Denise M. Jepsen

Convergent interviewing: a qualitative diagnostic technique for researchers

Purpose – This paper aims to widen knowledge of and explore how convergent interviewing can be used to identify key issues within an organization.Design/methodology/approach – This paper introduces the convergent interviewing technique and describes the method of selecting the interview subjects. The construction of a round of interviews is explained. The content of the interviews is described and the particular probing nature of the questions demanded by the convergent interview process is explained. The ways to analyze the full set of interviews for groupings or categories is also described. The case study example of a broad research question about influences on work behaviors in a local government council is used to illustrate the convergent interviewing technique.Findings – The key issues revealed by using the technique can be subsequently used for a variety of research and consulting purposes and settings. Convergent interviewing is an effective research method, which conserves resources.Originality/...

Workplace Relationships, Attitudes, and Organizational Justice: A Hospitality Shift Worker Contextual Perspective

Few studies have examined the effect of organizational justice on workplace relationships and attitudes of shift workers. This study uses a full four factor model of organizational justice to investigate justice perceptions of shift workers in the specific hospitality context of employees in registered clubs. Using a social exchange perspective of the employment relationship, responses from 501 employees in three clubs were analysed. Inconsistent results were found across the three clubs on employees’ workplace relationships including leader-member exchange and perceived organizational support and their work attitudes of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and their intention to quit. The inconsistent results may be explained by contextual differences including the nature of the industry and work patterns. The findings provide weak support for past justice studies, raising concern about the generalizability of current organizational justice research to both shift workers and the hospitality industry.

Justice in the Workplace: The Centrality of Social versus Judgmental Predictors of Performance Varies by gender.

Men and women are said to perceive justice differently, with women proposed to be more concerned with relational issues and men focused more on material issues. In this study, the potential for differential effects of justice on performance by gender was analyzed across the four contemporary types of justice. Respondents were 265 male and 113 female occupationally diverse employees in a single organization. The results show significant differences in how men and women respond to the four justice types with only one – informational justice – acting similarly by gender. The differential relationships between each of the justice types and the outcomes by gender highlight the utility of the four factor approach to measuring organizational justice. Women were more interested in maintaining social harmony than men. The results appear to strongly support the use of the justice judgment model over the group-value model as a means of explaining the gender differences. Implications for management include the importance of informational justice both generally and within the performance appraisal process.

Sources of occupational stress in NSW and ACT dentists.

BACKGROUND This study aimed to identify and understand the chronic sources of work stress in the NSW and ACT dentistry context. Further, the study examines whether Australian dentists are exposed to similar sources of work stress as dentists internationally. METHODS A purposive sample of registered members of the NSW Branch of the Australian Dental Association (ADA) were interviewed. Participants were selected because they represented the key characteristics of the broader ADA population. Interviews were recorded and fully transcribed. Themes were identified, developed, refined and clarified using established and rigorous methods of interview investigation and analysis. RESULTS A total of 18 dentists participated in the study. Inductive content analysis was used to develop six main categories of chronic sources of stress. These groupings were time and scheduling pressures, professional concerns, patient/public perceptions of dentists, staffing problems, pressures associated with treating patients and business process stressors. CONCLUSIONS Like their international counterparts, Australian dentists are subject to a variety of job-specific stressors. However, the most notable difference between Australian and international dentists relates to the business side of dentistry. It would appear that the Australian statutory, regulatory and industrial relations environment place unique and profound pressures on Australian dentists.

Managerial attitudes and perceived barriers regarding evidence-based practice: An international survey

Evidence-based practice (EBP) in management is still in its infancy. Several studies suggest that managers in businesses and other organizations do not consult the scientific evidence when making decisions. To facilitate its uptake, we need to better understand practitioner attitudes and perceived barriers related to EBP. In medicine and nursing, an abundance of research exists on this subject, although such studies are rare in management. To address this gap, we surveyed 2,789 management practitioners in Belgium, the Netherlands, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Our findings indicate that most managers we studied have positive attitudes towards EBP. However, lack of time and a limited understanding of scientific research are perceived as major barriers to the uptake and implementation of EBP in management. Studies in other professions where EBP is far more established also report similar barriers. We discuss the implications of our findings for practice, education and research, providing suggestions to enhance use of EBP in management practice.

