Validation of the Human Factors Satisfaction Questionnaire

In order to predict behavior in organizations, it is important to understand and to consider both the individual employee and his/her interaction with the physical work environment. The main purpose of this research was to gather evidence of the validity of the Human Factors Satisfaction Questionnaire (HFSQ) in order to provide a tool with which employees\u27 preceptions of several elements of their physical work environments can be measured. The physical work environment and its relationship to both organization theory and motivation theory is discussed. Evidence of the construct validity of the HFSQ was sought through the administration of the HFSQ to 641 employees of 8 organizations, along with established measures of job satisfaction, organization commitment, turnover intentions, participation in goal setting, feedback in goal effort, perceived crowding, task privacy, and communications privacy. Hypotheses 1 and 2 stated that the HFSQ would converge with measures of peoples\u27 perceptions of their objective physical work environment and discriminate from other measures. These expectations were contradicted by the correlational data. However, when the HFSQ was considered to be a measure of the physical work environment satisfaction construct, it was seen to converge with other measures of job satisfaction and to be less strongly related to non-satisfaction measures. Hypothesis 3 stated that the HFSQ would be a significant contributor to the model illustrating the relationships between the job satisfaction, organization commitment, and turnover intention constructs, and that the model would fit better with the HFSQ than without it. The investigation of the job satisfaction construct measurement model provided evidence of the validity of the physical work environment satisfaction construct and of the HFSQ as a measure of that construct, while the data provided support for Hypothesis 3. Finally, it was expected (Hypothesis 4) that groups of people who worked in distinct physical environments would report significantly different HFSQ scores. This hypothesis received no support. Therefore, the study provided mixed evidence for the construct validity of the HFSQ and for the physical work environment satisfaction construct

A key to prosperity in hypercompetitive markets: organizational “hyperflexibility”

Today’s global business mindset requires flexibility and the ability to make changes to our organization, at all levels, quickly. Organizational flexibility is achieved when any component of an organization, and any individual within an organization, can be flexible if and when needed We have been limiting ourselves by equating organizational flexibility with specific, narrowly conceived types of flexibility, such as strategic, operational or labor flexibility. In this paper, we apply the classic Katz and Kahn1 open systems conceptualization of an organization and its subsystems in order to more broadly conceive the concept of organizational flexibility. We then illustrate how the types of flexibility that have been discussed in the literature to date fit into these subsystems, and that the application of the open systems framework both grounds the concept of organizational flexibility in open systems theory and illuminates the ways in which organizations and individuals need to be flexible in order to prosper in today’s hypercompetitive markets

Ključ napretka na hiperkonkurentnim tržištima: organizacijska “hiperfleksibilnost”

Today’s global business mindset requires flexibility and the ability to make changes to our organization, at all levels, quickly. Organizational flexibility is achieved when any component of an organization, and any individual within an organization, can be flexible if and when needed We have been limiting ourselves by equating organizational flexibility with specific, narrowly conceived types of flexibility, such as strategic, operational or labor flexibility. In this paper, we apply the classic Katz and Kahn1 open systems conceptualization of an organization and its subsystems in order to more broadly conceive the concept of organizational flexibility. We then illustrate how the types of flexibility that have been discussed in the literature to date fit into these subsystems, and that the application of the open systems framework both grounds the concept of organizational flexibility in open systems theory and illuminates the ways in which organizations and individuals need to be fl exible in order to prosper in today’s hypercompetitive markets.Današnji globalni način promišljanja zahtijeva fleksibilnost i sposobnost brzog uvođenja organizacijskih promjena na svim razinama. Organizacijska se fleksibilnost postiže kada se, u slučaju potrebe, bilo koja komponenta organizacije i bilo koji pojedinac unutar nje mogu prilagoditi. Do sada smo se ograničavali izjednačujući organizacijsku fleksibilnost sa specifičnim, uže postavljenim vrstama fleksibilnosti kao što su strateška i operativna fleksibilnost te fleksibilnost radne snage. U radu primjenjujemo klasični Katz i Kahnov otvoreni sustav poimanja organizacije i njezinih podsustava radi postavljanja širega pojma organizacijske fleksibilnosti. Potom prikazujemo na koji se način pojedine vrste fleksibilnosti, proučene kroz literaturu do danas, uklapaju u navedene podsustave te upućujemo na to kako primjena okvira otvorenog sustava ne samo da pojam organizacijske fleksibilnosti zasniva na teoriji otvorenih sustava, nego i pojašnjava načine fleksibilizacije organizacija i pojedinaca radi postizanja uspjeha na današnjim hiperkonkurentnim tržištima

