Development and Validation of Work Environment Services Scale (WESS)

Purpose: This study presents a nine-factor, 32-item measure of work environment scale in the service sector. A healthy work environment is one in which employees trust the people they work for, have pride in what they do, and enjoy working with the people (Levering and Moskowitz, 2004). Methodology: This instrument builds on the conceptual model espoused by Insel and Moos (1974), Gordon (1973), Fletcher and Nusbaum (2010), Amabile et al. (1996), and Spector (2003). The scale included items elicited through a literature review, the use of the Delphi technique with a panel of experts, and tested on 824 full-time employees from nine service sector industries and five major cities in India. Findings: The Work Environment Services Scale (WESS) is a reliable and valid scale useful for measuring the nine work environment factors in the Indian services organization, with its own norms and a detailed manual. Originality/Value: The prevailing scales for measuring work environment do not capture the influence of ethics, recreation facilities, and the impact of social giving on the work environment. Most scales were suitable for sectors in the Western context, and there were no Indian scales measuring service employees’ perception of their work environment.

Introduction
Work Environment plays a pivotal role in today's competitive workplace. The work environment is proven to have a major impact on an individual's work behaviors, stress, and performance. A healthy Work Environment is one in which employees trust the people they work for, have pride in what they do, and enjoy working with the people they work with (Levering and Moskowitz, 2004).
Organizations' processes influence newcomers by creating experiences or environments that transmit beliefs, values, and norms (VanMannen and Schein, 1979). Shelly, Gilson, and Blum (2000) find that higher job satisfaction and lower intentions to leave appear in individuals whose work environments complement the creative requirements of their jobs. Work environment attributes known to play a key role in a satisfied workforce include relationship with peers, supervisors, and subordinates, task autonomy, role clarity, organizational control mechanisms, and physical infrastructure.
This article details the concept of work environment, the rational for tool development and the measurement of work environment by researchers worldwide. Based on the gaps identified and the suitability within the Indian context the researchers developed a scale for the Indian services sector ensuring to adher to the robustness of the scale development process. The article details the item generation process, the identification of factors and its definitions, scoring and norms for interpretation. The contents of this article can be used by researchers as a manuel for the scale to validate.

The Concept of Work Environment
Work environment, in the literal sense, would mean your surroundings at the place of occupation, e.g. inside, outside, at a desk, or in a cubicle. The term has also come to mean a mental state while on the job, which may be positive, negative, friendly, and so on. Work environment plays a pivotal role in today's competitive workplace. A competitive work environment may influence individuals' attitudes, behaviors, stress, and performance. A positive work environment makes employees feel good about coming to work, which provides the motivation that sustains them throughout the day. Although the term work environment has not been operationally defined in the literature, they are defined as e.g. healthy work environment, positive workplace, or competitive workplace.
Looking into theoretical concepts in the workplace that determines company culture, Newton (2016) has described company culture to not only range from how employees work, dress, or act, but it also refers to any other concept that affects the environment in a workplace. Newton speaks about behavior, work styles, dress, and appearance, workplace atmosphere, and communication.
Work environment is known to be relatively more important to the success of organizations involved in the service sector. This is primarily because most employees in the service sector directly contribute to the revenues of the organization by engaging directly in customer-serving roles. Thus, the core values and strengths of the organization are championed by these employees.
Evidence gleaned from past studies strongly supports the notion that the environment exerts considerable influence on human behavior. Moreover, it constitutes a major determinant of effective functioning and satisfaction among people in the environment. Studies show that work environment affects organizational success (May, Lau, and Johnson, 1999;Ballou, Godwin, and Shortridge, 2003;Patterson, Warr, and West, 2004). Further evidence shows that the companies that are best employers are more productive than similar companies that do not have such a work environment (Ballou, Godwin, and Shortridge, 2003;Levering andMoskowitz, 2005, Levering andMoskowitz, 2006). Companies in which employees have a higher perception of the work environment have a higher market value (Ballou, Godwin, and Shortridge, 2003).
Work environment can be described as the "location where a task is completed." Scott, Jusanne, and Steven (2000) report that working conditions are linked to employees' job involvement and satisfaction. Work environment must be conducive to routine, innovative, and challenging work. After all, work environment is made up of many factors. Some of the basic and common factors that constitute the work environment are pay, work hours, rest periods, paid holidays and vacations, safety and security, uniform, and possibilities of advancement. These working conditions in an organization should be able to bring out the employee's best efforts and output. The work environment should make employees feel comfortable and safe while working. They should be encouraged and motivated to do their work with pleasure. The work of the organization that the employee does can have the intensity and ease with which they do their personal work. Along with work, the work environment must support the employees by allowing them to rest and relax on weekends (National Portal of India, n.d.).
A healthy work environment is one that is safe, empowering, and satisfying. Parallel to the World Health Organization's definition of health, a healthy work environment is not merely the absence of real and perceived threats to health but a place of "physical, mental, and social well-being" that supports optimal health and safety. Two main Vol. 29, No. 2/2021 Harold Andrew Patrick, Jacqueline Kareem elements of the definition -physical and psychosocial -seem to dominate perceptions about the workplace among employees. In his study to examine the effect of these two dimensions of employee perception on job satisfaction and performance, Srivastava (2008) reveals that among the various components of work environment, working conditions, welfare provisions, interpersonal relations, it is trust and support that predominantly contribute to employees' job behavior and organizational effectiveness. The results also specify that the psychosocial environment in a workplace exerts more impact on employees' job behavior and organizational effectiveness than does the physical environment.

Rationale for Tool Development
India now has expertise and skills across a vast and wide-ranging spectrum of service sectors, such as healthcare, tourism, education, engineering, communications, transportation, information technology, banking, finance, and management. A sizeable part of this workforce of professionals forms India's growing consultancy sector, which is offering its accumulated experience and expertise at home and abroad. India is now home to globally recognized companies in pharmaceuticals, steel, information, and space technologies industries, and it is a growing voice on the international stage that better suits the country's enormous size and potential. India is unleashing a host of new opportunities to forge a twenty-first-century nation, which is linked to the largest and youngest workforce the world has ever seen. How India develops its significant human potential and lays down new models for the growth of its burgeoning towns will largely determine the shape of the future for the country and its people in the years to come (The World Bank, 2014). Hence, the present study focuses on the Indian service sector. Employees in the service sector play a crucial role in sustaining the market, and they are the most important assets of an organization. Employee attitude and behavior play a vital role in the quality of service.
The perception of employees toward the environment in the workplace is an area of theoretical and empirical concern. Biswas and Varma (2007) suggest that Indian organizations must pay attention to employee perceptions of the work environment and that human resource strategies should go beyond establishing policies and procedures to fostering an employee-friendly work environment that promotes both in-role and extra-role performance. Kaliath and Kaliath (2012) provide insights into six specific work-environmental issues influencing employee wellbeing, including workplace bullying, interorganizational networks, professional contractor well-being, intergenerational differences, commitment and intention to leave, and workengagement. Table 1 summarizes some popular scales developed by researchers who measure work environment with the various dimensions and in different western contexts.  1 Insel and Moos (1974) Interpersonal dimension, Personal growth dimension System Maintenance and System change 2 Gordon (1973) Self-subordination (willingness submission to authority); Impersonalization (preference for impersonal relationships with others on the job); Role conformity (strict adherence to rules and regulations); and Traditionalism (strong organizational identification)  Karasek and Theorell (1990) Skill discretion, Decision authority, Job security, Coworker support, Supervisory support, Overall control, Overall work support, Overall resources 8 Spector and Fox (2003) This scale focuses on the autonomy for the employees. The authors suggest that it is feasible to develop fact-based items for scales of work environment that reduce the subjectivity of the responses Source: own elaboration.
Although researchers indicate that the scales were established on conceptual ground, the prevailing scales for measuring work environment do not capture the influence of ethics, recreation facilities, and the impact of social giving on the work environment -i.e. social responsibility -which is pertinent for the modern Indian work environment. Most of the scales were suitable for sectors in the Western context, and there were no Indian scales measuring service employees' perception of their work environment. Insel and Moos (1974) Gordon's (1973) Work Environment Preference Schedule (WEPS) was designed to assess the work environment. These fall into four separate categories: a) Self subordination (willingness submission to authority); b) Impersonalization (preference for impersonal relationships with others on the job); c) Role conformity (strict adherence to rules and regulations); and d) Traditionalism (strong organizational identification).
According to Chan (2001), the Clinical Environment Inventory (CLEI) is distributed in five subscales such as Individualization, which refers to autonomy, innovation, involvement, and personalization. The CLEI refers to the relationship dimension (Chan, 2001b), which is one of the three human environment categories that identifies the nature and intensity of personal relationships within the environment and task orientation. Roche et al. (2010) measure the work environment by the Conditions for Work Effectiveness Questionnaire-II (CWEQ-II) to find sources of power -also known as structural empowerment -described by opportunity, information, support, resources, formal power, and informal power. The study finds that the practice environment contributes directly to nursing job satisfaction. Amabile et al. (1996) describe the development and validation of a new instrument called KEYS: the study assesses the work environment for creativity. They consider that perceptions of a work environment are measured by the following dimensions: a) encouragement; b) creativity; c) autonomy or freedom; d) resources; e) pressures; f) organizational impediments to creativity. The scale distinguishes between high-creativity projects and low-creativity projects.
The study by Spector and Fox (2003) develops a factual autonomy scale to reduce subjectivity in the assessment of job environment. This scale focuses on the autonomy of employees and suggests that it is feasible to develop fact-based items for scales of work environment that reduce the subjectivity of responses.
For Karasek and Theorell (1990), workplace scale has the following dimensions: skill discretion, decision authority, job security, co-worker support, supervisory support, overall control, overall work support, and overall resources.

