| 1. |
- Bolin, Malin, 1974-
(författare)
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The importance of organizational characteristics for psychosocial working conditions and health
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The importance of organizations for understanding differences in the working conditions and health of employees is often emphasized but rarely explored empirically. The general aim of this thesis is to describe organizational characteristics of workplaces, and to assess their impact on the psychosocial working conditions and health of employees. In modern working life, it is assumed that employees' working conditions and health are affected by a general transformation of workplaces from bureaucracy to post-bureaucracy. The organizational data used are based on structured interviews with managers at workplaces in different types of operations in mid-Sweden, whereas the individual data consist of a questionnaire to all employees working in the participating workplaces, resulting in a dataset of 90 workplaces and 4306 individuals. Descriptive analysis was carried out for comparison of organizational characteristics in different types of operations, while multilevel analysis was applied to investigate the magnitude of the organizational impact on psychosocial working conditions, and to analyze associations between organizational characteristics, psychosocial working conditions and health. The results showed that the workplaces were mainly displayed by a combination of bureaucratic and post-bureaucratic characteristics, and these were unequally distributed between types of operations. A systematic variation in the psychosocial working conditions and health of employees was found between workplaces, and the variation in psychosocial working conditions was attributed to several organizational levels. The variation between workplaces was explained by both organizational characteristics of the workplaces and individual characteristics of the employees. Formalization, centralization, job enrichment, individual responsibility, soft control systems, and performance control were associated with psychosocial working conditions when controlled for occupational class, gender and age of employees, and a high degree of customer adaptation was associated with increased sickness absence of employees. It is concluded that bureaucracy and post-bureaucracy should not be regarded as dichotomies. Organizational characteristics of workplaces have an impact on the psychosocial working conditions and health of employees beyond occupational class. This has implications for both the theory and the practice of occupational health research.
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| 2. |
- Hansen, Niklas, 1974-
(författare)
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Arbetsvillkor i privat och offentlig sjukvård : Implikationer för personalens attityder och hälsa
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Omvandlingen av sjukvården mot marknadisering och nya driftsformer har huvudsakligen genomförts utifrån ekonomiska och politiska föresatser om ökad effektivitet och vårdkvalitet. Goda arbetsvillkor för personalen är en viktig förutsättning för förverkligandet av dessa mål. Givet det oklara kunskapsläget kring psykologiska implikationer av omställningen i välfärdssektorns styrning var syftet med avhandlingen att studera olika aspekter av arbetsvillkor samt arbetsrelaterade attityder och hälsa i privat, bolagiserad och förvaltningsdriven sjukvård. Det gjordes genom att undersöka hur krav och resurser i arbetet förhåller sig till uppkomsten och utbredningen av utbrändhet hos sjuksköterskor, betydelsen av kontroll i och över arbetet för de anställdas arbetstrivsel samt hur motivationsbaserade kognitioner av bemyndigande hos vårdpersonal förändras vid privatisering och relaterar till attityder och hälsa. De empiriska studierna inkluderade såväl tvärsnittliga som longitudinella enkätdata från tre svenska akutsjukhus med olika driftsform. Resultaten visade högre nivåer av utbrändhet hos sjuksköterskor i privat jämfört med förvaltningsdrivet sjukhus. För arbetstrivsel fanns ingen nivåskillnad mellan de tre driftsformerna. Krav i arbetet hängde samman med högre utbrändhetsnivåer och lägre arbetstrivsel. Flera resurser var förenade med lägre grad av utbrändhet medan kontroll hängde samman med högre trivsel. Vid en förändring från bolagiserad till privat driftsform var vårdpersonalens bemyndigande relativt stabilt. Dock fanns efter privatiseringen en tendens till standardisering då graden av bemyndigande blev mer lika. Likaså skedde en statusmässig differentiering i bemyndigande mellan yrkesgrupperna genom att flera med låg status fick mindre bemyndigande. Sammantaget pekar avhandlingen på fler likheter än skillnader mellan driftsformerna vilket antyder att driftsform tycks ha mindre betydelse för såväl nivå som betydelse av arbetsvillkor för personalens attityder och hälsa.
