Are older workers more active copers? Longitudinal effects of age‐contingent coping on strain at work

This study addresses coping processes as explanation of age‐related differences in strain experience. Based on the life‐span theory of control, we posit that older workers employ more active problem‐focused and more active emotion‐focused coping strategies than younger workers, which should mediate age effects on strain at work. The correlation between age and passive avoidance coping, in contrast, is expected to be qualified by external resources such as job control. Hypotheses were tested in a two‐wave panel study (8 months lag) with 634 workers (age range 16–65 years). Job demands were considered as control variables. As predicted, older as compared with younger workers reported more active problem‐focused coping, which mediated age differences on strain in the longitudinal analysis. No mediation was found for active emotion‐focused coping. Moreover, age‐contingent effects of passive avoidance coping were moderated by job control. When job control was low, younger as compared with older workers reported more avoidance coping, which in turn decreased strain in the longitudinal analysis. Finally, reverse longitudinal effects of age‐contingent strain on active problem‐focused and active emotion‐focused coping provide initial evidence for age‐contingent resource spirals. Together, the results reveal specific strengths of older workers for stress management at work. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

高危岗位矿工工作倦怠影响因素的结构方程模型

为探索高危岗位矿工工作倦怠形成机制,寻求合理的干预对策,在文献研究和实地调研基础上,提出矿工工作倦怠假设模型。采用多阶段分层随机抽样法,对1 800名高危岗位矿工进行问卷调查,并借助结构方程模型(SEM)技术验证假设模型。研究表明:组织管理和角色压力均正向影响工作倦怠,工作特征仅正向影响生理疲乏;社会支持是工作压力源到工作倦怠的中介变量;消极应对是工作压力源到工作倦怠的部分中介变量,其中介效应较社会支持大很多;工作压力源通过影响社会支持再影响应对方式进而正向影响工作倦怠。通过有效干预组织管理和角色压力可减缓工作倦怠。     

Managers' coping resources,perceived organizational patterns,and responses during organizational recovery from decline

This study proposes that individual coping resources and organizational patterns explain the responses of mid‐level managers to organizational recovery after decline. The study sample consisted of 252 managers in Israeli enterprises recovering from organizational decline. The responses studied were—citizenship responses, negative responses, the wish to exit and acts to exit the organization. Hypotheses were developed relating these responses to individual coping resources of job involvement, self‐esteem and locus of control, and to organizational factors of organic processes, top management support, and organizational opportunities. Findings indicated that most coping resources and organizational patterns correlated with type of response: citizenship behaviors were related to job involvement, internal locus of control, self‐esteem and to perceptions of opportunities and organic processes in the organization. They were negatively related to external locus of control. Negative behavior was negatively related to job involvement, self‐esteem, perceived organizational opportunities and organic processes. The wish to exit related negatively to job involvement, external locus of control, and perceived opportunities. It related positively to self‐esteem. Actual exit behavior was not predicted by the coping resources, nor by organizational factors. Three‐stage multiple regression analyses revealed that individual coping characteristics reduced the impacts of organizational factors for most responses. Implications for management are discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Industrial relations,worksite stress reduction,and employee well-being: A participatory action research investigation

The workplace has become the locus of many stress management and stress reduction interventions. However, little attention has focused on how worksite factors affect the implementation and impact of such interventions. In this paper, we investigate the effect of new versus traditional industrial relations practices on the impact of a worksite stress reduction program in a manufacturing setting. More specifically, a participatory action research (PAR) stress project is described and evaluated in two different labor–management relations contexts. One organization is characterized by the emerging ’new‘ industrial relations system where labor–management relations incorporate elements of joint problem-solving. The other organization has a more traditional approach where labor–management relations are formally adversarial. Results indicate that the labor–management relations context did influence the impact of the stress project. Involvement in the PAR stress project enhanced employee participation in decision-making in both contexts. However, involvement in the stress project enhanced employees' perceptions of the climate for participation only in the organization with more cooperative industrial relations. Increases in coworker support and decreases in depressive symptoms were associated with involvement in the PAR stress project in the organization with more adversarial industrial relations.     

