Measurement of cruelty in children: The Cruelty to Animals Inventory

Cruelty to animals may be a particularly pernicious aspect of problematic child development. Progress in understanding the development of the problem is limited due to the complex nature of cruelty as a construct, and limitations with current assessment measures. The Children and Animals Inventory (CAI) was developed as a brief self- and parent-report measure of F. R. Ascione''s (1993) 9 parameters of cruelty. The CAI emerged as a reliable, stable, and readily utilized measure of cruelty using parent and child reports. Children (especially the older children) reported higher rates of cruelty than their parents and boys reported more cruelty than girls. Self- and parent-reports showed good convergence with independent observations of cruelty versus nurturance during free interactions with domestic animals. The results indicate that cruelty to animals can be reliably measured using brief child and parent report measures

Promoting mental health in small-medium enterprises: An evaluation of the "Business in Mind" program

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Workplace mental health promotion (WMHP) aims to prevent and effectively manage the social and economic costs of common mental illnesses such as depression. The mental health of managers and employees within small-medium enterprises (SMEs) is a neglected sector in occupational health research and practice, despite the fact that this sector is the most common work setting in most economies. The availability and propensity of SME staff to attend face-to-face training/therapy or workshop style interventions often seen in corporate or public sector work settings is a widely recognised problem. The 'Business in Mind' program employs a DVD mode of delivery that is convenient for SME managers, particularly those operating in regional and remote areas where internet delivery may not be optimal. The objective of the intervention program is to improve the mental health of SME managers, and examine whether employees of managers' whose mental health improves, report positive change in their psychosocial work environment. The mechanisms via which we aim to improve managers' mental health are through the development of their psychological capital (a higher order construct comprised of hope, self efficacy, resilience and optimism) and their skills and capacities for coping with work stress.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>The effectiveness of two versions of the program (self administered and telephone facilitated) will be assessed using a randomised trial with an active control condition (psychoeducation only). We aim to recruit a minimum of 249 managers and a sample of their employees. This design allows for 83 managers per group, as power analyses showed that this number would allow for attrition of 20% and still enable detection of an effect size of 0.5. The intervention will be implemented over a three month period and postal surveys will assess managers and employees in each group at baseline, intervention completion, and at 6 month follow up. The intervention groups (managers only) will also be assessed at 12 and 24 month follow-up to examine maintenance of effects. Primary outcomes are managers' levels of psychological capital (hope, resilience, self-efficacy and optimism), coping strategies, anxiety and depression symptoms, self-reported health, job satisfaction and job tension. Secondary outcomes are participating managers subordinates' perceptions of manager support, relational justice, emotional climate and job tension. In order to provide an economic evaluation of the intervention, both employees and manager rates of absenteeism and presenteeism will also be assessed.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>The intervention being trialled is expected to improve both primary and secondary outcomes. If proven efficacious, the intervention could be disseminated to reach a much larger proportion of the business community.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>Current controlled trials ISRCTN 62853520</p

Satisfaction with Creativity: A Study of Organizational Characteristics and Individual Motivation

In answering the question of what influences satisfaction with creativity in the workplace, this work takes into account the extent to which the organization supports human aspiration to act creatively. The work throughout reflects a pragmatist approach to creativity and fulfillment, bridging it with needs theory in psychology. The empirical model uses survey data encompassing over 4,000 workers in Italian social enterprises. Results show that satisfaction with creativity is supported, at organizational level, by teamwork, autonomy, domain-relevant competences, as well as by inclusive, fair processes and relationships. At the individual level, satisfaction with creativity is enhanced by the strength of intrinsic initial motivations. The analysis of interaction terms shows that teamwork and workers' initial motivations are complementary in enhancing satisfaction with creativity, while a high degree of domain-relevant competences appears to substitute advice and supervision by superiors in accomplishing the desired level of creative action

Antecedents of team innovation in health care teams

We extend previous research on team innovation by looking at team‐level motivations and how a prosocial team environment, indicated by the level of helping behaviour and information‐sharing, may foster innovation. Hypotheses were tested in two independent samples of health care teams (N1 = 72 teams, N2 = 113 teams), using self‐report measures. The examples of team innovation given by the individual team members were then rated for innovativeness by independent health care experts to avoid common method bias for the outcome variable. Subsequently, the data was aggregated and analysed at team level. The study was part of a larger data‐gathering effort on health care teams in the UK. Results supported the hypotheses of main effects of both information‐sharing and helping behaviour on team innovation and interaction effects with team size and occupational diversity. Differences in findings between types of health care teams can be attributed to differences in team tasks and functions. The results suggest ways in which helping and information‐sharing may act as buffers against constraints in team work, such as large team size or high occupational diversity in cross‐functional health care teams, and potentially turn these into resources supporting team innovation rather than acting as barriers

Organizational Variables for Developing Collective Creativity in Business: A Case from an Italian Fashion Design Company

The goal of this article is to propose a theoretical framework for collective creativity within an organizational design perspective and to help clarify this concept and how collective creativity can be purposefully managed. In particular, this study identifies relevant organizational variables for enhancing collective creativity and examines the relationship between collective creativity and organizational performance. The research draws upon a survey developed in the context of an in-depth collaborative research study with an Italian fashion design company. As the theory on collective creativity is quite dispersed, the first part of the article attempts to define collective creativity and integrate different theoretical perspectives. Then, method and empirical findings are described. In the last part, the discussion illustrates why it is important for researchers and practitioners to be aware of the concept of collective creativity and its purposeful management

The effect of team affective tone on team performance : the roles of team identification and team cooperation

Affective tones abound in work teams. Drawing on the affect infusion model and social identity theory, this study proposes that team affective tone is related to team performance indirectly through team identification and team cooperation. Data from 141 hybrid-virtual teams drawn from high-tech companies in Taiwan generally supported our model. Specifically, positive affective tone is positively associated – while negative affective tone is negatively associated – with both team identification and team cooperation, team identification is positively associated with team cooperation, and team cooperation is positively associated with team performance. Managerial implications and limitations are discussed

Academic productivity and quality - how do they change with age?

A study of the relationship between age and innovative productivity among organizational psychology researchers was conducted. The study analysed the publication records of a sample of organizational psychologists, and focused on the outcome measures of productivity (number of articles published per 2-year period) and research impact (number of times each article was cited within five years of publication). Regression and Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) analyses identified a trend of decreasing productivity over time, consistent with previous research. However, research impact showed an early-career peak, followed by a decline to a minimum approximately 21 years after first publication, followed by a dramatic increase over approximately the last decade of a researcher’s career