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Successful Management Strategies of Health and Safety (HS)An Overview on Recent Findings

Bernhard Zimolong & Gabriele ElkeRuhr University Bochum, Germany

Bernhard.Zimolong@rub.de

1. Human resource systems

2. Leadership

3. Health and Safety Climate

4. Intervention study on management strategies

5. References

Bernhard.Zimolong@rub.de

Zimolong, B., & Elke, G. (2006). Occupational health and safety management. In G. Salvendy (Ed.), Handbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics (pp. 673-707). New York: Wiley.

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First-line Management

Teams

…Work

DesignHuman

Resource

SystemsI & C

Systems

Production Human Resources

General Manager

Middle Management

Top Management

Controlling Systems

Human Resource Management: Levels and Forms

Interactive Leadership(transactional and transformational)

Substitutes for Leadership(Structure and Culture)

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• Human resource management covers all processes serving to reach organization objectives, which aim to control human resources of an organization.

• Personnel systems cover such activities as personnel planning, recruitment, placement, development, performance appraisal, training, and competency assessment, counseling and guiding of individuals and groups, payment concepts, back-to-work programs and rehabilitation at the workplace.

• Behavior control by personnel systems has its origins in the operant perspective of role behavior and the attendant ABC framework (antecedents-behavior-consequences; Stajkovic & Luthans, 1997; 2003). Mainly antecedents, i.e. goal setting and training, and consequences, i.e. feedback, incentives, and social recognition, have been studied. Antecedents have mostly been used in combination with positive consequences of some kind (Geller 2001).

• Financial rewards: The results of the meta-analysis of Stajkovic and Luthans (2003) shows that combined reinforcement effects of money, feedback and social recognition produced the strongest increase of performance of 45% (d = 1,88). The effects of the individual reinforcers on task performance was 23% (d = .68) for money, 17% (d = .51) for social recognition and 10% (d = .29) for feedback.

• Behavior programs usually combine the outlined methods. The implementation of such programs into practice changed safety behavior successfully on individual and group level. A meta-analysis of Krause, Seymour und Sloa (1999) yielded an accident reduction of 26% after one and 69% after five years due to the introduction of behavior programs.

• Overviews: Sulzer-Azaroff, Harris and McCann (1994), Komaki, Coombs, Redding & Schepman (2000) Zimolong & Elke (2005)

Human resource management

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Study on Human Resource Systems: Sample profile18 production sites of 16 companies from chemical industry, Zimolong & Elke, 2001

37 InterviewsMaintenance

41 InterviewsSafety officer

1341 questionnairesWorkers

105 Interviews171 questionnaires

First-line supervisor

108 Interviews8 questionnaires

Middle-level manager

60 InterviewsProduction manager

47 Interviews8 questionnaires

Planning & Design34 Interviews

Purchase

20 InterviewsOccupational doctor

40 Interviews17 questionnaires

Human resources83 Interviews

8 questionnaires

Occupational safety

19 InterviewsGeneral manager

Hazard assessment32 workplaces

Workers’ representative(Betriebsrat)

55 Interviews

Total 686 Interviews1536 questionnaires

GAMAGS Study

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Study on the Use of Human Resource Systems (HS) Zimolong & Elke, 2001

Appraisal systems*

Reward systems*

Responsibility of teams**

Career development

Training system (5 in 5 years)

LeadershipResponsibility H & S

**p < .01; *p < .05

Excellent n = 24 managers

Progress n = 23 managers

Below Average n = 29 managers

Figures in Percent

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Assessmentcorrective actions

All

Excellent

Below Average

Progress

Documented

67

100

67

67

Self-reports

31

5720

75

Monitoring

100

100

100

100

65

57

60

75

All

Excellent

Below Average

Progress

Documented Self-reports

53

40

75

75

31

29

17

70

All

Excellent

Below Average

Progress

Documented Self-reports

Practice ratesAppraisal systems (HS)

Study on the use of controlling systems (Human Resource Systems)

Zimolong & Elke, 2001Performance appraisal

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• The results of the predominantly operant perspective of leadership research (Komaki, 1998, Stajkovic & Luthans, 2003) and goal setting research (Locke & Latham 2002) reveals two primary attributes of effective leadership: performance based monitoring and timely communication of consequences. Effective group leaders continually set goals, support and qualify their employees by feedback and trainings and provide social and/or material incentives. Effective supervisors monitor work in progress, particularly through work sampling (i.e. direct observation) and act accordingly

• Zohar (2002a) and Zohar and Luria (2003) analyzed in their intervention studies direct leadership behavior on different hierarchical levels. Despite the relatively high autonomy of supervisors at work, expectations of their immediate superiors and the upper management and top management very strongly affect their behavior.