Behaving safely under pressure: The effects of job demands,resources, and safety climate on employee physical and psychosocial safety behavior

Introduction: Previous research has shown that employees who experience high job demands are more inclined to show unsafe behaviors in the workplace. In this paper, we examine why some employees behave safely when faced with these demands while others do not. We add to the literature by incorporating both physical and psychosocial safety climate in the job demands and resources (JD-R) model and extending it to include physical and psychosocial variants of safety behavior. Method: Using a sample of 6230 health care employees nested within 52 organizations, we examined the relationship between job demands and (a) resources, (b) safety climate, and (c) safety behavior. We conducted multilevel analyses to test our hypotheses. Results: Job demands (i.e., work pressure), job resources (i.e., job autonomy, supervisor support, and co-worker support) and safety climate (both physical and psychosocial safety climate) are directly associated with, respectively, lower and higher physical and psychosocial safety behavior. We also found some evidence that safety climate buffers the negative impact of job demands (i.e., work–family conflict and job insecurity) on safety behavior and strengthens the positive impact of job resources (i.e., co-worker support) on safety behavior. Conclusions: Regardless of whether the focus is physical or psychological safety, our results show that strengthening the safety climate within an organization can increase employees' safety behavior. Practical implication: An organization's safety climate is an optimal target of intervention to prevent and ameliorate negative physical and psychological health and safety outcomes, especially in times of uncertainty and change.     

Action-Oriented Support for Occupational Safety and Health Programs in Some Developing Countries in Asia

Action-oriented support programs have been increasingly playing vital roles in promoting safety and health in developing countries in Asia. This paper studied achievements of 3 action-oriented support programs: the WISE program for small enterprises, the WIND program for farmers, and the POSITIVE program for workers and trade unions. Special attention was paid to how the programs have strengthened local efforts for sustainable actions in safety and health improvements. The results showed that there were significant achievements in action-oriented support programs in the region, including a large number of improvement examples, integration into government policies, and network support through employers’ and workers’ organizations. Participatory, action-oriented training tools such as action-checklists, local good example photos, and group work methods played key roles in the effective implementation of the programs. It was of note that there were a number of local efforts to extend the coverage of action-oriented support even to hard-to-reach workers such as home-based workers, rural workers, and ethnic minorities. The efforts included the equal participation in the training by female and male farmers, shortened and weekend training programs, photo sheets showing local good examples, and reasonable fee collection for better sustainability. In conclusion, action-oriented support programs provided local people with concrete means to promote safety and health improvements. The successful programs commonly focused on local initiatives and were built on local wisdom and resources.     

Crossover of stress,strain and resources from one spouse to another

The main focus of the study was the crossover of burnout and of coping resources from husbands to wives and vice versa. The study was carried out on 101 couples, male military officers and their wives, who were randomly selected by the Israel Defense Force computer. They filled out questionnaires that measured their level of burnout, job stress, work support, family support concerning work problems, and their sense of control. Findings reveal that the husbands' sense of control and burnout were positively related to the corresponding variables measured for their wives. To establish the crossover effect, the theoretical model was tested by structural equation analysis (LISREL), which showed a positive effect of wives' burnout on husbands' burnout, after controlling for the husbands' own job stress and coping resources. The husbands' burnout likewise affected their wives' burnout. Thus, a crossover of burnout was exhibited from husbands to wives and vice versa. Furthermore, for both sexes, sense of control had the highest impact on their own burnout and on their spouse's burnout, after controlling for their own job stress and resources. Thus, the spouse's sense of control was found to be an additional resistance resource working to the benefit of the other partner. The relevance of these findings to burnout prevention is discussed.     

