Tensions of Accountability: Scientists,Technicians and the Ethical Life of Data Production in Astronomy

ABSTRACT

Laboratory ethnographies have emphasized the importance of trust and accountability among scientists and technicians when working in co-presence. But what happens to their relations when data production is outsourced, widely separating scientists and technicians? In contemporary astronomy, observing has largely become a service that observatory staff members do for researchers. This has increased the efficiency of telescope use while also resulting in arrangements prone to some researchers’ dissatisfaction and a raised visibility of technicians’ work. Attending ethnographically to situated evaluations reveals that some data-using researchers and data-producing technicians typify each other as moral figures: staff observers come to be seen as objects of blame and scientists as excessively demanding users. Wherever data travel, the quality and quantity of data can serve as ethical affordances for assigning blame to staff technicians. By contrast, the moral figure of the excessively demanding data user does not travel beyond the observatory, and the social accountability of interactions that visiting astronomers experience in the observatory’s control room is confined to its situated enactment. As scientist–technician interactions have become discontinuous and fraught, moral figures and ethical accounts thus travel unevenly in the landscape of data production, and the importance of social interactions remains often unrecognized.     

Towards new work arrangements: The case of telecommuting

Telecommuting is an example of novel ways of organizing work now being implemented in technologically advanced nations. It is the major industrialized countries that have provided the circumstances and the incentives to experiment with new approaches. These approaches were created within, and co‐exist with these models of social organization. They also embrace some elements that undermine basic tenets of industrial models. Telecommuting is discussed below as an example of newly evolving work arrangements which illustrates the interplay of tensions between existing models of work organization and innovative ways of ordering tasks. This paper is based upon graduate research in Rural Extension. The conceptual framework was created by synthesizing material from interdisciplinary sources and primary data collection included in‐depth interviews with key informants engaged in telecommuting.     

Watching the paint dry at work: psychometric examination of the Dutch Boredom Scale

Boredom at work is a state of employee unwell-being that is characterized by relatively low arousal and high dissatisfaction. At present little is known about boredom at work. In order to facilitate future research, the current study introduces a brief self-report questionnaire that assesses boredom at work, the Dutch Boredom Scale (DUBS). We argue that (1) boredom at work can be distinguished empirically from related concepts such as work engagement and job burnout; (2) boredom at work results from having an unchallenging, “passive” job; and (3) the subsequent lack of challenge in the form of boredom may result in dissatisfaction with the job and with the organization. Using data from 6315 employees, factor analysis supported the factorial and discriminant validity of the DUBS vis-à-vis engagement and burnout. As expected, structural equation modeling revealed that demands and resources were negatively associated with boredom. Moreover, boredom at work was negatively related with job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and positively with turnover intention. These findings support the validity of the DUBS. Future research may focus on underemployment as an antecedent of boredom at work, and on the effects of boredom on job performance.     

Aspects of the Early Life Histories of Social Workers in Private Practice

Abstract

From 1993 until 1999 the author undertook a qualitative doctoral research project into the transition of New Zealand social workers from salaried agency employment to private practice (van Heugten, 1999). This private practice was almost exclusively in psychotherapy and coun seling. During semi-structured interviews in which a range of topics was covered, respondents were asked what part they thought their life history had played in their decision to become social workers and to become pri vate practitioners. Respondents talked about their parents' political per spectives, their own educational experiences, religion and spirituality, and immigrant status. Many respondents disclosed traumatic early life experi ences. Analysis of narratives revealed the prevalence of a perception of be ing outsiders; of viewing and responding to significant situations differently from other people. Whilst respondents struggled with a perva sive sense of personal and occupational marginalization, they also recognized that their capacity to adopt an outsider perspective made a positive contribution to their practice as social workers and as psychotherapists or counselors.     

Otto Rank: Pioneering Ideas for Social Work Theory and Practice

This article examines Otto Rank's psychology and its profound implications for social work knowledge-building and practice. The paper begins with a brief biographical portrait, highlighting the significance of Rank's relationship and eventual break with Freud, and contextualizing the ideas that became the basis for the Functional Approach. We discuss Rank's conception of human functioning in the social environment, his influence on later theories, and a contemporary critique of Rank's ideas. The paper concludes with a discussion of Rank's contributions to the Functional Approach and to social work practice in general.     

