Measuring distributed leadership agency in a hospital context.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate an instrument that can measure distributed leadership (DL) as employees' active participation in DL tasks. The authors designate this as the distributed leadership agency (DLA). Design/methodology/approach Data were collected throughout all departments and occupational groups at a merged centralized hospital setting in Denmark. A total of 1,774 employees from 24 hospital departments and 16 occupational groups completed our survey. Structural equation model and confirmatory factor analyses were applied to identify appropriate items and a test for measurement invariance, predictive, discriminant and convergent validity, and ANOVAs were applied to analyse group differences in DLA. Findings The identified unidimensional questionnaire consists of seven items, as it is different from, but associated with, empowering leadership, organizational influence, attitude to participation and trust in management. As theoretically predicted, DLA is positively related to self-efficacy, job satisfaction and innovative behaviour. Chief physicians, permanent employees and employee representatives scored higher on the scale than the rest of their respective counterparts. Practical implications The survey offers a method to assess a distribution of leadership agency in hospital organizations. Such assessment may provide a basis for organizational and leadership development. Originality/value The present study provides a reliable and valid quantitative instrument that measures how much employees at all hierarchical levels are involved in concrete leadership activities in the hospital context. Taking a normative perspective the authors could show that DL - measured with the DLA-questionnaire - has positive effects on employees' behaviour.

Contagious flexibility? A study on whether schedule flexibility facilitates work-life enrichment.

Schedule flexibility defines an important generating resource for work-life enrichment; however, our knowledge about how such spillovers take place is limited. This multiple case study examines how workers from different working time contexts with varying levels of schedule flexibility experience work-life interplay. Given the adopted explorative design, it is important to interpret the findings in a tentative light. Nonetheless, the study offers important insight into work-life enrichment that may guide future research in this field. The findings indicate that schedule flexibility may act as a boundary-spanning resource owing to the agency potential it offers workers. Thus, it seemed that flexible schedule opportunities enabled workers to engage more fully in personal life activities, which in turn had a positive influence on their work involvement through positive affect. Such positive role engagements appeared, however, to be greatly determined by workers' boundary management and by time conditions of work and family. In conclusion, the major findings and limitation of the study are discussed against existing research and theory.

Psychosocial work stress is associated with poor self-rated health in Danish nurses: a test of the effort-reward imbalance model.

Nursing staff are exposed to stressful work load which in turn is associated with poor physical and psychological health, sickness absence and job exit. The effort-reward imbalance (ERI) model is a validated approach to measure chronic psychosocial work stress by identifying nonreciprocity between occupational efforts spent and rewards received, and has been found to predict poor health. The aim of this cross-sectional study (n = 367 nurses and nurses aides) was first to test the psychometric properties of the Danish questionnaire measuring ERI, and secondly to analyse whether psychosocial work stress is associated with six indicators of poor self-rated health. Results derived from confirmatory factor analysis indicate satisfying psychometric properties. Elevated risks of poor self-rated health (odds ratios varying from 1.92 to 4.76) are observed in nursing staff characterized by high effort in combination with low reward. Effects are enhanced in those respondents who additionally exhibit a high level of work-related overcommitment. In conclusion, despite methodological limitations, this study contributes to the validation of the ERI questionnaire in Danish language. Furthermore, by documenting associations with poor self-rated health, it supports efforts of theory-guided prevention of work stress in health care professions.

Can varying the number of teams in a shift schedule constitute a preventive strategy?

OBJECTIVE: The study examines the implications for shiftworkers of applying different numbers of teams in the organization of shiftwork. METHODS: The participating operators came from five different companies applying continuous shift rotation systems. The companies shared the same product organization and a common corporate culture belonging to the same multinational company. Each company had a shift system consisting of four, five or six teams, with the proportion of shifts outside day work decreasing as the number of teams increased. Questionnaire and documentary data were used as data sources. RESULTS: Operators in systems with additional teams had more daywork but also more irregular working hours due to both overtime and schedule changes. Operators using six teams used fewer social compensation strategies. Operators in four teams were most satisfied with their work hours. Satisfaction with the time available for various social activities outside work varied inconsistently between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: In rotating systems the application of more teams reduces the number of shifts outside day work. This apparent improvement for shiftworkers was counteracted by a concomitant irregularity produced by greater organizational requirements for flexibility. The balance of this interaction was found to have a critical impact on employees.

Can varying the number of teams in a shift schedule constitute a preventive strategy?

OBJETIVOS: Investigar as implicações para trabalhadores em turnos do uso de um número distinto de turmas de trabalho na organização dos turnos. MÉTODOS: Participaram do estudo operadores de cinco empresas que usavam sistemas contínuos de turnos alternantes. As empresas tinham em comum a organização de produtos e cultura empresarial e pertenciam a uma mesma empresa multinacional. Cada uma das empresas tinha um sistema de turnos que compreendia quatro, cinco ou seis turmas de trabalho, sendo que a proporção de turnos fora dos horários diurnos diminuía à medida que aumentava o número de turmas. Foram usados dados de questionários e documentação como fontes de pesquisa. RESULTADOS: Os operadores de sistemas com turmas extras apresentaram uma quantidade maior de trabalho diurno, assim como mais horas irregulares de trabalho em decorrência de horas extras e mudanças de horário. Os operadores que contavam com seis turmas usaram menos recursos de compensação social. Os que trabalharam com quatro turmas ficaram mais satisfeitos com os horários de trabalho. A satisfação com o tempo disponível para diversas atividades sociais fora do trabalho variou de modo inconsistente entre as turmas estudadas. CONCLUSÕES: Nos sistemas com turnos rodiziantes, o uso de um número maior de turmas reduz o número de turnos não-diurnos. Esta aparente vantagem aos trabalhadores em turnos foi neutralizada pela concomitante irregularidade resultante de maiores exigências organizacionais para permitir flexibilidade. Verificou-se que o equilíbrio desta interação teve um impacto fundamental sobre os trabalhadores.