Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #111740

David M. DeJoy, PhD¹, Robert J. Vandenberg, PhD², and Mark G. Wilson, HSD¹. (1) Health Promotion and Behavior, University of Georgia, 300 River Road, 315 Ramsey Center, Athens, GA 30602, 706 542-4368, dmdejoy@uga.edu, (2) Management, College of Business, University of Georgia, Brooks Hall, Athens, GA 30602

Theory and research on high involvement work processes (HIWP) provides a potentially useful framework for designing interventions to improve workplace safety and health and related organizational outcomes. Like most participatory work systems, HIWP seeks to involves employees in aspects of decision-making that have been traditionally reserved for management. What differentiates HIWP from past initiatives, however, is that it provides a specific system of inclusion (PIRK) into the organization that simultaneously embraces the benefits of increased power (P), access to critical information (I), exposure to rewards (R) linking individual performance to organizational outcomes, and the opportunity to expand organizational- and task-related knowledge (K). As such, the PIRK framework provides a basis for diagnosing organizations and implementing needed changes. Considerable research shows the positive effects of HIWP on both employee morale and various indices of organizational performance (retention, quality, financial performance, etc), but very few studies have examined HIWP in the context of safety and health outcomes. This paper describes the PIRK framework, and assesses its applicability to designing safety and health interventions. Relevant research on the effectiveness and efficacy of HIWP is critiqued, and a conceptual framework is presented for implementing HIWP and the PIRK framework. Hospital-based nursing was selected as the realm of application. This is particularly appropriate given numerous calls for rethinking how nursing practice is organized and managed, recent findings from magnet hospitals and other exemplars of enlightened nursing practice, and the complex interaction between worker and patient outcomes in health care settings.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this presentation, participants will be able to

(
• describe the key tenets of high involvement work processes (HIWP); (
• analyze how HIWP can be used to diagnose problems and implement change in organizations; and (
• evaluate the approrpriateness of HIWP for improving workplace safety and health and other outcomes, using nursing as the realm of application.

Keywords: Occupational Safety, Management

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation