Object Handling with Contemporary Craft Objects: An Observational Study of an Embodied, Social and Cognitive Process

This study focuses on the ways that people interact around contemporary craft objects. The ambiguous quality of these objects holds people’s attention and inhibits autobiographical narratives. The study focused on the relationship between the perceptual language used by participants and the ways in which they interacted with the objects. The analytical approach taken here begins with close observation and careful description of single cases and working towards valid generalisations rather than imposing an interpretation from the outset by explicitly positing a hypothesis. Six pairs of women were invited to participate in object handling conversations in an art museum setting. The conversations were recorded using digital video cameras. Analysis treated interaction as an embodied process and drew on work, which interprets interaction the outcome of social and cognitive processes. We found that the interplay of language and action shifted fluidly throughout the conversations. Not all actions were verbally expounded on and these could only be interpreted tentatively. Utterances could change the meaning or purpose of an action without any apparent change in the dynamics of the action. When attending a complex quality, such as the material nature of an object, the relationship between language and action was correspondingly complex. Participants used a variety of frameworks to understand the objects and these shaped the qualities of the objects that they attended to. Participants’ words and actions could usefully be interpreted in terms of meaning rather than just social action and with reference to findings from cognitive research on perception and action

Dedicated but exhausted? The role of ethical leadership for employee wellbeing in UK student unions

Building on previous leadership and well-being research, the aims of the present study were to investigate the relationship between ethical leadership and employee well-being (work engagement and emotional exhaustion) within student unions. We also considered the role of trust as a potential mediator in this relationship. Survey data was collected from 137 full-time employees working at student unions in the UK. Path model analysis revealed that trust in one’s manager partially mediated the effects of ethical leadership and work engagement and emotional exhaustion. While trust increased work engagement and reduced emotional exhaustion, ethical leadership also had a significant indirect effect on both outcomes. An interaction between employee dedication and ratings for manager’s ethical leadership suggested that more dedicated employees are less emotionally exhausted if their managers scored highly on ethical leadership. However, when the employees felt less dedicated to the job, managers’ ethical leadership behaviours did not reduce employees’ emotional exhaustion. The study examined the effect of ethical leadership in student unions, adding to the very sparse research on the experience of full-time employees working for student unions

Evidence synthesis on the occurrence, causes, consequences, prevention and management of bullying and harassment behaviours to inform decision making in the NHS

Background Workplace bullying is a persistent problem in the NHS with negative implications for individuals, teams, and organisations. Bullying is a complex phenomenon and there is a lack of evidence on the best approaches to manage the problem. Aims Research questions What is known about the occurrence, causes, consequences and management of bullying and inappropriate behaviour in the workplace? Objectives Summarise the reported prevalence of workplace bullying and inappropriate behaviour. Summarise the empirical evidence on the causes and consequences of workplace bullying and inappropriate behaviour. Describe any theoretical explanations of the causes and consequences of workplace bullying and inappropriate behaviour. Synthesise evidence on the preventative and management interventions that address workplace bullying interventions and inappropriate behaviour. Methods To fulfil a realist synthesis approach the study was designed across four interrelated component parts: Part 1: A narrative review of the prevalence, causes and consequences of workplace bullying Part 2: A systematic literature search and realist review of workplace bullying interventions Part 3: Consultation with international bullying experts and practitioners Part 4: Identification of case studies and examples of good practic

Exploring the Designer-Constructor Teamwork Interface to improve Collaboration: A review of current literature

The construction industry has been criticised over several decades for functioning and producing output with low levels of productivity when compared to other manufacturing-based industries. One possible solution to improve productivity is the adoption of collaborative working practices by project teams, particularly designers and constructors during the design phase. Arguments in support of the need to manage the design process effectively during a construction project are well documented. Issues such as providing the client with a sustainable, affordable, quality design that adds value to their business needs, requires attention. Managing the interpersonal interface between designers and constructors during the design phase is a vital requirement of design management practice. Design management is a discipline that requires a thorough understanding of the nature and culture of the different professionals to improve the social behaviours and performance of teams, which in turn may improve project outcomes and thus industrial productivity. The current study, which is part of an ongoing project, presents the position of the design management literature focused on the interpersonal behaviour between designers and constructors. Following a strategically focused review of the extant literature, current themes relevant to Teamwork Quality (TWQ), specific to the designer-constructor interface, are presented. The findings confirm the presence of 14 articles that explore collaborative teamwork behaviour between designers and constructors and that survey methods dominate publications in this area. Few studies capture the power of space and place by observing ‘live' industry practice, particularly from a longitudinal perspective. Recommendations include the identification of research themes worthy of future exploration that may assist in teamwork performance concerning productivity. An increase in the use of alternative methodological approaches such as ethnographic and action research is also justified and discussed

Why are acute admissions to hospital of children under 5 years of age increasing in the UK?

