The recruitment and selection of hospital medical consultants

Abstract

The literature on selection has been dominated in recent decades by the ‘prediction’ paradigm. Such an approach requires a substantial number of positions to be filled in order to compute validity coefficients. There are other approaches, using a different paradigm, when concentrated on adjusting the organization and the employee. Here careful analysis of job demands is essential. This article describes such an analysis, taking the medical consultant as an example. The method can be used in an iterative way. It is useful when one has to work with small numbers of positions.     

Book reviews and books received

Abstract

In the field of stress research it is often assumed that social support as well as coping behaviour contributes to feelings of health and well-being. However, until now it has not been altogether clear whether a main-effect model or a buffer model was the more appropriate for explaining the role of these factors in response to stressful situations. In this paper, a research project is described in which both the direct and indirect effects of social support and coping were studied in the work situation of nurses. The results offer more support for a main-effect model than for a buffer or moderating-effect model, especially with regard to the coping strategies ‘active problem-solving’ and ‘palliative behaviour’. However, some moderating effects on nurses‘ reactions to their work situation were found for social support and for ‘comforting cognitions’ as a coping strategy.     

Appropriate use of bright light promotes a durable adaptation to night-shifts and accelerates readjustment during recovery after a period of night-shifts

Abstract

The present study examines the stability of bright light circadian readjustment during two consecutive dim light night-work periods and circadian synchronization during the recovery after a night-shift period. A sample of 10 subjects was divided into 2 groups (control group: 6 subjects; experimental group: 4 subjects). All subjects worked during 5 days, between 23:00 and 07:00 h and then went to sleep. Subjects received 2500-3000 lux between 02:00 and 05:00 h during 5 days for the control group and 3 days for the experimental group. During recovery after the night-shift periods, three cycles of bright light were administered at two different times: 12:00-15:00 h for two of six subjects from the control group and 10:00-13:00 h for all subjects (4) of the experimental group. By the fifth cycle of night-work the maximum of urinary aMT6s excretion that occurs at 05:00 h in the baseline condition was shifted to 12:00 h for the control and experimental groups (delay in hours: 7±1.6 (control); 7±1 (experimental)). This result suggests that three cycles of bright light are sufficient to induce a significant phase delay and that this delay remained stable when night-work proceeded under dim light. The phase delay of the circadian aMT6s excretion by exposure to bright light was accompanied by an improvement of the quality of day sleep and level of cognitive and psychomotor performances for control and experimental groups. No significant difference was observed in the two groups for daytime sleep and nocturnal performance. The two bright light periods used during the three days of recovery induced a complete synchronization in five of six subjects. One subject showed a partial synchronization probably because he remained at the laboratory under dim light during the day and had few family and social contacts.     

An Empirical Approach to Sufficient Similarity: Combining Exposure Data and Mixtures Toxicology Data

When assessing risks posed by environmental chemical mixtures, whole mixture approaches are preferred to component approaches. When toxicological data on whole mixtures as they occur in the environment are not available, Environmental Protection Agency guidance states that toxicity data from a mixture considered “sufficiently similar” to the environmental mixture can serve as a surrogate. We propose a novel method to examine whether mixtures are sufficiently similar, when exposure data and mixture toxicity study data from at least one representative mixture are available. We define sufficient similarity using equivalence testing methodology comparing the distance between benchmark dose estimates for mixtures in both data‐rich and data‐poor cases. We construct a “similar mixtures risk indicator”(SMRI) (analogous to the hazard index) on sufficiently similar mixtures linking exposure data with mixtures toxicology data. The methods are illustrated using pyrethroid mixtures occurrence data collected in child care centers (CCC) and dose‐response data examining acute neurobehavioral effects of pyrethroid mixtures in rats. Our method shows that the mixtures from 90% of the CCCs were sufficiently similar to the dose‐response study mixture. Using exposure estimates for a hypothetical child, the 95th percentile of the (weighted) SMRI for these sufficiently similar mixtures was 0.20 (i.e., where SMRI <1, less concern; >1, more concern).     

