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Introduction: Self-managing organizations are a novel organizational form that radically decentralizes decision authority to adapt to the volatile business environment and the demands of knowledge work, resulting in new resources and demands for the employees. Therefore, building on the job demands-resources theory and the person-environment fit theory, the associations of self-managing organizations with higher perceived individual autonomy were tested. Additionally, the study investigated how job crafting and handling mistakes related to the relationship between job autonomy and work engagement/satisfaction. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted to gather data from employees of different self-managing organizations and non-self-managing organizations, and group comparisons and path analyses were applied to test the preregistered hypotheses. Results: Increased method and decision autonomy, job crafting behaviors, error management orientation, work engagement, and job satisfaction were found in self-managing organizations. Additionally, a surplus of perceived autonomy compared to the ideal autonomy was associated with lower work engagement and job satisfaction compared to a fit between ideal and perceived autonomy. However, job crafting did not relate to a better fit between ideal and perceived autonomy. Decision autonomy predicted higher crafting of challenging demands and structural resources for employees with low error strain. Depending on the autonomy type, learning from errors enhanced or reduced the relationship between perceived autonomy and job crafting. Discussion: This study showed the importance of addressing the higher level of individual autonomy in self-managing organizations and offered starting points for interventions to support employees with handling high autonomy. Reducing error strain but increasing error learning and risking errors could help increase job crafting and work engagement, particularly in self-managing organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The novel organizational form of self‐managing organizations decentralizes decision authority, thus promising higher adaptability and sustainability. However, recent practical experiences showed that such organizations struggle with employee turnover and lack of engagement, and thus, levers to improve personnel selection are required. This work investigated the relationship between person‐environment fit regarding perceived and ideal decision autonomy and the employee outcomes of work engagement and emotional exhaustion in self‐managing organizations. Furthermore, the associations with personality traits were examined. The study relied on cross‐sectional survey data from two subsamples of employees working in self‐managing and traditional organizations. Group comparison was used to test the elevated level of decision autonomy in self‐managing organizations, polynomial regression with response surface analysis was used to investigate the effect of (mis‐)fit, and multiple regression analyses evaluated the relationship with personality traits. The findings showed that employees in self‐managing organizations experienced higher decision autonomy than those in traditional organizations. Additionally, the fit between ideal and perceived decision autonomy predicted higher work engagement, while extraversion, openness to experience, and low neuroticism predicted higher ideal decision autonomy. As a result, individual person‐environment fit regarding decision autonomy and personality requires attention in self‐managing organizations to engage employees. The findings imply that the effect of decision autonomy on engagement is not positive per se but depends on the intraindividual characteristics, which must be of concern when decentralizing decision authority organization‐wide. Therefore, personnel selection and recruitment processes in self‐managing organizations should consider ideal decision autonomy and personality traits as assessment criteria. Practitioner points: Personality assessment focusing on high extraversion, high openness to experience, and low neuroticism may help identify those employees with high ideal decision autonomy.Recruitment and selection processes in self‐managing organizations (SMOs) focused on finding employees with high ideal decision autonomy may help to promote engagement and prevent emotional exhaustion. When transforming a traditional organization toward an SMO, human resource management should consider the changes in job characteristics for employees and provide corresponding HR interventions to enable the employees to handle them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IntroductionSelf-managing organizations are a novel organizational form that radically decentralizes decision authority to adapt to the volatile business environment and the demands of knowledge work, resulting in new resources and demands for the employees. Therefore, building on the job demands-resources theory and the person-environment fit theory, the associations of self-managing organizations with higher perceived individual autonomy were tested. Additionally, the study investigated how job crafting and handling mistakes related to the relationship between job autonomy and work engagement/satisfaction.MethodA cross-sectional study was conducted to gather data from employees of different self-managing organizations and non-self-managing organizations, and group comparisons and path analyses were applied to test the preregistered hypotheses.ResultsIncreased method and decision autonomy, job crafting behaviors, error management orientation, work engagement, and job satisfaction were found in self-managing organizations. Additionally, a surplus of perceived autonomy compared to the ideal autonomy was associated with lower work engagement and job satisfaction compared to a fit between ideal and perceived autonomy. However, job crafting did not relate to a better fit between ideal and perceived autonomy. Decision autonomy predicted higher crafting of challenging demands and structural resources for employees with low error strain. Depending on the autonomy type, learning from errors enhanced or reduced the relationship between perceived autonomy and job crafting.DiscussionThis study showed the importance of addressing the higher level of individual autonomy in self-managing organizations and offered starting points for interventions to support employees with handling high autonomy. Reducing error strain but increasing error learning and risking errors could help increase job crafting and work engagement, particularly in self-managing organizations.

