Aslaug Mikkelsen

An appraisal of key factors in the implementation of occupational stress interventions.

Empirical research on stress intervention in organizations, and experience from organizational change programmes in general, indicates that obtaining intended change is often more difficult than it had been conceived to be at the outset. In order to facilitate the accomplishment of stress prevention and effective organizational change, this paper examines the importance of the social and cognitive processes influencing the implementation of any intervention. It states that if change is to be managed skilfully, it is important (1) to create a social climate of learning from failure, (2) to provide opportunities for multi-level participation and negotiation in the design of interventions, (3) to be aware of tacit behaviours that possibly undermine the objectives of interventions, and (4) to define roles and responsibilities before and during the intervention period.

A process evaluation of individual and organizational occupational stress and health interventions

There is reason to believe that many health and stress interventions fail due to inattention to the effects of intervention implementation processes, but evaluations of these processes are found only rarely in the literature. The objective of the present study was to explore the issue of obstacles to implementation that may occur when stress and health interventions are introduced in work organizations. The study was conducted as a process evaluation of seven different individual and organizational interventions. Interviews were conducted in 22 post offices, 12 organizational units (such as care homes and local administrative units) of a Norwegian municipality, and in 10 shops in a shopping mall. The interviews took place before and after the interventions. The following key process factors were identified: (1) the ability to learn from failure and to motivate participants; (2) multi-level participation and negotiation, and differences in organizational perception; (3) insight into tacit and informal organizational behaviour; (4) clarification of roles and responsibilities, especially the role of middle management; and (5) competing projects and reorganization. For improved studies of interventions in the future we recommend that qualitative and quantitative methods be combined, that researchers build more on natural interventions that occur naturally within the organization, and that a pilot study be undertaken in order to investigate the cultural maturity of the organization.

Employability and the psychological contract in European ICT sector SMEs

This article explores the employability of information and communication technology (ICT) professionals from the perspective of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The first stage of analysis, based on over 100 interviews with managers of ICT supplier companies in seven European countries (Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and the UK), showed most SMEs to have a generally ad hoc approach to managing the employability of their ICT professionals. Assessment and development plans were used primarily to keep skills current to business needs; however, the more developed northern European markets showed greater awareness of the ‘high commitment’ benefits of a more sophisticated approach towards career management (e.g. through mentoring or career planning). A second stage of analysis based only on UK interviews builds on this to propose a model of positive employer influence on psychological contracts through career and employability management practices.

The effects of new dimensions of psychological job demands and job control on active learning and occupational health

Abstract Recent changes in job content may have led to changes in job demands and control, and earlier operationalizations of the demand concept may be too general (MT). The aim of this paper is to show how new dimensions of psychological job demands are related to two sets of outcome variables, employee health and active learning, and how these relationships are modified or interact with social support and types of job control. The study was carried out as a survey among employees of 13 electric companies in Norway, N=2435. Lisrel was used to assess the fit of the proposed models. Compared to the traditional demands control model, an extended version used in this study increased the explained variance on an average by 4% on various occupational health variables. It was found that various dimensions of demands were differentially related to the outcome variables. Skill discretion uniformly reduced the effect of the demands: for groups low in skill discretion there was a stronger relationship between demands and outcomes than for groups high in skill discretion. The interaction pattern for the remaining control and support variables was however more complicated and warrants further study. The practical implications are that employers should carefully consider the quality of work. Special attention should be given to the quantitative demands of the jobs, since there seems to be few moderators for the relationship between those demands and job stress and subjective health complaints.

The impact of learning opportunities and decision authority on occupational health

In an investigation of 418 employees in the Norwegian Postal Service, employees with high learning opportunities and high decision authority were found to be better off on psychological functioning, health and organizational outcome variables than employees with low scores on these variables. Decision authority and learning opportunities had specific and independent impact on subjective health, psychological functioning, coping style and organizational outcome variables. There were, however, also interaction effects between demands, learning opportunities, and decision authority on subjective health. Learning opportunities and decision authority were operationalized with a questionnaire, supplemented with questions on the opportunities to learn skills beyond the present job situation. It is suggested that this is a particularly important dimension for coping with the present day rapid changes in working life, where the objective for many workers will be to broaden their repertoire and competence to increa...

Job characteristics and computer anxiety in the production industry

Abstract The present study was part of a larger Norwegian research effort termed “Learning in computer based industrial information networks,” which is funded by the Norwegian Research Council. This action research based investigation was aimed at developing and implementing computer technology for improving profitability, employee well being, and work environment. The present study was conducted to investigate antecedents of computer anxiety, and was based upon a postal survey conducted in 1999. The sample included 336 employees. Data analyses were performed with structural equation modeling (LISREL). In addition to gender, age and education, the data analyses revealed that the job characteristics of decision authority and training were the most important determinants of computer anxiety. Job demands did not relate significantly to computer anxiety. Managers had less computer anxiety than non-managers. The practical implications of these findings corresponded with findings in a number of other Norwegian action research studies, and suggested that clear and specific goals should be expressed for any continuous improvement activity. New technology introductions should be accompanied by user involvement, training and active practical use. Special attention should be paid to women, lower educated, and older employees.

Health and well-being in care staff and their relations to organizational and psychosocial factors, care staff and resident factors in nursing homes.

The aim of this study is to investigate the association of psychosocial factors and patient factors with stress in care staff in nursing homes.

Gender issues in policing: do they matter?

Purpose – This study aims to examine gender issues in a sample of male and female police officers in Norway.Design/methodology/approach – Three gender issues were considered: perceptions of equal opportunity, possible reasons for differences in male and female career opportunities, and experiences of sexual harassment. Data were collected from 766 police officers in Norway using anonymous questionnaires, a 62 percent response rate.Findings – Female officers indicated significantly lower levels of equal opportunity perceptions, more reasons for career opportunity differences (particularly discrimination), and more sexual harassment than did male officers. Female officers reporting lower levels of equal opportunity perceptions were less job‐satisfied, more cynical, rated their quality of leadership lower and indicated more health complaints. Female officers experiencing more sexual harassment also indicated less job satisfaction. Finally, female officers offering more reasons for career differences (particu...

Job Stress and Organizational Learning Climate

Job stress may depend on the “organizational learning climate,” the organizational factors that affect learning how to cope with the rapid external and internal changes in working life. The relationship between individual job stress and the individual perception of “learning climate” was studied among 383 employees in the Norwegian Postal Service and in various community health care institutions. Mismatch between individual perceptions of learning climate and the averaged evaluation of learning climate in the rest of the working group, was found to be an important source of stress. Individuals who perceived the learning climate as good and who were working in a group that agreed with this position, had a low job-stress level. This may be ascribed to their feeling of control over the work situation and reduced demands due to the social support from the group, producing a low job stress level.

Work experiences and career and job satisfaction among professional and managerial women in Norway

Research suggests that women may be underrepresented in top management positions because of organizational policies and practices that subtly influence their career paths. This survey of 191 professional and managerial women in Norway investigated the relationships among organizational supports (e.g. support and encouragement, training and development), work pressures (e.g. hours worked, work-family conflict), and work outcomes such as career and job satisfaction. Results indicated that work pressures were significantly related to satisfaction, but not to perceived opportunities for career progress. The organizational supports were positively correlated with all the work outcomes, indicating that women were more satisfied with both career and job when organizational supports were present. When combined with individual characteristics and work pressures in regression analyses, organizational supports still made positive contributions to satisfaction at work. The findings were generally consistent with results of a Canadian study of managerial women.