Contesting identity of Taiwanese home-care workers: Worker,daughter, and do-gooder?

One of the administrative dilemmas in home-care delivery is that an appropriate and trusting relationship between the home-care worker and the client must be developed; yet this relationship is not readily visible to service managers. Setting up organizational processes for building allegiance and turning the home-care worker into an ideal one become major administrative tasks for home-care managers. Within such organizational context, the home-care worker is then faced with the issue of developing her own identity. This study lays out the Chinese particulars of what being a home-care worker is all about on the ground in Taiwan. In the Chinese context of family and cultural prerogatives around filial daughter and doing good, being a worker (agency perspective) and being a daughter (client's desire) are both problematic. Many home-care workers view themselves as a do-gooder portrayed by the Buddhist discourse of karma. The findings suggest that administrative tasks, client, and worker relationship may appear similar on the surface but the dynamics are quite different.     

Strategic behavior and the impact of unions on wage incentive plans

This paper analyzes optimal wage incentive plans in situations in which firms make capital investments and employees supply work effort. An efficient contract will take workers’ response into account in its design, leading to a competitive contract that takes the form of a lump sum penalty and full marginal rewards to workers, or equivalently, a base wage and a piece rate above a quota. A union optimizing worker welfare will alter this lump sum amount rather than attempt to control worker effort or the marginal rewards for additional output. The greater utilization of piece rate systems in capital-intensive industries is correctly predicted by the analysis.     

Responsibility-Alleviation and Other-Regarding Preferences with Peer Workers in Labor Markets: An Experimental Investigation

A peer worker is introduced in a controlled labor market experiment characterized by unobservable effort and incomplete contracts. Workers make decisions independently and without knowledge of each other??s actions in a modified gift exchange experiment. Introducing a peer worker into an ongoing market has a negative and significant effect on effort. This decrease in effort is consistent with responsibility-alleviation on the part of employees and not with other-regarding equity concerns for the manager??s payoffs.     

Effects of physical and mental demands on shoulder muscle fatigue

Mental demands have been associated with increased risk of injuries; however, its influence on muscle fatigability remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the interaction of mental workload and physical workload on muscle fatigability during repetitive shoulder work. Twelve young participants, balanced by gender, performed shoulder abduction exercises until exhaustions at three levels of physical workload (low (5% maximum voluntary contraction (MVC)), moderate (35% MVC), and high (55% MVC)) in the absence and presence of a mental arithmetic test. Endurance time and rate of strength decline were employed as indicators of muscle fatigue. Concurrent physical and mental processing was found to adversely decrease muscle endurance by ~25% at the moderate intensity level. Furthermore, concurrent demands were associated with faster rate of strength decline compared to the control, irrespective of the physical intensity level. Findings from the current study provide evidence of the adverse effects of mental workload on muscle capacity (i.e., endurance and fatigue). It is therefore important to consider potential changes in worker capacity with concurrent physical and cognitive demands before designing work tasks/products.     

How income and tax rates provoke cheating – An experimental investigation of tax morale

Anecdotal evidence suggests that tax morale diminishes with income and with levels of taxation. We designed an experiment that enables identification of causal effects. Subjects carry out a sequence of real effort tasks. The income earned varies with individual differences in effort (combined with variances related to skill or luck) and with the exogenously given length of the tasks. For each task, subjects privately roll a die, whose value determines the tax rate, which is then reported by subjects. This provides subjects with an incentive to cheat. Tax morale diminishes with higher effort, which might find ethical justification, but also with longer tasks, which would not. We implement treatments that vary the range of taxation. Contrary to widespread belief, participants’ tax morale is invariant to these treatments. Our findings are best explained by a psychological force that tempts rich people to cheat more. This force does not seem to be related to fairness ideals that are prominent in theories of distributional justice nor to absolute levels of taxation.     

