Liv Starheim

Labour Inspection Strategies Addressing the Psychosocial Work Environment

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to show how face-to-face meetings between inspectors and workplace members can be understood as a complex, strategic, motivational and emotionalised process, and hence to involve more than just a question of ‘pursuing or persuading’. The paper illustrates the Danish model of an established practice of inspection of the psychosocial work environment, and discusses how this model contributes to the knowledge of inspection practice. Using observations and interviews, the research focuses on the micro-sociological level of inspection practice, examining how labour inspectors use ‘strategies of both time and space’ in their interaction with workplace members. Time and space strategies, as suggested by de Certeau, are legal institutions’ way of exercising power over citizens, who respond by using tactical instruments to gain a foothold, or at least make it ‘habitual’ to be part of the situation. The inspectors use time and space strategies as a way of coping with the double purpose of the inspection visit: to control and motivate. Time and space strategies are also used as a way of handling the emotions of control, which are an inevitable part of the inspection process. The paper further discusses inspectors’ strategies to navigate the inherent dilemmas of inspection, ie dilemmas within the internal logic and the overall strategy of the Danish Working Environment Authority.

Displacements in organisations’ responses to the inspections of their psychosocial working environment

The purpose of this paper is to analyse how organisational activities correspond with the Working Environment Authority’s description of psychosocial working environment problems at the workplaces. Through the case study of twelve workplaces the activities are analysed focusing on the relationship between the Working Environment Authority’s problem descriptions after an inspection visit, and the solutions implemented by the workplace to solve the pinpointed problems. The Garbage Can model of decision making frames the understanding of how the workplaces decides, which activities they initiate as a result of the Working Environment Authority inspection. Displacement of the problem solving is suggested as a category of decision-making. The analysis shows, how the organisations choose relevant or displaced activities depended upon their agreement in the problem description, their acceptance of suggestion solution, and their success in establishing a reasonable understanding of the causes of the problems. The inspection visit is regarded as an opportunity to implement solutions to problems in the psychosocial working environment, which already exists as a possible and legitimate improvement activity in the workplaces, as well as a push to start a process to develop new solutions.