Employee empowerment, equality plans and job satisfaction: an empirical analysis of the demand-control model.

The paper investigates the effects of individual employees' empowerment on different forms of job satisfaction in British workplaces while controlling for the presence of job demands and whether these effects depend on the presence of an equality plan in the workplace. The demand-control model that the authors test proposes that imbalances between the demands placed on employees and the control they have in their job negatively affect employee well-being and health. Control may also be strengthened, and demands mitigated, by effective equality policies. This study looks at nine forms of job satisfaction and examines the individual effects of job demands, job control, the interaction of control and demands and their joint effects with equality plans. The study uses matched employee–employer British data from the 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS). The authors conduct principal component analysis (PCA) and logit estimations and estimate a recursive simultaneous bivariate probit model. Employee empowerment, or job control, is a key predictor of job satisfaction, and job demands are negatively associated with various aspects of job satisfaction. The presence of equality plans strengthens the positive effects of job control and mitigates the detrimental effects of job demands. Consistent with the demand-control model, employees are more likely to be satisfied in low strain jobs (jobs with low demands and high control) than in high strain jobs (jobs with high demands and low control). Employees in passive jobs (jobs with low demand and low control) on the other hand are less likely to be satisfied with achievement and influence than employees in low strain job. Much of the empirical literature has focused on collective empowerment practices and none has tested the demand-control model. This paper adds to the literature on employee empowerment practices with a focus on individualised job control and the way its effects interact with equality plans. In the process, the authors provide novel and rigorous empirical evidence on an extended version of the demand-control model

Provider diversity in the NHS: impact on quality and innovation

The overall objective of the research project has been to assess the impact of provider diversity on quality and innovation in the NHS. The specific research aims were to identify the differences in performance between non-profit Third Sector organisations, for-profit private enterprises, and incumbent public sector institutions within the NHS as providers of health care services, as well as the factors that affect the entry and growth of new private and Third Sector providers. The study used both qualitative and quantitative methods based on case studies of four Local Health Economies (LHEs). Qualitative methods included documentary analysis and interviews with key informants and managers of both commissioning and provider organisations. To provide a focus to the study, two tracer conditions were followed: orthopaedic surgery and home health care for frail older people. In the case of hospital inpatient care, data on patient characteristics were also collected from the HES database. The analysis of this data provided preliminary estimates of the effects of provider type on quality, controlling for client characteristics and case mix. In addition, a survey of patient experience in diverse provider organisations was analysed to compare the different dimensions of quality of provision of acute services between incumbent NHS organisations and new independent sector treatment centres. The research has shown that, in respect of inpatient hospital services, diverse providers supply health services of at least as good quality as traditional NHS providers, and that there is ample opportunity to expand their scale and scope as providers of services commissioned by the NHS. The research used patient experience survey data to investigate whether hospital ownership affects the quality of services reported by NHS patients in areas other than clinical quality. The raw survey data appear to show that private hospitals provide higher quality services than the public hospitals. However, further empirical analysis leads to a more nuanced understanding of the performance differences. Firstly, the analysis shows that each sector offers greater quality in certain specialties. Secondly, the analysis shows that differences in the quality of patients’ reported experience are mainly attributable to patient characteristics, the selection of patients into each type of hospital, and the characteristics of individual hospitals, rather than to hospital ownership as such. Controlling for such differences, NHS patients are on average likely to experience a similar quality of care in a public or privately-run hospital. Nevertheless, for specific groups of patients and for specific types of treatments, especially the more straightforward ones, the private sector provides an improved patient experience compared to the public sector. Elsewhere, the NHS continues to provide a high quality service and outperforms the private sector in a range of services and for a range of clients

Diversité des élèves, des enseignants et diversification des pratiques

Le centre Alain-Savary de l’Institut national de recherche pédagogique (INRP) est « un centre de ressources sur les pratiques éducatives et sociales en milieux difficile ». Grâce aux apports cumulatifs de recherches d’horizons disciplinaires différents, il contribue à la compréhension, l’analyse et la diffusion de pratiques et dispositifs visant à améliorer la scolarité de tous les élèves. L’expression « milieux difficiles », inscrite dans l’acte de naissance du centre, a suscité beaucoup de ..