• Participation and involvement are widely seen as important principles (Spector, 1986). Many studies particularly from Scandinavia demonstrated that participative leadership behavior and participative behavior programs entailed credible improvements of safety performance in the team. In a study by Laitinen, Saari and Kuusela (1997) housekeeping and ergonomic workplace design were improved as well as frequency of injuries and absenteeism were reduced by goal setting, performance appraisal, participation of the employees and support of the management. Likewise, Simard and Marchand (1994,1997) examined the importance of cooperative relationship between managers and their teams. O'Dea and Flin (2001) showed a positive relationship between participative leadership and the perceived responsibility for workplace safety.

Interactive leadership, participation, involvement

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Transactional Leadership***

Excellent n = 137 Workers

Progress n = 174 Workers

Below Average n = 165 Workers

Monitoring

Feedback

Participation

Leading by Model

Motivation

Goal setting

3

3,2

3,4

3,6

3,8

4

Transformational Leadership***

Study on interactive leadership Zimolong & Stapp, 2001

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•The upper management controls occupational safety through the influence on structures and processes of the organizations (Zohar, 2003a). Mearns, Whitaker and Flin (2003) identified successful leadership behavior for the upper management. They postulate that for the upper management personal attendance in occupational safety meetings and in walk-abouts, as well as emphasis of occupational safety in the informal and formal communication with managers and the workforce are important practices of safety-oriented leadership.

•Zohar and Luria (2003) demonstrated that control of leadership behavior by the upper management led to both an improved safety-specific leadership and to safer behavior of the employees. In addition, the leadership behavior of the upper management affects occupational safety on the shop floor through an improved safety climate (Guldenmund, 2000; Zohar, 2003b).

•Leadership depends crucially on the fit between leadership style and the situational contingencies (Fiedler & Chemers, 1982; House, 1996). Leadership styles e.g. a participative or transformational leadership, which are frequently recommended in the literature; do not fit into every organization or anytime. Leadership needs to be flexible because it depends on organizational culture, structures and objectives, which are subjects to constant change. Successful leadership varies depending on organizational conditions. An important contextual factor for the leadership form is according to Zohar (2003a) and Hofmann and Morgeson (2004) primarily the standardization of work processes.

Influence of hierachical levels, situational contingencies

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•A meta-analysis conducted by Wagner and Gooding (1987) examined the effects of participation in the process of decision-making on performance. Authors found only low effect sizes. The advantages of employee participation in decision-making seems to originate more from a cognitive gain than from an increase of commitment (Locke, Alavi & Wagner, 1997).

•Several studies indicate that safety culture or safety climate play a crucial role as a mediator between leadership and improved safety performance (Zohar, 2003a; Hoffmann & Morgeson, 2004). Personnel leadership behavior is a significant determinant of safety climate, which in turn affects the accident rates (Hoffmann & Morgeson, 2004; Zohar, 2003a, 2003b). Zohar (2002b) also demonstrated a complete mediation of leadership influence on accident rates by safety climate.

•Zimolong & Stapp (2001) demonstrated a complete mediation of leadership influence on health complaints, particularly on back pain complaints by health and safety climate.

•Hofmann and Morgeson (1999) examined the effect of relationship quality between leaders and members (LMX, Leader Member Exchange, Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995). Leadership behavior had no direct influence on the number of accidents but was mediated by safety communication and safety commitment in the examined 49 dyads. Morgeson and Gerras (2003) demonstrated that safety climate moderates the relationship between LMX and the extended role definition on group level. High-quality LMX relationships resulted in expanded safety role definitions when there was a positive safety climate. Under less positive safety climate there was no such expansion. Only if a high-quality LMX was coupled with a strong safety climate, the role definition of the soldiers included next to performance also safety obligations.

HS- Climate and interactive leadership (mediating mechanisms)

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Leadership: participation, goal setting, motivation

Health and Safety Climate (HS Norms, Values)

Health complaints

Back pains

-.004 to -. 026

-. 024 to -.036

(-.229 to -.289)

.628 to . 733 - .342 to -.398

Standardized beta coefficientsZimolong & Stapp, 2001

Mediation of the influence of leadership on health complaints and back pain complaints by HS climate GAMAGS Study

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Norms p = .000

Age x N p = .072

2,22

2,29

2,67

1,92

1,78

1,84

1,0

1,2

1,4

1,6

1,8

2,0

2,2

2,4

2,6

2,8

3,0

21-30 31-40 41-50

Weak Norms

Strong Norms

Age Classes

Frequency ofBack Pain Complaints

Study on HS climate: weak and strong HS norms and frequency of back pain complaints Zimolong & Stapp, 2001