Literature Review
Studies in the Healthcare Service Sector. This study has reviewed research studies conducted in various service sectors. Islam et al. (2020) show the moderating role of work environment on green resource management practices and turnover intentions among employees in the tourism sector. They report that there is no moderating effect of work environment on resource management practices and turnover intentions, but a few green resource management practices do have a direct impact on turnover intention. Looking at the impact of psychosocial work environment on recipient satisfaction, others find that the psychosocial work environment of nursing assistants and their satisfaction in their work can be increased by good leadership (Lundgren et al., 2019). A study among rural hospitals nurses on the association of work environment evidences that work environment is significantly associated with adverse events (Smith et al., 2019). Cooley, Pedersen, and Mainsbridge (2014) provide a better outcome in the workplace by implementing non-purposeful physical activity "e-health intervention" in a professional workplace. They asked health professionals to evaluate the full measure of such an intervention: 15 interviews resulted in a range of subjective outcomes. The participants not only experienced positive but also negative outcomes due to workflow disruption and change of work habits. The results of the study conclude that subjective evaluation can be used to identify the factors that influence judgment on the efficacy of workplace health interventions. Marquez (2007) suggests that organizations should involve relevant stakeholders to develop a positive, trusting, and open process safety culture in each US refinery. For most organizations, HR executives should focus on making sure that corporate safety culture exists. Weinstock (1994) argues that creating positive attitudes and behaviors concerning safety is crucial to creating a company culture that values and practices safety, and many safety managers find incentive programs a valuable part of safety programs. For managers trying to create a total safety culture, awards offer a way to keep safety on employees' minds and reward safe behavior. (2017) study psychosocial work environment and health complaints in schools to find that psychosocial work environment predicts students' health complaints and that social support is a stress moderating factor, which is a part of work environment. Ongori (2007) shows that work environment and burnout are highly interactive with work environment variables of supervisor support and clarity, which are identified as key factors in burnout. Mayhew, Grunwald, and Dey (2006) argue that achieving a positive campus climate for diversity from the staff perspective requires factors that create a positive climate for diversity, and they demonstrate how these factors predict outcomes related to achieving a positive campus climate for diversity. Based on survey data collected from Harold Andrew Patrick, Jacqueline Kareem 437 staff members employed at a large, public, and predominantly white university in the Midwest, their results suggest that the institution's ability to achieve a positive climate for diversity reflects not only the personal characteristics of the staff member (race, gender, education level, and age) but also their perceptions of the immediate work environment.

Studies in the Management Sector.
A study conducted among the hotel industry employees reports that there is a causal relationship between supportive work environment and employee retention, and it emphasizes the importance of imparting a supportive work environment to foster healthy relationships among all stakeholders (Naz et al., 2020).
A study on the mediating role of work environment on the relationship between workplace violence and employee engagement -with the sample of employees from various service sectors like customer care, managerial, or IT professionals in Pakistan -the findings show that work environment has a significant negative effect on employee engagement and mediates between the relationship of workplace violence and employee engagement. This study underlines the necessity of having a supportive work environment (Saleem, Shenbei, and Hanif, 2020). A study about the role of work environment in the job satisfaction of US federal employees evidences that their job, work groups, and work environment have significant effects on job satisfaction, which implies the importance of a supportive work environment (Wang and Brower, 2019). Ming (2019) indicates that customary HR practices have fallen behind the requirements of their organizations and society in general, they have realized that elements like resilience, development attitude, and viewpoint taking are the main experiences into a worker's effect, the very meta-learning characteristics that we know are prescient of labor force accomplishment at individual and group levels are by and large what these neuro-technologies are changing. Thus, Ming emphasizes the transformation of HR practices, calling for a change in the work environment of companies. Data analysis on psychosocial risk management and psychosocial work environment from Denmark employees implies that Danish work environments with a high exertion in psychosocial hazard the executives in the former year had a little however altogether more sure appraising of the psychosocial workplace by the representatives (Thorsen et al., 2017). This study covers 7565 employees from various service sectors in Denmark. The study foregrounds the importance of psychosocial work environment in workplaces. Looking into the work environment in the handicraft industry, Dhingra reports that physical working conditions, ergonomics, safety, and working hours all contribute to a conducive work environment (Dingra et al., 2017). Fabre (2005) argues that a staff-friendly culture includes respect, simplicity, flexibility, integrity, culture, and communication, and she shows how to apply those building blocks to recruitment, retention, teamwork, safety, diversity, leadership, and problem-solving strategies. Aurelio (1996) emphasizes the basic tools such as trust, support, staff empowerment, and positive work environment. He says that while we cannot promise our staffers a lifelong job, we can create a corporate culture in which the support staff can grow their skills and abilities. Motivating people requires analysis and the timely tracking of results. Similarly, Segall (1991) writes that supervisors can influence the climate or atmosphere in which their employees work. To a large extent, the climate of the workplace is determined by supervisors' leadership styles and their assumptions about their employees and why they work. Such a climate can be autocratic, democratic, or permissive. Segall also explains that supervisors create the working climate, while the best climate is the one that enables the highest level of productivity; and climates will change according to the needs of the people in that environment. How you behave influences those who work for you more than what you say. Even the best climate requires maintenance. This means listening to new ideas, reinforcing positive behavior, and redirecting other behavior. The ideal working climate creates a feeling of excitement among employees -it inspires them to do a better job.
The literature analysis emphasizes that if the practice of culture in organizations is positive, it will demonstrate cooperation, align with practice goals, support goals accomplishment, encourage new ideas and creativity, foster trust among employees, quicken response to needed change, bring out workers' best performance, and give decision-making authority to employees at all levels. Moreover, it will energize employees to excel in their jobs and support them to meet their personal needs and goals. Five principles that can help managers create a great corporate culture are the following: 1. determine where your organization is on the trust continuum; 2. managers must understand that every interaction is an opportunity to build trust and that missteps can quickly break trust; 3. focus on a few key trust-building changes and pursue these consistently and relentlessly; 4. understand that how you actually conduct change to improve the work environment is more important than what this change is; 5. leverage what is already special by encouraging employees to communicate and celebrate the unique strengths of company culture that energize them to contribute their best. This powerful combination of trust, pride, and camaraderie inspires employees to be creative and innovative, which has a powerful impact on performance.
There is evidence that competitive salaries and benefits, staff development, awards and recognition, management training, and leadership involvement are the ways to increase a positive work environment in the healthcare industry. A positive environment helps to attract and retain good employees. When competitive salaries and benefits do not suffice to attract scarce IT workers, some companies are prepared to create a positive work environment in any way they can. As a result, new facilities are expected Harold Andrew Patrick, Jacqueline Kareem to provide IT departments with more space and more opportunity to quickly boost their programming staff.
Prevailing work measurement scales do not consider the influence of ethics as a dimension in the work environment. The influence of good facilities like cafeterias, children day-care centers, flexible work options, or safety measures like training on the emergency response has not been factored as a dimension in the work environment. In turn, our scale intends to include recreation facilities, events, and ethical practices.
Building on several different studies, our work environment manual measures em ployee perception of their workplace.

