Search

At the turn of the 21st century, organisations are facing growing uncertainty and formidable challenges which requires flexibility and adaptability to deal with this growing uncertainty. Events taking place in one part of the world, such as financial crisis, Brexit, terrorism as well as natural disasters, are affecting organisations in other countries. Some organisations are quite successful in dealing with these unexpected events, whereas other organisations struggle to cope with these unexpected challenges and fail to respond timely to such challenges (Fiksel, Polyviou, Croxton, & Pettit, 2015). What is so special about the organisations that deal successfully with these unexpected challenges? Perhaps these organisations have developed resiliency that enable them to overcome and respond to such challenges (Sutcliffe & Vogus, 2003). Both individuals and organisations might experience failure during their respective lifecycles. Yet, people’s reaction to failure and emergencies can vary (Hobfoll, Hall, Canetti‐Nisim, Galea, Johnson, & Palmieri, 2007; Kellezi, Reicher, & Cassidy, 2009). Some bounce back after a relatively short period of time while others plunge into depression. Getting insights from failure necessitates positive approach, and the emotional capability, that may eventually contribute to the organisational well‐being (Cartwright & Cooper, 2009; Clark & Nicholson, 2010; Neenan, 2009). From the psychological standpoint, resilience is the skill to successfully cope with adversity (Fredrickson, 2001). In the realm of management, resilience refers to the capacity to bounce back under extremely volatile conditions (Coutu, 2002). Prior research indicates that resilience is associated with positive emotions and the capability to deal with stressful situations (Cooper, Flint‐Taylor, & Pearn, 2013; Tugade & Fredrickson, 2004). Despite the steadily increasing scholarly interest in this topic, our understanding about the origin, conceptualisation, and operationalisation of resilience is still quite fragmented and varied across different domains (e.g., Linnenluecke, 2017; Manyena, 2006).

We investigated relationships between four dimensions of work–family conflict (time- and strain-based work interference with family, time- and strain-based family interference with work) and three key national paid leave policies (paid parental leave, paid sick leave, paid annual leave) among a sample of 643 working married parents with children under the age of 5 across 12 industrialised nations. Results provided some evidence that paid sick leave has a small but significant negative relationship with work–family conflict. Little evidence was revealed of a link between paid parental leave or of a link between paid annual leave and work–family conflict. Family-supportive organisational perceptions and family-supportive supervision were tested as moderators with some evidence to suggest that paid leave policies are most beneficial when employees' perceptions of support are higher than when they are lower. Family-supportive organisational perceptions and family-supportive supervision were both associated with less work–family conflict, providing evidence of their potential benefit across national contexts.

The present study explored the availability of flexible work arrangements (FWA) and their relationship with manager outcomes of job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and work-to-family conflict (WFC) across country clusters. We used individualism and collectivism to explain differences in FWA availability across Latin American, Anglo, and Asian clusters. Managers from the Anglo cluster were more likely to report working in organisations that offer FWA compared to managers from other clusters. For Anglo managers, flextime was the only FWA that had significant favorable relationships with the outcome variables. For Latin Americans, part-time work negatively related with turnover intentions and strain-based WFC. For Asians, flextime was unrelated to time-based WFC, and telecommuting was positively associated with strain-based WFC. The clusters did not moderate the compressed work week and outcome relationships. Implications for practitioners adopting FWA practices across cultures are discussed.

