Meetings and individual work during the workday: Examining their interdependent impact on knowledge workers' energy.

An important issue that has received little attention to date is how different types of work activities may interplay to influence workday energy, a critical resource for individuals' performance at work. Integrating the notion of workday design with event system theory, we examine two prominent types of work activities for knowledge workers-meetings and individual work-to investigate how time allocation and pressure complementarity between them influence workday energy. We conducted two experience sampling studies, one with 245 knowledge workers from diverse organizations and the other with 167 employees from two technology companies. We found a time allocation effect, such that for a given period of the workday (i.e., the morning or the afternoon), the greater the proportion of time a knowledge worker spent in meetings relative to individual work, the less this person engaged in microbreak activities for replenishment during that period. The reduction in microbreak activities, in turn, harmed energy. We also found a pressure complementarity effect in the morning (though not in the afternoon), such that when a meeting involved low pressure in the presence of high-pressure individual work or vice versa, when a meeting involved high pressure in the presence of low-pressure individual work, such complementarity benefited energy. Overall, this research advances our understanding of how everyday work activities relate to knowledge workers' energy and sheds new light on the issue of work and workday designs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Psychological empowerment and job crafting among registered nurses working in public health: A quantitative study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The researchers examine the relationship between two variables related to work meaningfulness and engagement - psychological empowerment and job crafting - among Ontario registered nurses working in public health. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: This quantitative, cross-sectional study was conducted in Ontario, Canada with registered nurses (n = 238) from six randomly selected health units. Registered nurses provided quantitative ratings of their psychological empowerment and job crafting behaviours in an online, confidential, anonymous survey. Data analyses included descriptive statistics, correlations, multiple and hierarchical regressions, and independent samples t-tests. RESULTS: Significant, positive relationships were observed between overall scores for psychological empowerment and job crafting (r = 0.50, n = 238, p < .01) and for each of their dimensions. Region, age, job, and public health experience explained 26 % of the variance in overall psychological empowerment; job crafting accounted for an additional 24 % of variance. Region and public health experience moderated the relationship between psychological empowerment and job crafting. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Registered nurses working in public health experience empowerment when they engage in job crafting. Nurse managers and educators can support and promote job crafting by nurses who are willing to engage and make their jobs more meaningful. What is already known about this topic?

Job crafting in registered nurses working in public health: A qualitative study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Job crafting is proactively adjusting and redesigning one's own job to make it more meaningful. This is accomplished by changing the activities (task crafting), altering the way one thinks about the job (cognitive crafting), and using discretion about with whom one chooses to work (relational crafting). We examined self-reported behavioral manifestations of job crafting among Ontario registered nurses working in public health. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: This qualitative, descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted with registered nurses (n = 238) from six randomly selected health regions in Ontario, Canada. Registered nurses completed surveys to provide quantitative ratings and qualitative reports of their job crafting behaviours. Data analyses included descriptive statistics and a content analysis of written comments to summarize common job crafting behaviours. RESULTS: Registered nurses in public health are actively job crafting by emphasizing and initiating tasks that are based on strengths and passions. Examples included training students and new staff, participating in workgroups and committees, and being involved in projects. Nurses proactively modified the processes of the tasks to better meet client needs and improve quality of care. Job crafting facilitators and barriers included availability of opportunities, support from management, experience/level of skill of the nurse, limitations in the role, and heavy workload/insufficient staffing. The ability to continually modify tasks at the point of care, using evidenced-based approaches and utilizing education and professional development facilitated job crafting. Nurses reported that improving work meaningfulness was a driver of job crafting. Nurses also described a willingness to take on other tasks, being enriched by nurse-client and collegial relationships, and that their service to clients superseded their service to the organization. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Public health registered nurses are actively involved in their own, bottom-up job redesign and managers are instrumental in facilitating or hindering the job crafting process. Managers can support nurses by allowing them to make changes on the job, providing professional development, managing workload and creating environments that support collegial relationships. Overall, the study contributes new knowledge about job crafting. It draws attention to the importance of registered nurses' involvement in designing their jobs. Lastly, managers and educators should promote and support job crafting.

Leader sleep devaluation, employee sleep, and unethical behavior.

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study is to examine the effect of leader sleep devaluation (which we define as leader behaviors that signal to employees that sleep should be sacrificed for work) on the sleep and unethical behavior of subordinates. DESIGN: Across 2 studies (with 3 total samples of participants), we use a cross-sectional survey, a diary study completed by employees, and a diary study completed by employees and their leaders. SETTING: Study 1 - a convenience sample of working adults in Italy, including 575 subordinates nested under 140 leaders. Study 2A - 135 working adults recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk. Study 2B - 127 employee-supervisor dyads recruited from the Study Response project. MEASUREMENTS: Survey measures of leader behaviors, subordinates sleep, and subordinate unethical behavior. RESULTS: Sleep devaluing leader behavior has harmful effects on employee sleep, and that these effects occur above and beyond the effects of abusive supervision and other alternative explanations. Subordinate sleep quality has a mediating role between leader sleep devaluation and subordinate unethical behavior. Effects for sleep quantity were inconsistent. CONCLUSIONS: Leaders can adversely influence the sleep and work experience of their subordinates. Specifically, sleep devaluing leader behavior undermines subordinate sleep, which in turn is associated with higher levels of subordinate unethical behavior.

Destructive de-energizing relationships: How thriving buffers their effect on performance.

