Over the last 20 years systematic quality work has become the main tool for developing Swedish schools (Håkansson & Adolfson, 2022). According to the Education Act (2010:800), quality work – at the local educational authority level as well as in the schools themselves – should be conducted in a systematic and continuous way, with respect to planning, follow-up, analyses, and actions taken to develop education. By continuous assessments and evaluations, the goal of the systematic quality work is to identify and address issues that need improvement for students to achieve the educational goals (Swedish National Agency for Education, 2012a). A review of the literature reveals the problematic aspects of evaluation practices and quality management, such as the risk to focus on what is measurable rather than what is desirable as well as the diverse definitions of quality (Lundström, 2015). However, what the local quality systems consist of, how they have been designed, and what practices and perceptions of quality they entail is less understood.

Previous research has primarily focused on individual schools’ quality work (Håkansson, 2013; Jarl, et al., 2017) , while less attention has been paid to the way the local educational authorities conduct systematic quality work. Thus, the aim of this study is to fill this knowledge gap by investigating how the ideas of systematic quality work in the Swedish Education Act's requirements are interpreted, translated, and materialized at the local education authority level.

The following research questions will guide our study:

1. How do local educational authorities interpret and translate the systematic quality work regulations and requirements in the Education Act?

2. How do these interpretations och translations materialize in the local quality work practices?

Theoretically we approach the phenomena of systematic quality management within the Swedish school sector from an organizing (Czarniawska, 2014) and practice-oriented perspective (Gherardi, 2019; Nicolini, 2009; 2012). These theoretical perspectives provide us a framework to analyse how the institutionalized ideas (as mental images that are well spread within the society) of systematic quality management - through authorities, policies, regulations, and quality models - are translated and materialized (Czarniawska & Joerges, 1996) into the local quality work organization and practices. The latter refers to the practices of doing and saying something related to the ideas of systematic quality management in different social contexts and time (Gherardi, 2019; Nicolini, 2009; 2012). Although the national guidelines involve the entire school system, these are interpreted, translated, and materialized by actors operating in a local context, which means that quality is understood in different ways and that the systematic quality work is conducted in different ways. An organizational perspective also includes aspects related to the tensions that arise when different interests and logics collide (for example between political, administrative, and professional interests and logics; see Czarniawska, 2014).

Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedIn this project five Swedish municipalities have participated in a study of what systematic quality work means at a local education authority level and what practices materialize from the national regulations. At the heart of the study is the recognition that quality systems are locally designed to meet the national requirements, thereby allowing diverse interpretations and translations to occur.

The local education authorities can be understood as mediators, partly between state and municipal control, partly between needs and agendas at different levels in the chain of command. This understanding also characterizes the design of the study. The empirical data has been collected through three complementary methods: document studies, observations, and interviews. The document studies consist of analysing different central documents, e.g., quality reports, provided by the local education authorities covering the past two years. We have also observed meetings related to the systematic quality work (so called “quality-dialogues”). Besides the local education authorities, the key actors in these meetings were the principals, assistant principals, and teacher representatives of the school being followed up. 

The interviews were conducted with key persons in five different local Swedish education authorities individually by the authors. The duration of the interviews was approximately one hour, and they were conducted either face-to-face, via Zoom, or telephone. The interviews were based on an interview guide including questions about the participants’ role, their experiences, and activities in relation to the systematic quality work, the expected and actual effects, as well as challenges and potential for improvement of systematic quality work. The interviews were recorded with informed consent and were later transcribed verbatim.

All the research material described above is now gathered and will be analysed during the Spring 2023. As a tool for data analyses, we will apply Bacchi´s (2012) method “What is the problem represented to be?”.

Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsEqual education for all is includes three fundamental aspects: equal access to education, equal quality of education and the compensatory nature of education (Swedish National Agency for Education, 2012b). All students should receive an equivalent education, regardless of the area they live in, the socio-economic conditions they come from, or their functional variations. But study after study shows that Swedish students' schooling is not equal, and that who you are and where you live play a decisive role in the quality of the education you receive. Many of the last decade's school policy reforms and targeted initiatives have had as their overarching goal to address this lack of equality, so far with few concrete results. In order to break this trend, there has been an increasing focus on the local educational authorities’ responsibility for the individual school's shortcomings, quality, and development. Furthermore, lack of equality is a problem within rather than between different local educational authorities. Although there is paucity of research, the limited results show that schools are often isolated with their problems and that there is a lack of supportive structures and a functional systematic quality work (Jarl, et al., 2017; Swedish Schools Inspectorate, 2021).

The paper will present results from the ongoing study, results that we believe will have relevance both in the Swedish, Nordic and in a wider European context. Through our investigation we will contribute knowledge regarding how the National Educational Act's requirements for systematic quality work are interpreted, translated, and materialized at the local level, and how this in turn shapes, promotes or hinders the quality work of individual schools.

Background Identifying occupational health hazards among Registered Nurses (RNs) and other health personneland implementing effective preventive measures are crucial to the long-term sustainability of health services. Theobjectives of this study were (1) to assess the 12-month prevalence rates of exposure to workplace aggression,including physical violence, threats of violence, sexual harassment, and bullying; (2) to identify whether theperpetrators were colleagues, managers, subordinates, or patients and their relatives; (3) to determine whetherprevious exposure to these hazards was associated with RNs’ current turnover intention; and (4) to frame workplaceaggression from an occupational health and safety perspective.Methods The third version of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ III) was used to assess RNs’exposure to workplace aggression and turnover intention. A national sample of 8,800 RNs in Norway, representative ofthe entire population of registered nurses in terms of gender and geography, was analysed. Binary and ordinal logisticregression analyses were conducted, and odds for exposure and intention to leave are presented, with and withoutcontrols for RNs’ gender, age, and the type of health service they work in.Results The 12-month prevalence rates for exposure were 17.0% for physical violence, 32.5% for threats of violence,12.6% for sexual harassment, and 10.5% for bullying. In total, 42.6% of the RNs had experienced at least one of thesetypes of exposure during the past 12 months, and exposure to more than one of these hazards was common.Most perpetrators who committed physical acts and sexual harassment were patients, while bullying was usuallycommitted by colleagues. There was a strong statistical association between exposure to all types of workplaceaggression and RNs’ intention to leave. The strongest association was for bullying, which greatly increased the odds oflooking for work elsewhere.Conclusions Efforts to prevent exposure to workplace aggression should be emphasised to retain health personneland to secure the supply of skilled healthcare workers. The results indicate a need for improvements. To ensure thesustainability of health services, labour and health authorities should join forces to develop effective workplace.

Bystanders can affect workplace bullying by engaging in active or passive behaviours. However, there is a knowledge gapregarding how perceived work environment factors relate to bystander behaviour. The study aim was to investigate how job demands, and job resources are associated with bystander behaviour in workplace bullying. An online questionnaire wasdistributed to a sample of health care workers at two time points. Longitudinal data were obtained from 1144 respondents. Cross-lagged panel models were used to investigate associations between job demands, job resources, and bystander behaviours over time. The results showed that social support was positively related to active behaviours, whereas influence at work was negatively related to both active and passive behaviours. Perceived illegitimate tasks were negatively related to active and positively related to passive behaviours, whereas emotional demands had an unanticipated opposite pattern of relationships. The findings provide new information about how factors in the organisational and social work environment are associated with active and passive bystander behaviours in workplace bullying. Specifically, the results expand current understanding of workplace bullying by relating bystander behaviour to the organisational context.

BACKGROUND: Employers are legally obligated to ensure the safety and health of employees, including the organizational and psychosocial working environment. The Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ III) covers multiple dimensions of the work environment. COPSOQ III has three parts: a) work environment b) conflicts and offensive behaviours and c) health and welfare. We translated all three parts into Norwegian and evaluated the statistical properties of the 28 work environment dimensions in part a), using a sample of registered nurses.

