Some consequences of labor–management negotiations: Laboratory and field studies

The stress associated with labor-management negotiations is investigated in two longitudinal studies. In Study 1, changes in anxiety and blood pressure following a simulated negotiation exercise are assessed. The sample consisted of 49 advanced undergraduate Industrial Psychology students, divided into experimental (n = 24) and control (n = 25) groups. The experimental group engaged in a simulated labor–management negotiation, whereas the control group participated in a class discussion session. Anxiety and blood pressure levels of both groups were tested before and after the manipulation. Statistically controlling for pretest differences, the experimental group yielded more negative changes in anxiety and blood pressure levels than the control group from pretesting at posttesting. In Study 2, moderators and psychological consequences of participation during in vivo labor–management negotiations were studied. Data were collected from 96 industrial relations (IR) practitioners immediately before negotiations and three months later. Using moderated multiple regression, negatively perceived IR stress predicted negative changes in psychological well-being. Family support moderated the relationship, while personality hardiness yielded a negative buffering effect on this relationship. Explanations of the findings are discussed and implications for future research are suggested.     

Increasing coping resources at work: A field experiment to increase social support,improve work team functioning,and enhance employee mental health

Correlational studies have identified worksite coping resources such as social support and perceived control, and have suggested a positive role for such resources in employee stress processes. However, little experimental evidence has demonstrated the causal role of worksite coping resources in improving mental health, nor how worksite coping resources can be enhanced. This paper reports the results of a field experiment intended to provide such evidence. Human service workers participated in a theory-driven training program designed to increase individual and group psychosocial coping resources and individuals' abilities to use those resources when coping with job demands. The inclusion of selection variables in models used to estimate the impact of the intervention controlled for selection biases and also allowed for the assessment of the impact of the training on those workers identified as most prone to turnover and on those most likely to participate in such an intervention. Results indicated that the program enhanced the work team climate and reduced depresssive symptoms and somatization in those most at risk for leaving their jobs. The program was also effective in increasing the amount of supervisor support received on the job and strengthening perceptions of coping abilities in those workers most likely to participate in the program.     

泰州大桥工程项目建设单位安全管理实践探讨

建设单位做好安全管理工作,对保障大型工程项目建设的顺利进行,以及施工现场安全有着举足轻重的作用。泰州大桥项目作为特大桥梁工程,参建单位及人员众多,施工管理及组织非常复杂,安全管理工作面临着众多难点。本文从建设单位的角度出发,探讨了泰州大桥安全管理工作中的安全生产氛围、现场安全防护、高处作业、特种设备、特种作业人员、临时用电等八个重点内容,严把设计关、狠抓招标准入、强化制度建设、落实各级安全检查、实施安全生产风险抵押金考核等五种管理手段,以及委托专业机构提供现场安全管理及咨询、在全桥范围内建立和推行职业健康安全管理体系的探索性工作。此安全管理模式对其他大型工程项目建设单位抓好安全管理工作具有一定的借鉴意义。     

作业场所职业危害防护工作监管模式的设计研究

准确了解某地区作业场所职业危害防护现状，制定科学可行的监管模式，对实际职业危害防护工作意义重大。本文分析了靖江地区作业场所职业危害防护状况尤其是重点行业企业在选址、布局，工艺流程与车间设计、工程防护技术、管理等情况，同时依据工业企业设计卫生标准、建设项目职业病危害评价规范，结合国内外职业病流行病学状况与科学的管理理念，提出职业卫生监管模式，指导职业卫生监管工作实践，本文对其他地区开展作业场所职业卫生工作有参考价值。     

Transformational leadership,psychological empowerment,and the moderating role of mechanistic–organic contexts

