The authors explore the effects of organizational change on employee well-being using multivariate analyses of linked employer-employee data for Britain, with particular emphasis on whether unions moderate these effects. Nationally representative data consist of 13,500 employees in 1,238 workplaces. Organizational changes are associated with increased job-related anxiety and lower job satisfaction. The authors find that job-related anxiety is ameliorated when employees work in a unionized workplace and are involved in the introduction of the changes.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AppelbaumEileenBaileyThomasBergPeterKallebergArne L., 2000. Manufacturing Advantage: Why High-Performance Work Systems Pay Off. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press/ILR Press.
2.
AskenazyPhilippeCaroliEve. 2010. Innovative work practices, information technologies, and working conditions: Evidence for France. Industrial Relations49(4): 544–65.
3.
BénabouRolandTiroleJean. 2003. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Review of Economic Studies70(3): 489–520.
4.
BlackSandra E.LynchLisa M., 2004. What's driving the new economy? The benefits of workplace innovations. Economic Journal114: F97–F116.
5.
BlackSandra E.LynchLisa M.KrivelyovaAnya. 2004. How workers fare when employers innovate. Industrial Relations43(1): 44–66.
6.
BloomNicholasVan ReenenJohn. 2007. Measuring and explaining management practices across firms and countries. Quarterly Journal of Economics122: 1351–1408.
7.
BordiaPrashantHuntE.PaulsenNeilTourishDennisDiFonzoNicholas. 2004. Uncertainty during organizational change: Is it all about control?European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology13(3): 345–65.
8.
BradburnNorman. 1969. The Structure of Psychological Weil-Being. Chicago: Aldine.
9.
BrysonAlexCappellariLorenzoLuciforaClaudio. 2009. Workers' perceptions of job insecurity: Do job security guarantees work?Labor: Review of Labor Economics and Industrial Relations23(s1): 177–96.
10.
BrysonAlexForthJohnKirbySimon. 2005. High-performance practices, trade union representation and workplace performance in Britain. Scottish Journal of Political Economy53(3): 451–91.
11.
BurkeRonald J.GreenglassEsther R., 2001. Hospital restructuring and nursing staff well-being: The role of perceived hospital and union support. Anxiety, Stress and Coping: An International Journal14(1): 93–115.
12.
CaroliEveVan ReenenJohn. 2001. Skill-biased organizational change? Evidence from a panel of British and French establishments. Quarterly Journal of Economics116: 1449–92.
13.
ChengGrand H.-L.ChanDarius K.-S., 2008. Who suffers more from job insecurity? A meta-analytic review. Applied Psychology57: 272–303.
14.
DeciEdward. 1975. Intrinsic Motivation. New York: Plenum Press.
15.
DentEric B.GoldbergSusan G., 1999. Challenging “resistance to change.”Journal of Applied Behavioral Science35(1): 25–41.
16.
De WitteHans. 1999. Job insecurity and psychological well-being: Review of the literature and exploration of some unresolved issues. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology8: 155–77.
17.
FreemanRichard B.MedoffJames L., 1984. What Do Unions Do?New York: Basic Books.
18.
FreemanRichard B.RogersJoel. 1999. What Workers Want. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press/ILR Press.
19.
FrostAnn C.2000. Explaining variation in workplace structuring: The role of local union capabilities. Industrial and Labor Relations Review53: 559–78.
20.
FrostAnn C.2001. Reconceptualizing local union responses to workplace restructuring in North America. British Journal of Industrial Relations39: 539–64.
21.
GallieDuncan. 2005. Work pressure in Europe, 1996–2001: Trends and determinants. British Journal of Industrial Relations43(3): 351–75.
22.
GallieDuncanWhiteMichaelChengYuanTomlinsonMark. 1998. Restructuring the Employment Relationship. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
23.
GodardJohn. 2001. The transformation of work and high performance? The implications of alternative work practices for the experience and outcomes of work. Industrial and Labor Relations Review54(4): 776–805.
24.
GodardJohn. 2007. Unions, work practices, and wages under different institutional environments: The case of Canada and England. Industrial and Labor Relations Review60(4): 457–76.
25.
GodardJohn. 2010. What is best for workers? The implications of workplaces and human resource practices revisited. Industrial Relations49(3): 466–88.
26.
GreenFrancis. 2011. Unpacking the misery multiplier: How employability modifies the impacts of unemployment and job insecurity on life satisfaction and mental health. Journal of Health Economics30(2): 265–76.
27.
GreenbergJerald. 1990. Employee theft as a reaction to underpayment inequity: The hidden cost of pay cuts. Journal of Applied Psychology75(5): 561–68.
28.
