Bayesian subset selection approach to ranking normal means

In this, article we consider a Bayesian approach to the problem of ranking the means of normal distributed populations, which is a common problem in the biological sciences. We use a decision-theoretic approach with a straightforward loss function to determine a set of candidate rankings. This loss function allows the researcher to balance the risk of not including the correct ranking with the risk of increasing the number of rankings selected. We apply our new procedure to an example regarding the effect of zinc on the diversity of diatom species.     

Measuring open source software success

Since the mid-1990s, there has been a surge of interest among academics and practitioners in open source software (OSS). While there is an abundance of literature on OSS, most studies on OSS success are either qualitative or exploratory in nature. To identify the factors that influence OSS success and establish generalizability, an empirical study measuring OSS success would enable OSS developers and users to improve OSS usage. In this study, we develop an OSS success model from a previous Information Systems success model incorporating the characteristics of OSS. Using the proposed model, we identify five determinants for OSS success as well as a number of significant relationships among these determinants. Our findings demonstrate that software quality and community service quality have significant effects on user satisfaction. Software quality and user satisfaction, in turn, have significant effects on OSS use. Additionally, OSS use and user satisfaction have significant effects on individual net benefits. This research contributes towards advancing theoretical understanding of OSS success as well as offering OSS practitioners for enhancing OSS success.     

Job demands,job control,and mental health in an 11-year follow-up study: Normal and reversed relationships

Abstract

Despite numerous studies of the demand-control model, there is a need for more longitudinal studies to test not only the normal, but also the reversed and reciprocal relationships between work characteristics and mental health. There is also a need for more studies of the multiplicative interaction between demands and control with respect to mental health, which is different from the simple additive effect of the two variables. This is a longitudinal study with an exceptionally long period of follow-up (11 years), with the focus on normal as well as reciprocal and reversed causality between work characteristics and mental health, as measured by reliable instruments close to the original definitions of Karasek. The study was based on a sample of 439 Norwegian employees of different occupations who had stayed in the same profession during the follow-up period. The results were in agreement with the hypothesis that low job control, and in particular low control in combination with high demands (“high strain jobs”), has a negative effect on mental health. There was a significant multiplicative interaction between demands and control, indicating a “buffering” effect of job control. Job demands alone were not significantly associated with mental health. The reversed relationship hypothesis was supported for job demands, but not for job control.     

Editorial: Cognitive science,occupational stress and organizational health

A number of studies have shown that musculoskeletal symptoms are related to the physical and psychosocial work environments. Workers with musculoskeletal symptoms are often advised to cope by such measures as changing working technique, using lifting equipment and discussing health and environmental problems with supervisors and colleagues. Intervention studies at the individual level, however, have shown that such advice has limited effects in reducing the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms. The hypothesis for this study was that negative social and organizational factors may prevent workers from implementing such coping strategies. All 103 motor vehicle mechanics surveyed in 12 different garages responded to a questionnaire on coping with musculoskeletal symptoms and the psychosocial work environment. Positive and significant relationships were shown between how mechanics coped with their musculoskeletal symptoms and such psychosocial factors as work demands, social support, control, manager's involvement in health and safety work, and whether the garages had regular meetings between management and workers. Achieving positive results from preventive work through back schools and other ergonomic interventions seems to require that an organization with positive attitudes towards health and safety work be created before such interventions are implemented.     

Job design and levels of physical and mental strain among Australian prison officers

Abstract

Over the past 15 years much has been made of the moderating influence of job discretion and support in occupations that are perceived to be high in demands. Such an effect seems to be most prevalent when subject populations are large and heterogeneous. One aim of this study was to examine the influence of subjective perceptions of these variables on strain reactions among a group of relatively homogeneous workers such as, in the present study, prison officers (n = 274). A second aim was to extend previous research and examine the joint influence of negative affectivity and perceptions of demands, discretion, and support on mental and physical well-being. It was hypothesized that those high in negative affect would be particularly strained by jobs perceived as being demanding. The hypothesized relationship between job demands, discretion and support were found to be weak and at times inconsistent. Social support, in particular, was found to have both positive and negative consequences for different aspects of well-being. Those high in negative affect were in general found to suffer lower mental well-being. More importantly, the interactive effect of negative affectivity and job demands was found to significantly predict the majority of the dependent variables used in this study. The valences of these relationships were inconsistent and are interpreted in light of Warr's (1987) vitamin model of stress.

There are several conclusions that can be drawn from the present study. Negative affectivity appears to have a truly interactive effect with job components, job demands in particular, to influence a range of variables relating to physical and mental health as well a job-related attitudes. The nature of these effects, however, suggests a dissociation in the ways that different independent variables influence a range of indices of well-being and affect. This result requires further investigation since there are important theoretical implications which will follow if the data are replicable.

In order to examine such complex effects, in addition to the need for more longitudinal studies, it is also important that standardized measures of job components are developed so that levels of stress exposure can be equated and their impact assessed across organizational settings.

Finally, the data reported in this study suggest that some effective stress management may be undertaken by adopting selection strategies which take into consideration individual characteristics. In view of the fact that individual stress management programmes are of unproven benefit (Murphy 1986, 1988) such an approach is recommended especially for those organizations which are highly constrained in the services that must be performed.     

Turnaround: from breakdown to breakthrough with Open Space Technology

This interpretive case study sought to fully understand and describe the turnaround experience from an organizational breakdown to breakthrough with the use of Open Space Technology. The turnaround occurred in a Roman Catholic parish. Participant interviews were used to collect the data. These qualitative portrayals provided insights and implications around the effectiveness and impact of Open Space. Four important themes emerged: the experience of breakdown, the deep longing for a breakthrough, the transformation of crisis into a turnaround and the effectiveness of Open Space Technology. This case study provides perspectives on how to effect transformation for an organization in crisis with the least effort and maximum impact within a short time span. It contains insights and implications for leaders and consultants to do the same.     

Green Human Resource Management: A Review and Research Agenda*

The paper makes a case for the integration of the largely separate literatures of environmental management (EM) and human resource management (HRM) research. The paper categorizes the existing literature on the basis of Ability–Motivation–Opportunity (AMO) theory, revealing the role that Green human resource management (GHRM) processes play in people‐management practice. The contributions of the paper lie in drawing together the extant literature in the area, mapping the terrain of the field, identifying some gaps in the existing literature and suggesting some potentially fruitful future research agendas. The findings of the review suggest that understanding of how GHRM practices influence employee motivation to become involved in environmental activities lags behind that of how organizations develop Green abilities and provide employees with opportunities to be involved in EM organizational efforts. Organizations are not using the full range of GHRM practices, and this may limit their effectiveness in efforts to improve EM.     

Author Correction: Special Issue on The Scientization of Public Decision-Making Processes – the Relevance for the Handling of the COVID-19 Pandemic

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