Unhealthiness is not just a damaged back or asbestos. The fact that mental ill-health seems to increase in our society is well known. Statistics from Arbetsmiljöverket proves a fourfold increase of work-related disorders since 1997. These are primarily caused by organizational and social factors, 60% are considered caused by stress and a heavy workload. Sick leave due work related fatigue and depressions are scarily common today. Highly controlled work where every individual’s performance is measured, registered and sometimes even presented in front of co-workers is now what many employees face in their daily life. In our technically well-developed society we have a variety of sophisticated software that registers detailed information about employees. How does this affect the people that work in that environment? What legislations are there to cover these questions? This is what we have chosen to focus on in this essay. Our empirical research shows that companies do register what their employees do even though there are people who prefer to disregard that fact. It’s possible that some surveillance occur purposeless, like for instance the common registration of incoming phone calls which indeed could be referred to a specific individual. How this information is being used in the end probably varies from company to company, but, as proven in our study it can be used as evidence or arguments against employees who might make a poor performance. We mean that high levels of control contribute to the pressure employees feel in their already stressful work life. / Ohälsa är inte bara en utsliten rygg eller lungor skadade av asbest. Att den psykiska ohälsan verkar öka i samhället är inte okänt. Arbetsmiljöverkets statistik påvisar en fyrfaldig ökning av arbetsrelaterade sjukdomar sedan 1997. Dessa beror främst på organisatoriska och sociala faktorer, 60 % beräknas bero på stress och hög arbetsbelastning. Sjukskrivningar p.g.a. utmattningsdepression och depression i allmänhet är långt ifrån ovanliga. Starkt styrt arbete där varje enskild individs prestationer mäts dagligen och t o m redovisas öppet på arbetsplatsen är nu vardag för många anställda. I dagens högteknologiska samhälle finns en mängd sofistikerade redskap för att samla information om de anställda på företaget. Varje knapptryckning kan registreras, antal hanterade samtal och längden på dessa mäts, analyseras och data sparas. Hur påverkas egentligen människor som arbetar i den miljön och vad säger lagen? Vi har valt att studera handhavandet av personuppgifter, gällande rätt på området samt hur ett felaktigt handhavande kan inverka negativt på arbetsmiljön. Den empiriska undersökning som genomförts inom ramen för studien visar tillsynes att övervakning av anställda på arbetsplatsen sker, men även att vissa tycks ignorera att så sker. Visserligen kan tänkas att vissa arbetsplatser ej kontrollerar medvetet, men exempelvis kan en vardaglig företeelse som loggning av teletrafik anses vara en övervakande åtgärd, som kan härledas specifik individ. Hur sen dessa uppgifter används antar vi att det varierar starkt från arbetsplats till arbetsplats, men uppgifter kan, vilket bekräftas av vår studie, användas bland annat som påtryckningsargument om en säljare presterar sämre än förväntat. Vi tolkar även att ett starkt kontrollerat arbete medför att arbetstagaren upplever arbetssituationen som stressig.

This essay will study the working environment of heads of units in a health and social care organization. The working environment that will be focused on in the essay is the psychosocial. My interest in the subject evolved from a rapport that The Swedish Work Environment Authority preformed. The rapport displayed a supervision that took place in the years 2015–2017. The supervision investigated the psychosocial working environment of the heads of units in several workplaces in Sweden. This rapport was analyzed alongside with legislation and literature that regulates the working environment to get an understanding of problems in this area. The aims of this essay are therefore to identify problems in the working environment within the heads of units and do that with an equality perspective.    The result of this essay has shown that there is a lot of shortage with the environmental work of the heads of units. These shortages consist of the employee not getting enough resources to deal with the high demands of the work assignment. This leads to negative psychosocial health risks. The legal framework of the subject places high requirements on the employers. But nevertheless, the employers work with the preventive environmental work is insufficient and a contributory to this is the construction of the working environmental law as a frame law.

