Bringing Japanese Continuous Improvement Approaches to U.S. Manufacturing: The Roles of Process Orientation and Communications*

Continuous improvement (CI) has played a key role in Japan's quality management. U.S. companies have begun to adopt CI in recent years. This paper studies the implementation of CI in seven U.S. manufacturing companies. We view values as the core concept of culture that impacts CI effectiveness. Using both qualitative and quantitative data with a sample of seven companies, we observe empirically a relationship between process-oriented values and CI effectiveness. We also find that communications involving workers is strongly associated with CI effectiveness. Finally, we find an association between process orientation and communication frequency, and argue that communications act as an intervening variable between process orientation and effectiveness.     

Critical Reflection on the Ethics of Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a way to achieve mental wellbeing that has been widely adopted as part of counselling and mental health treatment. However, there is a distinct lack of critical reflection about the origins of this technique, how it is used, and the implications it has for the beliefs of clients. The purpose of this paper is to provide a carefully considered response to the use of humanistic mindfulness. Social workers need to explain why they recommend mindfulness, and explore culturally consistent and sensitive practice, so that they are abiding by the Australian Association of Social Workers Code of ethics.

IMPLICATIONS

• The use of mindfulness in social work practice requires careful consideration as to its impact and relevance to clients’ needs.

• Mindfulness originates in philosophical traditions distinct from mental health treatment.

• In choosing to use mindfulness social workers require consistent and sensitive understanding of clients’ needs, world views, and culture.

     

Secondhand social capital: Boundary spanning,secondhand closure,and individual performance

We move beyond the performance returns of individuals’ direct network connections to study the effects of “secondhand” social capital, i.e., from the networks of one’s contacts. We propose that certain colleagues may be more valuable to one’s job performance than others when their spillovers of novel information combine with spillovers of the cooperation needed to obtain that novelty. In a study of 1273 research and development employees across 16 business units, we find that the most benefit to one’s own performance comes from having ties that span business units and that also include secondhand closure (i.e., where one’s contacts are each embedded in a constrained, dense network). Bridging the organizational boundary provides the novelty; and secondhand closure provides the cooperation. Further, by examining who in the network is constraining these contacts, we are able to trace their cooperative motivation both to reputational and organizational identity concerns, which each create a spillover of cooperation toward the focal individual, who reaps the returns.     

Revisiting the gap between stylized and diary estimates of market work time

Previous studies find that workers of longer work weeks report more market hours in stylized measure than in time diary, while those of shorter work weeks report fewer hours. Using data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) 2003-2007, this paper attempts to explain this dilemma. I argue that market work time is composed of activity time, committed time, and constrained time. Thus, part of the difference found between the two estimates is due to the calculation of the diary estimate. I also argue that the wording of the stylized question is consequential. Some stylized questions (e.g., How many hours per week do you usually work?) might capture the mode, instead of the mean, of work time. Thus, when the distribution of work time is skewed, the mismatch between the two estimates is expected. A sequence-based identification for diary estimate and a non-parametric adjustment for stylized estimate are proposed and empirically examined. The result indicates that both methods significantly reduce the observed gap between the two estimates. I discuss the implications for future time use survey design in the concluding section.     

立体赋权：农村留守儿童社会支持网络的建构

随着城市化进程的加快,农村剩余劳动力大量涌入城市,产生了留守儿童这一新的群体,其社会支持问题El益突出,引起社会各界广泛的关注。厦门“凤凰花助飞体验营”服务项目借助增权视角社会工作理论,在实践中探索出建构留守儿童社会支持网络的路径：增强个体自我效能感,提升建构支持的内在能力;集体中参与,多中心地构建近距离的社会支持;倡导创造建构社会支持网络的良好社会与制度环境。     

胡耀邦与“文化大革命”后拨乱反正时期的青年工作

胡耀邦同志在“文化大革命”后这个特殊的年代,对青年工作面临的基本问题,包括对“文化大革命”后青年的估价,青年工作拨乱反正的任务和基本方针,处理“文化大革命”遗留下来各种严重的青年问题的方针和政策,对当时的共青团组织怎样工作和团干部应有的精神状态与作风等,都有相关的系统论述。这是我党青年工作的一个典范。青年是社会变革中一支最敏感、最活跃也是很重要的力量,今天我们重温胡耀邦同志当时的指导思想,仍有着重要的现实意义。     

青少年自杀现象与社会工作介入策略

青少年自杀现象已成为备受关注的社会问题。自杀意念率较高、明显的性别与地域差异、低龄化趋向、易受感染性、冲动性、原因的阶段性是其特点。导致青少年自杀有认知偏差、青春期内在冲突、不良个性特征与心理疾病等个体原因,有家庭结构残缺、关系不融洽及教养方式不当等家庭因素,有学业压力、教师素质、同伴影响的学校因素,同时与社会文化、现代传媒不良影响有关。社会工作介入的策略包括：倡导生命教育及形成预防机制以预防,采用区分对待、安抚陪伴、初次评估及支持系统的建构以干预。     

Networking practitioner research: synthesising the state of the ‘art’

The aim of this paper is to examine what we know about the experience and outcomes of networked initiatives aimed at facilitating practitioner research. We outline the roles and significance of practitioner research within social work; review emerging understanding of practitioner research network initiatives; and draw conclusions from a comparative analysis of three such initiatives in Auckland, New Zealand, Arhus County, Denmark, and across Scotland. We consider the nature and challenges of practitioner research and a number of responses to how such work should be formulated and conducted. Central to our argument is an empirically informed consideration—from our separate and shared experiences—of how well networks enhance the process and consequences, and art and craft, of such research projects.     

An examination of social work interventions for use with displaced Iraqi households in Jordan

The purpose of this paper is to identify and examine how models of social work intervention are being used with displaced Iraqi households in Jordan. The review of the situation of displaced Iraqis in Jordan identifies the size, characteristics and experiences of this group, Jordanian government policies towards them, and the role of IGOs and NGOs dealing with them. The literature review of social work interventions with refugees internationally identifies a range of psycho-social and community-based intervention models that are contextual, some of which include spiritual dimensions. The paper reviews social work interventions in use with Iraqi households in Jordan and concludes that these need to be focused at the individual, household and community levels using an inter-professional, holistic approach that includes spiritual dimensions, and that coordination between agencies is essential.     

Reciprocal relationships between psychosocial work characteristics and sleep problems: A two-wave study

Sleep problems are common and impair the health and productivity of employees. Work characteristics constitute one possible cause of sleep problems, and sleeping poorly might influence wellbeing and performance at work. This study examines the reciprocal associations between sleep problems and psychosocial work characteristics. The participants were 1744 full-time employed individuals (56% women; mean age 38 years in 2007) from the Young Finns study who responded to questionnaires on work characteristics (conceptualised by the demand–control model and effort–reward imbalance model) and sleep problems (Jenkins Sleep Scale) in 2007 and 2012. Cross-lagged structural equation models are used to examine the associations. The results show that low control and low rewards at baseline predicted sleep problems. Baseline sleep problems predicted higher effort, higher effort–reward imbalance, and lower reward. Sleep problems also predicted lower odds for belonging to the low (rather than high) job strain group and active jobs group. The association between work characteristics and sleep problems appears to be reciprocal, with a stressful work environment increasing sleep problems, and sleep problems influencing future work characteristics. The results emphasise the importance of interventions aimed at both enhancing sleep quality and reducing psychosocial risks at work.