200 research outputs found
Learning to Be Employable Through Volunteering: A Qualitative Study on the Development of Employability Capital of Young People
Over the last decades, consistent research showed that voluntary work could be considered as a tool for professional development and concrete employment: volunteering could be either experienced as a desire to improve career opportunities or to acquire new skills. The study aimed to investigate voluntary work as a context of informal and non-formal workplace learning and vocational guidance, useful to develop skills and abilities, namely the capital of personal and social resources, that could promote future employability. Participants were 38 young volunteers who experienced the Universal Civil Service, a national Italian program addressed to young people aged up to 28 years, giving them both the opportunity to engage in social activities useful for the community and have the first contact with a working context. In line with the objectives of the study, participants were invited to describe their volunteering experience in a diary, highlighting if and to what extent this context contributed to enhancing their employability capital, namely the asset of skills, knowledge, and networks acquired, that they could transfer to a future professional domain. The narrative data collected were examined through diatextual analysis, a specific address of discourse analysis designed to catch the relationship between enunciators, text, and context of the talk. This qualitative analysis allowed us to investigate the meanings young people attributed to these activities. In light of these results, the paper contributed to investigate volunteersâ perceptions about the conditions that could best foster this specific kind of workplace informal and non-formal learning and at proposing a qualitative perspective on the analysis of the employability capital they developed
The meaning of the organization or the organization of meaning? Metaphors as sensemaking tools to understand organizational change management
Within the last decades, language and discourse have entered the conception of organizing, meant as a process of sense-making where discursively based interpretations define agents, purposes, and or-ganizations. The aim of the present paper was to connect sense-making theory with the study of me-taphor, being the latter one of the most valuable and multifaceted linguistic tools, useful to catch, de-scribe, and shape organizational identity. To this purpose, the focus of the investigation was on the sen-se-making processes used by employees to figure out their organization, analysing the metaphors they use when talking about it. Participants to the study were 115 employees working in a medium-sized company operating in the automotive sector and located in the south of Italy. At the time of data collec-tion, the company was experiencing a great change due to a recent process of commercial expansion. Consequently, employees were engaged in managing great transformations of the organization, both related to its cultural vision and to the tasks and working modalities. Therefore, in-depth individual interviews were used to collect discursive data about the way employees perceived this transformation. The study was intended as an action-research intervention aimed at collecting data to support the HR func-tion in dealing with these organizational changes. Practical implications for the development of work and organizational (W&O) psychology are also discussed
Human resource management practices perception and career success: The mediating roles of employability and extra-role behaviors
Over the last decades, growing interest has been devoted to employeesâ perceptions of Human Resource Management Practices because of their positive influence on individual attitudes and behaviors as well as on organizational performance. Furthermore, assuming the mutual benefits coming from a people-based management of the human capital in organizations, both in terms of employeesâ increased motivation, engagement and commitment, and consequently enhanced performance and competitive advantage, recent research in the field concentrated on the impact of HRM practices perceptions on some distinctive individual attitudes and behaviors driving the success of organizations especially in times of radical change like the present ones. Moving from these assumptions, the aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between HRM practices perception and objective career success, considering the mediating role played by employability and extra-role behaviors. Participants were 960 Italian employees who filled an online self-report questionnaire available through the web platform Google Forms. The questionnaire encompassed socio-demographic information and self-report scales assessing the study variables. Results showed that HRM practices perception was positively related to employability, objective career success, and extra-role behaviors. Implications for theory and practice, limitations, and future research directions were also discussed
Workaholism and Technostress During the COVID-19 Emergency: The Crucial Role of the Leaders on Remote Working
Although remote working can involve positive outcomes both for employees and
organizations, in the case of the sudden and forced remote working situation that came
into place during the COVID-19 crisis there have also been reports of negative aspects,
one of which is technostress. In this context of crisis, leadership is crucial in sustainably
managing and supporting employees, especially employees with workaholic tendencies
who are more prone to developing negative work and health outcomes. However, while
research on the role of the positive aspects of leadership during crises does exist, the
negative aspects of leadership during the COVID-19 crisis have not yet been studied.
