The difference Page, Scott E
Princeton University Press,
2007., 20080811, 2008, 2008-00-00, 2008-09-16, 20070101
eBook, Book
In this landmark book, Scott Page redefines the way we understand ourselves in relation to one another. The Difference is about how we think in groups--and how our collective wisdom exceeds the sum ...of its parts. Why can teams of people find better solutions than brilliant individuals working alone? And why are the best group decisions and predictions those that draw upon the very qualities that make each of us unique? The answers lie in diversity--not what we look like outside, but what we look like within, our distinct tools and abilities. The Difference reveals that progress and innovation may depend less on lone thinkers with enormous IQs than on diverse people working together and capitalizing on their individuality. Page shows how groups that display a range of perspectives outperform groups of like-minded experts. Diversity yields superior outcomes, and Page proves it using his own cutting-edge research. Moving beyond the politics that cloud standard debates about diversity, he explains why difference beats out homogeneity, whether you’re talking about citizens in a democracy or scientists in the laboratory. He examines practical ways to apply diversity’s logic to a host of problems, and along the way offers fascinating and surprising examples, from the redesign of the Chicago "El" to the truth about where we store our ketchup.
Although workplace design and management are gaining more and more attention from modern organizations, workplace research is still very fragmented and spread across multiple disciplines in academia. ...There are several books on the market related to workplaces, facility management (FM), and corporate real estate management (CREM) disciplines, but few open up a theoretical and practical discussion across multiple theories from different disciplines. Therefore, workplace researchers are not aware of all the angles from which workplace management and effects of workplace design on employees has been or could be studied. A lot of knowledge is lost between disciplines, and sadly, many insights do not reach workplace managers in practice. Therefore, this new book series is started by associate professor Rianne Appel-Meulenbroek (Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands) and postdoc researcher Vitalija Danivska (Aalto University, Finland) as editors, published by Routledge. It is titled ‘Transdisciplinary Workplace Research and Management’ because it bundles important research insights from different disciplinary fields and shows its relevance for both academic workplace research and workplace management in practice. The books will address the complexity of the transdisciplinary angle necessary to solve ongoing workplace-related issues in practice, such as knowledge worker productivity, office use, and more strategic management. In addition, the editors work towards further collaboration and integration of the necessary disciplines for further development of the workplace field in research and in practice. This book series is relevant for workplace experts both in academia and industry. This second book in the series focuses on the role of workplace management in the organization and the tasks that workplace management needs to consider. The 18 theories that are presented in this book and applied to workplace research discuss management aspects from the organization’s perspective or dive deeper into issues related to people and/or building management. They all emphasize that workplace management is a complex matter that requires more strategic attention in order to add value for various stakeholders. The final chapter of the book describes a first step towards integrating the presented theories into an interdisciplinary framework for developing a grand workplace management theory.
Macrocognition Metrics and Scenarios: Design and Evaluation for Real-World Teams translates advances in macrocognition into a format that will support immediate use by the software testing and ...evaluation community for large-scale systems, as well as real-world team trainers. It provides an overview of the theoretical foundations of macrocognition, describes new macrocognitive metrics, and provides guidance on using the metrics in the context of different approaches to evaluation and measurement of real-world teams.
Macrocognition in Teams Letsky, Michael P.; Warner, Norman W.; Fiore, Stephen M. ...
2008, 2008-09-01
eBook
Macrocognition in Teams provides readers with a greater understanding of the macrocognitive processes which support collaborative team activity, showcasing current research, theories, methodologies ...and tools. It will be of direct relevance to academics, researchers and practitioners interested in group/team interaction, performance, development and training.
Although workplace incivility has received increasing attention in organizational research over the past two decades, there have been recurring questions about its construct validity, especially ...vis-à-vis other forms of workplace mistreatment. Also, the antecedents of experienced incivility remain understudied, leaving an incomplete understanding of its nomological network. In this meta-analysis using Schmidt and Hunter's Methods of meta-analysis: Correcting error and bias in research findings (3rd ed.), Sage random-effect meta-analytic methods, we validate the construct of incivility by testing its reliability, convergent and discriminant validity, as well as its incremental predictive validity over other forms of mistreatment. We also extend its nomological network by drawing on the perpetrator predation framework to systematically study the antecedents of experienced incivility. Based on 105 independent samples and 51,008 participants, we find extensive support for incivility's construct validity. Besides, we demonstrate that demographic characteristics (gender, race, rank, and tenure), personality traits (agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, negative affectivity, and self-esteem), and contextual factors (perceived uncivil climate and socially supportive climate) are important antecedents of experienced incivility, with contextual factors displaying a stronger association with incivility. In a supplementary primary study with 457 participants, we find further support for the construct validity of incivility. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of this study.
This empirical study aims to determine the effects of a toxic workplace environment, which can negatively impact the job productivity of an employee.
Three hundred questionnaires were randomly ...distributed among the staff members of seven private universities in Pakistan with a final response rate of 89%. For analysis purposes, AMOS 22 was used to study the direct and indirect effects of the toxic workplace environment on job productivity. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was conducted to ensure the convergent and discriminant validity of the factors, while the Hayes mediation approach was used to verify the mediating role of job burnout between the four dimensions of toxic workplace environment and job productivity. A toxic workplace with multiple dimensions, such as workplace ostracism, workplace incivility, workplace harassment, and workplace bullying, was used in this study.