METHODS: The original English version was translated into Norwegian and back translated into English; the two versions were compared, and adjustments made. In total, 86 of 99 items from the translated version were included in a survey to which 8804 registered nurses responded. Item response theory models designed for ordinal manifest variables were used to evaluate construct validity and identify potential redundant items. A standard confirmatory factor analysis was performed to verify the latent dimensionality established in the original version, and a more exploratory factor analysis without restrictions is included to determine dependency between items and to identify separable dimensions.

RESULTS: The measure of sampling adequacy shows that the data are well suited for factor analyses. The latent dimensionality in the original version is confirmed in the Norwegian translated version and the scale reliability is high for all dimensions except 'Demands for Hiding Emotions'. In this homogenous sample, eight of the 28 dimensions are found not to be separate dimensions as items covering these dimensions loaded onto the same factor. Moreover, little information is provided at the low and high ends of exposure for some dimensions in this sample. Of the 86 items included, 14 are found to be potential candidates for removal to obtain a shorter Norwegian version.

CONCLUSION: The established Norwegian translation of COPSOQ III can be used in further research about working environment factors and health and wellbeing in Norway. The extended use of the instrument internationally enables comparative studies, which can increase the knowledge and understanding of similarities and differences between labour markets in different countries. This first validation study shows that the Norwegian version has strong statistical properties like the original, and can be used to assess work environment factors, including relational and emotional risk factors and resources available at the workplace.

Many island municipalities depend upon the tourist industry, but this industry can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it provides a source of income to people in the region, using the natural resources they have. On the other hand, the low-skill services that are connected to tourism have low wages and productivity, and the possibilities of productivity increases are low. This article aimed to analyse the possibilities for economic development in the Croatian islands, using a conceptual model inspired by Harris and Todaro’s theoretical outline (Harris & Todaro, 1970; Todaro, 1969). We analysed 18 municipalities located on the islands. The conceptual model classified municipalities by three criteria: unemployment rate, employment growth, and wage. We found 18 island municipalities that have low unemployment, high employment growth, but still low wages, which is a contradiction in neo-classical economic theory. However, it can be explained by the existence of amenities and the tourist industry being low-skilled and therefore having a low wage level. We used population data to analyse demographic trends and the propensity to move from these municipalities. Regardless of the high quality of life on islands, employment possibilities are very limited, particularly for persons with tertiary educational attainment. Therefore, in the past, people born on islands have had to seek education and employment on the mainland. However, telework and digital nomadism have dramatically changed the situation. With digitalisation and flexible work, there are new possibilities for the islands to attract people to both work and spend leisure time. This has led to a number of issues, not least the question of taxation.

Research goals and why the work was worth doing

Over the past two decades, research has demonstrated that workplace incivility is a ubiquitous work environment issue, which can have deleterious consequences for both individuals and organizations (Schilpzand et al., 2016; Cortina et al., 2017). Workplace incivility refers to low-intensity rude behavior in the workplace (Andersson & Pearson, 1999). The effects of incivility can be far-reaching, as it may spread in the workplace (Foulk et al., 2016; Holm et al., 2021). 

One promising avenue to address incivility has been the use of civility interventions. Actively promoting civility in the workplace may reduce the risk for incivility, and increase civility and respect (Leiter et al., 2011; 2012). However, recent research has shown less consistent results of civility interventions when applied in other cultural contexts than North America (e.g., Sawada et al., 2021), or in other workplaces than hospitals (e.g., Grantham, 2019). More information is therefore needed on the effects of implementing civility interventions in the workplace, particularly exploring mechanisms and moderators in the intervention process. The aim of the present study is to test the effects of an intervention aimed to increase civility in Swedish workplaces.

Theoretical background

The present study is based on the principles developed in the Civility, Respect and Engagement in the Workplace (CREW) intervention (Osatuke et al., 2013).  CREW was developed by the United States Department of Veteran Affairs in 2005. CREW was a culture-based workplace intervention promoting civility in the workplace in the departments’ VA-hospitals, with documented successful outcomes (Osatuke et al., 2009). Two research studies tested the effect of the CREW intervention in hospitals in North America, showing both short- and long-term effects of the intervention on workplace behavior, attitudes, and absence (Leiter et al., 2011; 2012). However, little is still known about how civility interventions operate in other contexts than hospitals, and which mechanisms or boundary conditions that influence the impact of civility interventions.  

