The case and context for quality working relationships

Seven enablers of leader-follower relationships that sustain impetus for change

A management tool for developing the relationships between large purchasing organisations and small ethnic minority suppliers

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to scrutinise the characteristics of the relationship between large purchasing organisations (LPOs) and ethnic minority suppliers (EMSs) engaging with supplier diversity programmes and provide an assessment and developmental framework for such organisations. Design/methodology/approach: Having considered an array of purchaser-supplier relationship frameworks in relevant streams of literature, the paper draws on Lamming et al.'s framework to advance a tool for assessing and developing the relationship between LPOs and EMSs. Findings: The submitted relationship assessment and development framework brings in sharp focus the characteristics of the relationship between LPO and EMS, providing a systematic way to examine the inter-organisational context within which EMS development takes place. Research limitations/implications: The framework submitted could signpost future research in this field, which should take a longitudinal, processual approach. This is necessary to provide opportunities to examine the dynamics underlying the development of potent LPO-EMS relationships in a variety of settings, including negative instances. Practical implications: The paper has implications for corporate policy making and practice in this arena. Assessing the potency of LPOs-EMSs relationships by applying the proffered tool can help both parties engage with supplier diversity, to develop fruitful relationships that enhance their competitiveness. Social implications: The latter can have social implications, as EMSs often operate in and employ people from disadvantaged communities. Originality/value: The framework advanced in this article constitutes a novel tool that highlights the areas in which LPOs and EMSs should channel their efforts, in order to develop a potent relationship between them, which underpins the development of EMSs' supply capabilities. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Personality and engagement at work:the mediating role of psychological meaningfulness

In this study, we examined the associations of personality traits of the Big Five model with work engagement, and tested a theoretical model in which these associations are mediated by the positive state of psychological meaningfulness (perceptions that work is valuable and meaningful). In a sample of 238 UK working adults, we found that the personality facets assertiveness and industriousness were the strongest predictors of work engagement, and that both exhibited direct and indirect effects, mediated by psychological meaningfulness. Neuroticism demonstrated a marginal indirect association with engagement, again mediated by psychological meaningfulness. Our findings offered good support for our model, explaining a pathway from personality traits to engagement. Practical implications for management are discussed. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

"I'm a better manager":A biographic narrative study of the impact of personal trauma on the professional lives of managers in the UK

This doctoral study aims to understand how experiences of critical illness or bereavement affect the way managers view and approach their work and their relationships at work. This is an interpretative phenomenological study examining the subjective meanings of personal experience and is underpinned by biographic narratives from four participants and interviews with their nominated workplace witnesses (i.e. colleagues who worked alongside the individual at the time of their trauma). As a consequence of the findings that have emerged across this study, three contributions to theory are presented. All four participants described their traumas as a professional growth experience for themselves as managers, which resulted in self-reported and observed behaviour change at work. Consequently, the first area of theoretical contribution is a suggested extension to the post-traumatic growth (PTG) framework (Calhoun & Tedeschi, 2006) with the addition of a new behavioural dimension called ‘managerial growth’, when applied to the context of ‘ordinary’ organizations. The second area of theoretical contribution arose through the reflexive process that was created during data collection where participants and their witnesses remembered episodes of compassion interaction at work. The second area of contribution thus seeks to extend the existing model of compassion at work (Dutton, Worline, Frost and Lilius, 2006), by conceptualising compassion as a dyadic process between a compassion ‘giver’ and a compassion ‘receiver’ in which the compassion receiver ‘trusts or ‘mistrusts’; ‘discloses’ or ‘withholds’; ‘connects’ or ‘disconnects’ with the compassion giver. The third area of contribution is a new conceptualisation of reflexivity, ‘three-dimensional reflexivity’ (3DR) (Armstrong, Butler and Shaw, 2013). 3DR brings together three of the elements that have been missing from critically reflexive management research; by working with multiple variants of reflexivity in the same study; surfacing different reflexive voices to guard against the researcher’s (potentially) solipsistic own; and remaining sensitive to the concept of reflexive time. In doing so, 3DR not only provides a deeper understanding of individual lived experience; it is also a vehicle in which self-insight is gained. Furthermore, by engaging in its practice, those involved in this study have developed both personally and professionally as a result.

