“We aren't your reincarnation!” workplace motivation across X, Y and Z generations

Purpose The primary purpose of this research is to examine generational differences in valuing the sources of employees' overall motivation in the workplace across Generation X, Generation Y and Generation Z with a view of assisting managers in making employment decisions and maintaining multigenerational staff. Design/methodology/approach The respondents in the study live and work in Canada and provided answers to self-administered online surveys between the fourth quarter of 2017 and the end of January 2020. To assess subjects' work motivation, the study employed Gagné et al.'s (2014) multidimensional work motivation scale (MWMS) alongside a three-item measure of employees' overall motivation (designed for this study). The authors assessed measures of validity and reliability and tested the hypothesis about generational differences in work motivation using structural equation modelling (SEM). Findings The six motivators regress differently to employees' overall motivation. Generation Z is more sensitive to amotivation than Generation X and Generation Y. Extrinsic regulation-material is a valid source of overall work motivation for Generation Z only. Only Generation X values extrinsic regulation-social as a source of employees' overall motivation. So is introjected regulation by Generation Y. Unlike Generation Z, both Generation X and Generation Y employees value identified regulation as a source of overall work motivation. Finally, intrinsic motivation contributes more to Generation Z employees' overall work motivation than it does for Generation X and Generation Y. Research limitations/implications Further work needs to be done to establish whether variations in valuing the sources of motivation may also be spawned by age or status of the respective groups. Future investigations can expand the authors’ focal theme to include additional organisational outcomes, alternative geographical settings and/or include country's economic development as an additional variable. Moreover, further research can address the implications of national culture on shaping generational differences in employee's motivation as well as aiding companies to redesign work tasks considering today's uncertainty as well as increasingly competitive, global environment (e.g. the rise of artificial intelligence). Practical implications It is vital to offer motivators that are valued by each of the three generations, i.e. X, Y and Z, before being able to attract the best candidates of each generation. Organisations should not only create an inclusive and understanding multigenerational working environment but also be able to communicate strong branding via new communication channels successfully (e.g. social media networks), which Generation Yers and Generation Zers utilise better than any other generation in employment. Finally, the authors suggest that service organisations with diverse generational composition should adopt new measures of workplace agility to survive interminable disruptions (e.g. the coronavirus disease 2019 [COVID-19] pandemic). Originality/value This is the first study of its kind to examine generational differences between Generation X, Generation Y and Generation Z in valuing workplace motivation from a western cultural perspective

The academic–vocational divide in three Nordic countries : implications for social class and gender

In this study we examine how the academic–vocational divide is manifested today in Finland, Iceland and Sweden in the division between vocationally (VET) and academicallyoriented programmes at the upper-secondary school level. The paper is based on a critical re-analysis of results from previous studies; in it we investigate the implications of this divide for class and gender inequalities. The theoretical lens used for the synthesis is based on Bernstein´s theory of pedagogic codes. In the re-analysis we draw on previous studies of policy, curriculum and educational praxis as well as official statistics. The main conclusions are that contemporary policy and curriculum trends in all three countries are dominated by a neo-liberal discourse stressing principles such as “market relevance” and employability. This trend strengthens the academic–vocational divide, mainly through an organisation of knowledge in VET that separates it from more general and theoretical elements. This trend also seems to affect VET students’ transitions in terms of reduced access to higher education, particularly in male-dominated programmes. We also identify low expectations for VET students, manifested through choice of textbooks and tasks, organisation of teacher teams and the advice of career counsellors.Peer reviewe

Antiprogestins reduce epigenetic field cancerization in breast tissue of young healthy women

