An epidemiologic evaluation of a worksite based intervention

The healthcare industry spends billions on worker injury and employee turnover. Hospitals and healthcare settings have one of the highest rates of lost days due to injuries. The occupational hazards for healthcare workers can be classified into biological, chemical, ergonomic, physical, organizational, and psychosocial. Therefore, interventions addressing a range of occupational health risks are needed to prevent injuries and reduce turnover and reduce costs. ^ The Sacred Vocation Program (SVP) seeks to change the content of work, i.e., the meaningfulness of work, to improve work environments. The SVP intervenes at both the individual and organizational level. First the SVP attempts to connect healthcare workers with meaning from their work through a series of 5 self-discovery group sessions. In a sixth session the graduates take an oath recommitting them to do their work as a vocation. Once motivated to connect with meaning in their work, a representative employee group meets in a second set of five meetings. This representative group suggests organizational changes to create a culture that supports employees in their calling. The employees present their plan in the twelfth session to management beginning a new phase in the existing dialogue between employees and management. ^ The SVP was implemented in a large Dallas hospital (almost 1000 licensed beds). The Baylor University Medical Center (BUMC) Pastoral Care department invited front-line caregivers (primarily Patient Care Assistants, PCAs, or Patient Care Technicians, PCTs) to participate in the SVP. Participants completed SVP questionnaires at the beginning and following SVP implementation. Following implementation, employer records were collected on injury, absence and turnover to further evaluate the program's effectiveness on metrics that are meaningful to managers in assessing organizational performance. This provided an opportunity to perform an epidemiological evaluation of the intervention using the two sources of information: employee self-reports and employer administrative data. ^ The ability to evaluate the effectiveness of the SVP on program outcomes could be limited by the strength of the measures used. An ordinal CFA performed on baseline SVP questionnaire measurements examined the construct validity and reliability of the SVP scales. Scales whose item-factor structure was confirmed in ordinal CFA were evaluated for their psychometric properties (i.e., reliability, mean, ceiling and floor effects). CFA supported the construct validity of six of the proposed scales: blocks to spirituality, meaning at work, work satisfaction, affective commitment, collaborative communication, and MHI-5. Five of the six scales confirmed had acceptable measures of reliability (all but MHI-5 had α>0.7). All six scales had a high percentage (>30%) of the scores at the ceiling. These findings supported the use of these items in the evaluation of change although strong ceiling effects may hinder discerning change. ^ Next, the confirmed SVP scales were used to evaluate whether the intervention improved program constructs. To evaluate the SVP a one group pretest-posttest design compared participants’ self-reports before and after the intervention. It was hypothesized that measurements of reduced blocks to spirituality (α = 0.76), meaning at work (α = 0.86), collaborative communication (α = 0.67) and SVP job tasks (α = 0.97) would improve following SVP implementation. The SVP job tasks scale was included even though it was not included in the ordinal CFA analysis due to a limited sample and high inter-item correlation. Changes in scaled measurements were assessed using multilevel linear regression methods. All post-intervention measurements increased (increases <0.28 points) but only reduced blocks to spirituality was statistically significant (0.22 points on a scale from 1 to 7, p < 0.05) after adjustment for covariates. Intensity of the intervention (stratifying on high participation units) strengthened effects; but were not statistically significant. The findings provide preliminary support for the hypothesis that meaning in work can be improved and, importantly, lend greater credence to any observed improvements in the outcomes. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)^

La Cooperativa Arroceros Villa Elisa, un buen ejemplo de la tradición cooperativista de Entre Ríos (Argentina)

Así como la Historia reconoce a Entre Ríos como cuna de la colonización, es también en esta provincia donde desde el comienzo del siglo XX se desarrolla el cooperativismo agrario que presta importantes servicios al asociado en materia de abastecimiento, comercialización y transformación. Prestación que se traduce en un uso más racional de la tierra, un mayor volumen de negocios, el mejoramiento en la calidad del producto, la utilización eficiente del capital, el aumento de la demanda por la ampliación de los mercados y la introducción de servicios que cada agricultor por si sólo no podría alcanzar. El presente artículo se propone analizar la trayectoria de una cooperativa arrocera -fundada en la década de 1970- ubicada en la localidad entrerriana de Villa Elisa que en mayor o menor media ha ido cumpliendo con esas prestaciones y que hoy se posiciona como el tercer exportador nacional de arroz y el primero de gestión cooperativa. Más allá de las cuestiones económicas, se prestará especial atención a la articulación interinstitucional de la empresa y a los cambios introducidos a nivel organizacional