A simulation conceptual modelling procedure for SCM applications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to outline a seven-phase simulation conceptual modelling procedure that incorporates existing practice and embeds a process reference model (i.e. SCOR). Design/methodology/approach – An extensive review of the simulation and SCM literature identifies a set of requirements for a domain-specific conceptual modelling procedure. The associated design issues for each requirement are discussed and the utility of SCOR in the process of conceptual modelling is demonstrated using two development cases. Ten key concepts are synthesised and aligned to a general process for conceptual modelling. Further work is outlined to detail, refine and test the procedure with different process reference models in different industrial contexts. Findings - Simulation conceptual modelling is often regarded as the most important yet least understood aspect of a simulation project (Robinson, 2008a). Even today, there has been little research development into guidelines to aid in the creation of a conceptual model. Design issues are discussed for building an ‘effective’ conceptual model and the domain-specific requirements for modelling supply chains are addressed. The ten key concepts are incorporated to aid in describing the supply chain problem (i.e. components and relationships that need to be included in the model), model content (i.e. rules for determining the simplest model boundary and level of detail to implement the model) and model validation. Originality/value – Paper addresses Robinson (2008a) call for research in defining and developing new approaches for conceptual modelling and Manuj et al., (2009) discussion on improving the rigour of simulation studies in SCM. It is expected that more detailed guidelines will yield benefits to both expert (i.e. avert typical modelling failures) and novice modellers (i.e. guided practice; less reliance on hopeful intuition)

A comparative analysis of self-determined evaluations of work performance and support needs by adults with mental retardation in supported work and in sheltered workshop environments

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a difference in the self-determined evaluations of work performance and support needs by adults with mental retardation in supported employment and in sheltered workshop environments. The instrument, Job Observation and Behavior Scale: Opportunity for Self-Determination (JOBS: OSD; Brady, Rosenberg, & Frain, 2006), was administered to 38 adults with mental retardation from sheltered workshops and 32 adults with mental retardation from supported employment environments. Cross-tabulations with Chi-square tests and independent samples t-tests were conducted to evaluate differences between the two groups, sheltered workshop and supported work. Two Multivariate Analyses of Variance (MANOVAs) were conducted to determine the effect of work environment on Quality of Performance (QP) and Types of Support (TS) test scores and their subscales. ^ This study found that there were significant differences between the groups on the QP Behavior and Job Duties subscales. The sheltered workshop group perceived themselves as performing significantly better on job duties than the supported work group. Conversely, the supported work group perceived themselves to have better behavior than the sheltered workshop group. However, there were no significant differences between groups in their perception of support needs for the three subscales. ^ The findings imply that work environment affects the self-determined evaluations of work performance by adults with mental retardation. Recommendations for further study include (a) detailing the characteristics of supported work and sheltered workshops that support and/or discourage self-determined behaviors, (b) exploring the behavior of adults with mental retardation in sheltered workshops and supported work environments, and (c) analysis of the support needs for and understanding of them by adults with mental retardation in sheltered workshops and in supported work environments. ^

Glycemic control: Risk factors, quality of life, workforce participation, and mortality among US adults with type 2 diabetes

