The role of event characteristics and situational appraisals in the prediction of employee adjustment to change and change implementation success

Nerina L. Jimmieson Organizational change is typically activated by a relevant environmental shift that, once recognized by the organization, leads to an intentionally generated response (Porras and Silvers, 1991). In this respect, organizational change is intended to alter key organizational variables that then have an impact on the members of the organization and their work-related behaviors. Similarly, Van de Ven and Poole (1995) described change as an empirical observation of difference in form or state over time in an organizational entity. The entity may be a product or service, an individual’s job, a work group, or the overall strategy for an organization. Thus organizational change can be viewed as a critical event, which has the potential to evoke stress reactions and other negative consequences in employees. In this respect, employees are confronted with a unique set of workplace stressors resulting from a changing work environment. As organizational change by its very nature is not linear, the most frequent psychological state resulting from organizational change is that of uncertainty (see Ashford, 1988; Begley, 1998; Callan, 1993; Carnall, 1986; Gemmil and Smith, 1985; Jick, 1985; Nelson et al., 1995; Olson and Tetrick, 1988; Sagie and Koslowsky, 1994; Schweiger and Ivancevich, 1985; Sverke et al., 1997). Employees are likely to experience uncertainty about many different facets of their job during times of organizational change. For instance, Shaw et al., (1993) argue that role stress is likely to result from uncertainty associated with organizational change. Role conflict may be particularly prevalent…

Thriving when exhausted: The role of perceived transformational leadership

The role of leadership is especially important for employees’ personal growth at work. In the present two-wave study (time lag 3 months), we investigated the relationship between teachers’ perceptions of the transformational leadership style of their school principal and their thriving. Specifically, we examined the role of individuals’ energy resources (i.e., emotional exhaustion) in the relationships between perceived transformational leadership and thriving, as well as two aspects of work performance (task mastery and proactivity). Findings from 200 teachers revealed no direct relationship between perceived transformational leadership and teachers’ thriving. However, as expected, teachers’ emotional exhaustion moderated the relationship between perceived transformational leadership and thriving; teachers’ perceptions of the transformational leadership style was associated with a decrease in thriving when they reported moderate levels of emotional exhaustion. When teachers were very low in emotional exhaustion, perceived transformational leadership was associated with an increase in thriving. Moderated mediation analyses revealed significant indirect effects for proactivity for lower and higher levels of emotional exhaustion. We discuss the implications of the findings for theories of personal growth

Using a theory of planned behaviour framework to explore hand hygiene beliefs at the '5 critical moments' among Australian hospital-based nurses 59

© 2015 White et al. Background: Improving hand hygiene among health care workers (HCWs) is the single most effective intervention to reduce health care associated infections in hospitals. Understanding the cognitive determinants of hand hygiene decisions for HCWs with the greatest patient contact (nurses) is essential to improve compliance. The aim of this study was to explore hospital-based nurses ' beliefs associated with performing hand hygiene guided by the World Health Organization's (WHO) 5 critical moments. Using the belief-base framework of the Theory of Planned Behaviour, we examined attitudinal, normative, and control beliefs underpinning nurses' decisions to perform hand hygiene according to the recently implemented national guidelines. Methods: Thematic content analysis of qualitative data from focus group discussions with hospital-based registered nurses from 5 wards across 3 hospitals in Queensland, Australia. Results: Important advantages (protection of patient and self), disadvantages (time, hand damage), referents (supportive: patients, colleagues; unsupportive: some doctors), barriers (being too busy, emergency situations), and facilitators (accessibility of sinks/products, training, reminders) were identified. There was some equivocation regarding the relative importance of hand washing following contact with patient surroundings. Conclusions: The belief base of the theory of planned behaviour provided a useful framework to explore systematically the underlying beliefs of nurses ' hand hygiene decisions according to the 5 critical moments, allowing comparisons with previous belief studies. A commitment to improve nurses' hand hygiene practice across the 5 moments should focus on individual strategies to combat distraction from other duties, peer-based initiatives to foster a sense of shared responsibility, and management-driven solutions to tackle staffing and resource issues. Hand hygiene following touching a patient's surroundings continues to be reported as the most neglected opportunity for compliance

