Anders Pousette

Safety in construction--a comprehensive description of the characteristics of high safety standards in construction work, from the combined perspective of supervisors and experienced workers.

INTRODUCTION The often applied engineering approach to safety management in the construction industry needs to be supplemented by organizational measures and measures based on how people conceive and react to their social environment. This requires in-depth knowledge of the broad preconditions for high safety standards in construction. The aim of the study was to comprehensively describe the preconditions and components of high safety standards in the construction industry from the perspective of both experienced construction workers and first-line managers. METHOD Five worker safety representatives and 19 first-line managers were interviewed, all strategically selected from within a large Swedish construction project. Phenomenographic methodology was used for data acquisition and analysis and to categorize the information. Nine informants verified the results. RESULTS The study identified four main categories of work safety preconditions and components: (1) Project characteristics and nature of the work, which set the limits of safety management; (2) Organization and structures, with the subcategories planning, work roles, procedures, and resources; (3) Collective values, norms, and behaviors, with the subcategories climate and culture, and interaction and cooperation; and (4) Individual competence and attitudes, with the subcategories knowledge, ability and experience, and individual attitudes. DISCUSSION The results comprehensively describe high safety standards in construction, incorporating organizational, group, individual, and technical aspects. High-quality interaction between different organizational functions and hierarchical levels stood out as important aspects of safety. The results are discussed in relation to previous research into safety and into the social-psychological preconditions for other desired outcomes in occupational settings. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY The results can guide construction companies in planning and executing construction projects to a high safety standard.

Managing Stress and Feelings of Mastery among Swedish Comprehensive School Teachers.

The purpose of this study was to create guidelines for stress management intervention by investigating the relationship of 12 factors with stress reactions (emotional exhaustion and irritation) and feelings of mastery among Swedish comprehensive school teachers. Data were collected via a questionnaire distributed to 928 teachers in 27 schools. The response rate was 89%. Multiple regressions were conducted on colleague support, cooperation, coordination problems, goal clarity, learning orientation, manager support, negative feedback, positive feedback, pupil misbehaviour, teacher age, work control and perceived work demands, all as independent variables. Perceived work demands was treated as a dependent variable in an additional regression analysis. Teacher stress reactions were best predicted by perceived work demands, pupil misbehaviour and negative feedback. Feelings of mastery were best predicted by learning orientation, positive feedback and goal clarity. In the additional analysis perceived work demands was best predicted by pupil misbehaviour, coordination problems and (low) work control. Practical implications are discussed.

The role of feedback in Swedish human service organizations

This paper investigates some organizational conditions for providing quality in service delivery in human service organizations (HSOs): that is organizations that partly take over functions that formerly were carried out by families. The consequences of feedback for role ambiguity, job satisfaction and organizational commitment were investigated. Survey data were obtained from 604 human service workers in three different Swedish organizations: public insurance agency, social rehabilitation center and a psychiatric hospital. Positive feedback was found to reduce role ambiguity, while negative feedback contributed to role ambiguity. Role ambiguity was negatively related to job satisfaction and organizational commitment. However, there was no support for a direct relationship between the feedback factors and job satisfaction or organizational commitment. Instead the relationships between feedback and work attitudes were mediated by role ambiguity. Conclusions of the study were: positive feedback that clarifies the work role has favorable outcomes that may contribute to good service quality. Therefore, organizational structures and routines that enhance the prevalence of positive feedback should be supported (e.g. professional supervision, evaluation procedures). Negative feedback has unfavorable outcomes only when it induces uncertainty about the work role. Therefore, when delivering negative feedback, it should be accompanied with role clarifying information.

Span of control and the significance for public sector managers’ job demands: A multilevel study

The aim of this article is to investigate how span of control influences seven job demands common amongst operational public sector managers. Self-administrated surveys were collected from 434 managers organized in 37 municipal operations, i.e. management teams in a set of public organizations in Sweden, and complemented with register data. Multilevel analyses were performed and it was shown unfavorable to have a large number of subordinates for the majority of job demands investigated. Furthermore, managers who were members of management teams with a higher average span of control experience some job demands to an even higher extent. Thus, the results of this study demonstrate that span of control is a key upstream component of managers’ job demands and emphasize the value of a reasonable number of subordinates.

Coordinating work in Swedish schools

Intra‐organizational coordination is studied almost exclusively using a case approach, with the implementation of one specific coordinating method and evaluation of the effects of that method. By contrast, this study explores the daily use of five coordinating strategies in 30 Swedish schools. Furthermore, the relationships between coordinating strategies and co‐ordination problems in the schools and burnout among teachers are investigated. The most important coordinating strategy was “professional consideration”, followed by “striving for goals”. “Mutual adjustment” was perceived as important to a few, and hardly any teachers judged “following routines” and “following the boss” as important. The results showed that “striving for goals” was related to less frequent coordination problems and lower levels of burnout than was “professional consideration”.