In this paper, we establish the relationship between de-energizing relationships and individual performance in organizations. To date, the emphasis in social network research has largely been on positive dimensions of relationships despite literature from social psychology revealing the prevalence and detrimental impact of de-energizing relationships. In 2 field studies, we show that de-energizing relationships in organizations are associated with decreased performance. In Study 1, we investigate how de-energizing relationships are related to lower performance using data from 161 people in the information technology (IT) department of an engineering firm. In Study 2, in a sample of 439 management consultants, we consider whether the effects of de-energizing relationships on performance may be moderated by the extent to which an individual has the psychological resource of thriving at work. We find that individuals who are thriving at work are less susceptible to the effects of de-energizing relationships on job performance. We close by discussing implications of this research.

The role of organizational culture in retaining nursing workforce.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: We examined how organizational culture in nursing homes affects staff turnover, because culture is a first step to creating satisfactory work environments. DESIGN AND METHODS: Nursing home administrators were asked in 2009 to report on facility culture and staff turnover. We received responses from 419 of 1,056 administrators contacted. Respondents reported the strength of cultural values using scales from a Competing Values Framework and percent of staff leaving annually for Registered Nurse (RN), Licensed Practice Nurse (LPN), and nursing aide (NA) staff. We estimated negative binomial models predicting turnover. RESULTS: Turnover rates are lower than found in past but remain significantly higher among NAs than among RNs or LPNs. Facilities with stronger market values had increased turnover among RNs and LPNs, and among NAs when turnover was adjusted for facilities with few staff. Facilities emphasizing hierarchical internal processes had lower RN turnover. Group and developmental values focusing on staff and innovation only lowered LPN turnover. Finally, effects on NA turnover become insignificant when turnover was adjusted if voluntary turnover was reported. IMPLICATIONS: Organizational culture had differential effects on the turnover of RN, LPN, and NA staff that should be addressed in developing culture-change strategies. More flexible organizational culture values were important for LPN staff only, whereas unexpectedly, greater emphasis on rigid internal rules helped facilities retain RNs. Facilities with a stronger focus on customer needs had higher turnover among all staff.

An assessment of cultural values and resident-centered culture change in U.S. nursing facilities.

BACKGROUND: Culture change initiatives propose to improve care by addressing the lack of managerial supports and prevalent stressful work environments in the industry; however, little is known about how culture change facilities differ from facilities in the industry that have not chosen to affiliate with the resident-centered care movements. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate representation of organizational culture values within a random sample of U.S. nursing home facilities using the competing values framework and to determine whether organizational values are related to membership in resident-centered culture change initiatives. DESIGN AND METHODS: We collected reports of cultural values using a well-established competing values framework instrument in a random survey of facility administrators and directors of nursing within all states. We received responses from 57% of the facilities that were mailed the survey. Directors of nursing and administrators did not differ significantly in their reports of culture and facility measures combined their responses. FINDINGS: Nursing facilities favored market-focused cultural values on average, and developmental values, key to innovation, were the least common across all nursing homes. Approximately 17% of the facilities reported that all cultural values were strong within their facilities. Only high developmental cultural values were linked to participation in culture change initiatives. Culture change facilities were not different from non-culture change facilities in the promotion of employee focus as organizational culture, as emphasized in group culture values. Likewise, culture change facilities were also not more likely to have hierarchical or market foci than non-culture change facilities. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Our results counter the argument that culture change facilities have a stronger internal employee focus than facilities more generally but do show that culture change facilities report stronger developmental cultures than non-culture change facilities, which indicates a potential to be innovative in their strategies. Facilities are culturally ready to become resident centered and may face other barriers to adopting these practices.

Creating sustainable performance.

What makes for sustainable individual and organizational performance? Employees who are thriving-not just satisfied and productive but also engaged in creating the future. The authors found that people who fit this description demonstrated 16% better overall performance, 125% less burnout, 32% more commitment to the organization, and 46% more job satisfaction than their peers. Thriving has two components: vitality, or the sense of being alive and excited, and learning, or the growth that comes from gaining knowledge and skills. Some people naturally build vitality and learning into their jobs, but most employees are influenced by their environment. Four mechanisms, none of which requires heroic effort or major resources, create the conditions for thriving: providing decision-making discretion, sharing information about the organization and its strategy, minimizing incivility, and offering performance feedback. Organizations such as Alaska Airlines, Zingerman's, Quicken Loans, and Caiman Consulting have found that helping people grow and remain energized at work is valiant on its own merits-but it can also boost performance in a sustainable way.

How to play to your strengths.

Most feedback accentuates the negative. During formal employee evaluations, discussions invariably focus on "opportunities for improvement," even if the overall evaluation is laudatory. No wonder most executives--and their direct reports--dread them. Traditional, corrective feedback has its place, of course; every organization must filter out failing employees and ensure that everyone performs at an expected level of competence. But too much emphasis on problem areas prevents companies from reaping the best from their people. After all, it's a rare baseball player who is equally good at every position. Why should a natural third baseman labor to develop his skills as a right fielder? This article presents a tool to help you understand and leverage your strengths. Called the Reflected Best Self (RBS) exercise, it offers a unique feedback experience that counterbalances negative input. It allows you to tap into talents you may or may not be aware of and so increase your career potential. To begin the RBS exercise, you first need to solicit comments from family, friends, colleagues, and teachers, asking them to give specific examples of times in which those strengths were particularly beneficial. Next, you need to search for common themes in the feedback, organizing them in a table to develop a clear picture of your strong suits. Third, you must write a self-portrait--a description of yourself that summarizes and distills the accumulated information. And finally, you need to redesign your personal job description to build on what you're good at. The RBS exercise will help you discover who you are at the top of your game. Once you're aware of your best self, you can shape the positions you choose to play--both now and in the next phase of your career.