Claire Harris

A daily diary study of goals and affective well-being at work

We examine whether attainment of goals at work is associated with enhanced affective well-being and whether attainment of personally more important goals has a stronger association with affective well-being. Data were collected from call-centre staff using a daily diary for 2 weeks. Results indicate that daily attainment of work goals is associated with more activated affect measured at the end of the working day. The relationship between attainment of goals and pleasurable affect is stronger where goals are personally more important.

Linking work conditions to unpleasant affect: Cognition, categorization and goals

Current approaches to work stress do not address in detail the mental processes by which work events cause unpleasant affect. We propose a cognitive account that incorporates: (1) the distinction between controlled and automatic information processing; (2) the categorization of emotionally relevant stimuli; (3) the role of mental models in coping choice; (4) the enactment of beneficial job conditions through coping; and (5) reciprocal influences between cognition and affect. We conclude by discussing how this account can help explain a range of findings in the work stress literature and how a cognitive approach to work stress informs practice.

How do work stress and coping work? Toward a fundamental theoretical reappraisal

The main aim of this paper is to make the case for why a fundamental reappraisal rather than incremental development of work stress and coping theory is required. In order to do this we present, in simplified form, some of the basic tenets of theory in this field. These tenets are questioned and their limitations identified in two ways. The first way is through contrasting the sort of stories that emerge in counselling and psychotherapy about the causes of peoples distress with the simplified accounts found in stress and coping theory. The second way is through a critical examination of the specific ideas that stressors are ‘out there’ in the work environment and that individuals go through a simple process of primary and secondary appraisal when dealing with potentially harmful aspects of the work environment. Drawing on the notion of the employee as an active crafter and shaper of their job and data showing the complex ways in which people make sense of potentially negative work circumstances, we show how these ideas are of very limited value. In conclusion, we suggest that these limitations are so serious that fundamental reappraisal rather than development is required.

Human relations management, expectations and healthcare: A qualitative study

Despite substantial evidence for a relationship between human resource management (HRM) and the performance of individuals, relatively few studies have examined the role of employee expectations. This article reports on a study involving six National Health Service (NHS) organizations across England. Healthcare employees expected their employers to provide: infrastructure, HR practices and support, which they linked to improved performance especially in relation to patient care and service innovations. Counterintuitively, effort was maintained towards immediate patient care when expectations were unmet, seemingly, because of public service values. The findings indicate that public service values may be a strong determinant of performance as it relates to patients, moderating potential short-term adverse effects of unmet expectations. In contrast, longer term effects on patient care and service development were less readily moderated by these values. This study offers differential accounts illustrating effects on performance gained through improved working conditions and through work intensification.

Pro-social organisational behaviour of health care workers

Pro-social organisational behaviour (PSOB), i.e. the willingness of workers to both fulfil and go beyond formal job requirements, has long been recognised as a valuable contributor to organisational performance. It is particularly important in health organisations where service provision involves high levels of task interdependence, task complexity and uncertainty, and delivery often depends on the spontaneous actions of employees as they co-produce services with the patient. This paper presents a study of PSOB exhibited by National Health Service employees in England. The paper identifies types and antecedents of PSOB and notes a potential erosion of PSOB for senior staff with their role requirements having no upper limit. As HR managers cannot prescribe in advance the precise sequence of skills required from health workers in each set of circumstances, value-driven HR may offer one means of maintaining and encouraging both altruistic and conscientious act of PSOB on which health care depends. This indicates a specific role for human resource management in building shared values that can service both the care needs of patients and the business needs of health organisations.

High performance HRM: NHS employee perspectives.

PURPOSE The purpose of this paper is to examine National Health Service (NHS) employee perspectives of how high performance human resource (HR) practices contribute to their performance. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH The paper draws on an extensive qualitative study of the NHS. A novel two-part method was used; the first part used focus group data from managers to identify high-performance HR practices specific to the NHS. Employees then conducted a card-sort exercise where they were asked how or whether the practices related to each other and how each practice affected their work. FINDINGS In total, 11 high performance HR practices relevant to the NHS were identified. Also identified were four reactions to a range of HR practices, which the authors developed into a typology according to anticipated beneficiaries (personal gain, organisation gain, both gain and no-one gains). Employees were able to form their own patterns (mental models) of performance contribution for a range of HR practices (60 interviewees produced 91 groupings). These groupings indicated three bundles particular to the NHS (professional development, employee contribution and NHS deal). PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS These mental models indicate employee perceptions about how health services are organised and delivered in the NHS and illustrate the extant mental models of health care workers. As health services are rearranged and financial pressures begin to bite, these mental models will affect employee reactions to changes both positively and negatively. ORIGINALITY/VALUE The novel method allows for identification of mental models that explain how NHS workers understand service delivery. It also delineates the complex and varied relationships between HR practices and individual performance.