A method for evaluating workplace utility

Acquiring office buildings that provide the required level of utility, and maintaining the buildings in that state, should be a priority for any organisation. Failure to do so may give rise to increased churn, reduced productivity, higher employee turnover, increased staff absenteeism and rising health care costs related to heightened stress. There is, however, no single measure of office building utility. Discusses the development of a valid and reliable scale for measuring the utility of public sector office buildings. Data collection involved the use of focus groups and an online survey of 1,800 building occupants. The findings suggest that the utility of public sector office buildings can be measured using a 22-item scale comprising four dimensions. The potential applications of the scale and its use in current research are examined.

The emergence of the global workplace : opportunities and barriers for building surveyors in Oceania

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) the professional body representing surveyors in the UK, has implemented a policy to globalise in order to meet the challenges and opportunities the global marketplace was creating for its members as well as protecting and serving its interests (RICS, 1999). Quantity surveyors had a presence and history of employment outside the UK, particularly in the Middle and Far East. Real estate surveyors found the transition to working in European Union (EU) countries relatively straightforward and numerous UK real estate organisations have European, Asian, North American and Oceanic offices. Additionally UK based firms establishing partnerships with overseas real estate firms expanded significantly over the previous decade. Building Surveying is different. Small numbers worked in commonwealth countries but in most countries their professional and academic qualifications were not recognised. With the changes implemented by the RICS, this paper examines the barriers and opportunities facing RICS Chartered Building Surveyors (CBS) in Oceania (taken as Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Fiji).

A desk top study reviewed the political, economic and sociological variables affecting employment opportunities and professional services which were put to the RICS Oceania Building Surveying Faculty. No previous study had been undertaken to identify the specific barriers and opportunities in Oceania for the BS and this research adopted a census survey of RICS practitioners currently employed in the region and the results form the most comprehensive picture of the current position. The findings are that some of the opportunities and barriers will change in significance over time. The main barriers to growth were perceived as lack of support from a Euro focussed RICS and the difficulties associated with being perceived as outsiders. Opportunities were perceived as emerging in new areas of professional services such as sustainability and energy efficiency.

Metamemory training for memory disorders in adults with a closed head injury

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the efficacy of a memory and metamemory training program on memory performance and metamemory judgement accuracy in adults with a closed head injury. A multiple baseline across subjects design was used with six subjects. All subjects were seen at least two years post-injury. Training included general metamemory information about the nature of memory, use of a specific memory strategy to assist verbal recall (to Preview, Question, Read, State and Test- PQRST), specific metamemory information about the strategy, and a self instruction procedure (WTSC- What is the task, Select a strategy to use, Try out strategy, Check to evaluate strategy effectiveness). During the training period all subjects recalled greater than fifty percent of paragraph ideas while using PQRST. Follow-up tests showed that five of the six subjects maintained recall levels but a gradual decrease in slope was observed over eight weeks post-training. Tests of recall, recognition and metamemory judgements on Sentence and Action Tasks were used to evaluate generalisation of training. Two subjects showed improved recall and two subjects showed improved recognition performance. In addition, four subjects demonstrated greater metamemory judgement accuracy about recognition performance following training. Improved performance post-training was also observed for three subjects on the Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test and the Logical Memory subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised, greater than that expected for repeated testing. Several factors were identified as having a role in subjects’ ability to benefit from training.

Women and workplace training : an analysis of policy and practice

[No abstract/summary in thesis]

Relationship between workplace reform and workforce participation

This thesis sought to advance understanding of the politics of workplace reform, explaining the respective roles of management and employees and how they relate. The literature on workplace reform usually argues that reform is predicated on greater workforce participation in managerial decisions. More specifically, different approaches to workplace reform can be aligned to different forms of participation. Thus quality management can be associated with direct forms of participation, institutional workplace reform may depend on representative forms, and best practice may require a combination of both. This thesis uses empirical evidence to explore this alignment between the different approaches to workplace reform and forms of participation. The period chosen for empirical study is approximately 1985-1992 - an era of rapid innovation in workplace reform for Australian manufacturing. Three workplaces were chosen for intensive study from automotive component manufacturers because that industry was itself a laboratory for workplace reform and also because these firms exemplified different approaches to competitiveness and reform. Three approaches to workplace reform - quality management, institutional workplace reform, and best practice - were distinguished to capture the range of Australian practice at that time. Similarly two approaches to workplace participation were distinguished - direct and representative - to reflect the range of observable practices at that time and to represent competing philosophies. Direct participation illustrated an approach founded in managerial context of the political status quo, whilst representative forms were considered to permit a pluralist shift of power to enable employees to manage in place of management. The three case studies depict companies sharing the competitive crisis of their industry. From this stems the impetus for workplace reform. At this point the firms diverged in their choice of competitive strategies for workplace reform. The case studies reveal, at the superficial level, a match between the chosen approaches to workplace reform and forms of participation. Basically, quality management is associated with direct employee participation, institutional workplace reform with collective bargaining and representative consultative committees, and best practice with both. However when the implementation of reform and participation are examined this match becomes less significant. One firm, Auto Air, achieved highly effective outcomes in both reform and participation. Another firm, Auto Electrical, failed in both. The thesis concluded that the relationship between forms of participation and reform is less significant than the effective implementation of policy. Unitarist or pluralist approaches to power distribution count less than managerial capacity to integrate successive reform initiatives and their commitment to workforce participation hi change.