The current study examines the empowering effects of transformational leaders and the extent to which these effects differ across mechanistic–organic organizational contexts. Psychological empowerment is hypothesized to provide a comprehensive motivational mechanism explaining the relationships between transformational leadership and employee job‐related behaviors. In addition, the relationships between transformational leadership, employee psychological empowerment, and job‐related behaviors are hypothesized to be stronger in organizations with more organic as opposed to mechanistic structures. Results based on a cross‐organizational sample of employees and their immediate supervisors provide support for the hypothesized relationships. Psychological empowerment mediated relationships between transformational leadership and employee task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors. The mediating role of psychological empowerment was then found to be conditional upon mechanistic–organic contexts. More specifically, organic structures enhanced, whereas mechanistic structures constrained, the empowering influence of transformational leaders. In highly mechanistic contexts, the indirect effects were no longer statistically significant. Implications for theory, research, and organizational management are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

‘Management Standards’ and work-related stress in Great Britain: Progress on their implementation

The aim of this paper is to identify what constituted barriers to progress in the implementation of the Management Standards for preventing and reducing work-related stress nationally, an approach advocated by the Health and Safety Executive in Great Britain. Data were collected from more than 100 public sector organisations through inspector visits and research interviews. Findings show that under supportive contexts, organisations were able to follow the process of a stepwise method for assessing psychosocial risks and implementing interventions using HSE assessment tools and guidance. Main enabling factors included the active and visible support from senior management, human resource departments, and line managers; regular communications on progress, sufficient organisational capability in terms of resources and expertise; departmental/team level assessment as opposed to an overall corporate wide assessment, and involvement of key stakeholders (e.g. Trade Union, employees). Some of the critical barriers across many public sector organisations included in this study were: major or on-going organisational changes; lack of organisational capability; and the resource intensive aspect of the method requiring focus groups in addition to stress survey data. Implications of the findings for policy development are discussed.     

Participants' appraisals of process issues and the effects of stress management interventions

It has been argued that traditional quasi‐experimental approaches to evaluation do not adequately measure, or take account of, perceptual processes that could contribute to the effectiveness of organizational‐level interventions. Using longitudinal data with added process measures at time 2 gathered from 11 intervention projects in Denmark, this paper used structural equation modelling (n = 462) to explore the impact of employees' direct appraisals of the intervention itself on intervention outcomes. Perceived influence on the content of interventions was directly linked to voluntary participation in these interventions. Participants' appraisals of the activities within an intervention were found to fully mediate the relationships between exposure to interventions and outcome measures (changes in working conditions, behavioural stress and job satisfaction). The results of the study indicate that employees' appraisal of the intervention itself can play an important role in determining the success or failure of a variety of organizational‐level interventions. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Toward an integrative approach of the industrial risk management process in France

Management in the field of environmental protection and risk prevention has evolved to the increasing participation of all stakeholders in the decision-making process. It certainly results from the development of the Information society and the global increase of knowledge of the population, combined with the concerns of the populations related to a sustainable development of our civilisation. Our ‘risk society’, following the big industrial disasters (Flixborough,Tchernobyl, Bhopal, Challenger, and more recently Toulouse), has also developed a cautious attitude towards the role of the expertise when it comes to assessing risks, along with a question of the ability of science to give definite answers.

This has lead in particular to the adoption of the Aarhus convention in 1998 and the evolution of several regulations in the developed countries. For example, in France the new law no. 2003–699 of 30 July 2003 about the ‘prevention of the technological and natural risks and to the compensation for the damages’ has introduced an important innovation into the process of technological risks prevention.

This law has enabled the involvement of the stakeholders in the decision-making process related to risk prevention and has urged the development of specific tools to deal with the complexity of risk management issues, in particular for those related to land-use planning.

As technical support to decision-makers in risk management from both public and private sectors, INERIS has played an important role for the evolution of the French risk management system.

This paper describes an analysis on the difficulty to control major accident hazards in an evolving context where the industrial systems becomes more and more complex and where the expectations of the civil society has increased. Then, the authors describe how an integrated vision for industrial risk management has emerged in France and is being implemented in a new law adopted after the Toulouse disaster.     

Industrial relations stress and job satisfaction: Concurrent effects and mediation

We examine the effects of negative and positive industrial relations stress on both mood (negative and positive) and job satisfaction. Twenty industrial relations practitioners completed daily reports of industrial relations stress, mood, and job satisfaction over a 20-day period. After controlling for serial correlation, negative industrial relations stress affected negative mood and, in turn, job satisfaction. Positive industrial relations stress had direct effects on both positive mood and job satisfaction with positive mood also affecting job satisfaction. All effects were concurrent with no next-day effects of stress on mood or job satisfaction. Further research on industrial relations stress is both warranted and encouraged.     