ERGO-MTM model: an integrated approach to set working times based upon standardized working performance and controlled biomechanical load

ERGO-MTM is an innovative model to set standard times of manual tasks. MTM, developed in the forties by industrial engineers, assigns a basic time to execute a given motion based on the concept of normal performance (speed, effort and precision). The traditional models to set a standard time then add to the basic time a fatigue allowance, applied on each individual motion, depending generally on the type of posture and on the load/force implied in the motion. To the light of the most recent ISO/CEN standards dealing with biomechanical load, the traditional models do not meet the requirements any more: it becomes mandatory to consider the load generated by the overall assignment of working tasks to a workstation to be compliant with the new ergonomics standards. ERGO-MTM is the solution: it determines a fatigue allowance (named Ergonomic Allowance), which is applied on the total workstation basic MTM time to allow the necessary recovery periods, enough to keep the biomechanical load within safety limits. The final result is a standard time based on a norm level of performance and a work sequence with a controlled biomechanical load.     

The Effects of Sleep Debt on Risk Perception, Risk Attraction and Betting Behavior During a Blackjack Style Gambling Task

Gamblers often gamble while experiencing fatigue due to sleep deprivation or cumulative sleep debt. Such fatigue has been shown to make decision makers behave more riskily. The present study aimed to test the role of two cognitive processes, risk perception and risk attraction, in this effect. Two hundred and two participants played twelve hands of a black-jack style card game while either fatigued or reasonably alert. Findings showed that both fatigued and alert participants rated higher risk bets as more risky than lower risk bets, suggesting risk perception was unaffected by fatigue. However, fatigued participants did not rate higher risk bets as less attractive than lower risk bets, and reduced the size of their wager to a lesser extent when objective risk increased. These findings are discussed in relation to the effects of fatigue on motivated tasks and the need for gamblers to be aware of the effects of fatigue.     

Unions,incentive systems,and job design

I model the relationship between incentive systems and job design and how unions influence both. The basic idea is that it is easier to monitor worker effort for jobs designed to be routine and inflexible. Pay based on monitoring is used in this scenario rather than incentive pay based on production. Jobs with worker flexibility and autonomy call for incentives based more on output. Unions typically oppose output-based pay, thus inducing job design change. The empirical work supports this view and shows that incentive pay is much less likely for union workers and unions have a clear negative effect on job characteristics that lead to use of incentive pay. In particular, union jobs are more repetitive, have more measurable criteria, and involve less judgmental criteria and less data analysis.     

Contracts,Labor Supply and Income Targeting

In many professions and personal services, a firm offers a contract with either proportional revenue sharing of the worker’s output or a contract with 100% revenue accruing to the worker in exchange for a fixed (debt) payment. Contingent on the contract, the worker chooses the mechanism to achieve the desired level of productivity. A higher revenue split induces the worker to be more productive in output per hour resulting in a higher wage. The relevant price of effort is the after-split, after-tax wage controlled for after-tax household income. Incentives through a higher split raise productivity and the return to effort. The sample is 1,559 U.S. real estate sales professionals paid on contract splits in 2007 and choosing their hours and effort. The compensated labor supply elasticity is positive and between approximately zero and 0.3 suggesting the absence of income targeting for these workers on split and 100% revenue contracts. But the inclusion of contractual income split provisions in the model substantially increases the labor supply elasticity.     

The Effective Social Worker

Abstract

Client and worker interchange is at the core of the social work effort. The practitioner, in using the self as a tool, must manifest a fundamental grasp of the treatment configuration that is empirically based, relevant, and guided by a professional code of ethics. Successful therapeutic outcomes in psychosocial treatment depend on a number of variables, such as, client and worker characteristics, worker efficacy regarding the structure of treatment, length of therapy, behavior acquisition procedures, treatment technologies, and level of intervention. Behavioral therapy is a proven valuable interventive tool. A profile of the relevant skills along with a brief aggregation of empirical support provides the behavioral social worker with an understanding of the essential elements of the behavioral treatment structure in addition to empirically appropriate interventive methods.     