Methodology Tool Development
The initial pool of items for the work environment manual was developed after reviewing the existing scales measuring work environment. The choice and phrasing of statements echoed the formulation of constructs that measure the perception of work environment. The dimensions of autonomy, teamwork, managerial support, peer togetherness, task orientation, role clarity, innovation, and work stress are the constructs on which we based the items. Initially, 112 items were mostly generated from the scales listed in Table 1. Most selected items were modified to address the gaps in the present scales to suit the Indian work ethos. These items were circulated among 25 experts (academic and industry) for qualitative validation. There is little team togetherness and unity.
7 Employees willingly take time off their busy schedule to help colleagues deal with work-related issues. 8 Employees feel proud to be a part of this organization.

9
Employees generally work very hard even though it is routine work.
10 It is difficult to get employees to work here.
11 Employees share the same values and beliefs of the organization.
12 Employees put quiet a lot of effort only during deadlines.
13 Employees work harder than what is actually required.
14 Employees speak highly of their job to outsiders.
15 I enjoy being part of this organization because of the work I'm involved in.
16 My immediate manager supports me when things go wrong.
17 My manager recognizes and gives credit for the efforts I put in.
18 Too much is expected of employees within a short time frame.
19 My manager always closely supervises every aspect of my job.
20 My immediate manager is sensitive to work/life issues.
21 My manager aids me in planning systematically for my career growth.
22 Employees are free to discuss their personal problems with their managers.
23 My manager gives me opportunities for learning and development.
24 My manager finds fault over petty issues.
25 I have a feeling of being valued in the eyes of senior management.
26 There is a great deal of freedom to execute my work.
27 Employees take initiative to do things here.

28
Managers generally do not interfere with the decisions of the employees concerned with their work.
29 Employees can function independent of supervisors (positive sense).
30 Good suggestions from employees tend to get ignored here for no reason. 31 Responsibility for every task is decentralized in this organization.
32 Employees can alter the process of work with management approval.

33
There is nothing called "putting it off till the next day" in this organization. 36 There is no bias in terms of delegating responsibility to the employees.

37
Achievement of goals and how to achieve them are both equally emphasized.
38 My organization believes in "task first," "relationship next" philosophy.
39 There is too much mental stress because of the work involved.
40 There is always a constant pressure on the employees to keep working.
41 There are too many aggressive deadlines to be met.
42 There is no time for relaxation or free talk in the organization.
43 Grievance handling mechanism is effective in this organization.

44
There is an utter imbalance between personal life and work life because of work pressure. 63 There is good ventilation in the workplace.

64
The infrastructure/physical layout in the organization motivates employees to work.

65
The organization trains the employees on fire safety and other precautions while at work.
66 Cafeteria food is hygienic 67 My organization hires qualified employees with disabilities.

68
Recreation facilities in the company motivate me to work with employees across the company.
69 My manager engages in ethical practices, which reinforces my integrity.

70
My organization values and practices integrity and transparency in all its activities.
71 My co-workers engage in ethical practices, which influences my integrity.
72 Opportunities in my company to perform charitable acts are high.

Face Validity
The validity of the tool was established in the process of its preparation. Face validity is the extent to which the content of items is consistent with the construct's definition, based solely on the researcher's judgment (Hair et al., 2011). The items of the tool were listed in tabular form with options to reject, accept or modify each item. Based on the 15 expert opinions, a few items were modified. Sixty-one items were eliminated as there was low consensus on the measurement of the construct and around 25 items were modified. For instance, items like "Employees are trained on disaster management" changed to "Employees are trained on safety measures" and "Employees generally avoid taking food on campus" changed to "Employees generally eat food on campus." After expert validation, the items were reduced to 51. Hence the tool's face validity was established.

Study Sample
Employees in service organizations are important because they are central to service; employee attitude and behavior play a vital role in the quality of service. In this regard, employees are primarily responsible for providing a sustainable competitive advantage in the service sector. Therefore, success in the service sector depends on managing and retaining employees (Woods, 1992). Fair treatment and a healthy work environment are things expected by employees who invest their time and energy in an organi za tion. These expectations bring with them an increased concern for employers to focus on perceived fairness by their employees and providing a productive work climate. Hence, the respondents were employees across service sectors.
Judgmental sampling was adopted to select the respondents for the pilot study. The inclusion criteria involved employees across service sectors: healthcare, tourism, education, engineering, communications, transportation, information technology, banking, finance, and management, with more than two years of experience at the current organization. The data was collected from five major cities in India: Delhi and the National Capital Region, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Bangalore.
All participants were informed about the purpose and procedure of the study, and they had the right to withdraw at any time during the study. Oral consent to participate in the survey was assumed when the respondent filled the questionnaire. The completion of the questionnaire took approximately 25-30 minutes for each respondent. The confidentiality of data and its future use was communicated. We disseminated 3000 questionnaires across the service sector companies. The investigator finally collected 824 fully filled questionnaires for analysis. The completed scale was collected, and the scores were assigned and systematically pooled for further analysis. The response rate was 27.47.
Sample size plays an important role in the estimation and interpretation of results in any research. As proposed by Fedell (2003), the minimum sample required for adopting any statistical tool should be greater than or equal to 8k+50, where k = the number of items involved in the questionnaire and n is the sample size. The number of items in the work environment survey tool was 51 statements. Therefore, solving for n, n = 8 (51) + 50 = 458.
The sample for the present study was 824. The sample size was more than the required minimum to increase the representativeness across the service sector.

Data Analysis
Data analysis was performed by using software packages: statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) version 19 and the analysis of moment structures (AMOS) version 16.

Factor Analysis
The analysis is an interdependence technique; its purpose is to define the underlying structure among variables. Factor analysis provides tools for analyzing interrelationships ( For the construction of WESS, I used the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy and Bartlett's test as statistical methods to finalize the items to be used in the scale. The KMO measure and Bartlett's test play an important role in accepting sample adequacy. While the KMO measure ranges from 0 to 1, the world-over accepted index is over 0.6. Moreover, Bartlett's test relates to the significance of the study and thereby shows the validity and suitability of the responses collected to the problem addressed by the study. For factor analysis to be called suitable, Bartlett's test of sphericity must be less than 0.05. Sig. .000 Source: own elaboration. The KMO measure was reported to be high (.866) and Bartlett's test (p<.00) suggested that principal component analysis (PCA) could be undertaken.
Upon running the factor analysis, factors and commonalities of the work environment services scale were assessed. As an initial process, eigenvalue > 1 was applied as a guide for extracting components. On examining the table of commonalities of the WESS, all items had values > 0.500.
The PCA analysis extracted nine factors with a cumulative 68.6% variance. The explained variance ranged from 11% to 68.6%. Thus, the extraction of nine factors explained 68.6% of the variance.
Furthermore, the criteria for retaining the nine factors were eigenvalues greater than one and the ability to describe and label each factor from the items description. The cut-off point of 0.5 for the factor loading was used as the threshold to ensure practical significance.  Manager's recognize and give credit for the efforts employees put in. .807 Managers aid employees in planning systematically for their career growth. .725 There is a lot of investment in resources supporting innovation and research. .629