Digitalisering är något som är allt mer utbrett i samhället, på arbetsplatser och i våra hem. Arbetsmiljöarbetet är idag delvis digitaliserat och hur arbetet genomförs kan se olika ut beroende på vilken typ av arbetsplats det gäller. Även processen kring en skyddsrond, vilken utförs för att bedöma risker i den fysiska arbetsmiljön, varierar mellan liknande arbetsplatser. Dokumentering utförs till stor del manuellt och data som samlas in går ej att överblicka på ett användbart sätt. Riskerna är att viktig information går förlorad och att digitalisering som redan är implementerad inte når sin fulla potential. Mer konkreta konsekvenser utgörs av att organisationer kan gå miste om förtjänster samt leda till bristande arbetsmiljöarbete. Studien genomfördes i form av en kartläggning där elva skyddsombud intervjuades. Data från intervjuerna analyserades sedan genom ett affinitetsdiagram. Analysen resulterade i teman som berörde krångliga processer, avsaknad av information, psykosocial arbetsmiljö och samarbete. Även att digitala verktyg kan skapa mer problem än de löser. Slutsatsen är att arbetsprocesserna kan bli mer tidseffektiva, data som samlas in kan bli mer korrekt och därmed utgöra ett tydligt beslutsunderlag som lättare kan visualiseras och integreras i en organisations verksamhet. Bättre tillgång till data i en organisation kan även leda till bättre förutsättningar för uppföljning av arbetsmiljöarbetet. Kring utmaningar dras slutsatsen om att befintliga arbetsprocesser inte får försvåras. / Digitalisation is widely spread in society, in our workplaces and in our homes. The work environment work is partially digitalized and how the work is carried out differs amongst work places. Even the process with the work environment inspection round, which is performed to assess risks in the physical work environment, is different amongst similar workplaces. The documentation is substantially carried out manually and the collected data lack a useful overview. The risks due to the latter is loss of information as well as that implemented digitalisation does not reach its full potential. In concrete, the consequences are constituted by missed earnings for companies and lacking work environment work. The study was conducted in the form of a survey where eleven work environment representatives were interviewed. The collected data were analyzed through an affinity diagram.The analysis resulted in themes that referred to complicated processes, lack of information, psychosocial work environment and collaboration. As well that digital tools can create more problems than they would solve. The conclusion is that work processes can be more time effective, collected data can be more correct and hence constitute a distinct decision basis that is more easily visualized and integrated into the operations of a company. Better access to data in an organization can also lead to better prerequisites for follow-up on work environment work. The conclusion regarding the challenges of digitalisation is that it should not make existing processes more difficult.

Fysisk aktivitet, stress och psykosocial arbetsmiljö är viktiga faktorer på och utanför arbetsplatsen. Tidigare forskning har visat att fysisk aktivitet kan påverka den subjektiva stressupplevelsen. En arbetsmiljö präglad av höga krav, för lite kontroll och socialt stöd kan leda till negativa känslor och stress. Syftet med uppsatsen var att undersöka deltagarnas träningsgrad och dess betydelse för upplevelse av allmän stress och fysisk aktivitet. Psykosocial miljö undersöks och sätts i relation till stressupplevelse, anställningstid, ålder och träningsgrad genom multipla regressionsanalyser. Deltagare i undersökningen var 82 anställda, varav 54 kvinnor. Resultaten visade bland annat att träningsgrad har betydelse för den allmänna upplevelsen av stress och fysisk aktivitet. Slutsatsen att psykosocial arbetsmiljö, stress och fysisk aktivitet kan interagera med varandra är av värde att lyfta fram. Detta kan bidra till ökad medvetenhet för organisationer och vara ett hälsofrämjande verktyg för att minska negativt upplevd stress på och utanför arbetsplatsen.

The work environment in organizations has been associated with a number of factors that contribute to both their success and sustainability. Many researchers have identified the role, influence or the connection between the work environment and these factors such as productivity and creativity. However, it seems that business owners do not take their organization’s work environment into consideration when making major business decisions such as acquiring external funding. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of acquiring external funding on the different social factors influencing the work environment for self-funded firms. We have conducted a multiple case study in which we collected data through conducting interviews with eight employees from five different organizations located in the Middle East region. We analyzed the gathered data based on a theoretical model that connects eleven work environment dimensions with three aspects that are accompanied by acquiring external funding, which are: the changes in management and goals, financial resources and new networks and contacts. As a result, we concluded that the changes in management and goals have the most complex effect on work environment when compared to the other two aspects. In addition, we explored how would these aspects affect the work environment, either directly or indirectly, and found that the individual level changes in the work environment are mostly affected indirectly since the employees do not tend to attribute such changes to external funding directly. Finally, according to our results, it doesn’t seem that having the same funding type would trigger similar changes in the work environment. On the other hand, having a similar funding objective by the financing party would trigger more similarities especially when it comes to the changes in management and goals.

Ball State University landscape architecture students (n = 42) described their preferred types of environments for doing creative work as well as reported the environmental factors that hindered their creative work. Being alone and having quiet, ambient noise were the most common preferences for beneficial environmental characteristics. Bad lighting, uncomfortable temperatures, and loud, incongruous noises were most frequently reported as detrimental environmental characteristics. The presence of natural elements and/or access to views of natural elements were also common responses. The findings of the study largely support the current research on creativity and preferred working environments; however, there were some notable differences in the hierarchy of preferences within this subpopulation that should be further examined. Some discernable environmental preference profiles and patterns appeared in the survey responses. The results of this study are a starting point for further research on creative environment preferences of specific user subpopulations. / Department of Landscape Architecture