In May 2002, a national benchmarking exercise of occupational stress in English Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) was carried out using the ASSET (an organisational stress screening tool), with a stratified random sample of all categories of staff. This paper presents a secondary analysis of these data by gender for full-time, permanent staff only. Results show that when differences in age and job exposure (i.e. type of university; category of employee; salary level; hours worked per week; and additional responsibilities) were accounted for, men and women reported similar levels of stress for work relationships, work–life balance, overload, job security, control, resources and communication, and job overall. They also reported similar levels of commitment. In contrast, however, men were more troubled by pay and benefits and women reported higher levels of physical and psychological (ill) health outcomes of stress. Interpreted in accordance with the differential vulnerability and exposure hypotheses, our results show that men are more vulnerable to the negative effects of stressors associated with pay and benefits, and women are more vulnerable to the negative outcomes of health, and not by differential exposure to them. En mai 2002, on a realise une evaluation nationale du stress professionnel dans les institutions britanniques d’enseignement de haut niveau (HEI) en utilisant l’ASSET (un outil de depistage du stress professionnel), avec un echantillon stratifie aleatoire de toutes les categories d’equipes. On expose dans cet article une analyse secondaire par genre des donnees recueillies, uniquement pour les groupes permanents travaillant a plein-temps. Il est apparu que si l’on tenait compte des differences d’âge et de situations professionnelles (type d’universite, categorie de salarie, niveau de revenu, nombre d’heures travaillees par semaine et autres responsabilites), les deux sexes faisaient part de niveaux analogues de stress en ce qui concerne les relations de travail, l’equilibre entre les vies de travail—hors travail, le surmenage, la securite professionnelle, la maitrise des situations, les ressources et la communication, et le travail en general. Ils ont aussi manifeste des niveaux d’implication comparables. Par contre, les hommes etaient davantage indisposes par le salaire et autres avantages, et les femmes rapportaient des retombees plus frequentes du stress sur leur sante physique et mentale. Interpretes a partir des hypotheses d’exposition et de vulnerabilite differentielles, nos resultats montrent que les hommes sont plus vulnerables a l’impact negatif des facteurs de stress lies au salaire et autres avantages materiels, tandis que les femmes sont plus sensibles aux elements nuisant a leur sante independamment des differences d’exposition.

La presente etude examine les effets directs et moderateurs des strategies de defense (controle et support) et de la perception de controle au travail (exterieure) sur des relations stresseur-tension entre des gestionnaires de la grande Chine (la Republique populaire de Chine, Hong Kong, et Taiwan). Les donnees ont ete recueillies, via un questionnaire autoadministre, aupres de 876 gestionnaires soit 249 (164 hommes, 85 femmes) en Republique populaire de Chine, 280 a Hong Kong (159 hommes, 120 femmes, 1 non classifie), et 347 (191 hommes, 151 femmes, 5 non classifies) au Taiwan. Des effets directs et moderateurs pour les strategies de defense et pour la perception de controle ont ete demontres pour quelques relations stresseur-tension dans les divers echantillons etudies. The present study aims at examining the direct and moderator effects of coping strategies (control and support coping) and work locus of control (externality) on the stressor-strain relationships among managers in Greater China (the People's Republic of China [PRC], Hong Kong, and Taiwan). A self-administered survey method was employed to collect data from 249 (164 male, 85 female) managers in the PRC, 280 (159 male, 120 female, 1 unclassified) managers in Hong Kong, and 347 (191 male, 151 female, 5 unclassified) managers in Taiwan. The direct and moderator effects of control coping, support coping, and work locus of control on some stressor-strain relationships were demonstrated in the studied samples.

Des echantillons de chefs d’entreprise aux USA et en Iran ont ete compares quant aux pressions au travail (contrainte, orientation du role du responsable/tâche, travail/maison et le support a ne pas travailler), cinq agents tenseurs (la dissatisfaction au travail, la tension mentale, la tension physique, l’intention de quitter le travail et l’absenteisme) et le sentiment de controle (LOC) au travail. Comme attendu, les chefs d’entreprise iraniens etaient davantage externes et davantage sous pression sur les cinq types d’agents stressants. Les americains ont montre de plus fortes correlations entre les agents stressants. Les relations entre pression et tension au travail etaient similaires dans chacun des echantillons et dans les deux echantillons le LOC interne etait associea un niveau de stress plus bas. Bien que la statut marital n’ait pas ete associe au stress au travail et aux agents stressant chez les americains, de fortes relations existent chez les iraniens. Samples of Iranian and US managers were compared on four sources of job pressure (constraints, managerial role/tasks, home/work, and nonwork support), five strains (job dissatisfaction, mental strain, physical strain, intention of quitting the job, and absence), and work locus of control. As expected Iranian managers were more external and were higher on pressure and on all five job strains. Americans showed higher intercorrelations among strains except for absence, whereas Iranians had higher correlations among sources of pressure. Relations between pressure and job strains were similar across both samples, and in both samples internal locus of control was associated with lower strain. Although marital status was not associated with job stressors and strains among Americans, it showed strong relations among Iranians.

