Showing posts with label wellbeing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wellbeing. Show all posts
Monday, April 22, 2013
Thursday, April 4, 2013
The Fountain of Wellbeing
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We can find the
name of at least 1 person associated with a quest for the fountain of youth in
the annals of history. Spanish conquistador,
Juan Ponce de Leon is the most outstanding example because he was the center of a historical debate about whether the search for a mythical fountain was the motivation for his sailing adventures.
In our 21st century, the legendary fountain has a new name – wellbeing. And the search is now openly embraced by swashbuckling organizations. We wonder if Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) are involved in this quest and the question arises:
What is the extent of wellbeing in Air Traffic Control (ATC)?
The following are excerpts from an information paper on wellbeing in ATC to be presented at the upcoming IFATCA conference.
In our 21st century, the legendary fountain has a new name – wellbeing. And the search is now openly embraced by swashbuckling organizations. We wonder if Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) are involved in this quest and the question arises:
What is the extent of wellbeing in Air Traffic Control (ATC)?
The following are excerpts from an information paper on wellbeing in ATC to be presented at the upcoming IFATCA conference.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Challenges to Implementing Wellbeing
When a controller from Bulgaria asked about the elements of a realistic complexity score, all of the respondents touched on various aspects of wellbeing. One entrepreneur of a South African Air Traffic Management (ATM) advisory service spoke about the culture and structure of management. A controller from Pakistan candidly described the conditions under which they worked and the points in their airspace that were frequently congested. An FAA representative described the value of a suitable work environment with support systems. The message that wellbeing is and will be a daunting issue in ATC was very clear. But what are some challenges to implementing wellbeing and how can we overcome these challenges?
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Wellbeing Sensory Perception - WSP
"Heaped -up earth becomes a mountain; accumulated water becomes a river." - Chinese Proverb
Wellbeing in the ATC environment will contribute to increased safety performance and a more fulfilling work atmosphere. ATCOs and their assistants can use their Wellbeing Sensory Perception (WSP) to identify several ways in which they can contribute to a happier work culture. What are some ways in which ATCOs can use their WSP?
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Creating a Happy Work Culture
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| Wellbeing Labyrinth |
How can managers and executives create a happy work culture? By developing a style of transactional leadership. Let us examine some of the practical ways in which this can be applied to promote wellbeing in ATC.
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Sublime Wellbeing begins with ME
Managers and Executives can follow the ABC plan in promoting wellbeing: addressing the issues that pertain to stress, health and work-life balance, being exemplary and creating a happy work culture. In this post we will focus on the B aspect - being exemplary. In the last post, we focused on the A aspect - addressing the issues.
How can managers and executives be exemplary in promoting wellbeing? "[They should] be more gracious", writes Kevin Daum a columnist for Inc.com and Smart Business Magazine. How much do you agree with that statement? Popular opinion is that they should be assertive and agressive. But more and more focus is placed on organizational ethics and innovating the hiring process for leaders because of the increase in narcissism and hectormania or bullying in the workplace. Let us see how we can apply these modern concepts of exemplary leadership in the ATC environment.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Promoting Wellbeing - Addressing the Issues
"An individual's happiness at work will create happiness throughout all areas of their life...likewise a company with a happy, motivated workforce will see exceptional results in its products and services." - Matt Miller, Chief Technology Officer, CareerBliss
How can we promote wellbeing in the ATC environment? Over the next few weeks,we will consider what the managers of ATC units can do and what ATCOs and other supportive staff can do. We will also consider some of the challenges to implementing wellbeing in the workplace.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Identifying the Drivers of Happiness
"No one in our industry is doing more to improve the life of our employees...We are constantly auditing facilities, going deep into the supply chain, looking for problems, finding problems,...fixing problems and we report everything because we believe that transparency is...very important in this area."*
However, his impressive answer could not hide the fact that within a 4 year period, 18 fatal employee incidents were linked to suicide. How can we apply this situation to the ATC environment?
