Predictors of willingness to relocate for managerial and professional employees

This study explored possible determinants, both inside and outside the job sphere, of willingness to relocate. Data were collected from a large sample of managerial and professional employees in one organization. Unlike previous research, this study investigated willingness to relocate for three different purposes: (1) for a better job or career development; (2) to help the organization; or (3) to remain employed. However, only two factors of willingness to relocate emerged: willingness to relocate for career enhancement or company needs, and willingness to relocate to remain employed. Results showed that the strongest predictors of willingness to relocate to remain employed were job sphere variables such as satisfaction with career development opportunities and propensity to remain, while family and community variables were much more important in predicting willingness to relocate for career enhancement or company needs. The implications of these results for both the organization and individuals are discussed.     

地下工程掘进循环通风防尘的研究

介绍了地下工程掘进就地净化循环通风防尘研究的理论分析与实验结果.研究表明:采用新型高效金属纤维栅洗涤器对地下工程掘进作业面进行就地净化循环通风,能将工作面粉尘浓度控制在2mg/m3以下,符合国家卫生标准.     

关于一起过电压事故的调查分析

通过一起过电压事故的调查分析,找出了发生事故的主要原因,并提出了整改措施及应吸取的经验教训。     

Paths to the job satisfaction of bank employees

Using a sample of 267 bank employees, this study traced the paths to the job satisfaction of employees at the workplace through the quality of life factors of job involvement and sense of competence. Results indicated that personal, job, and organizational climate factors influenced the ego investment or job involvement of people in their jobs, which in turn influenced the intrapsychic reward of sense of competence that they experienced, which then directly influenced employees' job satisfaction. Implications of these findings for managers are discussed.     

A further examination of managerial burnout: Toward an integrated model

A model of managerial burnout was examined among 148 human service supervisors and managers. The findings suggest that emotional exhaustion plays a central mediating role in the burnout process. Social support and direct control were associated with exhaustion through role stress. Job and life satisfaction, and time spent with clients and subordinates were also related to exhaustion. In turn, exhaustion was related to depersonalization, professional commitment, and turnover intentions. An expected reciprocal relation between exhaustion and helplessness was not found, as the former had only a weak impact on the latter. Implications for stress coping are discussed.     

The influence of subordinate age on managerial actions: An attributional analysis

The present research examined the effects of employee age on managers attributions and actions toward subordinates. The major prediction was that managers attributions would mediate the effects of age on managerial actions. One-hundred and twenty-four undergraduate management students participated in a laboratory experiment in which subordinate age (30 versus 60 years) and performance (high versus low) were manipulated. A laboratory study was conducted so that subordinate credentials and performance levels could be controlled. Analyses indicated that poor performance by older subordinates was attributed more to stable factors than similar performance by younger subordinates. In addition, job simplification was rated as more appropriate and training was recommended as less appropriate for older subordinates. A series of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that the differences in managerial actions were a function of subjects' attributional patterns. Implications of the findings for practice and future research are discussed.     

Factors related to presenteeism among employees of the private sector

The objective was to explore the relationship between person-based variables and work-related variables of presenteeism in four different private sector workplaces. Employees (N=413) filled in a questionnaire related to demographic and socio-economic characteristics, social networks, work-related factors, lifestyle factors and state of health. Presenteeism was assessed using the Stanford Presenteeism Scale 6 (SPS-6). The majority of respondents were male (77.2%), and mean age was 34.7±8.1 years. The prevalence of chronic conditions was 15.9%. The mean score for the SPS-6 was 19.9 (SD, 3.3). The female score was higher than the male score on the SPS-6 in this study. Total score was higher among workers who reported working at high speed. SPS-6 score was higher among individuals with a chronic health problem. Understanding of the workplace and personal factors related to presenteeism may support the health and well-being of workers.     

An incident investigation on an unexpected loss of containment and damage to PHI-TEC II during acrylonitrile runaway tests

This article investigates a laboratory incident that occurred during the analysis of a thermal runaway reaction of acrylonitrile monomer. This failure, which was attributed to an human error, resulted in financial losses and corresponding unexpected results. The incident not only damaged the interior of the vessel and other instrument parts, but also exposed the researchers to considerable danger, necessitating their escape from the laboratory. The failure characteristics are discussed, and countermeasures are developed to prevent such a type of incident from reoccurring.     

