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Summary Social workers' occupational health has become a central theme in the psychosocial literature. This study aimed at exploring how specific job demands and psychological well-being are related to work engagement. A sample of 140 Italian social workers was analyzed in accordance with the job demands–resources model. Participants were asked to complete a written questionnaire containing several measurement scales. Findings Multiple regression analyses showed that social workers' psychological well-being was positively related to work engagement. Moderation analyses also indicated that, when psychological well-being was high (vs. low), job demands were associated to higher levels of work engagement, thus highlighting the buffering role of psychological well-being as a specific personal resource. When job demands were high (vs. low), the psychological well-being appeared to be strongly related to lowest levels of work engagement, showing that high job demands could reduce the fostering role of psychological well-being on social workers' work engagement. Applications While administration of job demands may often be difficult in social work contexts, managers should be encouraged, as part of a systemic approach to training, to promote specific measures for improving social workers' psychological well-being as a personal resource for promoting work engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Turbulent socioeconomic contexts coupled with volatile political environments pose a serious survival threat to business organisations. Complex operational environment of this dimension most often resists application of conventional management theories and practices. Organisational managers are therefore constantly challenged to adopt contingency strategies that will not only keep their organisations afloat, but also entrench competitive advantage that could effectively sustain operations. Aim: To update Burns and Stalker's theory on structure and business environments. Setting: The dynamics of the Zimbabwe's economy has assumed an extraordinary proportion of complexity due to intractable political instability and hostile economic environment. Methods: Using a survey research design and employing quantitative research strategy, this article examines the underlining propositions that defined the seminal work of Burns and Stalker regarding strategy adoption by organisations in a dynamic operating environment. Primary data was collected from 189 randomly selected managers in 350 manufacturing firms operating in Zimbabwe using a structured questionnaire. Data were analysed using structural equation modelling. Results: The major finding of the present study suggests that firms adopt a hybrid structure when confronted with an unstable operating environment. Conclusion: The finding is inconsistent with that of Burns and Stalker, who concluded that firms adopt organic structure in an unstable operating environment. While Burns and Stalker's study was conducted in a relatively stable socioeconomic context, the present study was conducted in an operating environment that is characterised by turbulent socioeconomic and political instability. These environmental divergences could have influenced the outcome of both studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teamwork is considered essential for effective Lean organisations. However, how and why are teams formed during a successful Lean transformation relative to changes in organisational structure? Constructs for variables and factors that influence formation of teams, during and after Lean transformation maturity, were identified. The research employed a purposively sampled case study with three questionnaires, focus groups, interviews and multiple linear regression. Self-directed teams become flow-line or cellular-work teams, supported by dedicated cross-functional teams led by first line managers who run manufacturing cells as small business units. Participation of cellular team members leads to ongoing commitment and continuous improvement within the team leading to restructuring of organisations for effective flow and pull. Cross-functional team activity and self-directed team activities are vital components for successful Lean transformations. Constructive, humble, and common-sense leadership is required for team formations. Future research could investigate literacy coupled with Lean transformations for South African organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The aim of this qualitative research was to explore perceptions of organisational change related to the integration of nurse practitioners from key nursing stakeholders. Background: The ongoing delivery of effective and efficient patient services is reliant upon the development and sustainability of nurse practitioner roles. Examination of the factors contributing to the underutilization of nurse practitioner roles is crucial to inform future management policies. A change management theory is used to reveal the complexity involved. Method: Qualitative interviews were undertaken using a purposive sampling strategy of key stakeholders. Thematic analysis was undertaken and key themes were correlated to the theoretical framework. Results: The results confirm the benefits of nurse practitioner roles, but suggest organisational structures and embedded professional cultures present barriers to full role optimization. Complicated policy processes are creating barriers to the integration of nurse practitioner roles. Conclusion: The findings increase understanding of the links between strategic planning, human resource management, professional and organisational cultures, governance and politics in change management. Effective leadership drives the change process through the ability to align key components necessary for success. Sustainability of nurse practitioners relies on recognition of their full potential in the health care team. Implications for nursing management: The results of this study highlight the importance of management and leadership in the promotion of advanced nursing skills and experience to better meet patient outcomes. The findings reinforce the potential of nurse practitioners to deliver patient centred, timely and efficient health care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though change is implemented for positive reasons, employees often resist to change. The purpose of this paper is to provide a new perspective to the analysis of organisational learning and change, including organisational readiness to change and supervisory support during a planned organisational change in a Brazilian organisation. Survey data were collected during the change and the research presents how perceptions of individuals (N = 160) can influence decisively on resistance or adherence to change. Results show there is commitment to change, emergent learning is encouraged by creating opportunities for informal sharing of knowledge and experience and the formal organisational structure facilitates learning, adaptation, and