Impact of Work from Home Policies on Workplace Productivity and Employee Sentiments During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Workplace productivity can be defined as the level of efficiency in which tasks and goals are completed for a company (Kristina). It is well understood in all industries that workplace productivity is a vital factor for success in order to increase profitability and maintain employee satisfaction. Many companies attempt to positively influence productivity while maintaining high employee morale by making strategic changes to the office environment, such as providing comfortable break rooms, sophisticated technology, and employee well-being programs. But what happens when the workplace itself is redefined and an employee’s kitchen table becomes their office? Shortly after COVID-19 emerged in the U.S., companies shut down their offices and instructed employees to work from home. Since March 2020, nearly 42% of the U.S. labor force has begun working from home full-time (Wong). This thesis will investigate the impact of work from home policies (WFH policies) on workplace productivity and employee sentiments both prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic and will conclude with recommendations for maximizing the effectiveness of WFH policies

An Exploratory Study of a Coach's Response to Mandated Regulation Change

In 2017 the University Interscholastic League mandated a regulation change that all Texas high school football coaches required certification through Atavus Tackling Training. The mandate represented a significant modification to the way tackling is taught, aimed at addressing risk of concussion and serious trauma. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore how coaches’ respond to mandated regulation change. This qualitative study utilized an individual level of analysis contributing to academic works concerning the understanding of organizational change, including the use of Bridges’ (1991) Transition Model within a sporting context, and the call for agent focused perspective work in neo-institutional theory. Through an abductive analysis blend consisting of inductive coding, and deductive a priori concept of the Bridges Transition Model, this study aimed to discern the role transition played in actualizing institutional change by addressing the research questions: RQ1: How do coaches respond when faced with mandated regulation change? RQ2: How does their response reflect transition? To account for the complex nature of the 15 interviewed head football coaches’ responses, the qualitative methodology of this study utilized various triangulation methods such as data, analysis, and theory triangulation, to capture rigor and trustworthiness. Rich findings were mined from the data including 15 propositional statements that represented the a priori model and 10 inductive themes that contributed to defining the identity of a coach, and the sport. The overlap between inductive and deductive findings explored factors earmarking why coaches progress or regress through transition. This study found a relationship between responses and the Bridges Transition Model phases (addressing RQ2), in addition to multiple transition cycles, and triggers for movement through the phases based on coaches' individual needs. This research not only provided examples of what those responses were (addressing RQ1), but also discussed why coaches responded in various ways. Discussion included use of organizational change literature, Bridges’ (1991) Transition Model, and institutional theory, accounting for what coaches experienced and the beliefs and values impacting their decisions and thus, responses to mandated regulation change

What is the Cost of Sadness? Age Differences in Risky Medical Decision Making

It\u27s unknown how a sadness induction affects risky decision making within the medical domain, as well as whether the cognitive appraisal tendencies of uncertainty and situational control, which are theorized to underlie sadness, explain why sadness is related to subsequent decision making. Additionally, although initial work suggests that age differences in risky decision making may not exist within the medical domain, this limited work has only used one measure of risky medical decision making (e.g., Butler et al., 2012; Hanoch et al., 2018; Rosman et al., 2013). The first aim of the current study was to examine the effect of a sadness induction on risky medical decision making, and to explore whether the appraisal tendencies of uncertainty and situational control explained the link between sadness and decision making.The second aim of the current study was to examine the association between age and risky medical decision making utilizing a different measure of medical risk taking than has been used previously. The third aim of the current study was to explore whether age moderated the association between the sad video condition and risky medical decision making, as well as the association between the sad video condition and appraisals of situational control. Younger (aged 18-35) and older (aged 60-89) adults from the U.S. (N= 270; 51.5% female; 77% White) were recruited online via CloudResearch. Participants were randomly assigned to either a sad condition or neutral control condition and watched a short video clip. Participants then read three hypothetical medical decision scenarios that described being diagnosed with either cancer, a stroke, or an ankle fracture. After each scenario, participants were presented with two treatment options – Treatment A was lower risk and Treatment B was higher risk. For each decision scenario, participants rated their likelihood to choose Treatment A relative to Treatment B, as well as answered questions about their appraisals of uncertainty and situational control related to the treatment outcomes. Older adults were less likely to choose the riskier treatment option (Treatment B) than younger adults. However, this finding was no longer significant after accounting for age differences in baseline negative affect, such that older adults reported less negative affect at baseline than younger adults. The sad video induction, compared to the neutral control condition, did not have a significant effect on risky medical decisions, but an exploratory analysis showed that baseline sadness was related to greater risky medical decision making. However, the appraisal tendencies did not statistically account for why baseline sadness was related to risky medical decisions. Additionally, age moderated the association between the sad video condition and appraisals of situational control, such that older adults in the sad condition reported higher appraisals of situational control than older adults in the neutral condition. Together, the findings suggest that baseline sadness is related to greater risk taking, but it’s unclear why since the appraisals tendencies did not explain this association. Moreover, age is not related to risky medical decision making after accounting for age differences in affect