浅谈抚顺石化80万吨/年乙烯装置HSE管理工作

乙烯项目是高投入、高风险的项目。由于技术复杂、多专业、多工种深度交叉作业、施工区域作业空间狭小、施工人员众多,建设周期长等特点,加大了乙烯项目施工组织和安全管理的难度。另外,影响工程安全因素众多,人的不安全行为,物的不安全状态,项目实施的每一环节每一过程监管不到位,都会对现场安全直接或间接产生影响。因此,做好乙烯项目的 HSE管理工作就显得尤为重要。围绕"无安全事故,无人员伤亡,无环境污染"的安全管理目标,介绍抚顺石化80万吨/年乙烯装置HSE管理工作。具体包括:构建健全的组织机构;强化施工过程控制;采用科学的HSE管理方法,加强和各方的沟通与协调等,并结合项目实际,不断完善和创新HSE管理方法,确保抚顺石化80万吨/年乙烯项目施工生产顺利进行,实现工程项目安全受控。     

Unintended consequences of management strategies for improving labor productivity in construction industry

Introduction: Labor productivity and safety are important topics in the construction industry. Even so, the literature provides little information for project managers trying to determine how management strategies designed to improve labor productivity impact safety. Method: This research addresses the gap by measuring the impact of two groups of management strategies that involve human resource related management strategies and construction related management strategies related to safety performance in construction projects. Data were collected from 111 general construction projects through the survey. Results: The results show that the relationship between the implemented management strategies and safety performance is nuanced with ‘Communication’ harming safety performance while implementation of ‘Labor Management,’ ‘Supervision and Leadership,’ ‘Planning’ and ‘Management of Construction’ strategies improve the level of safety performance. This study took a further step by measuring the impact of the interactions between the two groups of management strategies on safety performance. The results show that the interactions of construction and human related management strategies are not always in the favor of safety. Practical Applications: This paper adds to the literature on the relationship between productivity and safety in the construction industry. The research findings can assist project managers to improve labor productivity without harming the safety of laborers unintentionally.     

Organizational diversity,integration and performance

This research examines how integrative methods of open communications, involvement, and conflict resolution in implementing an organizational change initiative moderate the relationship between cognitive diversity among employees and organization performance. In this longitudinal study of 37 medical clinics, we find that the interaction of integrative methods and diversity of models for organizing among employees has a significant positive effect on clinic revenue, productivity, and patient satisfaction. An important practical implication of these findings is that instead of seeking consensus on a singular vision of a strategic change initiative, managers are more likely to improve organization performance by focusing their interventions on creating integrative methods for encouraging and learning from diverse and opposing views of an organizational change initiative. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Context matters: Combined influence of participation and intellectual stimulation on the promotion focus–employee creativity relationship

In this paper, we examined the interactive effects of two contexts—participation and intellectual stimulation, and promotion focus on creativity. On the basis of a multi‐organization sample of 213 employees, we tested and found that although promotion focus was positively related to creativity, the relationship between promotion focus and creativity was most positive when both participation and leader intellectual stimulation were high. We discuss the way contexts in combination influence employee creativity for promotion‐oriented individuals, through increasing decision latitude as well as stimulating and promoting creativity. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An assessment of health and safety management within working groups in the UK manufacturing sector

Problem: In response to the demands of competitiveness, there has been a proliferation of management delayering in order to move responsibility to those people carrying out the operations and to focus on working as a team. Teams can be managed in different ways: using supervisors, team leaders, or self-managed. The management of health and safety and other business risks is dependent on the way in which the team is managed. Method: This study has assessed, through the use of semistructured interviews, how UK manufacturing companies have addressed a range of health and safety management issues (i.e., the setting, communication, and measurement of company objectives, employee participation and empowerment, and risk assessment) in relation to different styles of group working (i.e., supervised groups, groups with team leaders, and self-managed groups). Discussion: Although the differences are not always significant, it is noticeable that within organizations using supervised work environments, there is a lack of communication of specific health and safety information, little involvement and participation in safety activities, and a greater reliance on the safety function. However, in organizations using team leaders and self-managed groups, there is evidence of greater management involvement, more open communication, and greater employee involvement in health and safety, although empowerment in its true sense was still limited in these organizations. Impact on industry: The results obtained illustrate the impact of different working groups on the management of health and safety in the UK manufacturing sector.     

