Dima, Gabriela, Meseșan Schmitz, Luiza, Șimon, Marinela-Cristina

Bio: Dima, Gabriela, Meseșan Schmitz, Luiza, Șimon, Marinela-Cristina is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Burnout & Social work. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 1 citations.

Job Stress and Burnout among Social Workers in the VUCA World of COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract: This paper aimed to explore the changes posed by the new COVID-19 pandemic to the field of social work and its impact on social workers in terms of job stress and burnout in Romania. Two conceptual models were used to frame the discussion: the theoretical framework of VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) to discuss the challenges that the unprecedented context of the COVID-19 pandemic has created for social workers; and the Job Demands and Resources model (JD-R) to understand job demands perceived as stressors and burnout. Based on convergent mixed methods, the study sample consisted of 83 social workers employed in statutory and private social services in Romania, from different areas of intervention. Results showed that social workers perceived a high level of job stress related to work during the pandemic, which was associated with higher levels of burnout in the areas of personal burnout (average score 55.9) and work-related burnout (average score 52.5). Client-related burnout was lower (average score 38.4), indicating that stress was generated mainly by organisational factors and work-related factors (workload, aligning to new legislative rules and decisions, inconsistency, instability, ambiguity of managerial decisions, and lack of clarity of working procedures) and less by client-related stressors (lack of direct contact with clients, risk of contamination, managing beneficiaries’ fears, and difficulties related to technology). High job demands and limited job resources (managerial and supervisory support, financial resources, and recognition and reward) led to a high to very high level of work-related burnout for 15.7% and an upper-medium level for 44.2% of respondents. A group of 27.7% reported lower to medium levels of work-related burnout, while 14.5% had very low levels, managing to handle stress factors in a healthy manner. Study results pointed to the importance of organisational support and the development of a self-care plan that help to protect against job stress and burnout. Recommendations were made, putting forward the voice of fieldworkers and managers fostering initiatives and the application of sustainability-based measures and activities designed to deal with the challenges of the VUCA environment.

Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity (VUCA) in Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Challenges and Way Forward

Abstract: In 1987, United States Army War College introduced the acronym “VUCA” which was abbreviated as Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity to describe the unstable geopolitical conditions following the end of cold war. Following Industrial revolution 4.0, this acronym was being widely used in various fields like business and organizations to describe the chaotic, turbulent and rapidly changing business environment. We have applied this approach in the context of Corona Virus Disease -2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We have explained how rapidly changing situation in terms of transmission of infections and uncertinty related to various decisions for control measures in terms of extent of lock down, how to unlock?, what to unlock?, quarantine measures, etc are linked to the complexity and ambiguity associated with the exisitng and the rapidly changing knowledge about the infection and disease. This also justifies that in such situations it is important to act upon the available information howsoever incomplete it may be rather than to wait for the robust evidence. Experimentation, constatnt learning and adoption of changed evidence for revised action is the key to tackle such situations.

Agile Leadership and Perceived Career Success: The Mediating Role of Job Embeddedness

Abstract: Agile leadership is an important managerial function in which responsiveness and innovation appear to be essential elements for the long-term development and success of any business. The world has become increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) during and post COVID-19. Managers are required to possess agile leadership to facilitate their employees’ successful careers. Therefore, this study aims to find out the relationship between agile leadership and career success by examining the mediation of job embeddedness in healthcare organizations. The descriptive research design and survey method were employed in this study. The data were collected by using three scales from healthcare employees in healthcare organizations in Turkey. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling (SEM). The data were analysed by using SPSS and AMOS programs. The findings of this study showed that agile leadership behaviours enhance career success. Moreover, the relationship between agile leadership and career success is mediated by job embeddedness. The role of agile leadership in promoting employees’ career success has rarely been studied in the literature. This is one of the first studies to examine the effect of agile leadership on career success along with the mediating role of job embeddedness. Healthcare managers have faced many critical challenges at their workplace during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the lens of managing efficient healthcare organizations in many contexts, this research sheds some important light on the association between agile leadership, career success, and job embeddedness. Managers with high agility levels used strategies such as group decision making, problem solving, effective internal and external communication, and adaptation to uncertain environment in order to increase their career success.

Role of agile leadership in managing inter-role conflicts for a satisfying job and life during COVID-19 in a VUCA world

Abstract: This study investigated how agile leadership played its role in managing inter-role conflicts during the chaotic period of the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic was much more than the survival of the fittest and coming out of it alive. Organizations were under immense pressure to resume their normal operations in not-so-normal situations. This period of turmoil and agony brought a broad array of inter-role conflicts, which posed challenges for leaders to manage them effectively. The satisfaction at job and the satisfaction in life were the two most important endeavors for the employees to fight. This study explores how leadership agility helped employees manage their work–family and family–work conflicts, consequently impacting life satisfaction and job satisfaction simultaneously. Moreover, role ambiguity, role conflict, and role overload are important intervening role stress factors that impact inter-role conflict management. So, role stress is a moderating factor in the direct relationship between agile leadership and inter-role conflict. This is a two-phased time lag study with a quantitative design for data collection. The first phase of data collection comprises of analyzing the impact of agile leadership on inter-role conflict management, keeping in view the intervening impact of role stress. The second data collection phase examines how inter-role conflicts impacted life satisfaction and job satisfaction during COVID-19. The data were collected from faculty working in higher education institutions in Pakistan, as the education industry was the second major sector that was affected because of COVID-19 after the health care industry. This research found that agile leadership plays a significant role in determining job satisfaction and life satisfaction. Agile leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic helped to manage work–family (AgileL -> WFC -> JS β = 0.1020, p = 0.0112 and AgileL -> WFC -> LS β = 0.1361, p = 0.0014) and family–work conflicts (AgileL -> FWC -> JS β = 0.1598, p = 0.0017 and AgileL -> FWC -> LS β = 0.1160, p = 0.0093) and reduce role stress. Future researchers might include marital satisfaction, as the inter-role conflicts highly impacted marital satisfaction and resultant imbalances among dual-earning couples. Comparative studies in this regard, explaining how dual-earning couples managed to sustain marital health and the role of leadership in developed and developing countries would be enlightening.

Working Overtime in Social Work Settings: Associations with Burnout, Person-organization Value Congruence and Turnover Intentions among Chinese Social Workers

Abstract: ABSTRACT Working overtime is one of the risk factors for turnover intention; however, little is known about its mediating and moderating mechanisms, especially among social workers. This study adds to the knowledge through investigating the mediating role of burnout and the moderating role of person-organization value congruence. A sample of 5,930 Chinese social workers (Mean age = 30.4 years old, SD = 7.9) is obtained from the China Social Work Longitudinal Study (CSWLS) 2019. Results illustrate that burnout mediates the relationship between working overtime and turnover intention. Additionally, the direct effect of working overtime on turnover intention is moderated by person-organization value congruence, with the effect being weaker for social workers with high person-organization value congruence than for those with low person-organization value congruence. These findings provide new insights for explaining how working overtime influences turnover intention. Implications for policy and practice are also discussed.