Operations social practices in safety and health at work: Scale validation and reliability through the Q-sort method.
| Autor | Maia, Leonardo Caixeta de Castro |
| Cargo | Q-sort method |
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Introduction
In conducting studies on the implantation of best operational practices, it was noted that the main of these works is primarily related to the pursuit of increased production volume and the complexity of operational controls. Thus, it is noted that there is a direct analogy with the analysis of the index of labor risks arising from these new environments of work, or, simply, organizations fail to associate the culture created for improving the products and processes with the adopted social practices (Brown, 1996; Power et al., 2015).
In this perspective, there is still a perception by many managers that social practices have a restrictive impact on operational performance, that is, the implementation of occupational health and safety systems may reflect negatively on levels of productivity (Gimenez et al., 2012; Sobhani et al., 2015).
Romeiro Filho (2015) has investigated tools that support the application of design to sustainable principles, adapted to small and medium companies. He identified risk factors in workers' activities, among them, complaints of pain and even diseases from work.
It is possible to verify that the number of work-related accidents in Brazil with permanent sequels or with temporary departures, did not show a significant reduction during its historical series. It is maintaining, on a yearly basis, an average number of approximately, 700 thousand people injured at a cost of R$ 17 billion per year (Brasil. Ministerio do Trabalho e Emprego, 2012).
However, there is a positive approach, when organizational culture favors consistent and formalized procedures, the simultaneous development of innovation, safety and environment occurs, since the results of the investments in these areas was directly related to the role of manager and local culture (Shafiq et al., 2014).
In this way, an organization can utilize both operations and security improvements in an integrated management system, whose variables are indirectly related to the routine and the simultaneous integration of operations management and safety and health at work (Pagell et al., 2015). It is also possible to improve performance on social responsibility and profit not only in the organization but also along the supply chain (Hsueh, 2015).
The management approach in safety and health at work as a social practice seeks to expose the organizations responsibility importance in a broad social context, and not only as records of hours of leave or internal costs. The social view of the work accident also needs to take into account the care and treatment of the injured, the image of the organization, as well as the fall in service level and productivity (Shafiq et al., 2014).
Faced with this initial argument, this study seeks to validate the reliability of a research instrument. This method comprises the opportunity to apply a scale in contexts different from the original location in which it was prepared. It also seeks to identify the social practices in operations that focus on safety and health at work.
In addition, it is evident that the replication of scales in Brazilian environments requires more than the simple translation of the original language, i.e., it is necessary to adapt cultural values (Su and Sampaio, 2013). In this sense, the Q-sort tool can aid in the adequacy and promotion of the insertion of national authors in the international academic environment (Paiva and Brito, 2013).
In view of this problem, the following question emerges through the questionnaire sorting, what are the constructs that allow the measurement of the level of implementation of social practices inherent in management occupational safety and health at work?
In order to answer this question and therefore to validate this scale and to measure the reliability of the indicators of the research instrument, the judge Q-sort procedure was adopted and the technique of data analysis, in a qualitative way (Perreault and Leigh, 1989; Moore and Benbasat, 1991; Nahm et al., 2002).
In this panorama, the present paper was delimited for the validation of constructs that allow the discussion about social practices in relation to the management of safety and health at work.
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Bibliographic review
In order to support the empirical study, this study show the concepts related at social practices, the survey criteria and respective questions applied to the research method regarding the scale validity and reliability.
2.1 Social practices discussion
Social practices refer to activities related to products or processes that affect human safety and well-being, as well as community development and protection of the damage coming from supply chain or operational functions (Klassen and Vereecke, 2012).
In the literature on the subject, research on social practices was share into two streams: one about the clash between social and operational practices, which put them as contradictory, and another that affirms that they are complementary.
In this sense, research suggests that the search for the effectiveness of operational indicators, without considering the increased risk of accidents, stress and occupational diseases of workers, puts operational and safety improvement as contradictory (Pagell et al, 2014).
Many operational practices increase manufacturing complexity; show disconnected elements of production, and consequently increased risk of unforeseen accidents (Pagell et al, 2015).
Practices such as reduced workloads between operations improve operational performance, but reduce worker well-being (Shah and Ward, 2003), as indirectly create worker overloads, reducing their time to complete tasks and that he feels pressured.
When research indicates that operational effectiveness, health and safety at work are complementary themes, the performance of these constructs are analyze separately. In this environment, the work is focus on the quality of the products and services offered to consumers and customers and cannot offer an analysis of worker safety perspective (Pagell et al, 2015).
In this context, many companies have had many difficulties in defining and implementing social actions without mentioning their competitive benefits (Klassen and Vereecke, 2012). One of the reasons that lead to this view is related, initially, to the increase in the total cost of the system through the systematic evaluation and investments needed to reduce risk factors at work (Sobhani et al., 2015).
For Pagell et al (2015), the tension between the management of social practices and operational practices can be reduced when both are managed, concomitantly, by means of an integrated management and security system named joint management system (JMS), whose objective is to integration from a workers' point of view. JMS is a set of routines that jointly allow planning, measurement, monitoring and continuous improvement in safety and performance. This system enables stability by reducing the tension between being safe and effective.
To implement this system, it is important to qualify people both to achieve harmonized improvements in operations productivity as well as occupational safety and health. According to the level of qualification and maturity of the organizational culture, workers of the same organization may have different perceptions about occupational hazards in the work environment (Oliveira and Veiga, 2013). Thus, the ability to perceive risks is also directly linked to the level of education that each individual presents to identify hazards and recognize the risks in their work environment. This level is directly related to the constant and continuous actions of education and training that have a positive effect both on the performance of operational indicators and on the understanding and compliance with safety and health at work procedures (Longoni et al., 2014). Thus, the ability to perceive risks is also directly linked to the individual level education to identify hazards and recognize the risks in their work environment. It is directly related to the constant and continuous education and training programs that have both operational performance indicators and positive effect compliance at safety and health at work procedures (Longoni et al., 2014).
According to Wheelwright and Hayes (1985), Organizations present better performance indices when all employees have full understanding of their purpose, mission, strategy and company routines. Utilize consist patterns of organizational processes or actions or resources to achieve the expected results (Peng et al., 2008). Thus, the greater gap in the individuals' interpretation of the organization routine reflects direct in the greater operation performance variation. On the other hand, when both operational and safety routines are interpreted and improved equally, stability will be achieved. For this, it is necessary that the organization adopt a preventive and communicative character, that is, that information and knowledge transmitted to workers, highlighting the objective of improving safety and productivity, thus enhancing human capital (Pagell et al, 2015).
When one group incorporated operational practices in work environment, they generate effects in others (Shafiq et al, 2014). In this way, the valorization of the groups that incorporated the culture of safety and health with the issues of productivity strengthens the development of an integrated organizational culture. In this sense, the joint performance of the operational area and social practices in the work environment is directly related to the manager's role in ensuring investments in safety, health and the environment. They promoting focused actions for the creation, maintenance and consolidation of the local culture of simultaneous integration - of operations management and health and safety at work (Power et al, 2015).
2.2 The development of a scale
The research work on a scale consists in using rules of symbol assignments for objects that...
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