Despite research showing the benefits of glycemic control, it remains suboptimal among adults with diabetes in the United States. Possible reasons include unaddressed risk factors as well as lack of awareness of its immediate and long term consequences. The objectives of this study were to, using cross-sectional data, (1) ascertain the association between suboptimal (Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) .7%), borderline (HbA1c 7-8.9%), and poor (HbA1c .9%) glycemic control and potentially new risk factors (e.g. work characteristics), and (2) assess whether aspects of poor health and well-being such as poor health related quality of life (HRQOL), unemployment, and missed-work are associated with glycemic control; and (3) using prospective data, assess the relationship between mortality risk and glycemic control in US adults with type 2 diabetes. Data from the 1988-1994 and 1999-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys were used. HbA1c values were used to create dichotomous glycemic control indicators. Binary logistic regression models were used to assess relationships between risk factors, employment status and glycemic control. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess relationships between glycemic control and HRQOL variables. Zero-inflated Poisson regression models were used to assess relationships between missed work days and glycemic control. Cox-proportional hazard models were used to assess effects of glycemic control on mortality risk. Using STATA software, analyses were weighted to account for complex survey design and non-response. Multivariable models adjusted for socio-demographics, body mass index, among other variables. Results revealed that being a farm worker and working over 40 hours/week were risk factors for suboptimal glycemic control. Having greater days of poor mental was associated with suboptimal, borderline, and poor glycemic control. Having greater days of inactivity was associated with poor glycemic control while having greater days of poor physical health was associated with borderline glycemic control. There were no statistically significant relationships between glycemic control, self-reported general health, employment, and missed work. Finally, having an HbA1c value less than 6.5% was protective against mortality. The findings suggest that work-related factors are important in a person’s ability to reach optimal diabetes management levels. Poor glycemic control appears to have significant detrimental effects on HRQOL.^

A comparison study of the English III/American Literature success of African American high school students and that of students whose home language is Haitian Creole

The purpose of the study was to compare the English III success of students whose home language is Haitian Creole (SWHLIHC) with that of the more visible African American high school students in the Miami Dade County Public Schools System, in an effort to offer insight that might assist educators in facilitating the educational success of SWHLIHC in American Literature class.^ The study was guided by two important theories on how students interact with and learn from literature. They are Reader Response Theory which advocates giving students the opportunity to become involved in the literature experience (Rosenblatt, 1995), and Critical Literacy, a theory developed by Paolo Freire and Henry Giroux, which espouses a critical approach to analysis of society that enables people to analyze social problems through lenses that would reveal social inequities and assist in transforming society into a more equitable entity.^ Data for the study: 10th grade reading FCAT scores, English III/American Literature grades, and Promotion to English IV records for the school year 2010-2011 were retrieved from the records division of the Miami Dade County Public Schools System. The study used a quantitative methods approach, the central feature of which was an ex post facto design with hypotheses (Newman, Newman, Brown, & McNeely, 2006). The ex post facto design with hypotheses was chosen because the researcher postulated hypotheses about the relationships that might exist between the performances of SWHLIHC and those of African American students on the three above mentioned variables. This type of design supported the researcher's purpose of comparing these performances.^ One way analysis of variance (ANOVA), two way ANOVAs, and chi square tests were used to examine the two groups' performances on the 10th grade reading FCAT, their English III grades, and their promotion to English IV. ^ The study findings show that there was a significant difference in the performance of SWHLIHC and African American high school students on all three independent variables. SWHLIHC performed significantly higher on English III success and promotion to English IV. African American high school students performed significantly higher on the reading FCAT.^

Glycemic Control: Risk Factors, Quality of Life, Workforce Participation, and Mortality Among US Adults with Type 2 Diabetes

Despite research showing the benefits of glycemic control, it remains suboptimal among adults with diabetes in the United States. Possible reasons include unaddressed risk factors as well as lack of awareness of its immediate and long term consequences. The objectives of this study were to, using cross-sectional data, 1) ascertain the association between suboptimal (Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) ≥7%), borderline (HbA1c 7-8.9%), and poor (HbA1c ≥9%) glycemic control and potentially new risk factors (e.g. work characteristics), and 2) assess whether aspects of poor health and well-being such as poor health related quality of life (HRQOL), unemployment, and missed-work are associated with glycemic control; and 3) using prospective data, assess the relationship between mortality risk and glycemic control in US adults with type 2 diabetes. Data from the 1988-1994 and 1999-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys were used. HbA1c values were used to create dichotomous glycemic control indicators. Binary logistic regression models were used to assess relationships between risk factors, employment status and glycemic control. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess relationships between glycemic control and HRQOL variables. Zero-inflated Poisson regression models were used to assess relationships between missed work days and glycemic control. Cox-proportional hazard models were used to assess effects of glycemic control on mortality risk. Using STATA software, analyses were weighted to account for complex survey design and non-response. Multivariable models adjusted for socio-demographics, body mass index, among other variables. Results revealed that being a farm worker and working over 40 hours/week were risk factors for suboptimal glycemic control. Having greater days of poor mental was associated with suboptimal, borderline, and poor glycemic control. Having greater days of inactivity was associated with poor glycemic control while having greater days of poor physical health was associated with borderline glycemic control. There were no statistically significant relationships between glycemic control, self-reported general health, employment, and missed work. Finally, having an HbA1c value less than 6.5% was protective against mortality. The findings suggest that work-related factors are important in a person’s ability to reach optimal diabetes management levels. Poor glycemic control appears to have significant detrimental effects on HRQOL.

