Resistances to Educational Change: Teachers’ Perceptions

Educational changes require a great effort on the part of the entire educational community and, above all, the active involvement of teachers. The aim of this article was to analyze the main resistances to change that predominate among teachers at different educational stages. Through a non-experimental design, using an online questionnaire, teachers’ beliefs about factors influencing resistance to change were collected. The results indicate that the participants do not have great resistance to educational change and that legislative changes and the perception of teachers as having excessive functions are the most common aspects of resistance. There is greater resistance to change among men and in public schools and as the experience and age of the teaching staff increases. Based on the results, it is suggested that the educational center be placed as the unit of change, increasing the leadership of the director to carry out the changes suggested by the center itself, fostering teamwork among teachers, and institutionally supporting innovative initiatives that are evaluated or facilitating teacher training in relation to their teaching practice.

Will the real relationship between lean and safety/ergonomics please stand up?

This paper provides a review of studies containing safety and ergonomic outcomes in lean manufacturing (LM) environments over the past 40 years. The aim is to identify effects from specific LM methods on specific safety/ergonomic outcomes, to understand the relationship in greater detail. One hundred and one studies containing one hundred and seventy outcomes were identified. Thirty-seven outcomes pertained to just-in-time (JIT) production, which contained twenty-three negative, eleven neutral, and three positive safety/ergonomic outcomes. Conversely, twenty-six outcomes pertained to 5S and consisted of twenty-four positive, two negative, and no neutral outcomes. The most common negative JIT outcome was stress and mental strain, while the most common positive 5S outcome was a tie between safety performance and hazard exposure. Studies containing other methods were fewer in number with more mixed outcomes. These findings suggest that individual LM methods, especially JIT and 5S, uniquely contribute to the safety/ergonomic outcomes attributed to LM.

Antecedents of women managers’ resilience: conceptual discussion and implications for HRM

Purpose

This paper aims to provide a framework with the antecedents of women managers’ resilience in SMEs.

Design/methodology/approach

This developmental study uses a comprehensive literature review and a set of propositions to identify the antecedent of women managers’ resilience and develops a conceptual framework for resilience.

Findings

The results indicate that in addition to personal resilience traits, interactive engagement with the work environment, career adaptability and positive human resource management (HRM) interventions are the main antecedents of women managers’ resilience.

Research limitations/implications

This paper contributes to theory by providing a new perspective on the study of resilience as a process at the organisational level and as a trait at personal level. It contributes to the women employee-centric resilience discussion in HRM literature and explores the relationship between resilience and women managers’ career progression. This is a developmental study, and despite the strengths of the undertaken approach, there are a number of limitations due to the lack of empirical evidence. Therefore, future research activities should focus on validating the framework and determining any potential boundaries of this resilience framework.

Practical implications

The study reveals a number of practical implications leading to a recommended resilience toolkit for HR managers of organisations to develop and promote resilience in their women managers and aspiring managers.

Social implications

The social implications of this study include the social relationships within the work-setting, better employee engagement and interaction with the work environment and flexible career progression pathways.

Originality/value

The paper is based on rich conceptual and theoretical discussion that identifies the key antecedents of women managers’ resilience. The study also conceptually establishes the moderating relationship between women managers’ resilience and work stress and burnout.

Digitalisation in the banking industry and workers subjective well-being

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how bankers perceive digitalisation relating to their subjective well-being. The paper seeks to further explore how this relation is contingent on the aspect of structural organisation represented by the concept of individualist/collectivist organisational culture.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is based on the survey distributed to employees of 18 bank offices in the south of Sweden, which 161 employees answered. The analysis of the data was performed by descriptive statistics, principle component analysis, Pearson correlations, multiple linear and moderating multiple linear regression analyses.

Findings

The study indicates that bankers’ experience digitalisation as a four-faceted construct: a tool for information management, and work optimisation, customer relation management and as a change agent. The study suggests that the use of digital tools for work optimisation has a positive relation to the work- related dimensions of subjective well-being as well as a spillover effect on the life balance and life satisfaction dimensions. It also indicates that the information management dimension has a positive relation to the life satisfaction aspect of subjective well-being. Finally, the study found that increasing the degree of collectivist organisation culture has a positive moderating effect on the relation between the use of digital tools for work optimisation and life balance and subjective well-being, respectively.

Originality/value

The study reveals a new way of operationalising digitalisation in banks and is the first study of its type to explore the relationship between digitalisation different facets and banker subjective well-being.

Change-Related Communication and Employees' Responses During the Anticipation Stage of IT-Enabled Organizational Transformation

This study focuses on a medium-sized, nonprofit healthcare service management organization which was undergoing a major transformation enabled by information technology. We examined how uncertainty during the anticipation stage affected the staff's emotional responses to the new technology. We categorized employees' understandings of the new technology into four domains: (1) why the technology was adopted, (2) what the functionality of the technology would be, (3) how the technology might affect their work life, and (4) when such an effect would materialize. Due to uncertainty during the anticipation stage, participants were not able to fully appraise the situation. Based on their hypothetical expectations, participants experienced both hope and fear (i.e., suspense). In order to manage the psychological discomfort created by this emotional ambivalence, participants actively sought social interaction with colleagues in order to gain information about the new technology, to build camaraderie, or both. The former directly decreased the level of perceived uncertainty by closing information gaps, and the latter reduced anxiety by creating a sense of community. Our study illustrates how seeking social support during the pre-implementation time frame has the capacity to help employees prepare themselves, both cognitively and emotionally, for adopting a new technology before they have any tangible interaction with it.

