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Table 1 Key findings from focus group discussions

From: Hurdles at work: perceptions of hospital food handlers

Categories

Themes

Upper-management performance

Upper management considered their work to be of lesser importance

Upper management did not prioritize human and material resources to the dietetic services when making resource allocation decisions

Delayed overtime payments

Unhealthy environmental working conditions

Lack of food, kitchen utensils and equipment

Lack of training policy

Dietetic service staff members' performance

1. Lack of leadership skills

Organizational structure was strictly hierarchical

Power was given to persons only according to their position and technical background

Clear separation between the professionals managing and supervising the services and those executing them

Questions related to interpersonal interactions were emphasized, quite often involving conflict between supervisors and subordinates

Complaints about bad and disrespectful treatment by superiors

Superiors focused on finding faults instead of solving problems

Meetings for discussing problems were seldom held; were scheduled at times when not all the employees were available to participate; seemed to be to solve delicate and personal questions; on some occasions, strangers to the department were present

Superiors were not fair, since they often blame the employees for mistakes they had not committed

2. Lack of ability to build effective teamwork

Some co-workers managed to secure favoritism by the superiors

Some co-workers with public servant status had disrespectful and defiant attitudes towards their superiors, somehow inhibiting the superiors from taking stronger measures, so that those who were more obedient and respectful to orders ended up overloaded

Some co-workers with public servant status had low commitment to the job

3. Lack of clear objectives, job descriptions and tasks

Inadequate distribution of personnel and tasks among the departments

Excessive workload because of a shortage of personnel

Superiors did not give staff a clear vision of the department's goals

Information about working conditions, tools, equipment used, knowledge and skills needed, and relationships with other positions was not well understood

Too many people in charge, making it difficult to know to whom to communicate in the chain of command

No satisfatory pay or benefits

Training policy

Lack of periodic training as a demonstration that they were not of sufficient importance to deserve training courses

Initial training for new co-workers placed under the responsibility of older and more experienced colleagues

Concern that it would be difficult to apply proper food handling techniques learnt on training courses, given the precarious working conditions