change. Sufficient opportunities are provided for staff to learn how to make use of available information and communication technologies for learning and knowledge sharing. The results present a set of issues to be managed in order to increase the chances of success of ongoing changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research identified the factors creating hindrance in the knowledge sharing process in engineering organisations. The population consisted of employees from different sectors including manufacturing, textile, chemical, civil and agriculture. A survey method was employed for the study and data was collected through a questionnaire using a Likert scale. The returned questionnaires were 623 out of 1200. The respondents were graduate engineers, DAEs and technical workers. The most dominant factor was communication among employees followed by trust, task interdependence, organisational structure, reward and recognition, and attitude. It was also found that there was significant difference in the impact of knowledge sharing factors on knowledge sharing due to gender and job level of employees which depicts the presence of vertical organisation structure and gender biasness. The findings of the study will give a direction to the organisations to work on significant factors that create hindrance in the way of knowledge sharing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Research Papers of the Wroclaw University of Economics / Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego we Wroclawiu is the property of Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny we Wroclawiu and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The purpose of this paper is to examine linkages amongst Organisational leadership, organisational structure, organisational culture and organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) provide a framework that helps to understand, predict, and control factors affecting firm's knowledge management architecture. The paper examines the researchers conducted in the domain of knowledge management and proposes a framework to be used by the organisations to increase organisational growth and sustainability. Here, we propose a framework wherein four propositions concerning the inclination of organisations using different cultural styles, organisational structures, and organisational leadership and OCB have for the key KM processes in the organisation. However, an empirical study should be carried out to ascertain the effect of the proposed framework on knowledge management across organisations. The study incorporates the linkages among relevant organisational and individual level variables for developing a knowledge management architecture for organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Community pharmacies play a key role in health-care systems, dispensing prescriptions and providing medicine-related services. Service provision varies across community pharmacy organisations and may depend on organisational characteristics, such as ownership, staffing and skill mix. Objectives: To inform the commissioning of community pharmacy services by (1) exploring variation in clinical productivity (levels of service delivery and service quality) in pharmacies, (2) identifying the organisational factors associated with this variation and (3) developing a toolkit for commissioners. Design: Mixed-methods study: community pharmacy survey, administrative data analysis, patient survey, stakeholder interviews and toolkit development. Setting: Nine socioeconomically diverse geographical areas of England. Participants: Stage 1: community pharmacies in nine study areas. Stage 2: in 39 pharmacies, two consecutive samples of approximately 30 patients each following receipt of (1) dispensing and (2) medicines use review (MUR) services. Pharmacy and commissioning representatives from across all types of pharmacy and study sites. Main outcome measures: Stage 1: dispensing, MUR, new medicines service volume and safety climate. Stage 2: patient satisfaction, Satisfaction with Information about Medicines Scale (SIMS) and Medication Adherence Report Scale (MARS). Data sources: Stage 1: (i) community pharmacy activity data; (ii) socioeconomic and health needs data; and (iii) community pharmacy questionnaire (ownership type, organisational culture, staffing and skill mix, working patterns, management structure, safety climate, pharmacy–general practice integration), all linked by pharmacy postcode and organisational ‘F’ code. Stage 2: (i) patient questionnaire (background, patient satisfaction, SIMS, MARS); (ii) semistructured stakeholder interviews (variation in quantity and quality of service provision, opportunities and barriers to clinical productivity, mechanisms by which different organisational characteristics may help or hinder clinical productivity). Quantitative data were analysed by fitting a series of fixed-effects linear, logistic and multilevel logistic regression models in Stata® (version 13; StataCorp LP, College Station, TX, USA). Qualitative data were analysed thematically using a framework approach in NVivo10 (QSR International, Warrington, UK). Results: In stage 1, 285 out of 817 pharmacy questionnaires were returned [valid response rate 34.6% (277/800)]. In stage 2, 1008 out of 2124 patient questionnaires were returned [valid response rate 46.5% (971/2087)]. Thirty pharmacy and 10 commissioning representatives were interviewed face to face or by telephone. Following integration of stage 1 and 2 findings, clinical productivity was associated with pharmacy ownership type, organisational culture, staffing and skill mix, and pharmacy–general practice relationships. Extra-organisational associations included local area deprivation, age profile and health needs, pharmacy location, public perceptions and expectations, supply chain problems, commissioning structures/processes, levels of remuneration and legal/regulatory constraints. Existing arrangements for monitoring clinical productivity focused primarily on quantity. Limitations: Non-random selection of study sites and non-participation by four major pharmacy chains limited generalisability. Investigation of the full scope of pharmacy service provision was prevented by a lack of available activity data for locally commissioned services. Quantitative exploration of service quality was limited by available validated measures. Conclusions: These findings have important implications for community pharmacies and service commissioners, highlighting the importance of ownership type, organisational culture, staffing and skill mix for maximising the delivery of high-quality pharmacy services and informing the development of a commissioners’ toolkit. Future work: Future studies should (1) develop tools to measure community pharmacy service quality; (2) describe and evaluate different models of skill mix; and (3) explore how services are commissioned locally from community pharmacies and the extent to which local needs are met. Funding: The National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research programme.

