Chidiebere Ogbonnaya

A mutual gains perspective on workplace partnership: Employee outcomes and the mediating role of the employment relations climate

Recent years have witnessed increased research on the role of workplace partnership in promoting positive employment relations. However, there has been little quantitative analysis of the partnership experiences of employees. This article examines how the kinds of attributions employees make regarding indirect (union‐based) and direct (non‐union‐based) employee participation in workplace partnership might influence the process of mutual gains. It uses employee outcomes to reflect partnership gains for all stakeholders involved (i.e. employees, employers and trade unions). The article contributes to existing knowledge of workplace partnership by examining the potential role of the employment relations climate as an enabling mechanism for the process of mutual gains. The findings suggest mutual gains for all stakeholders are varied and mediated through the employment relations climate.

Integrated and isolated impact of high-performance work practices on employee health and well-being: A comparative study.

We investigate the positive relationships between high-performance work practices (HPWP) and employee health and well-being and examine the conflicting assumption that high work intensification arising from HPWP might offset these positive relationships. We present new insights on whether the combined use (or integrated effects) of HPWP has greater explanatory power on employee health, well-being, and work intensification compared to their isolated or independent effects. We use data from the 2004 British Workplace Employment Relations Survey (22,451 employees nested within 1,733 workplaces) and the 2010 British National Health Service Staff survey (164,916 employees nested within 386 workplaces). The results show that HPWP have positive combined effects in both contexts, and work intensification has a mediating role in some of the linkages investigated. The results also indicate that the combined use of HPWP may be sensitive to particular organizational settings, and may operate in some sectors but not in others.

High performance work practices, employee outcomes and organizational performance: a 2-1-2 multilevel mediation analysis

Abstract This study examines the mediating role of employee outcomes in terms of the relationship between high-performance work practices (HPWP) and organizational performance. The study presents a 2-1-2 multilevel meditation model in which HPWP and organizational performance (staff absenteeism and patient satisfaction) are measured at the organizational level (Level-2), and employee outcomes at the individual level (Level-1). Using secondary data from the British National Health Service, evidence was found for a direct positive relationship between HPWP and employee outcomes (job satisfaction and employee engagement). Both job satisfaction and employee engagement mediated a negative relationship between HPWP and staff absenteeism, but the positive relationship between HPWP and patient satisfaction was mediated by job satisfaction only. We outline the research methodology and discuss practical implications for our findings.

Participatory workplace activities, employee-level outcomes and the mediating role of work intensification

Purpose - – The present study aims to explore the impacts of participative decision-making and information-sharing activities, two relevant constituents of the high performance work practices framework, on employee attitudes and well-being. Design/methodology/approach - – The study was undertaken using data from the 2009 National Centre for Partnership and Performance survey on employees’ attitudes and expectations of the workplace. Structural equation modelling was used to test the direct effects of participative decision-making and information sharing on job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job strain, and simultaneously, the mediating role of work intensification in these relationships was examined. Findings - – Participative decision-making activities produced overall favourable effects on employee attitudes and well-being; these effects may be explained by decreases in work intensification. The impacts of information sharing on employee attitudes and well-being were generally unfavourable and fully mediated by increases in work intensification. Originality/value - – This study informs two theoretical perspectives on employee-level impacts of HPWP: the mutual gains and the critical perspectives of HPWP, and extends knowledge on the employee-level influences of participatory workplace practices during a period of severe economic recession in the Republic of Ireland.

High-Involvement Management, Economic Recession, Well-Being, and Organizational Performance:

High-involvement management was introduced as a means of overcoming economic crises, but it has been argued that the inevitability of cost-cutting measures when organizations face such crises would undermine its efficacy. This article first presents theories of why tensions may exist between high-involvement management and actions typically taken by management during recessions, such as wage and employment freezes. It then reports research aimed at testing whether the performance effects of high-involvement management were lower in organizations where management took such actions to combat the post-2008 recession, due to their adverse effects on employees’ job satisfaction and well-being—and even whether high-involvement management still had a performance premium after the recession. Using data from Britain’s Workplace Employment Relations Survey of 2011, the research shows that both dimensions of high-involvement management—role- and organizational-involvement management—continued to be positively associated with economic performance as the economy came out of recession. Recessionary actions were negatively related to both employee job satisfaction and well-being, while job satisfaction mediated the relationship between role-involvement management and economic performance, which is consistent with mutual-gains theory. However, recessionary action reduced the positive effect that role-involvement management had on job satisfaction and well-being and thus may have reduced its positive performance effects. In the case of organizational-involvement management, it reduced the level of job dissatisfaction and ill-being, suggesting that it may provide workers with more information and greater certainty about the future.