For more than three decades healthcare decentralization has been promoted in developing countries as a way of improving the financing and delivery of public healthcare. Decision autonomy under healthcare decentralization would determine the role and scope of responsibility of local authorities. Jalal Mohammed, Nicola North, and Toni Ashton analyze decision autonomy within decentralized services in Fiji. They conclude that the narrow decision space allowed to local entities might have limited the benefits of decentralization on users and providers. To discuss the costs and benefits of healthcare decentralization this paper uses the U-form and M-form typology to further illustrate the role of decision autonomy under healthcare decentralization. This paper argues that when evaluating healthcare decentralization, it is important to determine whether the benefits from decentralization are greater than its costs. The U-form and M-form framework is proposed as a useful typology to evaluate different types of institutional arrangements under healthcare decentralization. Under this model, the more decentralized organizational form (M-form) is superior if the benefits from flexibility exceed the costs of duplication and the more centralized organizational form (U-form) is superior if the savings from economies of scale outweigh the costly decision-making process from the center to the regions. Budgetary and financial autonomy and effective mechanisms to maintain local governments accountable for their spending behavior are key decision autonomy variables that could sway the cost-benefit analysis of healthcare decentralization.

Minors seeking abortion in states with parental involvement requirements can obtain judicial bypass (JB) as an alternative. Research on minors' reasons for choosing bypass and the logistical obstacles associated with bypass is limited, yet needed to assess potential burdens introduced by mandated parental involvement. Using data from all minors represented in JB proceedings by the Illinois Judicial Bypass Coordination Project in 2017 and 2018, we present descriptive statistics summarizing minors' demographic characteristics, reasons for seeking bypass, individuals involved in decision-making, and distances traveled and time elapsed to attend the court hearing. Most minors obtaining bypass (n = 150) agreed to participate (n = 128). Just more than half (55%) were aged 17 years and lived with one parent (54%). A minority were already parenting (5%) and/or lived with someone besides a parent or on their own (16%). The reasons for bypass included concern about being forced to continue the pregnancy (50%), fear of being kicked out of their home and/or cut off financially (41%), having no/minimal relationship with parents (15%), and fear of physical/emotional abuse (13%). Minors traveled an average of 24 miles one-way (range 1–270 miles) to a courthouse for their hearing. On average, 6.4 days elapsed between contacting the Judicial Bypass Coordination Project and the hearing. Judicial bypass can offer young people an opportunity to retain autonomy in decision-making, potentially avoiding abuse and other negative outcomes. However, even in a state with a well-organized network of attorneys, JB contributes 1 week to minors' abortion-seeking timeline and necessitates traveling long distances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Access to skilled maternal health services has been recognized as a panacea to poor maternal health outcome. However, poor access to skilled maternal health services prevail and this is worrisome because of the corresponding poor maternal health outcomes. This study examined women's status and access to maternal health services in primary healthcare facilities of North Ukelle. Methods: A cross sectional survey design was adopted for this study while a validated questionnaire with a reliability co-efficient of 0.67 was administered to obtained data. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 390 women who had been pregnant within twenty four (24) months prior to the survey. Both descriptive and Chi square techniques were applied to analyze data using SPSS 21.0. Result: Findings from this study showed low access, as only 176(45.1%) accessed maternal care in the primary healthcare facilities. Decision for care was taken by husbands alone for 152(39%) respondents and the influence of low decision autonomy was conspicuous as husband's decision determined place of registration for maternal care in 254 (65.1%) respondents. Access to health facility based care increased with higher level of education. Interestingly, women involved in trading 72(18.5%) accessed care more than civil servants 43(11.0%). Chi square analysis showed no significant association between occupation and access. Conclusion: Based on these findings, free secondary education for the girl-child is suggested, as this will empower her to take healthcare decisions and negotiate care options. Flexible maternal care periods such as evenings and weekends should be adopted to accommodate working class women with tight time schedule.

