Nick Turner

Transformational leadership and employee safety performance: a within-person, between-jobs design.

We investigated the extent to which the safety performance (i.e., self-reported safety compliance and safety participation) of employees with 2 jobs was predicted by their respective supervisors transformational leadership behaviors. We compared 2 within-person models: a context-specific model (i.e., transformational leadership experienced by employees in 1 context related to those same employees safety performance only in that context) and a context-spillover model (i.e., transformational leadership experienced by employees in 1 context related to those same employees safety performance in the same and other contexts). Our sample comprised 159 moonlighters (73 men, 86 women): employees who simultaneously hold 2 different jobs, each with a different supervisor, providing within-person data on the influence of different supervisors on employee safety performance across 2 job contexts. Having controlled for individual differences (negative affectivity and conscientiousness) and work characteristics (e.g., hours worked and length of relationship with supervisor), the context-specific model provided the best fit to the data among alternative nested models. Implications for the role of transformational leadership in promoting workplace safety are discussed.

Prevalence and demographic differences in microaccidents and safety behaviors among young workers in Canada.

INTRODUCTIONnThe present study examines the self-reported frequency of non-lost work time workplace injuries (microaccidents) and the frequency of three types of work-related safety behaviors (i.e., safety voice, safety compliance, and safety neglect) recalled over a four-week period.nnnMETHODnWe analyzed data on microaccidents and safety behaviors from 19,547 young workers (aged 15-25years, Mdn=18years; 55% male) from multiple Canadian provinces.nnnRESULTSnApproximately one-third of all young workers recalled experiencing at least one microaccident at work in the last four weeks. Comparisons across three age groups revealed that younger workers, particularly between the ages of 15-18, reported more frequent microaccidents, less safety voice, less safety compliance, and more safety neglect than workers aged 19-22. This pattern of results also held for comparisons between workers in 19-22 and 23-25 age groups, except for safety voice which did not differ between these two older age groups. In terms of gender, males and females reported the same frequency of microaccidents, but males reported more safety voice, more safety compliance, and more safety neglect than females did. The results and limitations of the present study are discussed.nnnCONCLUSIONnFrequency of microaccidents and safety behavior vary among young worker age sub-groups.

THE NATURE AND CONSEQUENCES OF APOLOGIES FROM LEADERS IN ORGANIZATIONS.

The article discusses apologies by leaders to subordinates within their organizations. Studies have determined that apologies can be used to help repair damaged relationships. What exactly constitutes an apology is said to be a matter of some debate. The distinction between competency and integrity is said to be significant in terms of transgressions which could necessitate apologies. The question is addressed whether an apology by a corporate leader to lower-ranking members of an organization could be useful as a management tool. It is said that such apologies could be helpful in building employee trust, or rebuilding it.

Injunctive safety norms, young worker risk-taking behaviors, and workplace injuries

Injunctive safety norms (ISNs) refer to perceptions of others expectations of ones safety-related conduct. Drawing on a sample of Canadian young workers (n=11,986;M age=17.90years; 55% males), we study the relationships among four sources of non-work-related (i.e., parents, siblings, friends, teachers), two sources of work-related (i.e., supervisors, co-workers) ISNs, young workers self-reported work-related risk-taking behaviors, and workplace injuries. Structural equation modeling suggests that ISNs from parents, supervisors, and co-workers were related to less frequent work-related risk-taking behaviors, and with fewer workplace injuries via less frequent work-related risk-taking behaviors. In addition, ISNs from supervisors were directly associated with fewer workplace injuries. In contrast, ISNs from teachers and siblings were not associated with work-related risk-taking behaviors, but ISNs from siblings were associated with fewer work injuries. Finally, ISNs from friends were associated with more frequent work-related risk-taking and more frequent work injuries via more frequent work-related risk-taking. This study draws attention to the relative roles of non-work sources of social influence and provides some evidence of how ISNs might be related to young workers work-related risk-taking behaviors and their workplace injuries. It also contributes to practice by suggesting specific interventions that parents, supervisors, and co-workers could undertake to reduce young workers work-related risk-taking and workplace injuries, namely encouraging youth to be safe at work.