Employee strain and job satisfaction related to an implementation of quality in a public service organization: a longitudinal study

To date, few studies have focused on employee reactions to the quality-related aspects of the introduction of New Public Management (NPM). The aim of this study was to investigate the effects on employee strain and satisfaction of the implementation NPM in a public service organization. The study was designed as an empirical examination of the 'context-dependent approach' ( Edwards, Collinson, & Rees, 1998 ). This approach suggests that effects of an organizational change depend on the context of the implementation, i.e. organizational aspects (implementation strategies), job content and job context dimensions. They employed a single-case longitudinal design. The case was a large municipal service unit responsible for the public housing system of a city in Austria. The sample consisted of 217 employees. Measurements were taken before the organizational change, and at two different times during the change process. While the implementation of NPM can be considered to have been an organizational success (increase in customer satisfaction), it was accompanied by increases in job strain, and, at the same time, mixed results in job satisfaction. Less qualified employees mainly responsible for the customer interface experienced the organizational change most negatively. Using structural equation modelling, the context-dependent approach was empirically confirmed. Job control, role clarity and information were found to be the most important job and organizational resources.     

Exposure of Contractors to Chemical Pollutants During the Maintenance Shut-Down of a Chemical Plant

The exposure of employees of different contracting firms to chemical pollutants was assessed during the five-week biennial maintenance shut-down of an isocyanate (TDI) synthesis plant. This assessment was mainly based on personal sampling, but work-related constraints occasionally required that area samples be used instead. Many tasks were carried out during the shut-down procedure (dismantling of reactors, installation of insulation, refection of kilns, cleaning, painting, electricity, etc.), thereby causing the employees of the contracting firms to be exposed to different kinds of pollutants, including products used or manufactured in the process (solvents, TDI and its synthesis intermediates), and products specific to the contractors' activity (welding fumes, crystalline silica, mineral fibers of heat insulation). The highest level of exposure (mainly to TDI) was found for the mechanical engineering activities undertaken during the dismantling of reactors and for cleaning activities. It was demonstrated that there was much variability in day-to-day exposure levels, and occasionally in the exposure levels encountered during a given shift. Cases of concomitant exposure to TDI (mainly short-term exposures) and other pollutants due to simultaneous activities from different tasks in the same area (co-activity) were also observed. Both the need for, and limitations of personal protective equipment (mainly respiratory) are stressed. Special emphasis is put on the responsibility of the owner of the facilities in helping the contractors in the organization of a health and safety policy.     

Statistical models for the analysis of controlled trials on acute migraine

Specific efficacy criteria were defined by the International Headache Society for controlled clinical trials on acute migraine. They are derived from the pain profile and the timing of rescue medication intake. We present a methodology to improve the analysis of such trials. Instead of analysing each endpoint separately, we model the joint distribution and derive success rates in any criteria as predictions. We use cumulative regression models for each response at a time and a multivariate normal copula to model the dependence between responses. Parameters are estimated using maximum likelihood. Benefits of the method include a reduction in the number of tests performed and an increase in their power. The method is well suited to dose–response trials from which predictions can be used to select doses and optimize the design of subsequent trials. More generally, our method permits a very flexible modelling of longitudinal series of ordinal data. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Les apprentissages du changement dans l'entreprise polonaise. Entre continuité et rupture

Two major currents of theory have striven to explain the driving force behind the post-Communist transformation in central Europe since 1989. Based on the absolute rationality of actors, the so-called standard approach implies radical public policies that mark a break with the legacy from the preceding period. However it has turned out to be unable to account for the permanence of certain elements from the past. The “path-dependence” approach tries to understand institutional continuities as a reworking of accumulated experiences. However it has not managed to explain phenomena signaling a radical break in behavior patterns. This analysis of a technological change in a Polish firm combines the two dimensions of rupture and continuity by distinguishing between the introduction of change and forms of adaptation and learning by various categories of actors.     

Effects of government policies on the work of home care personnel and their occupational health and safety

The health sector in Québec (Canada) is dealing with profound macro-economic and macro-organizational changes. This article is interested in the impact of these changes on the work of home health aides (HHAs) and home care nurses and their occupational health and safety (OHS). The study was carried out in the home care services (HCS) of four local community service centres (CLSC) with different organizational characteristics. It is based on an analysis by triangulation of 66 individual and group interviews, 22 observed workdays and 35 observed multidisciplinary or professional meetings, as well as on administrative documents. HHAs are experiencing an erosion of their job because the relational and affective aspects of their work are disappearing. This may be due to an increase in their physical workload, leading to an increase in musculoskeletal problems and, to a lesser extent, in psychological health problems. Nurses are seeing an increase in the volume of invisible work that they have to do, which also has the effect of decreasing the relational aspects of their activity. The increasingly numerous psychological health problems are the consequence of this change in their profession. This study also shows that managers' decisions at the local level can reduce or increase the work constraints of HHAs and nurses. Examples of good practices for HHAs are the stabilization of clienteles and the possibility of organizing their itinerary, while for nurses, it is in how clientele follow-up tools are implemented. This article discusses the effects of government policies and decisions on the work and OHS of home care personnel. To address this subject, we use a specific analysis of the workload of home health aides (HHAs) and nurses. We will show the relationships between managers' organizational choices to respond to governmental constraints and the resulting work changes. We will also look at their consequences on occupational health and safety (OHS) and on the work of different personnel.     

