Providing an overview of researchers' and practitioners’ “confessions” on the fascinating phenomenon of failed or derailed organizational health and well-being interventions and contextualizing these confessions is the aim of this innovative volume. Organizational intervention failures, paradoxes and unexpected consequences can offer a lot of rich and extremely useful practical lessons on intervention design and implementation and possibly on the design of future research on organizational interventions. This volume presents lessons learned from derailed interventions and provides possible solutions to those tasked with implementing interventions. It provides an open, practical and solutions-focused account of researchers' and practitioners' experiences in implementing organizational interventions for health and well-being.

This book brings together a number of experts in the field of organizational interventions for stress and well-being, and discusses the importance of process and context issues to the success or failure of such interventions. The book explores how context and process can be incorporated into program evaluation, providing examples of how this can be done, and offers insights that aim to improve working life. Although there is a substantial body of research supporting a causal relationship between working conditions and employee stress and well-being, information on how to develop effective strategies to reduce or eliminate psychosocial risks in the workplace is much more scarce, ambiguous and inconclusive. Indeed, researchers in this field have so far attempted to evaluate the effectiveness of organizational interventions to improve workers’ health and well-being, but little attention has been paid to the strategies and processes likely to enhance or undermine interventions. The focus of this volume will help to overcome this qualitative-quantitative divide. This book discusses conceptual developments, practical applications, and methodological issues in the field. As such it is suitable for students, practitioners and researchers in the fields of organizational psychology and clinical psychology, as well as human resources management, health & safety, medicine, occupational health, risk management and public health.

This important new collection provides not only a comprehensive overview of how organizational interventions can improve health and well-being in the workplace - addressing its causes rather than the symptoms - but also the practical issues faced in their design, implementation and evaluation. Drawing on a range of case studies and empirical investigations, it is the first book to seriously examine each element of the intervention process, and to recognize the individual, group, leader and organizational factors that researchers should consider. The authors describe the various challenges to such collaborative processes, as well as the specific methods and tools that can be used in response. Each chapter offers practical, evidence-based guidance. Featuring a final section examining new directions and approaches in organizational intervention research, the book features contributions from some of the leading international researchers in the field. It will be essential reading for any researcher or practitioner interested in the practical issues involved in improving the organization, design and management of the contemporary workplace.

This insightful Research Agenda considers the current state of research into workplace stress and wellbeing and maps an innovative programme for future investigation that can advance understanding of the interrelationships between work and wellbeing.

In this groundbreaking interdisciplinary work, the authors focus on organizational analysis to understand workplace wellbeing, deviating from previous research that mostly looks at the individual worker or intervention. In addressing the question of why workplace health and wellbeing practices initiatives fall short of delivering sustained improvements in worker wellbeing, this book moves beyond localized explanations of the failure of specific interventions. Instead, it creates theoretical frameworks that explain how wellbeing at work can be improved and sustained. The authors use evidence from systematic and comprehensive surveys of the literature as well as new empirical research, and present an explanatory framework of the processes through which organizations change to implement and accommodate workplace health and wellbeing practices. Learning, adaptation and continuation explain successful implementation of workplace health and wellbeing practices, while Gestalting, fracturing and grafting explain how organizations resolve or negotiate conflict between health and wellbeing practices and existing organizational procedures, systems and practices. In addition, the authors reflect on the implications for research of reframing the unit of analysis as the organization and how studies on workplace wellbeing practices can provide a conceptual platform for thinking about the way organizations can create social value in a broader sense. This book, authored by experts in their field, is a great resource for academics and professionals of organizational studies and of worker wellbeing across the social sciences, behavioural sciences, business and management courses, wellbeing research, and labour studies.