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| 3. |
- Larsson, Robert
(författare)
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Managing workplace health promotion in municipal organizations
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The workplace is a suitable setting for health promotion, not least due to the amount of time employees spend at work. Previous research indicates large variations in employers' handling of workplace health promotion (WHP) efforts. However, more empirical knowledge of how WHP is handled in public sector organizations is needed.The overall aim of the thesis was to explore how WHP is managed and implemented in municipal organizations. The thesis draws on health promotion as the point of departure, further accompanied with concepts related to organizational change and implementation research.The thesis is based on three studies using different empirical materials. Both quantitative and qualitative research designs were used. In the first study, questionnaires were sent to both top managers and employees in a nationwide random sample of 60 of the 290 municipal social care organizations in Sweden. Data were analysed at the organizational level, linking WHP measures provided by the employer to employee health. In the second study, interviews concerning the management of WHP were carried out with senior managers representing various departments in two municipalities. The third study analysed the implementation of a health-promoting leadership programme, and the interviews made, concerned the experiences of line and middle managers participating in the programme.The results show that the provision of individual- and organizational-directed WHP measures was associated to employee health at the organizational level. Furthermore, the senior managers described WHP management as components contributing to the organization's capacity for WHP. However, they mainly described WHP as providing healthy lifestyle activities, and mapping working conditions and employee health. In the study analysing the implementation of the leadership programme, line and middle managers described employee involvement as an enabling factor, whereas high workload and lack of senior management support were barriers described. Recurrent organizational changes and other politically-initiated projects and routines were also pointed out as competing events in the implementation process.From this thesis, it can be concluded that WHP management is dominated by measures directed towards the individual employee and needs to include more of psychosocial and organizational measures. Finally, the varied organizational conditions for municipal managers as well as the support from senior management and human resources staff needs to be considered and ensured as part of an active and continuous WHP practice.
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| 4. |
- Andersson, Kin, 1960-
(författare)
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Proactivity at work
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Proactive behaviour implies taking initiative and mastering unexpected situations, and hence, is desirable in different situations. The present thesis includes three empirical studies intended to understand the consequences of proactive behaviour, as well as the factors that contribute to proactive behaviour at work and when facing unemployment. More specifically, whether job design, as measured by objective work task analysis, provides conditions conducive to proactivity in the workplace and when facing unemployment. The results of proactive behaviour during unemployment were also of interest. Study I focused on the influence of job design on individuals’ personal initiative and confidence in their ability when facing unemployment. Participants were employees at a downsizing Swedish assembly plant. Confidence in one’s ability mediated the relationship between job design and personal initiative, and personal initiative affected job search behaviour when advised to be dismissed. Study II, a longitudinal exploration, focused on the predictors of re-employment in the same group as in Study I. Men were more than nine times as likely as women to obtain jobs within 15 months. Individuals without children were more than seven times as likely as those with children to find work within 15 months. The desire to change occupation and willingness to relocate also increased the probability of being re-employed, whereas anonymous-passive job-search behaviour and work-related self-efficacy actually decreased the probability of re-employment. The number of job applications did not impact later re-employment. Study III analysed job design as a predictor of group initiative and self-organisational activities in semiautonomous industrial work groups. An input-process-output model showed that group processes such as reflexivity mediated the impact of job design on proactivity in work groups. Taken together, these studies suggest that work task analysis a useful tool, since it provides access to information that cannot be obtained with self-report measures. Job design indirectly affected proactivity both in the face of unemployment, and in industrial work groups. Further, it is worthwhile to continue identifying the antecedents and consequences of proactivity, as this seems to be an important factor regarding work and unemployment.
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| 5. |
- Elwér, Sofia, 1979-
(författare)
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Gender equality and health experiences : workplace patterns in Northern Sweden
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Gendered practices of working life create gender inequalities through horizontal and vertical gender segregation in work, which may lead to gender inequalities in health experiences. The workplace is an important part of the social circumstances under which health opportunities and constraints are shaped. The workplace has also been identified as an important arena for gender constructions. Still, there is a lack of research about the relations between workplace gender equality and health experiences. The aim of this thesis was to explore gender equality and health experiences in a workplace setting.Qualitative and quantitative methods were used. In the qualitative studies all caregiving staff at two establishments providing care for elderly was invited to participate in focus groups (Papers I & II). A moderator led 14 focusgroup discussions. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the transcribed discussions. For the quantitative studies questionnaire data from the Northern Swedish Cohort (n=836) were analysed and supplemented with register data about the participants’ workplaces. The register data were used to stratify the workplaces according to gender composition (paper IV) and to create gender equality indicators of the number of women and men at the workplace, education, salary and parental leave (Paper III). Cluster analysis was used to identify patterns of gender equality at the workplaces. Logistic regression analysis, adjusting for individual socio-demographics and previous psychological distress, were used to analyse psychological distress in relation to both clusters and gender compositions.This thesis identifies various workplace patterns of gender equality and how they are related to health experiences. The results from the focus group study showed that workplace stressors had a structural character, often originating from societal processes outside the own organization, whereas health resources had a relational character and were constructed within the organization (paper I). Gender equality was seen as a structural issue not connected to the individual health experiences and gender inequalities were justified through focusing on personalities and interests in work division (paper II). The cluster analysis resulted in six distinctive clusters with different workplace patterns of gender equality (paper III). The most gender-equal cluster was characterized by gender equality in salary and parental leave and was associated with the lowest prevalence of psychological distress, with no significant differences between women and men. The clusters were associated with psychological distress among women only. The highest odds for psychological distress among women were found in a traditional unequal cluster. Analyses of the gender composition at the workplace showed that the highest prevalence of psychological distress was found at workplaces with a mixed gender composition (paper IV). The psychosocial work environment was rather similar independent of the workplace gender composition.The factors most strongly associated with psychological distress were high demands and low control at workplaces with more men, being looked down upon at workplaces with a mixed gender composition, and social support at workplaces with more women.Gender perspectives highlight the importance of gender relations in research on work-related health. Gender inequalities at workplaces can be part of the explanation to women’s worse self-rated health. A multidimensional view of gender equality is necessary to understand health consequences of specific workplace situations. Workplaces are important arenas for health promotion activities and gender equality aspects needs to be taken into account to reach both women and men. Adequate health promotion needs to shift focus from individual health strategies to structural solutions that can challenge the root of the problem.
