The gender subtext of new public management‐based work practices in Swedish health care

The work-life balance: understanding the role of leisure involvement on workaholism from a gender perspective

BACKGROUND

Work-life balance is an increasingly important issue in modern work environments, referring to a healthy harmony between work and personal life. Leisure is a crucial element supporting this balance, yet negative tendencies such as workaholism can challenge it. Over time, this can diminish work performance and lead to health problems.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to understand the role of leisure involvement in workaholism and evaluate this relationship with consideration for gender differences.

METHOD

The data of the research were obtained through survey. The survey collected from individuals working in shopping centres in Konya province of Türkiye by using simple random sampling method. A total of 389 individuals (185 female and 204 male) working in shopping centers participated in the study.

RESULTS

The findings indicate significant differences in leisure involvement and workaholism concerning gender. Additionally, a relationship between leisure involvement and workaholism was identified, with gender having a moderating effect on this relationship.

CONCLUSION

Consequently, it was determined that women exhibit higher levels of leisure involvement and workaholism tendencies compared to men, highlighting the crucial role of the relationship between leisure involvement and workaholism in ensuring work-life balance. The results of the research are discussed in the relevant section. Based on the findings, theoretical and managerial implications are developed.

A Systematic review protocol on workplace equality and inclusion practices in the healthcare sector

INTRODUCTION

While equality and inclusion practices in healthcare have been advanced from a service user perspective, little is known about the application of workplace equality and inclusion practices in healthcare on upper-middle-income and high-income countries. In the developed world, the composition of the healthcare workforce is changing, with nationals and non-nationals working 'side-by-side' suggesting that healthcare organisations must have robust and meaningful workplace equality and inclusion practices. Healthcare organisations who welcome and value all their employees are more creative and productive, which can lead to better quality of care. Additionally, staff retention is maximised, and workforce integration will succeed. In view of this, this study aims to identify and synthesise current best evidence relating to workplace equality and inclusion practices in the healthcare sector in middle-income and high-income economies.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

Using the Population, Intervention, Comparison and Outcome (PICO) framework, a search of the following databases will be made-MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, SCOPUS, PsycInfo, Business Source Complete and Google Scholar-using Boolean terms to identify peer-reviewed literatures concerning workplace equality and inclusion in healthcare from January 2010 to 2022. A thematic approach will be employed to appraise and analyse the extracted data with the view to assessing what is workplace equality and inclusion; why it is important to promote workplace equality and inclusion in healthcare; how can workplace equality and inclusion practices be measured in healthcare; and how can workplace equality and inclusion be advanced in health systems.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

Ethical approval is not required. Both a protocol and a systematic review paper are to be published concerning workplace equality and inclusion practices in the healthcare sector.

The clinical microsystems approach: Does it really work? A systematic review of organizational theories of health care practices

OBJECTIVES

Faced with increased expectations regarding the quality and safety of health care delivery systems, a number of stakeholders are increasingly looking for more efficient ways to deliver care. This study was conducted to provide a critical appraisal and synthesize the best available evidence on the impact of implementing clinical microsystems (CMS) on the quality of care and safety of the health care delivery.

DATA SOURCES

A comprehensive and systematic search of 6 electronic databases, from 1998 to 2018, was conducted to identify empirical literature published in both English and French, evaluating the impact of implementing CMS in health care settings.

STUDY SELECTION

We included all study designs that evaluate the impact of implementing CMS in health care settings.

DATA EXTRACTION

Independent reviewers screened abstracts, read full texts, extracted data from the included studies, and appraised the methodological quality.

RESULTS

Of the 1907 records retrieved, 35 studies met the inclusion criteria. The settings included general practice clinics (n = 18), specialized care units (n = 14), and emergency and ambulatory units (n = 3). The implementation of CMS helped to develop the patient-centered approach, promote interdisciplinarity and quality improvement skills, increase the fluidity of the clinical acts performed, and increase patient safety. It contributed to increasing patients' and clinicians' satisfaction, as well as reducing hospital length of stay and reducing hospital-acquired infections. The implementation of CMS also contributed to the development and refinement of diagnostic tools and measurement instruments.

CONCLUSION

The CMS approach is unique because of the primacy given to the quality of care offered and the safety of patients over any other consideration, and its ability to redesign health care delivery systems. Efforts still need to be made to legitimize the approach in various health care settings worldwide.

Control dimensions, job demands and job satisfaction: does ownership matter?

Purpose

New ownership types in health care of welfare states raise concerns regarding psychosocial work conditions including different control dimensions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how job demands, control over work and control within work (CWW) were related to job satisfaction in publicly administered, private non-profit and private for-profit hospitals.

Design/methodology/approach

Questionnaire data came from employees at three hospitals; a publicly administered (n=774), a private non-profit (n=1,481) and a private for-profit (n=694) hospital. Mean-level analyses and hierarchical regressions with multiple group tests were conducted.

Findings

Demands including workload were significantly lower at the publicly administered hospital while the control dimension CWW was significantly higher. Background factors and their associations with job satisfaction differed slightly between ownership types. Attitudes to privatization were not associated with job satisfaction within any ownership type. Overall, psychosocial work characteristics, including job demands and control, were significantly associated with job satisfaction while their interactions showed no consistent associations with job satisfaction. As for the strength of the associations, no consistent differences emerged between ownership types.

Research limitations/implications

Using self-reports only, the associations between psychosocial work characteristics and job satisfaction seemed comparable across ownership types.

Practical implications

Associations between psychosocial work characteristics and job satisfaction seem comparable across ownership types. This may relate to societal demands on the structuring of costs, work and production efficiency being similar for all.

Originality/value

Contributions include researching different occupations and their attitudes to privatization and two control dimensions considered important for different ownership types.

Exploring the experiences of women and migrant medical professionals in Swedish hospitals

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to analyse the different ways in which experiences of marginalisation within organisations are named and acted upon. Of particular interest is examining the ways in which the visibility of gender discrimination and the invisibility of ethnic discrimination indicate what the professionals in the study identify as horizons of possible individual and collective resistance.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper takes as its point of departure Cho et al. (2013) notion of “intersectionality as an analytical sensibility” (p. 795). The material consists of qualitative semi-structured interviews with 15 chief medical doctors employed in two Swedish hospitals.

Findings

– The findings indicate that while there is an organisational visibility of gender inequality, there is an organisational invisibility of ethnic discrimination. These differences influence the ways in which organisational criticism takes place and inequalities are challenged. Female Swedish identified doctors acted collectively to challenge organisations that they considered male-dominated, while doctors with experience of migration (both female and male) placed more responsibility on themselves and established individual strategies such as working more or des-identification. However, they confronted the organisation by naming ethnic discrimination in a context of organisational silence.

Research limitations/implications

– The paper does not explore the different forms of racism (islamophobia, racism against blacks, anti-Semitism). In addition, further research is needed to understand how these various forms of racism shape workplaces in Sweden.

Originality/value

– The paper offers new insights into the difference/similarities between how processes of ethnic and gender discrimination are experienced among employees within high-status professions. The value of the paper lies in its special focus on how forms of resistance are affected by the frames of the organisation. The findings stress the importance of intersectional analyses to understand the complex patterns of resistance and consent emerging within organisations.