Tomas Backström and Rachael Tripney Berglund
The study objectives were to (1) identify if providing solution-focused interaction training enables managers and employees to develop and implement actions to improve their…
Abstract
Purpose
The study objectives were to (1) identify if providing solution-focused interaction training enables managers and employees to develop and implement actions to improve their psychosocial work environment and (2) test a recontextualization of the psychosocial work environment as social structures affecting members of the workplace and verify if social interactions effectively change the local psychosocial work environment.
Design/methodology/approach
The intervention involved training managers, supervisors and employees in solution-focused interaction. This study used a controlled interrupted time-series design, with an intervention and control group (CG) and pre- and post-measurements.
Findings
The psychosocial work environment improved, indicating that the training led to better social interactions, contributing to changes in the social structures within the intervention group (IG). Collective reflection between participants in the take action phase was the key to success. The recontextualization uncovered these mechanisms.
Research limitations/implications
The present study supports a recontextualization of the psychosocial work environment as primarily decided by social structures that emerge in recurrent interactions within work teams. The same social structures also seem to be important for other features of the production system, like job performance.
Practical implications
Training designed to enable high-quality social interactions, like dialogue and collective reflection, has proven to be effective in changing social structures. Moreover, managers may need training in facilitating the collective reflection between participants. Increased focus on social interactions within work teams is suggested for future study of organizational change processes, psychosocial work environment and practical psychosocial work environment management.
Originality/value
The intervention was delivered in the preparation phase to enable an effective take action phase. Both phases are less studied in psychosocial risk assessments research. The recontextualization has never been fully used in psychosocial research.
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Keywords
Adesuwa Omorede and Rachael Tripney Berglund
The current research investigates the managers' perception of teleworking and attempts to understand how the psychosocial safety climate and psychosocial job characteristics…
Abstract
Purpose
The current research investigates the managers' perception of teleworking and attempts to understand how the psychosocial safety climate and psychosocial job characteristics affect their levels of burnout and cognitive stress levels while teleworking.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a survey, collecting data via questionnaires from five distinct organizations. N = 161 responses from managers were analyzed using the confirmatory factor analysis and regression analysis.
Findings
The findings show that managers who telework do not experience numerous psychosocial stressors. This means that they experience less burnout and cognitive stress. However, results also show that managers benefit from working in an environment with a high psychosocial safety climate.
Practical implications
Our study highlights the need to address managers' working conditions and well-being in telework, given their unique challenges, by fostering a supportive psychosocial climate and providing resources to mitigate stress and burnout.
Originality/value
Previous studies have thoroughly examined the dynamics of telework employees, including the challenges they face and the strategies their immediate supervisors employ to foster a positive remote work environment. Such research has illuminated various stressors that these individuals may confront while teleworking. Despite this, scant attention has been paid to the experiences of managers themselves when they operate from home. The concept of psychosocial safety climate becomes crucial when considering managers grappling with high job demands, low control, and insufficient support from their own superiors and peers. This gap has prompted the present study to explore the unique experiences of managers in a teleworking context, particularly concerning cognitive stress and burnout.