The Association between Learning Styles and Perception of Teaching Quality.

Purpose – Although learning styles and teaching quality have been studied separately, the association between the association between the two has yet to be identified. The purpose of this paper is to establish the relationship between students’ learning styles with students’ perceptions of teaching quality. Design/methodology/approach – The study used survey responses from 272 undergraduate students. All 80 items in the Honey and Mumford’s (1986) Learning Styles Questionnaire and all 46 teaching quality items (Thompson, 2002) were used to assess learning styles and perceptions of teaching quality, respectively. Structural equation modelling was used to investigate the relationships between learning styles and perception of teaching quality. Findings – Results indicate learners with dominant reflector or activist styles are influenced in their perceptions of teaching quality of their teacher or lecturer. No perceptions of teaching quality relationships were found for students with dominant theorist or prag...

Are employees more mobilized after job mobility

The antecedents of voluntary employee turnover are well studied, but little is known about the consequences or outcomes of this voluntary job mobility. We address this gap through a survey study of 121 banking employees who have changed their employer in the last 3 years. We hypothesized that job change, whether self-initiated or imposed, may improve organizational commitment, work engagement, and well-being. These positive effects are expected when the job change is perceived as professionally and personally beneficial. Regression analyses revealed that employer change that is perceived as successful, whether voluntary or not, predicts an increase in general well-being, work engagement, and, to a lesser extent, affective organizational commitment. These results suggest that employer change may help employees to be more mobilized in their new work. Misconceptions about highly mobile employees and advantages of job change for both employees and organizations are discussed.

Director succession planning in not-for-profit boards

Many Australian not-for-profit boards face a crisis in attracting suitably qualified board members who are willing and able to take on governance roles in increasingly complex not-for-profit business environments. These boards often do not have the expertise, time or resources to conduct the necessary succession planning. As a result, succession planning for board directors is not a widespread practice. This study investigated the attitudes of 88 directors of not-for-profit organisations to succession planning. Results revealed that existing board directors perceive succession planning in the two dimensions of practices and value. Directors evaluated their participation in the succession planning process depending on the referent group of CEO, management team and board of directors, and not on their level of involvement in the succession planning process. Directors recognise the positive relationship between succession planning and board effectiveness. Implications for not-for-profit organisations and human resources functions are addressed.

Sustainability in Recruitment and Selection: Building a Framework of Practices.

Much has been written about the role of human resources professionals in creating sustainable organizations. However, despite recognition that organizational human resources functions have an important role to play in sustainability, researchers tend to focus on strategic issues and sustainability. This higher-order focus has often meant that practical, operational-level advice has been overlooked. This article addresses that gap by presenting a framework of suggested sustainable recruitment and selection practices. This framework is applicable to practitioners and acts as a curriculum for educators. Almost 90 specific environmental, economic and social sustainability practices in recruitment and selection were revealed in the data collection process. A prioritized top 10 list of practices is recommended for immediate implementation.

Understanding Life Roles Impact on Late Life Kaleidoscope Career Intentions

Improved health care and increased life expectancy have resulted not only in extended working lives but also extended roles as child, parent, grandparent, spouse and friend. Existing career theories, both traditional and modern, tend to not adequately account for the careers of contemporary older workers. This paper reports two studies focused on career choices of older workers. Study one consists of 17 interviews with hospital pharmacists, demonstrating the influence of non-work life roles on late life career choices. These interviews demonstrate a frequent desire to increase the leisure or other non-work life roles. Results show that carer responsibilities, particularly related to adult children caring for ageing parents, play an influential role in late life career choices. Furthermore, older workers’ kaleidoscope career intentions may be influenced by their different life role commitments. Study two, a survey of 215 direct care workers, confirms life roles’ impact on individuals’ kaleidoscope career i...