MeritsPub Date : 2024-07-17DOI: 10.3390/merits4030017
Chapman Cox, M. Thiese, Joseph A. Allen
{"title":"Assessing the Relationship between Physical Activity and Depression in Lawyers and Law Professionals: A Cross-Sectional Study","authors":"Chapman Cox, M. Thiese, Joseph A. Allen","doi":"10.3390/merits4030017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/merits4030017","url":null,"abstract":"Background: Law professionals are understudied, and little is known about their mental health. This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the relationship between the amount of physical activity and depressive symptoms. Methods: A sample of 681 law professionals completed a survey that assessed mental health conditions and activities to promote well-being. Crude and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were calculated for the relationship between the number of days of an hour or more of physical activity and two levels of depression from the patient health questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Results: Law professionals were found to have significantly more depressive symptoms, mild or worse and moderate or worse, when reporting 0 days of physical activity when compared to 7 days, with OR of 6.07 (95% CI 2.55–14.48) and 8.64 (95% CI 1.97–37.82) and adjusted ORs of 3.91 (95% CI 1.58–9.68) and 6.32 (95% CI 1.4–28.33), respectively. A dose response was also noted. Conclusions: There was a statistically significant relationship found between amounts of physical activity and depressive symptoms in law professionals. We recommend future research be conducted to better understand this relationship.","PeriodicalId":514830,"journal":{"name":"Merits","volume":"227 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141828354","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
MeritsPub Date : 2024-07-09DOI: 10.3390/merits4030016
Fernanda Bethlem Tigre
{"title":"Forging Innovative Leadership: The Power of Agility, Diversity, and Risk-Taking Configurations","authors":"Fernanda Bethlem Tigre","doi":"10.3390/merits4030016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/merits4030016","url":null,"abstract":"Innovation is crucial for achieving and maintaining a competitive edge, especially evident in the digital business landscape, where the fourth and fifth industrial revolutions are occurring concurrently. Leadership behavior significantly influences the direction of organizations toward innovation. This study investigated whether a propensity for risk taking, along with a commitment to diversity and agility, promotes or impedes leaders’ innovative behavior. Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis was employed to assess the data gathered from an online survey of 119 global leaders. The results exposed four distinct routes to fostering innovative behavior and three paths leading to noninnovative behavior that should be evaded. All conditions play a vital role in triggering innovative behavior. Conversely, the lack of these conditions can result in noninnovative leadership. This study’s novelty rests on the empirical evidence it provides about the paths guiding leaders toward innovative behavior and avoiding the danger of noninnovative leadership. These findings can assist managers and HR departments in pursuing certain paths for hiring and training managers to boost innovative behavior and preclude paths leading to noninnovative conduct.","PeriodicalId":514830,"journal":{"name":"Merits","volume":"45 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141663820","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
MeritsPub Date : 2024-06-07DOI: 10.3390/merits4020014
Oluseye Olugboyega, O. Ejohwomu, Emmanuel Dele Omopariola, A. Omoregie
{"title":"Leadership Energy Theory for Sustaining Leadership Competence and Effectiveness","authors":"Oluseye Olugboyega, O. Ejohwomu, Emmanuel Dele Omopariola, A. Omoregie","doi":"10.3390/merits4020014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/merits4020014","url":null,"abstract":"Leaders who lack leadership energy may struggle to demonstrate sustained competence and achieve effectiveness in difficult leadership situations. This research investigates the sources of leadership energy and examines the impact of leadership energy on the development and sustainability of leadership effectiveness and competence. This study employed a hypothetico-deductive research design, wherein the formulated hypotheses were tested through structural equation modelling (SEM). Data were collected using a questionnaire survey. A total of 272 responses were received from leaders of various industries, indicating a response rate of 66%. The findings of this study indicate that a leader’s capacity to respond to various situations, comprehend the importance of being directive, prioritize the development of positive attitudes and supportiveness, and recognize the significance of achievement are all factors that contribute to the internal mechanisms necessary for the leader’s manifestation of leadership energy. The study additionally discovered that leaders’ skills, qualities, and abilities are derived and maintained through their internal capacity and personal resilience emanating from their leadership energy. The hypotheses that were validated suggest a direct causal relationship, indicating that leadership motivation, leadership personality, and leadership orientation are significant factors in the generation of leadership energy. This study’s conclusions suggest that to sustain leadership competence and effectiveness, leaders must cultivate a culture that prioritizes both effectiveness and competence. The findings also imply that individuals must establish precise developmental objectives, as well as exhibit cognizance of and the acquisition of leadership expertise, knowledge and approaches. Thus, the need to reevaluate the competency-based approach to leadership is overwhelming. This study introduces the concept of leadership energy as a catalyst for perpetuating leadership effectiveness and competence. The study claims that the energy emanating from the intricate interplay of leaders’ orientation, experience, development, personality, and motivation engenders and perpetuates their efficacy and aptitude.","PeriodicalId":514830,"journal":{"name":"Merits","volume":" 44","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141370647","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
MeritsPub Date : 2024-03-26DOI: 10.3390/merits4020008
Sean P. M. Rice
