A growing literature on work place gender diversity and emotional labor has emerged. Both build on more or less implicit assumptions of gender differences in personal attributes. However, it still ...needs to be tested whether differences are prevalent among male and female employees
within the same professional occupation
. Based on data from 1,320 Danish public employees in five professional occupations, the article tests the prevalence of gender-based differences—while controlling for age—in empathy, systemizing and competitiveness—three attributes that are commonly argued in both sociology and neurology to be gender-based and commonly argued to be important among scholars studying work behavior and gender. Findings show that differences in empathy, systemizing and competitiveness are prevalent among male and female employees within same the professional occupation—but not always. In some professions, selection mechanisms minimize and sometimes even eliminate particular differences between the two sexes. Hence, both managers and scholars need to reflect on selection mechanisms before assuming fundamental gender differences in personal attributes within professions.
The 2000 presidential election and the recount battle in Florida focused attention on local election administration in the United States. The Help America Vote Act, passed by the federal government ...in 2002, requires wholesale changes in voting equipment and other election procedures. However, the law did not address the selection of individuals who manage elections: both state and local election officials play a great role implementing federal and state election laws. Recently, several election reform advocates have argued for shifting to nonpartisan election administrators in the United States. Others, particularly associations representing election officials, have not endorsed that position. To inform this debate, we provide data on the selection methods and party affiliations for all local election officials in the United States (more than 4,500 individuals or commissions). We find considerable variation in the methods used to select state and local election officials in the United States.
O presente artigo analisa as relações entre saúde e trabalho dos agentes de combate às endemias (ACEs) da Fundação Nacional de Saúde (Funasa), lotados no município de Nova Iguaçu-RJ, que foram ...reintegrados ao quadro da administração pública após terem sido dispensados. Os objetivos principais deste estudo foram compreender a história da luta destes trabalhadores por reconhecimento social e justiça, cujo desfecho foi a readmissão ao trabalho, bem como conhecer os efeitos adversos na saúde em razão das condições da atividade de combate a endemias. Adotou-se como base metodológica os estudos participativos e, complementarmente, o enfoque da educação popular, realizando grupos de discussão com os trabalhadores. Trata-se, por conseguinte, de uma pesquisa de cunho pedagógico, na qual o diálogo é a relação fundamental. Dos temas identificados nos grupos de discussão obteve-se um repertório de problemas e questões que evidenciaram as más condições de trabalho e a desregulamentação de políticas de saúde voltada para os trabalhadores. Os próprios trabalhadores reconhecem a precarização de seu trabalho, conferindo grande responsabilidade à interferência da política. Referiram-se ainda a um período de incertezas, sofrido pela indefinição de responsabilidades entre os níveis de governo, durante o período de descentralização político-administrativa, e seus efeitos negativos na saúde. Mencionaram o possível aspecto de toxicidade dos inseticidas e os seus riscos de contaminação. Foram sinalizadas sugestões que podem ser adotadas, de modo a propiciar melhores condições de trabalho e de saúde.This article analyses the relationship between health and work of the Agentes de Combate às Endemias (ACE - endemic diseases combat agents) of Fundação Nacional de Saúde (FUNASA) who work in the city of Nova Iguaçu (Southeastern Brazil) and who were readmitted after being dismissed. It aims to give visibility to the questions which involved their reintegration to work and points to the workers' main worries related to their work situation. The methodology was participant research. Collective interviews were conducted, in which the main themes were identified and used in the research. These themes are related to political interference in their actions, their work conditions and institutional and professional rewards. The workers perceive the continuous precariousness of their job due to political interference and to political and administrative decentralization. Besides that, there is a professional devaluation of these workers from both the institution and the population in general. Finally, the workers gave suggestions regarding the changes that should be made in their work environment in order to give them better work conditions.
Research suggests an association between participative management and lower work-to-life interference. We extend these findings to the public sector and examine possible pathways which link them, ...hypothesizing that participative management reduces work-to-life interference through its impact on other work attributes. Using a survey of public sector employees in Queensland, Australia and structural equation modelling, the results show that participatory management consistently reduces work-to-life interference via a number of pathways: by increasing flexibility of work hours, increasing meaningful work, reducing workload, and reducing work uncertainty. Although females with dependents work fewer hours on average, they are still more likely to have higher work-to-life interference. Overall, however, the main way participative management can reduce work-to-life interference is by reducing workloads. Participative management is normally employed to increase organizational efficiency and effectiveness; however, it can also reduce work-to-life interferences for its employees and thus assist an organization in meeting its social responsibility obligations.
Using the results of the 2005 Public Service Employee Survey (PSES), this paper identifies which factors have the greatest effect on employee satisfaction in the Canadian public service. Several ...hypotheses are tested against the backdrop of existing literature. In general, public servant satisfaction is affected by belief in opportunities for promotion, fair classification, adherence to client service standards, life balance, recognition by immediate supervisors, team relationships with colleagues, how well information is shared and, finally, belief in the abilities of senior management. Some interesting elaborations of these basic findings emerge when other variables are controlled. The discussion considers how the public service can be seen as a more desirable career choice.
Sommaire
À l'aide des résultats du Sondage de 2005 auprès des fonctionnaires fédéraux (SAFF), cet article dévoile les facteurs qui exercent la plus grande influence sur la satisfaction des employés dans la fonction publique canadienne. Plusieurs hypothèses sont évaluées par rapport à la documentation existante. De manière générale, les facteurs qui influent sur la satisfaction des fonctionnaires sont la confiance dans les possibilités de promotion, la juste classification, le respect des normes de service à la clientèle, l'équilibre travail‐vie personnelle, la reconnaissance par les superviseurs immédiats, les relations entre collègues au sein d'une équipe, la manière dont les informations sont partagées et, enfin, la confiance dans les capacités de la haute direction. D'intéressantes élaborations de ces résultats de base se dégagent quand d'autres variables sont contrôlées. La discussion suggère des façons pour la fonction publique d'être considérée comme un choix de carrière plus désirable.
Over the last two decades public law liability for breach of European Union law has been subject to remarkable developments. This book examines the convergence between its two constituent systems: ...the damages liability of the EU and that of its Member States for failing to comply with EU rules. Member State liability, based as it is on the Francovich case (1991) and Brasserie du Pêcheur and Factortame (1996) judgments of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) is well established. But it is yet to be closely scrutinised by reference to the detailed rules on the liability of the European Union. The focus of the book is on the two key legal criteria that are common to both systems, namely the grant of rights to individuals by EU law and the notion of sufficiently serious breach of such rights. The analysis concentrates on developments in the case law of the ECJ and the General Court since the Bergaderm judgment (2000), which consolidated the convergence of the two liability systems that was first indicated in Brasserie du Pêcheur and Factortame. These two criteria are set side by side to evaluate the extent, in real terms, of the convergence of Member State and EU institutional damages liability, and to determine the extent to which one has influenced the other. This book shows that although full convergence between the two liability systems is not likely, each stream of case law should look to the other more actively as this important element of EU remedial law develops. Convergence in EU law public liability is supported by developments in adjacent areas, most notably European tort law and European administrative law. This study also illustrates how convergence in the EU liability systems to date has had spill-over effects into national public liability law.
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