This book covers a wide range of topics relating to the health and wellbeing of the construction workforce. Based on more than two decades of work examining various aspects of workers’ health and wellbeing, the book addresses a key topic in construction management: how the design of work environments, construction processes and organisation of work impact upon construction workers’ physical and psychological health. Occupational health is a significant problem for the construction industry. However, the subject of health does not receive as much attention in occupational health and safety research or practice as the subject of safety. Traditional management approaches (focused on the prevention of accidents and injuries) are arguably ill-suited to addressing issues of workers’ health and wellbeing. This book seeks to explain how workers' health and wellbeing are impacted by working in the construction sector, and suggest ways in which organisations (and decision makers within them) can positively shape workplaces and practices in ways that better support construction workers to maintain healthy and productive working lives. Including chapter summaries and discussion questions to encourage student readers to reflect on and formulate their own viewpoints about the issues raised in each chapter, the book has the potential to be used as a textbook in undergraduate or postgraduate occupational health and safety, or construction management courses dealing with occupational health and safety. It could also be used as supplementary recommended reading in undergraduate or postgraduate programmes in architecture, engineering or management.

1. Introduction. 1.1. Organization of report; 1.2. Preparation of the report -- 2. Conceptual framework. 2.1. Occupational stress and mental health; 2.2. Stressors (stress agents); 2.3. Stress; 2.4. Strain; 2.5. Moderators -- 3. Method: literature search. 3.1. Analysis -- 4. Results of literature search. 4.1. Frameworks; 4.2. Process frameworks; 4.3. Content frameworks; 4.4. Evidence-based framework; 4.5. Effectiveness of intervention strategies -- 5. Recommendations and conclusions. 5.1. Research needed; 5.2. Research measurement and design; 5.3. Practice issues for organizations; 5.4. Issues for research excellence -- References -- Appendix I: Symposium participants.

The contributions in Creating Healthy Workplaces include a number of interventions that relate the efforts undertaken by researchers and organizations together, to reduce stress and improve the mental and physical health of employees through positive change initiatives. Those working in the field of occupational stress have received criticism that too much emphasis has been placed on negative issues and that positive initiatives have been largely ignored. With the growing influence of the positive movement, this book explores the implications of using a positive approach as opposed to a stress management one and compares the types of interventions they each require. From a positive perspective, there is a need to understand the characteristics of healthy, thriving, and flourishing people and organizations. This book explores the implications of using a positive approach as opposed to a stress management one. Some of the interventions described in Creating Healthy Workplaces target individuals and their attitudes and behaviours, others target workplace relationships, work units and the wider organization. Outcomes such as reduced occurrences of smoking, obesity, depression, elevated blood pressure, accidents and workplace injuries, presenteeism, absence and staff turnover are reported. The factors associated with the success of these interventions are identified and advice is given as to how interested individuals and organizations might proceed to develop worksite interventions on their own.

This book provides a comprehensive examination of the physical and mental health challenges facing workers today, focusing particularly on the social, technological, and political consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Delving into core perceptions of work culture, chapters also map out ways of thinking about wellbeing at work in the future to make workplaces healthier and more productive.

What price do organizations and nations pay for a poor fit between employees and their work environments? Negative stress imposes a high cost on individual health and well-being as well as organizational health and productivity. This comprehensive textbook examines the definitions of job-related stress and the methods used to assess levels and consequences of occupational stress, along with strategies that may be used by individuals and organizations to confront negative stress and its associated problems. From sources of stress to organizational interventions, and from job-related burnout to coping with stress, Organizational Stress gives the reader – whether researcher, student, or practitioner – a basis for tailoring work environments which contribute to the health and well-being of individuals, organizations, and even the societies in which they live. This new edition has been updated to reflect the most relevant research in the field of organisational stress, including a completely new chapter on stress and the brain. It also focusses on the future of work in our rapidly changing world – dealing with contemporary contexts such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of the gig economy. Christina G.L. Nerstad is a Professor at BI Norwegian Business School Ingvild M. Seljeseth is an Associate Professor at Kristiania University College Astrid M. Richardsen is Professor Emerita at BI Norwegian Business School Cary L Cooper is a Professor at Alliance Manchester Business School Philip J. Dewe is Emeritus Professor at Birkbeck, University of London Michael P. O′Driscoll is Emeritus Professor at University of Waikato