{"title":"Does Changing Scale Items’ Contexts Impact Its Psychometric Properties? A Comparison Using the PERMA-Profiler and the Workplace PERMA-Profiler","authors":"Sean P. M. Rice","doi":"10.3390/merits4020008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/merits4020008","url":null,"abstract":"The present study evaluated the empirical distinction between the PERMA-Profiler and the Workplace PERMA-Profiler, which measure flourishing using the same items with different contexts (i.e., general vs. workplace orientations). Both scales were administered online via MTurk (N = 601), and single-group measurement and structural invariances were assessed. Partial metric and scalar invariances were supported, indicating that the PERMA constructs were measured equivalently across scales (except for the relationships factor). Structural properties (covariances, means) were not invariant, indicating distinct utility for each scale in their respective contexts. The results suggest that simple adaptations to items to change their context, but not content, may retain the original scale’s psychometric properties and function with discrimination.","PeriodicalId":514830,"journal":{"name":"Merits","volume":"36 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140378389","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
MeritsPub Date : 2024-03-19DOI: 10.3390/merits4010007
Bénédicte Gendron
{"title":"Capacitating Pedagogy to Inclusive Excellence through Bienvivance for Zero Waste of Human Resources: European Case Studies during the Lockdown on Vocational Education and Training","authors":"Bénédicte Gendron","doi":"10.3390/merits4010007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/merits4010007","url":null,"abstract":"The lockdown during the pandemic questioned the learning and working conditions but underlined crucially the teaching pedagogy and new essential teachers’ roles and competencies, and on the whole, the operational framework of education for quality of education for all. The research was carried out through a European Project and gathered at training centers in two countries focusing on learning and pedagogical issues during the lockdown through focus group discussion methodology and labels analysis. If planning, material resources, and health issues came out as relevant difficulty categories, the findings underlined collaborative projects and capacitating pedagogy as efficient and helpful. The findings also questioned the quality-of-life framework at school and the teaching pedagogy and new teachers’ roles as competencies to cope with such a situation to support transformative learning. The outcomes suggested a positive operational framework, the innovative bienvivance paradigm, derived from medical methodology, which can help school organizations by inner development for outer changes to integrate diversity, equity, and educational quality efforts into their missions. It aims at serving inclusive excellence toward human resource sustainability and zero waste of human resources. It can be seen as an effective framework for quality and equity in education. It supports the UN and UNESCO recommendations and the psycho-socio-economic optimization of human resource issues, which are crucial in these human resource mobility and migrations waves, and broadly copes with global changes.","PeriodicalId":514830,"journal":{"name":"Merits","volume":" 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140389254","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
MeritsPub Date : 2024-02-23DOI: 10.3390/merits4010005
Ryan Humeniuk, Elham Erfanian, G. J. Jolley
{"title":"Ohio’s 5G and Broadband Workforce: Assessing the Current Landscape Using Skillshed Analysis","authors":"Ryan Humeniuk, Elham Erfanian, G. J. Jolley","doi":"10.3390/merits4010005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/merits4010005","url":null,"abstract":"Ohio’s 5G and broadband industry is rapidly changing. In this study, we assess the current skills and skills gaps of the state’s workforce and the supply and demand of labor within the 5G and broadband industry. We use a skillshed analysis to determine declining occupations with easy and challenging transitions into 5G and broadband occupations. Based on the analysis, we determine where skills gaps exist and where additional resources are needed to prepare the state’s workforce for the 5G and broadband industry.","PeriodicalId":514830,"journal":{"name":"Merits","volume":"36 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140437232","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
MeritsPub Date : 2024-02-07DOI: 10.3390/merits4010004
Camille Giovannini, D. Giauque
{"title":"Key Factors of Organizational Resilience in Prisons and Police Forces in French-Speaking Switzerland during COVID-19","authors":"Camille Giovannini, D. Giauque","doi":"10.3390/merits4010004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/merits4010004","url":null,"abstract":"During the COVID-19 crisis, organizations had to demonstrate organizational resilience (OR) to continue to carry out their missions. We conducted qualitative research to identify the factors that contributed to the OR of police and penitentiary institutions in French-speaking Switzerland, in terms of their operations and management. The modes of action and crisis responses of these emergency services, regularly confronted with crises and particularly impacted during the pandemic, are worthy of attention. To this end, we synthesized the OR factors that are frequently identified in both theoretical and empirical review articles and identified four theoretical conceptualizations: (a) resilience engineering, (b) ecological resilience (these two are the most widely used), (c) a third way situating resilience at an intermediate stage in a metamodel representing the evolution of organizations from a fragile to antifragile state, and (d) a conceptualization focusing on the temporal dimension of OR. Based on the results of 25 semi-structured interviews with executives from cantonal police forces and prisons, we present what we consider to be the key levers in a three-phase resilience process (upstream, during, and after the shock): anticipatory and proactive organizational culture, information management and communication, liminal leadership practices, social and environmental practices, agility-enhancing governance practices, and learning capabilities. Our results largely confirm that these parameters significantly contributed to the OR of the institutions in question. They also enable us to propose winning configurations of factors that can increase the potential for OR.","PeriodicalId":514830,"journal":{"name":"Merits","volume":"40 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139796741","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