Risk and safety communication in small enterprises : how to support a lasting change towards work safety priority

The frequency of occupational accidents in Swedish farming is high. An intervention methodology aimed at influencing safety attitudes and behaviour was previously tested. The aims of the present study were to evaluate long‐term effects of the intervention and to assess these results in relation to a randomly selected comparison group. The intervention was based on regular group discussions, focusing on dialogue and reflection in networks for social support. Eighty‐eight farmers and farm workers, divided into nine groups, participated. Each group gathered on seven occasions during one year, assisted by a process consultant, supporting safety communication and the change process. A questionnaire was used to evaluate the effects. The long‐term results of the intervention showed that safety activity increased significantly and risk acceptance (fearlessness) and work stress decreased. Measurements were made at T1, T2 and T3, i.e., pre‐, post‐ and long‐term, in the intervention group and at T1 and T3 in the comparison group. The results of the present study showed a long‐term effect of the intervention on safety activity and risk acceptance (fearlessness) in relation to the comparison group. However, the comparison group also showed a decline in work stress, which indicates that the stress reduction may have had other causes than the intervention.

Coping With Paradoxical Demands Through an Organizational Climate of Perceived Organizational Support: An Empirical Study Among Workers in Construction and Mining Industry

Organizational demands on productivity, innovations, and safety may seem paradoxical. How can the organization support employees to cope with such paradox? Based on organizational climate measures of safety, occupational health, innovativeness, and production effectiveness, we explored if a second-order organizational climate could be identified, that was associated with staff safety, health, innovations and team effectiveness, and if such a climate could be represented by an organizational climate of perceived organizational support (POS). Questionnaire data were collected from 137 workgroups in four Swedish companies in construction and mining. Analyses (structural equation modeling) were done at the workgroup level and a split sample technique used to investigate relations between climates and outcomes. A general second-order organizational climate was identified. Also, an organizational climate constructed by items selected to represent POS, was associated with team effectiveness, innovations, and safety. A POS-climate may facilitate employees’ coping with paradoxes, and provide a heuristic for managers in decision making.

The Manufacturing Sector

This chapter reports how managers in the manufacturing sector in India and Sweden understand the values of CSR and EO, and discusses the importance of these values for workplace attractiveness. It begins by describing the manufacturing sectors of the two countries on the basis of their respective national statistics. Thereafter, we present an understanding of the two values based on three data sources: (a) qualitative data collected through cognitive interviews of managers; (b) data collected through interviews of administrative heads or HR managers regarding the demographic composition of organizations and (c) a quantitative survey of first-line healthcare managers. The chapter discusses how manufacturing organizations formulate, implement and communicate their policies on organizational values, besides reporting on managers’ perceptions of CSR and EO. Further, managers’ ratings of attractiveness (organizational commitment and intention to leave) and perceived effectiveness, supported by tests of differences between the countries on these parameters, are reported. The importance that managers attach to these organizational values when they evaluate the organization’s attractiveness is then discussed.

The Information Technology Sector

This chapter reports how managers in the IT sector in India and Sweden understand the organizational values of CSR and EO and their importance for workplace attractiveness. A general description of the sector in the two countries is provided on the basis of their respective national statistics. We then present integrated information based on qualitative data collected through cognitive interviews with managers regarding the conceptualization of the values in their national perspectives; data collected through organizational interviews with HR managers regarding the demographic composition of their organizations and a quantitative survey of first-line managers in 15 sample organizations. The chapter discusses how IT organizations formalize, implement and communicate these values based on the perceptions of existing managers regarding the different components of these organizational values. Managers’ ratings of attractiveness (organizational commitment and intention to leave) and perceived effectiveness, supported by tests of differences between the countries on these parameters, are also reported. Finally, we discuss the perceived importance of these values and of competitive performance for the attractiveness of IT organizations.

The Healthcare Sector

This chapter reports how managers in healthcare organizations in India and Sweden understand the organizational values of CSR and EO and describes the perceived importance of these values for workplace attractiveness. The chapter provides a general description of the healthcare sector in both countries on the basis of their national statistics. Most healthcare organizations sampled from India are private, corporate or trust-owned, whereas the Swedish healthcare organizations in the sample are public-owned. The understanding of these values is based on three data sources: (a) qualitative data collected through cognitive interviews of managers; (b) interviews with administrative heads/HR managers regarding the demographic composition of the sampled organizations; and (c) a quantitative survey of first-line healthcare managers. The chapter discusses how healthcare organizations practice CSR and EO based on the perceptions of healthcare managers from the two countries regarding the different components of these values. The relationship between perceived attractiveness and effectiveness is rated and profiled to present a comparative picture. The perceived importance of the two values and of competitive performance for attractiveness is also discussed.