The legal implications of workplace smoking policies

Smoking in the workplace has become a difficult and complex legal issue. Both smoking and nonsmoking employees have used various legal bases in their attempts to enforce their rights. An analysis of the reported legal decisions indicates that the trend is in favor of limiting the rights of smokers. As nonsmokers become more aggressive in their demands for a smoke-free environment, it will become increasingly important for employers to be well apprised of the legal implications associated with smoking in the workplace.     

The relationships between multifoci workplace aggression and work–family conflict

This study examined the relationships between multifoci workplace aggression by supervisors, coworkers, and customers and employees’ work–family conflict (ranked by spouses or closest family members). Furthermore, this study explored how employees’ problem-focused coping levels moderate the relationship between multifoci workplace aggression and employees’ negative affect, which subsequently influences their work–family conflicts. Data from a sample of 457 working adults and their spouses (or their closest family members) and results showed the direct effects of multifoci workplace aggression on employees’ work–family conflict. This research also found that problem-focused coping would weaken the relationship between supervisor/coworker aggression and employees’ negative affect. Moreover, the results revealed that the effects of multifoci workplace aggression spilled over into employees’ family domain through negative affect and influenced their work–family conflicts (ranked by spouses or closest family members). Finally, a moderated-mediation model used in this study supported the hypothesis that negative affect mediates the interactive effects of multifoci workplace aggression and problem-focused coping on employees’ work–family conflicts. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

工作场所暴力问题的产生及预防

对工作场所暴力的探究及预防是一项新的研究领域,国外在这方面的研究开展得较早,近年来也获得了广泛的成果。文章从对工作场所暴力研究的提出、范围界定、多角度分类以及发生工作场所暴力事件的原因等方面对已有研究进行了综述,同时,总结各专业机构及企业组织提出的多种预防措     

Changing Behaviour: Successful Environmental Programmes in the Workplace

There is an increasing focus on improving the pro‐environmental attitudes, behaviour and habits of individuals, whether at home, in education, travelling, shopping or in the workplace. This article focuses on the workplace by conducting a multi‐disciplinary literature review of research that has examined the influence of organization‐based behaviour change initiatives. The review includes only research evidence that measured actual environmental performance (e.g. energy use) rather than solely using self‐reported methods (e.g. questionnaires). The authors develop an ‘employee pro‐environmental behaviour’ (e‐PEB) framework, which contains individual, group, organizational and contextual factors that have predictive relevance across different behaviours and organizations. The review shows that the strongest predictors are environmental awareness, performance feedback, financial incentives, environmental infrastructure, management support and training. A key finding from this review is that attitude change is not necessarily a pre‐requisite for behaviour change in the workplace. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

企业员工工作场所欺负与职业倦怠关系的实证研究

近年来,工作场所中欺负问题逐渐成为工作和健康心理学研究的热点,受到西方很多研究者的关注,但我国对该问题的关注较晚。通过工作场所欺负对员工职业倦怠作用机制的实证分析,得出的主要研究结论有：工作场所欺负与职业倦怠、情感耗竭、人格解体以及个人成就感低显著正相关,工作场所欺负能够显著预测职业倦怠水平、情感耗竭水平、人格解体水平和个人成就感水平;工作满意度在工作场所欺负与职业倦怠之间存在着中介作用;人格主动性在工作场所欺负与职业倦怠之间并不存在调节作用。     

高职院校公共英语教学中引入职场英语的策略分析

为提高高职院校公共英语的教学质量,摒除传统英语教学的诸多弊端,引入基于岗位工作过程来设计的职场英语教学势在必行。它能极大提高学生的学习积极性,使学习者在用中学,学中用,融"教、学、做"为一体。本文从转变教学理念、更新教学内容、提高教学能力、改进教学方法和手段、创建职场英语教学环境等方面讨论了如何引入职场英语教学体系。     

“We do not hire smokers”: May employers discriminate against smokers?

Smoking employees are less healthy than nonsmokers, are absent more, make more and more expensive claims for health and disability benefits, and endanger co-workers who breathe smoky air. Employers may establish smoke-free workplaces, but—beyond that—employers may absolutely discriminate against smokers. Absent some common-law or statutory prohibition, employers are free to hire whomever they wish. The Americans with Disability Act prohibits discrimination against “disabled” applicants or employees, but smokers are not “disabled,” nor “regarded as” being disabled. Moreover, statutory construction does not lead to the conclusion that smokers are “disabled.” Since the policy of government is to discourage smoking, and discrimination against smokers promotes nonsmoking, such discrimination is not only not illegal, it is good social policy.     

Comparisons and Contrasts Between Elementary/Primary ’School Situated Design’ and ’Workplace Design’ in Canada and England

There is a lack of evidence that examines, together, the triad of how teachers in elementary/primary schools are translating curriculum requirements for teaching design, within technology frameworks, in their classrooms, how their students then proceed with design, and how ’school situated design’ relates to ’workplace design’. This paper explores the relationships between designerly thinking and behaviours situated in classrooms and in the workplace, beliefs about how designing is learned in schools and in the ’real world’, and children’s, teachers’ and designers’ understanding of design. These are be illustrated by extracts from interviews with teachers, children and designers and evidence of designing in classrooms and in the workplace. Similarities and differences between evidence from ’school situated design’ and ’workplace design’ and from Canada and the United Kingdom (UK) are discussed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Maximizing Human Potential: Capabilities Theory and the Professional Work Environment

Human capabilities theory has emerged as an important framework for measuring whether various social systems promote human flourishing. The premise of this theory is that human beings share some nearly universal capabilities; what makes a human life fulfilling is the opportunity to exercise these capabilities. This essay proposes that the use of human capabilities theory can be expanded to assess whether a company has organized the work environment in such a way that allows workers to develop a variety of human capabilities. This mode of analysis is put forward as a complement to the work of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who has suggested that the key to promoting human well-being in the workplace is the maximization of flow experiences.     

Managing workplace bullying experiences in nursing: the impact of the work environment

To progress our understanding of good practice in the management of workplace bullying, the authors explored the influence of work environment factors on bullying intervention. Analysis of focus group data from public hospitals in New Zealand revealed factors at multiple levels in the work environment system that influenced intervention. Many of these factors have previously been identified as antecedents to bullying, suggesting that the work environment hypothesis can also be applied to the management of workplace bullying experiences.