The nature of learning being facilitated by frontline managers

This article, which is based on research conducted at five Australian organizations, explores the role frontline managers play in promoting and facilitating learning at work, an area in the field of workplace learning and human resource development that has not been extensively researched. This article provides a brief review of the literature, outlines the theoretical framework and research methodology and design utilized and presents the research findings and a brief discussion. The results of this study suggest that frontline managers, who were considered leaders of learning within their respective organizations, take an instrumental approach to leading employee learning, that is, learning is seen largely as a mechanism for getting work done. Additional evidence suggests that some frontline managers provide a more expansive learning environment through the purposeful creation of conditions for learning for their employees, beyond the immediate focus on learning, simply for the purpose of getting the work done. A further finding is that much of what frontline managers do in the promotion and facilitation of employee learning is deeply embedded in the idea and practice of being an effective manager. It is hoped that the findings will provide guidance to human resource development and frontline managers in shaping learning at work.     

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Education,Feedback, & Task Clarification to Increase Workplace Physical Activity

ABSTRACT

Modern office workers spend the majority of their work days in sedentary positions. The risk of preventable diseases such as cardiovascular disease and various cancers increase with increased sedentary time. Thus, targeting office worker health by increasing physical activity is imperative to improve long-term risk factors. This study measured physical activity in the workplace using a commercially-available accelerometer and evaluated the extent to which feedback, and feedback and task clarification increased workplace physical activity relative to a recommended guideline to move every 30-minutes. Results indicated that feedback increased workplace physical activity to varying degrees for 4/8 participants. A social validity questionnaire indicated that workplace variables (e.g., type of task, meetings, deadlines) prevented physical activity. These variables will need to be addressed in future studies.     

Breakdowns and assemblages: Including machine-actants in sociolinguistic ethnographies of blue-collar work environments

A central concern in sociolinguistic ethnographies has been how people use language to make social distinctions. This article discusses the relevance of paying closer attention to the role of machines as actants in communication and social distinction-making processes. It analyses audio and video-recorded workplace interactions between humans and machines in a metal foundry in the Dutch-German borderland. Specifically, it focuses on several cases of a breakdown of a production process, a frequently observed phenomenon in the foundry. The cases show that: (1) the production work entails many improvised human–human and human–machine interactions as opposed to Taylorised working practices; (2) the machine-actants initiate and afford (re)negotiations of situated, hierarchical workplace relations through these interactions; and (3) the question whether these interactions should be considered ‘language-centred’ or ‘language-marginal’ partly depends on an ideological, conceptual distinction between what counts as ‘language’ and what not.     

Intergenerational Initiatives in Sweden

ABSTRACT

It is pointed out in this report that the intergenerational perspective is conspicuous by its absence in Sweden, compared to several other countries where specific programmes exist for activities across generational boundaries. Activities across generational boundaries have also been a specific area where financial incentives for local projects have been provided in recent years through the government's project, Freedom of Choice/Older People and Public Health. But despite these efforts, comprehensive and systematic measures to develop and strengthen contacts across generational boundaries have been few and far between in Sweden. Instead, official measures within various areas have targeted different groups, often defined in terms of their age and stage of life course.     

The Structure and Functions of Employee Assistance Programs in Higher Education

Abstract

Workplace stress can be defined as the change in one's physical or mental state in response to workplaces that pose an appraised challenge or threat to that employee. Research has shown that there are a number of factors that contribute to workplace stress. These factors include a toxic work environment, negative workload, isolation, types of hours worked, role conflict, role ambiguity, lack of autonomy, career development barriers, difficult relationships with administrators and/ or coworkers, managerial bullying, harassment, and organizational climate. Should the stressors continue, the employee is at significant risk of developing physiological and psychological disorders that can lead to increased absenteeism, organizational dysfunction, and decreased work productivity. Intervention strategies are discussed to help managers provide support and intervention to employees coping with workplace stress.     

