Important factors in common among organizations making large improvement in OHS performance: results of an exploratory multiple case study

This exploratory study sought to identify the factors important to large improvement in workplace occupational health and safety (OHS) performance. Mixed methods were used to systematically identify 12 organizations in a workers' compensation database that had made large and intentional improvement in workplace OHS performance in Ontario, Canada, during 1998-2008 (i.e., "breakthrough change" (BTC) cases). Four of these organizations were selected for in-depth case study (two manufacturers, a grocery and a social agency). Cross-case analysis and consideration of existing literature led to a 12-element conceptual model with organizational learning at its core. Four elements were involved in the initiation of BTC: external influence, organizational motivation to improve OHS, new OHS knowledge and a knowledge transformation leader. Five other elements were involved in the process of BTC: responsiveness to OHS concerns, positive social dynamics, continuous improvement pattern, simultaneous operational improvement, and supportive internal context. Finally, three elements are outcomes of BTC: integrated OHS knowledge, decreased OHS risk, and decreased injury and illness. These concepts can be used in future research regarding workplace improvement in OHS performance. Language: en

[1]  Harry S. Shannon,et al.  Overview of the relationship between organizational and workplace factors and injury rates , 1997 .

[2]  Justin J. P. Jansen,et al.  Inter- and Intra-Organizational Knowledge Transfer: A Meta-Analytic Review and Assessment of its Antecedents and Consequences , 2008 .

[3]  W. Burke.  Organization Change: Theory and Practice , 2002 .

[4]  Neil Gunningham,et al.  Organizational Trust and the Limits of Management-Based Regulation , 2009 .

[5]  Andrew Hale,et al.  Evaluating safety management and culture interventions to improve safety: Effective intervention strategies , 2010 .

[6]  F. Guldenmund.  The nature of safety culture: a review of theory and research , 2000 .

[7]  Linda Argote,et al.  Organizational Learning: From Experience to Knowledge , 2011, Organ. Sci..

[8]  Evert Vedung,et al.  Policy instruments : Typologies and theories , 1998 .

[9]  Karen J. Jansen,et al.  From Persistence to Pursuit: A Longitudinal Examination of Momentum During the Early Stages of Strategic Change , 2004, Organ. Sci..

[10]  K. Weick,et al.  Organizational change and development. , 1999, Annual review of psychology.

[11]  Beatriz Fernández-Muñiz,et al.  Relation between occupational safety management and firm performance , 2009 .

[12]  Linda Drupsteen,et al.  Critical Steps in Learning From Incidents: Using Learning Potential in the Process From Reporting an Incident to Accident Prevention , 2013, International journal of occupational safety and ergonomics : JOSE.

[13]  Ole Broberg,et al.  The OHS consultant as a facilitator of learning in workplace design processes: Four explorative case studies of current practice , 2007 .

[14]  T. Kristensen.  Intervention studies in occupational epidemiology , 2005, Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

[15]  Marjorie A. Lyles,et al.  Absorbing the Concept of Absorptive Capacity: How to Realize Its Potential in the Organization Field , 2009 .

[16]  Joseph H. Saleh,et al.  Archetypes for organizational safety , 2006 .

[17]  A. V. D. Ven,et al.  Explaining Development and Change in Organizations , 1995 .

[18]  Julian Barling,et al.  High-performance work systems and occupational safety. , 2005, The Journal of applied psychology.

[19]  Ryan W. Quinn,et al.  Human Energy in Organizations , 2011 .

[20]  K. Lewin.  Frontiers in Group Dynamics , 1947 .

[21]  Glenn A. Bowen.  Grounded Theory and Sensitizing Concepts , 2006 .

[22]  D. Zohar.  Safety climate in industrial organizations: theoretical and applied implications. , 1980, The Journal of applied psychology.

[23]  Rosa Antonia Carrillo,et al.  Complexity and safety. , 2011, Journal of safety research.

[24]  A. Bedeian,et al.  Organizational Change: A Review of Theory and Research in the 1990s , 1999 .

[25]  Daniel A. Levinthal,et al.  ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON LEARNING AND INNOVATION , 1990 .

[26]  Tom Kontogiannis,et al.  Modeling patterns of breakdown (or archetypes) of human and organizational processes in accidents using system dynamics , 2012 .

[27]  D. Zohar.  Modifying supervisory practices to improve subunit safety: a leadership-based intervention model. , 2002, The Journal of applied psychology.

[28]  Jane Mullen,et al.  Divergent effects of transformational and passive leadership on employee safety. , 2006, Journal of occupational health psychology.

[29]  J. Kotter.  Leading change: why transformation efforts fail , 2009, IEEE Engineering Management Review.

[30]  Ryan W. Quinn,et al.  Coordination as Energy-in-Conversation , 2005 .

[31]  Peter Hasle,et al.  Changing the internal health and safety organization through organizational learning and change management , 2006 .