Children’s use of hospital services in the UK has been increasing rapidly since the late 1990s.1–6 Findings from the latest QualityWatch report show significant increases in emergency hospital admissions for infants (23%) and young children aged 1–4 years (11%) between 2006/2007 and 2015/2016 (data have been adjusted for population increases in each childhood age group), while children over the age of 15 years showed a decrease in emergency admissions

Measurement of gamma-ray spectra from thermal-neutron capture

"AFCRL-63-341."Originally presented as the first author's Ph. D. thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Nuclear Engineering, 1963Scientific report no. 1 for Contract no. AF19(604)-7492Project 4608; Task 46080

The importance of understanding Work-as-done: Implications for research and practice in organizational psychology

This paper aims to describe how the concept of ‘work-as’ proxies can offer important insights for work and organizational psychologists. We explore how routine work activities can reflect those that are actually carried out when following a work-as-done perspective, rather than through the commonly used perspective of work-as-imagined. In highlighting these different perspectives, we suggest that they allow for a more in-depth understanding of what workers do and the processes they use. The value of this approach is illustrated through three case studies of applied research that have examined work in practice across the different contexts of job interviews, clinical handovers and decision making in teams. The paper challenges some of our existing assumptions of how we view work and highlights the benefits of adopting a work-as-done approach for practitioners and researchers

Sexual Orientation Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace: A Qualitative Study of LGB Inclusion in a UK Public Sector Organisation

Inclusion has been identified as a key component of successful approaches to organisational diversity management. To date, the inclusion literature has predominantly used quantitative methodology to study visible forms of diversity such as gender and ethnicity. Invisible forms of diversity, such as sexual orientation diversity, have received limited research attention, despite Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual (LGB) employees facing significantly higher rates of bullying and discrimination in the workplace than their heterosexual colleagues. The current study uses semi-structured interviews and template analysis to investigate LGB employees’ experiences of workplace inclusion within a UK public sector organisation. Findings demonstrate that LGBs share many experiences of exclusion with other minority groups; however, they are not often regarded as exclusionary or the result of one’s sexual orientation. Such experiences appear to be either overlooked due to membership of other minority groups which hold greater significance, or downplayed due to membership of other majority groups. The main implication of this finding is that quantitative measures of inclusion may not reveal the severity of exclusion in organisations. It is therefore recommended that future research investigating employees’ perceptions of inclusion should consider the validity of findings in relation to inclusion based on invisible characteristics. Finally, the findings detailed in this report lend support for the use of an intersectional research approach, which considers the way in which minority statuses are interconnected and cannot be examined in isolation when investigating individuals’ experiences

Information resources to aid parental decision-making on when to seek medical care for their acutely sick child: a narrative systematic review

Objective: To identify the effectiveness of information resources to help parents decide when to seek medical care for an acutely sick child under 5 years of age, including the identification of factors influencing effectiveness, by systematically reviewing the literature. Methods: 5 databases and 5 websites were systematically searched using a combination of terms on children, parents, education, acute childhood illness. A narrative approach, assessing quality via the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool, was used due to noncomparable research designs. Results: 22 studies met the inclusion criteria: 9 randomised control trials, 8 non-randomised intervention studies, 2 qualitative descriptive studies, 2 qualitative studies and 1 mixed method study. Consultation frequency (15 studies), knowledge (9 studies), anxiety/reassurance (7 studies), confidence (4 studies) satisfaction (4 studies) and antibiotic prescription (4 studies) were used as measures of effectiveness. Quality of the studies was variable but themes supported information needing to be relevant and comprehensive to enable parents to manage an episode of minor illness Interventions addressing a range of symptoms along with assessment and management of childhood illness, appeared to have the greatest impact on the reported measures. The majority of interventions had limited impact on consultation frequencies, No conclusive evidence can be drawn from studies measuring other outcomes. Conclusions: Findings confirm that information needs to be relevant and comprehensive to enable parents to manage an episode of minor illness. Incomplete information leaves parents still needing to seek help and irrelevant information appears to reduce parents’ trust in the intervention. Interventions are more likely to be effective if they are also delivered in non-stressful environments such as the home and are co-produced with parents

Workplace bullying: measurements and metrics to use in the NHS. Final Report for NHS Employers.

