New Ways of Working: does flexibility in time and location of work change work behavior and affect business outcomes?

In the changing modern economy some new factors have been addressed that are of importance for productivity and economic growth, such as human skills, workplace organization, information and communication technologies (ICT) and knowledge sharing. An increasing number of companies and organizations are implementing measures to better address these factors, often referred to as 'the New Ways of Working (NWW)'. This consists of a large variety of measures that enable flexibility in the time and location of work. Expectations of these measures are often high, such as a reduction in operating costs and an increase of productivity. However, scientific proof is still lacking, and it is worth asking whether al these implementations actually cause a change in work behavior and effect business outcomes positively. This article describes a case study of three departments (total of 73 employees) that changed from a traditional way of working towards a new way of working. Questionnaires and a new developed objective measurement system called 'work@task' were used to measure changes in work behavior (i.e. increased variation in work location, work times and a change towards NWW management style) and the effect on business objectives such as knowledge sharing, employees satisfaction, and collaboration.     

The Rise of Three-Generation Households Among Households Headed by Two Parents and Mothers Only in Australia

This study offers knowledge about factors associated with a key type of family change, namely, two- to-three-generation household transformations, which are poorly understood, despite increasing numbers of three-generation households, especially ones headed by females. Using a representative sample of 5,874 Australian children, results showed that the circumstances of children in two-generation households differed greatly by family structure. Thus, before investigating determinants of three-generation household formation, children were first grouped as living in either two-parent or single-mother households. For both groups of children, several factors were found associated with three-generation household formation. In two-parent households, the odds of three-generation household formation decreased with mothers?? ages, fathers?? higher educational attainments, and more children, but increased as children grew older. In single-mother households, the odds of three-generation household formation decreased with mothers?? higher educational attainments, increasing income, and more children, but increased if mothers had never been married and worked more hours. Living in rural areas decreased odds of three-generation household formation for children in both types of households. Overall, grandparents appear to play a relatively more important resource role in three-generation, mother only households than in three-generation, two-parent households.     

Computer decision support tools in primary care

Computer Decision Support Tools (CDSTs) can support clinicians at various stages of the care process and improve healthcare, but implementation of these tools has been difficult. In this study we examine the need for, the use of, and barriers and facilitators to the use of a CDST from a human factor perspective. Results show that there is a need for CDSTs, and that physicians do use well-developed CDSTs. However, there are also barriers against the use, such usability issues and problems fitting them into the clinical workflow.     

Trust,perceptions of corruption,and demand for regulation: Evidence from post-socialist countries

While the tradeoff between market failure and government failure has been explored both theoretically and in practical policy design, the question of whether this trade-off appears in the calculus of citizens’ demands for government regulation remains underexplored. We first clarify the channels through which concerns for market failure, as proxied by trust in market participants, and concerns for government failure, as proxied by perceptions of corruption, jointly affect individuals’ demand for government regulation. We then investigate these effects empirically, using data from post-socialist countries. Our analysis confirms the previously established result that trust has a negative effect on demand for regulation. Perceived corruption, however, affects demand for regulation primarily via a negative interaction effect with trust. Our findings suggest that, in post-socialist countries, both concerns for market failure and concerns for government failure are indeed in citizens’ minds and that concerns about the anticipated ‘grabbing-hand’ effect from government involvement are particularly salient.     

Using human factors engineering to improve patient safety in the cardiovascular operating room

Despite significant medical advances, cardiac surgery remains a high risk procedure. Sub-optimal work system design characteristics can contribute to the risks associated with cardiac surgery. However, hazards due to work system characteristics have not been identified in the cardiovascular operating room (CVOR) in sufficient detail to guide improvement efforts. The purpose of this study was to identify and categorize hazards (anything that has the potential to cause a preventable adverse patient safety event) in the CVOR. An interdisciplinary research team used prospective hazard identification methods including direct observations, contextual inquiry, and photographing to collect data in 5 hospitals for a total 22 cardiac surgeries. We performed thematic analysis of the qualitative data guided by a work system model. 60 categories of hazards such as practice variations, high workload, non-compliance with evidence-based guidelines, not including clinicians' in medical device purchasing decisions were found. Results indicated that hazards are common in cardiac surgery and should be eliminated or mitigated to improve patient safety. To improve patient safety in the CVOR, efforts should focus on creating a culture of safety, increasing compliance with evidence based infection control practices, improving communication and teamwork, and designing better tools and technologies through partnership among all stakeholders.     