Accident in a French dynamite factory: An example of an organisational investigation

The 27th of March 2003, an explosion caused the death of four employees in a Nitrochimie pyrotechnic plant, at Billy Berclau, in the north of France. Following the accident, the ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development appointed INERIS to perform an investigation. According to the terms of reference, the investigation would cover technical (origins of the explosion, extent of damages) as well as organisational issues, as defined by SEVESO II safety management system requirements. This paper has a threefold purpose. It intends first to illustrate with an empirical case the current trend in safety auditing and accident investigation, targeting organisational factors, alongside human factors. There are not so many published cases of accidents analysed with an organisational perspective. Secondly, it shows that it is possible to investigate organisational dimensions (through articulation of safety engineering, safety management and human and social sciences) within reasonable time frames and a reasonable amount of resources. By focusing on key actors and asking appropriate questions related to key dimensions, investigating organisational accidents might not necessarily imply spending much more resources than other steps such as damage assessment, chronological construction or identification of technical scenarios, although there are also some prerequisite conditions needed to achieve this. Finally this paper should be seen as a technical communication beyond the pyrotechnic industry.     

An investigation of occupational subgroups with respect to patient safety culture

There are varying views about the consistency of safety culture across a given organisation or industrial sector: some view it as homogeneous, whereas others have suggested the presence of sub-cultures that vary according to the work group or worksite. This paper reports on a study in which job characteristics and safety climate ratings from a sample of British community pharmacists (N = 860) were subjected to a cluster analysis, with the aim of identifying whether discrete groups can be identified on the basis of these ratings. A four-cluster solution was obtained from the analysis. Examination of quantitative and qualitative data from each cluster led to them being identified as: (i) the disenfranchising pharmacy; (ii) the perilous pharmacy; (iii) the safety-focused pharmacy; (iv) the challenging pharmacy. On the basis of the data obtained, safety culture appears to have both characteristics generic to all community pharmacies and characteristics specific to each cluster, with a number of social and organisational factors influencing the culture in any one setting. Implications for the modelling and assessment of safety culture are discussed.     

Age effects on the predictors of technical workers' commitment and willingness to turnover

Building commitment and preventing costly turnover of technical employees are key challenges facing organizations today. We examine whether the elements of the employment relationship that predict commitment and willingness to change companies vary significantly with age. Using a sample of over 3000 technical professionals from six large companies, we find that in comparison to those under 30, satisfaction with job security is more strongly related to the commitment of more senior workers (ages 31–45 and those over age 45) and to their desire to remain with their companies. In contrast, satisfaction with work–life balance is more strongly related to commitment of those under age 30 than those over 30. Also, for the under‐30s, satisfaction with opportunities to develop technical skills and pay linked to individual performance has a stronger negative relationship with willingness to change companies than for those over 45. While statistically significant, the size of the age effects is small, suggesting popular and managerial attention devoted to differences among age groups may be overblown. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

物流企业员工安全参与行为演化路径研究

为确定影响物流企业员工安全参与行为的因素与演化路径,推动对物流企业员工的安全监管,在员工和物流企业具有有限理性的前提下,从物流企业与员工之间的博弈机理出发,构建了员工安全参与行为的演化博弈模型。采用系统动力学方法分析模型的演化趋势,通过数值仿真分析物流企业员工安全参与行为及演化路径。结果表明,奖励力度、惩罚力度等参数影响着员工策略的变化,物流企业可加大对员工不积极参与安全行为的处罚力度,并适当提高奖励力度,从而提高员工的参与安全活动的积极性;物流企业还应建立奖励与惩戒相结合的管理制度,同时通过技术创新降低监督成本,实现对员工安全的有效监管。     

An integrative model of managerial perceptions of employee commitment: antecedents and influences on employee treatment

An integrative model of antecedents and outcomes of managerial perceptions of employee organizational commitment was developed and tested with 490 employees of a publicly owned U.S. manufacturing firm. The results are consistent with predictions showing that self‐reported affective commitment and supervisor‐focused impression management predicted managerial perceptions of affective commitment, whereas age, tenure, education, training and development, and self‐focused impression management were related to managerial perceptions of continuance commitment. Furthermore, manager‐rated affective and continuance commitment were differentially related to supervisory treatment of the employee (i.e. receiving contingent rewards and non‐contingent punishment). The results of this study show how managers develop perceptions of affective and continuance commitment, and through their associated treatment of employees, has important implications for the ways managers may serve to enhance or detract from employee contributions to the organization. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An empirical investigation of European drivers' self-assessment

