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.

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.

BackgroundWorkplace bullying is widespread in the healthcare sector and the negative effects are well known. However, less attention has been paid to bystanders who witness bullying in the workplace. Bystanders can affect the bullying process by engaging in active, passive, or destructive behaviors. There is a need to study work-related and organizational consequences of witnessing bullying and bystander behaviors.ObjectiveThe aim was to explore how witnessed workplace bullying and bystander behaviors are associated with work-related and organizational consequences, such as perceived quality of care, work engagement, and turnover intentions, among healthcare workers over time.DesignLongitudinal design. An online questionnaire was administered twice over the course of six months.Setting(s)Employees in the healthcare sector in Sweden, such as physicians, nurses, and assistant nurses, responded to the questionnaire.Participants1144 participants provided longitudinal data.MethodsStructural equation modeling was used to explore the associations between witnessed bullying, bystander behavior, work-related and organizational factors over time.ResultsWitnessed workplace bullying (B = − 0.18, 95 % CI [− 0.23 to − 0.12]) and the bystander outsider role (B = − 0.24, 95 % CI [− 0.29 to − 0.19]) were statistically significantly related to a decrease in perceived quality of care. Work engagement was statistically significantly predicted by all three bystander roles over time; positively by the defender role (B = 0.11, 95 % CI [0.05–0.17]), and negatively by the outsider role (B = − 0.23, 95 % CI [− 0.29 to − 0.16]), and the assistant role (B = − 0.32, 95 % CI [− 0.41 to − 0.24]). The outsider role (B = 0.12, 95 % CI [0.02–0.22]), the assistant role (B = 0.17, 95 % CI [0.03–0.30]), and witnessed workplace bullying (B = 0.18, 95 % CI [0.08–0.29]), all positively predicted increased turnover intentions at a subsequent time point.ConclusionsIn addition to the direct negative impact workplace bullying has on those targeted by it, witnessing bullying and taking different bystander roles can have work-related and organizational consequences by influencing perceived care quality, employees' work engagement, and their intention to leave the organization.

Fokus för denna presentation är arbetsrelaterad mobbning och den organisatoriska kontextens betydelse för varför åskådare till mobbning agerar eller att inte agerar. Presentationen bygger på en studie accepterad för publicering i Research in Health and Nursing 2021, (Jönsson & Muhonen).  

Arbetsrelaterad mobbning skiljer sig från den mobbning som vi ser bland barn och ungdomar. Mobbning som sker på arbetsplatsen, mellan vuxna, är ofta mer subtil och inte lika lätt att identifiera. Studier visar att exponering för mobbning på arbetsplatsen har allvarliga konsekvenser för de anställdas psykiska hälsa, till exempel depression eller utbrändhet.¹ Utöver psykiska effekter vet vi också att mobbning kan påverka den fysiska hälsan, till exempel genom muskelsmärta eller huvudvärk², samt minskat välbefinnande, såsom negativ påverkan på individers allmänna tillfredsställelse.³

Inom forskningen har det under långt tid varit fokus på enbart två aktörer: den eller de som utsätter (förövare) och den eller de som är utsatta (offer). Det är inte förrän på 2000-talet som en tredje aktör uppmärksammats, nämligen åskådaren.⁴ Att vara vittne till hur en eller flera kolleger far illa på arbetsplatsen riskerar att negativt påverka den egna hälsan. Studier har visat att bevittnandet av mobbning kan upplevas som en stressfaktor i arbetet och kan på så vis påverka många fler personer än den som direkt är utsatt. Termen åskådare används för att beskriva den individ som bevittnat mobbning men som inte enbart är att betrakta som ett passivt vittne utan som en individ med möjlighet att agera.5 Det handlar alltså om att man som åskådare har ett val, att agera eller inte agera i relation till den bevittnade situationen.⁶

Syfte

Syftet med den aktuella studien var att undersöka den organisatoriska kontextens betydelse för åskådares beteende vid bevittande av arbetsplatsmobbning inom hälso- och sjukvården.

Metod

Kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med 32 anställda (läkare, sjuksköterskor, undersköterskor och fysioterapeuter) inom en av Sveriges regioner. Data samlades in mellan mars 2019 och september 2020 och analyserades med tematisk analys.

Resultat

Vid analysen identifierades tre övergripande teman: åskådarens beteenden, organisatoriska faktorer, och sociala faktorer. Deltagarna i studien upplevde ofta att åskådarna, både kollegor och chefer, var passiva i sitt agerande. De menar också att organisatoriska faktorer såsom dysfunktionell organisationskultur och brister i ledningen påverkade hur åskådaren valde att agera i de olika mobbningssituationerna. I relation till sociala faktorer var det bland annat rädsla för negativa konsekvenser, bristande medvetenhet om vad som pågick, eller ett ursäktande av mobbingbeteendet som påverkade agerandet.