L’émergence du féminin en Amérique Latine et la modernisation de l’État

Cet essai signale la parution d’un ouvrage important qui renouvelle l’histoire politique des pays de langue espagnole formant le Cône Sud de l’Amérique latine. Par son sujet : le premier féminisme se définissant comme tel, apparu en Argentine, Chili et Uruguay vers 1880. Et par son auteur à laquelle on doit plusieurs synthèses pionnières qui ont légitimé le champ de l’histoire des femmes dans cette partie du monde. Replaçant cette histoire dans le contexte des autres féminismes du monde occidental de la première moitié du XXe siècle, l’auteur relève la conjonction opérée entre des femmes se donnant une « mission sociale » et le projet modernisateur d’un État, ainsi que la spécificité propre à chaque processus - personnalités féministes les plus fortes en Argentine, législation la plus avancée en Uruguay, mise en place de politiques publiques pour la « diade mère-enfant » les plus durables au Chili.This essay recognizes a major contribution to rethinking the political history of Latin America’s Southern Cone - one important because it addresses the first feminism defining itself as such in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay from about 1880 and because the author’s various ploneering works have legitimized the field of women’s history in this region. Relocating this history in the context of other feminisms of the Western world in the first half of the XXth century, the essay highlights the conjunction between women with a « social mission » and the modernization of the State as well as distinctive national patterns - strong feminist personalities in Argentina, advanced legislation in Uruguay, implementation of durable public policies for the « mother and child dyad » in Chile

Horizontal Mergers with Capital Adjustment: Workers' Cooperatives and the Merger Paradox

We study the incentives towards horizontal merger among firms when the amount of capital is the strategic variable. We focus on workers' cooperatives, but our conclusions apply also to employment\u2010constrained profit maximizers. Within a simple oligopoly model, we prove that the horizontal merger, for any merger size, is: (i) privately efficient for insiders as well as for outsiders; (ii) socially efficient if market size is large enough, even in the case of merger to monopoly

A qualitative study of diverse providers' behaviour in response to commissioners, patients and innovators in England: research protocol

INTRODUCTION: The variety of organisations providing National Health Service (NHS)-funded services in England is growing. Besides NHS hospitals and general practitioners (GPs), they include corporations, social enterprises, voluntary organisations and others. The degree to which these organisational types vary, however, in the ways they manage and provide services and in the outcomes for service quality, patient experience and innovation, remains unclear. This research will help those who commission NHS services select among the different types of organisation for different tasks. RESEARCH QUESTIONS: The main research questions are how organisationally diverse NHS-funded service providers vary in their responsiveness to patient choice, NHS commissioning and policy changes; and their patterns of innovation. We aim to assess the implications for NHS commissioning and managerial practice which follow from these differences. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Systematic qualitative comparison across a purposive sample (c.12) of providers selected for maximum variety of organisational type, with qualitative studies of patient experience and choice (in the same sites). We focus is on NHS services heavily used by older people at high risk of hospital admission: community health services; out-of-hours primary care; and secondary care (planned orthopaedics or ophthalmology). The expected outputs will be evidence-based schemas showing how patterns of service development and delivery typically vary between different organisational types of provider. ETHICS, BENEFITS AND DISSEMINATION: We will ensure informants' organisational and individual anonymity when dealing with high profile case studies and a competitive health economy. The frail elderly is a key demographic sector with significant policy and financial implications. For NHS commissioners, patients, doctors and other stakeholders, the main outcome will be better knowledge about the relative merits of different kinds of healthcare provider. Dissemination will make use of strategies suggested by patient and public involvement, as well as DH and service-specific outlets