推行定置管理促进安全文明生产

定置管理是优化生产现场为研究对象。研究生产要素中人、物、场所的状况以及三者在生产活动中的相互关系。使人、物、场所处于最佳结合状态。定置管理不仅有效地促进了厂区的文明化，强化了运输处的现场综合治理，同时，也推动了运输处广大职工的精神文明建设。提高了广大职工安全生产意识，它已成为运输处企业管理的一项基础性工作，同时，也保证了文明生产和安全生产。     

Railway safety climate: a study on organizational development

The safety climate of an organization is considered a leading indicator of potential risk for railway organizations. This study adopts the perceptual measurement–individual attribute approach to investigate the safety climate of a railway organization. The railway safety climate attributes are evaluated from the perspective of railway system staff. We identify four safety climate dimensions from exploratory factor analysis, namely safety communication, safety training, safety management and subjectively evaluated safety performance. Analytical results indicate that the safety climate differs at vertical and horizontal organizational levels. This study contributes to the literature by providing empirical evidence of the multilevel safety climate in a railway organization, presents possible causes of the differences under various cultural contexts and differentiates between safety climate scales for diverse workgroups within the railway organization. This information can be used to improve the safety sustainability of railway organizations and to conduct safety supervisions for the government.     

化工园区应急管理能力评估研究

为了研究化工园区应急管理能力的影响指标,从控制事故致因角度出发,得到6个化工园区应急管理能力一级影响指标和32个二级影响指标。为了解决传统专家打分法和层次分析法存在的随意性大、计算结果不可预测的问题,通过考虑专家自然属性权重和采用模糊层次分析法对所得影响指标的权重进行研究,并运用模糊综合评价方法对某化学工业园区的应急管理能力进行评估。结果表明:采用的计算方法可快速计算各影响指标权重;一级影响因素中,人员组织建设和预案及制度建设最为重要,应急基础保障、应急技术支持和指挥协调建设其次,事后处置重要性最低;该化工园区的应急管理能力“较好”。研究成果可为管理者认识化工园区应急管理水平,有序开展化工园区应急管理能力建设提供参考。     

How working is defined: Structure and stability

Multidimensional scaling of statements that identify when individuals consider an activity in which one is engaged to be working was conducted on representative samples of the employed labor forces in Belgium, Germany, Japan and the U.S.A. at the time period 1982–1983 and again at the time period 1989–1992. Representative samples of the employed labor forces in East Germany, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Beijing, China were studied at the time period 1991–1992 and were subjected to the same MDS analysis. The results provide empirical support that one hypothesized dimension underlying the way in which people define working ranges from burden/control to social contribution. Individuals who define working in burden/control and/or constraint terms emphasize costs to the individual. Individuals who define working largely in responsibility and exchange terms emphasize reciprocal exchange relations between the individual and the organization/society. Individuals who define working largely in social contribution terms emphasize the social benefits of working. The work definition structures in each of the four countries with replication samples are quite stable over time. In total, the work definition responses of over 18,000 individuals were studied.     

Ergonomic work analysis and professional training

The starting point of the study is six research subjects in which ergonomic work analysis is conceived as a ‘tool’ used to develop professional types of training programmes concerning present or future work activities. All these approaches reveal a tendency for instructors to give priority to the experience of the trainee and interventions designed on the basis of concrete work situations. The question is to know if this is the affirmation of the values of an alternative socio-political project or simply that of a cyclical interest corresponding to increasing concerns regarding the management of labor which accompanied the process of the technical transformation and the shrinkage of the job market.