Background: Breast cancer is a leading cause of death in premenopausal women. Progesterone drives expansion of luminal progenitor cells, leading to the development of poor-prognostic breast cancers. However, it is not known if antagonising progesterone can prevent breast cancers in humans. We suggest that targeting progesterone signalling could be a means of reducing features which are known to promote breast cancer formation. Methods: In healthy premenopausal women with and without a BRCA mutation we studied (i) estrogen and progesterone levels in saliva over an entire menstrual cycle (n = 20); (ii) cancer-free normal breast-tissue from a control population who had no family or personal history of breast cancer and equivalently from BRCA1/2 mutation carriers (n = 28); triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) biopsies and healthy breast tissue taken from sites surrounding the TNBC in the same individuals (n = 14); and biopsies of ER+ve/PR+ve stage T1–T2 cancers and healthy breast tissue taken from sites surrounding the cancer in the same individuals (n = 31); and (iii) DNA methylation and DNA mutations in normal breast tissue (before and after treatment) from clinical trials that assessed the potential preventative effects of vitamins and antiprogestins (mifepristone and ulipristal acetate; n = 44). Results: Daily levels of progesterone were higher throughout the menstrual cycle of BRCA1/2 mutation carriers, raising the prospect of targeting progesterone signalling as a means of cancer risk reduction in this population. Furthermore, breast field cancerization DNA methylation signatures reflective of (i) the mitotic age of normal breast epithelium and (ii) the proportion of luminal progenitor cells were increased in breast cancers, indicating that luminal progenitor cells with elevated replicative age are more prone to malignant transformation. The progesterone receptor antagonist mifepristone reduced both the mitotic age and the proportion of luminal progenitor cells in normal breast tissue of all control women and in 64% of BRCA1/2 mutation carriers. These findings were validated by an alternate progesterone receptor antagonist, ulipristal acetate, which yielded similar results. Importantly, mifepristone reduced both the TP53 mutation frequency as well as the number of TP53 mutations in mitotic-age-responders. Conclusions: These data support the potential usage of antiprogestins for primary prevention of poor-prognostic breast cancers

Brain Transcriptional Profiles of Male Alternative Reproductive Tactics and Females in Bluegill Sunfish

We thank Scott Colborne for his help in collecting bluegill, Dave Bridges for providing the R script to convert Ensemble IDs to stickleback homologs, and David Winter and Jeramia Ory for providing Python script used in the bioinformatics analyses. We thank Doug Haywick for producing Fig 1. We also thank Shawn Garner, Tim Hain, Lauren Kordonowy, and Lindsay Havens, and three anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on the manuscript.Bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus) are one of the classic systems for studying male alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs) in teleost fishes. In this species, there are two distinct life histories: parental and cuckolder, encompassing three reproductive tactics, parental, satellite, and sneaker. The parental life history is fixed, whereas individuals who enter the cuckolder life history transition from sneaker to satellite tactic as they grow. For this study, we used RNAseq to characterize the brain transcriptome of the three male tactics and females during spawning to identify gene ontology (GO) categories and potential candidate genes associated with each tactic. We found that sneaker males had higher levels of gene expression differentiation compared to the other two male tactics. Sneaker males also had higher expression in ionotropic glutamate receptor genes, specifically AMPA receptors, compared to other males, which may be important for increased spatial working memory while attempting to cuckold parental males at their nests. Larger differences in gene expression also occurred among male tactics than between males and females. We found significant expression differences in several candidate genes that were previously identified in other species with ARTs and suggest a previously undescribed role for cAMP-responsive element modulator (crem) in influencing parental male behaviors during spawning.Yeshttp://www.plosone.org/static/editorial#pee

Men doing women's dirty work: Desegregation, immigrants and employer preferences in the cleaning industry in Norway

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Oxidation Behaviour of Molybdenum Disilicide Coatings at 1500 °C

Abstract Molybdenum disilicide (MoSi2) is a suitable material for high temperature applications especially because of its excellent high temperature oxidation resistance. For several high temperature applications MoSi2 shows high potential to be used as a protective coating. The oxidation behaviour of HVOF sprayed MoSi2 coatings is studied at 1500 °C. The oxidation tests are carried out in a simultaneous thermogravimetric device and the mass change is measured in dependence on the oxidation time. The microstructure of the coatings before and after oxidation is examined by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDXS). The mass of the coating increases according to a parabolic function. During the oxidation test the microstructure changes significantly from a typical thermal spray coating microstructure with lamellae, pores and a phase mixture of MoSi2 and Mo5Si3 to a two phase system with sharply separated grain boundaries. On the surface of the coating a silicon dioxide layer with a thickness of less than 10 µm is formed.</jats:p