Facility management services and employee well-being

Purpose Although a large number of studies have examined the relationship between the physical work environment and employee performance, the relationship between employee well-being and facility management (FM) has received limited attention. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between FM services and employee well-being in terms of job satisfaction, satisfaction with the workplace, job affect and engagement within the context of the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, distinguishing between soft FM services and hard FM services. Design/methodology/approach The analysis is based on the responses of 1,390 employees, who responded to all the relevant items used in this analysis. In addition to the linear estimations, the research uses an instrumental variable (IV) estimation, the Lewbel IV estimator (Lewbel, 2012), to establish a causal relationship between FM services and employee well-being. Findings The findings of this paper suggest that there is a positive relationship between the FM index and the four well-being proxies. In addition, the findings indicate that the effect of soft FM on employee well-being is generally weaker than the effect of hard FM, especially with regard to job affect and engagement. Originality/value The current research treats FM services as a resource instead of a cost and goes beyond the financial value of FM by providing a quantitative analysis on the added value of FM services in terms of employee well-being. Most importantly, this study incorporates FM services in the JD-R model and uses an alternative approach to linear regression and traditional IV regression to solve for endogeneity issues.

Business Ethics in Healthcare

Over the last few decades, healthcare business and ethical values have been the focus of legal changes, especially in the Greek Healthcare System. The purpose of this chapter was to examine in both a quantitative and qualitative way what the Greek healthcare experts think and feel about ethics and healthcare services and to present the factors that shape attitudes towards ethical values from the viewpoint of the healthcare professionals. For this reason, 34 semi-structured interviews, accompanied by the administration of perceived cohesion scale, generalized immediacy scale, job affect scale, state anxiety inventory, Maslach burnout inventory, and the attitude towards business ethics questionnaire revealed that healthcare professionals in Greece do have knowledge of ethical values and moral responsibility, but no connections with specific emotional aspects were found. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the implications, and future directions on how business ethics can be further examined and applied.

WORKPLACE ATTRACTIVENESS AND ITS EFFECT ON JOB SATISFACTION

The aim of the research was to check whether there is a relationship between the perception of the workplace by the employee as attractive and the level of job satisfaction experienced by him/her. These analyzes are part of the search for environmental conditions of job satisfaction. The study group consisted of 100 office employees were asked to complete three questionnaires: Job Description Questionnaire by Neuberger and Allerbeck, Job Affect Scale by Brief, Burke, George, Robinson and Webster, and authors’ tool to measure the physical assessment of attractiveness the workplace. The results obtained confirm that the attractiveness of the workplace together with the perception of individual elements of space arrangement are related to job satisfaction, both in the emotional and cognitive dimensions. Thus, the results can be a premise to be used by the employer in the process of building an employer branding as inside-out as well as outside-in. Key words: workplace attractiveness, job satisfaction

WORK – FAMILY CONFLICTS AND JOB-RELATED SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING – A MEDIATING ROLE OF WORK ENGAGEMENT

Introduction: The aim of this study was to analyze relations between work-family conflict (WFC) and family-work conflict (FWC) and job-related subjective well-being (job satisfaction, positive – PA and negative – NA affects at work).considering work engagement as variable that can mediate these relationships. Method: 114 employees (31.6% men) aged 25-55 (M=35.39; SD=7.42) completed a set of questionnaires: Work-Family and Family-Work Conflicts, Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-17), Job Affect Scale, and Job Satisfaction Scale. Results: All variables were related each to other. WFC and FWC predicted NA and work engagement and through it job satisfaction and PA, and then NA. Work engagement effect was stronger than conflicts effect – higher work engagement predicted higher job satisfaction and PA, and lower NA. When work engagement was controlled the job satisfaction- PA relation was ns. Conflict-work engagement interaction effects were not significant. Conclusions: Relationships are similar regarding both FWC and WFC. Work engagement do not moderate “conflict – job-related subjective well-being” relations but it mediates them. Conflicts increase NA and decrease work engagement and through it job satisfaction and PA. Work engagement enhances job-related subjective well-being protecting against adverse conflict impacts. Job satisfaction-PA relation is spurious – it results from work engagement impact on both variables. Key words: work-family and family-work conflicts, work engagement, job satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect, mediator, moderator

Paying People to Risk Life or Limb

ABSTRACT:Does the content of a physically dangerous job affect the moral permissibility of hiring for that job? To what extent may employers consider costs in choosing workplace safety measures? Drawing on Kantian ethical theory, this article defends two strong ethical standards of workplace safety. First, the content of a hazardous job does indeed affect the moral permissibility of offering it. Unless employees need hazard pay to meet basic needs, it is permissible to offer a dangerous job only if prospective employees have a reason other than hazard pay to choose this job instead of safer alternatives. Second, employers typically cannot justify omitting expensive safety measures by paying employees more, even if employees prefer higher pay to greater safety. Employers offering dangerous jobs must meet these two standards to avoid treating their employees merely as means.

