The good soldier: who is s(he)?

This paper examines how perceptions of Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCBs) are affected by socially constructed gender roles. We argue that gender roles are important for the perception, categorization, and consequences of OCBs. We suggest that the dimensions of OCBs (altruism, courtesy, sportsmanship, and civic virtue) are related to gender stereotypes. Combining social identity theory with gender role theory suggests that the ‘gender’ of these behaviors, the job, the job incumbent, and the gender identity of the observer interact, potentially broaden the breadth of requisite job behaviors defined as either in‐ or extra‐role. Implications are discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Culpable versus non-culpable traffic accidents; what is wrong with this picture?

INTRODUCTION: It is often implicitly or explicitly assumed in traffic accident research that drivers with accidents designated as non-culpable are a random sample from the population. However, this assumption is dependent upon differences in the criterion used for culpability. If drivers are erroneously categorized by assuming randomness, results could be grossly misleading. METHOD: The assumption of randomness leads to two predictions: first, no correlation should exist between culpable and non-culpable crashes; and second, the accident groups should differ on the variables known to be associated with accidents, such as amount of driving experience. These predictions were tested in two samples of bus drivers. RESULTS: It was found that in a sample with a harsh criterion (70% culpable accidents) for crash responsibility, the drivers with non-culpable accidents had the features expected, namely, they were more experienced for example, while in a sample with a lenient criterion (50 % culpable), this was not so. DISCUSSION: It was concluded that similar studies to the present one would need to be undertaken to establish exactly what percentage of drivers in a given population should be assigned culpable accidents, and construct a criterion that yields this ratio. Otherwise, the theoretical assumptions of randomness and non-responsibility will probably be violated to some degree. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Many estimates of risk of crash involvement may have been wrong. Given the potential for erroneous criteria, a number of studies may make invalid assumptions from their data.     

The stress of managerial and professional women: is the price too high?

‘Live as domestic a life as possible. Have your child with you all the time. Lie down an hour after each meal. Have but two hours intellectual life a day. And never touch pen, brush or pencil as long as you live’. Dr S. Weir Mitchell, 1855 When Dr Mitchell, purportedly the greatest North American nerve specialist of his time, gave the above advice to his patient Charlotte Perkins Gilman, he almost certainly believed he was helping her get over a severe nervous condition. Fortunately, she did not take his advice. Instead she devoted herself to the study of economics and regained her health. The perspectives offered to working women by many a modern day Dr Mitchell appear to have changed somewhat in subtlety, but little in kind. For example, the August 18, 1986 cover of Fortune magazine featured a beaming mother and cherubic child illustrating the lead article, entitled ‘Why women are bailing out’. The article goes on to tell why four of the ‘best’ women MBAs had quit the workforce. One stated ‘I had to hire and fire people … I just don't want the hassle’ (of corporate life). Another having passed up a promotion at a Houston bank, ‘quit to have her first child’ and after her second had no plans to go back to work. A third complained: ‘I just couldn't do it. I watched other women sliding as they tried to juggle both career and family, making themselves crazy in the process’. And the fourth left a big accounting firm because the ‘hours were bad, and is now happier as a “part time teacher”’. While the Fortune article mentioned several reasons for women's leaving the corporate world ranging from competing family demands to discrimination, the underlying messages were clearly that mothers have to choose between children and career and that the business world is too cold, uncaring and tough for women, in a word no place for a lady. A chorus of such articles have appeared in the popular media warning against the dangers of career commitment for women, which are said to include everything from burnout, infertility, alcoholism, heart attacks to terminal spinsterhood (Faludi, 1991). More serious treatments emanating from academia have often reached similar conclusions. These dire pronouncements are especially influential to young women contemplating a professional or managerial career, but indeed those already in such careers may also wonder if they have made a bad choice. To answer such questions, this paper will explore some aspects of the relationship between career and emotional health and well-being for a group of highly successful career women.     

What’s past is prologue: Organizational learning from a serious patient injury

This exploratory case study examines how one hospital learned from an adverse event (AE), a medication overdose that seriously injured a patient. Using qualitative data analysis, we examined how four professional groups reacted to the AE: physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and representatives from the combined quality assurance and risk management departments. Following the AE, each professional group classified the event differently, assessed a different segment of history, made decisions about different issues, and chose different courses of action. Despite these differences, the physician, nursing and pharmacy management teams all decided on which solutions to implement before the first root cause analysis meeting was convened. Indeed, to understand how the hospital implemented changes in the aftermath of the AE, it was necessary to examine the learning from near misses and other warnings that preceded it. This case highlights the importance of the politics of organizational learning and raises theoretical and practical questions about how hospitals learn from potential and actual adverse events.     