Saturday, January 19, 2013
The Art of being Satisfied
Wellbeing is important in ATC. How much do you agree with that statement? What ideas do the word wellbeing bring to your mind? In 1946, the World Health Organization (WHO) used the word in the preamble to its constitution; "health is a state of complete physical, social and mental wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity". The simplest notion of wellbeing is that it is a holistic state of being well. It is a state that is dependent upon several aspects of wellness. What is the link between wellbeing and work? How can we define wellbeing in the context of ATC? How important is it to understand the concept of the satisfied contoller? What contribution can ATCOs and their assistants make?
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Performance Based Navigation through Psychoeconomic Lens: Part II - the socioeconomic and organizational economic perspective
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| An overabundance of visual stimuli can overwhelm the ATCO |
The previous post highlighted the psychological perspective of Performance Based Navigation (PBN): that PBN increases the risk of interference to the ATCO's attention.
Much of our ATC is done with the superficial layers of memory: sensory memory - short term memory (STM) - working memory which, is susceptible to interference that decrease attentiveness. What is the basis for the link between attention and our STM/working memory combined? Also what can a mosaic of Van Gogh's painting teach us about the socioeconomic cost of PBN to the controller? And are there any organizational economic implications to PBN? I invite you to read on...
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Narcissism in ATC
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| Art by John William Waterhouse |
Using a scale of 1-4, with 1 = "NO" and 4 = "YES", rate the following statements* about yourself:-
1) When people compliment me, I sometimes get embarrassed.
2) I think I am a special person.
3) I find it easy to manipulate people.
4) I usually get the respect that I deserve.
5) Sometimes I tell good stories.
6) I hope that I am going to be successful.
7) I can make anybody believe anything that I want them to.
8) I am extraordinary.
* (taken from D.R. Ames et al, 2006)
Friday, November 23, 2012
An Inventory of Wellbeing for Controllers and Assistants
Preview Question
Why do we need an inventory of wellbeing?
What is wellbeing? The first 4 posts of this blog discussed wellbeing in the context of Atc. There is a definition of wellbeing in the sidebar. Do you agree with this definition? Do you think that wellbeing in the Atc unit is important?
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| What is wellbeing? |
Wellbeing affects worker performance and worker performance affect organizational productivity. Reiterating from previous blogs, economists prefer to say that the relationship is monotonic. For example, increased wellbeing leads to increased performance and this leads to increased productivity. The converse happens if wellbeing is decreased.
When an organization is inefficient or not making the best use of its resources, the wellbeing of its workers is diminished. In the Atc scenario, if a controller is dissatisfied, her wellbeing is affected and in turn, her performance is affected. Researchers of organizational policy associate organizational inefficiency with disorder in the organization. There are telltale signs. Absenteeism is one of them. Presenteeism is another. These and other forms of deviant worker behavior indicate the presence of detractors to wellbeing. What do the annals of organizational development say?
Friday, November 16, 2012
Detractors to Wellbeing in Atc - Identifying Causes of Absenteeism and Presenteeism
Preview Question
Are absenteeism and presenteeism (A&P) detractors to wellbeing in Atc?
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Organizational Efficiency in Atc
Preview Questions
What is meant by efficiency in Atc? Why are absenteeism and presenteeism so prevalent in some Atc units more than others? What is meant by Bottom-Up Processing Approach in the context of Atc?
From the previous post we learned that service productivity is a function of efficiency in Atc. The controller transforms the resources that are available to produce a valuable service to the primary consumer, the pilot. If the resources are insufficient, the Atco cannot effectively perform the transformation. Of course, the controller will be frustrated to a greater or a lesser degree.
Given the nature of Atc whereby the Atco utilizes highly specialized cognitive skills, any lack of resources: psychological, physical as well as physiological will result in the happy state of the controller to wane because her wellbeing has been adversely affected. Thus, we can intuitively deduce that the wellbeing of an Atco is closely linked to her service productivity. Think of it as a workman who arrives at the work site without all of the necessary tools.
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| Imagine that this worker did not have all the resources and tools at his disposal. How do you think he might feel? Will his performance be affected? |
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