The aim of this report is to identify how workplace bullying can be tracked over time, to indicate what measures and metrics can be used to identify change, and to provide comparators for other sectors in the UK and internationally. Bullying can encompass a range of different behaviours. Deciding on a definition of workplace bullying can clarify what is regarded as bullying, but it may also narrow the focus and exclude relevant issues of concern. For example, bullying definitions typically state that negative behaviours should be experienced persistently over a period of time. The threshold for behaviours to be defined as ‘bullying’ could be set to include one or two negative acts per month over the previous six months; or more stringently to include only behaviours that occur at least weekly over the previous twelve months. Choosing an appropriate threshold for frequency and duration of behaviours raises several questions: should occasional negative behaviours be regarded as bullying? Would one or two serious episodes of negative behaviour be regarded as bullying? Some researchers use the criteria of weekly negative behaviours over six months to identify bullying, but others argue that occasional exposure to negative acts can act as a significant stressor at work (Zapf et al., 2011). We have identified a range of tools and metrics that can be used to track change over time. However, there are a number of important issues to consider when measuring bullying which may affect the interpretation of the results. In particular, bullying prevalence rates vary considerably depending on the type of metric and definition of bullying used. For example, one international review found prevalence rates ranging from less than 1% for weekly bullying in the last six months up to 87% for occasional bullying over a whole career (Zapf et al., 2011). There are three main types of direct measures of bullying: self-labelling without a definition, self-labelling with a definition, and the behavioural experience method. Self-labelling metrics typically ask a respondent to identify themselves as a target of bullying (e.g., “Have you been bullied at work?” with a yes/no response, or “How often have you been bullied at work?” with a frequency scale such as never/occasionally/monthly/weekly/daily). This approach is quick and easy to administer, but is more subjective as responses will be based on the respondent’s interpretation of bullying. This approach can be improved with the provision of a definition of bullying, and a request to use the definition when responding. However, following pilot work, Fevre et al. (2011) argued that respondents tended not to read and digest bullying definitions as they had already decided what bullying meant to them. The behavioural experience method offers a more objective approach, but is typically longer and more time consuming. This method involves respondents rating the frequency with which they have experienced different negative behaviours (e.g., “How often has someone humiliated or belittled you in front of others?” with a frequency scale such as never/now and then/monthly/weekly/daily). These behavioural inventories may not mention bullying, but capture the prevalence of specific negative acts, and a total score may be calculated. The threshold for the frequency and number of negative acts, or a total score, required for an experience to be regarded as bullying can be chosen by the researcher. Although this enhances the objectivity of the measure, it may be that the respondent themselves may not regard their experience as bullying. In a meta-analysis of bullying studies conducted across 24 countries, Nielsen et al. (2010) found an overall prevalence rate of 18.1% for self-labelling with no definition, 11.3% for self-labelling with a definition, and 14.8% using a behavioural experience checklist. For best practice, it is recommended that both the self-labelling with a definition and the behavioural experience method are used in bullying research (Zapf et al., 2011). It is also important to be specific about the type of bullying being measured. In particular, if the measure is designed to capture bullying at work between co-workers this should be explicitly stated, so that bullying from patients and their relatives is excluded. Interpretation of the results may also be somewhat complex. Although increases in bullying prevalence should undoubtedly be addressed, we need to be mindful that an increase in reported bullying may reflect a change in culture: changing expectations of the behaviour of colleagues and managers, or a move towards greater openness and willingness to address concerns that were previously ignored or condoned. A measure of employees’ trust in the organisation to respond appropriately to such allegations may act as a positive indicator. The perceived and actual anonymity of responses is a critical factor. Employees are understandably wary about providing sensitive information on bullying and have voiced concerns regarding being identified and the potential repercussions of reporting bullying (Carter et al., 2013). There is a considerable discrepancy between the prevalence of bullying as captured in anonymous questionnaires and direct reports of bullying made to the organisation (e.g., to managers or HR; Scott, Blanshard & Child, 2008). Protecting the anonymity of respondents, and ensuring that individuals cannot be identified, will be important factors in the administration of a bullying measure. Some metrics are already routinely collected by the NHS, and if examined closely could provide useful indicators of change. Direct indicators include complaints about bullying and responses to ongoing NHS staff surveys. Indirect metrics can be used to capture factors that are associated with bullying, such as psychological wellbeing (including stress, anxiety and depression), sickness rates, job satisfaction and organisational commitment. However, factors other than bullying will affect these measures. The prevalence of witnessed bullying could also be considered as an important metric. A large proportion of NHS staff report that they have witnessed bullying between staff, and this is associated with negative outcomes for individuals and teams (Carter et al., 2013). Comparing the NHS prevalence rates with other sectors in the UK and internationally is complex. Ideally comparators would have used the same definition, measurement method and reporting period, but the definitions and metrics often differ. Total populations are the ideal, but are rarely provided. Single site studies are less generalisable than multi-site studies, and total samples are preferred over open invitations to unknown populations which may be more likely to attract responses from those who have experienced bullying. This report begins with several definitions of bullying, describes direct and indirect measures of bullying, and compares the prevalence of bullying in the NHS to other sectors in the UK, and to the healthcare sector internationally