Factor 6: Commitment
Employees speak highly of their job to outsiders. .731 Employees feel proud to be a part of this organization. .710 The responsibilities of each employee are clearly defined. .631 * There is a discrepancy between job description and expectations from supervisors. -.583

Factor 8: Social Responsibility
Qualified disabled employees are hired. .759 Opportunities to perform charitable acts are high. .774 Employees are trained on fire safety and other precautions while at work. .798

Factor 9: Peer Cohesiveness
Employees take a positive personal interest in colleagues work related issues. .763 Employees willingly take time off from their busy schedule to help colleagues deal with work-related issues.  Harold Andrew Patrick, Jacqueline Kareem Overall, the PCA of WESS revealed a nine-factor structure of 32 items. The WESS appears to be valid and reliable as factorization explained a reasonable percentage of variance and has a high Cronbach's alpha. This indicated that the WESS constructed was robust and further analysis can be done.
The second part of scale development demonstrated confirmatory processes that tested the proposed measurement theory. The measurement theory can be represented with a model that shows how measured variables come together to represent constructs. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) enables testing how well do the measured variables represent the construct.
To ensure good construct validity of the WESS -despite the deletion of some items -I examined construct reliability (CR), variance extracted (VE) values, and discriminate validity by comparing the values of average variance extracted (AVE) and squared multiple correlations (SMC) among the nine factors by using structural equation modeling (SEM).
Using the AMOS software, SEM was adopted to confirm the factors manifested in the study. Maximum likelihood estimations are the default options for SEM programs including AMOS.

Construct Validity
Construct validity is the extent to which a set of measured variables actually represents the theoretical latent construct they are designed to measure (Hair et al., 2006). It is made up of four components: convergent validity, discriminant validity, nomological validity, and face validity. To assess the construct validity of WESS, exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic procedures were applied.

Convergent Validity
Convergent validity is the extent to which indicators of a specific construct "converge" or share a high proportion of variance in common. Convergent validity identifies the proportion of variance for each factor. To assess this, I examined standardized factor loadings in the measurement model, and I computed CR and AVE.
Construct Reliability (CR) = {(sum of standardized loadings) 2 } / {(sum of standardized loadings) 2 + (sum of indicator measurement errors)}. As noted by Hair et al. (2006), CR values should be greater than 0.6 while AVE should be above 0.5. I analyzed the convergent validity for the WESS, and so Table 7 shows the values of standardized loading, AVE, CR, and coefficient alpha. The evidence provides initial support for the convergent validity of the nine constructs identified in the WESS. The values support the internal consistency of the data.

Construct Reliability
Construct reliability is a measure of reliability and internal consistency based on the square of the total of factor loadings for a construct. The CR of the WESS appears in Table 7. The CR estimates of the nine constructs of the WESS exceeded six, which indicated fair construct reliability.

Discriminant Validity
The discriminant validity examines the extent to which an independent variable is truly distinct from other independent variables in predicting the dependent variable (Hair et al., 2006). It is the extent to which a construct is truly distinct from other constructs. To substantiate the evidence of discriminant validity, the AVE values between dimensions were compared to squared multiple correlations of the two (Hair et al., 2006). If all AVE estimates are larger than the corresponding squared inter-construct Harold Andrew Patrick, Jacqueline Kareem correlation estimates (SIC) then the construct is said to have discriminant validity (Fornell and Larker, 1981). The discriminant validity for the WESS was established by using the values of the AVE coefficient of correlation and SIC. Table 8 shows the inter-construct correlations and SIC. Out of twenty-one inter-construct correlations, we clearly see that only three SIC values are greater than the AVE. This means the indicators have more in common with the construct they are associated with than they do with other constructs. Therefore, the nine-construct work environment scale demonstrates discriminant validity.

Nomological Validity
Nomological validity is the extent to which a scale correlates in theoretically predicted ways with other distinct but related constructs. Nomological validity is tested by examining whether the correlations between constructs in a measurement theory make sense. The inter-construct correlations are all positive and significant for the work environment scale, hence nomological validity is confirmed. Harold Andrew Patrick, Jacqueline Kareem

Operational Definitions
1. Ethical Dimension: The extent to which grievance handling mechanism is effective, while work environment, managers, and co-workers' engage in ethical practices that influence and reinforce integral employee behavior. 2. Autonomy: The extent to which employees experience the freedom to plan and execute work, while the environment encourages creativity, initiative, and self--monitoring in work completion. 3. Stress and Work Pressure: The extent to which the demands in the work environment such as meeting deadlines, expectation management causes pressure on employee work-life balance. 4. Work Practices: The extent to which management discourages new ideas and approaches and reinforces conventional work practices. 5. Managerial Support: The extent to which managers encourage and support employees by being sensitive to their personal and professional needs and by providing infrastructure for growth and innovation. 6. Commitment: The extent to which employees are connected to their job and the organization so that they speak positively about their job and organization. 7. Role Clarity: The extent to which the organization is clear about employee expectations and employees are aware of their duties, responsibilities, and relevant processes, thus increasing efficiency and reducing conflict occurrence. 8. Social Responsibility: The extent to which the work setting exhibits socially responsible behavior such as including a diverse workforce, engaging in charitable acts, and providing opportunities for recreation and leisure. 9. Peer Cohesiveness: The extent of interpersonal interaction in the work environment, such as social communication exchanges and cohesion among workers, along with friendship and support provided by co-workers and cooperative behaviors related to personal and professional life.

CEMJ 113
Development and Validation of Work Environment Services Scale (WESS)

Scoring, Norms, and the Interpretation of WESS
The percentile scoring is used for developing the norms for WESS.  support is considered to be very low. Values between 2.75 and 3.5 are considered to be low. Values between 3.5 and 4 are considered to be moderate and values above 4 are considered to be high from the percentile scoring. 6. Commitment: Any value below the 25 th percentile 3 for commitment is considered to be very low. Values between 3and 3.5 are considered to be low. Values between 3.5 and 4 are considered to be moderate and values above 4 are considered to be high from the percentile scoring. 7. Role Clarity: Any value below the 25 th percentile 2.33 for role clarity is considered to be very low. Values between 2.33 and 3 are considered to be low. Values between 3 and 3.75 are considered to be moderate and values above 3.75 are considered to be high from the percentile scoring. 8. Social Responsibility: Any value below the 25 th percentile 2.66 for social responsibility is considered to be very low. Values between 2.66 and 3.33 are considered to be low. Values between 3.33 and 4 are considered to be moderate and values above 4 are considered to be high from the percentile scoring. 9. Peer Cohesion: Any value below the 25 th percentile 2.95 for peer cohesion is considered to be very low. Values between 2.95 and 3.00 are considered to be low. Values between 3.00 and 3.5 are considered to be moderate and values above 3.5 are considered to be high from the percentile scoring.