Adiamento da aposentadoria e o significado do trabalho para servidores de uma universidade federal

This study investigated the intention of the older workers to continue working after state pension age/time. On this way, it explores the relation between this intention and factors related with the meanings of the work and retirement. Specifically, it was examined that factors related to work and non-work are predictors of the intention to continue working, and it was explored if meanings of retirement are linked to this decision. It is a crosssectional mixed methods study, using a survey conducted with 283 federal civil servants of a federal Northeastern University which were near retirement. It envolved an on-line questionnaire, with open-ended questions and the likert-type scale "Older Worker's Intention to Continue Working" (OWICW) of Shacklock and Brunneto (2011), which was validated to the Brazilian version. The quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive and multivariate statistics, specifically procedures for comparing means and coefficients of multiple logistic regression. The qualitative data were analyzed using the lexicographical technique Descending Hierarchical Classification. The findings indicate that most participants want to continue in paid work, and that perception of personal autonomy at work, interpersonal relationships at work, interests outside of work, and flexible working arrangements are significant predictors of intention to continue working. Furthermore, the perception of personal autonomy at work, flexible working arrangements, and the financial incentives are predictors of decision to postpone retirement and remain in the organization. The analysis revealed five patterns of meanings of retirement: "worker's right", "resting", "idle time at home", "new stage in the life course", and "enjoy the use of time”. The decision to postpone retirement is linked to idleness and lack of substitutionary activities work, and the decision to stop working linked to retirement as a life with more quality. The study provides information that can contribute with management policies before the process of retirement decision.

Da voz que cala ao corpo que fala: o assédio moral no ambiente de trabalho como desafio para o serviço social

The changes ocurred in the world of capitalist labor, especially from the last decades of the 20th century, accentuated the process of manipulation and domination of the working class, materialized mainly through naturalization and / or trivialization of violence, conducted in the work environment. From this process, emerge the elements of bullying, that is, the embarrassing and humiliating practices which extend through time, degrading human race, and becoming fruitful object for study, debate and the intervention of the professionals of the Social Service area. Thus, we assume the perspective of analyzing the concepts and the work of social workers, whom work at people management area before the bullying in the workplace. We propose the following objectives: apprehend the settings of bullying, in the contemporary context of competitiveness and flexibility of work, as well as its implications for workers' health; characterize the background of this expression of violence at work in the municipality of Natal- RN; and analyze the powers and duties of the social worker in the process of prevention, identification and addressing of bullying in the context of work. This study consisted of a qualitative approach, based on the dialectical-critical method as soon as we adopt methodological procedures such as: theoretical knowledge, documental and field research, and performed using semi-structured interviews. The subjects of this research were nine (09) the Social Service professionals working in personnel management area, in five (5) institutions with legal and branches of different activities, located in Natal-RN. Even interviewed one (01) representative of the Public Ministry of Rio Grande do Norte Office (MPT-RN). The findings of this analysis indicate that bullying is a contemporary expression of "social question", which is presented as a demand for the Social-assistants – covered up and / or camuflage – under the guise of problems related to workers' health or mere conflicts of interpersonal relationships, that is, without any causal connection with the organization of work. The fear of losing job, not to be inserted in the labor market, and / or suffering reprisals, deepens the subject levels of the victims of bullying. Hence the importance of Social Workers are capable to understand the social reality, by preventing and combating the elements of bullying.