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Implementation of HRM in two companies (A and B) with 1000 employees each

Vorstand

Middle Management

General Manager

Functional Managers

DEPARTMENTSFirst-line Managers

Supervisors

Werksarzt

Personal undSoziales

Vertrieb Controlling

Umwelt undArbeitssicherheit

Qualitäts-sicherung

Maschinen-bau

A 11 A 12 A 13

A1

A 21 A 22 A 23

A 2

A 31 A 32 A 33 A 34

A 3

Fertigung Logistik

Company A

Sparte A Sparte X Sparte Y

Vertrieb Controlling

Qualitäts-sicherung

Maschinen-bau

B B

B

B B

B 1

Fertigung Logistik

Sparte B

Umwelt undArbeitssicherheit

Standort: X

Start in the two departments A 1 and B 1 with about 1000 employees,

Company B

Start in department A 2 12 months later

Intervention study on human resource management

in a industry-battery plant

Top Management

Elke & Zimolong, 2006

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Test Test Test

O1 O2 O3

O1 O2

O1 O2

Department Intervention Intervention

HRM HMS

A 1 X X

B 1 X

A 2 X

Pretest Posttest1

Pretest Posttest1 Posttest 2

t 1 t2 t 3

Intervention Study: Prospective Cohort Design

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-10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

HS Knowledge

Performance Intention

HS Culture (norms)

Commitment

HS Information

Department A 1 n = 70 Workers

Department A 2 n = 140 Workers

% Change: Pretest - Posttest%

Intervention Study: Changes in Departments A1 and A2

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Leading by

Model

Motivation

Goal setting

Control

Feedback

-5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Department A 1 n = 70 workers

Department A 2 n = 140 workers

% Change: Pretest - Posttest

Intervention Study: Changes of Leadership in Departments A1 and A2

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5

7

9

11

13

T1 T2 T3 T5

Ill health lost work days (%-Points)

Accidents (Frequency) Goal: -2% points Lost work days

Goal: -2% points Lost work days

Goal: -50%Accidents

Goal: -50%Accidents

A1Start A2

Intervention Study: Development of Absenteeism and Accidents

T6T4

HRM and capacity explain 32 % of the variance of the accident development

HRM and capacity explain 24% of the variance of the ill-health lost workday development

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Conclusion

Strong need for studies on

– Substitutes for interactive (personal) leadership (Kerr & Jermier, 1978)

Human resource systems, rules, instructions, norms and values (culture, climate)

– Multi-level analysis: teams, middle and upper management

– Intervention studies: prospective cohort studies

– Joint approach to health and safety

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References 1

Elke, G., & Zimolong, B. (2005). Eine Interventionsstudie zum Einfluss des Human Resource Mangements im betrieblichen Arbeits- und Gesundheitsschutz. Zeitschrift für Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie, 49(3), 1-14.Barling, J., Loughlin, C. & Kelloway, E. K. (2002). Development and test of a model linking safety-specific transformational leadership and occupational safety. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 488-496.Beckmann, J., Zimolong, B., Stapp, M. & Elke, G. (2001). Personalmanagement erfolgreicher Betriebe. In B. Zimolong (Hrsg.), Management des Arbeits- und Gesundheitsschutzes - Die erfolgreichen Strategien der Unternehmen (S. 49-81). Wiesbaden: Gabler.Graen, G. B. & Uhl-Bien, M. (1995). Relationship-based approach to leadership: Development of leader-member exchange (LMX) theory of leadership over 25 years: Applying a multi-level multi-domain perspective. Leadership Quarterly, 6, 219-247.Guldenmund, F. W. (2000). The nature of safety culture: A review of theory and research. Safety Science, 34, 215-257.Hofmann, D. A. & Morgeson, F. P. (1999). Safety-related behavior as a social exchange: The role of perceived organizational support and leader-member exchange. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84, 286-296.Hofmann, D. A. & Morgeson, F. P. (2004). The role of leadership in safety. In M. R. Frone & J. Barling (Eds.), The psychology of workplace safety (pp. 159-180). Washington: APA.Hofmann, D. A., Morgeson, F. P & Gerras, S. J. (2003). Climate as a moderator of the relationship between leader-member exchange and content specific citizenship: Safety climate as an exemplar. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88 (1), 170-178.House, R. J. (1996). Path-goal theory of leadership: Lessons, legacy, and a reformulated theory. Leadership Quarterly, 7, 323-352.Komaki, J. L. (1998). Leadership from an operant perspective. Routledge: New York.Komaki, J. L., Coombs, T., Redding, T. P. & Schepman, S. (2000). A rich and rigorous examination of applied behavior analysis research in the world of work. In C. L. Cooper & I. T. Robertson (Eds.), International Review of Industrial an Organizational Psychology (Vol. 15, pp. 265-367). Cichester: Wiley.Krause, T. R., Seymour, K. J. & Sloat, K. C. M. (1999). Long-term evaluation of a behavior-based method for improving safety performance: A meta-analysis of 73 interrupted time-series replications. Safety Science, 32, 1-18.Laitinen, H., Saari, J. & Kuusela, J. (1997). Initiating an innovative change process for improved working conditions and ergonomics with participation and performance feedback: A case study in an engineering workshop. Industrial Ergonomics, 19, 299-305.