Conclusion
Employees are like a fulcrum: they can have a tremendous effect on sales and profitability, both positive and negative. One good employee can draw in a hundred customers. On the flip side, one bad employee can drive away a hundred customers. Competition for good employees is becoming as fierce as it is for good customers. Just as you must market to get new customers, you must also market your organization as a place where great employees want to work. Hiring a good employee is like closing a sale. Similarly, retaining them proves profitable to the company. As the years accrue, there's more stability, knowledge, flexibility, and deeper connection both between the employee and the company and the employee and his or her customers. Moreover, as a team of good employees bonds, turnover reduces because they do want to leave so much. They enjoy the work, camaraderie, and rewards too much to leave for greener pastures. The high growth rate achieved by the Indian economy over the last decade has much to owe to the service sector. Services have contributed around 68.6% of the overall average growth in the GDP in [2002][2003][2004][2005][2006][2007]. For more than a decade now, India's service sector has been the powerhouse of the nation's economic growth and employees in the service sector are its pillars.
The current study has investigated the work environment dimensions such as ethical dimensions, autonomy, stress and work pressure, work practice, commitment, role clarity, social responsiveness, managerial support, and peer cohesion are intangible aspects of the work environment. They are abstract, psychological, or philosophical in nature. Hackman and Oldham (1976) analyze the importance of psychological aspects or needs such as skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback for improving work environment perception. They suggest that such needs must be addressed if employees are to experience a high perception of work-life balance. In contrast, Taylor (1979) initially suggests that better work environment perception is achieved through basic extrinsic job factors such as pay, working hours, better seating, or a clean environment. However, he later suggests that further aspects can be included such as individual power, employee participation in management, fairness, and equity, social support, the use of one's present skills, self-development, meaningful future at work, the social relevance of work, and effect on extra-work activities. Moreover, Taylor (1979) suggests that factors of work environment vary according to employees, departments, and organizations.
Without a workplace environment open to employee engagement, turnover will increase, and efficiency will decline, leading to low customer loyalty and decreased stakeholder value. Ultimately, because the cost of poor employee engagement will be detrimental Harold Andrew Patrick, Jacqueline Kareem to organizational success, it is vital for top management to foster positive, effective people managers along with workplace policies and practices that focus on employee well-being, health, and work-life balance. Many people and companies find it difficult to maintain focus on the psychosocial work environment, and much too often, the effort comes to nothing. Companies that are forward-looking can successfully implement improvements whereas other companies slowly come to a halt as they do not measure the work environment. The WESS (Appendix 1) is a tool to be adopted by companies to help them identify areas for interventions and, thus, overcome constraints and difficulties on the road to a better psychosocial work environment.
The above research has some limitations. The data collected for scale development was highly scattered geographically. Most respondents were from Bangalore. The sample suffers from location bias. The sample is not representative of all service sectors, while some service sectors included are not proportionate to the population, therefore reducing the generalization of the scale items. As the scale is not published, the validity and reliability can be a further limiting factor.
The future studies may focus on the new dimensions arising from the new normal and the redefinition of work environment. For validation of this scale, researchers need to study other service sectors, which are not included in this study. The future researchers may use qualitative methods such as in-depth interviews would have added contextual richness to the scale. Studies can adopt this scale and provide the reliability and validity of scale to increase its robustness. 19. Manager's recognize and give credit for the efforts employees put in.
20. Managers aid employees in planning systematically for their career growth.
21. There is a lot of investment in resources supporting innovation and research.

Factor 6: Commitment
22. Employees speak highly of their job to outsiders.
23. Employees feel proud to be a part of this organization. 26. The responsibilities of each employee are clearly defined.
27. *There is a discrepancy between job description and expectations from supervisors. 32. Employees willingly take time off from their busy schedule to help colleagues deal with work-related issues.


RESEARCH OF APPROACHES TO FORMATION OF LEGISLATION IN THE SPHERE OF ONLINE RETAIL SELLING (DISTANCE SELLING) OF MEDICINES

The aim of the study is to study approaches to the formation of legislation in the field of the online retail selling (distance selling) of medicines in the EU with further development of areas for improvement of pharmaceutical legislation of Ukraine. Materials and methods. During the research, scientific methods were used, in particular, system-analytical, content analysis, comparative legal, graphic, etc. Results. The main provisions of the EU Directives 2000/31/EU “On some legal aspects of information services, in particular, electronic commerce, in the internal market” (Directive on electronic commerce) and EU Directive 2001/83 EU “On the Community code relating to medicinal products for human use”, the Council of Europe Convention “On counterfeiting medical products and similar involving threats to public health”, Implementing Regulation of the EU Commission No. 699/2014 of June 24, 2014, as well as the Law of Ukraine “On Electronic Commerce”, “On Medicines”, Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (CMU) of March 23, 2020 No. 220, of November 30, 2016 No. 929 and others. Conclusions. The main directions of improving the current legislation of Ukraine in the field of the online retail selling of medicines are proposed. The necessity to supplement the Regulation “On the State Service of Ukraine for Medicines and Drug Control” (Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of November 30, 2016 No. 929) with certain norms has been substantiated. In particular, to impose on this state body the obligation to register business entities that plan to sell drugs using information and communication means, as well as maintain their Register

Introduction
After signing and ratifying the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union (EU), our state has undertaken a number of legal obligations, in particular, to ensure the gradual adaptation of national legislation to EU law in accordance with the areas defined in the Agreement, one of which is electronic commerce [1,2]. An important step aimed at fulfilling this task was the adoption on September 17, 2020 of the Law of Ukraine "On Amendments to Article 19 of the Law of Ukraine "On Medicines" (Law 4 904-IX), which enshrines the possibility of pharmacy retail trade in medicines (drugs) through information and communication networks [3].
In the EU, the procedure for conducting selling medicines online (distance selling) to the public is regulated by special regulations, the legal norms of which ensure the acquisition of positive practical experience in carrying out such activities in European countries. According to research in Ukraine, for the effective implementation of the mechanism of the online retail selling of medicines, it is necessary to further develop and adopt a number of regulations [4][5][6].
The urgent need to create a proper system of legal regulation of pharmaceutical care to the population of Ukraine in terms of the introduction of online retail selling of medicines is due to a number of reasons, including: the spread of self-medication among the population; detection of errors related to drugs, in particular during retail selling in pharmacies [7]; formation of new market conditions of competition among pharmacies and their networks, as well as the introduction of new marketing approaches to the formation of the product range of pharmacies and attracting consumers [8].
The aim of the study is to study approaches to the formation of legislation in the field of the online retail selling (distance selling) of medicines in the EU with further development of areas for improvement of pharmaceutical legislation of Ukraine.

Planning (methodology) of research
The study consisted of several stages. At the first stage, regulations and scientific literature on the topic were studied, the directions of research were chosen. In particular, on the basis of elaboration of sources of law in the field of retail selling medicines online (distance), the main requirements to business entities carrying out this type of activity in accordance with the legislation of the EU and Ukraine were determined. The inconsistency of the Ukrainian legislation with the requirements of the EU directives on the existence of a state supervisory body as a participant in the implementation of online retail selling of medicines has been revealed. In addition, the expert opinion of domestic and foreign experts on the possibility of introducing electronic retail trade of drugs in Ukraine was studied [4-8, [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. It is emphasized that the improvement of legal acts in force in Ukraine in this area is due to the practical necessity of this type of activity in connection with restricted movement and reduced physical accessibility of the population of Ukraine to medicines due to pandemic coronavirus infection (COVID19) [4-8, [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16].
At the second stage the necessity of carrying out research is substantiated, its purpose and tasks are defined, methods are chosen. A number of previously unresolved issues were identified, namely: gaps in the licensing conditions of retail selling medicines online in relation to the requirements for business entities, qualification requirements for the personnel that will collect, process, form the order and pharmaceutical care of the consumer during the online purchase of medicines; lack of legal requirements for own delivery service of pharmacies, telecom operators and transport companies that will deliver medicines to the end user; lack of a legal mechanism for state control (supervision) of retail selling medicines online at all stages in order to prevent the circulation of low-quality, counterfeit and unregistered medicines.
Registration of results of work and conclusions, formulation of directions of improvement of the legislation of Ukraine in the field of online retail selling (distance selling) of medicines, was carried out at the third stage of the research.

Materials and methods
The materials of the study were the legislation of Ukraine and the EU on e-commerce and retail selling of medicines through information and communication tools.
The following methods were used during the study: system-analytical (clarification of the level of the research of the problem in domestic and foreign literature); content analysis (elaboration of the provisions of the regulations governing the retail sale of medicines through information and communication tools, as well as to understand and interpret the content of certain legal norms); comparative legal method (comparison of the features of the mechanism of legal regulation of pharmaceutical assistance to the population in the EU and in Ukraine for further proposals to improve the current Ukrainian legislation in this area); graphic methods were used to visualize the results of the research and schematic representation of a number of provisions.

