Raymond Randall

The effects of transformational leadership on followers’ perceived work characteristics and psychological well-being: A longitudinal study

Abstract Transformational leaders employ a visionary and creative style of leadership that inspires employees to broaden their interest in their work and to be innovative and creative. There is some evidence that transformational leadership style is linked to employee psychological well-being. However, it is not clear whether this is due to (1) a direct relationship between leadership behaviour and affective well-being outcomes, or (2) a relationship between leadership behaviour and well-being that is mediated by followers’ perceived work characteristics. (Such characteristics include role clarity, meaningfulness, and opportunities for development.) This study aims to extend previous work by examining the validity of these two mechanisms in a longitudinal questionnaire study. The study was carried out within the elderly care sector in a Danish local governmental department. A theory-driven model of the relationships between leadership, work characteristics, and psychological well-being was tested using Structural Equation Modelling. The results indicated that followers’ perceptions of their work characteristics did mediate the relationship between transformational leadership style and psychological well-being. However, there was only limited evidence of the existence of a direct path between leadership behaviour and employee well-being. These findings have implications for design, implementation, and management of efforts to improve employee well-being.

Conducting organizational-level occupational health interventions: What works?

Abstract In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in how organizational-level occupational health interventions aimed at improving psychosocial working conditions and employee health and well-being may be planned, implemented and evaluated. It has been claimed that such interventions have the best chance of achieving a significant impact if they follow an intervention process that is structured and also includes the participation of employees. This paper provides an overview of prominent European methods that describe systematic approaches to improving employee health and well-being through the alteration of the way in which work is designed, organized and managed. The methods identified are the Risk Management approach and the Management Standards from Great Britain, the German Health Circles approach, Work Positive from Ireland and Prevenlab from Spain. Comparative analyses reveal that these methods all consist of a five-phase process and that they share a number of core elements within these phases. However, overall the five methods have not been thoroughly validated. To examine the validity of the core elements, we review them in the light of current research in order to support their appropriateness in conducting organizational-level occupational health interventions. Finally, we discuss where we still need more research to determine the working ingredients of organizational-level occupational health interventions.

Opening the black box: Presenting a model for evaluating organizational-level interventions

Organizational-level occupational health interventions are often recommended when improvements in working conditions, employee health, and well-being are sought within organizations. Research has revealed that these interventions result in inconsistent effects despite being based on theoretical frameworks. This inconsistency indicates that intervention studies need to be designed to examine directly how and why such interventions bring about change and why they sometimes fail. We argue that intervention studies should include a process evaluation that includes a close examination of the psychological and organizational mechanisms that hinder and facilitate desired intervention outcomes. By drawing on existing intervention literature we present an evidence-based model containing three levels of elements that appear to be crucial in process evaluation. We describe how this model may be applied and developed in future research to identify better the mechanisms that link intervention processes to intervention outcomes.

The development of five scales to measure employees' appraisals of organizational-level stress management interventions

Abstract Organizations and researchers often encounter difficulties when evaluating organizational-level stress management interventions. When interventions fail, often it is unclear whether the intervention itself was ineffective, or whether problems with implementation processes were to blame. In this paper we describe the development of questionnaire items that allow employees to report on their appraisals of aspects of intervention process issues that are frequently thought to be related to intervention outcomes. The study was carried out as part of the evaluation of a teamworking intervention implemented in the elderly care sector in Denmark. Using a combination of information gathered from published intervention research and qualitative data collected from participants involved in an intervention, questionnaire items were developed and their sensitivity, reliability, and validity were tested. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed five independent factors: line manager attitudes and actions, exposure to components of the intended intervention, employee involvement, employee readiness, and intervention history. They all showed significant correlations with post-intervention outcomes (job satisfaction, well-being, and self-efficacy). Line manager attitudes and actions showed particularly strong and unique relationships with outcome measures. We refer to this new group of scales for evaluating employees’ appraisals of an intervention as the Intervention Process Measure (IPM). Our findings indicate that such a measure has the potential to improve the evaluation of interventions.

Organisational psychosocial hazard exposures in UK policing: Management standards indicator tool reference values

Purpose: There is a paucity of contemporary evidence on the organizational (as opposed to operational) psychosocial hazard (OPH) exposures of UK police officers. The purpose of this study is to report on OPH exposures measured via an instrument developed by the UK government - the Management Standards Indicator Tool - among police officers sampled from an entire UK force. The study provides reference values for UK police officers’ OPH exposures, considers these in relation to government exposure targets, and examines the association between officers’ OPH exposures and perceived work-related stress. Design/methodology/approach: Police officers (n = 1,729) completed the Management Standards Indicator Tool which measures perceived exposure to seven psychosocial work environment dimensions: demands, control, managerial support, peer support, relationships, role, and change. In addition, a single-item measure of perceived work-related stress was applied. Findings: Sector-specific reference values were generated by job role and rank on each of the seven dimensions assessed by the Indicator Tool. Scores on all seven dimensions were below government target levels (indicating that scores fell below the 80th percentile in relation to benchmark data). 46% of police officers reported their work to be very or extremely stressful. A significant positive correlation (p < .01) was found between scores on each of the seven psychosocial work characteristics and perceived work-related stress. Originality/value: This study is the first to report on the assessment of UK police officers’ OPH exposure using the Management Standards Indicator Tool. It provides reference values that UK forces will find useful for benchmarking and intervention-targeting purposes, and against which progress in reducing OPH exposures can be assessed.