MeritsPub Date : 2024-02-07DOI: 10.3390/merits4010004
Camille Giovannini, D. Giauque
{"title":"Key Factors of Organizational Resilience in Prisons and Police Forces in French-Speaking Switzerland during COVID-19","authors":"Camille Giovannini, D. Giauque","doi":"10.3390/merits4010004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/merits4010004","url":null,"abstract":"During the COVID-19 crisis, organizations had to demonstrate organizational resilience (OR) to continue to carry out their missions. We conducted qualitative research to identify the factors that contributed to the OR of police and penitentiary institutions in French-speaking Switzerland, in terms of their operations and management. The modes of action and crisis responses of these emergency services, regularly confronted with crises and particularly impacted during the pandemic, are worthy of attention. To this end, we synthesized the OR factors that are frequently identified in both theoretical and empirical review articles and identified four theoretical conceptualizations: (a) resilience engineering, (b) ecological resilience (these two are the most widely used), (c) a third way situating resilience at an intermediate stage in a metamodel representing the evolution of organizations from a fragile to antifragile state, and (d) a conceptualization focusing on the temporal dimension of OR. Based on the results of 25 semi-structured interviews with executives from cantonal police forces and prisons, we present what we consider to be the key levers in a three-phase resilience process (upstream, during, and after the shock): anticipatory and proactive organizational culture, information management and communication, liminal leadership practices, social and environmental practices, agility-enhancing governance practices, and learning capabilities. Our results largely confirm that these parameters significantly contributed to the OR of the institutions in question. They also enable us to propose winning configurations of factors that can increase the potential for OR.","PeriodicalId":514830,"journal":{"name":"Merits","volume":"15 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139856489","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
MeritsPub Date : 2024-02-06DOI: 10.3390/merits4010003
Roslyn Cameron, Christine Edwards, Gregory Harper
{"title":"Workplace Leadership Development Practices: An Environmental Scan","authors":"Roslyn Cameron, Christine Edwards, Gregory Harper","doi":"10.3390/merits4010003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/merits4010003","url":null,"abstract":"Effective workplace leadership development programs are considered critical to organizational adaptive capacity and sustainability. The purpose of this exploratory study is to conduct an environmental scan of contemporary practices and approaches to leadership and management development programs in Australian workplaces. An online survey was distributed to a sample of Australian human resource professionals given the field’s strong practitioner orientation. The survey sample includes members of the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI), the professional body for human resource professionals and practitioners in Australia. The findings indicate a substantial majority of the current practice is not informed by evidence-based theory or practice. The most commonly used model is 70:20:10, which lacks a coherent evidence base and has been widely criticized for that reason. The findings point to the frequent application of bespoke leadership frameworks and significant theory–practice gaps. While organizations cite “ensuring delivery of business results”, as the main driver for instigating leadership development programs, with support from top management being crucial to the effectiveness and success of leadership development programs/interventions, evaluation and measurement of impact and return on investment remains problematic. Based on these insights, we present a future research agenda for monitoring and evaluating leadership development programs that will build a stronger theoretical foundation to inform evidence-based practice.","PeriodicalId":514830,"journal":{"name":"Merits","volume":"439 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139860336","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
MeritsPub Date : 2024-02-06DOI: 10.3390/merits4010003
Roslyn Cameron, Christine Edwards, Gregory Harper
{"title":"Workplace Leadership Development Practices: An Environmental Scan","authors":"Roslyn Cameron, Christine Edwards, Gregory Harper","doi":"10.3390/merits4010003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/merits4010003","url":null,"abstract":"Effective workplace leadership development programs are considered critical to organizational adaptive capacity and sustainability. The purpose of this exploratory study is to conduct an environmental scan of contemporary practices and approaches to leadership and management development programs in Australian workplaces. An online survey was distributed to a sample of Australian human resource professionals given the field’s strong practitioner orientation. The survey sample includes members of the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI), the professional body for human resource professionals and practitioners in Australia. The findings indicate a substantial majority of the current practice is not informed by evidence-based theory or practice. The most commonly used model is 70:20:10, which lacks a coherent evidence base and has been widely criticized for that reason. The findings point to the frequent application of bespoke leadership frameworks and significant theory–practice gaps. While organizations cite “ensuring delivery of business results”, as the main driver for instigating leadership development programs, with support from top management being crucial to the effectiveness and success of leadership development programs/interventions, evaluation and measurement of impact and return on investment remains problematic. Based on these insights, we present a future research agenda for monitoring and evaluating leadership development programs that will build a stronger theoretical foundation to inform evidence-based practice.","PeriodicalId":514830,"journal":{"name":"Merits","volume":"9 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139800431","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}