Psychological Research, Practice, and Production: The Occupational ...

International Journal of Stress Management, Vol. 6, No. 4, 1999

Psychological Research, Practice, and Production: The Occupational Stress Problem Maureen F. Dollard1,3and Jacques C. Metzer1

The accumulation of research findings now suggest a significant work stress problem, with implications for worker health, motivation and productivity, that warrants a concerted applied research effort at a local level and a strategy and policy response at a national level. Psychologists need to rethink prevailing paradigms that often separate their research and practice. We argue that a conducive production model that emphasizes action and knowledge, and reciprocal learning between academia, practitioners, and organizations may be the way forward for psychologists to respond effectively to the current work stress problems and other emergent organizational issues. Failure to do so may result in exacerbation of problems related to the psychological and social context of work, a slowed response to increased demands, and an ever decreasing practical utility of the profession. KEY WORDS: occupational stress research; models; applied research; psychological research.

INTRODUCTION Dramatic changes in the way people work are underway. Workers and organizations face a range of challenges: global competition, changing information technology, a shift from vertically integrated hierarchies to networks of specialists, smaller companies that employ fewer people, a changed paradigm of doing business—from making a product to providing a service—the growing disappearance of "the job" as a fixed bundle of tasks, and increased partici'University of South Australia, School of Psychology, Whyalla Campus. South Australia, School of Psychology, City East Campus. 3Correspondence should be directed to Maureen F. Dollard, School of Psychology, University of South Australia, Whyalla Campus, 5600 Australia; e-mail: [email protected].

2 University of

241 1072 5245/99/IOOO-024ISI6.00/O O 1999 Human Sciences Press. Inc.

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pation of women (Cascio, 1995). There is no doubt that many of these changes are driven by management imperatives, for increased productivity. However, as Cascio (1995) argues, in context of these changes there are great opportunities for industrial and organizational psychologists to contribute to the betterment of humanity. In recent years, occupational stress and workplace health and well-being have become issues of central concern both internationally and nationally, for management, labor, and the individual worker (Dollard, 1997; Keita & Hurrell, 1994). Escalating costs related to stress are reported in industrial countries world-wide (Karasek & Theorell, 1990). Australian workers are entitled to workers' compensation for stress (a stress claim) when work is shown to be a substantial cause of the disorder or illness of the mind (e.g., Occupational Health Safety and Welfare Act, 1986 (SA)). According to the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission (1998) the direct cost of workers' compensation for new work stress claims in Australia during 1995-96 was estimated to be around $49 million (excluding Victoria and Australian Capital Territory data), with 4509 new cases (Compendium of Workers' Compensation Statistics, Australia, 1995-96). Stress claims accounted for 3.4% of all new workers' compensation claims. High costs due to work stress are reported worldwide (Kompier & Cooper, 1999). This paper will argue that the research agenda for psychologists is to provide research based answers to pressing organizational problems, and provide the impetus for humane change through the practice of applied organizational psychology (Cascio, 1995). It will also be argued that the dynamic Conducive Production Model (Karasek & Theorell, 1990) is a useful way to conceptualise psychological best practice to reduce the occupational stress problem.

MODELS OF OCCUPATIONAL STRESS It is clear that there is a link between psychosocial aspects of the work environment and the health and well-being of workers, although the mechanism by which this occurs is unresolved. In predicting the main sources of work stress, on the one hand, psychosociological models of work stress emphasise the contextual features of the work environment such as the Demand-Control/ Support model (Karasek, 1979; Karasek & Theorell, 1990) and the Model of Effort-Reward Imbalance (Siegrist, 1998). On the other hand, psychological models emphasise individual differences in perceptions (e.g., the cognitive-phenomenological model, Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) or the fit between subjective person and the subjective environment (e.g., P-E fit theory, French, Caplan, & Harrison, 1984; Schnall, Landsbergis, & Baker, 1994). For a recent volume on theories of organizational stress see Cooper (1998). Until recently psychological models and the interventions they implied

