7 research outputs found
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Capturing the psychological well-being of Chinese workers and understanding its relationship with factory performance.
Capturing the psychological well-being of Chinese workers
and understanding its relationship with factory performance
Media reports of workers losing their lives in factory disasters indicate the failure of audit-based regimes to protect even physical well-being in global supply chains, while distress has been seen to lead to workers’ suicides, yet there is neither clear guidance nor even consensus on how factories should be monitored to facilitate the urgently needed change. Workers themselves are excluded from the social sustainability debate. The lack of knowledge about what impacts Chinese factory workers’ well-being led to a first research question: What are the factors that influence well-being for Chinese factory workers?
To persuade stakeholders of the value of making changes, evidence of how that may affect factory performance was also sought. A link would provide an extra incentive for businesses to prioritise these workers’ well-being. This led to the formulation of a second research question: How does workers’ well-being influence factory performance?
Going to the heart of the matter by asking the workers, fieldwork set out to discover what life is really like for workers in these factories. A novel research method using workers’ daily digital diaries was developed. A brief pilot in 2017 was followed by a 12-month study across four factories in 2019. Potential well-being interventions were also designed and tested in an operating factory environment to produce the empirical data required.
The fieldwork identified three interdependent aggregate dimensions impacting these workers’ well-being: 1) social displacement, struggles with factory life and the trade-offs with long-term life goals; 2) frustration and demotivation due to operational problems and 3) work relationships impacting self-worth. Operational problems causing loss of remuneration were understood to impact workers’ life goals, which in turn undermined working relationships. The first research question was answered: Workers’ inability to influence operational issues led them to lose all hope of achieving their longer-term goals, damaging their eudaimonic and social well-being in the factories.
This suggested two training interventions to address some identified operational and interpersonal problems in the work environment. Comparing pre- and post-intervention data indicated that these interventions had influenced both well-being and performance. Most significantly, post-intervention diaries indicated a reduction in negative sentiment. Factory-level metrics, supplied by factory management, indicated that the training had improved factory performance. Worker attrition also appeared significantly reduced after training. The second research question was answered: There were indications that interventions had positively impacted both workers’ sentiment and some aspects of factory performance.
This work achieves transparency for the first time into the concerns of workers in Chinese factories, indicating that eudaimonic factors impact their well-being more than the hedonic factors now typically monitored. Unlike most Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) literature, which focuses on physical conditions, it highlights workers’ complex relationships with colleagues and line leaders. This brings empirical evidence and detail to a discussion long overdue, creating a basis for further theory development in supply-chain social sustainability, specifically around workers and impacts on their well-being. It also contributes to the Psychological Capital (PsyCap) literature, which had mainly focused on western workplaces and relied on surveys, by allowing for a more reliable well-being assessment. By measuring these workers’ well-being longitudinally over an extended period it allowed the researcher to infer causality, while using the factory’s performance metrics avoided data-integrity issues.
This novel research connects SSCM with workplace well-being theory. It advances the knowledge with both an understanding of the well-being of workers in Chinese factories, hitherto missing from SSCM literature, and a more nuanced approach to the theory on workers’ well-being. It changes how these factories and their workers are seen by presenting the picture from a new and more relevant perspective
Uncovering the link between well-being and factory performance among workers in China:a longitudinal study
Purpose: Companies are concerned about the well-being of workers in their supply chains, but conventional audits fail to uncover critical problems. Yet, if the happy worker – productive worker thesis is correct, it would benefit factories in fast-developing countries, particularly China which is key to many global supply chains, to ensure the well-being of their workers. The authors set out to better understand the relationship between well-being and performance in four Chinese factories. Design/methodology/approach: Over 12-months the authors collected digital diaries from 466 workers in four factories, and monthly data about the performance of their factories. The authors used this data to gain insights into the well-being of workers in these factories; to design experimental interventions to improve this; and to consider any effects these had on factory performance. Findings: The experiments showed that training interventions to improve workers' well-being through their work relationships and individual skills improved not just a factory's general worker well-being, but also some aspects of its performance and worker retention. Thus, it brought benefits not only for the workers but also for the factory owners and their client companies. Originality/value: While there is a significant body of research investigating the happy worker – productive worker thesis, this was not conducted in Chinese factories. The authors’ work demonstrates that in this and similar environments, workers' eudaimonic well-being is more important than might be assumed, and that in this context there is a relationship between well-being and performance which can be practically addressed.</p
