive work environment. This could create a better home life and work life balance for the employee and less PD concerns for employees and organizations

Employees\u27 Perceptions of Managerial Transformational Leadership Behaviors and Effectiveness Among Information Technology Managers

The selection of effective leaders is critical to improving organizations\u27 performance in the current dynamic global business landscape; however, the inadequacy of leadership selection criteria in many organizations had led to an increase in the rate of chief executive officers\u27 dismissals within the last 3 decades in the United States. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between employees\u27 assessments of their managers\u27 transformational leadership behaviors and employees\u27 perceptions of managerial leadership effectiveness for improved leadership selection. Bass\u27 transformational leadership theory and Herzberg\u27s motivation-hygiene theory guided the study with data gathered, using an online survey, from randomly selected information technology professionals employed at telecommunication service companies located in the State of New Jersey (n = 190). Data analysis using a multiple linear regressions indicated a statistically significant relationship between managers\u27 transformational leadership behaviors and employees\u27 perceptions of managerial leadership effectiveness, F(5, 184) = 237.578, p \u3c .0005, and R2 = 0.866. The final model indicated that each of the 5 predictors examined that represented managers\u27 transformational leadership behaviors were statistically significant in predicting employees\u27 perceptions of managerial leadership effectiveness. The results of this study may have implications for social change by providing information for business executives to improve leadership selection criteria. Adopting the findings from this study might increase effective leaders who proactively align organization\u27s vision with societal expectations, thus improving an organization\u27s public perceptions and financial outlook