La Cooperativa Arroceros Villa Elisa, un buen ejemplo de la tradición cooperativista de Entre Ríos (Argentina)

Así como la Historia reconoce a Entre Ríos como cuna de la colonización, es también en esta provincia donde desde el comienzo del siglo XX se desarrolla el cooperativismo agrario que presta importantes servicios al asociado en materia de abastecimiento, comercialización y transformación. Prestación que se traduce en un uso más racional de la tierra, un mayor volumen de negocios, el mejoramiento en la calidad del producto, la utilización eficiente del capital, el aumento de la demanda por la ampliación de los mercados y la introducción de servicios que cada agricultor por si sólo no podría alcanzar. El presente artículo se propone analizar la trayectoria de una cooperativa arrocera -fundada en la década de 1970- ubicada en la localidad entrerriana de Villa Elisa que en mayor o menor media ha ido cumpliendo con esas prestaciones y que hoy se posiciona como el tercer exportador nacional de arroz y el primero de gestión cooperativa. Más allá de las cuestiones económicas, se prestará especial atención a la articulación interinstitucional de la empresa y a los cambios introducidos a nivel organizacional

La Cooperativa Arroceros Villa Elisa, un buen ejemplo de la tradición cooperativista de Entre Ríos (Argentina)

Así como la Historia reconoce a Entre Ríos como cuna de la colonización, es también en esta provincia donde desde el comienzo del siglo XX se desarrolla el cooperativismo agrario que presta importantes servicios al asociado en materia de abastecimiento, comercialización y transformación. Prestación que se traduce en un uso más racional de la tierra, un mayor volumen de negocios, el mejoramiento en la calidad del producto, la utilización eficiente del capital, el aumento de la demanda por la ampliación de los mercados y la introducción de servicios que cada agricultor por si sólo no podría alcanzar. El presente artículo se propone analizar la trayectoria de una cooperativa arrocera -fundada en la década de 1970- ubicada en la localidad entrerriana de Villa Elisa que en mayor o menor media ha ido cumpliendo con esas prestaciones y que hoy se posiciona como el tercer exportador nacional de arroz y el primero de gestión cooperativa. Más allá de las cuestiones económicas, se prestará especial atención a la articulación interinstitucional de la empresa y a los cambios introducidos a nivel organizacional

Cambios de la identidad social en organizaciones en red

Las organizaciones están viviendo cambios estratégicos, culturales y organizativos para adaptarse a la sociedad de la información. La incorporación de las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC), facilita los esquemas de trabajo en red de los y las profesionales y la virtualización de las organizaciones. En este nuevo contexto, el sistema de significados cambia, y la identidad social de los trabajadores se ve afectada. Este trabajo explora cómo se comporta la identidad social y cuál es su relación con la necesidad de afiliación, estudiando un grupo de 205 profesionales con distintas características, lo que ha permitido dividirlos en profesionales red y profesionales no red. A su vez, estos profesionales pertenecían a organizaciones que, en función de ciertas características, se han categorizado en más o menos virtuales. Los resultados principales del trabajo son el establecimiento de un método de análisis en organizaciones red y la confirmación de que en la transformación de una organización hacia modelos virtuales, la identidad social se debilita para profesionales con alta necesidad de afiliación. Organizations are experiencing strategic, cultural and organizational changes in order to adapt themselves to the Information Society. Incorporating Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) allow for network schemes of work for employees (including telecommuting) and staff virtualization. In this new context, systems of meaning change and the social identity of the staff is affected. This paper analyses how social identity evolves and how it is related to affiliation needs by studying a group of 205 professionals with different characteristics, divided into network and non-network professionals. In turn, these professionals belonged to organizations, which depending on certain characteristics, have been categorized as more or less virtual. Two main research results emerge. The first is an analytical methodology for networked organizations. The second is the confirmation that social identity weakens for professionals with high affiliation needs when virtualization occurs in an organization.