“The map is not the territory” is a famous dictum by Alfred Korzybski that accurately describes the difficult relations between organisational structure and space. With the evolution of the contemporary approaches to organisational design, both these issues have faced a deep paradigmatic shift. The concept of organisational structure has advanced through functional, divisional, matrix, lean, networked, virtual and fractal approaches, reflecting the reorganisation of entrepreneurial processes and sources of competitive advantage. Concurrently with that, the principles of organisational space arrangement evolved from Taylorist offices, through Bürolandschaft, Action Office, cube farms, to networking, virtual and casual working places, reflecting the changing corporate cultures and the essence of modern work. While agility of organisational design, accompanied by elasticity of working environment might seem very appealing in a modern economy, it often lacks the elements of identity building and sensemaking that are crucial for contemporary knowledge workers.

Traceability systems are key to assuring food safety, creating a benefit for food supply chain components. Currently, the appearance of new technologies such as IoT and Big Data Analysis leads to a new generation of more functional, but complex, traceability systems. Organisational models based on cooperation of multiple small/medium size agents, for example of small/family farming cooperatives, play an important role in high standard agricultural production and commercialization processes. These function as both social and economic networks, with high social and economic impact in the rural areas. The case of Almeria as an example of this model was used to analyze its cooperative model. The actual traceability systems in the Almeria model were studied, taking account of the different networked agents and their interrelation. This study includes two main parts: a) analysis of the net-chains that constitute the food supply chains and their different relationships, and b) actual traceability. The next step studied how the net-chain model, including many diverse agents, may be applied to develop a new generation of traceability systems based of IoT and Big Data. This implies extending the special and functional scope of the actual systems and defining clear rules of exchange of the results of the Big Data Analysis, taking account of the adequate Privacy Rules. This work analyses the current organisation as a base for a new generation of traceability systems considered in the European project IoF2020 (Internet of the Food and Farm 2020). Some parallels between Almeria's model and certain areas in China, mainly in the areas of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and Shandong were detected. Another of the objectives of this work is to deepen the understanding of these similarities and analyze the possible adaptation of the results from Almeria to China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation: Zeitschrift für Angewandte Organisationspsychologie (GIO) is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Education of Economists & Managers / Edukacja Ekonomistow i Menedzerow is the property of Warsaw School of Economics, Department of Human Capital Development and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The present study examines the role of psychological empowerment (PE) in mediating the relationship between organisational structure and work related attitude. Through a sample of 324 middle and senior level executives working in India using a self-report questionnaire, the study established the linkage between organisational structure, psychological empowerment, and work related attitude thus extended the psychological empowerment theory. It was found that employee perceptions of the organisation structure they work in, directly influence their perceptions of empowerment, which, in turn, influence their work outcomes like job satisfaction, commitment and turnover intention. As per the findings, formalisation and participation in decision-making characteristics of organisation structure were found to be critical in enhancing psychological empowerment. Hierarchy of authority was found to negatively co-vary with psychological empowerment indicating that the more centralised the structure is, the lesser the feeling of empowerment experienced by the employees. The findings will facilitate managers to analyse their organisations' with respect to centralisation and formalisation variables and assess to what extent they are matching with their goals of organisation to ascertain positive work outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Treaties & Documents / Razprave in Gradivo is the property of Institut za Narodnostna Vprasanja and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Professionals express divergent views about whether adults at risk are best served by safeguarding work being incorporated into social workers' casework or being undertaken by specialist workers within local area or centralised teams. This paper draws on findings from the final two phases of a three-phase study which aimed to identify a typology of different models of organising adult safeguarding and compare the advantages and disadvantages of these. We used mixed-methods to investigate four different models of organising adult safeguarding which we termed: A) Dispersed-Generic, B) Dispersed-Specialist, C) Partly-Centralised-Specialist and D) Fully-Centralised-Specialist. In each model, we analysed staff interviews (n = 38), staff survey responses (n = 206), feedback interviews (with care home managers, solicitors and Independent Mental Capacity Advocates) (n = 28), Abuse of Vulnerable Adults (AVA) Returns, Adult Social Care User Survey Returns (ASCS) and service costs. This paper focuses on qualitative data from staff and feedback interviews and the staff survey. Our findings focus on safeguarding as a specialism, safeguarding practice (including multi-agency working, prioritisation, tensions, handover, staff confidence and deskilling) and managing safeguarding. Local authority (LA) participants described and commented on the advantages and disadvantages of their organisational model. Feedback interviews offered different perspectives on safeguarding services and implications of different models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Greater priority is now being given to improving responses to concerns