title: Workplace bullying in New Zealand: A survey of employee perceptions and attitudes

authors: O’Driscoll, Michael P.

subjects: coping

abstract: Bullying at work, a severe form of anti-social behaviour, has become an issue of major concern to workers, organisations, unions and governments. It has also received considerable attention in organisational behaviour and human resource management research over the past 20+ years. Research has been conducted on the prevalence of bullying at work and factors which contribute to bullying, but less attention has been accorded to personal coping with bullying and organisational-level responses to counteract bullying. The present paper reports findings from a survey of over 1700 employees of 36 organisations in New Zealand. We describe the reported incidence of bullying at work, along with relevant work attitudes and experiences, including psychological strain, ratings of subjective well-being, and levels of commitment to the organisation. Personal experience of bullying was reported by 17.8% of respondents, and was significantly correlated with higher levels of strain, reduced well-being, reduced commitment to their organisation, and lower self-rated performance. Personal coping strategies were generally unrelated to these outcomes. On the other hand, the perceived effectiveness of organisational efforts to deal with bullying was considered an important contributor to both the occurrence of bullying and reduced negative effects of bullying. Overall, our findings illustrate the importance of developing organisational-level strategies to reduce the incidence of bullying and to counteract its negative impact, rather than expecting individuals to develop personal strategies to cope with this problem.

text: Workplace bullying in New Zealand: A survey of employee perceptions and attitudes Bullying at work, a severe form of anti-social behaviour, has become an issue of major concern to workers, organisations, unions and governments. It has also received considerable attention in organisational behaviour and human resource management research over the past 20+ years. Research has been conducted on the prevalence of bullying at work and factors which contribute to bullying, but less attention has been accorded to personal coping with bullying and organisational-level responses to counteract bullying. The present paper reports findings from a survey of over 1700 employees of 36 organisations in New Zealand. We describe the reported incidence of bullying at work, along with relevant work attitudes and experiences, including psychological strain, ratings of subjective well-being, and levels of commitment to the organisation. Personal experience of bullying was reported by 17.8% of respondents, and was significantly correlated with higher levels of strain, reduced well-being, reduced commitment to their organisation, and lower self-rated performance. Personal coping strategies were generally unrelated to these outcomes. On the other hand, the perceived effectiveness of organisational efforts to deal with bullying was considered an important contributor to both the occurrence of bullying and reduced negative effects of bullying. Overall, our findings illustrate the importance of developing organisational-level strategies to reduce the incidence of bullying and to counteract its negative impact, rather than expecting individuals to develop personal strategies to cope with this problem.

year: 2011-11

title: Environmental and biogeographical drivers of the Leptospermum scoparium (mānuka) phyllosphere microbiome

authors: Noble, Anya Sophia

subjects: phyllosphere

abstract: A substantial body of research exists on the physiology and genetics of Leptospermum scoparium (mānuka); however, the mānuka phyllosphere has not yet been investigated. This research, therefore, provides the first exploration of the bacterial communities comprising the mānuka phyllosphere. In total, 89 samples were collected from five native mānuka forests during the November 2016 – January 2017 mānuka flowering season, and examined alongside spatial, environmental, and host-tree related metadata. Cultivation-independent methods, including DNA extraction and 16S rRNA gene PCR amplicon sequencing analysis, were used to characterise phyllosphere communities. Using a combination of statistical tests, the BLAST algorithm, and a PICRUSt analysis, a habitat-specific core microbiome comprising members of Acidobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Verrucomicrobia, was present in all samples. Distinct microbial biogeographical patterning was also identified in the mānuka phyllosphere whereby spatially structured gradients in environmental variables, such as temperature and precipitation, correlated with bacterial community structure.  The results from this study provide new insight pertaining to the structure, composition, and driving factors of the bacterial communities of the mānuka phyllosphere and shed light on theories of microbial ecology, such as microbial biogeography and core microbiomes. This research has the potential to open new avenues in both mānuka and microbial ecology fields of investigation within New Zealand.

text: Environmental and biogeographical drivers of the Leptospermum scoparium (mānuka) phyllosphere microbiome A substantial body of research exists on the physiology and genetics of Leptospermum scoparium (mānuka); however, the mānuka phyllosphere has not yet been investigated. This research, therefore, provides the first exploration of the bacterial communities comprising the mānuka phyllosphere. In total, 89 samples were collected from five native mānuka forests during the November 2016 – January 2017 mānuka flowering season, and examined alongside spatial, environmental, and host-tree related metadata. Cultivation-independent methods, including DNA extraction and 16S rRNA gene PCR amplicon sequencing analysis, were used to characterise phyllosphere communities. Using a combination of statistical tests, the BLAST algorithm, and a PICRUSt analysis, a habitat-specific core microbiome comprising members of Acidobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Verrucomicrobia, was present in all samples. Distinct microbial biogeographical patterning was also identified in the mānuka phyllosphere whereby spatially structured gradients in environmental variables, such as temperature and precipitation, correlated with bacterial community structure.  The results from this study provide new insight pertaining to the structure, composition, and driving factors of the bacterial communities of the mānuka phyllosphere and shed light on theories of microbial ecology, such as microbial biogeography and core microbiomes. This research has the potential to open new avenues in both mānuka and microbial ecology fields of investigation within New Zealand.

year: 2018

title: Māori Psychology Workforce & Māori-Focussed Course Content Review

authors: Waitoki, Waikaremoana

abstract: The Ministry of Health (2014) acknowledges that inaccurate and unreliable workforce data collections have been an issue for some time. This is a particular issue for the psychology workforce, with there being no single data set able to accurately and reliably describe the psychology workforce in detail. The annual psychology workforce survey was discontinued post 2010, although District Health Board (DHB) Shared Services does provide a dataset pertaining to the DHB psychology workforce. This report details the paper presents data relating to the: Current Māori psychology workforce; and describes the inclusion of Māori focused content within university psychology department courses.

text: Māori Psychology Workforce & Māori-Focussed Course Content Review The Ministry of Health (2014) acknowledges that inaccurate and unreliable workforce data collections have been an issue for some time. This is a particular issue for the psychology workforce, with there being no single data set able to accurately and reliably describe the psychology workforce in detail. The annual psychology workforce survey was discontinued post 2010, although District Health Board (DHB) Shared Services does provide a dataset pertaining to the DHB psychology workforce. This report details the paper presents data relating to the: Current Māori psychology workforce; and describes the inclusion of Māori focused content within university psychology department courses.

year: 2015