Émergence et développement de l’oncologie au Québec : collaboration, compétition et défis organisationnels, 1900-2005

Objectifs : le principal objectif de notre projet doctoral consiste à mettre en relief les transformations qui ont marqué le développement de l’oncologie et de la lutte contre le cancer au Québec au 20e siècle. Pour ce faire, nous nous sommes penchées sur trois niveaux d’analyse : 1) le niveau micro aborde l’organisation des services médicaux au sein d’une organisation hospitalière, soit l’Hôtel-Dieu de Québec. 2) Le niveau méso analyse une lutte professionnelle, soit la lutte entre les hématologues et les oncologues médicaux pour la reconnaissance de l’oncologie médicale. 3) Le niveau macro s’intéresse à l’organisation de la lutte contre le cancer à travers la province de Québec et aux différents modèles organisationnels créés. Principale hypothèse : l’émergence et la transformation de l’oncologie et de la lutte contre le cancer ont été influencées des rapports de collaboration et de compétition entre les acteurs impliqués en oncologie. En effet, il apparaît que ce champ se trouve en tension entre l’obligation de collaborer pour offrir des services de qualité aux patients et les dynamiques professionnelles et/ou organisationnelles. Cadre théorique : un cadre théorique a été développé pour chacun des niveaux d’analyse. Le niveau micro s’inspire des travaux de Frickel, Abbott et Strauss et s’intéresse plus particulièrement aux négociations entourant l’ordre social au sein d’un hôpital universitaire; le niveau méso emploie les travaux de Bourdieu et Abbott pour analyser la lutte entre deux spécialités médicales pour le contrôle des agents de chimiothérapie; et le niveau macro, de la sociologie des organisations et de la théorie néo-institutionnaliste pour mettre en relief l’émergence et la transformation de la lutte contre le cancer au Québec au 20e siècle. Méthodologie : l’approche de l’étude de cas a été adoptée et chaque niveau d’analyse constitue une étude de cas à part entière. Le corpus de données se compose de données archivistiques recueillies dans 10 centres d’archives canadiens, et de données d’entrevues. Une soixantaine d’entrevues avec des oncologues, des professionnels de la santé, des gestionnaires, des chercheurs et des fonctionnaires ont été réalisées. Conclusion : les différents niveaux d’analyse offrent différentes contributions qui leurs sont propres, mais l’ensemble de la thèse tend à mettre en relief la complexité du changement organisationnel à travers un perpétuel processus de définition et de redéfinition des frontières professionnelles et des organisations en raison du développement des connaissances scientifiques, des technologies, des expertises professionnelles et de l’environnement social, politique et économique.

The role of technology in the shift towards open innovation: the case of Procter & Gamble

As with all new ideas, the concept of Open Innovation requires extensive empirical investigation, testing and development. This paper analyzes Procter and Gamble's 'Connect and Develop' strategy as a case study of the major organizational and technological changes associated with open innovation. It argues that although some of the organizational changes accompanying open innovation are beginning to be described in the literature, more analysis is warranted into the ways technological changes have facilitated open innovation strategies, particularly related to new product development. Information and communications technologies enable the exchange of distributed sources of information in the open innovation process. The case study shows that furthermore a suite of new technologies for data mining, simulation, prototyping and visual representation, what we call 'innovation technology', help to support open innovation in Procter and Gamble. The paper concludes with a suggested research agenda for furthering understanding of the role played by and consequences of this technology.

RESILIÊNCIA: UM ESTUDO PARA A CAPTAÇÃO DA DIMENSÃO MAIS DINÂMICA E SUBJETIVA DOS FATORES DE PROTEÇÃO

Estudar resiliência é perguntar se o individuo é capaz de lidar com adversidades, superá-las e ainda se tornar melhor; a resposta é sempre sim. Mas, este contexto é subjetivo, pois a resposta será baseada na percepção do sujeito baseado numa resposta em termos de o que é certo responder frente a uma pergunta como esta. Isto posto, buscou-se pesquisar um grupo de profissionais que se encontravam num universo de mudanças e como estes significavam esta mudança; se como positiva, como isso era percebido, se como negativa como este fenômeno poderia ser nomeado. Foram realizadas entrevistas semi estruturadas objetivando aproximação do fenômeno resiliência, já que o objetivo da pesquisa foi explorar o fenômeno, dado que poucos estudos foram feitos no campo da resiliência com foco na psicologia positiva. É neste cenário que este trabalho insere-se. Investigar como adultos saudáveis reagem ao fenômeno resiliência, se os constructos denominados fatores de proteção e fatores de risco podem ser relacionados à resiliência e, se sim, como estes sujeitos irão responder a estes fatores. Este estudo fundamentou-se em teorias sobre resiliência e adversidades nos campos da Psicologia, da Administração e da Sociologia. Com a análise dos relatos e à luz dos achados da área, buscou-se discutir as possíveis relações entre resiliência e fatores protetores no contexto do trabalho em pessoas saudáveis física e socialmente. Apontam-se críticas ao estudo e possíveis contribuições dos achados para a administração. Por fim, vislumbram-se possibilidades deste estudo desdobrar-se em outros cenários organizacionais buscando aprofundar outros campos da organização sempre focado na resiliência e psicologia positiva por meio de uma analise subjetiva.

