Helena Nguyen

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Keep Working Impact of Emotional Labor on Absenteeism

Although absenteeism has been identified in theoretical models as a key long-term consequence of emotional labor, few studies have empirically examined this link. In this article, we investigate the relationship between surface acting and absenteeism and the moderating role of surface acting self-efficacy. Drawing on resource perspectives, we argue and show that when valued resources are threatened or lost as a result of surface acting, employees will actively strive to prevent further resource loss by withdrawing from work. We propose, however, that surface acting self-efficacy can help buffer the resource depleting effects of surface acting leading to withdrawal. Using data from two sources, collected at two points in time, we surveyed 121 nurses and linked these data to absenteeism data collected 12 months postsurvey. Results showed direct effects of surface acting on absenteeism; in addition, higher surface acting self-efficacy minimized the detrimental effects of surface acting on absenteeism. We also found support for the mediating role of affective commitment in explaining this interaction effect. These results suggest that the effects of surface acting on absenteeism are less detrimental for employees with high surface acting self-efficacy as these individuals are less negatively affected by the drain on the motivational resources that keep them feeling attached to their workplace and, in turn, keep them at work. This study extends our understanding of emotional labor processes and provides insights into the active process whereby employees are driven by the motivation to conserve resources and prevent further losses.

A framework to create more mentally healthy workplaces: A viewpoint:

Mental illness is now the leading cause of long-term sickness absence among Australian workers, with significant costs to the individual, their employers and society more broadly. However, to date, there has been little evidence-informed guidance as to what workplaces should be doing to enhance their employees’ mental health and wellbeing. In this article, we present a framework outlining the key strategies employers can implement to create more mentally healthy workplaces. The five key strategies outlined are as follows: (1) designing work to minimise harm, (2) building organisational resilience through good management, (3) enhancing personal resilience, (4) promoting early help-seeking and (5) supporting recovery and return to work. A narrative review is utilised to outline the theoretical evidence for this framework and to describe the available research evidence for a number of key example interventions for each of the five strategies. While each workplace needs to develop tailored solutions, the five strategy framework proposed in this review will hopefully provide a simple framework for employers and those advising them to use when judging the adequacy of existing services and considering opportunities for further enhancements.

Time to change: a review of organisational culture change in health care organisations

Purpose The culture of an organization shapes the attitudes and behaviors of employees and plays a key role in driving organizational outcomes. Yet, it is enormously challenging to manage or change. The purpose of this paper is to review the recent literature on culture change interventions in health care organizations to identify the common themes underpinning these interventions. Design/methodology/approach The paper is developed from an extensive review of the literature on culture change interventions in health care from 2005 to 2015, building on previous reviews and highlighting examples of good practice. Findings All culture change interventions included in the review used processes and techniques that can be classified into Lewin’s (1951) three stage model of change. These include providing evidence for the need for change through data, a range of successful change strategies, and strategies for embedding the culture change into business as usual. Practical implications There is no “one size fits all” recipe for culture change. Rather, attention to context with key features including diagnosis and evaluation of culture, a combination of support from leaders and others in the organization, and strategies to embed the culture change are important for the change process to happen. Originality/value The authors provide an important insight into the key principles and features of culture change interventions to provide practitioners with guidance on the process within health care and other organizations.

Confidence Matters: Self-efficacy Moderates the Credit that Supervisors Give to Adaptive and Proactive Role Behaviours

In complex and uncertain work environments, employees need to not only be proficient in carrying out their core duties, but also to be adaptive (able to cope and respond to unpredictable events) and proactive (able to anticipate the situation and act in a self-directed way) in their work roles. In this study we investigate the extent to which supervisors actually give credit to adaptive and proactive role behaviours when they judge employees’ overall job performance. Drawing on attribution theory, we propose that the extent to which these role behaviours are valued by supervisors will be enhanced by employees’ confidence for relevant role behaviours. Support for these ideas is provided using data from junior doctors and their supervisors in a hospital emergency department. Adaptive role behaviours positively influenced supervisors’ judgements of overall job performance. This relationship was stronger for employees with high self-efficacy for achieving outcomes. Engaging in proactive role behaviours while also lacking role-breadth self-efficacy resulted in supervisors’ giving employees less credit for their proactive role behaviours. Findings support the argument that employees’ self-efficacy for specific role behaviours provides attributional cues about capability that modify how adaptive and proactive role behaviours are interpreted and valued.

Reaping the Rewards of Functional Diversity in Healthcare Teams: Why Team Processes Improve Performance

Functional diversity in healthcare teams—where members from different healthcare professions work together—is often advocated as the key to achieving quality patient outcomes. However, although functionally diverse teams promise much, they do not always deliver on that promise. Based on the informational diversity perspective, we argue that functional diversity increases role conflict and is an important factor that can help to explain why functional diversity does not always lead to effective team performance. We also argue that team processes play an important role in moderating the effect of functional diversity on role conflict and that depending on how functionally diverse healthcare teams are, certain team processes are more important than others for reducing role conflict thereby leading to improved team performance. We contrast two specific team processes (interpersonal conflict management and back up and helping) and argue for their relative importance depending on the level of functional diversity in healthcare teams. Data from 75 hospital teams support our differential predictions that interpersonal conflict management is a particularly important team process for reducing role conflict and improving team performance for teams with high functional diversity, whereas for teams with low functional diversity, back up and helping is a more important team process. These results have important implications for the management of functionally diverse healthcare teams. By identifying the relative importance of team processes, these results provide evidence for investing in team processes that enable healthcare teams to reap the rewards of functional diversity.

Workplace aggression and organisational effectiveness: The mediating role of employee engagement

We investigate the relationship between the prevalence of workplace aggression and two key outcomes: employee engagement and organisational effectiveness. Drawing on social capital theory, we propose that the level of employee engagement within the organisation helps explain the association between workplace aggression and organisational effectiveness. We used secondary survey data and an important indicator of organisational effectiveness in the healthcare sector (i.e. rates of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs)) from 101 hospitals in NSW, Australia. We found that hospitals with higher rates of workplace aggression had higher rates of patients with HAIs and that employee engagement was an important mechanism that helped explain this effect. These findings underscore the potential benefits of management policies and practices that are aimed at preventing workplace aggression and support greater employee engagement. JEL Classification: L120