The present study aimed to explore the role of authoritarian leadership in a sample of 339
administrative university employees who worked either completely from home or from
home and the workplace. The study examined the moderating effect of a manager on
this relationship and the connections between workaholism and technostress through
conditional process analysis. Results pointed out that high authoritarian leadership had
an enhancing effect, whereas low authoritarian leadership had a protective effect on
the relationship between workaholism and technostress, only in the group of complete
remote workers. Thus, authoritarian leadership should be avoided and training leaders
to be aware of its effect appears to be essential. Limitations, future directions for the
study, and practical implications are also discussed
Dental Disorders and Salivary Changes in Patients with Laryngopharyngeal Reflux
Background: Laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) is a common inflammatory condition of the upper aerodigestive tract tissues related to the effects of gastroduodenal content reflux, characterized by a wide variety of clinical manifestations. The aim of our study was to evaluate the possible association between dental disorders and LRP, focusing on the role of salivary changes. Methods: Patientâs dental status was evaluated according to Schiff Index Sensitivity Scale (SISS), Basic Erosive Wear Examination (BEWE) and Decayed, Missing, and Filled Teeth (DMFT) scores. Reflux-associated symptoms were assessed according to Reflux symptom index (RSI). A qualitative and quantitative examination of saliva was performed. Results: Patients suffering from LPR had a higher incidence of dental disorders, regardless the presence of salivary pepsin, and thus, statistically significant higher scores of RSI (p = 0.0001), SISS (p = 0.001), BEWE (p < 0.001) and VAS (p < 0.001). Moreover, they had lower salivary flow compared with healthy patients. Conclusions: The finding of demineralization and dental caries on intraoral evaluation must raise the suspicion of LRP. Reflux treatments should also be aimed at correcting salivary alterations, in order to preserve the buffering capacity and salivary pH, thus preventing mucosal and dental damage
Does the end justify the means? The role of organizational communication among workâfromâhome employees during the covidâ19 pandemic
During the first months of 2020, the world, and Italy at an early stage, went through the Covidâ19 emergency that had a great impact on individual and collective health, but also on working processes. The mandatory remote working and the constant use of technology for employees raised different implications related to technostress and psychoâphysical disorders. This study aimed to detect, in such a period of crisis and changes, the role of organizational communication considering the mediating role of both technostress and selfâefficacy, with psychoâphysical disorders as outcome. The research involved 530 workers working from home. A Structural Equations Model was estimated, revealing that organizational communication is positively associated with selfâefficacy and negatively with technostress and psychoâphysical disorders. As mediators, technostress is positively associated with psychoâphysical disorders, whereas selfâefficacy is negatively associated. As regards mediated effects, results showed negative associations between organizational communication and psychoâphysical disorders through both technostress and selfâefficacy. This study highlighted the potential protective role of organizational communication that could buffer the effect of technostress and enhance a personal resource, selfâefficacy, which is functional to the reduction of psychoâphysical disorders. This study contributed to literature underlying the role of communication in the current crisis and consequent reorganization of the working processes
âEverything Will Be Fineâ: A Study on the Relationship between Employeesâ Perception of Sustainable HRM Practices and Positive Organizational Behavior during COVID19
Sustainable human resource management practices represent one of the main organizational
strategy to survive and to prosper within the fast-moving current scenario. According to this view,
sustainability is strictly linked to the consideration of the unique and distinctive value that each
human resource means for organizations. The recent COVID19 pandemic is having a serious
impact on organizations and on their employees, it is profoundly changing the working modalities,
mainly introducing smart working practices that were showed to have significant consequences on
workersâ wellbeing. This study aims to investigate employeesâ perception of sustainable HRM in
the frame of the COVID19 emergency, exploring if and to what extent perceptions of involvement
and organizational support together with individual coping strategies associated with organizational
change could influence positive organizational behaviors, namely organizational engagement and
extra-role behavior. The research involved 549 participants who completed a self-report online
questionnaire encompassing psycho-social measures of the abovementioned variables. Results
confirmed the important role played by sustainable HRM practices both for the capitalization of
human resources and of organizational performance in a time of great uncertainty and global crisis.
Implications for theory and HRM practice development were also discussed
Isolation and characterisation of cytosolic glutamine synthetase (GSe) genes and association with grain protein content in durum wheat
Glutamine synthetase (GS) enzyme (EC 6.3.1.2) plays a central role in assimilating ammonia produced in the leaf from metabolic processes, spanning from assimilation to transamination reactions and catabolic processes. GS is located in both cytoplasm (GS1, GSe and GSr) and plastids (GS2) of plant cells. Glutamine and glutamate, produced by the concerted action of GS and glutamate synthase, are then transported from the leaf to the developing sinks or grain in wheat. The goal of the present study was to characterise GSe genes and to assess the linkage with grain protein content, an important quantitative trait controlled by multiple genes. Here, we report the isolation of the complete cytosolic GS gene sequences of the durum wheat cvv. 'Ciccio' and 'Svevo' (characterised by low and high protein content, respectively). GSe-A4 located on 4A chromosome comprises 12 exons separated by 11 introns, while the GSe-B4 gene on 4B chromosome comprises 11 exons separated by 10 introns. Quantitative real-time PCR indicated different expression levels of GSe-A4 and GSe-B4 genes in the two wheat cvv. 'Ciccio' and 'Svevo'. The two GSe genes were significantly associated to quantitative trait loci for grain protein content
Consumer Law and Policy Relating to Change of Circumstances Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic
An unprecedented number of consumer problems has been caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, not least with regard to refunds of prepayments and the ability of consumers to keep up their monthly payments under loan and rental agreements. Based on a notion of societal force majeure sketched in this paper, we propose guiding principles in respect of the introduction of moratoria on recurring payments, the use of refunds or vouchers in respect of prepayments, and associated enforcement challenges. This analysis draws on experiences around the globe.Non peer reviewe
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