Measuring Ward-Based Multidisciplinary Healthcare Team Functioning: A Validation Study of the Team Functioning Assessment Tool (TFAT)

The team functioning assessment tool (TFAT) has been shown to be a reliable behavioral marker tool for assessing nontechnical skills that are critical to the success of ward-based healthcare teams. This paper aims to refine and shorten the length of the TFAT to improve usability, and establish its reliability and construct validity. Psychometric testing based on 110 multidisciplinary healthcare teams demonstrated that the TFAT is a reliable and valid tool for measuring team members' nontechnical skills in regards to Clinical Planning, Executive Tasks, and Team Functioning. Providing support for concurrent validity, high TFAT ratings were predicted by low levels of organizational constraints and high levels of group potency. There was also partial support for the negative relationships between time pressure, leadership ambiguity, and TFAT ratings. The paper provides a discussion on the applicability of the tool for assessing multidisciplinary healthcare team functioning in the context of improving team effectiveness and patient safety for ward-based hospital teams

A qualitative exploration of organizational culture and workplace stressors : a competing values approach

This study sought to investigate the extent to which differing organizational cultures might be associated with different types of work stressors, and whether manifestations and perceptions of work stressors varied as a function of organizational culture. Researchers have not yet extensively considered this question in the context of a theoretical framework of organizational culture. Interviews were conducted with 77 employees representing the four Competing Values Framework culture types. Results revealed that work stressors within organizational cultures were manifested as a function of the primary organizational values, and that human relations culture stressors were additionally related to others not abiding by the primary workplace values. Further, results revealed that several employees (within the flexible-type cultures especially) described workplace events more as a challenge than stressful, and that these employees tended to report a similarity between themselves and the organization. These findings suggested that a person’s fit with the organizational culture has importance in the investigation of organizational culture and perceptions of work stressors

Leader-follower interactions: relations with OCB and sales productivity

Purpose Based on substitutes for leadership theory, the aim of this study is to examine followers' learning goal orientation as a moderator of relationships among transformational leadership, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and sales productivity.Design/methodology/approach Data came from 61 food and beverage attendants of a casino, and were analyzed using regression analyses.Findings Transformational leadership was positively related to both OCB and sales productivity. Learning goal orientation moderated the relationship between transformational leadership and OCB, such that transformational leadership was more strongly related to OCB among followers with a low learning goal orientation than among followers with a high learning goal orientation.Research limitations/implications Limitations of the study include the small sample size and cross-sectional research design.Practical implications Organizations could train supervisors to practice a transformational leadership style and to take followers' learning goal orientation into account.Originality/value The findings of this study suggest that, with regard to OCB, a high learning goal orientation of followers may act as a "substitute" for low levels of leaders' transformational leadership

Employee Musculoskeletal Complaints and Supervisor Support: Implications for Behavioral Stress Reactions

OBJECTIVE: This research investigated the moderating role of supervisor support for employees with musculoskeletal complaints and their intentions to seek medical advice; take sick leave; transfer jobs; and resign. METHODS: Cross-sectional questionnaire data were collected from 1024 Australian employees. RESULTS: Regressions with bootstrapping revealed no support for the buffering role of supervisor support. In contrast to expectations, high supervisor support heightened, rather than lowered, musculoskeletal complaints on intentions to transfer jobs. For sick leave and resignation intentions, high supervisor support buffered the negative effects of musculoskeletal complaints for full-timers but exacerbated such intentions for part-timers. Furthermore, full-timers with high musculoskeletal complaints appeared more vulnerable to the exacerbating effects of low supervisor support compared with part-timers. CONCLUSIONS: Supervisor support for employees with musculoskeletal complaints both weakens and strengthens behavioral stress reactions, depending on employment status.</p

A stress and coping approach to organisational change: Evidence from three field studies

In this paper, a stress and coping perspective is used to outline the processes that determine employee adaptation to organisational change. A theoretical framework that simultaneously considers the effects of event characteristics, situational appraisals, coping strategies, and coping resources is reviewed, Three empirical investigations of organisational change that have tested various components of the model are then presented. In the first study, there was evidence linking event characteristics, situational appraisals, coping strategies and coping resources to levels of employee adjustment in a sample of pilots employed in a newly merged airline company. In a more focused test of the model with a sample of employees experiencing a restructuring process in their Organisation it was found that the provision of change-related information enhanced levels of efficacy to deal with the change process which, in turn, predicted psychological wellbeing, client engagement, and job satisfaction. In a study of managers affected by a new remuneration scheme, there was evidence to suggest that managers who received change-specific information and opportunities to participate in the change process reported higher levels of change readiness. Managers who reported higher levels of readiness for change also reported higher levels of psychological wellbeing and job satisfaction. These studies highlight ways in which managers and change agents can help employees to cope during times of organisational change