The job strain model is enough for managers : no augmentation needed

This paper reports on the results of a study aimed at identifying the relative influence of generic and job-specific stressors experienced by a cohort of Australian managers. The results of a regression analysis revealed that both the generic components of the job strain model (JSM) and job-specific stressors were predictive of the strain experienced by participants. However, when looking at the total amount of variance that is explained by the predictor variables, the combined influence of job demand, job control and social support contributed 98 per cent of the explained variance in job satisfaction and 90 per cent of the variance in psychological health. The large amount of variance explained by the JSM suggests that this model provides an accurate account of the work characteristics that contribute to the strain experienced by managers and no augmentation is needed.<br /

Combating the impact of managerialism on public sector employees

With the widespread and continuing adoption of managerialism in the public sector, ignoring the impact of change on employees could prevent managerialism from achieving its&rsquo; goals. This study investigates the efficacy of an augmented demand-control-support (D-C-S) model in predicting three of the key employee outcomes associated with organisational change - psychological health, job satisfaction and organisational commitment. Analyses of a survey of 207 employees in an Australian public sector organisation found that the augmented D-C-S model explained a significant proportion of the employee outcomes. The most important variables were work-based social support and job control. The results indicate that the augmented D-C-S model provides a useful tool for managers considering or implementing organisational change in the public sector.<br /

Predictors of the strain experienced by professional Australian footballers

The purpose of this model was to examine whether both the generic dimensions of the Job stress model (JSM) and job-specific stressors would be predictive of the strain experienced by professional Australian footballers. A football-specific stressor scale questionnaire was distributed and football specific stressors and their impact were identified.<br /

Organizational change in the public sector: augmenting the demand control model to predict employee outcomes under New Public Management

This study identifies the environmental and personal characteristics that predict employee outcomes within an Australian public sector organization that had, under New Public Management (NPM), implemented a variety of practices traditionally found in the private sector. These are more results-oriented, and their adoption can be accompanied by increased strain for employees. The current investigation was guided by two complementary theories, the Demand Control Support (DCS) model and Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, and sought to examine the benefits of building on the DCS to include both situation-specific stressors and internal coping resources. Survey responses from 1,155 employees were analysed. The hierarchical regression analyses indicated that both external and employee-centred variables made significant contributions to variations in psychological health, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. The external resources, work based support and, to a lesser extent, job control, predicted relatively large proportions of the variance in the target variables. The situation-specific stressors, particularly those involving harmful management practices (e.g., insufficient time to do job as well as you would like, lack of recognition for good work), made significant contributions to the outcome measures and generally supported the process of augmenting the generic components of the DCS with more situation-specific variables. In terms of internal resources, problem and emotion-based coping improved the capacity of the model to predict psychological health. The results suggest that the impact of NPM can be ameliorated by incorporating the dimensions of the augmented DCS and coping resources into the change programme. <br /

MSHAC Program Plan Evaluation Strategy: A Manual For Program Leaders

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Mobile Student Health Action Coalition (MSHAC) is an interdisciplinary, student-led program that strives to serve the local community and enrich early professional student education. It is comprised completely of volunteers: the students who provide the services, the faculty preceptors who mentor the students, and the referring providers and their patients. MSHAC student volunteers are early in their professional training and are recruited from seven healthcare disciplines: medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, pharmacy, physical therapy, public health, and social work. Students are placed together onto teams with the disciplines represented on each team being determined by the needs of the patients, who are referred to the program. For the entire academic year, one team is paired with one older adult patient. Persons referred to MSHAC typically are community dwelling older adults and are: people who have both complex medical and social needs and are challenging to care for in the traditional clinic setting. They are referred by the UNC geriatric clinic and community-based primary care practitioners. By tailoring the configuration of the team to the needs of the patients, the students are poised to address the most salient issues that the older adults face. Student teams are encouraged to form connections with community agencies, bridge communication gaps between providers, and teach those patients who desire a better understanding of their health issues. The patients' referring providers stay in regular contact with the student teams. The student teams receive additional mentorship and guidance through meetings once a semester with volunteer multidisciplinary faculty clinicians, fellows, and residents specializing in geriatrics. MSHAC affords students the opportunity to create rich relationships with older adults in the home setting. This context allows for the identification of underlying problems that may not be transparent or easily fixed within a clinic setting. As a result, MSHAC is an invaluable service to older patients and their healthcare providers, as well as an excellent medium for enriching students' understandings about the health care, environmental, and social issues facing older adults. This Program Plan and Evaluation Strategy is meant to serve as an introduction and comprehensive, operations manual for new MSHAC leaders. The aim is to provide leaders with an explanation of MSHAC's origins, rationale, mission, goals, and objectives. In addition to providing a basis for understanding the basic tenets of the program, this manual will act as a reference and guide for the program's structures and processes. Thus, also included within the manual are tools such as an organizational chart, a program plan, a logic model, an administrative timeline, an explanation of participants' roles, and a budget. Finally, an evaluation strategy is provided -because for any program to be successful, leaders must constantly evaluate and make improvements to its structures, processes, and outcomes. Each year leaders should modify this manual to reflect the current state of the program for the benefit of the next year's leaders.Master of Public Healt