Συναισθηματική νοημοσύνη εκπαιδευτικών: ο ρόλος της στο συναίσθημα και στην κινητοποίηση στην εργασία τους

Στις έρευνες των επιστημόνων που μελετούν την εργασία των εκπαιδευτικών δεν έχουν συμπεριληφθεί οι συναισθηματικές τους ικανότητες (Brackett, et al., 2008), παρόλο που φαίνεται ότι αυτές έχουν σημαντική επίδραση στο συναίσθημα και στα κίνητρά τους. Στόχος των δύο ερευνών ήταν να διερευνηθούν οι συσχετίσεις της συναισθηματικής νοημοσύνης των εκπαιδευτικών με το συναίσθημα και την κινητοποίηση στην εργασία τους. Και στις δύο έρευνες οι συμμετέχοντες εκπαιδευτικοί συμπλήρωσαν την κλίμακα συναισθηματικής νοημοσύνης Wong Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS· Wong & Law, 2002). Στην πρώτη έρευνα, οι 199 συμμετέχοντες εκπαιδευτικοί συμπλήρωσαν επιπλέον τις κλίμακες: Overall Job Satisfaction (Brayfield & Rothe, 1951), Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach & Jackson, 1986), State Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger, 1980) και Job Affect Scale (JAS· Brief, Burke, George, Robinson, & Webster, 1988). Στη δεύτερη έρευνα, οι 98 συμμετέχοντες εκπαιδευτικοί συμπλήρωσαν επιπλέον τις κλίμακες: Ohio State teacher efficacy scale (OSTES· Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001) και Teachers’ Achievement Goals in Work Questionnaire (Papaioannou, 2001). Τα αποτελέσματα από τις δύο έρευνες έδειξαν, ότι οι εκπαιδευτικοί με υψηλότερα επίπεδα συναισθηματικής νοημοσύνης ήταν περισσότερο προσανατολισμένοι στο έργο, δήλωναν υψηλότερα ποσοστά αυτοαποτελεσματικότητας, βίωναν μεγαλύτερη επαγγελματική ικανοποίηση, περισσότερο θετικό συναίσθημα, λιγότερη επαγγελματική εξουθένωση και λιγότερο αρνητικό συναίσθημα και άγχος στην εργασία τους. Με την παρουσίαση των δύο ερευνών επιχειρείται να διαμορφωθεί μια ολοκληρωμένη εικόνα για το ρόλο της συναισθηματικής νοημοσύνης των εκπαιδευτικών στην εργασία τους.

Business Ethics and the Greek Healthcare System

This chapter provides a review not only of classic literature on healthcare business and ethics, but also an introduction to the legal changes in the Greek healthcare system with ethical values on focus. A study examining in both a quantitative and qualitative way what the Greek healthcare experts think and feel about ethics and healthcare services presents the factors that shape attitudes towards ethical values from the viewpoint of the healthcare professionals. For this reason, 34 semi-structured interviews, accompanied by the administration of perceived cohesion scale, generalized immediacy scale, job affect scale, state anxiety inventory, Maslach burnout inventory, and the attitude towards business ethics questionnaire revealed that healthcare professionals do have knowledge of ethical values and moral responsibility, but no clear connections with specific emotional aspects were found. The chapter concludes with future directions on how business ethics can be further examined and applied.

A test of three basic assumptions of Situational Leadership® II Model and their implications for HRD practitioners

Purpose This study aims to test the following three assertions underlying the Situational Leadership® II (SLII) Model: all four leadership styles are received by followers; all four leadership styles are needed by followers; and if there is a fit between the leadership style a follower receives and needs, that follower will demonstrate favorable scores on outcome variables. Design/methodology/approach For the first and second assertions, a proportional breakdown of the four leadership styles observed within a sample of working professionals is presented and discussed. Regarding the third assertion, for ten outcome variables, multiple one-way analyses of variance tested mean differences between followers who experienced leadership style fit (i.e. a fit between received and needed style) and followers who did not experience fit (n = 573). Subscale scores from the Leader Action Profile, the Work Intention Inventory, the Positive and Negative Affect Scale and an adapted form of the Affective/Cognitive trust scale (McAllister, 1995) were used as study measures. Findings Three of the four leadership styles of the SLII framework were reported as frequently received. All four of the leadership styles were reported as needed. This study also found that follower-reported fit between one’s needed and received leadership style at work resulted in more favorable scores on nine of the ten employee outcomes, as compared to follower-reported misfit. Practical implications As human resource development practitioners seek to educate and train their leaders on how to be more effective with their direct reports, this research provides evidence that all four styles are needed and received, although there were lower instances of reporting the S1 style to be needed or received. Also, the findings demonstrated that when followers view a fit exists between the leadership behaviors they need and the leadership behaviors they receive, greater positive job affect, lower negative job affect, increased cognitive and affective trust in the leader and higher levels of favorable employee work intentions were evident. Originality/value This paper builds on the resurgence of studies examining initiating structure and consideration as leader behaviors. This is one of very few recent studies that, by combining initiating structure and consideration, reinvestigates the four leadership styles established by past contingency theories. Specifically, the authors used the SLII framework as a foundation for analysis. Overall, the study supports three of the major assumptions of the SLII framework.