Spillover and crossover of work resources: A test of the positive flow of resources through work–family enrichment

In their seminal model of work–family enrichment, Greenhaus and Powell (2006) theorized five categories of work resources to have an impact on work–family enrichment. Using a matched set of 351 dual‐career spouses, we explored how these unique work resources contribute to work–family enrichment and how they spill over to shape job incumbents' family outcomes and cross over to spouse outcomes. Results support indirect effects for the work resources of developmental experiences, supervisor support, schedule control, and self‐efficacy, but not salary, on marital satisfaction and family functioning through the job incumbent's work–family enrichment. In addition, we found support for the crossover of these indirect effects to the spouse through the spouse's positive crossover transmission, which facilitated the spouse's marital satisfaction and commitment to the job incumbent's organization. Our results suggest that multiple work resources have an impact on work–family enrichment and that the flow of positive work resources through work–family enrichment spills over to impact outcomes for the job incumbent and crosses over to the spouse.     

Implementation of participatory organizational change in long term care to improve safety

Introduction: Long Term Care (LTC) facilities are fast-paced, demanding environments placing workers at significant risk for injuries. Health and safety interventions to address hazards in LTC are challenging to implement. The study assessed a participatory organizational change intervention implementation and impacts. Methods: This was a mixed methods implementation study with a concurrent control, conducted from 2017 to 2019 in four non-profit LTC facilities in Ontario, Canada. Study participants were managers and frontline staff. Intervention sites implemented a participatory organizational change program, control sites distributed one-page health and safety pamphlets. Program impact data were collected via Survey (self-efficacy, control over work, pain and general health) and observation (Quick Exposure Checklist). Interviews/focus groups were used to collect program implementation data. Results: Participants described program impacts (hazard controls through equipment purchase/modification, practice changes, and education/training) and positive changes in culture, communication and collaboration. There was a statistically significant difference in manager self-efficacy for musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) hazards between the control and intervention sites over time but no other statistical differences were found. Key program implementation challenges included LTC hazards, staff shortage/turnover, safety culture, staff time to participate, and communication. Facilitators included frontline staff involvement during implementation, management support, focusing on a single unit, training, and involving an external program facilitator. Conclusion: A participatory program can have positive impacts on identifying and reducing MSD hazards. Key to success is involving frontline staff in identifying hazards and creating solutions and management encouragement on a unit working together. High turnover rates, staffing shortages, and time constraints were barriers as they are for all organizational change efforts in LTC. The implementation findings are likely applicable in any jurisdiction. Practical Application: Implementing a participatory organizational change program to reduce MSD hazards is feasible in LTC and can improve communication and aid in identification and control of hazards.     

The job satisfaction of older workers

Older workers re-entering the workforce and those changing jobs are coming to play an increasingly important role in the labor force, especially as part-time workers. Yet the work orientation and job satisfaction of these workers has not been studied. Do ‘situational’ factors such as skill and pay matter for this subgroup of workers, and if so, which ones? If significant factors exist, can their effect be explained by the mediating influence of ‘dispositional’ factors like work values? This paper explores these questions in a study of 198 older workers who had begun new, mostly part-time jobs. Regression analysis shows that the intrinsic indicators for skill and autonomy have a positive effect on job satisfaction. No extrinsic factor was significantly related to satisfaction, indicating that these workers are more than ‘instrumentally’ oriented. This support for a ‘situational’ interpretation of the impact of work, especially intrinsic features, was sustained in analyses which incorporated work values. To the extent that the growing number of part-time jobs are relatively low-skilled, and to the extent that older workers in new jobs are influenced most by intrinsically rewarding work, there appears to be a growing mismatch between an occupational niche and those who are being sought to fill it.     

