The relationship of organizational factors to employee health and overall effectiveness.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Lim S-Y ; Murphy L
• Description:
  Objectives: This paper describes results from an ongoing program of research at NIOSH on healthy work organizations. A healthy work organization is defined as one whose culture, climate and practices create an environment which promotes both employee health and safety as well as organizational effectiveness. A prior report (Lim and Murphy, 1997) identified three key dimensions associated with both employee health and organizational effectiveness: (1) commitment to company values, (2) an organizational climate in which employees feel valued, and resolve group conflicts, and (3) management practices such as rewarding workers for quality work, supportive first-line supervisors, and strong leadership. The present paper extends these results using data from the same organization for 1995 and 1996, and shows that common organizational characteristics can be found to affect employees health and safety as well as organizational effectiveness. Methods: Data was taken from an ongoing organizational climate survey of a northeastern manufacturing company. This paper examined data from years 1993 (N=5199 employees from 30 different sites), 1995(N=l189 employees from one site), and 1996 (N=2680 employees from two sites). Three organizational dimensions were examined: management practices (supervisory style, employee development, recognition/rewards, communication, and understanding the organization's vision); organizational climate (innovation, workplace diversity, conflict-free work environment, and employee sense of"ownership"); and commitment to organizational values (total quality, integrity, corporate freedom, and technological innovation). Measures of organizational health outcomes were: overall effectiveness, job and employer satisfaction, and a stress index (perceived stress, work-life balance, and coping). Results: For all three years of data, employees who experienced high levels of stress also reported lower scores on measures of all three organizational dimensions, as well as lower scores on organizational effectiveness and job satisfaction than low stress employees. The consistent predictors of all organizational outcomes were employee development, understanding of organizational vision, communication, innovation, conflict-free working environment, and commitment to organizational values. Conclusion: Certain organizational factors appear to play a crucial role in promoting both employee health and well-being, and organizational effectiveness. The consistent predictors of health and performance outcomes from this study form the core of a model of healthy work organizations. Preventive interventions based on this model will be designed and implemented at multiple field sites and · effects on objective outcomes measures such as absenteeism, health care costs, and stress-related disability will be evaluated.
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Asbestos Dust Environmental Monitoring Occupational Health Preceptorship Safety
• Keywords:
  Employee Health Health Programs Safety Programs Stress Work Environment Workers Work Organization
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DBBS - Division of Biomedical and Behavioral Sciences
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  8-9
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20047940
• Citation:
  Proceedings of the 7th Joint Science Symposium on Occupational Safety and Health, October 26-27 1998, Hidden Valley, Pennsylvania. Cincinnati, OH: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health,1998 Oct; :8-9
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1999
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Proceedings of the 7th Joint Science Symposium on Occupational Safety and Health, October 26-27 1998, Hidden Valley, Pennsylvania
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c65ec43290f65863a08590f26e5330dde206044b859bc5ad8cb44bdb452eb416be71242ce59a5ec6a229106e1a2f14ac7f2d63b521461f89ae9c006bf686f500
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/181680/cdc_181680_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 47.76 KB ]