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dominated the work stress literature. According to Baker (1985) the work-stress research field was dominated with a clinical perspective of stress as a psychophysiological phenomenon that arises from an individual's perception of the balance between environmental demands and response capabilities. When "fit" did not occur (an imbalance), to address individual symptoms, an overwhelming number of person-oriented cures were developed such as relaxation therapies, humour therapies, and various other psychotherapies. Further, Baker (1985) argued that P-E fit theory has been used primarily to assign persons to different jobs, where the individual bears the burden of adjustment, rather than changing the existing work context to meet the needs of the person. In the past fifteen years the Job Demand-Control model and recent expansions (the Demand-Control-Support or DCS model) have become most influential. Although the importance of cognitive processes that intervene between environmental exposure and eventual health outcomes cannot be denied, the focus of the research effort should also be on the working conditions that trigger the process (Ganster & Schaubroeck, 1991). Reviews of the DCS model are generally in favor of further development (expansion and refinement) along the same ideological lines (Ganster & Schaubroeck, 1991; Schnall, Landsbergis, & Baker, 1994). Results of intervention studies suggest that although individual interventions are important and should be included as part of an overall organizational stress reduction program (Murphy, 1987), organizational level interventions (as implied by the ideology of DCS models) may provide more far reaching change in health, well-being, and productivity (Levi 1990; 1995; Karasek & Theorell, 1990). Changes at the organizational level may include increasing participation/control, providing meaningful jobs, increasing skill utilization, modifying work schedules to avoid conflict with demands and responsibilities unrelated to the job and providing stable and predictable shifts in a forward rotating direction, modifying workload to match capabilities of the worker, defining and harmonizing work roles and responsibilities, improving the social environment, and avoiding ambiguity in job security and career development (Levi, 1995). More recently Levi (1998) argued for an ecological model (Kagan & Levi, 1975) for psychosocially mediated disease to provide a more comprehensive and integrated approach to the occupational stress problem, also adopted by the European Commission (1997). This approach emphasizes the interaction between the person and the environment in the development of ill-health.

TOWARD A COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH TO OCCUPATIONAL STRESS MANAGEMENT Each of the above work stress theoretical models has limitations in an applied context (i.e., workplace assessment and intervention). A current emphasis in the literature is on the need for a more comprehensive approach to

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occupational environmental and health program/action that is participative and involves occupational health professionals, management, individual workers, and their representatives. Levi (1990) argued that the overall occupational environmental and health program/action should aim to be: "(a) systems oriented, addressing health-related interactions in the worker-workplace ecosystem; (b) interdisciplinary, covering medical, physiological, emotional, cognitive, behavioral, social, and economic aspects of these interactions; (c) problem-solving oriented and integrating complementary approaches; (e) health oriented (not only disease oriented), trying to identify what constitutes and promotes health and counteracts ill health even in the presence of noxious exposures; (f) intersectoral, evaluating health actions administered in other sectors (e.g., work, housing, nutrition, traffic, education); (g) international, including multicenter collaborative projects carried out in different cultural and sociopolitical settings; and (h) participative, trying to involve not only occupational health professionals and management but the individual workers and their representatives as well" (Levi, 1990, p. 1144). For any applied work to be linked to change it must involve participation by the stakeholders and be valued and utilized by the stakeholders. It must therefore recognise the interpersonal and political contexts in which the research is undertaken (Rossi & Freeman, 1989). This is a major challenge for researchers to engage in research which is understandable and useable by a range of people, meets the interests of stakeholders, and withstands the rigors of scientific enquiry. There are several studies showing that involvement of workers in organizational change leads them to be more committed and the change to be more effective (Jackson, 1983; Scheflen, Lawler, & Hackman, 1971). Further, Karasek's (1992) work stress intervention case study evaluation shows the importance of both the strategy of intervention, and the implementation process in achieving successful outcomes in work stress interventions. A principal mechanism for successful intervention, participation, is most likely to be achieved in action research paradigms (Karasek & Theorell, 1990). This methodology can be used for both theory development and implementation of change strategies. The reciprocal nature of the relationship between basic theoretical research and social action is a key premise of "action research" as proposed by Lewin (1948). The reciprocal nature of action research is captured in the following definition: "Action research aims to contribute to both the practical concerns of people in an immediate problematic situation and to the goals of social science by joint collaboration within a mutually acceptable ethical framework" (Rapaport, 1970, p. 499). Rather than coming in as experts, researchers may be better positioned to acknowledge the range of possible perspectives of the issue, and propose a research process that enables a rather inductive process of theory development, and a participatory process that enables stakeholders to influence mutually the research process and the intervention (see Dollard, Heffernan, Winefield, &