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| 6. |
- Nylund, Annette, 1961-
(författare)
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Learning at Work and Productivity in Swedish Business Firms : Based on the Swedish MEADOW Survey 2009/2010
- 2017
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The background of the thesis is the ongoing struggle for better understanding of driving forces for economic growth. Some important and rewarding new steps have been taken the last decades in the research of economic growth theory. For example, the theory includes not only the use of technology but also the creation and implementation of new technology entwined with management and learning practices at work. However, the development of knowledge on the matter can be described as slow. The explanation is argued to be the lack of data, which complicates and prevents the development of theory. The lack of data and the intertwined dependence with the development of theory in the matter constitutes the starting point for the research in the thesis.The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the development of measures of management of work and learning practices at work that can be used in productivity models. The analyses are based on the micro-level data from the Swedish MEADOW Survey 2009/2010, at Statistics Sweden. Factor and regression analysis are performed, other analytical techniques are also used.Some key findings of how management and learning practices at work can be described and measured show that the business firms use the different practices in bundles. The findings indicate synergy effects on performance when more than one management and learning practice is applied. Two different management approaches are tested, both models predict productivity. However, there is a difference in the productivity model a such when it includes the two management approaches; the measure of the contemporary use has a better fitness then the theoretical model. Focus and delimitations of research questions in the forthcoming doctoral dissertation are discussed, see Future Research – the Logic Next Step, in Chapter 6. Final Reflections.
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| 7. |
- Stråberg, Teresia, 1971-
(författare)
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Employee perspectives on individualized pay : Attitudes and fairness perceptions
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The use of various types of individualized pay setting has increased dramatically in Sweden. In order for individualized pay to work as an incentive, the pay system has to be perceived as fair. This thesis focuses on the various subjective perceptions that arise in relation to individualized pay setting, since such perceptions may have consequences for employee attitudes and behavior. Using survey data from Swedish human service workers (Study I and II) as well as other public employees (Study III), the general aim was to shed more light on employees’ pay attitudes and fairness perceptions in connection with individualized pay setting. Study I examined some of the explanatory factors behind employee pay attitudes. The results showed that perceiving a clear connection between work results and pay, and perceiving a sound working climate, were both related to more positive attitudes towards the pay distribution process. Study II examined factors potentially associated with pay-related justice perceptions. The results demonstrated that perceptions of having sufficient feedback, proper information on pay criteria, gender equality, and lower workloads were connected with more favorable views of pay justice. Pay justice perceptions, in turn, appeared only to be marginally connected with employees’ work-related attitudes and behavior. Study III investigated whether women’s and men’s perceptions of the individualized pay-setting process differed. The results showed that both genders had a similar awareness of the organizational policies and goals. The women, however, reported much lower levels of pay-related gender equality than the men and perceived that men, overall, benefited more from individualized pay setting. In conclusion, employees’ perceptions of a well-functioning working climate, apparent links between work effort and pay, as well as perceived equal opportunities contribute to individualized pay systems being viewed as more fair.
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| 8. |
- Höckertin, Chatrine, 1964-
(författare)
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Organisational characteristics and psychosocial working conditions in different forms of ownership
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The main aim of this thesis has been to compare psychosocial working conditions in workplaces with different forms of ownership, i.e. public, private and cooperative. A second aim has been to study how organisational characteristics of relevance for psychosocial working conditions (in terms of management control strategies and prerequisites for management) are manifested in these ownership forms. The empirical data is based on structured interviews with managers at 60 workplaces within the service sector and on a questionnaire to all employees working in the participating workplaces, resulting in a set of 1384 individuals. An additional seven interviews with first-line managers within geriatric care were also conducted for the last study. The results show that employees in cooperatives perceived that they had better opportunities to influence decisions concerning the workplace as a whole, although there were also results showing advantages for public and private employees. Regarding opportunities for employees to influence their own work situation, there were no differences between the ownership forms. Differences were found in the prerequisites for first-line geriatric care managers. As a result of an earlier organisational change, the public managers were now further away from the strategic level and had to focus on daily, operative work tasks, while simultaneously also being responsible for keeping within the budget. The private managers, on the other hand, having group leaders to deal with the daily work concerning personnel and operations, could focus more on strategic work related to financial results in terms of planning and follow-up of the budget. One conclusion is that there are certain differences in both psychosocial working conditions and organisational characteristics between the ownership forms, but when the comparisons were restricted to only one type of service, in this case the provision of care, it is rather the similarities within the care organisations, regardless of ownership form, that are most pronounced.
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