Managerial cognitions in technological innovation processes:a study of interpretative processes

In this research, conceptualizations of the links between technological innovation and organizational change are explored and recommendations in the literature concerning such changes are reviewed and criticized. Such recommendations do not usually address the details of social interactions by which organizational changes take place. As a consequence, the issue of how these recommendations become relevant for the actors who would carry them out is not addressed. The complexity of organizational change processes highlights the role of actors' interpretations of organizational reality. Interpretations take place through the use of language in the interaction between actors. Theoretical contributions and recommendations concerning organizational changes should be seen therefore as discourses which contribute to these interpretations. They will influence the process of change only if they become relevant for organizational actors'. A method for analysing discourse in organizations is presented. It is used to identify the variety of discourses which are put forward in organizations, and to describe the structure of their distribution among actors. The structures of discourses in three companies suggest that knowledge about technological innovation processes becomes relevant to the extent that it contributes to political/discursive processes maintained by actors attempting to secure or change their role definitions. It follows that recommendations concerning planned organizational change should take into account these processes explicitly. It is therefore suggested that the analysis of discourse can be a valuable instrument for monitoring change processes. Suggestions for further research are made, concerning (i) the development of the method itself and its use in real situations (ii) the study of how discourse structures evolve over time and episodes of change.

Émergence et développement de l’oncologie au Québec : collaboration, compétition et défis organisationnels, 1900-2005

Objectifs : le principal objectif de notre projet doctoral consiste à mettre en relief les transformations qui ont marqué le développement de l’oncologie et de la lutte contre le cancer au Québec au 20e siècle. Pour ce faire, nous nous sommes penchées sur trois niveaux d’analyse : 1) le niveau micro aborde l’organisation des services médicaux au sein d’une organisation hospitalière, soit l’Hôtel-Dieu de Québec. 2) Le niveau méso analyse une lutte professionnelle, soit la lutte entre les hématologues et les oncologues médicaux pour la reconnaissance de l’oncologie médicale. 3) Le niveau macro s’intéresse à l’organisation de la lutte contre le cancer à travers la province de Québec et aux différents modèles organisationnels créés. Principale hypothèse : l’émergence et la transformation de l’oncologie et de la lutte contre le cancer ont été influencées des rapports de collaboration et de compétition entre les acteurs impliqués en oncologie. En effet, il apparaît que ce champ se trouve en tension entre l’obligation de collaborer pour offrir des services de qualité aux patients et les dynamiques professionnelles et/ou organisationnelles. Cadre théorique : un cadre théorique a été développé pour chacun des niveaux d’analyse. Le niveau micro s’inspire des travaux de Frickel, Abbott et Strauss et s’intéresse plus particulièrement aux négociations entourant l’ordre social au sein d’un hôpital universitaire; le niveau méso emploie les travaux de Bourdieu et Abbott pour analyser la lutte entre deux spécialités médicales pour le contrôle des agents de chimiothérapie; et le niveau macro, de la sociologie des organisations et de la théorie néo-institutionnaliste pour mettre en relief l’émergence et la transformation de la lutte contre le cancer au Québec au 20e siècle. Méthodologie : l’approche de l’étude de cas a été adoptée et chaque niveau d’analyse constitue une étude de cas à part entière. Le corpus de données se compose de données archivistiques recueillies dans 10 centres d’archives canadiens, et de données d’entrevues. Une soixantaine d’entrevues avec des oncologues, des professionnels de la santé, des gestionnaires, des chercheurs et des fonctionnaires ont été réalisées. Conclusion : les différents niveaux d’analyse offrent différentes contributions qui leurs sont propres, mais l’ensemble de la thèse tend à mettre en relief la complexité du changement organisationnel à travers un perpétuel processus de définition et de redéfinition des frontières professionnelles et des organisations en raison du développement des connaissances scientifiques, des technologies, des expertises professionnelles et de l’environnement social, politique et économique.