Hofstede (this issue) has taken exception to our conclusions (Spector, Cooper, Sparks, et al., 2001) that the poor internal consistency reliabilities of his Values Survey Module 1994 (VSM94) should be cause for concern. He suggests that (1) individual level psychometric properties for a scale are irrelevant when one uses it to make inferences to a group (or country) level, (2) that our samples were poorly matched on demographics (and were not very representative) and this prevented our finding internal consistency at the country (ecological) level, and (3) the VSM94 must be reliable because there is so much evidence for validity. We will address each of these points, explaining our case for concern. INDIVIDUAL LEVEL PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES DON’T MATTER Hofstede argues that the VSM94 was designed to assess values at the aggregate (country) and not the individual person level. Therefore, the psychometric properties at the individual level are irrelevant. We first wish to point out that we reported the internal consistencies at the aggregate level, and results were not appreciably different from those at the individual level. Furthermore, Hofstede is absolutely correct that one must be careful about the ecological fallacy in mixing levels when This is the post-printed version of an article. The final published version is available at Applied Psychology: An International Review 51:1 (2002); doi: 10.1111/1464-0597.00085 ISSN 0269-994X (Print) / 1464-0597 (Online) Copyright © International Association for Applied Psychology, 2002. Published online: 08 Apr 2002

Hofstede’s Values Survey Module has been the basis for much cross-cultural and cross-national research in the workplace, but little information about its psychometric properties has been available. This study provides internal consistency (coefficient alpha) statistics from samples representing 23 nations/provinces. Across both English and translated versions, internal consistencies tended to be poor, and in the majority of cases failed to achieve even a liberal criterion of 0.60. Even when data were aggregated by sample coefficient alphas were poor for all but long-term orientation. At the participant level, long-term orientation and individualism had marginal internal consistencies, whereas power distance, masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance subscales had inadequate internal consistencies. A replication of Hofstede’s ecological factor analysis failed to support the five subscales. It is suggested that the construct validity of these scales is suspect, and that they should be used with caution. Le Module d’Enquete sur les Valeurs d’Hofstede a` e´te´ a` la base de nombreuses recherches inter-culturelles et multi-nationales sur le lieu de travail alors que peu d’informations sur ses qualite´s psychome´triques e´taient disponibles. Cette e´tude fournit des statistiques cohe´rentes (coefficient alpha) a` partir d’e´chantillons repre´sentant 23 nations ou re´gions. Dans les versions anglaises et dans les traductions, la cohe´rence interne est plutot me´diocre n’arrivant pas a` atteindre le coefficient de 0.60, en cotant large. Meme quand les donne´es e´taient regroupe´es en agre´gats par e´chantillon, les coefficients alpha e´taient me´diocres sauf en ce qui concerne l’orientation vers le long terme. Au niveau du participant, les orientations vers le long terme et l’individualisme avaient une cohe´rence interne marginale tandis que des sous e´chelles sur la distance hie´rarchique, la masculinite´ et le controle de l’incertitude en pre´sentaient de plus fortes.

In the United Kingdom, police officers do not, as a matter of routine, carry firearms. There are occasions, nevertheless, when armed police are deployed, and for obvious reasons any procedure that might improve the suitability of officers chosen to carry firearms is worth investigating.