5th international conference on workplace bullying – Dublin: june 15-17 2006

How do organizational changes influence workplace bullying? A quantitative study Elfi Baillien, Hans De Witte, Inge Neyens Research Group for Stress, Health and Well-being KULeuven, Belgium

KUL Mobbers (Belgium) • Inge Neyens

• Guy Notelaers

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KUL Mobbers (Belgium)(2) • Hans De Witte

• Elfi Baillien

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Content 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Introduction Method Results Discussion References Contact

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1. Introduction • Economic globalisation
increased competition – Restructuring – Downsizing –…

• Organizational change increases the risk of workplace bullying – (e.g. Baron & Neuman, 1996; Hoel & Cooper, 2000) – how come? 5

1. Introduction (2) – how come? • Psychological effects of organizational change on the level of the job and the team – Job » Job insecurity (Ashford et al., 1989; Greenglass & Burke, 2001) » Increased work load (Cooper, 1999; Green, 2001) » Role ambiguity (Jick, 1985) » Job conflict (Jick, 1985) – Team » Personal conflicts (Jick, 1985) » Deterioration bonds co-workers (Greenglass & Burke, 2001) » Robust and aggressive management (Hoel et al., 2002)

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1. Introduction (3) – how come? • Association between these effects (‘stressors’) and workplace bullying – Job » Job insecurity (Hoel et al., 2002; Notelaers et al., 2003) » Increased work load (Notelaers & De Witte, 2003; Einarsen & Raknes, 1997; Salin, 2003) » Role ambiguity (Vartia, 1996) » Job conflict (Einarsen et al., 1994) – Team » Personal conflicts (Baillien et al., 2005) » Decrease social support from colleagues (Zapf et al., 1996) » Lack of social leadership (Hubert et al., 2001) 7

1. Introduction (4) • Hypothesis: the 4 task related stressors and the 3 team related stressors are mediators – After controling for these stressors
no relationship Role conflict Job insecurity

Organizational change

Work load Job ambiguity

Workplace Bullying

Social supp colleagues Frequency conflict Social leadership 8

2. Method •

Sample – 10 organizations (>100 F.T.E.)(Dutch) – Private sector – 1340 respondents

•

Questionnaire – Role conflict (Van Veldhoven et al., 1994) •

α = 0.62

– Job insecurity (De Witte, 2000) • α = 0.86

– Work Load (Van Veldhoven et al., 1994) • α = 0.84

– Job ambiguity (Van Veldhoven et al., 1994) • α = 0.75

– Social support colleagues (Van Veldhoven et al., 1994)(Rigotti et al., 2003) • α = 0.89

– –

Conflict frequency (1 item, self constructed) Social leadership (Northouse, 2004) • α = 0.88 9

2. Method (2) • Questionnaire (2) – Organizational change (self constructed) • “If you look back at the last couple of years, where there any organizational changes within this organization?”

YES • “What changes? – – – – – –

Merger One or more restructuring Downsizing Changes at the top Renovation Others…

Check!!

• “How would you describe the current situation within your organization? This organisation…” – – – –

Is at the beginning of a series of changes Is in the middle of the change process Is closing a period of changes Is in a calm period without much changes 10

2. Method (3) • Questionnaire (3) – Workplace bullying (NAQ) • α = 0.88

• Analyses – SPSS 12.00 – Controlled for gender, age and function (RA)

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3. Results • Direct or indirect relationship? – Sign. relationship between organizational change and bullying • Β = 0.11*** • R² = 0.05** (!!!)

– But: full mediation!! • After introducing the stressors, no direct relationship between change and bullying – p = 0.40

• Mediaton model explains more variance… – R² change = 0.36*** 12

3. Results (2) • Relationship between the stressors and organizational change? – Role conflict • β = 0.17***

– Job insecurity • β = 0.15***

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3. Results (3) • Relationship between the stressors and bullying? Model 3

WRB β

… Org. change

n.s

Role conflict

0.18***

Job insecurity

0.11***

Work load

0.10**

Job ambiguity

0.07*

Soc sup coll

-0.23***

Conflict

0.21***

Social LS

-0.10***

R

0.64

R²

0.41***

F

54.92

df

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3. Results (4) • Mediation? Role conflict 0.17***

Job insecurity

Organizational change

0.15***

0.18*** 0.11*** 0.10**

Work load -0.07*

Job ambiguity

Workplace Bullying

-0.23***

Social supp colleagues

0.21***

Frequency conflict Social leadership

-0.10**

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4. Discussion • Organizational change is indirectly related to bullying by a full mediation – Role conflict – Job insecurity

• Work load, job ambiguity, social support colleagues, frequency conflict and social leadership – Are related to bullying – Are not related to organizational change – Are no mediators

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4. Discussion (2) • Focus: beginning and middle of an organizational change – The end? Effects of change on the survivors!

• ‘organizational change’ – Differentiation?

• Cross-sectional – Causal relationship? 17

5. References • •

• • •

• •

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Ashford, S.J., Lee, C., & Bobko, P. (1989). Content, causes, and consequences of job insecurity: a theory-based measure and substantive test. Academy of Management Journal, 32(4), 803-829. Baillien, E., Neyens, I., De Witte, H., & Vanoirbeek, K. (2005). Ongewenst grensoverschrijdend gedrag op het werk: op welke manier speelt de organisatie een rol? Een kwantitatieve studie van risicofactoren op niveau van job, team en organisatie. Project gefinancierd op het initiatief van het FOD Werkgelegenheid, Arbeid en Sociaal Overleg, met de steun van het Europees Sociaal Fonds. Leuven: Onderzoeksgroep voor Stress, Gezondheid en Welzijn. Baron, R. A., & Neuman, J. H. (1996). Workplace violence and workplace aggression: Evidence on their relative frequency and potential causes. Aggressive Behavior, 22, 161-173. Cooper, C.L. (1999). The changing psychological contract at work. European Business Journal, 11, 115-118. De Witte, H. (2000). Arbeidsethos en jobonzekerheid: meting en gevolgen voor welzijn, tevredenheid en inzet op het werk. In: R. Bouwen, K. De Witte, H. De Witte, T. Taillieu (Eds.). Van groep naar gemeenschap. Liber Amicorum Prof. Dr. Leo Lagrou. Leuven: Garant, pp 352-350. Einarsen, S. & Raknes, B. I. (1997). Harassment in the workplace and the victimization of men. Violence and Victims, 12 (3), 247-263. Einarsen, S., Raknes, B. I., & Matthiesen, S. B. (1994). Bullying and harassement at work and their relationships to work environment quality: an exploratory study. European Work and Organizational Psychologist, 4 (4), 381-401. Green, F. (2001). It’s been a hard day’s night: the concentration and intensification of work in late twentieth-century Britain. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 39(1), 53-80.

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5. References (2) • • •

• •

• • •

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Greenglass, E.R., & Burke, R.J. (2001). Downsizing and restructuring: implications for stress and anxiety. Anxiety, Stress and Coping, 14, 1-13. Hoel, H. & Cooper, C. L. (2000). Destructive conflict and bullying at work. Manchester School of Management, UMIST. Hubert, A., Furda, J. & Steensma, H. (2001). Mobbing, systematisch pestgedrag in organisaties: Twee studies naar antecedenten en gevolgen voor de gezondheid. Gedrag en Organisatie, 14 (6), 378369. Jick, T.D. (1985). As the axe falls: Budget cuts and the experience of stress in organizations. In T.A. Beehr and R.S. Bhagat (Eds.), Human stress and cognitions in organizations. NY: John Wiley. Notelaers, G. & De Witte, H. (2003). Over de relatie tussen pesten op het werk en werkstress. In Wim Herremans (Ed.), De arbeidsmarkt in Vlaanderen. Verslagboek Arbeidsmarktonderzoekersdag 2003. Leuven: Steunpunt Werkgelegenheid, Arbeid en Vorming, p. 139-163. Northouse, P.G. (2004). Leadership: theory and practice. London: Thousand Oaks. Notelaers, G., De Witte, H & Einarsen, S. (2003). Short description of the research project ‘Organizational antecedents and consequences of bullying at the workplace in Belgium’. Van Veldhoven, M, & Meyman, T.F. (1994). Het meten van psychosociale arbeidsbelasting met een vragenlijst: de vragenlijst beleving en beoordeling van de arbeid (VBBA). Amsterdam: Nederlands instituur voor Arbeidsomstandigheden. Vartia, M. (1996). The sources of bullying: psychological work environment and organizational climate. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 5(2), 203-214.

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5. References (3) •

• •

Rigotti, T., Mohr, G., De Cuyper, N., De Witte, H., Bernhard, C., Isakson, K., de Jong, J., Schalk, R., Caballer, A., Garcia, F., Peiró, J.M., Ramos, J., Clinton, M, Guest, D., Krausz, M, & Staynvarts, N. (2003). Instruction work and blue print for methodology. Unpublished work document. Unversity of Leipzig. Salin, D. (2003). Bullying and organisational politics in competitive and rapidly changing work environments. International Journal of Management and Decision Making, 4 (1), 35-46. Zapf, D., Knorz, C, & Kulla, M. (1996). On the relationship between mobbing factors, and jobcontent, social work environment, and health outcomes. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 1996, 5 (2), 215-237.

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6. Contact

Elfi Baillien Research Group for Stress, Health and Well-being KULeuven Belgium [email protected]

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