Dynamics of a culture of workplace safety in human service organizations: A qualitative analysis

Shier, Micheal L.; Turpin, Aaron; Nicholas, David; Graham, John R.

doi:10.1177/0020872819858744

Cited by 12 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Similar to previous international research (e.g. Littlechild 2003;Shier et al 2019;Vogus et al 2016), our findings suggest that social workers experience inadequate support from employers, a culture of silence, and normalization when dealing with client violence. This tendency is explained partly by workloads that supersede attention to the risk of violence (Turpin et al 2020) and legislation that makes employers and employees jointly responsible for safety promotion, with assaulted/threatened employees experiencing self-blame as a result (Wikman 2012).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…Social workers struggle to accept this notion, well aware of the looming and undesirable effects of violence. The culture of normalization and silence makes social workers vulnerable for repeated assaults and threats, while experiencing inadequate support from their supervisors/managers (Littlechild et al 2016;Shier et al 2019;Vogus et al 2016). In this way, structures and practices in social service agencies may unintentionally contribute to a toxic environment that heightens social workers' stress.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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‘Anxiety, frustration and understanding’. Swedish personal social service workers’ cognitive appraisals of encounters with violent clients

Munobwa

Ahmadi

Öberg

2021

Nordic Social Work Research

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Workplace violence and threats from social service users towards social workers (client violence) is a problem in Sweden and internationally. This article explores the circumstances that make client violence stressful to social workers who exercise public authority in Swedish individual and family social services. The empirical data are based on qualitative interviews with social workers (n = 19) who, according to their own perception, have been threatened or assaulted by a client in relation to work. Theory on cognitive appraisal of threat and harm is used. The results, analysed by Inductive Thematic Analysis, show that client violence is stressful because it poses a threat to social workers' professional identity and private life, and occurs in uncertain and repetitive ways. The results suggest that a negligent safety culture in social service agencies, characterized by normalization of client violence and limited organizational support, may contribute to stress related to client violence. The results are discussed in light of how social workers and social service agencies transact and affect each other.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Anxiety, frustration and understanding’. Swedish personal social service workers’ cognitive appraisals of encounters with violent clients

Munobwa

Ahmadi

Öberg

2021

Nordic Social Work Research

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“…Overall, respondents answered between "always" and "very always" for all items in the management aspect with slightly different mean scores (4.57 to 4.68). This emphasizes that the effective communication is important to avoid mishaps in the laboratory [16].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perception of safety intervention practices in the laboratory among students in higher education sector

Sukri,

Safrin,

Kedri

et al. 2023

BIO Web Conf.

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Safety is one of the crucial elements in the educational sector. Safety intervention is one of the elements that must be highlighted to increase workplace safety. In general, safety intervention is the alteration of internal or external aspects that may minimize workplace accidents such as safety procedures, safety committees, safety expertise and others. Hence, this study aims to analyze the safety intervention in the laboratory among higher education students. A questionnaire survey was distributed to 338 students from three Universiti Malaysia Kelantan Jeli Campus faculties including the Science Foundation Program. Most of the respondents are Year 1 students with 31.7%. Most (45.9%) of students spend between four to six hours daily in the laboratory. Furthermore, 49.1% of students, participated in the laboratory three to four times per week. This study divided safety intervention practices into three components: management, technical and human. The results from the descriptive analysis show that management component practices are the highest intervention safety practices adopted by the students when working in the laboratory with an overall mean score of 4.64. Compared with the technical component (overall mean score of 4.61) and human component (overall mean score of 4.53). To prevent laboratory accidents in higher education, the human element in safety intervention practices should also be emphasized. The information obtained from this study could be used by the authorities in charge of occupational health and safety as well as by the stakeholders in higher education to reduce the accident rate in higher education institutions.

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“…The team succeeded in improving its employee engagement index by an average of 11% over the last 3 years, as demonstrated by the annual employee's satisfaction survey. Studying human service employees in Canada, Shier, Turpin, Nicholas, and Graham (2019) concluded that a safe workplace is one that creates belonging, encourages openness, promotes cooperation, and inspires a desire to excel.…”

Section: The Finding: Creating An Environment Of Trust and Safetymentioning

confidence: 99%

Trust and Safety as Fundamental Conditions for a High‐Performance Team

Lapshun¹,

Fusch²

2021

Perf. Improv.

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This paper highlights a strategy for building high‐performance teams in multinational IT corporations. The original 2020 research took place in one multinational Informational Technology corporation located in Singapore. This blended miniethnography case study involved methodological triangulation of semi‐structured interviews, direct observations, and a review of company documents. We used Thomas Gilbert's behavioral engineering model as a conceptual framework for this research which aligned with the finding that the environment of safety and trust is a fundamental condition for a high‐performance culture. The environment of safety and trust is an enabler of dynamic capabilities the organization needs for survival, which is especially important for developing high‐performance teams in times of uncertainties and crisis. This study's finding might be of interest for business leaders that strive to excel in building high‐performing, agile, and resilient teams.

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Dynamics of a culture of workplace safety in human service organizations: A qualitative analysis

Cited by 12 publications

References 40 publications

‘Anxiety, frustration and understanding’. Swedish personal social service workers’ cognitive appraisals of encounters with violent clients

‘Anxiety, frustration and understanding’. Swedish personal social service workers’ cognitive appraisals of encounters with violent clients

Perception of safety intervention practices in the laboratory among students in higher education sector

Trust and Safety as Fundamental Conditions for a High‐Performance Team

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