Justice in the workplace : the centrality of social versus judgmental predictors of performance varies by gender

Men and women are said to perceive justice differently, with women proposed to  be more concerned with relational issues and men focused more on material issues. In this study, the potential for differential effects of justice on performance by gender was analyzed across the four contemporary types of justice.  Respondents were 265 male and 113 female occupationally diverse employees in a single organization. The results show significant differences in how men and women respond to the four justice types with only one – informational justice – acting similarly by gender. The differential relationships between each of the justice types and the outcomes by gender highlight the utility of the four factor approach to measuring organizational justice. Women were more interested in maintaining social harmony than men. The results appear to strongly support the use of the justice judgment model over the group-value model as a means of explaining the gender differences. Implications for management include the importance of informational justice both generally and within the performance appraisal process.

Raising the profile of depression in the workplace

The prevalence of depression in the Australian workforce is unknown. Epidemiological surveys (e.g., the National Health Survey and National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing) do not routinely include a depression scale and within the mental health field, few studies focus on depression and employment groups specifically. Although the inclusion of a direct measure of depression in  national surveys is preferable, the prevalence of depression may be inferred from short screening scales of general mental health. In this paper, scores on the  General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and the Kessler psychological distress scale (K10) for a sample of employed persons were mapped onto the CES-D (Iowa) measure of depression. The results of this study indicate that the  recommended GHQ-12 cut-off point is appropriate for estimating work-related depression prevalence. However, the cut-off point on the K10 (the short-scale  currently used in Australian national surveys) may need to be substantially  reduced if scores on the K10 are to be used to identify workers at risk of  depression. The routine inclusion of a direct depression measure in national  surveys is recommended, particularly considering the number of employed persons in Australia and large proportion of the sample classified as depressed in this study.

Leadership, organisational climate and workplace innovation: a study of factors that enhance workplace innovation in small to medium enterprise

Innovation is a valued organisational asset that may asssist the creation and maintenance of competitive advantage. A number of authors have proposed links between leadership, organisational climate and innovation, and these constructs appear to converge. This convergence led researchers to produce models of the interaction between the three constructs within organisations. It has generally been reported that leadership effects innovation and organisational climate or vise versa. However, to date there is no substantial, direct nor robust empirical evidence to informt his view. This book and detailed study addresses the relationship between leadership, organisational climate and innovation simultaneously. 

Barriers experienced by Asians in accessing injury-related services and compensations

Introduction: The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) administers New Zealand’s (NZ) accident compensation scheme. Asians in NZ are apparently under-serviced by ACC and may be experiencing barriers to accessing services. This study identifies barriers that Asians in NZ face in accessing ACC’s injury-related services and compensations.

Methods: By utilising a qualitative research design, 113 Chinese, Korean, Indian, and South East Asian participants residing in Auckland, NZ were recruited through maximum variation and purposive snowball sampling. Data were gathered during 2006 through 22 individual in-depth interviews and 14 focus group discussions based on semi-structured interview schedules. Interviewees included Asian general practitioners, traditional health providers, users and non-users of injury-related services, case managers and Asian community leaders. Data were analysed using a general inductive approach.

Findings: Results show that personal/cultural characteristics such as age, gender, English language competence, injury-related language competence, differing Asian worldviews, and consequent help-seeking behaviours act as barriers to accessing services and entitlements. This is exacerbated by logistical and environmental factors such as cost, transport, time, inadequate interpretation and translation services, as well as institutional barriers such as lack of information about services, culturally inappropriate services, discriminatory attitudes and employment risks.

Conclusion: It is evident that Asians living in NZ are experiencing several cultural, environmental and institutional barriers to accessing ACC services. There is clearly a need for more culturally relevant information and injury-related services if Asian immigrants’ use of such services and entitlements is to be increased.

Momentary lives : supporting people with acquired brain injury

Personal adjustment following an acquired brain injury is influenced by a comprehensive, complex, and dynamic range of factors. This study found that a useful approach to service provision in the ABI sector would involve a holistic approach that addresses all life domains of the individual within an ecological systems framework.