Involvement and structure: a qualitative study of organizational change and sickness absence among women in the public sector in Sweden

Engaging to innovate: an investigation into the implications of engagement at work on innovative behaviors in healthcare organizations

PURPOSE

Organizational innovation relies on the employees' active participation in improving extant processes and practices. In particular, it has been argued that employees' engagement triggers innovation-oriented behaviors at work. Nevertheless, there is a paucity of evidence of the implications of work engagement on the health professionals' innovation propensity. The article intends to push forward what we currently know about this issue, providing some food for thought to scholars and practitioners.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH

A path analysis based on ordinary least square (OLS) regression and 10,000 bootstrap samples was designed to investigate the direct and indirect implications of employees' engagement on innovative behaviors at work in a large sample of health professionals operating in Europe. The quality of employee-manager relationships and the organizational climate were included as mediating variables affecting the relationship between work engagement and propensity to innovation-oriented behaviors.

FINDINGS

The research findings highlighted that being engaged at work fosters the willingness of health professionals to partake in the improvement of organizational processes and practices. The positive implications of employees' engagement on innovative behaviors at work are catalyzed by good employee-manager relationships and a positive organizational climate.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

Healthcare organizations should uphold the health professional's engagement to enhance their innovation potential. Targeted interventions are needed to merge work engagement with the enhancement of the organizational environment in which health professionals accomplish their activities. A positive organizational climate enacts an empowering work environment, which further incentivizes innovation.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE

The article adopts a micro-level perspective to investigate the triggers of innovative behaviors among healthcare professionals, providing evidence which is relevant for theory and practice.

Exploring work-related attributions of sickness absence during organizational change

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on the relationship between organizational change and sickness absence and to map and describe the prevailing “trends” in the field. In particular, the paper focuses on the indirect links between change and sickness absence and identifies knowledge gaps and novel research opportunities.

Design/methodology/approach

A scoping review was conducted seeking to generate a wide-ranging overview of relevant studies. To this end, research articles were collected through different sources of landmark articles, bibliographies and databases.

Findings

The association between organizational change and sickness absence is often explained by adverse changes in work characteristics. Such potential mediation or moderation effects, however, are rarely statistically tested. Including such variables in the analyses may represent an important avenue for future research. Additionally, earlier studies have mainly emphasized organization-wide episodic changes. Recently, however, researchers have focused on smaller and frequently implemented changes. Accordingly, the field of organizational change and occupational health may advance by incorporating greater diversity of change type.

Originality/value

The paper demonstrates that attention to the potential health effects of organizational change will remain important as the field of workplace health management proceeds. Research needs to develop beyond attributions of the relationship between change and sickness absence and focus more on statistical testing of linking variables. The unique contribution of this review is therefore that it identifies knowledge gaps and novel avenues for prospective research.

Causes of stress before, during and after organizational change: a qualitative study

Purpose

– Since prior empirical research has seldom compared causes of stress before, during and after organizational change the purpose of this paper is to identify stressors as change unfolded over time and to identify what led to variations in stress levels.

Design/methodology/approach

– Semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2012 with 31 staff in clinical and non-clinical positions in a New Zealand public health organization that had experienced considerable change.

Findings

– For most respondents the transition phase was the most stressful as it created job insecurity and was handled with insufficient information, consultation and support. For the balance stress increased after the change, which created additional demands that usually needed to be met with fewer resources. The stress of others emerged as a new category of stressor during the transition stage.

Research limitations/implications

– Memories fade and the lines between stages of change are often blurred with one change sometimes occurring simultaneously with another or following it. Further studies could explore stressors at different points in time, in different national contexts and in private and public organizations.

Practical implications

– Leaders of public sector organizations need to be mindful of the deleterious effects of stress from organizational change and create cultures, strategies and practices that mitigate the stress.

Originality/value

– This is apparently the first qualitative study that traces the causes of stress as organizational change moves through various phases.

Critical success factors for physical activity promotion through community partnerships

OBJECTIVES

To define key factors of effective evidence-based policy implementation for physical activity promotion by use of a partnership approach.

METHODS

Using Parent and Harvey's model for sport and physical activity community-based partnerships, we defined determinants of implementation based on 13 face-to-face interviews with network organisations and 39 telephone interviews with partner organisations. Furthermore, two quantitative data-sets (n = 991 and n = 965) were used to measure implementation.

RESULTS

In total, nine variables were found to influence implementation. Personal contact was the most powerful variable since its presence contributed to success while its absence led to a negative outcome. Four contributed directly to success: political motive, absence of a metropolis, high commitment and more qualified staff. Four others resulted in a less successful implementation: absence of positive merger effects, exposure motive and governance, and dispersed leadership.

CONCLUSIONS

Community networks are a promising instrument for the implementation of evidence-based policies. However, determinants of both formation and management of partnerships influence the implementation success. During partnership formation, special attention should be given to partnership motives while social skills are of utmost importance for the management.