Mild Intellectual Disability Associated with a Progeny of Father-Daughter Incest: Genetic and Environmental Considerations

We report the case of a 34-year-old female resulting from a father-daughter sexual abuse and presenting a phenotype of mild intellectual disability with minor dysmorphic features. Karyotyping showed a normal 46, XX constitution. Array-based comparative genomic hybridization (array-CGH) revealed a heterozygote 320kb 6p22.3 microdeletion in the proband, encompassing only one known gene, and therefore unlikely to be the cause of the phenotype. However, the role of other genetic factors, such as a recessive condition, could not be ruled out as a putative cause for the phenotype. On the other hand, the role played by a heavily detrimental familial situation on the development and outcome, and possibly leading or contributing to a mild intellectual disability, should be taken into account.     

Materials relating to east European Jewish history and culture in the archives of the former Soviet Union

YOM KIPPLTR AND AFTER

YOM KIPPUR AND AFTER. THE SOVIET UNION AND THE MIDDLE EAST CRISIS, by Galia Golan. London, Cambridge University Press, 1977. ix + 350 pp. Index. £9.00

LITERARY PORTRAITS OF A BYGONE AGE

OCHERKI I PORTRETY. STAT'I O EVREYSKIKH PISATELYAKH (Essays and Portraits. Articles on Yiddish Writers), by G. Remenik. Moscow, Sovetsky pisatel, 1975. 422 pp.

MARXISM AND RELIGION: THE STRUGGLE FOR MAN'S SOUL

MARXISM AND RELIGION IN EASTERN EUROPE. Papers presented at the Banff International Slavic Conference, September 4–7, 1974, ed. by R. T. de George and J. P. Scanlan. Dordrecht — Holland; Boston — USA, Reidel, 1976. xvi + 181 pp. Index. (Sovietica 36.) Dfl. 70.00, US $27.00.

ANTIRELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA IN THE SOVIET UNION. A STUDY OF MASS PERSUASION, by David E. Powell. Cambridge, Mass.; London, England, MIT Press, 1975. xi + 206 pp. Illus. Appendices. Bibl. Index. £13.75.

EVERYDAY LIFE IN THE WARSAW GHETTO

LUDZIE Z DZIELNICY ZAMKNIETEJ. ZYDZI W WARSZAWIE W OKRESIE HITLEROWSKIEJ OKUPACJI, PAZDZIERNIK 1939‐MARZEC 1943 (People in the Quarter. Jews in Warsaw During the Nazi Occupation, October 1939‐March 1943?), by Ruta Sakowska. Warsaw, PWN for the Jewish Historical Institute in Poland, 1975. 399 pp. Illus.

A SLANTED HISTORY OF POLISH COMMUNISM

THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF POLAND (Second Edition), by M. K. Dziewanowski. London, 1976. 419 pp. Index. £10.50.     

Monopolistic Competition: Beyond the Constant Elasticity of Substitution

We propose a model of monopolistic competition with additive preferences and variable marginal costs. Using the concept of “relative love for variety,” we provide a full characterization of the free‐entry equilibrium. When the relative love for variety increases with individual consumption, the market generates pro‐competitive effects. When it decreases, the market mimics anti‐competitive behavior. The constant elasticity of substitution is the only case in which all competitive effects are washed out. We also show that our results hold true when the economy involves several sectors, firms are heterogeneous, and preferences are given by the quadratic utility and the translog.     

Has the HIV Epidemic Peaked?

This study reviews the highly diverse regional and country patterns of HIV epidemics and discusses possible causes of the geographic variation in epidemic sizes. Past trends and projections of the epidemics are presented and the peak years of epidemics are estimated. The potential future impact of new prevention technologies is briefly assessed. A final section summarizes the future impact of the epidemic on key demographic variables. The main finding of this analysis is that the HIV epidemic reached a major turning point over the past decade. The peak years of HIV incidence rates are past for all regions, and the peaks of prevalence rates are mostly in the past except in Eastern Europe, where they are expected to peak in 2008. But owing in part to the life‐prolonging effect of antiretroviral therapy and to sustained population growth, the absolute number of infected individuals is expected to keep growing slowly in sub‐Saharan Africa and to remain near current levels worldwide, thus posing a continuing challenge to public health programs. No country is expected to see a decline in its population size between 2005 and 2050 that is attributable to high mortality related to AIDS.