Research results
The legal basis for the introduction of online retail trade of medicines in the EU is the provisions of the EU Directives "Directive on electronic commerce" (EU Directive 2000/31/EU) and "Community code relating to medicinal products for human use" as amended (EU Directive 2001/83/EU), which establish the basic principles and rules of retail sale of medicines through information and communication tools [17,18].
The EU Directive on e-commerce promotes the creation of a legal framework to ensure the free movement of goods and services between EU countries, identifies the main subjects of the relationship in the process of e-commerce of goods and services, and approves the basic concepts of transactions arising in the results of e-commerce (the procedure for concluding contracts using electronic means, placing orders with the consumer, etc.) [17].
It should be noted that the regulatory framework for the circulation of drugs in the EU, including the use of information and communication tools is EU Directive 2001/83/EU, which regulates the online retail selling (distance selling) of medicines is regulated by Section VIII "Sale of drugs to the public at a distance". According to Section VIII of the Directive, each EU member state can introduce a new type of pharmaceutical activity on its territoryonline sales of medicines to the public [18], and the participants in this process are the entities presented in Fig. 1.
An analysis of the legal norms contained in Section VIIA "Sale at a distance to the public" of EU Directive 2001/83/EU, allows us to state that in the field of retail selling medicines online the relevant government agency has the following main functions: control over compliance with the legislation in the field of retail selling medicines online; providing information on national pharmaceutical legislation on drugs that are allowed for e-retail, differences in legal norms between EU countries regarding the classification of medicines and the conditions of their implementation; maintaining the Register of business entities that are allowed to carry out retail selling medicines online with their names, start date of the specified activity and the address of the website used to sell drugs to the final consumer; informing about the risks associated with the purchase of drugs through information and communication tools, measures to prevent counterfeit drugs from entering legal circulation by approving and implementing a common logo, its function and purpose of use. Another e-retailer is a pharmacy, which must be in a proper way registered in the EU Member State as a legal or individual entrepreneur, have a Retail License and comply with the licensing conditions approved by the EU legislature. In this case, each such pharmacy must be recorded in the Register of business entities engaged in online retail selling of medicines through information and communication tools, and have a website with the following information: name of the pharmacy and its address; name and address of the state controlling body that exercises control over the conduct of online retail selling of medicinal products; data on the availability of a license that allows to carry out activities related to the online retail selling (distance selling) of medicines; a common logo, which is a link to the Register of pharmacies that are allowed to carry out online retail selling (distance selling) of medicinal products.
An equally important subject of e-retail of medicines is the end consumer, who buys medicines through information and communication tools. The main task of the EU regulatory authorities in the health care system is to ensure the consumer of proper quality of medicines and prevent the entry of counterfeit medicines, which can lead to negative consequences for his life and health.
In order to protect consumer rights and prevent the negative consequences of the use of counterfeit medicines, the Council of Europe has developed a number of measures to prevent the circulation of counterfeit medicines, and which introduced legal liability for e-retailers for these actions [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]19].
At the next stage of the study, an analysis of the Ukrainian pharmaceutical legislation on the regulation of online retail selling (distance selling) of medicines [11-13, 15, 16]. It should be noted that in Ukraine the formation of the legal framework for this type of activity is at an early stage.
It is established that in Ukraine the legal basis for the introduction of retail selling medicines online consists of several regulations, different in legal force ( Table 1).
The analysis of the current legislation of Ukraine on conducting business activities related to eretail trade of medicines allows to identify several entities, namely: the state regulatory authority, pharmacy, and the end user, as well as the entity whose activities are aimed at delivery of medicines from the pharmacy to the final consumer (postal operator on the basis of contractual relations, own delivery service of medicines, etc.).
According to the Law of September 17, 2020 No. 904-IX "On Amendments to Article 19 of the Law of Ukraine "On Medicines" on the implementation of electronic retail sale of medicines" responsibility for the quality of such drugs purchased through retail selling medicines online, at the stage of their delivery to the end consumer, is a pharmacy [3]. The State Service of Ukraine for Medicines and Drug Control (State Medical Service) has been designated as the state body to control the procedure for conducting retail selling medicines online [3]. But assigning such a function to this body and the procedure for conducting this control requires appropriate amendments to the Regulations on this body [20].

Legal entities in the field of e-retail in EU countries
State body that carries out control activities in the field of retail selling medicines online Pharmacy that carries out retail selling medicines online

Consumer
Own medicine delivery service Postal operators  The relationship between the consumer and the seller of goods to order and outside trade or office premises on the basis of a contract of sale concluded at a distance or outside trade or office premises is regulated, as well as requirements for consumer rights to proper quality, safety and proper trade services In addition, the State Medical Service is obliged to register business entities that plan to sell retail medicines with the help of information and communication tools and maintain a Register of business entities that plan to carry out this type of drug activity [3]. However, the structure of the said Register and the procedure for registration of such pharmacies are not defined in any regulations.
The Law of September 17, 2020 No. 904-IX also contains a provision that a pharmacy may carry out retail selling medicines online, who has a license to retail medicines [3]. In this regard, there is an urgent need to develop and adopt legal norms on the structure of the Register of pharmacies that can retail medicines with the help of information and communication tools, as well as the procedure for its maintenance.
Analysis of the content of the provisions of Art. 19 of the Law of Ukraine "On Medicines" allows us to conclude that the basic requirements for pharmacies that plan to conduct online retail selling (distance selling) of ensure the delivery of medicines to the final consumer through its own delivery service or such a service with which there is a contractual relationship for the supply of medicines to the final consumer; have a website on which online retail selling of medicines will be conducted, which meets the requirements of the Law of Ukraine № 904-IX [3].
In addition, the legislator outlined the basic requirements for filling the website with the following mandatory information: availability of information on contact details of the body for licensing and quality control of medicines (State Medical Service); placement on all tabs of the site logo with a hyperlink to the Register of business entities that have the right to carry out retail selling medicines online; availability of the possibility of conducting pharmaceutical care at all stages of retail selling medicines online; indication of information on the cost of medicine delivery.
That is why one of the urgent tasks of lawmaking is to approve the design of the logo with a hyperlink to the specified Register.
In addition, there are gaps in the legislation of Ukraine regarding the establishment of legal liability for the sale of counterfeit and low-quality medicines through information and communication tools, which increases the risk of such medicines reaching consumers and, consequently, negative impact on their lives and health.

Discussion of research results
According to the results of the study, topical issues related to the development of legal norms, as well as organizational measures necessary for the introduction of retail trade of medicines through information and communication tools, which are proposed to be divided into several areas (Fig. 2). Legislative and organizational work in the first direction should be aimed at: defining clearer requirements for pharmacies that are allowed to conduct online retail selling of medicines, taking into account the experience of EU member states and making additions to the Licensing Requirements [21]; development of standard working methods (standard operating procedures) for online retail selling of medicines; determination of the order of registration of orders and dispatches of medicine orders, which are realized by means of information and communication means, and the form of the corresponding magazine in paper or electronic form, which will meet the requirements of the Law of Ukraine "On electronic documents and electronic document management" [22].
In the second direction, it is advisable to develop legal norms in which to establish: -Regulations on the State Medical Service on the introduction of a supervisory function for the implementation of activities related to retail selling medicines online [17]; a list of normative legal acts that regulate the procedure and frequency of inspections by the State Medical Service of pharmacies that carry retail selling medicines online for the quality of medicines; the structure of the Register of pharmacies that are allowed to carry out retail selling medicines online and the procedure for its maintenance; positions and qualification requirements for pharmaceutical workers who have to provide pharmaceutical care to consumers when making online purchases of medicines.
To achieve the goal of the third direction it is necessary: to introduce a new type of economic activity subject to licensing -delivery of medicines to the final consumer in e-retail and requirements for them; adopt relevant legal norms, which are also responsible for the quality of medicines at the stage of delivery to the final consumer and the transport service (the person who delivers medicines); develop legal norms that will set out the mandatory requirements necessary to ensure proper conditions for the transportation of medicines that require special storage conditions.
to develop and approve a logo for Ukraine, which would act as a link between the website of a pharmacy that carries out retail selling medicines online, and the Register of pharmacies that are allowed to carry out this type of activity; establish legal liability for violation of the rules of online retail selling of medicines or the sale of counterfeit or substandard medicines in the course of such activities. Determining the requirements and conditions of supply to the final consumer of medicines that have been purchased through information and communication tools Study limitations. The study of approaches to the formation of the general principles of EU and Ukrainian legislation in the field of the online retail selling (distance selling) of medicines has been studied. A limitation of the study was the study of national legislation of the EU, taking into account the peculiarities of the traditions of national legal systems of different countries.
The prospect for further research. We consider the analysis of the legislation of Ukraine and foreign countries on legal liability for violation of the rules of online retail selling of medicines to be a promising area of further research in this area.

