Scott J. Behson

Effects of high-involvement work systems on employee satisfaction and service costs in veterans healthcare.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Two strong imperatives for healthcare managers are reducing costs of service and attracting and retaining highly dedicated and competent patient care and support employees. Is there a trade‐off or are there organizational practices that can further both objectives at the same time? High‐involvement work systems (HIWS) represent a holistic work design that includes interrelated core features such as involvement, empowerment, development, trust, openness, teamwork, and performance‐based rewards. HIWS have been linked to higher productivity, quality, employee and customer satisfaction, and market and financial performance in Fortune 1000 firms. Apparently, few prior studies have looked at the impacts of this holistic design within the healthcare sector. This research found that HIWS were associated with both greater employee satisfaction and lower patient service costs in 146 Veterans Health Administration centers, indicating that such practices pay off in both humanistic and financial terms. This suggests that managers implementing HIWS will incur real expenses that are likely to be more than offset by more satisfied employees, less organizational turmoil, and lower service delivery costs, which, in this study, amounted to over

Influences on the organizational implementation of sustainability: an integrative model

1.2 million in savings for an average VHA facility.

The relative importance of organizational justice dimensions on employee outcomes: a critical reanalysis using relative weights analysis

Multiple forces in the 21st century have propelled businesses into confronting conditions that challenge their own and the worlds sustainability. This paper illuminates the factors influencing companies to implement sustainability practices. It validates an integrative model of the effects that external influences, foundational organization enablers, decision drivers, and inhibitors had on both sustainability implementation and organizational performance. Using data from a worldwide survey of 1514 managers, we showed how external forces for sustainability and support from organizational leaders to create an enabling foundation are likely to translate into decision priorities, implementation of sustainability practices, and perceived performance improvement. We also showed the considerable power of internal inhibiting forces and outlined how they may be overcome. The results point to the steps leaders can take to achieve their environmental, social, and financial goals, as well as to further streams of inquiry.

Pumping Life Into Your Classroom: Using CPR Training to Teach Principles of Training Design

This study examined the collected research on the four dimensions of organizational justice (i.e., distributive, procedural, interpersonal, and informational) by reanalyzing data taken from Colquitt, Conlan, Wesson, Porter & Ngs (2001) meta-analysis. First, this study uses Relative Weight Analysis (RWA) to assess the relative predictive utility of the four justice dimensions on a set of employee outcomes; this analytic technique is better suited to examine this research question than traditional regression-based techniques. Second, this study examines how different operationalizations of procedural justice can lead to different patterns of results. For analyses using an expansive operationalization of procedural justice, the results of Colquitt, et al. (2001) are largely supported. However, for analyses using a narrower, more appropriate operationalization of procedural justice, results instead show that distributive justice is the most important dimension for predicting explained variance in most dependent variables, including outcome satisfaction, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and withdrawal. This finding runs contrary to much of the accumulated justice literature; as such, this study raises conceptual, practical, and methodological concerns.

Using Procedural Justice to Understand, Explain, and Prevent Decision-Making Errors in Forensic Sciences

We present an experiential exercise to teach key principles of training design. Selected students participate in a self-learning cardiopulmonary resuscitation training program, CPR Anytime®, offered by the American Heart Association, while the rest of the class observes. The class then assesses the use of several training design principles in the observed program. Finally, students discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the training program, making recommendations for improvement.

The relative contribution of formal and informal organizational work–family support

It has been estimated that in the United States there are 20,000 false felony convictions a year due to deficiencies in the forensic science and criminal justice systems (Koppl, 2010c). As many of these errors can be attributed to flaws in the processes by which forensic science decisions are made, the principles of procedural justice are a useful lens for analyzing these processes and recommending improved practices. In this secondary analysis of current research, decision-making processes in forensic sciences are analyzed using Leventhals six criteria for establishing procedural justice. Specifically, we assesses the current state of forensic science, explain how some industry practices may be prone to error and bias, and provide practical suggestions for improving industry practices to better adhere to the principles of procedural justice. In addition, the implications of this analysis for practitioners outside of forensic sciences are discussed.