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Multi-Item Scale:

English version: For each of the following statements, please select the response which best describes your work situation....<br><br> German version: Bitte wählen Sie für jede der folgenden Aussagen die Antwort aus, die Ihre Arbeitssituation am besten beschreibt.

Item Text:

English version:
D. You are involved in improving the work organisation or work processes of your department or organisation

German version:
D. Sie sind an der Verbesserung der Arbeitsorganisation oder der Arbeitsabläufe Ihrer Abteilung oder Firma/ Organisation beteiligt

Different Answer Format Tested:

Nein

Findings:

Online Probing:
As a first step of the analyses, we examined respondents’ understanding of the terms “being involved”, “improving” and “work processes” in this item.
“Being involved” is described as having the opportunity to voice opinions, be it in direct communication with a team leader or the management, in conferences or team meetings. “Improving” means optimizing procedures and work flow, making daily chores easier for operational staff, and innovation management. Most respondents give general and vague descriptions of “work processes”:
  • “Daily routine” (R63DE, employee, “always”)
  • “Division of work” (R104DE, employee, “always”)
  • “Situations are discussed and alternatives considered” (R195DE, self-employed, “always”)
  • “New ideas” (R20UK, employee, “most of the time”)
  • “My colleagues and I are often consulted and asked to give our views and ideas about how the office environment can by realistically improved” (R225UK, employee, “sometimes”)
Others name examples from their work life:
  • “The facilities and infrastructure of the lawyer’s office, technical equipment, work processes and all are discussed by my colleagues and myself” (R319DE, self-employed, “most of the time”)
  • “Optimizing IT-supported work processes “ (R52DE, employee, “sometimes”)
  • “Writing the menu” (R106DE, employee, “most of the time”)
Next, we examined why respondents chose their respective answers and we did so for employees and self-employed separately. Employees generally answer the question in the intended manner. Many respondents who answer that they are “always” involved or “most of the time” are in a managerial position or work closely with the management, but single respondents in an operative position also feel involved in improving work processes:
  • “I am in a managerial position and work closely with the company owner” (R905DE, employee, “always”)
  • “I am the manager, so am involved to various degrees in all department changes” (R45UK, em-ployee, “always”)
  • “If anyone finds a better way of doing something, it is shared and we all help in making things work better” (R66UK, employee, “most of the time”)
  • “Because we are directly involved in routines, we care that the patients receive two rolls with marmalade and cheese a day, and that they are cut correctly. We use the answer cards that come with the meals” (R258DE, employee, “always”)
Employees who answer that they are “sometimes” involved correctly indicate that the opportunity for involvement exists, but their influence is limited:
  • “We can make suggestions in conferences” (R34DE, employee, “sometimes”)
  • “We can gladly make suggestions. But implementing them doesn’t always work” (R55DE, employee, “sometimes”)
  • “If procedure is no longer fit or can be improved it's revised” (R98UK, employee, “sometimes”)
  • “I get to discuss with my boss new ways of improving and streamlining our work methods” (R382UK, employee, “sometimes”)
Explanations of employees who are “rarely” or “never” involved in improvement vary, but are all in line with the question intention. Either superiors decide and show little interest in employee opinions, or the employees themselves feel it is not part of their job to be involved in establishing and improving work processes, they see no room for improvement, or their employment situation (i.e. non-permanent contracts, shift work) make it difficult for them to contribute to structural change:
  • “It doesn’t matter what I think; I have to function like a machine “ (R75DE, employee, “never”)
  • “The work rules are made by management” (R70UK, employee, “rarely”)
  • “This is done by management” (R5UK, employee, “never”)
  • “There are hardly opportunities; the work just needs to be done, there isn’t much to change “ (R120DE, employee, “rarely”)
  • “No responsibility” (R79PL, employee, “rarely”)
  • “Team leaders decide these things, not me” (R107DE, employee, “rarely”)
  • “That is my boss‘ job” (R108DE, employee, “not applicable”)
  • “I don’t work directly in the department, but I can voice my opinion” (R301PL, employee, “rarely”)
  • “I am a temporary worker” (R142DE, employee, “never”)
  • “My tasks are separate from the rest of my department” (R25UK, employee, “never”)
Turning to self-employed respondents, in all three countries, these are highly likely to either fully agree with this statement (“always”: UK 37% self-employed vs 20% employed; DE 47% vs 24%; PL 31% vs 17%) or insist that it does not apply to them (UK: 35% vs 3%; DE: 32% vs 11%, PL: 27% vs 12%). This indicates that self-employed are split into two groups, of which one group applies the question terms “your department or organisation” to their working situation as self-employed, while the other does not.
The results of the probing question support this assumption, as all self-employed give the same reasoning to their answer - regardless of whether they answer “always” or “not applicable” (n=57) – stating that their employment status as self-employed is the reason for their answer:
  • “I decide how I organize myself and what my processes are” (R98DE, self-employed, “not applicable”)
  • “I decide on all processes” (R211UK, self-employed, “not applicable”)
  • “As a freelancer, I’m the boss, and I decide on all processes and organization” R349DE, self-employed, “always”)
  • “As the head of the organisation, it falls on my shoulders to make sure my business is successful” (R283UK, self-employed, “always”)
This clearly demonstrates that the question cannot be answered by respondents and interpreted by researchers in an unambiguous way.
Also interesting are the 28 respondents who are self-employed, but indicate that they are “never”, “rarely” or “sometimes” integrated. Of those, some again give their self-employment and decision-making as the reason:
  • "I am self-employed" (R355DE, self-employed, "never")
  • "It's only me involved" (R216UK, self-employed, "never")
  • “I work on my own, I don’t need improvement” (R147DE, self-employed, “never”)
Others give a more logical answer, stating that despite being self-employed they are dependent on other circumstances:
  • "I never know what's coming" (R13UK, self-employed, "never")
Two respondents are self-employed, but working for a company which they cannot influence:
  • “I work as self-employed for a company. So I have nothing to do with their decisions” (R322DE, self-employed, “never”)
  • “It's not my place to change the organisations and processes in place” (R130UK, self-employed, “rarely”)

Recommendations:

This item should only be shown to employees.

Question tested:

false