Theory and Practice in Sustainability Science: Influence of Urban Form on the Urban Heat Island and Implications for Urban Systems

As the world population continues to grow past seven billion people and global challenges continue to persist including resource availability, biodiversity loss, climate change and human well-being, a new science is required that can address the integrated nature of these challenges and the multiple scales on which they are manifest. Sustainability science has emerged to fill this role. In the fifteen years since it was first called for in the pages of Science, it has rapidly matured, however its place in the history of science and the way it is practiced today must be continually evaluated. In Part I, two chapters address this theoretical and practical grounding. Part II transitions to the applied practice of sustainability science in addressing the urban heat island (UHI) challenge wherein the climate of urban areas are warmer than their surrounding rural environs. The UHI has become increasingly important within the study of earth sciences given the increased focus on climate change and as the balance of humans now live in urban areas.

In Chapter 2 a novel contribution to the historical context of sustainability is argued. Sustainability as a concept characterizing the relationship between humans and nature emerged in the mid to late 20th century as a response to findings used to also characterize the Anthropocene. Emerging from the human-nature relationships that came before it, evidence is provided that suggests Sustainability was enabled by technology and a reorientation of world-view and is unique in its global boundary, systematic approach and ambition for both well being and the continued availability of resources and Earth system function. Sustainability is further an ambition that has wide appeal, making it one of the first normative concepts of the Anthropocene.

Despite its widespread emergence and adoption, sustainability science continues to suffer from definitional ambiguity within the academe. In Chapter 3, a review of efforts to provide direction and structure to the science reveals a continuum of approaches anchored at either end by differing visions of how the science interfaces with practice (solutions). At one end, basic science of societally defined problems informs decisions about possible solutions and their application. At the other end, applied research directly affects the options available to decision makers. While clear from the literature, survey data further suggests that the dichotomy does not appear to be as apparent in the minds of practitioners.

In Chapter 4, the UHI is first addressed at the synoptic, mesoscale. Urban climate is the most immediate manifestation of the warming global climate for the majority of people on earth. Nearly half of those people live in small to medium sized cities, an understudied scale in urban climate research. Widespread characterization would be useful to decision makers in planning and design. Using a multi-method approach, the mesoscale UHI in the study region is characterized and the secular trend over the last sixty years evaluated. Under isolated ideal conditions the findings indicate a UHI of 5.3 ± 0.97 °C to be present in the study area, the magnitude of which is growing over time.

Although urban heat islands (UHI) are well studied, there remain no panaceas for local scale mitigation and adaptation methods, therefore continued attention to characterization of the phenomenon in urban centers of different scales around the globe is required. In Chapter 5, a local scale analysis of the canopy layer and surface UHI in a medium sized city in North Carolina, USA is conducted using multiple methods including stationary urban sensors, mobile transects and remote sensing. Focusing on the ideal conditions for UHI development during an anticyclonic summer heat event, the study observes a range of UHI intensity depending on the method of observation: 8.7 °C from the stationary urban sensors; 6.9 °C from mobile transects; and, 2.2 °C from remote sensing. Additional attention is paid to the diurnal dynamics of the UHI and its correlation with vegetation indices, dewpoint and albedo. Evapotranspiration is shown to drive dynamics in the study region.

Finally, recognizing that a bridge must be established between the physical science community studying the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, and the planning community and decision makers implementing urban form and development policies, Chapter 6 evaluates multiple urban form characterization methods. Methods evaluated include local climate zones (LCZ), national land cover database (NCLD) classes and urban cluster analysis (UCA) to determine their utility in describing the distribution of the UHI based on three standard observation types 1) fixed urban temperature sensors, 2) mobile transects and, 3) remote sensing. Bivariate, regression and ANOVA tests are used to conduct the analyses. Findings indicate that the NLCD classes are best correlated to the UHI intensity and distribution in the study area. Further, while the UCA method is not useful directly, the variables included in the method are predictive based on regression analysis so the potential for better model design exists. Land cover variables including albedo, impervious surface fraction and pervious surface fraction are found to dominate the distribution of the UHI in the study area regardless of observation method.

