Organisational work conditions: temporal conditions

Psychology A2 · Organisational Psychology. The idea in plain words, the rules to remember, the mistake to avoid and a worked example, written and checked by Mega Lecture.

Test this topic free All Psychology A2 topics

The idea

Temporal conditions are about when people work. Many organisations run all day and night, so staff work shifts. In rotating shifts a worker moves between day, evening and night work. Rotation can be rapid (a change every few days) or slow (a change after weeks or months). Other designs are on-call work and flexitime.

Night work conflicts with the body's circadian rhythm, the roughly 24-hour body clock that makes us alert by day and sleepy at night. The results can be poor sleep, tiredness, digestive problems and more mistakes.

Gold et al. (1992) studied this in hospital nurses in the USA using a questionnaire.

Rules to remember

Rapid rotation: shifts change every few days, e.g. the metropolitan rota (2 early, 2 late, 2 night, then rest days) and the continental rota (2-2-3 pattern).
Slow rotation: the same shift for weeks or months before changing.
On-call: no fixed hours, but the worker must be available if needed.
Flexitime: workers choose start and finish times around fixed core hours.
Gold et al.: nurses reported their shifts, sleep, nodding off at work or while driving, and accidents or errors.
Gold et al. result: rotating-shift nurses reported poorer sleep and about twice the odds of a sleepiness-related accident or error, compared with day and evening nurses.
Self-report data: depends on memory and honesty, and a link does not prove cause.

Common mistake

Students mix up rapid and slow rotation. Look at how long the worker stays on one shift before changing: a few days is rapid; several weeks or more is slow.

Worked example

A police officer works two early shifts, two late shifts and three night shifts, then has days off before the pattern starts again. Which shiftwork design is this?

The officer moves between early, late and night work, so the shifts rotate.
Each type of shift lasts only two or three days before it changes.
A change every few days is rapid rotation; a 2-2-3 pattern is the continental rota.

Answer: Rapid rotation (a continental-type rota).

Ask about this

Type what you are stuck on. The helper finds the explanation, worked examples and the notes to read, free and instant.

Keep going

← Organisational work conditions: physical work conditions Organisational work conditions: health and safety →Take a Psychology A2 test