Does contingent pay encourage positive employee attitudes and intensify work

This article explores the relationships between three dimensions of contingent pay – performance-related pay, profit-related pay and employee share-ownership – and positive employee attitudes (job satisfaction, employee commitment and trust in management). The article also examines a conflicting argument that contingent pay may intensify work, and this can detract from its positive impact on employee attitudes. Of the three contingent pay dimensions, only performance-related pay had direct positive relationships with all three employee attitudes. Profit-related pay and employee share-ownership had a mix of negative and no significant direct relationships with employee attitudes, but profit-related pay showed U-shaped curvilinear relationships with all three employee attitudes. The results also indicated that performance-related pay is associated with work intensification, and this offsets some of its positive impact on employee attitudes.

Employee performance, well‐being, and differential effects of human resource management subdimensions: mutual gains or conflicting outcomes?

The human resource management (HRM) literature supports the idea that coherent systems of HRM practices can induce attitudinal effects when perceived subjectively by employees. Recently, scholars have proposed that subdimensions of HRM systems exist and account for variance in outcomes. This study explores differential effects of three subdimensions of HRM systems (skill‐, motivation‐, and opportunity‐enhancing HRM practices) on employee innovative behaviours and well‐being. Our predictions are based on the mutual gains perspective, which specifies positive relationships between HRM practices and employee performance, and the conflicting outcomes perspective that links HRM practices to higher job demands and stress. Using data from the Finnish 2012 Practices of Working Life Survey, we find support for both the mutual gains and conflicting outcomes perspectives; however, we also show that the effects of the subsets of HRM practices are heterogeneous.

Democratisation of wellbeing: stakeholder perspectives on policy priorities for improving national wellbeing through paid employment and adult learning

ABSTRACT Recent policy initiatives in the UK have heightened the degree to which wellbeing can be considered a political construct: The acceptance of different policy options for wellbeing depends on the extent to which those options are responsive to popular wellbeing concerns. Drawing on the views of over 400 people gathered through a variety of methods and across the UK, we outline different stakeholder views of what wellbeing is and the priorities that stakeholders believe should be addressed to improve wellbeing. We draw out the implications for reframing policy debates around wellbeing, the practice of career guidance, academic debates around identified wellbeing priorities, and the best means of developing a policy and a practice-oriented and stakeholder-responsive approach to researching wellbeing.

Use of work–nonwork supports and employee well-being: the mediating roles of job demands, job control, supportive management and work–nonwork conflict

Abstract This paper examines the impact of the use of work–nonwork supports on well-being. It first develops hypotheses regarding how a reduction in job demands, and an increase in both job control and supportive management may explain this relationship. We then test these hypotheses using data from Britain’s Workplace Employee Relations Survey of 2011. The research reveals that the use of work–nonwork supports has a positive association with job control and supportive supervision. These in turn mediate a relationship between the use of supports and three dimensions of employee well-being, job satisfaction, anxiety-contentment and depression-enthusiasm, some of the effect being through their reducing work–to–nonwork conflict. Use of work–nonwork supports is, however, positively associated with job demands, but this effect of use on job demands does not affect well-being. Since job autonomy and supportive supervision are major mediators, and have a direct influence on work–nonwork conflict and well-being, policy should focus on integrating job quality and work–life balance issues.

Perceived Organizational Support in Health Care: The Importance of Teamwork and Training for Employee Well-Being and Patient Satisfaction:

This study uses organizational support theory to examine how health care employees’ perceptions of teamwork influence patient satisfaction through a serial mediation involving employee well-being and intention to remain. The study also examines the extent to which the training that employees receive might enhance these relationships. Hypothesized assumptions are tested by multilevel analysis using data from 66,930 employees nested within 162 organizations from the British National Health Service (NHS). Our findings indicate that teamwork has a positive indirect association with patient satisfaction through employee well-being (i.e., job satisfaction and work engagement) and intention to remain, in sequence. The strength of this indirect relationship is also enhanced by training provided to employees by the organization.