[32]  M. Sandelowski.  Theory unmasked: the uses and guises of theory in qualitative research. , 1993, Research in nursing & health.

[33]  Davide Nicolini,et al.  To Transfer is to Transform: The Circulation of Safety Knowledge , 2000 .

[34]  Luis L. Martins,et al.  Organizational change and development. , 2011 .

[35]  Elsa Underhill,et al.  Managing work health and safety: recent developments and future directions , 2012 .

[36]  Arran Caza,et al.  Positive Organizational Scholarship: What Does it Achieve? , 2008 .

[37]  Ole Broberg,et al.  The OHS consultant as a ‘political reflective navigator’ in technological change processes , 2004 .

[38]  Kim S. Cameron,et al.  The Oxford handbook of positive organizational scholarship , 2011 .

[39]  S. Zahra,et al.  Absorptive Capacity: A Review, Reconceptualization, and Extension , 2002 .

[40]  Jill C. Bradley,et al.  Workplace safety: a meta-analysis of the roles of person and situation factors. , 2009, The Journal of applied psychology.

[41]  Andrew R.Hale and Jan Hovden,et al.  Management and culture: the third age of safety. A review of approaches to organizational aspects of safety, health and environment , 1998 .

[42]  K. Lewin.  Frontiers in Group Dynamics , 1947 .

[43]  Henk W. Volberda,et al.  Absorbing the Concept of Absorptive Capacity: How to Realize Its Potential in the Organization Field , 2009 .

[44]  G. Huber.  Organizational Learning: The Contributing Processes and the Literatures , 1991 .

[45]  K. Eisenhardt.  Building theories from case study research , 1989, STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI.

[46]  Balaji R. Koka,et al.  The Reification of Absorptive Capacity: A Critical Review and Rejuvenation of the Construct , 2006 .

[47]  Kent J Nielsen,et al.  Improving safety culture through the health and safety organization: a case study. , 2014, Journal of safety research.

[48]  Jeremy M. Beus,et al.  Safety climate and injuries: an examination of theoretical and empirical relationships. , 2010, The Journal of applied psychology.

[49]  H. H. Spangenberg,et al.  A critical review of the Burke-Litwin model of leadership, change and performance , 2013 .

[50]  Heike Bruch,et al.  Energy at work: A measurement validation and linkage to unit effectiveness. , 2012 .

[51]  Matthew B. Miles,et al.  Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook , 1994 .

[52]  Harry S. Shannon,et al.  Workplace Organizational Policies and Practices in Ontario Educational Facilities , 2005, Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation.

[53]  D. Zohar,et al.  A multilevel model of safety climate: cross-level relationships between organization and group-level climates. , 2005, The Journal of applied psychology.

[54]  Peter Hasle,et al.  Working environment interventions - Bridging the gap between policy instruments and practice , 2014 .

[55]  P A Schulte,et al.  Intervention research in occupational health and safety. , 1994, Journal of occupational medicine. : official publication of the Industrial Medical Association.

[56]  Poul Houman Andersen,et al.  Sense and sensibility: Two approaches for using existing theory in theory-building qualitative research , 2010 .

[57]  D. Hofmann,et al.  Safety-related behavior as a social exchange: The role of perceived organizational support and leader–member exchange. , 1999 .

[58]  F. Damanpour.  Organizational Innovation: A Meta-Analysis Of Effects Of Determinants and Moderators , 1991 .

[59]  K. Dearden,et al.  The power of positive deviance , 2004, BMJ : British Medical Journal.

[60]  Thanet Aksorn,et al.  Critical success factors influencing safety program performance in Thai construction projects , 2008 .

[61]  Svend Erik Mathiassen,et al.  Explicit and implicit theories of change when designing and implementing preventive ergonomics interventions--a systematic literature review. , 2011, Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health.

[62]  M. Tushman.  Special Boundary Roles in the Innovation Process. , 1977 .

[63]  Gretchen M. Spreitzer,et al.  Toward the Construct Definition of Positive Deviance , 2004 .

[64]  A. Culyer,et al.  The effectiveness of occupational health and safety management system interventions: A systematic review , 2007 .

[65]  E. Kelloway,et al.  Development and test of a model linking safety-specific transformational leadership and occupational safety. , 2002, The Journal of applied psychology.

[66]  W. Burke,et al.  A Causal Model of Organizational Performance and Change , 1992 .

[67]  Michael Quinn Patton,et al.  How to use qualitative methods in evaluation , 1987 .

[68]  A. Neal,et al.  A study of the lagged relationships among safety climate, safety motivation, safety behavior, and accidents at the individual and group levels. , 2006, The Journal of applied psychology.

[69]  J. Dutton,et al.  Positive organizational scholarship : foundations of a new discipline , 2003 .

[70]  J. Dutton,et al.  Positive Organizational Scholarship , 2007 .