Organizational construction of intrinsic motivation

Some psychological theorists claim that the worker's level of intrinsic motivation or alienation stems from the meeting between universal drives and personality characteristics and the material attributes of job tasks. Social theorists—focusing on organizational socialization and cultural practices—emphasize the firm's capacity to manipulate the meaning of a task independent of its material qualities. This social construction of a task's meaning may shape the intrinsic rewards a worker associates with it. Little empirical evidence exists that clarifies the conditions under which the psychological or the social model holds, particularly the conditions under which socialization practices within the firm can shape the worker's level of intrinsic motivation associated with specific tasks. We argue that the intrinsic value associated with a task is determined by its centrality to and fit with the organization's normative social and technical structure. Based on a study of eighty-four staff members within a bureaucratic organization we found that workers perceived high levels of intrinsic value for tightly controlled and routine tasks when the firm's rationalized methods of organizing were seen as legitimate. This interaction operated independently of the direct (usually negative) influence of task control on intrinsic value. A contingency model of intrinsic motivation is proposed, taking into account both the material structure of a work task and its fit with the firm's social and technical structure. Here the perceived legitimacy of the organization's structure conditions whether tightly controlled and routine tasks are viewed as alienating or as intrinsically motivating.     

Workload composition of the organic horticulture

This project aimed the characterization of the physical workload of the organic horticulture by determining the frequency of exposure of operators to some activity categories. To do this, an adaptation of the PATH method (Posture, Activities, Tools and Handling) was done to be used in the context of agriculture work. The approach included an evaluation of physical effort demanded to perform the tasks in the work systems from an systematic sampling of work situations from a synchronized monitoring of the heart rate; a characterization of posture repertoire adopted by workers by adapting the OWAS method; an identification of pain body areas using the Corlett diagram; and a subjective evaluation of perceived effort using the RPE Borg scale. The results of the individual assessments were cross correlated and explained from an observation of the work activity. Postural demands were more significant than cardiovascular demands for the studied tasks, and correlated positively with the expressions of bodily discomfort. It is expected that, besides the knowledge obtained of the physical effort demanded by organic horticulture, this project will be useful for the development of new technologies directed to minimize the difficulties of the human work and to raise the work productivity.     

Concurrent cognitive task may improve motor work performance and reduce muscle fatigue

Performance of certain cognitive tasks either during physical load or in rest pauses between boosts might lead to slowing of muscle fatigue and fatigue related decline in performance. Seventeen right-handed healthy volunteers (age 24 ± 1.4, 8 males) participated in this study, aiming to investigate the effect of the level of the cognitive information processing - 1) passive perception of audio stimuli, 2) active stimuli discrimination, 3) active stimuli discrimination following motor response - on motor task performance (handgrip test 30% and 7% of MVC) and muscle fatigue development. Cognitive tasks show the following effects on motor work: i) Perceived fatigue during 30 % MVC (fatiguing) condition developed slower if participant pressed button in response to deviant acoustic stimuli, as compared to passive listening. Counting task, an active task without motor component, took the intermediate position and did not differ significantly from two other cognitive tasks. ii) MVC after 30% MVC (fatiguing) condition tended to decrease stronger when accompanied with passive listening in comparison with both active tasks. iii) Motor task performance during 30% MVC (fatiguing) condition was better for active cognitive task with motor component than for passive task. Active task without motor component took the intermediate position and did not differ significantly from both the other cognitive tasks.     

Quantitative posture analysis of 2D, 3D, and optical microscope visualization methods for microsurgery tasks

The purpose of this paper is to present a quantitative posture analysis of microsurgery tasks performed with different visualization methods. Microsurgery is traditionally performed using a binocular microscope; however surgeons are constrained by the optical eyepieces and are forced to assume joint angles that deviate away from neutral postures. This may be especially problematic for the neck and can increase surgeon discomfort and fatigue. Alternative visualization methods may improve surgeon posture by eliminating the constraints imposed by the microscope. This study examines both 2D and 3D heads-up displays as possible alternatives. Six subjects performed microsurgical tasks with each visualization methods for four hours. Quantitative posture analysis was done using Maxtraq software that tracks reflective markers on the subjects. The initial analysis of neck, upper arm, and elbow angles found significant differences between each display. A biomechanical analysis found that the differences in angles can result in loads on the neck joint that are twice as high in the microscope than the headsup displays. Although the alternative displays can result in better postures, improvements the display technology is needed to improve microsurgical task performance.     

