Organizational characteristics of empowering community settings: A multiple case study approach

Although empowerment is often cited as a major guiding construct for community psychology, relatively little is known about the characteristics of empowering community settings. The current paper uses a multiple case study methodology to generate a number of key organizational characteristics of empowering community settings to guide future work in the area. In-depth, multilevel, longitudinal research was conducted on three empowering community settings: a religious fellowship, a mutual help organization for persons with severe mental illness, and an educational program for African American students. The organizational features found to characterize all three settings were (a) a belief system that inspires growth is strengths-based, and is focused beyond the self; (b) an opportunity role structure that is pervasive, highly accessible, and multifunctional (c) a support system that is encompassing, peer-based, and provides a sense of community; and (d) leadership that is inspiring, talented, shared, and committed to both setting and members. Limitations of the research are discussed, and directions for future research suggested.     

Occupational stress within a U.K. higher education institution

Occupational stress in a U.K. higher education institution was investigated during a period of considerable organizational change. All employees, including academic, support and manual staff, were invited to participate anonymously in the survey. The results, based on the Occupational Stress Indicator, showed that employees reported significantly poorer mental and physical well-being, and greater job dissatisfaction, than a normative group. The findings suggested that female employees were at greater risk from adverse effects of occupational stress. Predictors of distress and job dissatisfaction were identified. The study concluded that occupational stress is a significant problem, and that further investigation is required in other similar institutions.     

Building a primary care discipline: Notes from a psychologist in family medicine

Psychologists of a variety of emphases have actively participated in the growth of family medicine as an academic discipline. Rather than simply collaborate, they have shaped the very nature of the field. This paper describes a number of contributions from psychologists in family systems and educational arenas. In particular, physician-psychologist collaborative work is highlighted.     

Prevention, solution-focused therapy, and the illusion of mental disorders

Therapy theorists' criticism of the lack of specific mechanisms in the prevention of mental disorders is examined from the perspective of solution-focused therapy (SFT), which argues that solutions can be unrelated to problems, and that it is not even necessary to know what a problem is in order to solve it. It is suggested that the shift of attention from problems to solutions in SFT offers a conceptual framework within which the criticism is not relevant, and from which theorists of therapy and prevention can share a common outlook. This outlook involves a focus on encouraging productive, useful, positive behavior, with a corresponding deemphasis on an skepticism about current conceptualizations of mental disorders.     

The Person/Environment Dynamics of Employee Empowerment: An Organizational Culture Analysis

Using an organizational culture framework, this case study examines the critical preconditions necessary for employee empowerment and highlights how the multiple cultures within one public bureaucracy differently impacted their implementation. SERVE, a large human service organization, initiated an employee empowerment program that contradicted and thus collided with many elements of its overall organizational culture. Despite the best intentions of the organizational leaders, upper management support, and opportunities for participatory decision making, the organization could not foster the critical preconditions needed for employee empowerment. Leaders had difficulty expanding the employees' power and promoting member inclusion. Concurrently, most employees rejected these new opportunities for control and distrusted the leader's intentions. Yet, despite the widespread rejection of these empowerment initiatives, most employees described their work lives as empowering. The role the local site subculture played in promoting employee empowerment is examined. We discuss how a localized (vs. system-wide) empowerment endeavor may be a more appropriate and feasible focus for public bureaucracies seeking to initiate greater staff empowerment. Particular attention is paid to the interaction between individuals and their environments, and how this interaction affects the empowerment process.     

Rewarding safety belt usage at an industrial setting: Tests of treatment generality and response maintenance

An incentive program to motivate seat belt use was implemented at a large munitions plant. Seat belt usage was assessed daily at an entrance/exit gate of the industrial complex when employees arrived for work in the morning and departed in the afternoon. During treatment incentive fliers, which prompted seat belt usage and gave belt wearers opportunities to win prizes, were distributed only in the afternoon. Seat belt wearing increased from baseline means of 20.4% and 17.3% during the morning and afternoon, respectively, to averages of 55.5% during afternoon departures and 31.1% during morning arrivals. During follow-up, mean belt use dropped almost to baseline levels. Categorizing vehicles according to driver sex and license plate number enabled a study of belt wearing practices of individuals, and revealed that the incentive program influenced some drivers to wear their seat belts during morning arrival when incentives were not distributed (i.e., treatment generalization) and during a follow-up period after the incentives were withdrawn (i.e., response maintenance).     