Key personality traits of engineers for innovation and technology development

Focusing on new roles of engineers for technological innovation and internal entrepreneurship, we examined the personality traits of 4876 engineers versus 75,892 non-engineers. Engineers scored higher on Tough-Mindedness and Intrinsic Motivation; but lower on Assertiveness, Conscientiousness, Customer Service Orientation, Emotional Stability, Extraversion, Image Management, Optimism, Visionary Style, and Work Drive. All but four of these traits were positively related to engineers’ career satisfaction. Overall, the results are not encouraging for the new roles of engineers such as intrapreneurship. Findings were discussed in terms of occupational profiling of engineers as well as career planning, selection, training, and professional development of engineers.     

A low-cost approach to computer-integrated manufacturing in a small chemical unit

Many firms are considering CIM as a means of reducing costs and increasing quality. Sometimes, however, a major problem in this kind of project seems to be the high investments involved. In this paper a methodology for developing a low-cost CIM application is presented. The proposed methodology was successfully experimented in a small chemical unit of one of the leading producers of nylon in the world. The paper reports on the design and implementation of the computer-integrated manufacturing and the associated costs and benefits.     

Business process re-engineering the supply chain

Common foundations which underlie thinking in the supply chain management (SCM), Business process re-engineering (BPR) and business process improvement (BPI) philosophies are highlighted. The view that BPR is a new concept is argued against by highlighting die work performed in other fields, namely SCM from the systems perspective. It is argued that those who have already implemented the SCM philosophy will have already travelled the same path as BPR and indeed re-engineered their own processes. Once businesses have integrated their supply chain the greatest benefits will have already been achieved, however system dynamics analysis does show significant on-cost differences dependent on the redesign strategy implemented. A generic structured model for SCM is enhanced through this comparison with BPR with the following characteristics being added; do not be afraid to be radical with respect to internal integration and continually search for step change improvement ideas which can be strategically phased in to positively impact the marketplace.     

A new prototype system for optimized job shop scheduling

Optimal scheduling of shopfloor activities in an environment of discrete part manufacturing is discussed. The scheduling problem is a well known NP complete one. The main part, the sequencing problem, has been tackled using two techniques: virtual resources identification and taboo search heuristics. The first approach allowed the authors to reduce the complexity of the sequencing from a job shop to a general flow shop problem. On the other hand, the search for an optimal solution, with respect to a fixed strategy, has been achieved via the taboo search. A synthesis of the results of a large number of tests is presented as well as the results of an application to a real case. The latter is shown in comparison with the output of the system being presently used in the examined factory.     

An evaluation of product commonality and group technology production methods in a pre-defined multiple-machine scenario

Group technology has been used successfully for a number of years as a setup reduction tool. It is especially valuable in low-volume high-mix manufacturing environments where products and machines may be partitioned into product families and machine cells. The partitioning of machines or processes into cells may be limited by practical constraints, and the partitioning of products is complicated as the number of products and processes increases. In this paper, the authors examine the behaviour of various grouping strategies lauded as being appropriate in situations where machine partitioning and product routeing are determined by technological constraints. Of specific experimental concern in this paper is the effect of the mean and variance of component part commonality between products on system performance under various grouping strategies in a multiple-machine environment.     

Study of the behaviour of flexible production systems using neural nets

Owing to high development and acquisition costs, production systems require very detailed analysis for pre-design specifications, and an adjustment in operating philosophies. Detailed simulation models are one of the most important instruments to achieve this goal; normally the simulator must be custom-built, based on an accurate study of the specific industrial problem. The proposed management and economical analysis uses mathematical meta-models obtained from experimental designs produced by the simulator; today the detail level and precision required is very high, so these kinds of meta-model operate very close to their limit. Here we present a new methodology based on artificial neural networks that produces new types of meta-models which can correctly represent complex industrial systems. In this work we propose an application of this methodology together with a detailed analysis of the model development phase to highlight the potential of this instrument.