Financial Literacy, Experience, and Age Differences in Monetary Sequence Preferences

The emerging research on age differences in monetary sequence preferences suggests that older adults make decisions that are normatively correct from the standpoint of economic theory when choosing to receive larger versus smaller amounts of money sooner than later, but make non-optimal decisions about paying money. In an adult life-span sample (N = 594, aged 20-88, Mage = 46.48, SD= 15.16) recruited through MTurk, the present study examined age differences in monetary sequence preferences. Participants received eight hypothetical scenarios that described monetary events, and completed measures of financial literacy and financial experience. Older age was associated with preferences to receive larger amounts of money sooner than smaller amounts, the normatively correct decision, but age was not associated with preferences for sequences of paying money. Older adults’ greater financial literacy and greater financial experience partially accounted for their normatively correct preferences for sequences of receiving money. Findings have implications such that interventions could target both financial literacy and experience to facilitate financial decision making across adulthood

Meet the Moment: A Call for Progressive Philanthropic Response to the Anti-Gender Movement

In early 2020, Global Philanthropy Project worked with our member organizations and philanthropic partners to develop two related pieces of private research: 1) a report mapping the funding of the global "anti-gender ideology" or "anti-gender" movement, and 2) a report mapping the progressive philanthropic response. We offer the following public document in order to share key learning and to offer additional analysis gained in the comparison of the two reports. Additionally, we share insights based on comparing global and regional LGBTI funding data as documented in the 2017-2018 Global Resources Report: Government and Philanthropic Support for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex Communities.These findings offer a clear call to action: progressive movements and their philanthropic partners are being outspent by hundreds of millions of dollars each year, and the institutions providing that opposition funding have developed sophisticated and coordinated systems to learn, co-fund, and expand their influence. The philanthropic community is called to recognize the scale of the fight and to be both rigorous and creative in our response. Let us seize this remarkable opportunity to work together and engage our collective learning, spending power, and institutional knowledge to help transform the conditions of our communities. Together we can leverage the collective power that this generational crisis demands.

Race Representations in Children’s Picture Books and Its Impact on the Development of Racial Identity and Attitudes

This paper will look at how (if) race representations in children’s picture books have changed since the twentieth century, and whether children’s racial attitudes have changed throughout the last ninety years. Furthermore, the paper will discuss challenges within multicultural picture books for children, and provide resources for positive racial and ethnic representations within picture books

Hope-Focused Solutions: A Relational Hope Focus of the Solution-Building Stages in Solution-Focused Brief Therapy