Determination of a new constant to estimate glomerular filtration rate in pediatrics

Introducción:En pediatría, el filtrado glomerular (FG) se puede calcular con el clearance (depuración) de creatinina medida corregida en ml/min/1,73m2, o se puede estimar según la fórmula de Schwartz (FGe = talla/creatinina plasmática x k). La constante k depende del método de determinación de creatinina plasmática: k = 0,55 para el método colorimétrico de Jaffe, y k =0,413 para el método enzimático. Nuestro laboratorio utiliza el método colorimétrico cinético compensado (MCCC), se observan discordancias entre el FG estimado y el medido.Hipótesis: Los valores de k propuestos no se ajustan al MCCC de creatinina plasmática.Objetivo: Calcular el valor de k que permita estimar el FG mediante la cuantificación de la creatinina con el MCCC.Métodos:Diseño descriptivo correlacional. Se incluyeron pacientes de entre 3 y 18 años con FG normal o alterado atendidos en el Servicio de Nefrología Infantil entre julio de 2017 y enero de 2018 con control de esfínteres y firma del consentimiento. Se excluyeron pacientes desnutridos y con mielomeningocele. Las variables estudiadas fueron: creatinina plasmática y urinaria, talla y diuresis de 24 horas.Resultados:Se analizaron 184 pacientes, con una edad media de 10 años. La mediana del clearance de creatinina medido corregido fue de 123 ml/min/1,73 m2. La correlación lineal entre la talla y la creatinina plasmática y el clearance de creatinina medido corregido arrojó un valor de k de 0,499 (r=0,974 y r2=0,949). La correlación lineal entre el FG estimado (k=0,499) y el clearance de creatinina medido corregido mostró un coeficiente b=0,999 (r = 0,951 y r2= 0,903).Conclusión:Según este estudio, la constante que permite estimar el filtrado glomerular al cuantificar la creatinina plasmática con el método colorimétrico cinético compensado es de 0,499.Fil: Porporato, Melina Mabel. Hospital Nacional Profesor Alejandro Posadas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay; ArgentinaFil: Isern, Elsa. Hospital Nacional Profesor Alejandro Posadas; ArgentinaFil: Pellegrini, Mariana. Hospital Nacional Profesor Alejandro Posadas; ArgentinaFil: Carlopio, Paula. Hospital Nacional Profesor Alejandro Posadas; ArgentinaFil: Becchio, Jorgelina. Hospital Nacional Profesor Alejandro Posadas; ArgentinaFil: Rios, Mariela. Hospital Nacional Profesor Alejandro Posadas; ArgentinaFil: Masso, Diana. Hospital Nacional Profesor Alejandro Posadas; Argentin

Developing Nurse and Physician Questionnaires to Assess Primary Work Areas in Intensive Care Units

The objective of the study was to develop instruments for describing and assessing some aspects of design of the primary work areas of nurses and physicians in intensive care units (ICUs). Separate questionnaires for ICU physicians and nurses were developed. Items related to individual- and unit-level design features of the primary work areas of nurses and physicians were organized using constructs found in the literature. Items related to staff satisfaction and staff use of time in relation to primarywork area designwere also included. All items and constructs were reviewed by experts for content validity and were modified as needed before use. The final questionnaires were administered to a convenience sample of 4 ICUs in 2 large urban hospitals. A total of 55 nurses and 29 physicians completed the survey. The Cronbach α was used to measure internal consistency, and factor analysis was used to provide construct-related validity. Convergent and discriminant validity were assessed through examining bivariate correlations between relevant scales/items. Analysis of variance was used to identify whether the between-group member responses were significant among the 4 units. The Cronbach α values for all except 3 preliminary scales indicated acceptable reliability. Factor analysis indicated that some preliminary scales could be partitioned into subscales for finer descriptions of the primary work areas. Correlational analysis provided strong evidence of convergent and discriminant validity of all the scales and subscales. The significance level of F-statistics showed that the units were significantly different from each other, providing evidence of more between-unit variance than within-unit variance. Therefore, the questionnaires developed in the study offer a promising departure point for rigorous description and evaluation of the primary work areas in relation to staff satisfaction and use of time in ICUs at a time when the importance of such studies is growing.This research was supported by the MacArthur Collaborative Practice Award of the School of Nursing and the University of Kansas Endowment Association, the Office of Grants and Research Award of the School of Nursing, and the General Research Fund of the University of Kansas