A drop in the bucket: when is a pay raise a pay raise?

Although merit pay continues to receive much theoretical and practical attention, little systematic effort is devoted to determining how large a pay raise must be before employees see it as a pay raise. This study uses psychophysical reasoning and techniques in a sample of 192 student ‘employees’ to establish the size of pay raise thresholds in a relatively controlled setting. Results indicate that, below about the 7 per cent level, increases in pay amounts are unlikely to evoke positive perceptual and attitudinal reactions among employees. Theoretical, methodological, and practical implications of these results are highlighted. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Who is at fault? Third party and child injuries at construction sites in Turkey

This paper aims to depict the characteristics of the third party and child fatalities on or near the construction sites and to reveal the accident causation, the parties which are at fault and the negligence behind them. Nine hundred and fifty six expert witness reports, which were submitted to criminal and labour courts, were investigated and third party and child fatalities were analyzed according to causation, type of construction and the time at which they occurred. According to the court decisions, parties at fault in the accidents were discussed by revealing the primary negligent acts of the parties. One hundred and twenty two (98 fatalities) of 971 victims were third parties and 69 (58 fatalities) of 122 victims were children (under age 12). All non-employee (50.0%) fatalities and 48.3% of child fatalities were caused by falls from height. After building/structure collapse (18.4% for third parties and 17.2% for children), the figures show that drowning ranks third. Five most hazardous work areas (82.6 of all deaths) were residential/commercial (39 cases, 39.8%), institutional (15 cases, 15.3%), small buildings (12 cases, 12.2%), wells (9 cases, 9.2%) and channels (6 cases, 6.1%). The vast majority of child deaths (79.3%) occurred on these zones. The time interval of 16:00–18:00 was of particular interest, 8 of 10 third party fatalities that occurred between these hours were of children. Additionally, this paper discusses the most hazardous conditions and safety violations along with legislative responsibilities and obligations of employers, employees and third parties. The safety requirements and legal provisions that were stipulated by the Turkish legislation were described and discussed.     

Accuracy or consequential validity: which is the better standard for job analysis data?

The value of research on the accuracy of job analysis is questioned. It is argued that the traditional criteria employed to evaluate job analysis accuracy (i.e., interrater agreement and deviations from proxy true scores) provide information of little practical value. Alternative criteria focusing on the consequences of job analysis data are suggested. Consequence‐oriented criteria are clarified through a review of the various inferential leaps or decision points that job analysis supports. In addition, the consequences of job analysis are also thought to be a function of the rules governing the making of job‐analysis‐based inferences which, unfortunately, are sometimes unspecified in even the most molecular job analysis methodologies. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How important is vehicle safety in the new vehicle purchase/lease process for fleet vehicles?

OBJECTIVE: Despite the potential benefits that fleet vehicle purchase decisions could have on road safety, the role that vehicle safety plays in fleet managers' purchase decisions is poorly understood. METHODS: In this study, fleet managers from Sweden and Spain completed a questionnaire regarding the importance of vehicle safety in the new vehicle purchase/lease process and the importance that is placed on safety options/features relative to other convenience and comfort features. RESULTS: The findings of the current study suggest that vehicle safety is generally not the primary consideration in the vehicle purchase process and is consistently outranked by factors such as price and dependability/reliability. For example, when asked to indicate the vehicle factors that are included in their company's criteria for purchasing/leasing a new vehicle, fleet managers from both Sweden and Spain were more likely to list the vehicle's price, reliability, running costs, size, and fuel consumption than the vehicle's safety (defined as the vehicle's EuroNCAP rating/other safety reports). In addition, the findings of this study suggest that the importance of vehicle safety did not differ across the two countries. For example, there was no significant difference in the proportion of fleet managers who indicated that EuroNCAP ratings were part of their official policy across the two countries. CONCLUSION: The findings highlighted the need to educate fleet managers about vehicle safety in the new vehicle purchase/lease process. In addition, vehicle safety information, such as EuroNCAP results or other crash test results need to be promoted more widely and effectively so that they play a more prominent role in their new vehicle choices.     