GreenbergJeraldCropanzanoRussell. 2001. Advances in Organizational Justice. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
29.
IchniowskiCaseyShawKathrynPrennushiGiovanna. 1997. The effects of human resource management practices on productivity: A study of steel finishing lines. American Economic Review87: 291–313.
30.
IsraelBarbara A.AntonucciToni C., 1987. Social network characteristics and psychological well-being: A replication and extension. Health Education Quarterly14(4): 461–81.
31.
JudgeTimothy A.ThoresenCarl J.PucikVladimirWelbourneTheresa M., 1999. Managerial coping with organizational change: A dispositional perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology84(1): 107–22.
32.
KarasekRobert A.1979. Job demands, job decision latitude, and mental strain: Implications for job redesign. Administrative Science Quarterly24(2): 285–308.
33.
KarasekRobertTheorellTores. 1990. Healthy Work. New York: Basic Books.
34.
KochanThomasOstermanPaul. 1994. The Mutual Gains Enterprise. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
35.
LévesqueChristianMurrayGregor. 2005. Union involvement in workplace change: A comparative study of local unions in Canada and Mexico. British Journal of Industrial Relations43: 489–514.
36.
MalcomsonJames. 1983. Trade unions and economic efficiency. Economic Journal93: 50–65.
37.
MohrRobert D.ZoghiCindy. 2008. High-involvement work design and job satisfaction. Industrial and Labor Relations Review61: 275–96.
38.
MullarkeyS.WallToby D.WarrPeter B.CleggChris W.StrideChris B., 1999. Measures of Job Satisfaction, Mental Health and Job-related Well-being. Sheffield: Institute of Work Psychology.
39.
OregShaul. 2003. Resistance to change: Developing an individual differences measure. Journal of Applied Psychology88(4): 680–93.
40.
OregShaul. 2006. Personality, context, and resistance to organizational change. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology15(1): 73–101.
41.
OstermanPaul. 2000. Work reorganization in an era of restructuring: Trends in diffusion and effects on employee welfare. Industrial and Labor Relations Review53(2): 179–96.
42.
PayneRoy L.1979. Demands, supports, constraints and psychological health. In MackayColin J.CoxTom (Eds.), Responses to Stress: Occupational Aspects, pp. 85–105. London: International Publishing Corporation.
43.
PollardTessa M.2001. Changes in mental well-being, blood pressure and total cholesterol levels during workplace reorganization: The impact of uncertainty. Work and Stress15(1): 14–28.
44.
Rabe-HeskethSophiaSkrondalAndersPicklesAndrew. 2005. Maximum likelihood estimation of limited and discrete dependent variables with nested random effects. Journal of Econometrics128: 301–23.
45.
RamsayHarvieScholariosDoraHarleyBill. 2000. Employees and high-performance work systems. British Journal of Industrial Relations39: 501–32.
46.
RobbinsTina L.SummersTimothy P.MillerJanis L., 2000. Intra- and inter-justice relationships: Assessing the direction. Human Relations53(10): 1329–55.
47.
SeguraSusanaGonzáles-RomáVicente. 2003. How do respondents construe ambiguous response formats of affect items?Journal of Personality and Social Psychology85: 956–68.
48.
SkarlickiDaniel P.FolgerRobert. 1997. Retaliation in the workplace: The roles of distributive, procedural and interactional justice. Journal of Applied Psychology82(3): 434–43.
49.
SmithPaulMortonGary. 2001. Employment law: The devil is not only in the detail but in the values and policy too. British Journal of Industrial Relations39(1): 119–38.
50.
TichyNoel M.1983. Managing Strategic Change: Technical, Political and Cultural Dynamics. New York: Wiley.
51.
WanbergConnie R.BanasJoseph T., 2000. Predictors and outcomes of openness to changes in a reorganizing workplace. Journal of Applied Psychology85(1): 132–42.
52.
WarrPeter. 2007. Work, Happiness, and Unhappiness. New Jersey: Mahwah.
53.
WERS. 2004. Workplace Employee Relations Survey, 2004: Cross-Section Survey, 2004 and Panel Survey, 1998–2004; Wave 2. 4th Edition. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Archive [distributor], January 2008. SN: 5294.
54.
WoodStephen. 2008. Job characteristics, employee voice and well-being in Britain. Industrial Relations Journal39(2): 153–68.
55.
WoodStephende MenezesLilian M., 2008. Comparing perspectives on high involvement management and organizational performance across the British economy. International Journal of Human Resource Management19(4): 639–82.
56.
ZhengXiaohuiRabe-HeskethSophia. 2007. Estimating parameters of dichotomous and ordinal item response models with GLLAMM. Stata Journal7(3): 313–33.