Conclusions
The study of approaches to the formation of EU and Ukrainian legislation on the online retail selling (distance selling) of medicines, highlighted the legal status of the subjects (participants) of this process.
Based on the elaboration of norms regulating retail selling medicines online, the need to further improve the current pharmaceutical legislation of Ukraine in this area in order to harmonize it with the legal norms of the relevant EU Directives is substantiated, and specific areas of such activities are proposed.

Conflicts of interest
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests.

Financing
The study was performed without financial support.


Disaster risk creation and cascading disasters within large technological systems: COVID‐19 and the 2021 Texas blackouts

Abstract Given the right organisational attributes and sets of incentives, power grids, water systems and other large technological systems can function reliably, even as high‐reliability networks. However, high reliability remains ‘unlikely, demanding and at risk’ as organisational sociologist Todd La Porte stated 25 years ago. What is much more common is risk creation—the creation or exacerbation of hazard, increase in exposure and propagation of vulnerability—that can interact and cascade across these systems when realized as a disaster. Here we describe the 2021 Texas blackouts during the COVID‐19 pandemic through this lens of disaster risk creation and cascading disaster, showing how risk emerges and propagates across large technological systems. Given their ubiquity and criticality, we argue that more research is desperately needed to understand how to support high‐reliability networks and that more efforts should be made to invest in their resilience.

development of expanding dependencies on uninterrupted service provision, but unreliable enough to create disaster when their service provision periodically fails. Reliability can mean different things in the context of large technological systems (Berthod et al., 2017(Berthod et al., , 2015; here we define it as the ability of a system to maintain a continuity of critical service provision, with a window of acceptable downtime, in the face of ongoing shocks and stresses. For the Texas power grid, factors such as problematic maintenance practices and underinvestment in adequate winterisation, lack of connections to two other main interconnects of the U.S. power grid and challenges in managing the grid during the pandemic, appear to have laid the roots of risk and contributed to the blackout. The blackout was realized as a disaster because millions of Texans depended on the grid to provide uninterrupted power for heating. The effects of such dependencies were magnified by social factors such as wealth inequalities that degrade the resilience capabilities of the poor, the aged and those with pre-existing health conditions. Here, we look at the intersecting disasters of the Texas blackout and the COVID-19 pandemic-their origins and impacts-through the lens of large technological systems to argue for a renewed focus on the high-reliability management of networked systems as a disaster risk reduction strategy. High-reliability networks (HRNs) are the heterogenous, interorganisational networks that can function reliably in situations of extreme stress (Berthod et al., 2017). HRNs are conceptual 'cousins' of more established high-reliability organisations (HROs), organisations able to conduct complex, critical and often high-risk operations safely and continuously under conditions of extreme duress. Unlike HROs, however, reliability is not a property of a single set of organisations; it is contingent on the emergent outcomes of decisions made within and among the multiple organisations that structures the network-a reliable system made from unreliable parts (Berthod et al., 2017). Twenty-five years ago, La Porte (1996) described HROs as 'unlikely, demanding and at risk'.
Achieving high reliability requires, along with substantial capital investments, a cultural commitment within organisations to preoccupation with detecting, avoiding and resolving failures; a reluctance to simplify interpretations of events and processes; 'heedful interrelating' that cultivates a sensitivity to operations; a capacity to adapt to unanticipated challenges, or to be resilient; and a deference to local expertize (Weick et al., 1999). While there is some research emerging on how high-reliability organisational features may translate to the production and maintenance of high reliability in networked systems or fields (Berthod et al., 2017(Berthod et al., , 2021Roe & Schulman, 2016), there is not the same body of research and scientific focus on HRNs as there is on HROs. Given their ubiquity and criticality, we argue that more research is desperately needed to understand how to support HRNs and more efforts are needed to invest in their resilience.
In what follows, we describe how the Texas blackouts demonstrate a lack of high reliability by focusing on (1) the organisational factors that led to the creation of the blackout and (2) how the blackout cascaded to impact other critical systems and resulted in crisis. In the conclusion, we argue that, given our dependence on large technological systems, significant research and effort must be brought to bear on imparting features of HRNs to critical infrastructure systems.

| DISASTER RISK CREATION IN THE 2021 BLACKOUTS
The ERCOT grid, which covers most of the state of Texas, is a heterogenous, multiorganisational network comprising 147 different generations, transmission and distribution companies that collectively provide energy to their customers. ERCOT is responsible for ensuring power is dispatched to these customers, while the Public Utility Several factors appear to have contributed to the failure to manage in the face of this weather event. While some policymakers blame high reliance on renewable energy, arguing that a large part of the outage was wind turbines icing over, ERCOT needed only 3% of total electricity generation to come from wind turbines to maintain power (O'Shea, 2021). At the blackout's peak, total generation deficiency was 20%-45% over the course of the day-considerably above 3%. Instead of being overly dependent on renewables, a major contributing factor appears to be the assumption of 'normal' operating conditions rather than the 'abnormal' conditions experienced in February. Weather was one of these abnormal conditions. In late February, ERCOT and power providers expected to be powering down gas plants for routine repairs since the demand for heating decreases as the temperature warms. Consequently, several coal and gas-fired power plants equivalent to about 20% of the total daily generation needs of Texas were taken offline for routine maintenance. ERCOT did try to respond to the emerging weather pattern by issuing a directive in the week preceding the cold weather calling for these plants to be put back online, but the call was a suggestion, not a mandate (O'Shea, 2021). COVID-19 was another abnormal condition, potentially compromising maintenance schedules and staffing. In response to potential challenges to business continuity related to COVID-19, several electric grid policy bodies identified a series of interventions like temperature checks for mutual assistance and the operation of control rooms designed to reduce virus spread (Wailes et al., 2021).
Field work essential to the maintenance and monitoring of the grid was partially to wholly paused, and significant considerations had to be given for resuming operations as normally as possible while maintaining occupancy constraints. Workplace dynamics may also have suffered, as office dynamics were interrupted by social distancing and employees faced the additional burden of verification of contaminated workplaces (Wailes et al., 2021).
Failures to recognize and remediate short-term abnormalities were coupled with insufficient investment in infrastructure reliability over the long term. One significant underinvestment appears to be in weatherization against winter storms. The ERCOT energy grid was not appropriately winterized. Without this, the natural gas supply chain was vulnerable to extremely cold conditions, and both turbines and coal plants iced over and were incapacitated. Additionally, critical redundancies and alternatives were not incorporated into the grid. For instance, a common practice across the Eastern U.S. is the use of 'dual-fuel generators', generators built with the ability to switch to distillate or fuel oil if a fuel source were compromised due to snowstorms and other forms of extreme weather (Hibbard et al., 2017). Such a practice was not implemented in ERCOT's jurisdiction.
Underlying these issues is the unique structure of ERCOT's energy markets, which appears to have disincentivized many common reliability practices. For instance, the lack of dual-fuel generators appears related to ERCOT's energy market structure since, unlike in the Eastern U.S. where regulations mandate including dual-fuel generators, Texas generation companies can decide whether to include dual-fuel generators based on factors such as potential market returns. Furthermore, in ERCOT, generators receive direct compensation only from the energy that they sell, not from having an extra capacity for reserves that might be used in times of crisis and facilitate reliability. Energy market structures also influenced the lead up to the cold snap. As the weather changed, energy speculators drove the price of energy up tremendously, increasing gas prices more than 20-fold, from $7/mmBTU to $150/mmBTU; this speculative 'disaster capitalism' (Klein, 2007) created extreme difficulty procuring gas when producers needed it most (O'Shea, 2021).
Another key feature, the separation of ERCOT from the two other major grids, compounded the creation of disaster risk. Separation has two ramifications: First, as an 'island unto itself', the ERCOT grid cannot rely on the energy that a broader multistate network of generation and transmission companies might be able to provide. While such disconnect means ERCOT avoids larger cascading blackouts that might occur across multiple states, the larger network provides redundancy that makes large failure less likely than localized, for example, state-level, blackouts. Second, by not crossing state lines and staying independent of the rest of the United States the ERCOT grid remains outside the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the federal regulatory body responsible for regulating reliability across states. Established in response to major blackouts in the 1960s, with its standards mandatory since 2003, FERC's regulations are a powerful force in ensuring reliability (Clark-Ginsberg & Slayton, 2018). Escaping FERC means escaping the costs associated with complying with these regulations, but also the reliability benefits that such compliance can entail.