The positive psychotherapy focused on for this study is Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT). Insoo Kim Berg and Yvonne Dolan (2001) once described the essence of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) as the “pragmatics of hope and respect” (p. 1) and despite Berg and Dolan’s declaration of hope’s importance in SFBT, little process research has been published looking at the “pragmatics” of hope in SFBT practice. Hope is seen as a common factor in psychotherapy since the human relationship, also known as the therapeutic alliance, is a foundation of psychotherapy. Hope plays a significant role in every human interaction and it is seen as a common factor in human relationships. To begin to address this gap, a pilot study was conducted of an Insoo Kim Berg training recording, Irreconcilable Differences, in order to explore how she listened, selected and built hope in her work. Based on a SFBT technique focus, the preliminary results suggested Insoo Kim Berg builds hope relationally through the solution-building by working within the clients’ focus and their presenting problem. Four different yet interrelated hope phases in the SFBT solution building process were identified. To address this gap further, based on a SFBT stage focus, three cases by Insoo Kim Berg were analyzed in this study, Irreconcilable Differences, Over the Hump, and I’d Hear Laughter. The goal of this research was to demonstrate the how Berg listened, selected, and built hope with clients to validate her progression within and across the five SFBT solution-building stages, in all three cases through constant comparison, and to show how these findings are congruent with SFBT hopeful tenets. All with the intention of allowing the pragmatics of hope and respect to become more transparent for future SFBT practitioners. Findings suggested building hope appears to be a relational process to building solutions and is co-constructed. Berg demonstrates how she embodies a hopeful stance throughout the duration of therapy. Results show how Berg builds hope within and across her progression of the solution-focused brief therapy solution-building stages, utilizing SFBT techniques and processes, which all align with the foundational SFBT tenets

Qualitative Computational Analysis of Paper Analytical Devices

An ongoing research collaboration focuses on developing Paper Analytical Devices (PADs) to test for substandard pharmaceuticals. Part of this process involves the colorimetric analysis of chemical reactions that take place on the PADs, that determine the quality of the pharmaceutical. The developed computational analysis software locates the regions of interest and is used to catalog data corresponding to colors detected. The software can also compare unknown PAD samples with the cataloged data of known samples. This process removes human obstacles of qualitative determination and provides qualitative results

Enhanced Delivery of Cryoprotectant Chemicals to Cultured Neurons

Due to the many advances in the areas of biotechnology and medicine, the need for long- term storage and stabilization of biological materials is rapidly increasing. The field of biopreservation is attempting to address these issues by finding ways to maintain the integrity and functionality of proteins, cells, and organs while storing them outside of their native environment. Neurons have been chosen for investigation based on their potential as electrically active sensors and promise for use in cell-based devices. This thesis will focus on the delivery of cryoprotectant chemicals (CPAs), used to prevent damage to the cells during freezing, to cultured neurons prior to cryopreservation. The addition and removal of CPAs can cause serious cell damage due to their creation of an anisotonic environment for cells. Therefore, the development of successful cryopreservation procedures is critically dependent on the method used for addition and removal of CPAs. In order to determine the optimal way to deliver CPAs to neurons, the membrane permeability parameters and osmotic tolerance limits of the cells were determined. The permeability coefficients for water and the cryoprotectants DMSO, propylene glycol, and ethylene glycol were determined using a fluorescence quenching method. Results of the osmotic tolerance experiments showed that at least 50% cell viability was maintained between 25 and 3000 mOsm. Initial feasibility studies of a method of adding CPAs to cells by gradually increasing the concentration (rather than a typical stepwise procedure) were also performed

The development and productivity of a measure for identifying low language abilities in children aged 24 – 36 months

Acknowledgements First, we would like to acknowledge the leadership, mentorship and unparalleled contribution to the field of child language research of Professor James Law, OBE, who led this study. Professor Law passed away in October 2021. We also acknowledge the contribution of Professor Sue Roulstone, Caitlin Holme and Rose Watson in aspects of the wider study which contributed to the successful data collection in this study. We would like to express sincere thanks to all the practitioners and parents who gave their time, expertise, and insights in the workshop and codesign activities. The team also wish to acknowledge the role of Sheena Carr and Renvia Mason and colleagues at Public Health England and The Department for Education for their feedback on the original report. Funding The project was funded by the UK’s Department for Education in conjunction with Public Health England.Peer reviewedPublisher PD