Big‐B versus Big‐O: what is organizational about organizational behavior?*

This paper is an empirically grounded essay about the current state of organizational behavior (OB) research and productive future directions. We report the results of a survey of OB scholars about the current importance of various research topics and their importance in an ideal world. We compare the survey responses with an archival analysis of papers published in leading OB journals over a 10‐year period. We suggest that many of the topics that our respondents perceive to be ‘under researched’ can be summarized with one particular definition of OB that emphasizes organizing behavior. Considering all three definitions together, we highlight the limitations of the traditional (Big‐B and Contextualized‐B) definitions and discuss the benefits of a more organizational (Big‐O) approach. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

When is female leadership an advantage? Coordination requirements,team cohesion,and team interaction norms

This study seeks to understand to what extent and in what contexts women leaders may be advantageous for teams. More specifically, this study examines how team leader gender relates to team cohesion, cooperative learning, and participative communication. Furthermore, the study argues that advantages derived from female leadership may be contingent on teams' coordination requirements. I propose that as teams' coordination requirements increase (i.e., with functional diversity, size, and geographic dispersion), teams with women leaders report more cohesion and more cooperative and participative interaction norms than those with men leaders. I aggregated survey responses from the members of 82 teams in 29 organizations at the team level. Findings from hierarchical linear modeling analyses suggest that female leadership is more positively associated with cohesion on larger and more functionally diverse teams and more positively associated with cooperative learning and participative communication on larger and geographically dispersed teams. These results call for more research on boundary conditions on the relationship between leader gender and team outcomes, on the role of relational leadership on complex and diverse teams and, ultimately, on the potential mediating role of cohesion and team interaction norms on the relationship between leader gender and team performance. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Protection from psychosocial risks at work under the European Convention on Human Rights: is it possible?

This paper argues the possibility of establishing common principles of protection from psychosocial risks (PSR) on the basis of the legal positions of the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) expressed in recent cases on degrading treatment and occupational health. The author focuses on the positive obligations of the States to ensure the protection of the right for life and of the right to respect for private life. The prohibition of degrading treatment in relations between private persons is also considered as relevant to the issue of the protection from PSR. Analyzing the Court's case law (judgments of the Court) we substantiate the possibility of claiming protection from PSR under the European Convention on Human Rights, namely, articles 2, 3 and 6, 8.     

What is the relationship between self-reported aberrant driving behaviors,mindfulness, and self-reported crashes and infringements?

Objectives: This study investigated the relationship between self-reported aberrant driving behaviors, mindfulness, and self-reported crashes and infringements.

Methods: Three hundred and eighteen participants (M = 46.0 years, SD = 13.7 years; female: 81.8%) completed an online survey that assessed aberrant driving behaviors, mindfulness (including regular mindfulness meditation [MM]), and self-reported crashes and infringements during the past 2 years. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the relationship between self-reported aberrant driving behaviors and mindfulness simultaneously, as well as with participants' age and estimated kilometers driven over the past year.

Results: The results of the SEM showed that mindfulness was negatively related to each self-reported aberrant driving behavior, with the strongest relationships being between mindfulness and driving-related lapses (?0.58) and errors (?0.46). Participants who practice MM had significantly fewer crashes in the past 2 years and reported significantly fewer driving-related violations and lapses compared to participants who did not practice MM (crashes: 9.3% vs. 18.8%, P < .05; violations: M = 6.66 [SD = 3.44] vs. M = 7.68 [SD = 4.53], P < .05; errors: M = 5.17 [SD = 3.44] vs. M = 6.19 [SD = 4.12], P < .05).

Conclusions: More research is needed to understand whether MM results in more mindful and attentive drivers or whether individuals who practice MM may have other traits or behaviors that are linked to improved safety.     