Therapeutic Use of Space

ABSTRACT

The project described in this article addresses the therapeutic use of physical space in an outpatient counseling facility. It was theorized that an improved facility environment could be used as a practice tool when working with a vulnerable population. The authors undertook the project with limited time and finances. The process of the change project is discussed in detail in an attempt to encourage other counseling facilities and social service agencies to consider such an effort. Related literature from varied fields is reviewed. The article also relays client and staff feedback regarding the redecorated space and addresses design considerations such as the relative strengths and drawbacks to involving clients and staff in the process.     

Work Centrality and Post-Award Work Behavior of Lottery Winners

Individuals who had won the lottery responded to a survey concerning whether they had continued to work after winning. They were also asked to indicate how important work was in their life using items and scales commonly used to measure work centrality. The authors predicted that whether lottery winners would continue to work would be related to their level of work centrality as well as to the amount of their winnings. Individuals who won large amounts in the lottery would be less likely to quit work if they had relatively greater degrees of work centrality. After controlling for a number of variables (i.e., age, gender, education, occupation, and job satisfaction), results indicated that work centrality and the amount won were significantly related to whether individuals continued to work and, as predicted, the interaction between the two was also significantly related to work continuance.     

Concentric circles of containment: a psychodynamic contribution to working in pupil referral units

This article aims to reflect on the lessons learnt from using a psychodynamic approach to offering onsite therapeutic child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in four pupil referral units (henceforth referred to as PRUs). The PRUs cater for six- to 16-year-old children and adolescents permanently excluded from mainstream schools. The work takes place in an inner London borough. The approach described evolved over five years through practice-based evidence of what worked well in each particular setting. This was viewed both in terms of sustaining families' engagement in the therapeutic process, and also effectively supporting child and adolescent mental health services and education staff in their respective tasks. The model which gradually evolved owes much to Bion's concept of containment as the necessary foundation for emotional growth and genuine learning. It also draws on ideas from psychoanalytic consultation and open systems theory. The importance of work discussion groups in this setting will also be evident. Some links are made to relevant Buddhist concepts and metaphors.     

Work engagement and workaholism: comparing the self-employed and salaried employees

This study among a Dutch convenience sample of self-employed individuals (n = 262) and salaried employees (n = 1900) tested to what extent workaholism and work engagement relate to self-reported work performance. After controlling for measurement inequivalence, results of structural equation modeling showed that the self-employed score higher on engagement and working excessively then employees, but not on working compulsively. In addition, work engagement related positively to task performance and innovativeness for both groups. However, engagement only related to contextual performance (performance beyond role requirements) for employees. Workaholism had positive and negative relationships with self-reported performance. Working excessively related positively to innovativeness for both groups, and to contextual performance for the self-employed. Working compulsively suppressed this positive relationship between excessive working and innovativeness in both groups, and between excessive working and contextual performance for the self-employed. In contrast to our expectations, working compulsively related positively to contextual performance for employees.     

Work engagement and burnout: testing the robustness of the Job Demands-Resources model

This study focuses on work engagement and its negative antipode, burnout, as well as their antecedents and consequences. According to the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, two different processes have to be distinguished: a motivational process that links job resources with turnover intention through work engagement, and an energetic process that links job demands and health complaints via the mediating role of burnout. The robustness of the JD-R model was tested in a heterogeneous occupational sample (N = 846). Structural equation modeling analyses yielded a slightly modified model with only exhaustion being indicative of burnout and vigor, dedication along with absorption being indicative of engagement. The results provide evidence for the dipartite structure of the JD-R model. Multi-group analyses revealed the model to be invariant across age and gender. Although strengths of path coefficients and factor loadings differed among white- and blue-collar workers, the basic structure of the model was also confirmed among these subgroups. Therefore, the findings underscore the robustness of the JD-R model.