Can digital signals from the keyboard capture force exposures during typing?

An exposure-response relationship has been shown between muscle fatigue and its effects on keystroke durations. Since keystroke durations can readily be measured by software programs, the method has the potential as a non-invasive exposure assessment tool. However, the software based keystroke durations may be affected by keyswitch force-displacement characteristics. Thus, this study used a force platform to measure the keystroke durations and compared them to software measured keystroke durations in order to determine whether the software based keystroke durations can be used as a surrogate force exposure measures. A total of 13 subjects (6 males and 7 females) typed for 15 minutes each on three keyboards with different force-displacement characteristics. The results showed that the software based keystroke durations were more sensitive to the keyboard force-displacement differences than the force based measures. Although the digital signal based keystroke durations depend on the force-displacement characteristics, the high correlation between the two measures indicated that the keystroke durations derived from the digital signal approximated the true force derived keystroke durations, regardless of the keyboard force-displacement characteristics. Therefore, the software based keystroke durations could be used as a non-invasive, surrogate force exposure measure in lieu of the more invasive actual force measurements.     

Evil Tidings: Are Reorganizations more Successful if Employees are Informed Early?

Organizations represent deliberately designed social contexts that are characterized by multi-level hierarchies. Interests and opportunity structures at each level usually do not overlap. We suggest that one of the reasons why intentional change efforts often fail to reach their objectives is because they are likely to trigger competing social mechanisms at different levels of the hierarchy. In order to illustrate this argument, we analyze the consequences of timely communication of planned organizational changes on perceived success of reorganizations. Two competing mechanisms are derived and tested with data from a telephone survey (carried out in 2003), among a sample of n = 412 Dutch business organizations that performed a reorganization. The commitment perspective predicts that early announcement of reorganization plans to middle management increases the likelihood of reorganization success, since it increases commitment and empowers middle management. The influence mechanism predicts that early information of non-managerial employees decreases the likelihood of reorganization success, because it enables employees to use the information to their own advantage, anticipate on the strategies of management, and organize opposition against the plans. We found that timely communication with middle management indeed increases chances for success, whereas timely communication with employees correlates with reorganization failure. However, not communicating with employees has an even stronger negative effect on reorganization success. No evidence could be found for our argument that the severity of the reorganization’s expected negative effects on the workforce moderates both mechanisms.     

Facial Mimicry of Spontaneous and Deliberate Duchenne and Non-Duchenne Smiles

Increasing evidence suggests that Duchenne (D) smiles may not only occur as a sign of spontaneous enjoyment, but can also be deliberately posed. The aim of this paper was to investigate whether people mimic spontaneous and deliberate D and non-D smiles to a similar extent. Facial EMG responses were recorded while participants viewed short video-clips of each smile category which they had to judge with respect to valence, arousal, and genuineness. In line with previous research, valence and arousal ratings varied significantly as a function of smile type and elicitation condition. However, differences in facial reactions occurred only for smile type (i.e., D and non-D smiles). The findings have important implications for questions relating to the role of facial mimicry in expression understanding and suggest that mimicry may be essential in discriminating among various meanings of smiles.     

Provider Preparedness for Treatment of Co-occurring Disorders: Comparison of Social Workers and Alcohol and Drug Counselors

Substance use and mental health disorders remain significant behavioral health concerns in the United States and other Western nations. Nearly half of the 20.3 million adults with substance use disorders in the US have a co-occurring mental illness . Despite growing research support, integrated treatment by providers with expertise in both mental health and substance use is critically lacking. As part of a co-occurring disorders (COD) training initiative in the USA, this study investigated providers' (n = 438) past training, current COD service provision, and future training needs. Specifically, we examined the extent to which social workers were prepared to treat individuals with COD compared to alcohol and drug counselors. Unsurprisingly, social workers reported receiving significantly more mental health related training, while alcohol and drug counselors reported more substance use related training. Alcohol and drug counselors reported significantly more COD-specific training including general COD, psychopharmacology, COD treatment, and relapse prevention. Social workers were significantly more likely than alcohol and drug counselors to report wanting more training in substance use disorders and culturally-specific intervention techniques. These findings suggest that tailored training and licensure changes are needed to enhance social workers' capacity for competent COD treatment.