Does training managers enhance the effects of implementing team-working? A longitudinal, mixed methods field study

The introduction of team-working often has positive effects on team members but places significant new demands on managers. Unfortunately, little research has examined whether the impact of the intervention may be enhanced by providing managers with training during the change process. To test this possibility we carried out a longitudinal intervention study (with a ‘no training’ comparison group) in a part of the Danish elderly care sector that was implementing teamwork. Kirkpatrick’s (1998) training evaluation model was used to examine the effects of training team managers in issues such as teamwork, transformational leadership and change management on the outcomes of team implementation. We used a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods to isolate the impact of manager training on the success of the teamwork intervention. The results identified some significant, but modest, incremental positive effects that could be attributed to the manager training. The results also showed that significant organizational changes during the intervention had an impact on both the team intervention and the transfer of manager training.

Overweight and obesity in UK firefighters

BACKGROUND Obesity among firefighters can present a hindrance to operational effectiveness. In North American studies, 80% of US firefighters are overweight or obese. No studies have explored obesity among firefighters in the UK, and it is unclear whether obesity is a problem among UK firefighters. AIMS To establish the prevalence of obesity among a large sample of firefighters in the UK and to explore changes in body mass index (BMI) over a 3-year period. METHODS The BMI and body composition of 735 male firefighters from a UK county fire and rescue service were assessed in 2008 and 2011. RESULTS In 2008, 65% of the firefighters were either overweight (54%) or obese (11%). In 2011, slightly fewer firefighters were overweight (53%), but the proportion classified as obese increased significantly to 13%. Those classified as normal weight in 2008 were more likely to have gained weight by 2011 in comparison with those categorized as obese at baseline. A lower proportion of firefighters were classified as high risk for obesity based on their waist circumference in 2008. CONCLUSIONS The proportion of firefighters who are either overweight or obese is lower in this UK sample than that found in US studies. Nevertheless, the proportion of UK firefighters classed as overweight was higher than that found in the general population samples from England. Given the negative implications of obesity for performance, there is a need for further investment in theory-based, sector-specific health promotion research and practice.

A Systematic Review of Current Understandings of Employability.

A theoretical framework is essential for the effective evaluation of employability. However, there are a wide range of definitions of employability coexisting in current literature. A review into existing ways in which employability has been conceptualised is needed to inform a better understanding of the nature of contributions made by various employability development opportunities, and appropriate assessment of these contributions. A systematic review is presented, assessing the similarities and differences between the components of employability conceptualisations, focusing on employability at an individual level. Relevant publications were identified through a sensitive search strategy of eight electronic bibliographic databases from 1960 to 2014. Data were extracted from 16 eligible manuscripts. Capital, career management and contextual dimensions were identified as unifying themes in these components. Findings indicate that success in developing employability needs to be contextualised within a conceptualisation of employability as a multifaceted construct.

Self‐assessment accuracy and assessment centre decisions

A number of authors have proposed that self-assessment may represent a valid tool for use in assessment situations. Research suggests that those who are accurate in self-assessments of performance actually perform more effectively, e.g. in the job or at an assessment centre. This study examined the properties of two measures of self-assessment (absolute accuracy of self-assessment and degree of inaccuracy of self-assessment) in a graduate assessment centre. Results showed that an accurate self-rating of performance on one assessment centre exercise reliably distinguished between accepted and rejected candidates. Further, and importantly, this effect remained after variance attributable to psychometric tests and demographic variables had been controlled for. That is, some accurate self-assessments appear to have incremental validity above and beyond psychometric tests. However, the magnitude and direction of self-assessment inaccuracy was significantly different between the accepted and rejected candidates for three of the four exercises. These results suggested that while variables associated with self-assessment may impact on the size of the inaccuracy of self-assessments, the impact of such variables may not lead to accurate self-assessment.

Psychosocial risk assessment in organizations: Concurrent validity of the brief version of the Management Standards Indicator Tool

The Management Standards Indicator Tool (MSIT) is a 35-item self-report measure of the psychosocial work environment designed to assist organizations with psychosocial risk assessment. It is also used in work environment research. Edwards and Webster presented a 25-item version of the MSIT based on the deletion of items having a factor loading of < .65. Stress theory and research suggest that psychosocial hazard exposures may result in harm to the health of workers. Thus, using data collected from three UK organizations (N = 20,406) we compared the concurrent validity of the brief and full versions of the MSIT by exploring the strength of association between each version of the instrument and a measure of psychological wellbeing (GHQ-12 and Maslach Burnout Inventory). Analyses revealed that the brief instrument offered similar but not always equal validity to that of the full version. The results indicate that use of the brief instrument, which would be less disruptive for employees, would not elevate the risk of false negative or false positive findings in risk assessment.