The New American Workplace

Submitted by WorkCreatively on Mon, 01/23/2012 - 10:59

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Title	The New American Workplace
Publication Type	Book
Pub Year	2007
Authors	O'Toole, J., Lawler E. I. I. I., & Meisinger S. R.
Publisher	Palgrave Macmillan
Keywords	autonomy, stress, supportiveness, wellness
Notes	stress"In particular, there was growing evidence that if unnecessary job stress could be reduced, workers would suffer fewer heart attacks and strokes.... Moreover, a growing body of data suggested that many mental health problems have their genesis at work, and excessive drug and alcohol use are linked with certain occupations and conditions of employment." (p. 103) wellnessPut positively, in the 1970s, there seemed to be an untapped opportunity to improve physical and mental health by changing working conditions. What gave health researchers particular hope was that the nascent efforts to redesign jobs by giving workers greater autonomy and control over their tasks appeared not only to improve their job satisfaction and productivity, but also to reduce their stress. But over the next few years, a closer look at the research revealed that there was a line line between a challenging job and a stressful one; worse, it appeared that efforts to increase worker involvement and self-management might actually increase stress. That would have been a significant finding: if job enrichment created harmful stress, then the quality of work-life movement would have been laid to rest. However, later research showed that when workers were given more responsibility and, at the same time, more authority, tools, resources, education, and control over their tasks--as they typically are at High-Involvement Companies--the actual effect was a reduction in dysfunctional stress. Hence, it was learned that the key to healthy workplaces was to carefully redesign work tasks to provide a supportive environment."
URL	http://books.google.com/books?id=o-QX9g1xUhYC

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