that adults may be at risk of abuse or neglect in England and internationally. In England, the Care Act 2014 placed ‘adult safeguarding’ on a firmer statutory footing. Although local authorities were given the lead responsibility for adult safeguarding over a decade ago, little is known about how they organised their responses. This article reports one element of a national study in which semi-structured interviews with 23 local authority adult safeguarding managers in 2013–14 were conducted. The interviews sought to understand how local authorities arrange their responses to adult safeguarding concerns. Findings Several models of practice were identified. Confirming a central theme reported in the literature, the extent and nature of specialism within safeguarding practice varied. Safeguarding specialists were reported to be based in centralised teams or were located as specialists in locality social work teams. In some areas, the role of specialist safeguarding practitioners was linked to an analysis of risk severity or location of concern. Other areas emphasised the importance of safeguarding work as the core of mainstream social work practice. Applications These findings offer a basis for analysis and managerial considerations about the implications of different organisational models of adult safeguarding. These may be relevant to option appraisals and decision-making about future organisational planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Contributions to Contemporary History / Prispevki za Novejšo Zgodovino is the property of Prispevki za Novejso Zgodovino and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Dealing with specialised social service organisations can be a challenge for clients with complex needs. These organisations may appear confusing and hard to navigate, and there is also a risk of service fragmentation, as such clients often participate simultaneously in an array of interventions. An additional complication to be handled is that these parallel interventions can range from voluntary to more or less involuntary. The aim of the present article is to describe and analyse how clients with complex needs account for their handling of service conditions within specialised personal social services (PSS), using data from a qualitative interview study with PSS clients in Sweden. A conceptual model is presented, covering four ideal typical client approaches to these specialised services: consensus, resignation, fight and escape. One key finding is that the clients combined these approaches in a balancing act intended to promote their own best interests in their parallel contacts with different parts of the specialised PSS organisation. The article concludes that future improvements in social services could be made by paying more attention to the structural arrangements that surround encounters between clients and the social services, as well as clients' valuable first-hand knowledge of social service organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of the endeavours of enterprises and other organisations has shifted from the production and sales of standardised products and services to tailor-made products according to individual customers’ requirements. Flexibility, creativity and innovation have become of utmost importance. Although many authors have argued that large enterprises are unable to adapt to the required changes, such predictions have not been realised. On the contrary, large corporations have adapted to the changes, mainly by changing and developing their organisation. Thus, changes in organisational structure, organisational culture and organisational processes have led to creativity and innovation in large enterprises. In the first part of the article, we attempt to show these adaptations briefly and systematically. In the second part, we review research on this issue and its results in large Slovenian enterprises, in order to prove the hypothesis that large Slovenian enterprises have also changed their organisation to adequately develop their creativity and innovation. We also attempt to prove that creativity and innovation have resulted in improvements of efficiency and effectiveness.

Background: With the aim of encouraging mobility between higher education institutions in the Western Balkan countries and those in the European Union (EU), the European Commission initiated a series of measures to increase the share of students primarily from the Western Balkans who spend at least one semester away from their home institutions, but also the share of young people from EU member states who come to Western Balkan (WB) countries. Objectives: Aim of the paper is to determine the degree of representation of internationalisation strategy and policy elements in the internal documents of higher education institutions and its direct impact on the development of mobility. Methods/Approach: An electronic survey has been created and sent to representatives of 9 EU and 11 WB universities. Respondents were mainly international relations officers or management representatives. Mann-Whitney test was applied in order to test differences between EU and WB universities. Results: The conducted Mann-Whitney nonparametric tests show that the degree of representation of internationalisation strategy and policy elements in the internal documents of a higher education institution has a direct impact on the development of mobility. Conclusions: By 2020, the European Commission aims to have 20% of all students acquiring an academic degree within the European Higher Education Area participate in mobility. This paper sheds light on this segment and indicates possible directions for actions aimed at developing mobility at institutions in Western Balkan countries

The article deals with the concept of sustainable development (SD) management and conditions to achieve SD of an industrial enterprise. The structure of sustainability management is presented. It is proved that organizational structure of management is the basis for assessing the effectiveness of the SD of an enterprise. It is shown that to assess the effectiveness of the management of SD of the enterprise, there should be indicators used characterizing the level of manageability and the growth level of the organizational management structure. It is shown that with the help of an indicator like the manageability level, it is possible to determine the stability boundaries of an enterprise.(original abstract)