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Winefield, 1997). The active involvement of organizational members at all levels is also important. Heifetz and Laurie (1997) propose that "solutions to adaptive challenges reside not in the executive suite but in the collective intelligence of employees at all levels" (p. 126). A growing number of researchers have endorsed an innovative method, Participatory Action Research (PAR), as a process for dealing equitably with power problems in applied research (Landsbergis et al., 1993). Israel and Schurman (see DeAngelis, 1993) used PAR in a six year longitudinal study of workers in an automobile manufacturing plant in Michigan to solve problems such as lack of system-wide information and communication, problems with supervisors, and lack of participation and influence over decision making. According to the researchers, evaluation showed improved health for employees (reduced cholesterol levels), and members of the committee felt they were co-workers in the making of decisions by the team. Action research allows both the generation of theory and the testing of theory in the context of practice. Action research may be the most effective way for psychologists to achieve the twin criteria of successful implementation of interventions, and the opportunity for evaluation of the intervention. Academic research psychologists could be involved in collaboration with organizational clinical psychologists operating at the work site (C. Cooper, see DeAngelis, 1993) or as collaborative evaluation researchers (D. Ganster, see Denton, 1993). The participative/collaborative approach also reflects a devolution of control to workers over decision making, a central tenet of Karasek's Job DemandControl theory of improving worker well-being. The chances of implementation of components of the program are further enhanced by union involvement (Karasek & Theorell, 1990). Landsbergis (1988) argues that: "collective (union) efforts to increase decision latitude can be the best guarantee against a 'change of heart' by top management, favoritism, or passivity resulting from paternalism, as well as assuring that the fruits of increased productivity will be equitably shared (e.g., through increased job security)" (p. 236). Participatory action research approaches with strong union involvement have significant advantages over expert-dominated or management-dominated intervention programs (Landsbergis et al., 1993). In a very recent review of case studies of preventing stress and improving productivity in the workplace, Kompier and Cooper (1999) concluded by hypothesizing that the "success of stress prevention depends on a subtle combination of two approaches, that is, 'bottom-up' (participation) and 'top-down' (top management support)" (p. 335).

THE ROLE FOR PSYCHOLOGY IN WORK STRESS PREVENTION In 1990 a special edition of the American Psychologist was given to discussing occupational stress and the role of the psychologist. It was clear to

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commentators then that psychologists in comparison with other professions, had largely ignored one of the most critical contemporary issues in psychology, that of worker health. Despite significant advances in understanding, treating, and preventing psychological disorders in the workplace, and despite obvious relevance to public interest, it was argued that psychology and psychologists had paid little attention to this growing area of research and practice (Keita & Jones, 1990; Ilgen, 1990). Indeed in Australia the percentage of consulting organizational psychologists providing health and safety services was 13.9% in 1998 and this percentage has been stable since 1971 (Kirby & Hartstone, 1998). In the context of increasing concerns about health and safety in recent times, the authors commented that "while some companies may have employed other staff to address these issues, it would seem that OPs were being under-utilised in this area" (p. 74). Opportunities continue to exist for psychologists to expand existing knowledge and to conduct psychological research on occupational health issues (Offerman & Gowing, 1990; Terborg, 1988). Psychologists can apply their knowledge of research methods and intervention and contribute to making organizations both more productive and humane (Offerman & Gowing, 1990). There is a role for psychologists to engage in developing occupational stress theory, and to contribute to the application of solutions to organizational problems and the treatment of occupational stress and the evaluation of interventions. Hesketh, Rawlings, and Allen (1996) provide a cogent argument about this in relation to correctional services generally, and specifically to elucidate the preventive proactive potential of psychological work: "We believe that psychologists should take a more proactive stance within the corrective services environment, and this may mean including a focus on the institution as a client. It means trying to help management create a positive human environment, and in the process of doing this, hopefully reducing the need for reactive crisis interventions" (p. 13). Psychologists who continue to treat work stress client problems individually and outside of the context of their work environment may be in the service of the status quo and unsuccessful in effecting long term change in the alleviation of stress. Also, individual treatments may erroneously assume that upsetting emotions attached to difficult work conditions are not adaptive. Psychologists need to strengthen links between research and practice to respond effectively to the work stress problem. Specifically the gap between research and practice has led to "little awareness of research findings by practitioners (managers, consultants, clinicians), little intervention activity being undertaken at the organizational level, little research being undertaken to determine the effectiveness of individual level interventions, and only modest use of work research findings for intervention and policy development" (Burke, 1993, p. 85). A recent survey of Australian organizational psychologists revealed that the most frequent criticism of tertiary training courses in organizational psychology was a lack of practicality (Kirby & Hartstone, 1998). Bridging the gap