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Leveraging Open Data for Enhanced Visibility and Security in Critical Minerals Supply Chains
Critical mineral supply chains stand at the intersection of environmental sustainability,
economic vitality, and technological innovation, pivotal in critical manufacturing industries,
including electronics, renewable energy, and defence. However, the complexity and
interconnectedness of critical mineral supply chains are accompanied by a plethora of
challenges, such as geopolitical instability, sustainability challenges and resource scarcity,
underscoring the necessity to develop end-to-end SCV. This study develops an understanding
of how publicly accessible open data can be effectively leveraged to enhance visibility and
supply security in global critical mineral supply chains.Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, U
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Unveiling ‘Blind Spots’ in Tier-level Supply Chain Operations: A Systematic Review Towards Developing End-to-End Visibility
Supply chains are grappling with growing complexity, leading to what are known as
‘blind spots’ – areas lacking visibility across end-to-end supply chains. We argue that
these blind spots pose significant vulnerabilities that can impact economic, social, and
environmental sustainability. Prior research has focused on data's role up to tier-1
suppliers, but disruptions from extended chains require broader visibility. Thus, we
conducted a systematic literature review on data's role in extended supply chains,
emphasising links between data types, decision-making, and visibility. We propose a data
exploitation guideline which aims to address these challenges, laying the groundwork for
implementation in supply chain management.Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, U
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Uncovering the link between worker well-being and factory performance: A longitudinal study with workers in China
Purpose. Companies are concerned about the well-being of workers in their supply chains, but conventional audits fail to uncover critical problems. Yet, if the happy worker – productive worker thesis is correct, it would benefit factories in fast-developing countries, particularly China which is key to many global supply chains, to ensure the well-being of their workers. We set out to better understand the relationship between well-being and performance in four Chinese factories.
Approach. Over 12-months we collected digital diaries from 466 workers in four factories, and monthly data about the performance of their factories. We used this data to gain insights into the well-being of workers in these factories; to design experimental interventions to improve this; and to consider any effects these had on factory performance.
Findings. Our experiments showed that training interventions to improve workers’ well-being through their work relationships and individual skills improved not just a factory’s general worker well-being, but also some aspects of its performance and worker retention. Thus, it brought benefits not only for the workers but also for the factory owners and their client companies.
Originality. While there is a significant body of research investigating the happy worker –productive worker thesis, this was not conducted in Chinese factories. Our work demonstrates that in this and similar environments, workers’ eudaimonic well-being is more important than might be assumed, and that in this context there is a relationship between well-being and performance which can be practically addressed
Uncovering the link between worker well-being and factory performance: A longitudinal study with workers in China
Purpose: Companies are concerned about the well-being of workers in their supply chains, but conventional audits fail to uncover critical problems. Yet, if the happy worker – productive worker thesis is correct, it would benefit factories in fast-developing countries, particularly China which is key to many global supply chains, to ensure the well-being of their workers. We set out to better understand the relationship between well-being and performance in four Chinese factories. Approach: Over 12-months we collected digital diaries from 466 workers in four factories, and monthly data about the performance of their factories. We used this data to gain insights into the well-being of workers in these factories; to design experimental interventions to improve this; and to consider any effects these had on factory performance. Findings: Our experiments showed that training interventions to improve workers’ well-being through their work relationships and individual skills improved not just a factory’s general worker well-being, but also some aspects of its performance and worker retention. Thus, it brought benefits not only for the workers but also for the factory owners and their client companies. Originality: While there is a significant body of research investigating the "happy worker–productive worker" thesis, this was not conducted in Chinese factories. Our work demonstrates that in this and similar environments, workers’ eudaimonic well-being is more important than might be assumed, and that in this context there is a relationship between well-being and performance which can be practically addressed
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Tackling supply chain ‘blind spots’ via end-to-end visibility, traceability, and transparency: Conceptualising the role publicly data and big data analytics
This study explores the nature of publicly available data, big data analytics, the knowledge derived from such analytics, and their interconnections in the context of achieving supply chain visibility, traceability and transparency to uncover the blind spots in the end-to-end supply chain. This study conducts a scoping review and evaluates the relevant academic works using publicly available data. From the reviews, we compiled a list of relevant data sources which can be categorised into 6 groups. Several data concerns like data source selection and data storage remain to be discussed. Finally, a conceptual framework is proposed to guide the implementation