PROBLEM: Evaluating motorists through self-assessment has attracted much interest in recent literature, which is mainly due to the profound impact various parameters of self-assessment can have on the way motorists deal with hazardous traffic situations. Much of the previous work in this area has been hampered both by the lack of adequate sample sizes and, because of the small samples, the evaluation methodologies used. METHOD: This paper extends previous research in two significant directions: (a) it uses the SARTRE 2 database, which provides more than 17,000 questionnaires from most European countries; and (b) it employs the ordered probit modeling approach, which recognizes the latent nature of self-assessment and explicitly links its dimensions to a set of relevant explanatory variables such as age, gender, region, and income. RESULTS: The results indicate that drivers who rate themselves as both more dangerous and faster than others are, generally, younger men, with higher incomes, break the speed limit more frequently, avoid wearing seat belts, and have been involved in more accidents in the past than other drivers. Interestingly, more experienced and more highly educated drivers assess their driving as less dangerous, but admit to driving faster than other drivers. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: The methodology used and the results obtained can be a significant help in identifying drivers with high and low self-assessment ratings, which can be useful in planning and implementing road safety information campaigns.     

从业人员是安全生产的主人——论从业人员的安全生产权利义务制度

人的因素第一,人是最宝贵、最活跃的生产力。生产经营单位的从业人员是各项生产经营活动最直接的劳动者,又是各项安全生产法律权利和义务的承担者。从这个意义上说,从业人员是安全生产的主人。《安全生产法》确立的从业人员安全生产权利义务制度,从基本的权利保障与义务设定两个方面,对从业人员从事生产经营活动中的安全生产做出了明确的法律规定。     

火电厂应急管理信息系统研究

分析火电厂事故应急管理的特点,即事故应急响应的快速性、高效性及可预测性;从技术框架设计、网络设计、数据库设计、系统安全性设计4方面分析火电厂应急管理信息系统的总体设计方案;分析火电厂应急管理系统的业务模块划分及主要功能;讨论火电厂应急管理信息系统的实现方式及主要工作界面.结果表明,在系统三维仿真环境中可以进行重大危险源辨识、风险评估以及有效组织模拟演练,从而提高火电厂的应急管理水平.研究表明,高质量的仿真环境与科学的逻辑分析可为临灾状态下的应急救援决策提供快速、有效的技术支持,具有重要现实意义.     

What is an explosion? A case history of an investigation for the insurance industry

After a large property loss, the insured and insurers of a hydroelectric power plant in North America became embroiled in subrogation to determine if the event could be characterized as an explosion. The subject insurance policy provided coverage for explosions, but excluded mechanical breakdowns. Analysis by Exponent Failure Analysis Associates indicated that a consistent, cross-disciplinary definition for explosions can be extracted from published scientific literature, and that this incident was not an explosion because certain key requirements were missing during the accident. However, this investigation has highlighted the necessity for insurance companies and their insureds to better understand this term and thereby minimize future coverage disputes. This paper presents an analysis of this incident and describes the necessary characteristics of an explosion.     

无公害食用菌生产技术规程的制定研究

通过分析近年来我国食用菌生产管理和产品质量安全存在的问题,论述了开展无公害食用菌生产的重要性.同时吸收各地的生产经验.根据国家有关标准,从食用菌生产场所的选择、培养基材料和水的要求、栽培管理、病虫害防治、采后处理、加工贮藏和产品质量安全检测等几个方面,提出了一整套较系统的无公害食用菌生产技术操作规程.该项技术规程在生产上的推广应用,对提高食用菌生产技术水平、改善和保障食用菌产品质量、增强产品在国际市场的竞争力将产生积极的推动作用.     

How work ideologies shape the psychological contracts of professional employees: doctors' responses to perceived breach

This study suggests that the psychological contract between a professional and his/her employing organization is shaped by both professional and administrative work ideologies and therefore involves both professional and administrative roles and perceived role obligations. It is also suggested that because of important differences between these two ideologies, a professional employee's response to perceptions that his/her organization is not fulfilling its role obligations will depend on whether the perceived breach involves professional or administrative obligations. Hypotheses based on this general proposition were strongly supported in a sample of medical professionals. Specifically, results suggest that perceived breaches of administrative role obligations are most strongly associated with dissatisfaction, thoughts of quitting, and turnover whereas perceived breaches of professional role obligations are most strongly associated with lower organizational commitment and job performance (productivity and client satisfaction). Implications for theory and research on the dimensionality of the psychological employment contract and on the employment of professionals are considered. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.