Employee Discipline

Workplace programs to prevent and reduce alcohol-related problems among employees have considerable potential. For example, because employees spend a lot of time at work, coworkers and supervisors may have the opportunity to notice a developing alcohol problem. In addition, employers can use their influence to motivate employees to get help for an alcohol problem. Many employers offer employee assistance programs (EAPs) as well as educational programs to reduce employees' alcohol problems. However, several risk factors for alcohol problems exist in the workplace domain. Further research is needed to develop strategies to reduce these risk factors.

The aim of this study was to explore longitudinal relationships between organizational factors (workload and procedural justice) and targets and perpetrators of workplace bullying. We compared several causal models (baseline or stability, normal, reversed and reciprocal models). The sample comprised 286 employees from two companies in Madrid, and we used a time-lag of one year. Results of structural equation modeling analyses showed that reciprocal model fit the data the best. We found that T1 workload was related positively to T2 target of bullying, and T1 procedural justice was related negatively to T2 target of bullying. There was a significant reverse effect of T1 target of bullying on T2 workload. Furthermore, we found a reciprocal relationship between being the target and the perpetrator of bullying. Overall, these findings emphasize the need to extend the traditional causal models of workplace bullying to more dynamic approaches.

The goal of the present study was to determine what behaviors negotiators can use to help to quell an escalating conflict. In doing so, we formed a sample of professionals who took on the role of negotiator when we provoked an organizational conflict between a superior and subordinate that escalates due to the intervention of research confederates. Trained judges analyzed the negotiators' behaviors that most effectively mitigated the intensity of the conflict in which they were involved. The results demonstrate that the behaviors most effective at de-escalating an escalating conflict are problem-solving and accommodation, especially when said conflict has escalated considerably. Similarly, jointly employing problem-solving and direct fighting behaviors also seems to help de-escalate conflict. The results do not, however, consistently support using a forceful behavioral strategy to de-escalate a conflict in the early stages of escalation.

Most supervisors dread employee discipline and often employ strategies not officially sanctioned by the organization. Poorly designed discipline systems cause this variation in discipline practices. Inconsistent discipline can cause losses in productivity and reduce employee morale. Extant literature offers little in the form of guidance for improving this important human resource activity. This article explore where normative literature on organizational culture may have explanatory value for understanding variation in discipline practices. The article suggests two groups of factors that have causal effects on discipline practices. The tangible factors are those describing the formal practices the organization wishes its employees to follow. The intangible factors provide cues for explaining why informal strategies emerge as successful practices for getting things done. Using this conception of organization culture, the article proposes hypotheses for future testing to validate the...

Background. Limited research has been conducted into the experiences of nurses reported to a nurse regulatory authority for an allegation of unprofessional conduct. Previous research reveals that having an allegation of unprofessional conduct made against a nurse and being ...

When nurses have active and untreated addictions, patient safety may be compromised and nurse-health endangered. Genuine responses are required to fulfil nurses' moral obligations to their patients as well as to their nurse-colleagues. Guided by core elements of relational ethics, the influences of nursing organizational responses along with the practice environment in shaping the situation are contemplated. This approach identifies the importance of consistency with nursing values, acknowledges nurses interdependence, and addresses the role of nursing organization as moral agent. By examining the relational space, the tension between what appears to be opposing moral responsibilities may be healed. Ongoing discourse to identify authentic actions for the professional practice issue of nursing under the influence is called upon.

Elder abuse is a universal concern and is gaining greater public and professional attention. This increased concern to protect elders is internationally evident in policy reform, multidisciplinary research and education. Yet neglect in care settings continues. This research responds by contributing to the international effort to promote humane care for elders who are in a position of dependence, particularly in residential facilities. The legal cases that result from some complaints by aggrieved elders and their advocates may offer insights that are relevant for prevention. While the law is often viewed merely as a system of control, it may also be a resource for learning, particularly in the context of abuse prevention. Although the analysis references New Zealand law, the discussion may have broader application by indicating factors that precede, or trigger, unacceptable conduct. By understanding what went wrong and why, we may decrease the likelihood of future incidents. Also, un...

Many new nursing leaders assuming work as deans, assistant deans, or interim deans have limited education, experience, or background to prepare them for the job. To assist new deans and those aspiring to be deans, the authors of this department, both deans, offer survival tips based on their personal experiences and insights. They address common issues, challenges, and opportunities that face academic executive teams, such as negotiating an executive contract, obtaining faculty lines, building effective work teams, managing difficult employees, and creating nimble organizational structure to respond to changing consumer, healthcare delivery, and community needs. The authors welcome counterpoint discussions with readers.