Dental Workers,Musculoskeletal CumulativeTrauma,and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: Who is at Risk? A Pilot Study

A pilot study was conducted at a dental clinic to identify (a) the prevalence of musculoskeletal cumulative trauma disorders (MCTD), (b) associated symptoms (with special attention paid to carpal tunnel syndrome [CTS]), and (c) practitioners at risk. Videotapes, two questionnaires, a medical record review, and interviews were used. Forty-five dental workers participated and were classified into three categories: (a) dentists, (b) dental assistants and special assistants (DA/SA), and (c) dental hygienists and dental assistant-expanded function (DH/DAEF). Categorical data were analyzed using the chi- square statistic and risk ratios. The Fisher exact probability test was used for categorical data with a small cell. One or more symptoms associated with CTS were noted by 75.6% of the dental workers, 11% reported diagnosed CTS, and 53% reported back and shoulder pain. Both psychosocial factors and job demands appear to be associated with MCTD. All three categories of dental workers reported MCTD symptoms, and the DH/DAEF group was found to be at greatest risk for developing upper extremity symptoms, CTS, and back pain.     

The safety barometer: How safe is my plant today? Is instantaneously measuring safety level utopia or realizable?

During the last decade, serious accidents have continued to occur in the process industry. Apparently the scenarios of various undesired events leading to those accidents are still not sufficiently controlled. The key question is how potentially hazardous situations develop, what processes form the basis for this development, and how to control them? Safety level is not static but depends on many risk factors that change in presence and intensity over location and time. Safety level is dependent not only on technical process parameters that have immediate effects on the ‘frequency’ or probability of catastrophic consequences, but also depends on equipment integrity degradation, operational and management quality, attitudes, and cultural processes which may change over a prolonged time. The time and human interaction aspects make dynamic risk assessment complex. This paper will outline a conceptual approach using in addition to the regular process parameter signals received, also weak and slowly changing signals from various safety indicators, enabling to keep track of the risk factors. In theory this could lead to obtaining an instantaneous safety level ‘measure’ making possible forecast alarming for an imminent event to occur. Such concept could be regarded as a ‘writing’ safety barometer, or barograph. However, there are quite a number of problems to be solved which in the paper will be discussed.     

What is the potential of trauma registry data to be used for road traffic injury surveillance and informing road safety policy?

Introduction

Information from hospital trauma registries is increasingly being used to support injury surveillance efforts. This research examines the potential of using trauma registry data for road traffic injury surveillance for different types of road users in terms of both the information collected and how representative trauma data are compared to two population-based road traffic injury data collections.

Methods

The three data collections were assessed against recommended variables to be collected for injury surveillance purposes and the representativeness of the distribution of road traffic-related injury data from the trauma registry was compared to hospital admission and road traffic authority data collections.

Results

Data from the trauma registry was largely not representative of the distribution of age groups or activities compared to the two population-based collections, but was representative for gender for some road user groups to at least one population-based data collection.

Conclusions

Trauma data could be used to supplement information from population-based data collections to inform road safety efforts.

Impact on Industry

Road safety policy makers should be aware of the potential and the limitations of using trauma registry data for road traffic injury surveillance.     

Crash risk perception of sleepy driving and its comparisons with drink driving and speeding: Which behavior is perceived as the riskiest?

Objective: Driver sleepiness is a major crash risk factor but may be underrecognized as a risky driving behavior. Sleepy driving is usually rated as less of a road safety issue than more well-known risky driving behaviors, such as drink driving and speeding. The objective of this study was to compare perception of crash risk of sleepy driving, drink driving, and speeding.

Methods: Three hundred Australian drivers completed a questionnaire that assessed crash risk perceptions for sleepy driving, drink driving, and speeding. Additionally, the participants' perceptions of crash risk were assessed for 5 different contextual scenarios that included different levels of sleepiness (low, high), driving duration (short, long), and time of day/circadian influences (afternoon, nighttime) of driving.

Results: The analysis confirmed that sleepy driving was considered a risky driving behavior but not as risky as high levels of speeding (P < .05). Yet, the risk of crashing at 4 a.m. was considered as equally risky as low levels of speeding (10 km over the limit). The comparisons of the contextual scenarios revealed driving scenarios that would arguably be perceived as quite risky because time of day/circadian influences were not reported as high risk.

Conclusions: The results suggest a lack of awareness or appreciation of circadian rhythm functioning, particularly the descending phase of circadian rhythm that promotes increased sleepiness in the afternoon and during the early hours of the morning. Yet, the results suggested an appreciation of the danger associated with long-distance driving and driver sleepiness. Further efforts are required to improve the community's awareness of the impairing effects from sleepiness and, in particular, knowledge regarding the human circadian rhythm and the increased sleep propensity during the circadian nadir.