PAY SECRECY AND EFFORT PROVISION

Pay secrecy is often justified on the ground of concerns about the detrimental consequences of intra‐firm pay comparisons for work morale and performance. Surprisingly, however, there is only limited empirical evidence that the availability of pay comparison information is detrimental for effort provision. In this paper, I study pay comparison effects in a gift‐exchange game laboratory experiment where an employer is matched with two symmetric employees. I compare effort choices made by employees in a “pay secrecy” treatment and in two “public wages” treatments where employees are informed of the wage paid to the co‐worker. In one “public wages” treatment the employer can choose both wages she pays to the employees, while in the other treatment the wage paid to one employee is regulated exogenously. I show that pay disclosure can be detrimental for effort provision if employees are treated unequally. (JEL A13, C92, J31)     

Kinematic analysis of post office employees' workstations

This study analyzed a post office clerk's tasks, comparing two workstation models. The clerk was facing the client in one, and seated at 45 degrees to the counter in the other. We analyzed the most frequent tasks and those presenting the most critical points: 1) payment of a postal order; 2) accepting a registered letter, breaking them down into subtasks. We used an optoelectronic system for kinematic analysis, and calculated the range of motion of the trunk and arms in the three spatial planes. The 45( position required less torsion of the trunk and head when using the printer, placed to the left of the employee. A larger worktop improved the workstation, leaving more room for equipment and allowing the worker to sit frontally to the monitor. However, this solution involved a shorter distance between the worker and the client with longer extension of the shoulder and elbow and less trunk flexion. These findings suggested a modification in the layout that shortens the distance between the worker and client.     

A recent look at the factors influencing workforce retention in public child welfare

Consistency of services to children and their families continues to be an ongoing problem in public child welfare agencies. Worker turnover is high, thus affecting the availability of a well trained, experienced workforce. It is critical that we continue to explore the factors associated with worker turnover and retention in public child welfare agencies. Such knowledge will allow us to determine the needs of workers, administrators, and the agency in general, in an effort to create an environment that will result in worker retention, and a better quality of services. Children and their families will be major benefactors of such knowledge as the consistency and quality of services will be enhanced. Existing research has found that outcomes for families and children are affected by the workload and training of frontline workers, and organizational characteristics (GAO, 2003, NASW, 2004, and Milner, 2003). This study describes personal and organizational factors relative to worker retention for public child welfare workers in the northwest corridor of Georgia.     

THE EFFECTS OF FINANCIAL AND RECOGNITION INCENTIVES ACROSS WORK CONTEXTS: THE ROLE OF MEANING

We manipulate workers' perceived meaning of a job in a field experiment and interact meaning of work with both financial and recognition incentives. Results show that workers exert more effort when meaning is high. Money has a positive effect on performance that is independent of meaning. In contrast, meaning and recognition interact negatively. Our results provide new insights into the stability of incentive effects across important work contexts. They also suggest that meaning and worker recognition may operate via the same motivational channel. (JEL C93, J33, M12, M52)     

Child Abuse Prevention: The Community as Co-Worker

Much of the literature on community organization describes the efforts of a worker to enable a community to coalesce arouund an external enemy in order to resolve systemic service delivery problems. Based on the mid-point of a federally-funded child abuse prevention project, this article describes the roles of worker and community as colleagues in an effort to enhance the community's capacity to shape its own values and behaviors to reduce child abuse and neglect. This article poses a challenge to the social work education community to be more responsive to the potential of becoming a co-worker with the community, and to enhance the social worker's skills in defining strenghts rather than weakness of communities.     

DOES DELEGATION INCREASE WORKER TRAINING?

We model a principal‐firm offering training to its agent‐worker under two alternative organizational structures: integration, where the principal retains authority to overrule the investment project recommended by the worker; and delegation, where the principal cannot overrule the worker's preferred investment project. We assume that training reduces the worker's effort cost of assembling information about alternative projects' payoffs and identify the conditions under which delegation increases the profit‐maximizing intensity of training. Empirical estimates from matched employer–employee data show that workplaces delegating authority do provide more worker training. This result persists in two cross sections, in panel fixed‐effect estimates and, critically, in an instrumental variable exercise that also controls for establishment fixed effects. (JEL D21, D22, D23, M53, M54)