Design/Methodology/Approach/Intervention

The present study has a quasi-experimental waitlist-control design. Participating workplaces are assigned to one of two conditions, an intervention condition or waitlist. The intervention group participates in a series of monthly workshops during the period of September 2022 – January 2023. The workshops address topics such as workplace culture, with the aim to promote workplace civility and reduce the risk of workplace incivility. The waitlist serves as the control group. Pre- and post-surveys are conducted to investigate possible effects of the intervention on measures of workplace (in)civility, norms for civility, social work environment factors, as well as work-related well-being. 

Results (expected)

Baseline survey data have currently been gathered from about 200 individuals across 13 workplaces in a Swedish municipality. The intervention group is currently undergoing the workshop series. The follow up post-survey is planned for January of 2023. When post-measures have been completed, possible change in measures of workplace civility, norms for civility, and workplace incivility will be explored. Change in social work environment factors, as well as work-related well-being, will also be explored. The intervention is expected to result in increased civility and norms for civility, as well as reduced incivility over time. 

Limitations

Workplaces were not assigned to the intervention or control condition via cluster randomization. Instead, it was based on practical aspects such as feasibility and scheduling in the participating organizations. Moreover, the follow-up measure is carried out only a few weeks after completion of the final workshop. Possible effects on behavior or well-being may take longer time to develop. Lastly, the measures are self-reported by participants.

Conclusions – research and or practical implications/Originality/Value

Results from the post-measure surveys will be presented at the congress. The originality of the project lies in exploring the effects of an updated version of a civility intervention, in a context outside of hospital settings in North America. The study will also provide information about potential mechanisms and moderators involved in the intervention process. Practically, the knowledge that results from the study could be of use in future attempts to improve the social work environment in workplaces by working with the workplace culture.

Relevance to the Congress Theme

The study is relevant to several of the congress themes, e.g. 6. Group dynamics, 8. Organizational design and development, 15. Stress and dysfunction, and 18. Well-being.

Relevant UN SDGs

Goal 3. Good health and well-being

Goal 8. Decent work and economic growth

BACKGROUND: Workplace violence is a global threat to healthcare professionals' occupational health and safety and the situation has worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to explore workplace violence directed against assistant and registered nurses working on surgical wards in Sweden.

METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in April 2022. Using a convenience sampling procedure, 198 assistant and registered nurses responded to an online questionnaire developed for this specific study. The questionnaire comprised 52 items and included, among other items, subscales from validated and previously used instruments. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, the chi-square test, and independent-samples t-test.

RESULTS: The most frequently reported type of workplace violence was humiliation (28.8%), followed by physical violence (24.2%), threats (17.7%), and unwanted sexual attention (12.1%). Patients and patients' visitors were reported as the main perpetrators of all kinds of exposure. Additionally, one third of the respondents had experienced humiliation from colleagues. Both threats and humiliation showed negative associations with work motivation and health (p < 0.05). Respondents classified as working in a high- or moderate-risk environment were more frequently exposed to threats (p = 0.025) and humiliation (p = 0.003). Meanwhile, half of the respondents were unaware of any action plans or training regarding workplace violence. However, of those who indicated that they had been exposed to workplace violence, the majority had received quite a lot or a lot of support, mainly from colleagues (range 70.8-80.8%).

CONCLUSION: Despite a high prevalence of workplace violence, and especially of humiliating acts, there appeared to be low preparedness within the hospital organizations to prevent and/or handle such incidents. To improve these conditions, hospital organizations should place more emphasis on preventive measures as part of their systematic work environment management. To help inform such initiatives, it is suggested that future research should focus on the identification of suitable measures regarding different types of incidents, perpetrators, and settings.