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between research and practice could in turn produce knowledge and methods appropriate for graduating students to deal with emerging demands in organizational psychology. Specific areas for work to reintegrate the research and practice components of work stress psychology include more intervention activities undertaken at the organizational level, as in job redesign. Paradoxically, Cordery (1997) notes that organizational psychologists' interest in work redesign has declined significantly in the past 10 years, just when organizations have begun to consider it seriously in attempts to increase competitiveness and productivity (Campion, 1996). Kompier and Cooper's (1999) case studies of preventing stress and improving productivity in the workplace, provide a good example of intervention at both the individual and organizational level. But this research needs to be extended beyond the Northern Hemisphere-European populations. Further, an integration of research findings for intervention and policy development is also required (Burke, 1993; Karasek, 1992). Contemporary issues that need to be researched by psychologists include among others: assessing how prevailing economic rationalism translates at the task level, and how these changes impact on performance and worker well-being; the impact of job insecurity and casual work conditions; the changing character of home and work life and the potential influences from one domain to another; assessing whether job strain is equally dangerous to men and women (Karasek & Theorell, 1990); and cost-benefit analyses of the work stress problem for not only large enterprises but also small- and medium- sized enterprises. Researchers need to use methodologies likely to result in adaptive change and not just in improving the knowledge base, and to use both cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis to understand more fully the nature of the work stress process (Zapf, Dormann, & Frese, 1996). Further, in order to capture the diversity of variables thought to be important in the work stress process, triangulation of different research methods is required (Israel, Schurman, & House, 1989). Use of both quantitative and qualitative data, enables a more detailed perspective of the person interacting with the environment. Across a range of other areas (e.g., unemployment, rehabilitation) social scientists are also being challenged to use multiple research methods to provide new insights and greater understanding of the phenomenon under study (Fryer, 1992; Kenny, 1995). What kind of model might psychologists need to improve their performance in reducing the occupational stress problem?

PSYCHOLOGY AND THE CONDUCIVE PRODUCTION MODEL It is clear that psychologists need to be able to respond to the changing needs of the contemporary world of work. Psychologists need to develop knowledge that can be translated into practice that is directly useful to organiza-