Diskussion

Studier har visat att när det gäller att förebygga och förhindra trakasserier och mobbning på arbetsplatsen är åskådares beteende och ingripanden av stor betydelse.⁷ Att fokusera på åskådares roller och agerande kan exempelvis vara fördelaktigt när man utformar olika metoder eller interventioner med syfte att minska de negativa konsekvenserna av mobbning. Att även inkludera åskådarna i en mobbningssituation innebär ett mer holistiskt angreppssätt där man slutar betrakta mobbning som en fråga på individnivå och i stället ser mobbning som en fråga för hela organisationen. Genom detta perspektivskifte möjliggörs alternativa sätt att arbeta med att förebygga förekomsten av mobbning. 

Introduction

As part of the welfare sector, Swedish schools have undergone several reforms during the past few decades resulting in increasing and often conflicting demands on principals. Additional to implementing new grading systems and curricula, the sector has been impacted by market-oriented logic (new public management), resulting in a mix of professional and bureaucratic governance structures. Many of these reforms demand daily responses because principals are the key actors in both organizing and leading pedagogical practices, being the head of business and main respondent to local political initiatives. Hence, principals’ work environments have gradually deteriorated, with many experiencing high stress levels, which has led to high turnover and difficulty recruiting and retaining principals.  

Aim

Using JD-R theory as the point of departure, the aim of this study is to examine principals’ organizational and social work environment and attempt to answer the following research question: which job demands and job resources are related to principals’ job satisfaction and their intention to leave the job, and how do these job demands and job resources relate to changes within the institutional landscape as a result of the major political reforms the Swedish school sector has undergone over the last few decades?  

Method

We use a mixed methods approach combining responses to questionnaires (466 participants) and interviews (15 participants).  Participants were principals who were members of the school leader section (Lärarförbundet Skolledare) of the Swedish Teachers Union.  

Results

The questionnaire responses indicated that job resources such as role clarity, influence, meaningfulness, and social community with senior managers were related to job satisfaction, while a lack of job resources (influence, social community with senior managers) and role conflict were associated with higher intention to leave the profession. The interviews deepened the understanding of the shift in institutional logic within the school sector that has created boundaries between principals’ professional and managerial roles in accordance with new public management thinking. The separation of their professional and managerial roles has contributed to the development of a blind spot in principals’ organizational and social work environments. This is a problem for principals and a risk factor for the organizations themselves because stress and ill-health experienced by leaders tend to affect the entire organization. 

Workplace bullying is a severe problem that affects individuals, organizations, and society. Although there is a growing research interest in bystanders of workplace bullying, the rationale underlying bystanders' behavior in healthcare settings requires further investigation. The aim of the current study is to explore factors that influence the behavior of bystanders to workplace bullying in the healthcare sector. Qualitative semistructured interviews were conducted with 32 staff members in the healthcare sector in Sweden. Data were collected between March 2019 and September 2020 and were analyzed with thematic analysis. The participants experienced that bystanders of bullying, both colleagues and managers, were in many situations acting in a passive way. Organizational factors such as dysfunctional organizational culture and deficiencies in management affected how actively the bystanders could intervene. Additionally, a fear of negative consequences, lack of awareness of what was going on, bullying behavior being excused, and the bystander not being a member of the dominant group were social factors contributing to bystanders' passive behavior. For bystander intervention to be successful, the organization must consider bullying as a serious issue, take action, and show support for both the target and the bystander.

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has severely affected workers, workplaces, and working practices. In the higher education setting, universities have shifted to distance learning, resulting in profound changes in academics' work. In this study, we aimed to describe academics' job demands and resources related to changes in working conditions during the pandemic, and to examine how these changes have affected the perceived occupational wellbeing of academics. Additionally, we aimed to investigate academics' expectations and concerns for future academic working practices following the pandemic. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 26 academics working at various universities in Sweden. A content analysis was used to identify the key themes from the transcribed interviews. The results indicated that academics experienced a lack of face-to-face communication, absence of an academic environment, work overload, and work-home interference as demanding during the pandemic. In relation to resources, online communication options, appropriate working conditions, organizational-social support, and individual factors were perceived as important. Most respondents perceived negative occupational wellbeing outcomes. However, academics who had the appropriate resources were less likely to be affected by job demands. Academics' expectations for future academic work included continuation of working online, flexibility in the choice of workspace, and strengthened digital capacity. Their concerns were related to a lack of face-to-face interaction, management actions and economic implications, and pure digital education. This paper contributes to the literature by illustrating the complexity and diversity of experiences and preferences among academics that are important for universities to consider when organizing and managing future academic work.