The impact of mindfulness on leadership effectiveness in a health care setting: a pilot study

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of mindfulness awareness practice (MAP) on mid-level health-care managers’ leadership.

Design/methodology/approach

– In total, 11 mid-level health-care managers in eastern Canada took part in an intensive weekend retreat and a follow-up webinar on mindfulness awareness. Perceived stress and leadership effectiveness were assessed pre- and post-intervention (i.e. four and eight weeks). A control group (n=10) also completed the same measures twice. Additionally, informants (n=28) provided assessments of participants’ leadership pre- and post-intervention. Follow-up interviews were carried out with eight participants 12-16 weeks post-intervention.

Findings

– In comparison to controls, retreat participants showed significant increases in mindfulness and corresponding decreases in stress that were sustained across eight weeks post-retreat; retreat participants reported significant positive changes in their leadership effectiveness that were corroborated by informants. Qualitative data, however, suggest that sustaining a mindfulness practice presents significant challenges to middle managers in a health care setting.

Research limitations/implications

– The findings are useful to management working in health services that are plagued by increasing demands and changes. Despite the small sample and lack of random assignment, the pilot data support the efficacy of MAP in improving leadership.

Originality/value

– Little empirical research supports the claim that MAP enhances leadership. The present study employed a mixed methods approach to address this gap and demonstrates the potential benefits of MAP among mid-level managers.

Leadership style and the process of organizational change

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to identify processes which may contribute to followers’ positive reactions to change. By focusing on the relationship between change antecedents and explicit reactions, the authors investigate the direct and indirect relationships between leadership styles (transformational and transactional) and followers’ appraisal of change through manager engagement.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using data from a longitudinal survey among 351 followers in two Danish organizations, the study tracked the planned implementation of team organization at two different times. Data were analyzed using structural equation modelling.

Findings

– Transformational and transactional leadership styles were positively related to the engagement of managers. Managers’ engagement was associated with followers’ appraisal of change. The two leadership styles also had a direct, long-term effect on followers’ change appraisal; positive for transformational leadership and negative for transactional leadership.

Practical implications

– The results have potential implications for change management, as followers’ change appraisal may be improved by developing managers’ leadership style and engagement.

Originality/value

– This is the first study to provide longitudinal evidence of the direct and indirect effects of leadership styles on followers’ change appraisal.

'It ain't what you do it's the way that you do it': lessons for health care from decommissioning of older people's services

Public sector organisations are facing one of the most difficult financial periods in history and local decision-makers are tasked with making tough rationing decisions. Withdrawing or limiting services is an emotive and complex task and something the National Health Service has always found difficult. Over time, local authorities have gained significant experience in the closure of care homes - an equally complex and controversial issue. Drawing on local knowledge and best practice examples, this article highlights lessons and themes identified by those decommissioning care home services. We believe that such lessons are relevant to those making disinvestment decisions across public sector services, including health-care. The study employed semi-structured interviews with 12 Directors of Adult Social Services who had been highlighted nationally as having extensive experience of home closures. Interviews were conducted over a 2-week period in March 2011. Results from the study found that having local policy guidance that is perceived as fair and reasonable was advocated by those involved in home closures. Many local policies had evolved over time and had often been developed following experiences of home closures (both good and bad). Decisions to close care home services require a combination of strong leadership, clear strategic goals, a fair decision-making process, strong evidence of the need for change and good communication, alongside wider stakeholder engagement and support. The current financial challenge means that public sector organisations need to make tough choices on investment and disinvestment decisions. Any such decisions need to be influenced by what we know constitutes best practice. Sharing lessons and experiences within and between sectors could well inform and develop decision-making practices.

Key factors influencing adoption of an innovation in primary health care: a qualitative study based on implementation theory

Background

Bridging the knowledge-to-practice gap in health care is an important issue that has gained interest in recent years. Implementing new methods, guidelines or tools into routine care, however, is a slow and unpredictable process, and the factors that play a role in the change process are not yet fully understood. There is a number of theories concerned with factors predicting successful implementation in various settings, however, this issue is insufficiently studied in primary health care (PHC). The objective of this article was to apply implementation theory to identify key factors influencing the adoption of an innovation being introduced in PHC in Sweden.

Methods

A qualitative study was carried out with staff at six PHC units in Sweden where a computer-based test for lifestyle intervention had been implemented. Two different implementation strategies, implicit or explicit, were used. Sixteen focus group interviews and two individual interviews were performed. In the analysis a theoretical framework based on studies of implementation in health service organizations, was applied to identify key factors influencing adoption.

Results

The theoretical framework proved to be relevant for studies in PHC. Adoption was positively influenced by positive expectations at the unit, perceptions of the innovation being compatible with existing routines and perceived advantages. An explicit implementation strategy and positive opinions on change and innovation were also associated with adoption. Organizational changes and staff shortages coinciding with implementation seemed to be obstacles for the adoption process.

Conclusion

When implementation theory obtained from studies in other areas was applied in PHC it proved to be relevant for this particular setting. Based on our results, factors to be taken into account in the planning of the implementation of a new tool in PHC should include assessment of staff expectations, assessment of the perceived need for the innovation to be implemented, and of its potential compatibility with existing routines. Regarding context, we suggest that implementation concurrent with other major organizational changes should be avoided. The choice of implementation strategy should be given thorough consideration.