The role of mean item ratings, topic distance, direct leadership, and voice climate in action planning after employee surveys.

This study contributes to the literature on employee surveys as a tool for organizational development and, specifically, the post-survey action planning process by examining key variables that affect this process. Using data from one large company in Germany, this study investigates team-level action planning in three consecutive years of 5,875 organizational units [OUs] in 2016, 5,673 OUs in 2017, and 5,707 OUs in 2018. Ratings per item on the employee survey and topic distance, which refers to the extent to which a survey topic can be addressed within the boundaries of the OU, predicted choice of topics for action planning. Furthermore, direct leadership and voice climate did not predict whether OUs conducted action planning. However, consistent with hypotheses, results showed that direct leadership and voice climate were associated with significantly less action planning in comparison to other topics of the employee survey. Direct leaders and OU members that experience shortcomings in direct leadership or voice climate need to improve on these topics. However, at the same time, these deficits could hinder leaders and members in planning actions in general and for these specific topics, as they represent important requirements for conducting effective action planning in the first place. This creates an organizational paradox. Based on the findings, it is recommend that organizations take topic distance into account when designing questionnaires that entail action planning expectations and consider offering additional resources and support to OUs and direct leaders to enable effective action planning.

Following Up on Employee Surveys: A Conceptual Framework and Systematic Review.

Employee surveys are often used to support organizational development (OD), and particularly the follow-up process after surveys, including action planning, is important. Nevertheless, this process is oftentimes neglected in practice, and research on it is limited as well. In this article, we first define the employee survey follow-up process and differentiate it from other common feedback practices. Second, we develop a comprehensive conceptual framework that integrates the relevant variables of this process. Third, we describe the methods and results of a systematic review that synthesizes the literature on the follow-up process based on the conceptual framework with the purpose of discussing remaining research gaps. Overall, this paper contributes to a better understanding of the organizational and human factors that affect this process. This is useful for practitioners, as it provides guidance for the successful implementation of this human resource practice. For example, research suggests that it is important to enable managers as change agents and to provide them with sufficient resources.

Human NK cell subset functions are differentially affected by adipokines.

BACKGROUND: Obesity is a risk factor for various types of infectious diseases and cancer. The increase in adipose tissue causes alterations in both adipogenesis and the production of adipocyte-secreted proteins (adipokines). Since natural killer (NK) cells are the host's primary defense against virus-infected and tumor cells, we investigated how adipocyte-conditioned medium (ACM) affects functions of two distinct human NK cell subsets. METHODS: Isolated human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were cultured with various concentrations of human and murine ACM harvested on two different days during adipogenesis and analyzed by fluorescent-activated cell sorting (FACS). RESULTS: FACS analyses showed that the expression of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), granzyme A (GzmA) and interferon (IFN)-γ in NK cells was regulated in a subset-specific manner. ACM treatment altered IFN-γ expression in CD56(dim) NK cells. The production of GzmA in CD56(bright) NK cells was differentially affected by the distinct adipokine compositions harvested at different states of adipogenesis. Comparison of the treatment with either human or murine ACM revealed that adipokine-induced effects on NK cell expression of the leptin receptor (Ob-R), TRAIL and IFN-γ were species-specific. CONCLUSION: Considering the growing prevalence of obesity and the various disorders related to it, the present study provides further insights into the roles human NK cell subsets play in the obesity-associated state of chronic low-grade inflammation.