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References 2

Locke, E. A., Alavi; M. & Wagner, J. (1997). Participation in decision-making: An information exchange perspective. In G. Ferris (Ed.), Research in personnel and human resources management (Vol. 15, pp. 293-331). Greenwich: JAI Press.Locke, E. A. & Latham, G. P. (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation. American Psychologist, 57, 705-717.McAfee, R. B. & Winn, A. R. (1989). The use of incentives/feedback to enhance work place safety: A critique of the literature. Journal of Safety Research, 20, 7-19.Mearns, K., Whitaker, S. M. & Flin, R. (2003). Safety climate, safety management practice and safety performance in offshore environments . Safety Science, 41, 641-680.O’Dea, A. & Flin, R. (2001). Site managers, supervisors, and safety in the offshore oil and gas industry. Safety Science, 37, 39-57.Sagie, A. (1994). Participative decision making and performance: A moderator analysis. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 30(2), 227-246.Simard, M. & Marchand, A. (1997). Workgroups propensity to comply with safety rules: The influence of micro-macro organisation factors. Ergonomics, 40, 172-188.Spector, P. E. (1986). Perceived control by employees: A meta-analysis of studies concerning autonomy and participation at work. Human Relations, 39 (11), 1005-1016.Stajkovic, A. D. & Luthans, F. (1997). A meta-analysis of the effects of organization behavior modification on task performance. Academy of Management Journal, 40, 1122-1149.Stajkovic, A. D. & Luthans, F. (2003). Behavioral management and task performance in organizations: Conceptual background, meta-analysis, and test of alternative models. Personnel Psychology, 56, 155-194.Sulzer-Azaroff, B., Harris, T. C. & McCann, K. B. (1994). Beyond training: Organizational performance management techniques. Occupational Medicine, 9, 321-339.Wagner, J. & Gooding, R. (1987). Effects of societal trends on participation research. Administrative Science Quarterly, 32, 241-262.Zimolong, B. (Hrsg.) (2001). Management des Arbeits- und Gesundheitsschutzes - Die erfolgreichen Strategien der Unternehmen . (Management of Health and Safety – Successful strategies of enterprises). Wiesbaden: Gabler.Zimolong B, Stapp M. (2001). Psychosoziale Gesundheitsförderung. (psychosocial health promotion). In B Zimolong (Hrsg.) Management des Arbeits- und Gesundheitsschutzes - Die erfolgreichen Strategien der Unternehmen, (Management of Health and Safety – Successful strategies of enterprises) (S. 141-69). Wiesbaden: GablerZimolong, B., & Elke, G. (2006). Occupational health and safety management. In G. Salvendy (Ed.), Handbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics (pp. 673-707). New York: Wiley.

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References 3

Zohar, D. (2002a). Modifying supervisory practices to improve subunit safety: A leadership-based intervention model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 156-163.Zohar, D. (2002b). The effects of leadership dimensions, safety climate, and assigned priorities on minor injuries in work groups. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23, 75-92.Zohar, D. (2003a). The influence of leadership and climate on occupational health and safety. In D. A. Hofmann & L. E. Tetrick (Eds). Health and safety in organizations: A multi-level perspective (pp. 201-230). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Zohar, D. (2003b). Safety climate: Conceptual and measurement issues. In J. C. Quick & L. E. Tetrick (Eds.), Handbook of occupational health psychology (pp. 123-142). Washington: American Psychological Association.Zohar, D. & Luria, G. (2003). The use of supervisory practices as leverage to improve safety behavior: A cross-level intervention model. Journal of Safety Research, 34, 567-577.Zohar, D. & Luria, G. (2004). Climate as a social-cognitive construction of supervisory safety practices: scripts as proxy of behavior patterns. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 322-333.