A structured framework to understand CSR decision-making: A case study of multiple rationales

The organisational justifications made for CSR-related decisions and actions are examined over time using a structured framework premised on instrumental, political, integrative and ethical as well as first and second-order rationales. Using material from semi-structured interviews and drawing on documentary sources, we find that the decision-making processes underlying CSR-related initiatives were complex and multi-layered with varied patterns of motivation and justification that was modified over time. While an instrumental rationale was always apparent, political, integrative and ethical rationales were also important in the context of first and second-order rationales. The paper provides a framework to help understand the justification of CSR initiatives in a structured way and has implications for both theory and practice.     

Ethical leadership supports safety voice by increasing risk perception and reducing ethical ambiguity: Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic

Misconduct by business and political leaders during the pandemic is feared to have impacted people's adherence to protective measures that would help to safeguard against the spread of COVID-19. Addressing this concern, this article theorizes and tests a model linking ethical leadership with workplace risk communication—a practice referred to as ‘safety voice’ in the research literature. Our study, conducted with 511 employees from UK companies, revealed that ethical leadership is positively associated with greater intention to engage in safety voice regarding COVID-19. We also find that this association is mediated by relations with the perceived health risk of COVID-19 and ambiguity about ethical decision making in the workplace. These findings therefore underscore the importance of good ethical conduct by leaders for ensuring that health and safety risks are well understood and communicated effectively by organizational members particularly during crises. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our study and highlight further opportunities for future research to address the ethical dimensions of leadership, risk management, and organizational risk communication.     

Race and Marital History as Correlates of Women's Access to Family-Friendly Employee Benefits

Using a nationally representative sample of young women surveyed intermittently since 1968 (N = 2030), this study assessed the effects of race and marital history on access to family-friendly employee benefits between 1978 and 1995. Accounting for such factors as work history, total number of employers for whom the respondent has worked, education level, and number of children, race was found to act as a suppressor variable. White women were found to work for more years for employers providing family-friendly benefits even though Black women worked for more years in full-time jobs. Results suggested that systematic biases relegated Black women to lower-paying full-time jobs without family-friendly benefits more so than was the case for White women. Policy implications regarding affirmative action are discussed. No relationship was found between marital history and access to jobs with family-friendly benefits when taking into account other sociodemographic and employment-related characteristics.     

Paternity leave implementation in Switzerland: a challenge to gendered representations and practices of fatherhood?

Transition to parenthood in Switzerland takes place in a particularly gendered institutional context. It is the only European country where men do not have access to any kind of statutory parental or paternity leaves. This study empirically investigates the extent to which institutional change – through paternity leave implementation at the company level – challenges gendered representations and practices of fatherhood. The study draws on a mixed methods case study conducted in a public administration which implemented a one-month paid paternity leave. Using register data about leave recipients (N = 95), we adopt a longitudinal and typological approach of leave uptake patterns by means of sequence and cluster analyses. In-depth interviews conducted with recipient fathers and managers working for the company (n = 30) enable an analysis of the implementation process and the meanings associated with paternity leave and fatherhood. Results show that paternity leave implementation challenged, in a limited way, gendered representations and practices of fatherhood. Fatherhood was made more visible within the company, but workplace characteristics and informal norms influenced fathers' leave uptake. Overall, motherhood and fatherhood were associated with different and specialized responsibilities. Fathers mainly had a secondary and temporary role with the newborn, while mothers were the central and taken-for-granted parent.     

A mediational model of workplace flexibility,work–family conflict,and perceived stress among caregivers of older adults

As an increasing number of employees become caregivers, the role of workplace resources in supporting caregivers has attracted the attention of researchers, employers, and policy-makers. Workplace flexibility is one type of resource that has attracted particular interest, with research exploring whether flexibility (that is, giving employees some control over when and/or where work gets done) is related to important outcomes for both employees and employers. This investigation develops and tests a mediational model explicating the process through which workplace flexibility – operationalized in three distinct ways – impacts caregiver stress among US employees. Using a sample of 211 caregivers from the National Study of the Changing Workforce (2008), results show that work-to-family conflict mediates the relationship between perceived workplace flexibility and caregiver stress as well as the relationship between access to flexible work options and caregivers stress. However, the mediational model is not supported when flexibility is operationalized as respondents’ formal use of flexible work options. Implications for employers and future research are discussed.