The relationship of organizational politics and support to work behaviors,attitudes, and stress

The purpose of this paper is to report two studies that investigated the consequences of organizational politics and organizational support on two separate samples of employees. Study 1 surveys 69 full-time employees, while Study 2's sample includes 185 part-time workers. Four major findings were observed. First, the present studies replicated prior findings concerning the relationships of politics and support to such variables as withdrawal behaviors, turnover intentions, job satisfaction and organizational commitment. In general, politics is related to negative work outcomes while support is related to positive ones. Consistent results were obtained within both the full- and part-time samples. Second, we elaborated upon previous work concerning the relationship of politics and support to job involvement. Third, we found in both samples that politics and support did predict above and beyond each other, suggesting that they should be viewed as separate constructs rather than opposite ends of a single continuum. Lastly, Study 2 extended the research on politics and support by analyzing their relationships to four work stress variables: job tension, somatic tension, general fatigue, and burnout. Each of these four variables was predicted by both politics and support. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Resources and coping with stressful events

This longitudinal, quasi‐field experiment tested whether perceived stress and increase in perceived stress are related to the resources of the individual, namely, personality (core self evaluation scale (CSES)), physical fitness, social support (acceptance and/or rejection by peers), and cognitive abilities. Perceived stress scale (PSS) was administered at two points in time to participants in a two‐day selection process for a military unit, whose stressful environment formed the manipulation in this study. Baseline PSS was obtained from soldiers before the selection activity, when threatened with resource loss. PSS was next administered during the selection activity, when individuals had to cope with actual loss of resources and difficulty in regaining them. As expected, participants perceived more stress during the selection activity. Participants with higher CSES, higher cognitive abilities and higher levels of social support perceived lower stress levels prior to the activity. The increase in stress level was lower for participants with better fitness levels, but greater for participants rejected by their peers. Exploratory analysis of resource overlap was conducted and revealed a contribution of few key resources to coping, even in the presence of other resources. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Impact of globalization on human work

This contribution addresses the phenomenon of globalization in its impact on the nature of work. Starting from an analysis and characterization of the general understanding of globalization, the contribution will attempt to identify those factors of globalization processes which appear to affect most strongly the work of different employment categories (e.g. management, production workers, intellectual workers). In a next step, the work and organizational psychological consequences of globalization in a two-pronged perspective will be analyzed: (1) The significant changes on work places (e.g. growth of mental work, expansion of service sector employment and corresponding shrinking of production work, work hour changes, unemployment, industrial relations). (2) The changing psychological demands on individuals in the work force (e.g. flexibility, coping with diversity, changing competence demands, changing the meaning of working). The concluding section considers the requisite political reorientation towards work in a globalizing world.     

The moderating effects of job control and selection,optimization, and compensation strategies on the age–work ability relationship

Work ability describes employees' capability to carry out their work with respect to physical and psychological job demands. This study investigated direct and interactive effects of age, job control, and the use of successful aging strategies called selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) in predicting work ability. We assessed SOC strategies and job control by using employee self‐reports, and we measured employees' work ability using supervisor ratings. Data collected from 173 health‐care employees showed that job control was positively associated with work ability. Additionally, we found a three‐way interaction effect of age, job control, and use of SOC strategies on work ability. Specifically, the negative relationship between age and work ability was weakest for employees with high job control and high use of SOC strategies. These results suggest that the use of successful aging strategies and enhanced control at work are conducive to maintaining the work ability of aging employees. We discuss theoretical and practical implications regarding the beneficial role of the use of SOC strategies utilized by older employees and enhanced contextual resources at work for aging employees. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multiple dimensions of work-related risk factors and their relationship to work ability among industrial workers in Iran

Objectives. The present study was designed to investigate the simultaneous effects of physical, psychosocial and other work-related risk factors on the work ability index (WAI) score among industrial workers. Methods. This study used a cross-sectional design with a questionnaire survey. A total of 280 workers were included in the study. Data were collected using three questionnaires including the Persian version of the WAI, the Persian version of the job content questionnaire and an author-developed measure (to assess work-related factors, health-related factors and socio-demographic characteristics). Results. The majority of the participants were young, but they had poor WAI scores (mean 37.3?±?6.4) and 44.3% of them had poor or moderate work ability. Occupational accidents and injuries were found to be the strongest predictors of WAI scores. Additionally, there was a strong association between WAI scores and supervisor support, skill discretion, occupational training, sleep quality, work nature and educational level. Conclusions. Intervention programs should focus on improving supervisor support, sleep quality, job skills and knowledge and on decreasing physical and mental work demands. Additionally, implementing a comprehensive occupational health and ergonomics program for controlling and reducing hazardous working environments and occupational injury rates should be considered.     