The Un-Politics of New Public Management in Ireland

Many of the principles and indeed the rhetoric of New Public Management proved attractive to both politicians and senior bureaucrats across the developed world as a remedy for problems in policy processes. Ireland shares many features of its constitutional structures and political practices with Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, all of them early and enthusiastic adopters of NPM. Some of the organizational and procedural changes in Irish public administration do indeed bear similarities to those we would expect to see as a result of adopting principles of NPM. However, we contend that surface impressions are misleading. Drawing on a time-series database of Irish state institutions, we show that organizational changes were not necessarily driven by NPM. The absence of strong political drivers meant that reform initiatives did not fundamentally alter the configuration of the Irish public administration. Many of the problems that NPM was intended to address are only now coming under scrutiny.

Do Escudo ao Euro: a mudança no Banco Central

A mudança é constante dos nossos dias, tornando-se uma necessidade imperativa nas organizações para ultrapassar os desafios de uma sociedade em permanente evolução. A adesão de Portugal à União Europeia, e consequentemente ao Eurosistema e Sistema Europeu de Bancos Centrais, culminou com a adopção de uma nova moeda — o Euro. Toda a evolução experimentada neste longo caminho provocou uma enorme transformação no Banco Central. Pretende esta dissertação apresentar algumas perspectivas de mudança organizacional e também sistematizar a transformação ocorrida no Banco de Portugal ao longo da última década. / Change is constant in our days, making it an imperative need in organizations to overcome the challenges of an evolving society. Portugal's accession to the European Union and consequently the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks, led to the adoption of a new currency — the Euro. All developments experienced in this long road led to a huge transformation in the Central Bank. This thesis aims to present perspectives on organizational change, and also standardize the transformation in the Bank of Portugal over the last decade.

Gestão híbrida em cooperativa de crédito: uma análise a partir do interesse, participação, satisfação e expectativa dos cooperados da COOPERUFPA

The globalization of markets has confirmed for the processes of change in organizations both in structure and in management. This dynamic was also observed in credit unions because they are financial institutions and are under the rules of the Brazil´s Financial System. Given the context of organizational changes in the financial capital has played the traditional management reform is urgent. In organizations credit unions, given its dual purpose, because in the same organizational environment and capitalism coexist cooperative whose logics are antagonistic, but can live through the balance between instrumental rationality and substantive rationality in credit unions. Based on this concept a new form of management should be thought to be able to accommodate the demand of cooperative, community, government and the market. Hybridization has been observed in management practices` COOPERUFPA into dimensions financial, social and solidarity participation with a trend in paradigmatic form of hybrid management, in that it directly or indirectly affect the management decisions in the credit union. The hybrid management is a trend that has been setting the basis for societal transformation, so that credit unions promote actions of welfare oriented cooperative members and the community around the same time that attend the dynamics of market globalization. These actions, in the context of hybrid management should be implemented by COOPERUFPA from the sociability of the remains and the wide diffusion of solidarity culture between cooperative partnership as a way to recover their participation in trade relations, financial and the social collective developement. For the members of COOPERUFPA financial interest is evidenced in greater relevance for the social interest given its dominant relationship as "mere customer" of the credit union, however, the proactive participation of the life of the cooperative credit union is one of its expectative among of participation of to share power in decisions by general meetings. This passivity`s cooperator of the COOPERUFPA in defending the ideals overshadowed the spread of cooperative principles and values of cooperation among them. Thus his conception for COOPERUFPA in the financial dimension, social and solidarity democracy, performed transversely. The COOPERUFPA for not developing an education policy for the cooperation among its members, contributed to a process of collective alienation of cooperative ideals, since the cooperative do not understand the reality that surrounds them as members of an organization whose mission is to social and financial sustainability of its members

Estudo sobre equipas educativas: investigar para melhorar

Trabalho de Projeto apresentado à Escola Superior de Educação de Paula Frassinetti, para obtenção do grau de mestre em ciências de educação, área de especialização em Supervisão Pedagógica

Evaluation of ergonomic approach and musculoskeletal disorders in two different organizations in a truck assembly plant

International audience