Successful Management Strategies of Health and Safety (HS)

1
Successful Management Strategies of Health and
Safety (HS) An Overview on Recent Findings
Bernhard Zimolong Gabriele Elke Ruhr University
Bochum, Germany Bernhard.Zimolong_at_rub.de
1. Human resource systems 2. Leadership 3.
Health and Safety Climate 4. Intervention
study on management strategies 5. References
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.
Bernhard.Zimolong_at_rub.de
2
Human Resource Management Levels and Forms
Top Management

Human Resources
Middle Management
First-line Management
Teams
CULTURE
Interactive Leadership (transactional and
transformational)
Substitutes for Leadership (Structure and
Culture)
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Human resource management

• 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)

4
Study on Human Resource Systems Sample
profile 18 production sites of 16 companies from
chemical industry, Zimolong Elke, 2001
GAMAGS Study
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Study on the Use of Human Resource Systems (HS)
Zimolong Elke, 2001
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Study on the use of controlling systems (Human
Resource Systems)
Performance appraisal
Zimolong Elke, 2001
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Interactive leadership, participation, involvement

• 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.

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Study on interactive leadership Zimolong Stapp,
2001
Monitoring
Transactional Leadership
4
3,8
Feedback
Goal setting
3,6
3,4
3,2
3
Participation
Motivation
Transformational Leadership
p lt .001
Leading by Model
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Influence of hierachical levels, situational
contingencies

• 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.

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HS- Climate and interactive leadership
(mediating mechanisms)

• 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.

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Mediation of the influence of leadership on
health complaints and back pain complaints by HS
climate
GAMAGS Study
Standardized beta coefficients Zimolong Stapp,
2001
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Study on HS climate weak and strong HS norms
and frequency of back pain complaints
Zimolong Stapp, 2001
Frequency of Back Pain Complaints
Weak Norms
Strong Norms
Norms p .000 Age x N p .072
Age Classes
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Intervention study on human resource management
in a industry-battery plant
Elke Zimolong, 2006

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

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

Vorstand
Sparte A
Sparte X
Sparte Y
Sparte B

• Start in department A 2
• 12 months later

Vertrieb
Controlling
Vertrieb
Controlling
Company A
Company B
Top Management
Standort X
General Manager
Personal und
Soziales






Werksarzt
Middle Management
Functional Managers
Fertigung
Logistik
Fertigung
Logistik
DEPARTMENTS First-line Managers
A1
A 2
A 3
B
B 1
Supervisors
A 11
A 12
A 13
A 21
A 22
A 23
A 31
A 32
A 33
A 34
B
B
B
B
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Intervention Study Prospective Cohort Design
Department Intervention
Intervention HRM
HMS A 1
X X B 1
X A 2
X
Test Test
Test O1
O2 O3 O1
O2 O1 O2
Pretest
Posttest1 Posttest 2

Pretest Posttest1
t 1
t2 t 3
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Intervention Study Changes in Departments A1 and
A2
HS Knowledge
Performance Intention
HS Culture (norms)
Commitment
HS Information

Change Pretest - Posttest
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Intervention Study Changes of Leadership in
Departments A1 and A2
Leading by
Model
Motivation
Goal setting
Control
Feedback
Change Pretest - Posttest
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Intervention Study Development of Absenteeism
and Accidents
Goal -2 points Lost work days
HRM and capacity explain 24 of the variance of
the ill-health lost workday development
Goal -50 Accidents
HRM and capacity explain 32 of the variance
of the accident development
T2
T3
T6
T4
T1
T5
Start
A2
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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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