IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/woemps/v16y2002i3p389-413.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is Lean Mean?

Author

Listed:
  • Richard Anderson-Connolly

    (University of Puget Sound, USA raconnolly@ups.edu)

  • Leon Grunberg

    (University of Puget Sound, USA)

  • Edward S. Greenberg

    (University of Colorado-Boulder, USA)

  • Sarah Moore

    (University of Puget Sound, USA)

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between workplace transformation (or restructuring) and the well-being of employees, in terms of both psychological and physical health, at a large manufacturing corporation in the United States. While the previous literature has been largely divided over the issue - some researchers providing unqualified enthusiasm and others equally strong criticism of workplace changes - we found, after decomposing workplace transformation into five distinct dimensions of intensity, autonomy, team-work, skilling and computing, that certain components were harmful while others were beneficial to the employees. Furthermore, some effects of reengineering varied between managers and non-managers. Overall, increases in workplace intensity were associated with the largest increases in stress and symptoms of poor health. The data were produced by a longitudinal (two-wave) survey questionnaire of over 1000 employees and were analyzed by means of a structural equations model.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Anderson-Connolly & Leon Grunberg & Edward S. Greenberg & Sarah Moore, 2002. "Is Lean Mean?," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 16(3), pages 389-413, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:16:y:2002:i:3:p:389-413
    DOI: 10.1177/095001702762217407
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/095001702762217407
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/095001702762217407?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ferrie, J.E. & Shipley, M.J. & Marmot, M.G. & Stansfeld, S.A. & Smith, G.D., 1998. "An uncertain future: The health effects of threats to employment security in white-collar men and women," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 88(7), pages 1030-1036.
    2. Hammer, Michael & Champy, James, 1993. "Reengineering the corporation: A manifesto for business revolution," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 90-91.
    3. Bosma, H. & Peter, R. & Siegrist, J. & Marmot, M., 1998. "Two alternative job stress models and the risk of coronary heart disease," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 88(1), pages 68-74.
    4. Ferrie, Jane E. & Shipley, Martin J. & Marmot, Michael G. & Stansfeld, Stephen & Smith, George Davey, 1998. "The health effects of major organisational change and job insecurity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 243-254, January.
    5. Rosemary Batt & Eileen Appelbaum, 1995. "Worker Participation in Diverse Settings: Does the Form Affect the Outcome, and If So, Who Benefits?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 33(3), pages 353-378, September.
    6. Batt, R. & Applebaum, E., 1995. "Worker Participation in Diverse Settings: Does the Form Affect the Outcome, and If So, Who Benefits?," Papers 95-06, Cornell - Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies.
    7. Kochan, Thomas A., 1996. "What works at work : overview and assessment," Working papers 3886-96., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cabrera, Elizabeth F., 2001. "La participación de los empleados en España: ¿cuánto, cómo y en qué participan?," DEE - Documentos de Trabajo. Economía de la Empresa. DB db010302, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía de la Empresa.
    2. repec:cte:wbrepe:6523 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Paul Osterman, 2000. "Work Reorganization in an Era of Restructuring: Trends in Diffusion and Effects on Employee Welfare," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 53(2), pages 179-196, January.
    4. Bratberg, Espen & Monstad, Karin, 2015. "Worried sick? Worker responses to a financial shock," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 111-120.
    5. Riccardo Leoni, 2013. "Organization of work practices and productivity: an assessment of research on world- class manufacturing," Chapters, in: Anna Grandori (ed.), Handbook of Economic Organization, chapter 17, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Lin, Meizhen & Wu, Xiaoyi & Ling, Qian, 2017. "Assessing the effectiveness of empowerment on service quality: A multi-level study of Chinese tourism firms," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 411-425.
    7. Thierry Debrand & Pascale Lengagne, 2007. "Organisation du travail et sante des seniors en Europe," Working Papers DT3, IRDES institut for research and information in health economics, revised Feb 2007.
    8. Patel, Charmi & Budhwar, Pawan & Varma, Arup, 2012. "Overall justice, work group identification and work outcomes: Test of moderated mediation process," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 213-222.
    9. Johnny Hellgren & Antonio Chirumbolo, 2003. "Can Union Support Reduce the Negative Effects of Job Insecurity on Well-Being?," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 24(2), pages 271-289, May.
    10. Jed Devaro & Fidan Ana Kurtulus, 2011. "What types of organizations benefit from teams, and how do they benefit?," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2011-16, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    11. Heywood, John S. & Jirjahn, Uwe & Wei, Xiangdong, 2008. "Teamwork, monitoring and absence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 68(3-4), pages 676-690, December.
    12. Thierry Debrand & Pascale Lengagne, 2007. "Pénibilité au travail et santé des seniors en Europe," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 403(1), pages 19-38.
    13. László, Krisztina D. & Pikhart, Hynek & Kopp, Mária S. & Bobak, Martin & Pajak, Andrzej & Malyutina, Sofia & Salavecz, Gyöngyvér & Marmot, Michael, 2010. "Job insecurity and health: A study of 16 European countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(6), pages 867-874, March.
    14. Bill Harley, 2001. "Team Membership and the Experience of Work in Britain: An Analysis of the WERS98 Data," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 15(4), pages 721-742, December.
    15. repec:lan:wpaper:3619 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. George Kandathil & Jerome Joseph, 2019. "Normative Underpinnings of Direct Employee Participation Studies and Implications for Developing Ethical Reflexivity: A Multidisciplinary Review," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(3), pages 685-697, July.
    17. Kim, Il-Ho & Muntaner, Carles & Vahid Shahidi, Faraz & Vives, Alejandra & Vanroelen, Christophe & Benach, Joan, 2012. "Welfare states, flexible employment, and health: A critical review," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(2), pages 99-127.
    18. José Alberto Bayo Moriones & Pedro Javier Gailea Salvatierra & Javier Merino Díaz de Cerio, 2002. "Participation, Cooperatives And Performance: An Analysis Of Spanish Manufacturing Firms," Documentos de Trabajo - Lan Gaiak Departamento de Economía - Universidad Pública de Navarra 0201, Departamento de Economía - Universidad Pública de Navarra.
    19. Jaren Haber, 2016. "Institutionalized Involvement: Teams and Stress in 1990s U.S. Steel," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(4), pages 632-661, October.
    20. Jofre-Bonet, Mireia & Serra-Sastre, Victoria & Vandoros, Sotiris, 2018. "The impact of the Great Recession on health-related risk factors, behaviour and outcomes in England," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 213-225.
    21. Jeffrey B. Arthur, 2011. "Do HR System Characteristics Affect the Frequency of Interpersonal Deviance in Organizations? The Role of Team Autonomy and Internal Labor Market Practices," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 30-56, January.
    22. Nicholas Rohde & KK Tang & Lars Osberg, 2017. "The self-reinforcing dynamics of economic insecurity and obesity," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(17), pages 1668-1678, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:16:y:2002:i:3:p:389-413. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.britsoc.co.uk/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.