Background The objective of the study is self-assessment of Polish infection control nurses (ICNs) in terms of the structure of professional tasks and autonomy of decision-making. Material and Methods A questionnaire survey was filled out by 208 ICNs (around 21% of all Polish ICNs) in 15 provinces located in Poland. The research encompassed ICNs surveillance healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in 2014. Results The work time that ICNs devote to professional tasks and decision autonomy on the scale of 1–100% was as follows: 34% (67% of decision autonomy) was dedicated to detecting and registering HAIs, 12% (71%) – internal control, 10% (58%) – devising and implementing infection prevention practices, 10% (68%) – staff trainings, 8% (65%) – identification and study of outbreaks, 7% (58%) – promoting hand hygiene, 6% (51%) – consults with infected patients, 4% (57%) – consults on decontamination, 4% (54%) – consults on maintaining cleanliness, 3% (51%) – isolation and application of personal protective measures, 2% – other tasks. Infection prevention and control nurses estimated, on average, that their autonomy of decisions concerning the professional tasks performed amounted to 60%. Conclusions Infection control nurses in Poland have difficulty in achieving balance between tasks they perform and the authority they exercise. The ICN professional task structure is dominated by duties associated with monitoring hospital infections, however, the greatest decision autonomy is visible regarding internal control. Decision-making concentrated on internal control may hinder building a positive image of an ICN. We should strive to firmly establish professional tasks and rights of ICNs in legislation concerning performing the duties of a nurse and midwife. Med Pr 2018;69(6):605–612

Multinational companies deal with production processes in various countries by operating global production networks. These production processes are allocated to production plants with different levels of autonomy regarding strategic and operative decisions. Typically, each plant and the whole network are managed by one or more network managers who have to deal with a decision overload in their daily business. 50% of their decisions are made in less than 9 minutes and only a small amount of decision tasks are dealt with for more than one hour. To reduce this dilemma, it was found that the distribution of decision autonomy can be enhanced. It depends on the company's strategy and complexity dimensions in global production networks. However, so far there is little evidence on how to better distribute decision autonomy in global production networks in detail. Furthermore, it is not transparent at what level of cetralism a global production network should be managed without cutting the capabilities of production plants. This paper presents a methodology, which examines relevant strategy dimensions and derives guidance on how to distribute decisions in global production networks. First, the network and production strategies of global production networks are classified. Second, relevant complexity dimensions and decisions are introduced. Third, the influence of the distribution of decision autonomy on strategy dimensions is quantified by an impact model. Furthermore, the effect of complexity on the distribution of decision autonomy is quantified by an impact model. Here, the integration of empirical data was used to validate the different influences. Finally, the ideal distribution of decision autonomy for specific production plants in the global production network is derived. The methodology is applied in an industrial use case to prove its practical impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Access to skilled maternal health services has been recognized as a panacea to poor maternal health outcome. However, poor access to skilled maternal health services prevail and this is worrisome because of the corresponding poor maternal health outcomes. This study examined women's status and access to maternal health services in primary healthcare facilities of North Ukelle. Methods: A cross sectional survey design was adopted for this study while a validated questionnaire with a reliability coefficient of 0.67 was administered to obtained data. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 390 women who had been pregnant within twenty four (24) months prior to the survey. Both descriptive and Chi square techniques were applied to analyze data using SPSS 21.0. Result: Findings from this study showed low access, as only 176(45.1%) accessed maternal care in the primary healthcare facilities. Decision for care was taken by husbands alone for 152(39%) respondents and the influence of low decision autonomy was conspicuous as husband's decision determined place of registration for maternal care in 254 (65.1%) respondents. Access to health facility based care increased with higher level of education. Interestingly, women involved in trading 72(18.5%) accessed care more than civil servants 43(11.0%). Chi square analysis showed no significant association between occupation and access. Conclusion: Based on these findings, free secondary education for the girl-child is suggested, as this will empower her to take healthcare decisions and negotiate care options. Flexible maternal care periods such as evenings and weekends should be adopted to accommodate working class women with tight time schedule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is considerable ambiguity about how the personality trait of openness to experience affects employee creativity. We investigated how the interactions of openness to experience with decision autonomy, and with task interdependence can influence employee creativity. Analysis of matched data from 217 supervisor–employee dyads showed a direct influence of openness of experience and the decision autonomy and task interdependence job characteristics on employee creativity. Furthermore, we examined the moderating roles of decision autonomy and task interdependence in the effect of openness to experience on employee creativity, and found that openness to experience was positively related to employee creativity and task interdependence was negatively related to employee creativity. Further, decision autonomy positively moderated the relationship between openness to experience and employee creativity, whereas the interaction between task interdependence and openness to experience did not have a significant impact on employee creativity. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the engagement of senior public managers by developing a person-situation-interactionist perspective. It integrates the literature on social exchange theory and person-organization fit to explore the effects of decision autonomy and shared vision on the engagement of more than 2,000 senior public sector managers in the central government agencies of three continental European countries: France, Germany, and The Netherlands. Then, it examines whether the locus of control of those managers moderates the decision autonomy-engagement and shared vision-engagement relationships. The structural equation modeling results suggest that there are positive relationships between both decision autonomy and shared vision and employee engagement. Further analysis revealed that an internal locus of control strengthened the decision autonomy-engagement relationship, but that it weakened the shared vision-engagement relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For more than three decades healthcare decentralization has been promoted in developing countries as a way of improving the financing and delivery of public healthcare. Decision autonomy under healthcare decentralization would determine the role and scope of responsibility of local authorities. Jalal Mohammed, Nicola North, and Toni Ashton analyze decision autonomy within decentralized services in Fiji. They conclude that the narrow decision space allowed to local entities might have limited the benefits of decentralization on users and providers. To discuss the costs and benefits of healthcare decentralization this paper uses the U-form and M-form typology to further illustrate the role of decision autonomy under healthcare decentralization. This paper argues that when evaluating healthcare decentralization, it is important to determine whether the benefits from decentralization are greater than its costs. The U-form and M-form framework is proposed as a useful typology to evaluate different types of institutional arrangements under healthcare decentralization. Under this model, the more decentralized organizational form (M-form) is superior if the benefits from flexibility exceed the costs of duplication and the more centralized organizational form (U-form) is superior if the savings from economies of scale outweigh the costly decision-making process from the center to the regions. Budgetary and financial autonomy and effective mechanisms to maintain local governments accountable for their spending behavior are key decision autonomy variables that could sway the cost-benefit analysis of healthcare decentralization.

This study investigates the multilevel interplay among team-level, job-related, and individual characteristics in stimulating employees' innovative work behavior (IWB) based on the theoretical frameworks of achievement goal theory (AGT) and job characteristics theory (JCT). A multilevel two-source study of 240 employees and their 34 direct supervisors in two medium-sized Slovenian companies revealed significant two- and three-way interactions, where a mastery climate, task interdependence, and decision autonomy moderated the relationship between knowledge hiding and IWB. When employees hide knowledge, a team mastery climate only facilitates high levels of IWB if accompanied by either high task interdependence or high decision autonomy. In the absence of one of these job characteristics, knowledge hiding prevents higher levels of IWB even in the case of strong team mastery climate. The results suggest that multiple job design antecedents are necessary to neutralize the negative influence of knowledge hiding on micro-innovation processes within organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today AUVs operation still remains restricted to very particular tasks with low real autonomy due to battery restrictions. Efficient path planning and mission scheduling are principle requirement toward advance autonomy and facilitate the vehicle to handle long-range operations. A single vehicle cannot carry out all tasks in a large scale terrain; hence, it needs a certain degree of autonomy in performing robust decision making and awareness of the mission/environment to trade-off between tasks to be completed, managing the available time, and ensuring safe deployment at all stages of the mission. In this respect, this research introduces a modular control architecture including higher/lower level planners, in which the higher level module is responsible for increasing mission productivity by assigning prioritized tasks while guiding the vehicle toward its final destination in a terrain covered by several waypoints; and the lower level is responsible for vehicle’s safe deployment in a smaller scale encountering time-varying ocean current and different uncertain static/moving obstacles similar to actual ocean environment. Synchronization between higher and lower level modules is efficiently configured to manage the mission time and to guarantee on-time termination of the mission. The performance and accuracy of two higher and lower level modules are tested