Exploring Team Support: The Role of Team's Design, Values, and Leader's Support.

This study addressed the issue of team support and explored the role of structural factors, namely, job enrichment designs; the role of cultural factors, namely, individualism-collectivism and power distance; and the role of the leader's support, which served as support carrier in teams. With 56 nursing teams, the results demonstrated that whereas leader's support, collectivism, and low power distance facilitated team support, job enrichment designs placed constraints on the accessibility of support to team members. Additionally, leader's support and low power distance moderated the negative impact of job enrichment on team support. These findings suggest that support is not primarily a burst of altruism displayed by individuals, and they draw attention to the teams' contexts that most likely serve to encourage team members to engage in support. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding team innovation: The role of team processes and structures.

The present study focused on innovation of teams, examining the contributions of team interaction processes (exchanging information, learning, motivating, and negotiating) and structures (functional heterogeneity and frequency of meetings) to innovation. Specifically, it was hypothesized that (a) team structures will be positively related to team innovation, (b) team heterogeneity will be positively related to team interaction processes, (c) team interaction processes will be positively related to team innovation, and (d) team interaction processes will mediate the relationship between team heterogeneity and team innovation. Results from a sample of 48 intact teams in elementary and secondary schools supported the main hypotheses. These results imply that the development of mutual interaction processes is a crucial mechanism for translating team heterogeneity into innovation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Strategies for coping with work-family conflict: The distinctive relationships of gender role ideology.

Study 1, with 266 employed parents, identified 8 coping strategies: super at home, good enough at home, delegation at home, priorities at home, super at work, good enough at work, delegation at work, and priorities at work. Study 2, with 679 employed parents, demonstrated a moderating effect of sex and gender role ideology in the relationship between coping strategy and work-family conflict. Specifically, the relationships between coping strategies (i.e., good enough at home, good enough at work, and delegation at work) and work interference with family were moderated by sex and gender role ideology. Regarding family interference with work, the relationships between coping strategies (i.e., good enough at home and good enough at work, delegation at home and delegation at work, and priorities at home) and family interference with work were moderated by sex and gender role ideology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Schools as team-based organizations: A structure-process-outcomes approach.

The present study addressed the issue of teams in schools and the ways in which they contribute to school effectiveness. Specifically, the present research suggested an input (frequency of meetings and functional heterogeneity)-process (interaction processes of exchanging information, learning, motivating, and negotiating)-outcome (team performance and innovation) model for predicting school effectiveness. Two hundred twenty-four school teams (including team coordinators, team members, and school principals) were surveyed. The results indicated that, regarding team innovation, frequency of meetings and functional heterogeneity were positively associated with the 4 interaction processes, which in turn fostered team innovation. However, regarding team performance, the results indicated that only frequency of meetings was positively associated with the interaction process of exchanging information, which in turn enhanced team performance. The findings serve to draw important theoretical and practical conclusions as to the best ways to structure schools and to improve their interaction processes for the enhancement of team performance and team innovation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How does service workers’ behavior affect their health? Service climate as a moderator in the service behavior–health relationships.

To address the question of whether providing high-quality service deteriorates or benefits workers’ health, a contingency model was tested that focused on service climate as a moderator. This interacts with service behavior to affect workers’ perceptions of emotional exhaustion, hence their physical and mental health. Findings of this study with 328 nurses from 66 nursing units indicated that congruent conditions of service climate and behaviors benefited workers’ health, whereas incongruent conditions affected it adversely. The findings are discussed in light of stress, and emotion–work perspectives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Who is sleepier on the night shift? The influence of bio-psycho-social factors on subjective sleepiness of female nurses during the night shift

Sleepiness is a common complaint during the night shift and may impair performance. The current study aims to identify bio-psycho-social factors associated with subjective sleepiness during the night shift. Ninety-two female nurses working rotating shifts completed a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Munich ChronoType Questionaire for shift workers, the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index, and the Pre-sleep Arousal Scale. Subjective sleepiness was measured hourly during two night shifts using the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale, and activity monitors assessed sleep duration 24-h before each shift. Findings showed that increased sleepiness was associated with increased age in nurses with early chronotypes and with more children. High cognitive pre-sleep arousal, but not sleep, was associated with increased sleepiness, especially in late chronotypes. The impact of bio-psycho-social factors on night shift sleepiness is complex, and depends on mutual interactions between these factors. Nurses most prone to increased sleepiness must develop personal strategies for maintaining vigilance on the night shift.

Practitioner Summary: This study aims to identify bio-psycho-social factors associated with subjective sleepiness of female nurses during the night shift. Increasing sleepiness was associated with increased age in nurses with early chronotypes and with more children. Increased cognitive pre-sleep arousal, but not sleep, was associated with increased sleepiness, especially in late chronotypes.     

Workplace health friendliness: A cross level model for predicting workers' health.

Two separate studies conceptualized the health friendliness of a workplace, the first qualitatively through content analysis of interviews with 69 nursing superiors about the means employed by their workplace to promote staff health. Findings supported the conceptualization of workplace health friendliness, which was further validated against the staff's health indicators. The second study tested a model explaining the cross-level effects of workplace health-friendliness initiatives on workers' health. The model depicted workers as rational human beings calculating costs/benefits in deciding whether to commit to those initiatives. Benefits represent workers' potential gains through compliance; costs represent their potential losses. Perceived social costs were noted as a possible cost; a worker's perceived stress signaled that he or she might benefit from joining health-friendly initiatives. Analysis of data from 45 nursing units supported the cross-level model: workplace health friendliness was positively associated with workers' health and perceived social costs and stress moderated that link. Accordingly, workplace health friendliness should be regarded as the joint responsibility of the workers and the organization, and attention should be paid to the processes whereby these initiatives become enhancers or inhibitors of workers' health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)