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tions (Cascio, 1995). To achieve this there needs to be stronger communication between theoretical psychologists and those involved more directly in intervention. This means more intradisciplinary teams, bringing skills and knowledge of both research and practice psychologists together, to focus on the problem. Alternatively, psychologists may develop stronger skills in both research and practice, or an interdisciplinary approach to capture other levels of the problem. But more than this it will require greater dialogue with organizations about what psychologists can do. How this can be achieved has generally been not been adequately addressed in the literature. The aim of the next section is to outline a paradigm for increasing the responsiveness of psychologists to the work stress problem. New production models are currently being proposed that are more humane than previously known in most industrialized societies. Organizational/ occupational psychologists may look to these new models to guide their own work within organizations, to help the organization achieve improved functioning and individual development (Porras & Robertson, 1992). These same models can be applied to the organization of "psychologists" who desire to improve their service. Let us refer to this collection of psychologists (researchers and practitioners) as the "Psychological Service Industry" (PSI). A model proposed by Karasek and Theorell (1990), the Conducivity Model, is particularly applicable to service sectors of the economy and as such is directly relevant to the PSI. If principles of the conducivity model are applied to the PSI, improvements may be gained on both the research and practice front, in ways that have mutual benefits for workers, organizations, and the psychologists (see Figure 1). Conducive productivity refers to a new productivity that results when service providers (psychologists) and consumers (work organizations) communicate effectively about what service is required, that is, how the needs of the client/consumer can be met. Psychologists and organizations will need to create a user friendly dialogue so that needs and services can be reciprocated and improved. In this model psychologists will be guided in their interventions in part from the prevailing knowledge, but also from enhanced communication with consumers. As a result the client will learn to be more proficient (smarter) at specifying their requirements for service as their knowledge of the PSI is enlarged. In turn the psychologists' skills in evaluation will evolve as feedback from clients is an integral part of the growth of new skills and creativity in the PSI. The link between research and practice is forced in this model, because the process is driven by client demand for applied services that are effective. The model assumes that the production is conducive as it results in mutual learning, innovation, and increased satisfaction of both the organization and the psychologist. Although some theorists (e.g., John, 1994) argue that the researcher and the practitioner of psychology may be separate people engaged in different


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Fig. 1. Conducive production.

activities, they are still part of the overall organization (PSI) that necessarily has to develop stronger links between the entities in order to respond more effectively to the work stress problem. Although we have been talking about the model as it relates to the field of organizational psychology it could easily apply to other areas of psychology (e.g., health and community psychology).

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To significantly reduce the work stress problem the productive psychologist will be required to: 1. Become more knowledgeable about client needs 2. Create products that encourage clients to develop new uses 3. Communicate more with organizations and communities in ways that are conducive to clients gaining a better understanding of psychology and its methods 4. Provide mechanisms to facilitate feedback from the client about the extent to which needs were met and for providing information related to evolving needs of the client 5. Provide more information to the public and policy makers about the problems of work stress and possible solutions 6. Develop stronger links between academics and practitioners 7. Evaluate change efforts 8. Develop teams of psychologists with practical, theoretical, and methodological knowledge 9. Develop and lead multidisciplinary teams

Products of applying the conducivity model are likely to include more flexible approaches, increased creativity in methods, increased learning for psychologists, and increased learning for organizations (workers and management). These results should contribute to a greater understanding of work stress for organizations, workers, and psychologists, and should also contribute more generally to methodological knowledge, to possible intervention taxonomies, to an understanding of the politics of intervention, and the development of work stress theory. In many ways the conducive production model embraces similar principles to PAR, adding value to the client, reciprocal learning and also to psychologists' knowledge and skills, and participation. The conducive production model is also about adaptive work and emulates ideas in current management literature that to successfully face the challenges of multiple change is to do adaptive work (Heifetz & Laurie, 1997). Psychologists can help organizations develop "local theories and solutions" (Trierweiler & Strieker, 1991) to their problems, and also contribute to the debate at a national policy level. For example, Sweden has created a strong platform for humane work environment change with full attention to both physical and psychosocial hazards, with an institutional and legislative program that contributes to industrial productivity. In this way local action strategies are supported and complemented by action at a national level (Karasek, 1992). It is hoped that this paper can contribute to the resolution of the work stress problem by its efforts to highlight some gaps between research and practice, examine the principal theories of occupational stress, their methodological,

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practical and political implications, and outline a new model of production for the Psychology Service Industry. A conducive production model that emphasizes action and knowledge, and reciprocal learning between academia, practitioners, and organizations may be the way forward for psychologists to respond effectively to current work stress problems and other emergent organizational issues. In this way stronger links will be built between industry and academia, which in turn may lead to alternative funding sources for research on this important issue—timely as government funding for research decreases (Cooper & Cartwright, 1997). Failure to do so may result in exacerbation of problems related to the psychological and social context of work, a slowed response to increased demands, and an ever decreasing practical utility of the profession.

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