and validated using ant colony and firefly optimization algorithm, respectively. After all, the overall performance of the architecture is investigated in 10 different mission scenarios. The analysis of the captured results from different simulated missions confirms the efficiency and inherent robustness of the introduced architecture in efficient time management, safe deployment, and providing beneficial operation by proper prioritizing the tasks in accordance with mission time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how two cross-functional conditions (decision autonomy and trust) and a key managerial attitude toward the organization (organizational commitment), both individually and collectively, act as catalysts of the firm's ability to convert its innovation pursuits into performance outcomes. An analysis of the performance of 232 firms offers support for the hypothesized interaction effects. The positive relationship between innovation and firm performance is stronger for higher levels of decision autonomy, trust, and organizational commitment. In addition, consistent with a system's approach to organizational contingencies, the contribution of innovation to firm performance is stronger when the firm's context comes closer to an “ideal” configuration of these three factors. The authors discuss the study's implications, limitations, and directions for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

For more than three decades healthcare decentralization has been promoted in developing countries as a way of improving the financing and delivery of public healthcare. Decision autonomy under healthcare decentralization would determine the role and scope of responsibility of local authorities. Jalal Mohammed, Nicola North, and Toni Ashton analyze decision autonomy within decentralized services in Fiji. They conclude that the narrow decision space allowed to local entities might have limited the benefits of decentralization on users and providers. To discuss the costs and benefits of healthcare decentralization this paper uses the U-form and M-form typology to further illustrate the role of decision autonomy under healthcare decentralization. This paper argues that when evaluating healthcare decentralization, it is important to determine whether the benefits from decentralization are greater than its costs. The U-form and M-form framework is proposed as a useful typology to evaluate different types of institutional arrangements under healthcare decentralization. Under this model, the more decentralized organizational form (M-form) is superior if the benefits from flexibility exceed the costs of duplication and the more centralized organizational form (U-form) is superior if the savings from economies of scale outweigh the costly decision-making process from the center to the regions. Budgetary and financial autonomy and effective mechanisms to maintain local governments accountable for their spending behavior are key decision autonomy variables that could sway the cost-benefit analysis of healthcare decentralization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated trip motivation of 800 Chinese mature travelers residing in metropolitan areas based on travelers' decision autonomy in planning domestic trips. A two-step cluster analysis was conducted to segment respondents into mutually exclusive groups according to their autonomy on destination selection, financial source, and trip arrangement. An ANOVA was conducted to examine differences on motivation factors among emergent clusters. Moreover, the resultant clusters were differentiated by travel constraints (i.e., health related and socio-demographic characteristics) using a logistic regression analysis. Significant relationships among mature travelers' trip autonomy, motivation, and constraints contributed to the understanding of urban mature travelers in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The objective of the study is self-assessment of Polish infection control nurses (ICNs) in terms of the structure of professional tasks and autonomy of decision-making., Material and Methods: A questionnaire survey was filled out by 208 ICNs (around 21% of all Polish ICNs) in 15 provinces located in Poland. The research encompassed ICNs surveillance healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in 2014., Results: The work time that ICNs devote to professional tasks and decision autonomy on the scale of 1-100% was as follows: 34% (67% of decision autonomy) was dedicated to detecting and registering HAIs, 12% (71%) - internal control, 10% (58%) - devising and implementing infection prevention practices, 10% (68%) - staff trainings, 8% (65%) - identification and study of outbreaks, 7% (58%) - promoting hand hygiene, 6% (51%) - consults with infected patients, 4% (57%) - consults on decontamination, 4% (54%) - consults on maintaining cleanliness, 3% (51%) - isolation and application of personal protective measures, 2% - other tasks. Infection prevention and control nurses estimated, on average, that their autonomy of decisions concerning the professional tasks performed amounted to 60%., Conclusions: Infection control nurses in Poland have difficulty in achieving balance between tasks they perform and the authority they exercise. The ICN professional task structure is dominated by duties associated with monitoring hospital infections, however, the greatest decision autonomy is visible regarding internal control. Decision-making concentrated on internal control may hinder building a positive image of an ICN. We should strive to firmly establish professional tasks and rights of ICNs in legislation concerning performing the duties of a nurse and midwife. Med Pr 2018;69(6):605-612., (This work is available in Open Access model and licensed under a CC BY-NC 3.0 PL license.)