Task clarification, performance feedback, and social praise: Procedures for improving the customer service of bank tellers

Customer service for bank tellers was defined in terms of 11 verbal behavior categories. An audio-recording system was used to track the occurrence of behaviors in these categories for six retail banking tellers. Three behavior management interventions (task clarification, performance feedback, and social praise), applied in sequence, were designed to improve overall teller performance with regard to the behavioral categories targeted. Clarification was accomplished by providing clear delineation of the various target categories, with specific examples of the behaviors in each. Feedback entailed presentation of ongoing verbal and visual information regarding teller performance. Praise consisted of verbal recognition of teller performance by branch managers. Results showed that clarification effects emerged quickly, producing an overall increase in desired behaviors of 12% over baseline. Feedback and praise effects occurred more gradually, resulting in overall increases of 6% and 7%, respectively. A suspension of all procedures led to a decline in overall performance, whereas reinstatement of feedback and praise was again accompanied by performance improvement. These findings extend the generality of behavior management applications and help to distinguish between possible antecedent and consequent effects of performance feedback.     

EXPANDING THE IMPACT OF BEHAVIORAL STAFF MANAGEMENT: A LARGE-SCALE,LONG-TERM APPLICATION IN SCHOOLS SERVING SEVERELY HANDICAPPED STUDENTS

Experimental evaluations of behavioral staff management procedures usually have been limited to relatively small-scale demonstration studies. We evaluated a large-scale, long-term application of a staff management program designed to improve the functional utility of educational services for severely handicapped persons. The intervention, involving a brief in-service program followed by supervisory prompts and feedback, was implemented by three principals in four schools involving 21 classrooms. Implementation of the management procedures was consistently accompanied by increases in student involvement in functional educational tasks in each classroom. Further, the improved services continued throughout a 2-year follow-up period. Staff responses to a questionnaire indicated a high degree of staff acceptance of the management program. Results are discussed in terms of expanding the use of behavioral supervisory procedures from experimental demonstrations to actual adoption by existing human service agencies.     

亲亲相隐何时休?关系对揭发意向影响的边界

当组织中做出不道德行为的人跟自己关系非常亲近时,员工可能不会揭发他们的不道德行为,进而给组织带来潜在的隐患。鉴于先前研究较少关注如何降低不道德情境中关系的包庇作用,本研究考察了组织和个体特征在削弱关系与揭发负向关系方面扮演的调节角色。结果表明,关系会抑制员工对不道德行为的揭发意向(研究1~3),且关系对员工揭发意向的负向影响受到了组织关系取向(研究1和3)与员工正直(研究2和3)的调节。随着组织关系取向的下降或员工正直程度的提升,关系对员工揭发意向的抑制作用逐步降低。这些结果对于组织内部揭发机制设计具有借鉴意义。     

The association between team‐level social capital and individual‐level work engagement: Differences between subtypes of social capital and the impact of intra‐team agreement

The study explored the association between team‐level social capital and individual‐level work engagement. Questionnaire data were collected from six companies in the dairy industry. Seven hundred seventy‐two participants divided into 65 teams were included. In confirmatory factor analyses, we found a superior model fit to a four dimensional model of social capital: bonding social capital, bridging social capital and two types of linking social capital. The results showed a positive association between all subtypes of social capital at the team level and work engagement at the individual level. However, this association only remained significant for linking social capital in relation the workplace as a whole when we adjusted for psychosocial working conditions. The level of intra‐team agreement in social capital score did not moderate the association between social capital and work engagement. In conclusion, the results provide further support for previous findings suggesting a positive association between social capital and work engagement. They add to the existing knowledge by suggesting that linking social capital in relation to the workplace is the most important explanatory variable for work engagement, thus emphasizing the need to distinguish between subtypes of social capital in research and practice.