| THE CASCADING IMPACT OF THE BLACKOUTS
The fallout from the blackout compromised other critical systems. Like other disasters (Mitsova et al., 2018), the well-off were able to escape the worst impacts of the blackout, demonstrating their resilience in the process. For instance, Texas Senator Ted Cruz briefly flew himself and his family to Cancun before the senator's departure was reported in the press and he returned home. But for the less-fortunate residents of Texas, the event resulted in stories of unimaginable tragedy-what can only be described as a catastrophic, cascading disaster.
First are the potential financial impacts of the blackouts on families and households. Many Texans were charged exorbitant amounts for electricity and heat-in some cases tens of thousands of dollars (Del Rio et al., 2021)-which was itself a result of ERCOT's market design. To the extent that these bills are not struck down in court or eliminated by ERCOT, they will inflict significant and lasting financial damage on consumers in the state, which will further degrade their resilience against future disasters Second are the physical and health impacts of the blackout.
Left without power and exposed to extreme cold, electricity consumers throughout the state attempted to turn on electric heaters and found that they did not have power. In the subfreezing temperatures, Texans were fighting to survive without any proper source of electric heating, let alone natural gas service. Many turned to makeshift heating sources to fight the cold. Some that failed to secure these sources died from hypothermia, such as an 11-year-old who died while trying keep his 3-year-old brother warm (Madani, 2021). Many of the makeshift sources that others found were risky in their own right. Fire was one hazard; in Sugar Land, Texas, a family of four died in a house fire after using their fireplace to try and stay warm (Bellware, 2021 (Treisman, 2021).
The blackout also led to a breakdown in other critical lifelines, including water and hospital services. The water system depends on the electric grid to function, including to treat and pump potable drinking and to process wastewater. The blackout compromised this system and left 7.9 million Texans without access to clean water for CLARK-GINSBERG ET AL.
| 447 up to a week (Reuters, 2021). Without power, many hospitals were also not able to maintain essential functions and were forced to shut down completely or operate at extremely limited capacity.
These breakdowns created conditions shaping another disaster, the COVID-19 pandemic. Shelters were set up to house families without power and provide them with emergency food, water and heat (Menchaca, 2021). Others without power stayed with friends and family. The storm's impacts also significantly set back vaccination efforts across the state, delaying a total of 400,000 vaccines doses (Texas Health and Human Services, 2021). As necessary as these choices were, the methods placed friends and families togetherpotential nexuses for the spread of the disease-and prevented needed vaccine delivery.

| CONCLUSION: TOWARDS A RENEWED FOCUS ON HRNs
HRNs are networks that can function reliably under conditions of extreme stress. The Texas electric grid is an example of a networked structure that failed under stress, resulting in catastrophe for many families and individuals. Instead of being able to manage and quickly react to prevent a hazardous event from spinning into a disaster, key systems broke down and collapsed. A disaster emerged that cascaded across other systems, visiting the greatest harm on those with the fewest resources.
The Texas blackout is one of a string of recent failures of networked structures that includes the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 evolved into a pandemic precisely because the highly networked nature of global travel, infrastructure and social and technological systems allowed rapid propagation of a virus, with the system designed to work relatively well for steady state or normal operating environments, not an unusual event. The costs of this networked failure are even more severe-by orders of magnitude-than the Texas blackout, with upwards of 220 million cases, 4.6 million deaths and billions in economic damages at the time of writing.
If other large-scale catastrophes-such as Hurricane Katrina, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the 2010 Haiti earthquake-are any guide, the impacts of these two major networked disasters, the Texas blackouts and ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, will continue to unfold over not just months or even years, but decades and longer. Communities upended by disaster might be irreversibly changed for the worse, economies degraded and physical and mental trauma of the disaster passed down to the next generations. The breakdown of the Texas grid that we describe above is the beginning of the disaster, not its end.
But while the instances above are examples of failures in reliability, many networks that we depend on may also be operating reliably as HRNs. Since there are so many interconnected infrastructures and since infrastructures are so ubiquitous, we can expect there to be a number of cases where HRNs are already operating reliably by way of preventing cascades based only on sheer numbers.
It is clear that investment in mitigation to build networked reliability for these large systems is needed. As former Deputy Administrator for Resilience for the US Federal Emergency Management Agency, Daniel Kaniewski, states, 'every type of infrastructure has vulnerabilities. What we really need to do is invest in infrastructure and… make sure we're taking appropriate preparedness' (Yahoo Finance, 2021). What is less clear is exactly what that investment should look like. In part, we need better understanding of how HRNs function. To be sure, we have some basic understanding of HRNs-for instance, we know that people and organisational processes that manage these infrastructures play critical roles in ensuring reliability, and should be supported as part of infrastructure investment efforts focused on facilitating reliability (Roe & Schulman, 2016). But core questions remain unanswered. The Texas case indicates the critical role of broader social processes in shaping the cascading impacts of the disaster and managing networked failure; people turn to their own 'reliability networks', rely on their friends and family for support, adapt by using different forms of heat, or use their economic and political resources to relocate. These dimensions are well articulated elsewhere (Oliver-Smith et al., 2016;Wisner et al., 2004), but have not yet been incorporated into the study of HRNs.
If the goal is to develop a stream of research that facilitates the development of HRNs, we must focus not only on how HRNs function but how the adoption and perpetuation of HRN principles and practices can be incentivized. In Texas, the deregulated market-based energy system does not currently provide the right set of incentives for the grid to function as an HRN. It is easy to see how reverting to some form of regulation could be a tempting response to these market failures, and indeed many examples can be found documenting how private pursuits of profit can disincentivize and undermine societal risk management (Dunn-Cavelty & Suter, 2009;Ellis, 2020;Perrow, 2015). But in complex and interconnected systems, regulatory approaches can themselves create perverse incentives, which, in extreme cases, can undermine the very attempts at reducing risk they seek to instill (Clark-Ginsberg & Slayton, 2018).
Such discrepancies indicate that better specification of the conditions and scenarios for structuring HRNs is necessary. Developing highly reliable networks therefore, requires, among other things, better understanding of how practices and incentives are to be crafted to make reliability out of unreliable parts.
Meeting the challenge will be no small feat. The large size of these networks, their massive complexity and the multitude of stakeholders involved in their management, means that HRNs cannot be 'solved' by the work of a single discipline or sector. Instead, collaboration is needed for understanding these networks, both between disciplines in the form of interdisciplinary work involving social scientists and technologists, and between scientists and key stakeholders. Policymakers and also communities are to be involved as well, as they both depend on and shape the function of these systems. The research agenda on HRNs should be guided by knowledge gained through research on existing HROs and new forms of high-reliability management-if only to examine near-misses in highly reliable systems and to understand and learn from the conditions under which small failures occur and how they are prevented from lapsing into catastrophe. Because complex systems in states of failure often behave in ways incomparable to systems in stable operating states, there is only so much that can be learned by studying cases of failure and recovery. Future collaborations should be directed at understanding the conditions under which HRNs successfully operate today.