La vie inimitable: dans les maquis du Trièves et du Vercors en 1943 et 1944

International audienceLa vie inimitable is the history of a group of partisan fighters in the Alps during the Second World War as told by one of them and here published for the first time. Yves Pérotin describes the formation and organization of three partisan camps — in Trièves, then in Vercors-north, and finally in Vercors-south — that were successively destroyed by German units and then reorganized by survivors and others, between August 1943 and July 1944. Following the Allied landing in Normandy on June 6, 1944, the last camp took part in the uprising of the Vercors in open warfare with the German army that had taken control of the massif July 23. The narrative ends in September 1944 when Pérotin and his companions are integrated into the First Free French Division, with which they liberated Alsace.Beyond the story of dramatic events, the book is an evocative eyewitness account of the precarious wandering life of the partisans and their evolution between 1943 and 1944; it depicts the fraternal ties woven among some twenty individuals who would finish the war together and the singular culture they shared.After beginning to draft La vie inimitable while still in the army, Yves Pérotin finished his manuscript after resuming his graduate studies, in 1946. Almost seventy years later, Anne Pérotin-Dumon prepared a critical edition. This includes an introduction about the author and the general context of the war; 570 endnotes that clarify terms, individuals, allusions and references within the narrative; 50 photos, maps, and a succinct chronology; and two annexes of later texts. In one Yves Pérotin describes his experience as part of the early student Resistance before joining the armed partisans and in the other the sociological contours of the camps of which he had been part.La Vie inimitable est l’histoire d’un groupe de maquisards dans les Alpes pendant la Deuxième Guerre mondiale, racontée par l’un d’eux et publiée ici pour la première fois. Yves Pérotin relate la formation et l’organisation de trois camps —dans le Trièves, puis le Vercors-nord et enfin le Vercors-sud —successivement détruits par des unités allemandes, dont les survivants se sont chaque fois regroupés et réorganisés avec d’autres, entre août 1943 et juillet 1944. Le dernier camp a pris part au soulèvement du Vercors dans l’enthousiasme du débarquement allié de Normandie le 6 juin 1944 puis, en juin, à la guerre ouverte contre l’armée allemande qui le 23 juillet a investi le massif. Le récit prend fin en septembre 1944 quand Pérotin et ses compagnons sont intégrés dans la 1re Division française libre avec laquelle ils libèreront l’Alsace. Par-delà le récit d’événements dramatiques, le livre est un témoignage précis et évocateur de la vie errante et précaire dans les maquis et leur évolution entre 1943 et 1944; il dépeint les liens fraternels tissés entre une vingtaine d’individus qui finiront ensemble la guerre et la culture singulière qui a été la leur. Yves Pérotin a commencé à rédiger La Vie inimitable alors qu'il était encore dans l'armée et a achevé le manuscrit une fois de retour àl'École des Chartes, en 1946. Près de soixante-dix ans après, Anne Pérotin-Dumon en a établi l’édition critique. Celle-ci comporte une introduction sur l’auteur et le contexte général de la guerre, 570 notes qui éclairent les termes, individus, allusions et références émaillant le récit, plus de 50 photos, des cartes, une chronologie succincte ainsi que deux textes en annexe. Dans le premier, Yves Pérotin témoigne de son expérience de résistant avant le maquis; dans le second, il dégage les contours sociologiques des camps auxquels il a appartenu

Presentation of Tools Helping to Set a Preservation Target for Displaying Light Sensitive Collection items

Relationships between color production, color rendering of indigenous American textiles and their historical, ethnological, social, symbolic, aesthetic meanings, were presented during the conference. This paper explores the subject of color stability in relation to preservation issues that become critical through display under museum or gallery conditions. The paper reviews the definitions and relationships between important concepts pertaining to lighting decisions for sensitive artifacts, such as damage function, “Preservation Target”, value function, color rendering and light-induced color change (terms to be explained, below). Recently developed tools in the conservation field and explorative approaches that can help in the design of an appropriate lighting policy for sensitive collection items are presented. Use of the microfade tester to assess the light sensitivity of collection items is described. The paper also describes how microfadotesting results can be used in combination with innovative visual tools based on model rendering of color in order to facilitate a decision on the establishment of the “Preservation Target” for a given collection item. Setting a Preservation Target is key to designing the appropriate lighting policy for sensitive collection items. In parallel, appropriate lighting policies strive to optimize the collection items perceived value by allowing viewers to experience it in the museum context, while minimizing risk of light induced degradation