It was five minutes before show time, and only 15 people had wandered into the conference room to hear Lancaster-Webb CEO Will Somerset introduce the company's latest line of surgical gloves. More important, sales prospect Samuel Taylor, medical director of the Houston Clinic, had failed to show. Will walked out of the ballroom to steady his nerves and noticed a spillover crowd down the hall. He made a "What's up?" gesture to Judy Chen, Lancaster-Webb's communications chief. She came over to him. "It's Glove Girl. You know, the blogger," Judy said, as if this explained anything. "I think she may have stolen your crowd." "Who is she?" Will asked. Glove Girl was a factory worker at Lancaster-Webb whose always outspoken, often informative postings on her Web log had developed quite a following. Will was new to the world of blogging, but he quickly learned about its power in a briefing with his staff. After Glove Girl had raved abo...

This paper addresses bullying of United Kingdom (UK) nursing students whilst on work placement as a specific issue of inter-group difficulty that currently affects nurses and students working in the UK National Health Service. The authors begin by discussing the concept of bullying and sharing the types of bullying reported in two recent studies involving UK nursing students. Both studies illustrate the effects that negative workplace experiences can have on new entrants to the profession. After reviewing various individual solutions which have been recommended for reducing bullying, they suggest that the most effective solution is for health care organisations offering placement training to become much more proactive in creating a culture that will not tolerate bullying behaviour by staff at any level. The literature suggests bullying is a phenomenon affecting workplaces in many countries. Thus the issues described in this article, and the solutions offered have relevance to a variety of health care settings.

This article examines the factors that can affect job satisfaction, organizational culture and climate, and intent to leave at a public child welfare agency. Findings from focus group data collected from direct line, middle, and senior managers revealed a passive defensive culture. The authors discuss concrete organizational interventions to assist the agency in shifting to a constructive oriented culture through enhancements in communication, including supervision and shared decisionmaking, recognition and rewards, and improvement in other areas related to working conditions.

Research on health effects of managerial leadership has only taken established work environment factors into account to a limited extent. We therefore investigated the associations between a measure of Attentive Managerial Leadership (AML), and perceived stress, age-relative self-rated health, and sickness absence due to overstrain/fatigue, adjusting for the dimensions of the Demand-Control-Support model. Blue- and white-collar workers from Finland, Germany and Sweden employed in a multi-national forest industry company (N=12,622). Cross-sectional data on leadership and health from a company-wide survey analysed with logistic regression in different subgroups. AML was associated with perceived stress, age-relative self-rated health, and sickness absence due to overstrain/fatigue after controlling for the Demand-Control-Support model. Lack of AML was significantly associated with a high stress level in all subgroups (OR=1.68-2.67). Associations with age-relative self-rated health and sickness absence due to overstrain/fatigue were weaker, but still significant, and in the expected direction for several of the subgroups studied, suggesting an association between lack of AML and negative health consequences. The study indicates that managerial leadership is associated with employee stress, health, and sickness absence independently of the Demand-Control-Support model and should be considered in future studies of health consequences for employees, and in work environment interventions.

Since July 2004, employers of social care staff working with vulnerable adults in England and Wales have been legally required to refer workers or volunteers dismissed for misconduct because they have harmed vulnerable adults or placed them at risk of harm to the Protection of Vulnerable Adults (POVA) list. The POVA list is unique to England and Wales, and is a powerful tool of quality assurance for the care sector and for the safeguarding of vulnerable adults. This article reports on part of a multi-method study including quantitative and qualitative elements to produce a rounded picture of the factors involved in decisions to place staff members on the POVA list. Based on secondary data analysis of all records of POVA referrals from August 2004 to November 2006 (5294 records) as well as a detailed sample of 298 referrals, this article focuses on the prevalence of different types of alleged harm and their association with various staff, employer and service-users’ characteristics. The most common form of alleged abuse was physical abuse (33%), while the least was sexual abuse (6%). Some of the other key findings are the over-representation of men referred (31% compared to an average of 15% in the workforce) and significantly different types of abuse in care home and domiciliary settings, where financial abuse was less likely in care homes [odds ratio (OR) 0.17; P < 0.001], while physical abuse more likely in the same setting (OR 3.60; P < 0.001).

This descriptive, correlational study examined the responses and concerns of healthcare professionals about making medication errors and estimated patient harm from such errors. A systematic random sample of nurses, pharmacists, and physicians (N = 402) completed a self-report survey about a medication error they judged to be serious. Respondents were guilty, nervous, and worried about the error. They feared for the safety of the patient, disciplinary action, and punishment. A few subjects indicated that they never reported the errors. The most frequent symptoms associated with errors were neurologically based. The injury suffered by patients was not severe overall according to the harm scales. Weak correlations were found for the harm scales and responses and concerns. The authors suggest a supportive environment for the provider following an error and continuous quality improvement efforts to eliminate system-based errors.