Chapter 7 provides a summary of findings, and offers a brief analysis of their implications for both the scientific discourse generally, and the study area specifically. In general, the work undertaken does not achieve the full ambition of sustainability science, additional work is required to translate findings to practice and more fully evaluate adoption. The implications for planning and development in the local region are addressed in the context of a major light-rail infrastructure project including several systems level considerations like human health and development. Finally, several avenues for future work are outlined. Within the theoretical development of sustainability science, these pathways include more robust evaluations of the theoretical and actual practice. Within the UHI context, these include development of an integrated urban form characterization model, application of study methodology in other geographic areas and at different scales, and use of novel experimental methods including distributed sensor networks and citizen science.

'A piece of fine meshwork': the intertwining fiction of Philip Roth and Edna O'Brien

This thesis comprises a comparative analysis of the works the Irish author Edna O’Brien and her contemporary and friend, the Jewish-American author Philip Roth. It investigates the striking biographical, textual and stylistic symmetries between two writers from very different cultures and literary traditions. The thesis begins with the, until now, undetected intertextual nexuses between Roth’s fiction and O’Brien’s. These allusions significantly alter the readings of a number of their novels, while at the same time indicating wider transatlantic frames of reference now apparent in their work. O’Brien has, since the beginning of her career, been in frequent correspondence with all of the pre-eminent Jewish-American authors of her time, and her work conducts a dialogue with key Jewish-American texts. Conversely, Roth’s fiction—like O’Brien’s, obviously indebted to Joyce—has frequently alluded to other seminal Irish authors. The literary and personal relationship of Roth and O’Brien symbolize myriad links between Jewish and Irish literary cultures. In O’Brien’s (and wider Irish) fiction, the Jew is often positioned as an exotic but dangerous “Other”. Equally, throughout the Jewish canon Irish Catholics are frequently employed as foils. Roth and O’Brien investigate difference by depicting relationships that cross these boundaries. Through understanding the complex interrelations at play between the fiction of Roth and O’Brien, and between their work and that of a wider pantheon of Irish and American writers, this thesis will reposition both as transnational authors while developing a culturally sensitive, textually nuanced account of their transatlantic literary relations.

Work-to-family spillover: Gender differences in Hungary

It is crucial to understand the role that labor market positions might play in creating gender differences in work–life balance. One theoretical approach to understanding this relationship is the spillover theory. The spillover theory argues that an individual’s life domains are integrated; meaning that well-being can be transmitted between life domains. Based on data collected in Hungary in 2014, this paper shows that work-to-family spillover does not affect both genders the same way. The effect of work on family life tends to be more negative for women than for men. Two explanations have been formulated in order to understand this gender inequality. According to the findings of the analysis, gender is conditionally independent of spillover if financial status and flexibility of work are also incorporated into the analysis. This means that the relative disadvantage for women in terms of spillover can be attributed to their lower financial status and their relatively low access to flexible jobs. In other words, the gender inequalities in work-to-family spillover are deeply affected by individual labor market positions. The observation of the labor market’s effect on work–life balance is especially important in Hungary since Hungary has one of the least flexible labor arrangements in Europe. A marginal log-linear model, which is a method for categorical multivariate analysis, has been applied in this analysis.

There is something about Mary… and Ted! : Training in mixed-sex groups makes you work harder. A study about the effort when training with the opposite sex.

In many sport associations, regardless of level, women and men rarely practice together. Previous studies indicate that work groups are generally more efficient when there is an even distribution between the sexes. Could that also be the case in sports? This study aims to investigate whether the sex composition of a training group affects the effort and performance of the participants. Eleven volunteers participated in the crossover study consisting of three different 150-meter sprint conditions; individually, single-sex group and mixed-sex group. Sprint times, heart rate and RPE were recorded during all three trials. The result of this study suggests that there might be practical benefits in regards to physical performance and effort to exercise in a training group consisting of both sexes instead of training only with the same-sex or individually. The understanding could be useful in areas such as; training optimisation for both athletes and in patient- and rehabilitation groups, increasing efficiency in work environments, in schools and sports clubs striving for both athletic success and gender equality.