Dinno 2012-2014

Challenging management situationsin managing occupational

health and safety11.6.2014

Nordic Working Life Conference 2014, Göteborg, SwedenStream 8: Quality of work in Nordic countries

Tappura SariCenter for Safety Management and Engineering

Tampere University of Technology

Syvänen SirpaSchool of ManagementUniversity of Tampere

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Background – Dinno-programme (www.dinno.fi)

• This study is one thematic part of the Dialogic LeadershipPromoting Innovativeness research programme (Dinno-programme 2012 – 2014, www.dinno.fi)

• Dinno is a multidisciplinary research combining theoriesconcerning performance, quality of working life, creativity,learning, motivation and leadership funded by Tekes.

• The main research task of the Dinno programme is toanalyse how dialogic leadership can be used toenhance creativity and innovations.

• This study discusses the challenging occupational heathand safety (OHS) management situations that managersencounter and which may diminish employees’ well-being,creativity and organizational performance.

Introduction 1/2

• Good working conditions and successful (OHS) management– Ensure the physical and mental health and safety of employees

(Frick 2003; Gallagher et al. 2001)– Help to maintain employees’ working capacity and support the

quality of working life and performance (Syvänen 2010).– Helps the employees to achieve the business targets

• Communication and a collaborative climate are centralelements when struggling to improve the psychosocial workenvironment (Nielsen et al. 2010).

• A safe, positive, and supportive working environment is alsocrucial when striving for innovations in products, services,and work processes (e.g. Amabile 1997; George & Zhou2007). www.dinno.fi

Introduction 2/2

• Challenging OHS situations in the work community– Impede the well-being and productivity of employees (e.g.

Eurofound 2010; Leka et al. 2011; Syvänen 2010; Tikkamäki &Syvänen 2014)

– Entails enormous costs via, for example, stress-relatedabsenteeism (e.g. Clarke & Cooper 2004; Earnshaw & Cooper2001) and accidents (e.g. Sutherland & Cooper 1991)

• In organizations should be emphasized– Employers’ OHS responsibilities (D 89/391/EEC)– Organizational support for managers (Conchie et al. 2013;

Frick 2013)– Managers’ competence, resources and role representing the

employer (Hardison et. al 2014; Tappura & Hämäläinen 2012)

Data and methods 1/2

• The research data is based on thematic interviews andqualitative answers to inquiries with top, middle and front-line managers (n = 75) in three Finnish public sector serviceorganizations:- governmental expert organization- municipal social services and healthcare service unit- vocational education organization

• Due to the nature of the participating organizations1. Cost-saving pressure has a large impact on resources and

work pressure as well2. The psychosocial aspects of OHS management are

emphasized

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Results 1/3

The most challenging OHS management situations arerelated to:• Administration of work, e.g., inadequate resources due to high

economic and efficiency pressures, constant changes in the workcommunity, enforcement of organizational rules, operationalplanning, organizational confusion, and redundancies due toeconomic cutbacks.

• Support for managerial work, e.g., evaluating, prioritizing andindividually tailoring the workload of employees, assessingemployees’ mental and physical burdens, taking the employees’individual characteristic and needs into account, lack ofopportunities for discussion with employees, missing support ofthe immediate superior , and lack of organizational support andresources for taking care of employees’ well-being.

Results 2/3

• Feedback, e.g., giving both positive and constructive feedback,lack of time for giving feedback, providing feedback onshortcomings, errors and inappropriate behavior.

• Social interaction, e.g., supervisory work related to collaborationbetween employees, inadequate social and interaction skills,changing harmful interaction, and encouraging all employees toactively participate in collaboration and development meetings.

• Conflicts, e.g., due to the co-operation process, changing jobdescriptions and responsibilities, work overload, inappropriatework behavior, unauthorized absences, non-commitment to work,personal problems of the employees, disciplinary situations, anddifficult interrelations in the work community.

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Results 3/3

• When a challenging situation occurs, managers typically look forad hoc help from their superiors, colleagues, HR experts, andOHS experts to manage the situation.

• The respondents required more competence and expectedorganizational procedures to support them.

• They also expected emotional support and sharing of experiencewith their superior and colleagues in a confidential manner.

• The managers didn’t mention financial support from the uppermanagement, although more resources would have helped themin organizing the work in their area of responsibility.

• The respondents pointed out the importance of actively solvingproblems and that the work community should be open andwilling to confront difficult issues and find solutions.

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Discussion 1/2

• Active managing and solving the challenging OHSmanagement situations is important because– They have a negative effect on OHS, learning, creativity,

performance and quality of working life in organizations.

– They are closely related to employers’ regulatory obligationsstemming from OHS legislation.

– Their economic effect is enormous and they are increasinglyassociated with the operational efficiency and competitivenessof organizations.

– Managers often have a heavy workload, which is a major OHSproblem as such.

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Discussion 2/2

• Managers mostly focused on individual relations and emotional supportto cope with challenging situations. However, managers needcompetence as well as organizational support and tools for meetingtheir responsibilities.

• It is employers’ duty to provide OHS procedures, such as riskassessment procedures, proactive measures concerning all kinds ofOHS risks and early-on support model to support managers at allorganizational levels.

• Upper management often ignores its legal obligations and delegateswork environment issues to frontline managers, without providing anyresources or support. Challenging situations are related to imbalancesbetween workload and time frame, as well as problems concerningrelations, leadership, and trust. These are mostly high-level issues, andfront-line managers can do little for them. (see also Frick 2013)

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Reference

• Tappura, S., Syvänen, S. & Saarela K.L. 2014. Challenges and Needsfor Support in Managing Occupational Health and Safety fromManagers’ Viewpoints. Nordic journal of working life studies, Vol. 4, Nr3, August 2014, pp. 31-51.

• Available:http://search.proquest.com/docview/1709681650/fulltext/1CE3DA04C03F4B49PQ/1?accountid=27303

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