After-effects of job-related stress: Families as victims

In recent years, the unique stress experienced by those who do ‘people work’ has been acknowledged by the helping professions as a widespread problem and has been recognized by social scientists as a topic requiring systematic research. This paper begins by briefly reviewing research on the type of job stress experienced by workers in the helping professions. Then, a study of 142 police couples is reported, illustrating the effects of job stress on family life. In a survey study, police officers and their wives described family interactions. Officers who were experiencing stress, as measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory, were more likely to display anger, spend time off away from the family, be uninvolved in family matters, and to have unsatisfactory marriages. An examination of the coping patterns used to deal with the stress of police work highlights differences between coping strategies used by husbands versus wives.     

Reducing Musculoskeletal Discomfort: Effects of an Office Ergonomics Workplace and Training Intervention

Effects of an office ergonomics workplace and training intervention on workers’ knowledge and self-reported musculoskeletal pain and discomfort were investigated. An instructional systems design process was used to develop an office ergonomics training program and the evaluation tools used to measure the effectiveness of the training program on workers’ office ergonomics knowledge and skills. It was hypothesized that the training and workplace intervention would allow the worker to more effectively use their workplace through increased office ergonomics knowledge and skills. Following the intervention, there was a significant increase in workers’ office ergonomics knowledge and awareness. Self-reported work-related musculoskeletal disorders significantly decreased for the group who had a workplace change and received ergonomic training relative to a workplace change-only group and a no intervention control group.     

The Effectiveness of a “Break Experiment” from a Long-Term Perspective

The study reports the results of a follow-up evaluation, conducted in 1994, of the impact of a training program for female unskilled metal workers that was implemented at the end of the 1970s. The program was designed to promote occupational skills development, and was first evaluated in 1979. On both occasions of evaluation the investment in training was examined from two perspectives, those of the training participants and management. Data were collected through semistructured personal interviews with key members of personnel management and through a group conversation session with a majority of the original course attendees. Supplementary background information was obtained from documents and records maintained by the organization. At some points, there was a convergence of views on the significance of the training program for occupational skills development, at others a divergence. These convergences and divergences are finally discussed and the findings of the study are related to other research on this particular kind of intervention.     

An intervention to reduce work-related burnout in teachers.

The objective of the study was to develop and evaluate a 2-day burnout intervention program focused at enhancing coping with stresses observed in teachers' work. Karasek's job stress model was used as the theoretical framework. The aim of the intervention was to teach participants to deal better with high job demands and low job control. Some cognitive-behavioural methods of overcoming workload and enhancing a sense of self-mastery and relations with students were introduced in the workshop. 59 teachers were randomly assigned to an experimental or to a control group. Results showed that emotional exhaustion, perceived workload and somatic complaints decreased significantly in the intervention group. The greatest effect of the intervention was observed with regard to increased behavioural job control. It was concluded that teaching participants how to manage their work environment better could help them in changing their perception of stressful job characteristics, reducing emotional exhaustion and somatic complaints.     

Routinization,work characteristics and their relationships with creative and proactive behaviors

Researchers have claimed that routinization hinders creativity. However, empirical evidence for this assumption is sparse. In this study, we argue that routinization may be beneficial for creativity and related behavior due to available resources that can be used to develop new ideas while working. We examine the relationship between routinization and four work characteristics (job control, job complexity, time pressure, and supervisor support) on the one hand and a range of creative and proactive behaviors on the other hand in a randomly selected sample of 278 employees of a German high‐tech company. Regression analyses reveal that in addition to work characteristics, routinization is generally positively related to creative and proactive behaviors. Ways to enhance routinization and thereby creative and proactive behaviors are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.