Edward S. Greenberg

Work stress and self-reported alcohol use: The moderating role of escapist reasons for drinking.

This study examines the moderating role of escapist reasons for drinking alcohol in the job stress/self-reported alcohol use and problems relationship. It was hypothesized that higher levels of job stress would be associated with higher levels of self-reported drinking (H1) and drinking problems (H2) only for those who endorsed escapist reasons for drinking. For those who did not hold such beliefs, higher levels of job stress were predicted to be associated with lower self-reported alcohol intake (H3) and problems (H4). Survey data from white- and blue-collar workers employed across all paycodes and positions were collected randomly at a large manufacturing organization (62% response rate). Participants responded to questions concerning work stress, reasons for drinking, alcohol intake, and alcohol problems. Using only nonabstainers with complete data (N = 1,645), results from regression analyses generally supported all hypotheses.

Work stress and problem alcohol behavior: a test of the spillover model

Although previous research has found weak support for the model of stressful work ‘spilling over’ to negative coping responses during nonwork hours, we argue that a variety of conceptual and methodological problems may partially explain the weak and inconsistent findings. Two important shortcomings are inadequately specified models and a failure to consider nonescapist responses to job-related stress. We therefore propose that there may be escapist (i.e. increased drinking, working through job dissatisfaction for those who believe that alcohol consumption is an effective means to reduce stress) and nonescapist (i.e. decreased drinking for those who are dissatisfied with their jobs but do not believe alcohol is an effective coping strategy) responses to work stress. These hypotheses were tested on a sample of 972 production workers in the Pacific northwest. Results show moderate support for the existence of both escapist and nonescapist responses to job-related stresses.

Repeated Downsizing Contact: The Effects Of Similar And Dissimilar Layoff Experiences On Work And Well-being Outcomes

In this longitudinal study, the authors compared 1,244 white- and blue-collar workers who reported 0, 1, or 2 contacts with layoffs; all were employees of a large manufacturing company that had engaged in several mass waves of downsizing. Consistent with a stress-vulnerability model, workers with a greater number of exposures to both direct and indirect downsizing reported significantly lower levels of job security and higher levels of role ambiguity, intent to quit, depression, and health problems. Findings did not support the idea that workers became more resilient as they encountered more layoff events. The authors found only partial evidence that the similarity or dissimilarity of the type of repeated downsizing exposure played a role in how workers reported changes in these outcome variables.

Is Lean Mean?: Workplace Transformation and Employee Well-being

This article examines the relationship between workplace transformation (or restructuring) and the well-being of employees, in terms of both psychological and physical health, at a large manufacturing corporation in the United States. While the previous literature has been largely divided over the issue - some researchers providing unqualified enthusiasm and others equally strong criticism of workplace changes - we found, after decomposing workplace transformation into five distinct dimensions of intensity, autonomy, team-work, skilling and computing, that certain components were harmful while others were beneficial to the employees. Furthermore, some effects of reengineering varied between managers and non-managers. Overall, increases in workplace intensity were associated with the largest increases in stress and symptoms of poor health. The data were produced by a longitudinal (two-wave) survey questionnaire of over 1000 employees and were analyzed by means of a structural equations model.

The Changing Workplace and Its Effects: A Longitudinal Examination of Employee Responses at a Large Company

The present study explores the multiple ways employees are affected by pervasive and complex organizational change. Across a 10-year period, the authors surveyed 525 white- and blue-collar workers on four separate occasions during which time the company experienced, for example, a difficult financial period, several large downsizing events, the implementation of new technologies, and a move toward a “flatter” managerial structure. At Time 4, shortly after the organization experienced a substantial economic turnaround, the authors found that most but not all of the job and organizational attitudes returned to Time 1 levels. Many of the measures of health and various indices of the work—family relationship however showed both positive and negative lasting effects. These findings are discussed in light of current thinking regarding worker engagement and the psychological contract between workers and organizations.

The Relationship Of Employee Ownership And Participation To Workplace Safety

This article investigates whether enterprises with high levels of worker control are safer places to work in than matched conventional firms in the same industry. The results, based on comparisons of self-reports from 1285 workers in four different kinds of enterprises in the wood products industry (producer coops, ESOPs, union and non-union), are disappointing for advocates of employee ownership. The coops and the ESOPs either did no better than the conventional enterprises on various safety indicators or actually had worse safety performances. Reasons for these results are discussed, particularly in the context of the precarious economic conditions these employee-owned firms find themselves in. We conclude that employee ownership of vulnerable enterprises may be hazardous for worker morale and worker safety.

Industrial Democracy and the Democratic Citizen

T HE PURPOSE OF THIS PAPER iS to test some of the claims related to the possible contributions to be made by industrial democracy to a revitalized and enriched democratic political life. In an age of growing cynicism and declining interest in American politics, some have suggested that democratic decision making in the work place might represent a context within which people could engage and become familiar with forms of social interaction more appropriate to genuine democracy than those which are experienced in the distant, impersonal, and highly abstract system of electoral, representative politics that characterize our society. Direct democracy in the work place, participation in decisions that are close and meaningful to those involved, in this view, might help to foster values and skills that make participants more knowledgeable, interested, and socially responsible citizens in the political arena outside of the work place. It is this broad claim that will be examined in light of empirical materials gathered in the worker-owned plywood cooperatives of the Pacific-Northwest.

A longitudinal exploration of alcohol use and problems comparing managerial and nonmanagerial men and women

The purpose of the present study was to compare the job attitude and drinking context correlates of alcohol beliefs, consumption, and problems between managerial and nonmanagerial women and men. Using longitudinal, self-report data from 1244 workers in a large manufacturing organization, we found that managerial women reported significantly higher levels of alcohol problems on a number of measures on both Times 1 and 2 surveys. Using partial correlations and controlling for Time 1 levels of the alcohol-related dependent variables, we found that few work attitudes predicted the outcomes of escape drinking reasons, alcohol consumption, and alcohol problems. However, those correlations that were significant reflected a differential pattern for managerial women as compared to managerial men and nonmanagerial women and men. Due to the small subsample size of managerial women, we regard these findings as suggestive only. We discuss the findings in terms of the stress-reduction hypothesis of alcohol consumption.

BLACK CHILDREN AND THE POLITICAL SYSTEM

From a study of four age groups of black and white middle and lower class children in two cities, the author concludes that there is a small but significant difference between white and black childrens support for the political system, with black children becoming less supportive as they get older. The findings call into question current assumptions about both the agents of political socialization and about the stability of political orientations acquired in early childhood. The author is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Stanford University. His major research and teaching interests relate to the politics of minority groups.

Are female supervisors good for employee job experiences, health, and wellbeing?

Purpose – Aims to investigate managers’ reports of their job experiences, wellbeing, and health outcomes as a function of whether they had either a male or a female supervisor.Design/methodology/approach – Self‐report survey data were collected from male (n =328) and female (n =222) managers; these managers, in turn, had either a male or a female supervisor.Findings – Consistent with the hypothesis, two (gender of participant) by two (gender of supervisor) analyses of covariance revealed that all managers with female supervisors reported significantly higher levels of mastery and social support at work, and lower levels of work to family conflict and depression. Women with female supervisors also reported significantly higher levels of job autonomy and work absences than did women with male supervisors or men with either male or female supervisors. In an effort to explain these outcomes, the mediational role of work‐based social support was explored as well as the gender ratio of the subordinates work en...