Changes in production control required for untended operation of a flexible manufacturing cell

This article examines and improves the production control system of a firm that wants to operate its flexible manufacturing cell (FMC) in an untended third shift. The FMC consists of a machining centre, a pallet storage, a rail-guided transport vehicle for pallets and a clamping/unclamping station. The current production control system of the firm shows several deficiencies with respect to operating the FMC efficiently. This article proposes changes in the current production control hierarchy and introduces some new methods to solve major production control problems. The study illustrates the interaction between quantitative tools, organisational decisions and behavioural considerations. The approaches are general and can be used in other environments.     

Teaching managers to regulate their emotions better: insights from emotional intelligence training and work-based application

Despite the prevalence and significance of regulating emotions in the workplace, there is a major gap in the literature on the training and work-based application of emotion regulation strategies. This study seeks to fill this gap by investigating how emotion regulation strategies are taught to managers on three emotional intelligence training courses, the events associated with their use in the workplace and any constraints. Drawing on qualitative data from participant observations and interviews with managers and trainers, the study identifies the use of eight emotion regulation strategies that are classified as attention deployment, cognitive change and response modulation. Managers use a variety of the strategies at work, sometimes combining and adapting them. These strategies were reportedly used during situations of interpersonal conflict, interpersonal interactions, organizational change, to relieve boredom and cope with work overload. Managers described constraints as dispositional, physical, time, effort, status and unfeasibility/lack of realism of tools.     

Benchmarking Safety Climate in Hazardous Environments: A Longitudinal, Interorganizational Approach

Safety climate is an important element of organizational reliability. This study applied benchmarking strategies for monitoring safety climate across nine North Sea oil and gas installations that were surveyed in consecutive years. Examination of absolute changes in safety climate complemented the benchmarking approach. Discriminant function analyses (DFA) identified the elements of safety climate predictive of self-reported accidents; correlational analyses were applied to the scale scores and accident proportions across the year period. Absolute improvements were substantial, with safety climate profiles converging in the second year. Large relative improvements were also observed. DFA highlighted perceived management commitment to safety and willingness to report accidents as significant predictors of personal accident involvement. Changes in perceived management commitment to safety were closely associated with changes in safety behavior.     

Not Just Social Work Academics: The Involvement of Others in the Assessment of Social Work Students

University regulations typically assume that the assessment of students is essentially a task for paid academic staff. However, this is a far cry from much of the current literature about assessment in social work education, of which one of the distinguishing features is the not infrequent references to stakeholders beyond the individuals who are to be assessed and the academic staff employed to teach them. This paper reviews some of the recent literature on the involvement of persons other than social work academics, including students, practice teachers and service users, in assessing students studying in social work programmes. Implications for programme providers of using non‐academic assessors are explored.     

Readiness to practice social work in Aotearoa New Zealand: perceptions of students and educators

The readiness to practice of newly qualified social workers in Aotearoa New Zealand is a contested subject. In recent years, criticism by public figures including government ministers and the New Zealand government-appointed Children’s Commissioner have stimulated debate within the profession. Media critique of social work practice has highlighted many of the challenges faced by social workers. Significant policy developments, in particular a substantive government review of child protection services, have also increased the scrutiny of the capabilities of social workers.

A timely 3-year multi-phase project ‘Enhancing readiness to practise’ is the first large study of social work education to be funded in Aotearoa New Zealand. The findings reported here have been derived from data collected in a series of focus group interviews with social work educators and students, in which they reflected on curricula in their programs and explored their perceptions of readiness to practice. Overall, educators were positive about the preparedness of their graduating students but held concerns over the organizational environments they would enter. Students were more ambivalent about their readiness, but hopeful and committed to ongoing learning. Development of programs to support graduates to transition to employment is recommended.     

Gender,race, and the use of prayer to manage anger

ABSTRACT

Women and blacks are more likely than men and whites to use prayer to manage negative emotions such as anger. However, the pathways explaining these associations are not fully understood. Using data from the 1996 General Social Survey’s emotion module, we evaluate four potential mechanisms that might account for these associations: women’s and blacks’ relatively high levels of religious participation, relatively low socioeconomic status, extended duration of their negative emotional experiences, and relatively lower perceived control. Women’s and blacks’ higher likelihood of using prayer to manage anger is partially accounted for by their higher levels of religious participation, lower socioeconomic status, and duration of anger. Lower levels of perceived control contribute only to blacks’ use of prayer to manage anger. Our findings highlight the importance of identifying pathways that explain why particular social groups use particular emotion management strategies.     

The Role of Job Insecurity in Explanations of Racial Health Inequalities

The literature documenting substantial health differences for racial minorities in the United States is well developed and has considered a multitude of explanations for such disparities. However, the literature seldom addresses the health effects for racial minorities produced in the workplace. This study bridges these two literatures in order to understand the mediating role of job insecurity in explanations of racial health disparities. Our central argument is that racial differences in job insecurity resulting from the marginalized labor market positions of racial minorities are partially responsible for racial disparities in health. This study utilizes adjacent category and partial adjacent category logit models of general health using data from the 2000 to 2010 General Social Survey in order to test this claim. Overall, the results from this study indicate that there are substantial racial differences in job insecurity, and both race and job insecurity are important predictors of general self‐rated health. Additionally, racial differences in job insecurity help explain a portion of the racial disparities in health. We conclude with a discussion of the implications for the study of health disparities in the United States.     

Individual Differences in the Effects of Mood on Sexuality: The Revised Mood and Sexuality Questionnaire (MSQ-R)

Previous research using the Mood and Sexuality Questionnaire (MSQ) has revealed substantial variability in how negative mood impacts sexual response and behavior. However, the MSQ does not address differences between desire for solo or partnered sexual activity, examine the effects of sexual activity on mood, or assess the effects of positive mood. This article presents the development and factor structure of the Revised Mood and Sexuality Questionnaire (MSQ-R). An exploratory factor analysis in a sample of heterosexual men, homosexual men, and heterosexual women (N = 1,983) produced eight factors. Considerable variability was found in how moods influence sexual desire and arousal, in the effects of mood on sexual behavior, and in the reciprocal effects of sexual activity on mood. Among other findings, heterosexual women were less likely than heterosexual men and homosexual men to experience increased sexual desire and arousal when anxious or stressed, whereas homosexual men and heterosexual women were less likely than heterosexual men to experience increased desire when sad or depressed. Heterosexual men and heterosexual women were more likely than homosexual men to report increased desire when in a positive mood. Intercorrelations and correlations with various sexual behaviors varied by group. Limitations and implications of the findings are discussed.