By using the multiple statistical tools and techniques, it has been proven that ostracism, incivility, harassment, and bullying have direct negative significant effects on job productivity, while job burnout was shown to be a statistical significant mediator between the dimensions of a toxic workplace environment and job productivity. Finally, we concluded that organizations need to eradicate the factors of toxic workplace environments to ensure their prosperity and success.
This study encourages managers, leaders, and top management to adopt appropriate policies for enhancing employees' productivity.
This study was conducted by using a cross-sectional research design. Future research aims to expand the study by using a longitudinal research design.
Objectives Leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) is a well-established protective factor for all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality while occupational physical activity (OPA) has shown ...contradictory results. We examined the association between OPA and all-cause and coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality, and tested its combined effect with LTPA. Methods The CORDIS Study (Cardiovascular Occupational Risk Factor Determination in Israel Study) is a prospective cohort study of industrial workers examined during 1985-1989 and followed-up for 22 years. Data on self-reported OPA and LTPA among 4819 males (20-70 years old) were merged with data on all-cause and CHD mortality obtained from the National Death Registry. Results A higher incidence rate of all-cause mortality and CHD mortality was observed among men who performed moderate-hard OPA compared with those who performed none-mild OPA. Multiple regression analysis based on the Cox proportional hazards model showed that moderate-hard OPA was associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality (HR=1.42, 95% CI 1.16 to 1.74, p<0.001), while LTPA (30 min at least twice a week vs less or none) was associated with reduced risk for all-cause mortality (HR=0.61, 95% CI 0.48 to 0.79, p<0.001), after adjusting for potential confounders, including sociodemographic variables, body mass index, comorbidity and lifestyle habits. Employees who performed moderate-hard OPA and no LTPA had the greatest risk for all-cause mortality and employees who performed none-light OPA and LTPA had the lowest risk. Similar but non-significant trends were observed for the association with CHD mortality. Conclusions Moderate-hard OPA among industrial male workers may be deleterious to health and should not be a substitute to LTPA.
Workplace violence against nurses is a serious problem. Nurses from a US urban/community hospital system employing more than 5,000 nurses researched the incidence of workplace violence against nurses ...perpetrated by patients or visitors in their hospital system.
Survey research and retrospective database review methods were used. Nurse participants (all system-employed nurse types) completed a 34-item validated survey in electronic format. Retrospective database review provided annual nurse workplace violence injury treatment and indemnity charges. Institutional review board approval was received.
Survey research participants (N = 762) were primarily white female registered nurses, aged 26 to 64 years, with more than 10 years of experience. Over the past year, 76.0% experienced violence (verbal abuse by patients, 54.2%; physical abuse by patients, 29.9%; verbal abuse by visitors, 32.9%; and physical by visitors, 3.5%), such as shouting or yelling (60.0% by patients and 35.8% by visitors), swearing or cursing (53.5% by patients and 24.9% by visitors), grabbing (37.8% by patients and 1.1% by visitors), and scratching or kicking (27.4% by patients and 0.8% by visitors). Emergency nurses (12.1%) experienced a significantly greater number of incidents (P < .001). Nurses noted more than 50 verbal (24.3%) and physical (7.3%) patient/visitor violence incidents over their careers. Most serious career violence incidents (n = 595, 78.1%) were physical (63.7%) (60.8% by patients and 2.9% by visitors), verbal (25.4%) (18.3% by patients and 7.1% by visitors), and threatened physical assault (10.9%) (6.9% by patients and 4.0% by visitors). Perpetrators were primarily white male patients, aged 26 to 35 years, who were confused or influenced by alcohol or drugs. Per database review, annual workplace violence charges for the 2.1% of nurses reporting injuries were $94,156 ($78,924 for treatment and $15,232 for indemnity).
Nurses are too commonly exposed to workplace violence. Hospitals should enhance programs for training and incident reporting, particularly for nurses at higher risk of exposure, caring for patients with dementia or Alzheimer disease, patients with drug-seeking behavior, or drug- or alcohol-influenced patients.
Abuser-initiated workplace disruptions are experienced by women who are in abusive intimate relationships. However, workplace disruptions may be prevented with targeted workplace supports. Using ...pilot data, this study examined relationships between workplace disruptions and workplace supports. Crosstabulation and Fisher’s exact test results were stratified by race to understand potential racial discrimination of survivors. Findings revealed supports are associated with infrequent workplace disruptions for Black women, but White women were extended a wider variety of supports, even with frequent disruptions. Discussion of results is applied to workplaces and policy makers seeking to better support employees experiencing partner violence.
Aim
We aimed to test a model examining the direct and indirect effects of the work environment on workplace violence, nurse burnout and work attitudes of Chinese hospital nurses.
Background
Work ...environment is a key factor related to nurses' work attitudes. There has been limited information about how the work environment influences nurses' work attitudes.
Method
This was a cross‐sectional study that included 1,517 hospital nurses in 111 medical/surgical units in 23 hospitals from Guangdong province, China. Structural equation modelling was used to test a hypothesized model that supposed work environment has both direct and indirect effects on work attitudes (e.g. job satisfaction and intention to leave) through workplace violence and nurse burnout.
Results
Better work environment was related to higher job satisfaction and lower intention to leave both directly and indirectly through two mediators: workplace violence and burnout. Burnout mediated the association of workplace violence with job satisfaction and intention to leave.
Conclusions
Improving work environment would promote nurse safety and subsequently contribute to stabilize the nurse workforce.
Implications for Nursing Management
To help nurses achieve safety and improved work attitudes, nurse managers should build a positive work environment and help nurses who have experienced workplace violence relieve their burnout.
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