D.Phil. / In its exploration of workplace bullying, this doctoral study applies elements of two particular types of autoethnography, namely, personal narrative and analytical autoethnography. This unconventional qualitative approach focuses on my own experiences of being bullied as an employee at an organisation where, according to management, bullying was deemed to be an acceptable practice. In the study I describe typical bullying events, related interpersonal dynamics, and the clandestine tactics of bullies. I reveal how bullying affected me, and how I coped with the emotional turmoil and humiliation caused by it. An appreciation for both modernism and postmodernism influenced me to combine elements of these paradigms in the study. In the spirit of postmodernism I share my lived experiences of bullying in an attempt to appeal to the reader‟s empathy and hopefully his or her co-construction, to enhance emotional understanding, and to create a willingness amongst concerned parties to unite in facilitating social change. I also explain the emotional demands and the therapeutic effects on the writer when producing an autoethnography. Regarding the modernist elements, I apply theoretical concepts and research findings on bullying found in the literature to contextualise and make sense of my experiences. In addition, I engage in various levels of analysis and thematically analyse the data contained in the autoethnography, as well as material offered by six people who either witnessed or experienced bullying. This autoethnographic work led to interesting realisations. For example, I found that targets tend to become aware of only the negative characteristics in bullies and disregard their positive qualities. They often fantasise about escaping, though they do not actively take steps to acquire alternative employment, because they have been indoctrinated to believe that they are worthless. I once again realise that all human beings are capable of good deeds, as well as evil ones, and that circumstances often determine who will revert to bullying, and who will become targets. Particularly striking are the study‟s findings that remnants of the ancient practice of sacrificing one person to ensure the survival of the group may be present in modern organisations. Based on the insights gained from this study, I recommend that workplace bullying awareness campaigns should be increased, and, in particular that – (i) employers and unions should be informed about the covert nature of bullying and the consequences for all involved; and (ii) organisations should establish structures and procedures for reporting bullying and counselling targets and bullies.

The University of the Witwatersrand Research Report (MA in Industrial/Organisational Psychology) June 2017 / Numerous studies have shown that the office workspace environment can have an effect on employees’ performance, satisfaction, psychological wellbeing, and other such factors. As such office workspace design has gained more traction in international research and amongst organisations globally. The office space is an organisation’s second largest expense, it is therefore pertinent that organisations, who have chosen to focus on the office to enhance employee wellbeing, choose the most appropriate and optimal environment for their employees. One of the methods to ensure employees are satisfied with the space is to utilise a user-centred approach that allows employees the opportunity to comment on the space and to communicate their needs for the space. A South African organisation that has chosen to develop its space was a health insurance company that was undergoing a workspace redesign for their new buildings. The aim of this research report was to make use of a mixed method design that may have assisted the company, and the other parties involved, in gaining greater insight into whether the layout change had performed its functions effectively, as well as to ensure that the layout had accomplished the company’s goals. The research report focused on the following variables: psychological wellbeing, physical wellbeing, work engagement, job satisfaction, perceived productivity (performance), satisfaction with the workspace layout, and collaboration/interaction. The study consisted of 158 participants. The results of the study had indicated that there was a main effect relationship between department/team groups and job satisfaction. Other results of the study had found that satisfaction with the workplace layout was related to psychological wellbeing, job satisfaction, work engagement, and productivity. The results revealed that the higher the employees’ satisfaction with the workplace layout, the higher their psychological wellbeing, job satisfaction, work engagement and productivity. The qualitative component resulted in themes that were explored both theoretically and inductively. After analysis of the themes, four main themes were devised. Based on exploration of these themes it became apparent that satisfaction with one’s workplace can be contingent on factors such as, noise and distractions, privacy, operational technology (e.g. it software/hardware/systems and WIFI), functional and up-to-date technical equipment, facility accessibility, honouring of commitments/meeting expectations of the space, personal feelings and attitudes towards change and flexibility, time consumption of activities surrounding flexibility, storage facilities that are accessible, territorialism or sabotage, and interaction/communication. / MT 2018

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

The crabs-in-a-barrel (CIB) mentality—a specialized form of incivility that occurs among members of the same ingroup (i.e., intragroup incivility)—is an understudied yet destructive and consequential intragroup phenomenon. As previous studies on the CIB mentality among the Black community have primarily focused on targets of the deviant behavior, this study trailblazed by serving as the first to employ a mixed methods design to investigate the environmental, perceptual, and affective antecedents of instigated Black-on-Black (B-o-B) incivility in the workplace. More specifically, the present study adopted a social-interactionist approach to investigate whether various aspects of work climate (i.e., institutional discrimination, interpersonal prejudice, and competitive work climate); affective states (i.e., emotional taxation); and workgroup composition factors (i.e., perceived collective and competitive minority threats) were positively associated with instigated B-o-B incivility in the workplace. To that end, a cross-sectional design was employed with a U.S. based sample of 523 full-time Black professionals across various organizations and industries. The proposed hypotheses were tested using logistic regression analyses. Overall, the results showed that collective minority threat and experienced incivility were the most consistently significant predictors of instigated B-o-B incivility in the proposed model—with experienced incivility showing the greatest effect on the outcome variable between the two. Moreover, participants reported that there were 10 primary reasons and/or justifications for acting uncivilly towards another Black employee at their job within the past year. This study provides further support and validation to the notion that the CIB phenomenon represents another variant of the workplace incivility construct. Additionally, this study broadens the workplace incivility discussion and research stream by offering unique insight into the perspectives of racial minority instigators of uncivil behavior at work. The results hold considerable implications for practitioners and organizations seeking to better understand, and address, the issue of intragroup incivility in the workplace—particularly as it relates to Black professionals. Theoretical implications and directions for future research are also discussed.