Burnout syndrome in Cypriot physiotherapists: a national survey

Background. Burnout in the healthcare workers is formally defined as a state of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion caused by long-term involvement in situations that are emotionally demanding. Methods. Using a random stratified sampling method and taking into account geographical location, specialty and type of employment, 172 physiotherapists working both in the private and public sectors completed an anonymous questionnaire that included several aspects related to burnout; the MBI scale, questions related to occupational stress, and questions pertaining to self image. Results. Almost half (46%) of the 172 participants believed that their job is stressful. Approximately 57% of the physiotherapists who worked in the public sector and 40% of those who worked in the private sector (p = 0.038) reported that their job is stressful. In total, 21.1% of participants met Maslach's criteria for burnout. The point prevalence of burnout was as follows: (1) 13.8% of those who worked in the public sector and 25.5% of those in the private sector (2) 22.2% of males and 20% of females (3) 21.6% who were married, 18% who were single and 33.3% who were separated. Gender was found to be associated with the level of personal accomplishment (chi-squared test; p = 0.049), as 17.8% of men compared with 24.3% of women reported high personal accomplishment. The number of years of working as a physiotherapist correlated negatively (r = -0.229, p = 0.004) with the total depersonalization score. Regression analysis showed that the perception that the job is stressful (p < 0.001) and the low salary (p = 0.016) were significant predictors of high emotional exhaustion scores, while age group (p = 0.027) predicted high scores of depersonalization and the employment sector (p = 0.050) as well as the low salary predicted high personal accomplishment scores. Conclusions. Burnout levels in physiotherapists in Cyprus ranged from low to moderate

Challenges and practices in promoting (ageing) employees working career in the health care sector – case studies from Germany, Finland and the UK

Background The health and social care sector (HCS) is currently facing multiple challenges across Europe: against the background of ageing societies, more people are in need of care. Simultaneously, several countries report a lack of skilled personnel. Due to its structural characteristics, including a high share of part-time workers, an ageing workforce, and challenging working conditions, the HCS requires measures and strategies to deal with these challenges. Methods This qualitative study analyses if and how organisations in three countries (Germany, Finland, and the UK) report similar challenges and how they support longer working careers in the HCS. Therefore, we conducted multiple case studies in care organisations. Altogether 54 semi-structured interviews with employees and representatives of management were carried out and analysed thematically. Results Analysis of the interviews revealed that there are similar challenges reported across the countries. Multiple organisational measures and strategies to improve the work ability and working life participation of (ageing) workers were identified. We identified similar challenges across our cases but different strategies in responding to them. With respect to the organisational measures, our results showed that the studied organisations did not implement any age-specific management strategies but realised different reactive and proactive human relation measures aiming at maintaining and improving employees’ work ability (i.e., health, competence and motivation) and longer working careers. Conclusions Organisations within the HCS tend to focus on the recruitment of younger workers and/or migrant workers to address the current lack of skilled personnel. The idea of explicitly focusing on ageing workers and the concept of age management as a possible solution seems to lack awareness and/or popularity among organisations in the sector. The concept of age management offers a broad range of measures, which could be beneficial for both, employees and employers/organisations. Employees could benefit from a better occupational well-being and more meaningful careers, while employers could benefit from more committed employees with enhanced productivity, work ability and possibly a longer career

Subjective fit with organisational culture : implications for the buffering role of participative control in the stress-strain relationship

Considerable research has produced mixed results relating to the stress-buffering effects of participative control on employee adjustment. This study proposed that stress-buffering effects of participative control would be more pronounced for those perceiving high, as opposed to low, subjective fit. Three significant interactions were found in a sample of 119 employees. The results revealed a three-way interaction between role conflict, participative control, and subjective fit on intentions to leave. Further analyses found a significant three-way interaction between role overload, participative control, and subjective fit on physiological symptoms and psychological health. In all interactions, participative control buffered the negative effects of the stressors on levels of employee adjustment only when employees’ subjective fit with the organisational culture was high. The theoretical importance of the results is discussed