Evaluating Teaching: Re-visiting the Use of Chemistry Concept Inventories

During the past several decades physics education specialists have been very active in the development and use of concept inventories both as diagnostic tools and as a means for evaluating instruction. Notable examples include the Force Concept Inventory (FCI)1 and the Mechanics Baseline test (MB)2, both of which education experts outside of physics have likely heard of. The field of chemical education has not seen a similar uptake in the use of concept inventories. While examples do exist,3 they have certainly not gained the popularity experienced by the FCI. Why is this? Chemical educators are introducing new methods and technologies into their classrooms, so how are investigators analyzing their results? Is there a need for chemical concept inventory for evaluating teaching that has been proven to be both reliable and valid across institutions? This presentation will discuss our experience using one of the currently available chemistry concept inventories. Pre- and post-test data will be presented as well as some individidual item analysis. Future directions with regards to the development and evaluation of a new test with multi-institutional testing will also be discussed. 1. D. Hestenes, M. Wells, and G. Swackhamer, “Force Concept Inventory,” Phys. Teach. 30, 141-158 (1992). 2. D. Hestenes and M. Wells, “A Mechanics Baseline Test,” Phys. Teach. 30, 159-166 (1992). 3. S. Krause, J. Birk, R. Bauer, B. Jenkins, and M. Pavelich, “Development, Testing, and Application of a Chemistry Concept Inventory” 34th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, T1G-1 (2004)

So You Are Thinking About Using a Concept Inventory

The use of valid and reliable concept inventories to measure knowledge gains and evaluate student misconceptions has gained popularity in the science disciplines. At the first Western Conference on Science Education we discussed additional merits of using concept inventories and presented some data acquired from using a pre-existing chemistry inventory in our first-year chemistry class. Since then, we have developed our own concept questions, tested them, revised them, and undertaken a number of additional steps, including think aloud interviews, to improve the reliability and validity of our Ryerson Chemistry Concept Inventory. This presentation will offer some reflections about our experiences in the development and testing stages of the project and will be framed in a manner to appeal to anyone, of any discipline, contemplating the use or development of concept inventories

Abating the consequences of managerialism on the forgotten employees : the issues of support, control, coping and pay

With the widespread and continuing adoption of managerialism in the public sector, ignoring the impact of change on employees could prevent managerialism from achieving its goals. Subsequently, this study investigates the efficacy of an augmented demand-control-support (D-C-S) model in predicting three of the key employee outcomes in the context of organizational change&mdash;psychological health, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Analyses of a survey of 207 employees in the Australian public sector, a sector that has undergone, and continues to undergo, substantial change toward managerialism, found that the augmented D-C-S model explained a significant proportion of the employee outcomes in the public sector context. The most important variables were work-based social support and job control. Coping style and perceptions of work conditions, such as pay, were also significant. The augmented D-C-S model provides a useful, proven tool for managers operating within the contemporary public sector.<br /

Which work characteristics predict employee outcomes for the public-sector employee? An examination of generic and occupation-specific characteristics

The wide-ranging changes that have occurred in the public sector over recent years have placed increasing demands on public-sector employees. A survey of employees within a relatively commercially-oriented public-sector organization in Australia was used to test a demand-oriented generic model of employee well-being and a variety of situation-specific variables. The presence of support at work and the amount of control an employee had over their job were found to be key predictors of employee-level outcomes. Perceptions of pay and the perception of a lack of human resources (HR) were also found to predict employee outcome variables. The results emphasize the impact that middle managers and HR managers can have in terms of reducing the detrimental employee effects that can be caused by the introduction of new public management (NPM) and the potential for a positive impact on employees. In particular, public-sector managers can use the design of jobs and the development of social support mechanisms, such as employee assistance programmes, to maintain, if not improve, the quality of working life experienced by their employees. More broadly, this study has found that the job strain model is a useful tool in a public-sector environment and is likely to be of increasing utility with the continuing introduction or consolidation of NPM over time. Managing these issues in the new public sector could be a key means of protecting the key resource of the Australian public sector - the employees.<br /